I’ve been in the podcast game for about 7 years now. I have no idea how I discovered them, but I listened to them endlessly the summer before my junior year of college when I had the most boring office job in the world and had to have something in my ears lest I just fade away to dust. I started with improv comedy podcasts, which is still where my heart lies, but my next favorite genre is celebrity podcasts. Specifically celebrity advice podcasts. Why wouldn’t you want advice from some of the most beautiful, talented, and rich people in the world? My life is periodically in shambles and I could use all the help I can get. FIX ME HOLLYWOOD!
Here are some of my favorites.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
You may know him from Without a Paddle, or Punk’d, or even just being Kristen Bell’s husband, but Dax Shepard is pretty great. And unsurprisingly his podcast is too. Less advice than long-form interviews with friends/other celebrities, but if you don’t learn something from this podcast then you can’t be helped. These are just chats between friends; they’re so open and honest, more so than I’ve heard elsewhere.
His first guest is Kristen Bell and it’s a must listen. Before the interview started, they had gotten into a fight, which makes it just the best thing to listen to ever. You can sense their annoyance with each other, and you sizzle when Dax continues to push her buttons. But by the end of the interview, they’re back to normal and you can see why their relationship is #goals. Maybe celebrity love isn’t dead in 2018.
Other guests include Ashton Kutcher, Pete Wentz, Anna Faris, Lauren Graham, and Ellen DeGeneres. So you know, all your favorite people in Hollywood. Check it out (side note: his website is gorgeous – click for that alone)
Anna Faris is Unqualified
We’ve written about Unqualified before, but I can’t make a list of celebrity advice podcasts without including it. This podcast is just fun. Besides giving callers advice— typically on love and relationships, she has her guests play games and do little improv scenes which never fail to make listeners chuckle. And now that this podcast is a couple years old, she’s had so many guests that you’ll undoubtedly find someone you love on the list. It’s been interesting to listen now that her marriage with Chris Pratt has ended—her advice has stayed the same, but it’s more relatable knowing that she’s gone through a lot of the situations her callers are looking for advice on. Whatever else she may be, Anna Faris is definitely not unqualified.
Some of my favorite episodes include one of her most recent: Hayley Atwell, the My Favorite Murder crossover (it introduced me to one of my all-time favorite podcasts. SSDGM), Charlie Day, and Keegan-Michael Key. Check it out
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If I Were You with Jake and Amir
You may be thinking, “Who the hell are Jake and Amir?!” They’re celebrities to me so I’m including them on my list (I may have seen Amir on the subway once and freaked out. I think I gave a nearby woman a heart attack. I am not cool). Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld are former College Humor employees, but have now moved on to have their own web series, podcast, and podcast network! I became fans of them in college for their Jake and Amir videos. They play exaggerated, sort of reversed versions of themselves where they kind of hate/kind of love each other and they were great until the series ended a few years ago. Here’s one of their more recent videos – they came back for the election. This might just prove that I have weird comedy taste. And trust me when I say neither of them is actually a Trump supporter.
After their web series ended, they went on to start their podcast If I Were You where listeners email them with problems and receive light hazing with a side of advice. I’ve actually emailed them and been featured on an episode which coincidentally was released on my birthday this past year! They give every emailer a fake name to preserve their anonymity, but I’ve embedded the episode below. See if you can figure out which email is mine! Spoiler alert: they accidentally used my real name when they tried to give me a fake name…
The success they’ve had is pretty impressive. They started at a pretty niche website and now own their own podcast network, Headgum. Shows on the network include Gilmore Guys, Punch Up the Jam, This is Why You’re Single, Why Won’t You Date Me?, and Doughboys to name a few. Check it out
There you have it! If you need some advice and want to seek a professional celebrity, you have some options.
