Two Podcasts With Contagious Enthusiasm

Live a little and try something new

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My favorite kind of recommendation is from someone super passionate about that thing, where their enthusiasm is infectious. I love going from not really having an opinion about something to it suddenly being the very next thing I need to check out.

I distinctly remember being on the treadmill listening to this episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz about the sound design of Hamilton, and actually stopping the episode and my jog before it was over because I needed to listen to the full show on Spotify immediately.

Hamilton had already been out on Broadway for a little bit and I was obviously aware of its success, but I had never had an entrance ramp for getting into it. I don’t remember specifically what it was about that episode, but the passion and enthusiasm they had for Hamilton gave me permission to go for it and an understanding of how to approach it.

I went home, put my good headphones on, and listened to all the tracks of Hamilton. It was one of the most intense and gratifying media experiences of my life. Then I eventually bought the biography of Hamilton that inspired Lin Manuel Miranda, and saw the traveling show of Hamilton (while — I’m sorry to say — wearing socks with Alexander Hamilton’s face on it).