Two podcasts you should listen to this week: "The Adventure Zone" and "Longform"

Do you love podcasts, but don’t know how to find new shows? Are you new to podcasts, and don't know where to start?

Welcome to “Thanks for Listening” — a new column about the absolute best podcast episodes to listen to this week, according to two producers at KUOW who make podcasts for a living.

Every Monday, we'll both suggest a podcast that we enjoy listening to and tell you why we like it. You’ll hear about shows that span (and overlap) a variety of topics and genres: investigative journalism, fiction, food, feminism, comedy, history, true crime, mental health, Harry Potter and much more.

Clare’s Pick: "The Adventure Zone"

Suggested Episode: Start from the beginning!

Length: About 60 minutes

Listen while: On a road trip

Brainpower required: 4/5

Family friendly? No

"The Adventure Zone" is an improv comed /storytelling podcast, centered on a crew of swashbuckling fantasy characters: The wizard cook Taako, the folksy hero Magnus Burnsides and the outcast Dwarven preacher Merle Highcurch. The trio start off just as muscle for hire, but end up having to save the world from evil magical forces. They do get paid, as well.

The podcast is run by a family of comedians: brothers Griffin, Justin and Travis McElroy (of the comedy advice podcast "My Brother, My Brother, And Me") and their father, Clint, a longtime country radio DJ. The four collaborate to tell the story using a combination of deft improv and truly heartwarming character building.

Oh yeah, did I mention Dungeons and Dragons? The podcast is a format called actual play, where the story is essentially told through the tabletop roleplaying game. If you’re not familiar with the game, don’t worry – neither are the players. And if you are familiar with the game, buckle in for some truly bizarre interpretations of literally all the rules.

NOTE: The second season of the podcast follows a different storyline, so start from the very beginning for this one. I recommend starting with episode 1.5 — It’s a more selectively edited version of the first episode.

Caroline’s Pick: "Longform"

Suggested Episode: Wesley Morris

Length: 52:40

Listen while: Trying to figure out how woke you should be in your pop culture choices

Brainpower required: 5/5* This is a good podcast to listen to while doing other things, but the content requires a lot of critical thinking and reflection about your problematic faves and whether to cancel them all or just some of them.

Family friendly? Yes

Longform is an interview podcast about the creative process featuring conversations with non-fiction writers and editors. While the podcast is very reliably good, the recent episode featuring an interview with New York Times film critic Wesley Morris (Morris also co-hosts an excellent pop culture podcast “Still Processing”) was particularly thought-provoking.

Wesley Morris is one of those writers that consistently expands and adds nuance to the way I look at things. And in this episode, host Aaron Lammer and Morris discuss the moral weight that often belies liking or disliking pieces of pop culture in 2019.

Have you ever felt guilty about not liking a film, or a TV show because you feel like you should? I’ve certainly felt this way. I didn’t like the 2017 film "Wonder Woman," and saw it as proof of my internalized misogyny, evidence I’m part of the problem.

But can we just not like a movie sometimes despite the hard-fought progress behind its existence?

Morris explores this dilemma and how it factors into how we interpret of the value and quality of pop culture. To be clear, this is not a discussion from two white dudes bemoaning PC culture and wanting to feel safe expressing the fact that women should not be in "Ghostbusters." It’s about grappling with identity, cancel culture, the internet, our problematic faves in a way that encourages more amazing storytelling from a diversity of voices.