If 2025 proved anything, it’s that humanity refuses to shut up. With every event, crisis and minor inconvenience came with a think piece, a hot take and thankfully, a joke. From AI assistants turning into life coaches to billionaires starting beefs in the metaverse, existence has been one long fever dream.

Somewhere between doomscrolling and existential dread, the need for comfort and comedy hit new highs. Luckily, podcasts continued to be our favourite escape hatch. A place where absurd tangents, emotional vulnerability and razor-sharp wit co-existed. Whether you were tuning in for laughs, validation or just background noise while pretending to work, these podcasts made the world a tad more bearable—one episode at a time.

So, without further ado, here are DeadAnt’s picks for the top podcasts of the year. The ones constantly reminding us that sometimes, a good laugh is a sure-shot sign of a productive conversation.

10. The Yard

You’d think that after four years of podcasting, talking over each other would be considered a hard no. But the boys from The Yard never got that memo, and that’s exactly the point. It feels like feels like a Discord call that accidentally became one of the funniest podcasts on the internet. Hosted by Ludwig Ahgren, Nick Vercillo, Anthony “Slime” Bruno and Aiden McCaig, the show began as a side project after Ahgren’s Twitch domination. It was meant to capture the banter that happens off-stream. What it became is one of the most consistently funny and strangely heartfelt comedy podcasts online.

Ludwig’s confident host energy is constantly undermined by Slime’s cynicism, Aiden’s deadpan one-liners and Nick’s commitment to oversharing. Their chemistry is palpable, which might have something to do with the fact that the four of them actually lived together for a significant amount of time.

They’ll veer from e-sports gossip to absurd hypotheticals (“What if we ran a cult?”) to deeply niche internet stories. And when they argue—about who’s most replaceable, who has the best drip or who’s carrying the pod—it’s basically dudes being bros at its finest.

Start with: One of the ‘best of’ compilations. And then ease yourself into this fandom.

9. Ek Ladi Pav

If you’re tired of podcasts that feel like overproduced interviews stitched together with long monologues, Ek Ladi Pav is your best bet. Hosted by Siddhartha Shetty and Tushar Poojari, the conversations feel less like a recording and more like accidentally running into a close friend at a roadside tapri. Moments of earnest candour are quickly undercut by a roast or two—they provoke, tease, and challenge each other at every turn.

The real draw is their ability to turn the most ordinary topics into wildly entertaining detours. Like the time Shetty called out Poojari for eating too much chimukla paplet, a species apparently on the brink of extinction. Or their never-ending back-and-forth about the western suburbs (or MaKaBo, as Shetty insists) versus Navi Mumbai’s Ulwe. Lately, they’ve also been bringing fellow comedians into the mix, adding fresh chaos to an already volatile equation.

If you’re a benevolent listener, you’ll tune in every week with a plate of triple Schezwan fried rice. #IYKYK

Start with: The Varun Nair episode.

8. That’s Just How We Talk

We know for a fact that every teenager plugged into internet culture circa 2015—and raised on quoting All India Bakchod—did a small, involuntary skip when this recommendation popped up on YouTube. One of Indian comedy’s OGs, Gursimran Khamba, launched That’s Just How We Talk this year, co-hosted with actor, creator, and his wife Ismeet Kohli.

They might have a run order in place and the intention to have a structured conversation, but their inside jokes and the cutesy back-and-forth always leads to spontaneous conversations that are surprisingly insightful and always fun. The contrast is the secret sauce: Khamba’s low-grade disdain for everyday existence rubbing up against Kohli’s wide-eyed curiosity adds texture to whatever they’re discussing—be it the weather, wedding prep, childhood memories, or the absurdities of pet parenting. It’s intimate without being indulgent, nostalgic without trying too hard, and proof that sometimes the best conversations are the ones that refuse to stay on track.

And for all AIB stans, Khamba drops a steady stream of behind-the-scenes stories from the collective’s heyday—everything from working with Irrfan Khan to interviewing Shah Rukh Khan. If that doesn’t make you jones for an episode, nothing will.

Start with: Ep 1. Witness the chaos.

7. Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Good Hang with Amy Poehler delivers exactly what the title promises—a breezy, laughter-filled catch-up between old friends. She invites comedians, actors and longtime collaborators to swap stories, revisit shared chaos and indulge in the kind of light, affectionate teasing that made her work on Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation beloved.

What sets the show apart is Poehler’s tone. She doesn’t perform the role of a “host”. She just hangs out. There’s a looseness to the way conversations unfold, the kind that leads to unexpected moments of honesty or absurd humour. Sometimes both. Whether she’s riffing with Tina Fey about creative burnout or recalling the weirdest Parks outtakes with Adam Scott, Good Hang captures that rare mix of wit, warmth and comfort that makes you want to linger long after the conversation ends.

Start with: The Adam Scott episode. For all the fuzzies.

6. Moment of Silence

Sakshi Shivdasani and Naina Bhan know exactly how to turn everyday chaos into top-tier yapathons. On Moment of Silence, their chemistry is instant—one chronically overthinks, the other counters with a breezy “let’s not overanalyse this” philosophy. Every episode feels like eavesdropping on your most brutally honest girlfriends as they hash out life: dating apps, modern expectations, family drama, et al.

What they really get right is the balance between hot takes and genuine vulnerability. They don’t just rant—they pause, reflect, laugh at themselves, and let you into the mess. Moment of Silence is proof that good banter is often enough: just two hosts, unfiltered, casual, and unapologetically themselves—and that’s what keeps you coming back.

This year, they’ve brought several guests into the mix including comedians like Sumukhi Suresh and Shreeja Chaturvedi—both fitting neatly into Moment of Silence’s chaotic, conversational flow, and adding fresh energy without disrupting the banter.

Start with: The Shreeja Chaturvedi episode.

5. Broke Studio

Comedians Gautham Govindan and Shamik Chakrabarti’s podcast lives up to its name. Broke Studio is raw, unfiltered (they proudly claim it isn’t even edited), and endlessly entertaining. Both hosts are A-grade observational comics, which means there’s always an off-the-cuff take ready—on the world at large, on something happening in the room, or on something that was said seven seconds ago. The show thrives on the good kind of chaos, where riffs turn into running gags and every train of thought is boarded just to derail into an unexpected punchline.

To make the cocktail even stronger, they bring guests on every episode. This year alone saw appearances from Kanan Gill, Kenneth Sebastian, Jose Covaco, Niveditha Prakasam, and Anirban Dasgupta, among others. Broke Studio works because it captures the rhythm of modern Indian comedy—smart, silly, and refreshingly unserious about itself. It’s what happens when two comics stop pretending to host and just… shoot the sh*t.

Start with: The Kanan Gill episode. It’s up there. See? Click it.

4. WTF with Marc Maron

When Marc Maron first hit record in 2009 and launched WTF with Marc Maron from his cluttered garage—aka The Cat Ranch—he was a broke comic fresh off a divorce, essentially venting into a mic. Sixteen years and nearly 1,700 episodes later, the twice-weekly show became one of podcasting’s most influential cornerstones, known for its raw, unfiltered conversations with comedians, musicians, and even politicians—including Barack Obama, who fittingly returned for the final episode in 2025.

Maron’s mix of neurotic self-reflection, dark humour, and genuine empathy turned WTF into something less like an interview show and more like a shared therapy session. From his gut-punch conversation with Robin Williams to his recurring riffs on cats, coffee, and existential dread, Maron built a space where vulnerability was as funny as it was human.

As Maron and longtime producer Brendan McDonald brought the show to a close this year, revisiting old episodes—and devouring the new ones—felt inevitable. WTF leaves behind more than a catalogue of great conversations; it leaves a blueprint for what honesty can sound like on a mic.

Start with: The Robin Williams episode. You’ll have to head here and pay to access it but trust us, it’s well worth it. GOAT pod.

3. The Adam Friedland Show

What began as a cheeky spin-off of the cult-favourite comedy podcast Cum Town has evolved into one of the internet’s edgiest talk shows. The Adam Friedland Show launched in late 2022 partly as a bit—a parody of late-night television, complete with a set modelled after The Dick Cavett Show. The aim was to skewer the hollow politeness that defines most late-night hosting. But the joke stuck, and in the process birthed one of the most fascinating podcasts of the last decade.

Adam Friedland, once the soft-spoken foil to Nick Mullen and Stavros Halkias, has emerged here as a surprisingly incisive interviewer. Guests have ranged from Shane Gillis and Mac DeMarco to Sarah Jessica Parker and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The conversations are unhinged yet deeply self-aware—built on deadpan absurdity, prolonged awkward silences, and an ever-present sense of unease. That discomfort is precisely the point. Each episode feels like a strange hybrid of comedy experiment and cultural postmortem, where banter curdles into something more revealing and you’re never quite sure who’s in on the joke. If you’re looking to fill the talk-show–shaped void opening up on television, this one deserves a spot on your radar.

Start with: The Zohran Mamdani episode. Yes he got him on.

2. Take Your Shoes Off

Rick Glassman’s Take Your Shoes Off feels less like a podcast and more like hanging out in the living room of someone who’s both hilarious and deeply self-aware. A stand-up comic and actor known for his unpredictable energy, Glassman channels his OCD quirks into a show that’s as much about control as it is about letting go. The title isn’t a metaphor—it’s a mood.

The charm lies in how Glassman weaponises discomfort. Conversations with guests like Kristen Bell, Bobby Lee, and Lamorne Morris swing wildly between absurd bits and startling honesty. One moment he’s committing to an overproduced visual gag; the next, he’s unpacking his own insecurities. Somehow, both land with equal force. Take Your Shoes Off proves that banter can be as revealing as it is ridiculous.

All you need to do to get hooked is watch the show’s 100th episode. Glassman’s interview with Bell is famously gatecrashed by an unsuspecting delivery person with catastrophically bad timing—a masterclass in improv comedy. Almost like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but good. And this year, Glassman even gave us a sequel to this masterpiece.

Start with: Episode 100. We can’t even begin to explain the saga.

1. Bad Friends

Yes, it’s that podcast again. And yes, it’s still our favourite. Bite us. It’s chaotic, it’s ridiculous, and somehow it keeps getting better. We’ve already waxed eloquent about it for the past three years—if you still haven’t watched it, honestly, what are you doing?

For the uninitiated, Bad Friends feels like stumbling into an improv jam where absolutely nothing is off-limits. Hosted by comedians Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee—long-time friends who operate more like frenemies—each episode spirals through bits pulled from their real lives, wonderfully weird assumptions, and an ever-growing web of inside jokes.

What makes it addictive is the rhythm. Santino’s sharp, sarcastic jabs ricochet off Lee’s unpredictable emotional outbursts (sometimes biological ones, too). The result is messy, loud, occasionally inappropriate—and consistently hilarious.

Start with: Any episode. It’s all gold.