Ben Manilla

We live in the age of the podcast, with digestible chunks of audio information delivered to our devices anywhere, anytime. There are reportedly more than half a million podcasts, yet only a handful consistently rise to the surface. According to Podtrac, 2018’s most downloaded podcasts were “The Daily,” “This American Life,” “Stuff You Should Know,” “Up First” and “TED Radio Hour.” “The Daily” has been downloaded as many as 200 million times in 2017.

It began as a time-filler during a lull in the writer’s room; became a favorite party gag; then was captured on a 1961 album — “the comedian’s Bible,” says Billy Crystal. Carl Reiner, as the straight-man interviewer, would paint Mel Brooks, his millennia-old guest, into a corner, and Brooks would invent ingenious ways out. (Explaining his longevity: “I never run to catch a bus.”) The routine shifted comedy from a series of jokes toward more complex, character-based scenarios.

It began as a time-filler during a lull in the writer’s room; became a favorite party gag; then was captured on a 1961 album — “the comedian’s Bible,” says Billy Crystal. Carl Reiner, as the straight-man interviewer, would paint Mel Brooks, his millennia-old guest, into a corner, and Brooks would invent ingenious ways out. (Explaining his longevity: “I never run to catch a bus.”) The routine shifted comedy from a series of jokes toward more complex, character-based scenarios.