6 Comedy Podcasts for Long November Drives, From Conan to Comedy Bang! Bang!
Thanksgiving travel is coming, and the radio is all ads for mattresses. Six comedian-hosted podcasts that will get you to Grandma's without speaking to anyone in the car.
By the Heckle Desk · · 2 min read
Somewhere around the middle of November, every American realizes they will soon be driving four hours to eat a dry bird with people who voted wrong. The podcast exists to get you through that drive. It is the only medium where a grown man can talk for ninety minutes about a sandwich and nobody calls a doctor.
These six are hosted by comedians, run long, and have deep back catalogs, which matters, because the worst thing that can happen on I-95 is running out of episodes in a dead zone near a Cracker Barrel. Most have been going for years. A podcast that has lasted a decade is like a marriage that has lasted a decade: you don't ask how, you just admire the stamina and keep your distance.
- 01
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (Team Coco / SiriusXM, since 2018)
Conan started it in November 2018, after decades of talking to celebrities for a living, to talk to celebrities for a living, but longer. The real stars are his assistant Sona Movsesian and producer Matt Gourley, who treat him like a beloved uncle who's wandered into traffic. Start anywhere; he's never once stayed on topic.
- 02
SmartLess (Wondery, then SiriusXM, since 2020)
Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes take turns bringing a surprise guest the other two don't know about, which is the whole format and somehow enough. Three rich, handsome men laughing at each other for an hour should be unbearable. It is, a little, and you'll still finish the episode.
- 03
Good Hang with Amy Poehler (The Ringer / Spotify, since 2025)
Poehler launched it in March 2025 with Tina Fey as the first guest, which is like opening a restaurant by serving your best dish to your mother. Guests since have run from Steve Carell to Sarah Sherman. It's warm, quick and the closest thing to being invited to a party where everyone is nicer than you.
- 04
Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast (independent, since 2016)
Shane Gillis and Matt McCusker have been doing it since well before SNL fired Gillis and Netflix hired him back. It is loose, filthy, philosophical and occasionally about nothing for forty minutes at a stretch. Do not play it with the kids in the car unless you want to explain several things at Thanksgiving.
- 05
Las Culturistas (since 2016)
Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang talk pop culture with the intensity of two men defending a dissertation. They hand out their own Culture Awards and treat a Mariah Carey key change like a moon landing. If you've ever been dragged to a musical, this is your revenge and your apology.
- 06
Comedy Bang! Bang! (Earwolf, since 2009)
Scott Aukerman's show is the grandfather of the improvised comedy podcast, and like most grandfathers it keeps telling stories that make no sense. Guests show up as invented characters and the whole thing derails on purpose. With well over 800 episodes, it will outlast your car and your car's next owner.