THE MAKING OF: July 2026 podcast playlist

Each episode in this playlist gives us a glimpse into the making of various curious pieces of media: a true crime podcast that was supposed to be a true crime book, a piece of mass-produced wall art, a sure-fire rockumentary hit that no one will ever see, an iconic song, and more. Making art is one of the most fundamental human impulses, and each of these stories explores how that impulse can delight, inspire, or destroy the artist.

This playlist was curated by Matt, leader of the Ames PBC chapter. Matt is also a creator behind Mixtape Hero, a game that lets you build music playlists with your friends.

Podcast Playlist on THE MAKING OF

Get the full playlist on your podcast player of choice using these platforms:

* Listen Notes allows you to quickly download all of the episodes using a variety of podcast apps. Here is a quick demo video.

Pablo Torre Finds Out: “The Banned Prince Documentary: Director Ezra Edelman (Finally) Speaks” (March 2025, 44 min)
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ezra Edelman spent years making a nine-hour documentary about Prince. It was screened to limited audiences to universal acclaim. Then, Netflix locked it away. In this episode, Edelman (somewhat reluctantly) sits down with Pablo Torre to talk about what happened.
City of Lights: “It Could Be A Thick Book | 1” (February 2026, 38 min)
After turning up at the home of two parents who lost their son in a random act of violence, a creative writing undergraduate dreams of writing a “preeminent” nonfiction book about the crime. But over a decade later, he’s still trying to finish the story–in podcast form.
Jacob Reed and Me: “The Artist” (February 2026, 43 min)
After a setback in his TV career, Jacob Reed falls down a rabbit hole tracking down a different Jacob Reed, the artist behind a generic, mass-produced painting sold in department stores. This search raises an uncomfortable question: how should we define artistic success?
Strong Songs: “’Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers” (July 2025, 59 min)
This episode breaks down the elegant genius behind “Lean on Me” and a number of other signature tunes by Bill Withers. Musician/Host Kirk Hamilton deconstructs Withers’ songs with infectious and accessible enthusiasm.
Proxy with Yowei Shaw: “The Layoff Trilogy 1: Layoff Girl” (May 2024, 43 min)
When Yowei Shaw gets laid off from her job making podcasts for NPR, she decides to channel her energy into… making podcasts independently. This episode dives into why layoffs can feel so emotionally devastating, and veers into the story of how Proxy itself (which Yowei describes as “emotional investigative journalism”) came into existence.
Bonus podcast episodes:

• Shameless Acquisition Target: “Ep 1 | Turning Chicken Sh&t Into Chicken Seed” (July 2022, 34 min)
  Tired of watching seemingly everyone around her get rich selling podcasts, longtime podcast producer Laura Mayer shamelessly tries to sell you this very podcast. In this episode, Laura walks us through her (somewhat harrowing) personal history in Big Podcasting and sets off on a quest “to sell out as hard and fast as [she] possibly can.”
• Question Everything: “The Critic” (September 2024, 49 min)
  In the first episode Brian Reed’s podcast about “how the truth gets buried, distorted, and denied,” he sits down for a conversation with one of his harshest critics, Gay Alcorn, who wrote a viral column calling Reed’s mega-hit podcast S-Town “morally indefensible.”
• Origin Stories: “Nev Shulman on Catfish” (June 2026, 32 min)
  Did you know that the term “catfish” originated in an independent documentary film? In this episode of Origin Stories, Nev Shulman talks to host Matthew Shaer about the unlikely origins of his deeply personal and strangely touching 2010 documentary that launched a viral MTV series and a cultural phenomenon.
• Decoder Ring: “Laff Box” (April 2018, 30 min)
  This episode digs into the rise and fall of the “laugh track,” the once-ubiquitous sound of pre-recorded laughter that accompanied American sitcoms for decades. Along the way, we meet the creator of the laugh track, and wonder, was the laugh track about something bigger than laughter?
• This American Life: “Break-Up (Act One: Dr. Phil)” (August 2007, 57 min)
  To help her get over getting dumped (and maybe to win her ex back), Starlee Kine decides she’s going to write a love song. But not just any love song, a “torch song” in the vein of Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds.” The only problem is, she’s not a musician or songwriter.

Conversation Starter Questions:

1. How did this playlist change the way you think about the podcasts, films, books, albums, etc., that you consume?
2. Have you had a journey to ‘create’ something? How did it go? Would your own “making of” story make a good podcast?
3. Have you ever started out to create one thing and decided to pivot once you were underway? What happened?
4. What do you think is the definition of “success” when it comes to making art?
5. Did this playlist make you more or less inclined to take on a big creative project? Why?