If Joe Rogan was smarter, had better guests, more meaningful topics (and a lot less on-air imbibing): Podcast interview shows seem of late to be the preferred side-hustles of comedians, celebrities, reality stars, and influencers. And it shows in the quality of the content being pumped out there, with interviews devolving into conspiracy theories of the flat-earth variety, astrology, peddling questionable goods — to say nothing of advice on what to do in every room in the house, from the kitchen to the bedroom. It is perhaps surprising that the Lex Fridman Podcast — hosted by the eponymous computer science PhD holder whose natural speaking voice has all the monotony of the Stephen Hawking voice box — has broken the mold to become arguably the second most popular interview podcast show after the Joe Rogan Experience.

Like the latter, Lex Fridman has no qualms with the type of guests and topics he covers: From cybercriminals to the cybersecurity officials who caught them — and from leaders and pioneers to deranged pseudo-celebrities. What differentiates Fridman is the nuance of his approach, which gives every guest the seriousness that arguably some do not deserve.

A masterclass in podcast interviewing: Ironically, the same monotonous voice that drives first-time listeners away appears to make his guess comfortable opening up. The show is also helped by the fact that Fridman is genuinely interested in a broad variety of topics, including tech, politics, history, business, philosophy, psychology, and (being the Russian-American that he is) chess. Episodes on any of these topics are a hit. As people who engage with and interview people with a story to tell, we’ve definitely taken cues from his show.

Some episodes we most definitely recommend include:

• Brett Johnson: One of the founders of the first hacker groups (listen, runtime: 3:453:05)
• Jack Barsky: KGB spy and author of "Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America” (listen, runtime: 3:43:16)
• Vitalik Buterin: The inventor of the ethereum cryptocurrency — First interview (listen, runtime: 1:35:31) and second interview (listen, runtime: 3:08:54)
• Coffeezilla: Internet investigative journalist and YouTuber (listen, runtime: 3:51:31)
• Gotham Chess: Chess grandmaster, educator and commentator (listen, runtime: 3:38:31)
• Stephen Kotkin: Princeton history professor and preeminent Joseph Stalin biographer (listen, runtime: 1:37:49)
• Dennis Whyte: Nuclear scientist at MIT and the director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (listen, runtime: 3:13:37)
• Kanye ‘Ye’ West: Former genius, current right-wing nut job, failed presidential candidate, and Kim Kardashian’s ex (listen, runtime: 2:33:53)

The Lex Fridman Podcast is available on all platforms: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami | Google Podcasts | YouTube.