The 23 Best Best Interview Podcasts (2026)

Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett started SmartLess in 2020 with a format that sounds too simple to work: each week, one host surprises the other two with a mystery celebrity guest. The catch is that the surprise is real. The other two hosts have zero idea who is about to appear, and their genuine reactions ranging from giddy excitement to confused silence set the tone for every episode.

The guest list is absurd. Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, and Jennifer Lawrence have all sat down for conversations that feel nothing like a press tour. The chemistry comes from decades of actual friendship, not a producer-arranged partnership, and it shows. Bateman plays the straight man with bone-dry timing. Arnett leans into chaos and self-deprecation. Hayes brings a theatrical energy that swings between sincere curiosity and gleeful trolling of his co-hosts. Together, they create an atmosphere where A-list guests drop their guard and say things they probably would not say on a late-night couch.

With 343 episodes and a 4.6 rating from over 53,000 reviews, SmartLess has grown from a pandemic side project into one of the biggest podcasts on the planet, signing a massive deal with SiriusXM. Episodes run about an hour, which is the sweet spot: long enough for the conversation to go somewhere interesting, short enough that nobody runs out of steam. The show works best when the hosts forget they are interviewing someone famous and just start roasting each other, which happens in basically every episode.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus had one of the greatest sitcom careers in television history, and she's using that platform to do something genuinely lovely: sit down with older women and just listen. Wiser Than Me pairs Julia with iconic women who have the kind of unapologetic wisdom that only comes from decades of living -- and each episode also includes a segment with her 91-year-old mother, Judith, which is consistently the most charming part of the show.

Now in its fourth season on Lemonada Media, the podcast features hour-long conversations with guests like Diana Nyad, Glenn Close, Sister Helen Prejean, and Catherine O'Hara. The common thread is women who have stopped caring about what people think and have something real to say about it. Julia is a surprisingly skilled interviewer -- she's funny, obviously, but she also knows when to get out of the way and let her guests talk. The show has 107 episodes, a 4.7-star rating from over 10,000 reviews, and it fills a space that most media ignores entirely: the wisdom of older women. In a culture that tends to push women past a certain age out of the spotlight, this podcast pulls them back in and hands them the microphone. It's warm without being sentimental, funny without being frivolous, and genuinely moving in ways you don't expect from a comedy podcast.

David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro take turns hosting The Interview for the New York Times, and each brings a completely different energy that keeps the show unpredictable. Marchese is known for his probing, sometimes uncomfortable questions that push famous guests off their talking points. Garcia-Navarro, who came from NPR, has a warmer but equally incisive approach. New episodes drop every Saturday, running about 45 minutes to an hour, and the guest list reads like a who's who of global influence: Gisele Pelicot discussing surviving abuse, Michael Pollan on AI and consciousness, Chloe Zhao on filmmaking and fear, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confronting federal overreach. The show has 99 episodes and a 3.9-star rating from about 1,500 listeners, with the lower rating likely reflecting some guests being polarizing rather than any quality issue. What sets this apart from standard celebrity interview shows is the preparation. These hosts clearly read everything their guests have published and use that knowledge to ask questions that actually produce new information. It's journalism as conversation, backed by the full reporting power of the Times. Not every episode will interest every listener, but when the pairing of host and guest clicks, it produces some of the best long-form interviews available anywhere in audio.

Amy Poehler launched Good Hang in March 2025 and it shot straight into the podcast charts, which honestly tracks for someone who spent years on SNL and created Leslie Knope. The premise is simple: Amy invites famous people into her studio and they just talk. No self-help agenda, no productivity hacks -- the show explicitly says it is not trying to make you better. Instead, you get Amy trading stories with guests like Viola Davis, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, and Jennifer Lawrence about their careers, mutual friends, and whatever is making them laugh lately. It already has over 10,000 ratings with a 4.7-star average after just one year, which tells you people are responding to the vibe. Amy is the kind of interviewer who makes A-list guests sound like regular people. She can find the weird, specific detail in a guest life story and pull on it until you get something you have never heard before. The show mixes studio recordings with live-taped episodes, so the energy shifts between intimate and electric. Produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite Productions, it has a polished sound without feeling overproduced. New episodes drop weekly and run about an hour each. If you miss the warmth of a great late-night interview but wish it had more inside jokes and fewer commercial breaks, this is exactly that.

Audie Cornish spent years as a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered, and when she left for CNN, she brought her interviewing instincts with her but ditched the broadcast constraints. The Assignment is the result: a weekly show where Cornish picks one big cultural or political question and explores it through conversations with the people closest to it. She's not interested in horse-race politics or who's up and who's down. She wants to understand why people believe what they believe.

The show works because Cornish is an unusually patient interviewer. She'll let a guest finish a thought that most hosts would interrupt, and then ask a follow-up that reframes the entire conversation. One week she might be talking to an online influencer about how they accidentally became a political figure. The next, she's sitting down with a policy expert to untangle something that sounds simple but absolutely isn't. The range keeps things unpredictable in the best way.

With 218 episodes since 2022 and a 4.6-star rating, The Assignment has built a loyal audience that values substance over speed. Episodes drop every Thursday, run about 30 to 45 minutes, and are rated clean, which means Cornish keeps things professional without being boring about it. CNN produces the show, but it doesn't feel like cable news -- there's no shouting, no countdown clocks, no panel of pundits talking over each other. It's one person asking smart questions and actually listening to the answers.

Craig Ferguson traded his late night desk for a podcast mic and the result is pure conversational gold. Joy explores happiness through wildly different guests - comedians, scientists, authors, random fascinating humans. Ferguson's Scottish wit and genuine warmth make everyone open up in ways they wouldn't elsewhere. He asks odd questions that somehow unlock real answers. If you miss the old Late Late Show energy but want something deeper, this scratches that itch perfectly. Delightfully unpredictable every single episode.

Long-form interviews done right. No soundbite fishing, no rapid-fire nonsense. Just two people having a conversation that's given enough space to actually go somewhere interesting. The guest range keeps things fresh, and the host has solid instincts about when to push deeper and when to let someone talk. Not every episode will be your thing, but the ones that connect really connect. Refreshing in a media landscape obsessed with brevity and hot takes.

Visual artists, sculptors, painters, mixed-media creators - this podcast sits down with people who make things and asks them how and why. Goes way past the boring "tell me about your inspiration" questions into actual mechanics and philosophy of creative work. If you make art yourself, you'll recognize the struggles and breakthroughs being described. If you don't, you'll understand artists better after listening. Unhurried conversations that treat the creative process with the seriousness it deserves.

Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (yes, that's what RHLSTP stands for) is one of the UK's longest-running comedy interview shows. Herring has this gift for making comedians drop their media-trained guard and tell stories they haven't shared anywhere else. The live audience energy adds genuine electricity. Some episodes are hilarious, some surprisingly emotional, most are both. The back catalog alone is worth weeks of listening. A proper institution in British comedy podcasting.

Norah Jones invites musicians into her studio and they just... play together. Jamming on each other's songs, figuring out arrangements in real time, seeing what happens when two artists collide spontaneously. The conversations between songs are warm and unguarded, but the real magic is the music itself. Hearing professionals discover something new together is genuinely thrilling. Genres blur constantly. If you love watching creative people create, this is about as close as a podcast can get to being in the room.

Bridger Winegar invites comedians and creative types on with one simple rule: don't bring gifts. They always bring gifts anyway. That running bit sets the tone for everything else - playful, a little chaotic, and genuinely funny without trying too hard. The conversations go weird places because guests are already loose and laughing before the real talk starts. It's a clever format trick that actually works. The comedy world is full of interview shows but this one carved out its own lane with personality and a gimmick that never gets old somehow.

David Harper interviews comic book creators - writers, artists, editors, publishers - with genuine respect for comics as an art form and genuine preparation for each conversation. The result is interviews that go beyond promotional appearances into real discussions about craft, career, industry challenges, and creative vision. If you read comics and want to understand the human beings behind the pages, Off Panel is essential listening. Thoughtful, well-researched, and committed to treating comics with the seriousness they deserve without being pretentious about it.

Echoes takes the interview format and wraps it in atmosphere - ambient music, thoughtful pacing, production that creates something closer to audio art than traditional talk radio. The guests tend toward musicians, artists, and contemplative thinkers who match the slower energy. If most interview podcasts feel like they're rushing through questions to fill time, this is the opposite extreme. Meditative conversations that breathe. Not for everyone - if you want rapid-fire banter, look elsewhere. But if you appreciate slowness and depth, Echoes creates a unique listening space that nothing else occupies.

A podcast specifically about motivational interviewing as a therapeutic practice - the clinical technique used by counselors and coaches to help people find their own motivation for change. Surprisingly interesting even if you're not in the field. The principles apply to any conversation where you want to help someone without telling them what to do. Good for therapists, coaches, managers, teachers, parents, and anyone who's realized that telling people to change rarely works. The science of behavior change, applied through conversation.

Comic Book Yeti's interview show shines a light on indie comic creators who are doing wildly creative work outside the Marvel/DC machine. The conversations dig into process, inspiration, and the unglamorous reality of making comics independently. If mainstream superhero content bores you but you still love the medium, these interviews will open up a whole world of stuff you've been missing. The hosts ask good questions and genuinely care about the independent scene. A love letter to the weird, wonderful corner of comics that doesn't get enough attention.

Metal musicians from across the entire heavy spectrum - thrash legends, underground black metal acts, progressive metalcore newcomers - interviewed by a host who clearly lives and breathes this music. The knowledge and respect shows, and guests respond to that authenticity by sharing stories and insights they don't offer to interviewers who treat metal as a novelty. For metal heads who want serious coverage of their genre from someone who understands its history, its culture, and its ongoing evolution. Metal journalism done with love.

For people preparing for consulting case interviews at McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and similar firms. The podcast breaks down frameworks, works through practice cases, and treats the interview as a skill you can systematically improve rather than some mysterious test of innate genius. The specificity is valuable - consulting interviews are genuinely different from other professional interviews, and generic advice can actively hurt you. Practical, direct, and focused on the specific challenge of cracking consulting's notoriously difficult interview format.

InterViews keeps it simple - interesting guests, genuine questions, and enough time to actually explore a topic properly. No gimmicks, no manufactured controversy, no format games. Just conversations that feel like the kind you'd overhear at a dinner party and immediately want to join. The guest diversity is solid and the host knows when to push and when to let someone talk. In a podcast landscape overloaded with angles and hooks, straightforward done well is its own reward. Consistent quality, no filler, and the quiet confidence of a show that trusts its content.