Everything Is Alive

Everything Is Alive is one of the strangest and most charming podcasts ever made. The concept sounds like a joke: host Ian Chillag conducts unscripted interviews with inanimate objects. A can of generic cola named Louis. A bar of soap named Tara. A grain of sand named Chioke. But the conversations are played completely straight, and what emerges is something surprisingly philosophical, funny, and occasionally moving. The guests are improv performers inhabiting these objects, and the interviews unfold naturally without a script. Chillag asks genuine questions — what is it like to be a lamppost? How does a pillow feel about being replaced? — and the answers weave in real facts about the objects alongside fictional inner lives. A conversation with a subway seat becomes a meditation on loneliness. An interview with a bar of soap touches on mortality and purpose. The show manages to be both absurd and sincere, which is a difficult balance to maintain. Part of the Radiotopia network, Everything Is Alive ran for six seasons from 2018 to 2024, producing 59 episodes. It holds a 4.8 star rating from over 5,200 Apple reviews. Episodes are short — typically 15 to 25 minutes — and perfect for when you want something that will make you smile and think at the same time. There really is nothing else like it in podcasting.