Friendship, bits, and everyday detours.
The Side Dish turns hangouts into episodes, with Aaron Shin, Jay Lee, and returning friends riffing through travel, work, family, media, and small social absurdities. Its charm comes from relaxed timing: a Costco tote bag can become a business theory, and a family Catan night can become the emotional center.
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The Side Dish is a casual conversation show where the main subject is usually the room itself. Aaron Shin and Jay Lee appear as the regular center, with friends and guests rotating through stories, teasing, and low-stakes debates. The episodes rarely move in a straight line. That is part of the appeal. A return from the United States leads to airport anxiety, hyper-capitalist observations, and a possible resale market for Korea’s Americana. A concert update sits beside a riff on tote bags, Costco branding, and whether every stray thought is secretly a business idea. Another episode skips the polished setup and lets the awkwardness become the setup. The show is comfortable with false starts. It also knows when a small detail is funnier than a big topic. Chris Ha’s appearance brings in the perspective of a longtime listener and anesthesiologist, but the conversation still behaves like friends catching up rather than a formal guest interview. Sol Lee arrives agitated, and the episode follows that energy into family, class, and the social temperature of the studio. Celine Jung and Suman Han help turn a new-year check-in into a warm stretch about family visits, pajamas, and Catan. The show often jokes about its own machinery: intros, cold reads, edits, hiatuses, and the strange pressure to perform charisma. It can be blunt. It can also be unexpectedly soft. The rhythm is fast, overlapping, and very conversational, with jokes landing through familiarity more than punchline polish. Listeners who want a tight agenda may find it slippery. Listeners who like smart friends making meaning out of errands, media, food, work, family, and internet finds will understand it quickly. The Side Dish works because it treats the ordinary as enough. A flower haiku, a board game, or a terrible AI intro can carry the episode if the chemistry is there.
Made for: For listeners who like casual hangout shows with quick friend-group chemistry, self-aware bits, and stories from ordinary life. It especially suits people who prefer conversational drift over formal interviews.
What sets it apart: The Side Dish is less about topics than social texture: interruptions, callbacks, awkward starts, and tiny observations become the show’s engine. Its episodes feel edited from a real hangout, not built around a premise.
The main course is friendship ;) Recorded at Bestville Studios in South Korea. Instagram: @_thesidedish
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose hangout that turns travel absurdities and branded-object jokes into easy chemistry.
The Side Dish keeps things loose, but there is a real thread under the banter: travel, branded stuff, and stray jokes keep folding back into a talk about capitalism and resale.
Firehouse talk with real tactical weight.
Strange accounts with West Virginia static.
Vampire fandom with teeth and receipts.
Oilers talk with the side quests left in.
Aaron Shin, Jay Lee, and James Chung open with James's return from the United States, where he calls the country "hyper-capitalist" and describes an airport encounter with an ICE agent.
A casual conversation podcast where hosts interview a long-time listener and doctor about friendship and third culture experiences.
The Side Dish hosts Aaron Shin, Jay Lee, Saul Lee, and James Chung discuss sleep, family visits, bowling, books, films, music taste, Korean social life, and Harry Potter.
The Side Dish's “The Bazilisk” follows host Aaron Shin, co-host Jay Lee, and guest Basil Magnetti through an Arizona childhood spent rescuing dogs, reptiles, emus, horses, and an 18-foot Colombian boa constrictor.
Tamara Blank describes working as an art teacher and missionary in China, leaving the country every 60 days on a visitor visa, and later becoming a youth pastor at a Korean church in Pittsburgh.
The Side Dish episode "My Orange Oppa" introduces recent high-school graduates Bran Taylor and Tyler Yoon, who make sketch content while navigating social-media algorithms and creative identity.
The host humorously introduces the podcast with exaggerated metaphors and jokes, then discusses a cold read of the intro.
Friends catch up after the New Year, sharing stories about family time and playing Catan.