Bill Simmons Podcasts

The most revealing Bill Simmons listening falls into three distinct modes. You can hear him making the kind of sports and movie arguments associated with his own shows, listen to other hosts examine his place in sports media, or go all the way down the rabbit hole with a podcast devoted to prosecuting his verbal habits one timestamp at a time.

That range matters. A movie panel featuring Simmons has a completely different rhythm from a Celtics show discussing “Bill Simmons drama,” and both are far removed from mock-serious analysis of a stray phrase on his podcast.

Inside the Simmons conversation

The Bill Simmons Podcast is the obvious place to hear the subject from the inside. Episodes tend to bundle several arguments rather than isolate one grand topic. A Radical NBA Idea, Wemby’s Musical Comp, Despising Duke, and Baseball’s ABS Revolution With Chuck Klosterman moves across basketball, college sports, and baseball. UConn’s Miracle, Weirdest NBA Season Ever, A Scary Playoff Team Draft, and an Iffy Expansion Plan With Zach Lowe has the same crowded shape: current games, larger league judgments, and a draft-like device sharing the hour.

The appeal is the movement between those ideas. The show’s conversational style leaves room for an argument to stretch, get challenged, wander into an analogy, and return in a slightly different form. Boston Does L.A., Honeymoon Harden, a Denver Hiccup, and a Kawhi Deep Dive With Zach Lowe is the basketball-heavy route in. For the broader mix, The Mailbag: Dangerous NBA Teams, Lottery Tweaks, the KD Files, The Oscars, and Cruise vs. Pacino | With Chris Ryan and Joe House makes the sports-and-movies blend explicit.

The Bill Simmons Podcast: The Interviews strips away some of that topical pileup and organizes listening around the guest. Its entries include Adam Sandler | June 2022, Freddie Gibbs | February 2022, Kenny G | December 2021, and Paul Thomas Anderson 2 | December 2021. A recognizable name and a single conversation rather than several live sports arguments packed together: if that appeals, these are better starting points.

Then there is The Rewatchables, where Simmons becomes one voice in a fast, overlapping movie panel. The range runs from ‘Rocky II’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan and ‘The Sure Thing’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan to ‘F1’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan. The format is loose, warm, and built for tangents, rankings, recurring categories, and abrupt shifts from filmmaking detail to jokes.

The recent run offers several different panel combinations. ‘The Nice Guys’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Rob Mahoney pairs him with Mahoney, while ‘L.A. Confidential’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Andy Greenwald expands the table. ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan stays with a familiar trio. For live-show energy, there is ‘Basic Instinct’ Live From SF With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Van Lathan.

When every verbal slip becomes evidence

BS Podcast Podcast - A Podcast About The Bill Simmons Podcast is the specialist option. Its whole comic mechanism is close listening: timestamps, repeated clips, pedantic objections, and riffs that keep escalating after the original mistake has been established. It assumes the audience already understands why such microscopic attention is funny.

The episode titles advertise the ritual. The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - January 26, 2021 - 1A or 1B Edition and The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - January 2, 2021 - Caveat Edition turn individual phrases into organizing themes. So do The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - June 7, 2020 - System! Double Edition and The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - April 19, 2020 - The Tennis Edition.

This is the most sustained coverage of Simmons as a recurring comic subject. The show’s dry, proudly petty style can turn grammar, pronunciation, or a mangled analogy into an elaborate mock trial. The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - July 4, 2020 - Real Ways Edition is another entry in that deliberately obsessive format. Start here only if you want commentary that presumes familiarity with the original show and finds pleasure in tiny imperfections.

Sports-media scrutiny

Awful Announcing Podcast approaches Simmons through the sports-media business and the people working inside it. John Jastremski on Bill Simmons, Mike Francesa, Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo, and more places him among several named media figures rather than building a solitary portrait. The show’s measured interview style gives a guest room to think aloud, with practical follow-ups and industry context carrying the conversation.

First To The Floor: A Boston Celtics Podcast comes from a narrower basketball-fan angle. Raptors recap, Bill Simmons drama + more folds the subject into a team-focused episode rather than treating him as the sole attraction. Expect quick, informed Celtics talk, fan exasperation, and interpretation aimed at listeners who already know the surrounding basketball conversation.

These two shows serve different curiosities. Awful Announcing Podcast is the stronger choice for media context; First To The Floor: A Boston Celtics Podcast is for hearing how a Simmons-related dispute lands inside a committed Celtics discussion.

The useful detours—and the passing mentions

Food News provides the sharpest change of scenery. Feeding Babies Butter, Burger King Vs. McDonald's, and Tasting Erewhon With Bill Simmons puts Simmons into a rapid, bantering food conversation. The episode promises ordinary consumer questions treated with playful seriousness, far from a conventional sports roundtable.

Elsewhere, the connection is much lighter. On The Dave Chang Show, examples include The Masters Food and Championship Dinner, #1 Mystery of the Year, and Plating with Chris Ying and Italian Sunday Dinner, Betting, and Inappropriate Dinner Conversations With Cousin Sal, but Simmons is absent from the titles. These are food, betting, and guest-led conversations where any mention is likely incidental rather than the reason to listen.

That caution extends to The Ringer Gambling Show, too. Episodes including NBA Playoff Preview | The Ringer Gambling Show and LeBron Surpasses 43K, College Basketball Shakeup, and Will Tiger be at The Masters? | The Ringer Gambling Show offer brisk panel talk about games, headlines, and betting markets. They may pass through Simmons-adjacent territory, but they are poor starting points for someone specifically seeking substantial coverage of him.

Where to start

Start with ‘L.A. Confidential’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Andy Greenwald for the lively movie-panel version of Simmons.

Choose Boston Does L.A., Honeymoon Harden, a Denver Hiccup, and a Kawhi Deep Dive With Zach Lowe for a sustained basketball conversation in his own show’s style.

Try John Jastremski on Bill Simmons, Mike Francesa, Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo, and more when the sports-media angle is the main attraction.

For the affectionate, hyper-specific roast, begin with The Bill Simmons Podcast PODCAST - January 26, 2021 - 1A or 1B Edition.

Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.