PODCASTS

The most engrossing podcast Dan Taberski has produced since Missing Richard Simmons, Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spread among high school girls in Le Roy, N.Y., beginning in 2011, in what is believed to be the largest case of mass hysteria since the Salem witch trials.

- ELIANA DOCKTERMAN

1. HYSTERICAL

The scandal occurred near Taberski's hometown, and he's able to bring a local charm to his color commentary and interviews, keeping what could be a dour show relatively light.

2. THE LONELY ISLAND & SETH MEYERS PODCAST

Celebrities' recaps of their own shows tend to be self-indulgent and not especially analytical. This is an exception. Seth Meyers teases insightful and hilarious stories out of his former Saturday Night Live co-workers Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer, about the process of writing joke songs about, say, the kind of presents not normally wrapped in boxes. The podcast lands at an existential moment for SNL on the eve of its 50th anniversary. Some 20 years ago, the Lonely Island dragged SNL into the YouTube era. Perhaps there are lessons to be gleaned from this throwback show about the future of comedy.

3. THE WONDER OF STEVIE

Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic Wesley Morris tackles the career of iconic musician Stevie Wonder with a little help from guests Barack and Michelle Obama. The show begins in 1972 and traces the next half decade in the musician's career, during which he won 12 Grammys. Morris is able to succinctly divine meaning from Wonder's art in this joyful celebration of an icon.