The Incomparable

Podcasters: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let’s Find Out! Jason Snell talks about marine life in J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948).

Previous Episodes

• April 5, 2024

  157 The Veldt

  Host John McCoy with Jordan Morris

  Lions and tigers and bea— you know what, just lions. Jordan Morris is here to discuss Ray Bradbury’s story “the Veldt” (1950).

• March 15, 2024

  156 Heart of Darkness

  Host John McCoy with John Holt

  The Podcast! The Podcast! John Holt discusses the ill-fated cruise that is Joseph Conrad’s novelette Heart of Darkness (1899).

• February 1, 2024

  155 Tom Sawyer

  Host John McCoy with Jacob Haller

  Though his mind is not for rent, it still is the subject of this episode. Jacob Haller discusses Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer (1876).

• January 10, 2024

  154 Wide Sargasso Sea

  Host John McCoy with Caroline Fulford

  Actually, I need this sea in an extra wide. Caroline Fulford discusses postcolonialism and recurring fires in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).

• December 24, 2023

  153 The Burglar’s Christmas

  Host John McCoy with Marina McCoy

  The Burgermeister Meisterburger has nothing on this burglar! My wife Marina joins me for our annual Christmas episode. This time we discuss Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas” (1896).

• December 7, 2023

  152 The Prince in Waiting

  Host John McCoy with Ross Cleaver and James Randall

  The waiting is the hardest part. Ross Cleaver and James Randall discuss the apocalypse, palace intrigue, and the charm of 80’s BBC television in this episode about John Christopher’s The Prince in Waiting (1970).

• November 22, 2023

  151 Thanksgiving Special: Poor Richard’s Almanack

  Host John McCoy with Dan McCoy and Rob McCoy

  Fish and visitors stink in three days, but podcasts are evergreen! Dan and Rob return for the annual Thanksgiving nonsense with Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758).

• November 10, 2023

  150 Valley of the Dolls

  Host John McCoy

  Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Chucky—they’re all here. That’s what this book is about, right? Erin Gambrill discusses Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (1966).

• October 11, 2023

  149 On the Beach

  Host John McCoy with Jelani Sims

  Why just sit around waiting for the end of the world when you can hear a podcast about it? Jelani Sims discusses Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957).

• September 7, 2023

  148 History of the Peloponnesian War

  Host John McCoy with Daniel Daughetee

  Kids today love Thucydides, right? Anyone? Daniel Daughhetee returns to discuss this late fifth century BCE chronicle of Athens v. Sparta.