We tracked 160 episodes across 21 major shows. Here are the ten worth your attention. Bonus: a curated calendar of every release we followed.
By LA Today·Updated Aug 6, 2026 Verified August 2026
The short answer
Start with MrBeast pitching a $10 million zombie show on Joe Rogan, two of the largest audiences in media designing a television concept live on air. Then Erin Brockovich, who ran an AI data-center story through Theo Von and Shawn Ryan and into PBS inside a fortnight. All ten picks below are embedded, so you can listen here.
Jimmy Donaldson floated a $5 to $10 million zombie survival competition live on air: contestants survive in an abandoned location, the prize grows daily, and eliminated players possibly return as zombies.
He has not worked out the obvious problem.
I always get hung up on, okay, I can make some real zombies, but the problem is like, how do they kill them?
MrBeast, JRE #2527
Also from MrBeast in JulyHe granted 100 wishes with Disney, and 90 percent of the donors were first-time donors. It is in our July YouTube roundup.
2
Joe Rogan on Kill Tony
Jul 7Kill Tony #775With That Mexican OT
Why it mattersThe last piece of genuinely unscripted comedy television, at its highest-traffic booking.
Rogan and That Mexican OT on the panel, the biggest booking the show ran all month. An hour of one-minute sets judged live in front of a room is the last piece of genuinely unscripted comedy television left.
Kill Tony is not an LA showIt records at the Comedy Mothership in Austin. The "Sunset Strip Comedy Club" on Deathsquad's site is an Austin room named after ours. Episodes air about two weeks after taping, so the July 28 Jimmy Carr show was recorded July 13.
3
Erin Brockovich on Theo Von
Jul 19This Past Weekend #670Also on Shawn Ryan Jul 17
Why it mattersOne guest, two ideologically opposite shows, then public broadcasting inside a fortnight.
Brockovich spent July arguing that AI data centers are quietly draining and contaminating American water supplies, and she ran the play twice: Shawn Ryan on July 17, Theo Von on July 19. Within a fortnight PBS ran "Erin Brockovich Is Taking On a New Issue: AI Data Centers" on Amanpour and Company. Two shows with large right-leaning audiences, then public broadcasting, in under two weeks.
The LA angle is realBrockovich's original case was Hinkley, in San Bernardino County. This is a Southern California water story that grew up, and the Theo Von episode is where she goes deepest on Hinkley itself.
4
Dustin Poirier on Diary of a CEO
Jul 6Billed a world exclusiveGuest: Dustin Poirier
Why it mattersA fighter with nothing left to promote, talking about what the sport cost him.
The hook is in the title: "I deleted social media after the incident." Poirier retired from the UFC in 2025 after one of the most decorated careers never to hold an undisputed belt.
Bartlett's July slate is mostly health-optimisation episodes. This is the one to start with.
5
Conor McGregor on Full Send
Jul 10Comeback exclusiveGuest: Conor McGregor
Why it mattersA UFC return announced on a YouTube podcast rather than to a sports desk.
The reality-TV debrief the format was built for. Love Island USA is the last show that can take an unknown from a finale to a million-listener podcast in a matter of weeks.
Rerun alertThe Kenzie interview is new. Some of the other Call Her Daddy episodes dated July are not. Here is which ones.
7
Edward Norton on Armchair Expert
Jul 1Recorded in Los AngelesGuest: Edward Norton
Why it mattersOne of the few repeat guests who answers the question he was asked.
Norton is one of the few guests Shepard has back repeatedly, and the reason is that he answers the question he was asked. Recorded in Los Angeles, with no publicist in the room.
Also from Armchair Expert in July:Geena Davis on July 20, Tommy Lee on July 22, and Alan Ritchson on July 27, three days before Reacher season four dropped. Fourteen episodes in the month, the busiest slate of any show we track.
8
Danny McBride on Conan
Jul 6Produced in Los AngelesGuest: Danny McBride
Why it mattersAn hour that goes nowhere on purpose, and is better for it.
McBride returning is the purest version of this show: no promotion cycle doing any real work, two comedians who find each other funny, an hour that goes nowhere on purpose. Conan's show is produced in Los Angeles.
He also got Mick Jagger on July 13, talking six decades and the Rolling Stones' 25th studio album Foreign Tongues, which is a legitimate news hook independent of the interview.
9
Every Pudding Flavor on GMM
Jul 2414 episodes in JulyNo guest
Why it mattersA taste test with no news value, made with total commitment, for the eleventh year.
Fourteen episodes in July, on a weekday schedule they have held for over a decade. A taste test with no news value, no guest and no hook, made with total commitment.
Good Mythical Morning has outlasted nearly every format that launched alongside it by refusing to become anything else.
10
Tom Brady on New Heights
Jul 8New Heights #198Guest: Tom Brady
Why it mattersFour quotes carried it, and the NFL press ran them the same day.
The most quotable episode of the month. Brady on the Nate Clements hit, on Randy Moss's Week 1 catch in 2007, on his favourite Super Bowl, and on the argument that will not die.
It's just a dumb analogy.
Tom Brady on the Belichick debate, New Heights #198
Travis Kelce also made a Taylor Swift reference in the first New Heights recorded after their wedding. Boston.com and the NFL press ran the standout moments the same day.
The LA Layer
Armchair Expert and Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend are both produced in Los Angeles, and between them they ran 19 episodes in July. They are the two biggest interview shows still made here.
Tommy Lee did both Joe Rogan on July 1 and Armchair Expert on July 22, walking through the Sunset Strip to worldwide fame and Mötley Crüe getting sober before recording Dr. Feelgood. Sunset Strip history narrated by someone who was the Sunset Strip.
Club Shay Shay got both halves of Bad Friends in one sitting on July 16: Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino on Joe Rogan, joke stealing, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and Kevin Hart. Bad Friends is LA-recorded and both men are fixtures of the LA club circuit.
What everybody gets wrong: Kill Tony and the Joe Rogan Experience are Austin shows now, not LA ones. Same correction in our July YouTube roundup.
The Call Her Daddy Reruns
Three Call Her Daddy episodes are dated July but are not new. If you saw one announced last month and thought you had missed it, you had not. Every affected row is badged in the calendar below.
The Janelle Monáe episode dated July 31 is tagged "(FBF)" on Apple's feed. FBF is an established Call Her Daddy convention meaning Flashback Friday, a re-release. That Janelle Monáe interview originally aired in 2023. Other confirmed FBF-tagged episodes include Spencer Pratt, Kristin Cavallari and Offset.
The Riley Keough episode dated July 3 appears to have originally run in January 2025, based on the show's own promotion at the time. Likely also a rerun.
The Nara Smith episode dated July 29, "Stop Calling Me a Tradwife," is real and did generate coverage. Whether the July date is the original air date or a re-release, we could not confirm.
None of this is a knock on the show. Flashback Fridays are an announced format, and the interviews are good. They are just not new.
What Broke Into the News
JD Vance on JRE #2526, July 15. The Vice President spent a long stretch on Jeffrey Epstein, saying he "clearly had connections to the upper, the highest levels, of American intelligence" and to "the highest levels of Israeli intelligence." The Jewish Telegraphic Agency covered it as a notable embrace of theories that have historically veered into antisemitism and noted that no evidence supports the intelligence claims. Al Jazeera, The Hill, the Philadelphia Inquirer and three Jerusalem Post op-eds followed. The sharpest pushback came from the right: Tomi Lahren, on Fox Business, called it "a huge misstep."
Erin Brockovich's AI data-center campaign. Shawn Ryan July 17, Theo Von July 19, PBS Amanpour and Company shortly after.
MrBeast's zombie show pitch on JRE #2527. Covered as a development story by multiple entertainment outlets.
Tom Brady on New Heights #198. Boston.com and the wider NFL press ran the standout moments the same day.
Nara Smith rejecting the "tradwife" label on Call Her Daddy. Picked up widely, regardless of the air-date question.
The Full July Calendar
All 160 episodes from the 21 shows we track, each linked straight to the episode. Filter by category, then open the show you want.
What was the biggest podcast episode of July 2026?
By news impact, The Joe Rogan Experience #2526 with Vice President JD Vance, released July 15. It generated coverage in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Al Jazeera, The Hill, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and three Jerusalem Post opinion pieces, plus criticism from the right including Tomi Lahren on Fox Business. It is not in our top ten, which ranks episodes worth listening to rather than episodes that made noise. By that measure the pick is MrBeast on JRE #2527, July 17.
Which July 2026 podcast episodes have a Los Angeles connection?
Armchair Expert with Tommy Lee is the strongest, covering his rise from the Sunset Strip, on a podcast recorded in LA. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Mick Jagger is also produced in Los Angeles. Club Shay Shay with Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino connects to the LA comedy club circuit through Bad Friends. Erin Brockovich's appearances center on the Hinkley case in San Bernardino County.
Is Kill Tony recorded in Los Angeles?
No. Kill Tony records at the Comedy Mothership in Austin, Texas. The "Sunset Strip Comedy Club" listed on Deathsquad's site is an Austin venue named in homage to the LA original. Joe Rogan's own show is also recorded in Austin.
Were the Call Her Daddy July 2026 episodes new?
At least one was not. The Janelle Monáe episode dated July 31 is tagged FBF, the show's Flashback Friday convention, and originally aired in 2023. The Riley Keough episode dated July 3 appears to have first run in January 2025. The Nara Smith episode is new. Both rerun rows are badged in our calendar.
What did Ray Dalio say about the AI bubble?
On Diary of a CEO on July 30, Dalio identified inexperienced investors chasing price, excessive stock issuance, and valuations disconnected from real money as bubble markers, and warned that rapid selling could become contagion. He also described an "unemployability crisis" for young workers, arguing AI is eating white-collar entry-level roles faster than retraining can absorb them.
How many podcast episodes came out in July 2026?
Across the 21 major shows we track, 160 episodes. The Pat McAfee Show was the most prolific with 16, followed by The Joe Rogan Experience with 15, and Armchair Expert and Good Mythical Morning with 14 each. Lex Fridman published one.
The Verdict
Start with MrBeast on Rogan. Two of the largest audiences in media designing a television show in real time is the clearest picture anyone gave last month of what podcasting has become: not an interview format, a development room with an audience.
Then listen to Brockovich on Theo Von. It is the only episode in July where somebody used one of these shows to move an argument into places it could not otherwise reach, and it worked well enough to end up on PBS inside a fortnight.
And if you want one hour of pure craft, take Danny McBride on Conan. Nothing in it is news. That is the point.
Get August's ten picks the day they drop. We do this every month, and it goes out first in The LA Today Newsletter, free, with the calendar attached. Subscribe free →
