Andraste

Dreamboy is a great podcast that is difficult to describe but here goes: a musician named Dane moves into his friend's house in Pepper Heights, Cleveland, for the winter. In theory he is there to write some music, but in practice he divides his time between working a crappy job at the weird local zoo and fruitlessly browsing Grindr. Then he meets a boy who is having the exact same weird dream he's having ... oh, and also there's a murderous zebra and did I mention it's a musical?

None of that gets anywhere near capturing the charm of this quirky show, which is both more and less weird than the premise makes it sound. Less so because I feel like I've been exactly where Dane is, as most people have, no matter how much the details of the crappy job and the time-wasting phone app vary from person to person. More so because it's about the deep strangeness of suburbia and the stuff that hides inside and behind modern life. Also because of the murderous zebra and the songs. (And the songs about the murderous zebra. And the singing drag queen who is dressed like the zebra, because why not?) It's both poignant and creepy and really funny.

Also, something that may be a bug or a feature depending on personal preference: this is easily the most sexually explicit podcast I have ever listened to. Which makes sense, since sex is one of those things that hides inside suburbia. Along with mysterious Girl Scouts, random cakes, surprise exotic wasps, and those dreams about weird giant fish.

The show has just finished its first season, and while I do hope they make more, it tells a complete story that comes to what would be a satisfying conclusion if they didn't.