From travelgirl again:
Seems to be my day… guy is asking for a podcaster with what looks like someone lying on the ground surrounded by people…
I almost feel like I’m old enough to be screaming “get off my lawn” when I don’t get some of these jokes :)
Uh, right. The fact that the gawkers are all white might be a clue. There’s a longstanding meme that podcast audiences are largely white, though that seems to be changing: a quick search suggests that “The percentage of white podcast listeners has dropped significantly from historical highs, with figures around 58-59% in 2024 compared to 67% in 2014”. I guess that’s a meaningful change, though it’s only slightly over a 10% drop. I did like a line I heard where some guy said, “I’m so white, most of my sentences start with ‘I was listening to a podcast…'” I might be guilty of this myself at times.
Notwithstanding all that, I still can’t get to anything resembling a joke?!
Comics I Don't Understand 
It could be a reference to how the top two spots at the FBI are occupied by podcasters. Need someone with specific skills to do a job? A podcaster should fit the bill!
The joke is that instead of dialing 911 and getting medical help, they want to get someone to podcast about it.
Similar jokes:
(1) have the crowd pull out their smartphones and post live videos — but not call 911.
(2) the injured person wearing a medal around their neck saying “I am a Christian Scientist. In case of accident, take me to a Reading Room”.
#2 is a Geezer Alert: it’s a reference to Catholics wearing medals saying “I am a Catholic. In case of accident, please call a priest.” Do people still wear such medals? I see they are still sold, but that doesn’t mean that they are worn much anymore.
I think in addition to what’s been theorized, the more specific joke here is that true-crime investigative podcasts are an extremely popular part of the medium, and in fact are what lifted it off the ground in the first place. So someone is dead, and rather than calling the police, they want to call a podcaster to do the investigating.
True crime, particularly unsolved murder, has been a very very popular podcast subject for a decade or more. That’s the joke I infer from this strip, that someone would call for podcasters as “first responders” in this possibly implied assault or murder instead of calling paramedics or police.
Aptly, this comic appears around the time of the release of season 5 of “Only Murders in the Building”, which is a show about three apartment building residents who have a podcast about murders, and are often depicted as being more concerned about building content for their podcast than involving the authorities.
‘Hello, and welcome to episode one of the ‘Only Murders On The Sidewalk’ podcast’.
Am I the only person who has never listened to a podcast?
My impression was that it is more important to call a podcaster so that news of the incident is broadcasted than to get help for the injured person. (would one actually call same or contact them by text, etc.)
Every time I try to allot time for a podcast, something else interrupts and I don’t get to finish it.
I follow the Office Ladies podcast on their website. That is Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey going over episodes of the US version of The Office. They have guests related to the show.
There are some that have their podcast episodes on YouTube:
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, just the parts that are Conan and crew talking amongst themselves
Northern Disclosure, Rob Morrow and Janine Turner discussing each episode of Northern Exposure
Mythfits, Kari Byron and Tory Bellaci talk about Mythbusters and interview people
So, the share of all podcast listeners who are white has dropped? Without context, such as the total number of all podcast listeners, it’s possible that the actual number of white podcast listeners has in fact risen significantly, but the number of all other podcast listeners has risen even more dramatically.
bensondonald: for sure. My point was just that the comment that implied that “podcast listener == white” was apparently less true than in the past.
Boise Ed: I listen to podcasts while driving, while doing chores, and while walking when I’m not on a work call. But I’m always doing those otherwise alone, since my wife is bedbound these days; when she was more mobile, I would not have considered listening while she was there!