Podcasts of the week – Scrubs stars, reunited!

Picks of the week

Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald
If you’re deep in Scrubs rewatch territory right now, this new podcast from doctor double act Zach Braff and Donald Faison is what you need. The anecdotes flow freely as Braff describes the moment they became JD and Turk and their bromance began immediately. “Every time I was playing the wide-eyed guy walking around, I was just being me because I couldn’t believe it was happening,” says Braff. They mirror their characters a lot as they talk about their hatred of the show’s credits, X-ray blunders and more. Hannah Verdier

Unlocking Us
Oprah-endorsed self-help queen, academic and bestselling author Brené Brown hosts this podcast, essentially an anxiety-quelling Ted talk in audio form. If that sounds worthy, perhaps it’s exactly the boost we need right now; not least in the first episode, where Brown throws out a Mandela quote and implores us to temper our expectations with new experiences (or FFTs, “effing first times”), especially in the current pandemic (“I’m a grown-ass person, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing … ”). Hannah J Davies

Producer pick: Here’s the Deal

Chosen by Danielle Stephens (audio producer)

Former vice president, current democratic nominee for the presidency and now … podcast host. In a week that saw Biden’s only rival for the democratic nominee suspend his campaign, he sat down (virtually of course) with the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She is the reason to listen to this week’s episode. Whitmer has simultaneously garnered admiration from the more powerful Democrat players, and drawn ire from a certain Republican in the White House for how she’s dealing with Covid-19 in her state.

She talks about having to work, and enjoy working, with Republicans across the aisle to build a consensus – breath of fresh air for anyone who, like me, who feels bipartisanship has been all but lost in the US. There’s a small monologue by Biden in the middle about how great Americans have been through the coronavirus crisis, but you can skip that and come back in for the listener’s questions at the end.

Unfortunately for Joe, I don’t think he’s found his calling in podcasting. But it will certainly be interesting to see who else appears on the show in the run up to the November election.

Talking points

• This week, the Guardian fashion desk compiled a list of the best audio shows for style fans, from feminist art with Dior to a huge range of sustainable initiatives in Wardrobe Crisis.

• Why not try: Gurls Talk with Adwoa Aboah | Coronavirus in California | This Game Changed My Life