Just King Things

I’m about halfway through the 2022 episodes, and I have three takeaways: #1: I am really enjoying developing an (admittedly second hand) understanding of Stephen King and his work, while also becoming increasingly sure I do not want to read most of these books. #2: It is very funny to repeatedly get to the end of an episode and have CMRN yet again describe a book as having a terrible ending, then note that King has a reputation for terrible endings, then wonder where this idea comes from because they aren’t all bad. #3: Wow but Bitter Karella’s depiction of King in the Midnight Pals seems spot on.

In the review of Duma Key (the Stephen King novel featuring a couple or crazy frogs), the boys discuss a game characters play in the book where they try to sneak song lyrics into conversation. At which point, Cameron cleverly and subtly namedrops ‘The Annoying Thing’ — once again reminding us of his love of the iconic Crazy Frog. If I could, I would give this podcast 6-stars too.

If you love Stephen King and wish he wrote a podcast instead of books, 'Just King Things' is your new obsession. It's like getting trapped in a Stephen King novel, but with more laughs and fewer murderous clowns. 5/5 would get haunted by a possessed microwave with these hosts again!

There are a few King podcasts out there. This one is distinguished by its streamlined format, with one book per 2-hour episode, no extraneous subject episodes. Dives straight into readings, and it’s two-person presentation means it stays focused and interesting. It is also distinguished by its informed critical approach. Credit is given to King where it is due, and called out when not.