I would recommend this podcast for any potter fan! I was 6 when I read the first book and 10 when I read the last one... I’ve been re re re re reading them ever since, and I don’t remember my first time reading the series. This podcast gives me a new perspective.
I started late to the game listening to potterless because I didn’t think I would like someone making fun of my favorite books. BUT I love potterless! Mike and guests really comb out the good, the bad, and the meh? that was weird of JK Rowling and this series. I’m almost done with the book episodes but I’m so glad there is still a bunch of episodes backlogged with the whole world of Harry Potter. I have conflicting feelings about my obsession with HP as I think a lot of fans do, and this podcast is perfect for those people.
This is so good!!!!!! Why does all the bias make this 10x better!!!!!!! I love it 😂 ALSO THE GACT THAT THUY ARE CARVARIN MY IMARTIL IS SO GUUD (get it)
Binge listening to this Podcast is a Jolly great time!! It has yet to disappoint. Every podcast about spewing (or ejaculating as JK would say) your option into the vast internet must face the idea that people will not only agree and disagree with you on every little thing but will be passionate about it. Mike easily overcomes any issues associated with this. For one he brings on guests who quiet often have vastly different views and/or opinions to others on the podcast including himself (especially so). He is absolutely snarky but clearly REALLY enjoys the books. He’s maybe not the BIGGEST harry Potter fan, but he doesn’t need to. I also like how he states the facts and brings up trends and patterns BOTH good and bad. It makes it relatable and easy to enjoy his perspective even if you don’t agree with his option. A great example of this is his view on quidditch. personally I don’t love it or hate it. It has some rad concepts with silly things with the rules and safety that bog it down. Though Mike clearly vastly dislikes quidditch more than I do (again I am mild on it), I still enjoy his thoughts on it because he brings up a lot of these sillinesses. He’s not wrong! Not wrong indeed.
Also, he is skilled in his choice of guest. Also also, Mike’s blatant inability to understand saying of basic f*cking English is hilarious. Buddy how have you not heard of higgledy-piggledy or prat?? I used the prior all the time growing up. Jiminy Christmas (do you know what that means?). Thank goodness for you English consultant. Keep up the good stuff! Go Hufflepuff!!! And a shout out to Ravenclaw. Woo-Hoo! My favorite of the Harry Potter Books are 3
Mike Schubert is literally the podcaster that made me love podcasts! He’s fun and funny and he will definitely make you smile. Potterless is no exception and you should absolutely listen to this podcast!
The book ones are great! Love it, the really stupid errors in “basic” (but actually we only know it cuz we’re obsessed) knowledge are forgivable because it’s great to experience HP for the first time again through someone else’s eyes.
I stopped listening when he went on to the modern stuff after the original creator came out as a heinous TERF...and the podcast never stopped telling me about it. I just don’t want to hear his largely uniformed and very emotional opinions about EVERY social justice issue in the news right now. It makes them seem cheaper and more like he’s doing it to be the on trend and not from a genuine place. Maybe just say your peace not yell it at us, we either already agree and get it or if someone doesn’t agree they’re not gonna like being yelled at.
It’s great that he does so many donations though, I guess.
I was just listening to the episode Prisoner of Azkaban 17-19 (ish). They are talking about animagus and how you don’t decide your Animagus, it’s pretty much reflected by your personality. Then the host, who had never read the books says “why would you make the person who is a RAT and rats are synonymous with being untrustworthy- why would you make this rat the person who knows the secret?” (Which, by the way, good point) BUT, that shows he has Potter knowledge to me which just takes away the excitement of hearing someone “read the books” for the first time. Made me question it.
this podcast is so good. this podcast is so epic that it single handedly cured all starvation, performed open-heart surgery on an innocent elderly woman, and saved a new born baby from a fire all in one breath. on a real note though this my favorite podcast and i listen to it while doing anything and everything. it would be wise to listen to it bc you will not regret it. its truly a 10/10.
Let’s start with the good stuff:
As someone who first read Harry Potter about a decade ago and has read the series several times since, I love hearing a different perspective from someone who’s just beginning to read it! Mike’s podcast made me rethink so many little plot details and character arcs. I find his snarky commentary to be really refreshing and quite funny. I’m not much of a podcast person, but I listen to this constantly, and it has caused me to fall back in love with Harry Potter again.
But here’s the bad: It’s definitely worth mentioning that Mike, the host, is very opinionated. He absolutely hates quidditch and feels the need to mention this fact in every single episode, which can get repetitive. I wish he had gone into the books with a more open mind instead of picking apart every little detail. The entire concept of the wizarding world is so complex that of course it isn’t perfect, and dwelling on all the imperfections doesn’t make for an amusing podcast. I really like guests who are open-minded because they tend to point out the positives of the details Mike isn’t fond of.
I generally enjoy this podcast because as someone who has read the books a few times , it’s fun to hear what someone who is reading them for the first time is thinking. My one issue is that I am sometimes surprised at the lack of simple Harry Potter knowledge that his guests have. One couldn’t remember the Burrow. Another couldn’t remember what book the Quidditch World Cup was in. Kinda basic stuff. The other thing is there are certain things he harps on constantly. I understand that some words mean different things in American English than British English. As an American it doesn’t bother me to learn and hear words being used differently, we all could use some culture. Get over it!!
A great podcast to slowly watch him get more and more invested in the show. First couple of episodes are rough as the “experts” don’t know crap, but eventually you realize they’re just his friends who are there as a foil for him to be silly with.
This is my favorite podcast but you people putting down one star ratings then insulting Mike is just flat out rude if you are just writing a review to insult the podcast don’t even Wright a review.
i just started listening to podcasts in 2019 and this is the first podcast i listened to i love how Mike makes hp funny and very fun its amazing i listened to every episode in 3 months and i recently started listening to every episode again since i love the pod so much
Congrats. You slipped into territory that Harry Potter would NEVER go. WHO CARES WHAT YOUR POLITICAL OPINIONS ARE.. AND WHO CARES IF YOU WEAR YOUR MASK. WHO CARES.
Bad.
Used to be good.
You ruined it.
Too bad.
I’m OUT. (Former fan. Age 17)
I’d given this a 5/5 stars previously but I just unsubscribed and changed my rating. Here’s why: The journey through the books still gets a 5/5 for me but as they’ve delved into other HP items like the movies and fan made items, it just seems like it has become a dunk on HP podcast. I get that the movies didn’t do the books justice but that doesn’t mean we have to sit and complain about every detail that was missing. The Fantastic Beasts films as well, are they problematic, 100%. I would have just not covered them since they aren’t HP and moved on. Instead, we’re getting HOURS of content on the issues with the franchise that were already brought up previously. I will give props to going through fan-made content but I’m sick of listening to complaint after complaint after complaint about the movies. Just move on to the video games or something and if you start watching something and dislike it that much, just say it and state you’re not going to cover it. Honestly wasting everyone’s time to just sit and complain.
Potterless is a really fun show!! Schubes is so stubborn (ahem Deluminator hater) and funny and a classic Gryffindor, and it’s so great to listen to his journey and laugh profusely when he thinks Ludo Bagman is the bad guy. Totally died on that hill, as well as his theory about the Deathly Hallows. I personally read all the books when I was nine, so it’s interesting to see the perspective of a grown man. I am still annoyed at his continuing scorning of Quidditch, I admit, but I will not reduce my rating for that. It makes the podcast all the more fun as I try to think of counter arguments for his sometimes very valid jabs at it :) His journey from this snarky 24-year-old man to an unabashed lover of Harry Potter is so amazing to listen to, and my family’s a bit fed up with how much I listen to it!!
It also put into perspective for me how many parallels there are between Harry Potter, a book series I am absolutely obsessed with, and real life. I got a really late start, just found out about it a month or two ago, and I am trying so hard to get caught up…I’m on Episode 77...but I love it so much so far and I know the rest is going to be epic! Thanks so much Schubes for making this incredible podcast, and thanks Kelly for getting him into the books! You all are super awesome.
On fourth episode in 2020. Would recommend! Love it. Amanda is so annoying though terribly annoying
Edit: on 30th episode, way way to political to a frustrating point. Killed the podcast for me :(
I love Potterless- I’ve been binge listening the episodes in quarantine, and I love listening to Mike’s (hot) takes. I’ve also introduced my friend to Potterless, and now it’s something new we can obsess about as a couple of 30 something millennials whose hearts are still at Hogwarts after all this time... (always).
I just got to episode 113 and have to share that Ty Strafford’s voice sounds just like my favorite human in the wold, Corey Taylor, who also happens to be the lead singer of my favorite band in the world, Slipknot. Take a listen to a Corey clip sometime; it’s uncanny and now I need Ty to be a guest more often so I can live in a world where it sounds like the singer of a heavy metal group is discussing magic with Mike.
I love this podcast. As a person who was raised with siblings who were super into Harry Potter, I could BARELY get through some of the books as a kid. I read them as an adult and I have really enjoyed learning all the extra information that comes up in these. I even love how he starts to connect it to current times and the struggles that people may not have noticed (me a white woman raised catholic not questioning why no other religious holidays are mentioned).
I’m also a big fan of editing Mike 😂
What bothers me the most is that he’s constantly putting down the book as a children’s book “for 8 year olds” and acts like it’s so funny that he as an adult is reading it. Children’s literature is valuable to people of all ages, and it’s insulting that he doesn’t seem to think so. I really went into this hoping it would be good, but I don’t understand why it’s so popular. The episodes should break up the book into fewer chapters, because trying to do 8 chapters in one episode is too much, and just leads to the host poorly summarizing the book with little commentary to character development and major themes and just leads to him bashing the book over minor details. He doesn’t seem to understand that a lot of the details are meant to be humorous or whimsical and seems baffled by things that if he spent more than 10 seconds thinking about would become clear. He acts like he’s so clever and the plot is so obvious, but he has already seen the movies and knows the ending to many of the books, so it’s not like he actually figured it out on his own. The guests who are supposed to be “expert super fans” also lack basic knowledge and fail to correct him, not that he would give them the chance to, since he ends up doing most of the talking. I couldn’t make it past the first three episodes, and even though he claims to become more positive, upon reading the reviews, it doesn’t seem like he does. Listen to Unspoiled if you want to hear the perspective of someone who has truly never experienced the series before.
Really wanted to like this podcast, and I mostly did. Buuut...
Mike’s main agenda here is just all over the place. No one is following this for social justice warrior nonsense. We get it: JK said some bad stuff. We get it: there could have been more diversity and representation in the books. We get it: Harry sometimes acts like *gasp* a teenage boy.
Mike has made a career on dunking on kids books, profiting off an author he openly condemns, and spends far too much of the episodes trying so pathetically hard to be “woke” that it distracts from the actual purpose of the podcast.
Take out the wokeness and the dunking, and this podcast is 5 stars. With it, it’s a 2.
Worth a listen? Sure. Until Mike’s general dislike-ability ruins it for you, which will happen.
(I’ve listened to his other podcasts, and it’s just who he is as a person: more concerned about ramming his views down your throat then Harry Potter, basketball, or entertainment. He’ll probably end up on CNN one day claiming to be completely objective while circle jerking his views and condemning all others.)
This podcast is great for potter heads or people the just want to have fun by literally listen to someone talk about the book series he has never read before 😂
I have read/listened to the book series too many times to count and have now started going through it with my kids. This podcast has been a very refreshing way to continue my love of the series!
I love this podcast! I listen to at least 1 or 2 daily, I just found this in January. This podcast is super entertaining, extremely funny, and great for giant Potterheads like me. I love how Mike hates quidditch, it makes everything on the podcast 10x funnier. I also love how snarky Mike is. I highly recommend this podcast!⚡️
Ok as someone who has read the Harry Potter books about 20times I am screaming it’s just the funniest to here someone’s reaction to the same thing I went through as a kid and the thoughts I never thought about as a nine year old is so nostalgic and it’s just the best podcast
I stopped mid way through episode 47 to come and read comments to see if others have articulated the way I’m feeling about this podcast and noticed many others have posted at about this point in the series.
This is a good podcast overall, I wouldn’t have made it through this many episodes if it wasn’t. The guests make or break the podcast and when you bring on guests who don’t know basic Harry Potter information it breaks the format - after all, isn’t the whole premise that you bring on “super fans”? Also, before making your critiques, please make sure you’ve actually paid attention to the book when you read it, often you are just wrong. I’d expect the host of a Harry Potter podcast to take time to make sure they understand what happened in a chapter before making commentary.
Also, as others have said, why the rush? I don’t mind listening to a 2 hour podcast if there’s good discussion, and cutting episodes off go fit a time table seems arbitrary and almost contrived for ad revenue.
I’ve got some more episodes to go so will update if I see any changes that come along. I doubt I’ll listen outside the 7 books.
I’ve noticed all the one star reviews are idiots like ‘aaahahshdjejbehe how DARE Mike have opinions I don’t agree with or look at the book as an adult and not a ten year old kid muh muh muh muh muh.’ Guys Mike is just being him doing his thing, and his thing is 5 stars
Potterless is hilarious, relatable, and such a joy to listen to. If you like analyzing or talking about Harry Potter, this is the podcast for you. Hearing Mike narrate the story of Harry Potter with his inaccurate guesses, original commentary, and jokes, is pure joy. The cycling of new guests every week keeps Potterless interesting and exciting with new perspectives, and Mike’s fast paced editing and beautiful sound design makes this podcast the best out there to listen to.
I stumbled across this gem of a podcast during quarantine. I didn’t expect to be hooked to it for the next couple of months. It has been a life saver. Following Mike’s journey through the books have made me remember all the feeling and emotions I had while reading the book for the first time. It has made me realise how much I love them and that I shouldn’t let JK ruin something that was such a magical journey for me.
Thanks for making me get back into Harry Potter again!
I really love going back to the Harry Potter books in this format. Even when analyzing it as an adult is a tiny bit unfair, it does bring back all the love I had for the series, and the memories of when I read it as a kid
Mike is a genuinely cool person who gave me a new way to enjoy Harry Potter. I appreciate his and his guests’ willingness to engage in meaningful discussion, as well as their support of underrepresented/attacked groups in the books (shout out to our trans community!) The variety of guests always makes the podcast fresh and fun. Highly recommend for lifelong HP fans and newbies!
The podcast is great and the idea is great. But they lost me with the endless rants and the political commentary as well. Had they just stayed on topic, the podcast would’ve received 5 stars from me.
This podcast is great. Love his perspective and it’s fun to hear him make fun of some of the silly quirks that the books have and be able to laugh at them a little bit. Also for the most part he brings in great guests that add a lot to the podcast.
Mike sounds pretty repetitive at times. The thing that bugs me the most though is something minor which is that he has the age of Harry wrong. I’m listening to the goblet of fire right now and am on episode 22. He’s called Harry 13 the ENTIRE book even though it’s stated that Harry had his 14th birthday and in earlier books it’s divulged that wizards and witches get their invitation to hogwarts when they are 11 or about to turn 11. So in book 1, 11. Book 2, 12. Book 3, 13. Book 4, 14. Makes sense yes? Pretty easy to grasp yes?? Apparently not for Mike because he’s got their ages off by a year and then also makes a lot of weird comments where he sexualizes things in the book? Like calling wands phallic and making it sound sexual how someone polished their wand. Yeah it sounds a lil dirty to an adult but this is a kids book. If you’re so great at reading and analyzing and guessing this book, maybe get the details like age correct and stop grossly sexualizing young teenagers. If it continues into book 5 like this I’ll probably stop listening.
I don’t mean to leave a complainy sort of negative review but how does this guy have claimed Harry Potter lovers and Harry Potter book popularity writers on his show and they ALSO get the ages and some details wrong?
I have enjoyed some of the content, but the podcast has become a morally confusing mess. At first, the pod was no longer covering new JK content (FB Franchise) which is fair, but now we are covering new JK content while continuing to dunk on her and wishing her no future success. I don’t understand how you can continue to cover the Wizarding World while profiting off of content created by someone you clearly disagree with (as do I), but your work in turn continues to direct people to her work and thus bringing her more profit.
I started this rly excited about it and then a couple eps in it got annoying. The sexual innuendo stuff is dumb. Literally this is a kids book. The only thing thats good ab this pod is the fact that he gives u a synopsis of the book.
THIS POD!!! Oh my god! Definitely in my top 3 Potter pods. It’s entertaining and funny without trying too hard like many others. I’m so glad I stumbled upon it. 😂
This used to be one of my favorite podcasts and I still highly recommend listening to the episodes strictly talking about the books because they’re a delight.
However since JKR’s really awful comments last summer, this has become a podcast more about political correctness than about Harry Potter. What was once time spent poking fun at plot holes is now critical to the point of not being able to have an episode go by without reminding the audience that this is a problematic series.
While I think it’s great that Schubes wants to use his platform to bring attention to important issues, I find his inconsistencies exhausting. He strongly recommends against purchasing anything that would financially benefit JKR, but has no issues continuing to use Harry Potter as a source of income for himself (which is fine, but just acknowledge it). At the end of the day, I wish we saw more authenticity from him and not an attempt to address every single potentially problematic issue out of the series.
