I've listened to this podcast from the beginning. I love listening to MIB, even the bits about his personal life (though he does sometimes go on a bit too much). I especially like when he stops to look up meanings and pronunciations. So many podcasters and YouTubers just go with wrong pronunciations without bothering to look them up. MIB is so refreshing. I've liked most of the books he's read and I'm particularly enjoying the current book, An American Tragedy.

I have loved MIB since I love the 80s and he hits everywhere. Reading classic novels is an original and hilarious way to showcase his unique sense of humor. I love his reading style and his comments.

I’ve started from the very beginning & have really enjoyed the show. At some points, I’ve listened with my 9th-grade daughter & she has loved it too. I’m also inspired now to look for Michael Ian Black’s other work.

I’ve enjoyed every season of this show, even when the story was bad (sorry, Frankenstein). I think I would listen to Michael Ian Black read a technical manual, if he were to comment as he went. It’s my first listen every Tuesday.

I had no interest in reading any of of these novels but the hilarious and also thoughtful commentary from Michael Ian Black not only makes the content digestible but also very enjoyable. If I had to read or listen to a regular audiobook for any of these novels I would have given up after the first chapter. I love podcasts and audiobooks so this podcast gives you the best of both worlds. I just started season 4 and am very excited to see what this season brings.

I love this podcast and all things MIB. My friend and I text each other funny lines from the episodes all the time. However, I’m begging you to take the music out. There are woodwind and brass melodies jumping all over the place, it’s loud, and I can’t concentrate on the book.

For four years Michael Ian Black has been reading me classic works of literature that I would never have picked up on my own, and I’m forever the better for it. This podcast is simply a delightful way to take a weekly 35-minute pause from the drone of noisy life and just… read… while occasionally learning something cool, often laughing, and always feeling somehow like you’re becoming fast friends with Michael and his, what, two other listeners? I just love this podcast!!

This show is worth the listen.

He is a fine narrator with blend of personal stories and story critique. Worth listening to.

Whenever I see a new episode of Obscure has been released, it makes me smile! I enjoy MIB’s intelligent and humorous observations on life and the book. One of my favorite podcasts. MIB’s substack is also great. Highly recommend it.

Michael recaps a lot and keeps my attention on the book. Great for my adhd brain. If you’re not familiar with MIB’s schtick, it helps to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

I am loving this season of Obscure, it’s my favorite one yet. It’s the literature & commentary together that make the magic.

Do you like audible but wish it had infinitely more commercial breaks? Do you wish there was a pseudo-intellectual hang out for alt-comedian hacks? Do you enjoy reading a book with cliff notes, but wish they were more sarcastic? This is the podcast for you!

Here is the review you are constantly asking for on season 1 of Obscure. I am not a podcast listener or big reader, but this podcast has kept my attention. I’m an empty nester on summer break from my job as a school based Speech/language Pathologist. Thanks for entertaining me this summer (2023). I’m still not done with Season 1. You crack me up. A great way to be exposed to the classics. I’m excited to get to the end of “Jude” and then google all about it to see how your interpretation compares to others. Your fellow tribe member. ✡️ Sarilyn in San Diego

I love this show! He asks the same questions we all have. What does that archaic word mean? What is this character feeling? How can we get an Italian accent in this thing? Love it up one side and down the other. You might love it, too. Please read another Great American novel, sir. This is a necessary service you are providing! Also, I hated Wuthering Heights when I read it long ago, but I thought I didn’t understand it well enough to see the romance…turns out there isn’t so much a romance as a couple of narcissistic dumb dumbs. Forever in gratitude to you for vindicating my experience.

Laugh and cry with Micheal Ian Black as he reads classic literature and comments on it as he goes! I don’t even know why this podcast is so good, but it is!! I look forward to it every week, can’t wait for the next season. Thank you for doing it!!

I've listened to every episode, and I always look forward to listening each week. I love the idea of comedic commentary while reading a book, and I'm surprised more people don't do this! Looking forward to next season. My sister recommends "Of Human Bondage." The top review on Goodreads really sells it.

Sad that it’s over but the ride was great (edit: he’s back and just as brilliant!). The concept of the podcast is brilliant, and might not have worked if Michael weren’t such a thoughtful and fun mansplainer in chief. I hope this is a great success and becomes a new art form. I don’t think I’d have made it through the book reading it alone, and I wouldn’t have gotten as much from the story. Bravo Michael

You’re feeling better. Me too! You’re brave.

One of my favorite podcasts. Just what I want to hear. I learn, I laugh, and I appreciate Michael’s candor on issues such as family, marriage, mental health, gun control, feminism, and how boring old books are sometimes. Please don’t ever stop making this podcast!

Season 1 was Jude the Obscure. He did an amazing job and was very funny. Probably the best season of any podcast ever Season 2 was Frankenstein. He quickly fell into hate-reading it, and it affected the entire podcast as all humor died as well Season 3 was Wuthering Heights. Maybe the worst book ever written, along with the worst joke ever repeated over and over (great American novel). It wasn’t funny the first time, and after that it just got cringier and cringier. Also, it’s obvious he does no preparation and it shows. He misreads fairly basic sentences, and misses their meaning Maybe next time do some research and select a truly great novel. The pod is suffering from these poor selections. I’m almost ready to zap it from my feed.

We all know he’s a legitimate idiot (his words). I found out about this podcast only recently and was intrigued because I love Jude the Obscure. Yes, I had read it before this podcast! Michael is a delightful reader and his insights and interpretations are very wise. [I cringed and got very nervous every time he predicted a murder/suicide.] I enjoyed almost every aspect of this podcast: the tangents; the landline phone ringing; the sneezing. If I could, though, I would lower the rating by half a star for the number of ads. 4.5 stars.

Love this podcast. Could never have gotten through Wuthering Heights without it.

Love Michael Ian Black and it’s just fun listening to him read these books!

Have always been a Jane Eyre girl and no time for Wuthering Heights. I found myself getting moved very much at Michael’s reading of this bizarre story and am grateful, it’s worth knowing. Amazing how some literature can speak to emotions and experiences across all boundaries. And then this guy makes me laugh and that’s awesome too. Best podcast idea ever.

I adore this podcast, and grateful for multiple seasons to listen to after Jude the Obscure. I read a lot, including 19th-century literature, and it’s actually such an enjoyable way to experience a book. MIB is a total delight - insightful and funny, and he has great guests. I used to watch The State, have read a number of MIB’s books (go buy one, they’re terrific), and always enjoy seeing him work in things like Another Period. Thanks to MIB and the producers!

This podcast keeps walking me through the “Great Books” and I appreciate it!! Michael Ian Black is insightful and a master humorist.

Great idea but unlistenable. Couldn’t make it thru episode one waiting in vain for him to stop adoring and dithering.

I tuned into this podcast because I love Wuthering Heights. Have read it many times since reading it the first time at age 12. (Um yes, it damaged me!) But, as one of my all time favorite classics, I felt it was time to read it again and Hello Michael Ian Black! I am so enjoying listening to this rendition of a ‘live’ audiobook of THE classic American novel (!) and even better to hear Michael’s thoughts as he, unknowing of the plot, reads through the story! Oh Michael. So innocent! I thoroughly enjoy his character voices. I enjoy as he works out the story-line and the plot and the characters as he reads. I also enjoy the little details of his life in Sultry Savannah! Maybe not the dogs though. Ha ha. Sorry. And yes, once we make it through WH, I will go back and listen to Jude the Obscure and Frankenstein, neither of which I have read. All in all, an original and thoroughly captivating podcast. Definitely five stars! Thanks Michael!

Michael, For your next selection, I’d like for you to choose an American obscurity. My choice would be Theodore Dreiser’s “Sister Carrie.” I’m guessing that most readers know Dreiser, if they know him at all, for “An American Tragedy” (Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in the movie version, “A Place in the Sun”), but “Sister Carrie” offers more: a strong central character, social commentary and Dreiser’s rough-hewn, inimitable style. I have no doubt you and your listeners would enjoy plunging in. Joe Holley

Everything I want in a podcast. Entertaining, engaging, funny.

I’ve read Wuthering Heights too many times to count. I’ve seen most film versions. And, I’m a girl who’s been steeped in Brontes and Austin and Trollope and the like since I could basically read. I have honestly never enjoyed this work as much as I have listening to Season 3 of Obscure. The accents. The sidebars. The reactions. The footnote celebrations. The talking through of it all. It’s like having a book club of two inside your head and I am so here for it. Michael Ian Black rocks this awesome upgrade of “story time” for adults. Love. Love. Love.

I just started listening to season three and cannot put it down. This podcast is a perfect combination of comedy, reflection, and—of course—classic literature. I came expecting the first and am not disappointed. But what has kept me here, in addition to Emily Brontë’s excellent story, is Black’s ability to weave his own thoughts on topics big and small into the reading and commentary on the text. In contrast to other comedians, Black doesn’t need to fill every long pause or sidestep somber moments with a joke. He creates comfortable space for his own thoughts, which in turn allow me to pause and examine mine. Thank you for this delightful, spirit-lifting experience that feels more like a well balanced meal than a sugar rush. Well done, Michael, Robin, and team.

This podcast is an absolute delight. If only it had been around when I was studying to get literature degree! Literary analysis + thoughtful insight + hilarity = good times.

I loved re-reading Jude the Obscure with Michael Ian Black in season one. I recently stumbled on the good news that there is a season 2 and 3! I have been binging Frankestein and Wuthering Heights and am finally caught up. I can't wait to hear the next episode! Michael is hilarious, thoughtful, and very entertaining as he reads classic literature and comments on it as he goes.

If you want to laugh, learn and “read” classic books ….. you will love this podcast. Michael Ian Black is smart and hilarious . . . My new virtual best friend.

I’m one of those obscure people who has actually read Jude the Obscure, and I can’t wait for Michael to get to and react to the really dark parts that are seared into my brain. I love the classics, and I love MIB, so as soon as I heard this was a thing (super late,) I jumped on. I really enjoy the reading and the analysis, but I knocked off a star for a couple of things. I hate the sound mixing. Hate it. I listen to this as a calm before-bed podcast, and I’ve been jolted back into wakefulness by poorly placed loud music. Even the calmer music, though it sounds nice, is oddly placed. I keep thinking we’re heading to a commercial, but it’s just music for no reason. Or maybe MIB’s doing an aside. But it’s so unnecessary. I hate it so much that I got out my computer to write a review. The other reason for the loss of star seems kind of unfair, really. It’s the ads. The ads are obnoxious. I listen to another podcast, hosted by a Brit, and the ads are done in her same, calm voice about products she likes. The ads done by Michael are fine. It’s the irritating voices of other podcasters hawking their shows that does me in. No thanks, ladies who talk about plane crashes right before I go to sleep. Not gonna happen, random dude who has a show about nothing because I stopped paying attention. Leesa Mattresses, liked by MIB…maybe.

Thank you for such a thoughtful take on Louis CK. Like you, I really enjoyed his comedic insight…before he was brought down, and rightly so. If only he could show some atonement for his poor judgement. You got it just right. This is why I love listening to this podcast, there is so much more to take away than just the book!

I really love this podcast. It’s been funny, insightful, and touching. I hope very much that not only will Michael continue with another book, but that others will pick up this format. I cannot listen to audio books. I space out. But this totally keeps my attention. Genius idea.

A sensitive, sardonic, snarky soul reads Victorian literature, and like Natasha Leggero, I AM HOOKED!

I just started season 2 Frankenstein. Fantastic. I didn’t know Michael was doing the podcast and have to say when he first started talking about camping i was worried about his safety. I’m so glad he did a solo trip (VERY PROUD). He’s a unbelievably talented man with many gifts and now he can add explorer to the list of his talents. Really enjoying the podcast.

I never wanted to read Wuthering Heights. This humorous commentary is the perfect antidote to stuffy novels.

I discovered Obscure, season 1 by accident awhile back. Jude the Obscure became my bedtime “listen.” It was the perfect way to get another Thomas Hardy novel under my belt. I loved the irreverence and the honest confusion at times. But I wasn’t excited about listening to Frankenstein, and then I switched podcast apps and forgot to bring in Obscure. I was delighted to discover the Season 3 choice of Wuthering Heights! I’m back to listening a bit nightly. Thank you Michael Ian Black for this undertaking. I’m a fan.

I just discovered this podcast and I’m loving Wuthering Heights. Great literature and comedy— nothing better.

I cannot listen to one episode of season 3 without hearing Kate bush’s strange wuthering heights song in my head and picturing her weird red pants forest dance. But I love it. I’m hoping he addresses this cuckoo little song at some point.

I have just found this podcast and I’m joining along through the reading of Brontë‘s book. I’m a little confused, why are Michael’s dogs with him at the library? Why doesn’t he leave the dogs at home and avoid being bothered with them while he records the podcast? Regardless of that, I do appreciate Michael sludging through and finding the footnotes as needed.

It's one of my regular weekly podcasts, I look forward to every episode - back for season 3, baby!!! ❤️

MIB has a way of bringing words to life. I find myself letting episodes stack up…..just sitting there unheard…..like a cruel test of my willpower. Until, finally when I can no longer fight the urge…..like some podcast junkie….I plug my earphones in & bask within the warmth of that comically sultry voice….finally allowing myself to satiate the craving. Someone tell my sponsor that I’ve permanently blocked her number. I have no desire for a 12-step program to help cure this addiction.

I love this podcast. I love his commentary and his humor. I also loved his interview podcast How To Be Amazing, wish that would come back as he was a great interviewer.

I’m not sure how i feel about that. BTW I was really disappointed when Stella didn’t get a second season, was so good.