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Close to Death

Close to Death

USG Audio

Close to Death is a podcast that profiles people who spend every day working with the dead and dying. Sound depressing? It isn’t. Sound creepy? It can be! From death doulas to crime scene cleaners, obituary writers to taxidermists, human composting farms to witches who talk to the dead, these death experts have seen it all. In each episode, with the help of comedians and reporters, we’ll hear their stories and find out what they have learned about life by working with death. Hosted by Utkarsh Ambudkar.

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

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Top 10 Close to Death Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Close to Death episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Close to Death for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Close to Death episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Close to Death - 1: Obits

1: Obits

Close to Death

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10/27/21 • 39 min

Greg Heller sets out to discover what actually makes an obit feel like a satisfying account of a person's life. With the guidance of professional obituary writer John Pope, Greg practices the craft by writing his own.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Greg Heller - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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1 Listener

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Close to Death - Close to Death Trailer
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10/09/21 • 1 min

Close to Death is a podcast that profiles people who spend every day working with the dead and dying. Sound depressing? It isn’t. Sound creepy? It can be! From death doulas to crime scene cleaners, obituary writers to taxidermists, human composting farms to witches who talk to the dead, these death experts have seen it all. In each episode, with the help of comedians and reporters, we’ll hear their stories and find out what they have learned about life by working with death. Hosted by Utkarsh Ambudkar.

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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1 Listener

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Close to Death - 4: Earth & Stars

4: Earth & Stars

Close to Death

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11/10/21 • 34 min

For years, we’ve been sold on just two ways to deal with a dead body — you either get cremated or you’re caked in makeup and placed in a casket six feet under. But there’s gotta be more options, right? Uninspired with what's on offer, comedian and journalist Francesca Fiorentini went on a tour of how to dispose of a dead body to get some ideas of what she'll do with her eventual corpse. First, she visits Walt Patrick at Herland Forest, a green burial site in Washington that's composting human bodies. Then, she gets a peek into Celestis, the space burial company that'll shoot your remains into space.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Allie Graham - Producer

Francesca Fiorentini - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Close to Death - 5: Crime Scene

5: Crime Scene

Close to Death

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11/17/21 • 28 min

When someone dies, they always leave things behind, and their loved ones are left to clean up. But sometimes, cleaning up after death means cleaning up a literal biohazardous crime scene. Comedian Mary Beth Barone spends time with people who do that kind of extreme cleanup for a living: crime scene cleaners from Spaulding Decon. They share what they've learned from looking at the messiest parts of death head on.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Camille Peterson - Producer

Mary Beth Barone - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

bookmark
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Close to Death - 6: Home Funerals

6: Home Funerals

Close to Death

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11/24/21 • 34 min

We've all been to a funeral where we've looked around and thought: "[The deceased] would have hated this." So what would it look like if we ditched the stuffy funeral homes, skipped the expensive caskets, and designed our funerals before we died? Death doula Jill Schock helps her clients have end of life celebrations that feel unique to the life they lived. In this episode, she guides writer and producer Greg Heller through a practice run of his own funeral.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Greg Heller - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his bed just 33 days after he was elected. The official story is that he suffered a fatal heart attack. But in the years since his death, some have claimed he was murdered to cover up crimes in the Vatican. The question of the Pope’s death has never been definitively answered, but there is one man who claims to know the truth. A man from one of New York City’s crime families who has deep ties to the Italian mafia. He was there the day of the Pope’s death and witnessed his murder firsthand. Or, at least, that’s what he says. His name is Anthony Raimondi, and these are his confessions.

From USG Audio and Truth Media in association with Clockwork Films.

For more episodes of The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi, visit here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Close to Death - 2: Witch

2: Witch

Close to Death

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10/27/21 • 29 min

After someone we love dies, it’s hard to get them off our minds — especially if we didn’t get the chance to say everything we needed to. But for some people, the conversation doesn’t die when their loved one does. Comedian and TV writer Jourdain Fisher confronts his fear of witches and visits Lynn Swain of Magik Craft — a woman in his hometown who speaks to the dead... and owns a handful of cauldrons and wands, too.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Jourdain Fisher - Producer

Allie Graham - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Close to Death - Introducing - Homegrown: OKC
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03/06/24 • 46 min

Homegrown: OKC dives into a case of domestic terrorism from the past that’s really a warning about the future.

Back in 1995, there was a disaster that should have prepared us for January 6th and the political violence that we’re seeing today: the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Journalist Jeffrey Toobin reveals the story behind Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Bombing, and right-wing extremism in America - how a decorated army veteran became consumed with rage, how he somehow went underground and built a bomb that damaged fifty blocks in a modern city, and how everything that led to the horror of April 19th, 1995 is still very present in America.

Homegrown: OKC is a USG Audio podcast produced by Western Sound and Esmail Corp. Based on the book “Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Rightwing Extremism” by Jeffrey Toobin. For more episodes of Homegrown: OKC, please visit here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Close to Death - 3: Taxidermy

3: Taxidermy

Close to Death

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11/03/21 • 28 min

It feels normal to try to preserve someone we've lost. But what does that do for us — and our grief? Comedian Mary Beth Barone seeks the wisdom of someone who makes mementos out of the once living: a very chic, very glamorous taxidermist. For a lot of us, losing a pet is our first introduction to death, and taxidermist Divya Anantharaman helps clients process that grief by turning their well-loved pet into a beautiful and lovingly stuffed memento.

Credits:

Josh Bloch- For USG Audio

Jessica Grimshaw- For USG Audio

Jennifer Sears- For USG Audio

Tara Frelund- For USG Audio

Utkarsh Ambudkar- Host

Gretta Cohn - Executive Producer

Kesila Childers - Executive Producer

Greg Lubin - Executive Producer

Jordan Bailey – Lead Producer

Camille Peterson - Producer

Mary Beth Barone - Producer

Sara Nics - Executive Editor

Jasmine Flott- Music Supervisor

AJ Hanneld- Graphic Artist

Nocturnal Sound - Mixing and Sound Design

This is a USG Audio podcast in collaboration with Transmitter Media and Powderkeg.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

bookmark
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share episode

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FAQ

How many episodes does Close to Death have?

Close to Death currently has 9 episodes available.

What topics does Close to Death cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, Comedy, Documentary and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Close to Death?

The episode title '1: Obits' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Close to Death?

The average episode length on Close to Death is 31 minutes.

How often are episodes of Close to Death released?

Episodes of Close to Death are typically released every 7 days, 1 hour.

When was the first episode of Close to Death?

The first episode of Close to Death was released on Oct 9, 2021.

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