If you’ve been hearing references to podcasts for the past 10 years but never really figured out what they were all about, now’s your chance.

The inaugural Northwest Podcast Fest (October 2 to 5) offers a small sampling that should spur you on to the literally thousands of other free, on-demand audio programs on iTunes, Stitcher, Podcast Land, and dozens of other podcast repositories. With the festival, you don’t have to go wading through scads of titles; there are but 10 live ones to choose from, including these:

Savage Lovecast
As Straight readers know, nobody dishes out sex advice quite like Dan Savage. The topic never gets old, either. His column has been running since 1991 and he’s been churning out weekly podcast episodes since 2006. That’s 413 and counting. The man is indefatigable, and his fans are insatiable. Catch him at the Vogue Theatre on Saturday (October 4) at 3 p.m.

Sklarbro Country
Randy and Jason Sklar are fast-talking identical-twin standup comics. They’re also huge sports fans. Whether you are is irrelevant because they haven’t met a tangent they didn’t like. The L.A.–based brothers invite a fellow comic on, and the riffs just keep on coming. They play the Rickshaw Theatre on Saturday at 7 p.m.

(Editor's note: The Sklar Brothers have tweeted that they have had to cancel their live appearance on Saturday.)

Stop Podcasting Yourself
Canada’s stars of the podverse, Graham Clark and Dave Shumka, have taken home a Canadian Comedy Award for their show three years running. Their bumpers (their term for regular listeners) are scattered throughout the world thanks to their breezy, pop-culture-heavy banter. SPY hits the stage with Jon Dore at the Biltmore Cabaret on Thursday (October 2) at 8 p.m.

Stuff You Should Know
Ever wonder what the deal is with duckbilled platypuses? How Silly Putty works? What makes us yawn? If so, you’re going to have to go back in the SYSK archives. For their live show here, no doubt hosts Chuck Bryant and Josh Clark (both writers at HowStuffWorks.com) have equally fascinating topics lined up so you can be the know-it-all you’ve always thought you were. Knowledge is power. Their first show at the Rickshaw on Friday (October 3) at 7 p.m. is sold-out, but they’ve added another at 10:30 p.m.

For a full schedule, check out the Northwest Podcast Fest website.