Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот, что я слушал вчера.

Интереснее is the comparative form of интересный.

• интересный = interesting
• интереснее = more interesting

In this sentence, the speaker is comparing one podcast with another, so Russian uses the comparative: more interesting than...

A useful thing to remember: this short comparative form usually does not change for gender, number, or case.

Yes, you can. Both mean more interesting.

• Этот подкаст интереснее...
• Этот подкаст более интересный...

But интереснее sounds more natural and common here. Russian often prefers the simple comparative form when it exists.

Более + adjective is also correct, but it can sound a bit heavier or more formal.

Чем means than after a comparative.

So the pattern is:

• X интереснее, чем Y
• X is more interesting than Y

In this sentence:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот...
• This podcast is more interesting than that one...

So чем is the standard word used to introduce the second part of the comparison.

Because Russian often avoids repeating a noun when it is already clear.

So instead of saying:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот подкаст...

Russian naturally shortens it to:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот...

Here тот means that one, and it stands for тот подкаст.

This is very common and sounds much more natural than repeating the noun.

Here что introduces a clause that describes тот.

So:

• тот = that one
• что я слушал вчера = that I listened to yesterday

Together:

• тот, что я слушал вчера = the one that I listened to yesterday

In English, this что is similar to that or sometimes which in a relative clause.

This structure is common in spoken Russian.

Yes.

You could say:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот, который я слушал вчера.

That is also correct.

The difference is mostly stylistic:

• тот, что... = very common, natural, especially in speech
• тот, который... = also correct, sometimes a bit more explicit or formal

In everyday Russian, тот, что... is very normal.

There are two different reasons.

1. Comma before чем
   In comparisons like this, Russian normally puts a comma before чем:

   • интереснее, чем...

2. Comma before что
   Что я слушал вчера is a subordinate clause, so it is separated by a comma:

   • тот, что я слушал вчера

Russian punctuation is generally stricter than English with subordinate clauses, so these commas are expected.

Both этот and тот agree with the noun подкаст.

Подкаст is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative here

So the matching forms are:

• этот подкаст = this podcast
• тот подкаст = that podcast

If the noun were feminine or plural, the form would change:

• эта книга
• те подкасты

So the form of the demonstrative has to match the noun it refers to.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree in gender with the subject when the subject is singular.

So:

• я слушал = I listened, if the speaker is male
• я слушала = I listened, if the speaker is female

That means the sentence as written suggests a male speaker.

If a woman says it, she would normally say:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот, что я слушала вчера.

Слушал is the imperfective verb, while послушал is perfective.

• слушал focuses on the process or the general fact of listening
• послушал focuses more on a completed action

In this sentence, the speaker is just identifying which podcast they mean: the one I was listening to / listened to yesterday. For that, слушал is very natural.

You might also hear послушал, but it would sound a bit more like the one I finished listening to yesterday.

So слушал is a neutral and common choice here.

Russian usually omits the verb to be in the present tense.

English says:

• This podcast is more interesting...

Russian says:

• Этот подкаст интереснее...

There is no present-tense is in normal Russian sentences like this.

So this is completely standard, not an omission or a mistake.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though some versions sound more neutral than others.

The original sentence:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот, что я слушал вчера.

is neutral and natural.

You might also hear small variations, for example moving вчера for emphasis:

• Этот подкаст интереснее, чем тот, что вчера я слушал.

But the original version is the most straightforward and is probably the best one for a learner to copy first.