I think the special shows are the shows he's still got to catch up on. Maybe I'm misunderstanding though :SI managed to get a pretty good recording for the VGF#32 aftershow. However, I could only host 10MB of it, so I had to cut it down (that, and my hard drive isn't that big). I encoded @ 96kbps, 44100Hz mp3. It's hosted here if you want to listen to the quality. That to me is more than acceptable. You'd probably be able to do something better with your audio knowledge though I'm not sure how much Hz affects file size (Larry uses 24000Hz I believe).
I would ask though that if possible to use mp3 rather than ogg or aac. That way everyone can access it, rather than locking out certain users. aac for me is a particular issue since I don't use iTunes, and my portable DAP doesn't support aac (I do tend to listen to the shows outside rather than at the computer). Likewise, they'll be those who only use iTunes and non-ogg supporting DAPs. Pretty much everything supports mp3.
Actually, just had a listen to your encode, and actually I see what you mean. I think that's because of the amount of people using the stream at the time. I get the stream changing quality quite a lot during the show. Hopefully you'd get a much better stream during the aftershow.
If I'm around for a show, and I get a new hard drive (should be getting a new setup this Christmas), I'll be able to record the aftershow. Hosting however is gonna be another issue.