It’s a well-known fact that podcasts are all the rage right now. In fact, all of the worst people you know are probably sitting on their sofas recording an episode as we speak. With the market so saturated, it’s hard to separate the wheat (my favourites) from the chaff (someone’s uncle trying to be Joe Rogan).
Sometimes you don’t want to be lectured by Steven Bartlett about how all of your life habits are increasing your chance of an instantaneous death (just drink a Huel and you’ll be alright), and instead it’s nice to have something light-hearted to listen to.
It goes without saying that comedy is about as subjective as it gets, but here are my recommendations for some of the best comedy podcasts and the best episodes to listen to if you’re walking around Platt Fields or trying to ignore a mutual on the bus to uni.
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
It wouldn’t be a list of comedy podcast recommendations without mentioning this absolute British classic, hosted by comedy icons James Acaster (started making it, had a breakdown, bon apetit) and Ed Gamble (The Traitors: Uncloaked). On this show, the hosts invite on a celebrity guest, and ask them their dream dishes (starter, main, dessert, side dish, and drink – not in that order), with a couple of twists to keep the format interesting. It’s like if Desert Island Discs was crossed with Great British Menu and then made funny.
Over the 300 episodes, celebrity guests have ranged from Harris Dickinson to Bob Mortimer, and I think Acaster and Gamble do a great job as hosts, shining light on people’s absurd food preferences and hilarious restaurant related anecdotes. Some of my favourite guests would have to be Claudia Winkleman, Rylan Clark, Sue Perkins, and John Kearns. They’re all laugh-out-loud episodes: I couldn’t recommend the show enough.
My Mate Bought a Toaster
With a similarly clever and hilarious format, Tom Price’s My Mate Bought a Toaster delves into the Amazon purchase history of guests, getting them to rationalise and explain those random late-night shopping sprees we’ve all fallen victim to at some point.
It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone through their weird and long list of Amazon purchases over many years, and Price does a great job of bringing out the bizarre stories behind some seemingly mundane purchases.
Over the years, Price has had on some great guests, with my personal favourite episodes being Tim Key, Josh Widdicombe, and Nish Kumar.
Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake
Probably one of the best-titled shows out there, Kathy Burke’s Where There’s A Will, There’s a Wake, asks those questions we’ve always wanted to know: what’s your perfect death? Stick with me here.
On the show, Burke invites on celebrity guests to go through their ideal death, funeral, wake, and eulogy, in a dark but entertaining way. Whether we’d want to admit it or not, we’ve probably all thought about this (or maybe it’s just me), and the format makes for a surprisingly hilarious listen.
I can highly recommend the episodes featuring Bob Mortimer, Greg James, and Munya Chawawa.
Gig Pigs with Ivo Graham and Alex Kealy
Combining two of my greatest loves, British comedy and live music, Gig Pigs is a pretty perfect listen.
Each episode contains a review and discussion of a gig that the hosts have been to with a celeb guest, answering the all important questions like – seated or standing, or how much is too much to pay for a pint at a gig?
It’s the conversations we have with our mates, just recorded and put on the internet – and I love it. With a seemingly impossible format (go to a gig every week and record a podcast episode after), Kealy and Graham have done well to keep producing such great content. The funniest episodes would have to be Limp Bizkit with Joel Dommett, Arctic Monkeys with Maisie Adam, and the yearly Glastonbury Specials
No More Jockeys
Ok, so technically, this isn’t a podcast but a YouTube series, featuring Alex Horne (creator of Taskmaster), Tim Key, and Mark Watson.
In this show, Horne, Watson, and Key play a game called ‘No More Jockeys’ that they once created, and slowly get drunk over the course of each episode. Watching the show makes me want to be a part of their friend-group so much – I never thought I’d want to be a 40-something year old man drinking red wine on a Zoom call before.
It’s hard to explain the game unless you watch it, so trust me when I say that these episodes genuinely kept me sane over lockdown.
I hope that these episodes bring you as much joy as they have brought me over the years. And if you ever see me giggling to myself with my headphones on around campus, just know that I’m probably listening to one of these shows.
