Picks of the week
The Froth (out 8 Jun)
Husband and wife Rhod Gilbert and Sian Harries’ new podcast offers a much-needed escape into their comedy basement to talk about anything but the relentless news cycle. They call their friends while they’re down there to mull over anything that takes their fancy, whether that’s discussing the mile-high club with Sarah Millican or taking advice from Josh Widdicombe on how to delete a WhatsApp message if you’ve sent an elderly neighbour something unsuitable. Gilbert and Harries are a natural comedy pairing who more than deliver on the froth front. Hannah Verdier
Sh**ged Married Annoyed
Chris Ramsey and his presenter wife Rosie are another husband and wife pod team, and it would be easy to peg them as just another celebrity podcast duo, too. However, Sh**ged Married Annoyed is not to be underestimated, as a recent British Podcast Awards nod, a record-breaking sell-out live show, an upcoming book, and 25 million plus downloads makes clear. Their comforting, craic-filled show sees them natter about just about anything, from friends with benefits and toothpaste etiquette, to school memories and, er, potatoes. Hannah J Davies
Producer pick: Welcome To LA: The Best of All Possible Worlds
Chosen by David Waters
If you use podcasts as a distraction from daily life, it can be quite hard at the moment to find content that isn’t absorbed in some way by the newscycle hellscape. That was my experience recently when scrolling through my feed for something to listen to. Then I came across Welcome to LA: The Best of All Possible Worlds and it stopped me in my tracks. Producer and creator David Weinberg’s documentaries use small personal narratives that resonate with big universal feelings of life.
Whether it’s his former podcast Random Tape or documentary David and the Wire for Radiolab, his work is often an immersive and emotional listen, while still being fun and not unnecessarily heavy. One of Weinberg’s tricks is the use of contemporaneous recordings from throughout his life – from voicemails to phone calls to late night conversations with friends – which transport you back in time in a way that just the narration on its own would struggle to do. The podcast Welcome To LA is usually about his relocation to Los Angeles, but this particular episode goes back to a time before LA.
Told through the lens of a relationship with his best friend Danny, it’s all about growing up, listening to punk, getting arrested, coping with family, losing family – all the while nurturing and maintaining a connection and love that, if we’re really lucky, we experience with our closest friends who become our family. I really cannot recommend it enough.
Talking points
First released in 2018, the still-pertinent About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge is currently sitting at the top of the iTunes chart. While an impressive feat for an exceptional show, producer Renay Richardson pointed out the “bittersweet” nature of its current popularity on Twitter: “I can’t help think all the podcast/media journalists who did not give us a platform”.
Why not try: The Art of Change with Stephen Fry | Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism | Might Delete Later
