Top Five – episodes of Ed Gamble and James Acaster’s ‘Off-Menu’ podcast

Up until the last few months I hadn’t listened to many podcasts. They’d never really fitted into my daily routine. When I’m travelling into work I tend to listen to music, the same goes when I’m writing, and when I’m relaxing I often just sit down and watch Netflix and the like.

After battering through loads of TV during lockdown I decided to dip a toe into the world of podcasts with Gossip Mongers. That show hooked me in and had me belly laughing to myself on the train and stifling my titters on the tram – but I listened to it all in about 5 days. I followed that up with a few of Adam Buxton’s podcasts, picking my way through some of my favourite comedians and musicians and chuckling along. I really enjoyed that show’s laid back, daft and rambling style but I didn’t fancy more than about 15 or 20 of them.

After watching James Acaster‘s mindbogglingly good Netflix stand-up series, Repertoire I decided to listen to some of his and Ed Gamble‘s Off-Menu podcasts as my next pick and got instantly hooked.

As I write this post there are 129 episodes of Off-Menu available to listen to and over the past four or five months I reckon I’ve listened to around 100 of them. I’ve become mildly obsessed with it. So, why not put together a top five I thought.

For those who aren’t aware of the podcast it’s got a simple format, the two comedians invite a guest onto the show and get them to pick their dream starter, main course, side dish, drink and dessert. Ed Gamble holds the podcast together with his slick, witty repartee, and known for his love of cheese, red wine and heavy metal, and his frequently discussed type 1 diabetes condition. James Acaster pretends to be a genie (when he can be arsed) and is famous for his love of puddings, his dislike of cheeseboards and his frequently odd tales.

The set-up’s incredibly basic but the magic of the show revolves around Ed and James’ friendship, their passionate love of food and the little things that wind them up. The show also manages to bag loads of great guests.

With two stand-up comedians as hosts it’s a given that many of the shows visitors are fellow comedians and most of my favourite episodes tend to come from those encounters as the chuckles and banter are at the forefront and they’re great fun to listen to. Episodes featuring comedians, that I’ve loved but haven’t quite made my top five, include, Greg Davies (who rather controversially hates the whole concept of starters), Richard Herring (who’s menu is so bizarre and dream-focused it makes no sense) and Sarah Millican (who’s love of junk food leads to some truly piss funny stories).

Episodes that feature chefs are always fascinating too. Taking chefs out of their po-faced kitchen environments and into daft, free-flowing conversations with two talkative comedians tends to bring out the best in many of them. I loved Ed and James’ encounters with Jamie Oliver, Simon Rogan, Jay Raynor and Andi Oliver, for both the chuckles and the foodie insights.

Then there are the episodes that are either utterly manic or go totally wrong. The classic touchstone being the Dan Ackroyd episode where he bellows his way through the show, ignoring the format whilst frequently and unsubtly plugging his vodka brand. Miriam Margoyles’ fairly shambolic appearance found the eccentric actress farting, rambling on about blow jobs and insisting she’d never have anal sex, and episode 84 with Jayde Adams saw the comedian getting kicked out of the restaurant for choosing hundreds of thousands on her pudding – the first and only time a guest -has been booted out (so far).

Without further ado, I’ve loved most of the shows I’ve listened to, but here are my Top Five choices:

My Number 5 pick and the first episode I really loved is Episode 8 with the chucklesome West Country chef, Tom Kerridge. Tom perfectly balances funny stories with great food choices and interesting insights into his booze-fuelled early days as a chef. You can tell Ed and James are chuffed to have their first chef on the show and Kerridge’s charismatic, matey chatter is a joy to listen to.

Number 4 in my Top 5 is possibly the most famous show, Episode 17 with Victoria Coren Mitchell. From the off it’s pretty clear that Victoria doesn’t really like food that much and her choices rile Ed and James so much the interaction between the three is priceless. The fact that Coren Mitchell doesn’t budge throughout and is utterly forthright with her boring choices makes the hour-plus show a constant delight of awkward disagreement and friction. Victoria has some brilliantly odd stories too, and the episode gets referenced throughout many of the shows that follow.

My Number 3 pick is another chef. As I mentioned earlier, the episodes featuring chefs tend to bring the perfect mix of comedy and food insight, and Ed and James’ interview with Ainsley Harriot (Episode 117) delivers on every level. Ainsley is on ‘turn it up to 11’, top-class form, singing, telling stories and chuckling throughout and you can tell Ed and James are buzzing off the manic encounter.

Number 2 in my Top 5 is Episode 116 with Bob Mortimer. This summer I read his autobiography and it’s one of the most joyous, life affirming tales I’ve read for many a year. It had me laughing out loud throughout and in it he frequently references food items like pocket meats, pies, Caramacs, Bovril, Spam etc – so on paper he seemed the perfect guest. And he was. I was in tears of laughter. It barely matters what his end meal consisted of, I genuinely can’t remember. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve heard (in any format) this year.

Finally, topping the list, my Number 1 is a fairly obvious pick. It’s Episode 100 and it’s Ed and James picking their dream menu with Claudia Winkleman. It’s double length and it’s everything big fans of the show were hoping for since Episode 1. Finally the two hosts have to pick their perfect starter, main course, side, drink and dessert and they bend the rules until they almost snap, creating two gargantuan feasts that would quite easily feed a family of four for a fortnight (and give them gout).

So that’s my five – which episodes entertained you and made you chuckle the most?

The rise of apologetic and self-reflective graffiti

Maybe we’re finally becoming more polite as a nation (doubtful) or maybe people are just taking way more photos of shit graffiti nowadays. Either way I’m impressed and gently titillated in equal measure, to the extent I feel compelled to share a few (ugly) examples:

Please feel free to share your favourites…

Top Five – funniest albums you’ve probably never heard

There are fewer things I enjoy more than music and comedy riffing together in perfect tandem. Funny songs are incredibly hard to write, and when I think of bands and artists from over the years that have perfected the titillating toe-tapper, quirky giggle-maker or belly-laugh stomper it’s a truly select bunch.

Earlier this evening I was thinking up a list of musicians and acts that have consistently made me laugh. At first I just wanted to list acts most music fans would have heard of, just to see how long that list would be, and I came up with the following – Frank Zappa, Spinal Tap, The Rutles, Tenacious D, Flight of the Conchords, John Shuttleworth, Ween, Primus, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Butthole Surfers, The Lonely Island and Electric Six.

Just twelve acts. It proved my initial theory right and whilst I know I’ve omitted “Weird Al” Yankovic (on the grounds of not being very funny) and crass Spinal Tap rip-offs Steel Panthers, I’m not sure many comedy music fans could argue for more than one or two more additions to that list.

So, a new blog idea bubbled up, the “Top Five funniest albums you’ve probably never heard”. There are zettabytes of terrible tunes that pretend to be funny and comedy is of course a very personal thing (one person’s chuckle is another person’s groan), but I hope our Top Five introduces you to at last a handful of chuckles in these frequently tiresome times…

Chortling into our Number 5 spot is, My Old Heart by American comedian Stephen Lynch. A number of this blog’s American readers will have seen Lynch do stand-up but how many have dipped into his fourth (and best) studio album? Musically it’s top notch Americana, and his lyrics have a witticism that never goes for overly cheap laughs and steadily builds up the titters. The Neil Young “rip-off” Omaha is particularly brilliant.

Our Number 4 pick is a different beast entirely. American comedy death metal lunatics, Crotchduster’s 2004 Big Fat Box of Sh*t, melts your face, shakes your bones and has plenty of lewd, puerile and surreal interludes and gags to unleash the teenager in anyone brave enough to sit down and experience it’s madness. It’s the brain child of Jason Suecof, best known for his work with Trivium, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, and his own band, Capharnaum, and it’s utterly non-PC, manic as hell and completely unapologetic.

Number Three is the masked and mysterious, DIY rapper, Quiche Moon. Hailing from the urine soaked streets of Tameside his lo-fi, man and a Groovebox take on no-budget hip-hop fills the gap between the naïve quirkiness of Flight of the Conchords and the cartoon scallywaggery of Goldie Lookin’ Chain. I’m Not As Think As You Drunk I Am’s highlights include songs about boss-eyed babe station “performers”, angry nannas, millennials and 21^st century picnicking.

Just missing out on the hallowed top spot is a recent find. Everything Is Terrible! Is a Los Angeles collective known for finding and manipulating unusual and dated clips from old VHS tapes. They’re famous for their hilarious and manic cut-up films but their albums are just as rib ticklingly funny. My favourite and Number 2 pick is RAP! It collects the greatest, most awful attempts at hip-hop as seen and heard in their Everything Is Terrible! Does The Hip-Hop! Movie, and it’s brilliantly bad in the best way.

Number 1 is poet, songwriter and sublime Scottish curiosity, Ivor Cutler‘s 1975 album, Velvet Donkey. A friend introduced me to Ivor Cutler about 20 years ago and his surreal, titillating and peculiar poems and songs have been a big part of my life ever since. Cutler first found fame in 1967 after appearing in The Beatles‘ Magical Mystery Tour film, and his music was championed by John Peel and Andy Kershaw. Many of his songs are accompanied by his trusty harmonium and 1974 he was invited by Robert Wyatt to play on his seminal album, Rock Bottom. Those two songs led to Cutler signing a three album deal with Virgin Records that same year, and Velvet Donkey is the second of those albums. Alongside the gently peculiar humour there’s a warmth and magic to Cutler‘s work that’s a bit like an incredibly amusing and entertaining grandad putting on a show for you.

Put Bernie Sanders anywhere in the World

A sizeable percentage of the world tuned in to watch bits of Joe’s Biden‘s Presidential inauguration yesterday. As is the norm with these things it went on a bit and some people were obviously more excited than others to be there. One rather cold, glum looking chap stood out in particular, namely former Presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders. Hunched up in a chair with his casual rain jacket, face mask and big wooly mittens on he became an instant meme. Within hours he was plastered on album covers and photoshopped onto a million old photos and images.

It’s just over 24 hours later and one Twitter user from Manhattan called Nick Sawhney has created a website where users can type in any location in the world and send Bernie there. If you fancy a photo of a shivering Mr Sanders outside your house you can visit the website here.

Check out the brand new trailer for ‘Space Force’

If the cast is anything to go by, Space Force, a new sit-com inspired by a speech Donald Trump made declaring an interest in creating a new branch of the U.S. military in space, will be amazing.

Space Force stars amongst others (deep breath) Steve Carell, Lisa Kudrow, John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch and Noel Emmerich. It debuts on Netflix on 29 May. Check out the new trailer below:

Banksy unveils his latest ‘isolation themed’ work on Instagram

Right now about a fifth of the World’s population is in lockdown due to the devastating corona virus. Except for the odd bit of exercise, food shopping and frontline work, pretty much everyone in the UK is indoors twiddling their thumbs and hoping this craziness is going to subside in the coming weeks.

So what do you do if you’re the world’s most famous and elusive street artist? Well, you bring your work indoors if you’re Banksy.

Yesterday evening the era-defining artist unveiled a new isolation themed work on his Instagram account, showing followers what his bathroom looked like after his latest creative spurt (and his wife isn’t happy). Check out some titillating close ups below:

Eamonn Holmes Gives Birth to a Swan

We live in unusual and disturbing times. So in many ways this following video is the perfect bit of utterly eye popping nonsense to go hand in hand with life in 2020.

It came out in January, it comes from the mind of animator Ross Butter and I spotted it today. Ladies and gents here’s the beautifully disturbing, ‘Eamonn Holmes Gives Birth to a Swan‘…

Check out the trailer for season two of ‘What We Do in the Shadows’

The first season of FX’s What We Do In The Shadows was top notch chucklefest and I’ve been hoping a second season wouldn’t be too long in the making. So, imagine my joy when I found out today it’s going to start streaming on the 15th April – it’s just six days away. Check out the new trailer below:

Take a look at the new Netflix comedy series ‘Space Force’

Steve Carell and the creator of America’s The Office, Greg Daniels have teamed up again for a new comedy series called Space Force. The series also stars Lisa Kudrow, John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz and Diana Silvers and starts streaming on Netflix from 29th May. Here’s a first look at the show via YouTube channel Nerdist – check it out below:

Wild goats take over Llandudno

It’s not often you get to write a headline like that, but we’re living in strange times. With the nation in lockdown some wild goats in the North Wales coastal town of Llandudno have decided to pop down from the hills and have some fun – check out the footage below: