Favourite Podcasts - 17 - Utter Shambles

There is nothing more satisfying in life than meeting up with friends, chatting randomly about the big issues in the world, the small detail of our lives and the food, music, books, TV and films we have recently consumed. This is a good night out, and gives us a fantastic feeling of being connected with others, our community and the world.

This is what Utter Shambles gives you in podcast form.

I may have overstated that a little, but Robin Ince and Josie Long in this podcast create that feeling, it is spontaneous, random, but endlessly interesting. It may be the only podcast I have reviewed that has no format, none at all. It is just them and guests chatting about whatever comes to mind.

The quality of guests helps, Billy Bragg, Jon Ronson, Mark Gatiss and Terry Jones to name a few. Just being in a room with these people is going to be an amazing experience, and after you listen to Utter Shambles you feel you will have been in the room with these people, and that you know them, as if you had just met them down the pub.

Robin and Josie have a huge part to play in creating this feeling, they are both natural to the extreme, no acting or egos get in the way, and the guest must feel very at ease which means they will talk about things that they might otherwise not.

Robin was kind enough to come onto my podcast (you can hear it here), but it is nothing compared to Utter Shambles, which is like a shining jewel in the podcasting world, and a new episode (released whenever one is ready, 1 week apart or 6 months...) always excites me!

Download at Comedy Central Here.

Favourite Podcasts - 12 - The Infinite Monkey Cage

Science is very trendy these days, which is very confusing for the geeks who were bullied at school for being good at it.

Comedy is also very trendy these days, and that is confusing for the loners at school who invariably become stand up comedians.

When the two come together you get BBC Radio 4s The Infinite Monkey Page.

Robin Ince does the comedy side (with a bit of science) and Professor Brian Cox does the science bits (with a bit of comedy). The format has changed a few times, but they are now generally recorded in front of a live audience, a few guests talk about their area of scientific interest and other comedians sometime join the fun too. It's hard to say exactly what the podcast is about, but I guess that 'making science accessible and funny' might sum it up.

The series has been so popular that they took the show on tour and added a few of their friends as well, such as Ben Goldacre and Helen Arney. The shows often sell our within days of tickets going on sale!

If you are slightly on the geeky side, or just love comedy then this is a great podcast.

It looks like all the previous series are available for download here, and I hear that a new series is being recorded for broadcast this winter!

(Oh, and we interviewed Robin Ince for our podcast here!)