8 of the best comedy podcasts we’ll still be listening to in 2021
If the world is feeling like an endlessly cold place, there’s nothing like a good laugh to warm you up. We’ll be back to our daily commutes to work this year, it’s still too soon to tell exactly when, but when we do—the honeymoon phase of getting back to our old routines is bound to wear off. Our bosses might snap back to pissing us off again, our flatmates might still have not washed their dishes from last week or you’ll be made late for a meeting because the train was held at a red signal.
Either way, a funny podcast goes a long way when it comes to making those routines easier to go back to. Here are a few of the best comedy podcasts to get you started.
Best comedy podcasts to listen to
1. The Infinite Monkey Cage
The Infinite Monkey Cage is a BBC Radio 4 comedy and popular science series. It’s hosted by physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince, and it’s probably one of my favourites. They answer questions that you didn’t know you wanted an answer to on topics that vary from fire to quantum worlds or coral reefs, and offer guides to astronauts on isolation or suggestions to how the universe might end.
2. Sex, lies and DM slides
Some of us may have had a fair share of each of the topics in the title, especially with the rise of dating apps. The hosts Gizzi Erskine (cook and TV personality) and (writer and model) Sydney Lima talk about everything sex, dating and the social media landscape of today.
3. Off Menu
Comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble talk to guests about food, particularly their dream menu in their dream restaurant. From their favourite starter, main and dessert. The podcast was nominated for the Best Comedy Podcast 2020 competition, and it’s really well worth a listen.
4. Stone Clearing With Richard Herring
If you enjoy excruciating levels of completely justified detail about the ancient art of stone clearing (which is the moving of stones from a field and using them for a better purpose) then try this podcast out. Either you’re somewhat interested in the task at hand or you find poor quality audios of an unfit man (who happens to be the comedian Richard Herring) moving stones and talking absolute waffle to himself while pretending not to be mildly entertaining. You might learn something.
5. My dad wrote a porno
You’ve probably heard of this one already, there’s not much to tell you here other than what the title says. Hosted by author Jamie Morton, actor James Cooper, and presenter Alice Levine. Each episode features Morton reading a new chapter of the erotic novel that his father wrote (under the pen name of Rocky Flintstone) titled Belinda Blinked.
6. The Receipts
The Receipts podcast is fun and very honest, there is no topic that is off-limits. The PA Audrey Indome, writer Tolani Shoneye and singer and songwriter Milena Sanchez will answer every and any questions that surround relationships, situationships, breakups and the ups and downs of everyday life. It’s brutal, and I love it.
7. Everything is Alive
Hosted, or more like narrated, by producer and writer Ian Chillag, Everything is Alive is a weird one and it takes a pretty weird person to get laughing, but it cracks me up every time. It’s nothing like anything out there already. If you ever thought how a tattoo felt about life, or what your mirror thinks when it sees you staring back at it, then this is the podcast for you.
8. Terrible, thanks for asking
2020 was a tough year, and sometimes when terrible things happen the only effective balm is humour. Host and American author Nora McInerny isn’t interested in small talk. She lost her father, husband, and unborn child within a month, and her podcast invites guests into candid and often darkly funny conversations about their lives after grief and loss.
There are many, many more fantastic podcasts out there, including comedies. There are also a couple of funny podcasts that aren’t on this list—but I wanted to give you podcasts that I consistently turn back to. Whatever my sense of humour is to you, you’ll be glad to know that I held back on some even nerdier ones. Enjoy, sweet thangs!
