Four More of The Best Podcasts You Should Listen To Right Now

Last year, I wrote about a selection of podcasts I’d gotten into, including Shagged Married Annoyed with Chris and Rosie Ramsey, and Help I Sexted My Boss with Jordan North and William Hanson. To be honest, the four I listened to were pretty much the only four. However, working from home these last few months has meant I’ve broadened my horizons a lot further in a bid to avoid mindlessly scrolling through my phone looking for new playlists. It’s meant that I’ve discovered a few more entertaining podcasts that I’ve been enjoying, and I thought I’d share a few more. Please feel free to suggest any more titles you think I might like!

Lockdown Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett & Josh Widdicombe

Comedy podcasts have to be up there when it comes to my favourite genre, and because I’m a nosy bitch, I love ones that take a look at the lives of the comedians we only ever see on stage. Comedians Josh Widdicombe and Rob Beckett both have young daughters, and their hilarious podcast is basically what it says on the tin – tales of parenting young children in these weird-ass times. Initially starting during the first lockdown back in March, it’s since become a hugely popular podcast with two episodes a week being released. Each week, there’s an episode where they speak to a celebrity parent on how they’re coping, and later on in the week a bonus episode where Josh and Rob catch up with each other on how their week’s been, as well as reading out listener emails. They’ve had some great guests on there from the start, including Romesh Ranganathan, Paddy McGuiness, Katherine Ryan, and Daisy May Cooper. Don’t feel like it’s not for you because you’re not a parent either – this is one of the best comedy podcasts out there at the moment, and you’ll find it hilarious and hugely entertaining regardless of whether you have kids or not.

Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything

I love Katherine Ryan – I love her stand-up, I loved her in The Duchess and I just love her overall attitude to haters. When I saw she had a podcast I decided to give it a go. Another podcast that was born in lockdown, each week Katherine gets off whatever’s on her chest – whether it’s current affairs, celebrity drama or listeners’ dilemmas. While there are certainly some funny moments throughout, there is definitely more of a serious tone to the podcast, and in some episodes she goes into detail about incredibly difficult topics – on one of the first episodes, she talks about a miscarriage she had a few months prior, and it’s incredibly raw, honest and emotional. Each week she also reads out listeners’ emails too, many of which are seeking advice on relationships and other topics. She dolls out some brilliant no-bullshit advice too – like that friend who always tells it how it is despite the fact you may not like the truth. Katherine’s 11 year old daughter, Violet, also makes a few appearances too, and on some occasions even dishes out her own advice to reader problems which I personally love. Considering she’s 11, she gives out some bloody good advice on friendships, relationships, family, and everything else you wouldn’t expect an 11 year old to be an expert in! Overall, it’s a less traditional format than your average celebrity podcasts (Telling Everybody Everything is produced by Katherine herself and recorded at her home, and it just feels like you’re having a conversation with a friend rather than listening to a podcast.

How Do You Cope? With Ellis James & John Robins

Ellis James and John Robins are both comedians known for their  show on BBC Radio 5 Live, and How Do You Cope? features a guest each week who talks about the challenges they’ve faced throughout their lives, while answering the question “how do you cope?” This generally is one of the more serious podcasts I listen to, but as a psychology/mental health enthusiast, this instantly appealed to me. I’ve also been a fan of John Robins’ stand-up for quite a while, which in recent years has focused on his struggles with anxiety (a lot of which I can really relate to). Ellis and John speak to a different guest each week on a range of different topics, including Adam Kay (author of This is Going to Hurt), and how he coped with his experience as a junior doctor; author Emily Dean on the loss of her sister and parents within such a short space of time (her book Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog was one of my reading highlights last year), and singer George Ezra on his battle with OCD. Yes, there are some heavy episodes, and in some cases the experiences talked about might be triggering for some, but it’s certainly worth a listen if you can. They’ll give trigger warnings at the beginning of each episode though, so if they are going to be discussing a sensitive topic, you’ll be warned well in advance.

Alan Carr’s Life’s a Beach

This is one of the new podcasts that’s recently landed, with only two episodes released at the time of writing, but I’ve really enjoyed them so far, so I thought this was definitely worth mentioning. I’ve always loved Alan Carr, so the second I heard of Life’s a Beach, I knew it was going to be for me. Each week, Alan talks to a special guest about their favourite travel experiences, including those incredibly memorable experiences as well as those holiday nightmares we’d rather forget. The first episode features Romesh Ranganathan, where he discusses all of the locations he visited while filming his Misadventures series and Asian Provocateur, and it’s both brilliantly funny and interesting to listen to. I can’t wait to hear future episodes!

Have you listened to any of these before? If you have any recommendations for entertaining and funny podcasts (or any podcasts for that matter) please let me know in the comments – I’d love to discover more!

Featured image by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash.