Up where we belong

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of podcasting and each week iTunes adds 12 or so new episodes of those that I subscibe to, for me to add to my iPod.

That number is fairly constant as many more would be impractical to keep on top of as I listen to them in the car as I travel around.

Recent additions to the list include two from Absolute radio and a new football one.

First the Absolute radio ones. Both are highlights of weekend shows and follow a similar format, with both starring the named presenter, a female sidekick and a male comedian/musican. They both last 40 or so minutes and are excellent.

The first presenter is Frank Skinner who is ideally suited to this format and relates stories of his previous week, his ongoing relationship with his girlfriend, his love of the Fall (he plays a different track each week) and he reviews the papers. He is asssited by Emily Dean, who besides being good friends with Jonathan Ross, as a child appeared in the original Day of the Triffids and has most male listeners hanging on every word she says. The final member of the team is Gareth a stand up comedian, who lives in Bournemouth and has year old son called Ethan, of whom stories feature regularly.

The second presenter is Dave Gorman, who had passeed me by until I saw "Googlewhack" a couple of weeks ago. That  was so funny that I immediately started downloading the podcast. He is assisted by award winning comedienne Danielle Ward and comedian/musician Martin White. They cover similar subject matter to Frank Skinner but one extra item is an additional piece at the end of the podcast (and not part of the radio show) called Pun Street. This is where listeners send in shop title puns in an attempt to get them installed on the street. This the maternity wear shop "womb with a view" was voted on, as was "Pak Butchers" (sent in by a pakistani) which replaced "Halal, is it meat your looking for?" as the streets butchers. 

The footbal podcast, "It's all up for grabs now" is hosted by the comedian and actor Alan Davies, together with two of his mates and revolves around their love of all things Arsenal. It is hilarious, a genuinely funny commentary on the ups and downs of following the Gooners. Most episodes reflect on the previous weeks games and their views on the various team memebrs performance. Most players now have a nickname and the best is Emmanual Eboue who is known as "Tinkerbell" as he is the team trickster, but most are brilliant based on some long story. In addition there are numerous "catchphrases" which have started to find their way into my football watching. One involves an older fan at Arsenal moaning (in a northern accent) "He's got yellow boots on", which now regularely appears at St Marys should any one have said coloured boots on! Songs sung at grounds also feature, my favourite to date being "you're white and you know you are" which the Arsenal fans sang to the permatanned Hull City manager Phil Brown. Even if you don't like football or Arsenal this podcast will have you laughing out loud in strange places while you listen to it!

Why the title to this post? Arsenal player Alex Song's full name is Alexander Dimitri Song Billong, which you can sing to the tune of the Jennifer Warnes/Joe Cocker classic.