Comedy podcasts (grown-ups) that work for kids?

[Belmondo]

My kids (9 and 11) love what they've seen of comedians like Romesh, Rob Beckett, Bob Mortimer, Sarah Milligan, Rachel Harris etc (mainly seen via Taskmaster/other celeb reality stuff, that kind of thing).

So far they've liked The Unbelievable Truth and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (they're a bit confused by the latter and we have to mute the very rude innuendo bits about Samantha 😁...) - are there any podcasts or other radio programs that might be suitable? A bit of swearing is ok but I don't want to have to explain long complicated sexual concepts, ideally 🤣

Cabin Pressure

not a podcast, 27-part radio comedy series but extremely funny. If your children are quite bright then they’ll love it.

Forgot to mention that we've tried No Such Thing As A Fish and they weren't that impressed - think it was a bit too facty!

Just a minute is great. Though you’ve probably got that one.

Ours are a bit older and like Off Menu with Ed gamble and James acaster. But it can be randomly sweary or rude depending on the guest. It’s all the same taskmaster people plus a bunch of others. Maybe try one for you and see what you think?

You just beat me to it @HappyNewTaxYear as I immediately came on to recommend Cabin Pressure!

Funny, clever, silly, but you also build a wonderful connection with the different characters as they develop over the course of the "alphabet".

My two still love it and reference it frequently, I hope they in turn will play it to their children if they ever have any 🙂

Ahh the older one likes Off Menu, I forgot to mention that! Thank you though.

I don't know if we've tried Just A Minute actually - that's a good point. I used to feel very grown-up listening to that with my parents as a kid!

Curious Cases with Rutherford & Fry is good, not specifically comedy but funny enough. They have quite a wide audience including kids, so keep it pretty clean - there might be the odd swear.

If they are sports fans they may like fighting talk

John Finnemores souvenir program

Not a podcast but my DC like Would I Lie to You on BBC. Bob Mortimer is a regular guest 🥰

There is a Taskmaster podcast hosted by Ed Gamble with all the Taskmaster contestants as guests. I've never listened to it so you might need to listen to a few to gauge the tone, but I imagine it's suitable for older kids.

The News at Bedtime on BBC R4extra with Jack Dee is very clever and very funny.
The Unbelievable Truth with David Mitchell - might be a little bit sweatry, but usually not so much.

It's a Fair Cop is funny and informative

Thank you but one of them is currently obsessed with this, hence me trying to branch out to other stuff 😁

Thanks to everyone else too - much appreciated! The Taskmaster podcast is a good call. I know Alex Horne does something too so I'll try that.

Rutherford and Fry - my husband likes that, well give that a go. I've never heard of It's A Fair Cop - will look that up.

I think it's a bit of an underserved market tbh - comedians could do worse than spending a bit of time trying to reel in today's youth as fans for life with some family-friendly banter!

If one of them likes John Finnemore then they’ll love Cabin Pressure, as already mentioned, by others, as he writes it and plays one of the 4 main characters.

Try also Radio comedies like Old Harry’s Game and Revolting People, maybe also Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully.

You can also try the radio edit of You’re Dead To Me, which has the bonus of being educational too.

If you want to go really retro, and get them into some proper old school comedy, then you can introduce them to The Goon Show, The Navy Lark, I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again and Round the Horne. My dad introduced me to them aged about 12 in the early 90s and I loved them!

I fourth/fifth, however many we are up to Cabin Pressure. It is an absolute gem.

I did wonder about The Goon Show, @CaveMum! And they used to live Flanders and Swan and Bernard Cribbins when they were little 😁

Cabin Pressure afficionados, where are you listening to it please? Just asked my husband and he said he tried to get it a while ago and could only get a 5-min free trial somewhere, sadly.

They're occasionally around on BBC Sounds but I used some of my Audible credits to buy all the series. If I didn't have a subscription, I'd have probably paid for them. Well worth it.

Try YouTube the full series can usually be found on there.

I've checked and Cabin Pressure isn't currently on BBC Sounds but there are loads of episodes of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme which is the next best thing.

We also invested in Cabin Pressure on Audible. Its cost per listen must be in fractions of pennies at this stage. There's a new podcast on BBC sounds with Phil Wang and Susie Dent, Unspeakable. It's comedians suggesting words that don't yet exist and can be funny.

One of my favourite comedy podcasts is Simon Mayo's Confessions. I was so disappointed when he left Radio 1 and there were no more Confessions but it's now on Greatest Hits radio and there's a podcast with each episode having the confessions from a week. He gives a warning if he thinks a confession should have an age rating so you can skip any that are a bit too rude.

Cabin Pressure stands in a class of its own, but Hut 33 and Bleak Expectations are also very good.

Mine loved that Mitchell and Webb Sound at a similar age, but that might depend on your sensibilities...!

Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister are both on iPlayer and my then 12yo DS enjoyed listening to them. Quite old but very good and still current in many ways!

It really does still stand up. Amazing when you consider it’s over 70 years old!

Yes my dad used to play the “Junior Choice” albums to us too - I can still do a half decent rendition of “Right Said Fred” and “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back” 😁