A year ago, the show called Josh Widdecombe that was a regular on XFM retired when the change happened to the radio station and it changed to Radio X. The show was full of some fantastic comedy moments and had various comedians as guests each and every week which was great for being introduced to new stars of the scene and to discover talent you may not of heard of before. I discovered a lot of comedians through this podcast, including James Acaster, who is now one of my favourites.

What’s it all about? 

The JW podcast (which is what I will call it from now ) is an edited version of the show that used to live on Sunday’s between the time of 10am to 1pm. The main focus on the show was centred around weekly topics for the listeners to tweet or email in about, random conversations between Josh and the UKs biggest up and coming or well known comedians and general chitter chatter and laughs with producer Neal Fearn.

Every show is different even though they all follow the same format and have show regulars such as James Acaster and Ivo Graham who we will talk about later on in this article.

If I want to start listening – where do I start? 

When I first started listening, I jumped into a random podcast and listened along but because they have many show regulars you can get lost about some of the stories they are discussing so my advice is you start right from the first episode (they are all available to download for free on iTunes) so you can get into the inside jokes and trust me it’s worth it.

Another good reason to start from the beginning of the podcast is because apart from understanding recent jokes of Josh and Producer Neal, you also get to hear regular features such as James Acaster scraps (tales from the calamity and hilarious life of the comedian), Joe Lycetts celebrity gossip, hilarious readings from different sections of celebrity autobiographys, songs from celebrities you never knew released songs (such as Naomi Campbell) conspiracy theories with Nish Kumar plus many many more!

Why is James Acaster and Ivo Graham important?

From the start, James Acaster is introduced as a show regular, each week discussing calamitys and adventures of the hilarious kind that tend to happen in his every day life. From being cabbaged (cabbage leaves put everywhere and sent in the post) by a fellow comedians son to sleeping in bushes in a rough part of town due to missing the last train after a gig.

In much later episodes, Ivo Graham starts to become a regular on the show – this is due to James being on tour in places such as New Zealand.

What episodes should I listen to if I don’t have time to listen to the whole 113 episodes? 

Episode 1- Stephan Merchant, Joe Lycett, James Acaster – if you want to get a general feel for the show then starting at the beginning is the best idea

Episode 36- Dissapointing Birthdays, getting locked in/locked out, David Beckhams autobiography and James Acaster – some funny anecdotes and stories in tow.

Live from the Edinburgh Fringe *EXPLICIT* – highly recommend 1,2,3 and 4 as they are highly hilarious  and feature an array of comedians.

Episode 84 – Cabagin the resolution – you will soon realise around this episode that James has been taunted by cabbage because of a 9 year old boy.