Stay ConnectedAn encyclopaedia of heroic failure
Join Ben Van der Velde, Barry McStay and their guests as they brandish their wooden spoons of destiny and celebrate the losers, heroic failures and spectacular mis-steps that pockmark human endeavour. If you ever want to feel better about your progress in life, take a listen and enjoy a lovely schadenfreude bubble bath. Music by Max Perryment (www.maxperryment.co.uk)
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We've a spring in our steps and a Spring in the studio this week as Brooklyn's sharpest wit Spring Day is with us to talk about the World's Worst Family Traditions. We mine the murky world of Reddit and our very own listeners for pranks and Stacks, we shove vicious insects into various items of clothing and we put so many babies in peril. So many babies… Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @springdaycomedy @podnose Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com
It's time to get out our Bunsen Burners and boil everything down to its most basic constituent parts: if we can work out what the worst element in the world is, perhaps we can uncover the secrets behind all heroic failure? Joining us this week is breathtakingly smart and multi-talented chanteuse of the science world Helen Arney. Part of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Helen has appeared on TV and Radio as both a science communicator, madcap experimenter and dab hand with the ukulele. Together we navigate through the tricky quarries full of Kryptonite (all 22 varieties), sinister red mercury, dull old Boron and the phoenix-like astatine.
Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @helenarney @FOTSN
It's a beautiful day! Our guest this week is the actor Felix Trench, star of the podcast sitcom 'Wooden Overcoats' (http://www.woodenovercoats.com) and history graduate who thumbs through the Worst Foot Chronicles to look for the World's Worst Day. There are quite a few to choose from… Felix gives us a worldwide tour of the year 1556, Ben harks back to the day the 20th Century began and Barry does a double-take as he discovers his calendar has a February the 30th. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @felixtrench Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com
We're joined this week by award-winning Kiwi comic and former criminologist Matt Stellingwerf to cover a seriously grisly topic: the world's worst punishment. This episode comes with a serious content warning as we delve into the depths of human behaviour to discuss capital punishments with the sort of inventiveness normally reserved for Wallace and Gromit. Our search takes us from medieval Spain to Enlightenment Sweden, with nods to Greek myths, Greek history and depressing American present. You'll learn a lot in here and hopefully come away not too depressed about the nature of humanity...
Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @M_Stellingwerf @podnose
This week on Worst Foot Forward we are celebrating joining Podnose, the UK's leading independent entertainment podcasting network. To mark this, we're looking back over our first year (and a bit) of trivial silliness and awful achievements. We've picked out some of our favourite facts and fripperies from episodes 1 to 53, featuring some of our very best guests and very worst worsts, including understudy dogs, delicious seagull wine, Sexy Pac-Man and #goatballs. If you're a longtime listener or are tuning in for the very first time, this should give you a good idea of the sort of nonsense we peddle week in, week out. Wooden spoons at the ready? Dig in. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @podnose Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com
Anyone for tea? Following on from speaking to the quintessential British rapper last week we cover the most classic of all British topics this week: tea. Joined by award-winning comedian and host of the CineMastermind podcast Laura Lexx we settle a debate that goes all the way back to the very first cuppa that was stewed a little too long and severely displeased a Chinese emperor. As well as getting very annoyed at Fortnum and Mason for the most expensively pretentious teabag on the planet we reveal tales of daring disguise by swashbuckling colonialists, the hitherto little known practice of tea duelling and the astonishing number of different digestive systems posh people like to have their tea leaves past through before they actually drink the stuff.
Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @lauralexx @podnose
Pull up a turntable and join us as we cut through the hardy thickets of undergrowth that make up the choices of the world's worst hip-hop album. Joined by the indomitable Professor Elemental - the finest exponent of chap-hop and owner of the world's only monkey butler - we listen to music so asinine, offensive, badly produced and inappropriate that it should be banned by the Geneva Convention. All so you don't have to. On the way we discover the tragi-comic tale of Vanilla Ice, the potty-mouth Little Yachty and why hip-hop stars should never visit Stoke. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @Prof_Elemental
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Cointreau, it's time for these salty seadogs to tell ye a tale! Gather ye round as Cap'n Will Seaward, comedian and storyteller of yore, is piped aboard the good ship Worst Foot Forward by Cabin Boy Van der Velde and Able Seaman McStay. Avast and away, they set sail in search of treasure, namely the World's Worst Pirates. But beware! For there be many dragons along the way, including a pirate monk, a man who it is said ate his enemies hearts and even the man who is the reason we wannabe pirates do be talkin' like this. Take comfort in stories of pirate gayness, hat-bandits and the origin of the word barbecue. AAAARRRRGGGHHH! Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @WillSeaward
This week's episode sees us paint with broad brushstrokes as we discuss the world's worst sequel, along with our guest - comedian, writer and Jonathan Pie co-creator - Andrew Doyle. If you've ever loved something and been crushingly disappointed by the follow-up (parents with two offspring will know that feeling) you'll love this episode. We discuss every possible type of sequel: from books to films to popes to wars, political parties, musicals and more. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @andrewdoyle_com
Merry new year to one and all! For our first episode of 2018 we've donned berets, waxed our beards and grabbed the nearest set of tom-toms to share stories of the worst poets in history. Naturally, the king of bad poetry William McGonagall is heavily featured, but we also meet a the Canadian James McIntyre who was quite unreasonably obsessed with cheese and Theophilus Marzials, a man who heard about onomatopoeia once and clearly thought it was the only thing that ever mattered in poetry. We are joined by the erudite Iszi Lawrence - host of the tremendous Z List Dead List podcast and owner of her own tame poet, the marvellous Mr A F Harold.
Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @Iszi_Lawrence
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