Podcasts have proven to be great travelling companions. Whether I'm wandering around unfamiliar streets or taking long cross-country bus journeys, having a couple of people jabbering on about next to nothing inside my head in amusing ways beats developing schizophrenia to achieve the same end.
There are quite a few good podcasts around at the moment - some old favourites tediously refusing to give up the ghost, and a couple of new kids making their mark on the block by essentially doing the same thing other people have done, but in a slightly different London accent. Is the podcast still an exciting and limitless medium, or just an excuse for people to not be very good because it's free?
That's right - these things are all free to download, so why not give them a try? It's only your invaluable life you're wasting. I've made a cheeky podcast sampler of some good bits (or in some cases, bits) from recent 'casts. If you like anything you hear, you can download full-length podcasts by following the links. This has been a public service announcement; now continue with your pointless lives.
Adam and Joe
Highlights from the childish duo's 6 Music show, with added exclusive bits and daft jingles. Apologetically infantile and swamped by memes, recurring themes for 2011 include HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Pierce Brosnan's career-defining performance in Taffin
The Infinite Monkey Cage
A science podcast with comedy elements, largely thanks to the presence of non-scientist English graduate Robin Ince. Each week, impressive celebrity guests are drafted in to discuss some fantastic theory or other
Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown
The childish sketch trio enlist popular comedians to tackle domestic crises with ridiculous fights. It's sort of like a gameshow or something, and will probably get better
Answer Me This!
Educational and occasionally even funny, a question and answer forum for people too lazy to use Google, but inexplicably motivated enough to send detailed emails or Skype voicemails with their queries
Richard Herring: As It Occurs To Me
Richard Herring's once-revolutionary stand up and sketch show that's written in the afternoon, recorded in the evening and put out unedited first thing the next morning. New self-indulgent features and impenetrable in-jokes for 2011 include The Moral Maze and Pippa Middleton's disembodied anus
David Mitchell's Soapbox
That guy off the TV has tightly scripted, stoically delivered, financially backed tirades against various aspects of modern life. He's mostly right
The Precious Little Podcast
Michael Legge and James Hingley say precious little. Though Michael might say 'cunt'
The Collings and Herrin Podcasts
Three and a half years on, two men in their forties aim to discuss the news but talk more about their flagging careers and sound quality. Not as funny as it used to be, but the time passes and still I am entertained
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
Not a podcast, not free and the only thing on here that definitely breaches copyright, here's the climax from episode four of the new series. The best thing on television at the moment. Though it is the only thing I watch, so I'm in no position to make such a judgement
The (immediate) future of amusing podcasts
I've been looking forward to Josie Long and co's Lost Treasures podcast since it was announced last year, but that still hasn't materialised.
And promiscuous podcaster Richard Herring is going solo with a live podcast performed every day of the Edinburgh Fringe in August, which should be well worth downloading, and may even achieve the astounding feat of making me wish I was back in Scotland.
So there's plenty to look forward to there. Two things. Plenty to look forward to. Podcasts really don't suit the compilation format, do they?
