Who remembers Spangles?

A pub fight, a shattered kneecap and a bloke off his face in a train station at 8am — and that's before the Top 5 even starts.Paul and Scott count down the Top 5 times the nation stayed up late, demand the return of alpha football managers, tackle manscaping etiquette at PureGym and revisit a Millennium Eve story that should never be told in polite company.Oh, and Prince. Obviously.

Paul is joined by fellow northern comedian, MC, and promoter Stevie Gray for a candid chat about life at the circuit level. They work through Paul's Top 10 list of the things that quietly get an act crossed off the booking list — think getting shirty over directions, turning up late, tech demands revealed only on arrival, bringing an uninvited entourage, and spending half your set road-testing material that clearly isn't ready.Along the way they swap stories: the act who turned up two months early and somehow still went on, the headliner who cleared overtime with the promoter like a total pro, and the improv group who asked for four mics and a keyboard in a 35-seat basement.They also get honest about the economics of promoting — the ticket-checking anxiety, invisible overheads, and the companies who grew too fast and left everyone out of pocket — and how carefully they try to build line-ups that are both high quality and genuinely varied, without ever letting diversity become a box-ticking exercise at the expense of the show.Plus: Panini stickers, a World Cup that's had everything, and one guest who arrived fresh from a minor car crash.

What happens when you cross a former stand-up, an IT data nerd, and a genuine comedy obsessive? You get Tony Dunn — and this is one of our best guests yet.Tony is the brain behind Comedy IQ, a subscription data platform giving promoters real intelligence on which acts are actually worth booking in 2025 — tracking social stats, podcast reach, touring history and more. If you've ever wondered how comedy promoters decide who headlines, this episode pulls back the curtain.But we also dig into:🎤 Tony's own comedy journey — from rural Scotland with a teenage Kevin Bridges to open spots alongside Josh Widdicombe, James Acaster and Joel Dommett🐕 Being a dog mascot at Clyde FC and cocking his leg on Paul Gascoigne📊 Why social media fame doesn't equal stagecraft — and what happens when it all goes wrong live🔥 A viral NutriBullet incident that launched a two-million-view TikTok🏆 A cracking Retro Top 5: Who from comedy's past would absolutely smash it on social media today? (Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Victoria Wood and a very worthy number one...)🔔 Plus: the Bellend Door — Russell Brand, the Sun's Shagger of the Year, and a sweary jingle that probably shouldn't have been used at a posh school.Funny, sharp, and packed with insight whether you're a comedy fan, a promoter, or just someone who remembers when Benny Hill was on at 8pm.Find Tony at comedyiq.co.uk | Instagram: @thetonydunn

The World Cup is supposed to be the greatest show on earth. In reality, it has always involved a surprising amount of absolute rubbish.This week, we revisit the footballers’ records nobody asked for, England failing to qualify and forcing the country to pretend to support Scotland, sticker albums abandoned after two packets, and those cheap Woolies footballs that could be launched into orbit by the final breath of a 100-year-old man.There is also the misery of staying up until three in the morning to watch two teams you had never heard of grind out a nil-nil draw, plus Joe Lycett, Gaza and the peculiar way football tournaments now become tangled up with every argument going.A nostalgic, occasionally ill-advised and painfully accurate look back at the World Cup moments nobody puts in the official highlights reel.

Scott and Pablo are back, and this week they've made a solemn vow: fewer swears, more sensitive listeners. That lasts about six minutes. Between debating whether "bollocks" counts if it was used in the Sex Pistols' defence at the Old Bailey, and coining the term "ring cheese" (don't ask — actually, do ask, it's brilliant), the lads somehow manage to make a new leaf feel entirely pointless. There's road rage from a deceased TV presenter, Arsenal fans menacing a man in a retro Spurs shirt, a Welsh rugby club regular with a very specific 10 o'clock ritual, and a front-row confession from a Jeremy Kyle alumnus that genuinely defies belief.The top five this week tackles heatwave nostalgia — Jubbly ice lollies, shirtless dads, Heinz Salad Cream, the invention of the beer garden (Tony Blair, obviously), and the great Fairy Liquid bottle water-fight arms race of the 1980s. Also: a pub goat in Devon, ring cheese (we had to mention it twice), and a live investigation into where Duncan Goodhew actually lives. Spoiler: it's not where you'd expect. It never is with this podcast. Absolutely none of this was planned.

There is no Kier Starmer in this episode. Some comedian gossip included and not limited to Bob Monkhouse, Spiderman's Dad, Marcus Brigstocke's sexy dancing and find out who Scott Adams nearly had a fight with. Subscribe and follow. Go on.

This week we're recording live from the dressing room of the iconic Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth, and we've got a very special guest — Shea, the man behind the bookings at one of the UK's most beloved seaside venues.We chat about what it's like to programme a 1,300-seat pier theatre, the acts that refuse to die (think Jim Davidson, Roy Chubby Brown, Joe Pasquale and Mick Miller), and the shows that sold out with almost zero effort. Plus, Shea shares his best crowd disasters, a kebab-fuelled night out with Neil 'Razor' Ruddock, and why a certain Mancunian B&B owner ended up at a Morrissey gig by complete accident.We also get into K-pop, Kevin Bloody Wilson, the eternal question of bigger chairs, and whether Michael Barrymore could ever stage a comeback.Equal parts nostalgia, comedy industry chat and Great Yarmouth love letter — don't miss it.

World exclusive.We sat down with Matt Price to talk about a stand-up special that looks like it’s on the verge of collapse — bad lighting, chaotic crowd, and a man who probably shouldn’t be anywhere near the tech.And somehow… it works. See here.https://youtu.be/iiZnljvMpAc?si=bR8H_6n7IilsDlyBWe get into chaos vs control, why polished specials might be missing the point, and whether this kind of comedy is actually closer to the real thing.Also — full disclosure — half this interview didn’t record. Which, given the subject matter, feels weirdly appropriate.It’s messy. It’s unpredictable. And it might be exactly what comedy needs right now.