We also get into the rise of shows like Last One Laughing UK – why watching comedians try not to laugh is so addictive, and what it says about where comedy is heading.

Plus:

– Celebrities losing their heads (again) and why it keeps happening

– The dramatisation around Huw Edwards and how media turns real-life into spectacle

– And a surprisingly honest look at why British comedy might be falling behind Australia right now

Scott and Pablo do their best to hold it together… with mixed results.

Listen now… just maybe not when you’re somewhere you shouldn’t laugh.

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This week’s Top 5: Retro Pub No-Nos 🍺

From jukebox abusers to bar blockers and some seriously questionable Saturday lunchtime behaviour — it’s a proper trip back to when pubs were chaos, smoky, and completely unregulated.

You’ll definitely recognise a few of these… and there’s a fair chance you were one of them.

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Paul also reveals the one audience behaviour that drives promoters absolutely mad during the interval.

Plus: kebab shop hacks, carvery hacks, and more stories from the comedy circuit.

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Episode 75 slips backstage and takes a look at the unspoken rules of comedy’s most volatile space. The power plays. The awkward energy. The desperate attempts to “just have a quick word”. The stories that aren’t really stories.

There’s the comic who vanishes minutes before they’re due on.

The surprise entourage that no one agreed to.

The “networking” that feels more hunt than chat.

And one offence so toxic it can evacuate a dressing room in record time.

If you’ve ever gigged, promoted, or lurked within 10 feet of a backstage kettle, you’ll recognise every beat.

Backstage. Unfiltered. No names… but plenty of suspects. 🎙️

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Science. SatNavs. Labradors. We’re getting dangerously close to the truth this week as we investigate whether dogs genuinely line themselves up with the Earth’s magnetic field before dropping the kids off. Yes, really.

Elsewhere, we’re demanding answers from AI after ChatGPT’s image generator once again turns Paul into Russ Abbott and Scott into Wilfred Brambell — despite neither of them requesting a 1970s BBC sitcom filter.

Scott then embarks on an astonishing performance of moral self-certification, desperately trying to convince us he’s a woke leftie by verbally noshing off Nish Kumar in what can only be described as commitment to the bit.

We launch a brand-new Green Room section, pulling the curtain back on comedy life — gigs, egos, promoters, and the stuff you’re not meant to hear. The Top 5 returns with family feuds, and the Bellen d’Or once again finds fresh reasons to honour the budget gym chain that keeps on giving: PureGym.

If you like comedy podcasts that ask pointless questions, overshare industry gossip, and take absolutely nothing seriously — this one’s for you.

🎧 Press play. You’ll be annoyed you didn’t sooner.

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Spurred on by Arsenal once again finding an impressive new way to bottle it, this episode of Who Remembers Spangles? turns to elite-level self-sabotage with a Top 5 titled:

Five Times Someone Had It All… and Completely Fecked It Up.

The list ranges from reality-TV certainties and Hollywood royalty to comedy giants and a jewellery boss who managed to obliterate his own company’s value with a single, throwaway sentence.

Elsewhere, a deeply unofficial Bellen d’Or is awarded to people who say “you can get that exact thing on Temu”, there’s a purely hypothetical (and obviously non-actionable) discussion about who someone would stalk, and an unavoidable diversion into Loddon Facebook nonsense.

Later on, there’s an attempt to bring some actual sense to the Michael McIntyre hatred — not joining in with it, just trying to understand where it comes from and why it refuses to die.

Gigs are coming up. Buy some tickets.

Nostalgia, poor decisions, and the joy of watching other people ruin things far more efficiently than you ever could.

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There’s talk of snap political certainty, knee-jerk opinions, and why everyone is always absolutely sure about everything. That leads neatly into a nostalgic Top 5 Times Everyone Got Hysterical About Some Bullshit — including the Ice Bucket Challenge, Blur vs Oasis becoming actual news, dangerous dogs, and the collective emotional meltdown after the death of Diana.

We then look ahead with Top 5 Predicted Hysterias for 2026: carbs being labelled poisonous, digital ID outrage from people welded to smartphones, panic over a cashless society, protests against “AI slop,” and first-contact alien chaos.

Along the way we reminisce about 80s holiday camps, and profess deep affection for Britain’s most dependable mass-produced comforts: Premier Inn, Wetherspoons, PureGym, Greggs, Ryanair — and any other discount concept that delivers familiarity, beige carpets, and zero surprises.

Also some essential comedy-industry navel-gazing: making other comedians laugh, the fear of being “hack,” and whether comedy is now overthinking itself into paralysis.

No experts. No balance. Just gobsh*tes remembering the past badly and musing about the future.

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From there, it’s straight into a Top 5 of celebrity deaths that genuinely stopped us in our tracks — from outright murder, to cultural immortals we all foolishly assumed would live forever. Elvis or Amy? Diana. Bowie. Lennon. Expect disagreement, bad memories, and that slightly awkward moment where you realise some of these still properly sting.

Naturally, this then escalates into a Top 5 deaths we’re confidently predicting for 2026, which is either incisive social commentary or a cry for help. You decide.

There’s also a proper industry chat on whether comedy might finally be crawling back after years of legacy-media chaos, thanks to Netflix appointing a new comedy commissioner.

And because this is a local podcast at heart, we round things off with a genuinely baffling news story involving a local MP, AI, and a bikini, which raises more questions than it answers and absolutely should not exist.

Half arsedly structured. Questionable. Occasionally insightful. Oh and Pablo's been playing with jingles again.

These are merely the hooks we hang our gobshite-ary on.

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Scott’s back this week after going suspiciously AWOL last episode — complete with a dubious sick note scrutinised by Spangles HR. Surprising snow falls and New 

Year’s resolutions immediately start to fade like a politicians promise.

Whilst leaning into comedy industry gossip this week we still trample into Who Remembers Spangles? heartlands with a Top 5 of things we used to say, don’t really say anymore, but… were they ever that contentious? 

Manservant gets compared to a top comedian’s tour manager, courting makes a brief comeback, spinster gets a proper re-examination, comedienne refuses to die quietly, and air stewardess goes under the microscope.

What does Rosie Jones say about Ricky Gervais say about Ricky Gervais and Alan Carr? Will Spangles guys agree with her?

👉 Listen now on Acast and everywhere you get your podcasts.

Go to patreon.com/spangles1970 for the juicy gossip we kept back.

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We ring Ross mid-episode. He rings back while taking down the Christmas decorations. Scott is in a state of flibbbertigibbertry....probably. 

There’s a run-in down the pub involving Dolly wearing her half-Basset half-bellend lead sleeve, Pablo getting firmly judged at by a woman who’s convinced he’s humiliating her. 

Should Iggy Pop sit before Meat Loaf in the record collection?

We also have a pop at McDonald’s in Riverside Norwich, run through a Top 5 of New Year’s resolutions nobody kept, have our say on David Walliams and Ricky Gervais then turn our ire to the flag man, who’s popped back up to lower house prices and the general tone in Loddon.

Dedicated to Ross’s menagerie of departed cats — with a special shout-out to Mr Meeowy. If you're listening up there in cat heaven then sorry for laughing at your daft name.

👉 Download it. Subscribe if you like.

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Cartoon supergroups created out of spite, parody pop duos who accidentally became massive, bands born from 9/11 trauma, art-school whims, and teens forming a group purely to blag their way into bars.

Plus: how Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse after one surreal cold call… and a peek at the future of music when AI bands start forming themselves.

Fast, funny, nerdy — get stuck in. 🎧

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Tonight on Who Remembers Spangles?, in an episode powered entirely by things people said that get on your tits a bit, Steve and Pablo seize control of the airwaves.

First up: a disturbing report claims brown sauce has been “improved,” immediately qualifying as things people said that get on your tits a bit if you’ve ever eaten a breakfast in Norfolk.

We then cross live to the Eggs ’n’ Gammon situation — a scene so chaotic even the fry-up itself muttered things people said that get on your tits a bit.

Traffic news brings us the now-infamous red-light incident: witnesses say the exchange included several classic things people said that get on your tits a bit, including “you could’ve gone there…”

Meanwhile, a curry at Indian Palace results in both hosts producing low-level groans generally categorised under things people said that get on your tits a bit.

In cultural developments, the Partridge Plate resurfaces without warning — prompting Steve to deliver a definitive things people said that get on your tits a bit sigh.

Pablo’s digital hearing aid misfires next, emitting the electronic equivalent of things people said that get on your tits a bit, then doubling down with a sarcastic beep.

Finally, we reach the Top 5 — a forensic investigation into, yes, things people said that get on your tits a bit — the phrases, the tones, the passive-aggressive horrors. You will be uncomfortable. You will be exposed. You will absolutely recognise yourself.

Listen now — or you’ll be today years old when you realise this episode is wall-to-wall things people said that get on your tits a bit.

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They kick off with the Top 5 Things You Used to Miss About the UK:

proper cups of tea, telly you recognised (Knight Rider! No Scorchio!), getting your photos developed, handing out crap souvenir ashtrays, and smuggling home duty-free like you were in The Bill.

Then it’s Top 5 Things You Miss Now:

a pint of bitter with pork scratchings, a lukewarm steak bake, the holy trinity of Indian/Chinese/Chippy, asking Alexa stupid questions, and the eternal battle with hotel toaster conveyor belts that burn your bread and your soul.

It’s nostalgic, chaotic and very, very Spangles.

Hit play and relive the joy of coming home — past and present.

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With Pablo soaking up the sun in Thailand and Scott still haunted by his own unforgettable trip there, the lads raise a glass to the great and the good of glorious inebriation.

From Oliver Reed and George Best to Johnny Vegas, Gazza, and even Rylan Clark, they debate who truly deserves a place in history’s hall of heroic hangovers. 🍻

And just when things start to get blurry, Scott drops the full, stomach-turning tale of his Bangkok bathroom disaster — a story so grim it could curdle a Chang beer. 💩✈️

Pour yourself something strong and join Scott & Pablo for 45 minutes of laughter, chaos, and booze-soaked nostalgia.

#WhoRemembersSpangles #Top5Pissheads #Podcast #Comedy #BangkokBound

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🤖 Expect:

– Robots with trust issues

– Conspiracy theories with dodgy Wi-Fi

– A glimpse into a future that’s both fascinating and terrifying

🎧 It’s the Tech & Science Special — where curiosity meets chaos, and Pablo pretends to know what he’s talking about.

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We’re talking legends — the Comeback Kings!

Elvis in leather, shaking hips divine,

Ali in the jungle, still in his prime.

Travolta’s dance from has-been to fame,

Glitter’s odd comeback (we won’t say his name),

David Icke from Wogan’s sting,

To “cult” status — a curious thing!

Now in the present, who takes the crown?

Oasis still scrapping, yet selling out towns.

Rick Astley went from cheesy to cool,

Take That rule arenas like kings of the school.

And Peter Kay? Well, don’t be daft —

From sofa recluse to full-on laughs.

So grab your beer, and pull up a seat,

It’s Who Remembers Spangles? — retro and sweet!

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We cover a lot of ground — from grief and trauma to the ways he’s overcome them — and we’re grateful for his honesty throughout. Expect more gear changes than Richard & Judy (who do, in fact, get a mention… particularly Judy’s infamous “boob boob”).

Christian’s dad is a well-known figure in the North, so that comes up too, along with plenty of stories that show just how much he’s been through. We only scratched the surface here, but hopefully we’ve done him justice.

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We dive into the Top 5 Past, Present and Future Comedy Controversies – from Jim Davidson’s old-school outrage to Louis CK’s fall from grace, Chubby Brown’s eternal banishment, and the clubs and comics who might be next.

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Shows we miss (World of Sport, Blockbusters, Tomorrow’s World).

Shows we’d happily boot into the bin (Lambing Live, Saturday Kitchen, anything “scripted”).

Wild future telly ideas (Naked Karaoke, Folding with Marina Hyde, and yes – Public Executions with Ant & Dec).

It’s retro, ridiculous, and a bit risqué – like ITV in 1977 after three Babychams.

“Sponsored by Hai Karate and Angel Delight”.

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Ross in leather, Pablo talks slick—

Whispers over synths, makes the girls tick.

Mr Hill’s back, trench coat tight,

Lurking round school gates late at night.

Stalker headmaster, banned from PE—

Still thinks Bros needs a third MC.

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This Sunday, groove along with Paul & Justin (standing in for Ross) as they boogie through the zaniest food fads of yesteryear! It’s a far-out flashback that’ll tickle your taste buds and have you shouting, “Can you dig it?”

🍛 Vesta Curries – “Heat ‘em in the microwave and thank your lucky stars!”

🥧 Fray Bentos Pies – “The only pie that could survive a nuclear winter… or your mother-in-law’s cooking!”

🍷 Blue Nun & Black Tower – “The vino that turned every lounge into a lovin’ lair!”

🍮 Jelly Cubes – “Wiggle, jiggle, and cascade down your chin—what a trip!”

🧀🍍 Cheese & Pineapple on a Stick – “The only kabob that could double as a necktie!”

…and that’s just Side A! Flip it over for the bizarro “Artisan Everything” craze, “Full English on a Shovel” servos, fries in teeny-tiny baskets, and those legendary Bottomless Lunches—where your waistline checked out but the booze kept flowing.

PLUS! Our backstage pass to sugary showstoppers: Angel Delight, Rise ’N’ Shine, Ice Magic and Funny Feet—all sprinkled with disco-ball Silver Ball-Bearings that made your birthday cake shinier than your dad’s moustache!

🌈✨ So hitch a ride on this culinary time-machine—no seatbelts required—and laugh your bell-bottoms off! Tune in, turn on, and taste the nostalgia… because these days, the only thing more outrageous than our diets is how much we can’t believe we ate! 🎧🍻

👉 Pop it in your ears this Sunday—don’t be square!

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AI wrote this intro with specific instruction to say Boobies a lot.

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This week, Ross and Pablo hurtle through time like two malfunctioning self-driving cars with trust issues. From the quiet pavements of Benidorm (no strip, thank you very much) to the bitter battlegrounds of Betamax vs VHS and Sketchers vs dignity, it's another nonsense-fuelled odyssey.

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There’s chat about eyebrow trims, forgetting everything, and the moment you realise you prefer ale to lager.

Also: cod liver oil, threepenny bits, and why the music’s always too bloody loud these days.

Moaning has never been this necessary.

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It’s greasy, it’s nostalgic, and it’s got more drama than a Queen Vic Christmas special. Pass the beans and press play.

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This week we’re kickin’ off about the old days — when Ceefax took three days to load, buses disappeared into thin air, and some muppet taped over your Knight Rider with Songs of Praise. No credit on your Nokia, pockets full o’ shrapnel, and no way to let your mates know you weren’t comin’. It were character building… apparently. Have a listen, it’s a belter.

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Now we’re calling out what was never posh, what is now, and what the future holds (AI butlers?).

Plus: Top top 5 poshos.

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We also take a nostalgic look back at the truly rubbish TV from the 70s and 80s — the baffling game shows, wooden acting, and low-budget madness that somehow made it to air.

It’s gripes, groans, and guilty pleasures galore. Don’t miss it!

Want me to knock up a version for Spotify or social media captions too?

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Things then take a philosophical (and hormonal) turn as we debate sex before marriage, with Pablo comparing modern relationships to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy—“rolling contracts, no security, and you still have to do your own cleaning.”

Oh, and in a moment we can’t legally scrub from the edit, Ross reveals the precise date of his first onanistic triumph. It’s oversharing. It’s unnecessary. It’s pure Spangles.

Plug in, breathe deep, and prepare your inner teenager—this is Episode 40.

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Anyhow....it finds a home here. We're back with the proper pod next week after I get back from Marrakech. 😁

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Tune in for a mix of crime, comedy, and cracking stories—this one's not to be misse

d!

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Pablo goes postal whilst buying emergency loo roll after dining out on his voice over offer story while Ross dines out at the Little Chef... again.

We bring you the the Top 5 biggest Shith*les in the UK. Is your town on the list?

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Will dogs take over the world?

Who was better? Brucie or Larry?

And was every part of the 6 Million Dollar man bionic?

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Also...here's a link to Comedy Corners where we interview some folk from comedy.

https://shows.acast.com/comedy-corners

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If you want more of this go to Patreon.com/spangles1970

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This first episode features Paul Tonkinson who is a brilliant club headliner comic and a former TV personality from the 90s.

Paul also wrote a cathartic novel about his attempt to run a sub 3 hour marathon. We dug into that, also comedy, his early TV success, being working class and drinking alcohol. All subjects that resonate closely with me.

This podcast also features an unplanned cameo from Paul's wife 'Rah' and Billy the dog.

Paul's podcast running commentary is a great listen for runners and/or lovers of comedy.

Really enjoyed this chat. Hope you do too! Link in comments. Probably wherever you get your listens too if I've done it right.

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Only one place you can find out......this week's episode of Who Remembers Spangles!!

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and Ross's 'sparkling' top 5 inventions from the 80s. 

Whizz on over to Who Remembers Spangles!

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In this episode, our hosts dive into a futuristic fantasy that’s both amusing and intriguing: being bathed by sexy robot nurses! Picture this: a world where advanced AI caters to your every need, complete with relaxing massages and luxurious care. Join us as we discuss the quirks and perks of this imaginative scenario, explore the implications of technology in personal wellness, and share hilarious insights on what it means to be pampered by robots. Get ready for a fun and provocative conversation that blends humour, sci-fi dreams, and a dash of reality!

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We mention Justin's other pods in this one so have left links below. Absolutely well worth listens.

Thanks tight listeners...and not tight ones! www.patreon.com/spangles1970 if you want to support us and get extra content!

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pranks-firth-podcast/id953898583

https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZfFVjMo5jS6cF3HSMGwuG

https://www.youtube.com/@IntellectualAbattoirPodcast

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Graham Linehan David Icke Douglas Murray Wet Wipe Autism Darius Davies Justin Panks Cancelled Kate Smurthwaite Rampant Communism Jeremy Beadles little hands Digital watches Boobless Ferguson Video star Hot woman Steve Buscemi Nuclear annihilation Fit Bit Tesla Wet wipe Trump Biden Culture wars Psychopaths Being likable Pride Mario Kart Balls of Steel.

See Leo's youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/LeoKearse

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Get Danny's brilliant book here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Non-Essential-Worker-Danny-Posthill/dp/1913047202

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