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Get some funny looks – radio comedy and podcasts to make you laugh out loud in public

Love to snort out loud and discombobulate strangers? Day not complete till you’ve laughed openly on public transport, scaring your fellow passengers? That monthly gym workout not considered legitimate unless it’s punctuated by an unencumbered guffaw on the treadmill?

Great! Because we’ve selected some innovative, remarkable, life-changing radio comedy and funny podcasts now on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds that will achieve these noble aims...

Innuendo Bingo with… Will Ferrell

It’s always dangerous to state that "this is guaranteed to make you laugh" as, inevitably, you’ll be met with a volley of determined, stony, non-mirthful expressions. But, we can promise you, this will make you titter, giggle or possibly guffaw like an asthmatic horse.

If you haven’t experienced Innuendo Bingo on Radio 1, pockets of unintentional rudeness are extracted from TV and radio shows and played to celebrities holding a mouthful of water. "Spit takes" invariably ensue. Throw Will Ferrell into that mix and… well, you can imagine what happens...

Listen: Will Ferrell plays Innuendo Bingo

The Boosh

If you like your comedy from that expansive category known as "zoological surrealism" then let us point you in the direction of Howard Moon and Vince Noir. Before Bake off, before Flowers (and before they were Mighty), Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding were The Boosh, running a very odd zoo with inhabitants like Tony the Prawn, bamboo-vaulting penguins and Mr Rodgers the toothless cobra. Though the TV series was undeniably brilliant, there’s something about the unlimited aural pleasures and unfettered oddness exhibited on the radio series that makes The Boosh an unmissable classic.

Listen: The Boosh - Stolen

Birthday Girls’ House Party

If you’ve ever tossed and turned at night, burning with questions such as "Did Henry VIII eat pork?" or "Why are the Spanish so obsessed with milk?" or "What the heck is a Biology Olympiad?", then you’ve popped in to the right pigeonhole.

Beattie Edmondson, Rose Johnson and Camille Ucan are, quite rightly, Birthday Girls and in every episode you are (cordially) invited to a different themed party the girls have organised, which runs from Tudor to True Crime.

And expect surprise guests such as James Acaster, Mae Martin, Dane Baptiste and Cariad Lloyd to crash.

Listen: Birthday Girls' House Party - Surprise Party with Cariad Lloyd

Fortunately with Fi & Jane

It’s quite hard to imagine a world without Fortunately. Although it’s only a couple of years old, it’s already developed into a necessary, podcasting institution with the wisest, wittiest women on the planet (Jane Garvey and Fi Glover of course) discussing everything from vast global indelicacies to the minutiae of life (expect Wotsits, prolapses and lady barnacles in no particular order) in the company of guests like Jon Ronson, Adam Buxton, Tracey Thorn and Dame Esther Rantzen. And sometimes there’s flapjack. How can you resist?

Listen: Fortunately... with Fi and Jane - Early Morning Movements with Ritula Shah

No Country For Young Women

Meet Sadia and Monty.

They nearly called their podcast "Race Horse" because, in the words of Sadia, "I see race in my cereal." But the show, which aims to help those from BAME communities (and everyone else) to conquer "life, love and work in a white man's world" doesn’t just concern itself with race. It’s also filthy.

Ready yourself for plenty of sex chat plus fetish experts, porn performers, self-love and being saved by drag. You will gasp, then laugh, then gasp again.

Listen: No Country For Young Women - Exes, accents and Basma Khalifa

Flight of the Conchords

They may now be global superstars with massive film credits, O2-filling live shows and a wildly popular American television series under their antipodean belts, but Bret and Jermaine started their pursuit for world domination on Radio 2.

Their fabulous radio run echoes the later TV series, with the boys struggling as lowly Kiwi musicians trying to hit the big time. There’s the classic Conchords mix of low-energy striving plus incredibly sexy folk-funk with tunes such as Business Time and Bowie’s in Space. Plus there are cameos form comedy legends such as Rob Brydon, Daniel Kitson, Jimmy Carr, Nina Conti and Emma Kennedy.

Listen: The Flight of the Conchords - Suzanne

James Acaster’s Findings

How do you feel about things? Are you curious about them? Or would you rather live your whole life with your head in the sand and your fingers in your ears while making a kind of harrumphing noise that blocks out all other audible information?

If that’s the case then you’re not James Acaster. You see, certain things sully and perplex the mind of James, so he decided to conduct something approaching in-depth research on various stuffs.

So if you’re desperate to learn more about paint, fruit, wood or wheels, then quickly get this into your ears.

Listen: James Acaster's Findings - Wood

Small Scenes

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your life is constructed of tiny fragments of inevitability which can, in turn, be funny, painful, tedious or hosted by Bradley Walsh.

These clumps of time-passing detritus are the domain of Small Scenes which illustrates the indistinguishable chunks in the chutney of life via the prism of sketch comedy. The award-bothering Daniel Rigby, Freya Parker, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd and Henry Paker join forces to bring you tales of cat shows, crosswords, Chris de Burgh and furtive cow illustration.

Listen: Small Scenes, Episode 1 (Series 4)

Felicity Ward - Appisodes

Once upon a time we were all sane and healthy and spent long winter evenings pawing through the Argos catalogue by candlelight while surrounded by loved ones.

But, thanks to the internet, those days are long gone and now we’re all blubbering basket cases who cry at cat memes at least four times a day. One person who decided to try and confound the modern condition is Felicity Ward, who – bravely and heroically – tried a series of apps to combat contemporary intrigues such as depression, anxiety and, of course, IBS. Travel with her as she downloads, listens and reupholsters her existence.

Listen: Felicity Ward - Appisodes - Anxiety

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds comedy takeover starts on Monday 18 February

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