A collection of the best moments from his show on BBC Radio Wales, Rhod Gilbert’s Best Bits excels as podcast binge listening, but it’s individual moments of hilarity are so glorious as to be equally fantastic gobbled up the moment it arrives on your selected audio device. A show which revels in making a hell of a lot out of a lot of nothing, doing so with outrageous ease, revelrous comedy and a constantly engaging oddness, this is a podcast which marvels with each turn, managing to surprise and confuse with vigour.
Rhod Gilbert, for those uninitiated, is a Welsh comedian who only arrived on the scene in 2002, at the grand old age of 33. Despite his late start, he rapidly rose to prominence as one of the funniest and most original stand-ups around, utilising an observational comedy base to jump into absurdity, farce and semi-nonsense, all with his signature flourish of lunatic logic. Due to his stand-out voice, both comedic and tonal, he was soon granted a radio show on BBC Radio Wales, which this podcast is culled from. Essentially a loose collection of his best talents, the show uses almost purposefully boring and vague call-in topics, analysis of newspapers and bizarre and contrarian debates on the natures of everyday things to give Gilbert the most varied tools to work with. Consistently hilarious, voraciously funny and sharp as the proverbial tack, Gilbert heralds the show with incredible ease, and to great amusement, managing to turn absolute nothings into huge rollicking points of discussion in a matter of minutes through a blend of outrageous contrarianism and undiluted passion about something you didn’t quite realise one could be passionate about.
Rhod Gilbert reading the Grimsby Telegraph!
Topics like ‘what’s better tea or coffee?’ or ‘have you ever dropped a tin of paint’ speak to the unique silliness of the show, as they quickly escalate into actively hilarious nonsense, thanks to the strength of his comedic voice, listeners who clearly understand the show and a variety of co-hosts all too willing to engage him in a point of contrarianism. In fact, his ability to turn incredibly sketchy ideas for segments into two hours of radio seems utterly unprecedented, and actually seems to almost veer on the parodic at times. As if it were a piece of elaborate satire, riffing on the utter inanity of most daytime radio output, with the transparency of it’s subject matter and it’s seemingly ramshackle trappings. But parody it isn’t, instead it’s more the tailored utilisation of a fairly specialised set of skills that allow Gilbert to become the centre of a self-made fray as he rails against utterly inane problems, or eulogises the joy of having a bath in the morning. In a way that is genuinely and thoroughly funny, Gilbert manages to damn near make a mockery of those radio hosts who desperately throw topics at an audience to solicit any kind of response, instead turning subjects which seem to have no traction into instant radio gems. It wouldn’t be overstating it to say that Gilbert is almost turning the form on it’s head, using his completely inimitable comedy of illogic and razor sharp observational wit, to turn the flimsiest of topics into the strongest of figureheads.
Many far more storied figures in radio would love to control and dictate a show in the way Rhod Gilbert can, to be so consistently laugh out loud funny, entertaining and down right good fun as to elicit greatness from every episode. An uninhibitedly fabulous podcast that veers on the majestic, Rhod Gilbert’s Best Bits is pretty much a must for the podcast fan, particularly those who pride themselves on the range and quality of their collections. This show is unignorably brilliant.
You can find the podcast on iTunes, or over on the BBC website. The show goes out live and un-chopped up 11-1am GMT every Saturday, for those who want the music and extra patter too. He also doesn’t want you to annoy him on Twitter. Night night everyone!