Broadcasting itinerantly from the Big British Castle comes the bouncing dual headed colossus that is the Adam and Joe show! Intimately and inimitably hosted by Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, or Captain Buckules and Dr Sexy to their friends, this is to be heralded as genre defining podcast, despite its roots as a radio show. Running since 2003, they have made a habit of uniquely amazing radio that makes for incredible podcasting. Every second of the show courses with their adorable and addictive chemistry, flickering with the magic of their relationship, the charm of their guises and the loveliness of the show are a worthy tribute to the quality of their broadcasting.
Adam and Joe having elbow fun!
Chumly, charming, ribald and giddy, Adam and Joe share an unmatched synergy. The pair’s relationship defines the show, intense silliness, endless moments of uncontrollable laughter and instances of amazing anthropological lucidity make the show a pure joy. Clearly friends since childhood, their synchronistic thoughts and matching foolishness grant the show a lightness of touch, a loucheness of feel and a kind warmth that embraces listeners new and old. This magic also works perfectly into their regular segments, particularly the fan favourite ‘song wars.’ Whilst neither is anywhere near a professional musician, they share a clear love of music, and are more than competent with GarageBand. Taking topics of a semi-random nature, dedicating an hour or two to creating a song, eventually creating two pieces thoroughly detached from the sensible. These are tracks which tap into an unbeatable mix of utter ridiculousness, crazed pomposity and endearing childishness that perfectly catches the rare magic of their pairing. The show’s rarity actually plays into this as well; with the much fewer episodes in existence really refining each and every minute.
Joe and Adam absorbing nutrients!
Another facet that Adam and Joe pursue with an unmatched elegance is the courting of their audience, aka ‘Black Squadron.’ The enviably friendly manner, delightfully off-the-cuff conversation and love of foolhardiness of the two facilitates a participatory audience to begin with, their ability to constantly develop and evolve nicknames and break into fits of laughter over double-entendre are almost disgustingly charming. But the invitation and engagement with their audience remains one of the stand-out aspects of the show, hence the sadness of their infrequent presence. For example, through the made-up jokes segments, they foster an adorable pun simpatico with the audience, the awkward and nigh-on nonsensical jokes proposed by the audience fulfilling the premise wonderfully and allowing Adam and Joe to occasionally parp their approval. Alongside this, ‘Travelling Tales’ cleverly keys into two matching social hotspots: the intrinsically difficult and frustrating nature of travel; alongside how almost all podcasts are listened to in transit. Allowing for an endless sequence of train misfortunes, bus quandaries and plane disturbances to find their way onto the show. They also briefly created a phenomena of ‘Stephen-ing,’ in which one person will call out ‘Stephen!’ to which the initiated responds: ‘just coming!’ This reached a head over their Glastonbury shows, where the Fleet Foxes would frequently be heralded with this call, having courted it on an earlier episode. Through these features, alongside the duo’s innate everyman status really allow them to fete their audience in a simple and effective way, carefully fostering a mine of public affection, with which the Black Squadron are happy to oblige.
Adam and Joe crushing!
There is also a well known, but thankfully mostly uncovered chequeredness to their relationship, the long breaks in between shows indicative of these hiatus, during which Adam and Joe explore their other creative outlets. As is well-known already, Cornish frequently writes with the director Edgar Wright and recently created the amazing film: ‘Attack the Block.’ Cast against this are Buxton’s interests in TV work, such as the recently converted to television ‘Bug’ wherein music is played and segued between, or simply pursuing more comedy and music oriented goals. Were you to be so minded, you could search out the little seeds of this path-splitting through Joe’s ocassional acerbic-ness (hence his affectionate moniker ‘Scornballs’) as crossed with Buxton’s more jester-like nature, slipping into ever so slightly similar voices for various characters with a delicate ease. One can also occasionally feel Joe’s slight issues with the restrictions that being the radio format brings to their relationship, a not uncommon result of having a lot of your time together being broadcast on national radio. There is also of course, no great issue with seeking to make a name for themselves alone, rather than only being considered as ‘one of’ their joint entity, but their commitment to, and love of, the show is always shown by their returns to it, as well as a clear desire to perform as often as they can.
This is pretty amazing stuff, and very much a genre defining collection for British podcasting especially. You really need to get involved now, so that you can start hoping on a new series massively in advance!
You can find the podcast over on iTunes, or if you just search in your preferred engine for their downloads you can find them there. You can compliment Adam up on twitter at @AdamRealBuxton but, for sadness, Joe appears to not be. So just write nice things about him on the internet elsewhere. Quick, go!