Worst Foot Forward

CHAAAAAAAARGE! Very much in keeping with the spirit of the times, this week we're charging headlong into battle with very little strategy or plan, joined by musician, comedian, journalist and official biographer of Terry Pratchett, Marc Burrows. There's pretty much every variety of military misadventure including drunken penal battalions, invading deserted islands, attacking your own troops from b...

**Please join the podcast in supporting organisations working for justice and equality for black people. Spurred by the death of George Floyd and too many others, and in solidarity with the waves of protest around the world, we have donated this month's Patreon income to the following three, but there are many others which need your help: The Community Justice Exchange - National Bail Fund Network...

On your marks...get set...GO! We're off to the races this week, along with brilliantly funny stand-up comedian, actor and writer Bethany Black as we discover new heights of human incompetence and brazen cheating.   It turns out that the turn of the 20th century was a highpoint for incredibly stupid motor car races, terribly organised Olympic marathons and cheating of the most audacious scope.  Thi...

Welcome to this month's bonus glace cherry atop a teetering pile of horse manure.  Since we're all currently living a monastic lifestyle we thought it would appropriate to be inspired by regular character on the show St. Simon Stylites and talk about some of the most fascinatingly odd loners in history.  There's tales of hoarded riches, strange ciphers and ornamental hermits.  Come enter our grott...

God, the episode titles really don't really treat our guests very well, do they!? Dr Lucy Rogers is an absolutely world class science communicator, an inventor with a sense of fun and a whole lot to say to us on the topic of the World's Worst Science Communicator. She shares stories of fat trains and thin stations, Barry dives down ferret-holes in search of the evolutionary tree of fairies, and Be...

Your podcast needs YOU! This week we're joined by the creative whirlwind Madison Coby: actor, graphic designer and illustrator to discuss all the things that can go wrong on a simple piece of A3 paper. We dive into the worlds of fashion, film-making and wartime propaganda to discuss words and images that should never have been put together on paper. Are you podcast body ready...? Follow us on Twit...

We're reaping what we sow this week on WFF as actor, improviser, comedian and producer Joseph Cullen, whose family are of Cornish farming stock, is with us to talk about the World's Worst Farmer. We talk odd animals, dynamite, gong-farming and the man who taught the world about 'do nothing' farming. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @joseph_cullen90 Visit www.worstfootfor...

We're not really meant to bring groups of tourists wandering around London in these locked-down times, so Ben and Barry lead a virtual walking tour of the capital of the UK. This was live-streamed on Sunday 26th April 2020, and made use of Google Street View. There was a scavenger hunt if you want to have some fun at home, and you can follow along with the whole thing using the tour at this link:...

Is this a podcast? I hadn't noticed. It's time, folks. It's a topic we've had on the radar for a while and finally we settle down on the sofa to watch the World's Worst Rom-Com. Alongside writer and actress Sadie Clark and our special guest judge Dani Charlton, we debate your Four Weddings, your Loves Actually, your Ten Things and so much more. There are star turns from Rob Reiner's mother, Matthe...

This week you find us brandishing our rubber chickens, whoopee cushions and banana skins in the company of one of the finest joke writers and most wonderfully absurd performers on the UK circuit: John-Luke Roberts. We're on the hunt for the world's worst joke, whether it's painful damp squibs or punchlines that could end civilisation as we know it.  I say, I say, I say… Follow us on Twitter: @wors...

Roll for initiative! Grab your dice, your pencils, character sheets and assorted costume pieces as we gather around the gaming table for a Dungeons And Dragons-heavy episode all about the World's Worst Spell. We are joined by Tom, Mason and Andrew, some of the gang from Derps and Dragons ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMln1ldUBG9eeUfhpXT70_g ) who lay out why Harry Potter would be swept aside...

Man the barricades and try not to fall over the edge as you're doing it.  Desperate times call for desperate measures and we've drafted in ace political comedian Joe Wells to help us find the freedom fighters and revolutionaries who we shouldn't be turning to in these turbulent times.  Ben brings a classic of the "God talked to me and told me to rain down fire" genre, Barry unleashes centuries of...

It's that time of the month again, your extra dose of Worst Foot Forward in our bonus episode paid for by our kind supporters on Patreon. This month, with half of the world locked away from Covid-19 and trying to think of things to do, Barry takes us on a quick tour of the history and trivia behind various indoor games you can play in your own locked-down home! Learn about the soothsaying past of...

There are some strings attached to this week's episode - our first recorded during full-blown lockdown - but we're keeping our spirits up with some helpful hands up our bums. That's what happens when we go looking for the World's Worst Puppet alongside puppeteer on both stage and screen, Mikey Brett. Who just so happens to be Barry's husband. There are excursions to the Muppet Theatre, Sesame Stre...

Well now...this has been quite the week, hasn't it.  Ben stubbed his toe on a bed frame late on Friday night and it all seems to have got even worse from there. Like the world and his wife we've been busying reorganising, panicking, bellowing at the heavens and making the odd inappropriate joke about all this coronavirus shenanigans.  We aim to be back with a new episode for you next week, but in...

We're back with more sunshine, history and daftness in a hostful episode where we look back at previous episodes about terrible magic tricks, monarchs, legal defences, burlesque performers and playwrights and pick our favourite examples of each. It's a real pic'n'mix this week including the many faces of William Shakespeare, blowjobs, the coolest spy of all time, Dom Pedro the Magnanimous and some...

Strike a pose, this week we are strutting our stuff on the catwalk of catastrophe that is the World's Worst Fashion Show. Theatre director extraordinaire Lucy Jane Atkinson is with us to tell us of the time she found a fashion show up a mountain and to peek at the crotch of Rick Owens' more revealing creations. Ben takes us to the bizarre world of digital fashion and Barry delves into the past to...

Here we go! Our first ever live show, recorded on 29th February at the Network Theatre in Waterloo as part of London's VAULT Festival. We were joined by three brilliant guests - Roann McCloskey, Anna Ploszajski and Joel Morris - who returned to the pod for the World's Worst Dinner Party in front of a lovely, lively audience! We sample food from the Futurists Cookbook and, while we chow down, Roann...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Joel Morris, Dr Anna Ploszajski and one more to be announced... follow this link: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ This month's extra Patreon episode is inspired by one of our favourite ever discoveries on this show: Sweden and Finland's deployment of February 30th to regulate...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Bec Hill, Dr Anna Ploszajski and Joel Morris follow this link:  https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ We have food royalty with us this week, the King of Tarts, the Prince of Profiteroles, the Emperor of The World's Most Famous Tent: 2019 Great British Bake-Off champion David Athert...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Bec Hill, Dr Anna Ploszajski and Joel Morris follow this link:  https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ Pop on an enormous ballgown, gargle until your vocal folds are primed and ready and prepare to belt out laughs at this week's episode all about the world's worst opera.  Joined by a...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Bec Hill, Dr Anna Ploszajski and Joel Morris follow this link:  https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ Join us 20,000 leagues under the sea this week in Davy Jones's locker, somewhere behind his used socks and half-eaten apples. We are in the company of improviser extraordinaire and...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Bec Hill, Dr Anna Ploszajski and one more to be announced... follow this link:  https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ 150 not out ladies and gentlemen! To celebrate hitting this, frankly ridiculous, milestone Ben and Barry interview each other and find out a few more of their own pe...

**For tickets to our first ever live show on February 29th 2020, with special guests Bec Hill, Dr Anna Ploszajski and one more to be announced... follow this link: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/ This month's extra Patreon episode is about Dancing Plagues. Ben takes Barry on a waltz through pre-Reformation Europe, around shrines to St Vitus, as well as to danc...

**For tickets to our first ever live show in London on February 29th 2020, follow this link: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/worst-foot-forward-live-recording/  . Our guests include Bec Hill and Dr Anna Ploszajski plus another to be announced!** Tickets please, and get your feet off the seat while minding the gap and moving down inside the carriage: It's time to hop aboard the World's Worst Tra...