Worst Foot Forward

It's Worst Foot Forward here, on the hour, every hour, whatever the hour, with an episode all about the worst newscasters of all time. We're joined by the eminently qualified Glenn Moore - a brilliant comedian and also the voice of the news on XFM. Together we hold our noses and explore the word moral depths of Fox News and someone who really belongs on there - Nancy Grace. We also find out more a...

We're all offside and committing fouls after a false-start to Worst Foot Forward this week, throwing every bit of dissent we possibly can at the umpires as they outline the World's Worst Sporting Rules. With us we have Jonny Singer who, as an employee of the Marylebone Cricket Club or MCC, is one of the arbiters of the laws of cricket. He comes to us with plenty of full on mid-off silliness about...

Video may not have killed the radio star, but it's certainly responsible for some incredibly poor creative choices since MTV was launched back in 1981. We're joined by comedian and host of the tremendous 3 Track Podcast Gabriel Ebulue as we trawl through the horrorshows of wannabe somebodies and waywards superstars adding images to their music. Along the way we uncover the story of Michael Jackson...

This week we're endeavouring to look Very Serious Indeed as we grapple with thorny topic of political theatre. We're joined by director, actor and theatre-maker Daniel Bye who gets stuck into an episode packed full of history, literature, one-upmanship, shouting at people in crates, Elizabethan coups and an awful lot of codfish and rhubarb spoken about Shakespeare. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot...

It's all fun and games this week on Worst Foot Forward as Ben and Barry welcome Jamey Stegmaier to talk about the World's Worst Game. Jamey is the founder of Stonemaier Games (https://www.stonemaiergames.com) and in the last decade he has created some of the highest-rated board games in the world such as Scythe and Viticulture. We cast our eyes on a few board games including a plethora of Monopoli...

This week we're joined by podcast royalty and bosom buddies James Barr and Dan Hudson, aka A Gay and a Nongay to discuss what happens when friendship turns sour. As ever, we gallop through the history books to uncover the reality behind royal whipping boys, a strangled Moorish poet, a million ways to stab your brother in the back and what happens when you get to over-familiar with bears. (Massive...

Handbags and glad-rags time, as Ben and Barry record an episode in the Houses of Parliament in London, no less! And joining them is a dedicated follower of fashion and Labour Party Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn, Tulip Siddiq. Taking time from her busy schedule, Tulip's love of style is on full display as she confesses to past - and present fashion faux pas. Meanwhile Barry tries t...

Tan-tan-tara-tara splutter splutter cough… This episode reaches you with a dribbly fanfare, a shambling parade and a few dubious musical acts, like all the very Worst Opening Ceremonies. Yep, this week we're talking to actor and writer Jon Dryden Taylor about those very arcane mixed-bags which have preceded great events. We visit Hollywood in the dark days of the late 80s, Olympics and World Cups...

It's back to one of our favourite Sunday afternoon pub conversations this week as we go searching for more terrible footballers for our all-time worst XI. This week, we fill the centre-back spot and there are a rogues gallery of misfits, cheats and actual criminals all jostling, badly, for the spot. Our guest is football fan, Blackburn Rovers fanatic and tremendous stand-up comic Tez Ilyas. We dis...

Hullo hullo hullo...what have we got here then? Why officer, it's an episode all about the worst coppers of all time. We invited on QI elf, novelist, lateral thinker and ex-policeman with over 30 years service Stevyn Colgan to join us in settling the subject. As you'd expect, there's plenty of disreputable plods and dastardly inside jobs including brothels, speed cameras, three-card tricks, cross-...

We've a spring in our steps and a Spring in the studio this week as Brooklyn's sharpest wit Spring Day is with us to talk about the World's Worst Family Traditions. We mine the murky world of Reddit and our very own listeners for pranks and Stacks, we shove vicious insects into various items of clothing and we put so many babies in peril. So many babies… Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay...

It's time to get out our Bunsen Burners and boil everything down to its most basic constituent parts: if we can work out what the worst element in the world is, perhaps we can uncover the secrets behind all heroic failure? Joining us this week is breathtakingly smart and multi-talented chanteuse of the science world Helen Arney. Part of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Helen has appeared on TV and...

It's a beautiful day! Our guest this week is the actor Felix Trench, star of the podcast sitcom 'Wooden Overcoats' (http://www.woodenovercoats.com) and history graduate who thumbs through the Worst Foot Chronicles to look for the World's Worst Day. There are quite a few to choose from… Felix gives us a worldwide tour of the year 1556, Ben harks back to the day the 20th Century began and Barry does...

We're joined this week by award-winning Kiwi comic and former criminologist Matt Stellingwerf to cover a seriously grisly topic: the world's worst punishment. This episode comes with a serious content warning as we delve into the depths of human behaviour to discuss capital punishments with the sort of inventiveness normally reserved for Wallace and Gromit. Our search takes us from medieval Spain...

This week on Worst Foot Forward we are celebrating joining Podnose, the UK's leading independent entertainment podcasting network. To mark this, we're looking back over our first year (and a bit) of trivial silliness and awful achievements. We've picked out some of our favourite facts and fripperies from episodes 1 to 53, featuring some of our very best guests and very worst worsts, including unde...

Anyone for tea? Following on from speaking to the quintessential British rapper last week we cover the most classic of all British topics this week: tea. Joined by award-winning comedian and host of the CineMastermind podcast Laura Lexx we settle a debate that goes all the way back to the very first cuppa that was stewed a little too long and severely displeased a Chinese emperor. As well as getti...

Pull up a turntable and join us as we cut through the hardy thickets of undergrowth that make up the choices of the world's worst hip-hop album. Joined by the indomitable Professor Elemental - the finest exponent of chap-hop and owner of the world's only monkey butler - we listen to music so asinine, offensive, badly produced and inappropriate that it should be banned by the Geneva Convention. All...

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Cointreau, it's time for these salty seadogs to tell ye a tale! Gather ye round as Cap'n Will Seaward, comedian and storyteller of yore, is piped aboard the good ship Worst Foot Forward by Cabin Boy Van der Velde and Able Seaman McStay. Avast and away, they set sail in search of treasure, namely the World's Worst Pirates. But beware! For there be many dragons along the way...

This week's episode sees us paint with broad brushstrokes as we discuss the world's worst sequel, along with our guest - comedian, writer and Jonathan Pie co-creator - Andrew Doyle. If you've ever loved something and been crushingly disappointed by the follow-up (parents with two offspring will know that feeling) you'll love this episode. We discuss every possible type of sequel: from books to fil...

Merry new year to one and all! For our first episode of 2018 we've donned berets, waxed our beards and grabbed the nearest set of tom-toms to share stories of the worst poets in history. Naturally, the king of bad poetry William McGonagall is heavily featured, but we also meet a the Canadian James McIntyre who was quite unreasonably obsessed with cheese and Theophilus Marzials, a man who heard abo...

Ho ho ho - but enough naming our garden implements, it's time for the Worst Foot Forward Christmas Special! Santa himself joins us on the show - or at least, his official body-double does. Yes, actor and professional Father Christmas Allan Scott-Douglas is our guest to tell us wintry tales of the World's Worst Santa. Allan relates some true tales from backstage at the grotto, Barry takes us throug...

It's our fiftieth episode, our golden anniversary and to celebrate, Ben and Barry have got a real rabbi to bless their union. Sam Lebens joins the boys to pray for the coming of the World's Worst Messiah. Barry puts his Jesuit education to good use with stories of Micronesian 'cargo cults', Ben gets down and dirty amidst some Reformation orgies and Sam brings an academic eye to the question 'what...

Join us for a rummage through the bargain basement with actor, sketch performer and 21st century PG Wodehouse character Thom Tuck as we cast our eyes over the world of music to find the Worst Best Of... albums in history. We nerd out over album sequencing, confess to ropey teenage purchases and uncover a particularly grim Elvis cash-in. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @...

*Cue outrageously funky wah-wah pedal and slick hi-hat action* Flick up the collars of your trenchcoat, coiffure your Afro to perfection and get ready to lay some righteous Smackdown on Whitey and the establishment as we join comedian and radio host Masud Milas on a journey into the world of Blaxploitation films. As ever on our search for the worst of all time, we come across all sorts of horrifyi...

3 - 2 - 1 - LIFT OFF! Whoops, the rocket fell over. Yes, having previously discussed astronauts, we're blasting off to space again in search of the World's Worst Space Invention. Award-winning comedian and actress Samantha Baines (The Crown, Call The Midwife) joins us to share her love of Cox and her insights into sex in space. Meanwhile, Ben pops the hood and looks at the inner workings of the De...