Worst Foot Forward

This week's episode is brimful of rickety oddness as we explore some of the most haphazard, dangerous and eerie coincidences in history. Joined by one-woman encyclopedia of the delightfully arcane, Moxie Labouche (host of the Your Brain On Facts podcast), we talk under aligned planets of curses, assassination attempts, unfortunate deaths and savant entrepreneurs. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot...

We're perusing the pages of the World's Worst Comic books and strips this week in the company of comedian and illustrator Paul Savage - who took the title of this episode in very good part! He tells us about Larry Flynt's less salubrious side, Ben discovers a passion for primates and Barry is riding bareback with the Rawhide Kid. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @comedys...

This is your 5 minute call ladies and gentlemen. Whether you're in the stalls or up in the gods, you'll enjoy the spectacle we produce for the next hour. In the company of Patreon supporter and self-confessed theatre nerd Courtney Taylor, we've got tales of ghosts, fires, blood, thieves, motorbikes and absolutely the worst staging of Midsummer Night's Dream. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @ba...

It's time for the mane event as Irish international equestrian Sam Watson joins us for a gallop through history in search of the World's Worst Horse. Barry tells us about a horse celebrated for his inadequacy, Sam explores the high-stakes world of over-priced and under-performing nags, and Ben goes off-piste with some horrifying folk traditions and fairground attractions. Follow us on Twitter: @wo...

This week's episode is going to gently percolate into your ears over several hours, but only after passing through the digestive system of both Ben and Barry. Joined by one of the finest stand-ups on the British circuit and self-confessed coffee snob Carl Donnelly (as well as fastidious father and son Patreon judging team David and Tyler), we enjoy tales of furious Ottoman emperors, how the CIA en...

Listeners with an interest in football may well have heard the brilliant story of SV Tasmania Berlin as their unique record in German football was under threat last month. For non-football fans / regular Worst Foot Forward nerds, stay with us: they're the worst football team in the German Premier League's history, they know it and they LOVE it. If that's not what this podcast is about, we don't kn...

For we're the jolly worst fellow, and so say all of you! Blimey, 200 episodes of this nonsense, who'd have thought it? And to celebrate this milestone we have brought back two stellar former guests in the shape of Paul Duncan McGarrity and Johnny Chiodini. Not only that, but - rather like the last day of term - we've brought in games to play! Johnny takes on the role of Games Master to guide Ben,...

In this week's episode Ben and Barry are joined by 1/3 of the Drunk Women Solving Crime podcast - writer, comedian and first-class soused sleuth Hannah George. Together the three of them prepare for friendly, not-so friendly and completely unhinged competition.  We find out why Sumo wrestlers like yelling at babies, discover astounding new depths of misogyny from the 1950s and reality TV and get h...

This week's show is an absolute banger. Joined by comedian and actor Sukh Ojla we head to darkest corners of the Worst Foot Forward abattoir to uncover the ludicrous history of terrible sausages. On our way we meet Kaiser Wilhelm's vicious dachshunds, the wurst Botox outbreak and how sausages have inspired bets, duels and wars. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @sukhojla...

We realise many of our listeners might want to volunteer their own countries for this week's accolade of World's Worst Country, but in the capable company of one half of the Map Men, Mark Cooper-Jones, we think we might be able to outdo you. We bring you to micronations ruled by animals, the very affordable pricing of Liechtenstein and the nation that encompasses all of outer space itself. Follow...

It our first bonus episode of 2021 - bye 2020, out with the old, in with the new. This new year brings a new US president, and to mark the occasion, Barry takes us on a walk down memory lane to past US presidential inaugurations. We hear tales of dead pigeons, frozen champagne, faltering poets and absent wives. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde   Visit www.worstfootforwar...

This week we open the doors to the Worst Foot Gallery to uncover the world's worst artist. The collection is full of bodily fluids, fascists, murderers, self-proclaimed unjustified geniuses and one man who took performance art far to far indeed. We're joined by Mo Omar: a man who is stand-up comedy's gain to art school's loss. Enjoy this show whilst scratching your chin and considering the questio...

Yaaaaar me hearties. We come to you peg-legged, one-eyed, half-lunged and rotten-toothed for a special dig into our vaults. For the first time in Worst Foot Forward history both Ben and Barry are suffering under the weather (a brutal so'esterly) and so we're giving you the opportunity to listen again to one of our favourite ever episodes, all about the world's worst pirates.  We'll be back next we...

This episode feels like it has been a long time coming, frankly. Nobel Laureates include some of the best of us - and, as we discover today, some of the worst of us too. Science storyteller Kat Arney joins us to help guide us through a ceremony full of failure, with misogynistic self-publicists, war-mongering peace prize winners and the worst category of all: Economics. Follow us on Twitter: @wors...

A very merry new year to you all! After the stress of 2020, we thought it was best to get back to nature for our first episode of 2021. Joined by award-winning tree sculptor Simon O'Rourke we strolled through the blood-stained woodland glades of myth, history and surgery to find the world's worst tree. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @bazmcstay   @benvandervelde @treecarving Visit  www.worstfo...

We can all agree that 2020 has been an absolute Mrs Brown's Boys compilation show of a year, topped off with a Michael Bolton and Kenny G duet finale. Still, could be worse. Could be 2021. For our bonus episode - paid for by our kind Patreon supporters - we decided to look into our buffed and scratched crystal ball to see what the next 12 months have in store. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @...

Let's be honest folks: The words 'best' and '2020' are unlikely to appear in many sentences together. What a weird 12 months it's been. But hope springs eternal, and we're hoping for better things in the new year. Meanwhile, there were some bright points in 2020 for us at Worst Foot Forward, including our first live show, our first live stream and Ben's second baby! Along the way we were haunted b...

Merry Crimblemas everyone! To send you into the festive period brimming with good cheer and premium eggnog, we've put together an episode inspired by the The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Christmas. There's an odd bit of catastrophic behaviour, some pirates and a lot of dead birds. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @bazmcstay   @benvandervelde   Visit  www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com  for all previou...

Join us truffling in the undergrowth this week as we dance among the death caps to find the world's worst fungus. In the company of the completely unique and utterly charming Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Elf Lyons, we get personal, poisonous, psychadelic and phallic. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @bazmcstay   @benvandervelde @elf_lyons Visit  www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com  for all previo...

Pop on your tuxedo and join us undercover as we bumble across enemy lines for an episode all about the worst spies in history. With our special guest (and former employer) Neil Connolly, who is a self-confessed Le Carre obsessive, we enjoy tales of triple agents, cross-dressing opera singers and the most uncomfortable gadget ever concocted by Q Branch. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @...

This week we call on the Honourable Member for Blackburn - that is, Times newspaper political diarist Jack Blackburn, who helps guide Barry and Ben through the hallowed halls of the the House of Commons in search of the World's Worst Parliamentarian. He brings tales of philanderers, hitmen and faked deaths, while Barry serves up some deadly turnips and Ben introduces us to the German politician wh...

Gobble gobble, folks! In this month's seasonal bonus episode we are having a very close look at our feathered friend: The turkey. Thanksgiving has just passed in the US, Christmas is coming, and so we decided to try get to know them a bit more intimately. We learn about the origin of their names, what they do with their snood and what exactly Benjamin Franklin thought of them. Follow us on Twitter...

Join us as we go beserk with hugely talented comedian and former Norse scholar Pierre Novellie. This week we journey back 1100 years to the time when coastal towns lived in fear of magic mushroom-guzzling Scandinavians and encounter the king of Viking slapstick, terrifying Russian pirates, decapitated polar bears and the goddess of skiing. Follow us on Twitter:  @worstfoot   @bazmcstay   @benvande...

It's been a good couple of weeks if you're a fan of vaccines and anyone-other-than-Donald-Trump, so Ben and Barry are electing to inject some positivity into proceedings with a look back at past worsts and finding their opposites. We find the bests in the categories from episodes 46-50: Cocktail, Space Invention, Blaxploitation Movie, Greatest Hits Album and Messiah. Along the way we sup with movi...

If you don't listen to this podcast immediately then you're sure to get 7 years bad luck. We're joined by acclaimed writer and comedian Juliet Meyers to explore the folkloric world of Old Wive's Tales. We discover why vegetables were part of a battle for hearts and minds during World War 2, why you should never cross a woman selling fish in the 19th century and that you should be extremely wary of...