I think Acaster is still my favourite comedian, if pushed to name a single name, and the earliest inkling of that dates back 10 years to seeing him perform Recognise, the show where the conceit is he is actually undercover cop Pat Springleaf - a rich seam for comedy.
So here we are, 10 years later, with a 10 episode narrative comedy podcast starring Springleaf, and it’s an absolute goddamn delight.
The format - Acaster as Springleaf inviting an actual comedian each week to take part in a podcast within the narrative centred around constructing the story through wire recordings - is pleasingly clever but simple.
It’s beautifully silly, laugh out loud funny, richly detailed, and despite all that seems to exist as an excuse to mock Nish for 10 episodes. What’s more to want?
I’ve been poking away at my own podcast that kind of fits into this vein? A narrative comedy podcast that has a podcast within it, that swerves just being a true crime podcast but is something else instead. It’s nice to know that, yeah, it could work. But maybe only as long as you’re Acaster.