| This week, Rachel Aroesti chooses five of the best comfort listens, from a wedding mystery that went viral to Elizabeth Day’s seminal show on failure
Perfect Day with Jessica Knappett
There are a slew of “perfect” podcasts, covering everything from dream meals (Off Menu) to ideal holidays (Life’s a Beach) to fantasy funerals (Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake) – but this relatively recent addition to the genre is hands down the most comforting of the lot. That’s partly thanks to the subject matter – hearing all the nice, relaxing things guests put on their perfect-day schedules is a rather meditative experience – and partly our drily hilarious host, who radiates matey energy (it helps that she actually is friends with her guests, including Tim Key and Emerald Fennell) as she helms a meandering conversation that isn’t afraid to go off on weird tangents. Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?
The rise of podcasting and the rise of true hand in crime have gone hand in hand, and no wonder: an immersive, detailed, cliffhanger-heavy investigation is the perfect fuel for the audio format. But what if you want all the satisfaction of crime solving but none of the depressing violence or global corruption? The answer is this podcast, which sees amateur sleuth Lauren Kilby attempt to uncover the culprit of a defecation that occurred at her friends Karen and Helen’s boat-based wedding. The resulting pod is a very funny and soothingly low-stakes addition to the true crime genre. Even better, the team have recently returned with another gratifyingly lighthearted mystery titled The Case of The Tiny Suit/Case. How to Fail
Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast isn’t exactly an exercise in schadenfreude, yet by inviting celebrities (Kate Winslet, Bonnie Tyler, Richard Osman and many more) to divulge their top three failures, How to Fail certainly helps listeners feel a bit better about things that have gone wrong in their own lives. Often the show acts as a reminder that nobody’s life is entirely great – a necessary corrective in the Instagram age – but when guests come bearing stories of shocking adversity, it also provides proof that it’s possible to thrive after a period of turmoil. Green Wing: Resuscitated
Comfort is often inextricably bound up with nostalgia – it’s why shows like Friends had a renaissance during the pandemic. In fact, there’s something about 00s TV that looms particularly large in the collective comfort zone. For comedy fans of a certain age, hospital sitcom Green Wing definitely fulfils this brief – and for those after more than a straightforward trip down memory lane, this podcast revival will be gratefully received. Green Wing: Resuscitated stays very true to the original show, with the vast majority of cast members – including Stephen Mangan (pathetic surgeon Guy Secretan), Julian Rhind-Tutt (swoon-worthy Mac) and Michelle Gomez (crackers staff liaison Sue) returning. Tune in for familiar strangeness and uncompromising silliness. Watch What Crappens
For anyone in need of mindless comfort, reality TV should be extremely high on the agenda – especially the nonstop festival of bickering and trivial drama that is the Real Housewives franchise. This podcast, presented by aficionados Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam – and released five times a week – recaps all 11 US Housewives programmes (plus other shows on the reality network Bravo). It’s an exhaustive guide to all the characters, storylines and feuds, plus a chance to gossip, joke and air grievances about the most irritating cast members. It’s all delivered with the kind of mounting hysteria such a relentless schedule is bound to generate. Why not try … How to Save It, a hopeful series about conservation campaigns getting results – from saving manatees to curing the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea. Away Days with Woody and Piers, in which two indie musicians talk to fans about the trials and rewards of following your team around the country (or indeed the world). Young America with Dylan Douglas, a bold effort to understand the political wants of ucAmerica’s gen Z. | 