Brian & Roger: the best comedy podcast you’ve never heard of

When it comes to comedy podcasts, it is increasingly a crowded field. All across the humour landscape, artists are attempting to find their niche in the market. Whether it be James Acaster and Ed Gamble talking food in Off Menu, or Steve Coogan converting classic Alan Partridge to oasthouse-based podcast form, everyone seems to be at it. 
 
The first comedy podcast I got into was Athletico Mince. After taking about a dozen episodes to find its stride, it soon became an instant hit and is still running seven years on from when it began.  
 
Featuring British comedy legend Bob Mortimer and writer Andy Dawson, it’s a bizarre journey through the underworld of football and popular culture, introducing characters such as a morose Peter Beardsley, Warhammer-obsessed Roy Hodgson and, beyond the realms of sport, chipper TV presenter Martin Roberts. 
 
But Athletico Mince has rightly received plenty of recognition. Helped no doubt by the high and resurging profile of Mortimer, it has been featured on TV and in print media, as well as twice touring across the United Kingdom. 
 
That is unlike another genius series. Brian & Roger is the story of two middle-aged divorcees who met in a support group. Critically, Roger went there with the faint hope of repairing his marriage whilst Brian attended on the advice of his divorce solicitor. 
 
On the surface, this concept is maybe not so unique. But the brilliance of the podcast comes in how we learn about these two characters. Their lives are conveyed to listeners through mobile voicemails. Only very occasionally do we hear the pair actually interacting, and even then there is a sense that we are eavesdropping on a conversation we should not be privy to. 

If you are a fan of the surreal, you will like Brian & Roger

This dynamic works magically for understanding the characters. It hones in on their respective fragilities and personalities. Quite simply, Roger is nice, and Brian isn’t. Roger Underhill is audibly broken and emasculated by his marriage and divorce. Brian Goodwin is scheming and manipulative, always seeking to rope Roger into his elaborate and varied pyramid schemes. 
 
The two characters are voiced by two fairly familiar faces and voices of the British comedy scene. Roger is played by Dan Skinner, perhaps best known for playing Angelos Epithemiou on Shooting Stars. He is a long-time collaborator of the aforementioned Mortimer and makes the character its pathetic and weary self.

Brian is voiced by Harry Peacock, who has appeared on a number of TV programmes from Star Stories to Bad Education but is most well-known as Toast of London’s Ray Purchase. Peacock brings to bear so much of what made Purchase an instant character classic: a booming voice, depths of personality and sinister undertones. 
 
If you are a fan of the surreal, you will like Brian & Roger. Amongst the pair’s escapades includes several failed investments in products ranging from men’s health to new-fangled technologies, a brief appearance on Eurovision and an encounter with cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew.

Each episode is perfectly crafted

Add in a few elusive references to Brian’s plan for a “Silk Route Autobahn”, whatever that is. His character seems perennially on the brink of some great breakthrough, perhaps set to ditch his lackey Roger and begin again. 
 
For something so minimalistic and stripped back, this superb podcast really does not let you down. Each episode is perfectly crafted. It typically begins with Roger’s increased signs of desperation, inevitably and helpfully leading him into another of Brian’s naively constructed plots. Where it goes from there is always hard to predict. Either way, it never ends well. 
 
Beneath the layers of subterfuge and strategy, there is also something deeper at play. A commentary on a certain type of middle-aged man, listless and at sea in life. For all of Brian’s bravado, we see the same shades of bleakness in him that Roger possesses.  
 
The podcast received a Silver for Best Comedy at the British Comedy Awards in 2020 and staged a live performance at the Menier Chocolate Factory a year later, but has gone somewhat under the radar.  
 
There is not a better time to get stuck into this podcast though, as the pair have re-released some episodes previously behind a Patreon paywall. So enjoy the travails of the hapless Brian and Roger, who really put the div into divorce.