Comedy Arcade // Part game show and part chat show

Have You Heard? is where the Pod Bible team meet the people behind the podcasts you may not have heard of yet. While the Oh. My. Pod. section in the magazine gives a quick shout out to shows of that ilk, Have You Heard? aims to go deeper in an effort to spread awareness for shows that deserve more exposure! We recently heard from Welsh comedian, Vix Leyton, about a podcast that is part game show and part chat show, Comedy Arcade.

Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

I’m a stand up comedian who did what every comedian in lockdown probably contemplated, and started a podcast. It’s a panel show that brings together three interesting people to contribute anecdotes based on random topics drawn from a bingo ball. The whole point of it was to bring new people together talking about things they might never have talked about before. It’s been mainly stand up comedians so far but I’ve enjoyed blending in other personalities for fresh perspectives.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

I have been listening to Radio 4 packaged up in podcast form for years – Infinity Monkey Cage and Friday Night Comedy have been staples of my listening calendar for as long as I can remember.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

I am a massive podcast fangirl but the quality and scale of the ones I was listening to was pretty intimidating and I initially didn’t really know what I could bring to it that was unique enough to justify joining the noise. I started doing a Twitch panel show in the first lockdown while I was looking for a way to stay relevant – and get attention – with stand up off the cards, and it gathered a small but quite devoted following. On one of the shows, the tech failed but I still had the audio file so I sent it out to the people that normally watched it, and they really enjoyed it.

It put an idea in my head that maybe I had found a concept that might work. There weren’t that many panel shows cutting through so felt like I might finally have something that could work. It also offered me an opportunity to be the change I wanted to see in the world, women don’t get enough representation on panel shows, now not only do I now host one, but I also have booking rights. 67% of guests have been women and non binary so far, yet my demographic skews slightly towards male listeners (56%) We’re funny, give us more shows.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Drunk Women Solving Crime is one of my stand outs, the dream is that I can create something like that where people love it, and them, so much as a concept that even if they don’t necessarily know the panel, they’ll still listen. One of the big things I’ve enjoyed about this is mixing in established personalities with up and coming talent that I’ve worked alongside on the open mic circuit and helping people discover their new favourites. I also love Women Talking Bollocks and Rich Wilson’s Men Brain / Fem Brain – my favourite type of podcasts are the ones where you really want to join the conversations, and I always do with these.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

I’ve been really lucky that I’ve already had quite a few of them on my podcast already but Sue Perkins, Eddie Izzard, Joe Lycett, Nicky Wire and Joel Golby are all on my list. There is also a pernicious rumour amongst my friends that the whole podcast business has been an elaborate long range scheme to have an excuse to legitimately talk to Nick Cage. I can neither confirm nor deny that this was in the mix when I was deciding whether to do this.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

No matter how prepared you are, you can’t completely control how things will go. If you have guests, how they perform can vary based on so many internal and external factors, and if you have multiple guests then the odds of keeping control are so ridiculous not even a bookie would take your money. Also, once it’s out there, you can’t control how people will respond to it. Control the bits you can, let go of the bits you can’t and lean in to the unpredictable moments.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

Every single one has had a slightly different feel but the episode with Russell Kane, Katy Brand and Stuart Whiffen was an absolute joy to do and Elf Lyons, Taylor Glenn and Daniel Clarkson was so much fun none of us wanted to leave the Zoom recording. They’re a great starting point to get a sense of what it’s all about.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

@PRvix on Twitter, and @comedy_arcade for the pure podcast stuff and for more from the guests. Arcade also has it’s own Instagram, @Comedyarcadepodcast.

Listen to Comedy Arcade on ACAST, SPOTIFY or your favourite podcast app.

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