Plus other new shows from Holly Burn and Poppy Hilstead

Newly divorced comedian Harriet Kemsley is joining Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Amy Gledhill for a new podcast about being single women in their 30s.

Single Ladies In Your Area launches on October 4 on all podcast platforms and will discuss issues such as flirting, dating apps and red flags with experts and fiends joining as guests.

Kemsley – who also discusses her split from fellow comic  Bobby Mair 

 in her new stand-up show Everything Always Works Out For Me – said: ‘I am very excited to find love the traditional way, through a podcast. 

‘We’ve had some brilliant and actually useful guests on already and turns out everything we’re doing is wrong. It’s so fun to do it alongside my brilliant funny friend Amy so the whole process has felt less well, terrifying. 

‘We hope we’re going to find a community of other horny singles, cross that out, strong individuals navigating the dating world."

Gledhill added: ‘Sometimes you start a podcast because you want to. Sometimes you start a podcast because you NEED to. This is the latter. 

‘We're in dire need of guidance, advice and someone to say 'It's okay to be this much of a disaster." 

‘More than anything, it is an unadulterated joy to spend time with Harriet, one of my favourite ever people and go on this awkward, terrifying, brilliant, crap journey to find love with her and the listeners. 

‘We hope people who find this feel accepted into our circle of no shame and have a laugh with us. You've got to laugh. Or you'll cut a fringe and text your ex.’ 

The podcast will be distributed by Acast and is produced by Plosive – the team behind several hit shows including  Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club and Gledhill’s other podcast, Northern News, which she co-hosts with Ian Smith.

• Comic Holly Burn yesterday launched a podcast, Dream Home,  in which she takes take a guided tour of her guest’s fantasy home. It launched with episodes featuring Nick Helm, Luke McQueen and Sunil Patel. It’s available on Spotify and Apple.

• Poppy Hilllstead has released a podcast called Brainwash me in which she talks to a guest with a niche interest or obsession, to see if they can persuade her into joining their way of life.  All the while she's hooked up to a brain scanner – and if the apparatus shows  positive neural activity ‘then I’m officially into it - whether I like it or not,’ she says  Guests include nudists, wrestlers, chess enthusiasts, dominatrix trainers, plus comedians Hannah George, Mark Silcox, George Egg, and Tom Lawrinson. 

Published: 25 Sep 2024