I discovered Locked Together last year, during the terrifying early days of the pandemic, when I was feeling so overwhelmed, burned out and afraid that it felt like my brain was starting to short circuit. You can see the official description below, but it’s basically a series of conversations between well-known comedians. There’s no format or structure – their conversations are random, far-ranging and, of course, totally hilarious. They make fun of their circumstances, they bring up some of the common situations we’ve all been dealing with during the pandemic, and they reminisce about better, more social, less deathy times.
I can’t tell you how reassuring I found it to not only hear some familiar voices talking about a situation in which I have, very literally, been all alone. But on top of that, the humour gave me permission to laugh. It allowed me to let out some of the pent-up tension I’d been holding. And it also reminded me why we’re all doing what we can to stop spreading this horrible virus, and that the more we do now, the sooner it’ll be over. It’s still a long road ahead. It’s not going to be fun or easy. But we have to keep up with our best efforts, because there’s really no alternative. Here’s the line-up:
- Dawn French from The Vicar of Dibley, also author of Because of You and Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous – and both from French and Saunders
- Jimmy Carr from 8 Out of 10 Cats and Katherine Ryan from The Duchess
- Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney from Catastrophe
- Sarah Millican, British Comedian and Jason Manford from 8 Out of 10 Cats
- MC Grindah, DJ Steves, DJ Beats and Chabuddy G from Kurupt FM
- Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Shaun of the Dead
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- Tez Ilyas from The Tex O’Clock Show and Sindhu Vee from Sex Education
- Paul Whitehouse from The Fast Show and Harry Enfield from Kevin & Perry Go Large
Of course my enthusiasm for these duos varied wildly (I don’t think I finished the Kurupt FM episode at all), but the ones that were good were absolutely fantastic. And it’s free on Audible, so if you are an Audible user, it’s an easy one to check out.
In a new Audible Original, Locked Together, several of the UK’s best-loved comedy duos invite you into their homes for an uplifting and entertaining chat about how they’re coping with this new normal. In each episode, two top performers—who, like the rest of the world, are social-distancing—connect with one another for conversations about how they’re doing, sharing moments of lightness and levity from the last few weeks spent shut indoors. – Audible