These days it seems to be mandatory that every comedian fronts at least one podcast. But in 2015 when Adam Buxton launched his online series by interviewing old schoolfriend Louis Theroux he was a pod pioneer. Nearly a decade on, and over 200 episodes later, the Adam Buxton Podcast remains essential listening.
And there was an opportunity for what he grandly dubbed a "glimpse behind the curtain" when he recorded an upcoming release at the Apollo. As he said as he settled down and sparked up his laptop, this is a venue that has a special place in his heart. His hero David – or as he calls him, "Zavid"– Bowie famously played his farewell gig as Ziggy Stardust here in 1973, when it was the Hammersmith Odeon.
Buxton never interviewed Zavid but he has reeled in stars including Paul McCartney and Tom Hanks. For this special, however, he reunited with that very first guest, Louis Theroux, for an illuminating, entertaining chat about subjects ranging from Theroux's alopecia to their time together as geeky boys at Westminster School.
Before Theroux appeared, Buxton delivered his dizzyingly inventive brand of multi-media wizardry projected onto the onstage screen. There was plenty of comic mileage looking at his list of current anxieties, which ranged from his concerns over Norwich train reliability to the possible withdrawal of Caramac bars.
There was also much talk about AI, or as Buxton expanded on it, "Artificial Intelligence but real stupidity". He had great fun creating images of celebrities such as Stanley Tucci. The faces were just about recognisable, but the over-abundance of fingers gave the game away.
And in honour of past guest McCartney he used AI to imagine the ex-Beatle writing a song in 1968 about things he liked to spread Marmite on: 'if you don't like crumpets you can lump it"
The conversation with Theroux also drew on modern technology's potential for accidental humour, with the duo performing a newly-minted ChatGPT mini-play about their career rivalry.
Fans were asked to keep full details of their conversation under wraps until the podcast release, but the double act chemistry of that 2015 podcast was clearly still present, with Buxton playing low status and Theroux mock-pompously scoring points by mentioning his time at Oxford and having a gold disc for his viral "Jiggle Jiggle" rap with Jason Derulo.
What we can reveal is that Theroux confessed that when he makes his award-winning shows he ensures that the bits that make him look unprofessional are edited out.
The beauty of seeing Adam Buxton in the flesh was that nothing was edited out. This was podcasting warts and all – and all the more hilarious for it.
