Pompidou!
Three Bean Salad review
Rating – 
A few weeks ago, I reviewed the quintessentially British humour of The St. Elwick’s Neighbourhood Association Newsletter Podcast. I received a comment on that post asking if I’d heard Three Bean Salad as well. I hadn’t, so I obviously dug it out and subscribed. What was this mysterious show though? Just seeing that Mike Wozniak was involved though was enough make me take a gamble on it.
So what’s it about?
The show is hosted by Mike Wozniak and Henry Paker (who I was au fait with from the aforementioned St. Elwick’s podcast) and Welsh comedy writer Ben Partridge. Possibly to my detriment, I hadn’t heard of him before (sorry!). He is just as funny though, even if he seems to take a bit of a back seat to the other guys.
Generally, it’s about anything and everything. The topic for each episode gets emailed in, and the guys spend most of the show digressing and following strange tangents. It’s worth bearing in mind that this show is completely improvised, which only adds to my admiration for the three hosts immeasurably.
This podcast is 166 episodes old as I type this review, and I have an awful lot to get through until I’m up to date. Topics include subjects as diverse as Canada, Purple, Asteroids, Jeffries/Geoffries, Goblins, Museums, and well another 160 odd things too.
Is it any good?
It’s outstanding. I’ve been a fan of Mike Wozniak since I saw him in the TV show Man Down, and after happily blasting through The St. Elwick’s podcast, I became a fan of Henry Paker too.
The episodes are usually the case of Mike and Ben lighting the blue touch paper and watching Henry go. He seems to be the major voice on the show, which is no bad thing, he’s hilarious. Really hilarious. But so are the others. It’s refreshing to hear a group of comedians who are respectful enough to not try and get the last word or punchline in. Comedy panel shows now are full of mediocre “comedians” essentially showing off and patting each other on the back, and I can’t stand it. Maybe I’m old. Maybe I relate to these three guys more. I could (and have) listened to this show all day and laughed out loud to myself.
Final thoughts
The St. Elwick’s podcast (sorry to keep referencing it), is as I said, a quintessentially British comedy. In fact, it’s a very niche and quintessentially British comedy. Three Bean Salad is possibly more accessible to non-british comedy fans, mainly because the topics are so varied. Maybe I’m wrong though. I’m sure there are homeowners associations in other countries too, and maybe they are populated with nitpicking busybodies too.
I can’t tell you how much I love this show, I mean, I suppose I just have in these paragraphs above, but I REALLY love this show. I listen to a lot of different podcasts daily, but if I’m ever stuck for something to listen to, then Three Bean Salad will always work.
You should subscribe immediately and devour this show in huge 8 hour chunks. You’ll thank me for it, I promise.
You can get Thee Bean Salad here:
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods