Adam and Joe (radio show)

Filling in for Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, Adam and Joe first appeared on the London-only radio station XFM in 2003, leading to a series of popular podcasts. They remained at the station for three years, with their final show broadcast on Christmas Eve 2006.

In August 2007, they presented the BBC Radio 6 Music weekday morning slot for two weeks, filling in for Shaun Keaveny. This led to their own Saturday breakfast show, starting 27 October 2007, as the pair were signed for a 1-year contract.[4] In October 2008, their contract was extended for another year.

On 12 December 2009 podcast, it was announced that, as of Boxing Day, the show would be put on hold while Joe was away directing the film Attack the Block.

Adam and Joe returned to BBC Radio 6 Music for three special shows during the 2010 Glastonbury Festival, each running for 2 hours over the course of the three-day festival. In August Adam announced on his blog that they would be back in November,[5] but the press release for Song Wars Volume 2 said they would be back in December. The final series started on 2 April 2011.[3]

Both Buxton and Cornish reflected on the positive effect the show had on them and their relationship. Cornish told Channel 4: "Creatively, there are lots to be said for it really. You feel much closer to your audience on live radio and you can be a lot more relaxed and the funny things can be lots more spontaneous and therefore funnier. [...] The radio's, if not lucrative, a very rewarding hobby and it's the only thing that we do together now, so it keeps our friendship and banter alive."[6]

Meanwhile, Buxton said in an interview with the BBC: "This is going to sound a bit cheesy, but I swear that it's true – working at 6 Music is the most fun I've ever had working with Joe. After the death of our TV series, it's almost like we've become friends again. Being on the radio is nice – it's like hanging out again, fooling about and talking rubbish. I really enjoy it and look forward to it every week."[7]

A podcast was produced beginning in January 2008. With the exception of Song Wars, all music is removed.[29] At first it consisted of about half an hour of highlights of the show; since late 2008 it has been about an hour of highlights. A simple cut retaining just the talk lasts about an hour and a half.

There is a special spoken introduction and ending, and extra jingles are added between cuts. Beginning in February 2009 there was a podcast-only section called 'Retro Text The Nation' where podcast listeners' contributions to the previous week's Text The Nation were read out.[21] Since late September 2009, this feature has transferred over to the live show, while being retained as part of the podcast.

The podcast featured in the top ten of the iTunes Comedy Podcast Chart.[30]

While Adam and Joe were on their summer break in 2009, seven Song Wars Classics (or KQLLASSIXCQS) podcasts were released weekly in which the boys talked about their songs in a 'ludicrous way,' and including their normal, rambling chit-chat. The themes were as follows: Family Friendly Erotica, Revised T.V. Theme Tunes, Kate Nash Parody Songs, Quantum of Solace, Internet Piracy, Grazia Magazine, and Free Choice – Adam's Flu Song and Joe's 'Umm, err symphony.'

The songs were available as MP3 file downloads from their blog.

Garth Jennings stood in for Joe on a few occasions, and took part in Song Wars in his place.[31] For most of 2010, Andrew Collins and Richard Herring hosted Adam and Joe's morning slot. Collins and Herring continued a few of the Adam Joe's features including 'Song Wars' altered to 'Diary Wars' (in which both presenters would read out excerpts from their own teenage diaries), and 'Text the Nation' as 'Text the Station'. Collins and Herring have appealed to listeners to create radio-jingles, this much in the same spirit as Adam and Joe's feature.

Adam and Joe show interviewed several celebrity guests, including Sir Roger Moore,[32] Redd Pepper, and Seasick Steve.[33] Frank Skinner and Lauren Laverne dropped by for a brief chat during one of the Christmas shows. Adam and Joe also conducted informal interviews with bands such as Fleet Foxes when broadcasting from festivals.

The show won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Radio Programme of the Year in 2008,[34] and three silver Sony Awards in 2009; two for the programme in the "Entertainment" and "Comedy" categories, and one for the "Video Wars" slot in the "Competition" category.[1] In 2010, the Adam and Joe show was awarded the Sony Gold Award for Best Comedy, the judges describing the show as "extremely funny, engaging and inclusive".[35]

The show received about 160,000 listeners a week, and 95,000 podcast downloads a week.[26] A two-hour best-of compilation was aired on BBC Radio 2 on New Year's Day, 2009.[36]

The show was warmly received by critics. Luke Lewis, for the NME, wrote: 'Without fanfare, their BBC show has quietly become essential listening, woven into the comforting fabric of Saturday mornings.'[26] James Delingpole, in The Times noted: Listening to the show is like sitting in on a pub conversation between two extremely witty, frivolous, pop-culture-literate mates.'[8]

Lesley Douglas, former controller of 6 Music, wrote in The Guardian: 'On 6 Music, Adam and Joe lay bare the mechanisms of radio to great comic effect.' [37] In the same newspaper, Gareth McLean claimed 'They don't get the recognition that they deserve.'[38] Similarly, Gillian Reynolds, in The Daily Telegraph, hailed the pair: 'Adam and Joe deserve a big audience but I hope they don't get one. They are too funny, inventive, disrespectful, joyous. They are also intelligent [...] But if Radio 1, or the new Capital, or Radio 2, or even Radio 4 in one of its desperately "young" moods were to sign them up, they would change, become frantic, be obliged to fit in. At the moment they chat without putting each other down. They laugh as if they mean it. They are not mean. This attracts amiable listeners [...] How cheering to have some signals from a radio world beyond celebs, Olympics and the new football season.'[39]

• Official website
• Official blog
• Fansite
• Rubapedia