The Crossed Wires Podcast Festival opened in Sheffield yesterday with Michael Palin’s first Monty Python performance in over a decade.
Palin appeared in Nobody expects The Michael Palin Podcast! hosted by Greg James, performing a world-exclusive reading of a deleted ending from Monty Python’s Life of Brian called ‘The Martyrdom of St. Brian’.
He struggled to read lines about Brian’s “fingers full of naughtiness” without laughing, drawing roars from the packed audience in his hometown.
Earlier, Jarvis Cocker delivered a special centenary edition of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast, recorded for Crossed Wires and played during a live session at the Cole Brothers building.
The broadcast was followed by a spoof ‘Sheffield Forecast’ from Radio 4’s Lisa Costello and Viji Alles, with lines about “arctic monkey conditions” and “occasionally chundery” festival-goers.
Dish recorded one of the evening’s most anticipated live shows at the Crucible Theatre with Angela Hartnett, Nick Grimshaw, and guest Lucy Beaumont, while Persephonica hosted a launch party at Leah’s Yard.
Football Daily, Newscast, and Making It with Audio Lab were among live BBC Sounds Fringe recordings, with Chris Mason giving an insider view of Keir Starmer’s White House visit and Football Daily’s Ian Dennis and John Murray testing the audience with a ‘clash of the commentators’.
Visitors also relaxed at the BBC Sounds Garden in Barker’s Pool, browsing podcast playlists, enjoying food and drink from local vendors, and capturing moments in the digital photo booth.
The full festival schedule is live at CrossedWires.Live.
