ED GAMBLE AND JAMES ACASTER "THE AUDIENCE CAN TELL THERE'S GENUINE ENTHUSIASM'

With their Off Menu podcast, this comedy pairing have become the most beloved UK double act of a generation. Here, they discuss the show's expansion, live performances and their favourite music of 2025

- WILL RICHARDS

In conversation, as on their phenomenally popular Off Menu podcast, Ed Gamble and James Acaster are the ideal double act, ducking and weaving between each other's observations with perfect comedic timing. Across the seven years of the podcast - where guests from the world of entertainment choose their dream meal for the zany Acaster and his straighter sidekick Gamble - it has been downloaded nearly 200 million times and become the topic of many a pub chat (you have your own dream menu written out somewhere, be honest).

Next year, Gamble and Acaster will bring Off Menu to the Royal Albert Hall for six sold-out gigs launching their new Tasting Menus segment, where a guest rates a surprise set of dishes. Ahead of the gigs, the pair discuss the expansion of the podcast, what makes them tick as a duo, and Off Menu's impact on their careers.

Tell us about the Tasting Menus format and how you decided to expand the Off Menu card...

Acaster: We were trying to work out a way to get guests back on. Other podcasts can just have people on whenever. With this format, once they've done their dream [menu], you can't get them back on and go, "Is that still your dream?" We didn't want it to be too convoluted, so if we're getting a guest back on, it'd be good to actually get a past menu back on as well and get a reaction to that. The first one we recorded was with John Kearns as a test, and we said that if it goes well, we'll keep doing them. It flowed quite naturally.

Gamble: It's a way of getting fan favourites back onto the podcast, and people that we know will chat well around any format, because it's very loose. It's just pitching more dishes at them, but it inevitably goes off in loads of different directions.

Who is the most requested returning guest from fans?

Gamble: Bob Mortimer is always pretty heavily requested...