Love Comes Quickly

Quickly Kevin. Image shows from L to R: Josh Widdicombe, Chris Scull

One comedy football podcast has fans in faraway places.

There's been a lot of talk in the papers recently about greedy football clubs making big decisions just to make money in other countries, and not thinking about their original supporters. 'Legacy fans' is now the big-club term for old-style football followers who insist on annoying things like sticking to the same team name, the same team colours and the same home city, for ever. The spoilsports.

Still, it did make us think about how British comedians could maximise their foreign fanbase, too - and football is definitely handy in that respect. It cropped up recently, for example, that the hugely popular comic Josh Widdecombe has a bunch of fans in Scandinavia who had never previously seen his stand-up, or the long-running Channel 4 show The Last Leg. Or Hypothetical, on Dave. They're fans because of his 90s football podcast, Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?

It's interesting to hear that there are Nordic fans of a fairly niche comedy/football podcast, given the many other entertainment options on offer: your modern Scandinavian could take pot-luck on some fine new Danish music, perhaps, via the excellent Spot Festival's year-round online work. Or find the best online gambling sites, according to Finnish Bonusetu.com, for casino action straight to the home sauna. Why take a chance on leaving the house?

Meanwhile many people in Norway support two football teams: a Norwegian club and an English one, so that's a lot of football to watch. The love for Widdecombe's podcast - which he presents with Chris Scull and Michael Marden, plus a revolving cast of guest comedians and football folk - makes sense, as the love affair between Norway and the English Premier League really gained strength in the 1990s.

Quickly Kevin. Image shows from L to R: Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Chris Scull

It was way back in the early 1990s when the Premier League caused outrage by breaking away from the old Football League - those were the days - then securing a big TV deal with Sky, which meant that lots more games were televised around the world. Meanwhile lots of Norwegian players turned up in the Premier League too, the likes of Stig Inge Bjornebye (Liverpool) and Tore Andre Flo (Chelsea). In fact, one of Quickly Kevin's most memorable moments involved Norway winning the World Cup - sort of.

Their episode featuring former Arsenal and England full-back Lee Dixon actually made newspaper headlines, as Dixon recalled an extraordinary story about his old Swedish teammate, Anders Limpar. It turned out that Limpar was once the victim of an incredibly elaborate prank, played by a TV show back home.

The tricky winger was approached by a couple of 'scientists' as he boarded a plane, who told him that they'd invented time travel, they were all jumping two years during the flight, and - more shockingly - that rivals Norway had won the 1998 World Cup.

An actual fighter jet was scrambled to escort the 'historic' flight home, Limpar's friend's partner was made up to look older and his dog replaced with a bigger one - and the player fell for it. Until he was met by the King of Norway, who turned out to be the TV show's presenter.

So yes, Sweden's equivalent of Beadle's About sounds miles better than ours. But when it comes to time-specific comedy football podcasts, we're years ahead.

Published: Friday 23rd April 2021

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