The 20 best podcasts ever

It's hard to believe, but podcasts have just turned 20. To celebrate, we asked 20 top podcasting voices for their favourite ever show - and some of the greatest episodes.

Matt LeBlanc tiptoes towards middle age

Episodes, by Friends co-creator and writer David Crane - allows Matt LeBlanc to poke rip-roarious fun at what happens to household names like himself who, thanks to a show's stellar success, are automatically greenlit for comedy projects everywhere, whether the writers and crew want them or not.

BBC One's Car Share actually made me laugh out loud

Here is a comedy about the restorative joy of friendship.

W1A: BBC pulling its pants down & slapping its cheeks

Every episode, for me, is a ticker-tape parade of recognisable woes - not just from my nigh-continuous dealings with the Beeb, but with all channels.

Catastrophe is one of the funniest UK comedies in years

Comedy is bloody hard to do, so when something as wonderfully funny as Channel 4's Catastrophe appears, it feels exciting.

Esio Trot makes for a twee, syrupy adaptation

In the hands of Richard Curtis, this was gentler viewing than Balamory.

The Frequency Of Laughter was a simple but effective idea: the history of British radio comedy from the late 70s to the present-day, presented in the form of interviews with pairs of participants, ranging from Graeme Garden through Angus Deayton to Meera Syal, all talking to Grace Dent, who asked the right questions.

I have been enjoying Grace Dent's Saturday morning series on the history of radio comedy, The Frequency of Laughter. She's worked her way from 1975 to 2005, just by talking to two people who were involved in each five-year era. Her questions are insightful, and she creates a relaxed, slightly naughty atmosphere that brings out the best in her interviewees. A couple of them have been quite indiscreet, and what's made those indiscretions more enjoyable is that the producers have tracked down whoever they've been rude about and asked them what they remember. So, in the show that covered 1995-2000, radio producer Paul Schlesinger recalled Sean Lock and Bill Bailey being forced to read out episodes from 15 Storeys High to a reluctant commissioner, who said "I don't understand why this is funny", but grudgingly gave them a few episodes. And then we heard from that very commissioner, who insisted that this was "one of the most joyful moments" he'd ever had in his career, when Bill Bailey read for him. No mention of Lock, whose show it was. Hmm.

In the previous programme, covering 1990-95, Sarah Smith, another Radio 4 producer, admitted that she used to favour certain writers for the satirical sketch show Week Ending: new talent such as Richard Herring and Stewart Lee. Other producers didn't, and lo, we heard from one, Diane Messias. She explained clearly that she believed that topical satire should make a political point and that Lee and Herring didn't do this, creating their jokes by laughing at a situation. "Both methods are valid," she said firmly. "Except I'm right."

Dapper Laughs is unpleasant sexism dressed as 'banter'

One thing the Dapper Laughs team certainly have not worked out is whether they are making a spoof comedy dating show around the concept of a fictional prick, or making an actual dating show for unpleasant males who think like Dapper.

Babylon: Social media meets serial killer

For what it's worth, I loved Babylon. I loved that I loathed the first 10 minutes, post-assassination No 1, and hated this bolshie dick-swinging armed response team.