This week’s episode takes a delightfully surreal turn, with the award-winning writer and comedian Tim Key.

Tim won the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award with a show that combined poetry, stand-up and film, and drew praise for the beauty peeping through the silliness.

As well as appearing on stage and screen - most recently as Sidekick Simon, on Mid Morning Matters, alongside Alan Partridge - Tim has been a radio regular since 2006. He has starred in sketch shows, dramas and documentaries which have explored first lines in literature and Russian writers.

We’ll delve into the archives to enjoy highlights, including Tim's Late Night Poetry Programme. Since it first aired in 2012, and over four series, Tim has taken listeners on adventures from the studio, to the Shard, St Albans and space. All while sharing poems, quips, and the regular torment of Lord, a long-suffering musician played by Tom Basden.

We hear an episode from 2018, titled Cars, in which Tim picks up a hitchhiker whilst heading to a boutique hotel with Lord. It's a A BBC Cymru Wales Production, directed by James Robinson. Plus, we briefly explore Russian absurdist poetry, with a short clip from his 2016 documentary Tim Key Delves Into Danill Kharms And That's That.

Made for Radio 4 Extra by Ali Gardiner.

First broadcast in 2019. Show less