The critically-acclaimed football podcast The Football Ramble is preparing to make its debut in Canary country as the gang brings the chart-busting audio hit to life on stage in Norwich.
A live version of the show debuts at the Theatre Royal on Thursday, October 31 and will highlight the best and most ridiculous moments in football with the help of audience participation and some surprises.
We caught up with The Football Ramble team, consisting of Marcus Speller, Jim Campbell, Luke Moore and Pete Donaldson, to talk podcasts and premiership predictions ahead of the show coming to the city.
The Football Ramble is going back on the road with a live tour. What should audiences expect?
Pete: Videos, games, nuclear-level messing about and a wealth of football-related daftness sounds about right.
Marcus: We definitely approach the live shows differently to the podcast. On the podcast, we want to give our views on current footballing affairs whereas in the live shows, we just find the funniest things to talk about and have as much fun interacting with the audience as we can each night.
Luke: Yeah, you see other podcasts live and it's just them sat behind a desk doing exactly what they do in the studio. Every idea we have for the live show is about what gets us away from that. We can't wait.
Jim: I've always thought you want to watch a show, you don't want to watch a podcast. At our first live shows in 2014, we tried to make it as different to the podcast as we could and there was a real sense of excitement in the venues. It was obvious from then that we wanted to continue doing live shows.
Now we need to talk Norwich City. How do you think they will get on in the Premiership?
Marcus: They are better than Ipswich. We can all agree on that. I think Norwich are having a lovely old time. It is lovely to see that the whole city has been galvanised. You don't need to go there to see that because you can see on television there is a great atmosphere when they play at Carrow Road. I think Norwich are one of those clubs who, when they are not in the Premier League, feel like they probably should be there and there are other fans up and down the country who think of them as more of a Premier League side.
Luke: People also do underestimate what it means to a city to be in the Premiership. I support Portsmouth and they were in the top flight for a while.
Marcus: I think Norwich is showing what can be done when you get promoted. They have got a lot of exciting young players that people can get behind. It is not just about passing the ball around. It is about more than that and Norwich has shown that. They have got promoted and they deserve their promotion. They need to be a bit wiser and a bit more canny, but they will learn that and you can only learn that in the top division.
Norwich has shown what can be achieved with a wiser and more holistic approach, good management and good young players. To be honest, I would have thought there will be people who have seen them this season and think there is a side that can stay up and maybe do what Bournemouth has done. They don't have lots of huge names there and they have gone up and established themselves as a Premier League side and Norwich have a really good chance of doing the same.
Luke: They have also had a difficult start. It has been a baptism of fire but if they can get through these first games with their confidence intact and still achieve, then I don't see why they can't push on. I also like the football that they play.
How did The Football Ramble podcast begin?
Marcus: Luke was a year above me at university and was working on the sports show for the college radio station, which somebody idly said would make a good podcast. I remember thinking "what's a podcast"! I got in touch with the lads and Luke kindly volunteered that his kitchen would be a suitable place to try and record an episode.
Luke: Retrospectively it was the worst place. My friend Rob said his claim to fame is in episode two, because you can hear him cooking in the background. After a few episodes I messaged Jim.
Jim: Yeah, Luke messaged me on Myspace, which dates it! It was fortnightly at the time and it was fun and loose and I was just happy to see where it was going.
Pete: And then I was a like a virus or a bit of malware ingratiating in the podcast quite easily through a back-door attack later on. I was working for XFM, Luke messaged me on Facebook and asked if I fancied popping in and seeing us.
Luke: No, there was more to it than that. His girlfriend came up to me and said my boyfriend always listens to your show, can he join?
Jim: I had no idea you were basically the Carl Jenkinson of the show. An Arsenal fan who plays for Arsenal.
When did you realise that people were listening?
Jim: I remember we had a bottle of champagne because we had 3,000 listeners, which seems insane now.
Luke: For me, it was when we booked out a pub in the Saturday or a Sunday. We basically said we would put the football on all day in the pub and whoever wants to come can. It was absolutely rammed!
Marcus: Yeah, two guys flew in from Ireland. The pub we did it in had the laws of football written up. There must have been some magnetic force that sucked us there.
Pete: The weirdest thing for me was when I was in Los Angeles and a policeman said to me "no Geordies allowed". This guy had a gun, was a policeman, lived in Los Angeles and knew what I looked like. It's something that always surprises me, getting recognised for the show. There's not a week goes by where you don't see someone who stops you to say "Pete, love the show".
There are a lot of football podcasts, what makes yours different?
Luke: Saying we are just "four mates in a room" I see as a little patronizing but it's a credit to us that we can make it look like we are relaxed and we have just waltzed in from a night out and are just having a laugh.
The Football Ramble comes to Norwich Theatre Royal on October 31 at 8pm, suitable for 16+, and tickets cost from £10 to £20.
To book, log onto theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk or call the box office on 01603 630000.
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