We like to think we vote with our heads. But what if we've always voted with our tribe? Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his Focus Group in front of a live theatre audience with a razor-sharp panel — former Conservative adviser Salma Shah, ex-SNP MP and broadcaster John Nicolson, and stand-up comedian Pierre Novellie — to ask whether tribal loyalty is the secret engine of political life. From parties haemorrhaging members to rivals, to the flag-wrapped contradictions of nationalist politics, to the question of whether multicultural Britain is importing conflicts it never signed up for, this is an episode about belonging, identity - and the ridiculous places both can lead

This featured episode is The Politics of The Tribe from Series 2 of The Matt Forde Focus Group on BBC Radio 4.

Written and performed by Matt Forde

53 year old Slim looks back on his first proper decade of adulthood.

Driving the buses of London in this period leads Slim to reflect on why bus drivers don't get respect. He's also a father of two at this point, and recalls some of his favourite, and least favourite dad duties, and we also hear about his first time in front of an audience.

This is the third episode from the series Slim's Guide to Life. For more episodes, search "Stand-Up Specials" on BBC Sounds.

Written and performed by Slim

Slim's Guide to Life is produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies, and is a BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

Cariad Lloyd, Steen Raskopoulos, Luke Manning, and Emily Lloyd-Saini embark on a new series of improv mayhem. Host Alasdair Beckett-King presides over a series of games full of emotional butchers, a three-headed movie director, and the inner monologue of a spider trapped in the bath.

"No Script. No Prep. No Clue."

To hear more episode from this series, search "Wing It" on BBC Sounds.

Presented by Alasdair Beckett-King

Devised and produced by Sam Holmes

Executive Producer: James Robinson

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

Comedian Aurie Styla returns to rampage through the history of technology, through his own experience as a self-confessed tech nerd growing up in the 90s, and various things you thought you’d forgotten.

With his interactive, wildly funny style, tonight the focus is on the role tech has played in our fitness lives: for better or worse

This episode is from the Stand-Up Specials brand on BBC Sounds.

An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4.

An audience show in which Colin explores how his bizarre family made him the man he is today. Now, as a 45 year-old dad, he wonders if it’s too late to do anything about it. Based on his hugely successful 2024 Edinburgh show, Colin weaves anecdotes and musings with all too real stories about his early life, featuring a recurring cast of characters: his perennially pessimistic mum, his not-quite-in-reality brothers and his long-suffering Dad who screams ‘why can’t we just be a normal family?’ Colin asks “is it a surprise my neurodiversity was missed?' But growing up in Nottingham we just had a simple phrase that covered everything - ‘he’s not right’. Colin paints a picture of a childhood full of secrets and lies, dominated by Mum’s terror of ending up in the local ‘madhouse’ whilst espousing paranoid conspiracies and pulling out the Ouija board on Christmas Day. Whilst inherently funny, the craziness is recounted with love and sympathy. A brilliant storyteller, Colin intercuts tales of that childhood life with stories about his own contemporary family and how one has been shaped by the other. What does he want to pass on and what does he absolutely not want to? How does he be the best dad he can when his basic understanding of the world is so scrambled? Each episode begins with Colin telling us how he’s, possibly inappropriately, reacted to something mundane that has just happened or been said to him. He’ll unpick the story across the episode tracing his reaction back to his upbringing with other themes, stories and observations along the way. Colin’s stand-up is intercut with childhood and contemporary scenes. Colin plays all his family members, neighbours, distant relatives, postmen, etc.

Join comedian Russell Kane as he and his guests spill the beans on spiders. Consistently ranked amongst the most creepy and crawly, we ask are spiders abusive arachnids or kooky cuties?

Helping Russell decide whether spiders are evil or genius are top comedian Josh Jones and leading entomologist & England Manager for Buglife, Dr. Karim Vahed.

To hear more from this series, search "Evil Genius" on BBC Sounds.

Additional material by: Eve Delaney, Ruth Huskisson & Christina Riggs

Evil Animals with Russell Kane is a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds.

A Match Made Inshallah is a fearless, funny show where the 44-year-old, twice-divorced stand-up comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri is looking for love and ready to date - and she wants us all to be her wingman.

Mixing stand-up, commentary, and the actual date itself, we will hear Fatiha’s deepest thoughts, hopes, dreams, and judgements as we join her every step of the way through the dating minefield.

Written and Performed by Fatiha El-Ghorri

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4

Despite a complex childhood, and with her teenage years spent guiding the career of her controversial comedian mother Janey Godley whilst caring for her depressed autistic father, Ashley has just had the most surreal, dramatic, tragic… and successful year of her life.

Her dream job was always in the magical world of TV with all its escapism, justice and happy endings. But the universe has a twisted sense of humour, and just as Ashley finally gets her big break, Janey is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Yay.

In this episode, we jump inside the brilliant and unhinged autistic brain of our “adult perma-child” protagonist and attempt to unspool this tragicomedy with some hilarious digressions en route.

Produced by Julia Sutherland

Chris McCausland asks Amy Gledhill and Luke McQueen to take on Angela Barnes and Kiell Smith-Bynoe. The teams must figure out what on earth is being advertised on TV, guess what famous objects or locations children are trying to describe, and guess what soundscapes their teammates are trying to convey using their mouths alone.

This is the first episode from the third season of You Heard It Here First, titled The Live Disintegration of a Man's Being. To hear more episodes, search "You Heard It Here First" on BBC Sounds.

Producer: Sasha Bobak

A BBC Studios Production.

Unarguably tall comedian Pierre Novellie uses his unique style of erudite bafflement to focus on the deep and the shallow in a comedic answer to In Our Time. In this episode, all about why we can’t stop eating, Pierre discusses the misuse of soap, weaponised crisps, Saint Aetholwold, and George Orwell vs the pizza.

As Pierre says, “I’m delighted to be given the chance to perform my own comedy on the BBC, the original source of my obsession with comedy as a child. It’s a chance to bring my stand up to a hypothetically grateful nation.”

Written and performed by Pierre Novellie and produced & directed by David Tyler (Cabin Pressure, One Person Found This Helpful, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive)

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4