Just like every brand has a visual logo, every accomplished brand has an audio – or sonic – logo too. Everything from the Netflix “tudum” to the noise your computer makes when it starts up… even the cap on the bottle of soda; it’s all been designed to be memorable.

Professional voice actor Jodi Krangle joins Mark to discuss all things sonic branding, and to pick their combined top 5 list of sonic logos.

• (00:00) - Your kettle has a sonic brand

Listen to the Audio Branding podcast, and book Jodi for your next project.

Where can you go to get a goodnight kiss, see a big wienie, and drink your way around the world? Why, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom of course!

This week, Mark is joined by Disney turbo-enthusiast James Smith, to create the definitive list of things you can do in the happiest place on earth.

• (00:00) - Cold open

If they don’t leave you humming to yourself during your midnight pee, then they don’t qualify.

Standup comic Luke Gallacher joins Mark to discuss films that give them the absolute ick, and put them in the correct order.

• (00:00) - We don’t want famous people in our horrors

Find Luke at a comedy venue near you. If there’s an open mic or a competition, chances are he’ll be there.

“Let’s get away to this old European castle”, he said. “It’ll be romantic”, he said. Then you find your husband’s EVP meter in your carry-on luggage and you remember you married a writer of real-life ghost stories.

John Olson, author of the Stranger Bridgerland book series joins Mark to discuss places that will creep you the hell out.

• (00:00) - The Stair Monster

Discover Stranger Bridgerland online and follow John on TikTok.

The Stranger Bridgerland podcast

We’ve got some half-priced cracked ice, codpieces, yellow coats and goldfish shoals nibbling at toes. That can mean only one thing – your podcast app is on the blink again.

Jon Bounds rejoins Mark to discuss their top-5 80s sitcoms from the UK. There is a very long long-list.

• (00:00) - Jon moved Dead Elvis

Keep up with Jon via his website, and to know when his new podcast Trigger’s Broom drops.

Sequins, ethnic-sounding instruments, scantily-clad androgynous gimps, wolves in tailored suits. It’s here. It’s Eurovision. Get used to it.

Cat Turner joins Mark to sift through all 37 Eurovision 2024 semifinalists to discover which are objectively the best 5.

• (00:00) - Who chooses hockey over Eurovision?

Hear the full playlist on YouTube

Those “You had to be there” moments; the jokes that made you cry but you can no longer remember; the savage putdown of the ambitious heckler. These are the moments that distinguish live comedy from what you can get on Netflix.

This week, new standup Dave Bond joins Mark to discuss their top-5 British standups you can currently see live… and simply must!

• (00:00) - A first

Watch Dave’s first piece of standup

Everyone’s pretty, everyone eventually gets down to it, no-one throws up, and occasionally steam comes out of someone’s ears. Is there more to cute Korean dramas than this?

Turns out yes, yes there is, as positive psychologist and K-drama stan Anya Pearse explains.

• (00:00) - A lot of thought wente into this

If this episode has made you happy and you want to keep feeling happy, Anya’s Unlocking Happiness online summit is available to watch for free.

Stuart Moore joins Mark to discuss their top-5 characters from America’s longest-running animated show.

Snowball II, Groundskeeper Willy, Frank Grimes. These are just some of the characters that get absolutely no mention in this week’s episode.

• (00:00) - Do the Bartman

Whether you’re 🤩, 😡, or 🫤 about them, emoji are a useful way to express in one tiny image what would take reams of text to express.

So today, George Chachanidze rejoins Mark to pick their top 5 emoji reactions, and create a definitive list.

• (00:00) - 👋

Also mentioned

• TextExpander
• The shrug emoticon: ¯*(ツ)*/¯