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BBC Radio 5 Live

Join the UK's youngest and most relevant broadcasters Elis James and John Robins for your twice-weekly dose of big laughs and top quality #content.

Hilarious, welcoming and unashamedly ashamed, let these two best friends keep you company every Tuesday and Friday.

Listen to the Elis James and John Robins podcast every Tuesday and Friday on BBC Sounds.

Email: elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk
#elisandjohn

Elis James and John Robins

Strap in folks, it’s time for some more Wordle chat! You thought we were done with it? No sir, we, well John, has only just got started. But luckily this is X-rated Wordle chat. Sexy content which really spices up the barrel-scraping etymological discussions.

In other happenings, can you explain the Richter scale to a child when at the football? There’s also a week of many wins and losses involving sobriety, aniseed and free coats. Plus, a listener nails this show like no one has before: self-hatred, mouse catching and brand avoidance.

Can you contribute to that powerful triumvirate of topics? Well get it over to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk or 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp.

And remember, for you BBC Sounds consumers, there’s brand new Bureau available on Saturday morning.

#487 - Ghoul (General), Ian the Liar and Having 10 Kids & Turning To Sludge

Today we celebrate one of Wales’s finest exports; the Cymru Connector himself, Mr ‘Where-Did-You-Go-To-School’, the one and only Elis James! Yes it’s Elis’s birthday, and he kicks off the show by doing what all 45 year olds do: rapping. 

After receiving a gift from John that is so thoughtful it almost derails the recording, Elis takes part in an eventful birthday Cymru Connection. Tempers flare, passions erupt, and objects go flying.

Then it’s time to meet one of his sporting heroes. Will Elis be able to stay cool when faced with one of the great pillars of Welsh sport? And crucially, will he be able to Cymru Connect with them?

If you want to celebrate Carmarthen’s greatest export since the invention of the ball bearing in 1794, then write to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 07974 293 022.

#486 - Panicdoting, CMs for the DB and The Birthday Boy’s Low

It’s the annual spooky episode and that means it’s as spooky as any other podcast episode we ever release. 

In a nice chatty ep shooting the breeze Elis and John uncover the layers of a man who continues to fascinate them: Bell Tower Crispin. But is Dave flouting BBC balance regulations in order to get more great Halloween activities and free car charging?

Meanwhile in mouse towers Elis is being inundated with rodents from his super intelligent cats and is John to be put in place regarding his statistical skepticism?

Do you have any statistics dissertations to send in? Well elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk and 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp are the destinations for it.

#485 - Promoting Crispin, 1% Cats and We’ve Got Enough Sports

What’s it like to share a bank account with John Robins? Austerity Robins: a notification to his device every single time you make a purchase, no matter how small. Well we find out because nothing can get past him, with, in his own words “notifications echoing through his empty life.”

Extraordinary scenes today as Dave got chatted up on the way in to the studio. Was it a student prank? Elis’s experiences suggest otherwise...

Elsewhere there’s a backwards all-timer of a Made Up Game and John decides to pull apart a listener email which relies on more assumptions than economic growth models.

For Shames, Games and everything in between it’s elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk and 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp.

#484 - Juicy Forearms, DBW and Zone 3 in the Bedroom

The UK’s motorways are now one tour bus quieter. Which perversely probably makes the roads noisier given John’s silent approach whilst inhabiting the Sad Van.

And what celebrations happened at the post-tour party at The Palladium? Debauchery and several kilos of Producer Dave's favourite over the counter pharmaceuticals? Not quite. Rather it was a media bigwig zone and John now has regrets about talking extensively about red tape to a BBC higher up. It was that sort of vibe.

So we are now firmly back on terra firma. And what better way to turn our attention back to the studio than Adrian's gadgets and a Mad Dad constructing some of the finest anti-burglary technology ever conceived.

Has your father ever made an unwise drill-centric decision? Well get it over to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk and 07974 293 022 on the WhatsApp.

#483 - Freezer Cupboards, Adrian’s Chipper and Not Feeling Like I’m On Fire

Confidence is the word of the day, with differing meanings for both of our heroes. Does John have enough of the stuff to go through with his edgy scripted intro? Is Elis sufficiently supplied to make his 5th Cymru Connection in a row? It’s all to play for, and play we must.

The other word on everyone’s lips is farewell, as the boys bid adieu to the Sad Van. She’s taken out for one last outing as Elis and John’s Road to Nowhere finally reaches its destination. It’s also a goodbye to the oft-mentioned and celebrated Tour Manager Giles, who receives his flowers and answers your questions.

There’s also a rollercoaster of a Made Up Game in which the very visual medium of drawing is brought to life in the very aural medium of podcasting.

Think you’re confident enough to send us an email? Well you can, just send it to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk, or WhatsApp the show on 07974 293 022.

#482 - Zzamph, #VanMems and Potential Curry Gone Mad

We’re at a crossroads. A vape crossroads. For the dual forces of quicker marathon times and health effects are coming together to fight against the temptations of fruity mist. And John must make a choice.

Elsewhere it’s a show of rare beasts: Elis takes it upon himself to get in the grill of a listener and do the sacking, and we dole out a good radio bell for a listener. Is that a first?

Plus, John’s decided he can’t keep working with the other two. As such, Dave’s got him really down. Thanks Dave, Elis will have to inject a lot of cake and energy into the Tuesday record now.

Want to make an attempt at earning your own good radio bell ding? elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk and 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp are your primary routes.

#481 - The Mega Bond, £14.67 Savings and Dressed As A Big Kefir

What’s the best way to round off 39 hours of no sleep? Invite 7 young girls round for your daughter’s birthday sleepover, that’s how! Were there tears? Of course! Did said tears belong to Elis or the kids? Listen to find out.

Elsewhere we’re answering the question, ‘is mid-October too early to be talking about Christmas?’ Not in these parts it ain’t, as Elis makes a startling claim about Irish wishlists and John questions the role Santa played in his childhood festivities.

All this, plus what comes to mind when you think of Brian May, a rollercoaster of a Road to Nowhere, and huge developments in the Cymru Connection’s role in forging Wales’s national identity.

We’re fast becoming the world’s first email-powered, self sustaining podcast. But we need more of your emails to keep things moving. Send them to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk, or write them in WhatsApp form and send them to 07974 293 022.

#480 - Hot Trees, Exhaustion Tears and Let It Be Birds

This show has been many things, but right now this a cockles podcast. Elis’s homecoming show in Swansea was very much tied to whether he could get cockles at breakfast which sets us off on a cockle rollercoaster. But will Dave like them?

There’s also a very intense Ask Us Anything, and a 1.5 times playing of the jingle. Plus, what meat would you eat betwixt the sheets?

elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk or 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp to tell us your preferred meat.

And do remember tomorrow’s Bureau de Change of the Mind is *only* on the world beating BBC Sounds. So get blooming subscribed on there.

#479 - Going Cockleless, Lamb In Bed and The Elis James Clerical Universe

If there was an award given out for the ‘Most Tense Moment in the Final Round of a Game Made Up by a Listener’, then this show would win it. Fresh from their triumph at the British Podcast Awards, Elis and John look to add another trophy to the cabinet by creating a moment so contentious and dramatic that it requires the use of VAR; Voice Assisted Referee. 

Away from the Made Up Game hijinks there’s week-late-Ryder Cup chat, a revelatory story about the lengths a young Dave Masterman went (literally) for love, and a mystery caller in The Cymru Connection unearths some troubling memories for Elis.

There’s nothing better than receiving your correspondence, so send it to elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp the show on 07974 293 022.

#478 - Zones, Curry Pyjamas and Pre-Time Speeches

A union that we’ve waited 15 years for between a pair significantly involved in the UK’s cultural scene. Some of the most significant personal news to hit this show in a long long time which requires examining on many fronts. No not Elis’s wedding but the Oasis reunion. For Producer Dave might spontaneously combust. He might break down due to not being on the presale and there are distinct concerns for his use of substances in July 2025.

Elsewhere Elis has got married. That's also in here.

Also expect some significant accusations from the most trend setting radio show in the land.

If you want to get in touch it’s 07974 293 022 on WhatsApp and elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk is the usual email.

#364 - Like It Or Lump It, Moon Faced Boys and Greg James’ Dark Underbelly

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