Talking Comedy was a BBC Radio 2 (R2) series that ran from 1996 to 2004 (7 series, 52 episodes). Each 30-minute episode had a comedian talking about who / what makes them laugh.

For all the series details, below, the shows were broadcast on R2 at 1pm Saturday.

Series 1 – 1996

August 3^rd to September 21^st

Alexei Sayle, Alan Davies, Julian Clary, Nigel Planer, Paul O’Grady, Jenny Éclair, Harry Hill, Greg Proops

Series 2 – 1997

June 14^th to August 2^nd

George Carlin, Jo Brand, Mark Thomas, Arthur Smith, Ardal O’Hanlon, John Hegley, David Baddiel, Bill Bailey

Series 3 – 1998

July 11^th to August 29^th

Mark Lamarr, Graham Norton, Mark Little, Sean Hughes, Fred MacAulay, Mark Steel, John Sessions, Al Murray

Series 4 – 1999

April 24^th to June 5^th

Joan Rivers, Phill Jupitus, Ed Byrne, Stewart Lee & Richard Herring, Rob Newman, Josie Lawrence, Lee Hurst

Series 5 – 2001

October 27^th to December 1^st

Jackie Mason, Alistair McGowan, Sean Lock, Neil Innes, Lee Evans, Eddie Izzard

Series 6 – 2002

May 25^th to July 13^th

Johnny Vegas, Rob Brydon, Griff Rhys Jones, Dave Gorman, Jasper Carrott, Rich Hall, Ronni Ancona

Series 7 – 2004

January 3^rd to February 7th

Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr, Ross Noble, Jeremy Hardy, Lenny Henry, Armando Iannucci

Jimmy’s S7 Episode

Jimmy’s Episode was broadcast January 10^th 2004 (here) and it may have been his first appearance on BBC Radio (to date it’s the earliest that I’ve been able to find).

I can’t find a copy of the audio file – but Comedy.co.uk (here) says that he talked about Les Dawson, Ross Noble, Jack Dee and Bill Bailey.