The 13 Million Club

Comedy of the Week

BBC

Comedy

4 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than 13 million people in this country can be classed as disabled, often in ways we don’t think or talk about – sometimes in ways which even they are not fully conscious of. The spectrum of mental and physical disability is far wider than most of us have ever thought about. It’s an elephant in the room - we can all see it (unless we’re visually impaired) but none of us talk about it (unless we have Tourette Syndrome).

If you’re uncomfortable with these jokes, don’t worry, this show isn’t always going to be comfortable. But it will be subversive, celebratory, and absolutely unlike anything else you’ve ever heard on the radio – or, very likely, anywhere else.

Under the stewardship of sassy American import, Spring Day, The 13 Million Club brings together a remarkable range of talents and a collection of fresh perspectives in a smorgasbord of stand-up and spiky consumer pieces.

From dwarfism to Parkinson’s, via cystic fibrosis, hearing loss, Tourette’s, life in a wheelchair and more besides, we laugh at and with our spectacular cast, which includes Paul Sinha, Will Robbins, Esther Manito and Jess Thom. While they laugh at the attitudes of others, and the madness of a world which is struggling to catch up with - let alone accommodate - them.

Produced by Lianne Coop and Mark Watson. An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Did you know that you can listen to many of your favorite podcasts first on BBC Sounds?
0:06.9	Like Friday Night Comedy, where you can hear the latest episode seven days earlier,
0:11.0	and a week is an extremely long time in politics.
0:14.4	Good things come to those who don't wait.
0:17.4	Listen to your favourite podcasts first on BBC Sounds.
0:22.7	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:30.6	Hello and welcome to the 13 million clubs.
0:37.2	I'm your host, Spring Day, and this is the sound of my voice. I'm not saying my voice
0:43.5	is nasal, but I have been told my voice is very soothing by many Australians. We're so happy to
0:51.4	have you here at the 13 million club so-called because at least 13 million people in the UK are disabled,
0:59.1	and yet over half of Britain's claim they don't know any disabled people, and I'm not surprised.
1:05.4	As you can clearly see on this Radio 4 show, I have cerebral palsy that affects the right side of my body,
1:12.9	and I once had a colleague whose desk was right next to mine for five years. For five years,
1:18.8	she sat right next to me before she turned to me and said, you know what, Spring? I didn't realize
1:23.3	you were disabled till just now. So that's okay.
1:27.9	I never thought of you as observant or particularly bright.
1:33.3	Now the 13 million club is a showcase of some of the UK's best comedians, actors, and performers
1:40.0	that just so happened to be members of this little club.
1:43.5	And since we made the pilot, the estimate
1:46.0	has actually gone up to 16 million. We're not allowed to change the name, though. So every time I say
1:54.0	13 million, feel free to shout 16. But you might be asked to leave.
2:02.3	Before we move on, I want to tell you a little bit about myself.
	...

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