What do comedians think of this year's Proms?

This year Proms podcast host, comedian and composer Vikki Stone, has been arranging concert "dates" with fellow comics.

She finds out what presses their buttons and tickles their funny bones in the world of classical music – could any of them be in for a life-changing moment?

Richard Osman – the Proms newbie

"There's this person in front of the orchestra – I don't know what they're doing..."

The Pointless game show host had never been to the Proms, but this year became a convert. Initially, however, he was sceptical, “I've never been exposed to classical music. It could be some kind of sinister cult I'm being led into." Richard went to hear Brahms's Second Symphony. What did he think of it? Well, it might be a bit of a problem if you don't like violins...

Al Murray – the Pub Landlord and classical music fan

"I do like a bit of Sibelius..."

Sibelius, Grieg, Schumann and Hindemith were on the menu when Vikki took Al to Prom 33... "My parents were on a civilising mission – I was introduced to classical at a young age. There was no pop music in our household apart from the Wombles and an ABBA record that my sisters had somehow got their hands on... A really memorable Prom for me was Loose Tubes in the 1980s, with Django Bates playing piano and Ashley Slater compering the show and messing about with the statue of Henry Wood – it was very iconoclastic, jazz at the Proms." With his liking for jazz, Al finds something unexpectedly psychedelic in Sibelius's Luonnotar...

Marcus Brigstocke – the Proms performer

Selling it on stage

Actor and comedian Marcus Brigstocke had a role in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! at the Proms. "Ali Hakim, the not so Persian pedlar... the story with Ali is he's understood that being a little bit Persian will help him sell his wares..."

Though he's played many roles on the West End stage, for Marcus, being up there at the Albert Hall in front of a massive orchestra was something else...

Nick Helm – the unsure drifter

Did someone mention "Die Hard"?

Comedian Nick Helm went to the First Night of the Proms with Vikki Stone and listened to Tom Coult, Beethoven and John Adams. So what did Nick think of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and after it, when soloist Igor Levit played an arrangement of Beethoven's Ode to Joy...

These interviews were taken from the Proms Podcast: you can download the episodes here.

More highlights from Proms 2017