Daniel Kitson has been giving us A Reason to Wake Up during these coronavirus quarantine times. Well, in New York, technically, it’s been a reason to stay up late, but who are we to quibble. The British comedian has been spending his weekday mornings (Monday-Friday) DJing an indie/alternative radio show for London-based Resonance FM. He’s committing to it week by week. As of now, he’s on the schedule through Thursday, April 30, 2020. The show airs live 7am-9am BST/2am-4pm ET/11pm-1am PT.

This isn’t the first time Resonance FM has given Kitson the keys to the castle. In 2006, he hosted a weekly late-night show for the beloved, non-commercial station called The Listening Club. In 2013, he returned with another weekly show. Then 2016 saw Captain Bang Bang’s Magic Castle, a short-lived weekly midnight show riddled with issues. It sadly ended with Kitson locked out of the station. He returned triumphant in May 2018 with a month of shows in the breakfast hour. The morning time appears to agree with him.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, Kitson does A Reason to Wake Up from the comfort of his own home in London. Specifically, he produces it from a room that overlooks his apple tree. Throughout the show, he refers to birds, animals, and people he sees out his window, which he purposely keeps open.

As for the songs, Kitson has excellent taste in music. Are you surprised? His playlist includes the likes of Fiona Apple, JARV IS, Dry Cleaning, David Byrne, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Sparks, Guerilla Toss, Destroyer, The Mountain Goats, Hamilton Leithauser, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Weyes Blood, Joan as Police Woman, and LCD Soundsystem. Fortunately, if you haven’t been tuning in, most shows are up on Resonance FM’s Mixcloud for your listening pleasure. We’ve included two installments below, and you can find others here. Originally, Kitson planned to keep them online for a limited time, but he appears to have changed his mind. You can find the tracklists, dating back to the first show on April 20, here at a fan website devoted to the performer.

For those that desire more of Kitson’s wit, the master storyteller has a Bandcamp where you can find some of his stand-up and story shows for purchase. He’s also made his stage production, It’s Always Right Now, Until It’s Later, available for rent via Vimeo (you can do that here). And, Analog.Ue, a show which the storyteller brings to life via recordings made on 46 separate machines, is streaming now for free here.

You can also find the comedian in It Started As A Joke, a new documentary that chronicles the decade-long run of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. The film is available for viewing On Demand. Check out the trailer below.

And don’t forget to tune in to Kitson’s A Reason to Wake Up tomorrow at 7am BST/2am ET/11pm PT at Resonance FM.

UPDATE 5/3: It looks like Kitson’s final Resonance FM radio show (for now) was Thursday, April 30. He was on the fence about returning, as he was having some issues with the time. He remarked, “It’s breaking my head in terms of sleep.” Also, things were not running smoothly during the last hour of his last show. He joked, “This is an absolute disaster. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve killed a pig.” Perhaps he will be back on air if he can secure a different time slot. Fingers-crossed.

Image courtesy of the artist and Resonance FM