“Come for the musical theatre, stay for the trauma!”  That was the manifesto of the “Asda Kate Bush” Sooz Kempner, on her debut hour, an extraordinary verbatim performance of the real email her father sent to her mother, that led to divorce.   We talk about upbringing as the only girl that didn’t do ballet, and how that inspired her self-belief; learn to how wind up Flag Twitter and bat away Reply Guys; and discover how she maintains her armour via creative success…   20 mins of extra content available exclusively to the Insiders Club features Sooz on story-telling via nostalgia; the challenges of her handsome brother being on TV a lot; and how she deals with her internal mean girl.   Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&As with James Acaster, and Nish Kumar.     Discover Sooz Kempner:   www.soozkempner.co.uk @SoozUK Co-hosting The Queen Podcast, co-hosting Mystery on the Rocks podcast, and streaming pretty much constantly at twitch.tv/soozkempner.     Everything Stu's up to:   This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram www.comedianscomedian.com   Stu’s “Virtual Office Party” is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and wellbeing events.   “It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!” - Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)   The games and interactive element were hilarious and extremely well executed! 10/10 from us, you created a real buzz in our business, thank you."  - Ben Gott, (SVP at Merkle)   For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.stuartgoldsmith.co.uk   Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.   “The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)   Find out more at www.stuartgoldsmith.co.uk

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Audiences, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Luke Kempner, Sooz Kempner, Stage Persona, Success

Bethany Black makes a powerfully funny connection with her fanbase, and has been wielding it to great effect over the course of her heavily-shielded pandemic experience.

We explore the effect on her work of her concurrent diagnoses with autism, ADHD and agoraphobia, and discuss how her fanbase consists of people just like her, rather than the cool kids she was trying to impress.

We also cover painting her herself into a corner with stand-up; how some promoters book to their own taste without realising; not being famous enough for The Chase; and what she’s already anticipating tolerating in her sixties…

No extras for this episode but you can still hit www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all the extras from every episode that has them, including the exclusive Insiders Q&A with James Acaster!

Follow Bethany Black:

Follow @beffernieblack
Follow her and subscribe to: http://twitch.tv/beffernieblack
Buy her stand-up special: http://gofasterstripe.com/unwinnable
Tip her through http://ko-fi.com/bethanyblack

Everything Stu's up to:

Stu’s “Virtual Office Party” is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and wellbeing events.

“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!”
- Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)

The games and interactive element were hilarious and extremely well executed! 10/10 from us, you created a real buzz in our business, thank you." 
- Ben Gott, (SVP at Merkle)

For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.

“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)

Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram
www.comedianscomedian.com  

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Actor, Age, Alcohol, Audiences, Awards, Bill Hicks, Brendon Burns, Caroline Aherne, comcompod, Coping, Corona, COVID-19, Dr Who, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Gary Delaney, Gender, Inspiration, Interview, Janey Godley, Jobs, Johnny Vegas, Jongleurs, Mark Watson, Mental Health, Peter Kay, Stage Persona, Success, TV, Twitch, Twitter

Energetic, elastic and totally committed to being “the toughest kid on the estate” when it comes to his ability to get laughs, Russell Kane has firm ideas about his precise place in the comedy firmament.

We talk about the creative power of his exceptional on-stage energy; his surprising reaction to Stewart Lee’s material about him; his unerring ability to mind-map a topic and see the central idea immediately; and learn about the hour-long preview which he scripted in just eight words, moments before walking onstage…

25 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Russell’s incredible advice for comics considering performing live standup on YouTube, and thoughts on his possible over-commitment to showing one particular critic who was boss…

The single confidant who suggested that his experiments with image were driving away his long-term audience…

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&A with James Acaster.

Follow Russell on:

@russell_kane
www.russellkane.co.uk
And subscribe to his channel on YouTube, home of the “Kane-ing”

Everything Stu's up to:

Stu’s “Virtual Office Party” is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and wellbeing events.

“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!”
- Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)
The games and interactive element were hilarious and extremely well executed! 10/10 from us, you created a real buzz in our business, thank you."  - Ben Gott, (SVP at Merkle)
For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.
“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)
Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Arena Comedy, Audience Participation, Audiences, Awards, BBC, BBC3, Bill Burr, Channel 4, Chortle, Chris Rock, College, comcompod, Corona, Corporate Gigs, Corporate Work, COVID-19, Criticism, Daniel Kitson, Edgy, Edinburgh, Ego, Fame, Fear, Festival, Fosters Comedy Award, Frankie Boyle, Fringe, Improv, Inspiration, Instagram, Interview, Jeremy Hardy, Jobs, Jongleurs, Josie Long, Katherine Ryan, Lee Mack, Live At The Apollo, London, Mainstream, Money, Noel Fielding, Observational Comedy, Onstage Persona, Parenting, Perrier, Perrier Comedy Award, Persona, Peter Kay, Problems, Reginald D. Hunter, Reviews, Risk, Romesh Ranganathan, Russell Brand, Russell Howard, Russell Kane, Seann Walsh, Stage Persona, Stereotypes, Steve Bennett, Stewart Lee, Structure, Success, TV, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

Winner and still holder of the 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Award, Jordan Brookes’ marriage of stand-up and clowning is an absolutely extraordinary experience. He deftly walks a tightrope between frankness and insincerity, observing the observers, and mining material from the problem of self-reflection. And if you think that sounds pretentious you’re going to love the rest…
We talk about calling bullshit on emotional manipulation, his slow climb back to normality after a youth inflected with OCD and depression, as well as the seductive narrative of victimhood…. Also seducing your mum.

35 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Jordan on the arduous process of making his hit show “Bleed”, which did something incredibly new at imaginative, at some cost; the cultural race to expose more and more weakness and suffering over which comedy seems to obsess, and his mixed feelings about the award win.

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&A with James Acaster.

Follow Jordan Brookes:
On his excellent website, on which you can watch tonnes of clips, plus digitally download "Bleed" and "I've Got Nothing": www.jordanbrookescomedy.com

On Twitter: @jordbrookes

Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Infinite Sofa” chat show is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and twellness events.

“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!” Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)

For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.
“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)

Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Alternative Comedy, Art, Audiences, Awards, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Stage Persona, Success, Twitter, Writing Jokes, YouTube

Athena Kugblenu is an impassioned and very funny comic, intent on making people laugh even when they disagree with her.  We talk about joining the comedy circuit from a successful career in the public sector, why she doesn’t debate on Facebook, affinity bias and assimilation.  We also cover why she loves changing her mind, and good honest graft.

25 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include Athena on why she no longer wants a career in politics, adaptability, and the niche overlap between comics and writers…. Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&A with James Acaster.

Catch up with Athena:
Follow @athenakugblenu on twitter and instagram.

www.athenakugblenu.com

www.athenakugblenu.com/podcast for more news on her podcast “Keeping Athena Company”

Everything Stu's up to:

The Infinite Sofa chat show is now available as a solution to remote-working office parties over the festive period and beyond! For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.
“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)
Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Art, Athena Kugblenu, Audiences, Awards, BBC, BBC One, BLM, comcompod, Coping, COVID-19, Feminism, Gender, India, Inspiration, Interview, Jobs, John Bishop, Keeping Athena Company, London, Mental Health, Miles Jupp, Money, Parenting, Podcasting, political, Racism, Risk, Sarah Millican, Stage Persona, Success, The Guilty Feminist, Whoopi Goldberg, Writing Jokes

The whole of this two hour conversation is available to everyone over parts one and two, but members of the Insiders Club were also treated to a special Q&A over Zoom, asking James their questions in person. That audio is now available on the Insiders private podcast, and it was so much fun we’re going to do more of them with other comics!  For your future invitations to those, as well as all the extra content from every episode that has it, join now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

And now…
To celebrate the forthcoming self-release via Dice.fm of his new special “Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999”, James returns to the podcast for two hours of insight across two episodes! In this second part, we talk about how James experiences his fame, why approval doesn’t satisfy him, and why he doesn’t usually admit to desiring a comic legacy.  We also get stuck into some excellent audience questions…

“Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999” streams once at 8pm on 17th Dec wherever you are in the world (fancy!) and you can get access here:

https://dice.fm/artist/james-acaster-bbx6o

The Infinite Sofa chat show is now available as a solution to remote-working office parties over the festive period and beyond! For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.

“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)

Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acaster, Age, Art, Audiences, Awards, Classic Scrapes, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Radio X, Reviews, Richard Pryor, Risk, Russell Howard, Stage Persona, Structure, Stuart Goldsmith, Success, Taskmaster, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Whimsy, Writing Jokes

Wild man of the woods or naughty Viking uncle, Martin Mor typifies the “adventure comic”, constantly challenging and reinventing himself, with an unshakeable confidence that the world will look after him.

We discover his youth - hitchhiking, busking and squatting his way round the world to a backdrop of the explosive growth in new circus and alternative comedy - and how his desire to be “a juggler without tricks” led him at last to stand-up.

We also learn what charisma means, peek into his latest venture offering online mentorship to newer comics, and learn what happens when you realise you’ve told all your stories…

Catch up with Martin:
martinmor.com
@MartinMorComedy
@Martin_Mor_Comedy
martinmorcomedy@gmail.com

Everything Stu's up to:

The Infinite Sofa chat show is now available as a solution to remote-working office parties over the festive period! Go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk for more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart!

Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic!

“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)

Find out more at www.comedyinsights.com

This podcast is @ComComPod on Twitter and Instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

Stu also co-hosts the “Child Labour" parenting podcast with Sindhu Vee

www.childlabourpod.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Adam Bloom, Age, Alternative Comedy, Art, Audiences, Bill Bailey, Cabaret, Chris Addison, Circus, Clown, comcompod, Compere, Coping, Corona, COVID-19, Dave Gorman, Edinburgh, Festival, Festival Comedian, Fringe, Hitchhiking, Hunter S Thompson, Inspiration, Interview, Ireland, Irish, Jimmy Carr, Jobs, John Peel, Kerouac, Magic, Martin Mor, Mental Health, Onstage Persona, Persona, Peter Kay, Risk, Road Comic, Stage Persona, Storytelling, Street Performing, Success, The Stand, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage

Artist, comedian, provocateur and cleaner, Kim Noble is far more concerned with pursuing his artistic instinct than the trappings of success. From sneaking into B&Q dressed as staff (engaging with the customers and sometimes not even recording it), to his brilliant new podcast “Futile Attempts”, we find a man relentless in his integrity and experimentation, but sometimes adrift from the comedy community and the wider world.

We learn the sometimes devastating effect of his constant recording on his personal life; find out how his mum felt about his possible exploitation of his dementia-suffering father; and talk about innocence, terror, and overstepping the line.

30 minutes of extra content, available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club, includes Kim on his most recent “meltdown”; a meta chat about the pros and cons of his notion to record his appearance on the podcast and take control of the audio; the story behind “Noble and Silver” and why they split… and dread.

Join now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

Find out more about Kim:

www.mrkimnoble.com/futile-attempts-podcast/

www.mrkimnoble.com

www.twitter.com/mrkimnoble

Watch the “Noble and Silver: Get Off Me” episode filmed in one take:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDGixWJOetY

Everything Stu's up to:

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram
Find out more at 

www.comedianscomedian.com

Join the Insiders Club at

www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

Stu also co-hosts the “Child Labour" parenting podcast with Sindhu Vee

www.childlabourpod.com Mondays 9pm BST - "The Infinite Sofa" chat show
Top celebrity talent (previous guests include Dara O'Briain, Sarah Millican and Russell Howard) join Stu and 12 members of the public, in an increasingly cult-like live online performance experiment.

www.infinitesofa.com Tuesdays 8pm BST - "Chops" Online comedy club
www.chopscomedy.com

www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Adam and Joe, Adam Buxton, Age, Alternative Comedy, Art, Audiences, Awards, Channel 4, Character, Clown, comcompod, Corona, COVID-19, Depression, Directing, Double Act, Edinburgh, Fame, Festival, Fringe, Futile Attempts, Hatemail, Heckles, Inspiration, Interview, Isolation, Jobs, John Kearns, Noble and Silver, Onstage Persona, Podcasting, Poetry, Pope Lonergan, Problems, Risk, Rob Auton, Sketch, Stage Persona, Success, Tim Key, TV, TV Comedy