Her writing and performance in The Fast Show made her one of the most influential women in British sketch comedy; now Arabella Weir reflects on her work and the balance of power underpinning the five-man, most-often-one-woman sketch team.  We discuss the tension and friction of making comedy; whether a happy person still has the same hunger to perform; and learn the awful truth about the genesis of her character "Girl Who Boys Can't Hear"...

Follow Arabella on twitter: @arabellaweir

See Stu on tour: www.comedianscomedian.com/tour

Support the podcast: www.comedianscomedian.com/donate

Submit your own original comedy material to "Everyone's A Comedian" at comedianscomedian.com/experiment - check the site for more details!

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Filed Under: Acting, Actor, Age, Alexei Sayle, Audiences, Awards, Aziz Ansari, BBC, BBC One, Bottom, Caroline Aherne, Character, Character Comedy, Dawn French, Diversity, Equality, Fame, Fear, Feminism, Feminist, Gender, Inspiration, Interview, Jo Brand, Joan Rivers, Kenny Everett, Mainstream, Observational Comedy, Onstage Persona, Persona, Physical Comedy, Podcasting, Reviews, Sara Pascoe, Sexuality, Sketch, Stage Persona, Stereotypes, Structure, Success, The Fast Show, The Guardian, TV, TV Comedy, Vic And Bob, Writing Jokes

Celebrating the release of Brian's Netflix special, his work now available in the UK for the first time, we're proud to bring you this blast from the past!  Well, 2016...

Brian Regan is the undisputed master of the "act-out", reducing audiences to tears of joy as he inhabits one potent premise after another. We squeezed in half an hour backstage to talk about how he shapes and annotates his "vignettes", and find out why everyone considers him the nicest man in comedy.

Note to UK-based listeners. Even if you don't always download non-UK acts, please just give this a whirl; it's only short and he's INCREDIBLE.

See Stu's standup show on tour comedianscomedian.com/tour

Get ad-free new episodes, bonus content from interviews and much more by joining the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

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Filed Under: Acting, Age, Alternative Comedy, Brain Regan, Criticism, Edinburgh, Fame, Interview, Netflix, Stage Persona, Success, TV

One of the writers and stars of Northern Ireland's most successful sitcom "Give My Head Peace", wonderful Tim McGarry is adept at walking the tightrope of offence.  We talk about his origins with The Hole In The Wall Gang; how it felt to write sketches about paramilitaries during the Troubles; and Stuart asks a "wanky" question that yields some interesting results...

Listen to "A Perforated Ulster" Learn about "Give My Head Peace"

Get ad-free new episodes, bonus content from interviews and much more by joining the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

See Stu on tour in 2019

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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Filed Under: Acting, Age, Alternative Comedy, Audiences, Character, Dark Humour, Fame, Ireland, Radio, Success, TV

Is there such a thing as warm malice? One of the UK's classiest comics, Jo Caulfield wields spite like a glittering scalpel, to hilarious effect. We talk about her evolving relationship to her audience, discover the holy grail of TV warm-up, and consider changing the names to protect the innocent...

www.jocaulfield.com

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

And don't forget to join the Comcom Facebook group, which you can do here.

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Filed Under: Acting, Age, Audiences, Edinburgh, Jobs, Radio, TV

Fuelled by a seemingly-bottomless well of anger, and capable of articulating it hilariously, Michael Legge rages that life isn't as beautiful as it should be. We learn how his own righteous ire mimics that of his bulletproof mum, discover the origins of twitter game #FuckAThing, and just at the end get him to say something pretentious about art.

Get tickets for Stu Goldsmith's stand-up tour at www.comedianscomedian.com/tour

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

And don't forget to join the Comcom Facebook group, which you can do here.

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Alternative Comedy, Argument, Audiences, Controversial, Dark Humour, Depression, Edinburgh, Ego, Fame, Heckles, Improv, Isolation, Jobs, London, Mental Health, Money, Podcasting, Political Humour

For more than 50 years Barry Cryer OBE has been a lynchpin of British comedy. Having written for Morecambe & Wise, Tommy Cooper, The Frost Report and Kenny Everett, he still performs in "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" and will be appearing live once again at the year's Edinburgh Festival.  We discuss joke structure, word choice and rapport, and Stu achieves a life-long ambition by telling Barry the "Beekeepers" joke.

Get tickets for Stu Goldsmith's stand-up tour at www.comedianscomedian.com/tour

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

And don't forget to join the Comcom Facebook group, which you can do here.

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Age, Barry Cryer, BBC, Compere/MC/Hosting, Double Act, Edinburgh, Fame, Kenny Everett, Mainstream, Morecambe & Wise, Musical, Musical Comedy, Radio, Radio 4, Reviews, Success, TV

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Filed Under: Acting, Age, Alternative Comedy, Audiences, BBC, Comedy Store, Compere/MC/Hosting, Controversial, Criticism, Edinburgh, Equality, Fame, Feminism, Heckles, Jo Brand, QI, Radio, Success, The Comedy Store, TV

One of the most iconoclastic, pioneering and influential comedians in Britain, Stewart Lee has forged his post-punk ideals into a thrillingly funny live act, with the very form at his fingertips. We explore the deliberately uncomfortable tension between the man and the stage persona; discuss his self-imposed exclusion from the comedy community; and investigate his unshakeable conviction that he is in fact unsuccessful.

Follow Stewart on tour www.stewartlee.co.uk

Get ad-free new episodes, bonus content from interviews and much more by joining the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com
And don't forget to join the Comcom Facebook group, which you can do here.

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Alternative Comedy, Argument, Audiences, BBC, Character, Criticism, Double Act, Edinburgh, Fame, Fear, Heckles, Improv, Isolation, London, Reviews, Stage Persona, Stewart Lee, Storytelling, Success, The Guardian, Touring Comedian, TV