Stand-up comic and award-nominated playwright Archie Maddocks loves stitching together routines about kebab shops and his "rough-arse" schooling, with pathos and evocative prose. We talk about writing for the comedy club and the stage, why he's the straight-man to his highly-strung family of actors, and how his play "A Place For We" has been put on hiatus by Covid-19. We also talk about how his show "Matchstick" concluded with a heartfelt examination of the Grenfell Tower fire, and why he feels that "we're not people that ever cry".

You can donate to support survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire here www.grenfellfoundation.org.uk

20 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include Archie's thoughts on why white audiences don't accept surrealism from Black comics, and how his opening line takes back control of people's preconceptions. Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much much more.

TW: @ArchieMaddocks | IG: @ArchieMaddocks

TW: @ComComPod | IG: @ComComPod

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA

Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!

Forthcoming guests include Flo and Joan, Alex Horne, Ed Aczel and Thom Tuck, who with 12 members of the public join Stu for a tight 90 mins of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs. 

Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY

Every Tuesday at 8pm come and watch your favourite comics finding their sea-legs in the new world of online stand-up, with a warm and a generous studio audience, at Chops Comedy!  Forthcoming headliners include Kelly Convey, Alice Fraser, Marcus Brigstocke and Charlie George.

www.chopscomedy.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: 30 Rock, Archie Maddocks, Atlanta, Audiences, Donald Glover, Edinburgh, Fringe, Interview, London, Mental Health, Persona, Radio 4, Sexuality, Stage Persona, Stereotypes, Storytelling, Structure, Success, TalkSport, Trevor Noah, TV, Twitter, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage

Lean as hell and twice as productive, Nigel Ng is coming to shame your work ethic with his radical efficiency! This hilarious UK-based Malaysian comic lets us in on how his background in data science is helping him hit hard on social media, why he knew Edinburgh reviewers wouldn't like him, why he doesn't know what "texture" means, and what it felt like to gig 5 hours after a huge personal catastrophe. But is he too efficient for his own personal life...?

Join the Insiders Club for bonus material including Nigel on the specifics of his Instagram and TikTok strategies... Miss it and miss out! Sign up now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all of the above and much more.

TW: @mrnigelng | IG: @mrnigelng
Rice To Meet You

TW: @ComComPod | IG: @ComComPod

As per last week's post-amble, consider giving these comics a follow on Twitter:
@DaneBaptweets @ninia_benjamin @funmbi @ginayashere @destheray @jamalimaddix @olathecomedian @AhirShah @paulsinha @MrNishKumar @tezilyas @dalisochaponda @athenakugblenu @abiclarkecomedy

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA
Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!
Forthcoming guests include Rhod Gilbert, Sara Barron, Iain Stirling, Flo and Joan, and Luisa Omelian, who with 12 members of the public join Stu for an hour and a half of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs.

Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY
Every Tuesday at 8pm come and watch your favourite comics riding their sea-legs in the new world of online stand-up, with a warm and a generous studio audience, at Chops Comedy!  Forthcoming headliners include Josie Long, Sarah Millican, Jarred Christmas, Rob Kemp, Russell Hicks and Lost Voice Guy

www.chopscomedy.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Instagram, Interview, Kevin Hart, Malaysia, Mitch Hedburg, Money, Nigel Ng, Persona, Podcasting, Rice To Meet You, Stage Persona, Success, Twitter, Viral, Writing Jokes, YouTube

Catherine Cohen took home “Best Newcomer” at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, with a jaw-dropping show bursting with wit, originality and layer upon layer of irony.  Her angle of attack, mocking the audience for being so pathetically in love with her, allows her to take huge risks on stage, in a character that was grown through vast quantities of just the right sort of stage time.

We talk about why she loves the occasional “stone-faced” audience-member, about playing to win and succeeding, surviving burn-out, and why she can’t stop “freaking out about absolutely everything”…

Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all this and much much more.

Catch up with Catherine Cohen:

http://www.catherine-cohen.com

TW: @catcohen | IG: @catccohen

TW: @ComComPod | IG: @ComComPod

As per the post-amble, consider giving these comics a follow on Twitter:

@DaneBaptweets

@ninia_benjamin

@funmbi

@ginayashere

@destheray

@jamalimaddix

@olathecomedian

@AhirShah

@paulsinha

@MrNishKumar

@tezilyas

@dalisochaponda

@athenakugblenu

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA

Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!

Forthcoming guests include Rhod Gilbert, Sara Barron, Iain Stirling, Flo and Joan, and Luisa Omelian, who with 12 members of the public join Stu for an hour and a half of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs. 

Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY

Every Tuesday at 8pm come and watch your favourite comics riding their sea-legs in the new world of online stand-up, with a warm and a generous studio audience, at Chops Comedy!  Forthcoming headliners include Josie Long, Sarah Millican, Jarred Christmas, Rob Kemp, Russell Hicks and Lost Voice Guy

www.chopscomedy.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Awards, comcompod, Compere/MC/Hosting, Coping, Corona, COVID-19, Drama School, Edinburgh, Equality, Festival, Fringe, Gender, Interview, Isolation, Mental Health, Musical Comedy, New York, Persona, Podcasting, Reviews, Risk, Stage Persona, Structure, Success, TV Comedy, Twitter, USA, Whimsy, Writing On Stage, YouTube

An intriguing and invigorating "NonComPod" this week with comedian, care home assistant and indeed care home comedian Pope Lonergan. Impressively erudite, Pope has been addicted to drugs as well as to reading about the Hawaiian judicial system; we discuss his lifelong search for transcendence, whether drug-fuelled revelations of great artists count, and how to inhabit the present.

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA

Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!

Forthcoming guests include Josh Widdicombe, Rhod Gilbert and Sindhu Vee, who along with 12 members of the public join Stu for an hour plus of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs. 

Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY

Every Tuesday at 8pm come and watch your favourite comics riding their sea-legs in the new world of online stand-up, with a warm and a generous studio audience, at Chops Comedy!  Forthcoming headliners include Josie Long, Sarah Millican, Jarred Christmas, Rob Kemp, Russell Hicks and Lost Voice Guy

www.chopscomedy.com

BCG Comedy "Pro"

Here's a website for anyone who wants to start out in comedy, or progress their existing career; writers, performers and producers:  https://www.comedy.co.uk/pro

Visit comedy.co.uk/pro and enter the code COMCOM on the join page to get £5 off as well as supporting this podcast!

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Addiction, Alcohol, Audiences, Ben Target, Bridget Christie, College, comcompod, Corona, Depression, Drinking, Edinburgh, Fear, How To, Inspiration, Interview, Isolation, Jobs, Josie Long, Mental Health, Nick Helm, Stage Persona, Twitch, Twitter, Writing Jokes

At last! Brett Goldstein (movie star, comedian, writer, super-fan of ComCom and perpetual invite-swerver) drops by for a “NonComPod” that won’t expose at all how crackers he is. Sadly Stu can’t help himself and it all goes a bit “Are You Happy?” A brilliant conversation with a kind, funny, deeply handsome man, who lets us into his mind to discuss humility, boredom and workaholism - and why the comedy community is like an AIDS quilt...

25 mins of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include the backstage view of Brett’s “Films To be Buried With” podcast, how a run of terrible gigs way back during the Comedy Reserve fringe line-up show became a brutal bootcamp, and a decent chunk of Stu giving Brett unsolicited advice on how to navigate his mental health…

Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all this and much much more.

*New episodes are now streamed live at www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith on 1pm BST every Wednesday, for release the following week*

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA
Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!
Forthcoming guests include Nish Kumar, Suzi Ruffell, Anna Mann and Randy Feltface, who with 10 members of the public join Stu for an hour of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs.
Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY
Every Tuesday at 8pm come and watch your favourite comics riding their sea-legs in the new world of online stand-up, with a warm and a generous studio audience, at Chops Comedy! Forthcoming headliners include Josie Long, Sarah Millican, Jarred Christmas, Rob Kemp, Russell Hicks and Lost Voice Guy.
www.chopscomedy.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Actor, Audiences, Benny Boot, comcompod, Competitions, Coping, Corona, Depression, Derek, Directing, Edinburgh, Fame, Fear, Films To Be Buried With, First Open Spot, Fringe, Inspiration, Interview, Isolation, Jack Whitehall, Jobs, Josie Long, London, Lone Island, Mental Health, Nick Helm, NonComPod, Onstage Persona, Persona, Pleasance, Podcasting, School, Storytelling, Structure, Success, SuperBob, TV, TV Comedy, Twitch, Twitter, Uncle, Writing Jokes, YouTube

*New episodes are now streamed live at www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith on 1pm BST every Wednesday, for release the following week*

Is this a regular episode or a NonComPod?  It matters not as we meet Helen Zaltzman; podcasting matriarch, mentor of Stu’s, co-host with Olly Mann of “Answer Me This”, host of the brilliant “Allusionist” podcast on the Radiotopia network, and very funny lady indeed.

We talk about her comedy origins as Josie Long’s embroiderer, her childhood and the positives of knowing she was an unplanned baby, and setting one’s own parameters for success.  We also talk about language as a means of understanding the world, overcoming her own pedantry and forgiving it in others, how she wrote a successful tour show in less than a day, and why you’re Namaste-ing all wrong…

25 mins of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include a dive into the origins of Helen and Olly Mann’s “Answer Me This” podcast; how they cultivated the community now 14 years deep into their show (and passing it on to their own children), and how they broke new ground with the sorts of creative and marketing tactics that these days would make up a TED Talk.

Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all this and much much more.

helenzaltzman.com | instagram.com/helenzaltzman |twitter.com/helenzaltzman

Allusionist: theallusionist.org, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow

Veronica Mars Investigations: VMIpod.com, twitter.com/VMIpod, instagram.com/VMIpod, facebook.com/VMIpod

Answer Me This: answermethispodcast.com, twitter.com/HelenAndOlly, facebook.com/answermethis

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA

Every Monday and Thursday night at the new later time of 9pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!

Forthcoming guests include Nish Kumar, Suzi Ruffell, Anna Mann and Randy Feltface, who with 10 members of the public join Stu for an hour of brilliant comedy, music and variety with interactive games and big laughs.

Find out more at www.infinitesofa.com

CHOPS COMEDY

Online new material from seasoned professionals and exciting newer acts, in the most as-live environment online, every Tuesday night at 8pm BST via www.chopscomedy.com

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Join Stu Goldsmith for a one-to-one coaching session about your comedy career or personal project. These aren’t joke-writing sessions, more of a sort of micro-ComCom mentoring experience, to identify how you might be getting in the way of your own creativity and offer some solutions!

“Stu has made me think about writing comedy in a way that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. His mentorship allowed me to access the deep, vulnerable, and humorous truths that are actually more impactful than the surface stuff I was doing otherwise. Highly recommend.” Jasky Singh

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/lunch and book your one-to-one with Stu now!

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Age, Andy Zaltzman, Answer Me This, Audiences, Awards, College, comcompod, Compere, COVID-19, Edinburgh, Gender, How To, Inspiration, Interview, Isolation, Jobs, Josie Long, Persona, Podcasting, Radiotopia, Risk, Structure, student comedy, Success, TED Talk, The Allusionist, YouTube

Shut up and listen to Alonzo Bodden, a towering comic who wields an absolute authority onstage! In the final pre-pandemic recording, we discover Alonzo's struggles to connect with black audiences, find out why alternative comedy doesn’t exist, and learn whether he’d accept a cure for depression if it meant giving up comedy…

30 mins of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include Alonzo’s extraordinary “missed break” after he won season three of Last Comic Standing just as cancellation of the show meant the final was never aired, how Terry Crews beat him to the punch in a big movie role, and how to go up next after a superstar… Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all this and much much more.

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA

Every Monday and Thursday night at 8pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!

Forthcoming guests include James Acaster, Romesh Ranganathan and Sarah Millican, who with 10 members of the public join Stu for an hour of brilliant comedy, music and variety with amazing guests, interactive games and big laughs. 

www.infinitesofa.com

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Join Stu Goldsmith for a one-to-one coaching session about your comedy career or personal project.  These aren’t joke-writing sessions, more of a sort of micro-ComCom mentoring experience, to identify how you might be getting in the way of your own creativity and offer some solutions!

“Stu has made me think about writing comedy in a way that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. His mentorship allowed me to access the deep, vulnerable, and humorous truths that are actually more impactful than the surface stuff I was doing otherwise. Highly recommend.” Jasky Singh

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/lunch and book your one-to-one with Stu now!

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Age, Alternative Comedy, Audiences, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Compere/MC/Hosting, Competitions, COVID-19, Dane Cook, Def Jam, Interview, Patton Oswalt, Stage Persona, Success, Todd Glass, TV Comedy, USA, Writing Jokes

An experiment was performed in which the co-creator of Look Around You, creator and writer of Friday Night Dinner, former commissioning editor for CH4 and expert Timewaster Robert Popper was subjected to an interview.  We talk about FND and why it has become Robert’s best known work, his experience with death threats in the South Park writers room, and how he and Peter Serafinowicz rolled on the floor crying with laughter at “...thants”. Make a note in your copy books now…

30 mins of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Robert on his one big disagreement with the writers of Peep Show whilst working as series producer, as well as some delicious insight into the world of The Timewaster Letters, and a hilarious toolkit for your own frivolous phonecalls…  Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all this and much much more.

www.robertpopper.com | @robertpopper

STU GOLDSMITH’S INFINITE SOFA
Every Monday and Thursday night at 8pm, Stu Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa brings you the warmest and most atmospheric cure for the social-isolation blues!
10 members of the public join Stu for an hour of brilliant comedy, music and variety with amazing guests, interactive games and big laughs.  (Previous guests include Sindhu Vee, Desiree Burch, Phil Ellis and Rob Rouse, and a guy called Ian who often climbs into his own wardrobe.)

www.infinitesofa.com

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Join Stu Goldsmith for a one-to-one coaching session about your comedy career or personal project.  These aren’t joke-writing sessions, more of a sort of micro-ComCom mentoring experience, to identify how you might be getting in the way of your own creativity and offer some solutions!
“Thank you so much for what was an incredibly productive, useful and thought provoking working lunch/therapy session” - Ben Milden
“Stu instantly put any nerves I had at bay, we spoke about many aspects of comedy and I found it be really beneficial, if you’re considering trying one of these sessions don’t hesitate! 10/10” - Jon Meehan

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/lunch and book your one-to-one with Stu now!

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Alan Partridge, Armando Iannucci, Audiences, BBC, Channel 4, Chris Morris, comcompod, Graham Linehan, Inspiration, Interview, Jobs, Look Around You, Peter Serafinowicz, South Park, Success, The Day Today, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Whimsy, Writing Jokes