Is Stuart Laws an absurdist rambler who froths up a load of increasingly hilarious nonsense whilst honking in a gilet? Or is he an astute and quite private man who started a production company when he was 18, and went on to produce his own sitcom Grave new World (Amazon Prime) as well as directing James Acaster’s “Repertoire” (Netflix) and countless other standup specials? It’d be great if the answer was “neither” wouldn’t it? But it’s clearly both.

We talk about “The Prestige” as it pertains to stand-up shows; what it means to be both producer and director of one’s own work; and what makes other comics attractive assets to his company Turtle Canyon. We also cover openness, privacy and what shocks him about other comedians…

25 mins of extra content available exclusively to the Insiders Club includes Stuart on the different ways he directs comics, with reference to James Acaster and Joel Dommett; how to direct without imposing; his social media and TikTok sketch strategies, and some insights on the only show ever made about Wario. Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&As with Nish Kumar, Alfie Brown and your invite to the forthcoming one with Fern Brady!

Stuart Laws is up to the following things:
Stuart’s series Grave New World is on Prime Video and Vimeo on Demand, links at www.stuartlaws.com.
He has two stand up specials on NextUp and his podcast with Matt Winning, Up Your Footfall, is at https://www.podfollow.com/1559039647.
Everything else is here: https://linktr.ee/stuartlawscomedy

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.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

This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram

www.comedianscomedian.com

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acaster, Audiences, BBC, Ben Target, comcompod, Comedy, Daniel Kitson, Edinburgh, Fear, Festival Comedian, Fringe, Interview, James Acaster, Joel Dommett, Josie Long, Mainstream, Nina Conti, Nish Kumar, Onstage Persona, Risk, Rob Auton, Simon Amstell, Sketch, Spencer Jones, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Structure, Stuart Goldsmith, Stuart Laws, Success, Vic And Bob, Whimsy, Worth, Writing

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, Comedy, 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, Stand Up, Stereotypes, Steve Bennett, Stewart Lee, Structure, Success, TV, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

Head writer for “The Mash Report”, show-runner for “Hello America” on Quibi, and profoundly nice man, Tom Neenan has a practised ease with pulling jokes out of thin air.  He’s also a comcompletist and one of the nicest people in the industry.

We talk about his entry into the business as a recipient of the BBC writer’s bursary, how a position as staff-writer taught him to be super-productive, and how to mine ambiguity for a punchline.

30 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Tom on learning to make shows more personal; Stu and Tom get self-indulgent riffing on story and the Lubitsch touch with reference to Pixar and the MCU, and Tom shares some of his favourite joke-formats…

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

Tom Neenan
Follow @tneenan for his very funny tweets and drawing

Follow Tom’s Dr Who podcast @Wheezingpod

We also mentioned some of his favourite instructional YouTubers; these include HBomberguy, Jenny Nicholson, Every Frame a Painting, Lessons From The Screenplay, Folded Ideas, and Lindsey Ellis.

And here’s a link to the video about The Lubitsch touch Tom mentions in the extras:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxqt7UmN_bQ

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, Practice Lead, Marketing Solutions EMEA, 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: Al Murray, Audiences, BBC, BBC4, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Graham Norton, Hello America, Interview, James Acaster, Milton Jones, Mitch Hedburg, Mock The Week, Nish Kumar, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, The Mash Report, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Victoria Wood, Worth, Writing, 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, Comedy, 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, Stand Up, Success, The Guilty Feminist, Whoopi Goldberg, Worth, Writing, 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!  We explore the rawness of this new special, talk about his new “cool guy” costume, and discuss the pros and cons of having a right royal go at the audience.  We learn about his rejection of social media, the distance between his persona and his real self, and how in the past he’s forfeited his sanity in order not to rock the boat…

“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

You cannot follow James Acaster on social media.

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: 6Music, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Art, Audiences, Awards, BBC, Channel 4, comcompod, Comedy, Coping, Corona, Criticism, Dave (TV channel), Depression, Ed Gamble, Edinburgh, Fame, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Jimmy Carr, Jobs, Joel Dommett, John Kearns, Live At The Apollo, London, Melbourne, Mental Health, Music, Netflix, Nish Kumar, Onstage Persona, Open Mic, Persona, Phil Wang, Podcasting, Radio 4, Radio X, Reviews, Risk, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Structure, Stuart Goldsmith, Success, Taskmaster, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Whimsy, Widdicombe, Worth, Writing, 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, Comedy, Graham Linehan, Inspiration, Interview, Jobs, Look Around You, Peter Serafinowicz, South Park, Success, The Day Today, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Whimsy, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes

The co-host and co-creator of Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit, Steve McNeil started his career in sketch comedy, and has enjoyed an invigoratingly twisty journey through multiple genres, currently specialising as a twitch gamer and host, with new project #WiFiWars gathering momentum online as we speak. We talk about his pivot away from TV, the single most agonising factor that led to the demise of "Go 8 Bit", his new special "Hey Listen!" and his recent battles with his mental health.

30 mins of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club focuses Steve's tips and tricks for growing an audience on Twitch, and what comics can expect to find when trying to explore that fertile territory! Sign up now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

#WiFiWars
@WiFiWarsUK

Steve's special on GFS https://gofasterstripe.com/heylisten

https://twitter.com/stevemcneil

https://www.twitch.tv/stevefromgo8bit

https://www.twitch.tv/team/thestreamcreamdreamteam

As the live comedy circuit undergoes a painful transformation into some unknown new form, there HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME to keep the podcast alive and get hold of oodles of sweet extra content (including the new special episode about The Great Pivot with ComCom Consultant Pete Dobbing) with a regular subscription. Join now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

And join Stu Goldsmith for a Working Lunch!  Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/lunch to book your one-to-one social, or professional, online lunch date with Stu!

@comcompod | @stugoldsmith

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Age, Alternative Comedy, Audience Participation, Audiences, Awards, BBC, Bottom, Chortle, comcompod, Comedy, Coping, Corona, COVID-19, Dara O'Briain, Dave (TV channel), Depression, Double Act, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Gaming, Go 8 Bit, Interview, Jess Robinson, McNeil & Pamphilon, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Streaming, Success, TV, Twitch, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, YouTube

Superb comedian, thrilling storyteller and born survivor Janey Godley not only answers back to her online death-threats, but publishes her whereabouts with an open invitation to "come and have a go". We talk about how she thrived despite abuse, poverty and alcoholism in her upbringing; detail her absolute conviction in the power of honesty; and learn how an early experience at the Edinburgh Fringe led her to reject the comedy industry and focus instead on her audience.

CW: We talk about abuse Janey suffered as a child, at the very start of this show, and throughout.

25 mins of extras available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include Janey on how her refusal to play along led to her being banned from a chain of comedy clubs; how she approaches publicising criminal connections whilst keeping her own nose clean; the ramifications of her husband’s autism, and the glee she feels at her daughter Ashley Storrie’s success in the comedy world. Join now and support the show at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

Thanks to the Stand Newcastle

www.janeygodley.com | @janeygodley

Janey Godley’s Soup Pot Tour is on right now - tickets available through her website 

Stuart Goldsmith's Edinburgh Fringe show "The Void" is on sale now at tinyurl.com/stu2020

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Actor, Age, Alan Davies, Alcohol, Audiences, Awards, BBC, Billy Connolly, Blogging, Bridget Christie, comcompod, Comedy, Comedy Store, Competitions, Criticism, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Jerry Sadowitz, Jimmy Carr, Jo Brand, Jobs, Josie Long, Leicester Square Theatre, Malcolm Hardee, Mental Health, Money, Morecambe & Wise, Onstage Persona, Panel Shows, Perrier, Perrier Comedy Award, Persona, Phil Kay, Plagiarism, Rhona Cameron, Risk, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Stereotypes, Storytelling, Structure, Stuart Goldsmith, Success, Tarantino, The Pleasance, The Stand, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Underbelly, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube