Character-filled comedian and actress, Jessica Fostekew is also the presenter of her own podcast "Hoovering", and guest co-host of The Guilty Feminist. We talk about how noticing her own faked confidence led to a sea-change in her creative process, the "crime" of mixing stand-up and acting, the joys of fabricating the truth, and when to drink the champagne...

Join the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders to get access to an ad-free version of this episode plus 20 minutes of extras, including Jessica's exploration of her work directing standup shows for Sara Pascoe and Lauren Pattinson among others. Insiders Club membership also gives you a whole private podcast stuffed with inspiring extra content, the chance to critique newer acts en masse, and pitch to interview Stu about the subject of your choice - as well as a new community of hyper-fans!

See Hoovering Live at the Vault Festival, 3rd March!

jessicafostekew.com | @jessicafostekew

Book now for LIVE ComComPods:

Mar 23rd 1pm - Live special with comedy legend TBC @ Birmingham Podcast Festival!

g>Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now! “A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)
Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:
22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London


@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Actor, Audiences, BBC, Comedy, Corporate Work, Directing, Edinburgh, Equality, Fame, Fear, Feminism, Feminist, Festival, Festival Comedian, Frankie Boyle, Fringe, Gender, Interview, Lauren Pattison, Persona, Podcasting, Romesh Ranganathan, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, The Guilty Feminist, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage

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"Britain's greatest living anti-comedian" (Guardian), Ed Aczel is an oddball among oddballs. We analyse his "instinctive adventure" within comedy, and discover how to create and burst tension in unexpected ways; the secret of destabilising beauty; and whether Ed knows why he's funny.

Join the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders to access extra material including Ed on the rise of the oddball act on the UK scene, a recap of the "Dr Brown" clown course Ed and Stu found themselves on together, and why there's no such thing as a wasted journey...

Edward Aczel (@edwardaczel)

Book now for LIVE ComComPods:
Mar 23rd 1pm - Live special with comedy legend TBC @ Birmingham Podcast Festival!

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!
“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)
Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:
22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Actor, Alternative Comedy, Audiences, BBC, Clown, Comedy, Dr Brown, Edinburgh, Festival, First Open Spot, Fringe, Improv, Interview, Isolation, Jimmy Carr, Jobs, John Kearns, John Luke Roberts, Kate Copstick, Robin Ince, Sam Simmons, Sarah Millican, Simon Munnery, So You Think You’re Funny, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Stewart Lee, Success, The Comedy Store, The Guardian, Tom Allen, Tommy Cooper, Tony Law, Twitter, Underbelly, Vic And Bob, Whimsy, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

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Ben Bailey Smith AKA Doc Brown is a prodigious talent, with clean-cut standup and roof-raising comedy rap, as well as a parallel career as an influential and respected rapper. But his ostensibly industrial self-belief conceals a "patchwork of anxiety and depression". We talk about the state of mind that led him to turn down a 220-date national tour, how his stage name became a millstone, and why he struggles to make a meal he wouldn't eat himself... Extra content available to donors at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders includes the full story on how Doc wrote and prepared for hosting the LA BAFTAS in 2016, and how to improvise in front of Samuel L Jackson. We also learn why Doc's change in career is kind of Stu's fault... www.docbrown.co.uk | Doc on Spotify | Youtube Book now for LIVE ComComPods: Feb 2nd 4.30pm - Live special with hilarious rubber-limbed melodramatists POLICE COPS @ Vault Festival London! Mar 23rd 1pm - Live special with comedy legend TBC @ Birmingham Podcast Festival! Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Comedy, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, Trevor Noah, TV, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

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A masterful architect of the complete shambles, Phil Ellis plays "a permanently nose-diving version of himself" on stage and in his BBC Radio 4 series "Phil Ellis Is Trying". We discuss disaster, dignity and anger in his back catalogue of shows that go wrong, and get the inside story of Phil's Edinburgh Award-winning "Funz and Gamez"; the kids' show that deliberately and hilariously sails over the heads of the children in the audience. We also learn which disastrous audition left Phil crawling out of the room...

Extra material available to the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders includes Phil's candid analysis of exactly how and why the TV adaptation of "Funz and Gamez" went awry...

@ThePhilEllis

Book now for LIVE ComComPods:
Mar 23rd 1pm - Live special with comedy legend TBC @ Birmingham Podcast Festival!

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Alcohol, Audience Participation, Audiences, Awards, BBC, BBC4, Bo Burnham, Bottom, Comedy, Edinburgh, Ego, Elis James, Fear, Festival, First Open Spot, Fosters Comedy Award, Frank Skinner, Fringe, Funz and Gamez, Interview, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Underbelly, Vic And Bob, Victoria Wood, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage

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Incredibly insightful and darkly funny, Laura Davis is a truly gifted artist who holds aspects of herself up to the light and says "you too?" We discuss the iron resolve that took her from an "extremely shy and extremely loud" girlhood, to performing jokes without victims, inside a duvet cover. If you've ever thought of jokes as "ideas refracted through a prism of other people's experience", you're going to love this one...

*Content Warning*: This episode contains a discussion of suicidal feelings.

Extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include:

• Some tips on wielding status for naturally shy comedians
• A defence of the right of artists to make shitty work
• A reflection on an early piece of Laura's work in which she deliberately entrapped the audience in an abusive relationship...

Join now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders
Follow Laura Davis @LauraDavisComic
www.lauradaviscomedy.com http://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/laura-davis-cake-in-the-rain/
http://comedy-festival.co.uk/event/laura-davis-work-in-progress/
https://www.komedia.co.uk/brighton/comedy/laura-davis-ghost-machine/

Book now for LIVE ComComPods:
Mar 23rd 1pm - Live special with comedy legend TBC @ Birmingham Podcast Festival!

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Joan Rivers, Josie Long, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, TV, Twitter, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Zoe Lyons

Comments: No Comments

Creator of The Dark Room, one of the most exciting, imaginative, maddening and hilariously cruel live experiences Stu has ever been a part of, John Robertson is also a stand-up, tending towards lunatic clown. We talk about weaponising outsider status to survive school, and the dynamic between outlandish persona and the "over-indulged child" within. But how to you nurture joy when you get paid to scream abuse at people?

Enjoy all extras from shows past and present with access to the private Insiders Club podcast, alongside a host of other strands and projects, including the chance to interview Stu yourself, and take part in a group critical analysis of newer acts from all over the world: www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

The Dark Room game is now at www.thedarkroomgame.com - available on Steam for PC and Mac.

John's website is www.thejohnrobertson.com

And you can find him on Twitter @Robbotron

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Barry Humphries, Brendon Burns, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, John Cleese, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, The Dark Room, Twitter, Viral, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

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Unfailingly bright and bubbly, Laura Lexx has recently shifted into higher gear, with a breakthrough fringe show about an ongoing mental health struggle. We learn how her director Jessica Fostekew pushed her to be more vulnerable than her club comic instincts would ordinarily allow, discuss bailing at competition finals, and consider melting down the fat to get to the muscle...

Extras available for donors on the private podcast at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders include Laura on changes in her mindset that helped her improve; the differences between what audiences and industry are looking for in a festival show; reflections on other useful painful experiences, and a warning for people considering a certain student comedy competition...

The show Laura was doing at the Edinburgh festival was "Trying" and you can see it at The Soho Theatre in London from 20-23 February 2019 - https://sohotheatre.com/shows/laura-lexx-trying/

Details of all Laura's gigs and to keep up with everything she does via a newsletter are at www.lauralexx.co.uk, and she's on twitter @LauraLexx  and Facebook.com/lauralexxcomedian

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” is on sale now!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm
01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly
13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre
20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse
29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth
05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts
12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre
17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station
19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix
27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican
9-11/05/2019 Soho Theatre, London

@comcompod | www.comedianscomedian.com

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Carl Donnelly, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Live At The Apollo, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage

Comments: No Comments

Peep inside the mind of the "infinity lad" Sean Morley, a mysterious Northerner naked but for his own fragility. We talk about intelligent surrealism, the risk of commodifying weirdness, why he improvised his competition sets, and how to succeed by one's own metrics...

seanmorley.co.uk
@seanmorl

Discover occult secrets about Sean's "Glang Show" as well as every past and future bit of extra material by joining the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders

Support the show with your own regular donation to access the private Insiders podcast, and become a hero in the eyes of your grandchildren.

Stu’s 2019 tour of “End Of” has just gone on sale!

“A comedy masterclass… Endlessly inventive” (The List)

Tickets for the first half of the tour at these links:

22/02/2019 Maidenhead – Norden Farm

01/03/2019 Falmouth – The Poly

13/03/2019 Salisbury Art Centre

20/03/2019 Cheltenham Playhouse

29/03/2019 Crawley -The Hawth

05/04/2019 Reading – South Street Arts

12/04/2019 Leamington Spa - Royal Spa Centre

17/04/2019 Oxford Old Fire Station

19/04/2019 Bromsgrove – The Artix

27/04/2019 Plymouth Barbican

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

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Audiences, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, Vic And Bob, Whimsy, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

Comments: No Comments