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

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

Laurie Kilmartin can make anything funny; from her superb album “45 Jokes About My Dead Dad”, a bulletproof club-fresh comedy special which doesn’t tarry with emotion, to live-tweeting the recent tragic loss of her mother to Covid-19. We learn how she found humour by turns lacerating and deeply moving, even in that awful situation.

We also talk about her work as a monologue writer for Conan O’Brien, and the rhythm of pitching jokes personally and then collaborating in the last hour before showtime; how to wield disdain effectively; and why she doesn’t believe comics like to make people happy.

Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for a veritable smorgasbord of content spanning the ComCom back-catalogue, and numerous other perks.

Catch up with Laurie:

www.kilmartin.com
Laurie’s Book: www.kilmartin.com/dead-people-suck.html
YOU MUST FOLLOW LAURIE ON TWITTER: www.twitter.com/AnyLaurie16

Everything Stu's up to:

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

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: Audiences, Bernie Mac, comcompod, Conan, COVID-19, Daniel Sloss, Doug Stanhope, Edinburgh, Interview, Stage Persona, Stereotypes, Structure, Success, TV, Twitter, USA

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

Heavy-hitter Erin Foley is a sensational comic with a way of making even the gentlest observations into flint-hard punchlines.  We discuss her “terrifying but wonderful” start in standup, and how she was 8 years into her career before she began discussing her sexuality onstage.  We talk about questioning and defining success, the epic ness of performing honestly, her refusal to be a joke-pony, and the best place for the Big Gay Reveal…

Join the Insiders Club now at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for a bountiful array of content spanning the ComCom back-catalogue, and numerous other perks.

Catch up with Erin:

www.erinkfoley.com

@erinfoleycomic

Erin’s album Deep Dive on Spotify

>Everything Stu's up to:

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

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

Wednesdays 8pm BST - "ThinkTank"

A new even-more-experimental exercise in creativity, community, and throwing together a virtual bank heist under pressure.

New ideas and new jeopardy every week!

www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Acting, Almost Famous, Audiences, comcompod, Comedy Central, Compere/MC/Hosting, Conan, Corona, COVID-19, Craig Ferguson, Erin Foley, Interview, Observational Comedy, Onstage Persona, Sexuality, Stage Persona, Success, The Late Show, The Office, TV, USA, Writing Jokes

One of the first guests on ComCom about 8 years ago, Paul Sinha has had a rollercoaster of a life in the interim.  From fringe comedian to celebrity quizzer as “The Sinnerman” on The Chase (ITV), to a memorable appearance on Taskmaster (Dave) which came just as he was diagnosing himself with Parkinson’s disease, we catch up on how his comedy has metamorphosed from political agitation to personal story-telling.

We cover how the mainstream-ification of his audiences changed his comedy; how he lost a friend to Covid-19 but managed to survive a devastating dose himself; what expectations he has of his life from now on; and why he’s a better comedian now than he’s ever been…

30 minutes of extra content, available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club, includes Paul on how he refuses to think about mortality, his new style of joke-writing on Twitter, and the inside story on his performance on Taskmaster…

Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much much more.

Connect with Paul here:

@PaulSinha

www.paulsinha.com

Everything Stu's up to:

"Child Labour" parenting podcast with Stuart Goldsmith & 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

Wednesdays 8pm BST - "ThinkTank"

A new even-more-experimental exercise in creativity, community, and throwing together a virtual bank heist under pressure.

New ideas and new jeopardy every week!

www.twitch.tv/stugoldsmith

LISTEN HERE

Filed Under: Art, Audiences, Awards, Chris Barrie, comcompod, Coping, Corporate Gigs, COVID-19, Criticism, Daily Mail, Dave (TV channel), Edinburgh, Fame, Fringe, Interview, Jobs, Kate Copstick, Lee Mack, London, Mental Health, Nish Kumar, Onstage Persona, Paul Sinha, Persona, political, Political Comedy, Radio 4, Reviews, Romesh Ranganathan, Sexuality, Shappi Khorsandi, Stage Persona, Stephen K Amos, Stereotypes, Storytelling, Structure, Success, The Chase, Tim Vine, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Vikki Stone, Would I Lie To You?, Writing Jokes

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

*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