Bethany Black makes a powerfully funny connection with her fanbase, and has been wielding it to great effect over the course of her heavily-shielded pandemic experience.

We explore the effect on her work of her concurrent diagnoses with autism, ADHD and agoraphobia, and discuss how her fanbase consists of people just like her, rather than the cool kids she was trying to impress.

We also cover painting her herself into a corner with stand-up; how some promoters book to their own taste without realising; not being famous enough for The Chase; and what she’s already anticipating tolerating in her sixties…

No extras for this episode but you can still hit www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for all the extras from every episode that has them, including the exclusive Insiders Q&A with James Acaster!

Follow Bethany Black:

Follow @beffernieblack
Follow her and subscribe to: http://twitch.tv/beffernieblack
Buy her stand-up special: http://gofasterstripe.com/unwinnable
Tip her through http://ko-fi.com/bethanyblack

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: Acting, Actor, Age, Alcohol, Audiences, Awards, Bill Hicks, Brendon Burns, Caroline Aherne, comcompod, Comedy, Coping, Corona, COVID-19, Dr Who, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Gary Delaney, Gender, Inspiration, Interview, Janey Godley, Jobs, Johnny Vegas, Jongleurs, Mark Watson, Mental Health, Peter Kay, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, TV, Twitch, Twitter, Worth, Writing

Comments: No Comments

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

Comments: No Comments

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

Comments: No Comments

Winner and still holder of the 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Award, Jordan Brookes’ marriage of stand-up and clowning is an absolutely extraordinary experience. He deftly walks a tightrope between frankness and insincerity, observing the observers, and mining material from the problem of self-reflection. And if you think that sounds pretentious you’re going to love the rest…
We talk about calling bullshit on emotional manipulation, his slow climb back to normality after a youth inflected with OCD and depression, as well as the seductive narrative of victimhood…. Also seducing your mum.

35 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Jordan on the arduous process of making his hit show “Bleed”, which did something incredibly new at imaginative, at some cost; the cultural race to expose more and more weakness and suffering over which comedy seems to obsess, and his mixed feelings about the award win.

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

Follow Jordan Brookes:
On his excellent website, on which you can watch tonnes of clips, plus digitally download "Bleed" and "I've Got Nothing": www.jordanbrookescomedy.com

On Twitter: @jordbrookes

Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Infinite Sofa” chat show is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and twellness events.

“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!” Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)

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, Alternative Comedy, Art, Audiences, Awards, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Success, Twitter, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, YouTube

Comments: No Comments

Zach, Mark and Broden return to the podcast on one of the last stops of the campaign trail for their new Netflix special “Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House Of Fun”. It’s an extraordinary achievement, as they bring exactly what’s brilliant about their live work to the TV, and it will have you breathless with laughter.

Purveyors of, in the words of one ComCom fan, “Dubstep Python”, they reveal all about the first edit of the show where no one laughed, choosing authenticity over perfection, why none of the context matters, and how they managed to make a TV show without compromising on anything.

25 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes the boys on the polarising ability of their work, which sketch grabs new fans most successfully, their three-take system for improvising on camera, and how much pud is a little bit of pud…

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

Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Infinite Sofa” chat show is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, motivational and team-building events.
“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!” Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)
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

Filed Under: Alternative Comedy, Audiences, Aunty Donna, Australia, Character, comcompod, Comedy, Edinburgh, Interview, Netflix, Onstage Persona, Reviews, Risk, Sketch, SNL, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Stephen Fry, Streaming, Structure, Success, Surreal, TV Comedy, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, Writing On Stage, YouTube

Comments: No Comments

There's going viral, and then there's Uncle Roger. His MSG-loving, rice-reviewing, phone-case wearing archetypical Asian uncle character has seen Nigel Ng jump from 20,000 to 2.8M YouTube subscribers during the pandemic. Now he returns after only a few months to talk about what winning the YouTube lottery has taught him. We talk about how he'd prepared the field for explosive growth, and how much of it was luck; how it feels to become a professional YouTuber; how he manages collaboration; what new challenges laid in wait for him; and whether his success would be repeatable in an alternate universe...

Look back a few months in the archive to hear Nigel’s first appearance on the podcast, and join the Insiders’ Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders to hear 20 mins of extra content from that podcast, as well as all the extras from every episode, and the exclusive 60min Zoom Q&A with James Acaster!

Find Uncle Roger and Nigel’s own stand-up @mrnigelng on every platform, and on www.youtube.com/mrnigelng

His podcast “Rice To Meet You” is available at www.ricetomeetyoupod.com

Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Infinite Sofa” chat show is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties!

“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!” Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)
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: Audiences, Character, comcompod, Comedy, Corona, Fame, Interview, Mainstream, Netflix, Nigel Ng, Onstage Persona, Persona, Podcasting, Risk, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Stereotypes, Streaming, Structure, Success, Twitter, Uncle Roger, Viral, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes, YouTube

Comments: No Comments

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

Comments: No Comments

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! In this second part, we talk about how James experiences his fame, why approval doesn’t satisfy him, and why he doesn’t usually admit to desiring a comic legacy.  We also get stuck into some excellent audience questions…

“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

Do not attempt to 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: Acaster, Age, Art, Audiences, Awards, Classic Scrapes, Comedy, Edinburgh, Festival, Fringe, Interview, Radio X, Reviews, Richard Pryor, Risk, Russell Howard, Stage Persona, Stand Up, Structure, Stuart Goldsmith, Success, Taskmaster, TV, TV Comedy, Twitter, Whimsy, Worth, Writing, Writing Jokes

Comments: No Comments