My Seven Wonders with Clive Anderson

Today’s guest brings a surprising and somewhat controversial set of wonders that speak to how remarkable human invention truly is. It’s comedian, writer and former Bollywood choreographer Eshaan Akbar! Eshaan makes the case for religion, roads and erm… stairs, which actually turned out better than Clive initially feared! Elsewhere, Eshaan urges us to always note down our relatives’ cooking recipes...

Have you ever been brought to tears by how delicious something tastes? Well today’s guest Simon Evans has, and you’ll never guess what from! The radio and TV performer, comedian and self-proclaimed curmudgeon joins Clive as he whittles his list of 21 wonders down to seven. Thankfully for Alan Coren, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Leonardo da Vinci, they all made the cut. Plus, Simon opens up about...

Today we welcome to the stage comedian Jamie D’Souza, who tells Clive all about the wonders Staines has to offer, from its’ primary school turned curry house to the local pub which has witnessed a rather heroic rescue mission. Elsewhere the pair discuss whether a proposal should come as a complete surprise, and Jamie reveals some of the pranks he gets up to in his lunch break! This episode was rec...

Have you ever wondered what the toilets of Kensington Palace are like? Well today’s guest Chris Stark has the inside scoop, and he believes they’re more wondrous than the Malia Strip! The radio presenter, DJ and podcaster also tells Clive about the time his German pen pal kicked a pigeon in Trafalgar Square, and reveals how his dead goldfish went out with a bang! This episode was recorded live at...

Would you ever consider bonobo apes to be a wonder of the world? Well, comedian and writer Cally Beaton certainly does, and on today’s show she tells Clive all about them! And no, she didn't choose them solely because of their slightly fruity behaviour... Cally also makes a strong case for bicycles, ice cream vans and Jeff, her wire-haired dachshund. However Clive couldn’t help but pick comedic le...

Today, Matt Goldich joins Clive for what is Matt’s first ever on-stage show in the UK. The comedian tells Clive all about his career writing for some of America’s biggest talk shows and how his first day working with David Letterman didn’t quite go as he expected. Plus, he falls out with Clive about whether nectarines are better than peaches. Maybe it’s a generational thing… This episode was recor...

Today’s episode is one of many firsts. Clive is joined on stage by the comedian and radio presenter Glenn Moore who explains why the first dvd he watched and the first roller coaster he wanted to go on are wonders of the world. We also discover that Glenn is the first person to have almost auditioned to play Harry Potter to appear on the show. Spoiler alert: He didn’t get the part… This episode wa...

Today's guest has a degree in computer science. However, in their words "technology is the worst thing in the world". It's the comedian Olga Koch. With technology ruled out, Olga's wonders are instead a love letter to the Edinburgh Fringe. She joins Clive on stage to discuss her seven favourite things from Edinburgh, including... A toilet. This episode was recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe, Au...

Would you ever undergo an experiment which temporarily prevents your ability to talk? Well, comedian, actor and The Infinite Monkey Cage presenter Robin Ince has, and he tells Clive all about it on today's show. Robin also makes a very passionate defence of the importance of libraries. However, despite a wide range of intellectual selections, Clive can't resist choosing a kids' TV show as Robin's...

Today’s guest is famous for two things: comedy and managing a fictional football team on a video game on the internet. It’s Bilal Zafar, of course! Bilal joins Clive on stage to tell him all about that and choose his seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, he seems to have picked all the worst things in the world as wonders. We’ll let you decide if cats are included in that categ...

Have you ever thought about the personalities of the days of the week? Well, today's guest has more than most it's fair to say. Today, Clive's joined on stage by the brilliant writer and comedian Lynn Ferguson. Surprisingly, Lynn is the first person to choose love as a wonder of the world. Less surprisingly, she is also the first person to pick a day of the week, and it's not the one you might thi...

Everyone loves a service station. But, according to today’s guest, there is one British service station that surpasses all the others, that proves what’s possible on the side of a Motorway. The comedian and radio presenter John Robins tells Clive all about that on today’s show. Plus, we hear about the extremely unique way John takes his tea and Clive tells a very personal story about finding his f...

Today’s guest claims to be “Big in Scotland”. Despite this, they can’t help but relate basically all their wonders back to their home in Yorkshire. It’s the actor and comedian Kieran Hodgson. Kieran joins Clive on stage to tell him all about his passion for cycling and cathedrals. He also, rather surprisingly, chooses a British railway line as a wonder of the world and starts teaching Clive all ab...

Have you ever thought one of your colleagues is a wonder of the world? Well today's guest does, it's the wonderful comedian, singer, writer and cabaret host, Reuben Kaye. Reuben tells the Edinburgh audience all about his natural-born desire to perform and his lifelong passion for sugar. It's yet to be determined if these two things are related. Clive also tries to comprehend how Reuben doesn'...

Today Clive is joined on stage by the most wonderful, polite and friendly guest, ignoring the football hooliganism and hatred for cyclists of course, it’s the brilliantly funny and critically acclaimed comedian Chloe Petts. Chloe’s come armed with a range of wonders, some thoughtful, and some less so. We’ll let you decide which category “having a beer before dinner” falls into. Either way, she doe...

Not many guests are most famous for throwing money at a FIFA president and handing a P45 to a British Prime Minister. Today, Clive’s joined on stage by the comedian Simon Brodkin who arrived armed with a thought-provoking set of wonders. Famous for playing the character Lee Nelson, Simon explains how it was easier to start in comedy when playing a character but he is now finding performing by hims...

Today’s guest has a self-proclaimed “wonky mind” which is a wonder of their world. It’s easy to see how it’s a wonder given their 20-plus-year career in comedy, television and radio. They even had a short stint as a professional footballer. It’s Terry Alderton. Terry joins Clive on stage to tell him all about how he’s made such a successful career for himself despite the fact he left school withou...

Today's guest is the first person to ever choose a wonder that they’re not actually allowed to have. On the latest live edition of the podcast, Clive is joined on stage by the satirist, writer, actor and comedian Rosie Holt who tells Clive all about her passion for horror movies. Particularly Evil Dead II, of course. We also hear about the quite out of character job Rosie had before getting into p...

Imagine 50 Shades of Gray but with horses. That’s how today’s guest describes their favourite novel… Actor, singer and comedian Sooz Kempner tells Clive all about her love for the author Jilly Cooper and Sonic the Hedgehog – two things that aren’t usually paired together! She also has to explain why a football match where England drew 0-0 is a wonder of the world. This episode was recorded live at...

My Seven Wonders Live is back with a new round of shows from London’s Leicester Square Theatre. From Dead Ringers to Spitting Image, in the world of impressions, today’s guest has certainly done it all. Jon Culshaw is so skilled that he managed to entertain the audience by doing impressions of his school teachers who they have never even met. When not doing impersonations Jon revealed that he has...

Clive Anderson’s here with a quick update regarding our next round of My Seven Wonders Live shows. One small change to update you on is that all future My Seven Wonders episodes will now be released on Thursday mornings, so you can expect the next episode to be in your podcast app, next Thursday March 30th. We would love it if you could join us for the recording of our live shows. You can find tic...

Barrie Rutter admits that his greatest fear is to not be heard, but if his distinguished acting career is anything to go by, then he has no reason to worry. Today, the prolific actor and founder of the Northern Broadsides theatre company joins Clive to discuss his love of language and writing. In this beautifully honest interview, Barrie also opens up to Clive about his private life, including his...

At the latest Edinburgh Fringe, Clive brought My Seven Wonders to the stage in front of a live audience! On this compilation episode, we look back at seven of the best wonders from the Edinburgh shows. Impressions are the order of the day. From Debra Stephenson singing Lulu to Matt Forde’s hilarious demonstration that every politician sounds like Tony Blair, the...

At the latest Edinburgh Fringe, Clive brought My Seven Wonders onto the stage and to a live audience. On this compilation episode, we look back at some of the best wonders from the Edinburgh shows.  This includes Tiff Stephenson doing an impression of Stevie Nicks turning into Eric Cartman, Larry Dean's shocking reason for choosing tuna and rice as a wonder and John Bishop telling a joke in s...

Today, we welcome on stage not one but TWO guests! Famous political interviewer Chester Missing and South African comedian Conrad Koch join Clive for a thought-provoking hour where they discuss colonialism, white privilege and the continued existence of racism in post-apartheid South Africa. Oh, and did we mention that Chester Missing is a puppet? We're not joking, jump in to find out more. This e...