The Comedian's Comedian Podcast

How did a grumpy table magician find a way to turn “being pathetic” into 400 shows a year in his own theatre at Las Vegas?  Only Piff The Magic Dragon knows! We’ll discover how a shop-bought dragon costume flicked the switch from sackable corporate table guy, to deadpan bulletproof performer and self-styled “loser of America’s Got Talent”. Along the way we’ll find out why the p...

If you thought wrestlers shared some of the tropes of comedians’ lives, wait til you hear about historians! Comedy-adjacent public historian, writer of “Dead Famous” and other superb books, and creator and host of “You’re Dead To Me” (BBC Sounds) Greg Jenner had factual oversight on every word of Horrible Histories ever recorded, and wrote some of the jokes too. He’s also a student of ComCom and p...

“Not a cute ragdoll, but a disgusting sex robot”, Rosie Jones is a triple-threat in ways of which you couldn’t dream if you hadn’t seen her act. Leveraging hugely punchy comedy from people’s constant underestimation at her sheer agency, we discover the precision comic timing borne of her cerebral palsy; her new political dynamism; and why she won’t drown, even though she can’t swim. 40 mins of ext...

Laser-guided comic, writer and corporate host, the "modnifique" Ian Moore is every inch the Comedy Store headliner, but in the early part of his career his battle with stage fright left him a more deadpan act than he intended. We talk about the phenomenon of white blokes in suits raging against the world; the reality of his apparent dream life commuting from rural France to the UK for gigs; and th...

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 ans...

Scintillating comic, podcaster, and co-host of “Gigless”, one of the online success stories of the last year, Catherine Bohart knows herself inside out and has a powerful mental toolkit for comedy. We dig into her past life as a former university debate superstar, and find out how it helped her stand-up as well her understanding of herself as a queer person; we also discover how her comedy helps d...

Gloriously disgusting double-act The Delightful Sausage is comprised of jointly and severally brilliant Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill, for whom every line is a rug-pull, every image a rat being sick.  We talk about world-building, and the bible that holds the secret geography and population of “Icklewick”; how they aim for mainstream success in other fields to allow the Sausage to keep...

“Come for the musical theatre, stay for the trauma!”  That was the manifesto of the “Asda Kate Bush” Sooz Kempner, on her debut hour, an extraordinary verbatim performance of the real email her father sent to her mother, that led to divorce. We talk about upbringing as the only girl that didn’t do ballet, and how that inspired her self-belief; learn to how wind up Flag Twitter and bat aw...

On the eve of his first solo Netflix special, one of South Africa’s finest comedy exports returns to the show to discuss the challenges of filming a show in Covid times, and the influence of his movie-grown director in planning the shoot. We talk with double Emmy-nominated Loyiso about compromising decisions on and off TV; his aim to improve rather than earn; the value and price of stubbornness; a...

Comedian and go-getter Ramon Rivas lives in abundance as an artist, despite his lack of financial privilege. Interviewed in his hometown of Lorain, Ohio, we talk about his realisation that audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 were perceiving him as white, and explore  what that culture shock meant for how he views himself. We discuss how hustle can get you noticed as...

Russian-born and raised in Surrey at an American school, Olga Koch is a fiercely funny act with unique perspectives that aren’t simply confined to her unusual backstory. We talk about her background in computer science and find some parallels between jokes and code; talk about the difference in-between her comic voice onstage and on Twitter; and learn how she deals with conditional anxiety, e...

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 pain...

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...

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-product...

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 bul...

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 t...

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...

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 avai...

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 we...

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 t...

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...

Our first wrestler! A man with a firm foot in both the ring and the comedy circuit; Colt Cabana has been a pro for over 20 years, in WWE and now AEW, as well as a committed comedy collaborator with people like Brendon Burns and John Hastings.  We talk about the myriad parallels between our worlds; about mentorship and growth; whether “kayfabe” is still a thing; learning how to play...

The inter-dimensional ABK is a brilliantly original comic with a penchant for wordy intelligent material that leaves no-one behind. He’s also the creator of the most absurdly wonderful animated trailer for an Edinburgh show you’ve ever seen. We talk about why he never likes to be part of a group; attention to detail and the merits of commitment; and gives his thoughts on how we get to the A-timeli...

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...

The most successful open spot in the industry, Mat Ewins frequently leaves Stu crying with laughter, despite claiming to only have one joke… 30 mins of extra content available only to Insiders has Mat skimming the story of his childhood and his unusual relationship with his siblings; considering his appearances on Harry Hill’s Club Nite and reflecting on social media, apps that catch up with his o...