Memory Lane with Kerry Godliman and Jen Brister - S03 E20: Rachel Parris

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

"How Princess Di is that haircut? She'd love you saying that!" This week we have the incredibly talented and Rachel Parris on the show. We chat about her mum, austentatious, university... Marcus (obviously...) and her son Billy. Photo 01 - Me and mum Photo 02 - School days (dress up) Photo 03 - Austentatious Photo 04 - Marcus and me Photo 05 - Billy and me. Rachel's podcast (How Was It For You?) is here - https://open.spotify.com/show/1dDLtEESkLO0v2XPkKikrz?si=2ac185a9f723404c PICS & MORE - https://www.instagram.com/memory_lane_podcast/ A Dot Dot Dot Production produced by Joel Porter Hosted by Jen Brister & Kerry Godliman Distributed by Keep It Light Media Sales and advertising enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 12th of September. Have you started? On the 12th of September, no, I'm just working my way up. You experimented with voiceover? Yeah. Kerry. Yeah. On the 12th of September, 24, what will we be doing?

We're doing a live podcast, our first live podcast. For the London podcast festival at King's Place, and we couldn't be more excited. I only started a podcast to do live once. Okay. Well, that's the end of this advert. Well, that was short. It's an advert, right? Hello and welcome to Memory Lane.

I'm Jen Bristair. And I'm Kerry Godleman. Each week we'll be taking a trip down Memory Lane with our very special guest as they bring in four photos from their lives to talk about. To check out the photos we'd be having a natter with them about, they're on the episode image and you can also see them a little bit more clearly

on our Instagram page. So have a little look at Memory Lane podcast. Come on, we can all be nosy together. Okay, you've booked your holiday. Yeah. I live for when you've booked your holiday. Right, where are you going? Right.

So, I booked a holiday and I want to book holiday in Greece. Right. Because I thought, I've been to Greece for years. Right. You know how much I love Greece. I know you love Greece. I know how much you love Greece. I love Greece.

We both love Greece. So that's something we have in common. That's the Venn diagram of Jen and Kerry. Come together. You will find Greece in the middle of that Venn diagram. Okay? Separating the Venn diagram for the story. So I'm looking at Rhodes, actually.

Looking at roads. Because that keeps coming up. And I'm like, oh, roads, roads, roads. I'm looking at roads. And then I see a villa. And I think this looks great. And I'm really excited about it. And where are we looking?

We're looking at a website that has houses and flats and villas and stuff. Okay. All over Europe. Right. But I'm looking in Greece. Because I told you how much I like this. You love Greece. I love Greece.

So there I am looking at Greece. I said to Chloe, come and have a look at this. What do you think of this place? And she said, that is one of the nicest places we have found. and it's well within our budget. And it was available in school holidays. Available in school holidays. What's the catch?

Exactly. So I said, what is... No roof. They had a roof. There was walls. It has a little... It's got to be a catch. Nothing good is available.

It's got a little garden? Nothing good is available in the school holiday. So wait, wait, wait. So then I'm like, I said I can't believe it. This is in our budget. I said, this must have just come up because this wasn't here before. She said, well, well, book.

kit she goes ask the bloke and she said look you might you might have to tell him because we always have to do this thing when we go yeah I'm telling up and then they're all like oh we don't like queers you can't come in oh shit so that is not something good yeah that's not something you want to have to do I'm I'm used to it I don't care so I write to him and go hi I do it in a really breezy way two lesbos coming to say really love that's a lovely breezy way Really breezy. Really breezy. Let's bring up the lesbian thing.

Throw it away. I threw it away. threw it away. We're a same-sex couple. Las Bans are from Las Vars. We're not from Les Vos. But I'm trying to bond with this Greek chap. And I said, I'm really excited about Greece.

By the way, we love Greece. Greece is one of our favorite countries. We've been to Greece many times. But we've never been to Rhodes. And we're so excited to come to Roads. Don't tell me who is a homophore. Wow. He wrote back.

I don't want a same-sex couple in my house. Do not bring the devil. worse. He wrote back and said, yes, the apartment is available, but just to let you know, it's in Turkey. I don't know why you keep talking about Greece. Oh. My villa.

He's quite indifferent. My villa's like, couldn't give a shit about the lesbian thing. Just wanted me to know that his villa is actually not in Rhodes. It's actually in Greece. What's gone on there then? Well, what's happened was? Roads is very close to Turkey. It is very close. It's very close. You can see it from the shoreline.

What happened was when I was talking at the map of roads, a little sneaky bit of turkey on the map came up. Oh, I've done this. And then on that list, it included a bit of turkey. And now you're going to Turkey? Now we're going to Turkey. Because it was significant. One, it was really nice and significantly cheaper.

And then the flights were 800 quid less. I said, Chloe, I can't believe this. It's serendipity. Yeah. And it's available, which is still a fucking miracle. I wasn't even going to message him about the whole we're lesbians thing. I was just going to go, hi, we'd like to book it. And then I was going to put flights to roads.

Wow, thank God. Just as well. Always mention your bender otherwise. What have we learned? What did we learn today? I learned something really important. And that is a latin that jukk on article. Well, that's going to be lovely.

We go to Turkey, yeah. For how long? 10 days. And when are you going? I mean, this is a lot of information. We're going in August. I get really attached to your holidays. We're getting August.

We're going in August. We fly out mid-August, come back, end of August. You always go late. I go early and you go late. Is it because you're trying to avoid me in August? We're not, you're going to Japan. Did you think our paths were going to cross? Oh, you're, you've chosen to go to Turkey.

In the holidays. I go early, you go late. Well, usually the first couple of weeks of kids are in a group or in a club. Club, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we're like, we've run out of ideas. That's gone holiday. We're only going on a holiday because we've run out of ideas to do with the children. Yeah.

You love a holiday. I do love a holiday. I love a holiday. Who doesn't like a holiday? I know people that don't like hot. They don't like hot. Yeah, but they like holidays. No, I think I do know people that don't like holidays.

My dad always finds them, he's all right once he's there, but the thought of planning one, packing, getting on a plane. But is your dad, was he doing the planning? No. No, exactly. But he just can't get involved until he's not. he's literally there and then he's like oh this is nice and you're like yes it's nice when we learn it's nice holidays are nice why do you resist them i don't mind the organizing holiday i certainly don't mind the going the holiday it's just all the airport yeah airports are tricky

i mean my god i can't believe i'm on here going guys is i find the airport really hard no major prick alert what i mean is is that um i appreciate you've got young kids young kids isn't Well, they're not even that young now. It's just I find that even when I'm on my own, I find the logistics of airports stress me out. They're putting all the things in a bag and then putting going to the thing and then da-da-da-da-da-da. And the massive toblorones.

What are the toblorones? There's always massive toblorones. Where? Duty-free. Oh, and the duty-free. Well, they haven't affected any of my trips last far. Massive chubber chubs. Yeah, but you...

What is it with huge confectionery at airports? You think you're going to get a massive chubber. shup-ch-chop, but what it is, it's a massive chupp-a-ch-ch-ch-a-ch-ch-ch-. Oh, is it chupp-a-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-n. I call them chupp-a-chubs. Chub-a-chubs. Chub-a-ch-ch-a-chub. Why would you call it a chab-a-chub?

I've always called it a chubber-ch. It's C-H-U-P-A. And also, oh, I don't like chupp-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-p. No, it's chab-chub-chub. It's not chubber-chub-chub. Chub-chub-chub is better. Chupah means to suck. Oh.

Suck, suck. Suck, suck. I prefer Chubba Chubba. Chubba. Chubba is actually really sound better now. It's not as laced within your windows. Which of the children would like a suck, suck? We've got strawberry sack sacks.

Why do I call it? There's so many things in an ever-increasing list that I get wrong. That you mispronounce. That you malaprop. Yes. I don't know. You've just decided it's chubb-chub and it stuck. Well, as we just discovered,

my brain now I'm seeing it my menopause brain is like tetris so I get things new information comes in and it just pushes out some old shit and I can't hold information information well actually now that you know chubber chubs is chuppa chupps something's gone

something's gone well find out later won't me you'd be like sorry I had to make room for chuppa chupps when I look down and my shoes are on the wrong feet I'll be like oh well that's because of chuppa chuppa chubber chaps yeah chuppes yeah I'm just glad I haven't got to do any heavy lifting and I haven't got to like do anything like important ever again.

Like properly, like no one depends on me, Jen. Your children. Yeah, I know, but they're becoming sort of grown-ups now. They're still depending. Yeah. But, you know, it is a bit worrying when you can't hold data. I haven't been able to hold data

for a very long time. Really? Yes. So I'm, I've embraced it. And it's working for you. It's working for me. In fact, I've managed to monetise it. I've monetized it.

Yeah. It's a comedian. Yeah. And actually the great thing about comedians is even when you're having a very serious conversation and you forget a word or you forget a thing. You're just like, yeah, just do a little bit of a. Just go walka, walka, walka, right at the end. And nobody questions it. You're mowing apart.

Nobody. They think you're just in character. They're just in character. Okay, so today we're talking to the brilliant Rachel Paris. Oh, this was such a lovely conversation with Rachel. She's a easygoing, relaxed lady. She's an easygoing, fun time, cool, happening bird. Cool.

She heard me saying that. She would be rolling her eyes into the back of her head going, none of those things are true, Jen. They're very much true, Rachel. And this is us talking to the beautiful, wonderful, funny, hilarious, extra special Rachel Paris. You need a sort of papoose for your water bottle. A papoose?

Great word for a pose. I haven't heard that word for a long time. Pappoose. Now, what is? is a papoose is that like it's a baby sling it's a baby sling that's why you're more that's why i'm like i do know papoose and that's why you're very connected to papoose because you see a lot of papoos is are you still papooseing no i will he's massive he's absolutely massive when did you stop papoosing oh with him like six months six months who else who else are you

well because he's big because he's so massive like i think other parents might do it till one oh bright little papoose into them three there used to be a woman that was the like the guru of the Papoose Society that I lived on the same street as and I'd see her papoosing and I'd really wanted to intervene. When their feet hit your knees, stop papuicing. So many times. Yeah. She was like Mother Courage walking up and down the street.

I was like, babe, get that semi-adult off your back. Right. This picture, can I just... You're so cute. You are literally adorable. Your mum's hair. Let's talk about that right now. Before we go anywhere else, I want to go...

How Princess Dye is that haircut? You couldn't get... I think she'd love you saying that. I mean, it's absolutely. And also, look, in the very 80s way where there's not a hair out of place. Oh, yes. Everyone lacquered their hair into with an inch of...

It's a lovely blow dry. Yeah, a bit of trivia. My mom's a hairdresser. Oh, so she got a colleague to do it? No, she did it. Yeah, she did her hair. She did my hair. Because I'm always jealous of hairdresser's hair

because they're like, well, you can do each other. You can trim each other's hair. You can blowdry each other's hair. She's a hairdresser, but like me, she's not very trusting of other people's capabilities. Right. So I think she will definitely have done herself. And she's got the skills to do herself. She's got the skills to do herself.

So how old are you in this picture? I think I must have been sitting on your mum's lap with their princess dye hair. Three? Three. Maybe four? Four? I don't know. No, I know.

You've got to be two. You're two or three. Do you think I'm two or three? You're a toddler. Yeah. Yeah. I'm little. You're little. You're very, because you've been very small, four-year-old.

You are so super cute. And where did you grow up, Rachel? So in Leicester. I did know that. Yeah, yeah. I'm always harping on about it. I was born at home in the house that my parents are still in. Right.

In that house there in the picture. So your mum had a home birth? Yeah. What the fuck? I had a home birth, did you? Yeah. What the fuck? What your mum did?

I know your mum did. Did your mum give birth to you in a home? Yeah, you need to complete that sentence. Did your mum give birth to you? No, she had me in a hospital, but I gave birth to Frank at home. I did a home birth. Oh, did you? I wasn't born in a home.

Was that your first or? That was my second. I tried to have my first at home and it didn't work out and I ended up in hospital, but I did have my second at home. Nice. Did you have your baby at home or in hospital? No. No.

I don't understand, and I'd love to ask you this, And your mum's not here, so we can't ask her, why would you want to have your birth? Because why would you want to have it in hospital when you're not ill? Like, I didn't need to go in. This has all been in the news recently with the Green Party, hasn't it? Because there's been a bit of trouble about this. Oh, get ready. I can talk about this for hours.

Really? The reason my mum had a home birth, I was her third. Okay. And with my older brother, two older brothers, she had him in like a hospital. It would have been the 70s. So that was the era of like very invasive. no breastfeeding breastfeeding strongly discouraged they line up the bottles um just had really bad i think had some really like traumatizing really traumatizing experiences in hospital so little sympathy like really

some some bad doctoring going on uh and she just decided i'm just going to do it my way at home with a midwife like and thankfully it worked out like you don't know how it's going to go like i say my I was born in the 70s. My mum had exactly what you just described, really traumatised experiences. There's over-medicalisation of childbirth. It is built on a kind of tradition of get them in, get them out. It's medicalised quickly.

Epidurals mean that you go into C-sections because people... All this stuff, it's a conversation and it's quite complex. But I did engage with it a lot when I was pregnant because I felt quite strongly, and I used hypnotherapy, and I didn't want it to be over-medicalised. and I wanted to have my baby at home and if it went to shit, which it did with the first one,

I was near a hospital, so I got taken in. I just didn't want anyone interfering with it until it was necessary. It's a really complicated conversation because I was brought up with a mum who was part of La Leche, the sort of natural breastfeed, all of the non-intervention kind of thing and she'd had this successful home birth with me and everything. But then I came to give birth and I had very difficult experience. with that, as you know, and without the incredible help and constant supervision. I mean, my pregnancy with Billy had checks every two weeks and thank God I did. Like I could not have

like psychologically got through it, let alone I don't know what would have happened like as it happened. He was healthy. Yeah. But they weren't expecting it to be and they had every reason to think that given what happened before. So I was so looked after by the, invasive medical community of people. And meant that everything went well and I was able to like be slightly sane during my pregnancy. And that's the bottom line is it's about choice. It's about choice.

It always comes back to choice. Yes. And individual cases and but you know, it's like sometimes women are overmedicalized needlessly and it gets and fear is, people build a lot of fear around childbirth and fear doesn't help with labor and all these things. And then also

obviously medicine has come a long way and many lives are same. My mum always said I'd have been, I'd have come from a bigger family if my birth hadn't been so traumatising for her. I would have more siblings. It was awful. And when they packed the baby up for her to leave the maternity hospital, she looked down and went, that's not my baby. Oh my God.

They'd give her the wrong baby. Oh my God. It's joking. No. That's amazing. I mean, it's just there are crazy stories, you know. And then good old. Green Party try and go, you know what? The NHS is fuck, right? So we spend a lot of money on

things that we could arguably maybe save some money on so that we have more money for and everyone went, no, and that conversation just shut down. Like everything now that we have to sort of go, hang on guys, it's complicated. Yeah, it's complicated. Yeah, it's just very difficult. So you grew up in Leicester with with your mum who I feel like it sounds like she's a strong personality in that she made some real decisions around her own agency in childbirth. What was your mum like? She's great, my mum. I feel like she really, really is a private person.

And throughout my comedy career, like one of her worst fears is me talking about exposing her. Welcome to our podcast. But I mean, I think she's learning to trust me with what I say a little bit more. and I'm always very careful. Mum, you will listen to this, I know. But as I get older, I find myself so much more like her and I admire her so much. I mean, she's someone who, you know, has had a lot of difficult circumstances in her life,

which I won't go into them, mum, don't worry. And who she is a very strong person. And it's been interesting. Since I've been with Marcus, you know, when you get together with someone and they meet your parents and they form an idea of what your parents are like from not knowing them that well kind of thing. I think my mum can seem quite a quiet, polite kind of woman.

And she is quiet and she is polite. But that's not shyness and that's not being a pushover. She is definitely strong-minded and has brought me up to be the same and really with a feeling of like you've really got to go your own way. I mean, I was brought up in Seistan in Leicester and it wasn't the circumstances in terms of location and class and opportunity that you would expect for your kids to go off

and do things all over the world at all. And yet I think that my parents and my mum somehow raised children with this idea of, no, you can, you go and do your own thing. Not the completely kind of Hollywood like, my parents said that I can do anything more out. It wasn't that. It was an East Midlands version of that, which is,

you go and do what you want to do. Where did they get that from? Why do you think they were like that? I think just my mum, oh, both of them really, but my mum has had to be resilient, and I think she wanted us to be resilient, you know, and independent. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

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who are the same the forms of the format standard and mini regrouped that's all the

whole that's really to be able to do you know I'm not I'm I'm sure I'm sorry

I'm remember the summer Fridays the best the same the same show atopoe

summer Friday's Rare Beauty Way Cepora Collection and other part of

Vite Procure you for Supermondeer Peeee Psa or MacGasor or magazine

What a run! This champ is picking up speed but they found Elaine launch into the air absolutely incredible Air Transat

Fly the seven time world's best leisure airline champions Air Transat Got a picture here Rachel where you look I think Were you all I mean I don't

I've chosen that Because I mean what's going on in this picture How old are you in this picture? I'm 17 So this is pre-Oxford This is pre-Oxford This one

Yeah This is one yeah So that is my tight group of friends at school, five of us. And in that picture, there was like a charity day. It was in sixth form. And we'd been wearing school uniform up until that year at school. And for the charity date, we decided to do like a sponsored wear school uniform. Like dress up as a school girl date. But we were. Was it the, what was it? School, down, down, school uniform. Yeah. Yeah.

Sexy school uniform. Exactly. So we just got out of the uniform. Look at that sexy school uniform. But that is the British video. Literally just like. You do look like Brittany in that. To be fair, that would have been possibly

like the year after Brittany. Yeah. Well, I mean, you literally have moderned. The fetishisation of the school. The school girls is not okay. Let's not go there. But you sussed it out early dogs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you were, that's you at secondary. Well, no, six form. Yeah. So at sixth form. And that's when you were doing your A levels, presumably still doing music. And was it the kind of school where people went to Oxford or were you quite an unusual person to? Yeah, a few went. So I got a John Manger 1990s assisted place.

What? To a private school. Thank you, the Conservatives. I rarely say it. The only time. The only time. So, yeah, there was a private school that I went to. And it wasn't like public school, like half the year goes.

But yeah, there were like, um, quite like a little handful of like seven or eight people went to Oxford or Cambridge and and it was it was sorry I've got a lot of feelings about going to Oxford because it's something that was such a surprise to me to all of because going going to university was new you know in my family and my brother had gone to Southampton to do fine art and that was the first and like the idea of going to Oxford was just so mad it was such a mad thought for that to happen I remember after I got my GCSEs and I did very well in my GCSEs and even that was a shock and the teachers said to my mum and dad like I think you should consider Oxford or Cambridge and they were

like well okay and my music teacher once I'd settled on music my music teacher at the school had never ever sent anyone to Oxford or Cambridge to do music before and bless her it was Miss Weaver. She had to study as much as I did because she didn't know how to prepare someone because the idea that you can just go is not true. Like you have to submit essays, get ready for interviews and tests and exams to get in. It was really hard work and she needed to prepare me for that and she had to learn all of the necessary things to prepare. And it was just me, just me applying to do music and I was the first person to go and do music at Oxford in the school. So it was a real first for her as well as for me. It felt like a sort of joint achievement kind of thing.

Yeah, it must have been, I mean, I remember the kids that were trying for Oxford and Cambridge when I was at college and it just seemed like, firstly, like a lot of pressure. Yeah. There's a lot pressure. I think they had to do an extra exam. I think those that wanted to study English had to do something called an S level in English. Oh yeah. Something like that or something. And those that got in of which of that group I think there was only two. Yeah. It sounded quite intense. Like, like, when they went to, like, they didn't, I mean, I just fucked about.

I was like, are you not doing any dosing? They're like, no, we don't dost. We're working. Yeah, that was true. That is true. I was, because I was going to say, when you first started saying that, I was like, ah, it depends. Because I went to St. Hilders, which was an all-girl school, and it was much more state

school, left-wing. Like, it was a very different experience. And, like, even, some of the colleges are. Hogwarts. Like you have every, you have your meals at these, in these whole, these medieval banqueting halls with the, you know, the becaped scholars on the table and at the head of the thing and like it is rarefied and you're hanging around the cloisters and it's all Hogwartsy. And then there's like a third of the colleges that are just quite normal looking modern buildings and St. Hilders was one of those. And that even in terms of the politics of the

college is very different to the practices. Things like some of them have, you know, a choir where you have even song and you have someone conducting it and everything. And we had a choir that if you were a musician, a music student, then you took over the choir and you, it was brilliant experience as a musician. You decided what they would sing and you arranged it yourself and you conducted it yourself in the second year. And so it was a really, it does depend on what college you're at a bit.

But what you said about no dusting was so true. Like I look at, I was, you know, friends at other universities. I was like, oh my God. Because we were doing like, it was like two, I don't know, three, four thousand word essays a week. And then for music we had like a composition. You do compositions like pastisues of like bark or Hayden or something. So a composition and then an analysis of a piece as well. It was a lot, there was no dosing, basically.

You weren't smoking a rea at the back of the, at the back of the lecture. It was a little bit of that. Second year was a bit of a dos, but first and third year was hard. But that was what you wanted. I mean, you must have registered it. I liked it. I was lucky. I met the people who I was put together with in just alphabetical order because, you know, in halls,

ended up being my best friends now. Like, we all just clicked. Yeah. Which is weird, isn't it? No, but it's lucky. I mean, isn't it? It does happen and I think sometimes, you know, I mean I've made some of my closest friends at uni, but it happens that way. It's not a given though.

It isn't a given and sometimes uni can be miserable so it can go either way. Because it's funny because my oldest thought of sort of thinking now looking at uni's and talking about it and you go, oh, it's very chancy what cohort you end up with. It's not a guarantee. It's not going to be one day for everyone, is it? You know, it might not be. You might not meet the love of your life or your best mates. You might not. I mean.

And you won't find it in a perspective. I wouldn't want to meet the love of my life at uni I don't want to meet the love of your life in your 19 No Give a bit of rest So moving on to the next picture I'm assuming these are your uni mates No they're not actually

That is the first or second maybe Year As a Carriad Yeah of ostentatious Oh my God I was just looking at it was like Hang on a second I'm zooming in And now I'm seeing

I've included it because I love how young and little we are You're all babies You look like you're about 20 Yeah How old are you? this picture. We must have been like 26 maybe. There's a bit of an age range but like

I'd have been about 26 maybe up to like maybe 2930. Do you want me to fill in the gap? Yes. I'd love you to filling the gap because I want to know how you after you left Oxford uni how you got into improv and comedy. So I left uni I got a job in a music shop

in Oxford and I also did bar work in the evenings. I did a year at drama school at Central, which I commuted. It was like 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. I stayed in Oxford and I commuted on a 6am coach every day because rent was cheap in Oxford and then worked at the weekends in the music shop. That was a busy year. How old were you at this point? 22. I mean this is you can do that at 22. Yeah. I remember my God, I could not do it now. I remember. I remember. being 22 and having like two two jobs and then also trying out trying to do stand up in the evenings and you know like I just remember yeah same I look back at myself and I'm like how did you have

the energy to do that but I was fine I was like I just did like and I was getting to as well I was like fired up because it was drama school with hindsight I wouldn't have done that degree really I don't think apart from the people I met I don't think it what was it a post grad It was a post-grad in acting for screen, officially, acting screams, I think. I could have just got, I could have just got on and done some acting. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how much I, you know. A lot of people say that, don't they?

Midway through a drama training, you're like, I think I should just get on with it. I think I should have, I think of that step, because of what, you know, I'd done the university experience, I was working in the world, I was meeting fun people. And what I did the year after that was while living in Oxford was I met, the Oxford Imps, and I auditioned for them and got in, and that's what changed everything. Not so much MA in acting, but improv changed everything.

And I was like, oh, okay, being funny is something that I didn't think of much before. Improv I'd never heard of before I started doing it, and I loved it straight away. Even from the audition, I was like, oh, this is better than anything I've ever done before. So I was on the fringes of it, and then I was like, I just dove in, basically. sort of found myself a comedy gig and it went well. It sort of went well straight away. Yeah.

Like gig one. I can totally get why you, why you were successful really quickly because you're, I think as well about musical comedy and there is a bit of it on the circuit, but because you're such a good musician, like there's, you know, there's banging out a song and making words rhyme with a ukulele and there's a kind of dexterity of musicality that you do bring that is another level. I mean, obviously it's another level. It's like you said, there were moments where you could have become a classical penis. So it's not just chords. It's, it's, it's, it's another level of musicality. I mean, some of my songs are just chords. But yeah,

there is certainly, there's a high level of skill, brought with such a delicate, beautiful performance style that is so original, Rachel. Like, sometimes you're just doing something so I'd not seen before when I first saw you. It was so. and nuanced there I say I know you don't like that word but it is and a lot of comedy is like in your face shut up

I'm talking bang bang bang and you're like just very gently inviting people into your world and I just think it's so refreshing in comedy that I'm not at all surprised I didn't expect these compliments I don't know where to put myself but that must have been thrilling early on to know that you were doing something a bit original

and no one else was doing it. And it's not like my gigs continually went well after that, but I think having a good first gig gives you that spur to carry on. And then doing the improv as well. So they were both going in tandem. Yeah. The rise for me, both of them happened at exactly the same time because I can literally trace you through the years of like Edinburgh Fringe

and ostentatious and everything. So like the first year of me going to the Edinburgh Fringe to do like a two-hander hour with Max Dowler was the first year that ostentatious went on the free fringe. And the year that ostentatious went into a bigger venue was the year that I did my solo show in a big event. It was always in tandem. Yeah.

But then this is ostentatious, which doesn't really represent the improv circuit. It's that we stumbled. We didn't stumble. We found an idea that would prove to be very popular. And we still blows our mind that ostentatious still is going. And it just kept, you know, we started doing it just above a pub to 12 people,

which that photo that you have is the year that we'll have been doing it to like 20, 30 people like in a pub. You're away with me. So it took a long time for ostentatious to start to become something that we could like wear something other than our old bridesmaid dresses. Yeah. When did you get the match report? When did the telly stuff start coming in?

The telly stuff. I've been doing bits and bobs on telly, but just like more acting, like sketch. Right. sketchy stuff leading up to the mass report yeah um and then like i was in like um the IT crowd uh and um what was it called like the revolution will not be televised that kind of yeah sketch stuff but then the mass report came in 2017 wow wow it was a huge success yeah it was wasn't it yeah massive you were a viral phenomenon you and ellie it's a huge success yeah it was a viral phenomenon you and ellie it That's weird actually.

All of your clips went viral. Yeah. Like, I would say bar none. Yeah, they did. Yeah, it is fair. But I'm just laughing because they never recreated the success of the first one. The sexual harassment one that was around the Me Too era of, like how not does sexually harass someone? That went so viral.

And my producer and everyone every week after was like, we've got to get like a hundred million hits on this and I was like I'll try my best Yeah yeah that's a nut I think you need to go viral once And we never did We never did

It never went as big as that It was like you looked like You looked like you were having a ball I was It was like I mean they couldn't have You couldn't have created a better format For you to really show your comedy chops

Yeah It was great to watch Really great It was amazing A niche those bits where we got My favourite bits We got to bans with each other Yeah

My favourite bits to write were the little interactions between me and Nish with me being sort of subtly horrible to him. And he was so good at playing with that. And he loved not knowing what was coming. There was the odd occasion where I think like maybe twice out of like 20 episodes, I'd say to him like, I'm going to, I give him the gist. And I'd be like, but it would be good if you didn't respond to that. Like give him just a little steer or something. but like the rest of the time was just always completely improvised

or I'd plan the thing but like his reaction would be improvised and those were my favourite those are my favourite bits in all of the things yeah but those were the bits that everybody were always clips up yeah because they were the bits that were like

that were the most alive I know and they didn't have to make any sense either often they made no sense but often the kind of shows you're sort of satirising the woman is at the receiving end of some patronising or, you know, mildly, shitty, tone, misodidistic,

so it was just so lovely to see the woman have that up and to shut the bloke down. When the match report finished, and let that match. ish, I mean, the loveliest of people. I know, it's such a nice person. But yet it still worked, because he is in that position. He's wearing a suit. He's a man. He's in that position of authority.

That's still just about worked, that dynamic of me ripping the piss out of him. But after the match report finished, the people who came to my agent and said, we want Rachel to be in this or that pilot for this and we want her to do exactly what she did to Nish which is just bully and be really horrible and be really mean and Cathy and I was like you're idiot

this literally only works in that context I'm not just generally being awful to people like I'm specifically Not Anne Robinson Exactly I was like you've misread it completely Yeah yeah yeah completely Moving on to the next photo Well look I'm going to say it's this one here

with you and Mr Brickstock. Yes. What an cute picture. Yes. So that's, in the first month we went to Paris. Look at you. You do look in love. In the first few weeks, we were so young and in love.

Yeah. But I thought, you know, it was a chance to talk about that and also relationships generally. Because that was, that was such a mad time. That time when we were in the beginnings of getting together, and it was immediately quite serious, was exactly, exactly the same time. within the same week, two weeks, of that clip going viral on the Mash report. Oh, wow. That's a lot. So in the same, like, period of time, I went from obscurity to being, like, went away.

Sort of, like, for a few months internationally known, and then it went away again. But, like, a lot of attention and falling in love and moving house and just having a whole new life, kind of family life that I it was unrecognisable from the life I'd been living both career-wise and love-wise and so that was yeah now I think about I hadn't included it for that reason but that particular point in time was intense. Intense. Romantic and intense man it was intense

So what year was this Rachel? That was 2018, winter of 20th January February 2018. How did you meet? We've known each other for years through improv I was going to say right. Did you meet on the improv? We did, we did. We did. We did. like there was a show called Unavailable for Comment that Marcus did which actually he never booked me as a guest on thanks a lot Mark I was doing ostentatious but we met through mutual friends and then we did like quite a lot of TV improv pilots that never came to be but they

workshopped them for like six months and it never happened and then we were in a show together called There Will Be Cake that was a four-man improv show so we'd known each other as And I knew his kids as well already. There was a moment actually like maybe two or three years before we got together where we'd been doing the improvathon together. And he just gave me a lift back with his kids in the back. And we were all just like singing along in the car and having a laugh together. And I remember just thinking like, this is nice. I wouldn't mind a bit of this.

But then life carries on and nothing happened. But so yeah. Yeah, so then we both became single. And in the lead up to Christmas and New Year's, I'd started to think of him like, hmm, could this be anything? And he'd been thinking the same about me. And we were doing that very teenage texting dance of like, you know, is it one kiss or two kiss at the end of the 10?

Yeah, yeah. I remember I was in a show with Johnny and the Baptists, that was a Christmas show that was on like for two weeks every night and Marcus was in a musical at the time and he came to see me in the show on his day off and I was talking backstage with Johnny and Paddy about like I just don't know God

I don't want to ruin a friendship like if he doesn't think of me that way I don't want to ruin a friendship and they were like He's joking he's here on his day off That's what they said they were like I think he's doing eight shows a week and he's here and I think he probably is interesting When he could be in his pyjamas Exactly exactly

Yeah. What's so romantic? Yeah, it was romantic. But now we're married. Now it's not romantic. The most romantic thing now is, as happened this morning, is that it's 100% my turn to get up at 6 o'clock. Like 100% my turn.

I remember all that. And he said, don't worry, I'll go. Yeah, Ben used to do that. And I'd be like, I can't imagine loving anyone in this moment. Me too. And it's fully, it's fully my turn and you're doing it. Yeah, yeah. No question, it's my turn.

Yeah. Like, it's long, it's long my turn. Yeah. And that is true love. Yeah. I was like, oh my God, I'm just, I can't convey how grateful I am. Yeah. Not now on a podcast.

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Or your teacher mentions that thing I'm a bob. Need to pick me up? Snack back to reality with Tim's new Cravable Raps. available in Chipotle or ranch plus tax at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time how old you're your little boy he's coming up for three

Billy coming up for three yeah do you know what it used to really annoy me when people say stuff like that to me they're like oh my god your kids I was like do you know how time was did you think he was younger or older I thought I thought he was younger oh yeah

I thought he was younger I don't know why I just thought so he's about what 20 months I don't know why I think once once I Once you said you've had a baby, I'm like, he's a baby. Yeah, yeah. He's a bit messed in the most time. He's a baby. He's basically 35.

Like, I can't believe how, he looks, he looks so much older than he is. And it's the way. Look, he's gorgeous. Yeah. How old is he here? He was, I think one, I think one there. Look at the, when they start to get their teeth. I know.

It's their little, those little nubbing teeth. This is just, and his hair, he, for like, about a year. He's starting to grow. then yeah he is tall he had this perfect little cartoon like mohawk kind of thing coming down the front of his head is otherwise bold head his massive head that he's got from marcus what what a bontz we discussed we talked about marcused and we have remarked it is yeah it's a big he bought the bons we didn't introduce it no he did bring the bons but what i love about this photo uh rachel is your face because that is the face of a woman in love yeah

That is the face of a... You know, you see this, when you see a mum looking at her kid and there's all the love. Yeah, and there it is right there, captured in a picture. And it's absolutely gorgeous. But in it hard? Yeah. It really, I just, I don't think I know before having a baby how you could hold so many conflicting feelings of like, I love him so, so much.

Oh my God, I just, I'm just thinking of the Jess Foster Cube about, I would run in front of a car for you, but also because of you. So many of my parental feelings can be captured in Jess Fosterque routines. I mentioned you in my current tour because I've got a bit about mothers and sons. Oh yeah. I've got a song about it. And every show I just go, but also look up the Jen Brist a bit about mothers and son. But like just this feeling of like, even when he's being an absolute asshole, I'm like part of it's not just I love him in spite of it.

I do love him like. like because of it and I'm like oh I love it when mums do that when they slightly what's that word for boasting moaning boasting when they're sort of talking about their kid and like humble bragging yeah humble bragging how naughty he is and you're like well why are you saying it as if it's great then yeah I know it's a really really bad like he does do things that like okay hard mom disciplined mom and do that but like when he's a bit naughty I am that awful he's like Billy but he's cute though cheeky I'm like don't use the word cheek because he knows that the word cheeky means I find that adorable. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they really lean into that, boys especially. Like if I give, me or Chloe give the boys like an inch that we find something's funny. Yeah. And they shouldn't have done it. I've got to walk out the room. I cannot even smile. I cannot crack a smile because if they see that smile, they're like,

oh, I'll do that again. You've got it. Once it gets like a certain age, you're like, well, I've got to get out of the room now. Otherwise this will never end. Yeah, otherwise this will never, ever end. What do you, I'll ask you, parenting advice. God, don't ask me anything. Billy's, he's very bossy.

He's a very bossy age and I don't know what to do about that. But they are when they're that sort of age, aren't they? They call them little dictators, don't they? Yeah, they're so glad. Yeah, yeah, okay. There's nothing much you can do about it. You sort of have to allow it until it's like, that will do. Yeah.

But you don't want to kick their wings. So you're saying like, don't tell me what to do. Yeah. Yes. Or they say none. Please. Oh, they say no so much. They say no all the time.

Can you do that? No. At bedtime, if he's like, no, no, no, I won't have a story. No, I won't have my milk. No, I won't go in my bag. No, I went to. I go, okay, well, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to leave and you just do bedtime on your own. And that works.

That works. There you go. I want my milk and I want my thing. I thought you did. Yeah. Yeah. Just shut it down. Yeah.

Like, just close the laptop really slow. Do you know what I did the other day? I was really ill. I had like. um would have like gastritis and really like it not gastroenterite i wasn't like that but i was feet so and sort of migraine and the cold and everything and i had bedtime with him and he was doing the no no no thing and i just did a really extreme version from necessity not choice i just lay on the floor like fully just lay on his floor and just went you do whatever you want

i don't care i don't care and to be honest it's the most well-behaved Like he's ever been. Yeah, you see, it's the reacting. Can't fight you. Yes. Because they want the fight. They want the engagement and the attention and all that. And then when you just go, I'm not, I'm on, I'm doing that.

I'm not going to do it. Yeah. They're like, oh, okay. And kind of still works now. It works with adults. Yeah. If we all just, I told you. We should do it with populace.

Yeah. Just lie on the floor and ignore them. She'll just gradually, very slowly, walk out of the room while I'm talking. And before I'm feeling. She's in a sentence. She's up the stairs. She hasn't said anything. I think Ben might do that to me. I think Ben's doing that to me sometimes. And it's not just edging away. Yeah, he's just edging away and not engaging. Just gradually walking away. I don't think I want this conversation with you.

Never raises a voice. Never gets crossed. No, it doesn't need to be dramatic. Never needs to be dramatic. And you're just sort of left there sort of, it. It diffuses it. There's nothing. You've got nothing to go with them. There's nothing to grab onto. So you're just like a mad person in your kitchen going, another thing. Well, that's called stand-up. Yeah. You're doing a routine alone in a room.

Marcus, yesterday, I was trying to do a Instagram reel. Oh, God, I hate it. And it was a complete, I was trying to do one way you do a duet, a remix with someone else's Instagram, like a reaction type thing. What? I know, I know. And I don't know how to do that. And I will say, considering how many people want to Instagram, it's not very user-friendly for this, for my point of view. and I also wanted to do it on TikTok, which I'm on.

I'm trying to get in with all of that. And I had been trying to do it for like half a day on and off between other jobs. Oh God. And I was so angry and I did one and it deleted it. And I did one and it deleted the audio. And I was, and Marcus was like, I just, he just came and I just needed him to hear how angry I was. But I couldn't not just shout at him really because I was just so like, now this and this. And no, no, no.

And he listened. And then he was like, oh, hmm. And for a minute, he tried to say, maybe you should try. And I was like, don't, no, no, I'll have tried it. Whatever you say, whatever you say, I'll have tried it. And he was like, I'm just going to go upstairs because you seem very angry. And I was like, yes. Best response.

That is the best thing. Rachel's been an absolute pleasure. Before we let you enter the real world. Yeah. I know that you have a podcast with your husband. That's right. With my husband. And has done the same thing as wife.

We need to make, spouse. Spouse. Spouse. Spouse. Yeah, he needs to one syllable. Spouse. He's my spouse, isn't it?

Very funny words. Yeah, it is. I don't think I like spouse. Hmm, spouse. Tell us about it. It's called, how was it for you? Would you know what? We have to be clear, this is in your post-quit-chut-chut.

No, but I think we knew what we were doing when we called it. Yes. No, it's not. We are not reviewing that. Certainly not the moment. with two stepkids in a toddler. No, we review things in our life that are funny. We review it on a five-star basis,

the way that you would review something on TripAdvisor, but for us it's reviewing things like Billy's latest noisy tractor or the time it took to get to West Norwood or Marcus's new haircut that cost 50 quid, but he hates it. It's reviewing everyday things, but in a funny way and giving it a five-star rating. And you can get that wherever you get your podcast fix. That's correct.

Of course that's where you get your pocket They're not hiding No one's hiding a podcast I know what do you have to say that Yes we don't in fact It's like saying don't smoke on a plane We know Okay

People know where to get podcasts I've said it I feel like In this podcast One thing I think that we need to do more of Is branch out In what way We're very laser focused on middle age

Right okay We're very laser focused on Talking about comedy No one cares No one gives shit we're very laser focused on what our faces look like. Okay, so what should we branch out? We need to branch out.

Go on. There's loads of things that we could talk about. It's not for me to dictate to us. You are not coming with solutions. You're coming with problems. No, I'm coming with, what I'm doing is I'm putting something forward. Yeah. You know, as in, what's that word?

I'm putting the thing. Come on, help me out here. Those pesky words again. Words. Go on. You think we should branch our algorithms out. Yes. And you should know because you're viral.

I've been viral. So what would we do? Because that's the only way. What's another niche area? Because what we're doing is we've got, we've required a listenership. Thank you very much for all of the, that are listening. We're very grateful. But their demographic is us.

Yeah. We need to branch out. What are young people talking about? What are people that are younger than us? interested in. What about people that older? What about people that are older than us? What are they into? Let's think about them. Okay, go on then. What are they into? Well, I mean, the elderly. Well, I've got their interest because I'm into gardening and you're into gardening and crafting. You're into gardening and crafting. I very much like to get drunk and

say quite right-wing things. What? Is that what older people are doing? Yes. You do not get drunk and say right-wing things. But I'm looking at. You're lying. I'm looking forward to it. In an effort to schmooze up to a different demographic, you're not being you. I am being me. You're not being authentic. I'm suggesting.

I'm making suggestions. What are you doing? You're crafting. Thinking of branching out into spoon carving. Listen, what about young people? They're the ones. Get them. I feel like we need to tap into the youth.

And I feel that we can do that because whilst we may not have the like the shared experience, We don't have that anymore. We were young. Yeah. But that's what I'm talking about. We just need to go back regress. Yeah. And talk about those times and then that's how we'll reel them in.

Let's find out. God's eluded. Let's find out. For example, for example, for our listener, we went to see Danny Brown. Oh yeah, but people love Danny Brown. So we went to see at Gastonbury. Yeah? And in fact, that was by far my favourite.

That was literally the best bit of Glastonbury for me But it wasn't because you enjoyed Danny Brown No, I did not enjoy Danny Brown I didn't know what was going on I felt like he was reading a limerick backwards Whilst over Morse code Now you just sound like an old person My dad said that when the Beatles came out

His mum said it's all yeah, yeah yeah Well she wasn't wrong What all people do is they trash young people's music And now you're just being a cliche I'm not trashing it What I'm saying is It was young A young person bringing us to young music that brought three old people together and we ended up having a lovely time.

We'd laughed. We really laughed. But I hope that we weren't laughing at it. We were just enjoying our... We were laughing at ourselves. Yeah, we were laughing at us. We weren't laughing at him. Everybody was having a wonderful time.

Everyone was loving him. Everyone was loving him. We were laughing at ourselves not understanding what everyone was loving. We were like, holy shit, we are now those people. Yeah, no. I never thought I would be one of those old people. I had a strong feeling. I had a strong feeling it was going to go that way for you and me.

He just sounds so old. He just sounds so old. He could have been singing a nursery ride. Did your mum dig your music when you were young? What did your mum think of your music when you were young? I was listening to, what was I listening to Gunn's and Roes? What did your mum think of it? She was like, it just sounds like noise.

Yeah. Sound like you're listening to. noise. My mum hated my music. What music did you do to do? I would, I can never, I'll never forget once when we were in Top Shop and Public Enemy came on. And what was that one that went, mm-hmm, and she was like, get me out, it sounds like a car alarm. And when I started enjoying Radiohead, good God, my mum was like, what the fuck is this? Yes, Radiohead made my mum viscerally angry. Yeah, mine too. She was like, this is making, this music

makes me cross. Yeah, yeah. She had, how? I didn't it. It was like radio head and rap. My mum was out. Yeah, same. My mum was like, get me out. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, I'm not saying that. No, you are. You're just saying exactly the same thing. What I'm saying is, is like, into the arena of Danny Brown. Did I go, right, me, right, right. I said, this is, this isn't for me, but look at me enjoying this experience as a shared communal experience.

Joel, that is not what she did. Admiring the view of litter, because there was a lot of litter. That was upsetting. there was a lot of so much litter it was really upsetting that was a positive thing and also I've lost my train of thought and that might be something to do with the menopause you were just refusing to accept that you are just becoming

your mother we'll become our mothers and that's inevitable and we will not enjoy our children's music and that is the passing of time if I never hear much of trackers again it'll be too soon Jesus Christ what the hell is that music I'm Max Rushden I'm David O'Dardy and we'd like to invite you to

to our new podcast, What Did You Do Yesterday? It's a show that asks guests the big question, quite literally, What Did You Do Yesterday? That's it. That is it. Max, I'm still not sure. Where do we put the stress? Is it, what did you do yesterday?

What did you do yesterday? You know what I mean? What did you do yesterday? I'm really down playing it. Like, what did you do yesterday? Like, I'm just a guy just asking a question. But do you think I should go bigger? What did you do yesterday?

What did you do yesterday? Every single word this time I'm going to try and make it like it is the killer word. What did you do yesterday? I think that's too much, isn't it? That is. That's over the top. What did you do yesterday? Available wherever you get your podcasts every Sunday.