Sh**ged Married Annoyed - Please Keep Me Anonymous With Sam Ryder

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Get ready for some seriously good vibes from national treasure and Eurovision superstar, Sam Ryder! We all know Sam as the pop powerhouse who went from singing in his shed on TikTok to nearly winning Eurovision for the UK! Sam is blessed with a beautiful voice which Chris and Rosie get to hear in person and a joyfully infectious spirit. Sam talks about first dates, life in Nashville and why he LOVES hotels. All of this plus he reads a brilliant Please Keep Me Anonymous story. Sam's new Single Better Man is out now and his album Heartland will be released on October 16th. If you want your story to be shared by a special guest, email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello all and welcome to Shagmary Noyd. Please keep me anonymous. On this week's episode, we have got the wonderful Sam Ryder. Oh, just what I get. Genuinely, what a, just a lovely bloke. He really is. In this industry, it's not always that you meet really lovely people. Yeah. And, you know, I don't want to shatter your dreams here, but there's quite a lot of dick. And there's quite a lot of people who seem really lovely, but you can kind of see through it. But he is genuinely just a...

He is genuinely lovely. Top bloke. Got him before he's jaded. I don't think he'd ever be jaded, though, do you? I don't think you will. I don't think you will. But he tells him about how he spends half his time over here and half his time in America, and I think that might help quite a lot.

Although then I don't know. What if America breaks him before we do? I don't know. He's a very talented guy and he's a really interesting guy. We talk a little bit about he's past and how he got into singing. I don't know these stories and where it all came from. It's just really interesting. Well, it was the first time we met him, we were promoting our TV show while he was just coming

back from the Eurovision success. Yes. And it was what, on all the same stuff together that week. It was madness. In one day, one, like, five things together. And we just kept seeing him at these different stuff. And so it's, it's nice to actually sit down and have like a proper chat with him. Yeah.

And he's dead funny. And I'll tell you what, he's a bloody son 41 fan, same as me. Oh, yeah. There's a little bit of rapping. There's definitely a bit of rapping. Very exciting stuff. And he reads out a fantastic, please keep me anonymous story. Which, yeah, was, it's it.

What's weird about this and what I think we'll find weird about doing these is like, we've got these people on. And you know, he's like, obviously Eurovision. be him and he's a very serious musician he's a very very talented man he sang a little bit forward it's like goosebumps singing and then you go oh the same as the tv show by the way read this story about someone shit themselves okay because it's normally just me and you there is a moment where these people are reading these stories and i'm like yes is we are this they are pretty warned about it though they are pre-warned yeah i think so i think they sent them beforehand but i don't think

they read them i don't i don't think they read them beforehand we really enjoyed talking to sam and we think you're going to enjoy it as well so yeah and thank you so much for all of the lovely messages so far about the Jordan Stevens episode that was out last week glad you all enjoyed listening and watching that. Thank you and yeah, enjoy Sam. We had a fight about the jingle

we couldn't settle on a jingle jingo, so this is the jingle jingo, we hope you like the jingle, jingo babado babado babado babo babo babo do babo do babo do bago do bao Jingle!

Hello, you're listening to Shagmardinoid. Please keep me anonymous. Yes, you are. It's me. It's Chris Ramsey. It's Rosie Ramsey. And it's also our very special guest today. It's Sam Ryder, everyone.

What's up, guys? That's a guy. Chris, you were meant to do with full-on intro to sound. Do you know what it is, right? I just want to start talking. I just want to start talking. Because what do I say? I mean, you are possibly our most, as a nation,

our most successful Eurovision guy ever. Would that be fair to say? I can't say. I'm just buzzing to be here. But I'm going to straddle defence hard. We have one of you. Yeah. We have one of before. But the mania, I was just, we've been sitting here for a while waiting for this to start

recording. The mania that week that you came back from Eurovision. Yeah. It was crazy. And we happened to be promoting a TV show at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, I remember that. We were on the same shows.

We saw each other about five times in one day. We were doing the rounds. You might not remember, but it was on BBC Radio 2. it was Zoe Ball's morning show. You, I don't think you'd slept because you'd done your revision the night before. Yeah. And did you try, you must have come back

or was it the day before? No, no, no. Because I remember as soon as I flew home, the record, I could tell the record label were buzzing because they let me stay at the Langham, never stepped through their front door before I'm alive. Nice. You know Jack on the Titanic when he gets to go to the,

like, the big room with a buffet? It was actually weren't a buffet, was it? That gives me a wave in there. I mean, he gets to put the tuxedo on that don't belong to him. Man, it was fully blown set of the table. And then I think we went to go on radio the next day and I was just, yeah. Well, that's where we saw you.

Yeah. It's crazy. And you were like, I remember, I mean, it's nice to see you not as hype. You are like buzzed. You are so buzzed in a brilliant way. The energy coming off, he was unbelievable. Yeah.

I hate PR. I hate doing all them interviews. And we met you in the morning and you literally give her your jab in the arm that lasted the entire day of just positivity. Oh, man. Just, I was just buzzing. Life looks like it's been treating you guys.

well, you're looking glowing and healthy and happy and lovely. Thank you for saying that. We've genuinely been looking after ourselves. Yeah, yeah. Like, do you know, you're just, how old are you if you don't mind? I'm 36 and I've just been doing the same thing. I've just recently stopped washing my face with Carex. So I am trying to take care of myself.

What do you mean? I just didn't realize you shouldn't do it. He washed his face for hands soap. And I used to wash my hair with, well, I literally, my mum would only buy, bless her, She'd only buy the shampoo from Tesco's would let you know what flavour it was by putting a picture of the fruit on top. Like the apple.

Yes, yeah, yeah. And I just, I was body wash. Are we talking like Christmas stock and level shampoo here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was massive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get a Costco. 49 pence.

So you stepped your game up? Yeah, I've stepped my game up. You can tell, actually, because you do look lovely. Thank you very much. I would never be able to guess your age. You're like ageless. I don't know. If you just said like...

300. Is this going to sound awful? If you'd have said like 50 odd, I'd have gone, right, he looks amazing. But if you'd have said 25, I'd have gone, yeah. Like, yeah. He looks like a man. He looks like a man. He looks like a man.

What the hell is that beard hiding? 26 years of washing your face with Karex. Man crawled in here. Yeah, yeah. We've been looking after ourselves. Just so you get to a certain age when you're like, oh, right, I'm not like... I mean, metabolism doesn't do anything for us anymore.

And yeah, and we're not as busy, actually, I were, which is really nice. So we're quite enjoyed being married. We had a lovely little conversation about being married yesterday, didn't we? Well, we came up with a restaurant half cut. And we walked along, holding hands in London, telling each other how much we loved each other. Oh, this is sweet. It's nice, because it doesn't happen very often.

It really doesn't happen very often. We've got two kids, man. Yeah. Honestly, being around them is graft. So what's changed? What, like, how, because, you know, Sam, thank you so much for having us on your podcast. Shag, Mar-a-N-R-N-R-N-R-N-R-N-R.

Thank you for coming in. Let me get my podcast plays. Listen, before we talk, though, because people haven't got very good attention spans, we know this. And people will drop out of this podcast at some point. So, Sam, you have got an album coming out called Heartland. And that's coming out on the 17th of October. But the leading track on that album, Better Man, is out now. I love how you guys say that.

Better Man. Better Man. Yeah, I love that. It's such a tune. Mate, thanks so much. We're not, we're not allowed to play it. Would you sing the chorus for us?

It's actually mental high. Let me see if I. Oh, okay. You love me like I'm better than I am. Oh, in love is making me a better man. Oh, my God. Oh, I love it's making me a better, better man. Oh, yes.

Dude. Oh, that is. I'm not going to lie, I got a tingle there. I'm not going to lie, that was sexual. That is nice. hate how good of a singer you are. I know, it's your job and you're a good singer, but she's a really good singer as well.

And you know what? As a non-singer, and I think all the non-singers are what they'll understand, it really pisses me off. Like, I could be in a room singing. You know, I'm just trying. I'm just no tune whatsoever. Just belt down something I've heard

and she'll come in and just like, like, like, hit it. And I'm like, oh, did you have to do you? You know, I feel the same one at the gym. Seeing as we're chatting about taking care of ourselves, right? The human body, right, we're all composed of the same atoms, but why do I feel like a different species? when I'm at the gym,

when someone's lift, like bench pressing actual weight and I'm like, I'll just take those plates and just have the bar. You know what I mean? What's different with me? We're all good at different things.

All of your strength is in that voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was genuinely... Here's a question. When did you realise that you could sing? How old were you? I was... Well, I started singing, like...

Oh, I started playing the flute as the first instrument I saw. Sorry, you could. Yeah, no, right? The coolest thing about... There is a little thing that I claw at that's cool about that is that the reason I want to play, there was an episode of Antiques Roadshow where someone was bringing their family's tarot cards in.

Why do I remember this? Who knows? But one of the pictures was of the devil sat on a little tree stump with a flute. And being a kid, I was like, that looks cool. I'll play that instrument. God, it wasn't as cool as that. Nice. So instead of the devil, like Beelzebub on top of an old,

nile tree stump, it was me and my Catholic school. uniform, bowl haircut, just trying to play green sleeves. So the flute's the one you're blowing from the side? It goes out to the side. It's like, it's like a snorkel at 90 degrees. Right, okay. But, yeah, anyway, my flute teacher knew I was useless, but didn't really tell my mum because the money was coming in

from my flute lessons. Yeah. Well, he knew you were useless. And then when my mum found out, like, she sort of went, you know, even I can tell that he's got no hope here. Right. She went to the teacher and she was like, well, I'll teach him to sing instead.

Because she didn't want to lose the slot, I don't think. So you got taught to sing? Well, it was... You can't be taught to sing. You can't. I say, I don't think anyone could teach me. It was more like, my mum was like, no, I don't want him having lessons anymore. But he's allowed, if you say he's got a good voice, he can sing in the choir at school.

So that's when I started. So that's when you knew. Singing there. But I never, I never had lessons. My lessons were really listening to Steve Perry from Journey. Like, and Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, I'd just have their CDs. and I'd just listen to them over and over again and just try and sing along, try and work it out.

So would you say those are the kind of people that you mirrored your voice off? Yeah, definitely. When you're young and you've got no sort of, to put it bluntly, identity of your own, which is the average teenager from time immemorial. You just follow other people. So for me, the first vocalist I remember

badly copying was Derek Wibley from Sun 41. So I put his voice on and just like it sounded like, not even a wish version of him But that was it Is he like the Aniouac? What? Because I'm into game Exactly yeah

So it's like that Like he ended up marrying Avril Levine Yeah yeah yeah Yeah, yeah They've just done the last tour I know I was there

Were you really? Yeah Yeah I was having the best time man Wow It's so good Do you remember the song Fat Lip?

Yeah yeah Do you remember the video For Fat Lip? Yep In the skate park Yeah Yeah Nevertheless

I'm a dress for the occasion It's number 42 And now here's a situation If you beat moves your feet moves your feet, then don't change the stage Make your bed to be living on a permanent vacation Well, I'm having a disaster, microphone master Put on the tape and rock and get old plaster Sound about the money cause I tells the resorts

About sweating all the bitches and the bike are shorts Sick Yeah How long into that rendition were you cringing? Yes Can I ask? Dry as sticks Dry as sticks

She's literally there's a image of Rosie's vagina now In the back they all that wood all that kiln-dried firewood I'm just happy as I've got that I enjoy I've got nothing else rules you can do the rest of this I'm just gonna sit back in chill

that was great your social guys out there looking for the cut down they just got that straight away they've just fucked off their work days done oh

it was actually a longer version as well there is a whole song yeah yeah we can do that let's not we'll do that we'll put it what I was gonna say

was obviously you do mirror yourself like nowadays right everybody sounds like somebody but when we were younger I remember as a female singer it was like Mariah Whitney all the very like the warbling

type of thing that's gone now I think the warblins no no but it's true the warbling like I never really thought of it of like so when you were listening to those singers that was how you kind of

that's what I used to copy oh they're warbling yeah like the big ballads but now everybody sings with a really cute voice and everything's really cut off oh you want to go and back in the day it was

about me every night oh when we're seeing a espress and I'm not exactly it's amazing no no no no no you mean I find it fascinating there's trends and yeah trends whereas when we were younger it was end up

yeah but I'm I missed that because like objectively everything is difficult and it has its own sort of technicalities to getting good at anything and to be honest even like I was listening to

it's called Phoebe Bridges on the way here amazing voice Definitely not like a Mariah Carey voice by any means, but technical. Like it's not easy to have that tone. And you're kind of, it's more what you're born with. Yeah. Like you can't sound like those singers.

But there is a part of me that looks back at when you put a Whitney record on or an Arefa record. And you're like, that is Everest. It's the, it's the Iron Man, Triathlon. Like you, to get to that point is so difficult. And I love that there was an era that really championed it, like, where everyone was like, if I can't reach that level, I'm kind of not in the game. And I quite, I don't know, I have a certain nostalgia. Someone I wasn't really around for it, but I kind of wish I was in a certain reason. I don't think that exists now.

Yeah, like, again, my favorite mouseing, like Lou Graham or something like that. Or like I said, Steve Perry, Stevie Wonder, M. like these male singers that just Michael Bolton even I was listening to earlier. It's just like really so difficult. You can't just like go and sing that. You have to live it like because your lifestyle has to make sure it fosters the voice. It's not just you can't just be a human being going about daily business. You have to live to sing.

That is your like yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically shut up until you sing. Yeah. Because you can't use any of that. until like you're warmed up. So like I sound like an absolute bag of bricks at the minute just because I was talking when we were filming a show all this last weekend.

So you lose all the top end. Oh my gosh, that's gone. But that's your instrument. I always say this. People like the voice is a muscle. Whenever I'm doing a show, I steam my throat every single night,

nebulizer. Like these are the things that because you've got, it's like you wouldn't go weight training and not warm up or cool down before and after. It's you've got to look after. That's what I mean. Yeah. So all those things you have to live and breathe it.

So like I've got some friends that are in musical theatre and those guys are the closest, I think, left to that generation because there are eight shows a week. The vocals are insane. I went to see a Vita the other night and Rachel's vocal. It's just incredible. But like to get that, it is being silent for the day. It's steaming, nebulizing, like sleeping, diet. Yeah. You can't do anything apart from live.

to sing for that two-hour window. Do you find it stressful? I'm sorry, I'm really embarrassed because I tried out some new material from a new stand-up show on Saturday night. I did 25 minutes and I had a sore throat afterwards. And I feel pathetic. I feel pathetic all of a sudden.

But no, you're actually the same and I was going to say to you, right? I mean, I did have 90 years. So. You're getting older now. When you go on to her next, you're going to have to start warming up. I love it when you keep reminding that I'm getting older.

It's really, I do really appreciate it. You're going to have to start warming up your voice. You're going to have to do like scales and stuff. No, because the difference is I talk all day. It's not the same. Is it not? No. Because when you shout all day.

You don't shout all day. My support act is an annoying prick. I shout at them, not all day. No, you don't. Because there's your vocal cords, right? There's your vocal cords. A minute you shout, you're doing that. And they're slapping off each other and you're damaging them.

So you're, to warm them up. You've just got to sort of like lubricate them. And then the minute that you do shout, they're warmed up. Right, okay. So you do actually need it. Well, you'll come into it. Okay. Here's a question about music, right?

Because I'm writing a new tour and what I said to someone the other day you can't practice comedy without a crowd. You can't do it. But when you're writing a new song obviously a lot of people who are you collaborating with and you'll be sitting and you be in the studio or whatever, is there a moment where you go,

this is a banger? Or do you have to wait for a reaction from a crowd or do you have to play it for more people? I can't stand with a hairbrush and practice stand up in front of the mirror. I used to think I could. You kind of do it. You need the crowd.

Well, I'm going to let Dolly Parton answer this question. She's not here, but I can give some evidence. So do you know it's a banger when you've written something? Yeah. Dolly Parton, when she wrote, I will always love you. She stayed in the studio and wrote another song. So for me, that's always the evidence that suggests no. No one knows.

Because if you'd known, this is probably one of the greatest love songs of all time that's been recorded. if you'd known that, you'd be like, I'll take the rest of the day off. Yeah. Wouldn't you? You'd be like, well, I'm going to just take a breather.

Have a walking part. Like, go and have a dinner and drink or just, just enjoy the fact that it's done. You don't go and write another song. Same with the Beatles and let it be. Yeah. Like those moments,

I don't think anyone knows. No. People decide after the fact. Yeah. But what I'm really into, in music at the moment is kind of realizing that from the early 2000s, even kind of the late 90s to a degree,

we've been in this stage up until this point now, co-writing has been king, essentially. So it can be anywhere from two, three, up to sometimes 11 writers involved in a song. And for me, I'm really interested in where that ends and how we go back to maybe it just being someone writing their own music. I guess the,

the rebellion that you'd have against that is that it will take longer to write stuff, but I quite like that idea. I think the amount of music coming out every single day is crazy now compared to even the amount of songs. There was this mad statistic which, please

check if it's right, but I saw it the other day that it was like, I absolutely would carry on. We'll have our fact check and come on it. In one day on Spotify, globally, more songs are released than an entire decade of like the 70s or something like that. What?

Oh, that doesn't surprise is that. What is that just, and I'm not... This democratisation of being able to record. People have their own systems in their bedrooms. Some of the songs that my children listen to on Spotify, I mean, some of the stuff that can be released, that shouldn't be released. I want to march into the building that released it and burned down the ground.

And I release is a strong word. They've just farted it out under the airwaves. And literally farted. One of them is called Mr. Pupy Pants and it's just a song about shit. So are you bundling that into there? in which case that statistic isn't worth the people printed on. So it's like basically the amount of stuff coming out is just mad. So how do people sort of cut through and also how does it sound different?

Because now that's the amount of songs that humans are making. But now we're adding into the equation about the songs that AI is making. So I'm like, in my life always when I do anything, I always kind of look for the open goal. And going back to like Eurovision and a bunch of stuff that I've done in the past, I was always, that was an open goal. at the time no one wanted anything to do with it so i always try and look for these things that people aren't focused on for me at the moment in music it's writing completely as one person

and putting a record out so i'm interested in that even to the point of like using all the old equipment like tape machines and things that i'm into that's super nerdy about i love that no i love that and then you can know as well in yourself that you've done it all yourself and that you can be really proud of what you've done yeah yeah it can just is but it's it's but it's And it doesn't even have to be for like the, to be happy in yourself that, oh, I didn't need anyone else. It's nothing to do with that.

It's more like, because arguably other people will help make it better. But it's giving yourself time to really lay down the foundations of what your work is. Yeah. It's what it sounds like. When other people come in, they're like, oh, I know that I'm stepping into your world that you've created.

Because if you don't set those boundary lines, you're kind of a group together with a bunch of people writing a hit record, which to me is it's all well and good, but it's quite boring now. Because everyone releases songs that sound like hits now. Everything sounds hitty. You're totally right. Yeah. Babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo.

Tell us about Nashville. You've been living in Nashville. Do you live there half the year? Yes, yeah. But it sort of works out about that, yeah. Is that since we last saw you, or has that been a thing for a while? But I've been back and forward there for 14 years. Like I remember on mine and Lois's first date,

we were walking down Oxford Circus. We're on our way to London Dungeons, actually. Romantic. Nice. Yeah, yeah. That's quite a good first date. Mate, it was well fun. It worked out for me.

You'll get a cuddle. I did, yeah. Yeah, it was all the rules. I remember, just before I tell that story, I remember once I was in York doing a gig and they've got York Dungeons as well. And I thought I might pop into it. I got York really early.

I don't think I've told you this, and I thought I might pop into York Dungeons. Just for a quick fight. Just maybe, you know, get a bit of routine. On your own? Yeah, yeah, because I was there really early for this gig. I'd been travelling up the country on the way about to South Shields. And I went into the Greggs round the corner from the York Dungeons.

And one of the characters was in there in full gear getting sausage rules. Really? Put us off. Full gear. Blood on our face, the lot. Full thing head to tour. Put you off the Dungeons or Greggs. Bit of both.

But I didn't go to the dungeon. She put eight sausage rules. She won't eat sausage rules. And I thought they were going to jump out on someone. stink and a sausage rule. I reckon they should have a little panic button at the till if someone comes into London Dungeons on their own. Just for their own sort of satisfaction.

It should report to the police. You know what? That's annoyed me. That's really unprofessional. It's really unprofessional, isn't it? Come on, love. She should absolutely not be in character. You're ruining the mystique of the dungeon.

Yeah, I don't like that at all. Shouldn't be rocking around York in your character. I don't like that. Anyway, you're first thing. Sorry. Yeah, so I remember she was asking, like, what do you want to do with your life? Like just questions on the first day, like what you're into? What do you want to?

Where did you see yourself in 10 years? So is this a job interview of the first day? Kind of the same. What do you want to do with your life? And I was like, I'd just been to Nashville for the first time on tour and I'd fall in love of it. So I was like, I'd just be a cool answer. I want to be a songwriter in Nashville. And that's it.

Like, she was stoked about that. And I was like, oh, I'd love to take here one time, which is a bit intense on a first date. But again, it worked. We got engaged after six months. Okay. So I'm done. I've found my audience. You know you know.

Okay. And then yeah, we just went to Nashville together and both fell in love of it and kept going back like year on year and just staying with friends. And so we've built a lovely little community of friends and just people that we love and yeah, just really close people in our life.

That's amazing. And is it? I'd love to go. Amazing. Is it? Amazing. And if you are ever in the area, please come over for a cup of tea.

Listen, we will. I can't wait to stand out. the front door that you've locked and you're pretending you're not in playing that clip through your letterbox you literally said come in bang bang back we know you're in there dickhead you've said

this is ridiculous hotel down the road where not then people actually somebody wants offered us a person in the public eye offered us to go stay at their villa and for years we were like was he being serious

or was he taking the piss and he never ever took him up on it and I bumped into him and he went you didn't come why didn't you come and he was like you never ever came Because everyone's full of shit. Of course, I don't turn up at your villa.

You should do it. We did something very similar recently. Me and Lois, someone, and I'm going to shout her out, Missy from Mississippi, said to us, when you're on tour ever in America and you're passing by, Mississippi, come and stay at our place. And we were just like, shall we? And I'm so glad we did. She's a legend.

Family's amazing. They're flying over to our Wembley show. Oh, wow. They've made really good pals of them. And of course, at the beginning, and Missy won't mind me saying this, you're worried like where are we going now and what are we stepping into but yeah yeah on this occasion amazing missy in Mississippi as well she's got a Joey Essex vibe going on there she is lovely such a legend we should have done that we should have been well you have a Wembley shore you have a Wembley

show Wembley arena on the 6th of November you guys should come yeah well if we're down if we're down yeah how often are you in London these days not very we're just trying to duck in do the job get out we like to duck in we like to come the night before in a hotel. We like a late start, early finish, meal on the night, back on the next day. Mate, how nice is a hotel, by the way? Oh, I know.

It's so obvious. I am just fucking love hotels. So good. Just do. Love it. So good. Like, I'm starting to notice all these little things about them, like, when they're good.

And like, if the, I don't know, if the door's solid. Do you know what I mean? Just like there's a heaviness to the door and just stupid shit. What the room service menu is like? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What wine have that in a minute? I love it.

And I think it's because we grew up. Crisp sheets. So we grew up watching things like Home Alone too and stuff where, you know, he gets his dad's credit card and he goes in the minibar and there's room. Yeah. The refrigerator with a key. Never seen one in my life. Yeah.

Well, what were you talking about this? When you were a kid, you were on holiday, it was literally you would open the fridge and your parents would be like, don't move that can't get charged. Yeah. But now, you can. You're an adult and you go, I'm going to move that. You know what? I'm going to fucking drink this.

So you guys came from when you were starting out, would it be safe to say that you didn't expect. to get to where you are now at all. God, we, we, I mean. Yeah, yes and no. I think I've always had this weird warped thing from being a kid of just sort of like, very naively just like, I'll do something.

Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I think you're the same. Yeah, so like when I first started stand up, I remember there was a thing in my head and it was always just like, oh, well, when I do my DVD. Like, I'm talking six or seven gigs in. But when I do a DVD, when DVDs were still a thing.

So I always, it wasn't like, I think early on I adopted the idea of a vision board, but it wasn't a physical thing. It hadn't been marketed. It was just, I'll be it, I'll definitely do a DVD. I'll definitely be in a sitcom. I'll definitely be on telly. It was just something in my head.

But I never saw the podcast coming. Never saw this coming. This was a real surprise when this took off and became a big thing. You guys are natural. It's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. But I like the idea, like, because I was the same.

We're starting out when I had no reason to be confident whatsoever. I was like, if you would have asked me, for example, like 15 years ago, do you reckon you'll play Wembley? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, it's happening. But you would have asked me two years ago, do you reckon not chance? Yeah. How?

So it's funny that you get this kind of, it's like this big injection of deluded optimism when you're a kid. You have to live off as long as possible. It's brilliant. But as you get older, it's like a rocket going up into, like it's got to burn through all of that. And then when you get into your sort of, I turn 31 by the time. sort of a record deal came along

and all those opportunities sort of got it to the next level but it was that point I was like this is probably not going to happen do you know what I mean and then bang it was like on the last little fumes and dregs of that optimism do you know what this is going to

this is going to sound really dark right but I remember I got with comedy and stuff I got quite a lot of things like early I was on telly quite early I was only early 20s and I was doing like bits of telly and stuff like that and I remember thinking how am I going to sustain this

yeah I remember things like people like Mickey Flanagan and John Bishop got it really late on in their lives. And I remember thinking, but now that way, like, I'm not bothered that much about turning older because I'm like, oh God, if this success can keep going into me late in a life towards,

like, I'm not going to, hopefully I'm not going to burn out before I retire. Hopefully I can actually walk off into the sunset. There's not a moment where I'm like, I don't want to get older. It's like, oh no,

I'm happy to get older while this is still happening. If this could just run out at the same time and then I retire, I'm good. I've got a problem where I've had naive optimism when I was younger. I'm not that ambitious. Yeah. Genuinely. Okay.

And I've done quite a lot of amazing stuff, right? Like, we've done amazing stuff. So now, if it all went, I'd be like, well, it was lovely. It's actually frightening. It's actually frightening how happy she is for it all then tomorrow. You know what it is? It's really toxic to live with. Imagine if, like, next week you just started, like, working on bits in the garden.

Yeah. I was like, yeah? Like, it's just actually buzzing for the, like, maybe that would happen. No, I don't. Honestly, she wants to get cancelled. She'd fucking love it. I don't. I don't.

No, there's different kind of people. I watched the Celine Dion documentary, right? I watched that documentary, and I've grown up, I'm a huge Celine Dion fan. I've seen her like twice live, lover to death. I watched that documentary, because obviously our voice has gone, it's really sad. And she's devastated about it. But then, because she's so ambitious,

because she still wants more and more and more, even though, and I put myself in her position and I'd be like, well, I've done it. Yeah. Let's put my track on, that's me. I'd be like, look how amazing I. I've got all this money. I've done it.

everything. So I think that's me. And as well, since becoming a mother, I think that's when I was like, all right, these are, these are the most important things in my life now. Yeah. My career, don't get me wrong, still very important, but these are like my life. And that's, I don't know if that's just me. But that's not, I need to actually start being more positive to the universe because I'm just a bit like, I've done that. Yeah. We sold out. Well, you have a tremendous sense of balance, like, just sort of sitting here chatting with you, like the way that you're running your life, like coming in to London, doing the work,

making sure that you leaving time to have a nice dinner together, like staying in a bloody nice hotel. Not just that, mate, it's walking distance from the station for the train home. That's what it's all about. I'm chuffing you. And I'm sure that's probably why everything's doing so well. People are like listening and they figure that out.

I think happiness is so many more things than work. I think work is a huge part of your life and I think you should strive to do it. But actually, that's not where I guess. get my happiness. I get my happiness from when my mom and sister come around on a Friday night. We open a bottle of wine randomly at 5 o'clock. You get to put track suit bottoms on. My friends call them in Nashville, they call them quitters. I'm going to put my quitters on. Quitters. That's amazing. But like, and what you're saying there as well, I'm having this thing at the

moment where just thinking about work and what it is to sort of chase the dream, so to speak, of the singer and what those kind of goals look like. And it's very linear. And at least it has been in the past, like everything revolves around metrics, whether you like it or not, whether it's chart position, ticket sales, like places you've played and stuff like that. And for me, because the whole entertainment industry, I'm guessing, and you guys probably have been aware of this for years, but it's so, like, changeable at the moment. Nothing is as it was in its kind of like classic form, whether it's TV, music, art in any kind. So what I'm enjoying is, is that the realization that your career doesn't have to look like anyone else is.

It's totally yours. So there are things that back in the day I would look at and be like, oh yeah, but I can't do that because I'm a singer. And actually, that's kind of your strength. If you can do other things, isn't that a gift, like that you're able to even try and think rightly or wrongly, that you can dip your toe into that. Like, I'm massively into cars.

And all of a sudden I've got into being asked to do some bits with, like rally cars and stuff like that or like TV and like I don't know I'm just making a habit of being very grateful that your career can just look any way that you like it Stand up used to be exactly the same

Stand up used to be the same You would do the circuit You would do the fringe You would get asked to do with panel shows You would do the panel shows Then you would do maybe your own show And then you'd die And it was linear

It was totally anything else Yeah but it was like Strictly for example Yeah yeah yeah It was like a comedian going on strictly You know Was like one of you No, one of your sort of, I think one of the first comedians,

I'm sure it was Julian Cleve. Forgive us everyone, I'm sure it was Julian Clare or someone was the first comedian to go on, but he was less of a sort of circuit tour and stand up and more of just a sort of name, a famous name by then. And it was, you're totally right. It was like sometimes people put their, they put this sort of path in front.

Well, you're a singer, you can't do that. Yeah, someone's kind of Greyhound, right? Yeah, that's uncool. I just do the singer, just do something, and you go, no, I like Rallycott. I want to do this rally stuff. And then the way the world is now, and the way, like, as I say,

It used to be do the panel shows and do that. Comedians can get big from anything now. TikTok, videos on Instagram, just absolutely anything. Podcasts. And there's no like set path anymore. There's like multiple paths for everything. Yeah, man, that's much more exciting. And it makes the work so much cooler.

So like you said, Wembley's coming up on November 6th. We go and play that show and then like doing this rally in classic car across Dubai for four days. And just like for me, that's what makes the. music almost more. This one I'm talking about about writing as well. Like having that space to just be like sat in a car and looking out the window in pure wonderment at this landscape and like thinking, I feel like Indiana Jones right now. Like just, you know, that makes you want to get in the studio then and pick up a guitar

and write, not being on sort of this treadmill. You accidentally make a kind of a rat race yourself. Yeah. Whether it be. But you've got to do things that you enjoy as well because I think this industry becomes so much of your life. That's why we live up north. Yeah.

Because this is my job. But I think people who, you know, it becomes their full existence. Yeah. The person that they are becomes their job, their identity. Their whole life is surrounded by their job. And that's right,

because I think people, you know, enjoy that. It's just not what we wanted to do, is it? It's just not personally. It's why we live in the North East. We purposely stayed out in the countryside in Essex. Same life, essentially, as before. Yeah.

Everything happened. And the only thing really that's changed is that we now are like half time in Nashville. But even that is essentially we were doing that before. We were just sleeping on people's couches. Yeah. So we've got a house. Instead. Oh, you were staying in this house.

I've just booked it. Yeah, yeah. He does not want to stay. Right. Mate, I swear to God, I'd love you to come over. It'd be so nice. Missy first in Mississippi. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. She can buzz and have you over that. Who are these guys? Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. What is the player? Not none. Chicken's saying he's just a useless tosser.

Babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo babadoo babadoo babadoo bah Listen, we need to do these Please get anonymous because we're just We're doing this every time we just end up chatting For far too long So let's do, these are from members of the public We have no idea what they say Because on our podcast we do a little bit

Where I get the questions, Chris has no idea But for this, I've got no idea either So take it away Sam I'm sorry if it's, have you read this yet? No, but I'm sort of needing reading glasses at the moment, but I reckon I can get by with it. Do you want to borrow some ones? I'm going to, I'm going to get through it.

Let's do it, ready? Okay, go. Dear Chris and Rosie, please keep me anonymous. Always. Me and my husband were on our long walk one weekend. We'd had a lovely pub lunch and we were on our way cross-country to get home. My husband is a bit of an exercise guy, so he loves to be active at the weekends. And after our own heart there.

Yeah, there he is. I wonder if he washes his face. It was when we're in the middle of a field that he was caught short by the dairy in his lasagna and told me that he needed to go immediately. So when I heard long walk and pub lunch, you heard me go, you're at that age in life now.

I know the brand and I am at that. I get it, I get it. Although I'm telling you right now, I will not shit outside my own house, even by accident. You will never catch me. Really? You will never catch me short. There's a personal question.

Can you poo in public toilets? My dad is an absolute mate. I'll tell you the story my dad after this. Okay. But anyway. I will only poo in a hotel that I'm staying out of my own house. Oh, hotel. Oh, nice.

Oh, nice. He just loves hotels. Right. He needed to go immediately. To be fair, there was no one around. So off he went to squat behind a tree. Animal, disgusted. Lock them up.

Feral. Yeah. we'd been here before what that location like a dog can go back to the same place so I wasn't surprised by his need

for a nature shit okay he came back from behind the tree and we carried on walking after a few minutes I started to smell something it turns out

he had tied his shorts up too tight and didn't get them down in time thus shitting him himself in his boxes. This guy's gone out for a lasagna and hammocked his pants. Hammocked his fuck! Is that a thing?

Have you just made that off? It always makes me finger that. It's a hamming about. And he's quittance. Yeah. Hammock these quitters. He's hammocked his quitters. Sam, you're going to have a podcast, man.

That's it. But you refuse to throw them away. No. Nah. I understand. You understand? What is there a nice set of Patagonias or something like that? Oh, shut up, man.

Norway. And also they're probably made of just like plastic. So you just... No, he's not... He's not being ecologically minded yet. He's just being... He would rather walk home kicked in his own feces than just buying up here on the past. It's like snapping the tabloids.

He could have got rid of it. Go on. This is gross. He just refused to fram away. He said they were his technical pants. They like to wear when he exercises and he didn't want to sacrifice them. Safe to say, I walk the rest of the way, ten steps ahead of him. Definitely ahead.

Very much staying upwind, gross. Out of interest, do either of you own your own technical pants? Now, I, first of all, awful. Second of all, the fact that he just didn't, I couldn't, how embarrassing. What? I couldn't walk home with it. What if you say someone you know? Yeah.

Yeah, it's disgusting. And you're not walking normal as well. It's John William and the shit of that, yeah, 100%. Yeah, he's disgusting. I've got, I only, I'm a W-front guy now. Really? All my friends have gone Wifront and I feel like an actual, so it's funny in it. I'm 36.

Two years. So I'm still wearing like surf shorts, like longboard shorts. Nah, kind of. Which isn't a good, well, actually, no, to be fair, they're not like down here. They're there. So they've got a, they're slightly European. Right. Bad for your balls, you know.

Yeah, better. Yeah, yeah. No bad. They're bad. Yeah, you need some support. them supported. Oh, I thought you just let them. No, you're taking that hammer.

No, it's actually bad for them. Well, there you go. You've got to keep them in. Right. So, um. My name's, uh, my name's Samarader. Well, Wembley, this next one's called my balls are long.

Oh, long balls. Oh, long. Yay. Bals are long, man. But yeah, you start feeling like a, uh, a bit immature when you're hanging out with your mates when they're all wearing wife fronts. Yeah, Chris, you do look very mature.

It's very sort of like, Oh, why did I think of Christian Bale in bloody, in American Psycho? Wow, thank you for that. It is a bit that. But I started weighing Y-fronts for exercise because I was on, I think I was on an exercise bike. And there was, you know, they were dropping each side of the seat. Like sitting on walnuts. And the fact that we haven't, the side note, the fact that we haven't redesigned the bike seat.

I don't know what's going on. But anyway, so I started wearing wide fronts for exercising. And then one day I was just popping in the shop and I didn't have any of the boxer briefs cleaner I thought I'll put the wirefronts on. New man. Really? I felt taller.

I felt I felt I felt swift. I felt I was fucking ice skating to that shop. It was unbelievable. I think it would make your bum look quite nice. Thank you. What brand do you get? I'm going to go and get some now. Puma or Bam, the bamboo ones.

Oh, I've heard a lot about bamboo stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. However, if I'm around the pool on holiday and there was a man in Speedos, I want to physically hurt him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Not for public consumption.

No, I'm taught. So you're against the swimwear, right, because this is the thing. A lot of my mates have started wearing like the swimwear version. So when you go through a little sea swim altogether as a group, I feel like an actual teenager. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With my Vulcan shorts on and everyone's wearing speedos.

And I'm likely. Exactly. It's got a sort of vibe of wearing DCs. There's a cutoff point. Quick silver. Do you know what I mean? I think, honestly, Chris, I think you're about eight years away from wearing speedos. on the beach.

I swear to God. I think he is. If I wear speed, if you catch me wearing speeders on the beach, remind us of this, and I will walk into the sea and never come back. Right, okay.

Oh. Oh, you're excited for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me about your dad. You were going to tell a story about your dad on the pool and not in the car. Oh, yeah, yeah.

My dad is one of those guys and we always joke because when I used to work with him on building sites and stuff where sometimes there's just been no toilet and sometimes you'd work around like a posh person's house and they'd lock every door.

You weren't allowed to, you couldn't even think about having a shit in their toilet. They just weren't allowed. And, yeah, that's what they did. No, no, yeah. It's true, true. Oh, the deal of, like,

I'll always make the bill that's cups of tea and stuff, but the day of the bill asks because I usually told her for a shite, I'm well upset. No, you see, my brother's a plasterer, so I'm very on, like, I think it's a shame, isn't it?

But we, we got told, we offered, I offered quite a lot to people who've worked in our house. Yeah. But then we found out that they've just got a bucket in the van. Yeah, this is, yeah, this is what? A bucket in the van.

Well, my dad's been driving before, No, that's it. It's always, oh, I must go. And me and my mate Gary, we used to work with him, like putting up, we're doing all stud work and ceilings in this, like,

you know, opposite the Tate Lyle factory on the Thames, like in Woolwich area, had all these old buildings that they converted in studios. And me, my dad and my friend, Gary, we did all that together. But he was,

he was like, there'd be this plastering bucket in the van. And, yeah. He's shit, not me. Not a chance. But people of a certain age in the trades, they've been through... They don't care.

They've been through it all and they just got to go. And as my dad says, I must go. And the apprentice cleans the buckets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, yeah. In the end, I ended up sort of having to do it. No way. No way.

I want to make that clear. My dad did not force me to clean shit out of his classroom. That is fine. I'm honestly not. I can go anywhere, me. Really? Yeah. Creep up by me though, you know.

Yeah. I think I've got a high BS. I just don't want to give, I don't want to cut anything now. So mine's not like literally I'll be fine and then it's like, oh. I must go. I'm just like, yeah, whatever. A must go is lovely. It's quite a middle class way of saying it.

Well, yeah, but the way he did it wasn't because he was John waning or I've been in with, like him while he's listening to the radio driving home and his legs are doing this. Oh, I must go. And the traffic's getting worse and you can see him stressing. No, I love him. And I'll just be sat next to him, howling, laughing. because I can see this man losing his will to live. Do you know what I mean? And I'm fine.

My bowels are empty and you feel free as a bird in it. And knowing that you don't have that concern because everyone knows what it feels like when like, it's the worst. It's one of the most sort of pathetic feelings. It's crap. You feel so vulnerable. Either time, if you're just like,

oh my God, I need some of. Like a headshot without spikes. Even if I'm like, if I'm in the tour van and we're on to, you know, if I'm going to a, we're going to a gig, or if I'm just in the car or anything, and I need a weave and there's something

in your brain like goes, I will feel like this forever. This will never go. This desperation is going to be with me forever and then you go tight and you can't believe it. You're like, I've been, it's gone. Yeah, you feel amazing.

You come out like Carlton from the fresh print. Every time, mate is so true. Never get told. The purest freedom from concern exists. Is that? Why is it that no matter where we are who we're talking to, we always end up talking about shit?

It's amazing. Listen, it's been absolutely awesome chatting to you. So lovely to see again. So lovely to see you without the whirlwind of that week. I know, that's crazy. It was mad. And yeah, best of luck with everything. And just to recap, the album Heartland is getting released on the 70th of October.

There's a Wembley Arena short on the 6th November. And Better Man, the single from the album is out now. And it's a tune. Absolutely. Thanks so much, guys. Thanks, Sam. Thank you. God bless you.

Love you too. Big love.