The Comedian's Comedian Podcast - Daniel Sloss (2015): ComCompendium

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

We’re delving back into the archives and going back to episode 152 with Daniel Sloss, recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe! We discuss:the pleasures and pitfalls of really committing to an anglelearning who urinated on whose bagand why he likes to get his teeth into an argumentJoin the Insiders Club at patreon.com/comcompod where you can instantly get access to the full back catalogue of extras.👉 Sign up to the ComComPod Mailing List and follow the show on Instagram, YouTube & TikTok.Support our independently produced Podcast from only £3/month at Patreon.com/ComComPod:✅ Instant access to full video and ad-free audio episodes✅ Exclusive extra content you can't find anywhere else✅ Early access to new episodes where possible✅ Exclusive membership offerings including weekly-ish Stu&AsCatch Up with Daniel: Daniel Sloss' latest special Can't is streaming at danielsloss.com. You can also keep up-to-date on Instagram, @DanielSloss.Everything I'm up to: Come and see me LIVE - find out all the info and more at stuartgoldsmith.com/comedy. Discover my comedy about the climate crisis, for everyone from activists to CEOs, at stuartgoldsmith.com/climate.Get in touch: If you’re listening and thinking ‘I’d love to work with ComComPod on getting something out there’ or ‘there’s someone you should absolutely have on’ - drop us an email at [e-mail]! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart here. You can go to Stuart Goldsmith.com slash comedy for tickets to my national tour. That's right. I'm taking my second ever climate comedy show. It's called Canary. I'm taking it to the Edinburgh Festival for the last two weeks of August at the Monkey Barrel, Cabaret Voltaire. And I shall see you there in the last two weeks of August. And then it's a national tour for this guy. Cambridge, Glasgow, Oxford, Manchester, Cardiff, Maidenhead, Sheffield and Birmingham, culminating in my biggest ever tour show at Bristol Old Vic. Stuart Goldsmith.com slash comedy for all your tickets. Hello, welcome to the show. Stuart Goldsmith here. This is the Comedians, Comedian podcast, and we are delving and diving back into the archives and going back to episode 152 with Daniel Sloss, recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe. This is such a long time ago. He was massive then. He's colossal and kind of world globe trotting now. We talk about the pleasures and pitfalls of really committing to an angle. We find out who urinated. on whose bag, and we get a little bit into why he likes to get his teeth a little bit into an argument. Live from 2015, here's Daniel Sloss.

For those of you unfamiliar, maybe one or two of you in the room, or perhaps one or two of you listening at home will be unfamiliar with Daniel's work. Daniel, sum yourself up in one short paragraph taking into account your entire history. What do you do on stage? What can we expect from a Daniel Sloss show? Oh, God. I know, it's an impossible question, but I like seeing people squirm. It's just me being a prick and justifying it. It's sort of it is, isn't it?

It's just a really, yeah, it's one of my favourite comics is Bill Burr. He's an absolute master of the fucking thing, which is basically he'll say something that, of course, you fundamentally disagree with. But then just through the way fucking comedy works, he will then spend the next five minutes bringing you over into the side. And even though obviously his point is wrong, he's able to justify it. in this silly way and in comedy

you just go that's fucking funny because you've made this awful thing sound not only viable but I also agree with you okay and that's what I really enjoy

that sort of stuff just making the audience just sort of think for a bit making them think making them think man that's lofty that's a lofty

pursuit I think it's very important to is it more important that they're laughing or thinking uh well both obviously you kind of make sure that you get laughs in

but I also can't I mean, there's some great comics that, you know, will just make you laugh for an hour and 20 minutes and be fucking solid. You know, I always sort of say, Lee Evans, when I was growing up, just made me cry, cry with laughter. And I watch it now, and I still enjoy it,

but now I'm more into the sort of like Amy Schumer or the, a lot of American comics, like do comedy that make you laugh, but at the same time, just sort of, you leave, not necessarily thinking anything different, but just putting an idea in someone's head that they've laughed during, but when they leave, they suddenly go,

I didn't, uh, I didn't think, about that before, not necessarily converting them to a way that you think, but just making them think about something that they might not have thought of before. Okay. Okay. I think is important. Yeah. So when you... I mean, I saw your show earlier this month

and your current show is called Dark. Yes. Give us the elevator pitch for your current show in the context of what you just said. The... I mean, I could literally just give you what all five jokes are about. God, tampons, relationships, drugs. sex and death.

Okay. And what would you like us to think about those things? Is it as simple as taking a line? Like take the tampons bit, for example. Talk us through the line of thinking in that bit of material. Well, that was a bit where, obviously, being a guy, it's not something I'd ever thought about with certain periods or giving a shit anything. Because if nothing directly affects me, why would I care? That's how things work. and one of my best friend in the whole word world,

Jean, it's a girl we've been best friends for about five years now. And living together and stuff, obviously living with a girl. We were talking about stuff and talking about tampons and stuff. And she was like, it's just so fucking expensive. And I'm like, well, if we should like, boo fucking who? And then she was like, no, not really boo fucking who.

Like, it's bullshit. And I was like, is it? And then she explained it to me with this whole fucking, and I was just going, oh, holy fucking shit. And so the whole bit is like how as a nation we have free health care. Cancer treatment's free. Cancer, which you cause yourself is free. Like that treatment's all free.

But yet something that just fucking happens through no choice. Because fucking Eve ate an apple two and a half thousand years ago. Like half the world now has to suffer just because some paedophiles wrote it in a book a while ago. And we all just went, sure, yeah. And I never thought about it before. And I suddenly went, that is fucking bullshit. I'd like to sort of talk about that because, and also with the tampon bit, I really enjoy that routine because I think it's in a very pretentious way. I think it's

important to hear it from a man because there's always this fucking bullshit that female comics always talk about periods and they absolutely don't. And this year, there's a lot like Tiff Stevenson, Bridget Christie, are talking about periods again, sort of reclaiming the joke. Sophie Hagan wrote an amazing blog about it. And it is important to hear it from that side of thing, but they're all so you can get all the fucking men in this and all the men very active as being like yeah they're just fucking complaining but if you hear it from me

where it sort of comes out of the blue you can sort of trick people into thinking about it and not thinking it's electric because there's nothing, I don't gain any advantage if tampons are free, doesn't do anything for me but I still disagree with the fact that they aren't free.

So yeah, thank you. I don't know if this makes sense or it's just me being really pretentious and wanky being like women should be protected that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to say is, yeah, in the past couple of years, I've had moments where I used to just,

I hate my early comedy. I fucking hate it. Okay. With every, I can't watch it. It annoys me. And it's because it was just, it was just,

people were laughing. It was good jokes. But there was no substance. What do you mean porridge? I think if porridge is being a really good food with a low glycemic index. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's exactly what I mean.

It'll get you through it. It does the job. Like there is comedy. ergo porridge comedy, you go, you laugh and it fills you up. But it's, you know, it's not delicious. It's not something that you're like, nobody goes, I can't wait for some fucking porridge. Okay.

But people were saying that about your comedy in the early years, because for the benefit of people listening at home who can't see his unbelievable skin, Daniel Sloss is very, very young. How young are you? I'm 24. You're 24 years old, and you've been doing comedy since you were... Me and my dad to argue about this.

He says 16, I say 17. Why do you argue about it? I did again when I was 16. but if you ask any of the 20 people in that audience, what I did was not comedy. Okay, okay. That's interesting. Most comics argue for having started earlier rather than later.

People like to go, oh, I'm doing this since I was 12. Because you're so close to that age still, you're like, no, no, I was definitely a grown-up. It was like three weeks before my 17th birthday as well, so it's on a technicality. I count my first gig is at the stand comedy club because it was a real fucking comedy club that's become my home since then,

so that's why I really go. That was the moment where I was on stage with a microphone in front of a full of a full, audience making them laugh. And just that little bit in the back of my head went, oh, I'm being a comedian. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Oh, I'm doing it. What the fuck? And it wasn't good. I mean, it was fine, the audience laughed, but

so since then, I was into a lot of British comedy when I was younger and then a couple of years ago I got more into sort of American comedy watching that stuff, and I really enjoyed the comics that were saying sort of stuff and raising these valid points. And then little things that would happen, like I got a tweet last year from just some 16 year old

kid saying that I was, I was the reason that he had the courage to come out to his parents. And I'd never, that blew my fucking mind. Because I'm like, all I do is go on the stage and tell dick jokes and like I can't. But, and I just, I really think what I really thought what I was doing was really unimportant.

But then just that clue was a huge, I didn't realize how big a moment that was in his life. So the fact that he got to do that, I was like, oh, that's a fucking nice feeling. Like if I can, that's what I want to do more of. So that's kind of you growing a social conscience in your comedy? Not necessarily. Maybe a bit of a social conscience, but maybe just sort of realizing that, I mean, my uncle who's a minister, said something to me in Kai Humphreys when we were out fucking getting steaming drunk one night, which was, he was like, you're the own,

silent comedians are the only public speakers that people really listen to it. Like his wife's a teacher, none of the, like half the students all listen to her. He's a minister. He's like, nobody's, people will listen to what I'm saying, but they're also hearing what they want to hear themselves. They're not asking for my opinion. They're not they don't care really what I think a lot of the time. Some of them do. Politician, nobody gives a shit, any sort of public speaker. It's just doing it because you feel that you

have to listen. Whereas we stand-up comedy, people are going out of their way or are buying tickets to watch this fucking thing and you really are allowed to talk about what. Because so much of it's about attitude. Yeah. They want to know what you think about. They want to know what you fucking think. And even if they disagree with it, they still like listening to it because, I mean, I've got jokes, I've got so many atheist jokes in my thing, but I would say at least 30

percent of my audience are religious people who know I'm just being a dick for the sake of being a dick. And why do they, why would they give a fuck? Well, I think I'm 24, I know nothing. Is that, do you think, do you see a bit of a contradiction in, in that? In terms of you, it feels like you're saying both things at the same time, like these people are, why would they care what I think? And then at the same time, you're going, people really care passionately. No, no, I stand by it. I don't understand why people care what I think, but I also think you have to take that as a, like this kid that's saying, it's happened loads of other times with other sort of situations where young audience members have sort of said that, you know,

they've, stuff I've said has really made them think, made them feel more confident and more comfortable. Hearing's a like-minded thought that they didn't think was out there really get through. And I'm not saying, I still don't understand why they care and why it affects them that way, but I kind of feel that I have to take that responsibility a little bit seriously. And don't get me wrong, like, I mean, you've seen my show, there's about two jokes in it, which are like, hey, let's really think about shit. and then the rest of it's, ah, dick jokes.

Like, it's still... You aren't very... It's interesting, you're very fond of saying that on stage, and you've mentioned it already four or five times in the last ten minutes, but you do like to remind us that ultimately you're just fucking about,

you're just an idiot. You protest on stage a lot that, hey, don't listen to me, I'm just a prick, I'm just being a prick for the sake of it. You say that a lot, and I wonder why you... How does it serve you to reinforce that idea about yourself?

Just for two reasons. Just to remind the very... very small percentage of audiences that might take it seriously, that might not be able to look at a joke that concerned something in there like, not take it seriously, not just look at it just as the joke of what it is. And also just remind myself, I don't want to fucking, I've been an arrogant prick in my lifetime and I never want to be that again. Like, it's, there's a, the fucking great story about like Julius Caesar apparently had a guy follow him around Rome whenever he was walking through the streets and everyone was shouting his name. He hired a guy

to just walk behind him being like, you're all. human, you're still a man, you're only human, you're still a man, just in shape. In the same way, you've hired Kai Humphreys. Yeah, to just remind me... All of my friends and all my family just consistently remind me that I'm a prick. But obviously the thing about the Caesar story

is obviously he then really fucked up, so clearly that guy missed his job one day. Just got too drunk one night and then the next day, Caesar was like, I'm going to run this shit! Okay, so let's talk about... You mentioned before stuff that you regret or material that you regret, the porridge, comedy,

before. What was it that you were doing on stage then and why? Why did it become porridge comedy? It might be observations that now seem obvious or stuff you weren't proud of saying, but why were you saying that at the time? What was it? Well, just it's not even necessarily what I was saying. It's just what I wasn't saying. Like, I mean, the thing about this generation as well is like a lot of my jokes, occasionally get turned into internet memes or people use them. I mean, perfect example is you look at, if you've ever seen Jim Jeffery's gun control bit. is one of those routines that went viral and rightfully so because the man just demolished an entire argument in 20 minutes one of the funniest most clever, challenging ways,

but while keeping every person who disagreed with them still very firmly on site. I've seen your routines a couple of times on Imger.com where people or Tumblr or Reddit when people have kind of cut them out and printed the text on or turn them into a GIF set. So there's, yeah, so these things are... Or GIF set if you're weird. Yeah, it's definitely GIF.

But so that stuff's always around. I get reminded of all the time. It's not like I can be like, I died on my arse five years ago. Whatever it is, do you have nothing? But whereas now it's like, oh, there's that YouTube video of you. Okay, so you're under more scrutiny. Not even from other people.

I think from myself, because I can watch it back, because I can sort of, like, I don't get to look back with nostalgia because what nostalgia is, is forgetting all the terrible bits and remembering only the good bits, but when you've got a literal video document

of what I was saying, I'm just like, I can't pretend. Can you give us an example of something you said back then that makes you cringe now? Oh, just not even, I wasn't saying it. I mean, I used to have a bit about fat people. I used to have this whole fucking routine. It was a very sort of fat, shaming fucking bit.

I mean, it was funny. But then, since then, I've completely changed my attitude on it. I've met fucking people who really made me change my mind and realize what I was saying was just being cunty for the sake of being cunty. Like, there was nothing clever about it. It wasn't challenging.

just easy, low-hanging fruit comedy. And I really regret that stuff. And there's a permanent record of it. I would hate for these kids that sit there and say that they get confidence from my stuff to then fucking in the same boat. I would hate for a fucking 15-year-old kid who is struggling with weight issues to be a fan of mine and then see me doing this stuff about fat people and then think it's an attack on them and then feel bad.

That's the opposite I've wanted to do. We're comedians. We want to make people laugh. Like that's it. I do not want to make people sad. I don't mind making some people sad. Like if you're religious, couldn't give a shit. Like, I'll happily, your people have done enough.

On that subject, it's not solely on that subject, but are you ever, do you ever, are you ever concerned about, given that you're kind of growing up as a comedian and as a man in the public eye, in a way in which you're like, I would have, I probably thought terrible shit things when I was 18, 19, no one was making gift sets of them. Yeah. So I'm really glad. I talked to, we talked to May Martin about this the other night,

as she started when she was very, very young, well, it's 13, 14. and I'm just wondering, are you concerned that in the same way that you would look back on that stuff now, are you concerned about things like just off the top of my head? You've got lots of atheism stuff. You've got lots of jokes where people who have a faith are the butt of the joke. Yeah. Do you ever kind of think, oh, maybe in 10 years or 15 years, you might find yourself having a similar, oh, actually I was sort of being childish about that.

I was probably hurting people's feelings. Yeah, probably. But two things I was, if my sort of logic with comedy, is if the 27-year-old version of me doesn't hate the 24-year-old version of me, I haven't improved as a comic. I want my 30-year-old self to look at the stuff I'm doing right now and be like, oh, fuck, what a pile of shit that was. That's a great attitude.

Because that means I fucking improve. I want to hate myself as much as I hate the 18-year-old myself because that, to me, shows progress. And that presumably gives you a lot of license at the moment. You don't, I mean, do you spend any... time worrying about what you're going to say? Or do you just go, I'm just going to face plant into it, go for it, because if me in the future doesn't like it, then that's what I'm aiming for.

Yeah, yeah, I'm just, I'm saying what's on my head, like, I mean, it's the great George Carlin quote of, I don't know if it's a quote, but it was basically his mantra that Louis C.K. talked about was that as a comedian, you have to tear a, you have to reveal yourself to the audience and then do that stuff and reveal who are. And then once that's done, you have to tear off another layer and reveal. that and you just keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. So, I mean, you talk about the religious stuff. That's me lashing outwards as opposed to lashing inwards.

And it is something I do. But for me, with religion as well, the reason it's such a big part of my life is because I did grow up in a sort of slightly religious family. And it does infuriate me. I mean, I'm fully aware that, you know, 80% of the religious people on this planet are beautiful, lovely people, my entire family, the people I meet at gigs. And that's what I mean when I'm always saying, like, I'm just being a dick. I want these people to understand.

that I know I'm attacking a part of religion that very few of you represent. Like when I'm on stage being like, oh, you know, like all this, I call it my promosexual material, my pro-gay material. I don't think the room really appreciated the word promosexual. I just wanted to repeat that. Deserved more. But that's what I'm fully aware that when I'm talking about pro-gay rights

and I'm bringing religion into it, most religious people are not. My uncle was one of the first ministers in Scotland too. marry gay people. Like it was something that he really fucking pushed for. So I'm not talking about him when I'm talking about religion. I'm talking about this fucking thing. That's why I sort of back it up with when I am attacking

religion by saying, just so you know, I know it's not you. I don't want people when I say I hate Christians to think I hate them all. It's just to make a joke, succinct you've really got shortened bits down. I don't want to have to fucking explain myself every couple of seconds.

I remember talking to Milton Jones on this podcast a couple of years ago about about the need for a one-liner comic to try and bang out the material fast enough and bang out the material. In order to make the, as you say, just to make the writing succinct so that people see the picture fast enough

to get the joke, he sometimes has to fall back on stereotypes. Yeah. In a way that actually he sort of knows that people aren't really in as simple, in categories as simple as that. Yeah. So you have a similar issue,

even though your stuff is much longer form. Yeah, I mean, it's very easy to fucking take comedy literally. Like, I mean, it's one of the, think, I mean, you can take jokes out of context and people regularly do. Like, Frankie Boyle's always attack for saying this, like, always offensive for the sake of being offensive.

No, he's not. He's talking about offensive things, and he's putting them in a manner in just a way to pitch it of just to make you fucking thinking. Yeah, people get shocked, and you're like, no, but good. You were meant, he's not trying to offend people

for the sake of offending people. He's just talking about stuff and pitching it in a way that some people do think. And it's one of those things people forget. You got, remember, a lot of time when a comedian is on stage talking about these stuff, they're not necessarily saying what they personally

are thinking. Sometimes, I mean, I do it as well. I play a character at some points when I play the idiot. So, in order to make people realize how stupid an argument is, instead of breaking that argument down and being like, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. A better way to break down the argument is to be the idiot, to be like,

I think this, and do-da-da-da-da. Because then people would be like, oh, what a fucking moron. Are you... Yeah, you can do that. Certainly, I understand. You can put yourself in the shoes of a cartoon stupid version of someone that disagrees with you. But then also when you say you play the idiot, let's talk about that in terms of your persona. Like you're not entirely yourself on stage.

Are you? Or which one are you saying? Well, I think a mixture of both. I don't think anyone really is themselves on stage because no one is sort of on that much. But I think the key to being a good comic is being the closest version to yourself it was not gag, gag, gag, gag, gag,

because when we're talking in conversation I'm not going to set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline, set up, punchline... You often are not? I mean, I really... I need people's approval desperately. And it's delightful. But you just sort of have to keep it... You just sort of have to keep it going

in that way of talking... I've completely... ...no, we were talking about your persona. I'm sorry, I see you there by interrupting in order to score a point. My persona on stage is very arrogant. At the start as well I really enjoyed that

You go hard at the top don't you Sorry don't let me interrupt go on No no no I do I really enjoy that I've always had this thing about Whenever I go on stage I never say hello to the audience I want to do is always take the microphone out of the stand Put the stand over there and leave sort of five seconds

And just in my head I don't know if it's true but I'm like That's me psychologically marking my territory I'm just on stage being like This is where I own this is mine Just so you know I'm comfortable here I belong here Let's fucking do this shit together

You know what? It sounds like a simple thing But I think that's incredibly powerful Because something I mean I've seen you at the comedy store in London It's maybe two years ago When you were 22 And I thought holy shit

He's commanding this room Whereas most 22 year olds I know They'd They wouldn't think of doing it And if they did They'd be panicking their way through it You have an incredible amount of presence Like if yeah

It's and that to me came from Not any of my own experience It was Tom Stade I wrote with I still sort of write with State occasionally he lives down the road but I was always a massive fan of State because State has this comic who

is naturally funny, just does these bits where that, you look at State's bits, there's no punch lines, there's no bits where you go that's funny because it's just that... It wouldn't work written down, it's him. It wouldn't work written down, which is exactly what I think a lot of good comedy is. I think the sound of a good comedian is if you see their show and then you try to repeat

the jokes to your friends, your friends are just like sound shit. And you're like, no, no, but it's better when he does it. And his big thing was happened. It was last year's show, actually. He came to my preview and I did what I always do was just go in, take the microphone stand, put the stand there, and I go, hello, what I've always said since I started comedy, hello, how are we

all? We're doing well. My mum and dad make jokes about it all the time. I've said every fucking kick I've ever had in my life and stayed last year, just went, Dado, stop asking the audience how they are. And I was like, why he goes, because you don't care. Yeah, right. And not in a way, it's like, you don't care how they're doing at the time because none of that matter.

Whatever's happened to them before, none of that matters. What matters is about how you're about to make them feel. Anything prior to them going and say, doesn't fucking matter. Steyas said the same thing to me. Take out all the questions. Don't give them fucking up. And he was just like, go on there and don't apologize. Just be there, be fucking brazen and be confident.

And make them laugh at your confidence. Like, it's fine for them to see me being this arrogant fucking asshole. But that's why you do the fucking cheek of, little smirk. That's why occasionally you drop out the character and be like, look, I'm fully aware I'm talking shite. And then you go back and into it just to sort of remind people that, because I'm very confident on stage sort of always

has been, but I like to remind people that I'm still fucking terrified. And I'm still not necessarily of being on stage because I really love doing it, but just sort of, I'm always conscious about everyone in the audience, you know, that standard thing as a comic, you can always see the one person that isn't laughing. That's why whenever I do gigs, I'm just like, as much lights on

I don't, I never want to see my audience. Like, this is awful for me. Like, you'll notice I'm not looking at any of you at any point, because I'll just, even if people are enjoying it, people enjoy things in different ways. You've got the loud, big, belly, fucking open laughter. But then you've got people that, I mean, and I'm one of them as well.

I'll watch comedy and love it, but I won't laugh all the way through. Yes, yes. If I were to see my own face in a crowd, I would be dying to myself. I would be like, God, that guy's a fucking prick. Jesus. Let's talk about your material. let's talk about something that I noticed you are particularly, you have a particular facility for,

is finding the kind of the internal paradox in a subject. You're really good at those sort of jokes. I made a note of one. Like when we were talking about the tampons material before, you could boil it down to if tampons are a luxury item, then buy them for your girlfriend's birthday. Yeah. Which is like a really,

like you really simplified that very positive argument of yours of tampons should be free. Yep. Because you can't have an argument. argument they're a luxury item because if they are a luxury item then buy them for your girlfriend's birthday say it's all present material it's all I was joking

I didn't understand what you said okay that's fine she's seen the show yeah yeah absolutely so like all your your attitude one of a bit of material about religion you talk about the gay bashing wizard in the sky and then you pause and I I was thinking if you're you did a bit of material about if you're thanking God for things then you have to blame him

yeah yeah the bit was like if you've spent all this time on Christmas getting all this stuff ready for your kids making this day so special and then your kids get all the stuff and then spend the rest of the day thanking Santa you know that disappointment that parents feel in that moment

that's exactly how doctors feel whenever you thank God that's great let's just isolate that bit for a sec because what I'm interested in knowing is how you go about finding those parallels are those things that just occur to you or are they things that you chip away through a process of writing because that is really

succinct as your words from earlier on you that's bank that's the whole concept it's fast enough that's why we're laughing it's satisfying enough it's a really good joke so tell us how you got to specifically that one uh that one i I've made kai were on tour and that joke I think honestly started out as a tweet

where I just did that little line that like oh that's exactly how doctors feel okay so pre-tweet so just but I can't even remember how it just sort of came up like I do it was me and kai in the car so it's just two of us just for people Kai Humphreys is one of my best friends He's my support act on tour

Has been for about five years now He is awesome He's a fucking great comic He and that's the reason A lot of a lot He's your kind of best friend support act And minder Yeah exactly yeah

No I'm definitely his minder That's the thing I was like Our agent whenever we're on tour We'll always go to Kai I've been like just take care of Daniel And he's like you are aware That I'm the reprimate Yeah

Like I'm the one at the end And I'd be like Guy we should fuck you have to drive tomorrow Let's fucking end this And I should say, I've meant to mention this on the show before, but the podcast owes a debt of gratitude to Kai Humphreys for steering Tony Law towards the interview that I did with him a couple of years ago. Oh, really? Okay.

Because Kai was on his way to that. So, so I remember this. And so I'm walking the long direction. Yeah, do you go on. Well, I think was talking about stuff. So I obviously think about religion a lot because every now and again, something will come up in the papers and I'll get angry.

A lot of my comedy just become from being angry at stuff and then being just angry and shouting about something doesn't help. my father's a very logical man and he can get you around to his way of thinking by just destroying your argument and I kind of sort of picked out I really enjoyed it like I would feel stupid in front of my dad because he would just break down all these stupid things I was saying

and get rid of it so I really picked up on that and does he still do that does he watch your shows and pick holes in your performance logic my parents come to all my previews because they're two viciously intelligent human beings who love stand-up comedy like really love. I've loved it before I was born, loved stand-up comedy. So they...

Can you imagine that? They loved it even before you. I know. I completely understood what you meant. I could have sworn nothing existed before I was born. Just avoid. I came in and then the world started, right guys? Right guys? You're all simulations. Yeah, so I've always got this content voice in my head.

I've ever got the battle in my head of my... mother and my father who are disgustingly in love with each other after 30 years. The two of the most loving support of parents she'll ever meet in the world. But my mother's is very happy. He wants everyone to be loving and friendly and funny doesn't like upsetting people. My father just likes being right. He enjoys logic. So that sort of, I think, really helped because if I was just my dad, I would just be

on stage just shouting opinions and pointing at an audience and I'd be right, but I wouldn't be being funny with it. But with my mother there as well, just wanting. wanting this ever-lasting need of people to love me. I'm like, I want to be right, but I want you to join me while I'm big. Let's all be right together, guys. Come on. Okay, that's fascinated, because that makes a lot of sense,

because your work is very charming, and it's also pretty rigorous in terms of its line of argument. So you were saying about that specific joke. There was something you were just chatting about, with kind of, think about it a lot. I think something must have happened in the paper to do with religion, and I would have just gone off on one. I'm known for fucking ranting, just a friend.

about stuff and my parents all i will phone my mother up and just if something piss me like and will shout down the phone hour for 15 it's got nothing to do with her she just she'll just say it at the other end just being like yeah okay yeah love just in her head being like how did i make such an angry fucking child like how did i raise my mom said to me something i don't know how i raised someone so filled with hate um because cracking review mom yeah no she loves me like i was i was a horrible teenager I had some, I fully believe if I didn't get into comedy, I probably could have ran for UKIP. Go on.

Oh, I just, when I was, I was just, I was naive, I was young, I didn't think anything, none of it, I say UKIP, none of it was racist, but it was just very narrow-minded things that a self-centered teenager would think. I thought I knew everything in the world. I thought everyone else was wrong. I got angry about stupid things that didn't matter. And my mom would just be like, why do you care?

Like, why do you care about these things that don't, me, you complain about religion all the time. When is religion? affected you directly. The answer is never. But then I'm like, well, that's not the point. Religion does affect other people. Like, I mean, it's a...

Yeah, it does affect other people, but it's interesting that if it doesn't affect you or hasn't affected you directly, to what extent are you... To what extent is the basis of your early comedy, sort of you throwing a tantrum. Do you what I mean? Given that you were a teenage comedian

and a very successful one, to what extent is, was that comedy born of teenagerness? That whole kind of, what are you, I'm rebelling against anything you've got kind of thing? Absolutely. That was, it was just, I mean, it wasn't even rebellion. Like, I used to have a bit in my routine about my parents, I shouldn't be a comedian

because I have two loving parents, like who really support. My dad once drove me and Mark Nelson, another comic, 200 miles down to Nottingham so we could both do a five-minute spot at Glee and then drove us up back home that night and then went to work at 9 in the morning. That's a round of applause for Daniel's dad.

Good work, Dad. I mean, other comics have parents that are, you know, drug addicts, abusive, you know, dead. They've got all these issues. My parents are the most disgustingly, offensively supportive people in the world. So, like, the fact that they made me is surveill. I didn't have anything to rebel against.

My parents were accepting of everything I ever did. So I honestly don't understand where the rebellion comes. Do you have any theories? You say you don't understand it, but that is, that's a really interesting question at the heart of you. What are you angry about?

I think I'm just, I'm fully aware of how lucky I am. People can fucking say all the time, well, you know, you're a hard worker, you're a good comic. I put very little of my success of my career down to myself. It's a mixture of my parents,

my friends, my agent, the support of other comics, the fact that I was young and arguably attractive, so I was given breaks on TV that I think other comics would have been more deserving of,

but I was given it because I was a box ticker. And I, I mean, it's only in the past year that I've ever felt comfortable in green rooms because before I did feel like a fucking imposter. So that's when I really sort of changed my comedy. That's when you want to make the difference from porridge to talking about something

was I felt bad, just doing nothing with it. I wanted to feel comfortable in green rooms. I was sick of being called a teenage comic and a young comic, I'm not a young comic I'm a comic that happens to be young I'm a comic first that's what was always important I want to be a fucking comedian

And that must be difficult because the branding decisions that you've made or have been made on your behalf is like in the program this year You're still half man half Xbox A line my mother came up with Yeah Is that beginning to are you keen to shed that now

Or are you aware that you still have to Like in away from the green room environment You still need to pitch yourself as The comedy teenager? No I mean I'm still. I'm still young. I don't talk about being young anymore because it's not...

I mean, I've done on my young material that was a layer that I've stripped off. I don't need to talk about being young anymore. I think just... Yeah, as I just sort of went on with comedy, I wanted respect of older comics and not just because I didn't want to feel left out, but because these were comics I liked.

These were comics I found funny. And I, you know, when I did a... I did Conan one of the times, the day after the guy booking it was like, oh, Bill Burr's on tomorrow, do you want to come in and watch him? I'm like, fucking, I'm straight in there.

So I get in the next day, and he's like, join me to introduce to Bill? I'm like, if you introduce me to Bill Burr, I'm going to punch him in the fucking mouth because I don't want to be introduced to him as like, oh, this is Daniel. He's also a comedian. If I meet him, I want it to be where we're on the same fucking,

I meet him because we're sharing a bill. I meet him in a same where he meets me as a comic, not as a fucking fan. Yeah, I'm going to clip this bit out and email it to him. Yeah, okay. I mean, I can do it. He follows me into her.

So, yeah. But yeah, I mean, respect was always something I really... But wait, I get it. But what are your... It's a terrible thing to say it. I get it. Yeah, everything you think I get it. I want to stay with the idea of the anger.

You wanted respect from green rooms, understood. Yeah, so I wanted to do comedy that comics liked. I mean, that to me is a big thing that I've... For this really boosted me in the past couple of years is, Over the past, more and more comics have been coming to my show. And that's when I'm like, now I'm on to fucking something. Because audiences are fucking great, and those are the people that you're there to laugh, but they do not understand comedy, unless you diehard comedy fans, obviously.

But, you know, the ones that go see two, three shows of festival, two three shows a year, one show a year, first show ever. They don't know as much about comedy. So they can say, oh, it's great. And you're like, yeah, but of course you've not seen all the stuff I've seen. It's very easy to be like, this is the best pizza I've ever tasted. Where have you had pizza before? Never in my life.

Like, of course, it's the... You've never had it before. Whereas that's why you go to experts. Now, I don't consider reviewers' experts. I consider people, you know, agents, managers, fucking sound techs at gigs. Yeah. Our opinions I rate higher than a lot of people.

I would rate anyone who's done sound at the glee, Tim, for years and years, way more than I would ever rate the opinion of any reviewer ever. Because that's a man who's watched thousands of hours of comedy to every single type of audience. And not just to get free tickets to shows and not just try and get a portfolio

to prove that they're able to critique things and for the rest of the year he's still involved in comedy. 90% of critics during the fringe are not comedy critics for the rest of the year. Do you let critics into your shows? No, but there was basically people were like Oh, Sloss banned reviewers from his show. I didn't. I stopped making tickets free

and then none of them showed up. Like if you ever need to know the integrity of comedy critics, that's it. Okay. A one round of applaud. Good. Very good. From Kate Cobbstick. That's weird. It's weird that she came to the...

There she is, yeah. Before we just move on to the next, I've got lots of other stuff to ask you, and time is limited. But... Anger. Anger. I think it... I don't know where the inner anger comes from. The pre... the stuff your mum's talking about. You were such an angry kid.

Why are you said, an angry kid, I don't get it, says your mum. Yeah. I think it was... I've always been, I've been very aware, I've always felt like an impostor. I want to sort of fit in, but also, I've been very... I'm white, middle class and male. Like, life's been a fucking breeze. Like, I've never suffered any sort of real prejudice

or any sort of that. I've never had any of that. And I... It doesn't mean, okay, you've checked your privilege. Yeah, but just, I think it's... just because I've never suffered injustice doesn't mean injustice still doesn't fuck me off to such a fucking level. I've always been against injustice. So one of the things that to this day still destroys me

is I cannot handle homeless people. Like, it just whenever it destroys me because normally I think when parents and kids see a homeless person and the kid goes, what's that? They're like, oh, he's a drug addict or he's an alcoholic. I remember the first time I was a homeless person. I went, well, what was that? I mean, I was just like, he's just, things clearly went wrong in his life.

Some bad stuff we'll never know. But now he's just there. And I just been like, that's unfair. And she was like, yep, like things are unfair. And growing up in the things where I, nothing was ever unfair to me. So I kind of felt bad. Did you feel guilty? Yeah, I feel absolutely.

And I still do feel fucking guilty about, I mean, not necessarily guilty because it's a fucking breeze, guys. But just, I don't know. I just, I really want to. everyone to be as sort of happy as I am. And if they're not, I'm like, well, let's fucking do it together. Like, yeah, I want people to share the same experiences that I share. And if they're not, I want them to let them, like, you know, I'm on your side or doing everything. I mean, that might sound wanky and shitebox, but I don't know if that makes any sense.

No, no, no, it does. It does, absolutely. And it seems to me that that anger is effectively rooted in a kind of vulnerability. Like you're very sensitive. You're very empathic. Would you say? You sort of see a homeless person. I mean, you're, and I, it's very difficult for.

me not to place it in the context of your age again. I'm 14 years older than you and I remember in my early 20s really struggling with that issue and me like it like the crushing unfairness of the world how am I allowed to be happy and I suppose rather than get angry about it I kind of got really sad about it and it's it's kind of interesting to well I think the thing is I don't like sadness I don't react I mean I'm so fucking I only let myself cry once a year like I don't like that side of my emotions. So maybe it was anytime I felt sadness, I

turned it into anger because I could harness anger. So at the end of my show this year is about a sister that passed away when I was nine and she was seven and I remember before that I was, it wasn't religious but I was religious because I'd been raised religious. Dad had always been an atheist.

But when my sister died I just remember being at a fucking church service and just people being like, oh, you know, she's with the Lord and I'm just sitting and going that guy's a fucking cunt like there was no need to like and then just suddenly going

there's no way any of that but I'm still being told by fucking adults and all the sadness that was there and all the sadness and other stuff instead of just turning into sadness which I may wrongly interpret as weak and you can't I mean you can't really harness sadness or at least I can't harness sadness

into something useful but I can harness anger into something that fills me with passion and passion to talk about stuff. I mean, I don't know if that is the case. It's literally the first time I've ever thought about it. But I think maybe I've always been comfortable with anger because that's something that I got up with I was angry.

But if I'm sad, I just fucking sit down and I go too into my own head. Thank you. Thank you. That's a really good answer. Was it? I feel like I just talked. It was sort of both. No, I'm joking. No, I really appreciate it. I want to talk to you more about,

we've got very limited. Oh, Christ. We've got almost no time. Sorry, I was enjoying that, and I have not kept an correct eye on the clock. Let me ask one more question. We've probably got time for one audience question. If anyone has any burning desires,

I will ask one quickly first. It's so funny trying to make notes, trying to read my notes that I made during your show. The, given that you are a younger comic, do you, and probably a lot of, you know, maybe something like 50, 60, 70% of the comedy circuit would look, you know, in a green room,

kind of go, oh, this young guy, they must presumably, even at the tender age of 24, are you looking around going, oh, there are some younger comics creeping up on me? No, not, not creeping up. I mean, I wish that was my sort of thing. It's way cuntier than that. Like, it was a gilded balloon loft bar the other day, like one in the morning. And so you think if any finals, sorry, semifinals were on, and there was this group of comics at a table, and they were like,

and Elliot Steele, one of my friends just went, oh, they're, these guys were all in this so you think you're funny. I'm like, how old are you on? I'm like, oh, you know, 21, 19, whatever. And I just did it. and I was like, this is the first time I've ever been older than all of the comics. I'm going to be as condescending to you guys

as my entire career has been up until this. So I sat down with him, I went, the thing to remember kids, it's none of the smart, it's a bit, blah, blah, and I just started spouting as if I knew everything in the world. I love, I, yeah, seeing the young comics is, the thing I always say is,

I love, I'm like, just fucking keep going. It's why I keep saying to anyone that wants to do comedy is the one thing I constantly hear from other comics, older comics, amazing comics, is one of the big regrets that keeps coming up is I wish I started younger. And that's one thing I, I'm so fucking glad I did start at 16, 17,

because, you know, I didn't want to do my first friend show. I did it when I was 18. My agent talked me into it. She was like, just get it done. And it was shit. It wasn't a great show. But you know who remembers it? Fucking no one.

nobody was there you mean that in a good way no I mean it in a great way I got that fucking hour nobody remembers it second hour no one remembers the third hour no one remembers

but now I'm 24 and this is my seventh hour show at the fucking festival and I'm just like and I'm so thankful that my agent forced me into that move and that I did start young so just fucking do it

because you got to remember none of it's going to matter when you just keep unless you die and when that's the only memory left of you in which case but fuck it you're dead who cares but if you keep going nobody's going to remember the old stuff in fact it's going to turn into a bit where i mean i hope when i'm 35 i can look at my old stand up and laugh yes at it but i can't do it now because it's still too close yes okay okay

um i have one final question then we must get out because we're uh we're in danger of overrunning i just wanted to ask about strategy because your agent malena a very smart lady yes and uh i've got a lot of respect for her. She's great. She, well, I don't know how much of it is her, how much of it is your decisions. I'm just interested in just getting a quick look at the plan. There's obviously been Edinburgh hour, another Edinburgh hour, bigger room, bigger room, biting off more than you can chew in terms of the size of the rooms? Well, the room hasn't changed in four years now, so I've been in the same room for four years now and I'm happy to stay there for the rest of it. If I do Edinburgh every year, I'm never, I really never want to leave the ICC or that room.

I love it. It's a nice size. It's pretty posh. Enormous dressing room, as I saw. You could properly run around that bathroom. And the staff, they really give a fuck. They really, really give a fuck. So what sorts of things then, finally, are you...

As you mentioned, you've done Conan. You've started to break into American TV. You've done a fair bit of TV over here. What sorts of things do you turn down and why? Okay, so when I was 18... I got a lot of breaks. I did like 8 or 10 cats and McIndor's Road Show and the Rob Brydon show. I got all these sort of stand-up things, which I'm internally grateful for because they got me out there. They got me known and they got me sort of big enough that I could tour.

And then I got like a, I got very lucky I got a DVD deal when I was 21 that allowed me to put a down payment on a house. And when I got that house and I've lived there since my main focus has. has just been to put every fucking penny I earn into the house so I can pay off as quickly as possible because that way if comedy goes wrong, I'll never be homeless. But because of that thing, and this is purely, this is a very privileged thing.

Because I got that opportunity, I had security, so I managed to take a step back and make decisions that I wanted to make. I wasn't doing things. I mean, I got offered, like, Splash, the fucking diving show. Yeah. I got offered all those who are weird. There's some panel shows which are great,

but I just, I don't do well on panel shows. I'm just not that type of comic. I'm a pinch. I just talk shit. It's not gag, gag, gag. And I see them and, you know, I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to be famous for the sake of being famous. I took a step back. And, I mean, that's the amazing thing about my agent, is I just said to her, I went, I don't want to do that. And there was no push. There was no this.

She just went, right, what do you want? I was like, look, I just want to be one of the best stand-ups in the world. that's what I want to work towards. And she went, right. And ever since then, all her thing has been stand upon opportunities. Any TV I turned down isn't because I don't like,

I don't respect the TV show, and it's not because I don't respect the comics on the show, but it's just because I personally don't want to be known for that. I want to, I don't want to be famous for the sake of being famous. I would rather less people knew me for being good than more people knew me,

just for fucking knowing me. I think fame should be a by-profit, of being excellent at what you do, not just, I can do it a bit. So I really, and I was lucky enough to make these fucking decisions, and I'm really glad I did. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, all I will say finally is that at Latitude Festival this year, Daniel Urinated on my rucksack. Didn't happen, it's a lie.

Daniel Sloss. Give it up for Daniel Sloss. Thank you so much. That was Daniel. His latest special, Kant, is streaming at Danielsloss.com. I think that's the mark of someone who really is too big for the industry to fit anymore when you're streaming your own special at your website. You can also keep up to date with Daniel on Instagram at Daniel Sloss. I hope he's going to come back on the show soon. He's got a new tour on the go and I'm hoping to get him back on. And we can look back over the last gasp 11 years.

You can also find out how to see me live at Stuartgoldsmith.com slash comedy. Autumn tour coming up soon plus of course Edinburgh Fringe doings. Stuartgoldsmith.com slash comedy. back at you soon with another episode and another re-release.