The Comedian's Comedian Podcast - Reggie Watts

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Episode 500… I'm joined by REGGIE WATTS! His work sits right on the fault line between music and comedy using looping pedals, his voice, and a huge amount of imagination to create shows that are completely unique every night. Whether it’s being bandleader on The Late Late Show with James Corden, featuring on Comedy Bang! Bang!, embarking on worldwide sold-out tours or DJing the Emmys, Reggie’s career has been defined by doing things his own way. We discuss:the struggles with creating true improv for televisioncreating his The Late Late Show with James Corden role on his own termsthe frustration with being underused on Comedy Bang! Bang!why no two Reggie Watts shows are ever the sameand how smaller teams make braver workJoin the Insiders Club at patreon.com/comcompod where you can instantly WATCH the full episode and get access to 30 minutes of exclusive extras including:the tools Reggie uses to stay present in performancewhy AI’s survival depends on a thriving planetand embracing discoveries on-stage👉 Sign up to the NEW 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✅ 30 minutes of exclusive extra content with Reggie✅ Early access to new episodes where possible✅ Exclusive membership offerings including a monthly “Stu&A”PLUS you’ll get access to the full back catalogue of extras you can find nowhere else!Catch Up with Reggie: Reggie's latest special, Live From the Berghain, is now available on YouTube. For more info inc upcoming live shows, visit reggie-watts.com.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is one of 500 podcasts from comedianscommodian.commodion.com. Hello there and welcome back to the show. Today I'm talking to Reggie Watts, but this is a pretty special episode of the show, not just because Reggie Watts is a comic and musical and creative genius, but because this is episode 500. I suppose the polite, the British thing to do would be to talk about that afterwards. So I'll tell you more about what it means to me that this is the 500th episode of this podcast after we do all the Reggie stuff. How's about that? So that was incidentally, thank you, Kim Belukovic for the original voice of the This is a podcast from Comedianscomcom person, my old housemate and dear friend Kim.

So thank you very much to her. And let's get stuck in. Reggie Watts is born in Germany, raised in Montana, as you can find out all about his his early life in his incredible book, which we'll shout out later on as well, and currently residing, I believe, in Los Angeles. He is genuinely a one-of-a-kind performer. And I, when I first saw him live at South by Southwest a few years ago, as I almost certainly will say to him in the beginning of this interview, I felt like my brain was melting out from between my ears because I just didn't know what he does is a thing that anyone could do. Comedy is a broad. Comedy is a

Church and he occupies sort of seemingly the entire breadth of it. His work sits on the fault line, I would say, between music and comedy using loop pedals, his voice and an enormous amount of imagination, creating a show that is literally unique every night. And lots of people think that's how comedy works, but it really isn't in all but very few cases. We are, we're going to talk about being band leader on the late late show with James Corden. We'll talk about featuring on Comedy Bang Bang in the TV show. We'll talk about his sold out worldwide tours or DJing the Emmys. He's done so much and his career has been completely defined by doing things his own way. So in the first half, we'll talk about how television struggles with what to do with improvisers.

We'll talk about why no two Reggie Watts shows are ever the same. We'll talk about avoiding overthinking creativity and why smaller teams make braver work. So we'll get into all of that in just a second, as we celebrate episode 500, there has never been a better time to support this independently produced podcast. Podcasts these days, I mean, ten a penny isn't the right, you know, it's like laugh a minute, it's not nearly enough. There are so many podcasts, and so many of them are produced by big creative teams or with a budget or at the behest of producers. I don't know, I don't even know what independently produced means, but I can tell you there are three of us. There's me, there's producer Callum, and then there's Susie Lewis who does

the logging for us. And that's it. There are some other people have been very deeply involved along the way, but that is it. That's the entire team. And it's hard to imagine a more independent way of producing a podcast other than the early days in which this was literally just me 13 or 14 years ago. And when I would have recorded this blurb, audio only, and under my duvet at my flat in East Dulwich in an attempt to deaden the sound. So, without further ado, well, with only this bit of further ado, if you would like to support the show, we would love that. It's £3 a month from £3 a month to give you access to instant ad-free content,

the full video of the episodes, the episodes that have video, which is well over 100 of the 500, well over that now. I don't know how many. We should know, and then I could tell you. But hey, that's independent production. And you get 20 minutes of exclusive extra content with Reggie. You get a very special episode 500 stew-and-a on the Patreon. You get regular monthly stew-and-a.

It's a Q&A with me in it. And we've got a very special guest interviewing me for the episode 500 one. And you also get a lovely, warm, fuzzy feeling. So please go to patreon.com.com. And support the Comedian Podcast and help us make this the year of episode 510. 500 and sort of alarums and what have you. That's quite enough of that. Here is the master craftsman that is Reggie Watts.

Welcome to the show, Reggie Watts. Thank you. So great to have you here. Thank you. It's my pleasure. I want to start by doing a thing that I often forget to do, which is kind of setting up for the listener or the viewer, who you are and what you do.

You are super famous in a kind of cult way, do you think? Oh, maybe. I also don't know how to drink. I mean, I guess, I don't know. I don't really know how to measure it. It's really crazy. It's like I just feel like I've been doing what I've been doing. Yeah.

And there are people that know of me. And like I, you know, once in a while, someone comes up and says really something really sweet. And so that's about the level. But I know, I mean, I definitely on occasion, I mean, like, I do get access to bigger things. And so that, like, but that to me just feels like I've just been doing it long enough but I have access.

Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, yeah. And we're here, we're backstage at Soho Theatre, where I saw you perform last night, which is incredible. And I want to start with that. But first, I also want to float your book, which I read over the last week. And I often will start the autobiographies of guests that I have on the show.

And I have never finished one, apart from yours, which was so fucking good, man. Oh, thank you. It's so good. But terrible from a research podcast perspective, because it stops when you get into, comedy and I was like, oh no, I've gone out of time for my research now and I've read everything. So I feel like I'm incredibly well versed on this really vivid picture of your childhood and

your upbringing, your teenage gangs and flirtations with exciting crimes that are cleverly redacted for this. Yes, yes. So we'll get onto the book as well. But let's start with the show last night. I loved it. How was it for you? How was it as a, like what was your experience of that and how does it rate amongst in your in your in your ovra yeah uh i mean it feels i guess yeah i mean it felt it felt i was a little nervous but my opener amma is so good she's so great is it dallenberg uh it's dallenberg but now i'm like i was saying dallenberg or is a dollenberg but i oh it's probably pretty she's pretty i don't know where in america she's oh she did say minnesota dot dallas she would probably say dahlendberg i guess she would say dahlendberg

is less U.S., but I think Dallenberg is probably what people say the most. I met her briefly afterwards, and I said to her, as I thought when she was on, it was one of the most authentic sets from an opener that I've ever seen. It was just, it was almost like she deliberately didn't affect any sort of comedy, it's kind of, um, pizzazz. She's just, exactly, yeah, it was just super, super authentic. Great start. Yeah, she's, um, yeah, she's, I saw her.

I did a show in Minnesota. She was the opener and my partner, Catherine, actually found her. And I was like, oh, we should get her. I was like, I looked at her stuff and I was like, yeah, it seems so cool. And she's just such a natural. She's so young, too. She's 25 and she's like so natural, I're comfortable on stage. And so I love that vibe.

And I thought it would be perfect for her because she was like, I have a plane ticket. Because I was thinking, like, maybe she could open for me. She's like, well, I do have an extra saved plane ticket that I can used to get to Europe. And I was like, well, just come and do the shows. And so she's doing these two shows and then she's doing a show in Berlin. Yeah. Okay. So you were saying, so you were super nervous at the beginning of the show?

Yeah, I was super nervous. But Emma did such an amazing job. And that kind of put me at ease. And then I, yeah, no, I went on. And it was like mostly on. There were definitely moments where I was like, what am I doing right now? You know, like there were some of those. Especially what I was like talking about Star Wars because it was like,

a lot that I wanted to talk about, about Star Wars. There was several pockets who really were there for all the Star Wars chat, but I did get a sense. Really? Yes. Some of the audience, let's say a majority of the audience were a bit like, really more Star Wars. Yeah, it's like, I know. I know, and it's like, and it was hard because, like, you know, I hadn't really talked

about Star Wars that much on stage. And so I was excited to be like, oh, shit. Oh, and I used to, and I thought that. And I've, oh, and I've noticed that. And I want to talk about that. You know, so that was cool. I think that there's something there. I just need to figure out to condense it.

But that was really kind of the only part. Everything else was pretty rad, felt good, still trying to figure out how to kind of impart some wisdom things and humanity things in there, you know. Yeah, that was interesting, actually. That wasn't something I'd seen you do previously. Like, I first saw you live at South by Southwest year or two ago. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And we sat together in the wings and watched Eddie Peppertone. And then, which is just always an education. And then I sat and had this incredible privilege of being like six feet away from the stage. Well, you did, and I said this to you afterwards. It's hard not to gush under these circumstances. But I felt like I was a teenager at the Edinburgh Festival for the first time.

I had never seen anyone do what you do. And I felt like my brain was melting out of my head. It was so good. Because for people who are less familiar with you, you do something that I don't think anyone else does. did they? I've seen people with loop pedals. I've seen, obviously, singers and musicians,

and I've seen freestylers, I've seen beatboxes, and I've seen comedians, and I've seen very few genuinely improvising comedians, but you are all of those things. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, there's like some people that kind of hover in that zone.

I mean, Mark Rebier-ish, but he's a little bit more... Oh, I know, Rebier, I've just spelled that in my head. Yeah, that guy. I've seen him on Instagram, and he does kind of... So he's improvising when he puts those things together. He's improvising, looping, but I think he's more music. It's kind of like, kind of like maniacal, you know, musical, like kind of loving but aggressive attacks, you know, on the audience. And it's more of like almost like a wild party, you know, like a rave almost.

And so it's got some of the ingredients, but mine obviously I can take it down to really chill levels and like talk very, you know, smallly, but then I can also get on gear and, and, you know, do something that sounds really, really big, you know, and so, yeah, I mean, I guess there's just not there. And there's some people that have like similar kind of, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I guess, I guess, yeah, and so probably like, I've been doing what I've been doing so long and it's very much what I do. So it's all I know, but, you know. And there is, there's this big question for me, the first question which kind of branches off into loads of other stuff I'm going to talk about. And the big question is my assumption, it's so funny, this is such a central thing, and both versions of this

would completely make sense to me. Is it completely different and improvised every single night? Or are there kind of pods, as you talk about in the book when you're working with Wally, where you kind of have an idea of like, oh, there's that bit, like when you said just then with the Star Wars stuff, oh, maybe there's something there. Is that something that you'll return to and build on? Like, how different will tonight's show be from yesterday's? And I asked that with a sense of like, I think my gut says it's totally different every time. But can it be totally different every time? So whichever version you tell me, I'll have to affect going, of course, but I genuinely don't know. And it pains me because I'm quite expert at spotting things,

you know, rhythms of patterns and stuff. Sure. Yeah. Now, I mean, there's no intention to repeat anything. And sometimes there's a pressure that I have where I feel like I shouldn't, you know, especially if I'm in a, you know, venue like every, like, you know, for more than one show. What's that pressure? I mean, just on myself, I'm interested in not repeating things, you know, as much as possible. Or making something like, you know, new. It's like, I'm not going to like read the wheel every time. But there are so many approaches I can take and different tempos and different textures that I can.

So I'm always trying to make sure that I tap into new things, you know, when I'm doing shows, especially if they're in a row and at a similar place or something like that. So I have more of the sense of that. But do you and does that come, does that sense for you, that self-administered pressure? Does that come from thinking, well, what if people come two nights on the bounce? And they don't want to see the same thing? Yeah, yeah, I think there's that. Yeah, for sure, yeah.

Because, I mean, I'm thinking of shows in a way like, like I'm the audience member, you know, so I wouldn't want to see me. I mean, even though, like, obviously people will see a comedian several times and they love the jokes because jokes are like songs, you know, that they, I, love this joke. It's so good. Or they might discover something new in the joke, you know, the next time they hear it. But for me, it feels weird if I'm doing something too close to what I've done before. So I just try to avoid it or try to, you know, figure out a way or I'll comment that I've

said it before. Okay. I'll say it again. I was assuming that there are people who had seen the show before. Okay. But I did run into a couple people who said, I'll see you tomorrow night. So that's cool. That's a good thing about being an improviser.

you do get people who are like, well, I can see him several times. Yeah. You think. Well, I mean, there are so many, so I've got loads of, I'm very happy to hear that. I'm not happy to hear about the pressure necessarily that you would put on yourself, but I feel like I understand that. Yeah. Because the, like, as you say in your book, your origins in music and discovery, improv and kind of,

as you mentioned last night, actually, you riffed on performative drama. I'm sorry, competitive drama. Competitive drama. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so those, those origins, something that happens throughout your adornment. lessons in the book is this idea of you building your toolkit of weird, whereby it kind of starts as a means of getting on with people and hooking up, you know, hooking into communities. And then you end up sort of accidentally or not entirely deliberately, let's say, building this kind

of toolbox of, you know, working on this. I genuinely thought you were British for a while when I first thought you, because that accent is so good. It's so measured. And that is, you're the, I can't think of another American who's fooled me. You know, Oh, my gosh. And I think that's a common, you know what I mean? It's such a, but you could do different areas in the UK. Right. Maybe less so Irish last night.

No, but the Irish was purposefully really terrible. And also, I'm not good at it anyways. I can get close, but like that was not, no. But kind of creating that toolkit, which puts you in a position to genuinely improvise, to walk out going, right, well, what will this be? Let's discover it. This is be present and discovery. Yeah.

When it comes to the beginning of the show, like you said, you were a bit, kind of, do you say nervous? Like the ball going on? What is that, what are those nerves? What is it, what do they mean to you? How do they express themselves? What is it that you're nervous about? Given that you have night after night,

hundreds of thousands of times, walked out and improvised a complete set. Yeah. I mean, I think it's just like the, it's, you know, it's a theater and I get worried about like, you know, did enough people come? Like, you know, and if enough people, like, will the theater have me back again?

You know, like, so there's some of that where I'm like, I hope that I got enough people in here that justifies me being here. Okay. Part of that. And then, I don't know. I'm thinking about, I guess, I guess it's just like, I want to make sure that I do well. And it was kind of tired, didn't have like a great night's sleep before. And so there's a little bit of that.

It's more about, it's not anything specific about performance. It's just having the energy to perform and to be connected, you know, to something interesting, you know. Okay. So is the game for you or is the goal to be completely present? Is that when you know that it's going to be good? Because I'm interested in what makes the difference, like when you come off stage, what's the difference between a good show and a great show

and how do you, not even that you sort of sit down and assess it, but like what's the feeling? How do you know the difference? And what is it connected to in yourself? Well, I mean, it's just kind of a joy. It's an ease of ideas coming into play, you know? and then the audience reacting and may be able to hear that reaction and respond, you know, with more stupid shit, you know.

And I think that's really all it is. It's just a mechanism. It's just making sure the mechanism is clear. You know, it's like machines, like make sure the hoses are clean, you know, to make sure that it functions properly. So that's more, I think, where it comes from. But usually something does happen, you know, like I'll take sometimes what I'll do is I'll take an edible right at the beginning of the set.

Okay. And then so it comes on, so I come on straight, and then it kind of expands. And that gives me like a new kind of perspective shifter to work with. I have a banana. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Similar, a bit different. Yeah, similar. Yeah, similar.

Yeah. And I think that's kind of like, you know, it's always just messing with the chemistry of how I'm feeling and what I'm doing and making sure that I'm allowing. myself to be free, you know, and not self-analytical in any way because that'll kill, that'll kill it in. Ah, okay. And has that happened? Have you, do you have those kind of moments sort of almost not really an out of body?

The point is to get out of body. You have like an in-body moment where you go, oh, I'm analyzing what I'm doing and. Yeah, it's like thinking about the mechanics of, you know, going downstairs as you're descending stairs. It's like, you will probably fall. Sure. Or someone says, breathe naturally. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. I know, calm down or whatever. You know, these things that don't work. But it's just the, yes, self-awareness. It's a recursion can be a terrible effect. But at the same time, it's like, with all things, things are good and bad. But like self-awareness, but it's not really self-awareness that I want. I want to be aware of what's happening, you know, like what's flowing.

There's an awareness of what's flowing. But like when you actually go into the mechanics of how it's flowing, that's when it falls apart. Do you listen back to recordings? Do you listen back to your stuff? As a comic, I would listen back to my stuff because I'm working on shaping and polishing and building a thing. But if you listen back, presumably it's with a completely different... Well, do you listen back?

No. No. So the stuff that you're making is just gone. It's just in the ether. Yeah, it's out there. It's out there. I mean, that's why I try to record everything, you know, and put it up on my Dropbox.

or whatever and have all of those things available because someday I would like to do something with them, you know, maybe hire someone to go or hire a few people to go through it and mark their best bits. And they're like, oh, I love that. Oh, I love that. And maybe just like throw together some kind of best bits through the years. I mean, more than almost all comics, you are constantly creating content, like the amount of stuff that you can generate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's also part of the frustration that I have, you know, in general where I'm at in my career, weirdly. It's not. I can generate a lot of stuff, but rarely do I get to use it. And so now it's trying to create, you know, and I've been trying to figure out how to get,

because I don't want to be spending my own money, you know, because I've tried, you know, like, oh, I have all these video ideas and, oh, I have this thing, you know, I spend money on it. I do it. I put it out, but it's like it doesn't have enough distribution. There's no, you know, there's not a machine behind it. Okay. Even though, like, I have like, you know, super professional management,

is super badass, you know, agency, agents and stuff like that and like the whole team. But it's just hard to find anybody to be like, you know, what would be great is like if there was a production company that was like, or I mean, I guess I could do it on my own, but it doesn't matter. Anyways, a production guy, whether it's mine or something, or just like, here's, we've got some money. We'd like you to make as much stuff as you want. And it's like, yeah, I could make you, I could make you 10 times the amount of stuff off of,

like if you had, if you signed one person. and then you signed another person, I could generate 10 times the amount of stuff. Yeah. That is, I think, would be interesting, engaging very singularly where I'm coming from. It would be thought through all the way from the production level and engineering level. Like, that's how I create things. I'm an engineering mindset, production, mindset, person, because that's what I'm doing on state. I'm doing live production.

So I'm thinking about the scaffolding. I'm thinking about how to lead to another area. thinking about, oh, what happens with the absence of this and what does that create? So it's a lot of structural thinking. And so this improvisation is more about structure, generating structure, or conceptual frameworks rather than what's actually going into because I just allow, if I can create the framework, then I can inhabit it. And so, you know, that's the frustration.

It's like if there was a production, like to make, but I could, like I was saying, I could make 10 times the amount as another person probably at four. or a fourth the price. Because everything I'm thinking about is economics. You know, not like money-wise. I want the energy required to make whatever I want to make. And including choosing the right people to work with. I want to be asking them maybe one-tenth their abilities

in order to fulfill the task. And when you do that, it shortens the amount of time. So like now something that would have taken two days to film. like a series of scenes. The way I would design it, it would take two hours. And so fully covered everything, lighting, all this stuff. And you're working with all these amazing people, a DP lighting engineer, like a sick-ass crew. And like I'm saying, it's going to be dumb.

And I don't care if there are mistakes in it. And even if the lighting isn't quite right, we're going to move on. And that's the vibe. And so that way you have like super qualified people who are required for a very small amount of time so they can still do their big time other things. So I can get the best talent. and, you know, and produce things. And so it's, to me, it's a no-brainer, but no one, no one gets it.

We talk to me about that. I want to hear about the frustration and how that expresses itself. But I also, I'm interested in, like, is that your theory of why it hasn't happened yet? Is that people don't get it? Is it that the people with money who can invest in it, regard it as, well, it's improv, so it doesn't mean anything? Or what is that exactly? Because I spoke to a lot of improvisers, and they seem like the happiest people,

They haven't got to spend loads of time writing. They get to play all the time. You know, it's a, it seems like one of the best ways to do performances to be an improv person. But it's a fairly common frustration that people won't take a chance on putting improv on TV. That is a thing I hear from lots of improvisers is that people won't invest in it. And I guess the, I don't know, what's your assumption? I suppose my assumption is partly that it's people with money thinking, well, this isn't proper. Like if you can just make infinite amounts of it, then it, then it's, you,

it's cheap somehow? I'm putting words in the mouths of people way above my seniority. Is that a sense you get? I mean, I don't really know. I mean, I think some of it is like literally what they call mandates. You know, so it's like the network

or whoever it is you're dealing with that has the money that can make it. They have a mandate, so they're looking for types of shows. And so there's been many times where my agency or whatever will say like, yeah, these networks are looking for this kind of a thing, blah, blah. I'm like, okay. And then I just go into a pitch meeting. And I don't know what the fuck I'm going to come up with, but I just generate something like in the moment. It's fully

fleshed out. There's like a backstory, history, everything. Like I can like paint the whole picture. And they'll be like, oh, wow, that sounds so interesting. That's so cool. And I'm like, yeah, that was pretty good. And then, you know, it's like, ah, you know, they're going to pass on this. I'm just like used to people who's like, pass, pass, pass. I think it's just because the industry is a little bit lazy, like lazy and stupid. And because for me, it's like, if you had someone like me who can not only generate the soundtrack, the audio logo, the marketing, phrasing, phraseology, the way it looks in general, the way that it feels, the production elements, all of that stuff, I think maybe, you know, to me, I'm like, you could make a lot of money with very little,

However, I think it's something to do with There's a little bit of a social game to it It's like who has the cache and you know It's like I can think of Analogs are people that I look towards that have done really well Like Jack White, you know, where he has his own thing going on Or um Jesus, Jordan Peel

You know, like he's got his own thing You know, he fucking not knocked it out of the park with a great movie and you know and but that's like rare to like you know i made this movie for two million dollars and it grossed 300 and something million dollars holy shit now everybody wants to work with you right yeah so it's like they need to know that you can make a shit ton of money in order for it yes i guess or some amount of money yeah i pitched it even like smaller companies and they're they're like oh that's really i'm just like you guys just fucking do it already jesus christ it's like it's so stupid is it because when you first said that about

them having a mandate, it made me think, oh, yes, the mandate isn't art. Is it? The mandate isn't create art. Yeah. And that's your mandate. Like, really, like, your, your preoccupation is, how can I create art? And it's something, something that came to mind when I was reading a book, as well as I'm, I've got two children, and my son is nine, and I'm sort of was, like, I haven't, I don't reflect a great deal on my own childhood, and I was reading yours and going, oh God, he really does want to go out into the world and rebel and push back and, you know, do crime. I do a lot of art and a small amount of work. But one of the things I remembered when he was like, I don't know, a two or three years old,

we were both drawing together. We both had like crayons or paint sticks or something. And every mark that he was making, he was making for the first time in his life. And they were the most, it was like the most art I'd ever seen. I mean, it was like they were the freshest, most original things. And I was trying to be as artistic and going, I've made all these marks before. I can't get out of the kind of clag of all my sort of experience and thoughts,

all that junk that's in the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it struck me that there is something in common with the art that you make, whereby if that's part of your mandate, it's like, do a thing I've never done, discover something afresh. It just reminded me about the way people look at modern, art in a gallery and the cliches, like, oh, my three-year-old could have done that.

Well, of course. Of course your three-year-old could have done. You couldn't. Because it's that. And that's, I realize, not in the form of a question, but in disgust. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no. I mean, I think that that's, it's where you're coming from as a creator. Like, like, where is your energy, you know, coming from?

And I think, I don't know. I think if you know, I think there's something about, like, if someone is a little, is only offering a small amount of what it takes to make for a problem. I think there's just kind of like kind of going back on the industry thing or whatever. It's that they want as much controls, but compartmentalization and control of a project is essentially it because that's just the capitalist model. That's the tenancy. It's like, well, if we divide, it's why tech companies try to disempower their engineers

because they know that the engineering class, those that are engineers, could run the whole show. Yes, okay. like easy. Yeah, sure. So they need some sort of hegemonic structure whereby the engineers are all kept busy and don't have ideas above their station. Exactly. Yeah. It's like you engineer just this little bit. It's all compartmentalization and you engineer every year and we'll create a culture where it's like slightly competitive. So like it just keeps everything even down. It doesn't create trouble with the higher arms or whatever is the idea. And so but it's it's also incredibly limiting and less fun. And because like when you're aware of it, because when I'm on set, like if it's,

someone else's project and then has to do like a guest thing or whatever. I'm looking at that whole crew working together. And I think that crews have good times together for sure. And a lot of the cultures dictated from the producers and the creators and the director and whatever. And that traditional system can work really well because it's like a well-oiled military-style organization. But I also think there is a, what is it? It's, it's, for me, I'm like, I felt, well, for instance, I always felt bad walking into the late late show going down the hallway where all the writers would be waiting in the walkway, wait, you know, waiting for James to show up and approve the script. Because they would all stand around and he would be looking at stuff, you know, kind of going like, oh, this and the, can we change this or we know, whatever.

And there's always like, you know, people writing. And I thought about that. I was like, there's like, I don't know, 12 writers. And it's like, if I had my own show, I would need maybe one. And so I always felt a little bad because I'm just like, oh, that sucks. It's like, I know that they work really hard, you know, but I don't like having people writing things for me. No, I don't. I don't, it doesn't, I'm like, that's not me. You know, it's like, you can create a concept for me and then I can inhabit the concept.

But so I just need a narrative structuralist. Anyways, all that to say that, I think because people like to, organizations like to compartmentalism and things like that, they don't take as many risks, even though the risks would require very little investment. Yeah. You know, that they could be smart about it and say, hey, let's create an experimental incubator or whatever, blah, blah, blah.

Sure, yeah. But at the same time, I'm also like, why fucking waste time creating a pilot? Mm-hmm. You know, let's just start it. Like, start the show. I just do the show. And if you're feeling like, eh, about it, then reduce the budget so that it doesn't make you go,

I hate when people fucking do that. It pisses me off so much. Like, I don't know if I'm going to, you know, or like a venue isn't like filling up or whatever. And the promoter's like, and I'm like, well, your title is the promoter, first of all. And second of all, if that's too much of problem, then downsize it to a smaller venue and then sell that up, you know?

But like this energy around like the commerce of it all, will it be successful? I'm like, well, then reduce. the amount of money you're putting into it. Like, get rid of the stress, whatever it takes to do that. That's to me the only way to survive in a system like that.

Like, you know. What's the relationship between the frustration at it not growing on TV and having people invest in it and the artistic mandate? Like, is it, like, when you're feeling frustrated that you get another pass

on a project you want to do or a pitch you've made, is there a, like, how much of you is Reggie the artist, thinking, well, no matter, I will remain present to the universe. And how much of you is thinking, yeah, well, being present with the universe is all very well. Can we make a fucking thing? Yeah. I mean, I guess rephrase the question again.

I suppose what I'm asking, no guest has ever asked me to rephrase a question. I appreciate, no, I appreciate the attempt to. Yeah, no, I was like, yeah, I'm better let's clarify that. I suppose I'm being deliberately vague by saying, what's the relationship between? which is a trick I do role and kind of ask something specific. But I suppose I'm just asking, is when a thing gets passed, do you feel like,

well, listen, I'm present, I'm an artist, and the artistic mandate of do a new thing every time is art, and that will suffice? Or do you think, you know, how much of you is feeling fine and happy and present anyway, regardless of the knockback and how much of you is thinking, fuck this?

You know what I mean? Like, yeah. Like, for instance, you're saying, like, if I get hired to be on a project or something like that? Yeah, no, I mean, if you're trying to make your own thing, your frustration of producers that won't invest money. Yes. Like, that's a commerce. That's a commercial thing. Right. And that impacts your artistic vision.

How much do you care? Like, obviously, frustrating. But, like, if you've chosen the path of the way of the artist, then is this not just one of the prices you have to pay of being an artistic and creative force? is that money men aren't, you know, you've heard 15 years ago, you could have gone, oh, this isn't going to make me enough money, I'd better. Sure, right. I get you're saying, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the thing is, like, I never had a choice, you know, because the way that I do things

is the way that I do things. And so I've had to just explain to people that that's what I do. I have an improviser if you ask me to be out of thing. I can do it, but I need to bring my own thing, unless it's a voiceover job. Sure. A voiceover is great. I have a script in front of me. I can read the script and I can get into a character.

That's easy. It takes all the pressure of memorization and, you know, memorizing the specific points or like the blocking and all that stuff. I just get way too in my head about it, you know, and so it's, it's not as fun for me. But I would say that generally, like, if I, if I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing, whether it's my own project and someone's said that, you know, it's greenlit or I'm on another thing, I just kind of look at it as, well, I'm an improviser, so it doesn't really change. what I do. Like I still have agency within whatever context it is that I do. And I just fit within that as I can. And so that's generally, because I'm not really, I'm a generative artist, not an interpretive artist.

And so in that sense, whatever it is, as long as we everyone understands where I'm coming from. Sure. And at this point, that's what I do. You know, my team always says, like, well, he improvises. He doesn't scripts. He blah, blah, blah, blah. And so people have to go, is that something I want or not?

And for me, I'm always like, if you like what I do, then just hire me. And generally, that is what happens. But I'm just saying, like, in general, that's how I look at it. So I can adapt to any situation. It doesn't really, as long as it's comfortable for me to be in that space, it doesn't matter. I'll figure out a way to fit in. I want to ask you about what things make a space more or less comfortable for you. But I just want to stay with the phrasing used there, what it's in my mind.

I'm a generative artist rather than an interpretive artist. To me, that feels like a really deft sentence that has evolved over time that enables you to politely tell people and you're going to do what the fuck you want. Do you know, like I'm really, oh, that's a lovely bit of a way of getting that point across in a polite and appropriate manner. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I've never, like, used that terminology, but, you know, it's often used in the performance art world.

Yeah. So actors are generally interpretive artists. Understood. Dancers are interpretive artists if they're working with a choreographer. Whatever. Anything, any, I mean, essentially, like, being a classical musician, you are an interpretive artist. Sure. So, you know, there's that generative, you know, is just like, yeah, I'm just fucking making shit.

I make stuff. That's what I do. Like, I generate stuff. And then obviously there's a scale of, like, what that means. But for me, it's like the absolute end of the scale, which is the improvisational part. It's like, that's at the frontier of nothingness. front of you, you know, and only your experience behind you. And so, so in that, that particular format or a way of looking at it, like, I don't know, it's like it has to work that way.

Otherwise, I'm just not very happy. Like, otherwise, just hire an actor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is Reggie Watts. His new special live from the Berghein is now available on YouTube and for more info, including all of his upcoming live shows, which, if you, literally, there's things to do before you die. You've got to see Reggie Watts live. Go to go to reggie-hiftonwats.com. You can find out how to see me live at Stuart Goldsmith.com slash comedy with upcoming shows as far afield as Meribel in the French Alps, Newbury, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Boulder, Colorado, Leicester, Bristol and London. And there's a load of other places there as well. You can sign up to the ComCompod

monthly mailing list, which now, thanks to the existence of producer Callerman, are increasingly optimised workflow is an actual real thing that regularly happens. Goathegolsmith.com to join that. And coming up now in the second half, we're going to talk about Reggie shaping his late, late show role on his own terms. We'll talk about his frustrations with being underused on comedy bang bang, and we will find out why vulnerability on stage feels safer for Reggie than vulnerability offstage. And we'll find out whether or not he's happy. Let's get back to Reggie Watts. What sorts of things make you go, this isn't going to work? Or what sort of experiences have you had when you've thought, actually, this has changed over time?

Or, you know, what I do is, like, I'm less comfortable than I need to be. Well, I mean, you know, Comedy Bang Bang was, I mean, I had a little bit. It's like the most immediate thing I can think of. I mean, the late late show a little bit, but not too much. But just if I have a regular gig, you know, which has been very, very rare but I you know with comedy bang bang we did three seasons and obviously that wasn't filming all year like the late late show was but um I definitely noticed over time I thought I was even though I'm super grateful for being a part of it but I definitely felt underutilized but it's

like it's crazy because it was like a kind of a complicated feeling because like part of me it's like I'm being underutilized but at the same time and this was the same with the late late later. I don't want to start advocating for myself to doing more because then that would mean more work. Okay. So it was this crazy weird thing of like in comedy bang bang

I'd be like, there are things that I would want to do perhaps you know, and there were like a few times where I was like, I really want to be on a cop, you know, a cop episode or whatever and whatever and they did write a scene for me like that. But yeah, it's like I know I could be doing so much more or like I'm

the late they'd show, you know, on the sitting where I'm sitting, and I'm seeing them do a bit. And I'm like, it would be so much funnier if it was like this, you know, or like the lighting queue should have changed then, you know, or, yeah, I see what they're doing over here. It's like, it's like, it's like, man, if I were doing it, it would be like this. So if anything, it's like I'm taking notes constantly. It doesn't mean that I want to actually add that work. It's more like, because I just, I don't want it. I don't want, you know, in those particular cases, I want to get, I want to do the best job at

the minimal amount of original. required of work. Because why? Because like what's the downside of doing more work? Is it like through it's just more effort? Yeah, it's not a work. And it's like at that point it's kind of a job. You know, because it's not my thing. You know, cats like comedy bang, man, even though people really attribute me to it. And I inhabited the things, you know, and they definitely gave me leeway. Like, they knew that it's better to just let me riff, you know. So, so when I was included in stuff, I was allowed to be going on. But I just did, yeah, it. It, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, It was just like one of those things where I'm like, it's not my thing.

So I don't, I'm only going to put in as much work as, as they're asking of me. Sure. You know? And so that's kind of the vibe. Did you communicate that to Scott? Did he get that? Or is that something you've realized in the hindsight or is it something you tried to imply? I think they got, I think they just got it after a while, you know, because I'm sure I talked,

you know, with crew and stuff and just like lightly mentioned it. I was never like a complainy person per se, but towards the end, I started getting a little bit complaining just because, you know, it was a star-based show and they were like working with like some pretty big names, you know, that were, just because they knew Scott and like, you know, fans of his and he just knows a lot of amazing people. He's an incredible writer. And so he could get anybody, pretty much anybody that he wanted that he loved like he could get. And so when they did get those people like Paul Rudd or whatever, you'd have to work around their schedule. So the whole show was like constant. the shifting schedule-wise. So when I would come in, how long I would have to wait because something changed. You know, so I'd just be in my dressing room for like four or five hours when I'm like, I could have been asleep. And it's like, what if fuck?

And, you know, and I know that every, you know, so many actors are just like, hey, let's just the name of the gate, you know, whatever. But for me, it started to get to me. And then also efficiency, like being on stage and going like, they didn't need to take that shot again. It's like they got to shy. You don't need to do that again. You just improvise for 10 minutes.

Why do you need me to improvise reaction shots when I was watching improvisation, laughing in real time. Yeah. Reacting in real time and you had a camera on me. It's not like you had to turn a camera around and now I have to fake all the reactions. Like you already have it. So oftentimes I'd be like, you have the shots. Yeah. And I'm not wasting that time.

It just aggravates me. I hate inefficiency. It's like the lighting was slightly wrong and like just keep it. Yeah. Oh, the shirt was like a little bit wrinkled. Like just keep it. It's like it's going to, it's not a reality. It's not a grounded reality based show.

where people are like looking for something. And now was right into comedy back into your shirt change. Yeah, it's like, oh, it's ties in a different location or whatever. Oh, he's not wearing the same glove. You know, the glove is on, now it's off. Whatever, that type of stuff. I don't really care.

It's like just keep moving and keep everybody there for a shorter amount of time. And let's just like make a really amazing show. Get the fuck out of there. You know, otherwise this arduous like grind culture, not into it. Yeah. That was it this, well, there's similarities with the late, late show whereby you are kind of used as, like you add this incredible flavour and presence to the show. Like the fact of you being the band leader on the late late show kind of, it changed the dynamic

of the whole shut. And your presence, but it's, it seems like from what you're saying, and I suppose I kind of recognize this in it, it's like, that's not enough just to be there to be present. Even though you did some great work on it, you did some really funny, there was some nice fluidity with like, you know, the stuff you did with Donald Glover. You know, absolutely beautiful to watch. but predominantly you are there to be there. Is that the case?

Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, that's what it was. You know, it's just like, let's have a counterbalance, you know, that's there. And, you know, and I think it worked because, like, you know, I'm glad, you know, it's great. It's like I've been really lucky that because what I do is very much who I am, that when people want to work with me, generally, they're like, they know what they're getting, which is nice. And so to have been asked to. be the band leader.

And then they're not holding auditions. I was the first person that they came to. And James really wanted me to be on there. And I think they had the sense that like, oh, having someone like this, like, we have an example of it on comedy bang bang. So we can see what he's like on the camera. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. And obviously he's a musician.

And, you know, and I think if we just give him the leeway. And they were like, you know, Sarah Silverman told me, like, you know, ask for all the stuff you want. And if they give it to you, consider doing it. And that was like the thing that, you know, I asked for exactly what I wanted. It was just like, I want to design the band and I want to choose who it's in the band. I want to design it and design how it works, how it functions, what we do, what's expected of us and stuff. And they were like, sure, and everything asked for, they did it.

So that was great. So it's nice when people trust you and give you that realm. But yeah, I mean, that's what it was like. I was there as kind of a Paul Schaefer, Annie Richter, person, you know. And again, in that show, I had ideas. I did some things that I wanted to do. I did like some musical numbers that I wanted to do. I did a weird, like kind of 80s teen video thing that I did that was really great with Cape Verland.

Oh, Cape Beland's fantastic. She's the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and so they, yeah, they let me do a lot of stuff, you know. I mean, some stuff. And then I just stopped because I was, you know, whenever they'd be like, hey, can you come in for the sketch at 10 in the morning? And I'm like, yeah, but then I don't get to come into work at 4.30.

So I think I'd rather not. I get out. I'd be like, are you available for the sketch? And sometimes I'd be like, no, just because I don't want to do the sketch. Like, I'm not motivated to get up. Which sounds so stupid. I'm sure there's people out there going like, just fucking do the sketch. You know, but everything I do revolves around my mood and how I feel.

You know, and so I need to feel like I'm stoked about. Not every time, but, you know, in general, you know. Yeah. You know. There's a lovely choir, I don't know if I wrote it down, a quote in the book where you talk about exactly that quality, but you just put it into a sentence about how, like, it's almost like the stuff works if I'm having a good time.

So the whole job is to have a good time. Yeah. And that should be so true of a lot of art. Yes. And I find myself constantly weighed down by, I'm not having a good time here, and yet I have to deliver. What a brilliant way around to do it to go, no, no, like we've all been in any kind of creative pursuit.

If you're in the zone, if you're flowing, then you're great and you're enjoying yourself. And really the whole job is get yourself in the state. That's totally it. Yeah. And that requires, you know, for me, I want to make sure. I know I can be in a good mood if I know everybody's taking care of. So if I know in the few times I've gotten to make my own things and kind of design how the production works, it's like I make sure the food is really healthy.

There's no bunch of fucking sugar. It's really. like real food that's delicious and like the purified water, no plastic water bottles, you know. Everybody's time is like cut in half, you know, but they're still going to make a day rate, you know. All of these things just to like get the levity of everybody and like have them be stoked to be there and do their best. And that makes me feel like I'm kind of have a good time because everyone's taken care of because the creativity, I don't worry about the creativity. Yeah, yeah. I worry about the setting and the mood.

Is that how James Corden works? Does that work with how he was like, he was the guy that offered you the job, he wanted you to do the job. Does that, like, that feels like a very reggie way of working. Does that mesh with a TV lead host guy way of working? Yeah, I mean, the show is like very, very written and very structured for sure.

But there was leeway within it. And then for my involvement, they just would always just, leave it open, you know, whatever it was, whatever I was asked to do, or like throwing to a reaction or whatever. Or, like, James would sometimes try to catch me off guard when I would be talking with the band, because the band had comms. We could talk to each other.

So we had to figure out, like, the right volume level to talk when we're on cons. So you could talk during the show. You could talk during the show. That's such a great thing. Oh, my God, what an amazing thing to put, contractually. Oh, we should be able to hang out during the show. Totally, yeah. It's the best fun you can have in a TV studio is to be able to talk on cons.

100%. It's the best. And so we would like, yeah, anyways, but that was like something. And sometimes, you know, he would sense that we were talking about something. And he would be like, Reggie, what do you think? But it was like so crazy. It was like almost I could feel it, you know. It was like a pre-feeling.

It's just like, I'm like, yeah, I know. And I was like, what do you think? I mean, I thought it was pretty cool. But there's definitely a lot of stuff that could have been. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think he ever got me. It was pretty.

Was there a genuine moment where the one from Kemp, Kean Peel, who isn't the movie director. I forget his name. Keegan Michael Keel. Keegan Michael Keigh and Michael Keene. Yes. There is a bit where he reads you some song lyrics. Do you know, when the song lyrics are from,

and it's the Key and Peel show theme tune that you made, and you didn't recognize it. Was that a bit? I mean, I think I kind of knew what it was, you know, but I kind of half didn't. It would also be completely reasonable for you not to know a thing that you made once as an improviser that then having life beyond the moment. That's a classic example of you don't listen back.

Yeah, for the stuff is gone. It's out there. Yeah, I mean, for that song, it's like, I think they described a type of theme song that they wanted. And then I made a version of it based off of what they thought it was. And then they were like, they were like, oh, you know what, just make whatever you think would be cool. And then I went into a studio in London because I was London at the time.

and like the very first thing I improvised. Like I just, I did that and then I sang over it. And then I was like, well, what about this? And they're like, oh, we love it. So I was like, great. And then I just sent it to a friend to like produce it up. My friend Steve Scalfotti, genius guy. And so he produced it up.

And then that's it. That's the song. So, yeah, it's very possible because I only really improvised those lyrics once. Yeah. You talk in a book about your, you talk a lot about your parents. And I have to say your book is one of the big, my most big-hearted books. I've ever read. At the end, the acknowledgements, I was like pages and pages you basically personally credit

and thank almost everyone who's had an impact in your life in any way. And it did occur to me. I was like, is that because this is an incredibly big hearted, grateful book? Or I was thinking I was trying to put myself in the position. I was thinking, if I did that, partly it would be because I was terrified that I might miss someone. Once you thank one person, like, I have to thank everyone in my life because I'll be anxious, like chronically anxious on some level that I'll miss someone else.

and they'll be disappointed in me. Was there an element of that? Oh, I mean, I think for sure. I think it was both of those things. Yeah, definitely. I mean, because it's, you know, I wanted to, I mean, I wanted to be, I wanted to thank everybody, but also like, you know, I hope I got everybody. Yeah.

You know, it was the vibe. But, yeah, I mean, yeah, that was it, yeah. You talk about vulnerability and you talk about your father's difficulty in being vulnerable. We here as a kid and then this extraordinary period where he moves out and then moves out and then moves back in later after. I mean, that's an incredible thing for your mum to have kind of managed. It's like incredible family management

on the part of your mother. Your dad's struggles to be vulnerable, and you say in the book that you have your own struggles with vulnerability, which is having vulnerability in life and in relationships. I'm interested in the relationship between your on-stage vulnerability and your personal social vulnerability.

Like, given that you do a job, which even amongst, you know what I mean, everyone in the world thinks that stand up comedy, oh, you've got to be really brave, you'll be really vulnerable, that's like, you're, well, yeah, I'd never do that. And then even among comedians,

you're just on this other level, you know, since that first, you know, the Rafifi kind of early days when you are kind of immediately embraced by the comedy world and could fit, I imagine, on any old bill or any bill. Even amongst comedy performance,

what you do seems to be exquisitely vulnerable. So just, again, it's not a kind of a firm question, but, you know, what is the relationship between your, how vulnerable you are as a performer and how vulnerable you are as a man? Yeah, I mean, I would say, they feel very similar to me, actually,

because I treat the audience like a friend, you know, is so sometimes when I'm speaking about them, it just feels like I'm just treating them as a friend. You know, like the whole audience as a friend, and so I'm speaking the way I would. So I think I don't really see a difference, really, at all. But you said in the book that you struggle to make yourself vulnerable. I feel like you are an expert at making yourself vulnerable.

Well, I think on stage I could definitely, vulnerability is probably easier for me. But, you know, interpersonally, or at least specifically like relationship. relationship be wise and I guess like friendship to a degree to just because I want things to be great all the time, you know, when I'm hanging out with people and and that kind of made me avoidance of speaking on, you know, things that I was feeling. I think I was feeling about them or situation. And that and then just in recent years, you know, for the last four or five years, been really working on just, you know, just communicate what you need and, you know, they're friends. They're not going to leave you because you're asking something of that. or you're making a comment on something that bothers you or something like that. And so that level of vulnerability definitely. It's a specific kind. But that was something I had to work on. But on stage, I think I've been pretty much pretty vulnerable on stage in general.

And then increasingly, or certainly, as we were talking before we started recording, When you were talking last night about Palestine and you were talking last night about like trying to actually say something meaningful, like the difficulties involved in saying something meaningful. And I want to, I just want to talk about, you were saying before that that's kind of, that's a newer thing for you is actually saying stuff that you mean. I suppose in some ways my first thought creatively is like, is that a gear, is that a difficult gear to change into when you have. So up to that point, everything you've said has been sort of wonderful absurdity. And then you need to change gear, presumably, into saying, and actually this is something I mean, but it's still me saying it. I'm not breaking the contract that I've established between us. Yeah.

Well, I mean, it's, yeah, I mean, it's, well, I be first, it's like, I want to say things that are meaningful, but also the subject itself makes it a little bit. I could talk about the general concept of love and my view on what reality is and things like that. Like, I can do that without hesitation. But when it comes to the actual suffering of people, that also has this charged, you know, binary thing going around it, although it's shifting quite dramatically. But, like, it's, you know, I don't want to, like, lead, you know, fall into the hands. If someone's like, see, he doesn't give a fuck about blah, blah, blah, or like, oh, he doesn't always talk about these. people are suffering. It just sounds like he's just saying some shit, you know. And so I'm aware of that perspective. It's like kind of like going into, you know, preemptive troll mode, you know, like just

trying to figure out like, how do I say what I'm saying, but say it in a way that also I'm not pulling punches, you know, because I'm trying to like walk up, you know, it's very difficult. So it's difficult to figure out how to talk about that. And then it's hard enough to write about, let alone to improvise about let alone in a room where, you know, people are recording you. Yes, they're recording. And, you know, it's like, you don't know. You don't know. Maybe some people are like, really love Israel, you know, and they're like, oh, here, this guy goes about blah, blah, blah.

You know, that, that I guess I don't really care as much about anymore. But I mean, when I was talking about it in the beginning because now I have enough Jewish friends right. They're just like, now that shit's fucked up. And so I'm like, okay, good. That's great. And even discovering that I do have a bit of Jewish genetics in me anyways, and I didn't know. And so I, like, it gives me enough confidence where I'm like, I'm just talking

people and I'm just talking about us not fucking killing each other and and I just need to get that out because that's the most important thing and I shouldn't edit myself so much because this is a really serious thing to talk about you know and it's something that everyone should be thinking about on some level right now and so it's a weird dance but definitely still working on it you know still working on it like I want to make sure that I can remain fluid throughout the world and I want to make sure that I can bring across the most important thing which is the message of love and loving reality, you know, that this binary of like allusory divisiveness and stuff like that,

that's the challenge to overcome or whatever is generally the thing. And, you know, and also just, you know, wary of people who are in control and their reasons for it and the fact that also that control that they have over us is an illusory as well. It's like giving it to them, you know, whatever. Just like reminding these, that's the important thing. And so I think it's more important, most important for me to be able to go anywhere in the world have access to as much as I can. But I'm still talking about what matters

and what's urgent in the moment. That's not going to necessarily shut the doors. But I'm also trying not to be strategic about that. It's like so many things to come to. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. You were when you started talking about the ICE agents, there's a really, you know, I mean, funny, very funny, that riff about like, you know, getting other ice agents who have double the amount of, you know, in a nines and weapon room. But yeah, I thought that was a really, that was really interesting engagement with the idea of something horrible happening that you want to talk about and also taking it into the world of your comedy. So I felt like I could see you playing with different ways of communicating serious subjects. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Well,

I mean, that's why for a while I used to kind of classify my humor as disinformationist or whatever And meaning that there's, it's a lot of absurdity, but there's a lot of real, there's a lot of sincere information mixed in there, you know, and a lot of it comes from sarcasm and things like that, but it's leaning into the thing that's bad, you know, but like overbatting it, you know, in an absurd way. And that that kind of like takes a lot of power out of it. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It's, yeah, it's really, it's a fun. It's a fun thing to just be checking in with, and a lot of the checking in is happening live on sit. So it's me going like, okay, I'm about to do this. Okay, make sure it's natural. Don't, you know, don't edit it. You know, just figure it out. It's, yes, interesting journey.

On a unrelated, largely unrelated topic in terms of people who are in last night, apparently JJ Abrams was in last night. Did you know that? No, he's coming tonight. He's coming tonight. And Brian, you know, is coming tonight. Oh, nice. I know Brian a tiny bit. Okay.

Climate. I do lots of comedy about the climate. Oh, see the show, the most recent show. Oh, fuck, yeah. He's an incredible, he hugged me and I felt very special. Oh, man. Yeah. Have you collaborated on stuff?

We've never, we've never collaborated. I think I have like a small vocal sample on his, on his, on his beating wolf, Brian Eno, ambient records that just came out. But no, I mean, he's just invited me. Like, he, he was, like, programming me on pretty much every festival he was doing for a while. So I did, like, five festivals that he did. And, yeah, stayed at his house, played his both daughters, 17th birthdays. Yeah, just seen him all over the place.

Seen him in Edinburgh, you know, like, just randomly in a restaurant. He's like, oh, I was like, I was sure. He's like, oh, come you're sure. You know, like, just a dude that just is always around and we'll run. into each other and it's just yeah awesome guy but yeah yeah both days so i think jj's coming tonight and jj i've known for a really long time he was just like you was just curious about what i did and had me on set because he would do that he would find people online and be like oh they're really cool um maybe you can have him come by the office or something like that and just like get to know

them a little bit okay so the same thing you know like again with jj would never collaborated on anything okay um and brian same thing we haven't collaborated but we just know each other and invite each other stuff. Do you, I'm struggling to find a follow-up question to the JJ and Brian and all the kind of, I mean, I guess you're in a world or you're, you're part of the world of kind of comedy and art and music and sort of really across everything such that, like, that must be pretty fantastic to be in any, kind of like in any city. Yeah. And just to be part of the fabric of, I don't know what celebrities are the wrong word, but you know what people who are like impactful artists. Well, yeah, I mean, it's, that's what I get off on.

It's like I get off on, you know, having access to the, you know, I don't know, so stupid term, but like kind of like the active edge of art and society, you know. And yeah, and I mean like last night, Denise Goff was there who's in Andor. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah, she's the kind of bootlicker empire, whatever. I guess executive or whatever that's like climbing the ranks or whatever. Yeah. She's just incredible.

She's so incredible. Oh, Deirdre? Yes. Yeah. No way. Cyril's. Yeah, yeah, gotcha. Okay.

Yeah. So she was in and she's hugely activated on Palestine. Okay. Like when you look at her feet, it's like there's no acting stuff on there. It's all whileastine stuff. It's pretty amazing. And she's, you know, she came and we had this great camaraderie where she, And she's been public about this, so it doesn't affect me talking about it.

But she's, you know, she's like, I have to think about it. Am I going to have a career because of this? You know, but so like having people on that level, you know, coming to shows and getting to have conversations with them is like so incredibly gratifying because I'm like, oh, it's good. Like being able to talk to people like that or, you know, or, you know, and being invited to Richard Branson's Island to like, you know, for, uh, fucking climate, whatever thing or like being invited to JPL or NASA or like going, getting invited to go to CERN and check out the large particle, you know, accelerator, you know, in a JJ Abrams way. Sometimes we'll just get Reggie Watts

to come in and check out the last punt and the acceleration. See, what do you think to? Yeah, totally. It's just like, what do you think? It's pretty cool. And they're like, great, see you later. But, you know, or yeah, whatever. It's like, the range of where I go in the world is like, I love being they have access to as much as I can't because the more places I can go. And people are often pleasantly surprised, you know, technical people, whatever, hackers, programmers, crypto people, you know, software engineers, user interface designers, car manufacturers, car designers, machines, you know, any kind of art, you know, fabrication, whatever it is. Like the only things I don't really know that much about are like CEOs and things like that

because they're relatively useless. So they're not really required. they're a maintained position that are kind of based off of an extractive gatekeeping resource, whatever thing. And to me, I'm like, that's irrelevant. I think my final two questions are, yeah, okay, okay, you've got a show to get ready for. Do you get ready for shows or do you just wander on? I just wander on.

Okay. This is a question I only ask to people who I consider to be very successful. You are very successful, Regie Watts. Why aren't you even more successful? I don't know if I need to be. You know, that's like I'm already, I feel great. I think, I think, to me, success is being able to make more of my art and to make more of the things that I have in my head. And so there's still work to be done on that frontier.

So if it means that I get to do that, like more of consistently, and I get to kind of prove that I've of doing that by creating the evidence of it, then that to me is, like, more successful, but it's not, you know, I think Denise Gop said last night in something really great. She said, the age of celebrity is dead. And I thought about that. I was like, I guess that's kind of true, isn't it? Like, all the things that celebrity used to be, like, you know, like, who was getting out of what car and, like, what dress they were wearing and what, it's like, it's kind of all out the window because it doesn't really matter when some of suffering is happening on the planet and so much so much change is happening so much tumult so the idea of celebrities is is kind of dying or changing and so that's

never been a thing for me like I didn't need to be famous I mean I like being well known because that's helpful you know certain situations that's good but but I kind of think of success I I qualify success as having the respect of your peers and your colleagues and your friends. I think that that to me is successful because otherwise if I was just making a lot of money and then I knew people were talking behind my back saying like, yeah, that dude's like whatever. I'm like, oh, that would kill me, you know. You know, like I want to, you know, I want to always be accessible to anybody, you know. So, yeah, just a different definition of it, I guess.

That's one of the best answers I've ever heard to that question. Are you happy? Yeah, I would say I'm mostly happy. Yeah, I'm mostly happy. There's definitely, I think, you know, what's happening in the world is hard. I feel fortunate where I'm at. I feel fortunate that I can do what I get to do and experience things that I get to experience and always wrestling with that, you know, like people suffering, me having fun, you know,

always trying to wrestle with that. That's like the, but I think that that's just kind of like a natural thing. I think that's just what you would feel, even if you were doing really, really well. Because this isn't really an age for that. I think it's more like about, I think happiness at this point means gratefulness, you know. being grateful of where you're at knowing that you're doing what you what you're what you can to help and and so yeah so there are many moments and then there are other moments around like ah the world you know it's like it's more like the relationship with the world and like other people like are you

guys okay are you guys okay you know that's that is the thing it's not as much as it would have been like in the past where it would have been like an internal issue or something they don't so i'd say the general answer is yes and So that was Reggie That was Episode 500 What a treat What a joy

And I will post Amblet at you in just a moment With some episode 500 reflections But for now Thanks you to Reggie Thanks to Jet and everyone at Soho Theatre That managed to help me set that up Reggie's latest special live

From The Bergheim is now available on YouTube, go to reggie-hifanwats.com for all of his information, live shows and so on. You can also follow him on Instagram and I imagine every other social media platform. And if you enjoyed this episode, there are 20 minutes of exclusive extra content available to you. If you're in the Insiders Club on Patreon, go to patreon.com.com. To hear about or see, to see about, we'll see about this. The tools that Reggie uses to stay present in performance. We'll talk about embracing discoveries on stage.

We'll talk about why AI's survival. depends on a thriving planet and we'll talk about the challenge for corporations, big organisations to face change. Loads and loads of stuff in there. Plus, of course, an exclusive stew-and-a hosted by a very special guest. So that's...

Oh, this... I was about to say, that's it. That's by no means it for the episode 500 shenanigans. Throughout 2026, we're going to have returning favourites to the show including Rod Gilbert, Sarah Pascoe, James Akeester, Fern Brady, Nish Kumar, as well as Hollywood. Brett Goldstein, who has by no means agreed to appear on the show. I just like to throw his name

in every so often to scare him. Hello, Brett. I love you. And who else? Oh, I mean, we've got, who else have I got in the can? Can I just quickly look? We've got, I hadn't even, this isn't even on the notes, but I've got episodes in the can with brilliant, brilliant episodes with Sophie Duker, with Shanoa Allen, Lindsay, oh, you've got to see sunlight, Shanoa Allen's, Shanoa and Nina Conti's movie about a man on a road trip with Monkey, with Nina inside the monkey suit. It is a heartbreaking work of genius. I loved it. It's called sunlight. You can find that wherever movies are found. We've also got a brilliant one with Lindsay Santoro, really interesting one with Ken Cheng. We've got brilliant Jono from

Sheeps, who is going to be, although we weren't allowed to talk about this, but there's lots of good stuff we did talk about. He is now the head, oh, that is public domain. That is public domain. and I can say that he is one of the headwriters or the headwriter on the new Saturday Night Live in the UK. Fascinating episode, even though no SNL stuff is allowed to pass his lips into the record. And John Tothill, and then coming up next... I mean, John Tothill's wonderful. I feel, you know why you have to enthuse equally about everyone, but he's just an absolute love.

And his work in progress show, which he was very different about, was superb. So all of those coming up soon. And then I've got loads of other people in the diary as well, not least all those other people I mentioned and more besides, but that'll have to do us for now. So all through the year, we're going to be celebrating episode 500. Stuartgoldsmith.com for all your information. See me live at Stuartgoldsmith.com slash comedy. You can find out where to do that.

Thank you to, oh, thank you to Flory as well. Florey at Avalon also helped to set this up. And thank you to producer Callum, who never thanks himself in the bullet points he gives me of people to thank, which is a new thing and something I'm very pleased about, but he never thanks himself. And he should because thank you, producer Callum. You're doing such a great job and this is a pleasure. The new way of working is such a pleasure.

Thank you to Susie Lewis for your wonderful logging skills and emotional support and help with the patron. Thank you to Kim Belukovic for many years of... This is a podcast from Comedianscommodian.com and now the... Well, is it the new version? It's certainly the current version, but I don't know if we're going back into using it every time, but it's lovely to have you be a part of this. Thank you to Rob Smouten for the music.

Thank you to Dan Melrose who did the original guitar twiddly music for the first seven or eight years. Thank you to Hymin Lee for the new artwork. Isn't it? Nice. We've got new artwork. That's great. And thank you, of course, to our very valiant and loyal insider producers. We have Luke Hacker, all new Luke Hacker. Great to have you, Luke. Roger Spiller, I Cave Dave, Daniel Powell, Keith Simmons, Sam Allen, Jay Lucas, Gary McClellan, Chris Swarbrick. Just going to pause and thanks Sam Allen again for his big booming laugh, which I've listened back to because he was at a preview I did recently that I got lots of listened to. back value out of. Dave McCarroll, Paul Swaddle, Alex Wormall and James Burry, and a big thank you to our two special insider executive producers, Neil Episode 500 Peters, and Andrew 500 Miles Dedd,

and to the super secret one as well. I'll post ambly at you briefly in just a second, but suffice to say, if you're not sticking around for that, thank you from the bottom of my heart for 500 episodes. It's just mad and wonderful. So thank you for listening. And now this is unusual because I very rarely will record these with video. And so the segue from the show to the postamble, I've normally got a bit of sort of nose-picking, butt-scratching looking out the window time, which here I very much don't. Also, I regret that I've got a spot.

I don't know if you can see that. Look at my lovely spot. Every time I've got a spot. I think of Bachelor Boys, the Young One's book, in which there's a picture of Agent Emerson as Vivian, and he's got a new, it's like a clear-a-cell pen. And what you do with the pen is, it's like a black marker, and you circle your spot and point an arrow and write,

look at my lovely spot. So I always think of that. Let's, I'll keep this short and sweet in as much as it's in my power to do so. I can't really believe that there have now been 500 episodes of this show. We're not numbering the episodes anymore, but we obviously are keeping track. I can't believe that these days I don't turn my phone off still when I'm, oh, that's the electrician, that's fine. And so much has changed if I allow myself a brief meander back through memory lane.

So much has changed in my life since I started this show, not least that I've now got a friend who's an electrician to the extent that I felt bad saying of the electrician, but I was really just safeguarding his privacy. When I started this podcast, I had a girlfriend but no wife. No children. This podcast started two whole children ago. I lived in London and I would only have been how many years? Like five or six years into doing stand-up and now it's been 20 years. God, that hurt. I don't want to reminisce. I'm out. I mean, I love it. It's extraordinary. I had a brief tangent. I had a meet. with Deck Monroe, who is directing my new show, which I'm desperate to tell you the name of, because I've decided on a name and a kind of conceptual bit for it. But I won't. I'll save that for a big announcement. And I had a really, I had some very bruising previews, and then I had a banger of a preview at the Bristol Comedy Festival. Thank you very much to Harry, Mark and Jenny at the Gaff as helping me with that. It was lovely and really, really needed it at that time. And then a really excellent one at the jesters in Bath as well.

But so I'd be very like, I'd proudly turned up and I was like, hey, Depp, listen to the audio of the banger preview. It's good, isn't it? It's all going to be okay, isn't it? And because he's brilliant, he said, look, we can trust that this is definitely going to be funny. But what else is it going to be, effectively? And he just very quickly isolated two huge challenges with A, that show and B, the work I'm doing at the moment. And in wrestling with those challenges, I... can I put this? Like one of the things that really appeals to me about comedy is that it's never finished, it goes on forever, and you'll never be able to do it. Like you'll never be able to really do it.

It's an it's art, isn't it? It's an impossible eternal quest. And we know, regular listeners will know, maybe that's you, that I discovered years ago, I was happier traveling hopefully than arriving. Who cares about arriving? I'm here now, whatever, where am I going next? But with all that in mind, I enjoyed the fact, painful, though it was briefly painful, but that's, you know, and that's why you, A, pay a director and B, get a really good one. I enjoyed the fact of being challenged on some things that I, you know, you get, what is it? What did Sarah Pascoe say? Like, maybe 10 or 11 years ago on this pod, I think about it all the time. She talked about how when you're doing yoga, the bit of the stretch or the whatever the move that you need that you feel like you want to gloss over or speed through that's the bit you need and in a similar kind of way she'd use that in the context of comedy and it's absolutely right there are some things I've always glossed over and I'm really glad to be engaging with them and they seem it seems pertinent the kind of EMDR stuff that I've been doing I've talked about recently um those things are coming together they're coming together creatively

and the reason I brought this up was why, was because I'm still learning. I'm still learning and I'm still getting so much out of. I nearly said value, so much value, just so much, let's leave it there. I'm still getting so much out of doing this show, having this relationship with you, having the relationship with my guests, finding out more about comedy each day, each episode, each gig, it's just lifelong learning, isn't it? And I love that. And I feel absolutely privileged to be able, A, to access the information, B, it's a privilege to share it with you. And I think that in reflecting upon how different I am now to when I started, started doing the podcast,

very green in stand-up, full-time professional, but just at the very beginning of it. And it was just interesting having this conversation with Deck and going, oh yeah, some of the stuff I was picking at, some of the sort of internal vulnerability stuff that he was encouraging out of me was about how. I never know if I can, well, no, I don't want to give, I don't want to give away stuff that might be sort of contextually interesting in the show, which is coming to Edinburgh this year, second two weeks of Edinburgh. What I realized was that I have, and forgive me, I'm normally we'd be able to cut out some of these silences, but there's cut out the thinking time, but Callum's made me video this. So either he can cut it out and there's no thinking time, in which case he can cut this out as well, or there just is thinking time when you need to bear with me.

I hope it'll bear fruit. I hope it's worth it. I think that I feel very unsafe a lot of the time. I feel at risk. And one of the reasons I love comedy is it's a way to manage that risk. And in the context of talking to deck about that, really getting deep into the guts of why to do comedy and how to do comedy and how it pertains to my latest work. It was really interesting to think,

oh, this is like a deeper understanding of myself and a deeper understanding of why I'm here. Is this horrifyingly vague? I'm sorry. I'm motivated by wanting to thank you for listening is all I'm really wanted to do, but I'm also deeply motivated to suddenly do a big dump of all this stuff that's a big emotional kind of

splurge of all this stuff that's in my head and my heart at the moment, because ultimately I was forced in this meeting, not forced, warmly encouraged, and forcing myself to confront some big deep stuff. And my only point is this. I was able to confront it from the perspective of someone who is trying to do something good with this podcast and trying to give something. and I tell you what, having a big long project and loads of proof that proves a thing, that proves an attempt to contribute, was a really good feeling. I have felt in my life and will feel again very, very vulnerable. I feel vulnerable in my life and I feel vulnerable in my art and vulnerable in my craft. And this helps. I hope it helps you. It certainly helps me. The conversation. help, the fact of it helps, and the, my understanding, it helps my understanding of who I am.

I can see myself in the context just of having bothered to record, to organise record, and put out 500 of these. If you remember, in around episode 400, I probably, I was thinking, and I may have said something along the lines of, what do I do I just do another 400 of them? And the answer became emphatically yes. Just even if they weren't good, I still would think I'd deserve, even me with my wobbly self-image, I would have to admit

that I would deserve a pat on the back for simply bothering to put them out. But they are also good, aren't they? I'm really proud of these. So thank you to every single one of my guests. Thank you to everybody that's listened to the show, talked about the show, written about the show, posted about the show,

got in touch with me, and thank you to all the people who will never get in touch with me, people with whom you and I probably have some sort of parasycial relationship that I'm unaware of. I'm fine with that too. And I was thinking the other day, did I, forgive me, I made a note of this, I don't think I've said this in a previous episode. I was listening to Bores, Gaw and Swords, which is the only other podcast I regularly listen to, because, hey, I spend enough time making podcasts. I do listen to some. They're often not interview. comedy type things. I feel that's too close to home for me. But this is two guys, Ivan Hernandez and Red Scott, and they are sometime comics, I think now former comics, in the States, and they

I won't go into detail. They basically do a show called Bores Gorence swords. It started off as a watch along for the Game of Thrones series, and now it's just, they're just people with whom I have a parosocial relationship of which they are unaware. And I get so much. out of it. And I get so much, they have accompanied me through so many long drives. This isn't an advert for the show, but I think you should listen to it. It's a great show. The way I mean it is that if I try and put myself in the shoes of someone who listens to and enjoys this show but has had little or none whatsoever, no contact with me, then I feel like, oh, it must, and it's best, it must be like my relationship with Ivan and Red. Because we have no relationship, but

But they keep me company. I've spent a lot of my life listening to them. And I notice the changes in their voice and the changes that they've gone undergone in their lives and what have you. They're not even talking about themselves. They're talking about TV shows most of the time. But I really, really value them. And I was thinking about that in the context of this show. And I was thinking how nice it is to think that there are people out there with whom I've had no contact who really value this.

So if you're one of them and you've never been in touch, feel free to get in touch and feel free to don't. Feel free to don't. I just love knowing that you're there. So thank you, everybody. If you're in the Patreon, I will do, I'm going to get interviewed about my current feelings about the podcast by someone very special indeed, who I'm not going to reveal at this time. But for now, I will, you know, episode 501, I think it's, I think it's Sophie Doaker next week. We're just going to crack on, and we're not going to mention episode 500 again. So thank you for indulging me in this eight-minute wallow.

I am just so profoundly grateful for this show and for everyone that listens to her. Thank you.