The Comedian's Comedian Podcast - Were Comedians Happy In 2025: Vol 3

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Welcome to the final part of finding out if comedians were happy in 2025 with Russell Howard, Mark Simmons, Aparna Nancherla, Nick Mohammed, Kemah Bob, Daniel Foxx & Adam Riches.Join the Insiders Club at patreon.com/comcompod where you can get access to exclusive extras including Russell Howard on what’s it like being rich and famous, Aparna Nancherla on the worst comedy advice she's ever received (it's shocking!) and Nick Mohammed on the security of magic within comedy.Support our independently produced Podcast from only £3/month at Patreon.com/ComComPod✅ Instant access to ad-free full video and audio episodes✅ The full catalogue of exclusive extras you can't find anywhere else✅ Early access to new episodes✅ Exclusive membership offerings including a monthly “Stu&A”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.

Hello and welcome back to the very final part of finding out if comedians were happy in 2025. First up, Russell Howard returned to the show, and in this clip we were going to discuss the effect that having a child has had on. Russell's happiness. Here's Russell. You said last time on the show I asked if you were happy and you said I'm driven completely by fear and I'm loath to fix that. Yes. Is that still the case? I would say I am happy. I'm now I'm married and I have a son compared to when we were talking in 2016 so I'm a very different person.

How old is your child? He was your son? He's eight months. Amazing. Congratulations. I felt like I knew you'd had a kid, but I hadn't seen you for a long time. So you're very low in, my God, eight months in. Oh, yeah, exactly. So it's kind of, it's wonderful.

So I kind of, my thing now is going, right, how do I combine my love of stand up with being a dad and, you know, taking him to school and being there for football practice? and you know all these things so that's where my head is my head is in this kind of okay how do I combine uh my love of my job and how fortunate are we that we have jobs that we love there's very few people that have that with you know the love of my son and wanting to be around and read bedtime stories and do bath time and you know give him his ready break in the morning and all this kind of thing so yeah i definitely feel super i feel content

which is a nice feeling but I never thought I'd have um but I still like making I still like writing stand up and um I don't I think I'm a lifer I think you know I think I'll be doing this and there'll be times when I'm frustrated by it um but I would say I'm definitely I would say I'm happy yeah it's a nice it's a nice feeling I mean yeah it's pretty exhausting, but it's to be smiled at for nothing other than being yourself. Oh, what a feeling. They knew that was out there. Do you know what I can't wait? I can't wait to see future material of yours, which combines your ability to be articulate and so funny with like now that I'm on the other side of it, like, you know, my kids are six and nine. I'm by no means on the other side of

it. Just if anyone wants to be able to see it out at the moment, but on the other side of the eight month thing. I'm now kind of already looking fondly back on kids' books that we used to read and going, oh God, I guess that's done. I guess we're not going to read paper dolls anymore. We all know it backwards. Oh, that bit's done. Horrifying in many ways.

But I can't wait to see what you get from it all. I'm so like, I love being a dad. I found it so hard in the early days, in the early years and I'm so keen to talk to you at length about it, but maybe this isn't the entire place for it. But

I'm very excited. I'm very excited. Yeah, but it's also so, I'm also really hyper aware of trying. It's why I don't put any photos of him on social media. Of course. You know, I'm not going to give his name away. I would never speak about, I would never speak ill of him. I hate the idea. Yeah, I've already fallen into that trap.

There's some YouTube stuff out there now, which I'm like, If you watch that when you're 15 plus, you'll get it. And if you watch it in the 10 years before that, I'm in serious trouble. Yeah, but also that's kind of, but you'll be able to sit down with your kids and explain that. But it's, and also the very fact that you're thinking like that indicates it's probably fine, Stu. But it's that thing of, I always find that thing, when people are kind of sort of rude about their kids for the pleasure of someone else, you think, oh, God, at what cost? you know what I mean like at what cost is nothing sacred

and again that's another thing that's something that I'm noodling with and trying to figure out it's the whole kind of like I don't understand why celebrities would use their kids to further their brand I find that so vulgar

weird but talking about that in front of an audience because people would be like well I put photos of my kids online you call a media Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of trying to figure that out. And I find that very, very interesting. That was Russell Howard. Next, it's Mark Simmons, known for his razor sharp wordplay, a very inventive misdirection and constant and relentless punchlines. Here's Mark Simmons. Someone listening to this who's like, I'd love to get over myself by accepting I'm good. When will I know if I'm good enough to accept I'm good?

yeah i guess it's that i wish i could say the exact moment but i don't know i think it's well i suppose it's when i got to the point of headlining clubs maybe when you're when you're being trusted and also consistently having nice gigs yeah i think that is the key because you because when you if you have enough good gigs across all spans of types of gigs the evidence is there

but it's been the old before for me it was in the old days where you just had so many up and down gigs and a lot of the time it's probably just because the gig was shit but back then I wouldn't have ever said that like I could remember loads of gigs I did when it was just comics and I beat myself up

afterwards well of course it didn't work yeah yeah they're all thinking about their own jokes I guess it's experienced that you can say well that's why that's happened and maybe that is why I maybe it is after I started to analyze not just the joke but what's

everything so then you can actually accept that you know what the reason for something not working yeah before we wrap up two last questions the first is

are there other skills that other comics have that you covet? Like, we know we've established, like, there are certain things you're really good at doing. Like, you're a really strong joke writer. You've got good structures, you've methodically created good structures for your good joke writing and performing to breathe. You understand the cadence. You've got a really good technical appreciation of why something's funny, but also that doesn't

get in the way. We also get to sort of breathe and see you. All of that good stuff is working. Is there other stuff out there, which you're like, if only I could crack that, or that element of it? Yeah, not really. Not really. Like, I am very happy in what I do. And I, for me, being up there and being able to go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang with gags.

I just love that as a way of doing it. the times when I think I wish I was another comic would be when putting a show together and be like I finally I could do one idea and then just ring all those but when I actually then have enough

one liners to fill the time and they're all good I don't think I'd rather be doing that it's only in that in that frustrating time where you're trying to put the show together and maybe just the ideas aren't coming to you in that moment

but no i i'm very happy with how i do it i don't i don't look at other styles of comic and go i wish i could do that i don't think because i can do it's like i said with those like i'll watch someone like brian gettins and i love it and in i probably when i started wished i could do that but i know but i know but i know but i know but i know i can't but i can do things within my show without a little bit like that. So I do tend, I can, I can scratch that itch a little bit, if you know what I mean. And are you happy? Yeah, I am happy.

Yeah, I've got, a lot of things do make me happy. Like, I don't think you can be happy constantly all the time, but I, I, performing really makes me happy. Like, I love it, and I get through that nearly every day. So that's, that's nice, isn't it? That was Mark Simmons. In the last of the episodes that I recorded at South by Southwest earlier this year, Aparna Nanchurla joined me as we explored the intrinsic link between comedy and sadness.

One thing I wanted to ask you was about whether there are any, as someone who I think a lot of comics have suffered with mental health problems. My feeling is that almost all people do. It's just that comics are allowed to talk about it on stage. I don't necessarily subscribe to the kind of comics are all secretly depressed theory. But for those of us that wear it on our sleeve a bit more obviously, I was wondering, are there any creative benefits to depression? Or is it all, you know, is it all just terrible? Like I often sort of thought I think in my, I'm a sort of chronic anxiety sufferer. And I've often thought to myself, like if there was a choice like a blue pill and a red pill for you can either get rid of all the anxiety or have all the success that the anxiety may drive you towards. Like, which one would I do? Oh, wow.

You know, would it be better to be terribly unsuccessful, like as unsuccessful as one might secretly fear one is, and yet happy? Right. Like, what would the trade-off be? Would that be worth it? But maybe without the, maybe the anxiety is also driving the, like, importance of being successful, right? So without that, you would be happy and not stress. Yes.

Yeah. How do you feel? What's your take on? I mean, I would say you were asking, like, what is a positive? of depression, you get a lot of down time. It is a lot of time to sit around and think. Okay. Because he ain't really doing anything else.

Sure. Yeah. And is that? Because I know in the brief periods of depression I've had, I wouldn't have really wanted to think in a creative way. Sure. I'd have wanted to sort of avoid everything. I'd have felt like, oh, now, like,

this would be a perfect time for me to do some work trying to describe the funniness of this and I can't which means I'm even more of a piece of shit Well the interesting thing to me I'm sorry

I just got a pity R from someone in the audience Yeah I think I don't know for me I've always felt like comedy and sadness and even anxiety are kind of two sides

of the same coin where it's like like when I'm really depressed or anxious I'm sort of like you know why am I even here, what am I doing? And then that is essentially stand-up too, where you're essentially asking, why are we all here? What are we doing? Why do we do things this way? Like what, like it is,

they're both kind of micro-analysing. One is very self-directed. Like anxiety and depression is, you know, like I'm, yeah, like I'm a piece of shit. Why am I so bad at everything? But I feel like stand-up is sort of inflicting that on the world more or even maybe on yourself. So I think, I don't know, for me, it's kind of using the same. conduits in the brain and one of them goes in a more just self-defeating flat line direction and then the other one's like okay but like if I'm kind of trying to explain this to another person of like what's going on in my head how would I do that and do it in a way where they're not immediately gonna walk away and be like you

know what this is kind of a bummer I'm gonna go watch real housewives yeah is there um I was thinking about the kind of the hustle necessary to become a comedian and the drive required and the literal driving and, you know, the traveling and all of those things. How did those sit with periods of depression? Not great. I feel like there was a period where I was, quote-unquote, like my career was going well and things were really picking up and this was like, you know, a number of years after I kind of started talking more about mental health in my act. And it felt like things imploded a little bit where it was almost like I was being rewarded for being really vulnerable on stage, but then those same demons were

making it really hard to show up to do stand-up, where it was like, as I was talking about anxiety and depression on stage, my anxiety and depression were getting worse off stage, and I was like, you know, canceling shows and not able to get through the day. So I think I really had to reckon with like, do you have to create boundaries just to self-preserve versus just turning everything into material and then thinking I'm a robot and I can just show up and deliver these jokes with no impact as a human yeah yeah especially if the the comedy world is saying hey we really like it when you kind of eviscerate yourself in front of us yeah and I

almost feel like that's been a trend that stand-up has taken or you know even like hour-long shows where it's sort of like a vulnerability contest of like how real can how real could he get he was sitting the whole time and he He didn't even want laughs. You know, like I just feel like it's kind of turned into, in some regards, a pissing contest of like, you know. And, you know, that's any cultural trend. We go in different waves of things.

But it is funny to me that it's sort of like we pick a thing and then we run it into the ground. Last question. And given the context of the interview so far, I promise I ask this of everyone. Are you happy? Am I happy? I think I am okay.

I am okay. I'm okay with the ups and downs, and I think I am, yeah, I think I like just saying like, I think I am okay feels like a grounding thing versus like am I making the most of all of this. So I mean, I am okay, maybe that feels like it's happy in its own way.

But yeah, I think I'm all of it. I'm happy. I'm sad, but I'm okay. Apana An Ancela there. Then Nick Muhammad returned to the show after over a decade, and we talked about all sorts of things, including the traitors, Ted Lasso, Mr. Swallow and Taskmaster. This is shortly before he became one of my son's favorite people on account of his superb work on traitors. Here's Nick Mohamed. I don't remember when the last time was you were on the show. years ago. I know exactly when it was because we were going to try and make it 10 year anniversary. It was like it was like April 2015. We were going to try and do it as a decade. But we just missed it. I know. It's mad because it doesn't feel that long ago. We're still here. So here's the final question. As you know, are you happy? Really happy, Stu. I don't want to be a pain in the bum. But no, I am and I'm happy because I have got such a wonderful support network in terms of personally my incredible incredible wife like literally such a superhero like phenomenal and kiddies

but also just professionally i've just got some lovely people just you know they're holding my hand through all and um i'm just having a ball you know getting to do this swallow show has been a dream come true really to get to play those those rooms but me just doing that weird voice and clumsy antics you know which really should just be on in the pleasance upstairs really but getting to take it to somewhere a little bit bigger it just feels like a dream country so I'm very very happy yes that was Nick next up we heard from Kima Bob

Kima and I discussed valuing authenticity over polished craft we talked about using comedy as an open dialogue with strangers something she's brilliant at and we talk about how moving from the US to the UK really gave her space to truly find herself here's Kima review yourself honestly what would you say if you were to review yourself um i think that

i have like a great foundation but a lot of room to grow but based off of what i've exhibited I can see myself doing that. And I really do believe that, like, from what I've been able to show myself and who I know myself to be, if I, like, stick to my guns, I'll be great at, like, whatever the fuck I do. And so, like, yeah, that's just nice. I think that's nice. I feel a confidence from myself that I think only comes from, like, surviving a car crash. Like, by, like, kind of a bit of a crash and burn and, like, living to tail the tail and being like, hey, if you crash and burn, it's actually not the end.

And maybe you can, like, draw from that experience to create. something, yeah, that brings you to a different height of self-belief that you thought was gone. So, yeah, I'm excited about what she'll do next. That's great. That's very robust and measured. That's lovely to hear. Are you happy, Kimabob, you've answered this at the beginning. Yeah, I am. I think, obviously, we could do some things. we can definitely get some more money going on around here. Oh, it would be nice to have like a romantic partner. I think that would be pretty cool.

But like, we're having a great time. Thanks. Thanks, Kuma. Yeah, no way. Thank you. That was Kima Bob. And then in July, we heard from Daniel Fox. Daniel, God, he's so good. I haven't actually haven't.

He's one of those people. I want to make a bit of an appointment to view to like, I've literally just thought to myself, God, I haven't seen any of Daniel Fox's Instagrams for a while. I must catch up. He'll have chucked out loads since coming on the show. He's brilliant. We discussed all things around his hit show villain

and the creative burnout, which nearly led to him retraining as a surgeon. He's Daniel Fox. What joke makes you most jealous that you didn't write it, that you didn't think of it yourself? There's so many. That's really hard.

I think the best one ever is Alan Kars, because it's like so it's hard to believe that there was a time when anyone hadn't played on this but the he's talking about a woman in office she's got a sign up behind her it says you don't have to be mad here but it helps

she's written it in her own shit yeah it's so good that's so good that's just on the subject of jokes I can't attribute this it drives me mad because it's just you know a random joke I saw on social media at some point, but

the, just brackets, Ben-Jeserite voice. What's the voice called, the Ben-Jeserate voice? Oh, the voice, I think, isn't it? It's like, brackets, the voice, absolutely no worries, if not. Absolutely kill me. And I just, when you mention the Ben-Jeserate,

I thought, that joke may be pertinent to your interest. That's so funny. It's phenomenal, but I can't attribute it because I can't remember who wrote it. That really? That is just, oh, I love it, I love it. Every time I tickle that. review we'll finish with this this one and then one last one

if you were to review yourself honestly what would you say hmm um gosh what would I say God that's so hard what horrible thing to ask someone I think I would, I think I would say nice things. I think I have, I think on some level, I think that I'm good for how long I've been going. I think I would, I think I would be like, oh, yeah, like strong, strong joke writer figuring out his style, maybe.

I think that's the, that's the, like, the peak and the low is like, I think I'm still, getting there with how I want to perform yeah maybe it would be like some great jokes some good moments with the audience

others fell a little flat and finally Daniel Fox are you happy yes increasingly so yeah I love it. Would you like more?

Well, no, I just stayed quiet in case you would like more. But that's fine, that was nice. Yeah, increasingly so. I've been doing therapy, feeling less anxious by the week, and having a nice time. That was Daniel Fox. And finally, on this little clip show, this is like one of those episodes of Adventure Time, in which a mysterious alien whose name I don't remember

but who was voiced by Emo Phillips of all people did a little kind of a little clip show did you ever see community did you watch community there was I think in season three or maybe four

they did a clip show except all of the lucky little kind of Christmas clip show type thing except all of the clips had weren't from episodes they've created them especially for the thing

it was absolutely gorgeous I might watch that this Christmas so finally Finally, at the end of this little clip show, I was very honoured for Adam Riches to come on the show to share the craft behind his chaotic, genius character work and he answered whether or not he's happy

in a way that no one has ever answered before. Here's Adam Riches. We've come to the end. Thank you so much. This has just been a delight. And I feel very honoured and pleased that you listened to those episodes with those people and found something useful in it and I'm sure lots and lots and lots of people will find loads of interesting

useful stuff in this. Last question, always the last question. Are you happy? Am I happy with what with the recording? Are you happy? Are you happy? We're still on it. I thought you're just a man. Happy with the recording. This is the end of the interview Adam and the question can be interpreted however you like. Are you happy? Am I happy? Well, yes. And no. Like I think that and that's, that's what you should aim for, I think. Yes, because there's lots of stuff in my life that I, that I am very, very lucky and fortunate to feel now. No, because I want more and because I want to keep, you know, chasing for more. So that will always push me. If I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I've covered in lots of this, very, very difficult

personal life, very, very difficult family life, very difficult relationship with, say, my work in the industry. Where we are now, very, very happy with my relationship. All my family are safe and healthy and my ideas are still flowing and and happening. So yeah, I think I'm looking forward to that, to those sadnesses that come inevitably with life. But But using them in the right way, you know, I think that's, that is something that I can take. We use the metaphor of like failure and a bad gig to teach you lots of stuff. Like sadness teaches you lots of stuff as well. Like losing, you know, loved ones teaches you a lot of stuff as well.

Gives you context, gives you pause, gives you, you know, the ability to just look at, at the moment, which is a very important thing to, to embrace. and maybe the hardest thing to embrace when you're making something and all the noise that surrounds it. But like I would say that, you know, you can't not have that stuff without the other stuff, like that it all binds together. And if your career,

if your life is making stuff that comes from within, well, then you're not going to evolve unless you actually have some of that, that other kind of spice going on in there to flavor it all. So, yeah, like, yes and no to if I'm happy or not, but absolutely fine with not being happy for periods because I know that you just blink and you wake up and there's another record you can put on the turntable.

And that was it. That was out of riches. I hope this served as a lovely little sort of tasting menu of the 2025 Comcompod roster. Don't forget you can join the Insiders Club at patreon.com.com pod for a little glance backstage at the Comedian's Comedium podcast. Three pound a month. Instant access to ad free audio and video versions

But most importantly, exclusive extras that you can't get anywhere else, including Russell Howard on what it's like being rich and famous. That was a good answer. A pun and Nanchurla on the worst comedy advice she's ever received, which is genuinely shocking. And Nick Mohamed on the security, the security of magic within comedy. Very interesting, nuanced, nuanced stuff. And we'll be back very soon with Episode 500,

and I'm desperate to tell you who it is, but I'm not going to. So please look forward to that after. I was going to say five decades of Comcom. That's not how time works. It's been just about, just under 14 years. Feels like five decades, though. Right, kids? Anyway, thank you for listening to that.

I hope this is sort of like both whet your appetite and also refreshed it. Refresh your appetite. Oh, God, that's awful. I've sort of given myself a misophonia. Anyway, have a lovely new year, and we'll be back very soon with episode 500. Thank you.