The Frank Skinner Show - Suzi Ruffell

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

This week the team are joined by Suzi Ruffell! Suzi pops in to chat about her new book, 'Am I Having Fun Now?: Anxiety, Applause and Life's Big Questions, Answered' and her upcoming tour, 'The Juggle'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The first time out of the house in weeks, you have your Starbucks venti, because, you know, sleep deprivation. You meet your best friend, she asks you how it's going, you immediately begin to laugh, then cry, then laugh cry, that's totally normal, right? She smiles, you hug, there's no one else you'd rather share this with. You know, three and a half hours sleep is more than enough. Starbucks, it's South Africa came. They're all here, open brackets, hooray! Close brackets today! Emily Dean and Pierre Novelli. Follow the podcast on X, those of you who can't write,

and Instagram. You can email, oh I like the tone17, 769. At Oklahoma? Yep. Hello. We've got Susie Roffle with us today. She's our special guest. What about that? Yeah. Can I start by telling you something, Susie? I would love you to. I don't really know you very well at all. We've met a couple of times. We've never really had anything like a conversation.

Well, this is, we're getting it today. But I've said to people, I love Susie, she's a really nice person. You have, if I may add. I even said to Tom Allen, I said, you're mates with Susie Ruffalo, and he said, yes, really close friend of mine. I said, she's a nice person and then I thought after I've no fucking idea what this is about. And I've worked it out. It's your mouth. Your mouth is you've got one of those mouths that really wants to smile. When you're not smiling you can see the mouth thinking I can't take this much longer I need to smile. And I've arrived at the conclusion that you're a really nice person. Were there any real psychological evidence? I think I might know why you think I'm a really nice person.

Go on. The first time I met you, I waxed lyrical to you for quite a long time about how much I loved your book. Oh, that would do it. Suzy's crack. So it was your mouth? It was my mouth saying, oh my god when I started stand up I read your book and I would read it on the train on the way to gigs and it really inspired me. Yeah you did, I didn't notice that in your fucking autobiography. But anyway, Can I say it's a brilliant book? Although am I having fun?

We're plugging Suzy's autobiography. It's the Moneto movement, they don't want to be associated with me anymore. I'm very happy to be associated. I tell everyone that you're my dad. I can see that, that would work. Do you think? Yeah, I'm being pursued by the agency. Suzy's dad drove a horse and car and wants a picture up outside school in the horse and cart. I have quoted something about Susie's dad three separate times since I read your book. Let me get it right. I think it's Rowley, You're Outside Great Ormond Street. Yeah. And it's about when you think life is bad

and you think things don't get any, I think he just lost his job. Well yeah, so he went bankrupt because he tried to become a rich guy and it didn't work. And so he went bankrupt and so he was taken. It's not as easy as it looks. No, it's not, it's not. Tell us the story. I find it a really, such an example of perspective. Yeah. So my dad is

sort of a working-class geezer guy, very nice guy and a bit of a, he's got cash-in-hand vibes. vibes. And he, you know, he does pay tax before anyone gets in touch. Anyway, he, during the 90s, he, the bank was lending loads of money, so my dad was trying to buy stuff and trying to become like a bit of a property guy. And then when the interest rates went through the roof, he couldn't afford it anymore. Bankrupt, bailiffs at the door, the whole thing. And it ended with him having to go up to London for a court hearing and he came out the court hearing and they had taken everything that he had owned off of him other than our house because I think my uncle bought it or something or others. We could stay where we were but other than that everything else was gone. because we could stay where we were but other than that everything else was gone. And he rang one of his best mates and told him and was really down and his best mate

said, oh I want you to go and have a look at something for me, I want you to go and have a look at a car for me or something or other. He said, I'll give you the directions from where you are and this is obviously before sat-nav and that so my dad was like, oh right I'm in London I just want to go and have a look. So we walked and looked, went to this place and then rang him back and said, I think you must have this wrong, there's nothing here. It's just a massive building.

And my dad's friend said to him, you're outside Great Ormond Street and the people in there are going through hell and you've just lost some money. You know, pick yourself off, dust yourself off, you start again. It's not a big deal, it's just money. And it's a great, you know, it's a great lesson and it's something that he referred back to and then

something that I really you know it's really important it's really important to have that perspective when you know when things seem like they're really bad to go you know it's it's great it's not great you know you haven't got a kid in Great Ormond Street yet exactly it no I you know I've already a couple of times thought Rowley. Oh my god, he'd love that. He'd love that. No, it is though. It's brilliant. So, yes, now, so we've all read your book. Oh god, that's scary. It's great. I love comedians' books. Thank you.

There's one thing I've got to ask you about, which is the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard a comedian say, and that is you don't remember your first gig. No, it's like a blur. But it's for me, and it was terrible. I mean, it's like it's been carved into my chest with an old Swiss Army knife. How can you not remember it? I remember the room. I remember, but I don't remember those moments when I was on stage. I think I was so, I think, can you remember yours exactly?

I remember some of the sort of three, it was like a three minute set and I remember a couple of the jokes. Wasn't supposed to be a three minute set. Yes. It was 45 headlining. Then he did some crowd work, it was fine. Three minutes set, yeah, exactly. Forty-seven.

Forty-two minutes of crowd work. It was just a three minute set, so I remember some of the jokes and I remember what I was wearing and wear and things, but there was an adrenaline blur aspect to it, definitely. Do you remember everything word for word from it? Not exactly, but I remember a lot of, I remember the silences. I remember just thinking, I remember actually as I was speaking about 20 minutes in, because I was comparing a thing, I kept going back in and every bit went worse and worse. And I remember thinking, I thought I was so funny, I've always been funny.

I've always been funny. And now it's just gone. It's gone forever. The bird has flown. I could feel myself dwindling on stage. Where was it? It was at the Birmingham Anglers Association in Edgbaston. Gosh. So were the crowd all fishermen? I love that venue. I don't think they were all fishermen. No, they certainly didn't take the bait

I hope you did that material No, I wasn't ready What a catch I just wasn't but you strike me As someone who and this comes out in the book. I am haunted by images of Ed Gamble's wedding because it looks like happy comedians altogether, all part of a warm-hearted, loving community. What have I got? Estimate Detail said I'm really glad to meet Frank Skinner. Frank? I would love to have that kind of, you know, that community.

What about David Bedeele? Like one person doesn't count. Josh Widicombe? But is that a fair summary? I'm good friends with a handful of comics, yeah. A handful or a hundred? Oh, not a hundred. Forty?

No, no I don't think so. A handful or a hundred? Oh, not a hundred. Forty? No, no I don't think so. Like I'm friends with, there are comics that you're closer to. But yeah, a lot of my friends are stand-ups. I mean a lot of them aren't as well, but you've got, you're best mates in comics. I always think of it as I've got comedians who I'm friends with and I have friends who are comedians. Sure. You know, where there's people who you would still see even if you both stopped doing comedy.

Yes, I think that's, yeah, definitely. That's one of the lines. Lee, Matt used to say to me, there's comedians who I'd invite to my wedding, but there aren't many I'd invite to my funeral. But do you think seriously, Frank, your generation... They'd all be phoning their agents about the, have I... What's it called? What I Like to You.

What I Like to You job, yeah. Do you think your generation there was... My generation? How fucking dare you. Alright, calm down. My generation have already had their moment with VE Day. Just gone. Yeah. You're busy buying your pens from daytime TV.

No, I think I just, what happened to me is I got like, I got telly in that early, because there was no one doing it. There was like 35 professional comedians when I was doing it. And then instead of sitting in a dressing room, which I had been doing, talking to five comics and having a real laugh, I was sitting in a dressing room on my own Waiting to go on and you know relationships with support acts are complicated Sure, have you have you had do you use support? Not I have had support in the past But I've been the support No, not Ed Josh I supported Josh

Ed Campbell, you supported Ed, did you? No, not Ed, Josh. I supported Josh for years. Widdicombe? Widdicombe, yeah. Just in case anyone thought it was Josh Gifford, the old National Haunt Jockey. Well, yeah, that's... Yeah, no, I didn't do that.

I was offered it, but it didn't feel like a fit. And you've got to... You can't just take all the weight, you've got to find the fit. You'd look good in silks. You're not the first person that said that. I want to talk about your style in a minute, You know, you've got to, you know, you can't just take all the way, you've got to find the fit. You'd look good in silks. You're not the first person that said that. I'm going to talk about your style in a minute, because you once wore an article of clothing when I was on a show with you, and I thought, that is the best.

Anyway, carry on. Oh my gosh. I feel, I'm having the best time of my life, just so everyone knows. I grew up absolutely loving Frank. Now, he tells everyone, now I'm his favourite comedian. I can't believe it. He does really, Susie. Because he was saying a few weeks ago, I think when I said I was going up to see you and Brian, he was a bit jelly bags. He said, I love Susie Ruffall. No, don't make it creepy. I love this. I'm having the best time of my life. I can't wait to replace Pierre.

I'm one of the few... Bad news, for your fancy. You're going to have to start wearing silks. I'm one of the few light entertainers of my generation who's still at large. That's true. That's not. When I'm further to be down, I walk to Russell Braden's house. Oh God.

It doesn't look like the Addams Family house. No, I think, you know, there's always someone worse off. Oh Jesus, is that your version of Great Ormond's story? Exactly! I can't even remember what you asked me now. I asked you. I was about to launch into something. I asked you what it's like, well I asked you about having support acts. Being a support.

But you've been so self-deprecatory, you've made yourself the support act in the story. I have been supported a lot. So the first time I supported Josh it was in a 120 seater in Barton upon Humber, a place called The Rope Walk, which is up by Hull. And then I gigged with him every year I would go out or he'd go and take a show to Edinburgh and then I'd tour with him for a while. And we always had a really fun time, really, really good time and and then the final time I opened for him, I wasn't opening for him by this point

I was then going out on my own tours, but when he did the Palladium he was like, do you want to come and open for me? So it's like a full circle thing of like doing the first one and then doing like the biggest one I've done that's like he was recording for a DVD. No one makes DVDs, you know what I mean? And I did. So I really, I thought it made me a better comic. That's why I really loved it because I really got on well with Josh and other people I supported. Ramesh, Alan Carr, I did a bit of Catherine Ryan, some Joe Lysic, they were all people that I... God, you've done all the greats.

Well, yeah, I was knocking on your door but no one answered. No, I had Pierre Navelli. Oh God, what's he like? Well, what happened to him? Yeah, I don't know. I'm doing some support work myself. Who are you supporting? I'm supporting Stephen Wilson at the Palladium. The jockey?

The prog rock legend. Basically Kath was a fan. Right. Well is a fan. Yeah my wife is a massive fan of this guy. Susie doesn't know the news. It's not big news to Susie, I'm a stranger. You got married? I got married. When? Monday. Oh my god, it's Wednesday! Where did you go? When this goes out I think it's Monday, so it's a week ago. You sound like such a brilliant nosy neighbour. Oh my god, it's Wednesday! Can't you see the confetti in my hair? Guys, buy my book, book tickets to my tour. Frank, what was your wedding like? Let's chat.

Honestly, on the last one we did we just talked about the wedding. Okay, but then just give me the highlights. Okay. Or is that grey? No dress, no guests, no ring, no room. We were on stairs. God, I love that song. Yeah, exactly. That was a bit of a... Exactly. So it was minimalist. Sure.

I referred to it as a Bizarro wedding. Happily, my wife doesn't know that Bizarro is a world in DC comics, which is where everything is upside down and wrong. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, back to your book. Congratulations.

Thank you very much, Susie. I appreciate it. So I did a TV show with Susie. I can't remember what it was. It was like, but you wore, I love a varsity jacket, but you wore a pink varsity jacket, which is the nicest varsity jacket I've ever seen. You're looking like you're thinking I've got the wrong person. No, it's more red than pink, but yeah, sure.

But that's okay. What I've done, I've... You've made it better in your memory. I'm worried now that there's some homophobic strand to this that I've made it pick. Oh no, there definitely is. It's a stereotype. Yeah. And I think you were smoking a pipe.

Yeah. I remember. And your hand was like that the whole time. Yeah. And you had a tool belt on. And I just thought, gosh, what a style. A tool belt would have looked great with that. Yeah.

Well, it's never far from me. I love a varsity though, generally. Yeah, it's never far from me. I love a varsity though, generally. Yeah, it's very good. That one is from a place near me called Sawdust, I think? Sawdust. And it's a varsity band jacket. And I think it says something like flute underneath the person's name, which makes it cooler. That is cool. But I'm not your style, I would say. I think it could have been worn by Rizzo in Greece. Oh, be still my beating heart. Was she an

early crush? No not a crush but I'd love to be her. She was always too old for me, even in Greece. I can't date a woman in her 40s! I'm seven! Some of the um... They were so old weren't they? Yeah, they were so old! I think there's one called Putzi who looks like... Isn't Putzi happy day? Yes.

Oh, well then there's one that's... One of the greases looks like... No, Kenicki was like 52 or something. Yeah, Kenicki... But the guy, there's this guy in it that's got like really tight curly hair. Yeah. But he's got like a got like really tight curly hair. Yeah. But he's got like a Homer Simpson level of stubble. Yeah.

He looks like a divorced private detective. Yes, he does. He's like, I can't wait to graduate high school. Yeah. What? Hey, I'm gonna get flung. I'm gonna bust this case wide open. I've managed to be an Engeloper in this school.

They haven't even worked it out. You guys need to watch the old Will Hay movies. Will Hay was a British comedian who played a teacher and his class were like, they were older than him. They were saying, well we have double maths in the morning. I mean they were just ridiculously grown men all sitting there. I mean they were just ridiculously grown men all sitting there. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. If you've shopped online chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know the purple shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it, because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and

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Oh same. I mean I just, yeah I think she's absolutely brilliant. And she did one speech when she was a bit gushing when she won an award and people go, oh, you know, silly Kate Winsley. And on a few occasions, I did it on telly once, I sort of said, hold on, have you seen her in and then listed a few things and talked about

how brilliant she was. She's very good. She is. Crucially, your partner agrees with you? Yeah. Yeah. Both paid up members of the Kate Winslet Paint Club. The Kate Winslet Appreciation Society.

Mm-hmm. That's useful. The KWAS. Yes. Have you met Kate Winslet? The KWAS. No. Have you, Frank?

No. She takes nine and a half in a shoe. No, I didn't know that. UK nine and a half. Why? Do you share shoes with her? No, but I... Did you go bowling with Kate Winslet? Why do't know that. UK 9.5. Why? Do you share shoes with her? No, but I... Did you go bowling with Kate Winslet?

Why do you know that? I went water skiing with her and she didn't have a ski. She just walked across. Yeah. She can't watch television in bed. No. Can't sleep. No.

Of course. She's actually got one of those ones where it's on the ceiling. It's her choice. I saw her talking really fast. I was like, oh my God. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer.

I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. I'm going to go and get a beer. She can't watch television in bed. No She's actually got one of those ones on the ceiling I saw her talking really openly about it because first of all she said something Because when did you last hear in Hollywood star talking about their shoe size That's such a like magazine of the supermarket checkout. Winslet comes clean about massive shoes. But she was being like really, she strikes me as a very sort of sensible type of order. She said, you know, it's best not to wear flats because then they look really

big. I always tried to wear a slight heel. And I a good tip from Kate for the old Bigfoot set there. For the yetis? Any yetis listening? What about Sven-Goran Eriksson? Four and a half? Did he really? What? Four and a half? So his leg was just like a rectangle? God rest his soul. Oh all those things were like that. But nevertheless four and a rectangle. God rest his soul. Oh all those things. When he was a child farmers used to hire him for seeding. He used to put the holes in the soil. That's when I had the day off. Gosh. Four and a half. But I'm a three Suze. Are you? How'd you stay upright? Well here we go bring it on. I'm not, I'm not, listen I don't want to be petty with you but I'm just asking. It's just very small isn't it? You're quite dainty as a person. Do you know I'm really going to love Suzy Roth. I'm dainty. What did you get? You got praise. She loved my autobiography. Are you Dame Tina or autobiography? No. I don't go to bed with it either. I really liked... And I love YouTube here. I'm fancy.

Oh yeah, you're fancy. I'm fancy. The title is really good. Am I having fun now? Am I having fun now? And it's from your kid. Yeah, my daughter asked me that in a soft play center. And it's such a funny, like, it's such a good example.

It's a great thing, that is. The kind of questions that kids ask that are so kind of, to them, just sort of innocuous, but kind of life-destroyingly odd for any adult. Am I having fun? I don't know. Am I having fun now? Yeah, I hope so. I really, really hope so. Yeah. But you realize with, I know that you've got a son, Frank, like, you realize with kids,

they know nothing. Like, the other day, she said, why can't we do that? I said, it's illegal. She said, what's illegal? I said, it's illegal. She said, what's illegal? I said, it's against the law. She said, what's the law? I was like, who is this person? She knows nothing. I can't talk to you.

But do you get, you know when people say all the funny things they say, but occasionally they say things and you think, even when they're quite young like wow quite profound. Like she's, a buzz said to me what colour is the mirror? And I thought you just threw up immediately. I thought yeah, I'm getting a headache, I'm just getting a headache like really quickly. And then I was in Edinburgh like four years later and I told this story on something and a woman stopped me and she said It's a real weird coincidence I've seen you but I am doing a philosophy degree. I'm doing a paper on your son's question No! Yeah, really like unbelievable coincidence Wow!

I think one of my nephews said how did I get in my body? Wow! You just go, ugh. I don't... do you want Bluey? I didn't want to ask you that. Yeah. One leg at a time. We could all get in P.S. Body, us three.

Yeah. You are big, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think I would feel very safe with you. As a sort of bodyguard figure? No, just as a guy. Just walking around?

Just being near you. You don't need to be a bodyguard, but I just think... I've been interpreted as a bodyguard of Frank's when I was support. Were you? I have the same type of sort of generic North Face windbreaker that security tends to wear. Yeah, and you always put that pretend thing in your ear, don't you? Yeah, I'm always talking to my wrist. We're traveling Frank, we're traveling Frank. He has his hair in ring clips on to her which look like one of those wires.

But he's got the rat's tail hasn't he? So that goes down the back of his jacket. So good, in your book, Dolly Alderton is concerned, we should say that in your, we will talk about the stand-up in a second, but we've all read the book and you know we're just you know we're full of the book. Please, I'm so delighted. It's called Am I Having Fun Now and it's by Susie Ruffles, we're not going to get someone else in to talk about it. What Susie does is she talks about something, and I've never read this in a book before, is it your own theory? You then get in a sort of consultant and say what do you think about failure and stuff like that. And then they offer their wisdom.

Yeah, their sort of expert advice. Well, I liked the idea of writing something that... A lot of the book is about anxiety and how it's sort of always been part of my life from quite a young age. And I liked the idea at the end of each chapter of like sitting down and talking to an expert because I didn't like the idea of like me giving people life advice because I'm a stand up. Like I get things wrong all the time. I've made a career out of it. You know, I'm a stand up. I get things wrong all the time. I've made a career out of it. You know, I'm an idiot that means well, but I wanted there to be sort of genuine advice,

because when I have been through sort of a rough bit, whether that be with my anxiety and the sort of intrusive thoughts that I sometimes get, or whether it was when I had a terrible breakup or going through grief. What I really wanted was like genuine just little tiny bits of advice. I didn't want to read like a massive textbook about anxiety or I didn't really want to have to, I just wanted sort of, I don't think there's ever a quick fix but there are things that can sort of make you feel better for a bit. I've got to tell you though, Susie, this is probably a strange thing to say, but I did

love the post-breakup pain in your books. It's really... Me too. Technicolor. Well it's... Yeah, it's so vivid though. I know it's, I'm talking about your life,. It's brilliant. It's brilliantly described Oh, thank terrible emptiness of post relationship. I know I split up with my wife maybe once every four months No, no, but when I've that feeling of that it's hard to I can't but you describe it brilliant Yeah, I what I used to do is listen to Roy Orbison records I would sit in my room just Roy Orbison. No one else is as profoundly melancholic

Songs like In is in dreams it's about this relationship it only works in dreams That's the only time but when he gets her in the dream, he says in dreams I walk with works in dreams, that's the only time. But when he gets her in the dream, he says, in dreams I walk with you, in dreams I talk with you. They're not even kissing. It just wants to be in her company. His dreams are really like aiming low.

And that arm. In his dream he could have done anything with her, but he just wants to walk with her. And it really, it has that kind of raw, it's great writing that. I think it was worth having your heart broken for 10 years. Yeah, I think it was as well actually. Now thinking about it, it was worth it.

But also I think, I mean, and it's something that I sort of suggest in the book, I do think that heartbreak will sort of make you a better person. I think extreme humbling is good for someone. Did I tell you about my golden lobes? Yeah. Yeah you did.

It's had the reverse effect of a lifetime of two for two more. It's the most humiliating moment of your life. Yeah. They should have caught me off-stage and just spat in my face. Oh my gosh, I'm still getting over this. But anyway, Dolly Alderton. We're going to be living with it for some time. I want to run this by you. Dolly Alderton wrote a book about a stand-up comedian. Yes.

And she wrote to me and said, I read your autobiography and I said, I bet you don't mention it in your fucking mind. Oh thank you, you've got to stop being like this. So needy. By the way, I love your velocity jacket. Yeah, yeah, go on, Dolly. The pink one. And I've never, I don't think I've ever met Dolly Alderson, but she said, you know, I loved your book and I'd love a quote, if you read mine and if you could give me a quote

for the blurb. And I don't know what happened, but I just never read it. And then I thought, shit, it's too late to send that now. I felt quite bad. So it was a really nice letter. And then I had previously met her brother on a Harry Potter tour. He conducts Harry Potter tours amongst. Okay. Did you know that? I think this is all brand new information. I've got the wrong person. No, I don't know Dolly that well

I don't know whether her brother does or doesn't do it. Trust me. He does. I believe you Yeah, and I saw him again in the street. I've been on a Harry Potter tour with him. We didn't know then street. I'd been on a Harry Potter tour with him. We didn't know then! Yeah, we went, it was on Bondi Beach. It was called Surf and Turf. Oh, well you just, come on, please. So sorry, Susie. He said to me, oh, nice to see you again. And I said, oh yeah, nice to see you again and I said oh yeah great to see you and I thought oh shit. He said can I say Dolly was really pleased with that quote you did for her book. Shut up. And I thought oh what does he mean? Is he being sarcastic? They got mixed up. Has someone

just given her a quote? Anyway I didn't want to probe. Did he think you were Graham Norton? I was going to say, did she mention it at all? She did. She said, I heard that you're really close with Frank Skinner, he always tells people that he likes you. Could you ask him why he never got in touch about the quote? So tell us about your stand-up tour. Okay, so I'm going on a new stand-up tour it's called The Juggle and it started off you know what it's like how you name a show before you write the show so it was about it was initially called The

Juggle no it still is called The Juggle but it was initially about how I'm juggling lots of things which is still a broad title. I really wanted you to say you juggle. No I don't. Have you thought about juggling as an uncle? I mean I'm not good at juggling but I am quite good at the Diablo. Yeah you've got to be careful in a theatre that you don't bring a big rig down on yourself. No I don't have a Michael Jackson moment. No. You should bring the balls on and never use them though maybe. But Frank did that with a guitar didn't you? Yeah I did. Oh you did Frank! I've been around so long I've done them all. So you started writing it you thought I'm gonna call it juggling. I'm gonna call it the juggle. The juggle song. And then what it's ended up being and I didn't even need to do that sorry, what it's ended up

being is the show is about who my daughter thinks I am. So she thinks I'm really bright and really brave and she thinks I'm really bright and really brave, and she thinks I'm all of these things all of the time. She's always like, you're so clever. You're so like, and so the show is partly about me sort of trying to be as good as she thinks I am, and also the knowledge that that won't always last. You know, that one day she'll think I'm an idiot.

And it's sort of the story that I tell in the show where You know, that one day she'll think I'm an idiot. And it's sort of, the story that I tell in the show where I really realized that one day she would find me deeply cringe, is that I went to a kid's birthday party and there were some teenagers there. And in my head, I'm younger than I am. And so I was like, oh, I'm gonna talk to the boring parents. I'm gonna talk to these sort of teenagers.

And it's like, chat to them, hey, how are you? And they were all sort of quite disinterested in me and then they had heard from someone that I was That I worked in comedy. They didn't know I was a stand-up comedian because teenagers don't watch repeats on Dave And I I So they thought I worked in comedy then they said, you know any comedians and I was like, I, so they thought I worked in comedy, then they said, do you know any comedians? And I was like, oh yeah, I know loads. And then, and this is verbatim, the teenager said to me,

don't you think it's really embarrassing to be a grown up and for your job to be to stand on stage and to try and make other grownups laugh? Wow. Can you imagine doing that with your life? And so I tell that story on stage and talk about the fact that one day my daughter will probably think that about me but at the moment she thinks I'm a legend and I'm trying to be as good as she thinks I am and failing.

Wow. Quite brutal, isn't it? That is brutal. It is quite a babyish way to make a living but I quite like that for you all. Yeah. I mean there is for you all. Yeah. I mean there is something deeply cringe about it. The more I've thought about it, especially when you're putting a show together. At the moment my show is on little cue cards and I'll sit in my kitchen table and I'll sort of move them around to try and make the story

make sense and then I'll go and stand on stage and do them in that order and if it goes well on the way home I'll be like, well I suppose I deserve a chocolate. That's pathetic, isn't it? That is quite pathetic. The moment of reflection is when you see your own set list summarized and it's just like, you know, supermarket bum. Yeah. Weather. Imagine what mine looks like.

What, a supermarket bum? Terrible. Mine just looks like I've taken a supermarket bum? Terrible! That was his clean stuff. Mine just looks like I've taken a door off its hinges in a gentleman's toilet. I don't think they're gentlemen. No, and it's, you know, the only bullet points aren't filth. You know, it's nothing else. Oh man, I don't. Do you also write on the hand? Do you use the bio and write on it? No I don't. I have done but I try not to. When you're doing whips, work in

progress, do you have notes? Yeah. See I can't bring myself to do that. Do you know what, I've got them with me. That's a lovely bag, she's so stylish. She's so stylish. She has got a blue sort of satchel which is the coolest bag ever. It's slightly futuristic as well. So this is what it looks like. Oh sorry. Suzy Ruffle, do you want to do some audio description? Yes. Yeah, of course. Suzy Ruffles. Suzy has picked up a dark blue vinyl bag. That's good. Yeah. Now these are cards, these are index file cards, but have you pierced them? No, that's how they come. Oh, they come on people's personal questions.

They come on a really rude one. Very rude, fine. I did in my twenties, but you know what, I've got rid of them now. So people are thinking, I guess you just raised the t-shirt just for a second. We're all over that phase now, Suez. Oh God, you can't be doing that when you're reaching 40, can you? You've got to, enough's enough. You should see my age group. No.

Anyway. I think we're good. So it's... Because you can take this out and you can... It's a group of yellow cards. I tell you what, it's like a sort of a very minimalist Lever Arch file. It's a number of cards all on the... What it tells me, Suzy Ruffell, is that you are a super organized, quite type A person. Oh no, I wouldn't say that. I'm quite organized with my stand-up and then I couldn't tell you where my keys are.

So it's a series of small cards and as she turns them now, each one has got... I won't read them out because I don't want to give your act away. But the first one says, I hate men. Yeah. It's the song from the musical Kiss Me Kate. Do you know that song? Yes, I do. No, I don't hate men. I just think we should get rid of them. It's all right when they sing. No, come on.

I'm a male ally. Now, yeah, so and then I, yeah, that's what the show is like. Interval, there you go. Yeah, Interval. Oh, wow, there's actually a card that says Interval. That's brilliant. Yeah. I think stand-up notes can always function as a sort of mad abstract poem as well

If you don't know the routine Well, I knew someone who'd worked with Bruce Forsythe and he had she said the tiniest tiniest writing Oh, so you're gonna say shoes? No, Sven's place is safe. And he had the tiny writing on his thumb with crib notes on. And she said to him, that's the tiniest one. She said, you must have amazing eyesight. And he said, ah, little tip, never read a book. That's a beautiful piece of advice. You should have gone in with me as one of your mentors. What a great life to have.

Never read a book. I told my uncle I was writing a book. What did he say? I've never read a book. No interest in them. Everything. Everything. No interest in them. Everything! Everything! No interest in anything! No interest in them. Never read a book! In any of them. Ever. On that note, Suzy's book, Am I Having Fun Now? Is it out now? Is it in the shops?

It's out on the 5th of June. So it's out on the 5th of June and your stand-up, do you know when it starts? Yeah, the 5th of June. I've done it all on the same day. Signing after, I'm guessing? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, do you know where the first gig is? It's in Bracknell at South Hill Park. Okay. It's a very nice venue, actually.

Okay, so you can catch Suzy Ruffles' stand-up tour, which is joyous. I haven't seen the show yet, but she's Joyous. I can tell by her mouth. And the book is Joyous. There are times where I want to take you by the shoulders and say, Susie don't be so unkind to yourself. But that's okay because you're just humble and sweet. But yeah, it's a great mix of funny stuff and some stuff that'll make you feel very sad indeed. But that's all. It's inspiring though, Frank. Not everyone has your confidence. It's not inspiring to someone of my age.

No, very lovely. No, it's very fine. So yeah, check out, have a ruffle June and see the show and read the book. Suzy's been lovely having you on. I think I know you slightly better now. Yeah, I feel like we're friends now. Yeah, well, let's not go over the Topski. Oh, come on. Why do you ruin nice things?

Because I don't know, I don't have any friends. It's his vibe, isn't it? All right, Monito. Do you know what I always think when I think of you? You dancing in your pants in front of Britney Spears? Oh yes. Do you want to explain to the younger listeners? I forgot you were at that party. For younger listeners, Britney Spears was a singer and she was huge at one point. When

you used to have your chat show, which was very good, what were the singers called that were on it? The Skinnerettes. Skinnerettes, yeah, lovely. I thought you were going to say younger people, pants, of these sort of underclothing things. And Britney Spears was on the show as a guest. She was. And you mentioned that she dances a lot in her underwear and then it cut to a VT of you

dancing in Y France. And I remember me and my brother not being able to breathe for laughing. So when I think like today, you know you have like a mental image like, oh, I'm going to do, you know, I'm going to see Frank Skinner and of course Emily Impia and the image in my head is you just like... Yeah, I mean obviously if I did it now it would look like a medieval dance of death. Yeah and also you know that list you said you weren't on all of a sudden, ding ding, not at large anymore. What I should have said then was, I never danced in my... Yeah, that would have been good!

Must be thinking of that jockey. Anyway, thank you so much, Susie, and we'll be back next time. Not with Susie, because she's off to bigger fish to fry. It's the Frank Skinner podcast. A new winter change is blowing. It's the Frank Skinner podcast. I'm not totally sure how it's going. Thanks for listening to the podcast.

Make sure to like and follow so you never miss an episode. And if you want to get in touch, you can email the podcast, make sure to like and follow so you never miss an episode and if you want to get in touch you can email the podcast via frank off the radio at avalonuk.com