Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Stuart Goldsmith (Part One)

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Today, we’re walking in glorious Regent’s Park with the wonderful comedian Stuart Goldsmith. As well as having an incredibly successful and critically-acclaimed career as a stand-up, Stuart is pretty much the OG of podcasting - he started his podcast The Comedian’s Comedian in 2012. Today - we’re turning the interview tables on him!Stuart and his family are based in Bristol - and he doesn’t have a dog, and is - in fact - allergic to dogs! However, we’re pretty convinced that once Stuart’s kids take a look at Raymond they’re going to have to convince him to get one. Stuart tells us about his rather fabulous career progression - from court jester to street performer to stand-up - Stuart really knows everything about comedy. In this chat, he shares some of what he’s learned from interviewing over 500 comedians on his podcast. Follow @stuartgoldsmithcomedy on InstagramYou can read all about Stuart’s work and keep up to date with his upcoming live dates at https://www.stuartgoldsmith.com/ Watch Stuart’s recent appearance on Live At The Apollo here!You can listen to The Comedian’s Comedian on all podcast platforms! Follow Emily: Instagram - @emilyrebeccadeanX - @divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Rich Jarman Artwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The problem with stand-up is that if you're bad, they're still there. And the problem with street performing is that if you're bad, they walk away. This week on Walking the Dog, Raymond and I went for a stroll with a comedian and host of the hugely popular podcast, the comedian's comedian, Stuart Goldsmith. Stuart lives in Bristol, but he'd popped to London for the day, so we met up in Regents Park on a beautiful sunny day. To chat about what led him into comedy and the story behind his long run. podcast delving into the whole psyche of some of our best love comedians.

Stuart had a really interesting route into comedy working as a street performer and at one point a court jester at Warwick Castle. So I was really fascinated to hear what an important preparation that had been for some of the hard knocks you inevitably get on stage as a stand-up. We also chatted about what he's learned about comedy from interviewing so many high-profile comics on his podcast over the years. And it turns out that There's a couple of characteristics they all have in common. Stuart also told me about how he's now focusing a lot of his stand-up around the climate crisis, which is a subject he feels very passionate about and why he also feels that tackling it in stand-up

is the best way of getting people engaged in it. Ray and I really enjoyed our walk with Stuart. He's an incredibly dynamic, enthusiastic person, but he also seems like a very kind-hearted, decent person. and you can absolutely see why so many comedians choose to open up to him. And best of all, he was a total Ray fan. So frankly, we're sold. If you want to see Stuart Performing Live,

you can find out all the info at Stuart Goldsmith.com and do, of course, get involved with his brilliant podcast, The Comedian's Comedian. I'll stop talking now and hand over to the fabulous man himself. Here's Stuart and Ray Ray. Come on, Raymond. Are you going to walk with Stuart? Oh my goodness, I had no idea. I had no idea. I'd heard he was kind of cute, but that doesn't really do it justice. He's like, do you know what he's, it reminds me of like a Disney broom. You know, in The Magician's Apprentice, those brooms, it's that shape of like the sort of the hair that comes down in, Frum and then curls at the end. Oh my goodness. And I suppose his little legs necessitate quite a slow amble.

Oh, I don't know if I like little legs. Oh, so. Well, I assume he's got legs. There's a sort of a little, um, what? What's the dog from the Magic Roundabout? Yes, Dougal. Obviously, different breed of dog, I understand that much. But similar kind of skirt effect with the hair such that... Oh, bless him. It's just, this whole thing is just going to be forning over him. Well, he'll be very happy with that.

Do you know, Stuart, I feel you're quite a spiritual, open-minded person. I don't know why. It's because I enjoy your work a lot, and I've got that impression. I feel he's been here before somehow. You know, you get that energy. Sometimes you get it with people where you think there's just a wisdom to them. Okay. Okay, so you get the...

So you think he's been here before as a dog or as a person? I'm sort of saying he's the Dalai Lama, basically. Okay. Come on. Did the ages sink up? No, I don't think so. When did the last Dalai Lama? He's still going, isn't he?

Current one? Oh, is he? How does it work with the Dalai Lama? He dies and then a child from a nearby village who was born at... I don't know. This is, I'm not in a position to comment on the Dalai Lama. We don't know about lamas. But I do, I think it's different to the Pope, isn't it? Because the Pope's resection is all super political and... Well, I mean... I'm basically saying that on watching Conclave, obviously.

Yes, I've yet to see Conclave. I'm looking forward to it. It's funny how that's sort of suddenly become a topical movie. Yeah. And I'm hesitant of offending religious people, but it does seem inherently funny to me that God's representative on earth is chosen by a vote. I mean, that seems like a really... I don't know if that's a root one thing that lots of comedians have covered in the past, but it is funny to me that they all get together and vote

and that chooses who God said. I mean, it's no weird than kings, I suppose. This is glorious, by the way. I hope I didn't spoil this, because I came for a run here earlier on. Did you? And I don't know when I was last in Regent's Park. I don't think ever in this kind of...

of weather. Isn't it beautiful? It's just great and as I thought to myself as I was running I thought don't look at anything, don't appreciate anything, keep it fresh for the interview. Well I am so thrilled to have you on this podcast because I've been listening to your podcast for a very long time. Have you really? Yeah, I really love it. The comedian's comedian, which is you're the OG of podcasting really. I'm well I got it I got in a week before Richard Herring's Lester Square Theatre podcast but he had been obviously he'd been doing colleagues and heron for much longer than that but yes my podcast is i think about 13 years old so that does make me older than raymond older than raymond yeah oh he's that's like at the end of a movie when they say these are the

production babies your podcast is just so brilliant and i've learned so much about comedians and people in general really um but i want to get back to your origin story And we should establish, because there are format matters to be taken care of. I'm often jealous of format. My podcast predates format. Well, obviously this is Walking the Dog, and I have my dog, Raymond, and you are based in Bristol, aren't you? Yes.

You're up here working, presumably. No dog, no judgment, but why no dog? Well, children, and I feel like this is, oh, look at this little guy as well. Let's see if they get on. What sort of dog is this? Oh, babe, we've got to get a picture. Ignored. Ghosted, blanked.

You'd have thought, I thought, I think we both thought they'd get on because they're similar weight. They're similar tiny guys. And I thought, certainly I thought, oh, they'll get on, they'll chat. That was the sickest burn, wasn't it? That literally. That's London for you. That's Regent's Park.

Dogs too good to sniff each other's butts around here. So go on, no dog. No dog, no, I never had a dog. hamsters as a child and I have a very vivid childhood memory of a sadly expired hamster in a shoebox that I probably wasn't supposed to see after his death. He'd been left out in his shoebox lying in state and that was quite a big moment. But no dog. My mum, she had a dog when she was a little girl and she's quite pro dog. But it never really came up as a subject. I was bitten by a dog as a child. on Goldsmith Avenue, which is my surname for those who haven't been paying for

Yeah. And it was literally the owner was sat. I was very small and I remember the owner saying he's just an old softie and he bit me for no reason. And I had a similar experience a few years later with a cat whereby I stroked a cat and it turned around and sank its teeth into the sort of the fleshy part in between my thumb and my forefinger. And I just sort of yelled and then I'm not anti either. either of them, but I do feel like I've got a sort of a, oh, sometimes they just go mad and bite you. That's nice.

Do you want to describe what's happening here, Stuart? Yes, a dog which I would think of as a sort of Siberian husky style dog. Yeah, with a bit of chow-shadow, who's wearing one of those dog holsters. Do you mean like those, you kind of put your dog in a holster that's like... They look a bit S&M. Yeah. Don't you think? It's just, as I said, they tend to go mad.

At that precise moment, the Siberian husky-looking dog, that's... maybe 50 metres away from us or 30 metres away from us, suddenly flipped over and rolled over in the sunshine. And it was lovely to watch. Raymond's pooing, we're missing it. I thought that was going to be a key feature. Look at you little sausage. Can we find it?

I'll entertain you while your mum does the poo bag. Oh, there we go. Oh, now you're presumably with a dog this fluffy. Yes. That's an issue, right? What, the poo? Well, I mean, it's not like his little... Are we supposed to talk about this on the progress?

No, it's fine. I don't know enough about dogs. I'm like, with a dog, that's a dog. fluffy, I'd be thinking about wiping. It's normally okay but he does have to have, how can I put this? I have to have his undercarriage tended to quite regularly. Okay, okay. Oh there we go, as long as there's attention being paid. Back sack and crack. For people not, for people trying to visualize Raymond, if people are unfamiliar with him, it's like a little, he's like a little moustache has wandered off someone's

face and he moves as you would imagine a moustache would move like a sort of arduly Mardman is just sort of noodling along. Wait, wait, we've got a look at that friend. Hello. Oh, look. How London are you? There's a dog here and he's got a lead, but no owner inside. I would feel so...

There's the owner. Hello. I heard the other day one of the things you've got to be aware of is if a service dog who's wearing a little high viz or whatever comes to you with no owner, that means the owner's in trouble somewhere. Does it? That's one of those, like, I'm hypervigilant. I'm always like, what could go wrong, how can we prepare for it?

If you see a dog with a lead and no owner, it's like, someone's trapped out a well. Yeah. But you're okay. You seem okay. He has no occasional picnic and expected places. Oh, he's going to have a visit. Oh, bless you. Ever so sweet.

Oh, my goodness. Lovely to meet you. Look at it, and he does a little shaky thing. It just turns into a little ball of fluff. Come on. Are you getting hot? Let's pick you up for a bit. Good boy.

Welcome to carrying the dog. I know it is carrying the dog, I'm afraid. So no dogs? No dogs, no, no, no, but so I'm more of a dog person because I like the idea of loyalty. They feel like mammals, whereas cats don't feel like mammals. Cats feel like birds, to me. Do you mean they just feel like they're disinterested and those? I don't want to upset cat people.

We do get regular visits from a neighbourhood cat who we have christened dark fluff, who looks not dissimilar to Raymond, I will point out. And the kids like that and dark fluff is occasionally let into the house, but never fed, but sort of welcomed and it's just funny to me that yeah so i'm allergic to cats and dogs but i've had no it's all right i've had my i've had my i've had my pills and also he is hypoallergenic oh is he yes see i've got a friend of mine years ago had a cat and there was a sort of open invitation to all comers to pop to anyone with allergies pop around and stick your face in the cat and see if it went off you know see if it triggered your allergies and did it um

no it didn't it didn't so it is it's definitely a possibility that I just think they're holding out for a cat. And what I've tried to leverage is we can have a cat provided I'm allowed to construct a sort of complicated structure of ramps and so on such that the cat can get up to a cat flap in our kitchen which is a, we're in one of those squeezy houses on a hill in Bristol.

Oh yeah. So our living room is underneath our kitchen and that's the outside. And what I'm kind of trying to wangle is a series of ramps that go up the side wall outside the house that lead to a kitchen window with a cat flap in it. And I'm basic, I don't know if I'm just doing that because I think it means we won't have to get a cap.

Well, I think Raymond might change your mind. I certainly think if Raymond was introduced to your kids, that would change your mind. Yes, without doubt, without doubt. It is hard to, it's hard to overstay. Raymond, he likes to it. What a lovely little guy. He likes Stuart. He's so nice.

Have you had him his whole night? Yeah. Do you know what? He was a bit of a... It's after I've experienced quite a few bereavements, to be totally honest. I've heard about this. Yeah, I'm really sorry to hear that. That sounds really hard. But you know what? It was just life-changing, because I think when you go... We've all been through tough times and you just think, oh, bring joy into your life. And what is more joyful than him? Yes. Yes.

So, but I want to find out more about you because, as you know, it's very fascinating to find out, how comedians decided to become comedians, because there's always something, isn't there, propelling them? And you're used to trying to get that out of people, so I love turning the tables. Yes, well, I was very nervous this morning because I thought, oh no, she's going to do what I do to people. I love asking a perceptive question and then being quiet and just looking at them and letting all this silence fell. Oh, no, God, that's what Emily Dean's going to do to me. I don't think there was a big inciting incident that made me think this is it. And obviously with my podcast, I've spoken to nearly 500 comics.

How Did You Start Always Comes Up. And it's everything from Sarah Milliken was like guest number five or six on my show. And she at the time was talking about how she had a divorce. And she wrestled back control of her life. And on the other end of the scale, Harriet Kemmseley, brilliant Harriet Kemmseley, who's just been on Last One Laughing. She's the only comic who's ever been on the show who became a comic because her parents said, we think you should become a comedian.

So they were all watching Live and Apollo together. Her parents apparently sort of said, yeah, you'd be good at that. Do you know? I'll give that a try. So there's been all sorts of versions of it. My pet theory is that all comedians are either running away from something or running to something. But I think for me, I sort of hated school. And schools seemed to represent sort of the, not exactly the mainstream, but just the system, man. You know, I hated it. I didn't fit into it.

I realised now I had ADHD and I wouldn't find out for years and years and years afterwards. But also, I just hated the values and the fussiness and all the structure of it. And comedy seemed to me to be a thing that was like, oh, here's an alternative. So a lot of why I got into comedy was because I wanted to have what back of the day was called an alternative lifestyle. I think I probably heard that phrase on the young ones. Oh no, I lead an alternative lifestyle. I thought, I'm going to do that. And now looking back, I also was very attracted to the novelty of it,

that not in the sense of newness, the sort of ADHD desire to be in a new place every night with new people, new sensations, new experiences. I think now I've sort of had a burgeoning aware. over the last 10 years, that I live in a perpetual present, which I think you say in your book about Raymond, about dogs, that they just live in the moment. I feel a bit like that. I've got a shocking memory. I'm constantly sort of, I feel like I trip up socially all the time because I don't remember people and I'm also outgoing. So I also, I'm always going, oh hi, how you doing? I'm Stu and people go, we've met nine, someone said to me at a party years ago, Stu, we've met literally nine times.

And I'm just kind of buzzing around in my own head, kind of... Just in the present all the time. And I think probably some bit of me as a kid went, oh, I'm not going to fit into this. So I think I chose... In 1989, Lenny Henry released an album called Lenny Live and Unleashed, which was his tour show. And I had it on cassette.

and I was on a school trip that was awful and I hated and I felt really alone and sad. And I listened to it over and over and over again. And it just was like, here's a funny person being funny and being loved and being themselves. And I just sort of was attracted to that, I think. Your childhood, your dad was a civil engineer, is that right? Yes. Yes. He now I live in Bristol. He visited a few years ago and he pointed out to us, a bridge in Bristol that he had built not very well by his own account. Now every time we go underneath it, we call him Abba in the family because he lives in Spain, so it's like Abuelo.

And so the kids call him Granddad Abba. And so we go, oh, there's Grandad's Abba bridge. We're going underneath Granddad Abba's bridge. It's like a little foot bridge, pedestrian bridge. And it's not like he built it single-handedly. He was just sort of on the, you know, on the team. But we go under it and go, oh, it's Granddad Abba's bridge. And then I always think to myself, I hope it doesn't fall down as we go under it. Yes. So did your mum work or was she a homemaker? She was, she's a primary school teacher for a long time. I'm loving this set up.

I don't know. I think civil engineer, I'm thinking, organised, quite disciplined, quite functional household. And primary school teacher again, that makes me think maybe things were quite together and the house ran smoothly. What was the sort of energy like in your house growing up? I think it was, I felt, I've absolutely felt loved and I felt supported. And my parents never did worse than sort of slightly roll their eyes when I told them I was, you know, I became a street performer.

When I was 16, I did some street shows and I was like, oh man, this is me, I'm going to do this. And they let me, they didn't try and stop me and that became my job for a long time. And they were quite relieved when I became a comedian because they were like, oh, we can explain that to people. People know what that is. I'm assuming we need to stop for vehicles going past. Let's stop for the cars. So go on, that's interesting what you're saying. Very, very loving, very supportive.

My dad was very hugely driven and got loads of stuff done all the time. Very busy, hugely busy, very practical. And something I loved about him was that he was as happy rolling out blueprints. He used to design where cones went on motorways. That was his thing, right? He had one of the, I think like in the top three companies for putting cones on motorways, which is great because as a kid, I think that's where I might have developed my desire to be sort of backstage or sort of special somehow, because occasionally in roadworks, he put the orange light on the car and we'd just dive through someone else's roadworks because he just knew how to do it.

Probably very illegally now. So what I loved was he was happy rolling out blueprints or having a board meeting and being like a suit wearing guy. like a sort of, I suppose, powerful. I felt like he was, you know, he's like he had his own business and he was a sort of impressive. But he was as happy on his hands and knees, fixing an engine, chatting to people at the yard who'd sling the cones out at the back of the van

and he'd be out there slinging cones with them and then the next day he'd be. And I just, I was really impressed at him. And we've laughed years later where so many elements of me being a stand-up have mimicked his job. Like I'm always busy, I'm always in a new place.

I grew up in Leamington Spa, and he lived there. We moved there so that he could get anywhere in the country in a couple of hours. And years later, Gary Delaney and Queve MacDonald, who people will know as C.K. MacDonald, the author, they both lived in Leamington because of that you can get anywhere. It's a great place to be a comic. Not that I became a comic there, but. So he, and because I was a street performer

and then I did a sort of highfaluting theatre degree, I'm as comfortable talking to, you know, know, just that's the great thing about street performance. It's for everyone, you know what I mean? It's for the rich people on their way to the opera and the drunk people singing. You know what I mean? It's for everyone.

And I always loved, I just sort of loved that. And it reminds me a bit of him. He's very much alive, by the way. I've said two things remind me of him. And I worry that I sound like he's dead. He's very alive and recently built a wardrobe for us. But then I do think as one's parents get older, you do have more of a sense of life not being forever for all of us.

Of course. So kind of that's really lovely because you start to look. You sort of see the montage of their life and what they've done for you and, you know, hopefully the benefits. Yes. I mean, so I've got two siblings. I have an older sister and a younger brother. And now that I've got my own kids, of course I've done that thing where you go, oh my God, my mum. She was a primary school teacher, but she also, when we were growing up, she was at home.

and then she went back into teaching and stuff. She just brought up three kids and my dad was often away a lot. And, you know, just the sort of the grinding mundanity of bringing up children. You know, they're wonderful and you love them, but there's a huge amount of routine and self-sacrifice and selflessness and stuff. And what sort of a kid were you, Stuart? I always think it's interesting to think if I was the parent of a friend of yours. And that's, what's little Stuart Goldsmith like?

Oh, that's a good light. questioning, yes. What would they say? Do you want to go through that little path for the sake of Aiman being in the shade or is the shade only temporary? Oh Stuart, do you know what? I always hear lovely things about you but you really haven't disappointed. It's getting me going down here. There we go. This is prime Raymond exploring territory. Stuart's found a lovely shady path for us. It's a little dell. So what would you say? God, I don't know. This is a therapist sort of ask that question as long. well-known lady but I think I'm one of the challenges for me in answering that is

that it's the memory issue it's not like my childhood's an absolute blank I'm just constantly astounded that people seem to remember much more about being a kid than I do the the big defining factor in my life was when I was at a school I hated and then we moved into the secondary school that well two factors that summer we were in a big car accident my whole family's a big car accident together and no one died we were the only vehicle involved but it was like a big, scary, horrible two weeks at a Spanish hospital. I had delirium, I had internal bleeding. It was a big, nasty thing, and it kind of had a huge,

a sort of a deep effect on my family, not a huge one at the time, but in a sort of looking back, oh, that was a big deal, kind of a thing. On my mental health and my brothers and probably my mum's, my dad and my sister, completely practical, dealt with it in this trade. Has she got inherited the civil engineer? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. And so there was then...

Sorry, we just need to find out what's happening with Neenau. Oh, he's all right, he's back. Go on. I thought that was quite good wild track of background. We hired that, man. It's very cheap. We hire him everybody. Oh, now, is this gentleman a professional dog walker?

Oh, yeah, maybe. Are you a dog walker? I am, yes. My friend thought you might be. You looked like you knew what you were doing. Yeah, trying to keep these dogs near me so I don't lose them. They're all big dogs, aren't they? This is a serious commitment.

The big one, he's the actually most gentle. Look at this guy. Would he be all right with my little one? He seems very gentle this one. He's very sweet, yeah. What kind of dog is it? He's a golden doodle. So he's half golden retriever, half doodle.

I'm sorry, I laughed then. I mean, he seems like a lovely dog. He's got every right to be biracial. He's a good boy. It's just when you know that and look at him, you're like, yeah, that's what that is. Hello, golden doodle. He's not very golden if you don't mind me saying. grey doodle.

Oh, that's what the owner... Is it ever so sweet? Wow. What a lovely job. I'm very jealous. Do you have a... It's really difficult. Why?

It is a difficult job, yeah. Very difficult. Why is it difficult? So this time of year there's like human feces in the park and the dogs love to eat it. Oh. There's... I wasn't expecting that. Get off the path, Raymond! I've led you astray.

There's, you know, some, not everybody like, like, not everybody like, not everyone, one likes dogs. Sure. So they start screaming and shouting, get your dog away and it's just completely overreaction because it is, they have a phobia which is an irrational fear of a dog. Sure. So they're blowing up everywhere and you know just keeping them close and you know I've got this puppy Nino who have to keep an eye on all the time. Nino he's very sweet he's just a he's eight months old. He's what? He's what? They start pushing their boundaries hence me screaming my lungs. Oh no. Well we should leave you in peace with your dogs. but it's been so lovely to meet you.

I do a podcast. This is my friend Stuart Goldsmith, who's a comedian. And my name's Emily, and I do a podcast called Walking the Dog. And I walk my dog. I've listened to your podcast. How have you? I mean, to be fair, you are exactly the target market, right? Emily would be crushed if we'd discovered you'd never heard of it.

Oh, well, it was so nice to meet you. Take it. See you mate, have a good one. Stuart and I are just sitting on a lovely little bench where we can watch people going past. Ray sitting on his blankie. Yes, I did say blankie, Stuart. No, I don't mind that. And we'll get him some water and then I'll continue to delve into your psyche in a way that will make you feel slightly uncomfortable.

It's no less than I deserve. So I was talking about inciting incidents, key incidents, right? And the car crash, which must have been horrific. I mean, yes, it was. I feel like other... So I think other people in my family were more injured than I was, and other people in my family were more impacted psychologically than I was. But I do now, after a year, I know you're a big therapy person, years and years of various therapists, I've realised now that I have hypervigilance as a result of it.

So I never cross a road without a... Just as an example, I never cross a road without visualising being hit by a car. Well, just back then, Stuart, I noticed when the cars were coming, when we were in the part, and we were on a sort of, and you said, should we not stop because the cars are here? Yeah, well, you know, it's protected me. It's really, you know, hypervigilance has upsides, I guess, but it's not just cars, it's people. Will this person walking towards us suddenly turn out to be a lunatic with a knife? What would I do in this situation?

How would I protect myself in this situation? Yeah, so that has kind of, and it's one of those things that my mother-in-law actually pointed it out to me years ago, maybe five years ago. She said, what were you? I was crossing the street with my then baby daughter in my hand, and we were on holiday. And she said, what were you thinking just then? I saw you flinch. And I said, oh, we were on holiday, I was relaxed. I said, I was just, I'm thinking that, you know, around here, there's probably no cars, so there's more chance of not expecting a car. And, you know what I mean? And I had just visualised us getting hit. Would I be able to throw her in time to safety? safe, all of this stuff happening very quickly. And she went, you realise that's quite mad. I don't know exactly what she said. But it was only then I went, oh, I do do that all the time,

and I always have. So the two kind of fundamental things, so I was like 11, and there was the car accident, which at the time, I think I sort of shook it off. But it had some sort of effects on me. And then I met my best friend Noel at school when we were 11. He was a lot. He joined the secondary school as I came through from the junior school and he was into drama and he went to like a weekend young people's theatre company thing and it was an all-boys school we went to so I didn't know any girls and then suddenly I was there as this world of like just people and joy there was just so much joy and fun and laughter and everything and I reflected in therapy many years ago that if

you wanted to create a me then what you'd need to do is go scary things school sudden opportunity to make people laugh, do you know, mean? And suddenly, like, feeling a sort of a sense of self. And I think therapy-wise, that is a thing that I am now, you know, the way you work something out in therapy doesn't necessarily mean you're able to change it, although I probably have on some level. But big, big revelation years ago where I kind of went, oh, I'm like a scared little boy who suddenly, when I make someone laugh, when I get external validation, I turn into

a really confident superhero version of myself. and that's what I've been chasing the whole time. And now, I suppose, having said that you can't necessarily change it, I do suffer from that a lot less. I'm aware of it, I feel much more in control of it. And that's, I think my podcast has been on some level, a quest to kind of go, how does everyone cope with this? How does everyone, how do you get good?

It started off, how do you get good at comedy? How do you get good at writing? And then it just turned into how do you cope with anything? And now I think through it, I've learnt to cope with a lot of things. Like it has worked. It's had a really positive therapeutic effect on thousands of people and also me. And it's interesting because one of the themes that comes up a lot in your podcast

and I almost feel like it's the kind of defining linking characteristic between all these interesting, but a very sort of diverse bunch of comics you interview is resilience and that you sort of can't do that job without it. And I'm interested when you tell me about the car accident that you were saying you sort of managed to bounce back psychologically. And I wonder, is that something that makes, do you look back at that and think, well, maybe I had reasonably healthy reserves of resilience? Psychologically, I'm talking. Obviously, physically, that's out of your control. Or do you think you developed it as a result of that? I'm interested. Or was that just something, were you always quite resilient? Or have you had to learn that?

No, not at all. Well, I don't. I don't think I could say I was always resilient. I was always like fold at the drop of a hat, panic, anxious. Let's give up, let's just give up. That's how that's my self-image. But if I think about it, I've always been very impatient. If I think about what other people would have said about me, I remember something when I was at college,

one of my sort of feedback things from a teacher said, you're very like, quick, let's climb that next mountain tomorrow. So I've certainly had lots of drive. Yeah. And I think that in street performing and in comedy, it's just about failing. It's about failing over and over and over again and coping with failing and failing and then getting up and thinking, oh well, I'll do it again the next day. I don't think I've exhibited over the course of my life a great attitude to that. I'm much better at it now.

Now I show off in Greens and people say, how are you? And I say, well, I tell you what, I have managed at last to decouple my, my self-worth from my work. I think I have, you know. And that's brilliant, but it hasn't been like that. I would do street shows with Noel. We went and became street performers together. And we'd come off, and I'd be in tears.

I'd be going, that wasn't good enough. I was terrible, this didn't work, you know. But we'd do it again. We'll go, well, we've got another one in an hour. And so we'd just do it again. So there was something about me that was sort of, I don't know if you, I mean, I'd love to call it resilience. I thought it was just stupidity or lack of options,

lack of a better idea. But I did, I wanted a thing. and I really, I didn't give up. And that, it's funny saying it now, that clashes with my self-image. My self-image is, oh, I'm just, oh, do you know what I mean? Like, it's like, oh God, I've got to push myself so hard to do anything. But actually then you've sort of got to be a bit of an adult and go,

well, look at all the evidence, evidence. I've done loads of stuff. And the podcast was a huge, a huge grounding influence on me, because it made people better. It makes people better. I'll ask someone, I'll send a random thing for a gig going, oh, can I do some new material that so-and-so? And some local promoter who's a comedian that I've never heard of.

We'll email back and go, Stu, the podcast changed my life. You can do whatever you want? Do you mean? Like, I've got a list of people that became comics because of it. Yeah, well, I heard Ian Sterling was talking about it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He seemed like a proper fan. He was saying he used to listen to it back in the day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. every single episode. Yeah. That's really lovely. Well, I joke that I basically do the podcast now 13 years in. I basically do it for Brett Goldstein. Because Brett listens to every second. Brett Goldstein, Joe Wilkinson, Josh Whitaker.

They listen to loads and loads of episodes. Cindy V. Rosie Jones, they both said when they were on the show. Sindhu's, I love this. Cindy said, well, I regard myself as a student of this podcast. I was like, that's so great. And Rosie Jones said that she used to listen to it. Donald Trump University. Oh, God.

Well, that's that ruined. Okay. slightly nice and more benign, can I say. Have you ever been to the offices of Avalon, the comedy management place? So I've only been there once or twice. I have no reason to go there, but as a fledgling comedian many years ago, I remember going in there and going, oh, this is like a big open plan office with loads of people being creative in support of comedy.

And then comics would sort of flit in and go, oh, high house, you know, they'd kind of bob in a way that I never do with my own management and never have. but they'd flit in. And I remember thinking at the time, what I should do is, I should create, this is a very old memory, I thought,

wouldn't it be good if there was like a sort of an open, I suppose I invented the idea of a co-working space before that was a thing? So wouldn't it be nice if a bunch of comics got together, we all put a bit of money in, we rented a space and you could go in and have coffee and community and support and pop in and see each other. The podcast,

I then did that just as a podcast. I created a sort of a community and a positive thing. It's just overwhelmingly positive and it helps people. I'm so proud of that. And that's almost like that's become one of the pieces of evidence in my life that I can go, oh God, I'm a disaster. Well, come on. You did do that.

That's good. You do a good thing. You have to take those things. Yes. You take those little things, even when someone say they listen to it or you think, oh, that's really lovely. Well, the lovely thing about listeners is because it's so niche, I am famous in the most specific way. If anyone's heard of me, they're a good person. They've self-selected.

I'm not famous to dickheads. Once a month, someone will come up to me in the street and go, I'm just wanted to say, always so humble and deference, they go, Stu, love the podcast, thanks, mate. And then they'll leave me alone. I never get hassled. I'm just famous to nice thinking people that are sort of, that like comedy and like finding out about people.

It's a joy. It's such a privilege. My dad used to say, he worked in TV and stuff, and he used to say, do you know, the best kind of fame is, Martin Amos has the best kind of fame. And I said, why? He said, because he can get a table anywhere he wants. His name, you know,

he gets respect for who he is. People who adore him are passionate about his work. But no one shouts at him in the street, fucking legend. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you walk through a festival with Josh Whitaker and you're just like, you're just trudged, like, is you having to fight your way through? Or Dara O'Brien, he's so tall.

Dara, I think, I guess Dara quite enjoys being famous, but I was in a pub with him years ago in Edinburgh and he's so tall and so incredibly famous in Britain at least that an island that he just sort of just jolly he just jollies everyone. He's just like everyone is so famous and comes up to it. I think he deals with it really, really well. But I think not everyone does,

not everyone enjoys being famous and it's quite hard to take it back if you find that you don't enjoy it. So I do feel very privileged in that as well. So the street performing really fascinates me because that takes, I mean, huge balls to do something like that, doesn't it? It's not, I was so interested to, when I heard that that's how you'd got started, because it's the hardest form of any sort of entertainment, I think,

because you're not, the rejection is potentially constant, right? Yes, yes. And the very public. Yes. Well, there, I remember when I started doing comedy, I couldn't believe, I started doing stand-up, I couldn't believe that stand-ups all thought that street performers were brave, and street performers all thought that stand-ups were brave, because there are two sets, so there's loads of us, now, by no means the first, but there's lots and lots of us that have done both or do both.

And I think that the problem with stand-up is that if you're bad, they're still there, and the problem with street-performing is that if you're bad, they walk away. And they're two very different problems, but they're both problems. I loved the fact that there is no bar to entry. Like we were 16, me and Noel went out in Stratford, Stratford-Pon-Avon, and just in the street outside Shakespeare's birthplace, sort of the centre of whatever, we just threw together a street show and did some juggling and talked to people as they walked past.

And we sort of invented it for ourselves. We hadn't really seen any other street performers when we started doing it. So I'm very, very proud of that. But I think that we were just sort of frustrated, this is, you know, there was no internet. So if you wanted to be something, you had to go, I wonder how this is done. And you just sort of do a thing. And then we had quite a good sort of first contact moment where we went to the Edinburgh Festival

and lucked into the patronage and kind of wisdom of people with whom some of my closest friends now, Vince Henderson and Herbie Treehead and people like that, who were like, like it's just such kind of older, wiser, benevolent kind of like, they were like, oh you boys have got it. You like you got it, like you're going to be a star, no one's going to be a star, but you get it. You're just, it's easy to be a, it's relatively easy to be a street performer and go blah blah blah, blah, I'm interesting look over here and it's much harder to be interesting in a way that they, in a way that an audience is interested and comes to you. So there is, I could talk about it all day. I love street performing. It's fascinating,

but I will tell you, I love walking through Covent Garden and thinking, oh, I used to do this, and then, but knowing, I don't have to anymore, you know, that's, it is hard, it's ferociously hard, and my feeling is any accusation you could level at a street performer of like, oh, they're a bit overfond of stock material, or their stuff's a bit generic, or, you know, the tricks are a bit tired or what have you. I, I would never sort of accuse anyone of that, because to, get through a street show and to make a thing happen out of nothing is so ferociously difficult that you're allowed to do whatever you want. Which is not to say that I don't far more respect the people who are original and brilliant

and you know, sort of passionate about the art rather than just passionate about making money and travelling the world. And is it true or is this one of those made up things that you'll now refute that you were a court jester her? I was a court jester. Yes, I was a court jester at Warwick Castle. The finest preserved medieval castle in England, my liege. Do you know you would be an absolutely brilliant court jester?

But you know what? You're more... I see you as the fool like in Lear because there's a lot of wisdom and insight there. And the fool is the cleverest person, generally. Well, let me tell you that when I was at Warwick Castle, I used to delight in making up history to American tourists. I would say, what's the biggest lie I ever told them? My favourite thing is that one of them once said, well, we're going to go here and then we're going to go to Stratford,

Youparnovan. And I thought, I hope you've spoken to another member who said that to you. But I think I told them that the castle was the, what did I say? It was like, the castle was, it was the set for the, you know, the cartoon of Robin Hood where he's a fox. This was the set. It's a cartoon. It doesn't have a set. People just be, oh, wow, sure.

I mean, basically, I was just exploiting nice people who wanted to learn. And I also told them that, oh, the top of that flagstone up there, that was actually, someone tripped over that, and they excavated the whole of the castle, and that's what you see now. I just used to talk absolutely bollocks to put poor, unknowing Americans. But I really enjoyed it. It was a really fun summer job when I was a teenager. Did you dress in the court jester out? Yes, I had the cap and bells, yes.

And it was frequently falling to bits, so it really was. I really was like in many ways the most maligned of the... You know, the other costume characters were A, indoors, B, in beautifully embroidered stuff. And I was just some Herbert where they'd kind of gone. Yeah, yeah, the last guy wore that. You can borrow the rat catcher's shoes because yours are leaking. That experience of being the...

The most beautiful feeling in the world is in this kind of weather at the beginning of summer. There's a summer job. Walking into the castle at 9am before it's open to the public and going, this is my castle and I am its only jester. And I honestly did feel like a, oh this is like a, this is sort of weirdly meaningful in a weirdly archetypal kind of way.

It did sort of feel like that. And then the other thing is it did sort of set me up for a lifetime of what it's like being a comedian, which is you're not part of the system. You're not the staff, but you're not the production, but you're not the crew, but you're arguably not the talent, you know. And so the thing it's quite comprehensive. to is when I was, I briefly did TV warm up for the show Deal or No Deal. And that was my route into the world of TV warmup.

And because I now do the, the Graham Lawton. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's great. It's wonderful fun, love it. But when I did deal or no deal, there was a fire drill. And everyone left the building and it was just a drill, but the person with the clipboard is checking everyone. And then, okay, everyone back inside. And I had to go up to the tongue on her sleeve and go,

no one checked if I was alive because the warm up isn't anyone you don't count you're not on screen you're not stage management you're not you know so so it's a bigger gesture was a bit like that you sort of go oh I do really like I could sort of be invisible but but you know important and necessary

and sort of a valuable thing but it's just quite quite a funny sort of outside of the real world thing which of course as we talk about school earlier on delighted me and still does and do you think I find it quite interesting people that have come up like you've come up I say people that have come up Like this is like a normal trajectory.

A bit of court jester work. Well, I cut my teeth as a jester and war it, yes. The old, you know, jester story. But I wonder how obviously there's that and then there are some comics who literally, you know, they left footlights where they were president and they had to make at least two phone calls to get their first game.

Yes, yes, yes. Do you think, having met so many comedians, do you have a sense of feeling a, appreciative and grateful to be being paid to do comedy now. 100%. More because of that. Yeah. Well, I think I always have,

I was always like, I can't believe people are giving me money. I mean, I'll shorten this because I've told this story so many times, but me and Noel, coming back from Stratford-Wan, even, looking in our little bowler hat and realizing we'd made 30 quid. And we honestly, it was, again, it's talking about defining moments of your life, we looked at each other and we

went, this changes everything. Like, it really was. was like, we don't ever have to get real jobs. We've discovered this secret of how to be funny and get paid for it. This is amazing. So I've always been very, very grateful for that. And I suppose one of the things that my podcast really has taught me is that, and a life in comedy has taught me,

is that people who appear to be flavor of the month or heading for superstardom very often either don't go in the direct. you're imagining or if they do they're not as happy about it as they might appear and life is long and a career is long and it's just don't take anything for granted be humble and be grateful for all of it because you might be thinking like you might be doing the competitions you know this is comedy's all the competitions are so awful because they pit comedians against one another whereas my feeling is it's all of us versus silence like we're all on the same team and to

to the experience of doing well on stage in a competition, thinking whoever wins this will get some sort of bump up and progression. And you know, you want this like, my God, I could live the dream. If only I win this. You do well. And then your mate goes on and starts doing really well. And in the pit of your stomach, you're hoping your friend fails.

I hate that because that's the antithesis of my values in comedy and the values I try to espouse in the podcast. So trying to actually be a force for good, it's really, really important to me. So I do, I have been a slogger and I have kept turning up and the rewards have been wonderful and I'm perpetually grateful for them. And fame and success, that might not be all that.

Maybe fame wouldn't work out for you. Maybe more success brings more problems. You know, I know enough famous and successful and brilliant comics who got what they thought they wanted and it turned out they didn't want it and I know enough non-famous, non-success who are still brilliant regardless. And I'm a bit of an inverted snob since school.

I sort of don't like it when things are shiny and successful. I like it when they're kind of gritty and like, oh, you know, such and such a comic. No one likes them. I love what they do. I love what they do and they're doing it for the love of it, not because they're getting paid tens of thousands of pounds to turn up at something.

I love all that. You like your first album person, aren't you? You don't like it when suddenly the record, company invests loads of money and they get a makeover. No, no, I don't. I've never thought about any of those tears, but no, no, I don't like that. I get it. I get it completely. I really hope you love part one of this week's Walking the Dog. If you want to hear the second part of our chat, it'll be out on Thursday.

So whatever you do, don't miss it. And remember to subscribe so you can join us on our walks every week.