Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Vittorio Angelone (Part One)

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

This week Emily and Ray head out for a snowy North London stroll with the brilliantly funny Vittorio Angelone. Vittorio was more than happy to brave the weather. Ray, less so, and insisted on being carried throughout.Emily has been a fan of Vittorio for a long time, ever since watching his stand-up special Who Do You Think You Are? I Am on YouTube, and the two quickly fell into an easy, very funny chat chat. During the walk, Vittorio talks about his Italian-Irish heritage, growing up in Belfast, training as a classical percussionist, and the moment he made the leap into stand-up comedy. A very good decision, as it turns out.His comedy has since racked up millions of views online, led to two sell-out world tours, and seen him supporting the likes of Jason Manford and Russell Howard. You can catch Vittorio live this year on his tour You Can’t Say Nothing Anymore. Tickets and dates are available at https://vittorioangelone.com.It’s a warm, funny and genuinely joyful walk with someone who feels like an old friend within minutes, and Emily and Ray absolutely loved every second.Follow Emily:InstagramXWalking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I grew up in Australia. So when you grow up in Australia... Where did you get this voice? What voice? You're very North London Humsonyneath voice. Are you going to pretend you're not terribly well spoken? This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I went out for a North London stroll with a brilliantly talented comedian Vittorio Angeloani. It was snowing on the day we met, but Vittorio was made of hardy stuff and was totally happy.

to brave the weather. Ray, on the other hand, looked morally outraged by the snow and insisted on being carried the entire time. So I've been a fan of this man's for a long time. I first came across Vittorio when I watched one of his comedy specials. Who do you think you are? I am on YouTube and was totally sold. He's genuinely hilarious, so I really recommend you check that out. You can also catch him live on his tour this year. You can't say nothing anymore. And I really urge you to. Get your tickets at Vittorio Angeloony.com. Ray and I had the best time with Vittorio. He's one of those people who's so funny and easy to talk to. It felt a bit like catching up with an old friend. And we had the loveliest chat about pretty much everything from his Italian Irish heritage and his childhood

in Belfast to his training as a classical percussionist before making the switch to stand-up comedy, which guess what was absolutely the right choice. As his comedy has gone on to amass millions of views online and seen him supporting huge names like Jason Maniford and Russell Howard, along with two sellout world tours of his own. Ray and I absolutely loved our walk with Vittorio. He's just Joyous Company, so I can't wait for you to hear this one. I'll stop talking now and hand over to the brilliant man himself. Here's Vittorio and Ray Reh. That's to my dog, by the way. Yeah, not me. Come on, Vitorio. Is that a bit disrespectful?

What? To say, come on. In that way? Too human, yeah. You're going to be hard work, I can tell. I'm maintenance. Yes, yes, I'm a tough interview. People talk about tough interviews, I'm... Tough interviewers.

I'm whatever the Jeremy Paxman equivalent of an interviewee is. Fort Knox up here, you're not getting in. Oh, this is like Frost Nixon. I think we're going to get on well, don't you? I think so too. I don't know? I got quite a good energy about you. Do you ever get that when you meet people? I thought, I don't know why but I think he's going to be very easy to talk to.

Well we're both North London love these aren't we? Yeah. You can hear it in your voice. This is where I belong in North London hanging out. Well we're in Hampstead Heath today. It's gorgeous. And we should say we've braved the snow. We've done well. It's about minus three. Really? It's pretty good. And Ray has his special.

And he's not shivering at all. But he's got a sweater vest on. You got Ray's sweater vest. I got him a sweater. Which is so cute. It's a little waistcoat. He is shivering, but I'm going to put him in my jacket in a minute if he gets super. Is he?

Are you very cold? I'm a little shake. Aw. We had a funny one. Back at home in Belfast, we have a cabbache on called Cosmo. Very sweet dog. He's about, my mum and dad got him like six months before I moved to London. Yeah.

sort of my de facto replacement and god is that a crane that's nice isn't it for the people listening I'm not getting very excited about a crane in London as in the construction equipment I mean a bird or is it a heron that's a heron isn't it's really beautiful and it's it's it's ice over the pond it looks like it let's find out my girlfriend's a lunatic she has been known to crack through the ice to swim in Hampstead ladies pond mad woman she's hardcore though because you were telling me she's from cumbria yes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I'll try not to give too much away about her. We keep her identity secret like I'm a superhero.

Oh, we don't have to keep that in? No, no, you can keep it. I just never say her name on anything. Or what she does, she's secret. We pretend she's like a plumber. I think that's quite classy though. I like that. Yeah, well also, you know, you just don't want to,

like you don't want her to feel like she's attached to me or like an addendum to me. My mum's got that a little bit recently and sort of where people go like, oh God, you're that comedian's mummy, aren't you? and um... this way and...

That's where David Badell and Frank Skinner live you were drawn to it by the comedy cyrus I've played football with David Badele once Oh do you like him He's so nice isn't he

David Badele isn't it I think he is one of the most Like remember talking like He's a bit grumpy He's a bit crumptial He's a bit crumptial But I remember speaking to him once

And he goes yeah I basically never sleep I've got terrible insomnia Sleep about two hours a night And I went Yeah that does add up But you know what? He's a fundamentally

decent, lovely human being. And that's why. I think most people hopefully are. No. No? No. No. There's some evil bastards out there. Yeah, there's some bastards out there.

I only hang out with the nice ones. Okay. Okay, okay. Frank and David are lovely. And they all happen to live with him but I'm getting good vibes about you. So, you don't have a dog today, Vittorio. I don't.

I wish I did. A girlfriend used to do like a dog walker on Hampstatee, so I was wondering if I could sort of grab a dog for the day from one of her former clients. And I probably could have, but I thought, let's focus on the interview. But you mentioned a cabachon. Yes, is that your folks, Cavashon?

Yes, so he arrived in our family home. There's a lovely Spaniel. Hello, Spaniel. Hello, are you going for a swim? Lovely is. And the... Yes, I remember he used to, because the reason I brought,

him up initially was Ray was shaking there and Cosmo the cat our Cabazon would shake every swathen and my mum got a little bit worried she took him to the vet and said he shakes every swathening we don't know why and the back goes okay we'll have a look and then you know looks over the dog and charges far too much money and then the vet goes so what he has is a transient idiopathic tremor and my mom said what does that mean And what I found out is that is medical speak for he shakes every so often than we don't know why. Because transient means it every so often. Tremor means shake and idiopathic means we don't know why.

And that will be £8. Exactly. To say I don't know why. Exactly. To say what we said in fancier sort of latiny words. Cheeky bastard. Yes. So I love my little dog, Cosmo.

He's getting a little bit old. Hello. You don't see those often these days, Victoria. What type of dog is that? It's some kind of bull. It's called an English bull terrier. Yeah, with the big sort of, I think Toy Story did a lot of bad PR for them. Do you know what I mean?

Was there an evil bull? Sid's dog. Oh, Sid. Was there an English bull terrier and he would eat the toys? He was always the looming specter. It's terrible. It's like the PR. It's like jaws.

Steven Spielberg has a lot to answer for. For the shark community. Yeah, because it's a lot. the sharks. I've learned over the years that sharks are actually not as bad as we think. They're not these terrible predators who are out to get us all. They're not really, they're largely uninterested in humans. Yes. I've never had any interest from a shark. Well, I used to, I grew up in Australia. Oh. So when you grew up in Australia. Where did you get this voice? What voice? You're very north on the Numsudencee's voice. Are you going to

pretend you're not terribly well spoken. Oh, I love that. I got this voice because of my parents, I guess, but because we moved there because my dad was working there. And what's weird is you're taught at such a young age, like you'll just, we lived on the beat briefly, and there would just be like an alarm going off, and they go, oh, it's like a shark alert, think some man,

I think some man's feet of attempts. Oh, it's a matter of fact. Go back to bed, girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're just, I suppose they're part of life, but equally I suppose you're more, you're kind of educated about them a bit more maybe. Yeah, so you're a bit more cash with sharks.

That's my mum and dad with bombs. Because it's just part of the landscape, you know. And other things I wasn't expecting you to say. It's just what you grew up with. And this is in Belfast. Yeah. And it was you and your mom and dad, Did you have siblings?

Yes, I'm the middle of three brothers. Oh, the three brothers. Yeah, which also, God, I'm getting through so many tabs open. The reason I brought up, my mum, talking about me as in a bit of an addendum, is people say, oh, you're that comedian's mummy. And God, you must be very proud and she always goes, well, his older brother got a PhD. So congratulations to my brother, Dario, on his PhD. That's a recent edition.

What did he get a PhD in? God, I mean, PhDs are. We don't know. These are so specific. Biomedical optics, so lasers that are used to scan for cancer. Oh, he's proper. He's clever, clogs. I'm doing so much good in the world.

And I'm talking shy. Oh, he's a good one, isn't he? Even I'm proud of him. He's very, very good. So, I'm assuming, just from spending time with you, that you can't have grown up in a family where laughter wasn't a currency. that that was big in your family like was it a funny family I wouldn't say so I would say my nana so my dad's mum she was very very funny she grew up in Italy

until she was 15 and then sort of came over as a refugee yeah on a boat just before or just as the Second World War was starting and and she was sort of wickedly funny and darkly funny right until she died a couple of years ago and she was funny like in the hospital in sort of hilarious ways there were days where she forgot that she spoke English which I thought was very fun so you had to sort of go in and try and remember any semblance of Italian that you've ever picked up over the years and that's the Italian connection in your family yes so my both my dad's parents are Italian yeah my non-o-a-ma and they're great and

that means that we just had come back from Christmas and at Christmas dinner because Nana came around for Christmas dinner and he cannot go a day without having spaghetti bolognese. So as a starter for Christmas dinner, we had spaghetti ballets. I love that. You're like the Dormeo family? I know, it's all a bit on the nose. Oh goodness. Do you know what?

I've just realised looking at you because you're quite fair. You're one of those fair Italians. That's the look. It could be, but that would be very northern Italy. We're quite southernately. I just look exactly like my mum. And she's Irish? Yeah, yeah, yeah, my two brothers look like my dad,

but I look identical to my mother, minus the moustache, I should clarify. Should we go that way? Is that the way to the cafe? Do you think? I'm taking us off peace, but I'm so interested in Vittorio and it's an honour. I'm sorry you lost to her. Oh, she was brilliant, but she was a brave age.

I think she was 93, or maybe 91, but, like, you know, a very good innings. and a very wonderful woman. So your family sort of environment growing up, was it, I mean I'm thinking really cliched, because of the Italian and Irish, I'm thinking it wasn't a quiet household. No, a lot of shouting from room to room. My dad has quite an Italian temper, I would say, and my mom is quite, keep the peace. And I think maybe...

Give me a burst of Pappy when he's on one. Oh my dad, he is. He just, what the fucking, Go on this fucking... Everyone's fucking everywhere. He just roars at the world. And what's funny is to him, he is just screaming at the world. But if you're in the room, it's a bit like, oh, God. And then you go, you know, you're shouting at me?

And he goes, no, I'm just shouting at everything. And he's very sweet. And what did he do, Vittoria? He's an architect. Yeah, my dad, he's an architect. And my mom used to work in IT, but she's now bouncing. What? Yeah.

What do you mean? She quit the corporate world and is now a bouncer. She's not. She does security work at gigs and stuff. That's she for you? She worked at Oasis. No? At Croke Park, yeah.

I'm obsessed with her. Yeah, she's doing great. She's just got a real, um, doing things she's never done before. Like I was at a music festival in Ireland called Electric Picnic, and she was working security and she camped for four days and did 12-hour shifts every day. Why did she do this? I love this. She just wants to do stuff that she's never done before. I mean, I sort of joke with her that it's kind down to her

trying magic mushrooms and turning into a mad hippie woman. But she swims in the sea three times a week off the north coast of Ireland. Crazy woman. I absolutely love the sound of your parents. They're very wonderful people and they've always been very supportive. I think partly because I set off to London to be a classical musician which doesn't have very many career prospects.

So it wasn't much of a change when I said. said, oh, I'm actually going to be a comedian. They sort of went, well, we weren't, you know, it wasn't a traditional path anyway. But my mom always said that she could, like if you asked my mum when I was 12 or 13 what I was going to do when I grew up, she said I was going to be some, like a TV presenter or something like that. Really? Yeah.

So were you always a bit of a show or? No. No? No. I was a tremendously anxious child. Are you? Yeah. I had really, really difficult time with school when I was nine or ten.

I started having very, very regular panic attacks and anxiety attacks and had to be let into the classroom sort of like a couple hours before everybody else in the last year of primary school. Just so I could sort of be there. And then there were the days where I was just in a different room doing worksheets by myself. Borderline sort of agorphobic and all that stuff. and in hindsight probably linked to my recent autism diagnosis which probably would explain a good amount of that sort of stuff but I was very very quiet with my mum and then her mum as well say is that

I was always just watching what everybody else was doing right and sort of figuring it out I was never I wasn't always involved I never really fitted in into any of the cliques but I could drift between them all because I sort of figured out how they all worked. I've noticed with a lot of comics on this podcast that tends to be a bit of a kind of uniting theme. Yes, you would think class clown,

but I think that's very rarely the case. We were very envious of the class clowns, and we were like, oh God, how do you be funny? Because it's a very calculated way of being funny as stand-up comedy. There has to be a very specific set of circumstances. And you're observers, by definition. Yeah.

And I also think it's, it's, I've started to realise that it's a sense of otherness that often propels you into this job. Yeah. Rather than being the popular kid. Well, I think an outsider's perspective. Yeah. It's definitely valuable. And so that, so that anxiety, that's tough when you're a kid though, isn't it? Because when you don't know that possibly there's neurodivergency at play and all this sort of stuff, you just get this.

sense of maybe slight dread when you're going into social situations or groups of people any separation from very sort of comfortable people like separation from my mom particularly was very very difficult and I remember saying to my mom maybe when I was 13 or 14 everybody else seems to know what they're doing and I can't figure it out yeah and I think that was sort of across the board. Yeah, and it was, my mom really was, like, I've spoken to her a lot about it since, and I think she had a lot of worries of whether she'd done the best thing at the time or whether she

looked after me the best, but she really threw the kitchen sink at it, you know, I had, I went to the hospital for counseling sessions, and, but before that, I'd been to, like, crystal therapy and massage therapy and art therapy and everything she, everything she could possibly think might help a little bit. But I think she was really just scrambling and going, God, what, he's having such a terrible time. I have no idea what to do. And we sort of check in about it.

I think I don't remember lots of it, but she does. Like she told me one day that another parent from my primary school when I was nine phoned her at work and said, I've just found Vittorio walking down the street around the corner from school, because he's just left.

So I just got up and left one day and I don't want to be here. I think I must have asked to go to the toilet and just tried to walk home. So mom had to leave work and scooted me up. And so when did it become clear that you had a sort of gift comedically? Was that something that you were aware of or anyone was aware of?

No, to the point where I remember My first gig, I'm definitely not one of those cases where people in a friendship group go, God, you're really funny, you should do stand-up comedy. But I remember my first ever gig was Freshers Week at my university. I say University of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which is a very small drama school and music college in London. And you were doing music there, weren't you? I was a classical percussionist. Which I'm obsessed by. I'm not letting that go. But you may tell me about the gig and then we'll return to this.

And so I was involved with the student union as sort of a vice president or something, but at such a small uni that it was all fairly thrown together. But I said, oh, we should do a stand-up comedy night for the Freshers week. Yeah. And they said, okay, great. Can you book the acts? And I was like, yeah. And they said, who's going to host it?

And I sort of went, well, me, I'll do that. You know, I've been to see stand-up comedy shows. I can sort of figure out what they do. So some very lovely comedians, Josh James, very funny comedian from Essex, he came and did it because I'd seen him win a competition at the comedy store that I'd gone to see. And then a band-a-man, have you ever met Rob Broderick? No. He's an Irish guy who does improvised musical comedy and it's sort of brilliant and it's

hard to explain because so much improvised musical comedy is absolutely dire. But he's truly brilliant at what he does. And he was on and I just went on and hosted it and I remember being in the one of the stalls in the bathroom at the Student Union on the evening that it was happening and some or maybe the night before or something and I heard my friend Alex and my friend Jack having a conversation and my friend Alex said, oh do you know Vittoria was hosting the stand-up comedy show for Freshers' Week? My friend Jack said Vittorio, I mean I like him but he's not funny.

Really? Yeah. So I don't think I struck anyone as funny. I just was ignorant enough to give it a go and then keep trying. I think I sort of learned how to be funny conversationally, but like I say, stand-up comedy is a very... I don't know if you can learn it, Victoria. I'm not buying what you're selling,

because I think you sort of sense it the minute you meet someone, and what it's to do with which I don't think can be learned is a sort of sense of the absurd, which is why you feel comfortable saying instantly with someone, something a bit silly knowing they'll go with it. Yes. And they won't say, what do you mean? That's a bit of a strange thing to say.

Well, I do get that quite a lot. Do you? I had something once, and it really summed up, and I think, oh, I forgot. I spent so much time with comedians, you know, when you forget. And I said something like I parked somewhere. I was giving someone a lift.

And I said, I can't believe I was parked on a yellow line all this time, and I didn't get a ticket. And she went, oh, that's good. I said, you know, I'm going to write to them and complain and say, that's disgusting. They're not doing their job. that they didn't give me a ticket and she went, but why would you do that?

Then they'll give you a ticket. And I realised, I thought, oh, that was my fault because I... Just a wavelength thing. Yeah. Yeah. You're on a completely different track. Yeah, either that or she's undiagnosed. Yes, but this is why I think I've accidentally,

I've been very socially clumsy for the, I guess, forever. And that was what prompted me to seek diagnosis if I thought I'd have like a fun interaction or maybe I'd complimented somebody and then I sort of get a big message from them the next day saying, shit, I made them tale or insulted they were by something and I thought, God, they're the only one sort of brave enough to actually say it. I bet there's loads of people that I've been very rude to,

that just have written me off as a person rather than actually... And how do you respond if you get those messages, which, by the way, you know, takes a lot of courage from the people leaving them, I mean, well, for courageous if they talk to you. For sure. And some of the people that have sent those messages, turned out to just be awful people in and of themselves. So I'm not taking those on the chin quite as much.

But I really, I have really resented the way you pick me up on stalking that girl. Leave me alone. But yeah, so when they would, someone would say like, Victoria, you hurt my feelings when you, it was that sort of thing like being in sent, being to direct or something? Maybe that I'd made them feel shit or just like saying, sort of calling something as I saw it, but I didn't think it was mean. I was going like, oh, I thought you did really well in spite of this, like at a gig or whatever. And maybe they took that as like, I don't need you to tell me boo.

And I would just, like any time I get something like that or I feel like I've had a misstep, I just say, oh, I'm really, really sorry. This is something I'm really working on. I try not to, I mean, it's a very recent diagnosis, so I haven't even had the chance to lean on it as a bit of a crutch. but I'm really trying not to lean on it as a crutch or an excuse. The last thing I would want is for people to allow me to be rude or unkind to them just because they've been diagnosed with autism. I still want people to say, oh, that wasn't very nice.

And I go, oh, God, sorry, I didn't mean to not be nice. Because I don't have, I don't know if this is arrogant. I don't have nastiness in me. I hate making people feel bad, or making people feel, humiliated, that's one of my least favourite things. Can we wrap this up then, because we're never going to get on if that's the case. Now, I'm with you on that. I think that I'm impressed that you're young and you've come to that conclusion

because you know what, Vittorio, it took me a long time, I suppose, to soften in that respect. And I think when I was younger, often when you're younger, you're so sort of thrusting and ambitious and one is. you know and I think sometimes it's sort of I don't know maybe it's to do with my generation it's a gen x thing you know that was part of your brand was I'm not taking any shit and I don't take no prisoners you have to crack eggs to make an omelette yeah whereas I think now your generation are a little bit more well maybe it's possible to be but I also think when you were like the gen x thing there was a limited number of people who could make it in a given industry and particularly comedy or entertainment but now being a woman in any

industry for sure you have to get the elbows out a little bit whereas I think now particularly for comedy I don't and we all get it we all get jealous we all get envious we all get a bit better about things and other people doing well but you sort of think but there's just there's just more audience out there you can you can access them there's no buyer to entry there's no gatekeepers they don't matter like I wasn't really let in by any of the gatekeepers until the number at the top of my Instagram profile. Really?

Really? Sort of take notice a bit. So it was social media that really worked for you? Yeah, that was me. I went up to Edinburgh for my debut with sort of no PR, no agent, no nothing and sold out the run just from, you know, other comedians being very kind and having run their podcasts and me building social media following off that and got to tour my first show which I think very few comedians get to do. Look at this big lad.

I know, very lanky fella. Hello, God, you're very blinged. He's a bit like a Vita final boss. A bea final, oh, look at this one. So sweet. Your dog is so sweet. Hello. It's lovely.

What kind of dog is it? Labrador. You're very nice. You're very nice. You're very nice. You like Labrador's, don't you? So sweet. Darcy.

Lovely. Darcy loves cuddles. That's so nice. We love it, Darcy, you've got a bit of slobber on you. Oh, now it's on me. I'm not looking a slumber. God, you're very good. Oh, he's got a belly.

He's got a belly. Darcy, we love you. You're so good. You're so lovely. You're going to have to walk now. Go on, go on. Victoria, that's not much aftercare. Go on, that's off.

You lay down with that dog, rubbed its belly, and then you went, go on. Go on. I like a big dog that you can sort of slap the side of. What's happening with the Beath Final Boss? Oh darling, that's so sweet. Want to play? Go on, Victoria, throw the ball this beautiful dog.

Oh, come on, okay. Where are we going over that way? There we go. What kind of dog is that? He's a lurcher. The lurcher came to us and just dumped the ball in front of us. It's going to happen again. Hello.

This is Raymond. Hello. He's a bit shivery today. Do you like the lurch? Oh, the lurcher wants to say hello. Hello. Hello. What's the Lurcher called? Kafka.

Oh my God, I'm obsessed with Kafka. Wow. I am quite obsessed with Kafka, but I also like your dog. Why did you call it? Kafka, are you a Kafka fan? My ex-girlfriend got him, called him Kafka, and left. It was surreal and rather wonderful. It's Kafkaesque.

It's a Kafka short story. I'm obsessed. Well, you know, you've got a lovely dog out of it. Oh, he's slipping and sliding over there. That's good fun. Yeah, he's been running all over the ice. Why do you want somebody else to throw it? You're a very funny little dog, come on.

So I've been chosen. Here, ma'am. Quick, we'll make our get away now. Oh, no, why are you not running after that one? What on earth did I do wrong? Vitorio. Am I going to have to get at Kafka? Maturio, you've lost Kafka's ball?

Come on, Kafka. It's up here. Lovely to meet you. Let's go and get a hot chocolate. Bye, Kafka. So I want to go back, Vitorio, to, prior to the things working for you your out comedy-wise, I want to go back to this Gildall School of Music thing. Yes.

Because you ended up doing, it was a music degree you did, and you were a percussionist, right? I was indeed. And just percussionist, I mean, I'm assuming what's that sort of symbols and... Xylophone and bass drum and snare drum and triangle. That was a very good triangle play. So how did you realise that you were music really inclined? Did you play the piano and any other instruments? No, so when I started, so when we were seven or eight years old in primary school,

this lady, Miss McKinney, came into our class and said, right, we're going to do a little music aptitude test. I doubt she used that word, but that is what it was. Where we're going to play some notes and you tell us which notes higher, which notes lower, or if it stayed the same, and then do the little test. got a high enough mark on that test. Then you were offered music lessons at the primary school.

So I was offered violin lessons. So I started on the violin, as my older brother had done as well. I think I wanted to play the cello, but I played the violin anyway. And then when I was 10 or 11, started playing the drum kit. Yeah. Sort of more like rocky stuff. And then went, and when I was leaving primary school, wanted to continue lessons so went and then audition at the local music service, the Belfast School of Music.

Uh-huh. And for like evening lessons after school. And I went along, played my little piece and they said, are you auditioning for drum kit or drum kit and percussion? And I didn't know what that meant, so I started crying. And so they said, oh, we'll put you down for both. So that was it, 11 years old. Just because I'd burst into tears at the word percussion, I was set off on a path. And yeah, did that and then went through.

was quite good in school in terms of like exams and everything. I always think of people that are good at music, which is so simply stiff of me, but I think they're quite mathsy people. Yeah, I think that's often a connection. Was that true of you? Yeah, so my A-levels were music, maths, physics and psychology. Ah! Yeah.

That's why the brother ended up going into... He was much clever. He's very math-y though. But I did reasonably well at school, but then I just... I wanted to go do something at sort of third level education. I wanted to go try something and experience something, maybe because it was just the dumb thing amongst that group of friends. And I was at quite a good sort of grammar school in Belfast.

We don't really have, I think there's only like two or three fee paying schools in Belfast, but they're not very common. We're divided by religion and academic ability. So I was at a grammar school and it was sort of like, right, you want to be a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant or a dentist. And I said, oh, I'd kind of like to go do this music college thing. I want to play the triangle. Yeah, and you only needed two E's in your A-levels to get in.

So it's all based on the audition. So I went and auditioned at a few places. That was one of the first times I was in London. And you ended up after graduating. Did you think at some point that was going to be your career? So you played it like the Royal Albert Hall and things, didn't you? Yeah, I played at the proms a couple times. Yeah, amazing.

Yeah, the coolest one was probably I did the last night of the school proms. and we played the sort of Land of Hope and Glory thing and I was on the timpani when the fireworks were going off inside the Albert Hall. I like that. A bit problematic these days. Isn't it weird? It feels a little bit... Flag wavy. It's like the Union Jack.

It's a bit spray painting roundabouts. Like when you drive through... I've been in the car with my producer and we've driven through an area to do podcast and I went, well there's lots of Union Jacks here. It feels a bit wicker man. Like it just gives me the creeps of it. You should try Belfast.

Really? You've never seen so many Union Jacks in your whole life. This whole areas of Belfast that are just decked out. And it's all divided. So there's Union Jacks, there's tri-colors. And the places that have tri-colors, there's loads of Palestine flags. And the places that have Union Jacks, there's loads of Israel flags. Didn't you have something?

You were talking about how someone had come up to you. I don't know if I saw this in one of your stand-up shows. And what's it like having a king or something? He said something to you. it was something where someone had commented about Oh no yes that was a heckler in Sligo That was Frank McFrank he said his name was Which is just him being very

Antagonistic What's it like to have a king or something? Yeah because he was from Donny Gaulle Which is just on the other side of the border So they would maybe make fun of us for still being ruled By the British Empire Do you grow up a lot? I was wondering because you referred before to yourself

as a ceasefire basically Which I'm interested in that that do you think there is something there where there is that slight generational trauma, if you like. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Growing up in a place of a constant conflict? I think lots of English people that I speak to, they know what their parents did when they were growing up. Right.

It's like, oh, my parents used to do this and this and this, and this is where they would go to hang out, and this is what they would do to do this. And I just don't have that. I sort of say to my parents, oh, they just don't talk about it, really. Really? Unless directly asked questions about it, and it's quite short answers. And I don't think they're super traumatised. I don't think a lot of it was very pleasant,

but it was just their existence. Yeah. But it was, I'm sure different people's parents have different experiences of it, but my parents just said that a lot of it was fairly, you know, stay in the house. Right. And there's all sorts of little differences between Belfast and London as well. You know, the police have guns in Northern Ireland,

and like the flags is a thing, and it just bubbles under the surface. And I think that worked quite well for me in London as well. well for me in London because that division that bubbles under the surface in Belfast is joked about and commented on almost ad nauseum and then in London I moved over and went oh well what's bubbling under the surface here it's sort of race and class and a lot of people don't like talking about that in England particularly I mean either of them English people often really don't like talking about them so when I talk about them in stand-up I think people go like oh my god but that's just my natural inclination coming from Belfast to talk about what's bubbling

under the surface. Yes, it's true. People will often say, because I know people often get uncomfortable with kind of what class do you think you are. Yeah. I met a man who said he was working class because both of his parents had jobs. They had a boat. Well, do you know, my mother who was an actress and she used to say, I said, Mommy, what class are we? And she went, we're classless, darling. And a boyfriend of mine said to me, I think the darling rather gives it away, doesn't it? He does. That's very funny. That's very funny. I was like, oh, okay.

Right, I'm going to put Ray down, and then my producer will. Cause, what did he do? Love you. My kind of humor. That's extreme. And then, my producer will, do you like to get us a hot chocolate? Yeah, of course. That'd be nice.

Three hot chocolate. Should we get a hot chocolate at a Torio? Yeah, I think so. Okay, so we've got our hot chocolates. Gorgeous. Shall we resume your hot chocolates? walk? Yes this is very it's very lovely day out in Hampstead Heath and there's a little bit of snow it's not snowing right now but we've got a hot chocolate it's all very nice and you've got a sort of

furry hot water bottle. Are you enjoying hot walk? Yes it's very nice I mean like like I said my girlfriend's really got me into big walks but we were talking about you were asking me footwear advice earlier. Yes you've done the right thing you're serious about this aren't you? Yes well this is all very recent but my girlfriend and I did some walking in the Breck and Beacons. We walked up Penny Van and just outside Cardiff and we saw a woman attempting it in flip-flops. I just thought this is a mountain. It's an actual mountain. She's my idol though. That's why I love her but God rest her soul the late Jade Goody when she attempted to run the London Marathon. Did you see that? In flip-flops? No it wasn't it was like the most like Plyb-sols.

Oh god. Somebody ran it in Crocs last year. They did quite well. You know, I didn't do bad. That is so what I would do. But should we go up this way? So we've got to the bit where, just in terms of the story, the Vittorio story, we've got to the bit where you've got this real talent for music

and you're a percussionist, but you're also starting to realise you like comedy. Yeah. And so in a way, presumably, going to someone like Guildhall is quite useful because the transition into comedy doesn't feel quite so dramatic. Do you know what I mean? You're in the arts anyway. I was on stage I was performing. Yeah. What's interesting is I think whereas many people would look at a classical musician and think God they're like a very high-level artist or whatever and you're on stage and you're all

dressed up in the Albert Hall and it's all very swanky. But it's quite difficult to feel creative in an orchestra because it's music that somebody else has written and it tells you what speed to play it at, what volume to play it at and then the conductor puts the air stamp on it and they sort of unify everybody's ideas and it's very hard to feel very consequential

you know you can have a very bad gig but then the concert's still good or you can have a very good gig and the concert's still bad so I think part of what drew me to stand-up comedy was I was going to watch quite a lot of it and I wasn't going to watch orchestras perform and I thought

God, if I want to be a performer, I should really perform the thing that I would want to go and see. And I've tried to stick to that a little bit of like make what you would consume. Do you know, Frank Skinner always gets annoyed with orchestras because he says, well, I'm sorry, but they're not doing the work. They're just reading. That's like actors going on with the script. Oh, well, he should go see the Aurora Orchestra. They've started playing full symphonies off book. Yeah, the problems are quite amazing.

Sometimes they sort of process through the audience and everything. It's slightly, it could be accused of being a gimmick, but I think. I think it is actually quite exciting. Yeah, but you know what he would say. Well, why should we be celebrating that? They should have been doing that all the time. Well, I've only met Frank once and he managed to crowbar in the fact that he hates wheelie suitcases.

And there wasn't a wheelie suitcase in sight, but he managed to bring it up at James, my old agent's birthday. And he just goes, there's none of them here, Frank. What are you angry about? Yeah, but their concepts still exist. And that's enough for Skinner. So you obviously enjoyed it, Vittoria, didn't you, gigging? And you thought, because some people, that's the thing,

it's quite a mad thing to do, isn't it? Yes. So I think in order to carry on, you have to think, I love this so much that I'm willing to put myself through this again. As in the bad gigs when you start out, when you're terrible. It requires, particularly for someone who had, You know, you've said you had a bit of social anxiety and quite shy. That is sort of a slightly insane thing to do, isn't it?

Getting on stage. Well, the... And saying, find me funny? Well, the very sort of maybe over-therapised version, which is true, but it feels a bit dramatic. When I had very severe anxiety as a child, I would sometimes hallucinate. Right. And the hallucinations would be a room full of people. sort of pointing at me and laughing.

So that was the height of my sort of panic attacks. And it does feel like a reclaiming of that. Where I'm in, because the panic about that was that I didn't know why they were laughing. That's what I found really, really stressful about that. Whereas now when it's stand up, I know why they're laughing. And I find that very, very helpful. And actually one of my least favorite things is if I have a line in a routine that gets a laugh, but I'm not sure why they're laughing.

I'll take it out. Like, I won't take a laugh at all costs. I need to know why the laugh is happening. Interesting. Because I find that really unsettling if they're laughing and I'm, oh, is that at me? Is that, I don't really know.

It's almost like comics have a need to control their environment. A little bit I'm very obsessive about, you know, if it's a show where the seats can be set out in different ways, how they're set out. the pre-show music, the lights. I think I probably have one of the longest sound and light checks of any comedian on the circuit. I'm just like very meticulous with all that

because I think it's all marginal gains and I want from the moment the audience walk into my tour show, like the show started. And it's all part of one big experience. But in terms of the social anxiety stuff, I think I very early on found that I found it very relaxing to be on stage. Did you?

And all the sort of noise in my head really settles down. And I'm very focused on the one thing that's happening. And it felt like I could be a version of myself that I really liked, where I'm so uncertain in social situations that I found doing stand-up of like, the rules are very clear here of what I'm supposed to do and what I'm not supposed to do. There's no masking. Yeah, it doesn't. And my aim was always a lot of comedians talk about the persona and like,

you know, Stuart Lee talks about like the character of Stuart Lee and comedians talk about what they're like on stage versus what they're like off stage. My aim has sort of always been to have that line be as narrow as possible and be as close to whatever my authentic self is on stage and not be putting on a show in the verdict commas. Yeah, it's maybe a slightly more ramped up version of you. Yeah. Because inevitably it is we're not all like we are on stage but yeah it's fundamentally, I would say that's true

of you, just this experience of you that I've had today, that you're not really not a million miles away from your stage persona at all? No, I wouldn't, I don't think so, maybe a little bit quieter, as you say. But I try in my shows, or I end up in my shows having quieter, more vulnerable moments and more exposing sections, which I think is nice. I think some comedians turn their nose up at it and go, oh, well that's just, you know, cheap sympathy points from the audience or whatever, but But I think... Or are they frightened of it?

I think that and also... I think you get better laughs after you've done that. I did. After you've been very vulnerable and shown a part of yourself that you maybe... People wouldn't normally show. After that point,

you can access deeper and better laughs from them because them connecting with you being vulnerable is also them being vulnerable. So everybody's... It's like then you're laughing with like an old friend that you sort of know a lot about. I really hope you love part one

of this week's Walking the Dog. If you want to hear the second part of our... 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