For Henry Normal comedy is like “sugar and salt”

Henry Normal set up Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan, co-wrote the Royle Family, Coogan’s Run and Mrs Merton and produced Gavin & Stacy and Red Dwarf. He’s been a central plank in British comedy since the early ‘90s and, throughout it all, developed his own stage show built around poems and stories. He’s touring the UK with Brian Bilston. This podcast is full of hard-won insight into what makes comedy work and how the best poetry connects with “a greater truth”. And much besides including … … what middle-class BBC execs wanted to change about the Royle Family and why it worked as it was. … touring with John Cooper Clarke “who lived by a cemetery and had egg custard for breakfast”. … putting on a Pensioners’ Disco, aged 14, that featured The March of The Mods played at 33. ... the influence of Roger McGough and the Liverpool poets. … how, apart from the Office, American versions of British comedies mostly fail to get the point. … seeing Juicy Lucy at the Nottingham Boat Club when he was 17. … what made Spike Milligan’s Small Dreams Of A Scorpion so original. … working with Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash and the Guardian’s first review – “three middle-class writers”. … how to structure spoken word shows – “salad rather than soup”. … and reflections about Mr Inbetween, Derry Girls, Clive James and Norman Gunston.   Get tickets for Henry Normal and Brian Bilston here: https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/henry-normalSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.