Tom Ballard started doing stand-up at 14, burned out completely by his mid-twenties after yelling excessively every night across Europe, and came back with something much more interesting to say.

Tom Ballard is an award-winning Australian comedian, writer and broadcaster, known as co-host of Triple J Breakfast and host of the late-night ABC series Tonightly with Tom Ballard. He has also acted in Deadloch and Fisk, and has become one of Australia's most distinctive comedic voices through sharp political commentary and fearless humour.

• Why a gruelling tour through London, the UK and Europe left him with nothing left to say — and what he did about it
• Why stepping back from the annual festival treadmill was the best creative decision he made
• The difference between comedy that reacts to the world and comedy that tries to understand it
• What slower, more deliberate creative work produces that the relentless festival cycle never could

Connect with Tom here:

• Instagram
• YouTube
• TikTok

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sharlene Hector has performed for festival crowds at Glastonbury and Mount Fuji, toured internationally with Muse and Alicia Keys, starred in a Coca-Cola advert seen around the world, and then discovered during a global pandemic that what she really wanted to do was act.

Sharlene Hector is a British singer, performer and actor with a career spanning over two decades. She has toured with Basement Jaxx, Gorillaz and Michael Bublé, sung backing vocals for Muse, Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé, and in recent years has moved into musical theatre with acclaimed roles in Dreamgirls, A Strange Loop, Standing at the Sky's Edge and Hercules.

• What the grit of international touring teaches you that nothing else does — and how it compares to the disciplined world of musical theatre
• The story behind her iconic Coca-Cola advert — and what happened in the aftermath
• How lockdown became the unlikely moment she discovered a genuine passion for acting
• What performing for massive festival crowds at Glastonbury and Mount Fuji feels like from the stage
• The leaps of faith and pivots that have defined a career built on saying yes to things that terrify you

Connect with Sharlene here:

• Instagram
• Spotify

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Casio MT100 keyboard, a mate called Des, the streets of Peterborough, and a pop duo called Wolfgang that the world never heard — until now.

Wolfgang was an unknown pop duo formed in 1985 in Peterborough by Steve Otis Gunn and Desmond Pye. This bonus episode finds them back on the streets where it all started, working out what they actually remember and whether any of it matches up.

• How a humble Casio MT100 keyboard and a school friendship became the unlikely foundation of a pop duo
• What life looked like in the 1980s when you were leaving home and making things up as you went
• The unexpected places the conversation goes — ghosts, religion, AI, and the nature of nostalgia
• Why recording on the very streets where it all happened makes for a completely different kind of episode

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charlie Parsons turned a real East London lock-keeper's cottage into a pop culture laboratory, invented a show watched by a billion people, and spent years watching imitators make money from it. Now he's doing it all again — in theatre.

Charlie Parsons is a British television producer and format innovator, co-founder of Planet 24, and the creator of The Word, The Big Breakfast, and Survivor. Today, he produces theatre, including Girl from the North Country and upcoming stage adaptations of The Hunger Games and A Knight's Tale.

• The wild, chaotic origins of The Big Breakfast — and how a real lock-keeper's cottage in East London became one of TV's most iconic sets
• How Survivor evolved from a strange idea into a worldwide phenomenon
• The court battles and imitators that came with inventing a genre — and how Charlie fought back
• Why the entertainment landscape shifted from daring commissioners to algorithms — and what was lost in the process
• What drives him now, and why the immediacy and unpredictability of theatre feels like the closest thing to what he loved about television

Charlie keeps a low profile online, so why not check out his IMDb page instead:

• IMDb

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Connor was a frustrated magician who went looking for "a mind-reading David Blaine" — and found a then-unknown Derren Brown instead. That decision alone reshaped British television.

Andrew O'Connor is a British actor, magician, impressionist, game show host, and award-winning producer. He co-founded Objective Productions and helped shape Peep Show, Derren Brown: Mind Control and Star Stories, with a career spanning light entertainment, theatre, and groundbreaking television.

• How early frustrations as a performer led to founding one of British TV's most influential production companies
• The tip that led him straight to Derren Brown — and what he saw immediately that nobody else had
• How Peep Show was built from a simple idea into a groundbreaking comedy on a tiny budget
• The strain of touring musicals and what the realities of that life taught him about the gap between ambition and logistics
• The Hollywood years — directing movies, navigating the system, and the projects that never saw the light of day

Andrew isn't one for Social Media, so instead, check out his IMDb page here:

• IMDb

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ignacio Lopez grew up in Mallorca, spent his British holidays on rainy Welsh caravans, and has been finding the comedy in the gap between those two worlds ever since.

Ignacio Lopez is a Welsh-Spanish comedian known for his clever, culturally layered humour and appearances on Live at the Apollo and Have I Got News For You. He performs in English, Spanish and Welsh, and is a familiar face on the UK comedy circuit and television.

• Why growing up between Mallorca and Wales gives you better comic material than either place alone
• What rainy holidays in Wales reveal about the British relationship with optimism
• The chaos of TV quiz shows — from the inside
• How dubbed films shaped the way Ignacio thinks about language, timing, and performance
• Why blagging your way into work is a legitimate career strategy — and why the right mattress matters more than you think

Connect with Ignacio here:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Website

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moe Singleton left New York, moved to Berlin, and discovered that Seinfeld had quietly prepared him for all of it.

Moe Singleton is an American comedian known for his smart, deeply relatable style across continents and cultures. He is the creator and host of the Thoughts For Your Thoughts podcast, where he interviews comedians about their origin stories, early bombs, and breakthrough moments.

• Why Berlin turned out to be the right city for a comedian who needed to start over
• What leaving New York actually costs — and what it gives back
• How Seinfeld quietly shaped an outlook that travels across cultures and continents
• Why simplicity — a good chat, no agenda — is more radical than it sounds in the age of social media

Connect with Moe here:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Podcast

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Kent-Walters trained at a clown school in Paris, created a cult character, won the Edinburgh Fringe Best Newcomer Award, and has been throwing himself around stages in dress shoes ever since.

Joe Kent-Walters is a British comedian best known for his larger-than-life alter ego Frankie Monroe, blending physical theatre, absurdism and punk cabaret in a way that earned him the Edinburgh Fringe Best Newcomer Award in 2024.

• What a Parisian clown school actually teaches you — and what it definitely doesn't
• How Frankie Monroe went from a Fringe experiment to a cult phenomenon
• The physical toll of performing high-energy character comedy every night on the road
• How late-night comedy culture shapes the kind of work you end up making

Connect with Joe here:

• Instagram
• Website

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Darren Harriott describes himself as a "click-your-fingers celebrity" — famous enough to be recognised, not famous enough for anyone to be entirely sure why. He's made peace with that, moved back to the Black Country, and is now living near some greenery.

Darren Harriott is an acclaimed British stand-up comedian, writer, and presenter, and a two-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee known for his smart, honest, high-energy comedy and sharp takes on class, race, and modern masculinity.

• Why he's stepping away from late-night gigs — and what the circuit costs you if you don't
• The reality of working with Richard Osman and the behind-the-scenes world of The Wheel and Michael McIntyre's Big Show
• Why the Midlands won the argument over Kilburn — and what that decision changed
• The vintage tech obsession and Gen Z nostalgia that connect in ways he didn't expect

Connect with Darren here:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl Donnelly started the conversation with parenting chaos and sniffles, and ended up somewhere between veganism, biohacking, Irish summers, and the ethical implications of Star Wars.

Carl Donnelly is a comedian and writer known for his thoughtful, warm approach to stand-up, blending sharp observational humour with personal storytelling. A regular at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe, he's equally at home with identity, culture, and the philosophical implications of a galaxy far, far away.

• Why becoming a parent reshapes your relationship with the stories you grew up on
• How veganism changed his relationship with food, identity — and other vegans
• The biohacker rabbit hole and how far down it you can go before it becomes a personality
• Why Irish summers contain multitudes — and why they keep ending up in the material
• What Star Wars looks like when you watch it through the eyes of a small child who has absolutely no context for any of it

Connect with Carl here:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• Website

Originally released under the podcast's former name: Television Times.

Find us on social media — links on the About page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.