High Anxiety Pod

It’s the end of Season two and what better way to finish than with BBC 6 Music DJ and all round professional curmudgeon Shaun Keaveny.

To switch it up a bit we also brought in Alex Carter to add to the laugh salad, friend of the pod and also the occasional punch bag for Mr K.

It’s a cracking episode with some good Hate Envelopes as well as a in depth look into value and capacity of travel bags. The North Face Borealis was voted best. Sorry to kill that buzz.

Listening to Shaun talk about his email inbox is about as anxiety inducing as it gets so strap in and enjoy.

Muchos love Chris & Leon

This week Radio 4's John Finnemore (The Souvenir Programme, Cabin Pressure) lies comfortably back on the High Anxiety couch with Chris & Leon. John explains to us the problems he's had with insomnia throughout his life and the processes by which he tries to combat it.

Tom Jones' nut bag comes up in conversation as does twitter followers, Leon's supposed friendship with Terence Stamp and the job security (or lack of) being a writer.

Please sit back and relax to some proper Radio 4, high brow, incredibly sophisticated podcasting.

@highanxietypod

A bumper podcast episode this week! Not only recorded in LA, not only do we go in seriously deep in the anxiety stakes but we do it with a bona fide American icon...

This week's star guest is Alexandra Paul; actor (actress...she prefers it anyway and her christian name could be confusing) star of Baywatch, numerous movies, health coach, vegan, eco-warrior and model.

Even though she is clean-living,  we get down and dirty as she generously opens up about eating disorders, addictions, anxieties, activism and the #MeToo movement.  Leon's fears of coming across as some kind of misogynistic producer in his hotel room are quickly dissipated.

It's one of our favourite episodes to date with the added bonus that she is actually a big fan of our podcast and we don't have many...

Enjoy this one and spread the word!

Chris & Leon manage to catch up with Patrick in his LA home that he shares with his wife Cat Deeley and their two young kids.

For anyone that is interested in stand up, fame, ambition and contentment then this episode for you. Patrick talks with a great honesty about where he is at now in his career and his life. We touch on being a comedian in the US, the dynamic of arena comedy, the skill of using a laugh and a story that is 'out of this world'. That's the sort of terrible pun that would get us a job writing on Love Island, which interestingly Patrick used to host.

His Envelope of Hate is so bang on the money anyone would think we'd released this episode with some sort of strategy. There is also a good game of Celebrity Play You Cards Right which we hope might become a feature.

Welcome back faithful angst riddled followers. It took a while but finally a new 5 episode season of the High Anxiety Pod is back. We'll release a new episode every fortnight to make you feel like there is more content than there actually is.

Chris & Leon's first guest is a favourite of ours and I suspect yours.... 

ROMESH RANGANATHAN!!! 

He took time out to come and play with Chris & Leon and open up about his success, his own self doubt, his life on the road, his Misadventures and his demand for sugar free Red Bull and bananas.

It's an honest chat that shows him to be exactly the man you see on the telly; lovable, cynical, honest and gently insulting. The regular Envelope Of Hate is back (tricky one to guess this week) as well as an excellent season opener for Mind Yer Toes.

As always, ignore our twitter handle @highanxietypod, everyone else does unless you want to say hi and just listen to us guff on instead. 

Like & Subscribe if you can. The more you do, the more chance there is of nailing more top guests like Romesh and more chat.

Big Love, Chris & Leon

@cheekymunki @leonbutlerwrite @romeshranga

The legendary Rich Hall is this week’s High Anxiety guest. From Saturday Night Live with Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal through the Carson show, Letterman and turning down a role on Seinfeld, Rich Hall is the comedian’s comedian. His latest achievements are a string of critically acclaimed BBC4 documentaries about US culture and history.

With nearly 40 years in the business he shares his love of running everyday, avoiding stress, staying current and his eagerness to continue his success.

We talk Johnny Cash, Andrew Dice Clay, Wheeler Walker, Ton Waits and BBC4.

The Envelope of Hate this week is not only brilliant but dripping with clues.

In other news, Leon reveals himself to be the world's only subscriber of Deezer. This episode was recorded before his big move to Tidal which he announced last week.

Listen right to the end of the episode as Chris and Leon fumble through an announcement of sorts that is not only badly delivered but completely unorganised.

Rapper, Comedian, Writer, Actor Ben Bailey Smith aka Doc Brown is this week's gift to you.

His soporific, gentle tone is like an aural massage popped, intermittently, by Leon and Chris. Ben is a fantastic guest with a smart angle on life as well as a huge creative output. He talks about his stand up career, how much he gives of himself to ‘show business’, his work with Ricky Gervais and some fresh views on rap and literacy. We play some of his most recent album Stemma and chat through the maze that is fame, money and and ambition. Chris says he hates kids before massively backtracking and Leon reveals himself to be the only subscriber of the music streaming service Tidal.

This week’s Mind Yer Toes is one of the best. He forgot he met Kayne and that’s not even the story….!!!

Take this gift of a podcast and share it amongst your friends like a chatty virus. 

If you want, you can also send some love to @highanxietypod

Amber is our first American guest on High Anxiety. She is a comedian and the author of the brilliant book Sober Stick Figure - we've even added a link so you can have a look at it https://g.co/kgs/qKg6ru Get the book and read it. It's the insanely funny story about Amber's struggle with alcohol. Yup, it's hilarious and about alcoholism.

Amber is brilliantly candid about her addiction, her whirlwind romance with her new husband,  the pointlessness of social media and the hypocrisy of really wanting to be popular on social media. Thankfully Amber has a following of 64,000 followers; hopefully some of them will give us a leg up.

There is a top quality Envelope Of Hate this week with a clanger of a clue given away almost instantly. We also lay into noisy eaters, dating apps and trying to be funny when you're happy and in love. Follow us on @anxietypod and be sure to show some love to @AmberTozer She was on Marc Maron's WTF! FFS... Pffft.