We bonded over swearing. And, although I’m not one to brag: Danny Dyer said it suits me. DANNY F***ING DYER! I mean. I know this is a podcast about failure, but surely that’s a major life achievement?

Anyway, I digress… Today’s guest was born in East London and had a challenging childhood - his parents split when he was nine after his mother discovered Danny’s father had a secret family. Acting was, in many ways, his escape from everyday life. He started in his teens, and was soon acting alongside luminaries such as Helen Mirren, Mark Rylance, Daniel Craig and Derek Jacobi. In his 20s, his mentor was the playwright Harold Pinter - someone Danny considers a father figure in his life, and who he has as the screensaver on his phone. We talk about what he learned from his drug addiction and his subsequent rehab, including one panic-inducing story about being on stage and forgetting his lines after spending the night before smoking crack in New York. It’s an extraordinary tale of resilience and self-growth and I really appreciate Danny’s honesty in telling it.

We also talk about what psychics say to him, his concerns over his daughter becoming famous, his royal heritage and why he might have got the wrong dog.

Danny’s show Mr Bigstuff is out on Sky - Wednesday 17th July

How to Fail is going on a live tour in Spring 2025, presented by Hayu! Tickets are on sale now at www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Introducing Episode III: Tour the Olympic Village with Matt and Bowen from Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics.

Follow the show: Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

Matt and Bowen take us through a tour of the Olympic Village and all it has to offer!   What amenities are available to this community of athletes when they’re not competing?   In this quiet village, we discover who is the ‘Beauty’ and who is the ‘Beast’ of the Two Guys, Five Rings Podcast!  Bring a  baguette and enjoy our latest tour of Paris and the 2024 Olympic Games!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

This week: it’s Mitch from Modern Family! On screen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson brought to life one of the most beloved comic roles in recent years but he’s also a Tony-award winning theatre actor, not to mention host of the wonderful Dinner’s On Me podcast.

Jesse was so easy to talk to - I felt I could ask him anything, and frequently did. We chat about his adolescent failures at sport when it seemed to be all his dad wanted from him, and this leads us into a deeply moving discussion about his own sexuality. The story of how his parents became aware that their son was gay is one that will stay with you for a long time - and although it contains its fair share of trauma, it is delivered, as ever, with Jesse’s trademark black humour.

We also speak about his inability not to read reviews and his abject failure to meditate (one I can relate to). Plus: fascinating chats about surrogacy, social anxiety and whether straight actors should ‘play gay’.

As always, I’m desperate to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 

Listen to ‘Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson’ here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dinners-on-me-with-jesse-tyler-ferguson/id1683905652

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly  

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Introducing Does the You of Today Hate the You of Tomorrow? from The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos.

Follow the show: The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

We often do things now that will make our lives more difficult or stressful in the future. We spend money, when we should save. We eat junk food, when we should exercise. We agree to commitments, when we should protect our free time. We act so thoughtlessly that it's almost like we hate our future selves. 

Dr Laurie asks UCLA's Hal Hershfield to help her find the happiness balance between listening to what she wants now, and the preferences she might have in the future. And she steps into an AI time machine to get some happiness advice for herself decades from today. 

Try talking to the "you of tomorrow" using the MIT Media Lab's Future You chatbot at https://futureyou.media.mit.edu/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

Q. What connects the grandson of Pakistani immigrants, the son of a seamstress and bus driver,  one of eight children raised in a three-bedroomed council flat in Tooting, a human rights lawyer, former Labour Cabinet Minister, Liverpool football fan AND the Mayor of London?

A. They are ALL Sadiq Khan.

At 53, Khan has lived many lives - in his latest incarnation, he is the three-time London Mayor (although he says he wants to serve for six terms). Today, he joins me on How To Fail to discuss the personal and professional failures that shaped him - from being rejected as a teenage cricketer and realising the rules were rigged against him to protecting his family and suffering terrible racist abuse. He talks about struggling to belong in a world dominated by posh white public schoolboys and how he finally decided to accept himself. Plus: why politicians should be allowed to change their minds and why he still visits his mum every day.

As always, I’m desperate to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly  

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ugh I just adore this woman. I had a girl crush on her from afar and recently was lucky enough to meet her properly when she interviewed me on tour. Let me tell you that Vogue Williams is EVEN BETTER in person than she is on screen or in our ears. You’ll know her as one half of one of the UK’s most downloaded and hilarious podcasts - My Therapist Ghosted Me - and as the star of several TV shows, including Channel 4’s The Jump where she met her now husband, Spencer Matthews. The couple have three young children, and a very entertaining podcast of their own.

But it almost didn’t turn out this way - she started out pursuing a career in…wait for it…the building industry.  She joins me to talk about this, as well as being ‘a rotten egg’ at school, how she deals with anxiety, why Spencer would have lost her if he hadn’t given up drinking and - in a really memorable conversation - her failures in friendship.

I loved talking to Vogue, but then I always do. She’s so smart and funny and a woman’s woman to her core.

As always, I’m desperate to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You will probably know Angel Strawbridge from Escape to the Chateau, the hugely popular TV show she fronted with her husband, Dick. You might also recognise her from her trademark vintage style, bestselling books and bright red hair.

Escape to the Chateau, which followed the Strawbridges as they renovated a dilapidated French castle with no water, no electricity or heating (with two young children in tow) ran for nine seasons before coming to an end in 2022. Shortly afterwards, an audio recording of Angel speaking angrily to an unknown man was leaked. It made headline news - this is the first time Angel has ever spoken publicly about her so-called ‘explicit rant’. Today, she gives her side of the story. I’m grateful for her honesty and her willingness to discuss everything that happened. 

Angel’s other failures include her struggles with dyslexia at school and taking time to find true love (but - spoiler alert - it was worth the wait).

As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Join Dick and Angel on their Forever Home UK Tour this Autumn

For tickets and info visit  www.fane.co.uk/dick-and-angel

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly  

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TW: this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and injuries. 

Two years ago, Sir Salman Rushdie, one of the most celebrated and famous authors in the world was on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, when a figure dressed in black clothes and a mask rushed onto stage and stabbed him numerous times. He nearly died. 

Today, I’m so honoured that this extraordinary man joins me to talk about what this experience taught him - and how the forces of love ultimately triumphed over the forces of hatred. We talk about his new book, Knife: Meditations on an Attempted Murder, as well as his early failures at boarding school where he was bullied for being a foreigner who was too clever and bad at games. Plus his failure to be an actor and his early writing rejections. There is some amazing advice in here for anyone involved in the act of creativity about leaning into the messy imperfections and getting to understand who you really are in the process. And…what Margaret Thatcher was *really* like.

As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 

Knife by Salman Rushdie is available to buy now. 

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly  

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TW: this episode contains graphic descriptions of birth trauma and PTSD.

You might know Louise Thompson as the former Made in Chelsea star. Or the fitness influencer who launched two businesses and graced the cover of Women’s Health magazine twice. But when she gave birth to her son Leo, all that changed. She experienced a series of life-threatening haemorrhages before ending up in Intensive Care, absolutely convinced she was going to die. Since then, she has suffered PTSD, panic attacks and countless further complications, resulting in being fitted with a stoma in January this year.

And yet she has managed to turn her pain into something deeply inspiring. Her story is extraordinary - harrowing, yes, but also uplifting and always unfailingly honest. She talks about her failure to get a ‘proper job’ (one for Made in Chelsea fans…), her failure to advocate for herself during a traumatic birth and the difficult experience of her body failing her in the most painful ways. I’m truly honoured that she has chosen to come on How to Fail to share her story.

As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest has the biggest selling studio album ever in the UK by an international female artist. She has won five Grammys, sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and, at 58, remains the top-selling female country pop artist of all time. This year, she makes her Glastonbury debut in the coveted Legends slot, undertakes a new tour of the UK and Ireland and returns to Las Vegas for her third residency.

And yet Shania Twain has battled adversity from a young age; her childhood was challenging and impoverished. From the age of eight, she was helping to support her family by singing in bars. Today, she is a cultural icon who has influenced a new wave of artists including Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.

Shania and I talk about her inability to remember song lyrics, her failure to stick to the rules and the grief she felt after her parents died in a car accident. Plus, why recording Man, I Feel Like A Woman, was a transformative experience for how she felt about her own body and her own femininity. It was such an honour being in the same room as this total icon, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices