Midnight Mass

Louis CK emailed me last week (yeah, me personally) to tell me about his new comedy special. I bought it for $7.99 off louisck.com and really enjoyed it. What did you think about it? There are so many articles about it online.

"Louis C.K. Releases Special No One Asked for, Jokes About Sexual Misconduct" - thedailybeast.com

"Louis C.K.’s Newest Fans Deserve Louis C.K.’s Newest Special The way the comedian addresses his misconduct is worse than if he never brought it up at all." - slate.com

"Louis CK compares women who are sexually assaulted to slaves in new stand-up special" - independent.co.uk

Craig and Alex join me to discuss the comedy, the headlines, and how this compares to Louie's past work.

My mum shares her experience with Coronavirus. What began with a cough, led to two weeks in bed with severe symptoms which led to her being admitted to the COVID-19 ward at the hospital.

My household has been on lockdown for 2 weeks, we've all got it, and my mum is really ill. I have a chat with Shaun and Roman about it, and we talk about geopolitics a bit.

If you dip your balls in soy sauce, can you taste it?

How many nights in a row can you tell the restaurant staff that it's your friends birthday?

Do Werther's Original taste better when you sit on your grandfather's knee?

These questions and more are explored on this month's movie night, we hardly discuss the movie (Spy Hard).

Toilet roll and hand sanitizer are in short supply due to panic buying and hoarding during the coronavirus lockdown. Some people have started selling these sought after items at an inflated price to make a profit, how do you feel about that? Pete and I discuss the morality of price gouging in reference to the two Tennessee men who hoarded over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, and look at multiple other examples from the news and our personal lives.

Shaun and Roman join me to discuss Roman's recent completion of the improv program at Second City Toronto. What is improv? How does it compare to acting and stand up comedy? Roman takes us through the kinds of things he did on the course, the different kinds of people that you meet, what he learned and where you can apply it in life, work, and personal creative projects.

I sit down with Coop from The Spoken Metal Show to look back on a series of metal gigs we went to in Liverpool in early 2020. Despite being a metalhead since I was a teenager and playing in bands most of my life, I've stopped going to shows, I honestly can't remember the last time I went to see a night of unsigned local music. The nights we attended and their line ups are as follows.

The Jacaranda Club - Moralslip, Lure In

The Outpost Liverpool - Avenoir, Ashen Reach, Target: Renegades

O2 Academy Liverpool - Loathe, God Complex, Phoxjaw

This was an eye opener for me, taught me a lot about performing live and made me want to play in a band again, but mostly I realised that there is still a live metal scene, I've just been lazy.

Wow, how can a UFC event have one of the most exciting fights ever, followed by the the most boring title fight of all time? Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs Weili Zhang was full of everything you want from a fight and you can't really declare either of them a loser, but Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero were both losers in my eyes. Shaun joins me to discuss the fights, the impact on all of the fighters, and the UFC in general.

It's that time of the month again, the lads are back round for movie night! Adam, Ryan, and Jamie join me for 'Van Wilder: Party Liason', although we don't mention it once during the podcast. We talk about a whole range of things but this is 100% a comedy episode, don't expect any serious discussion here. Honestly I'd just check out the intro and if you don't laugh don't bother listening any further.

Here are some links to things we reference in the podcast, just in case you want to watch them and see what we're talking about

Batman's white eyes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQs6ZQdCBKw

Andy Peters burning his lips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrDTSLtWqws

90's Spar Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXJ443CmZPQ

Swordfish Hacking Scene 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSgmIvUPQS0

Swordfish Hacking Scene 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG-VY

Connor Jennings is a stand-up comedian that I met on the Manchester open mic scene. We sat down for a really interesting conversation that began at personal development, moved into comedy and performing, and ended up at the nature of reality. If you are into stand-up comedy then you'll enjoy this episode, but if you're an open mic comic that wants to improve then this podcast is a must. We do a deep dive on stand-up from writing and performing techniques to promotion and development. Finally if you want to hear some trippy ideas from two guys who clearly spend a lot of time thinking about dreams, simulations, and consciousness, stick around for the final part of the podcast and open your mind.