RHLSTP #592 - Smell My Suit - It’s another Leicester Square Theatre podcast and Rich is wondering if he’s already got to the point where his kids are funnier than him (low bar). His guest is the multi-talented and almost ubiquitous Paul F Tompkins. They chat about the practical drawbacks of acting with a claw, why Mr Peanut Butter in Bojack Horseman has the same voice as Paul, the unique confidence of starting stand-up at 17 and assuming you’re the best, why Paul wears a suit on stage and whether Rich should check it for freshness, the amazing Beatles-like fandom behind the long running show The Thrilling Adventure Hour and how Paul has successfully bridged old and new comedy in what he does, whether it’s better to be in one episode of everything or all episodes of one thing, an exemplary display of how to answer emergency questions and one of the possible reasons why Richard isn’t a more successful actor.

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#418 Starfish Perineum - Rich is back to his usual chair this week and tries to influence an impossible to win bet before being joined by Victoria Coren Mitchell. They chat about the disconnect between Victoria’s teenage angst and then partying with Frankie Howerd, the worst celebrity poker players, why the coughing Major should have gone for anal beads, how Victoria charmingly manages to lose money doing her Radio 4 show, how it’s possible that she didn’t learn to ride a bike as a child, the possible arrogance of the producers of Mary Poppins, the statue that made Victoria cry. Plus are the cracks starting to show in the Coren-Mitchell marriage? (or can the tabloids manage to spin this conversation to make it appear that they are?). Rich is over tired and starts to lose it by the end, so worth hanging around for that!

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RHLSTP Book Club #163 - Lost On Infinity - Richard talks to Steve Punt about the book and incredible multi-media experience that he has created (along with Elaine and Matthew Sweetapple), Lost On Infinity. They have a long chat about Steve’s Benjamin Button career from starting on BBC1 on the Jasper Carrott show to 26 years on the Now Show, the lessons that the rollercoaster of Weekending taught them both and whether Eric Idle might be Steve’s dad. Then they discuss the long gestation period of the book and the rock opera and why it was important that for all the magic of the writing that the project was scientific, how it manages to make points about the environment and extinction without detracting from the story, whether it would be preferable to live in a world without dogs or without humans, why the ultimate goal is to create a work that can be enjoyed by all members of a family and why it’s good to use language and music that pushes the reader of listener and doesn’t patronise them.

Buy the book here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Infinity-creatures-incredible-dramatised/dp/1739263065

Find out more about Rockford’s Rock Opera at RockfordsRockOpera.com

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RHLSTP #591 - Grolsch - Richard is back at the Leicester Sq Theatre and has a new moral dilemma to rival the Trolley Problem. How guest is actor, presenter, film director, author and philosopher Richard Ayoade. They discuss Ayoade’s impressively varied career, why he wrongly doesn’t see himself as an actor, the sleeper cult show Garth Merenghi Darkplace, being the only one of the British/Irish cast who went to America to do the IT Crowd pilot, trying not to laugh at Bob Mortimer, why there should be more 40 minute films, his fabulous book of comedy wisdom “Afterthoughts” and whether anyone watched “The Watch”.

Buy Afterthoughts here - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/afterthoughts-some-pistachios-won-t-open-wisdom-for-an-unreflective-age-richard-ayoade/7893644

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#417 Captain Dick - Rich and some other Londoners are only alive today thanks to his skilful driving which means he is here to interview the absolutely remarkable Anneka Rice. They discuss her new stand up career and the way she tackles serious subjects like death and Alzheimers in her radio show Anneka Has Issues, why she was recently arrested at an airport, the return of Challenge Anneka and whether there’s the same community spirit that there was 30 years ago, the physical imperfection that nearly derailed her entire on screen career (despite it not existing), CB TV Channel 14 (that maybe only Richard remembers), how Anneka nearly killed a man and then considered killing her dad and what she would have to do to change her obituary photo.

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RHLSTP Book Club #162 - The Traitors Circle - Richard talks to journalist and author Jonathan Freedland about his non-fiction thriller, The Traitors Circle, which isn’t about the TV series, but the horrific consequences of failing to discover a traitor in your midst in real life. They chat about the parallels between Nazi Germany and other more recent political developments, the surprising group of people who resisted Hitler in varying degrees and the complicity of the vast majority. How one of the characters in the story was at the heart of development of mass extermination and how others were willing to go along with mass murder, the incredible luck that Hitler enjoyed in the various assassination plots that he survived, the fervour with which his supporters continued his work, even as their enemy was at the gates and how there is no justice for the traitor at the heart of the circle. Plus how in spite of the horror of the subject, the bravery and rebellion of the people who opposed the regime is an incredible positive and what effect does a subject like this have on the author.

Buy the book here https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-traitors-circle-the-rebels-against-the-nazis-and-the-spy-who-betrayed-them-jonathan-freedland/7872819

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RHLSTP #590 - Richard Osman Urinal Conundrum - Richard is at the Podcast Room in Central London, with a spare hour of studio time and Rhys James already in the hot seat, so let’s do a good old-fashioned rude RHLSTP with little to no research. The pair end up discussing how poker can buy you a sofa (or just buy one), haggling too hard for picture frames with clocks in them, Rolex spoons, selling only one DVD of your comedy special (deliberately), how Rhys intends to prank the lactose intolerant, what it’s like to be tall but identify as small, how to wee next to a man in a theatre toilet and what happens to Taskmaster when Greg Davies dies.

Buy Rhys’ book here - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/you-ll-like-it-when-you-get-there-a-life-lived-reluctantly-rhys-james/7844250

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#416 John the Mouse - Rich has some helpful suggestions to help the footballers support LGBTQ+ rights and is amazed by the press reaction to last week’s podcast. His guest is superlative stand up comedian and podcaster James Acaster. They discuss Nasty Nick’s funeral, the Richard E Grant mystery, why James never retired from stand up and why he’s now inviting hecklers, the weird experience of being a last minute replacement mouse in Cinderella, confusing and angering people with his fantastically funny new book “James Acaster’s Guide to Quitting Social Media”, his new audio sitcom and how his brilliant routine about edgy comics has done no good at all. Plus will James agree with Richard’s conjecture that all music is terrible?

Buy James’ book here https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/james-acaster-s-guide-to-quitting-social-media-james-acaster/6882707

Listen to Springleaf here - https://www.jamesacaster.com/springleaf/

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RHLSTP Book Club #161 - Seriously Silly - The Life of Terry Jones - Richard chats to renowned comedy historian Robert Ross about his fabulous new biography of actor, writer, director and Python, Terry Jones. The topics includes what it’s like to befriend a Python and how that friendship affects the writing of a biography, how comedy history can be a map for future comedians, how Jones’ influence in the sketch group is perhaps underestimated, how the Python members could never have imagined that the sketch show they were embarking on would bind them for the rest of their lives, what a fine movie director he was, how he helped Rich get an A in his A level English, how his dementia affected his later years and how the new naked statue of Terry will be viewed by the people of the future.

Buy the book here https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/seriously-silly-the-life-of-terry-jones-the-authorised-biography-robert-ross/4553b8f600a0191a

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RHLSTP #589 - Dopplegängr - It’s Richard’s last show of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe, but what is the Edinburgh Fringe? Luckily Liam Gallagher knows. Richard’s guest is not in Oasis and is unlikely to support them after this, it’s the loquacious (thank goodness for Rich) Nish Kumar. They chat about at what point you have to stop claiming to be working class, how Nish survived his tour of America unscathed and the positives he took from the experience, why both sides-ism is an unhelpful concept, how even Nish’s grandma thinks he might be Jason Mantzoukas, why Taskmaster is didn’t too badly when it comes to diversity, but how being in a comedy gang can be a big help in maintaining the necessary quality for a career and has Nish been in a canoe? This is the only podcast where you will find out. Thanks so much to the magnificent staff at the Stand in Edinburgh and the brilliant audiences that made this Fringe an absolute pleasure. Same time again next year?

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