Spieling The Beans

My guest this week is Catherine Bohart, star of BBC Two’s The Mash Report, Comedy Central’s Roast Battle, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier and The Guilty Feminist Podcast.

We spoke about how to write a weekly satirical show, how school debate clubs create comedians of the future, and why stories within stand-up can create empathy.

My guest this week is Anna Drezen. As a writer for Saturday Night Live, Anna created the legendary Debette Goldry sketches (played by Kate McKinnon), along with many others including the brilliant Romano Tours and Nephew Pageant. She's also been the editor of Reductress and even a student of Shakespeare at RADA. In a busy Pleasance Courtyard bar, minutes after she stepped off stage from her Edinburgh Fringe debut 'Okay Get Home Safe!!', we discussed what makes a great sketch, the importance of oddness in comedy and her burning love for Whose Line Is It Anyway.

My first guest is AJ Holmes - star of The Book of Mormon (playing the iconic role of Elder Cunningham in the West End, Broadway and Australian productions), a writer for South Park, co-creator of Starkid musicals such as A Very Potter Musical, and currently appearing in his Edinburgh Fringe debut 'Yeah, But Not Right Now'.

We talk in his kitchen over a cup of Guayusa tea about how he went from preaching The Book of Mormon to writing on South Park, his early introduction to British comedy, how storytelling has been a thread through everything he's done, and why Company is - wrongly - not his favourite Sondheim musical.

Welcome to a brand new podcast series called Spieling The Beans in which storytellers tell their stories about telling stories.