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Jo Caulfield Oct 06, 2014

Show notes

This episode was recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland

In my opinion Jo Caulfield has the sexiest speaking voice in all of the English speaking comedy world. Her tone, elocution and educated accent is one that makes me tingle like a comfort food and if I owned my own television network she would be the voice of my channel.

I first met Jo when I first started coming to London in the late 1990s. I have worked with her many times through the years and I respect her not only because she has always been kind to me but because she is funny and has a certain authoritative way of carrying herself onstage.

I've always said that when a comedian steps onstage everyone else in the room should lose rank and title and that comedian should become the sheriff of the room while they have the microphone in their hand. That is one thing about Jo's style that has always impressed me, while she is onstage she is the sheriff of the room.

In recent years more women and ethnically diverse personalities have taken to comedy stages but going way back to when I first met here up until the present Jo has been someone, a female someone who has been slugging it out in a male dominated profession and busting heads in the comedy world. This business is an unforgiving one where only the strong survive and just the fact that she has remained at the top of the UK comedy performing world for so long is testament enough of her quality and a badge of honor not many people can claim to have achieved.

She is a respected veteran with many television appearances and Edinburgh Fringe festivals under her belt.

In this conversation we cover many topics from her personal history to the British Empire's opium wars with China but perhaps the most valuable thing you will learn from her in this episode is the proper way to make English tea. She is someone whose voice, presence and thoughtful comedy always puts a smile on my face and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Jo Caulfield!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube: WorldStandsUp.flv

End song: Barbara Lynn – I’m a Good WomanRecorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment – Edinburgh, Scotland August 2014

Lynn Ruth Miller Sep 29, 2014

Show notes

This episode was recorded in Edinburgh.

Lynn Ruth Miller is an inspiring risk taker who is attacking life as if she were someone 20 years old. Humbling to learn that she is 80 years old and just moved to Brighton, England last year to pursue her career as a stand up comedian. Born in 1933 she remembers the war years in a way that will surprise you and her opinion of America is ice cold honest from someone who survived much person disaster and incredible odds to be where she is today. Her charm and joy for life is infectious as it is captivating. She has many strong opinions former from a life fully lived. She doesn't believe in fear or evil and she believes that every dream is worth pursuing.

I met Lynn Ruth 10 years ago when she started out as a comedian in San Francisco. She had come to see me headline at the Purple Onion then shortly after this she booked me to do a show with her at Stanford University which turned out to be a very special experience for all involved. Through the years I have seen her in San Francisco and other world wide spots where she pops up doing comedy in foreign countries like me.

"The woods would be very silent if the only birds who sang were the ones who sang best." Lynn Ruth is a veteran of nine Edinburgh Fringe Festivals and I was happy to see her and her show in Edinburgh this year while I was there.

She is like a relative to me, or rather someone I wish was related to me.

She stays in touch with me regularly and she is always popping up around the world cheering me on as I am with her. She is someone I always love talking to because she is filled with wisdom and insight aging from life lessons learned.

She is not afraid to chase her dream of being a comedian and I am inspired by her ruthless determination and the original energy of joy that goes into each performance. She is quit simply a gem of a human being and it is my pleasure to present to you now, the one and only Lynn Ruth Miller!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

End song: Peggy Lee – Is this all there is

Recorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment – Edinburgh, Scotland August 2014

Margaret Cho Sep 25, 2014

Show notes

This episode was recorded in San Francisco.

I first met Margaret Cho when I moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s and because we both developed and came up together she is a friend that I am always cheering for and who I will always be loyal too. I could go for years without seeing Margaret but when we do it is like we never lost a minute together. I have been communicating with her for the past few years about trying to record an episode of this podcast with her but our schedules have not allowed us to make that happen. A few weeks ago when I was in Los Angeles I asked Margaret if she would be in town and she said that she was going to go San Francisco for Comedy Day in Golden Gate park because this year it was dedicated to Robin Williams.

Because of Margaret I bought a last minute plane ticket to fly up for it.

Comedy Day is a yearly free comedy concert in the park every year that the city of San Francisco puts on. I had not been to one since the late 1990s and neither had Margaret. It was so much fun to see so many old friends from the San Francisco comedy scene of the 1990s. Deservedly so Margaret is an adored icon and watching her being appreciated makes my heart happy. She is the perfect San Francisco comedian, raised in the city by book store owning parents, an intelligent, funny Asian woman who represents and defends the gay and lesbian community. Margaret has been busting heads in the comedy world for many years and not many comedians ever attain the universal love and appeal that she has.

This conversation was recorded the day after Comedy Day in Margaret's Union Square hotel room. We had enjoyed comedy Day immensely laughing our heads off together, my favorite moment was having Margaret sit right up front under the stage and scream her head off laughing at me. I also learned that she was very close to Joan Rivers and that she is still very tore up over her recent death.

Margaret and I also were both given our our sitcoms around the same time and they both only lasted for one season. My reaction to my sitcom ending was to plunge myself into drugs and alcohol but Margaret wrote a brilliant one person show called 'I'm the one that I want'. Seeing that show in New York City gave me great inspiration at that time when I needed it. Margaret's career has been so successful because she continuously works her ass off. In this conversation we talk about our sitcom experiences and the mountain of pressure you have on you when you are the star of your own network television show.

Margaret Cho has championed countless civil rights causes and has supreme knowledge on many different topics, especially stand up comedy. In this conversation Margaret tells me about Joan Rivers' funeral and the best laugh she had with Joan. We also talk about Korea and the Korean pop culture domination of the planet. I've been to Korea twice in the past 2 years and I'm excited for Margaret to go there just because it will produce another brilliant special for her. We talk about our immigrant mother's and Margaret tells me about her quest to learn the Korean language. She teaches me about the highlights of Korean cinema. The trilogy of movies 'Old Boy', 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'.

She we had this talk I watched 'Old Boy' and I highly recommend this mind-blowing movie. Since the day I met her, Margaret has turned me on to cool things. She tells me about the Rue De Temple, the best place to shop in Paris. She gives me the best world wide travel tips she has learned and I tell her the importance of a successful comedian having nice luggage.

This episode happened because Margaret suggested that I come up to San Francisco at the last minute. After the joy of having this conversation we went to the panhandle and got stoned before she took me to a guitar store on Haight street. After the guitar store we ate fat gorgeous San Francisco burritos and then Margaret called me an Uber that took me to the airport. It was a perfect 24 hours in San Francisco and this episode is the result of this.

She is the Joan of Arc Samurai warrior of comedy and it is my pleasure to present to you now, the one and only Margaret Cho!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

End song: Teenage Fanclub & Jad Fair - Crush on You

San Francisco, September 2014

Aisha Tyler Sep 17, 2014

Show notes

This episode was recorded in Los Angeles.

Aisha Tyler is an iconic woman who has conquered the stages of stand up comedy, the world of network television and the New York Times bestsellers list of book authors.

I met Aisha Tyler in the 1990s in the golden age San Francisco comedy. I remember Aisha when she was starting out as a comedian there and I remember that she always had a pure heart in her pursuit of becoming a master stand up comedian.

I remember her hustling around the Bay area comedy scene trying to get as much stage time as she could and always trying to get better as a comedian. I felt like she was Luke Skywalker and I was Obi-wan Kenobi when she would seek out my Jedi warrior wisdom.

She has always shown me respect and been grateful for my influence on her development.

In this conversation we talk about how she felt like an outsider growing up in San Francisco, Finding your voice as a comedian, taking giants leaps in developing your material, the influence of the abundant about of humor her dad that affected the person she is today. The story she tells me in this chat about how before she would leave the house her dad would tell her to go grab the world by the balls hit me in my hilarity button.

On her podcast Girl On Guy she has a segment called Self Inflicted Wounds. When I did her podcast I showed up with an entire bag of self inflicted wound stories.

Everyone has stories about how they were self destructive and if you rose again or not is the only answer to that story. Pain is intrinsic in the human experience and self inflicted wounds is such a great idea Aisha wrote a book on that topic called Self Inflicted Wounds which had a strong run on the New York Times best seller list and is currently in the talks to become a television show.

In this talk we talk about the best laughs our fathers gave us and their most funny expressions.

In this episode you will learn why you should eat the spotted owl, never leave anyone stranded on the side of the road and never leave anyone in jail.

Aisha went to Dartmouth University to study Environmentalism policy. Clean coal is a lie! Then she studied the economies of developing nations and lived in Kenya for a while. She is more than qualified to speak against rich white people.

Aisha has so much to tell the world and her intelligence makes it easy break down major issues to find the rational thoughts on our capitalistic society. There is blood on all of our hands!

We talk about the tangle mess America is in now and how corporations own our every move and how our system tramples people. Aisha is real and honest no matter if we talk politics or our personal lives. She believes in the transformative power of personal freedom and she is not afraid to squash modern topics by pushing it further.

She is one of the stars of the daily network show The Talk speaking to millions of American homes everyday. As you will see in the conversation she is real and truthful about everything. She is so monumentally intelligent and magnificently charming and funny I wish she would love even more every entertainment outlet from TV, film, books, internet, etc.

She is a deep thinker with a sharp perspective and the truest laugh. I’m proud of her for all of her success because she always had a good heart but also she inspires me because she is real in everything she does. She possesses the pearl of great knowledge and wisdom and it was a joy to record this rambling talk about everything. It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Aisha Tyler!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – OceanlinersEnd song: Jennifer Lopez - I'm Real (Remix) ft. Ja RuleRecorded at Aisha's – Los Angeles, May 2014

Karen Koren Sep 17, 2014

Show notes

This episode was recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Karen Koren is the queen mother of the Edinburgh Fringe festival. She has produced countless shows for the festival for over 30 years and it the operator of the Gilded Balloon, one of the cornerstone venues of the entire Fringe.

It was important for me to do my Edinburgh debut with Karen at the Gilded Balloon because of a disaster I had experienced at the old Gilded Balloon (which has since burned to the ground) at the perennial late night show Late n’ Live many years ago when I was visiting the festival in August 2000.

That disaster and the notorious viciousness of Late n’ Live hecklers are discussed in the episode. Not only did I shatter that memory for myself I created the best possible new one from getting to perform my hour show every night at 9:15pm at the Gilded Balloon and be under the loving umbrella of Karen Koren.

At the Loft bar of the Gilded Balloon where this conversation was recorded is the private bar for the performers of this venue who I bonded with, saw the shows of and hung out with until the wee hours of the morning.

Karen has created such a welcoming atmosphere at this excellently run venue. Not Only does she bring in the best quality performers but the people who ran her venue I had met at Comedy festival in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Canada and France. Even her staff are of the highest quality in live festival comedy entertainment.

I enjoyed talking with Karen Koren every night, not just because she has the most dreamy hypnotic accent but also because of her gorgeous laugh. She helped to launch the careers of Alan Cumming, Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand, Tim Mincheon and Tom Rhodes.

I can’t say enough good things about this woman, she’s classy, she’s funny and she is wealth of comedy knowledge and history concerning British comedy and the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

She doesn’t bullshit anyone, she doesn’t beat around the bush and she has a strong opinion about the lack of substance from most American stand up she has seen.

Looking back on my memory of doing the festival this year I think of Karen and the lively and funny conversations we had together most every night. At times it felt like I had a mother figure looking out for me and I grew in her warm loving embrace. The people who book other world wide festivals when they spoke with Karen she insisted they should book me or be missing out on one of the best comedians in the world. She was constantly telling people to go see my show and raving about how funny I am. It would plaster the hugest smile across my face her every endorsement. Because of the incredible experience I just had in Edinburgh August 2014 and all of the friends I made there I am inspired to write my ass off to come up with a new hour of material.

I won’t go back too early with some watery shit, only hard hitting head cruncher jokes and stories because I would never want to disappoint Karen Koren by being any less than funnier than anyone else. I’m proud the hear in this conversation that her favorite part of my show was the real life stories where I wore my heart on my sleeve. She is the kind of person that if she likes you, you think “Well if Karen Koren thinks I’m great I must be pretty damn good.

At this moment when I post this episode it one of the most important weeks in the history of Scotland because they get to vote whether or not they want to be an independent country or to stay joint with England. Either way, in England they like to yell “Long live the Queen! God save the Queen!”

I just want it to be known that wherever I go in the world I will yell “Long live Karen Koren! God save Karen Koren!” It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Karen Koren!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

End song: Curtis Mayfield – Move on Up

Recorded at The Loft Bar in The Gilded Balloon – Edinburgh August 2014

Tommy Sheppard Sep 12, 2014

Show notes

In comedy there are certain wise men you meet on your journey that are priceless to talk with because they possess the glow of knowledge you hope to gain when you one day pass from warrior to wise man.

Tommy Sheppard owns The Stand comedy club in Edinburgh which is the heart and soul of Scottish comedy. It is as perfect of a comedy club to start in as the Cavern club in Liverpool was for the Beatles to start in.

Since opening the Stand in Edinburgh he has branched out and opened satellite rooms of The Stand in Glasgow and Newcastle. He is reputed to be an honest fair man in a business where sticking it to a comedian by undercutting his cash is often one of the occupational hazards. Comedians speak of him with respect and his employees show their loyalty by working for him for years. I was happy to meet Tommy and make friends with him this past month while I was doing the Fringe Festival.

Before going into the comedy world by opening his room in the 1990s he was a full time organizer with the British Labor party. After the Labor party decided to go in another direction ideologically he left politics and with his redundancy payment he put a down payment on The Stand comedy club.

This moment in human history is very exciting because next week Scotland has the vote to decide if they want to be an independent country away from the United Kingdom. After thousands of years of bloodshed and dying for this very concept, Scotland has the chance to do it now in a peaceful manner, without ever even firing one bullet.

Tommy Sheppard is an ardent and vocal supporter of Scottish independence and the person I sought out to explain it all to me and why breaking away from England would be the best option for his fellow countrymen.

In tis conversation I quiz him on comedy, the Fringe festival and all things Scotland but the most valuable insight of all is his knowledge on this turning point in Scottish history where the dreams of ancestors long dead and forgotten will finally be realized next week on election day.

It is my pleasure to present to you now, the one and only Tommy Sheppard.

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Audio Cameo: Graham Brophy from Glasgow, Scotland

End song: Bob Dylan – Highlands (live version Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA, 16 Mar 2000)

Recorded at The Stand Comedy Club – Edinburgh August 2014

Zoe Lyons Sep 07, 2014

Show notes

★★★★★ Tom Rhodes Radio Review for Zoe Lyons in ‘Mustard Cutter’

Zoe Lyons is one of the best performers that I saw at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I love her style, her energy, her pacing and her material. Often when you are seeing multiple shows in a day at the Fringe festival you will look at your watch during a performance and I'm happy to report I did not look at my watch once while Zoe was performing her show Mustard Cutter. I simply got lost in my enjoyment of her show.

Her and I have in common that she also has a Dutch wife and her insights on being married to a Dutch person made me howl with laughter. Her facial expressions as well as her way of expressing how she feels about the life that she is living is of the essence of what comedy is about.

I will now bestow the greatest compliment I could give any performer by saying that Zoe Lyons contains the original energy of joy.

Like all comedians, I'm sure she has experienced a bumpy road but her attitude towards life and performing comedy is what attracted me to her soul as I sat among the audience watching her perform and why I wanted to highlight her on my podcast.

She lives in the artistic hub of Brighton and is a respected veteran of the UK comedy scene, she is one of the people I enjoyed hanging out with the most at the festival after parties and it must be said that I think she has the most glorious gap between her two front teeth. As a gap toothed person myself, I find that an irresistible trait in a fellow human.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Zoe Lyons!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube 1: Comedienne Zoe Lyons

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Joan Rivers: Stand-Up Pioneer Dead at 81 - Fifty Years of Funny | The New York Times

End song: Waiting In Vain – Annie Lennox Recorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment – Edinburgh August 2014

Glenn Wool Sep 03, 2014

Show notes

Glenn Wool is one of the finest comedy exports Canada has ever produced. His comedy is philosophical, heartfelt and endearing. He is also one of the nicest human beings I have ever come across in all my years traveling the globe.

I met Glenn many years ago at the Comedy Store in London and have since worked with him at comedy festivals all over the world. He is one of the few comedians like myself that has relentlessly toured the world wide circuits proving that his comedy is accessible to laughing brains anywhere comedy microphones are plugged in.

He has recently secured a home in Vancouver but that will undoubtedly not stop him from continuing to tour the world circuits. His take and opinion on subjects is always fresh and uniquely his own which makes him one of my favorite comedians to watch. He is also the kind of friend that if we are anywhere within a few hundred miles from each other we always make the extra effort to get together.

Impressively he is a veteran of 16 Edinburgh Fringe festivals and one of the hottest tickets in town when he is there. This conversation was recorded at my kitchen table of the flat in Edinburgh that I rented for Edinburgh Fringe 2014. We sat down over hot tea to talk about life, comedy, travel, festivals and every other pertinent topic that came to our brains until it was time for both of us to run off to our shows that night.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Glenn Wool!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube 1: Glenn Wool @ Cracker Night 2011

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Sobriety - Glenn Wool | RAW COMEDY

End song: Long May You Run - Neil Young

Recorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment – Edinburgh August 2014

Hannah Gadsby Aug 27, 2014

Show notes

★★★★★ Tom Rhodes Radio Review for Hannah Gadsby in ‘The Exhibitionist’

Hannah Gadsby is one of the brightest shining lights on the world wide comedy circuit.

An innately gifted story teller whose tales of awkward humiliation and personal triumph will have anyone from any walk of life or age group howling with laughter.

I first met Hannah 4 years ago in Perth, Australia when we were both doing a comedy festival there together. In July of this year we worked together again at Toomler comedy club in Amsterdam the week before we both went off to do the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Sharing an apartment together in Amsterdam I was privileged to see Hannah tightening up and putting the finishing touches on what would be her Edinburgh show this year, which made the experience of seeing her finished product at the festival even more enjoyable for me.

In this year’s show called ‘The Exhibitionist’ she used a slide show of great works of art interspersed with photos of her growing up through life. It was part art history lecture and part personal journey through her life.

Hannah got her university degree in art history and art is one of her personal obsessions and greatest passions in life. In this episode we talk about art, art history, her Edinburgh show ‘The Exhibitionist’ and the fact that Tom Rhodes Radio gives her show a 5 star review.

It is an extra treat to know that Hannah does not do many podcast chats and that she made the exception to be on mine. I adore this woman as a human being, as a comedian and as a fellow art lover. Her Edinburgh show of 2014 was one of my favorite shows that I saw this year and her stand up comedy is consistently solid powerful laughs every time I see her perform.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Hannah Gadsby!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – OceanlinersAudio Cameo: Jasper Rijkeboer from Delft, The NetherlandsStand-up clip from YouTube 1: Melbourne Comedy Festival All Stars supershow 2014 Hannah gadsbyStand-up clip from YouTube 2: Hannah Gadsby – Melbourne Comedy Festival 2012End song: Slip of The Tongue – Mary Gautier Recorded at Hannah’s Edinburgh Festival apartment , Edinburgh August 2014

Lucie Pohl Aug 20, 2014

Show notes

Lucie Pohl

★★★★★ Tom Rhodes Radio Review for Lucie Pohl in ‘Hi, Hitler!’

Tom Rhodes Radio give the show 'Hi, Hitler' by Lucie Pohl a 5 star review! This show is so fast paced, character driven and funny that I saw it twice.

The eye catching title of this show comes from the adorable tale of how Lucie Pohl as a child thought the Nazis were saying hi to Hitler and not heal Hitler.

Is it possible to make Hitler adorable? Lucie Pohl can! She even drew Hitler innumerable times as a kid and wanted to go as Hitler for carnival but that kind of action is illegal in Germany where she was born. Her show is the story of her life and it is greatly influenced by the New York style of one person shows that I hold sacred like Eric Bogosian's Sex Drugs & Rock & Roll and John Leguizamo's Freak. Expertly performed Lucie Pohl keeps you captivated as her story pops from one scene of her life to another.

As a child loving David Hasselhoff in her native Germany, her successful father moving her family to New York City, having artistic parents with dramatic lives living in Greenwich Village, her moving back to Germany to pursue her dream of acting, getting her knees skinned up from a bad romantic choice to finding love on a beach in Greece on the island of Rhodes. With magnanimous charm she plays all of the characters in her life and the journey she has experienced up to this point.

Her show is so enjoyable you can't help but think why isn't this woman a superstar actor by now but we should be grateful because superstar actors never give us brilliant one person performances like this rooted in the very fabric that makes theater great and greatly inspiring.

Lucie Pohl's show is also on at the Gilded Ballon like mine and I met her very early in the run hanging out in the performer's Loft Bar. She is a delight on every level and an artist I hope never forgets that making solid one hour performances is the glue that holds all of show business together. It is my pleasure to present to you now, the one and only Lucie Pohl!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – OceanlinersEnd song: Tom Waits - Walk AwayRecorded at Lucie’s kitchen table of her Edinburgh Festival apartment, Edinburgh - August 2014

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