S3 Ep30: James Acaster, stand-up comic

03/26/21 • 72 min

1 Listener

James Acaster joins me this week to talk about writing stand-up comedy. James has filmed five stand-up specials – the first four make up the series Repertoire, available on Netflix, while the most recent, Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, arrived on Vimeo earlier this month. He was also nominated a record-breaking five years in a row for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe, from 2012 to 2016. He talks me through how he writes a set; the structure of stand-up, and the art of a well-placed callback; and how he reconciles the inherently stressful dynamic of his job with his efforts to protect his mental health.
James also wrote the bestselling books James Acaster's Classic Scrapes and Perfect Sound Whatever, which can be found alongside other books by guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing
I'd also recommend Steve Martin's Born Standing Up for anyone interested in the construction of stand-up comedy (even though James has been given three copies of it and still hasn't made it to the end). I can't find it on Bookshop.org so here it is at Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/born-standing-up/steve-martin/9781847391483
Watch Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 here: https://www.jamesacaster.com/cold-lasagne/
And listen to James's podcasts here:
James Acaster's Perfect Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089rgkp
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/off-menu-with-ed-gamble-and-james-acaster/id1442950743?mt=2

Previous Episode

S3 Ep29: Wendy Erskine, short story writer

This week I'm joined by Wendy Erskine, author of the remarkable Sweet Home, an award-winning short story collection set in modern Belfast. I have a personal connection to Wendy – she was my English teacher in the mid-nineties, and is still a teacher today. She talks about how she found her way to publishing an acclaimed collection in 2018; how her 'imagination headphones' allow her to work at the kitchen table with family life unfolding around her; and how drafting and redrafting leads to her stark, fearless prose.
Wendy's second collection will be published by Stinging Fly and Picador in February 2022. In the meantime, read her latest short story Gloria and Max here: https://stingingfly.org/2021/03/03/gloria-and-max/
Buy Sweet Home and other books by guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing
And let me know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@hattiehattie) or Instagram (@hattiecrisell), or share your thoughts with the hashtag #InWriting.

Next Episode

S3 Ep31: Maggie O'Farrell, novelist

In the final episode of the third series (thank you for listening!), Maggie O'Farrell joins me from her home in Edinburgh. Maggie is the author of eight novels, including After You'd Gone, This Must Be The Place and Hamnet, which last year won the Women's Prize for Fiction. She also wrote the unsettling 2017 memoir I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. She describes the Victorian greenhouse-turned-studio where her books take shape, and talks about the difficulty of knowing where to begin; the laborious but valuable experience of getting her first novel published, and why she loves it when a manuscript veers off course.
You can find Maggie's books and those of other guests of the podcast here, along with a selection of books on writing that I've found helpful: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

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