Ruddle Me This! with Taylor Ruddle

Which episode should someone start with?

Personally I'm a podcast completist so I tend to go back to the first episode when I listen, but honestly you could start at around episode 50 of my podcast and you'd have a bit nicer of an audio experience. It took me until around 30-40 to figure out what I was doing.

Which have been your favourite episodes so far?

#38 is a whole pile of stand-up clips from my first ever comedy tour so that's a lot of fun. #71 has my biggest guest to date, comedian Liv McKenzie who's been on the TV here in NZ. #59 and #60 were fun to record, as was #64. I did these in person and I think that translates well to a good vibe to listen to. #70 I did a commentary on one of my comedy specials, I've had good feedback about that one and it was really enjoyable to record.

Which episode are you most proud of?

#47 where I interviewed a playwright about his adaptation of The Odyssey. In my previous podcast I was often criticized for being not good at interviewing people and yapping too much over the guest but I think I did a fantastic job with the questions for this interview. After recording that one I thought to myself "Alright, you can actually do this!"

What is your vision for your show?

I want it to become the JRE of New Zealand, except obviously with more horse medicine and conspiracy theories! I believe I can build the show up to the point where it's as impactful on the comedy scene here in NZ as something like JRE, Your Mom's House, Bertcast etc where I can help comics sell tickets around the country and maybe even beyond by them appearing on the pod.

What is your favourite other podcast that isn't yours?

Right now I'm really loving The Rest Is History. Frankie Boyle's Here Comes The Guillotine is a very close second. Bertcast was my all-time fave for a long time but I have a bit of bert-fatigue at the moment. Hardcore History, how can you not love that pod? I'm also a massive fan of paranormal and horror podcasts; Shadows At The Door, Monsters Among Us, Nosleep Podcast, Creepy. Elder Sign. All good stuff!

How did you come up with the name for your podcast?

My previous podcast was called Ramblin' With Ruddle, which is a podcast I did for a couple of years and is a name I loved, but I felt like I needed to come up with a new name as a bit of a refresh, a rebrand if you will. I'm a big fan of the way podcasters will use a pun based on their last name, one that springs to mind is Rob Lowe's The Lowe Down. So I went for Ruddle Me This! Which has been a mistake, Google always asks "Did you mean 'Riddle Me This?' " which is a bane on my life.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I'm a stand-up comedian based in Christchurch, New Zealand. I've won and been nominated for a couple of comedy awards here in NZ. I've always been very self motivated and have taught myself how to do all the production side of this podcast. I do all of my own graphic design, too. I started doing comedy while living in Japan in 2015 and never looked back. I'm a big manchild, been a fan of video games, anime, wrestling, history and all that general geekdom for my whole life.