Podcast queen? I will happily take that title
MARION HOW
You’re the podcast queen these days with British Scandal, Very Modern Quests and My Dad Wrote A Porno. Do you enjoy recording them?
(Laughs). I’ll happily take that title. I’m a big fan of podcasts – both listening to them and making them. They’ve been keeping me busy.
After leaving the BBC last year I’ve had scope to do new things. You feel a real connection with podcasts. I listen to them in my kitchen and in my bedroom. I’m evangelistic about them. They were seen as a bit of a cult when they started and people didn’t think they would last, but now it feels like a kind of club.
My Dad Wrote A Porno has become an international hit with celebrity fans like Dame Emma Thompson, Nicholas Hoult and Michael Sheen, two world tours, a TV comedy special and more than 280 million downloads. Are you still surprised at its success?
Who knew dad porn would be a big thing? We had no idea that it would one day take us to somewhere like the Sydney Opera House.
It started as three friends (Alice with Jamie Morton and James Cooper) who found each other funny and spent time with each other. Then we were given this gift – a book you couldn’t make up (an amateur erotic novel) – written by Jamie’s dad. We’ve just done the sixth series and it is still going strong.
It’s three people around a table showing off to each other. We just make each other laugh and we’ve made our cackling voices heard in people’s ears. Some have even used the podcast as a birthing soundtrack and others have listening parties. We had to delay this latest series because Jamie was tested for Covid and we had to be careful. It was the right thing to do. (Laughs) Some people got quite angry though about their dad porn being delayed.
The new season of podcast British Scandal is now out. Has it also been eye-opening doing the podcast with comedian Matt Forde?
We’ve not even scratched the surface of topics when it comes to British scandals and the details surprise most people.
They know the stories, they made front covers and headlines in the papers at the time, but they may not know all the details behind them.
When we took a look at them, the words that we kept coming up with were “this is absurd” – even when the story is scary or dark.
We looked at Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident who was exiled from Moscow and poisoned on British soil with polonium-210, and the assassins were almost ludicrous. Their timetable before the attempt was just bizarre and mad.
The Very Modern Quests is different again. How would you describe it?
We take comedians out of their comfort zone and give them quests in the modern world like asking a new flatmate to sign a tenancy agreement or asking in-laws for a house deposit.
We put them on the spot in awkward situations and there is no script. We’ve had people like Phil Wang and Joe Lycett and it’s been so much fun. We corpse [laugh] a lot through it. It’s like Dungeons and Dragons but without the goblins and with a contemporary setting. Emma Sidi does all the other voices in the podcast. She’s just amazing and so creative. She’s like the Swiss army knife of characters.
You survived your own quests when you took part on TV’s Taskmaster. What was that like?
(Groans) I really failed at Taskmaster. I think anyone you speak to about it says it is just the most fun TV show you can go on.
You are adopted into the Taskmaster family show. I did it over a few months. I’d turn up at the house and make some porridge for breakfast and then they let you in a room with a watering cans, dumbbells, box, some glue and ask you what you want to do.
I think Taskmaster quickly shows the real you. I became a goodie two shoes, head girl, which is what I had been. If you are the kind of person who bucks the system that comes out as well. I would love to do it again, but they only let the champions return.
Have you enjoyed delving beneath Britain’s bedsheets for your Channel 4 documentary series Sex Odyssey?
I’ve done one documentary before and a few little pieces, but this has been a dream come true.
Louis Theroux is the executive producer and it has been wonderful to be able to call him up and ask him questions. We were doing a lot remotely and on Zoom beforehand, but now it is all coming together nicely – in a room with no windows. It’s been an incredible work experience.
The new season of British Scandal from Wondery is available on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and the Wondery app from Tuesday
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