At the end of the day… Clara Amfo

on commutes, coriander and keeping her fomo at bay

I commute every day, and you can’t help but notice other people. Their conversations. Their coffee breath. Their armpits. So I thought, wouldn’t it be great to chat to people I know about their experiences for a podcast? Like Ncuti Gatwa, who plays Eric in Sex Education, or Reggie Yates, or Louis Theroux. They speak so vividly, they make me fall in love with this city again.

I’m based in east London, and as soon as I walk in the door, I kick off my trainers and get straight into my jogging bottoms. I didn’t give jogging bottoms the respect they deserve until about three or four years ago – I used to stay in my jeans until bed – but now I have to put them on.

This year is definitely about the balance for me: spreading my wings and doing everything I want to do. 2019 for me was a fun year, and I got to do some amazing things, but I lost a bit of balance. I try and keep active and healthy, and everyone’s always chasing that elusive work/life balance, but last year it got a bit 70/30. So now, I’m aiming for 60/40. Or maybe 65/35!

I try and limit answering my emails to about an hour. But I’ll often procrastinate with a Netflix show, and my guilty pleasure is watching The Wendy Williams Show on Youtube. I love her. I really want to go and be an audience member: two of my mates have done it and I’m so jealous. I’m a Grey’s Anatomy trooper too: I’ve been with it since day one, all the way up to season 16. It’s quite meditative for me. Even if I’m washing the dishes, I’ll put my tablet up and watch Grey’s or Wendy chatting shit about everyone. Sometimes she’s not factually correct, but what she’s achieved in TV is amazing.

Another goal for this year is to cook more. My schedule is all over the shop – last year, I’d go through phases of trying to cook and I’d buy a bunch of ingredients from the shops, but then I’d have jobs hosting a premiere of a panel discussion and would get home and wonder, ‘Can I actually be arsed?’ I got into a really bad habit of doing Deliveroo every day. It adds up! So now, I’ve cooked every day for three weeks. I love a bit of kale, tomatoes, mushrooms, a bit of cod. I love a fish dish. But no coriander: I despise it with every fibre of my being. I am quite vocal about my hatred for it. I can’t think of anything worse.

If I’m having a night out, I love a cinema date with my mates. Even though I am lucky enough to see a lot of films through work, I love going with my friends and getting a drink after. That is my joy. If I go out dancing , clubland changes and evolves constantly, so I’ve got to make sure I know the DJ and that I’ll have a good night. If I go out, I will go out-out. I’m not coming home. And one thing that

I’m good at is if

I’m not feeling something, I’ll go home. Bye! My

FOMO control is on point now.

Ideally, I want to be in bed by 10pm. Realistically. My dream would be eight to 10 hours of sleep every night. But I love a coffee and if I have coffee after midday – she says, drinking from her latte – I will probably stay awake until two or three in the morning. I’ll be on, on, on.

Clara’s new podcast, This City, is out now