Grouchy Club Podcast - Kate Copstick & John Fleming

Political correctness and malicious intent. The Gazza PC hoo-hah and why we have to be upset about something. The English injustice system. Comedy MCs who become PC Heteronormatives. The changed acceptability of Harry Hill’s transgender joke. Plus Mama Biashara’s supplies to Syria. Is it impossible to have sensible comedians? And why Copstick reckons there is a lot of hate heading my way.Copstick’s quote of the week: “A heterosexual couple. What the fuck is wrong with that? I am not heterosexual and I am not part of a couple, but what is wrong with that?”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

The “proper sexism” of the mid-1980s and earlier in Northern Working Men’s Clubs remembered by comedy critic Kate Copstick while John Fleming fiddles with his nuts. Copstick reminiscences about her days as a pantomime dame, touring the northern clubs and being pelted with sweets by 2,000 children. There is talk of BBC TV currently ‘desecrating' old sitcoms but not Peter Tinniswood’s “It Takes a Worried Man”. Plus women behind the throne in British TV sitcoms. Sexual social segregation. Sheena Easton’s ex-husband. The powerful women of old-time Music Hall and Vaudeville. And the lost honesty of old-style comedy audiences.Copstick’s quote of the week: “There is nothing wrong with a single-sex club.”http://www.grouchyclub.co.uk(Photograph by Stephen O’Donnell)You can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Unoriginal BBC TV sitcoms crucified by critic Kate Copstick. Why performers are entirely right to call her a bastard. John Fleming’s criminal background. The English and Scottish injustice systems. Copstick ‘outs' herself as a Corbynista and talks of her secret lust for her English teacher. PLUS Why Ariane Sherine wants Copstick as her mother and John Fleming as her father. And the “bundle of chaos” that is comic Neal Portenza.Copstick’s quotes of the week: “Why don’t they just put a sign on the BBC saying “Our commissioning execs don’t believe anyone can come up with a good idea or write anything original ever again, so we are just re-hashing?”+“I am very excited to discover that I am podcasting with a convicted criminal. You have risen in my estimation no end.”http://www.grouchyclub.co.uk(Photograph by Stephen O’Donnell)You can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnflem

Comedians’ careers: is it worth going to the Edinburgh Fringe? Which excellent Edinburgh venue’s press office was criticised? Richard Gadd’s shocking reaction to not winning an increasingly prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Award. Plus Broadway Baby’s one-star review of a “quite creepy” comedian’s show. Tim Renkow’s brilliant online sitcom. Lorraine Bracco is not a town. Lynn Ruth Miller’s version of a soft shoe shuffle. And will comedians crowdfund to see critic Kate Copstick self-harm herself with a kebab skewer next year?Copstick’s quote of the week: “One of the worst things you can do is be a small show in a big venue.”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe. Before the 2016 Edinburgh Comedy Awards were announced, amid a noisy crowd in Assembly, a tired and emotional Kate Copstick and John Fleming babble and discuss comedy at the Fringe and how the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards winners were decided… Plus the brilliance of Richard Gadd and Phil Ellis, the million-pound baby, Becky Fury, Phil Jarvis, Peter Buckley Hill and the sexual allure of the Pillsbury Doughboy… And how Copstick, initially with nausea and diarrhoea, was recognised as “the anti-Christ of the Fringe”.http://www.grouchyclub.co.uk You can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883 John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Comedy gossip with critic Kate Copstick and blogger John Fleming in a very noisy Southside Social pub in Edinburgh. Why Copstick no longer wants to hear about Fringe comedy acts from PRs next year. Comic Candy Gigi’s horrendous experience with an awards judge. Why the comedy section of the Fringe Programme has become “toxic”. How Paul Currie’s comedy show moved from “slightly scary” to “much more fun” but Copstick now wants to “smack him in the face”. Why Copstick hates the word “lover”. Why she was second choice to co-host The Grouchy Club and its original conception as a ‘real people’ TV chat show.Copstick’s quote of the week on Fringe comedy PR: “It’s ugly and it’s wanky and it’s just horrible… I haven’t been to see one single great show this year because a PR suggested it or even because a PR alerted me to it”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http

Kate Copstick rants about people jumping the queue at Richard Gadd’s show and how greedy Edinburgh University are financially raping the Fringe. Plus Copstick’s X-ray shows a shadow on her lung: could it be her last Fringe?Plus how Tim Minchin’s UK career started. How “wonderful” Karen Koren of the Gilded Balloon venue has helped acts. Michael Brunström’s brilliance. Candy Gigi’s changes. Ariane Sherine labelled a pasty-faced Jewish Princess. The origins of The Grouchy Club. And news of the Increasingly Prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards.Copstick’s quotes of the week: Lewis Schaffer - “He is not right in the head”Edinburgh University - “They’re absolute arseholes”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Sex at the Edinburgh Fringe. The most arrogant little prick of a comedian whose show critic Kate Copstick has ever sat through. The joys of Sweet venues. A woman being hit over the head by a wheelbarrow. Alfie Brown’s brilliance. Copstick nominates Twonkey for the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Award and raves about Michael Brunstrom’s surreal show and his sexually attractive legs. The perils of drinking too much Red Bull. The King of Clit Comedy. The Grouchy Club’s previews of 2017 Fringe shows. The perils of ‘papering rooms’. Marcel Lucont’s calendar. Malcolm Hardee: The Musical. And Copstick vividly shares one of her most memorable sex acts.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Comedy, teabagging, fisting, rimming, felching and threesomes. Kate Copstick announces her Edinburgh Fringe podcast without me and remembers a great fetish club. Copstick and Jim Jeffries’ sexual experiences with Doktor CocaColaMcDonalds. Ariane Sherine’s offensive songs. An alternative to the wastefulness of Comic Relief. The Underbelly venue boys in rubberwear. The best knock-knock joke. Previews of 2017 (yes 2017) Edinburgh Fringe shows. Islamic jokes. Eleanor Conway’s sex and cocaine. Comic David Mills reclaims the word faggot . Plus the Mama Biashara charity’s desperate need for a new accountant. The best Edinburgh Fringe poster, the new First Minute Awards and my hot date with Lynn Ruth Miller.Quote of the week from Kate Copstick: “I’m not saying a life is defined by threesomes, foursomes and sticking Class A drugs up your bum, but…”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts

The rise of YouTube videos. Critic Kate Copstick & blogger John Fleming are joined by comedian Diane Spencer. Do comedians HAVE to play the Edinburgh Fringe or even play the London circuit? Getting fined £20,000 for bad taste jokes. Plus Lewis Schaffer’s dirty protest poster; the joys of morphine; the new FirstMinute Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe; how to start a 55-minute comedy show; the liars of Facebook and are small audiences better than talking into a mirror?Copstick’s quote of the week: “It’s hard to follow a really good, graphic wank joke”Diane Spencer’s website: http://www.difunny.co.ukhttp://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Exclusive revelations: Piff The Magic Dragon’s dog and Game of Thrones. Ed at Last’s new firstminute.com awards. Bob Slayer’s new immensely-long show. Why coming second is better. What exactly ARE the increasingly prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards? Do funnier comedians die younger? Plus cunning stunts at the Edinburgh Fringe by Malcolm Hardee, Barry Ferns & Mark Borkowski.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

How to get comedy shows reviewed at the Edinburgh Fringe. How to extract good quotes from bad reviews. The highly influential and currently very ill comedy reviewer Kate Copstick on how, why and when she decides to review shows for The Scotsman during the Edinburgh Fringe. Plus Copstick sings. Plus famous people’s semen. http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

John Fleming tries to get a word in while comedy critic Kate Copstick talks about the most impressive press release she has seen for an Edinburgh Fringe show this year and her mooted return to stand-up comedy.PLUS her admiration for Boris Johnson, Angus Deayton, Lady Colin Campbell, Tanya Lee Davis, Janet Bettesworth (“the best hair in comedy”) and David Mills (“uber queen of this parish”).PLUS her bowel movements, genitalia, Jeremy Corbyn, sex with prostitutes in Manchester, the return of “Radio Active” and, finally, the amazingly likely reason why current comedy is so very bland.Best Copstick quote this week is arguably: “I do not regard having sex as an intimate relationship. Having sex is not intimate at all.”http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Britain votes to leave the EU - plus homosexuality and devil worship in Kenya; comedy critic Kate Copstick vomits, shits blood and is threatened with arrest; Scotland’s terrible weather; a future Scottish referendum; Copstick says: “I’ve got an arse on me like a Harrier jet” and she sings with John.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

On a bad line from a noisy internet cafe in Nairobi, critic Copstick talks to sleepy blogger John in London about...political tension and facial pus-filled spots in Kenya; sectarianism in Scotland and Kenya; the killing of MP Jo Cox in Britain; interviewing comedian Stewart Lee; this year’s Malcolm Hardee Award judges; John having half his beard shaved off on stage; comic Ariane Sherine’s love for Jeremy Corbyn; and the Bullshit Awards.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

Is comedy a vocation or a desperation?(NB THERE IS SOUND BREAK-UP 14’40”-16’20” BUT IT RECOVERS!)From a Nairobi cafe, critic Kate Copstick talks to blogger John Fleming in London about...Being homeless in Kenya, racist jokes, a new Malcolm Hardee Comedy Award judge and the hypnotist who creates comedy improvisers.Plus John says there are only two sexes, Copstick inspires a show which literally takes the piss, John turns down the stage role of God and Copstick recalls what a terribly shallow stand-up comic she was in the 1990s.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

NB CONTAINS LANGUAGE THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER OFFENSIVE (but I think they’re wrong) - Is there a difference between racial and racist jokes? Are racially-descriptive words in themselves offensive?PLUS Kate Copstick on observational comedy, “the industrialisation of comedy” in the UK and attacks three Channel 4 Comedy Gala performers for losing their originality and replacing it with formless “mush”.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

The Fanny & Johnny Craddock of comedy podcasting - critic Kate Copstick and blogger John Fleming - talk about having sex, Gilbert & Sullivan, the new Angel Comedy club in London, Edinburgh Fringe comedy previews in the Mama Biashara performance space, the Jeremy Corbyn video, Clowns Without Borders, sending comedians to combat ISIS and Saddam Hussein’s creative idea plus…Comic David Mills’ major Hollywood movie, Copstick promotes Donald Trump and distrusts "raging lezzer" Hilary Clinton while John defends Bill Clinton's honesty…And then there is the origin of the legendary banger-up-the-bum routine and why (in Copstick’s opinion) "British comedy is going down the tubes”.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

IN A TRAGIC CYBER CATASTROPHE, the start of this podcast was accidentally erased. The background is that John Fleming had been ill with flu and Kate Copstick had been in bed in agony for two days. Now listen on...The Canadian comic being sued for a non-PC joke. The children’s cartoon series with a cure for cancer and the lure of immortality. How to fuck-over dodgy Edinburgh Fringe venue The Gilded Balloon. Why comedians should never invite Kate Copstick to a preview. A list of free Edinburgh Fringe previews in London. Copstick’s history of using butt-plugs. And her booking to appear at the Edinburgh Fringe this year singing “There’s No Business Like Showbusiness” with a firework stuck up her arse. All this and more.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com

How does a writer know their material is good? Is there such a thing as pure funny? Does mass appeal always mean bland not brilliant? +The end of the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards, Jimmy Carr v Michael McIntyre, John Lloyd’s new show, Radio Times and the new restrictive Scotsman contracts for freelancers.THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED ON 6th MAY BUT, DUE TO ILLNESS, NOT POSTED UNTIL 13th MAY.http://www.grouchyclub.co.ukYou can also download this audio podcast from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/grouchy-clubs-mostly-about/id977279883John Fleming posts occasional blogs at: http://blog.thejohnfleming.com