Episodes
RETRO RHLSTP #76 - Improvisation My Dear (Mark) Watson - Richard is reeling from forgetting about his daughter and another attack on his home (how will he ever sell it?), but excited to be welcoming the eponymous star of Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson to the stage and hoping to talk about nothing but that title for a full hour. Alas he gets distracted into discussing aversion to non-binding cheese; how thunder storms are the UK's biggest killer; advertising pear cider, and the criticisms...
Published 03/18/24
Book Club #88 - Glutton - In another live Book Club Richard discusses his lentil based culinary disaster before introducing regular guest and fierce podcast rival Ed Gamble to discuss his annual Glutton. Richard is perhaps not as respectful to this author as he is to his other Book Club guests, but really gets to the heart of why this book exists, how much is the right amount to drink, the size of Ed’s facial features, whether feta has too much feta in it, eating four pizzas in a day, Rich’s...
Published 03/15/24
#494 Quiz of the Week - Richard is at the Norwich Playhouse, but his microphone is working this time (cf RHLSTP Book Club). His guest is actor, character comedian and writer Emma Sidi. They talk about how she came up with the idea of a parody Mexican soap opera set in Woking, the thrill of getting to be a Ghost, finding your comedy gang, playing Emily Maitlis in Prince Andrew: The Musical, the inadequacies of Sale of the Century and Notting Hill, the brilliant Starstruck and what it’s like to...
Published 03/13/24
RETRO RHLSTP #75 - Spaced By The Bell - At last it's the podcast that addresses the burning issue of modern Britain - which is the best Somerset based show cave complex? Cheddar Gorge (obviously) or rubbishy old Wookey Hole. It'd be a shame to have Britain's most exciting film director on the show without wasting most of the time talking about this and the obscure and sexist Roald Dahl short story - Switch Bitch. And Richard hates to disappoint. Luckily he occasionally manages to blunder into...
Published 03/11/24
Book Club #87 - 101 Things That Never Happened - Richard chats with Dutch historian Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse aka The Fake History Hunter about her internet quest to spot historical rubbish online and correct it and how that has led to a fabulously entertaining and pedantic book. They discuss the non-existence of the chastity belt, how Vikings didn’t have horns on their helmet, how Beethoven was not black and why medieval people are wrongly perceived as dirty animals, plus whether it’s possible to...
Published 03/07/24
#493 Weed Charades - Richard’s kids are unimpressed by his appearance on Top of the Pops 95 and provide a scathing critique of his work. His guest is a man with 8 mind-blowing facts about himself, Ross Noble (though an audience member called Kirsty also stars). They talk mainly about frozen things, Ben or Jerry’s funeral, Rod Hull in a freezer and being buried in an ice rink, but also some fantastic stories about appearing on the Australian Apprentice, blowing up a woman, selling cursed sand...
Published 03/06/24
RETRO RHLSTP #74 - The Football Eagle Has Landed - Richard believes he will soon be a multi-millionaire but agrees to give 1/365th of this profits to charity. His guest is comedy legend Matt Lucas. They talk about the power of honesty in comedy, even if the comedian comes out of it badly, how Matt became possibly the only person who's rung up to complain about a TV show to end up working with the stars, the combination of talent, hard work and luck that is required for success, being in a...
Published 03/04/24
Book Club #86 - The Bone Chests - Rich talks to bio-archaeologist and broadcaster Cat Jarman about her terrific book, The Bone Chests about the remains of a surprisingly number of medieval kings (and a queen) whose remains are in Winchester Cathedral. Why aren’t the people of Winchester making more of this, like the king-stealing thieves of Leicester? What happened to King Alfred and why did he choose to build a palace at Richard’s school? Why were the women of the period written out of...
Published 03/01/24
#492 Davinadroid - Richard has been frightened by a weeing Samurai and an apparently dead audience member, but he’s back for more RHLSTP, back a the LST and with a guest who is too good for this rubbish, the glorious Davina McCall. They discuss how she (eventually) beat a comedian to host God’s Gift, Street Mate on skis, how Davina is ultimately to blame for the destruction of the world, why Richard was one of the first to know about an historic moment in Big Brother, why sitcom was not for...
Published 02/28/24
RETRO RHLSTP #73 - The Marx Brothers - Rich is back at Hull City Hall for his last RHLSTP recording of 2019 and he has had an accidental slip off the wagon. But does it count? His guest is Hull’s finest comedian and wonderful oddball, Lucy Beaumont.
They discuss appearing on Crimewatch, being used as a crow stepping-stone, waking you to find biscuits on your head, becoming a cleaner at the place you went to University, getting drunk at the Hootenanny, collecting lost body parts in Harrods,...
Published 02/26/24
Book Club #85 - Emperor of Rome - Richard has been a dad for nine years and is trying to work out if he will have any life after the kids have left home (no he won’t). His guest is comedian, actor and children’s author Rosie Jones who talks about why she wanted to write a book with a disabled person at its centre, why she wishes Tiny Tim had died, the beautiful story line where Edie finds herself and begins to understand her sexuality, plus her new book about bullying Moving On Up. They also...
Published 02/22/24
#491 Detached Semi - RHLSTP comes to Aldershot, the scene of one of Richard’s most dangerous ever gigs. But we’re all safely off the mean streets to welcome the incredible Lee Mack to Aldershot! They talk about keeping the Inside Number 9 secret, why the woodworking answer to the Bake Off was axed, the manufactured controversy at the NTAs, 100 episodes of Not Going Out and whether Lee is going for the Last of the Summer Wine record, why Lee did not become a darts superstar, which serial...
Published 02/20/24
RETRO RHLSTP #72 - Fish Pie Mix - Rich has exciting news that will make other puppet-sex enthusiasts very jealous, but there’s no time for even a brief wank using the hand of a 100 year old ventriloquist dummy as it’s the second coming of, if not the new Jesus, certainly the new Judas, Tim Minchin.
The pair bring out the best worst in each other again, alternating between inappropriate chat about wangs and fufus and serious topics like the rise of anti-intellectualism, the imminent...
Published 02/19/24
Book Club #84 - Emperor of Rome - Another live RHLSTP Book Club coming fittingly from the oldest recorded Roman City in England, Colchester. Rich and Mary discuss whether they might be on the site of Camelot, Boudicca’s decision to level the place to the ground and what year it might have happened, plus the controversy over which month Pompeii met its fate. But mainly they talk about her fab book Emperor of Rome and her podcast Being Roman. Did the excesses and jokes of the Roman emperors...
Published 02/16/24
#490 Do Horses Remember? - Richard is excited about recent developments in robotics, but he doesn’t have time for stand up (or any stand up). His guest is the remarkable comedian, singer and YouTube sensation Sooz Kempner (plus some interjections from her mum). They talk about personifying a times table, being snubbed by opera singers, how to satirise the almost unsatirisable Tory MPs, why Twitter has gone down the toilet, responding to trolls and reply-guys, the wonder that is the fans of Dr...
Published 02/14/24
RETRO RHLSTP #71 - Monopoly Penguin - Rich is on the cusp of a couple of massive life changes, but he won’t let ageing and moving get in the way of asking comedians strange questions in an attempt to make them reveal intimate truths. Today he talks to a man with inventive ideas for revenge and murder, Limmy.
They discuss being concreted into the pavement, manspreading, swearing xylophones, fake whatsapps, undescended testicles, sea lion g******s, how to save money when touring, the joy of...
Published 02/12/24
Book Club #83 - Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love With You - Richard talks to internet sensation Becky Holmes about her fantastic book about internet scammers and the people they scam. They chat about how this idea came about, the hilarious Twitter chats Becky has had with scammers, how the book delves into the world of fraud in much greater and more serious detail than you might have expected, why intelligent people can be susceptible to cons, the crazy things we all do for love, the instinct to...
Published 02/08/24
#489 Dream On - Richard has had a very difficult journey to the Leeds City Varieties and wouldn’t have made it without the genius of tour manager Bec, but thank God he did because this is a terrific podcast with broadcaster and former accountant Amar Latif. He talks about how he coped with losing 95% of his sight at 18, why he was still determined to become an accountant and why he refused to accept that unaccompanied blind people weren’t allowed to travel the world. Richard inevitably...
Published 02/06/24
RETRO RHLSTP #70 - Esme - Rich has found the mother of all stones and is banging on about that as usual (don’t worry he will syphon this off into a podcast you don’t have to listen to soon). His guest is RHLSTP super fan and fly in the ointment Joe Lycett.
They discuss the beauty of being allowed to be silly in a serious world, whether Tom Daley should be sponsored to go to Pride, the Daily Express making mountains out of molehills, how a TV chef did not appreciate a joke about chicken jerk...
Published 02/05/24
Book Club #82 - Same Time Tomorrow? - Richard chats with actor Bob Cryer about the charming and beautifully balanced book he’s written about his much missed dad, Barry Cryer. They talk about the difficulties and emotions of writing about someone you were so close to, the importance of it not being a hagiography, the shocking revelations that only came out after death (luckily not the kind of shocking that others have been subject to), how Barry was an honorary Jew and an honorary gay, the...
Published 02/02/24
#488 Fifty Shades of Rae - Richard is in the City Varieties Leeds, the scene of a traumatic RHLSTP that he and the audience are still processing. And he’s booked another rock star, will they be as much trouble? It’s the sublime Corinne Bailey Rae. They talk about the whirlwind of her early success, why on earth she’s choose to still live in Leeds, how a teacher crushed her dreams of playing classical violin, her forays into Christian Rock, why she called her first band Helen, exposing emotion...
Published 01/31/24
RETRO RHLSTP #69 - Old Man’s Pants Under The Bed - Rich has just had to stand impassive in a stranger’s guff for fear of looking like the one who smelt it and thus dealt it and it’s been a bad day all round, but everything should be OK as it’s round 5 of the verbal boxing match (that threatens to become a naked wrestling match) with Sarah Millican.
They chat about Daniel Craig’s bum, who invented the lifeboat, whether we only remember the times we were bullied and not the time we were the...
Published 01/29/24
Book Club #81 - A Heart Full of Headstones - Richard is in Edinburgh and talks to Edinburgh’s second favourite knight (after a penguin) Ian Rankin. They discuss the latest of his many books about Rebus and Edinburgh (is it a character in itself?), how well Ian knows the character after all this time, why he chose to have him age in real time, how his books embrace topicality, whether Rebus could really pull Duckface, why Ian let go of the TV adaptations, the changes made by American...
Published 01/25/24
#487 Beige Towel - Richard finally has a chance to prove whether his or a rival’s podcast is the most popular, but will he like the answers? His guest returns after 11 short years, it’s BAFTA award winning Steve Pemberton. They talk about that bus episode of Inside Number 9, the official ranking of all of the episodes, Mel Smith punks and non-existent dog poo chocolates, the other Steve Pemberton, surviving a heart attack (according to the Daily Mirror) and using a holiday snap as your acting...
Published 01/24/24