Seven2Ten

In the fifth of our Edinburgh podcasts, Christian and Jake talk to Lewis Schaffer. Lewis was resident MC at the Comedy Cellar and the Boston Comedy Club in Greenwich Village before moving to London in 2000. He performs two regular shows in London each week. Lewis Schaffer is Free Until Famous at The Source Below, Soho and Lewis Schaffer’s American Guide to England at the Leicester Square Theatre. He also produces the Nunhead American Radio podcast.

In the forth of our Edinburgh specials, Christian and Jake talk to producer, writer and performer, John Lloyd. John started his career with BBC radio where he produced and co-wrote the original radio scripts for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with Douglas Adams. He went to produce some of the most memorable comedy shows on British TV including Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder and Spitting Image. He is also the producer of the comedy panel show QI which has now been running for nearly 10 years.

In the third of our Edinburgh specials, Christian and Jake talk to comedian, writer and actress, Susan Calman. As well as being a regular at the Stand venues in Scotland and Newcastle, Susan won the 2012 award for "Best MC" from Chortle. She's been featured on "QI", "Have I Got News for You" and in Sharon Horgan's BBC show "Dead Boss". She's also a regular on BBC radio's "News Quiz" and has just announced a second series of her own show "Calman is Convicted".Among the things we chatted about are insomnia, using social media, the Edinburgh Fringe experience and how to pitch ideas for TV.

In the second of our Edinburgh specials, Christian and Jake talk to Aisling Bea. Aisling is a stand-up, actor and writer based in London. She won the So You Think You're Funny competition in Edinburgh in 2012 and recently took part in the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. Aisling has guested on Russell Howard's Good News and she's known for her parts in Sharon Horgan's BBC sitcom "Dead Boss" and in the Savage Eye on RTE. This year she brings her show "C'est La Bea" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In the first of Seven2Ten's Edinburgh podcasts, Christian and Jake talk to London based, Canadian comedian, Bobby Mair. Bobby is currently gracing our screens in the new season of Channel 4’s ‘8 out of 10 Cats’ and was recently featured at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. Bobby gained UK notoriety by securing an opening slot for his favourite comedian Doug Stanhope “He let me go on stage because I hung around for 2 days staring at him”. He is currently performing his show "Obviously Adopted" at the Tron at 7:40pm every night as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In this episode, Christian talks to Cabaret and Burlesque host, compère, ringmaster and emcee specialising in the anomalous, the deviant and the preternatural, Benjamine Louche. He has been shortlisted for a London Cabaret Award as 'Best Host or Compère' in both 2012 and 2013. He is the co-producer of The Double R Club ("one of the edgiest nights in the capital." -The Independent) and has been charming, disarming and alarming, seducing and serenading the UK cabaret scene since 2009. Christian talks to him about how he came to be one of the best cabaret hosts working in the UK, the London cabaret scene and the simularities and differences between stand-up and cabaret.

In this episode, Straight outta Monaghan, we have comedian Gerry McBride. Gerry is a regular in all the comedy clubs throughout Ireland and he's the TedFest Golden Toliet Duck winner of 2010. Christian and Jake talk to him about comedy competitions, starting out in comedy and writing for blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

To celebrate Seven2Ten's one year anniversary, Christian and Jake talk to the first guest we had on the show, Damon Blake. Damon is a Dublin based stand-up, writer and producer. He recently took part in the RTE New Comedy Awards. In this episode we talk to him about taking part in the TV show, creativity and we discuss the idea of female only comedy competitions and gigs.

In this episode, Christian and Jake talk to comedian Derek Ryan about being born in Slough, his previous life in RTE, his problem with timekeeping and the heavy influence Brendan Grace had on his life.

Andrea Farrell and Aideen McQueen are comedians in their own right as well as part of a duo called Accident and Emergency. Christian and Jake talk to them about how they started working together, the Edinburgh Fringe and how it's for some people to tell dreams from reality.

Our guest this time is comedian Trevor Browne. Trevor is one of the most recognisable faces on the Irish comedy scene. He's had three sold out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and is soon to be seen on RTE's New Comedy Awards. We talked to Trevor about character comedy, the writing process, the differences between the free and paid fringe and unintentionally ruffling a reviewers hair.

In this episode, recorded at the King's Head in London's Crouch End, Christian talks to John Fleming. John was a writer/producer/director of on-screen TV promotions for 20 years. He has been on the production teams of various UK entertainment shows – usually finding new talent – including Tiswas, Game For a Laugh, Surprise Surprise, The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross and Jack Dee’s Saturday Night; among other shows, he produced The Last Laugh with Jerry Sadowitz. He wrote godfather of alternative comedy Malcolm Hardee’s autobiography I Stole Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Cake and, for Random House, edited both Scots comedian Janey Godley’s autobiography Handstands in the Dark and Sit-Down Comedy. Since 2005, he has sponsored (currently three) annual Malcolm Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Awards are for ‘Comic Originality’, the ‘Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid’ and a ‘Cunning Stunt’ award for best publicity stunt to publicise a Fringe act or show.

In this episode, Christian and Jake talk to comedian, writer and broadcaster Abie Philbin Bowman. Abie has toured around Ireland and the UK with his shows Jesus: The Guantanamo Years, Eco-Friendly Jihad and Pope Benedict: Bond Villain. He's a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is also a regular contributor to radio shows in Ireland as well as a writer for shows such as Irish Pictorial Weekly. They talk about putting on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe, "Political" comedy and being picketed by the DUP.

In this episode, Christian and Jake talk to Seán O'Keeffe Semple and Sean Nolan. Sean Semple is a Brazilian born Irish Comedian. The head of UCD's Comedy Society he has been a constant presence on the Irish scene for years. Sean is a quick fire and skilled MC and regularly does so at Longshot Comedy. He draws on a huge range of subject matter to create bizarre poems, rye observations and a politically aware humour. Sean Nolan's first gig was on January the 27th of 2012 at the age of 23, and in his first year he has quickly become the most talked about new comedian on the Irish circuit. Sean is known for his striped back approach, quiet confidence and his intelligent and hilarious one-liners. Sean is based in Dublin and regularly performs at The International Comedy Club, The Capital Comedy Club and The Bad Ass Cafe. He's the winner of the 2012 Craic Attack competition and was a semi-finalist in So You Think You're Funny in the same year. This episode is VERY messy.

In this episode, Christian and Jake talk to John Colleary. John is one of the best stand-ups working in Ireland today. Not only does he gig relentlessly all around Ireland, he performs in and is one of the main writers for RTE's the Savage Eye and Irish Pictorial Weekly. They talk about how John started out in comedy, writing for TV and radio, voice-overs, depression and when corporate gigs go bad.

Al Porter is one of the most sought after comedians and MCs in the country. He was runner-up in this year's Craic Attack comedy competition. He's been described as one of Dublin’s, if not Ireland’s, youngest, campest and most engaging comic performers. He is best known as the Dame of 73 Dame St. – that is, The Olympia Theatre, whose pantomime he has been a part of for the past seven years. Alan’s comic talent has been described as “sharp” (Irish Times, 2011), “confident and articulate” (Irish Times, 2008), and “outrageous” (Irish Independent, 2012). Christian, Jake and Michael chat to Al about his start in stand-up comedy and his aspirations for the future.

Part stand-up, part mime and part Victorian music hall performer, Paul Currie is one of the most exciting and funniest comedians working in Ireland today. Tapping the same vein of surreal absurdist nonsense humor as Milligan and Kaufman, Paul pushes the audiences perception of what is comedy and constantly breaks the rules of traditional stand up. Christian and Jake talk to Paul about how he started into comedy, his roots in clowning, his influences, his work as a puppeteer and his plans for this year including his Edinburgh show. Check out Paul here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4nCdd8SAcI and Spiderland here - http://youtu.be/Xz0bXHePFHY You can see Paul Currie on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/PaulCurrieComedian

Christian, Jake and Michael Mee chat to Cork based comedian Sean Coughlan. Sean is a regular performer and MC in both the Rebels Comedy Club and City Limits in Cork as well as performing all over Ireland along with frequent trips to London. Sean is currently producing a film about his first year in stand-up.

Tony Kelly is a comedian, actor and film maker from Wexford who is now based in New York. He moved there at the age of 23 to attend the New York Film School where he got the Brett Ratner grant for filmmaking. Soon afterwards he was approached by agent Steve Rosenfield to try Stand-up comedy and he made his debut at the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhatten. He now performs in clubs all over New York and further afield including lately being on bills with people like Todd Barry. Tony talks to Christian and Jake about starting out in comedy, his influences and winning his battle with drink and drugs. His CD "PS, I Hate You" is available now on iTunes.

Christian and Jake (along with surprise interviewer Michael Mee) chat to Cork based comedian Ross Browne. Ross is a regular headliner in Cork's City Limits and Dublin's Laughter Lounge and International Comedy Clubs. He's lately been seen on RTE's hidden camera show "The Fear" and starts his "Infinity" tour of Ireland in January.