Podcasting allows comedians to stop relying on others for jobs and gives them more freedom to create their own content, according to stand-up comedian, presenter, and co-host of the Let’s Talk About The Husband podcast Zoe Lyons.
Lyons, alongside her podcast co-host Stephen Bailey, joined PodPod on the latest episode of the podcast to discuss their comedy careers ahead of the British Podcast Awards ceremony on Thursday which they will be co-hosting at the HERE at Outernet theatre in London.
The stand-up comedian told PodPod that she initially wanted to become an actress and that she went to drama school to study the art before quickly realising that to do that, you’ll have to be “at the beck and call of other people’s decisions” when it comes to getting work which is what drove her to doing comedy.
“The wonderful thing about comedy is if the work isn't coming in, you can create it… and that's why stand-up initially was just so exciting,” said Lyons. “Podcasting is the next step on that, you don't have to wait to be given a radio series or a television series, you can sit down and produce something and create something reasonably easily.”
Bailey, whose career also spans across stand-up comedy and television presenting, added that comedy podcasts are special because they allow listeners and fans to buy into the real personalities of the hosts and not just the comedic characters that they play on stage.
“With comedy, there's sort of an unwritten rule of getting a laugh every 30 seconds and you obviously don't have that rule in podcasting,” said Bailey. “If we talk about a difficult breakup we went through, or the time we were a bit depressed, we don't have to try and fish for a laugh in it. We can just have an honest conversation, full stop, and then move on to the next bit and I think that's why people are buying into us, not just comedy Stephen and comedy Zoe.”
Lyons and Baileys’ podcast Let’s Talk About The Husband launched its first season in 2022 and quickly became a hit but the podcast took a break in December 2022, as Lyons went on her live UK tour, and only just came back on 18 September. The new season will feature guests for the first time. The hosts told PodPod that they would only consider branching out into guests once they had someone who could take care of the guest booking and admin.
“Booking guests is a whole separate job, that's a whole different world and I don't know anybody because I live like a hermit,” she said.
Lyons also added that not every comedian can be a good interviewer and that people within that field need to learn how to put themselves aside and to let the guests really shine.
“It's not that easy to be able to get everything out of somebody that you're interviewing,” said Lyons. “You have to have a genuine interest in other people and other people's stories and that's why some people are better at it than others.”
