A series of conversations with an array of creatives, hosted by Steve Whiteley. We talk about their journey, the struggles they’ve faced whilst progressing their career, strategies they use to unlock their creativity, how they balance their career with their personal lives, what impact this has on their mental health and lots more!
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Will Robbins and Ben Cohen are the Lovely Boys , an online comedy sketch duo. Both of them are stand up comedians and together their sketches have amassed 45,000 followers on TikTok. Happy listening :) Steve Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/balancing-acts . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Matty Hutson is a musical comedian and improviser at the Free Association. He has reached the final of Musical Comedy Awards twice. During the pandemic he used his time wisely and began making online content, going viral numerous times on Twitter and Tiktok. He has also appeared on Sky Sports and Soccer AM performing comedy songs about football. Matty is currently writing his next Edinburgh Fringe show which he will be performing this Summer. Happy listening :) Steve Support this show http://sup...
Zehavah Handler is a registered BACP psychotherapist and trained in CBT-i practitioner sleep councillor, a programme helping people suffering from chronic insomnia. Her training incorporates existential, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural modalities. Happy listening :) Steve Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/balancing-acts . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Darryl Edwards is a movement coach and best selling author. He is the founder of the Primal Play Method and a physical activity, health and play researcher . He regularly presents as a keynote and motivational speaker and his April 2019 TED talk " Why working out isn't working out " has now been viewed over a million times. Darryl is author of the best-selling books " Animal Moves " which highlights why humans should move like the animals we are. In late 2020 he released a children’s picture boo...
Henry Normal is a writer, poet, TV and film producer and founder of the Manchester poetry festival (now literary festival). Co-founding Babycow Productions Ltd in 1999 with Steve Coogan, Henry exec produced and scripted edited many of the shows of its 17 and a half year output during his tenure as MD. Highlights of the Babycow output during this time include: Philomena, Gavin & Stacey, Moone Boy, Marion and Geoff, Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Redd Dwarf and of course Alan Partridge. Since...
We're back with part 2 of the compilation of answers to the final question I ask all guests on Balancing Acts. Featuring in order of appearance are: 1) Bel and Clare (Ep.70) 2) Ethan Lawrence (Ep.65) 3) Naomi Shragai (Ep.66) 4) Simon London (Ep.68) 5) Christine Rose (Ep.62) 6) Anirban Dasgupta (Ep.58) 7) Dugan O'Neal (Ep.64) 8) Rachel Stubbings (Ep.53) 9) Will Robbins (Ep.38) 10) Gytha Lodge (Ep.46) 11) Neil Webster (Ep.56) Happy listening :) Steve - @offkeysteve Support this show http://support...
In this weeks episode I've compiled some of my favourites answers to the question I ask every guest on Balancing Acts: What does the idea of balance mean to you or not? Featured in running order are the following: 1) Athena Kugblenu (ep.55) 2) Zuby (ep.54) 3) Nat Luurtsema (ep.48) 4) Adjani Salmon (ep.51) 5) Rosie Holt (ep.39) 6) Shane Todd (ep.52) 7) Esther Manito (ep.36) 8) Tom Houghton (ep.41) 9)Heydon Prowse (ep.45) 10) Barry Ferns (ep.35) 11) Oenone (ep.63) Happy listening :) Steve Support ...
Liz Earle MBE is a champion of women’s health, media influencer, author of 36 books, TV presenter, podcast host and charity-founder. For more than thirty years, Liz has remained a respected and award-winning authority in the world of beauty, natural nutrition, health and wellbeing. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge as a broadcaster (having started her TV career on ITV's This Morning in 1989, she's still a contributor to the show), writer and trusted household name, as well as being a bes...
Remi Nicole is a writer, director and performer. A native of Holloway, North London, Remi grew up fired by a passion for story-telling, which she explored by endlessly writing music, fiction, plays and poetry. After training as an actress at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama, she graduated in 2004 then swiftly landed a variety of stage roles including Two Step and Playboy of the West Indies before becoming a regular cast member in BBC TV series Hyperdrive alongside Miranda Hart plus appe...
Ashley is a comedian and writer from North West London. He went from being homeless to winning the London Comedy Stores brutal King Gong competition, gigging at all the top comedy clubs up and down the country, hosting The Gormania Podcast and writing and directing his proof concept film Diamanté. Ashley also found time to launch and MC at the infamous South Kensington Comedy Club. To listen to this conversation please click here. Happy listening :) Steve Support this show http://supporter.acast...
Bel Knight and Clare Hoey are a writing partnership working across TV, film and podcast projects. They wrote and starred in their debut play It's Not Cute Anymore , which ran at Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018. The play was optioned as a TV show and they now have six original TV shows and a podcast in development: Delilah Must Die , a black comedy drama in development with Big Talk that made the Brit List in 2021. Dody The First a mockumentary with Roughcut . Flutter , a romantic come...
Ryan Dalton is the host of the nature and wildlife podcast ' Into The Wild' . Ryan spent seven years as a comedian, performing all across London, Surrey and Berkshire, alongside the likes of Paul Foot, Sara Pascoe and Joel Dommet. He also ran his own nights, The Comedy Wire, based in Surbiton, Surrey and Bracknell, Berkshire, where he would often MC. At the start of the pandemic Ryan decided to leave stand up and solely focus on growing the already successful podcast. In each episode of ' Into T...
Simon has a well-deserved reputation as a broadcast ‘all-rounder’. His television career started at the Daily Mirror as the paper’s youngest ever television critic. He then joined LIVE TV as a presenter fronting the daily show Live With London as well as the Breakfast Show alongside Claudia Winkleman. He was the roving reporter on the Saturday night National Lottery Show, before joining the BBC’s City Hospital presenting team. After presenting shows for several major broadcasters he joined the p...
Stephen is one of the few people in the UK who is fully trained in the Neuromuscular Activation technique known as Be Activated. Over the last thirteen years, he has trained in a wide range of advanced physical therapy, injury assessment, exercise rehabilitation and sports performance improvement techniques. Be Activated is a ground breaking and relatively new method used by elite sports teams and professionals to effectively treat injury and revolutionise performance. A former national medallis...
Naomi is an author, freelance journalist, business consultant and psychotherapist. She has written for The Times and The Guardian and since 2008 has been a regular contributor to the Financial Times, where she writes predominantly about the psychological aspects of working life. Her first book, The Man Who Mistook his Job for his Life , was published by Penguin in August 2021. Happy listening :) Steve - @offkeysteve #financialtimes #worklifebalance #psychotherapy #balancingacts #podcast #stevewh...
Ethan is an actor and comedian. He has starred in Bad Education both the TV series and feature film, starring Jack Whitehall. Ethan has also starred in Modern Horror Stories on Comedy Central and more recently as James in Ricky Gervais' After Life. Happy listening :) Steve - @offkeysteve #actor #acting #rickygervais #afterlife #jackwhitehall #stevewhiteley #ethanlawrence #balancingacts #apple #spotify Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/balancing-acts . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
Dugan is a writer, director and actor. He has directed music videos for the likes of Duck Sauce, Haim and Temper Trap and lots of very funny commercials. He was a staff writer on the animated TV series Dream Corp LLC. Dugan also sits on the board of directors for non-profit group OMG Cameras Everywhere. Happy listening :) Steve - @offkeysteve #duganoneal #spikejonze #filmmaking #stevewhiteley #balancing acts #apple #spotify #podcast Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/balancing-acts . H...
Oenone is an influencer, presenter, podcaster and comedian. Her podcast Adulting has been downloaded over 3 million times. Oenone creates content about fitness, feminism, books, jewellery, politics and everything in between. If you like this episode please do rate and review the podcast on Apple . Happy listening :) Steve - @offkeysteve #oenone #influencer #podcaster #instagram #balancingacts #stevewhiteley #apple #spotify Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/balancing-acts . Hosted on A...
Christine Rose is a TV comedy writer. Christine has written on shows including Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross Show, Chatty Man, Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, Roast Battle, Horrible Histories and awards shows such as the BAFTAs, The Brits and The Royal Variety. As well as reality shows, dating shows, survival shows and loads more. Christine won the TV Best Comedy Writer in the 2020 Funny Women Awards. If you like this episode please do rate and review the podcast on...
James Farmer is a comedian and writer. James has worked as a writer on some of the most successful UK TV shows. From pretty much all of Jimmy Carr shows, to the Last Leg, Romesh on the Ranganation and Frankie Boyle on his shows. As a stand up he has supported both Jimmy Carr and Patrick Kielty on tour. Jimmy Carr on several dates for his Funny Business tour. In 2015 he went on the road again to tour support for Patrick Kielty. If you like this episode please do rate and review the podcast on App...
Tony Kent is an author and criminal barrister. Tony grew up on a council estate in west London, he came from an Irish family of builders some of whom, including his older brother, found themselves on the wrong side of the law. It was during one of his brother’s brushes with the law that Tony decided he wanted to be a barrister. Fast forward today and Tony runs one of the UK tops law firms representing some of the most notorious gangsters and criminals. Tony's first novel, Killer Intent, a politi...
Shaun Pye is a writer and producer. Shaun has written for numerous TV shows including The 11 O'Clock Show, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, They Think It's All Over, Armstrong and Miller, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Would I Lie to You?, Frankie Boyle's New World Order and The Reluctant Landlord. In addition Shaun co-created the BBC3 animated sketch comedy Monkey Dust. He also co-created The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret starring David Cross, Sharon Horgan, B...
Anirban is a comedian and writer from India. Anirban Dasgupta gave up his sales job to pursue comedy. He was of the founders of Comedified, one of the first legit comedy groups of Kolkata, and was instrumental in establishing a comedy scene in the sleepy city. In 2018, Anirban released his Amazon Prime Special called 'Take It Easy'. His dark comedy series Afsos is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Anirban's stand up clips have accumulated millions of views on Youtube. If you like this episode...
KG The Comedian is an actor, comedian and writer. KG is best known for a YouTube viral hit called Shadrack & The Mandem which culminated in millions of views, with fellow comedian Marston. As an actor he he starred in Famalam, King Gary, Ted Lasso, Sliced, Bloods, Time Wasters and Just A Couple. He also recently featured in Mo Gilligian’s documentary, ‘Black British and Funny. As a stand-up comedian, KG has performed at The Glee Club, O2 Indigo Arena, Catford Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe...
Neil is a writer, exec producer and co-founded the comedy drama production company Happy Tramp . Happy Tramp have produced a sitcom series for BBC1, a sketch show for BBC2 (Morgana Robinson’s The Agency), a BAFTA nominated short film for BBC3 and numerous half hour films for Sky Arts Urban Myths series, two of which (written by Neil) were nominated for an International EMMY. In 2017, Neil relocated to Scotland, where he established Happy Tramp North. The company have gone on to produce the highl...
Athena writes and performs comedy. She is a member of the BBC Comedy Room 2019/20 and was awarded the BBC Felix Dexter Bursary for BAME up-and-coming comedy writers in 2020. She’s also a nominee for the 99 Club Female Comedians’ Bursary and a former BBC New Comedy Award Finalist. She has written for Horrible Histories, the Russell Howard Hour, Radio 4’s The Lenny Henry Show, Dead Ringers, News Quiz, Newsjack, The Now Show and is a lead writer for Sketchtopia. She’s been a guest on Mock the Week ...
Zuby is an independent rapper, podcast host, author, public speaker and creative entrepreneur, with over 500,000 followers across social media. He was born in England, raised in Saudi Arabia and is a graduate of Oxford University. He has sold over 25,000 albums independently, performed in 8 countries and achieved over 10 million online video views. Zuby has featured on The Joe Rogan Experience, BBC, Fox News, Sky News, The Adam Carolla Show, The Rubin Report, The Candace Owens Show and The Ben S...
In this conversation I chat to actor/writer/director Rachel Stubbings ( https://twitter.com/RachelStubbings ). Rachel is a BAFTA nominated writer whose credits include The Athena (Sky), 8 Out Of 10 Cats (C4), Mock The Week (BBC2), The Last Leg (C4), Trollied (Sky) and Invasion Of The Book Readers (BBC). She is currently developing her short Good Grief as a feature film. As an actor Rachel has recently starred alongside Karl Pilkinton in Sick Of It (Sky), Julia Davis in Sally4Ever (Sky/HBO) and i...
In this conversation I chat to comedian/actor/presenter Shane Todd ( https://twitter.com/shanetodd ). Shane began performing stand up at the age of 19 and then began posting videos on YouTube, as part of the Harlem Gun Club a Northern Irish based comedy collective. He has performed solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Mandela Hall and Ulster Hall. Belfast Telegraph hailed Shane as “King of comedy”. In February 2019, Shane joined the cast of the BBC Northern Irish mockumentary sitcom Soft...
In this conversation I chat to writer/director Adjani Salmon ( https://www.instagram.com/s.adjani ). Adjani is an award winning writer and director from Jamaica. Before graduating from the Met Film School, he wrote and directed a 13-episode web series, which achieved over 40,000 views in 3 months. In 2013, Adjani moved to the UK to pursue his Masters in Directing Film. His graduation film, His Father’s Son, screened at numerous film festivals internationally, including Cannes, Blackstar and the ...
