The History of Podcasting by The Man Who Invented Them

Warming Up

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I've been podcasting for nearly 17 years now - I started in the same month as I started dating Catie so that makes it easy to remember how long me and her have been together (joke - I always have to check both).

When I started putting out weekly shows with the journalist Andrew Collings, many comedians asked me why I was doing it. Why was I giving out so much material for free?

But I was struggling to get my stuff on TV and radio and if I managed it then I'd usually have to wait months for broadcast and get censored by nervous channel chiefs. So the autonomy and the immediacy of the medium was all I needed. Also there weren't many people podcasting - We Need Answers, Peacock and Gamble and Ricky Gervais were the major comedy podcasters that were going before me (that I remember anyway), so it was a fairly open market place. Albeit a market place where everything was given away for free.

I think Collings and me vaguely thought that if we did OK we might get asked back to do a 6 Music show (and that did come to pass after a couple of years) and I vaguely thought it might encourage people to come and see my stand up shows (and again, my live audience doubled within a year, but that was starting from very modest sales). Ultimately though we were doing it to try stuff out, to be as rude as we wanted and have fun. Earning money from it was not on our radar at all. And aside from the occasional pound pressed into my hand by a stranger we didn't directly make any money from it until we had the idea of doing the shows in front of an audience. Which we only did a handful of times - plus an Edinburgh run or two, which given the nature of the Fringe were not for profit.

It was a funny show and without us expecting anything of it led to lots of opportunities - I got on some TV panel shows as a result (finally appearing on Have I Got News For You?) and the podcast sparked ideas for stand up shows, most notably Hitler Moustache and Secret Dancing, but the shows were an achievement in themselves, filthy and rude at a time when TV had got overcautious with a loyal band of listeners, who joined in, made friends with each other, remained virgins nonetheless and were genuinely affected by the loss of one of our number. RIP Tina, we won't forget you.

I am so glad we took the plunge because this was a very creatively fecund period for me, but no one else was really interested in employing me and it led to As It Occurs To Me and then, in the final collapse of the double act, RHLSTP.

We funded shows with kickstarters (not for personal profit), made some money selling tickets, and then came the totally unexpected, started making a decent and dependable wage from sponsorships and ads. The comedians concerned about the wisdom of giving out stuff for nothing would have been confounded. Building up that audience meant that we were in a position to be profitable and Chris Evans (not that one) and me became unlikely, usually successful businessmen, who have only nearly gone bust a couple of times due to our stupid decision to spend loads of money filming the show and having no way to recoup our money.

I have never before in my career been in a position where I had an almost guaranteed monthly wage. It only took a decade or more of giving out hundreds of hours of free stuff.

You too could have my success if you are prepared to invest two decades of your life. And travel back in time to when no one was doing podcasts.

We've been more than holding our head above water in spite of the huge amount of competition from much more famous comedians and personalities, again largely due to having got in there early doors.

I am starting to wonder how long it can all go on - there's no plans to stop in the short term, especially whilst I have two mortgages to pay. It feels like interest is waining a little bit - it's tougher to get a crowd on Mondays post-Covid and downloads are down a bit (though they've changed the way they measure them). Tonight we had a stellar line-up of Doon Mackichan and Fern Brady but the theatre was only a little more than a quarter full and some of the upcoming ones, admittedly where not all guests have been announced, are selling very slowly.

Those hundred or so people tonight were excellent, but the audience is really an extra character in this podcast and are, I believe, the reason we get such good anecdotes and revelations from the guests. The atmosphere is so great that people open up and funny people thrive on laughs. I could go back to doing the shows without an audience, as I did in lockdown, but that would be a shame.

RHLSTP has been going for almost 13 years, coincidentally almost exactly as long as my marriage (if I stop doing RHLSTP will my relationship end? Is RHLSTP my Tower of London ravens?), making it easier for me to remember which wedding anniversary comes next (again, always have to check). And there's a part of me that hopes it lasts until I die (the podcast, not the marriage - I mean I hope that lasts too, it's just not what I was talking about) but it's hard to know what the future will bring.

I wish more people had come to see Doon and Fern, because it was a fantastic evening with two of the funniest people in the country who both take no shit. Doon's book is a testament to her remarkable belief in herself and her principles and she shows that you can stand up for what you think is right and still get on and Fern has hit the form of her life, with her own brilliant book, a masterclass of stand up on Netflix and a brilliant tour show. Both these guest's brains work in different ways to most people and that's exactly what you want from a podcast.

My audience owe me nothing of course and it amazes me that this thing is still going and doing as well as it is. Would I like to play the Albert Hall or Hammersmith Apollo with it, rather than a third full Leicester Sq Theatre? I mean I'd certainly give it a go - but would settle for an always sold out Leicester Square Theatre.

Tonight was still very special and tens of thousands of people will listen to it when it's out, so I am not complaining too much. Just wondering how long it will go on... I've got to get to a thousand episodes though, right?

There's a fun compilation of Emergency Questions up wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen here.

Here’s a little clip