The work of Ian Boldsworth

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Listening to Ian and Barry chatting has been a bit of a lifeline for me these last couple of years. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Ian, if you're reading this, fanks for all the laffs and that.*

_{* Barry won't be reading this, he has limited access to the internet in prison.}

[BritishHobo]

I listened to the Ray Peacock Christmas episode today, which has become my favourite thing to listen to at the start of the season. Love the camaraderie between Ian and Raji about the shit Doctor Who signing, before the most spiteful Christmas ever. Ed's little giggle when Ray starts the karaoke always gets me, and the childish delivery of:

Ray: I hate Christmas. Do you know what I hate most about Christmas?
Raji: What?
Ray: You.

[Pink Gregory]

I've had all of the Ray Peacock podcast in the car for about 2 months, and I'm very tempted to just keep going over it.  Even Richard the Wanker.

[Dusty Substance]

Dunno if it's me being a technophobic dummy but it looks like all The Parapod episodes have been removed from SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/theparapod/tracks. I was re-listening to a few of them only last week.

[DrGreggles]

I've had all of the Ray Peacock podcast in the car for about 2 months, and I'm very tempted to just keep going over it.  Even Richard the Wanker.

The one where they get Raji to do a live RTW commentary is my favourite.

[DrGreggles]

Dunno if it's me being a technophobic dummy but it looks like all The Parapod episodes have been removed from SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/theparapod/tracks. I was re-listening to a few of them only last week.

His SC account had expired, now renewed.

[sutin]

Wish he'd do an online stream of The Parapod Movie.

[JamesTC]

I listened to the Ray Peacock Christmas episode today, which has become my favourite thing to listen to at the start of the season. Love the camaraderie between Ian and Raji about the shit Doctor Who signing, before the most spiteful Christmas ever. Ed's little giggle when Ray starts the karaoke always gets me, and the childish delivery of:

Ray: I hate Christmas. Do you know what I hate most about Christmas?
Raji: What?
Ray: You.

Is that the one where they lock Raji out of his house and pretend he is a caroller and tell him that they don't celebrate Christmas because they are Hindenburgs?

If so, I love it.

[BritishHobo]

That's the one! "Go away please, we are muslins!"

[JamesTC]

"You know when you were in Doctor Who, that's your action figure"

"It says Mickey"

[Dusty Substance]

His SC account had expired, now renewed.

Nice one! Looking forward to binge listening to the Mysteries series.

Wish he'd do an online stream of The Parapod Movie.

That would be awesome. Such a shame that promo tour got cancelled (along with everything else in 2020). Would've been perfect for Halloween.

I dived into the Ray Peacock Podcast last night and had a blast doing so. There are some insanely funny moments to be heard. I was howling with laughter in the wee small hours of the morning, as Raji tried to tell a spooky story while Ray was interupting him every few seconds, trying to guess the outcome of the story....

Raji: ".... So, she walked into the bathroom"

Ray: "And Dracula was in there?"

Raji: "... and in there was a shelf"

Ray: "With a ghost on it?"

Raji: "... With a plant on it. She turned and saw"

Ray: "A Frankenstein?"

[JamesTC]

Raji James running on stage to a crowd of Doctor Who fans and saying "You're all mental" and quickly realising what it sounds like, panicking and following it with "...but in a good way" is amusing me this evening.

[Bahamadia]

Wish he'd do an online stream of The Parapod Movie.

According to Ian's Patreon they are sorting out/ have sorted out an online distribution deal. No more information beyond that, sorry

[DrGreggles]

Hopefully it'll be able to get a decent cinema run first, as it really does work on the big screen. Plus, if they continue the promotional tour, the live Q&A will be guaranteed gold.
The timing of Dodds going to prison couldn't have been worse really.

[MojoJojo]

I only became aware of this during lockdown, and have been working my way out from the Parapod since then.

From what I can work out, this is what's available in my podcast app, in rough order:

1) "The Ray Peacock Podcast Seasons 1-4" - seems to be republished from whatever the original source was. This has Raji James, Ed Gamble.
2) Peacock and Gamble podcast - haven't grabbed this yet. Again seem to be a reupload.
3) Ray Peacock FUBAR shows. Listened to a few of these. Good, but like other radio shows where they've cut the music, very long without any music to break it up.
(edit-
3b) Ian Boldsworth FUBAR shows.
4) The Parapod.
(5. The Mental Podcast - this doesn't seem to be available and I think I've caught some comments from Ian that he's pulled it deliberately)

[JamesTC]

Only just getting around to listening to Dodds Incarcerated. Creasing at Barry nearly giving out his pin.

[sutin]

Nice to hear Ed mention Ian a couple of times with affection on this week's RHLSTP.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Signed up for Dodds Incarcerated. Anything else unmissable on there? I got into him through Parapod stuff so don't know too much about his solo stuff.

[DrGreggles]

There's a million deleted scenes/making of videos from the movie, the Cabin Fever and Ask Ian pods, stories from his career, plus loads more.
At least one post a day (often 2 at the moment, due to Dodds being in prison).
Definitely the best value Patreon out there.

[Mr_Simnock]

Just tried to listen to an episode (15 mins of ParaPodMoviePodCast Episode 5), not for me, only so much 'fun' I can get out of what sounds like two bored sixth form students with very little of anything interesting to say.

[MojoJojo]

Just tried to listen to an episode (15 mins of ParaPodMoviePodCast Episode 5), not for me, only so much 'fun' I can get out of what sounds like two bored sixth form students with very little of anything interesting to say.

Probably not the best place to start - the MoviePodCasts are very much for the fans. I'd really suggest going back to the start of the Parapod, where they have actual things to talk about.

(a lot of Ray's/Ian's stuff does fall into the category of blokes just twatting about, and I'm not particularly keen on that)

[Dusty Substance]

I only became aware of this during lockdown, and have been working my way out from the Parapod since then.

From what I can work out, this is what's available in my podcast app, in rough order:

1) "The Ray Peacock Podcast Seasons 1-4" - seems to be republished from whatever the original source was. This has Raji James, Ed Gamble.
2) Peacock and Gamble podcast - haven't grabbed this yet. Again seem to be a reupload.
3) Ray Peacock FUBAR shows. Listened to a few of these. Good, but like other radio shows where they've cut the music, very long without any music to break it up.
(edit-
3b) Ian Boldsworth FUBAR shows.
4) The Parapod.
(5. The Mental Podcast - this doesn't seem to be available and I think I've caught some comments from Ian that he's pulled it deliberately)

All good stuff to listen to. In case you hadn't noticed, there was also a Peacock And Gamble show on FUBAR before Ian went "solo". They're especially interesting to listen to as P&G cracks started to show around this time and Ian would go off into areas that would sometimes shock Ed.

[sutin]

All good stuff to listen to. In case you hadn't noticed, there was also a Peacock And Gamble show on FUBAR before Ian went "solo". They're especially interesting to listen to as P&G cracks started to show around this time and Ian would go off into areas that would sometimes shock Ed.

I never noticed any cracks at all. The Fubar shows are my favourite P&G stuff.

[Dusty Substance]

I never noticed any cracks at all. The Fubar shows are my favourite P&G stuff.

I might be misremembering or perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, be reading too much into moments where Ed questioned some of Ray's comedy bits. There was one episode in particular where Ray did a character called Cool Guy with an accent which sailed close to a "70s black man" caricature and Ed seemed wary about going along with it.

Although Wikipedia says The Peacock And Gamble Podcast ran from "2009 (actual podcast) – present", when did they last perform together as a double act? Was their FUBAR show the last thing they did together?

[Sin Agog]

I'm pretty sure Ed's two funny calls into the Ray Peacock (& Nat) show were their last appearances together.

I thought the awkwardness stemmed partly from Ian's slightly passive aggressive but also fairly genuine (you can be both): "Ooh, that was a really good joke from Ed there.  He really is on another level lately, isn't he?" comments that seemed to hint that his little protege was slipping away from him, and also from the extreme candour about suicide and whatnot, something which I can't imagine a nice middle-class lad whose career has just started shooting off would know how to react to without sounding trite.  Personally, I think that Fubar show was the best thing they ever did because of the extra levels, and also because it was fucking funny.  I quite liked the little community of callers they built around themselves, too- starting from that very first phone call with someone who I think turned out to be Nat's Spanish friend.  The guy Ian got to jerk off in his flatmate's room, or something like that.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

I think putting together different bits and pieces, the cracks started when Ed lost the weight, tbh.

[DrGreggles]

I think it was more to do with Ian's desire to quit performing.
Being essentially forced to do an Edinburgh run and subsequent tour while suffering from depression was probably the final straw.
Ed was starting to get TV work too, so it was obviously the right time for the double act to end - even though I miss it.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

I think the thing with Ed losing weight is that it made him instantly more marketable and it allowed opportunities to open for him that hadn't before. I think Ian had a very fixed view of where the double-act should go, much as he does now with the Parapod stuff, and Ed was suddenly getting more solo opportunities and I think that decade or more age gap really came into play. Because Ian was older, had been around, and was deciding he wanted his career, and the double-act, to be one thing, while Ed was still discovering himself really. I've only been able to listen to those Fubar shows once because they definitely have a strange feeling to them. It could be just what a horrendous personal place Ian was in, but they definitely don't have the same closeness to the relationship that the earlier podcasts did.

[sutin]

I think the thing with Ed losing weight is that it made him instantly more marketable and it allowed opportunities to open for him that hadn't before. I think Ian had a very fixed view of where the double-act should go, much as he does now with the Parapod stuff, and Ed was suddenly getting more solo opportunities and I think that decade or more age gap really came into play. Because Ian was older, had been around, and was deciding he wanted his career, and the double-act, to be one thing, while Ed was still discovering himself really. I've only been able to listen to those Fubar shows once because they definitely have a strange feeling to them. It could be just what a horrendous personal place Ian was in, but they definitely don't have the same closeness to the relationship that the earlier podcasts did.

I don't massively love the P&G Podcast if i'm being honest. They overdid the babytalk shtick and it felt pretty repetitive. The Fubar shows, with the community of callers etc. were much more enjoyable to me. The Ray Peacock Podcast could be pretty nasty with the Raji 'bullying', but I think I prefer those too.

[BritishHobo]

I listened to the last run of the FUBAR show on a really fuckinh long bus journey through Wales and it put me in a proper weird space. It definitely has a really different vibe, after the best-friends feel of the main podcast. It's sad to think now how much Ian was struggling. Definitely made for a fascinating atmosphere, a genuine 'anything could happen' thrill. Ian being very open about his mental health - and his regular threats to leave the station, which felt thrillingly like he might genuinely walk out at any moment. I remember in the last episode they're kinda half-playing (maybe half-meaning-it?) at being weary and fed up, and they end up doing a bit of banter with a regular caller that seems to make her genuinely think she's upset and annoyed them, in turn upsetting her. Really odd and chilly thing which never gets resolved by the end - only a note to say she's been on Twitter, worried she's upset them. Summed up the run for me. I did kinda like it, I ought to re-listen.

Then again I don't think any split was massively obvious. I didn't realise there was a definitive thing until Ian talked about it on his Patreon a couple of years later. At the time I thought they were taking a break but might come back together at any point. It seems obvious now - as has been said, they were at very different points in their careers, and I think a lot of what they did as a double-act was informed by the lessons Ian had learned from Big & Daft and from Edinburgh and so on, about how conservative the powers-that-be are, and the stupid hoops you have to jump through to get even a glimmer of success (his aversion to which is the reason why he's one of my all-time favorite artists/performers/comdedians/people). He definitely knew by The Ray Peacock Podcast/Peacock and Gamble that he would have to make his own way to avoid all that, whereas Ed hadn't experienced it to know either way. Maybe it was always inevitable Ed would have to give the traditional route a try for himself.