The work of Ian Boldsworth

[ASFTSN]

The bit with

Spoiler alert

Barry's mum

[close]

was lovely.
I like how

Spoiler alert

ill-prepared he was in a piece that he'd prepared himself

[close]

.

Yeah this was a lovely send-off. 

Spoiler alert

"I'm just trying to help you Barry!" as well as "You were top 20 on Radio 4 weren't you?  Oh, it was iTunes, well, fair enough."

[close]

EDIT:  fuck, I shouldn't have posted before the end.

Spoiler alert

"There's a parallel universe where I won all of these arguments"

[close]

Beautiful.

[DrGreggles]

I found this very funny:


@Annabel_Giles
@Boldsworth73 So I've started listening to the @theparapod, and I think you could be a bit nicer to @Barry_Dodds

@Boldsworth73 
if you mean will I speak less sense then - spoiler alert - that doesn't happen x

@Annabel_Giles 
But Barry has ways of finding stuff out and you just shoot him down every time. He must feel so demoralised. #iheartbarry

@Boldsworth73 
hope so

@Annabel_Giles 
STOP BEING NASTY TO POOR BARRY

@Barry_Dodds 
THANK YOU ANNABEL X

@Annabel_Giles
OMG, don't worry Barry, I'll get him for you!

@Barry_Dodds
Thanks for the support! Do you know Vince Clarke?

@Annabel_Giles 
Of Erasure?

@Barry_Dodds
Yeah

@Annabel_Giles
No.

@Barry_Dodds
Ah, shame

[Replies From View]

It's funny just to imagine her listening to the Parapod for any length of time, and really getting into it.

Insert any quote from the Parapod here.

[DrGreggles]

If I'm ever in a social situation and the conversation dries up, to prevent an awkward silence I'm going to ask "Do you know Vince Clarke?" as an emergency question.

[BritishHobo]

If you pop over to the Jimquisition podcast feed, the first episode of 'Jim Won't Give Ian His VR' is now available - one hour and forty minutes of Ian trying to convince games journalist Jim Sterling to send him his PlayStation VR headset.

Fucking hell it's good fun. Lots of Ray Peacock Podcast references and all. How far we've come.

[DrGreggles]

I received my Parapod goodies the other day.

Bit weird...

[Replies From View]

I received my Parapod goodies the other day.

Bit weird...

Which one is Graeme Garden?

[DrGreggles]

[BritishHobo]

This had me laughing for hours the other day, every time I thought about it:

[Mini]

That should be their next podcast. Barry's Cat Food Reviews.

[DrGreggles]

If you pop over to the Jimquisition podcast feed, the first episode of 'Jim Won't Give Ian His VR' is now available - one hour and forty minutes of Ian trying to convince games journalist Jim Sterling to send him his PlayStation VR headset.

Fucking hell it's good fun. Lots of Ray Peacock Podcast references and all. How far we've come.

Not a one-off!
'Jim Won't Give Ian His VR' seems to be monthly. Episodes 2 and 3 are on the same feed.

[BritishHobo]

3 was mad. Proper vicious at times, with perhaps the fucking funniest closer I've ever heard from Ian.

I really need to catch up on Some Nonsense, I'm so behind.

[Sin Agog]

Need to listen to that third one.  Thanks for the update as my computer's too shite to allow myself to care about new games so I didn't bother subscribing to the Jimquisition pod. They mentioned in the second one how the first Ian wants Jim's VR headset ep made about 94% of Jim's fans want to smash up their Xbox Ones with their foreheads.  Anyone got any links to that?

[Sin Agog]

There was a really  telling moment in the last Some Nonsense where he was interviewing two fellow podcasters: Ian said that he wouldn't say he 'loves' Barry as, after his last experience, he'd never be willing to open himself to someone else he works with quite that way again.  Could be totally missing a few pages in their life story here, but I suspect that Ed Gamble didn't actually do anything to Ian at all, other than take a few calls and go about his life.

[DrGreggles]

There was a really  telling moment in the last Some Nonsense where he was interviewing two fellow podcasters: Ian said that he wouldn't say he 'loves' Barry as, after his last experience, he'd never be willing to open himself to someone else he works with quite that way again.  Could be totally missing a few pages in their life story here, but I suspect that Ed Gamble didn't actually do anything to Ian at all, other than take a few calls and go about his life.

I think the circumstances around the last P&G live show is probably what ended the double act more than anything.
Ian's illness caused them to cancel a few Edinburgh shows and then several tour shows got pulled afterwards. His depression is pretty well documented, but he's also mentioned how disillusioned he had become wth live performances and the comedy scene in general.

From Ed's point of view, he's still relatively new on the stand up scene and his double act partner essentially giving up gigging must have forced his hand somewhat. It's good to see him doing so well (and nd he was great in Almost Royal too).
The fallout over Fubar probably didn't help them either, but that was never going to last after that year's Fringe anyway.
Ed having a solo website without mentioning Ian probably irked him a bit too, but it makes sense that he wants to separate the double act stuff from his solo work,  as they're very different.

Ed is now a regular on the circuit and doing bits of telly, whereas Ian is all about radio and podcasts. Ed's in London, Ian's moved out to the sticks. Ed has just turned 30, Ian is in his mid 40s.
It's not a feasible working scenario any more.

Ed's recent interview on Goldsmith's podcast showed the gratitude and affection he still has for Ian anyway, and it was incredibly sweet when he phoned up Ian's Fubar show.

Sadly, as much as I loved their stuff together, it ending when it did was somewhat inevitable.

[BritishHobo]

Aye. It's a shame, but it's always seemed an inevitable result of being in a double act at different points in your career. It's a sad thing because, as you say, it's not some big explosive rivalry like a band where everyone knows, oh yeah, that band member will never work with that band member again because of that huge public falling-out. It seems more like a gradual, muted separation, which I think a lot of us can relate to as a way for a friendship to end.

Ian spoke a little bit on Twitter recently about not being sure how to respond to references to old podcasts, and I think it's a really interesting, important point. I listen to The Ray Peacock Podcast and Peacock and Gamble a lot, but it's important to remember that what you're listening to in the present is well in the past, and tied up with personal things that he may not want to think of all the time.

Saying that, there was a bit in the first VR episode where Ian said he recently listened to a Ray Peacock podcast episode while decorating; he and Jim got distracted and never came back to it, but I was really interested to hear what he was going to say.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

Ian spoke a little bit on Twitter recently about not being sure how to respond to references to old podcasts, and I think it's a really interesting, important point. I listen to The Ray Peacock Podcast and Peacock and Gamble a lot, but it's important to remember that what you're listening to in the present is well in the past, and tied up with personal things that he may not want to think of all the time.

Yeah, that combined with a few other things Ian has said or post actually led me to think there was some kind of falling out. Not long before that tweet he posted one saying We Are No Longer Friends over and over, which made me think it could be something to do with questions about Ed. In the Mental Podcast, the first episode where he's talking about his last big breakdown, which timing would suggest occurred during the first Fubar run, he mentions some people not reacting the way he expected them to and the fact that he's not talking to or about Ed's reaction again suggested some kind of problem. Then during another podcast, I'm blanking on the name right now but it was recorded with Ian and Barry during the Parapod run, there were two episodes, one interviewing Ian and Barry and one interviewing Ian alone and he says during that interview that everyone he has felt closest to during his life has let him down, so again I took it as some kind of veiled mention. Ian also mentions during the Mental Podcast that one of the big triggers for his illness is feeling betrayed by people.

I'd hate it if there really was some kind of problem between them, they genuinely seem like such good friends on the old podcasts and they seem to love being around each other, but sadly it seems to me like they just don't speak anymore.

[Sin Agog]

Great insights, guys. Ta muchly.

I wonder if Ian really can't hack being out-alpha'd by anyone else he works closely with.  I know it's a comedy dynamic 'n' everything, but every co-presenter he's had on his various projects (excepting Angela Barnes) has slipped straight into either the fawning young apprentice role, or the Pilky role.  You can tell from listening to how Ed and Ray's relationship developed on the Raji/Ray podcast that Ed was basically a boyish young acolyte who laughed extra-hard at everything this wise comedy sensei happened to say, even if it was tossed-off nothings.  Ian was like Ed's way funnier second father.   And then, come their fucking fascinating and hilarious Fubar run together, Ian was clearly starting to weird Ed out by saying things like, "No, really, I just want to point out how brilliant that was.  It's like you've stepped into a different league all of a sudden" every time Ed made a funny.  Ed was clearly becoming a beta no more, and Ian was noticing it, and must have sensed that his little fatboy slim comedy chum was moving on in the world (I think Gamble was filming Almost Royal while that show was going on, or had just gotten done flming it).  A student's lesson is never really over until he slays his master (at least that's how it went down in Mayflower Comprehensive School where I went to). 

Ian openly talked about suffering from depression throughout that Fubar show with Ed, and that's partly why I dug it so much.  Added a different shade and tone to the impishness and hilarity.  It sounds like Ed was too middle-class and normal to know exactly how to react to all of that.  I don't think he necessarily owed anything to Ian, and he did seem to stick around through the worst of it.  He doesn't exist solely to prop up his mate, though.  Ian seemed genuinely pissed off about Fubar not paying Ed properly, so if some blow-out did happen it must have been some time after that.  Gah, mental illness is a motherfunker.

[BritishHobo]

Wasn't there an episode where Ian did a Magnificent Seven where all the choices were basically aspects of his depression and suicidal tendencies? He properly leaned into it, which is something I've always admired about Ian; he has no qualms about discussing things that are fucking raw and honest, and he can make you laugh with even the saddest story. His FUBAR show amplifies that, which makes it all the more wonderful and fascinating to me. When he talks about not being mentioned on Ed's website, for example; in the hands of someone else, that could be an awkward attempt to slam someone on the radio, but with Ian he's just talking about something that's hurt and bothered him, and that's all there is to it. There's no maliciousness or spite there, it's just how he feels about something that's affected him.

I'll always regret not getting to see Here Comes Trouble, as it sounded like something really special along those lines.

I was thinking about this the other day, and I think Ian is genuinely my comedy idol, above and beyond anyone else. He's given me more hours of comedy than anyone, and typifies more than anyone to me someone who puts a huge amount of work and time behind their passion, and pursues comedy for its own end, no matter what people think of it. His dedication shines through in everything he's done, and I just love him. I could never get bored of his work.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

Yeah, he was the powerball and it was all things like

If you have been in hospital in the last year
If you have attempted suicide
If you can't sleep without medication

He does have an absolute dedication to the joke above all else. Stuff like driving Ed to Fife in the middle of the night to go to a 24 hour McDonalds, or getting banned from a garage for opening a packet of each flavour of crisps to try one because he doesn't know which one he likes. It's just gleefully silly and mischievous.

[DrGreggles]

Ian actually elaborated a bit more on yesterday's Fubar show.
It did sound acrimonious but, at the same time, he said that he cut ties with pretty much everyone he associated with at that time.
He did emphasise (after realising how it was coming across) that it wasn't specifically Ed, but everything that he was going through at that time and it looks like he made a clean break from his entire life.
The moving away, name change, lack of performing and the rest all make more sense now. If it it's beneficial to his mental health, then it's all a small price to pay.

I hope he doesn't remove all the old stuff though. P&G were one of my go-to listens whenever I was feeling shitty, and I'm sure there must have been plenty of others who have gone to his stuff in dark times. Even now, 10 years after the shows with Raji, I personally know of a couple of people who have got into Ian's back catalogue this year.

[BritishHobo]

This VR stuff appears to have sent a few Jim Sterling fans exploring into the archives as well.

I remember an episode of Peacock and Gamble mentions one of the Pilkipedia guys starting up a P&G version. I wonder what happened to that, it would've been fun to see.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

Ian is interviewed on a new podcast, I'm Not Being Funny But. I haven't listened yet but it's a discussion about how it feels to be suicidal.

https://www.acast.com/imnotbeingfunnybut/whatsitliketobesuicidal-imnotbeingfunnybut-

[Sambob]

https://twitter.com/4000WordsPod

"New podcast for 2017. @boldsworth73 writes and narrates a collection of 4000 word short stories. Coming soon."

I predict this will be excellent.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

I'm sure he mentioned there'll be another podcast to go with it, but I don't think he's given details yet.

Given the talk recently about how he has difficulty with the old podcasts I found it quite sweet that he briefly interacted with Raji on Twitter recently.

[Sin Agog]

What did they say?  I miss Raji.  I dunno, I just find him sort of calming.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

https://twitter.com/Boldsworth73/status/887813256966008832

In the responses there.

Also some interaction with Marjolein Robertson, who I think I love.

[BritishHobo]

Aw, that's lovely.

I've started catching up on Some Nonsense again after falling further and further behind.

[worldsgreatestsinner]

I always love when Raji gets a funny line in. In one of the last live shows of the podcast either Ed or Ian mentions a woman's sexual assets and Raji's response is something like "Does she have shares in a brothel?"

[Seagullsim]

Interesting Fubar podcast this week. For those that missed it, turns out some PR company asked for an entire interview to be pulled - Ian was surprisingly calm about it. We're also treated to some of his singing, which is always excellent.