Podcast appearances and mentions of Scroobius Pip

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Akala, originally episode 65 from 2015-10-28.Original writeup below:Pip and Akala cover lots in this in depth and honest chat, including the history of racism throughout Shakespearean text, the development of UK Hip Hop and how artists are able to see the world through music and so much more.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureALL AKALA LINKS!INSTAGRAMDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the incredible screenwriter, showrunner, producer and dungeon master CRAIG MAZIN!Craig is a self proclaimed Pipster! Which bodes incredibly well as an opening gambit right there... This is such a treat of an episode which anyone possessing an interest in the making of television (and cinema in general) will get an immense kick out of. Chances are you will know Craig from his recent work on The Last Of Us, some of you may go back to the Chernobyl miniseries times, and some even further to the Hangover movies, but none of these can be considered pigeonholes. There is so much in the craft of these projects, and as viewers of them will know - the humanity is undeniable, and that's something that just cannot be faked or phoned-in. So what you hear here is a conversation with someone who makes incredible shows and movies, informed by a love of the work, the people involved, and life in general. To hear that he was once blamed by a critic for being "singularly responsible for degrading Western Civilization" will make absolutely negative sense by the time you've heard this. Oh and stay for the shared Barney story too, cos that rules. Basically - too much to sum up here - just listen and enjoy, it's a classic DPP right here!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBSCRIPTNOTES podcast (book here)THE LAST OF USCHERNOBYLSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Armando Iannucci, originally episode 174 from 2017-10-24.Original writeup below:Responsible for an insane amount of some of the greatest UK comedy since the 90's, including the writing and production of 'The Day Today' which spawned Alan Partridge and the Partridge multiverse, 'The Thick Of It', 'Time Trumpet', and US based 'Veep', Armando is clearly a titan of the game. With his new production 'The Death Of Stalin' (in cinemas NOW!), he's been grinding it out on the media promo run, but is sharp as a katana as he sits down with Pip for a nice long chat covering all the necessary bases and loads more that you'd hope to hear about, including said promo run grind and the madness of it all, especially seeing your own film countless times, being mindful of not using the victims of the subject of his film for comedy and finding that material from many various other sources, social media and how the echo chamber is reinforced and debate is fading, how the film draws parallels with today's US presidency even though it was filmed months before Trump's election win, and how to successfully wrangle an all star cast in order to promote efficiency on set. Tons more obviously but yeah, super entertaining and a must for Armando fans and those who appreciate the craft of writing and production. Get into it!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBVEEPTHE DEATH OF STALININ THE LOOPTIME TRUMPETDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip discusses the broad topic of disfluency with journalist CHERRY BURNS!Those of you familiar with Pip's Twitch channel and the community within might well be familiar with Cherry, but if not, all is well as here is your formal introduction! Although their role is two-fold, as guest and interviewer, with Pip as the subject. Today (at time of episode publishing) is Wednesday 22nd October, which is International Stammering Awareness Day. With Pip being a person with a stammer as well as a patron of the organisation Stamma, it would be a missed opportunity to celebrate the event and that is exactly what's going down today! This is a chance for those of you who stammer, as well as those of you who do not, to listen in on a conversation covering a vast amount of points and topics within the greater world of stammering that you might not usually hear. It's a wonderful chance to gain some insight into not only what it is, but how it can come into play in day to day life, the issues that might otherwise go unseen or unheard, but also the added compensatory factors that can kick in as a result. Something that comes up in the chat is about how stammering is not the problem, it's how the world meets the stammer that is the problem, which is a really interesting swing on it all. So please, listen and enjoy, it's a really fun episode and definitely one we can all gain something from, and ultimately celebrate. Shouts to Cherry too for being an awesome guest interviewer!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureSTAMMA / I.S.A.D.STAMMACHERRY BURNS TWITCH'I SWEAR' MOVIETOURETTES HEROSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Kevin Smith, originally episode 302 from 2019-12-04.Original writeup below:SNOOCHIE BOOCHIES! What a joy this is… While it is a slightly shorter episode, Pip could hardly turn Kevin down now could he…? Exactly. Unthinkable. So sit back and enjoy as Kevin essentially takes the reins with this one! It was expected though, as Kevin has basically found his true North by way of talking and telling stories for a living these days. But that's not to say he's thrown in the towel on films - oh good god no, as you will surely be aware of by the fact that his Jay & Silent Bob Reboot film is out and about and making much noise in the View Askew-niverse. This here is a chance to hear all about that, and the past hits in the Smith catalogue, as well as a gang of talking points including his gratefulness for being able to express himself for a living, the difference between making podcasts and movies, the younger Smith laying the foundations for later on, the power of the Q&A, brushes with death, and tons more but all held together with a true understanding of what he means to his fanbase and the importance of his products. A delightful whirlwind - enjoy!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureINSTAGRAMJAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOTVIEW ASKEWSMODCASTCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by legendary writer, journalist, critic and cultural treasure MIRANDA SAWYER!A natural fit in the Distraction Pieces jigsaw, Miranda is someone who was pretty much destined to eventually join Pip for an episode. As a necessary firm fixture in much of the music media of the 90's (and well beyond, of course), Miranda's got decades in the game and is awesomely well versed in basically all of it. The book is 'Uncommon People' which is out now and essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in 90's Britpop, but on top of that you'll hear a good ton of bits and pieces including the recording of podcasts and the importance of them in Miranda's career, an early dabbling in a career in law, working with such publications as Smash Hits / Select / The Face (and more), the broadness of 90's Britpop and how it wasn't sipmply Oasis vs Blur, 'Smashing' club, Tricky being tricky, being a woman into music and the unchecked sexism back then (not that it's gone anywhere), what constitutes a scene, and making a living being a musician or journalist. Super fun but also incredibly relevant, and anything about the past will reveal so much about our present, especially with the hindsight of 25-30 years. Enjoy!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureINSTAGRAMUNCOMMON PEOPLE bookBUY THE BOOK FROM AN INDIETALK 90's TO MEBANDSPLAIN: ELASTICA podcast epCALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Action Bronson, originally episode 347 from 2020-09-30.Original writeup below:There's no doubt about it, Action has done a ton in the past decade and by the looks of it all, had a goddamn blast while doing it. But he's always kept a very decent squad around him and stayed on track and focused, as you can tell by his insane output and varied resumé. Here's a chance to catch up with dude as he talks over the internet to Pip about it all - working out, old skool gaming, pandemic UFC, how he got into rap music and the cassette culture that came along with it, New York, an alternate universe chef career, features with rappers and being in the studio with some of the greatest, eating well, knocking humbleness on the head, acting in a Scorcese film, being behind a show from concept to credits and MAD amounts more in between. Get to know Action Bronson!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEINSTAGRAMYOUTUBECALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension, as we explore one of the UK's most talked-about immersive experiences.Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who have brought The Traitors Live Experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous.So, how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling, guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game… and who's about to be banished…Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on LinkedIn. Show references: The Traitors Live website: https://www.thetraitorslive.co.uk/Neil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-connolly-499054110/Neil Connolly is a creative leader of design and production teams focused on development, production and installation of live theatre, entertainment, multi-media and attractions for the themed entertainment industry worldwide.Neil began his career as a performer, writer, producer & artist in Londons alternative theatre/art scene. It was during this time Neil developed a love and passion for story telling through the platform of interactive playable immersive theatre.Having been at the vanguard of playable & immersive theatre since 2007, Neil had a career defining opportunity in 2019 when he devised, wrote & directed an immersive experience as part of Sainsbury's 150th Birthday Celebrations. Making him the only immersive theatre & game maker in the world to have HRH Elizabeth Regina attend one of their experiences.In a distinguished career spanning 20 years, Neil has brought that passion to every facet of themed entertainment in the creative direction and production of attractions such as; Handels Messiah, Snowman & The Snowdog, Peppa Pig Surprise Party, Traitors Live, The Crystal Maze Live Experience, Tomb Raider Live Experience & Chaos Karts, an AR go-kart real life battle. Other clients and activations include: Harrods, Sainsbury's, Camelot/The National Lottery, Samsung, Blenheim Palace, Land Rover and Warner Brothers.Neil has worked across 4 continents for many years with private individuals; designing, producing and delivering live entertainment on land, sea & air. A world without boundaries requires freethinking.Neil is currently working with Immersive Everywhere on creative development of show and attraction content for projects across U.K, Europe, North America & Asia. Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension as we explore one of the UK's most talked about immersive experiences.Paul Marden: Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who've brought The Traitor's live experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous. So how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game and who's about to be banished.Paul Marden: So, we're underground. Lots of groups running currently, aren't they? How did you make that happenNeil Connolly: Yeah, so now we're two floors under us. There's a lower basement and some other basement. So the building that we are in, there's a family in the 1890s who owned all of the land around Covent Garden and specifically the Adelphi Theatre.Paul Marden: Right.Neil Connolly: And they wanted their theatre to be the first theatre in the UK to have its lights powered by electricity. So they built their own private power station in this building. Like, literally like, all this, this is a power station. But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this building until the 1980s when the establishment was assumed through the important UK network.Neil Connolly: And then it was sat there empty, doing nothing for 40 years. And so the landlord that is now started redeveloping the building 10 years ago, added two floors onto the top of the building. So now what we're in is an eight-storey structure and we've basically got the bottom four floors. Two of which are ground and mezzanine, which is our hospitality area. And the lower two floors, which are all in the basement, are our experience floors. What we're looking at right now is, if you look off down this way to the right, not you people on audio, but me here.Neil Connolly: Off this side is five of the round table rooms. There's another one behind me and there's two more upstairs. And then I've got some Tretters Towers off to the left and I've got my show control system down there.Neil Connolly: On the floor above me, we've got the lounges. So each lounge is connected to one of the round table rooms. Because when you get murdered or banished, one of the biggest challenges that I faced was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished? Because you get kicked out of the game. It's not a lot of fun, is it? Therefore, for me, you also get kicked out of the round table room. So this is a huge challenge I face. But I built these lounge concepts where you go— it's the lounge of the dead— and you can see and hear the round table room that you've just left. We'll go walk into the room in a while. There's lots of interactivity. But yeah, super fun. Neil Connolly: But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this establishment until the 1980s when the establishment was considered through the important UK network.Paul Marden: Yeah. So we've got 10 million people tuning in to Traitors per episode. So this must be a lot of pressure for you to get it right. Tell us about the experience and what challenges you faced along the way, from, you know, that initial text message through to the final creation that we're stood in now.Neil Connolly: So many challenges, but to quote Scroobius Pip on this, do you know Scroobius Pip? Paul Marden: No. Neil Connolly: Great, he's amazing. UK rapper from Essex.Neil Connolly: Some people see a mousetrap and think death. I see free cheese and a challenge.Neil Connolly: There's never any problems in my logic, in my thinking. There's always just challenges to overcome. So one of the biggest challenges was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished. The truth of the matter is I had to design a whole other show, which happens after this show. It is one big show. But you go to the Lounge of the Dead, there's more interactivity. And navigating that with the former controller, which is O3 Media and IDTV, who created the original format in the Netherlands, and basically designing a game that is in the world and follows the rules of their game with some reasonable adjustments, because TV and live are not the same thing.Neil Connolly: It takes 14 days to film 12 episodes of The Traitors. Paul Marden: Really? Okay. Neil Connolly: So I was like, how do I truncate 14 days of somebody's life down into a two-hour experience and still deliver that same impact, that same power, that same punch?Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: But I knew from the beginning of this that it wasn't about time. There is a magic triangle when it comes to the traitors, which is time, space, atmosphere. And time was the thing that I always struggled with. I don't have a Scottish cattle show, and I don't have two weeks. No. So I'm like, 'Cool, I've got to do it in two hours.' So our format follows exactly the same format. We do a breakfast scene, then a mission, then a roundtable banishment, then there's a conclave where the traitors meet and they murder somebody. And I do that in a seven-day structure, a seven-day cycle. But it all happens within two hours around this round table.Neil Connolly: I'm the creative director for Immersive Everywhere. We're a vertically integrated structure in the sense that we take on our own venues. So we're now standing in Shorts Gardens in the middle of Covent Garden. So we've leased this building. We've got a lease that is for a number of years and we have built the show into it. But we also identify the IP, go after that ourselves, we capitalise the projects ourselves. We seek strategic partners, promoters, other people to kind of come involved in that journey. But because we're also the team that are licensing the product, we are also the producers and I'm the creative director for that company. So I developed the creative in line with while also getting the deal done. This is incredibly unusual because other producers will be like, 'Hey, I've identified this IP and I've got it.' Now I'm going to approach a creative agency and I'm going to get them to develop the product. And now I've done all of that, I'm going to find someone else to operationally put it on, or I'm going to find a venue to put it on in, and then I'm going to find my ticketing partner.  But we don't do that. We have our own ticketing platform, and we have our own database, so we mark our own shoulders.Neil Connolly: As well as other experiences too. Back, we have our own creative industry, we are the producers, we are the female workers. So we cast it, we hire all the front of house team, we run the food and beverage, we run the bars. The operations team is our operations team because they run the venue as well as the show at the same time. So that's what I mean. We're a vertically integrated structure, which means we do it, which makes us a very unusual proposition within... certainly within the UK market, possibly the world. It makes us incredibly agile as a company and makes us to be able to be adaptive and proactive and reactive to the product, to the show, to the market that we're operating in, because it's all under one roof.Neil Connolly: This show started January 24th, 2023. Right. It's very specific because I was sitting on my sofa drinking a lovely glass of Merlot and I had just watched... UK Traitors, Season One. Yep. Because it came out that Christmas. Immediately I was like, 'Oh my God, this is insane.' And then I got a text message that particular night from our head of licensing, a guy named Tom Rowe, lovely man. And he was like, Neil, I'm at a licensing event with some friends of mine and everyone's talking about this thing called Traitors. I've not watched it. Have you watched it? Sounds like it might be a good thing. And so I sat back and drank my Merlot. And about five minutes later, I text him back and I was like, Tom, get us that license.Neil Connolly: And then I sent him a bunch of other details of how the show in my head would work, both from a commercial standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint, because I'm a commercially minded creative. Right. So I instantly took out my notebook and I started writing down exactly how I thought the show was going to do, the challenges that we would face and being able to translate this into a live thing. But I literally started writing it that night. And then he watched the first episode on the train on the way home. And then he texted me the next morning and he was like, 'I love it.' What do we need to do? And I was like, 'Get us in the room.' Two days later, we were in the room with all three media who own the format globally.Paul Marden: Okay.Neil Connolly: So we sat down and then they came to see one of our other shows and they were like, 'Okay, we get it now.' And then that was like two and a half years of just building the show, getting the deal done and facing the myriad of challenges. But yeah, sometimes it just starts with the text message.Paul Marden: So they get to experience all the key parts of the TV.Neil Connolly: All the key beats. Like right now, I'm holding one of the slates. They're not chalkboard slates. Again, this is... Oh, actually, this is a good challenge. So in the TV show, they've got a piece of slate and they write on it with a chalkboard pen. This seems so innocuous and I can't believe I'm talking about this on a podcast.Neil Connolly: Slategate was like six months of my life. Not in its entirety, but it was a six month long conversation about how we do the slates correctly. Because we do... 48 shows a day, six days a week. And those slates will crack. They will bash. And they're kind of a bit health and safety standards. I was like, can't have them. Also, they write on them with chalk pens, white ink chalk pens. But in the TV show, you only do it once a night. Yeah.Paul Marden: And then you have a producer and a runner.Neil Connolly: They just clean them very, very leisurely and set them back for the next day. And I was like, no, I've got to do a whole bunch of roundtable banishments in two hours. So we talked a lot about material, about style, literal viewership, because if you take a seat at the table. Yeah. If you're sitting at the table here, you'll notice that we've got a raised bit in the middle. If I turn mine around, the other person on the other side can't see it. So I was like, 'Okay, cool.' So we had to do a whole bunch of choreography. But also, the room's quite dark. Yes. At times, atmospheric. Yeah. In that magic triangle time-space atmosphere. So anything that was darker, or even that black slate, you just couldn't read it. And then there was, and then I had to— this is the level of detail that we have to go into when we're designing this kind of stuff. I was like, 'Yeah, but I can't clean off these slates with the white ink because everyone will have to have like a wet cloth chamois. Then I've just got loads of chamois around my venue that I just don't need.' And so then we're like, 'Oh, let's use real slates with real chalk.' And I was like, 'No, because dust will get everywhere.' I'll get chalk just all over my table. It'll just ruin everything. It'll ruin the technology that's inside the table because there's lots of hidden tricks inside of it. Paul Marden: Is there really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Neil Connolly: There's loads of hidden tricks inside the table. So after a while, going through many different permutations, I sat down with Christian Elenis, who's my set designer and my art director. And we were, the two of us were nearly in tears because we were like, 'We need,' and this only happened like.Neil Connolly: I would say two, three weeks before we opened. We still hadn't solved how to do the slate, which is a big thing in the show. Anybody who's seen the show and loves the show knows that they want to come in, they want to write somebody's name on the slate, and they want to spell the name incorrectly.Neil Connolly: Everyone does it on purpose. But I wanted to give people that opportunity. So then eventually we sat down and we were like, Christian, Neil. And the two of us in conversation went, why don't we just get a clear piece of Perspex, back it with a light coloured vinyl. And then Christian was like, 'Ooh,' and I'll make it nice and soft and put some felt on the back of it, which is what I'm holding. And then why don't we get a black pen? And we were like, 'Yeah,' like a whiteboard marker. And then we can just write on it. And then A, I can see it from the other side of the table. Thing one achieved. Two. Every marker pen's got an eraser on the top of it. I don't know why everyone thinks this is important, but it is. That you can just rub out like that, and I'm like, 'There's no dirt, there's no mess, and I can reuse this multiple times, like dozens of times in the same show.' And I know that sounds really weird, but that's the level of design I'm going to need.Paul Marden: I was just about to say, and that is just for the chalkboard. Yeah. Now you need to multiply that. How many decisions?Neil Connolly: How many decisions in each game. But also remember that there are eight round tables in this building. Each round table seats 14 people. And we do six sessions a day. So first ones at 10 a. m. Then we do 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8 p. m. So we do 48 shows a day, six days a week.Paul Marden: I love the concept that these are shows. This is not this is not visitor attraction. This is theater repeated multiple times a day for multi audience is concurrently.Neil Connolly: And I've just spent five minutes describing a slate to you. Yeah. But like, I haven't even got— it's like the sheer amount of technology that is in the show. And again, theatrical, like, look above our heads. Yeah. You've got this ring light above every seat. It's got a pin light. There's also microphones which are picking up all the audio in the room, which again is translating to the lounge of the dead. Every single one of the round table rooms has four CCTV cameras. Can you see that one in the corner? Each one of them is 4K resolution. It's quite high spec, which is aimed at the opposite side of the table to give you the resolution in the TV. In the other room. Then you've got these video contents. This is constantly displaying secret information through the course of the show to the traitors when they're in Conclave because everyone's in blindfolds and they took them off. They get secret instructions from that. There's also a live actor in the room. A live actor who is Claudia? They're not Claudia. They're not pastiches of Claudia. They are characters that we have created and they are the host of The Traitor's Game. Right. They only exist inside this building. We never have them portrayed outside of this building in any way whatsoever.Neil Connolly: They are characters, but they live, they breathe— the game of Traitors, the world of Traitors, and the building that we have designed and constructed here. And they facilitate the game for the people. And they facilitate the game for the people. One actor to 14 people. There are no plants, even though everyone tries to tell me. Members of the public will be convinced that they are the only person that's in that show and that everyone else is a plant. And I'm like, no, because that would be insane.Neil Connolly: The only actor in the room is the host.Paul Marden: 14 people that can sit around this table. How many of them are in the same group? Are you with your friends or is it put together where there are other people that you won't know in the room? If you book together, you play together.Neil Connolly: Yes. Okay, so if you don't book 14 people... Ah, we also capped the number of tickets that you can purchase to eight. Right. So you can only purchase a maximum of eight tickets unless you do want a full table of 14, at which point you have to then purchase a VIP package because you are booking out a whole table for yourselves. The game doesn't work if there's less than 10 people at the table. So there has to be 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 people sat at a round table for the show to actually happen, for it to work. By capping the number of tickets that you book for eight, then that guarantees that strangers will be playing together. And that is the basis of strangers. Yeah, yeah. Like, you need to be sat around a table with people you know, you don't know, that you trust and you don't trust. Yeah. Fact of the matter. And do you see people turning on the others in their own group? Every single time. People think genuinely, and I love this from the public, you would think that if you're turning up as a group of eight and a group of four and a group of two, that the bigger group would just pick everybody off to make sure that someone in their group gets through to the end game.Neil Connolly: I'm sure they think that and they probably plot and plan that before they arrive on site. As soon as this game starts, gloves are off and everyone just starts going for each other. We've been open nearly two months now. I have seen, like, children murdered of their mothers.Neil Connolly: Husbands murder their wives, wives murder their husbands. I've seen, like, three generations—like, we get, because it's so intergenerational, like our lowest, the lowest age that you can play this is 12. Right. And then it's upwards. I've seen three generations of family come in and I've seen grandkids murder their own nan.Neil Connolly: Absolutely convinced that they're a traitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Or they banish them. Like, it's just mental. I've also seen nans, who are traitors, murder their grandkids.Neil Connolly: Like, and this is in a room full of strangers. They're just like, 'No, I'm not going to go for Barbara, who I met two hours ago in the bar. I'm going to go for my own grandson. It's mental.'Neil Connolly: The very, very first thing that I always think about whenever I'm creating an experience or whenever I'm designing a show is I put myself in the position of 'I'm a member of the public.' I have bought a ticketNeil Connolly: What's the coolest thing that I am going to do for my money? What is my perceived value of my ticket over actually what is the value of that ticket? I wanted to give people the experience of knowing what it was like to be sitting in one of these chairs at this table and feeling their heart. The pounding in their chest and I mean, the pounding in their chest, that rush of adrenaline from doing nothing— from sitting in a chair and all you were doing was sitting in a room talking to people and your heart is going.Neil Connolly: Because you're either being accused of being a liar. And trying to defend against it. And trying to defend against it. Or you actually are lying and you're trying to whittle your way out of it. And that feeling is the most alive that you will ever feel. Not ever. Like, I'm sure they're... No, no, no. But, like, give people that opportunity and that experience, as well as, like, access to the world of traitors and the law and everything else. But also, it's like any other theme park ride. People go on roller coasters because the imminent fear of death is always there. Yeah. And you feel alive. You're like, you've got such a buzz of adrenaline. Whereas, arguably, we do exactly the same thing as roller coasters, but in a much more longer-drawn format and multiple times. Yeah. And people do feel alive. When people walk out of the show, you see them go upstairs to the bar, and they are... Yeah.Paul Marden: You've said to me already that you don't use the word 'immersive,' but you know, I'm, I'm, I'm sat. The company is called 'immersive' everywhere. I'm sat behind the scenes. Okay. I'm sat in the room and the room is hugely convincing. It's like the highest fidelity escape room type experience that I've ever sat in. It feels like I'm on set, yeah, yeah. Um, I can totally believe that, in those two hours, you can slip. I sat on a game. It was only a two-minute game at iApple, but I was being filmed by one of the team. But within 30 seconds, I'd forgotten that they were there because I was completely immersed in the game. I can believe that, sitting in here right now, you could forget where you were and what you were doing, that you were completely submerged in the reality of the land that you're in.Neil Connolly: Yeah, 100%. Like, the world does not exist beyond these worlds. And for some people, like, I have my own definition. Everyone's got a different definition of what immersive is. I've got my own definition. But... I can tell you right now, as soon as people enter this building, they're in the bar, they're kind of slowly immersed in that world because the bar is a themed bar. It's done to the same, like we designed and built that bar as well. But as soon as they start descending that spiral staircase and coming into the gameplay floors, into the show floors, they just forget the rest of the world exists. And especially when they sit down at this table, it doesn't matter. I'm sat next to you here, but you could be sat at this table with your loved one, strangers, whatever. The gloves come off and just nothing exists apart from the game that you're about to go through.Paul Marden: You've been open now for a couple of months. More success than you were anticipating, I think. So pre-sales went through the roof? Yes. So you're very happy with the results?Neil Connolly: Yeah, yeah, we were. Yeah, well, we still are.Neil Connolly: We were very confident before we'd even started building the show, like the literal structural build, because we did very well. But then that set expectations quite high because I had a lot of people that had bought tickets and I was like, 'OK, I need to put on a good show for these people. And I need to make sure that they get satisfaction relative to the tickets that they bought.' But I don't feel pressure. I do feel anxiety quite a lot. Creatively? Yeah. I mean, I meditate every day.Paul Marden: But you've created this amazing world and you're inviting people into it. And as a creative, you're opening yourself up, aren't you? People are walking into the world that you've created.Neil Connolly: Yeah, this was said to me. This is not something that I came up with myself, and I do say this really humbly, but it was something that was said to me. It was on opening day, and a bunch of my friends came to playtest the show. And they were like, 'Oh, this is your brain in a building.'Neil Connolly: And I was like, 'Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.' But yeah, it is my brain in a building. But also that's terrifying, I think, for everybody else, because I know what happens inside my brain and it's really quite chaotic.Neil Connolly: But, you know, this I am. I'm so proud of this show. Like you could not believe how proud I am of this show. But also a huge part of my job is to find people that are smarter than me at the relative thing that they do, such as the rest of my creative team. They're all so much smarter than me. My job is vision and to be able to communicate that vision clearly and effectively so that they go, 'I understand.' The amount of times that people on the creative team turn around to me and go, 'Neil, that's a completely mental idea.' If people are saying to me, 'No one's ever done that before' or 'that's not the way things are done.'Neil Connolly: Or we can do that, but we're going to have to probably invent a whole new thing. If people are saying those things to me, I know I'm doing my job correctly. And I'm not doing that to challenge myself, but everything that I approach in terms of how I build shows is not about format. It's not about blueprints. It's not like, 'Hey, I've done this before, so I'm just going to do this again because I know that's a really neat trick.' I go back to, 'I made the show because I wanted people's heart to pound in their chest while they're sitting in a chair and make them feel alive.'Paul Marden: Is that the vision that you had in your head? So you're articulating that really, really clearly. Is that the vision that you sold to everybody on, not maybe day one, but within a couple of days of talking about this? No, it was day one.Neil Connolly: It was day one. Everyone went, that's a completely mental idea. But, you know, it's my job to try and communicate that as effectively and clearly as I can. But again, I am just one man. My job is vision. And, you know, there's lighting design, sound design, art direction, there's game logic. We haven't even gotten to the technology of how this show works yet, or how this room works.Neil Connolly: Actually, I'll wander down the corner. Yeah, let's do that. But, like, there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks. Like, this is one of the games, one of the missions. In the world and the lore of the show, the round table is sacrosanct.Paul Marden: Yes.Neil Connolly: Traitors is the game. The game is in other people. I can do so many missions and there's loads of missions and they're really fun in this show. But the game is in other people. It's in the people sat on the other side of the room. But also I wanted to do a thing where people could interact directly with the set. And so I designed one of the missions to be in the round table itself.Neil Connolly: So there's a course of these moon dials, which you basically have to align through the course of it. And there are sensors built into the table so that they know when they're in the correct position. How you find out the correct position is by solving a very, very simple puzzle and then communicating effectively to a bunch of strangers that you just met.Neil Connolly: And the sensors basically read it all. And when that all gets into position, the lights react, the sound reacts, the video content reacts, the whole room reacts to you. So I wanted to give people something tangible that they can touch and they make the room react to them. Yes, it's. I mean, I've designed, I've got background in escape rooms as well, right? Um, so I've done a lot of that kind of stuff as well. So I wanted people to feel in touch, same, but like, there's more tangible props over here. Um, yeah, that is a model box of the room that we are stood in, yeah. Also, there's an exact replica of it on the other side of it. There are very subtle differences between it, and that informs one of the missions. So that is two model boxes in this roundtable room. There's one of these in every single roundtable room. So there's 16 model boxes of the show that you're stood in on the set. And again, theatre. It's a show. But it's one of the missions, because I wanted people to kind of go, 'Oh, there's a live actor in front of me.' I'm having fun. Oh, look at all these lights and all the sound. Oh, there's a model box over here. That's in theatre land and blah, blah, blah. But that is also a really expensive joke. It's a really expensive joke. And there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks.Neil Connolly: Let's go look at backstage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.Neil Connolly: I say backstage, like how we refer to it or how I always go. I use 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably. Like right now you're on the set. Like you're on the stage. Yes. We're just wandering around a long corridor. There are round table rooms off to either side. But like, you know, there's a green room upstairs where the actors get changed, where the front of house team are, where the bar team all are. But as soon as they go out onto the show floor, they're on stage—yes, completely. We'll very quickly have a look at the gallery—yes, show control. Hi, Robbo. Do you mind if I stand in your room for the purposes of the audio? I'm talking to the technical manager, Thomas Robson. We're recording a podcast.Paul Marden: Robbo, oh yeah, okay. My mind is absolutely blown. So you've got every single room up on screen.Neil Connolly: Yeah, so that's great. There's 164 cameras—something like that. But every roundtable room has four cameras in it. Each camera is 4K resolution. So we've got cameras on all of them. We've got audio into those rooms. That's two-way, so that if show control needs to talk directly to them, they just press a button here and they can talk directly to the room itself. Mainly just like, stop misbehaving, we're watching you.Neil Connolly: We've then got cameras into all of the lounges, all of the show spaces, all the front of house, all of the bar areas, the mezzanine and back of house. And then you've got QLab running across all of the different shows. We've got backups on all of these screens. So if one... of the computers goes down, we can very quickly swap it in for a backup that's already running. We've got show control, which is, there's a company called Clockwork Dog, who, they're an amazing company. What COGS, their show control system, is doing is pulling in all of the QLab from sound, all of the QLab from lighting, and also we built our own app. to be able to run the show. So there's a whole logic and decision tree based on the decisions that the public do through the course of the game. So yes, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end in terms of our narrative beats and the narrative story of the show that we're telling people. But also that narrative can go in. Hundreds of different directions depending on the actions and the gameplay that the people do during the course of the show. So, you haven't just learned one show— you have to learn like You have to learn a world, and you have to learn a whole game.Neil Connolly: Like, there's the server, stacks, which we had to build. You had to network and cable the entire building. So we have built an entire new attraction, which didn't exist before. And also we're pulling in information from the front of house system which is also going into the show itself because again, you put your name into the iPad when you arrive on site and then you tick a box very crucially to say, 'Do you want to be selected as a trader? Yes or No.' Because in the game, it's a fundamental rule. If you say no, you cannot be selected as a traitor by the host during traitor selection. That doesn't mean you can't be recruited.Paul Marden: By the traitors later on in the game. So you could come and do this multiple times and not experience the same story because there were so many different pathways that you could go down.Neil Connolly: But also, the game is in other people. Yes. The show is sat on the opposite side of the table to you because, like, Bob and Sandra don't know each other. They'll never see each other ever again. But Bob comes again and he's now playing against Laura. Who's Laura? She's an unknown quantity. That's a whole new game. That's a whole new show. There's a whole new dynamic. That's a whole new storyline that you have to develop. And so the actors are doing an incredible job of managing all of that.Paul Marden: Thanks, Robbo. Thank you. So you've worked with some really, really impressive leading IP, Traders, Peppa Pig, Doctor Who, Great Gatsby. What challenges do you face taking things from screen to the live experience?Paul Marden: Challenges do I face? We're wandering here.Neil Connolly: So we are in... Oh, we're in the tower.Neil Connolly: Excellent. Yep, so we're now in Traitor's Tower. Good time for you to ask me the question, what challenges do I face? Things like this. We're now stood in Traitor's Tower. Paul, let me ask you the question. Without the show lights being on, so we're just stood on a set under workers, what's your opinion of the room that we're stood in?Paul Marden: Oh, it's hugely impressive. It feels like, apart from the fact you've punched the fourth wall out of the telly, it does feel like you're on set.Neil Connolly: It's a really faithful reproduction of the set. So that's kind of one of the challenges is managing the public's expectations of what they see, do and feel on site. So that I don't change the show so that people come and play the game that they're expecting to play. But making reasonable adjustments within that, because TV and live are two very, very different things. So first and foremost was making sure that we get the format right. So the game that people play, which informs the narrative of the show and the narrative structure of the show. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. I've designed a whole bunch of new missions that are in this, taken some inspiration from missions that people know and love from the TV shows, whether that's the UK territory or other territories around the world. And also just other stuff is just clear out of my head. So there's original content in there. paying homage and respect to the world that they've built and allowing ourselves to also play and develop and build out that world at the same time. Other challenges.Neil Connolly: This is not a cheap project. No, no. I mean, the production quality of this is beautiful. Yeah, yeah, thank you. It is stunning. When people walk in here, they're like, 'Oh my God, this is... High end.' I am in a luxury event at a very affordable price.Paul Marden: Thank you. And then we're going back upstairs again. Yes. And in the stairwell, we've got the crossed out photos of all of those that have fallen before us.Neil Connolly: No, not quite. All of the people that are in this corridor, there's about 100 photos. These are all the people who built the show.Neil Connolly: So this is David Gregory. He's the sound designer. This is Kitty, who is Immersive Everywhere's office manager. She also works in ticketing. That is Tallulah and Alba, who work in the art department. Elliot, who's our lighting designer. So all of these people are the people who brought the show to life.Paul Marden: Amazing.Neil Connolly: And we wanted to pay homage to them because some of them gave years of their lives to building the show from literally the inception that I had in 2023. Through to now and others are the people who literally spent months of their life underground in these basements building hand-building this set and so we wanted to pay homage to them so we got all of their photos we did the iconic red cross through it yeah and we stuck them all up in the corridor just because we thought it'd be a nice thing to do.Paul Marden: You're in the business of trading and experiences and that ranges from art exhibitions to touring shows. There's always going to be a challenge of balancing innovation and profitability. What is the formula? What is the magic formula?Neil Connolly: I believe, first and foremost, going back to what I was telling you earlier about us being a collaborative organisation. We are not a creative crack that has been used for the show. We are also the producers of the show. And to make my point again, I'm a commercially minded creative. So I actually sit down with the producers and go, 'Okay, cool.' There are 112 seats in the show.Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: Therefore, how many shows do we need to do per day? How many shows do we need to do per week? How many shows do we need to do per year? Therefore, let's build out a P &L. And we build a whole business plan based around that.Paul Marden: By having everybody— that you need in the team— makes it much easier to talk about that sort of stuff. It makes it much easier for you to design things with the end result in mind. You don't have a creative in a creative agency going off— feeding their creative wants without really thinking about the practicalities of delivering on it.Neil Connolly: Exactly. So you've got to think like, literally, from the very, very beginning: you've got to think about guest flow. You've got to think about throughput. You've got to think about your capacities. Then you've got to basically build out a budget that you think— how much, hey, how much really is this going to cost? Yeah. Then you build out an entire business plan and then you go and start raising the money to try and put that on. And then you find a venue. I mean, like the other magic triangle, like the traitor's magic triangle is, you know, time, space, atmosphere. That's how you do a show. Like with my producer's hat on, the other magic triangle is show, money, venue.Neil Connolly: The truth of the matter, like I make no bones about it, I can design shows till the cows come home, but I'm always going to need money to put them on and a venue to put them in. Also, I want to stress this really important. I use the words 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably.Paul Marden: It's a team effort.Neil Connolly: You can see that in that corridor. I am not a one-man band. I am the creative director of a company. I am a cog that is in that machine, and everybody is doing... We are, as a team... I cannot stress this enough. Some of the best in the business are doing what we do. And everyone is so wildly talented. And that's just us on the producing side. That's immersive everywhere, limited. Then I've got a whole other creative team. Then we've got operations. Then we've got... It's just mad. It's just mad, isn't it? This is a job. Who would have thought, when you were at school, this was an opportunity? Not my principal or my maths teacher.Neil Connolly: So, sorry, just to balance the kind of economies of scale. That was the question, wasn't it?Paul Marden: Well, we were talking about what is the formula for making that an investment, but you know, the authority here is the effort you've put in to do this feels high, but at the same time, you have to find this thing. There is a lot of investment that goes into the front.Neil Connolly: But that comes back to creatives. Caring and I'm not saying the creatives don't, but I care. I care about building businesses. Yeah, not necessarily like building my own CV, like there's so many projects that across our desks. I'll be like, 'Yeah, that'd be really fun to work on.' But do I think that I can make that a touring product? Can it be a long-running location-based entertainment sit-down product? Can it be an art shop? Like you've kind of got a balance with what do you think is just creatively cool versus what can we do as a company that is a commercially viable and financially stable product? And so all that comes through in terms of the creative, but also in terms of the activities of how we run the building, how this model realizes. Because if you think about it, let's make Phantom of the Opera run in the West End. Yes. The show is very obvious, with many casts on a room, away, fruit team away, terrace, it's a big activity. If they haven't sold half that away, they have to use the whole show and play all those people.Neil Connolly: But if they haven't sold half that away from one of my shows... I only have to activate four of my rooms, not eight of them. Therefore, I don't have to call in four actors. I don't have to call in a bunch of the other front of house team and I can scale in the operations on the back. It's an entirely scalable process. Flexible, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, 100%. But also, like, we've got eight rooms here. If we decide to take this to another territory, and that territory demands a much higher throughput, then instead of eight rooms, I can do 20 rooms, 30 rooms. As long as we know that the market is there to be able to kind of get people through it.Neil Connolly: I love this show and I'm so proud of it. The main reason why I'm proud of it is when the show finishes, let's go into one of the lounges. Have you been into one of the lounges?Paul Marden: I've had a nose around a lounge.Neil Connolly: There are different shapes and sizes. We won't go into that one. We'll go into this one down here. That one, that one. It's always such a buzz when you're stood in the bar and the shows kick out, and you see tables and tables of 14 people going up into the bar.Neil Connolly: Area and before they've even gotten a drink, they will run straight over to their friends, families, strangers, whoever they were playing with in that table of 14, and instantly be like, 'Right, I need to know everything that was going on inside your head, your heart, and your soul over the last two hours of my life because this was my experience.'Neil Connolly: And they'll just go, and they'll be like, 'And this is what I was thinking.' And then I thought it was you because you did this and you touched your nose in a weird way. And then I thought you were sending secret signals. And then everyone's like, 'No, that's not what I was doing.' I was just trying to be a normal person. And they were like, 'Well, why did you say that thing?' It sounded super weird. And they're like, 'That's just what I do.' And it's just totally mental. And then they all get a drink from the bar. And we call it the bar tab chat.Neil Connolly: It's another revenue stream.Neil Connolly: I do talk about this like it's a show. And it is a show. You've walked around, do you think it's a show? Completely. I talk to established houses all the time. Like, you know, the big theatres of the land. Organisations that are national portfolio organisations who receive a lot of Arts Council funding. The thing that they want to talk to us about all the time is new audiences. They're like, 'How do I get new audiences through my door?' What can I do? And I'm like, 'Well, firstly, make a show that people want to go and see.'Neil Connolly: Again, they're like, 'But I've got this amazing writer and he's a really big name and everyone's going to come because it's that name.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, that's wicked. That's cool.' And they can all go pay reverence to that person. That's really wonderful. Whereas when you look at the attractions landscape or the immersive theatre landscape or like anything like... Squid Game, or The Elvis, Evolution, or War of the Worlds, which has also laid reality, or any of that kind of stuff, across the landscape, it is nothing but new audiences. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is nothing but actual ticket-buying audiences.Neil Connolly: And they come from all different walks of life. And what I love is that they do come in to this experience and we hit them with this like secret theatre.Neil Connolly: And they're like, 'Oh my God.' And often it's a gateway to them being like, 'Oh, I didn't realise that.' Maybe I'll go see a Western show or maybe I will go to the National Theatre and see something. Because that's the level of archery. Because those organisations, I love them and I've worked in a few of them, but those buildings can be quite austere, even though they're open and porous, but it's still very difficult to walk through that threshold and feel a part of it.Paul Marden: Whereas coming in here, coming into an event like this, can feel like a thing that they do.Neil Connolly: Because it's the same demographic as theme park junkies. People who love going to theme parks love going to stuff like this because it's an experience, it's an otherness, it's an other nature kind of thing. Because modern audiences want to play and do, not sit and watch. But we all exist in the kind of same ecosystem. I'm not taking on the National Theatre.Paul Marden: Gosh, no. I always talk about that. I think the reason why so many attractions work together in the collaborative way that they do is they recognise that they're not competing with each other. They're competing with sitting on your backside and watching Netflix.Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah.Paul Marden: Our job for all of us is to drag people away from their screens and drag people off of their sofas to do something. And then that's the biggest challenge that we all face.Neil Connolly: I think then that kind of answers the question that you asked me earlier, which I didn't answer. And I'm very sorry.Neil Connolly: is about identifying different pieces of IP. Like, yes, we largely exist in the world of licensing IP. And how do we identify that kind of IP to be able to translate? Not just how do we do it, but like, actually, how do we identify the right thing that's going to... How do you spot the winner? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that is one of the biggest challenges to your point of we're talking directly to people who consume arts, culture and media and technology in a slightly more passive way, whether that's just at home and watching Netflix and then bringing that to life. In a very, very different way. If you have a very clear marketing campaign that tells people what it is that they're buying and what they're expected to see or do on their particular night out, because that's what modern people really care about, what they do with their money. Yeah. And they want to have a good night out. And I'm in the business of giving people a good night out. We also happen to be murdering a lot of people in the course of the show.Neil Connolly: Still a good night out. Still a good night out. But I'm in a place where the dead sit. Yeah, exactly. Lounge of the dead. And like, you know, this is a really cool space. Oh, it's just beautiful. You know, we've got the telephone really works. There's lots of information that comes through that. The radio works, that does different things. The TV screen on the wall, that has the actual live feed into the round table room that you've just left. And there's other little puzzles and hints and tricks in this room, which means that after you've been murdered or banished and you come to the Lounge of the Dead, you're still engaged with the game to a degree. You just don't directly influence the outcome of the game. But you're still involved in it. You're still involved in it. It's super fun. Oh, and you can have a drink in here.Paul Marden: I don't let people drink in the round table. Even more important. What's this?Neil Connolly: The dolls, the creepy dolls. What this is, this is the void. Creatively speaking, this is where all the gold goes when people win or lose it. And the creepy dolls are from the TV show. Ydyn nhw'r un gwirioneddol o'r sioe? Felly, gafodd studio Lambert, sy'n gwneud y sioe tebyg, llawer o brops o'r sioe tebyg i ni eu rhoi ar y ddispleiddio yma. Felly, mae gennych chi'r Dolls Creepy o'r lles 3 yno. Rydyn ni'n mynd i fyny. Yn ôl yma, mae'r peintiwch Deathmatch.Paul Marden: Which is from season three.Neil Connolly: And they get the quill and they write the names and got the quill upstairs. We've also got over here, the cards that they used to play the death match with. Excellent.Paul Marden: So you began your career in theatre. How did that evolve into the world of immersive live experiences?Neil Connolly: Life story. I am the son of a postman and a cook. And if you haven't noticed already, I'm from Ireland. There was no theatre in our lives, my life, when I was growing up. And I stumbled into a youth theatre. It's called Kildare Youth Theatre. And the reason why I joined that is because there was a girl that I really fancied.Neil Connolly: She had just joined this youth theatre and I was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna join that as well' and that kind of opened the world of theatre for me. At the same time, I then got spotted by this guy, his name's Vijay Baton, his real name's Om, but he converted to Hare Krishnanism in the 90s. And he set up a street theatre company in Ireland. He just taught me street theatre. So he taught me stilt walk, he taught me juggling, he taught me how to build puppets. And so I spent years building puppets with him and going around Ireland doing lots of different street theatre while I was a teenager. And doing street theatre and doing my youth theatre and then kind of all of that kind of came to a head when I had to decide what I was going to do with my life. I applied to go to drama school. And I applied to two drama schools. One was Radha. Didn't get in. Didn't even get an audition. And the other one was Rose Bruford. And they took me. And the reason why they took me— I probably wasn't even that good. But on the day that I was auditioning to get into Rose Bruford was the same day as my maths exam for my final exams at school. You call them your A-levels, we call them the leaving certificate.Neil Connolly: And while all of my friends were back in Ireland doing their maths exam, I was in an audition room pretending to be a tree or the colour black.Neil Connolly: Who knows? And they kind of went, 'Well, if I fail my maths exam, I don't get into university in Ireland.' Like, it's just a blanket thing. And so I was like, 'I literally sat across the panel' and I was like, 'eggs, basket.' And they were like, 'cool.' So they let me in based off of that. So I got a classical training. Then what happened is I came out of university. I was living with two of my friends, Natalie and Joe. And we had our own little production company called The Lab Collective. And we just started making shows. In weird ways, we joined a company called Theatre Delicatessen. Let's get away from this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Neil Connolly: So Theatre Deli was a company set up to take over disused spaces in London and convert them into art spaces.Neil Connolly: Basically legalised squatting. It's the same as like a guardianship. But we weren't living in the buildings. We were just putting on shows and we put on art shows, we put on theatre shows. We did Shakespeare for a while. We wrote our own work and we just did lots of really, really cool stuff. And I worked in music festivals, classically trained actor. So I was trying to do shows. I did a lot of devising. I also joined an improvisation group. And kind of through all that mix, like those years at Delhi, which was making these weird shows in these weird buildings, were very, very formative years for us. The Arts Council wouldn't support the kind of work that we were making. We were like, 'Cool, how do we get space?Neil Connolly: How do we get or make money to support ourselves? And what are the shows? There's the magic triangle all over again. Space, show, money. And that's your apprenticeship, I guess, that brings you to here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, again, I make no bones about it. 10 years ago, I was selling programs on the door of the Royal Festival Hall while doing all of that stuff. So in one of the Theatre Daily buildings, we did a show called Heist, which is you break into a building and steal stuff. That's what the public do.Neil Connolly: And a bunch of us did that. I mean, it's so much fun— kind of doing it. And off the back of that, somebody else basically tried to chase down the crystal maze. And then they went away, and then they called me up and they were like, 'Hey, I've got the rights. Do you want to make the crystal maze?' And I was like, 'Yeah, sounds like fun.' So I got involved with that, did that for a while. And then, from there, this is the end of a very long story. I'm so apologised. Yeah, from there, all of those different things that I've done through the course of my life in terms of operations, designing experiences, being a creative, understanding business.Neil Connolly: Building a P&L, building a budget, talking to investors, trying to convince them to give you money. All of that stuff kind of basically came together. And over the last few years, like the wildest ride is that pre-2020.Neil Connolly: We were just a bunch of people doing a bunch of weird things, making weird shows and weird attractions in kind of different ways. And then that year happened. And I don't know what happened, but literally every single major studio, film, TV production, game designer, licensor in the world, suddenly just went— brand extensions, world extensions, and they all just started calling us. And they were like, 'Hi, I've got this thing.' Can you develop it into a thing? Because I need to extend my brand or I want to build a world and extend that for the public. And we were like, 'Yeah, okay, cool.' And we were just lucky, serendipitously, to be in the right place at the right time. To be those people that people can approach. And we're always, we're very approachable.Neil Connolly: As you can tell, I talk a lot. And, you know, so the last five years, it's just been a mad ride.Paul Marden: So look, Neil, it's been amazing. I have had the most fun. Last question for you. What's next? Are you putting your feet up now because you finished this? Or on to the next? Neil Connolly: Very much on to the next thing. So we're already in production with our new show, which is called Peppa Pig Surprise Party. And that is opening at the Metro Centre in Gateshead next year. Oh, how exciting is that? It's very exciting.Paul Marden: So quite a different demographic.Neil Connolly: The demographic for Peppa Pig is two to five year olds. It's been a really fun show to design and create. To go back to a question that you asked me very early on, there is no blueprint, there is no format. I have embraced the chaos tattooed on my arm. And always when I approach things, any new show or any new creative, I am thinking of it from a ticket buying perspective: 'I have paid my money.' What is the coolest thing that I can possibly do with that money? And so therefore, I'm now looking at families and, like, what's the coolest thing that they can do for that ticket price in the world of Peppa Pig?Paul Marden: Let's come back in the new year, once you've opened Peppa Pig, let's go to Gateshead and see that. That sounds pretty awesome to me. I reckon there's a whole new episode of Designing Worlds for two to five-year-olds that we could fill an hour on.Neil Connolly: Oh yeah, 100%. It's a totally different beast. And super fun to design.Paul Marden: Oh mate. Neil, it has been so wonderful having a wander around the inside of your crazy mind.Paul Marden: If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like it and leave a comment in your podcast app. It really does make it so much easier for other people to find us. This episode was written by Emily Burrows from Plaster, edited by Steve Folland, and produced by Sami Entwistle from Plaster and Wenalyn Dionaldo. Thanks very much. See you next week.  The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by podcaster, author, musician and all round lovely human ADAM BUXTON!A home run of an episode right here as Pip checks in with original podcast homie Adam on all things! And it really is all things, but most pertinent at this moment in time is Adam's new album of full song material 'Buckle Up' - something he's been hinting at for ages on his own podcast (and we all hoped for, on the strength of the jingles), and now has its own home on Decca Records no less. A lot of lovely behind the scenes action on that, but Pip and Adam also check in on such items as the act of sharing with guests on a podcast, Werner Herzog's Zoom odyssey, clashes of guest bookings and the hierarchy of talent, the Clipse parallel, losing loved ones and authoring books, to honest or not to honest, taking people up on help offers, sitting with things and not avoiding them, major label biz, the genesis of songs (not the songs of Genesis), being the right side of annoying and playing your own music for folks. So much goodness and gems and all sorts on here, you're in the company of the pro's with this one - sit back and relax and enjoy. We love you. BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureADAM ONLINEBUCKLE UPOFFICIAL BUCKLE UP LABELPAGEROGER SCRUTON ("Boom goes the brainbox")SILVER JEWS ('American Water' - lovely album)GUIDED BY VOICES ('Alien Lanes' - classic)CALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Spike Lee, originally episode 225 from 2018-08-24.Original writeup below:While Spike is getting his promotion grind on for his new film BlacKkKlansman (which you should make efforts to see as it's just been released in the UK), he fit in some Pip time which is perfect as you know Pip is quite the cinephile! So this is a grand opportunity to get in some genuine directorial knowledge from a true long term veteran in the game. You will also witness a first in the Distraction Pieces Podcast as Spike lays down a “no comment” - more on that in the podcast! Ground covered includes how he's always been around and this isn't a return, how BlacKkKlansman wasn't planned and how Jordan Peele put the bug in his ear, the 70's look of the film while being contemporary, the natural humour in the film and how it derives from such a wild premise, the importance of music, how the director of photography needs to be in sync with the director, giving actors their debuts, rolling with the changes in cinema and establishing himself as the Spike Lee of all Spike Lee Joints! A huge episode. You will enjoy. It's fair to say this is a Spike Lee Joint.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBINSTAGRAMHIGHEST 2 LOWESTDO THE RIGHT THINGCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the bold and awesome director JUSTIN TIPPING!Maybe here and there you've heard rumblings not unlike the ones Pip cites up top on the intro, but in a time when creativity can even be treated and regarded as a rebellious and awesomely unique act, you can also take said rumblings with a pinch of salt and just engage in some powerful cinematic moments. This could be the suggested move with Him, Justin's new movie made with Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, which sounds like a very beautiful piece of thrilling sport-centred action.Expect to hear Justin touch on such menu items as being cautious of dropping the ball (pun intended) with Monkeypaw, the consideration of budgets, how different the reception is to his other projects and the undertones within some of those (many lines in which to read between...), the importance of visual style, lookbooks, intesive training for everyone's sake (including SFX), and working with comic actors. So much in not a huge amount of time. A wonderful chat - forget the noise out there, just jump in for heck's sake. PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureHIM IMDBHIM TRAILERONLINEKICKS TRAILERCALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Stephen Graham, originally episode 87 from 2016-03-09.Original writeup below:Not one, not two, but THREE welcomes upon you as standard to episode 87 of the Distraction Pieces Podcast, with Kirby's own cinema superstar Mr Stephen Graham! Full on good time chatter goodness from Pip and Stephen as they get along like old pals (with one very important thing in common - no spoilers here yo, you'll find out), and we glean much from Stephen's diverse acting career. From his beginnings as a self proclaimed scally out on the streets to his acting school progressions right up to his well earned and crazy great roles in some gigantic cinema smashes like Snatch, Pirates Of The Caribbean, This Is England and starring in the massive Boardwalk Empire as none other than Al Capone. AND starring alongside our very own Pip too in the forthcoming 'Taboo'! A lovely chat, with a lovely guy. Distract yerself fully with this one folks.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureADOLESCENCEIMDBBOILING POINTTHE VIRTUESCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the wonderful multi talent CHRISTOPHER CHUNG!An ultra inspiring chat featuring the insanely talented Christopher, in a catchup with Pip which goes all across the timeline from the wayback early days to what's coming ahead. He's had a full on action packed journey from his origins in Australia to where he currently finds himself, and there are tons of points where forks in the road presented themselves and could have led to an entirely different life. Thankfull he stayed on track and we all now have some amazing work as a result! From early day singing, making his was to the UK via acting, working alongside national treasure Gary Oldman (and Kathy Burke at one point), meeting his wife in a stage production, playing against 'nerd' stereotypes and so much more, this is one for the appreciators but if you have never seen or heard Christopher before, this will 100% kickstart your new appreciation.SPOILER-ISH SLOW HORSES chat around 37 minutes in if you've just started - a couple of references to seasons 2 and 4, just so you know. Nothing too heavy - merely letting you know.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureINSTAGRAMIMDBSLOW HORSES SEASON 5 TRAILERCALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Mae Martin, originally episode 314 from 2020-02-26.Original writeup below:A tremendous meetup of Pip and Mae, and dare I say a long overdue one at that… You'll get to hear all about Mae in the greater scale and sense, from back in the day to… now… in the day…? Yeah that sounds fine to me… But yeah, everything from then to now, including what they are doing THIS VERY MOMENT, and by that of course I mean starring in the simultaneously hilariously funny and brutally honest Feel Good, which looks set to blow up worldwide. So expect to hear it all from how to view the series (best served binged), the weirdness of editing trailers, getting the correct audience, Canada (Oh Canada), the process of getting a set together, Mae the character and Mae the person, sex scenes and writing a proudly LGBT show, humanising addition, the casting process, digging deep into personal history and the transition from Canada to London but SO MUCH MORE of course. Folks, your new best friend, Mae Martin!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureHANDSOME PODCASTIMDBWAYWARDFEEL GOODCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the Hardcore Listing homie and everyday life homie CHRIS GLASSEN!You might have heard the pre-show shouts from Pip over the past few weeks, regarding a tie-in with CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). CALM are trying to raise funds to maintain their literally life-saving service, a service which aims to help people end misery, not their lives. You'll likely have heard Pip and Chris refer to their dearly departed friend Jay, a friend whose legacy lives on and - as you'll always hear - is celebrated in the spirit of the relationship Pip and Chris (and Stu) have. Fun, mischievous, but built on a foundation of love and admiration.With the 'Staylists' which you might have heard before some episodes lately, the aim is to present various awesome things that are basically worth staying around for. You're listening to a podcast hosted by someone who has dedicated his life to arts and culture, and so it makes sense that these elements are immensely important to the daily processing of life and what it brings. The heavy times, the lighter moments, all of it. So here, Pip and Chris deliver a powerful setlist of cool things that Jay would have loved over the past 20+ years he hasn't been here.This isn't something you get on every podcast, this is a unique blend of two people combing through fun and funny times, grief, emotion, and all the while involving us all in the convo while also giving us some solid recommendations. If it isn't clear in the above, it is a very fun episode! Just good to know what the background is before you jump in. If you're not in a zone right now for references to grief and death, we've got back catalogue for days - and if you're affected personally by these issues, hit up CALM, and Samaritans are also right there if you need them. Love to you all XXXCALM main linkCALM donate linkSAMARITANSPIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Karl Pilkington, originally episode 306 from 2020-01-08.Original writeup below:While some see Karl as the grumpy one of the original podcast trio consisting of him, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, as you will hear in this podcast right here - it wasn't necessarily grumpiness. Nor was it disinterest. Karl was looking through the world through a different prism, and certainly a prism of which we should all have a go at experiencing. It's really nice hearing him get around ideas at leisure and with Pip (and us) as a sounding board, and definitely a really cool way of sharing the worldview of one of the more fascinating characters in the cast of podcasts, series and media in general. The two get into it all, from the origins of podcasting (kind of beginning with the Gervais one of course), to his thoughts on the promo run, to confidence, last minute tinkering, being a fan of real life and the fine line between that and comedy, ponderings on having children, the XFM days, being rubbed the wrong way by Ricky, his genuine curiosity, working on Derek, people being over familiar and a charming spider story to round it off. Brilliant. Enjoy! PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBYOUTUBEWIKIBITSCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the legendary comic MARK STEEL!It's entirely likely you'll have been listening to and watching the work of Mark for decades now - he's been hard at work for a minute, and the fanbase is strong indeed. As you'll hear, Pip's been on board for years, starting with the Mark Steel Lectures. Here we have a really lovely catchup with these two as Mark leads the way through his past and present, and as with so much in life, it's a potent mix of all angles. Presently we find Mark having recently battled throat cancer, which as you can imagine features as a big topic here - something which no doubt Mark is still processing and recovering from. On that note, it could be advised that Mark doesn't hold back on some details (neither should he), so just mentioning that for those who might appreciate the alert. But it's also pretty incredible that not only do we get to hear about what happened in the past tense, we get to hear it through Mark himself, as even talking as a way of communicating was a difficult thing to weave around. All that said - he is a comic, so there's a huge amount of fun and laughter and the whole episode is a real joy (and TONS of random facts. Catch him on the road, the schedule is packed...PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEIMDBMARK STEEL LECTURESCALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Lolly Adefope, originally episode 254 from 2019-02-20.Original writeup below:...what better way to begin than by Pip dreaming of Lolly the previous night? All shall be revealed and certainly not spoiled here that's for sure… Some real wisdom and experience here from Lolly, as she relates all kind of aspects and perspectives from her career, including her recent Twitter controversy (or ‘Tweetstorm' if we're going to adopt the parlance of the time), her epic journey to the US and how that all took place, the joy of craft services (would that one day we may all experience such a joy), how she actually couldn't live in the US, how her career trajectory changed after Edinburgh, Fringe experiences, and her Taskmaster run, among other things! You know what it is… Download, enjoy, and bask in Lolly's inspiring and positive glow. A goody this week, people…PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureINSTAGRAMIMDBTHE FRANCHISESHRILLGHOSTSCALM main linkCALM donate linkDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by Hip Hop legend GRANDMASTER FLASH!Y'say... Y'say... Y'say / y'say / y'say (etc) and if you're not carrying that scratch sentence on in your head you have some SERIOUS homework to do. We flashback to the 20-teens to the era of the Beatdown radio show, Pip's XFM show which centred around (but not exclusively) rap and Hip Hop music. Pip had some stone cold legends guesting on there, as you will have heard on some previous flashback episodes, but THIS flashback is the Grandmaster Flashback of all of em. Flash has retained the pure enthusiasm and excitement you would hope for in a DJ and crate digging legend, and enthusiasm which radiates easily and - speaking as a DJ myself (this is producer Buddy typing) - makes me want to just grab an armful of records and hop on the turntables. It's just that pure fun mixed with discovery but entirely fueled by funk and straight up musical greatness. Although as you'll hear, Flash does speak like a true old skool DJ skipping through the 'wack parts' and heading straight to the break. You have to imagine how insanely brilliant that feeling must have been back then, when people just didn't know what these breaks and now classics were, and he even goes into the old trick of hot-watering the labels off and replacing em with dud labels to throw other DJs off the scent. It's hard to retain that mystery these days but back then it was just so different. Anyway - a beautiful snapshot of a truly crucial time in Hip Hop, a part of the genesis of what we know it as now. Whether you like it or acknowledge it or not, this is where it started. Lesson's started, yer late!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureHOW TO DO A BREAK MIX (1983)YOUTUBEHEAVY BREAK SESSIONONLINECALM main linkCALM donate linkSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Wes Borland, originally episode 25 from 2015-03-18.A very cool early episode featuring the guitarist of Limp Bizkit and many other groups besides. This was about 6 months into the evolution of Distraction Pieces so it's one of those time capsule episodes which are great for those who missed it first time, or just want to hear an episode from someone they might even usually miss out on. With so many guests on so many different shows, some might get lost in the shuffle from time to time, and also some folks might have gotten into Limp Bizkit for instance in the past 5 years! So what better way to look back at a great time than by jumping in on the Rewind episode... Enjoy.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureINSTAGRAMDISCOGSDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by long term groupmate and music making legend DAN LE SAC!Together of course, they form Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip though - a duo name of which you will be abundantly familiar. To celebrate the release of their 'Live In Places' live recordings compendium and physical release, Dan and Pip met up in physical form to talk about all things past, present and future in equal balance. It's not a stream of "Do you remember that time..." either, it goes way beyond that but expect some expert tangent taking though! So much life has happened since they got together to make their first releases, and since locking in on their individual paths, there have been huge departures from as well as continuations into what came before. It's lovely that all is amicable and supportive and while, as said in the episode title to quote Uncle LL Cool J, it is not a comeback (they been here for years), it is a reunion of sorts and a truly delightful one at that. Enjoy these two in conversation and go cop that live album too, what are you doing?! Get it!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureLIVE IN PLACESDAN LE SAC BANDCAMPDAN'S TRON SOUNDTRACK WORKSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Ashley Walters, originally episode 317 from 2020-03-18.Original writeup below:Okay - in case you don't recognise that name right there immediately, let's bring you up to speed. ASHER D FROM SO SOLID. Ring a bell? DUSHANE FROM TOP BOY! Getting through yet? RICKY FROM BULLETPROOF? Don't make me get all Biff from Back To The Future and knock on your head to make sure you're on the same page… Anyway - it's Ashley Walters! A fascinating chat and as with a lot of Distraction Pieces episodes, one that feels like it's been on the cards for a minute. The two get down to it and cover it all from getting in shape and being more mindful re: bodies, representation and the path to Bulletproof, working with Noel Clarke and becoming his pal, working with Carol Jackson from Eastenders (sorry, Lindsey Coulson), being multi-disciplined from a young age, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, time spent in prison and lessons learned on release, Top Boy, So Solid, all that good stuff and TOO MUCH to fit into a write up here. You'll love it. GO IN!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBADOLESCENCETOP BOYDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by hilarious comic and now author RHYS JAMES!An immediately bubbly and scattered catchup with Pip and Rhys, as they transmit in podcast-time from Rhys's equivalent of what Adam Buxton refers to as his 'nutty room'. On top of all things book related, centring around his very new 'You'll Like It When You Get There', he and Pip check in on many and much including house layouts and room purposes (where IS the best spot for a shower?), being a hygeine guy, "come and say hello", comedy specials and the wide world within, the joy of a canceled plan, the tightrope of too much or too little in the audiobook space, speed of standup performance relative to himself, and as said, a good amount of book chat. It's of course fascinating to hear about the process and how everything forms and shapes, so even if you're unfamiliar with Rhys you'll likely get a huge amount from the "tech talk" and behind the scenes biz. Enjoy!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEYOUTUBEYOU'LL LIKE IT WHEN YOU GET THERESPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Kaitlyn Dever, originally episode 475 from 2022-09-21.Original writeup below:If you are unaware of Kaitlyn in your adventures through the wide world of broadcast media, prepare to make fast friends with a true great, and an absolute gem of a person at that. Kaitlyn's been putting down serious moves since childhood, including a Shakespeare stint at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts for those pondering), and her filmography is stellar - ranging from Justified, to Dopesick, to Unbelievable, and more recently Ticket To Paradise (starring alongside Julia Roberts and George Clooney, where the cinema screen actually cracks midway through from so much gorgeous). This is a lovely chat, properly engaging and it's such a treat to hear Kaitlyn's story. OH and as Pip hints at in the intro, prepare for a Kaitlyn fact that will blow yer mind. She casually peppers it in there but thankfully Pip mashes on the brakes and reverses and double takes seamlessly. Enjoy! You shall!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBTHE LAST OF USINSTAGRAMTWITTERTICKET TO PARADISEJUSTIFIEDDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the incredible actor XELIA MENDES-JONES!Such a great episode as Pip and Xelia catch up over everything involved with life on and off screen (I mean, mainly on-screen - but there's huge amounts on both sides). Xelia has led a unique journey from an initially very promising start in football right up to getting self-tape auditions sent out and landing some major roles in the process. Of course, you'll hear about the whole journey and a ton elsewhere too, as Xelia has a lot to report from said off-screen environments including navigating their path as a trans person. So much to enjoy and discover and Xelia's awesome company. You'll love this one...PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBFALLOUTTHE WHEEL OF TIMEHAVOCINSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Stewart Lee, originally episode 15 from 2015-01-21.A VERY early episode from the back catalogue but one that is hugely important in the DPP canon. This episode is refered to to this very day, and has remained a firm favourite of you all, the DPP crew. Those of you who have heard it, of course. Something similar happened on Marc Maron's WTF podcast when Stewart Lee guested on there all those years ago - it still comes up. So here's a perfect chance to catch up with an amazing comedy mind, essential listening for those who enjoy this podcast and want to hear one of the earlier moments that helped shape the show of the future, and always interesting to hear how different the world was back then.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINE (the most comprehensive resource for anything Stewart related!)DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the glorious actor MICHAEL SOCHA! Part 2 of 2!Drop right into this really lovely chat with Michael and Pip, who previously chatted in podcast form all them years back in 2016! Verging on a decade. Time marches on doesn't it. It's lovely to hear from Michael this time around with so much passed, but it isn't just re-call from that time, and catching up on those years. It's a typically wide-ranging conversation spread over two parts, bringing in so much of the acting world but also the various bits and pieces that inform the acting world and work within it. In the mix you can hear about such items as the good old self tape versus in-the-room debate, giving and receiving advice, the opposing and contradictory ends of the spiritual spectrum, trust, workshopping, Shane Meadows and some real nice wrestling analogies. But so much more, as you can tell by the simple fact that this is a two parter. So go in! Enjoy! Of course you will.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureTHE GALLOWS POLEWHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRLTOXIC TOWNIMDBSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the glorious actor MICHAEL SOCHA! Part 1 of 2!Drop right into this really lovely chat with Michael and Pip, who previously chatted in podcast form all them years back in 2016! Verging on a decade. Time marches on doesn't it. It's lovely to hear from Michael this time around with so much passed, but it isn't just re-call from that time, and catching up on those years. It's a typically wide-ranging conversation spread over two parts, bringing in so much of the acting world but also the various bits and pieces that inform the acting world and work within it. In the mix you can hear about such items as the good old self tape versus in-the-room debate, giving and receiving advice, the opposing and contradictory ends of the spiritual spectrum, trust, workshopping, Shane Meadows and some real nice wrestling analogies. But so much more, as you can tell by the simple fact that this is a two parter. So go in! Enjoy! Of course you will.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureTHE GALLOWS POLEWHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRLTOXIC TOWNIMDBSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Louis Theroux, originally episode 289 from 2019-09-25.Original writeup below:The conversation starts right up top with pseudonyms and nom-de-plumes the moment Louis joins Pip, and things don't let up from there - Pip and Louis cover much ground in an hour which slips by gently and easily, covering Louis' love of golden age hip hop and early wishes to be a rapper, the early days of being mates with Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish and trading tapes with Buckles, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Welsh prog, listening to podcasts on his bike, his ‘curiosity before judgement' approach, family life and focus, getting involved with the subjects on his old shows, his early days at TV Nation, asking the obvious questions, differences and benefits of working with a crew or solo, the fallout of the infamous Jimmy Saville episode, the existential byproduct of writing, that glorious episode of the Adam Buxton podcast and generally seeing friends doing well. Awesome from beginning to end, enjoy!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEIMDBBBC PAGEDAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP BANDCAMPPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by fabulous actor LAUREN LYLE!A perfect piece of acting-focused chat but of course, not limited to...! Lauren is a very welcome guest, who has been on a proper mission on her way to securing bigger roles and ones that would find those huge audiences. From her artistic origins, spending time in New Zealand and putting in work in various disciplines back in the day, to the real machine work of getting more and more roles which ultimately led to the point at which we find Lauren today! Of course, there are the universal and familiar issues of comparison (unfortunately inevitable in areas of the acting world), but also revelations to do with community, finding and asking for help, swimming, the hidden positive aspects of breakups, and also - speaking of revelations - Pip casually throws one in there around halfway in which you don't want to miss so stick around for that nugget! Awesome goodness here, join in, and if you haven't seen Outlander or Karen Pirie yet, by all means listen first and then go find 'em.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBINSTAGRAMKAREN PIRIEOUTLANDERTHE OUTRUNSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Kelly Marcel, originally episode 147 from 2017-04-19.Original writeup below:This week your host Scroobius Pip is joined by none other than his old pal and script/screenwriter Kelly Marcel! A crazy story right here which Kelly unfolds for you, not before she relays how she rescued a fearless but accident prone squirrel and nursed it back to bitey and aggro health... From her days back in the book corner at school (a punishment area, not for recreation) up to her days in the video store hanging with a then fairly green Tom Hardy, and her reasons for ending up there which involved a not so supportive school system, hear how she became a full on fully qualified silver screen smash through various acting jobs (of COURSE The Bill is involved!), up to her crossing paths with the director of all directors himself Stephen Spielberg. (original write-up got cut off halfway over years of platform alterations but you get the point - it's a great episode...!)PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBSAVING MR BANKSVENOM: THE LAST DANCECRUELLAPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by Leeds acting legend RALPH INESON!We join Ralph in that limbo state of him being wrapped on a film but us, the public, having not yet seen it (at time of broadcast) - but playing the role of Galactus must be quite a trip, and certainly quite a height to come back down to Earth from. Thankfully Ralph is a delightful blend of proud but also humble, and we get to hear a perfect collage of tales from his career. From the early days of wokring as security to being a teacher and then - with echoes of Ed Skrein's past mantra - someone saying "Why the f•ck not?" in regards to whether or not he should give acting a shot... We also get to hear about the conflicts of playing, or maybe rather being associated with 'Finchy' from The Office, the strangeness of being part of the MCU which already has a very dedicated fanbase, and his 25 year old son leading the bootcamp for him in the MCU too. There's also the uniquely strange experience of playing Galactus and how that whole thing worked - but this is all for you to enjoy...! As well as Ralph's unmistakeable voice.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBINSTAGRAMFANTASTIC FOURTHE GREEN KNIGHTFINCHYSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Vicky McClure, originally episode 187 from 2018-01-31.Original writeup below:Surely you will have seen Vicky's acting greatness on the big and small screen, having a HUGE part to play in the filmography of the legend Shane Meadows in films such as A Room For Romeo Brass, This Is England and the series of which the film spawned (as ‘Lol'), but if not you will most definitely be catching up after this chat with Pip, as she goes all the way into the archives, back to her days in the acting workshop where she honed her craft and improvisational skills (which would be vital in her later roles), Nottingham days, her very realistic and sobering view on her own acting profession which is very refreshing to hear, a TON of fascinating behind the scenes science on the Meadows method and the deep connection between director, cast, and overall end product, and her own collaboration with fashion label Finery. An all round podcast of pure perfection, so set aside some time and enjoy every moment. You shall.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBINSTAGRAMTHIS IS ENGLANDINSOMNIAPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by actor and comic HARRY TREVALDWYN!A wonderful episode which is a joyous celebration of all things actorial, but certainly not limited to... Harry and Pip have shared screen time by way of The Acolyte (albeit in very different roles) aka the wokest Star Wars ever, but Harry's world has been on a beautiful path throughout. From early days of the pandemic working on The Bubble (a Judd Apatow joint), right up to most recently How To Train Your Dragon, and the release of his new book 'The Romantic Tragedies Of A Drama King', there's so much happening and now is a great time to catch him. And who better to catch him than Pip. Lovely stuff - make sure you check Harry's work!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBTRANSACTIONTHE ROMANTIC TRAGEDIES OF A DRAMA KINGHOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGONTHE BUBBLETHE ACOLYTESPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Joe Gilgun, originally episode 284 from 2019-08-21.Original writeup below:Indeed - this is the week, people. Pip's been hyping it up for a while now, rightfully so, as Joe is an awesome guest who fits right in like hands to a pair of gloves. And boy howdy do Pip and Joe get into it all… From his appearances on the brilliant Two Shot Podcast, to his own dealing with bipolar (including the importance of having characters who deal with the condition but not as their only character asset), not being the condition you have, working with the powerful Shane Meadows and the many actors under his expansive wings, his bipolar purchase decisions (including parrots and many, many pairs of trainers), living in a derelict house in the woods, social media and its many pitfalls including reasons for him to not use it, all his acting work from Corrie to Brassic and all in between, the lush countryside of the Midlands, being a ‘tall poppy' - the one who isn't allowed to get above his station back in the days, learning words through context clues, learning the hard way with a strict teacher, the freedom of taking ideas to Sky, and dealing with memory problems. Yes it's rammed. Yes you'll enjoy it. GO IN!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEIMDBBRASSICPREACHERPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by a full assortment of UK spoken word and poetry excellence - KAE TEMPEST, POLARBEAR, HOLLIE MCNISH, MUSA OKWONGA & JODI ANN BICKLEY!Listeners who got on board in more recent years might not be aware of the incredible XFM radio show that Pip used to host called 'The Beatdown'. It was totally essential listening for those with even a passing interest in Hip Hop and Rap and spoken word poetry, and if those were your chose specialist subjects, you would be spoiled by the riches contained within each episode. Interviews, special themed segments, live recordings, spoken word and poetry, it was all in there. This is producer Buddy typing and I was even a guest at one point, which was a true delight (and a rare treat to see Pip operating the set in real time).Here is a collection of some classic moments from the shows, which all pre-date the Distraction Pieces Podcast mind you, where Pip gets in full interview mode and gets some marvellous results from the guests.Here are some timecodes if you want them but do peep the whole ep in full, it's a total treat:Kae Tempest • 3m 20sPolarbear • 19m 51sHollie McNish • 27m 42sMusa Okwonga • 33m 10sJodi Ann Bickley • 54m 49sLovely stuff, a really great chance to hear some long lost treaures!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Bob Vylan, originally episode 561 from 2024-03-27.Original writeup below:Speaking of rays of light, the Bobby Vylan album 'Humble As The Sun' comes out on April 5th, so keep that on your agenda. As you know with Distraction Pieces and the work Pip does / has done, the conversations usually dip in and out of music and acting (but not limited too, of course) - and this week, we have a wonderful chat with Bobby of the band of the same name, which goes into the music but also into the very soil from which the music comes... The physical, political and mental landscape, the world around us, and where we're all going. A fascinating conversation which will be of immediate interest to BV fans but also anyone and everyone who is yet to become acquainted. And for those folks, this is the perfect way in. ENJOY!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureBBC ARTICLE in case you want to have a lookDISCOGSONLINEINSTAGRAMMANY LINKSPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by national treasure, showrunner, comic and musician JORDAN GRAY!Pip and Jordan have been pals for a lot of years, and many of you will likely have heard Jordan appear on this very podcast since the 20-teens. The first episode was a pivotal one which is often refered back to with a number of teachable moments that echoed over the years, but whatever your perspective - Jordan's been putting in the work creatively, socially and mentally. With her Edinburgh Fringe show 'Is That A Cock In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Here To Kill Me' featuring this year, and the hit show 'Transaction' on TV, things are looking lovely - but as you'll hear, this stuff doesn't just happen. You knew that of course. But for real - it is a grind. She and Pip expound on such items as memories and place, compartmentalising, PR glow ups, prepping and ironing out a show, gauging audience temperatures, death threats, the good old toilet debate, the difficult world of Harry Potter, and many such ports of call - but all with a strength and positivity that is hard to not be influenced by. ENJOY!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureJORDAN GRAY (new show)TRANSACTIONATTITUDE ARTICLEIS IT A BIRDSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Goldie, originally episode 156 from 2017-06-21.Original writeup below:A proper filfy drum n' bass banger right here this week too as Pip is joined FINALLY after a long bout of scheduling and planning by the one and only, the Metalhead himself, the UK's national drum & bass treasure - Goldie! "The barbarians from within will raise their heads and rise the deities..." ...and that's one single quote from this absolutely ram packed and intense juggernaught rollercoaster of an episode, as Pip white-knuckles the railing and hold on for dear life as the whirlwind rolls through town and demolishes all in its path! The whirlwind being Goldie, that is. I'm sure you gathered that. Finding his home out in Phuket these days, the path has been rocky, full on, winding and incredible and Goldie has lived through it all - the raves, the graf days out in the Bronx, early days of techno, being a household name in what they used to call 'intelligent drum & bass' with his smash hit 'Inner City Life', a rugged divorce, heavy personal life events including the passing of his mother, and every single second underpinned by his unending appetite for his craft and music making. A fantastic and thrilling ride of an episode, which will make you want to dig out the back catalogue and reminisce over the past while waiting for his new album 'The Journey Man' to download... As Goldie put it himself; "There are no full stops in my life... At all..." Oh and wait for the American and German accents later on. Blimey.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureDISCOGSONLINEINSTAGRAMMANY LINKSPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the UK film titan in town on business for 28 Years Later, it's DANNY BOYLE!An immense amount of cinematic greatness can be packed into a smaller episode, as you shall witness with this awesome episode with Danny. This was recorded as part of the Converstions @ Curzon series, where the best of the best film folk get to chat about the craft in a perfect environment for such conversations. As you can hear Danny is always great for a film talk, and even though up against the clock, it was enough to get into some proper good ground relating to output, theory and general approach. He and Pip also check in on cinema seating and the specifics, the effect of sound on an audience and working with sonic layers, working with Young Fathers, the changing image of horror, funding for films, the idea of cultural stasis in the time of the original 28 Days Later, and handing over the reins for the third iteration. Told you it was a lot for a shorter run time... Go in on this!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureCURZON YOUTUBEDANNY • DPP #27628 YEARS LATERSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Kwno, originally episode 288 from 2019-09-18.Original writeup below!A really fun and engaging sit-down with the two, as Pip catches Kano in the midst of a promo run which leads us nicely into the whole thing - from the cycle beginning and ending (and then beginning again), his time served at the notorious Deja Vu station back in the day, teaming up with Mike Skinner and the inspiration Mike had on his live shows (along with dancehall culture in Jamaica), his brother getting him into DJing and emceeing, roots beyond grime, not being scared of ‘off' days, getting in the zone in the studio, being tuned into society and understanding the mechanics of it, speaking truth to power, addressing problems on wax, conversations through music, importance of sport and non musical activities, being in a computer game, going HAM on his fourth callback for Top Boy, practice making perfect and rehearsing for his Royal Albert Hall show! Pop ten bottles of escapism for this one - get very involved!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureKANO on TWITTERKANO on THE INTERNETHOODIES ALL SUMMERTOP BOY on NETFLIXPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by a long awaited guest and general acting legend, DOMHNALL GLEESON!Business first - if Percy Pigs want to come through and sponsor the podcast we're all on board (you're welcome Percy for the free plug btw

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with James McAvoy, originally episode 133 from 2017-01-18.Original writeup below!A true smash of an episode right here as we welcome aboard the man with many faces, James McAvoy! Pip was able to snag some time with the warm and inviting Glasgow heavyweight to get in deep about his new film 'Split', directed by M Night Shyamalan, which is released on January 20th. The film concerns a main character with 'DID' (Dissociative Identity Disorder), played by James, who has an internal cast of around 23 personalities which we see rotate throughout the film. Surely an epic undertaking for any actor, and James breaks down his experience and how he approached this huge role. We hear how his past drama school days informed his outlook on his profession and how it can assist any actor's career, the film industry in general and Scotland's part in it, his acting past and in general, much science overall!...PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by the nicest Hip Hop cast you could assemble in one place - CHILDISH GAMBINO, RUN THE JEWELS, DANNY BROWN, OPEN MIKE EAGLE & JEAN GRAE!Note: you might hear a different episode number in the intro - pay no mind - this is episode 622! ✌️Listeners who got on board in more recent years might not be aware of the incredible XFM radio show that Pip used to host called 'The Beatdown'. It was totally essential listening for those with even a passing interest in Hip Hop and Rap, and if those were your chose specialist subjects, you would be spoiled by the riches contained within each episode. Interviews, special themed segments, live recordings, spoken word and poetry, it was all in there. This is producer Buddy typing and I was even a guest at one point, which was a true delight (and a rare treat to see Pip operating the set in real time).Here is a collection of some classic moments from the shows, which all pre-date the Distraction Pieces Podcast mind you, where Pip gets in full interview mode and gets some marvellous results from the guests.Here are some timecodes if you want them but do peep the whole ep in full, it's a total treat:Childish Gambino • 4m 17sRun The Jewels • 13m 25sDanny Brown • 29m 41sOpen Mike Eagle • 38m 15s (phone interview)Jean Grae • 52m 33s (phone interview)Lovely stuff, a really great chance to hear some long lost treaures!PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Killer Mike, originally episode 12 from 2014-12-31.One from the pre-teen episodes of the podcast, around 600 or so ago now... Imagine... Killer Mike's been on the scene and in people's minds and ears LONG before Run The Jewels, but for those that discovered him through RTJ, a world of dopeness awaited them. This early days and early hours chat with Pip and Mike contained everything to love about Mike and his music, someone who delivers thoughts and ideas with confidence and power, with a clear love and respect for those in his world and circles. At time of publshing, this one's 11 or so years old now but still holds weight. Enjoy. And peep the music whatever you do.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEINSTAGRAMRTJ ONLINERTJ IGPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by a total giant in media and creation, it's RENAY RICHARDSON!Renay's been hard at work in so many ways and in so many areas of the game, and for such a long time, this is one of those episodes where a choice of lanes must be made, lest the conversation become unweildy and impossible to finish... She's also been a very big piece of the Distraction Pieces puzzle at the very beginning of the road so will always get props for that. This is an ace conversation which, as said, darts around willfully and for everyone's benefit as there's a huge amount to enjoy and get stuck into. Included among the darting is the old chestnut of Zoom recording and contending with that as opposed to the face to face, the many varied methods of becoming a parent and the difficulties for single women to adopt, starting early with instilling lessons in kids, time spent at The BRIT School, critical thinking when it comes to podcasts, and not getting everything from the same place. Saying all this though - high up on the list is the book Renay wrote with Arisa Loomba called 'Human Resources - Slavery and the Making of Modern Britain' - and best believe that gets a good talking about too. Proper fascinating and very very crucial listening here, get yourself involved.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureHUMAN RESOURCES bookINTERVIEW RE: BROCCOLI PRODUCTIONSINSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Ron Perlman, originally episode 262 from 2019-04-10.Original writeup below:–––––––––––––––––––––––––“…The artform is being preserved by people who are living on the fringes…”Even the post-Friday night spirits of London Town can't keep Ron down, as he joins Pip outside on a Saturday morning for a wonderful talk on all things film, be it behind the scenes, the acting process or the studio side. Ron has gems galore to offer from a very experienced vantage point in the acting game, having been doing just about the most solid job in the profession since his days in school, and you'll hear it all in very down to earth and real (occasionally wry and sly) style, from his family's drumming history, his lucky break auditioning at a young age, being scared away from the stage by the film process, glorious analogies, the lack of ‘foreplay' in modern viewing, the marvel of modern day TV in every aspect, how ‘The Shield' gave permission for so much in current TV, Sons Of Anarchy and the finding of is audience as well as navigating tricky relationship terrain in and around it, the perils of one-upmanship on set, the family ties of being in a series so long, the wonder of working with Guillermo Del Toro and how Toro fought his corner for 7 years in getting him the part of Hellboy, egoless collaboration, and - most importantly - was Ron responsible for bringing Bros back together? FIND OUT! A true pleasure. Enjoy this one folks.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureIMDBPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by one of the greats... it's BENICIO DEL TORO!"I'm a FAN!" proclaims Benicio at various points in this lovely catch up with Pip, and it's so heartening to hear. Not that anyone ever expected him to be anything less than awesome, but this is actually quite a rare appearance from someone evidently beloved by those involved in cinema and those who view the films alike. While a quick Google search will bring up a bunch of films he's been in and you wlll love, you could just do an old fashioned analogue mind search and come up with something equally quick, as everyone will have one. BDT is in town and on the promo trail for the new Wes Anderson joint 'The Phoenician Scheme' in which he plays a major role, but during this episode you'll also hear about that road up to it including everything along the way. How he fit so much into such a short time here we'll never know, but rest assured you'll have a fine time enjoying and discovering his past lives along the actorial path. A real treat, you already KNOW this is gonna be an awesome episode.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureTHE PHOENICIAN SCHEMESICARIOUSUAL SUSPECTSIMDBSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Paloma Faith, originally episode 184 from 2018-01-17.Original writeup below:–––––––––––––––––––––––––A long, long overdue guest on the podcast, as Pip has been pals with Paloma for a good decade or so (their friendship kicked off on the video for ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped'), but it isn't just mates reminiscing and going over the good old times… It's a fascinating and honest chat about her humble beginnings and stage antics back in the day, being a number one album selling artist and how un-phased she is by the stardom of it all (which leads into some very open and awesome tangents on fame in general and the weirdness of it all and how it's not for everyone), a good amount of political chat and how politics needs to evolve, and of course Paloma's newborn baby child! As stated, it's open and honest, and generally hugely inspiring and positive - you'll feel Paloma's sunny rays all over you long after the podcast is over…PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureONLINEIMDBPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITTERPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!This week Pip is joined by absolute Irish acting royalty SIMONE KIRBY!A rare treat here with the wonderful Simone catching up and checking in with Pip, in a celebration of so much of what makes the performances we see what they are. Simone's been putting in work on the stage and screen for a minute, and you will have surely witnessed her greatness in such projects as the ones in the episode title (and a cursory glance on IMDB), but it's always a valuable gift to hear about the life behind the lines. From growing up in County Clare and her origin story, to making it through the ranks of the acting path, as well as what a future in theatre could have looked like, moving to London, working with her husband and child, and an audition concluding with a simple note to tone down the Bond. How about that. Enjoy Simone, and catch up with the shows and projects she's involved in.PIP'S PATREON PAGE if you're of a supporting natureNOTES ON BLINDNESSPEAKY BLINDERSCALM WITH HORSESHIS DARK MATERIALSIMDBSPEECH DEVELOPMENT WEBSTOREPIP TWITCH • (music stuff)PIP INSTAGRAMPIP TWITTERPIP PATREONPIP IMDBPOD BIBLE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.