030: Simon Lipkin has funny bones.

Our special guest has been top of our wish list since we started and we’ve finally managed to have him –  the one and only Simon Lipkin!

Our intrepid host, Andrew Keates interviewed Simon just before he went into rehearsal for Nativity – The Musical at the Eventim Apollo – a show that is lead by improvisation and Simon revealed the challenges and freedoms that method of performing can present. They also discussed why Simon has been so committed to comedy and his views and inspirations for the genre since he was a ‘a little fat jew from Essex’.

Simon trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and then at the Arts Educational. His theatre credits include: Rat in The Wind In The Willows (Palladium, West End), Sheriff in Whisper House (Other Palace), Jason Robert Brown’s Honeymoon In Las Vegas (concert at The Palladium), Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls (West End), Bill Sykes in Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Lou Lubowitz in Miss Atomic Bomb (St James Theatre), The Lorax in The Lorax (Old Vic Theatre), The Proprietor in Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), Touchstone in As You Like It (Southwark Playhouse), Barlow in I Can’t Sing (London Palladium), Lonny in Rock Of Ages (Original West End Cast), Galahad in Spamalot (Original UK and International Tour), Nicky and Trekkie Monster in Avenue Q (Original West End Cast), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Arts Theatre, London), The Wedding Singer (Original UK Cast), Willard in Footloose (UK Tour), A Christmas Carol (West End), Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West End), Alice In Wonderland (Nuffield Theatre), Austentatious (The Landor), News Revue (Canal Café) and Leopold in Never The Sinner at the Kenneth Moore Theatre.

Film and TV include: Show Dogs, Muppets Most Wanted for Disney, The Harry Hill Movie, That Puppet Game Show and Nativity III. Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule, Doctor Who, Harry Hill’s Tea Time, The Bill, Casualty, The Royal Variety Performance, Children in Need, Nativity Rocks! Simon also voices characters on the Cartoon Network’s show The Amazing World Of Gumball and Ricky Zoom.

As we anticipated, Simon is an extremely funny guy, but also a real inspiration to anyone that is committed to comedy.

Episode features include:

Theatrical Tips: Andrew gets his theatrical tips out of things to see in October 2018, including Porgy and Bess at the London Coliseum, Don Quixote at the Garrick Theatre and The Height Of The Storm at the Wyndhams Theatre.

The Platform: Today’s platform is given to Edward Court’s new musical adaptation Notre Dame and a song called I Lived, performed by Alexandra Doar, orchestrated and conducted by Adam Hoskins, recorded by Harry Hare, music and lyrics by Ed Court.

Show People Podcast Challenges: We discover what Simon Lipkin would need to survive if he was stranded on tour in Whitley Bay and ask him hysterical and outrageous questions in our famous Funny Five Minutes game.