Me? I Blame The Parents With Paul Foot

Me? I Blame The Parents, With Ayesha Hazarika

Comedian, columnist, broadcaster and peer of the House of Lords, Baroness Ayesha Hazarika MBE, reminisces with Stephen about being the child of first-generation migrants. Ayesha talks about the pressure to succeed and the challenges of cultural integration while staying true to your roots. How to navigate Quran lessons, Scottish country dance classes and elocution training on very busy Saturday mornings in rural Lanarkshire. We hear about how Ayesha got her parents’ approval when she was awarded her MBE, and crucially, appeared on the Andrew Marr Show. Baroness Hazarika talks about her parents’ bravery in moving half-way across the world in their twenties and hopes that some of that courage has rubbed off on her. Baroness Ayesha Hazarika MBE can regularly be seen and heard on television and radio and is a frequent contributor to print media.   00:00 Intro to Me? I Blame The Parents. 00:39 Stephen K Amos introduces, comedian, columnist, broadcaster and peer of the House of Lords, Baroness Ayesha Hazarika MBE. 01:09 Ayesha Hazarika recalls growing up in Lanarkshire, Scotland, as the daughter of first generation Indian Muslim migrants. 02:34 Baroness Hazarika jokes about the pressure she felt to succeed in what seemed like an academic hostage situation. 05:10 Trying to be traditional to her roots but also to integrate, Ayesha talks about attending Quran lessons and Scottish country dance classes on Saturday mornings. 07:29 Ayesha and Stephen discuss how their parents failed to teach the kids their native tongues, mostly so they could secretly gossip about them behind their backs. 08:43 We learn about Ayesha’s father, a GP from Assam, India, and how he took a job in Liverpool over an offer in Los Angeles because he was a fan of the Beatles. 09:29 Ayesha’s father wanted her to be a great writer so he would sit her down to write 100 words on any random subject. Little did she know, those skills would help in her career as a columnist. 14:56 Ayesha never had the sex talk and if any such scenes came on Telly, her dad would lunge for the remote control and banish the kids from the room. 16:55 Ayesha speaks of when she appeared on the Andrew Marr Show and was awarded her MBE, her parents were very proud of her. 24:05 We hear a beautiful story about Ayesha seeing an expensive set of earrings while window shopping, which her parents surprised her with on Christmas day. 28:14 Ayesha admires the bravery of her parents relocating to the UK from Assam in their twenties, and how she hopes she has inherited her courage from them. #ayeshahazarika #comedy #funny #jokes #nigeria #fyp #pov #india #politics #immigration #UK #England #scotland #glasgow #mum #dad #parents #interview #standup

Me? I Blame The Parents With Paul Foot

Surrealist comedian, writer and self-proclaimed connoisseur Paul Foot has been called ‘a rare exotic bird’ by the press, but Stephen just calls him a bloody funny friend. Join Stephen and Paul as they wax lyrical about first memories, first words and how bickering is a pastime. However, they don’t want to become like their parents. Paul asks the ultimate curve-ball question: is the internet as big as a pipe organ? Paul Foot is multi-award winning writer, comedian and broadcaster and winner of the Edinburgh Fringe’s top gong. Learn more about Paul here! https://www.paulfoot.tv/ [https://www.paulfoot.tv/] and watch his award-winning Comedy Special ‘Dissolve’ here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83GoFbnjX0s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83GoFbnjX0s]   00:00 Intro Me? I Blame the Parents 00:44 Stephen K Amos introduces award-winning comedian, writer and connoisseur Paul Foot, a unique mind who’s been likened to ‘a rare exotic bird’. 01:28 Paul Foot’s parents are the Baby Boomer generation, but he’d rather not say their exact dates of birth in case it reveals the secret to all his passwords. 03:40 Paul’s mother is of German and Polish extraction while his father and step-father are English. 05:43 Stephen K Amos jokes about his own mixed identity, having Nigerian parents but being born and raised in London. 06:56 Paul’s first memory is of seeing the inside of a vagina, only he has forgotten it. 08:29 Paul tells Stephen the first word he ever learned, a rude word that he didn’t understand but somehow knew he wasn’t supposed to say it. 11:15 Paul never had the sex talk. He did have a talk when he came out to his father during a long walk, ending in a hilarious story about posting a letter to the gas board. 14:11 Paul says that his father hasn’t mellowed with age and how he gets apoplectic about wasting half a tea bag. 19:02 Paul discusses addressing non-binary people changing their pronouns and how if other’s can’t adapt, whose problem is it? 21:04 Paul managed to persuade his grandmother that gay people should be allowed to adopt children in under three minutes. 23:19 Paul’s grandmother asked if she got rid of her pipe organ might she have room for the internet? 26:19 Paul talks about his father’s generosity. 27:10 Paul bonds with his father on many trips to Lanzarote where they could play Bingo and practice archery. 27:52 Paul berates Stephen for refusing to turn up the heating when his father comes to visit.   #paulfoot #paulfootcomedy #comedy #jokes #funny #standup #interview #fyp #pov #mum #dad #parents #uk #england #scotland

Me? I Blame The Parents With Jo Caulfield

Writer, broadcaster and comedian Jo Caulfield joins Stephen to talk about inheriting a steely backbone of strength from her Mum and a childlike playfulness from her Dad. Due to her father’s job in the Air Force, Jo constantly moved home as a child, meaning there were always new people to meet and dinner parties to throw. She chats about the delights of blackcurrant tea, Knickerbocker Glories and chewy American cookies. She revels in the unexpected joy of getting to know your parents anew as they grow older. Jo Caulfield is an award winning writer and comedian. Find out more about Jo here! https://jocaulfield.com/ [https://jocaulfield.com/] Catch her new tour Bad Moon Rising in 2026 and watch her Comedy Special ‘Here Comes Trouble,’ here! https://nextupcomedy.com/programs/jo-caulfield-stand-up-special-here-comes-trouble [https://nextupcomedy.com/programs/jo-caulfield-stand-up-special-here-comes-trouble] And buy her book ‘The Funny Thing About Death’ here! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Thing-About-Death/dp/1846976359/ [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Thing-About-Death/dp/1846976359/]   00:00 Intro to Me? I Blame the Parents 00:36 Stephen K Amos introduces comedian, writer and broadcaster Jo Caulfield. 01:23 Jo Caulfield introduces her mum and dad, children of the Silent Generation born between 1928 and 1945. 02:51 Jo Caulfield’s father joined the Air Force to get out of Northern Ireland, but he really wanted to be an actor like David Niven in films about the Air Force. 03:42 Jo says that she sees her mum’s steeliness within her and recalls laughing after her mum told a rude joke about a nurse’s dubious rubber gloves. 07:15 Jo says her father was quite childlike and that playing make believe games with him was a serious affair. 08:02 Jo’s parents were quite grand and loved throwing dinner parties with her dad playing guitar to entertain everyone at the end of the evening. 09:30 Jo is the youngest and her older siblings fought her battles. 10:09 Jo tells a hilarious story about the time her parents went out one day, and she assumed they’d left the family forever. 15:12 With a father in the Air Force, Jo recalls having to move every 2 years, which meant the kids would regularly lose all their friends and have to start again. 16:49 Jo spent summers on holiday in Northern Ireland and remembers the joys of her first Knickerbocker Glory. 19:53 Jo and Stephen accept that their parents were strict due to the fact they had a much harder life growing up 21:50 Jo went to a convent school where she says they were taught that sex was best to be avoided all your life. 25:43 Jo’s best friend at 15 was gay but neither of them knew it. Being a New Romantic meant that it was OK to wear lace and lots of makeup. 26:54 Jo delights in the meeting of an African American family on the Air Force base and trying her first soft, American cookie. 31:04 Jo talks about being closer to her mother as a child. It’s only as an adult, having one-on-one dinners with her father, she realized how charming he could be.   #jocaulfield #jocaulfieldcomic #funny #jokes #comedy #fyp #pov #standup #interview #mum #dad #parents #airforce

Me? I Blame The Parents With Howard Read

Award-winning comedian, writer and animator Howard Read discusses how he got the stand-up gene from his mum’s family of firebrand preachers, and how his dad’s way of showing him love was to invest in him like a start-up. Howard talks about struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia as a child which, in fact, inspired him to become a comedy writer. Plus, how his animated comedy creation, Little Howard, is based on himself growing up. Howard reveals that his younger brother got away with murder and that his older brother dared him to jump down the stairs leaving him hanging, literally with a broken arm, for an entire day. Learn more about Howard Read here! https://www.howardread.com/ [https://www.howardread.com/] Get tickets to his New 360° show touring in 2026 and buy his books here! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Howards-Book-Howard-Read [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Howards-Book-Howard-Read/dp/0007391250/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BZGAJW6A23FX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Z6T5C_pp0SoWo7VVxlZlB2_TsIFcKxuss8yRLlKMZzVTpWIRVRYtOXSbFum7J0mA.reZ95uIRGV80FxJE8tdorMGJDDwkiyMhA4FAjj2VOG0&dib_tag=se&keywords=howard+read+little+howard&qid=1768411936&sprefix=howard+read+little+howard%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1]   00:00 Intro Me? I Blame the Parents. 00:39 Stephen K Amos introduces award-winning comedian, writer and animator Howard Read, whose creation, Little Howard, has featured in print, TV and radio. 01:29 Howard Read introduces his dad who was born in 1939, the day Hitler invaded Poland and recalls a hilarious story of his father’s 60th birthday party at a Polish restaurant. 03:14 Howard Read explains how Little Howard, his animated comedy creation of confused innocence about the world, is based on him as a child. 03:51 Howard describes being diagnosed with dyslexia very late, though his terrible handwriting and spelling didn’t stop him from becoming an award-winning writer. 07:44 Howard talks about his older brother, the sensible one, and his younger brother, a blond cherub who acted like Tweety Pie, super cute but violent. 10:30 Howard says he and his wife are more likely to say ‘I love you’ to their children than his more reserved parents. 12:08 Howard never had the sex talk, but his father showed him how to shave at the age of 10. 13:36 Howard jokes about how, when he was about 5, his older brother dared him to jump down some concrete stairs and broke his arm. Howard’s mum just said he was making a big fuss and didn’t take him to the doctors for a whole day. 15:49 Howard quotes Philip Larkin’s famous poem ‘This Be The Verse’ with the line ‘They fuck you up, your mum and dad.’ 16:16 Howard reveals his father would lend him money and invest in Howard like a start-up to show affection. 18:45 Stephen K Amos shares that for years he couldn’t tell his dad he was a comedian, explaining that he went out every night dressed in a suit because he was a taxi driver. 20:09 Howard’s parents accepted his career when he performed at the Royal Variety Show and met the Queen, but how he blinked when their photograph was taken. 23:17 Howard states that if there is a stand-up gene, he got it from his mum’s family who were firebrand puritanical preachers. 29:21 Howard’s mother had a grisly turn of phrase. When he came home late one night she said, ‘I expected to find you rotting in a ditch,’ which gave him nightmares for weeks.   #howardread #comedy #funny #jokes #standup #interview #fyp #pov #animation #littlehoward #mum #dad #parents

Me? I Blame The Parents With Christine Rose

Emmy Award nominated, multi-award winning comedy writer Christine Rose tells us her father was a veterinary surgeon. She jokes about how, one day, inadvertently taking animal drugs cured her eye infection. Christine talks about making up funny stories when she was a child, how she could always make her dad laugh. Her father finally understood her job when she got writing credit on ‘Have I Got News For You’. Christine remembers her dad was not good with technology and how her mother thought pausing live TV might somehow pause life itself. We hear about Christine’s childhood imaginary friend who lived in the airing cupboard and how the phrase ‘Cloudy Apple Juice,’ can never deter her from enjoying the odd glass of wine. Christine Rose has written for some of the most influential comedians on TV and radio and received an Emmy Award nomination for The Reluctant Traveler in 2024. Find out more about Christine here! https://www.gloriousmanagement.com/artists/christine-rose [https://www.gloriousmanagement.com/artists/christine-rose]   00:00 Intro to Me? I Blame The parents 00:53 Stephen K Amos introduces Emmy-Award nominated comedy writer Christine Rose. 01:36 Stephen K Amos jokes about how his father coming to stay with him during lockdown gave him the idea for making this podcast. 04:51 Christine Rose introduces her father, born in 1935, a veterinary surgeon from Essex who relocated to Cornwall when they were children. 05:43 Christine Rose mentions her older sister Catherine, who inadvertently inspired Christine’s comedy career. 06:19 We hear about Christine’s childhood imaginary friend called Nano Kanan, who lived in the airing cupboard outside her sister’s bedroom. 07:14 Christine’s father’s job was to medically treat large farm animals, and she jokes that when they were sick as children, her dad would just give them animal drugs. 12:45 Christine’s earliest memories are of accompanying her dad to treat sick animals and Stephen K Amos’ earliest memory is of being in a house fire - all for the sake of a home cooked chicken. 15:46 Christine talks about how her dad spotted her creativity from a young age and how she was always able to make him laugh. 19:36 Christine reflects on whether her parents have mellowed with age and how women tend to relax as they grow older, but men can become fixated on little things. 21:30 Christine talks about how her father could do anything practical and was drowning in skills, but he just could not be bothered with technology. 24:02 Christine’s mum was very unsure about the option to pause live TV and wondered if she pushed the button, she might get stuck in the past and have to live 20 minutes behind everyone else. 25:18 Christine’s dad was a frugal man who loved a good trip to B&Q, but he showed a strange display of ingratitude when she bought him some garden furniture. 30:30 The moment Christine’s dad came to appreciate her job was when she got a writer’s credit on Have I Got News For You. 31:46 Christine Rose recalls her father’s motto ‘There’s cloudy apple juice!’ as a way to stop her from drinking wine.   #christinerose #comedy #funny #jokes #fyp #pov #London #thereluctanttraveler #uk #england #scotland #veterinary #mum #dad #parents #interview #standup #television