Fesshole: The Podcast

10: Can we make a game show out of Fesshole?

This is genuinely my favourite episode of the Fesshole podcast - the one where we turn it into a panel show. From the earliest days of doing the Fesshole account, there's been people saying "you should make this into a panel show" and I kinda resisted it as I felt the best version of Fesshole should go deeper into the confessions rather than riff off them, but you know what, we finally had a go and it's... good? I loved writing a script for a show and devising some simple games to play and I loved getting Sam Bambs in, I felt her humour and just good naturedness really made me and Dave up our game. OK - let's brainstorm some titles and see what sticks. * Can we make a game show out of Fesshole? * Fesshole: the inevitable panel show * The one where we get a funny lady in and she's improves the show massively Hope you like the episode - we had such fun doing this and I think that comes accross. Producer: Will Fitzpatrick tempotalker.com [http://tempotalker.com]

9: The all you can drink gravy diet: does it actually work?

This is the shed episode. The one me and Dave recorded face to face in a shed and the vibe is good because of this. Recording this face-to-face is so much more fun than being on a Zoom, you can react easier, you can read people's cues easier and it's memorable in a way that working electronically is not. Can you remember any of the Zoom meetings you've had? Nah, they turn into a massive blur, whereas a meeting face-to-face, well that does something to your brain and you remember that meeting for life. So yeah, real life records are better and yet podcasts rarely do them for the simple reason they cost more money and time. Damn. I sort of wanted to call this episode the David Cameron Wanking Shed episode for this reason, as when David Cameron left Government, he retired to his shed, and everyone who's ever had a work-from-home shed, you know there's a lot of wanking done in it. So that as an intrusive thought when your mate says "I must show you my work from home shed" - they are showing you where they fiddle with themselves between writing emails and grumpy tweets. As an episode itself this one is pretty relaxed and fun and it throws up two ideas for future episodes - we've got a "rejected fessholes" section which now listening to it, I'm kicking myself not making this into the a full episode as it's the one thing people always ask me "what's the really filth stuff that you can't publish?" so that would be good for clicks. And the other episode here would be doing a full Anon Opin one - as I just find it such fun to discuss opinions. Do dive in coz this is the "week in review" Dave & Rob episode at our best, and in our quiet format point where we alternate between these type and stunt episodes, have we got a stunt episode for you next week. Oh yes. SPONSORED BY https://buhong.beer/hole [https://buhong.beer/hole] (10% off) Producer: Will Fitzpatrick tempotalker.com [http://tempotalker.com]

8: What does an actual PRIEST think about Fesshole?

When we started this podcast the one thing we thought would be important to do was to talk to a priest and compare notes about taking confessions. Yes we're mostly taking confessions for comedy reasons but at the same time, we're dealing with real people's lives here and how does it compare? We've ended up with an interesting show that's surprisingly theological and philosophical and most of all funny.  We didn't intend to make a bible studies class but here we are, we explore the usefulnes of prayer, and attempt to answer the difficult question why confession is needed. It's because it lightens the burden on your, well, we're not religious so we shouldn't say soul, but you know what we mean. Tackling this was a curious proposition really, there's something about talking to people of God where we feel we have to be respectful, so we don't start shouting about atheism but we do eventually, quietly fess up our own slightly hippy science beliefs, in line with Carl Sagan, that we are the universe looking at itself. And so is our cat. ROB MANUEL (retired vicar) PS: The alt title was 'We asked a priest: "If God loves us, why did he let Elon ruin Twitter?"'

7: “Which 80s pop group helped this man overcome his urination shyness?“

I really like this episode - me and Dave are relaxed and into the vibe of what we've created. It reminds me of Seinfeld, now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we've reached the heights of Larry David's best writing here, but like Seinfeld, it's a show about nothing.  What is this episode about? Nothing. Yet it's about everything - it's about two men having a long friendship since childhood and can finish each other's sentences. It's about spending time in our company, and either you want to hang out with us, or you'll think us pillocks. It's about being mature enough to acknowledge it's OK that your parents had sex. It's about still being immature enough to giggle at it. But most of all it's about Rob & Dave telling you a story of a lad they went to school with, with the most fearsome power in the word: the power to crush your spirit with a mean word, and that the world is still ruled by such people, and we are but mice playing on the giants, afraid that they'll awake. OK. Let's talk about titles. Titles are so hard on the 'week in review' episodes, they are some of the best episodes in terms of vibe, but they are impossible to title because they're about nothing, so here goes, let's brainstorm some titles: * Which member of the British aristocracy reads Fesshole? * The one with the new format section of 'rejected fessholes' * How the pop group Tears For Fears helped one man overcome his piss shyness. * What's the best rapping ever done by a white man? Oh man it's so hard, titles are so hard, but do listen, as this is a solid episode made of pure nothing, glorious nothing. Rob Manuel Producer: Will Fitzpatrick tempotalker.com [http://tempotalker.com]

6: 'I went to prison and this is what my fellow inmates confessed to me"

It's not something you expect, one day you're swimming in the local pool and you see your acquaintance Chris Atkins and have a bit of a chat with him whilst both of you are playing with your kids and then two days later he's on the front page of the Daily Mail, imprisoned for five years for tax fraud. I didn't know what to think and I also was very worried about a boy being separated from his father at such an impressionable age. Occasionally I'd google him and check his social media and wonder how to get hold of him but there was nothing. One day I wrote him a letter saying what was going on in the world hoping to cheer him up but didn't know where to send it. Then suddenly, two and half years later, Chris emails me and says he's out and he LOVES fesshole. We go for a pint and Chris tells me that he's basically been running his own fesshole inside jail, except not doing it for a laugh, but he's been working as a prison listener and hearing all the prisoners' terrible confessions of yes sometimes murder, but often just loneliness. So of course I want to get him on the podcast, he's what we call in the business 'a friend of the google form" so we've queued him up. It's actually a fantastic episode that goes on a bit of a journey - we start light with me and Dave just being silly, we get into an incredibly detailed chat with Chris about the conditions in jail, and accidentally pivot to become a campaigning podcast that's massively pro prison reform and then end with a series of often silly prison confession for Chris to react to. We believe if you listen to the whole thing you'll end up wanting prison reform too.