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ill-advised by Bill Nighy · EYEPOD Studios

Groovemelikeout

December 11, 2025·26 min·2 clips
Bill Nighy navigates cities by shadow, avoids the sun entirely, and warns: never trust a man with tanned ankles, and never wear linen.
In this episode of ill-advised, Bill Nighy answers listener questions with characteristic dry humor and unexpected vulnerability. He advises a listener worried about sweating at his Tuscan wedding to avoid linen at all costs and never trust a man with tanned ankles, confessing he once went septic from sunburn on a beach holiday. For a listener drained by social events, Nighy shares his own strategy: arrive early, leave early, let others talk, and never take responsibility for other people's difficulties. He reveals he used to drink double espressos before social occasions to seem more interesting, which only led to over-sharing with strangers. On the topic of boredom, Nighy is philosophical, noting his own podcast was conceived as an invitation to squander time. The longest segment addresses exercise: Nighy was once philosophically opposed to it, considering it vulgar because it implied people wanted to prolong their lives. His trainer's advice to simply turn up whatever the weather proved transformative. After months of fabricating excuses, he felt a hum through his body at breakfast one morning and finally understood what exercise enthusiasts had been describing. The episode includes a curated playlist called Groovemelikeout featuring Johnny Guitar Watson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Orgone, and Pharrell Williams. Nighy also recommends Joan Didion's Where I Was From as a singular book about what you need to know about America before you start.

As heard by us

A dry, oddly intimate take on exercise, clothes, and the awkward business of seeming normal.

Bill Nye takes a plain question about exercise and turns it into a comic run at embarrassment, taste, and the clothes people imagine belong with public movement.

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Why you'd press play

You get exercise advice that turns into a shaggy meditation on trousers, vanity, and embarrassment.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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