Stand-up, before and after the spotlight.
Sit Down For Stand Up is a loose, blunt comedy interview show built around the real mechanics of stand-up. Comics and night-runners compare first gigs, bombing, audience work, competitions, comedy groups, promoters, and the strange social machinery around getting booked.
PRESS PLAY
Sit Down For Stand Up treats stand-up comedy as a lived circuit, not a finished product. Its conversations sit in the awkward, funny, practical space between wanting to perform and surviving the work of doing it. New comics talk about panic before the first word. More seasoned voices talk about stage time, road gigs, London saturation, competitions, promoters, crowd work, and the long process of becoming someone rooms trust. The show is loose. It lets the chatter breathe, so craft talk often arrives between tangents about football, cars, parenting circles, social media, and the strange etiquette of comedy groups. That informality is part of the point. Guests are not presented as distant stars; they sound like people coming straight from a gig, still carrying the buzz, annoyance, embarrassment, or pride of the night. The recurring question is simple: how did this person get into comedy, and why keep doing it? From there, the episodes follow whatever the answer exposes. Sometimes that means stage fright and the relief of a first laugh. Sometimes it means booking choices, audience loyalty, running a room, or whether comics should leave familiar open-mic circles to season their material elsewhere. The show has a strong interest in the local machinery of stand-up: South Coast rooms, London nights, a fringe setting, newcomer sets, and the social links that form around repeated gigs. It also has a blunt, teasing style. The banter can be sharp, but it usually circles back to affection for the craft and for the people putting themselves in front of strangers. Sit Down For Stand Up works best for listeners who want the texture of the circuit: the nerves, the gossip, the trial sets, the practical advice, and the daft conversational sprawl around it all. It is comedy about comedy, but from the ground level. The glamour is thin. The graft is visible. That is where the show finds its charm.
Made for: For listeners who like comedians talking candidly about the craft, the circuit, and the social life around live comedy. It especially suits stand-up fans curious about open mics, booking rooms, and the nerves behind a set.
What sets it apart: The show feels closer to a post-gig table than a formal interview. Practical comedy talk is mixed with rough banter, local-room detail, and honest accounts of trying to earn stage time.
Host Daniel Farr sits down with Comedians to discuss how they started, times they bombed on stage and the gruelling process to get to where they are now!
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose scene chat that turns comic banter into a case for talking after the set.
The episode frames a live comedy podcast as more than a run-through of material. It argues for the value of what happens after the set: post-show chat, crowd questions, and the chance to meet the comedian as a person.
School-gate politics and sharp mate banter keep this loose comedy chat moving.
School-gate politics, appearance jokes, and mate-on-mate needling shape this loose, conversational comedy chat. It keeps circling the same small irritations: who belongs at the school entrance, who dispenses advice without doing the work, and how quickly a minor gripe can become…
A candid look at how a new London comedy room is run.
The piece offers a clear, ground-level view of a new London comedy room, from how the night is put together to how the compare keeps things moving and reads the crowd.
Comedy careers, told from backstage.
Comedy career interviews that swerve into invented history.
Joe Rogan's marathon one-on-one talks, from UFC judging debates to Bob Lazar's UFO claims.
Bateman, Hayes, and Arnett riff, then talk shop with guests like Adam Sandler.
Peter Sagal leads NPR's live news quiz, pairing celebrity guests with listener call-in games.
Sit Down For Stand Up #4 leans on fast group banter about Sarah, Barry, Royston, and the South Coast comedy circuit, opening with a joke about needing Swedish subtitles.
Sit Down For Stand Up Episode 3 features hosts Dan and a co-host covering the comedy circuit week, including a chaotic open mic near Basildon where a group of Grimsby builders heckled every act until comedian Connor shut them down with specific insults including 'you look like Jay Slater reincarnated.' The episode includes an update on comedian friend Alan, who is recovering from a health crisis and was found walking the hospital ward with a microphone doing crowd work on nurses.
Comedians discuss the challenges of starting out, bombing on stage, and the process of building a comedy career.
Tom Haughton describes progressing from his first five-minute open mic to his 16th or 17th comedy show, including a gong-show performance where he briefly mistook the music for elimination.
Sit Down For Stand Up features Lax describing how COVID lockdown boredom led him and his brother to film YouTube clips while London’s Oxford Street and Regent Street were nearly empty.
Sit Down For Stand Up Episode 138 Part 2 focuses on Revolver, a London comedy night built as a stepping stone from open mic sets to solid 10-minute spots.
Host Daniel Farr interviews comedian Connor about his start in stand-up comedy, including bombing on stage and dealing with sensitive audiences.
Comedians discuss the challenges of getting stage time, the value of competitions, and the need to perform outside London to develop material and crowd work.
Host Daniel Farr interviews comedian Danny about his start in comedy, recent gigs, and the challenges of stand-up, with playful football banter.
Host Daniel Farr interviews comedian Royston about his early stand-up experiences, including nervousness and the process of developing material.
Host Daniel Farr interviews comedian Joel about his stand-up style, experiences bombing, and the challenges of performing.
A comedian discusses his recent mini-tour, how he uses it to develop new material, and the chaotic schedule of multiple shows.
Two comedians discuss the art of storytelling in stand-up, comparing it to one-liners and character comedy.
Host Daniel Farr interviews comedian Owen about his start in stand-up, including bombing early on and reading joke-writing books.