Champagne Social Butterflies

Hello pod people - I am back with a shiny new name, logo and direction for this little podcast. As I defiantly still try to do all the things, and my brain fizzes, sparks and trips all over the shop, this podcast is like a beacon of calm and serenity, calling all creatives who want to know the secrets of those truly on their way to being 21st century polymaths. How are you so good at the one thing, and now also another thing? Dishing the secrets of his creativity this week is a chap who was...

It's 2022 and we're still in the middle of a plague, but where have I been? Have I been living in the woods like someone who was a bit too ready for the apocalypse? Have I been barricaded in a shopping centre fighting zombies/wailing that I can't get into a size 14 M&S trouser any more? Have I started my own artisan sourdough bullet factory while wearing a wolfcut, like Eugene? One of these things may be true, and you will find out if you listen to my witters.

So sorry you had to wait... I explain what has been going on with me, my obsession with the Van Tulleken twins, cheesy wafts, cabbage dilemmas and Honey We're Killing the Kids, plus a little bit of anthology news.

With many apologies for the long wait, Donna is back with Neil K. Bond to talk about getting their first Astra Zeneca jabs, trips to the beer garden, AC-12 puzzles and The Last Train. Plus nearly dying again! Hey, let's not get political about whether people should have their freedoms curtailed. But this is a rock pub dammit, and you should know rock things if you're gonna come in and sit with us, because... Oh, okay... I don't mind Lewis Capaldi either. Carry on!

I'm back! We're back... yes, I am joined by Neil K. Bond for this return to the airwaves as we are here to lift your mood and ours. It has been a tough start to the year, but let humour raise our spirits as we talk about code-breaking and Easter Egg trails, our excitement for Line of Duty and engaging with a gem of a 90s dystopian drama starring the fab Nicola Walker (unseen by either of us... until now). Come join our club for enjoying very old series that make us feel old but that we don't...

Crazy advent shenanigans, as Donna gets ready for Christmas, plus a few PSAs.

Never mind the fact that your neighbours have had their lights up for a month already, Christmas has come early because I have an awesome episode for you featuring an interview with Ian Whates! Author of the Dark Angels and City of a Hundred Rows novels, and the man behind the multiple award-winning Newcon Press, as well as being the nicest chap in Science Fiction. Stay tuned for some special publishing news at the end, as we have a super exclusive announcement that will be of interest to...

What can you remember about the start of this year? Let me jog your memory, but we did things like pubs and gyms and gigs. I had gigs. I had conventions. I had friends! 2020 is going to take way to long to recap so I've started early and looked back at January and February and some of the predictions people made back then about what sort of year we were going to have. It's crazy mad! More treats and memories coming up for the rest of the year. Would you like to buy me a tea? Buy Donna...

This week, Donna is on a frugal mission to save money in the kitchen, leading her to investigate the nooks and crannies of the kitchen cupboards to match ingredients to weird recipes she's found in very old cookbooks. Plus mental health, Christmas isn't yet - stop making it Christmas, a sketch and a song! Links to gigs, Mr Badger Talks to Utter Scum. Come back here on November 22nd for Awkward Question Time. If you like this, please buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/donnascott

This week Donna chats with her friend, the comedian Jon Pearson, a mere two days before Lockdown 2: This Time It's Unworkable was announced, rendering most of the tour dates he came on to plug immediately obsolete. So listen instead to hear about our crazy times as pub managers, running quizzes with idiots, and find out which one of us kept the bowling alley, and which one of us could have done GCHQ's job for them. Jon's latest podcast adventures with Harriet Dyer and Lindsey Santoro, The...

This week, Donna's co-host is Harvey, a chap who despite not being actually middle-aged has already gone very grey and who managed to fall asleep in the middle of the episode. That's before I even started my jokes! Okay he's a dog. But, yes he did heckle me with a shoe. Today's links: buy me a coffee. https://ko-fi.com/donnascott Crowdsource a forest: https://2minutebeachcleanblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/26/sow-a-seed/ Watch me here https://youtu.be/jfwddp9rwZc (it happened already, and...

In the week Donna has been having weird penguin dreams, but has definitely not been foraging weird mushrooms, so goodness knows what that is about. But Goth Christmas is round the corner, so it's time to watch Halloween horror comedies, and have a lovely chat with Paul Melhuish, horror writer and author of such works as Dark Choir and the disturbingly weird and darkly funny High Cross.

This week Donna ponders what PHE have been doing since 1987. What were you doing in 1987? Me, I was watching Philip Schofield, who was trying to get us all to buy Petula Clark records. No way, Phil, that's Nan music! Now let's all sing along to "Cities of Gold"...

In this very late episode, Donna shares her rejected jokes and sketches only a very short time after reminding us all that she is, in fact, a child genius. Shame that child is now 47. Wasted? Yes, frequently.

This week Donna is fighting your doom and gloom with positivity and joy, and is only talking about graffitiing your walls with meaningless nonentities because she completely forgot to mention Banksy coming to Northampton. Why would she forget something like that? Too busy thinking about Newsjack coming back, that's why. And serial killers.

This week, listen as Donna goes on a roadtrip through the Leicestershire countryside looking for Smut in the woods, plus tales of dognap, Vogon poetry, and the nostalgia of childhood soldering iron burns. Plus, an interview with comedian Chris Purchase, chatting about his popular interactive online live shows, RPGs and our favourite geeky things. http://www.thechrispurchase.com/ https://www.twitch.tv/thechrispurchase

This week, Donna goes on a rant about low carb starvation diets and the recently bandied about phrase that is as bearable as an angle-grinder going off in your skull "return to work". Plus comedian Kahn Johnson drops in for a chat about whiskey, American culture and how we're all remixing the ways we do comedy and earn a crust these days.

This week we are celebrating good news - great reviews, and this very podcast starting to do quite well, thanks, listeners! On the flip side, I'm on a diet hoping to one day share a width with Kylie as well as a height (that is not a euphemism about Jason Donovan). UNLIKELY. Anyway, it's not the 5'2" diet...quite. Also, interview with fab performance poet Kezzabelle. https://www.kezzabelle.co.uk/

Yes, this episode is named after a Marillion song. No, it has nothing to do with prog music of any kind, but antics in the market square are indeed mentioned. This week, discussing Greencore, you know the score, the joys of live gigging, and Jon Wagstaffe's challenge to comedians to 'raise your game'. Plus an interview with author Shona Kinsella.