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Last official work day of 2026 (though I might record a few podcast specials next week) and it was a lovely day of talking to amazing authors at the new location for the Podcast Room, right near Oxford Circus.
Doing two RHLSTPs in front of an audience can be an exhausting experience (that's why I only ever record one podcast a week), but somehow doing three in a row in a studio is almost as relaxing as a flotation tank without any middle-aged women in it. It's just such a huge pleasure to chat with successful writers about what they do.
So today I got to chat to the delightful Jess Robinson about her beautifully judged book about (amongst many things) comparing her 20 something diary to that of her grandmother who was fleeing the Nazis at the same age. Jess describes it as Anne Frank meets Bridget Jones and somehow she pulls that off whilst being funny and respectful. I then met Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor for the first time and discussed his career and his new kids book "Sinbin Island". What a lovely man he is and I am very impressed that he managed to get a sci fi sitcom off the ground (despite everyone always claiming that those won't work) and proved it would work and made one of the most successful UK comedies of all time. Nerds who like sci fi and comedy really want a great sci fi comedy. It absolutely works as long as its done by people who understand both. And I speak as someone whose sci fi sitcom never got beyond a taster tape!
Doug lost a leg in a traffic accident as a 7 year old, which I did not know until I researched his life, and got a letter from no-legged flying ace Douglas Bader which is both amazing and beautiful and also hilarious in the way that he described the situation (listen to the podcast next year to find out).
And then I had a comedy nerd dream of chatting to John Lloyd for an hour about The Meaning of Liff, Douglas Adams and perfectionism in comedy. For someone like him to give me the time of day, let alone clearly enjoy talking to me about a subject he knows way more about than I do, is all the Christmas present I need. Time passed. It would have passed in any case. But much more slowly.
Maybe I am still high from floating in brine, but what a lovely swansong to my comedy work of 2025. In the Spring I was feeling a bit down about RHLSTP and not sure that I would carry on into 2026, but getting some done in studio and also getting so far ahead at the Edinburgh Fringe has helped turn it back into a joy. John and I had talked about how fame and money are not the things to be aiming for in your career - or at least if you're trying to use them to fill a hole in yourself, they will not achieve that.
Had Douglas not unceremoniously dumped John from Hitchhiker's Guide then John might very well have not gone on to be the power behind the many amazing shows he's helmed in his career. Ironically John thinks (and I agree) that if Douglas had kept him on as a co-writer that it would have made Douglas a happier, less stressed man.
Despite their brief falling out they remained friends (and created the Meaning of Liff together, which is still going strong after 42 years. It is of course so very sad that Douglas died so young.
Again, another example of someone proving that sci fi and comedy absolutely belong together (even if the TV series and film and now experience did not necessarily translate the radio and print success).
I am a huge admirer of both John and Douglas and Adams life shows the pitfalls of an early unbeatable success. Of course Warming Up was really inspired by me going through a period of writers block, reading The Salmon of Doubt and deciding I should at least try and get as many ideas written as possible in the hope that some of them might be a tenth as good as the stuff that Adams half-wrote or failed to do.
So we talked about success and failure and Sliding Doors moments in our careers and realised how lucky we both are and then (for me at least) closed the shop for Christmas.
There's a book club on Friday and then no more new RHLSTPs til the new year, but we have all kinds of Christmas treats planned for you, so stay tuned.
