PODCAST DISCIPLE

Suzi Ruffle: “Podcasting is pretty close to stand-up”

Published on April 9, 2024

In every issue of the Pod Bible magazine, we ask a podcast disciple five questions about their love for podcasts and podcasting. For Issue #030 we were joined by Suzi Ruffle from Like Minded Friends and Big Kick Energy!

WHY DO YOU LOVE PODCASTS?

There’s a freedom to podcasting, it’s pretty close to stand up in that respect. You can just create something and put it out, you aren’t waiting for a green light from a production company. You have control that you don’t have in other types of media, you can decide what makes the edit and what content you want to focus on. Creatively it’s quite liberating. It’s also a brilliant way to connect with an audience.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST POD YOU EVER LISTENED TO?

I think it was Cariad Lloyds brilliant podcast Griefcast. It’s a really great podcast where people chat about grief, which sounds like it might be really depressing but it’s actually quite uplifting and hopeful.

WHICH PODCASTER MAKES YOU LAUGH THE MOST?

I am very lucky that I get to do two podcasts with two brilliant comedians Tom Allen on Like Minded Friends and Maisie Adam on Big Kick Energy and they both make me laugh a lot but its probably deeply cringe to use your own podcast as an answer. I really enjoy Kathy Burke’s podcast Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake, she always makes me laugh. I also love French and Saunders Titting About, there’s an episode where they’re chat about things that have gone wrong while touring and I was laughing so hard I was crying while driving on a
motorway. Probably not that safe to be honest.

WHICH PODCAST HAS EDUCATED YOU THE MOST?

I love Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail. She’s such a great interviewer and manages to ask quite direct and exposing questions without feeling like she’s overstepping a line. She always has such brilliant guests, every week whether you’ve heard of them or not, I always come away feeling like I have learnt something and a little bit more comfortable with my own failures.

CAN YOU RECOMMEND A SHOW OUR READERS MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF YET?

Safe Space is a brilliant podcast hosted by friends Emma and Hester, it is a show about queer history confirming the fact that the queer community has always been around. My favourite episodes include ‘How Roman’s made the Yuletide Gay’, ‘Berlins Queer History’ and a recent episode on the Ballroom scene from its beginnings in the 1870’s. Fascinating stuff!