THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO… Chris & Rosie Ramsey

After getting married and starting a family, Chris and Rosie Ramsey soon disocvored that the only way to have an uninterrupted conversation was to start a podcast. We speak to the hosts of Sh**ged. Married. Annoyed. about the married couple dynamic, laughing too loud and their favourite pods.

PB: If you could go back to just before you recorded the first episode of your podcast and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?

C&R: Probably “Learn how to use Logic X properly before sitting down to start the podcast so you don’t end up having a massive argument”… saying that, we still have absolutely no idea how we’ve managed to record the ones we have. Basically, every single recording of every episode has a clip of the first episode on it, because when we deleted it once, the settings all went back to default and we had another massive argument (hence why episode 3 is called ’Episode 3 Take Two’). So we just keep it there. Shocking behaviour we know, but every YouTube tutorial of Logic X is by a 12 year old American child, and we just refuse to watch it.

What makes a great guest?

Well, considering we only have a single question from a guest each episode I’d have to say “The ability to send a voice note in decent quality before the day of recording”. We ask very little of our ‘guests’.

What makes a great host?

Being able to connect with the audience. The best podcasts feel like they are speaking just to you. Whether it be a true crime podcast or a sports podcast, the really great hosts feel like they are on the phone to you, not hosting a podcast. There are so many out there where it seems they have no regard for the audience at all. As a stand up comedian, this is obviously something I lean towards, because my audiences will let you know pretty quickly if you’re not their cup of tea.

What’s been your worst podcast moment?

Probably the first time we recorded Episode 3. It was after a blazing argument and it was so tense and weird. It felt forced and neither of us enjoyed it. Compared to the absolute joy of recording every other episode, before and since then, it was a real low. Podcasting has allowed us to work together as a couple and we absolutely love it… but that was an early red flag that told us working together may not always be sunshine and rainbows.

What is it about podcasts that appeals to you?

Getting to be funny together as a couple, on our own terms. We can literally say anything we want, and if we are happy to put it out, then out it goes! We record it in our kitchen in our own time and often have to stop recording because someone in the street is mowing their lawn or the fridge is humming, it’s so low rent, but it’s getting a lot of love, so we’re doing something right.

What is your podcast/podcaster pet peeve?

As a listener, bad sound quality. There is no need. Some of them out there seem to have been recorded on the Talk Boy from Home Alone 2. I don’t even know how to use Logic and ours sounds decent. As a podcaster, it has to be the fact that every single week someone contacts us to ask why we aren’t on some random podcast app. We are on all the main ones, and I think that’s a fair spread, but every week without fail it’s “Why aren’t you on Trevor’s Podcast Shack?!”. It’s infuriating.

Is there anything you found annoying as a listener but then understood when you started making your own?

People laughing really loud into the mic after what was quite quiet dialogue… it almost blows your speakers out, we used to absolutely hate it… but we’ve done it SO MANY TIMES SINCE. It’s massively unprofessional, we know, and we usually always sit back from the mic to laugh, but sometimes you can’t help it. Again, if I had any idea what I was doing on Logic I could probably dampen it, but I’m an idiot.

Which one episode of your own means the most to you?

The first one, or maybe even the trailer. Because the interest was so massive when we first put it out, it made us realise that this was something people wanted to hear from us and that it was going to work. We had never done any kind of ‘work’ together before so it meant the world to see how excited people got about it.

And finally, which one episode not of your own means the most to you?

It’s hard to say, probably the final episode of Dirty John… if only because I (Chris) was listening to it in a ’trailer’ (like you get on a movie set, but this was for a TV show). When the thing that happens at the end happens (trying not to give it away here), I literally jumped up and screamed; hitting my head on the roof and terrifying the life out of the person in the next trailer. Now, if you’d told me 10 years ago that I would be listening to what is essentially a documentary one day and I’d get so into it, I’d almost put my head through the roof of a caravan, I’d call you a filthy liar.

Bonus question! Which three podcasts could you not live without?

Rosie: Scummy Mummies. I really love it, they make me laugh A LOT. They are two really funny women and I love listening to them.

Chris: The old Ricky Gervais Podcasts. They were the soundtrack to my early comedy career. I have heard them a million times. If it wasn’t for them, those drives to and from gigs for £10 a spot would have been unbearable.

Both: Sh**ged Married Annoyed, obvs.

You can listen to Sh**ged Married Annoyed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.