Show Notes
James Barr wakes the country up on Hits Radio every weekday. He has also performed a comedy show about his own abusive relationship more than 130 times. And once, in a bathroom in Montreal, something made him walk straight back out.
In this episode of Talking to the Living, Stuart Michael sits down with James Barr to find out how a comedian known for quick jokes ended up writing an hour about the years he spent with someone violent. They cover the panic attack that made him say the word abuse out loud and the sentence his ex said that proved the violence was a choice. He also explains why he thinks the queer community stays quiet about the harm it does to itself. Then Stuart reads for him, and tells him he may have a gift of his own.
CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Cold open: a bathroom in Montreal and the lights that would not stop flickering (00:02:13) Straight off the plane from Australia, and the worst question ever asked in the sea (00:05:33) Why write a comedy show about domestic abuse, and why sensitivity keeps us silent (00:09:08) Everyone told him not to do it, including an AI (00:10:24) Giving the shame back, and the moment he decided to write it (00:13:08) "I've performed it over 130 times now around the world, and that healed me" (00:15:18) "I thought I'd get gay bashed in the street, not in my own house by another gay person" (00:20:14) The panic attack at a Botox appointment, and the stranger who changed everything (00:22:13) "Oh, I haven't been violent for a while" (00:24:57) His favourite joke, and the two people at brunch (00:27:12) Why the queer community stays quiet about the harm it does to itself (00:38:18) James's own gift, and the night his friends ran out of a restaurant (00:40:19) How Stuart switches it off, and what the zip actually means (00:44:53) The Pride deck reading: someone is already in your perimeter (00:54:10) "I believe that there may well be a mediumship ability with you too" (00:59:59) The wasp in the duvet, and what a five year recurring dream was saying (01:01:37) Croydon, Eastbourne and knowing at eight (01:03:40) "My mum said it was like her son had died and she had a new one" (01:04:24) "I'm definitely editing something out there" (01:09:01) "It's always the ugly people that are mean to you" (01:16:26) Deflection, burnout and the sadness he hasn't reached yet (01:20:52) The UK tour, Cardiff and a new Edinburgh show
GUEST James Barr, Comedian and Radio Presenter Tickets and tour dates: https://www.jamesbarrcomedy.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbarrcomedy/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jamesbarrcomedy
LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StuartMichaelPsychic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033cMvcyuZIDuS6xRqhdPH Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-to-the-living/id1896608417
FOLLOW STUART MICHAEL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stuartmichaelpsychic TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stuartmichaelpsychic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stuartmichaelpsychic
More from Talking To The Living
Fiona O'Carroll has played Maria Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys since the very first episode, opposite her dad Brendan as Mrs Brown himself. The character only exists because a business partner vanished with the family's money when Fiona was eight, and Brendan needed cash in hand. Years later, with her marriage over and her feelings switched off, Fiona flew to Peru for ayahuasca.
Bobby Norris spent ten years on The Only Way Is Essex, became the first gay contestant on Celebs Go Dating and took a campaign against homophobic trolling all the way to Downing Street. But long before any of it, a white witch read him at 16, told him he had lived before and named the past life that might explain why he is terrified of flying. In this episode of Talking to the Living, Stuart Michael sits down with Bobby Norris to trace the whole story: the only child in Essex who made his own fun with a Barbie and a stack of holiday brochures, the chance meeting with a producer that had him filming TOWIE within ten days and the trolling over his sexuality that turned him into a campaigner. They get into the recurring dream about his teeth, the shoulder he dislocated on Celebrity SAS and why he wants his 40s to be a year of yes. Stuart reads for Bobby throughout, from the worthwhile work he sees coming next to the new face he predicts will walk into Bobby's love life before the end of the year. One for anyone who has followed Bobby since the Sugar Hut days, and one for anyone who has ever been called an old soul and quietly suspected it might be true. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Welcome Bobby Norris (00:02:14) "I've always been a bit of a witchy poo" (00:03:01) The car Stuart saw vandalised the night before it happened (00:04:41) The care home cat that knew who was next (00:06:07) The white witch who read Bobby at 16 and called his career (00:07:20) A past life as an RAF pilot and a lifelong fear of flying (00:10:38) Little Bobby: an only child in Essex (00:14:36) Coming out without the sit-down conversation (00:31:08) Infidelity, healing and being ready to date again (00:37:39) The trolling that started Bobby's Bill (00:40:44) Downing Street, Theresa May and the fight to change the law (00:45:13) A bath bomb, a chicken ball and the night TOWIE found him (00:51:34) Why Bobby is honest about his surgery (00:56:59) Anxiety, the year of yes and the case for therapy (01:06:13) How real is TOWIE? Producers, phone calls and set-ups (01:15:27) Celebs Go Dating: the first gay contestant (01:20:51) Celebrity SAS: a dislocated shoulder and begging to stay (01:27:01) Teeth falling out, flying without a plane: Bobby's dreams decoded (01:31:08) Stuart's final reading: worthwhile work and a water sign on the way GUEST Bobby Norris, TV Personality Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbycnorris/ LISTEN YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StuartMichaelPsychic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033cMvcyuZIDuS6xRqhdPH Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-to-the-living/id1896608417 FOLLOW STUART MICHAEL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stuartmichaelpsychic TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stuartmichaelpsychic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stuartmichaelpsychic
Pandora Christie hosts Heart's mid-morning show, weekdays 10 to 1. Before any of that she was in and out of care from the day she was born, with a mum who turned living on the street and finding food into a game. At nine, she watched that mum have a heart attack in front of her. And she has never once seen her father's face. In this episode of Talking to the Living, Stuart Michael sits down with Pandora Christie to trace the road from foster homes in South London to the Heart studio, the flyer job she landed without a driving licence and the acting CV that nearly came undone. There is celeb gossip too: Kim Kardashian, The Rock, Dame Helen Mirren and why Tom Cruise surprised her most. Then Stuart reads a recurring dream Pandora has never understood, a train station, a clock stuck at 2:10 and a man with no face, and lands on the one person she has never talked about. If you've ever listened to Pandora on the way to work, grown up in care, lost a parent far too young or wondered whether the people you've lost, and even the pets, are still close by, this one is for you.
Katie Atkin called off her wedding three months out, after a hen do in Nashville. What came out of that breakup was Girls In Low Places, a country music podcast that has since put her on the CMA red carpet and in a room with Riley Green and Tucker Wetmore. What she has not talked about much is the night terrors she had through the last years of that relationship, and the fact they stopped the moment she left.
Gearóid Farrelly opened for Joan Rivers and danced the first same-sex partnership on Ireland's Dancing with the Stars, and today he's a guest on this episode of Talking to the Living.