Tag: O2 Academy

The #1 podcaster & author of bestseller What A Flanker will deliver his debut comedy show at Oxford’s O2 Academy on 16th March

James, the star of The Good, the Bad and the Rugby podcast, is back on the road again with his new stage show Sex, Tries and Videotape.

This show chart James’ journey from his early days as mischievous schoolboy through his time as a professional rugby player, having played around the world including at Wasps, Northampton, Stade Francais, The Ricoh Black Rams, and The Highlanders.

“The idea to do a full tour came about after I did a five-date run and really enjoyed it, basically,” he says. “I’ve had lots of adventures in my career, which was very colourful to say the least. I worked under five different England managers, played in multiple different countries, I’m married to Richard and Judy’s daughter, I’m a DJ and producer, I host multiple different podcasts and obviously I’ve gotten myself into a fair bit of scandal over the years, so there’s quite a lot to talk about I think! So it’s a nice opportunity to entertain people and make them laugh. It’s not meant to be overly serious, but it’s a true reflection on my career, but just focusing on the funny bits!

“A lot of me setting the record straight was done in the book, to be honest. Obviously I’m going to touch on the fact that I’m a new dad, that I live with my in-laws and that I’ve been a victim of the media at times and I’ve caused trouble with them myself at times. So I’m not lecturing, I’m just giving people an idea of what I’m like. The real life stories might be shocking and even unbelievable, but they actually all happened and that’s what I’ll be telling people about.

“I do a lot of speaking and I’ve always been fascinated by comedians, so any time I talk I’m usually trying to make people laugh. There was an opportunity to do this podcast, which would be ten episodes and an eight-minute stand up, then followed by another series of ten and do a 20-minute warm-up for Russel Kane in a comedy club, so I was really keen to do it. It was quite scary, but not completely out of the realm of what I’ve already been doing. Obviously if you’re recording the whole journey, it makes it a bit harder as if you end up failing and you bomb, which happens to all of us at some point, it’s out there for everyone to see, but it’s went really well so far. I’ve just started the second season and it’s been a great adventure, but it’s also been the most nervous I’ve been to do anything for a long time, which makes you feel alive!”