Sharon Horgan - ‘My marriage failed but it had such a positive impact on my life’

Actor, writer and director Stephen Merchant joins How To Fail this week and is reflective, fascinating and - yes - even funny. We talk about what he learned from Ricky Gervais when co-writing The Office, on feeling rattled turning 50 and how it’s hard to fail as a stand-up comedian (but he got over it). Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Lawrence-Tickell Senior Producer: Selina Ream Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The final episode in our run of throwback episodes is the one and only Geena Davis - this one went out on 9th November 2022. This is what I wrote at the time: I am obsessed with today's guest and I'm not even going to pretend otherwise. Geena Davis, the star of such seminal movies as Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own and the underrated classic, The Long Kiss Goodnight, TURNED UP AT MY ACTUAL HOUSE to record a witty, warm and fascinating conversation.* We talk about her feelings of imposter syndrome and self-doubt in the early days of her career, the fact that her failure as a model led to her first film role alongside Dustin Hoffman (who gave her incredible advice on how to defend herself against the amorous advances of her male co-stars) and the revelation of being diagnosed with ADD in her 40s. Along the way, we touch on height (she's 6ft! A tall woman like me!), the #MeToo movement, representation, almost becoming an Olympic archer, being an older mother and the seismic impact her friendship with Susan Sarandon had on Davis's life. I can't wait for you all to listen. *yes, she met my ginger cat Huxley and they got along famously. HOW TO FAIL PRESENTED BY HAYU LIVE TOUR tickets: www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I’m revisiting some of my favourite episodes this Christmas. This week it’s Jamie Dornan, whose episode went out when we were in deepest, darkest lockdown, on 24th November 2020. This is what I wrote at the time: You’ll know Jamie from starring on our screens in The Fall, Fifty Shades of Grey, and more recently The Tourist. He joins me to talk about failures in acting, failures at school and a failure to sit still. We also discuss growing up in Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles, male objectification, the death of his beloved mother from cancer at the age of 16 and the loss of four friends in a car crash shortly afterwards. We talk about grief, therapy and what it means to be a father. And we talk about why he walks on his tiptoes. HOW TO FAIL PRESENTED BY HAYU LIVE TOUR tickets: www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I’ve hand-picked some of my favourite episodes of all time to revisit this Christmas, so today’s a very special one. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was my first EVER guest on this podcast when I launched in July 2018. A year after that, almost to the day, I welcomed her back to talk about how her life had changed in the interim [spoiler alert: she’d become a global superstar]. Phoebe talks about the craziness of those 12 months, during which she wrote and starred in Fleabag 2 (described as a televisual masterpiece by...well...almost everyone), made Killing Eve (described as a televisual masterpiece by...well...almost everyone) and worked her magic on the new James Bond movie. It was a  year that, from the outside, seemed to many of us to be the epitome of success. But what failures lay underneath the surface? What about those private moments of vulnerability and self-doubt we are so rarely privy to? Phoebe joined me to talk about three failures from that year, including her failure to connect with her family, her failure to speak up for herself and her failure to Marie Kondo her bedroom. Along the way, we discuss what makes the perfect water bottle, filming THAT final scene in Fleabag (apparently the foxes were total divas), sexuality, exhaustion and why female creators are often unfairly assumed to be writing autobiography. And yes, the Meryl Streep apple crumble anecdote makes an(other) appearance. HOW TO FAIL PRESENTED BY HAYU LIVE TOUR tickets: www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was an honour to record this episode. We overuse words such as ‘hero’ and ‘inspiration’ but Sir Chris Hoy is both. Not only is he one of Great Britain’s most successful Olympic athletes (during a record-breaking career as a sprint cyclist, he won six gold medals, one silver medal, and 11 world championships) but he’s currently living with a Stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis. In September 2023, a seemingly routine trip to the doctor’s turned into a waking nightmare when he was given between two and four years to live. His beloved wife Sarra was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a month later. And yet, these two extraordinary people say they are lucky. Listen to this episode if you want to feel joy, hear wisdom and learn how to live with love in the face of death. Sir Chris - you’re an amazing human being. Thank you for spending this precious time with me. If you or someone you love is going through a mental or physical health challenge, as Sir Chris Hoy says: you are not alone. You can call the Samaritans 24/7 on 116 123.` All That Matters by Sir Chris Hoy is out now. Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Lawrence-Tickell and Matias Torres Sole Senior Producer: Selina Ream Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices