Ben Pope is a comedian, bookseller and writer based in south London. He manages Review bookshop in Peckham, has been doing stand-up for over a decade, and has taken a string of critically acclaimed shows to the Edinburgh Fringe β most recently The Cut, a narrative show that begins with a very personal medical decision and opens out into something much bigger about grief, fathers, and what it actually means to look after yourself.
In this conversation, Ben and Freya talk about what it's like to build a creative identity in public when your work resists easy categorisation, the difference between performing vulnerability on stage and exposing it on the page, and why comedy is one of the best coping mechanisms humans have β as long as you're honest about what it's actually doing.
They get into the real economics of Edinburgh Fringe, why Ben didn't have a smartphone until 2020, and the strange experience of performing something deeply personal in front of strangers and having them come up afterwards and say: me too.
This is a warm, funny and quietly moving conversation about what happens when the most honest story you can tell also turns out to be the funniest one.
π₯ WATCH the full episode on YouTube
ποΈ Buy tickets to Ben's Book Club comedy show at the Fringe this year, or his WIP standup also in Edinburgh this summer
π And remember you can now pre-order Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work.
π Follow @freybromley on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions
π Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com for behind the scenes thoughts
ποΈAnd hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
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