Share

cover art for John Scott: Wrong Place, Right Story

Television Times with Steve Otis Gunn

John Scott: Wrong Place, Right Story

Season 5, Ep. 3
•

John Scott has been doing stand-up since 1999, accidentally said "Brexit" at a Yorkshire corporate full of insurance folk, co-wrote a Japanese animated drama, and once did a gig in Budapest that he's fairly certain was arranged for the Russian mafia. He also wants to go back in time and hang out with Bowie in Berlin, but then again, who doesn't?

John Scott is a comedian, scriptwriter, and host of The Scottish Sweary News, known for his sharp, laid-back delivery and a career that has taken some genuinely unexpected turns.

  • The Budapest gig — flown in, flown out the same night, performing to a room full of salespeople who were, he strongly suspects, selling to some very dodgy people indeed
  • Walking on stage at a corporate event and saying the one word he'd told himself not to say
  • How a pandemic freelancing site led to co-writing a Japanese animated drama — and what it taught him about storytelling
  • How The Scottish Sweary News started as an accident — and suddenly gained thousands of followers
  • Why he's stepped back from the Edinburgh Fringe — and why he thinks it stopped being a viable career step a long time ago


Connect with John here:


Find us on social media — links on the About page.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Repeat Transmission: Graham Fellows

    54:08|
    In this repeat transmission, Graham Fellows talks about how he accidentally became Jilted John, accidentally became John Shuttleworth, and has spent several decades building one of the most quietly inventive careers in British comedy — largely by following things to see where they go.Graham Fellows is a British actor, comedian, and musician best known for creating Jilted John and John Shuttleworth. As Jilted John, he scored a late 70s hit that thrust him into the spotlight; as Shuttleworth, he developed one of British comedy's most beloved characters — a middle-aged suburban man with a deep love of music technology and dry wit.How John Shuttleworth came into existence following a publishing deal — and then refused to leaveWhat appearing on Top of the Pops in the early 80s was actually likeThe shifting world of 1980s and 90s television — Saturday Night Zoo, The Paradise Club, and what that era made possible for comedyWhy following an accidental creation wherever it leads is a more reliable creative strategy than planningConnect with Graham here:InstagramFacebookYouTubeFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Terry Christian

    01:00:13|
    In this repeat transmission, Terry Christian talks about how he hosted one of the most exciting and controversial shows in British television history, survived everything it threw at him, and has been telling the truth about it ever since.Terry Christian is a pioneering British television presenter, comedian, and author best known for his iconic role on The Word — the groundbreaking Channel 4 show that pushed boundaries and left a lasting mark on 90s broadcasting.What it was really like inside The Word — the chaos, the creativity, and the bits nobody plannedThe wild behind-the-scenes encounters with the famous and infamous, including the unforgettable Oliver ReedWhat it takes to stay true to yourself when the cameras are rolling, and the stakes are highWhat British television in the 90s looked like from the inside — and why nothing has quite replaced itConnect with Terry here:InstagramTwitter - We do not endorse X, but Terry is hilarious on there, so we'll make an exception.Find us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Sam Simmons

    57:08|
    In this repeat transmission, Sam Simmons shares his strong opinions about Come Dine With Me, Celebrity Big Brother, and the global standing of Australian sitcoms — and delivers all of them with the kind of sideways energy that makes everything funnier than it should be.Sam Simmons is an Australian comedian, actor, and writer known for his surreal humour and absurdist style, with a career spanning multiple continents and credits including Last One Laughing Australia and multiple Edinburgh Fringe runs.Why Come Dine With Me and Celebrity Big Brother have become such enduring fixtures in modern pop culture — and what that says about usThe state of Australian sitcoms and why they've yet to fully break through on the global stageThe creative impulses behind his comedy — and how he leans into chaos, imagination, and unpredictabilityWhat the best absurdist comedy refuses to explain — and what happens to audiences when it doesn'tConnect with Sam here:InstagramFacebookFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Nick Helm

    01:04:50|
    In this repeat transmission, Nick Helm explains how he's made getting things spectacularly wrong into one of his most consistent creative strategies — and it's won him an Edinburgh Comedy Award, a British Comedy Award, and a Chortle Award along the way.Nick Helm is a British comedian, actor, and writer known for his bold, high-energy performances and dark humour, with a distinctive style that blends absurdity with emotional depth across stand-up, television, and film.Why the risks worth taking on stage are the ones that terrify you the mostWhat really goes on behind the scenes of creating television and filmHow failure has been one of the most important and underacknowledged forces in his careerWhy embracing the possibility of getting it spectacularly wrong is a more reliable creative strategy than playing it safeConnect with Nick here:InstagramFacebookFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Jarred Christmas

    59:47|
    In this repeat transmission, Jarred Christmas explains how he has been navigating the comedy industry long enough to know that the only constant is that everything keeps changing — and has built a career on being good enough to keep up with it.Jarred Christmas is a comedian, actor, and writer originally from New Zealand, known for his sharp humour and charismatic personality across stand-up comedy and television.Why evolving as a performer is less of a choice and more of a survival strategyHow balancing family life with creative work changes the kinds of projects you take onWhy comedy can be used to engage with serious social issues — and when that works and when it doesn'tWhat resilience in a creative career looks like when the industry keeps shifting under youConnect with Jarred here:InstagramWebsiteFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Paul Foot

    42:52|
    In this repeat transmission, Paul Foot explains why he has strong feelings about Heinz baked beans, finds genuine comfort in the image of Judy Murray orbiting the Earth, and once had Keith Chegwin turn up in a conversation in a way that's difficult to fully explain. A completely normal episode.Paul Foot is a British comedian and writer renowned for his offbeat and surreal comedic style, with a career spanning stand-up, television, and radio, and a loyal fanbase drawn to his entirely unique comic voice.The figures and ideas that spark his imagination — and the strange places they end up taking the materialWhy the image of Judy Murray orbiting the Earth is, in context, genuinely comfortingA surprisingly passionate critique of Heinz baked beans — and the conviction with which it's deliveredWhy comedy that doesn't try to be relatable can be more connecting than comedy that doesConnect with Paul here:InstagramFacebookYouTubeFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Derren Brown

    59:56|
    In this repeat transmission, Derren Brown explains how he's spent his career making the impossible seem plausible, and the plausible seem impossible — and has strong feelings about a particular spatula, which is somehow equally interesting.Derren Brown is a master illusionist, mentalist, and bestselling author renowned for performances that blur the line between magic, psychology, and human perception, and for a career spent pushing the boundaries of what audiences think they know about their own minds.What a career built on the gap between what people believe and what's actually happening has taught himThe craft of magic — and why suggestion and storytelling often matter more than techniqueA youthful shoplifting confession at Harrods — and how he frames it nowWhy the unreliability of memory is one of the most fascinating and unsettling things about being humanConnect with Derren here:InstagramFacebookYouTubeFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • Repeat Transmission: Dom Joly

    55:04|
    In this repeat transmission, Dom Joly talks about how he invented a format, watched it become a global phenomenon, spent years explaining why the American version wasn't quite the same thing, and has since investigated the conspiracy theory that Finland might not exist.Dom Joly is a British comedian, broadcaster, and author best known for Trigger Happy TV, and for a career that has expanded into travel writing and conspiracy theory investigation.The creative risks behind Trigger Happy TV — and how something that simple became so influentialWhat happened when the format travelled internationally, and why translation is always more complicated than it looksThe misunderstood moments in his career — including This is Dom Joly and why he still wants to talk about itHis time on Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls — what he expected and what happenedWhy conspiracy theories are more interesting as a subject than their believersConnect with Dom here:InstagramFacebookOfficial WebsiteFind us on social media — links on the About page.

  • 12. Matt Reed: You're Gonna Need a Bigger Joke

    58:17||Season 5, Ep. 12
    Matt Reed believes Newcastle has one of the best comedy audiences in the country. He's also still recovering from Allo Allo and Watership Down, in roughly equal measure.Matt Reed is a comedian and co-host of the comedy podcasts This Tastes Funny and Mother's Ruin.Why the North East is the most joyously funny region on the planet — and why Bill Bryson got off the train at Durham just to prove itWhy Watership Down traumatised an entire generation more effectively than anything modern horror has managed sinceThe fascination of seeing Jaws as a child, then seeing The Shark Is Broken on stage as an adult — and the brilliant on-set stories about Bruce the mechanical sharkWhy Top of the Pops needs to come back — with fewer dodgy presenters, more live performances, and everyone miming badly just for funConnect with Matt here:InstagramFacebookTikTokFind us on social media — links on the About page.