Nish Kumar - Failure Is Information. Comedians Call It Material.
Nish Kumar is one of the UK’s best-known comedians, known for his impassioned political progressiveness. You might remember him as the host...
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things that haven’t gone right. Every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them about how to succeed be...
Episodes
20 of 401 episodes
Remembering Gloria Steinem
It was a privilege to have one of my all-time heroes, the feminist activist, writer and icon Gloria Steinem on How to Fail back in 2020 and...
David Sedaris - ‘My Father Said I Was A Bad Influence Because I Was Gay’
David Sedaris is one of America’s best-loved humorists, famous for turning the absurdities of everyday life into razor-sharp, deeply human e...
Failure Throwback: Mo Gawdat
This episode with Mo Gawdat originally went out in 2019, but its message feels as relevant as ever. We’re re-releasing it to celebrate the 5...
Failure Throwback: Phoebe Waller Bridge
To mark 500 episodes of How to Fail! To we’re re-releasing the first ever episode with Phoebe Waller Bridge, which originally went out in Ju...
Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died
Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years. Hired in 1996 as a writer for Fr...
Prime Minister Andy Burnham - ‘I’m a better politician for having failed.’
Andy Burnham is the first Prime Minister on How to Fail. Past leaders have run scared of doing a podcast with ‘fail’ in the title - but not...
Nikita Gill - Everyone Wants to Be Heard But No One Wants to Listen
Before becoming a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, and one of the most widely read poets on Instagram, Nikita worked as a cleaner an...
Miquita Oliver - I Drank Half a Bottle of Wine Every Morning
Miquita Oliver is a podcaster, TV presenter and all-round brilliant woman. She was just 16 when she burst onto our screens co-hosting Channe...
Richard Bacon - ‘I Was Betrayed By My Best Friend’
What connects Barack Obama, a tabloid sting and Love Islander Alex George? Have a Blue Peter badge if you were thinking of Richard Bacon......
Remembering Bonnie Tyler
It was a privilege to have Bonnie Tyler on How to Fail back in 2024 - and we are heartbroken to hear of her passing today. Bonnie was open,...
Charlie Mackesy – ‘Grief propelled me into work that saved me’
In this episode, I sit down with bestselling author‑illustrator Charlie Mackesy, whose work – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – has...
Anastacia – All My Songs Have Been Good Therapy
Anastacia has released eight albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has collected a total of 227 gold and platinum certifica...
Mel Giedroyc and AJ Odudu on Body Confidence, Midlife Reinvention and Female Friendship
Welcome to the FIRST EVER How To Fail Roundtable - a format we enjoyed so much we might just keep it. Today, Elizabeth is joined by broadcas...
Kristin Scott Thomas – ‘Having children allowed me to see where I’d gone wrong’
In a career spanning four decades, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas has become one of Britain’s most celebrated actors: Four Weddings and a Funeral...
Patrick Radden Keefe - ‘Lying Is More Prevalent Than People Think’
What draws an award-winning writer to the darkest corners of human behaviour? Patrick Radden-Keefe is a New York Times bestselling author an...
Natalie Imbruglia - ‘I love the wisdom of being in my 50s’
*triggers: This episode includes discussion of depression and mental health crises. In 1997 Natalie Imbruglia released her first single, Tor...
Hannah Murray - ‘Everything Fell Apart’
Hannah Murray found fame when she was just 17, playing the self-destructive Cassie in E4’s Skins. She juggled an English degree at Cambridge...
Emily Atack - ‘I’ve forgiven people for unforgivable things’
*triggers: contains description of physical assault Emily Atack left school at 16, confident she wouldn’t need a GCSE for what she wanted to...
Katherine Parkinson – ‘I’m Still Learning How to Be Me’
*triggers: contains description of physical assault Katherine Parkinson is the two‑time BAFTA‑winning actor beloved for The IT Crowd, Doc Ma...