Transcript
Richard Gadd (0:00)
And sometimes I even say like date too. By the way, I work so much. Like I really, really work a lot and you should really know that. I think it's always a shock, but I actually think like we have but scratched like the surface of sexuality in a way. Like, I think there's so many complications to it. You know, I would say I get about four hours sleep a night probably.
Elizabeth Day (0:19)
You're like Margaret Thatcher. That's the first time that's ever been said about you. Hello and welcome to how to Fail with Me Elizabeth Day. This is the podcast that believes every failure can teach us something in the fullness time. Before we get into this conversation, please do remember to like follow and subscribe so that you never miss a single episode. In 1987, a newborn baby is abandoned in a remote spot. Nobody goes down that lane. Why would you think anyone would have picked me up from there? For decades, Jess has searched for answers. Why didn't that person want me? But as she gets closer to the truth, things spiral out of her control.
Narrator (1:01)
I think I'll always be angry.
Elizabeth Day (1:03)
Could it have ended differently? From Tortoise Investigates and the observer, this is Foundling Lies always come out, don't they? Skeletons are always going to come out eventually. Listen Wherever you get your podcasts,
Richard Gadd (1:19)
it's
Home Depot Advertiser (1:19)
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Elizabeth Day (1:48)
Richard Gad was 34 when he became really, really famous. Baby Reindeer, the seven episode Netflix series he adapted from an award winning Edinburgh one man show, was a global hit of such magnitude when it was released in April 2024 that Gad briefly became Googled man on Earth. A visit to a supermarket turned surreal when he saw his face staring out of the front page of a tabloid newspaper under the headline Richard Gadd's Struggle to Cope with Fame. The strangeness of the moment was compounded, perhaps, by the autobiographical darkness of his subject matter repressed trauma, sexual identity, stalking and mental illness. The show won him six Primetime Emmys, two Golden Globes and garnered 84.5 million views within its first 45 days. Gad has long been interested in the complexity and struggle of understanding the self. Growing up in a village in Fife, he was bullied at school, but found solace in drama. He studied English literature and theatre studies at the University of Glasgow, where he began performing stand up. By 2016, he'd won a Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. His work became known for its compulsive storytelling, blending dark comedy with a kind of philosophical kink for asking audiences the most uncomfortable questions. Now Gad returns with Half Man, a six part drama co production between HBO and the BBC. Half man tells the story of two brothers played by Gad and Jamie Bell over several decades, exploring the not bonds of trauma, the long legacy of violence and the intense fragility and fear at the heart of male relationships. Gad created, wrote and exec produced. But despite his success, he insists that I never wanted fame. I just liked the idea that one day I would make a piece of art that was culturally important because then maybe I would learn to like myself. Richard Gadd, hello. Welcome to how to Fail.
