Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster

Guest: Joy Crookes

Release Date: November 12, 2025
Summary by [Expert Podcast Summarizer]

Episode Overview

This lively episode welcomes acclaimed singer-songwriter Joy Crookes into the "Dream Restaurant" with hosts Ed Gamble and James Acaster. The trio dive into Joy's dream meal choices, wander off into hilarious and insightful tangents about language mishaps, music, food nostalgia, and British cultural quirks. With Joy’s wit and warmth on full display, conversation flows from sparkling water “burp dancing” to the subtleties of Bangladeshi cuisine—all with Off Menu’s signature irreverence and heart.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Joy Crookes’ New Album & Live Music Insights (12:38–16:35)

• Glastonbury Afterglow: Joy reflects on her much-talked-about Glastonbury set. James shares fan excitement and media buzz, affirming her "Juniper" album’s anticipation.
• Making and Loving the Album: Joy reveals she’s finally found peace with her work after exhaustive rehearsal sessions with her band, "The Mates."

  "Now I’m really enjoying playing the music. That is a good sign." — Joy Crookes (13:13)

• Constant Tweaking: She admits to frequently wishing she’d included live “improvements” on the original record, showing the fluidity of her artistic process.
• Live Album Preferences: The iconic “MTV Unplugged” sets by Nirvana and Lauryn Hill get a nod as inspirational, raw musical moments.

2. The Power & Pitfalls of Language (“Joyisms”) (16:53–18:58)

• Invented Proverbs: Joy shares her knack for unintentionally mangling British sayings, inspiring her boyfriend to collect these “Joyisms” in a book:

  “Make yourselves home.”
  “Fruits of my labia.”
  “You take a breath and they take a mile.”

  • The hosts revel in these unique twists, with Ed suggesting "Fruits of the Loom" T-shirts as peak bootleg gig merchandise.

3. Sparkling Water, Burp Dancing, and “Performative Males” (19:12–28:13)

• Joy’s Drink of Choice: Sparkling water ("Vichy Catalan" or, as Joy says, "Vicky Catalan") is her non-negotiable starter, sparking talk of burp-centric stage choreography.
• Serious Sparkling Water Discourse: The group discuss soda connoisseurs and the subtle nuances between brands, highlighting Joy’s passion for flavorful “salty” sparkling water.
• Social Archetypes: Joy rolls out the concept of “performative male” and hilariously tries to explain Premier League vs. Champions League masculinity, leaving Ed and James both amused and (slightly) perplexed.

4. Food, Family, and Identity Tangles (29:00–39:00)

• Poppadoms vs. Bread—The "Mum or Dad" Dilemma: With her Bangladeshi and Irish background, Joy refuses to pick between poppadoms and soda bread:

  "That’s like asking me to choose between mum and dad, you know?" — Joy Crookes (29:24)

• Breakfast Confessions: Joy shocks with her breakfast: leftover biryani and a protein shake at 10 am—earning approval for her unpretentious approach.
• Nostalgic Foods: She waxes poetic about how certain biscuits (Dove Farm) transport her back to pre–Jamie Oliver “sugar tax” days, sparking a debate on childhood diet nostalgia vs. health.

5. Joy’s Menu: Starters, Mains, Sides, Drinks, Dessert

Starter:

• Combo Moment: A Richmond sausage butty (on white bread with Kerrygold butter, ketchup, sriracha) and jamón ibérico—cheekily set in a dream world where it's still affordable.

  "We don't do oregano and the sausage and Cumberland schmumberland." — Joy Crookes on her simple sausage preference (34:43)

• Hilarious detours about breads like "Mighty White" and “neo-Nazi vibes” ensue.

Main:

• Spaghetti Bolognese: The definition of comfort food for Joy, described as a "Velcro moment":

  “It’s nostalgic. It makes you feel good, but from the outside perspective it’s quite remedial and childish.” — Ed Gamble, translating "Velcro moment" (43:17)

• Prepared by: Her Italian alter ego "John Cena," an “auntie who smokes in the kitchen.”
• Refill Station: A drinks-style Parmesan dispenser for strategic cheese layering.

Side:

• Bangladeshi Borda: Variety of homemade spicy, mustard-oil–based pastes made with main ingredients (like prawn). Must be made with love (otherwise "it just doesn't slap").

  “People come from Bangladesh to my mum’s house in West London to eat her Bangladeshi food because she makes it better than most people in Bangladesh." — Joy Crookes (55:08)

Drink:

• During: Vodka Pepsi Max (“because you need a fizzy drink” and for dinner-table chit-chat).
• After: Irish whiskey old fashioned, preferably Jameson’s, with a slight rant about massive ice cubes cutting into her value for money.

Dessert:

• Sprinkle Cake and Custard: A classic British school dinner treat, “biggest fuck you to Jamie Oliver I can think of.” Joy wants it simple, happy, and lukewarm.

  "I love sprinkle cake and custard. And that's the...that I loved growing up." — Joy Crookes (79:39)

6. Tangents, Quotes, and Memorable Moments

• Leech Stories & Eccentric Side Narratives: Joy’s leech-removal exploits (“just yanked it off!”), Ed’s aversion to Glastonbury, and wild asides about Instagram pages like “Accidentally Ireland.”
• Fart Philosophy: An elaborate tangent about flatulence in relationships—Joy muses that partners’ farts can sometimes increase attraction, not diminish it.
• Aggressively Imagined TV: Joy and James concoct a new show where comedians solve crimes using comedy skills.
• Archetype Play: Joy insists if she were on The Traitors, she’d conspire with James ("we’d be so good as traitors").
• “Performative Fed” Bit: Discussion about the "good cop" going viral for getting a “dirty wine” at Notting Hill Carnival.
• Old Men Learning Gen Z Slang: The episode closes with Joy besting Ed and James in generational weirdness.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Her Album & Live Shows:
  "I realized I really like it because I go to rehearsals now... and I'm really enjoying playing the music." – Joy Crookes (13:02)

• Joyisms
  "Fruits of my labia was one." – Joy Crookes (17:31)
  "You take a breath and they take a mile." – Joy Crookes (17:44)

• On Performative Males:
  "I think you’d be a performative male if you did that." — Joy Crookes on sparkling water obsessiveness (25:39)

• Food Nostalgia:
  "Any food that transports me to when I was a kid in a good way, just makes me feel really happy." — Joy Crookes (38:23)

• Velcro Analogy:
  "There’s something really warming and nice about it... but I feel like a wallad on the tube when I’m trying to get my lipliner out... [that’s] how I feel about spaghetti bolognese." — Joy Crookes (42:07)

• On Cooking with Mood:
  "When people cook when they're mad, you can taste it." — Joy Crookes (55:08)

• Relationship Flatulence:
  "My wife farts. I’ll put it out there. She’s got Irish butty syndrome." — Ed Gamble (61:35)

• On Sprinkle Cake:
  "For me, dessert is sprinkle cake and custard. And that is the biggest fuck you to Jamie Oliver I can think of." — Joy Crookes (77:16)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Time | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------| | 04:22 | Start of guest introduction, playful restaurant banter | | 08:49 | Joy enters dream restaurant; mood and setup chat | | 12:38 | Joy’s new album “Juniper”; touring and rehearsals | | 16:52 | "Joyisms" and language games | | 19:12 | Sparkling water burps and performative maleness | | 29:00 | Poppadoms vs. bread ("Mum or Dad") dilemma | | 34:30 | Sausage butty and jamón ibérico starter | | 41:32 | Spaghetti Bolognese main / “Velcro moment” | | 53:54 | Bangladeshi borda (side dish), “cooking with mood” | | 58:00 | Drinks: Vodka Pepsi Max and Old Fashioned | | 69:37 | Dessert: Sprinkle cake & custard, joy in simplicity | | 81:15 | Menu recap & closing banter |

Tone & Vibes

• Joyful, playful, and often absurd conversational energy
• Ed and James act as genial, slightly befuddled uncles to Joy's irrepressible Gen Z energy
• Laughter abounds, with plenty of mutual ribbing, digressions, and inside jokes
• Occasional moments of sincere reflection on creativity and cultural belonging

For First-Time Listeners

This episode is a microcosm of Off Menu's appeal: it’s as much about food as it is about joyfully meandering conversation, wild analogies, and cultural lampooning. Joy Crookes is a sparky, quick-witted guest who takes the format, and the hosts, on several wild rides—but always brings it back to the comfort (and subversion) of home cooking and childhood treats.

Listen for:

• Food as family history
• Playful riffs on masculinity and British-Asian identity
• Joy’s “wrong” proverbs, culinary logic, and sharp comic instincts
• Joy, Ed, and James’ chemistry: equal parts silly, insightful, and charming

Recommendation:

• If you love food, music, and British banter—don't miss this episode.
• Give Joy’s album "Juniper" a listen after: you’ll appreciate the wit and heart behind the songs even more.