This Guy Sucked

Podcast Host: Dr. Claire Aubin
Guest Expert: Greg Jenner
Episode: "Edmund Kean with Greg Jenner"
Date: September 4, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of "This Guy Sucked" explores the life and legacy of Edmund Kean, the 19th-century British actor renowned for his groundbreaking performances—and notorious for his personal chaos. Host Dr. Claire Aubin is joined by historian, author, and comedy podcaster Greg Jenner (author of "Dead Famous") to examine how Kean’s genius shaped celebrity culture, why he crashed and burned so spectacularly, and why even centuries later, he’s a perfect candidate for both praise and criticism.

Main Theme

Why Edmund Kean "sucked": He revolutionized acting and stardom, but left a trail of professional sabotage, scandal, betrayal, and self-inflicted ruin. This is a story not just of downfall but of the complicated forces that make and break celebrities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Greg Jenner Introduction & Kean’s Duality (07:10–11:25)

• Greg Jenner’s self-description: Simultaneously wants to "trash and rehabilitate" Kean.
  • Quote: "I want to trash, but also simultaneously rehabilitate emotionally a man who I kind of love and hate in equal measure..." (08:00)
• Kean was a theatrical genius but, interpersonally, "a monster"—awful as friend, colleague, partner, or parent.
• Both hosts note the rare complexity: Kean is the first "sucked-asterisk" subject, where the people who hated him also often sucked.

2. Kean’s Rough Start and Path to the Stage (13:11–19:01)

• Born ca. 1787, working-class, London. Family plagued by instability and alcoholism.
• Raised by his mother’s lover, Charlotte Tidswell, a glamorous but ambiguous maternal figure.
• Childhood marked by escape and instability: ran away habitually, even faked muteness at sea to get shipped home.
• Rewrote his own origin myth for fame—classic "bastard son of a duke" trope.
  • Quote: "He also supposedly tells a story of running away to go to sea aged 11..." (18:21)
• Began as a comedic actor/tumbler, but always aspired to Shakespearean tragedy—an ambition repeatedly stymied by his looks and stature.

3. Breakthrough and Redefining Celebrity (30:30–45:49)

• True overnight fame (a rarity), when cast as Shylock at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in 1814.
  • Audience and critics (including William Hazlett) were immediately electrified.
  • Quote: "Within five minutes, people are screaming and howling in adulation." (39:09)
• Kean’s style: fiery, intense, emotional—antithetical to the era’s grand, restrained acting.
• Romantic era context—his emotionalism and naturalism fit broader cultural trends.
  • "He gets lucky...We are now into the era that we call the Romantic era..." (43:08)
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge: "Like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning." (45:50)
• Superstar status: among the first celebrities analogous to our modern sense of "stardom."

4. House of Cards: Sabotage, Scandal, and Self-Destruction (49:27–57:31)

• Ruthlessly sabotaged rivals (notably Junius Brutus Booth—father of John Wilkes Booth), using a claque (“Wolves Club”) to boo them offstage.
  • Quote: "He is using his Wolves club...to boo his rivals. So he puts them into the theatre." (53:44)
• "Toxic douchebag" phase: heavy drinking, routinely unreliable, destructive marriages/affairs, and professional sabotage.
• Personal life: Cheated on long-suffering wife Mary Chambers, neglected his surviving son, and was relentless in self-mythologizing.
  • Drunken escapades become tragic as his addiction and self-sabotage deepen.

5. Public and Private Downfall: Affairs and Infamy (68:35–71:16)

• Major scandal: Multi-year affair with his wife’s (Mary’s) friend, Charlotte Cox, led to a famous criminal court case and public humiliation.
  • Cox’s husband exposes Kean by publishing their love letters, nearly shoots him; public opinion turns violently against him.
  • Quote: "You are the worst. You've cheated on your wife with her friend. And we've read everything." (71:28)
• Hits rock bottom—audiences riot, he’s attacked in Boston, and his reputation destructs on both continents.

6. The Tragic End and Lost Greatness (75:50–84:36)

• Financial and health decline; estranged from family and colleagues.
• Son Charles eventually follows in his footsteps; a rare note of reconciliation before Kean’s death.
• Dies in 1833 at only 45, denied a national hero’s burial.
  • Quote: "He had all the talent, he had all the stardom...But Westminster Abbey, we're like, no, sorry." (84:36)
• Kean remains legendary for how feverishly he performed and how completely he blew it all up.

7. Fame, Trauma, and Modern Parallels (94:23–99:07)

• Jenner emphasizes the psychological devastation of celebrity, then and now:
  • Quote: "Fame is utterly devastating. No one's ready for it. Most people aren't prepared. Most people are destroyed by it in some way or other. And Edmund Kean was destroyed as much as anyone." (95:09)
• Allusions to modern child stars and fleeting celebrity (Macaulay Culkin, Robin Williams, Lindsay Lohan) deepen the episode’s resonance and sympathy, even as Kean’s monstrous behavior is never excused.

Quotes & Notable Moments

• On Kean’s persona:
  -"He was a toxic personality. He was absolute douchebag material." – Greg Jenner (12:03)
• On his unique talent:
  • "Watching him is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning." – Samuel Taylor Coleridge (paraphrased, 45:50)
• On self-destruction:
  • "He is a monster now. He's a megalomaniac who is hungover all the time and angry all the time and probably self loathing." – Greg Jenner (74:12)
• On his legacy:
  • "This is the first simultaneous this guy sucked slash, this guy rocked episode." – Dr. Claire Aubin (90:56)

Key Timestamps

• Kean’s Introduction: 07:10–11:25
• Early Life & Ambition: 13:11–24:29
• Breakthrough at Drury Lane: 30:30–41:47
• Redefining Fame and Celebrity: 43:08–45:49
• Notorious Affairs and Ruin: 68:35–78:32
• Final Years and Aftermath: 82:49–84:36
• Celebrity, Sympathy & Reflection: 94:23–99:07

Tone & Style

Witty, candid, deeply researched, with flashes of empathy and moments of pure historical “tea”—very much in the comedic, slightly irreverent tone typical of both hosts.

Conclusion

This episode reframes Edmund Kean as a genius doomed by insecurities, vices, and the insatiable machinery of early celebrity. While "this guy sucked" as a colleague, partner, and moral actor, he remains a pivotal figure in the invention of modern fame—whose highs and lows have uncanny relevance in our era. As Dr. Aubin puts it, Kean is a perfect example of someone who "both sucked and rocked," and deserves remembrance in all his messy complexity.

Further Reading/Listening:

• Greg Jenner, Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity
• For more, visit gregjenner.com or check the episode description for links and resources.

This summary covers all key content and is suitable for listeners and non-listeners alike.