318: Comedy, feminism and novel writing with Julia Raeside

The Scummy Mummies Podcast

Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn

Kids & Family, Self-improvement, Parenting, Education

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our guest for this episode is the awesome author Julia Raeside. She tells us about her brilliant and very funny book about women taking on toxic men in comedy, Don't Make Me Laugh.

We discuss why so many comedians turn out to be dreadful, and how working together is the key to effecting change. Julia talks about the reactions her book has had so far and why it seems to be resonating with so many people.

There's also a bit of chat about the writing process - why is it so difficult? What should you do when you feel like packing it in? And which is harder, writing a book or running a marathon? Julia helps us try to answer these questions, and shares her top tip for getting your first draft finished.

We round off with some classic Scummy Mummy Confessions involving McDonald's, cat diarrhoea, and lying to children about sex.

Julia's book is out now in paperback and you can follow her on Instagram @juliaraesidewriter.

**AUTUMN TOUR TIME!** Yes we are hitting the road again this month with our new for 2025 show, HOT MESS! September is Loughborough, Tonbridge, Exeter, Redruth, Basingstoke, and Bishop's Stortford. In October we're coming to Tenbury Wells, Leamington Spa, Maidenhead, Potters Bar, Tonbridge yes again, Tewkesbury, Canterbury, Wimborne... Then it's our huge homecoming gig in Catford on 14 November, plus lots of other shows all round the country. For dates and tickets go to scummymummies.com

*WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY!

We're on X, Instagram, and Facebook @scummymummies. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe.

Thank you for listening!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, scumbags, this is the scummy mummies podcast, with your hosts, Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorne.
0:16.4	Hello and welcome to the scummy mummies podcast. It's me, Helen Thorne. And it's me,
0:20.0	Ellie Gibson. Ellie Gibson. Ellie Gibson, I'm very excited. Are you? Yes, yes, because we've got one of our, one of our favourite guests, one of our favourite people and just an all-round, excellent woman on the podcast today, Ellie.
0:30.3	That's right. It is Julia Rayside. Hello.
0:33.6	Oh, hello. I already feel better just sitting here between you two. Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming to see us. What have you been up to, Julia Rayside? Drinking a delicious cup of tea, which I'm putting down now. Yeah, to explain the noise. No, that's good. That's like, it gives ambiance. It's like people think it's like the archers. It's nice. Yeah. Good cafe sound.
0:54.5	That's right.
0:54.8	Here comes the horses.
0:58.3	But mostly I have been, as we all have, getting through the summer holidays, just wishing for them to end.
1:03.1	And I've done a book.
1:06.0	You've done a book.
1:07.4	I have done one.
1:08.5	But let's row back a little bit.
1:12.3	Let's row back Julia Ray's side. we've have had you on the podcast before. I mean, how would you, how would you
1:16.8	introduce yourself? How, okay, is this a trick? So I'm a journalist. I am a lady. I am
1:24.7	old now. I'm 50 years old.
1:30.2	And yeah, so I'm a journalist and mostly an arts journalist.
1:33.1	I write about telly and love comedy, write about comedy.
1:39.7	And then I started doing investigative stuff because lots of people in comedy were telling me horrible stories about what it's like to work in comedy.
1:44.4	And then I had an idea for a book based on the stuff I'd been sort of digging into.
1:48.2	So your book is about, I've read your book, by the way, which is brilliant.
1:49.2	And I loved it.
1:52.1	And I loved it partly because it is about comedy.
	...

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