Stu here. Episode 500 is somehow fast approaching. It's already in the cat. I can't wait for you to hear it.

I need your feedback. I want to gather some data on your favourite episodes, your best moments, see if there's any fun anecdotes I can uncover along the way.

Something must have happened in your life in nearly 500 episodes of podcasting.

And as a thanks for taking part, myself and producer Callum will be gifting an Insider's Insider 12-month membership on Patreon to one lucky respondent. You can pay this forward if you're already one. The survey's super short, all the questions are skippable, and this would mean a lot if you could just take five minutes out of your day to go and fill the thing in. Head to Stuartgoldsmith.com slash survey, or the link is in the show notes.

There's going to be a very short break in September before we approach that milestone,

but lots of exciting back to the show. I'm Stuart Goldsmith and today 470 episodes later, Alan Davis returns. Alan is an all-round fixture of British comedy. He's a very

respected stand-up writer and actor. You may know him as the unflappable Jonathan Creek or the

permanent mischief maker on QI and of course the host of Alan Davis as yet untitled, who

you may have seen a familiar face

in Series 3 episode two, you may not. It's a good episode. But that's not it. His second memoir,

Just Ignore Him, was widely celebrated for its honesty, its emotional depth, and his follow-up

white male stand-up continues that deeply personal journey. And I feel I need to tell you that

Alan's story could be very

triggering for someone who has been through some of the things that he went through as a child.

And in his show, when he does his stand-up show, Alan Davies Think Ahead, which I listen to a

recording of from the Edinburgh Festival this year, he doesn't trigger warning the show.

We'll talk about that decision. But because this is

the sort of podcast that does include trigger warnings, then please consider yourself duly warned

if you're the sort of person who benefits from those. In the first half of this episode, we will

discuss the breakthrough moment when a work in progress becomes a real show. We'll talk about

the trick to building momentum with

monkey bars. And there's some lovely analogies. My eyes are absolutely lighting up during this bit.

...