Charlene Kaye
The Comedian's Comedian Podcast
Stuart Goldsmith
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Charlene Kaye is a musician and comedian based in New York who has toured the world, opening for bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Metallica. You may have seen her "Every Taylor Swift Song" skit which now sits at out 100 million views - or in her two cover bands, Guns N’ Hoses (all-girl GNR) and Labiahead (all girl Radiohead).
She's now back with her new show Diversity Shredder, including dates at London's Underbelly. In this episode we discuss:
- why Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords works so well
- is the feeling of being a rockstar and a comedian the same thing?
- does being successful in one creative field help starting in stand-up
- building her first stand-up show from a notebook about her mum
- performing to incompatible fan bases
- hacking algorithms through retention loops and hook writing
- how a Taylor Swift parody changed everything
- and we find out if Charlene is happy...
Join the Insiders Club at Patreon.com/ComComPod where you can instantly WATCH the full episode and get access to 15 minutes of exclusive extras including:
- how ego shows up differently in music vs comedy
- when your safety net becomes part of the act
- and turning real-life tension into art
👉 Sign up to the NEW ComComPod Mailing List and follow the show on Instagram, YouTube & TikTok.
Catch Up with Charlene: Charlene Kaye: Diversity Shredder is at at London's Underbelly next week on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th April. You find out more live dates at kayeofficial.com. You can also follow her on Instagram, @charlenekaye.
Support our independently produced Podcast from only £3/month at Patreon.com/ComComPod:
✅ Instant access to full video and ad-free audio episodes
✅ 15 minutes of exclusive extra content with Charlene
✅ Early access to new episodes where possible
✅ Exclusive membership offerings including weekly(ish) Stu&As
PLUS you’ll get access to the full back catalogue of extras you can find nowhere else!
Everything I'm up to: Come and see me LIVE including dates in Bristol, London, Manchester, Stoke, Marlborough, LA and Mach! Find out all the info and more at stuartgoldsmith.com/comedy. Discover my comedy about the climate crisis, for everyone from activists to CEOs, at stuartgoldsmith.com/climate.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Stuart Goldsmith. This is the Comedians,edian Podcast. I said that the wrong way around for once. |
| 0:21.4 | Lovely to have a change, isn't it? Today, I am thrilled to be talking to Charlene Kay, who I was |
| 0:28.2 | introduced to in a very amusing fashion, as you will shortly hear. She is a musician. Another one. |
| 0:34.7 | Don't worry, we haven't turned into the musician's musician. She is also |
| 0:38.0 | an excellent comedian. She's based in New York, but as a musician, she has toured the world |
| 0:43.6 | opening for bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Metallica. You will almost certainly have seen |
| 0:48.6 | her every Taylor Swift song, viral thing, skit, meme. What are she done? It's a bit, it's a bit online. It now sits |
| 0:57.7 | at around 100 million views, so she's definitely one of those people who you hear of and go, |
| 1:02.1 | oh, that's her, as is so often the case these days. And she's now back with her new show, |
| 1:06.7 | Diversity Shredder, which is going to the tour of which includes some dates at London's |
| 1:11.2 | Underbelly next week on Wednesday, the 8th and Thursday, the 9th of April. She's loads of fun, |
| 1:16.8 | and in this episode we are going to discuss in the first half. We'll talk about whether being successful |
| 1:21.5 | in one creative field helps starting in stand-up. We'll talk about whether the feeling of being |
| 1:26.6 | a rock star and a comedian is the same thing. |
| 1:29.5 | Can you be funny while actually shredding? That's a guitar term that I now know. |
| 1:35.2 | We'll find out why Todacious D and Flight of the Concords work so well, and we will find out about her building up. |
| 1:41.7 | I've thrown there by the bullets, because the last two bullet points are building her first stand-up show from a notebook about her building up, I've thrown there by the bullets, because the last two bullet points are building |
| 1:44.7 | her first stand-up show from a notebook about her mum. And the second one is whether or not I should |
| 1:50.0 | start singing lessons, and I thought we'd cut that bit. But never mind, Charlene Kay is with us in just a |
| 1:55.9 | second. You can have extra content with her and the full back catalogue as well as instant ad free access. Imagine. |
| 2:03.0 | You know how good access is. Imagine if it was ad free to the full audio and video of all of this, |
| 2:09.5 | plus the new formats due and A and the lovely warm feeling inside that you get when you contribute to a thing you love, |
... |
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