Ep. 519 - Robert Ross
My Time Capsule
Cast Off Productions
4.8 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Robert Ross is Britain’s foremost comedy historian, author of over twenty acclaimed books including The Monty Python Encyclopedia, Sid James – Cockney Rebel and Marty Feldman – The Biography of a Comedy Legend. He is the official historian of the Carry On films ad has written Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish with casts including Colin Baker, Leslie Phillips, Roy Hudd, Doug Bradley and David Tennant. His first stage play, Jeepers Creepers, about Marty Feldman, was directed by Terry Jones at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. It was adapted as a radio play in 2020. A familiar face on television and radio, praised by Barry Cryer as “a one-man encyclopedia of the very best of British comedy,” Ross also hosts the Comedy Historian Podcast, curates live events and exhibitions, and tours his celebrated one-man shows on the greats of British humour. His latest book, Seriously Silly – The Life of Terry Jones, is out on 6th November 2025.
Robert Ross is our guest in episode 519 of My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he’d like to preserve and one he’d like to bury and never have to think about again .
Pre-order Seriously Silly – The Life of Terry Jones, here - https://www.waterstones.com/book/seriously-silly/robert-ross/9781399742917 .
For Robert’s books and events, visit his website - https://www.robertross.co.uk .
Follow Robert Ross on Twitter/X & Instagram @RobertWRossEsq .
Follow My Time Capsule on Instagram: @mytimecapsulepodcast & Twitter/X & Facebook: @MyTCpod .
Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter/X: @fentonstevens & Instagram @mikefentonstevens .
Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .
Music by Pass The Peas Music .
Artwork by matthewboxall.com .
This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people .
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Transcript
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| 0:38.3 | Hello, my name is Scroobius Pip, and I host the Distraction Pieces podcast, one of the longest |
| 0:42.7 | running independent podcasts in the UK. Every Wednesday, I talk to amazing guests from Florence |
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| 1:01.3 | on all podcast platforms. |
| 1:04.9 | Music Hello again and welcome to my time capsule. I'm Mike Fenton-Stevens, and my time capsule is, as it's always been, the podcast where people tell me five things from their life they wish |
| 1:27.7 | they had in a time capsule. Four things that they cherish, and one thing they'd like to bury and forget. |
| 1:34.5 | And my guest in this episode is the comedy historian and writer Robert Ross. Robert is the font of |
| 1:41.2 | all knowledge when it comes to comedy. He's delighted to admit to not having had a proper job since 1995. |
| 1:48.0 | The year his first book, The Carry On Companion, was commissioned, |
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