Hello and welcome to my time capsule. My name's Mike Fenton-Stevens, and my time capsule is the podcast where people tell me five things from their life they wish they had in a time capsule.

They can pick anything they want, but they must pick four things they cherish and one thing

they'd like to bury and forget. My guest in this episode is the comedian Mark Simmons,

who's been on the podcast before in January 2023. Since then, Mark has become more and more successful.

A regular headliner in top venues all over the country,

Mark is now doing a massive solo tour right through 2026,

with his show, Just to Impress.

So he's bound to be coming to a theatre near you.

In fact, this episode was recorded in my living room, as Mark was at the

theatre not ten minutes from my home and fancied a cup of tea and a chat. Along with him was his friend

and fellow comedian Danny Ward. Danny is our next guest, although his episode was also recorded

in my living room and was actually recorded before this episode of Mark's, despite

it being scheduled to go out after it. In fact, Danny was in the room when we recorded Mark's

episode and does occasionally join in, as you'll hear in our next episode. Mark was also in

the room when Danny's episode was recorded, so he might sound as if he's able to predict the future,

but in reality, the future has already happened.

Yeah, you'll see what I mean.

I've seen Mark perform several times since we recorded his first episode, and I am a real fan.

He's one of those rare comedians who can fill an hour simply telling a series of short,

often unrelated jokes.

Many of them, one-liners, as they're called.

By the end of the hour, you are exhausted from laughing.

...