EPISODE 65: The Thirty-Seven Club

Strangers on a Bench

Tom Rosenthal

Strangers, Society & Culture, Conversation, Bench, Random, Documentary, Park

4.8 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tom Rosenthal approaches a stranger on a park bench and asks if he can sit down next to them and record their conversation.

This is what happened!

Produced by Tom Rosenthal

Edited by Rose De Larrabeiti

Mixed by Mike Woolley

Theme tune by Tom Rosenthal & Lucy Railton

Incidental music by Maddie Ashman

End song: 'Benchwork' by The Pain

Stream it here: https://ffm.to/benchworksoab

Listen to all the end songs featured on the podcast (so far) on one handy playlist :

https://ffm.to/soabendsongs

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Instagram: @strangersonabench

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, sorry to bother you.
0:05.0	Can I ask you a slightly odd question?
0:09.0	I'm making a podcast called Strangers on a bench
0:14.0	where essentially I talk to people I don't know on benches for 10 or 15 minutes.
0:19.0	Are you up for that? Do you want to give it a go? This is the first time I've been in front of a baby photo shoot.
0:49.3	Have you ever taken part in a baby photo shoot?
0:53.3	We should be in the bad job with this. We should get involved. No, I've never done one of them. Maybe when I was young, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. That's sweet, isn't it? Yeah. Let's start a question. Do you have a favourite day of the week? No, but I have a day that I don't like. Oh. I think Tuesday is the worst day of the week. Love it. People say Monday, right? But Monday, you know what Monday is. Monday, we know Monday. Wednesday is halfway through the week. Good day, we're halfway there. Yeah. Thursday, the day before Friday. It's a great day. Friday,
1:29.1	obviously a great day. Saturday, a great day. Sunday, a day of rest. And then you've got Tuesday,
1:33.9	the bastard, just sitting in between the day that you think is bad, which is Monday and the good
1:39.4	day Wednesday. But it's really Tuesday. That's what I say, see you next Tuesday, isn't it?
1:43.9	Yes. Of course. Of course. That's what I say, see you next Tuesday, isn't it? Yes, of course, of course.
1:46.0	So that's my theory for that.
1:48.0	That's fantastic.
1:50.0	Have you ever had a particularly shit Tuesday?
1:52.0	No, I think I'm well aware that because I spoke it into existence
1:56.0	that Tuesday is the shittest day, that it's probably going to be the shittest day.
2:00.0	I mean, me, if I come out of my house and I'm in a bad mood to say, Tuesday is the shittest day, that it's probably going to be the shittest day. Yeah.
2:17.8	I mean, me, if I come out of my house and I'm in a bad mood to say, I say to myself, and I actually do, I'll say, come on, come on, mate. And I cheer myself up. It's energy, isn't it? On a Tuesday? Yeah, or any day. You know, I say that Tuesday is the worst day, but I could have a good day on Tuesday and I could have a bad day on fucking Friday.
2:19.0	You never know, do you know what I mean?
2:21.2	Okay, let's use Tuesday then for the next question.
2:17.8	Go on. I say that Tuesday is the worst day, but I could have a good day on Tuesday, and I could have a bad day on fucking Friday.
2:18.9	You never know, do you know what I mean?
	...

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