Rob Delaney, actor and comedian

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rob Delaney is a comedian, writer and actor who is best known for the television series Catastrophe, which he co-wrote and co-starred in alongside Sharon Horgan. He has also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters including Deadpool and Mission Impossible.

Rob was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Marblehead on the north shore. He studied for a degree in Musical Theatre at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and began writing comedy material after he graduated. In 2014, he moved to London to co-write and shoot the first series of Catastrophe and has been in the UK ever since. The series won Rob and Sharon a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society Award for comedy writing.

In 2016 Rob’s one-year-old son Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumour and after undergoing surgery and intense treatment Henry died in 2018. In the throes of his grief Rob wrote his best-selling book A Heart That Works which was a tribute to his son, his family and the NHS.

Rob lives in north London with his wife and three sons.

DISC ONE: Galician Overture - The Chieftains DISC TWO: This Is To Mother You - Sinéad O’Connor DISC THREE: Chopin, Nocturne No 11 in G minor. Composed by Frédéric Chopin and performed by Maurizio Pollini (piano) DISC FOUR: Bluer Than Midnight - The The DISC FIVE: Hey - Pixies DISC SIX: Fire in the Hole - Steely Dan DISC SEVEN: Plainclothes Man - Heatmiser DISC EIGHT: Rock Lobster - The B-52s BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Works of Alice Munro LUXURY ITEM: A piano CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: This Is To Mother You - Sinéad O’Connor

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Disks podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guest to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they
0:14.3	were cast away to a desert island. And for rights reasons the music is shorter than
0:19.7	the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening. My cast away this week is the comedian, actor and writer Rob Delaney.
0:48.0	He's best known for the channel 4 series catastrophe which he co-wrote and co-starred in alongside Sharon Hogan.
0:55.2	It's dark, witty and close to the bone portrayal of family life won the pair A Bafter and
1:00.7	a Royal Television Society Award for Comedy Writing.
1:04.0	The success of the show brought him from Los Angeles to London
1:08.0	where he and his wife settled with their young family.
1:11.0	Then in 2018 they experienced a terrible personal loss, the death of
1:16.0	their two and a half year old son Henry from a brain tumor. It was in the throes of
1:20.9	his unimaginable grief that he wrote his best-selling book, a heart that works.
1:25.9	It was a tribute to his son, his family and the NHS.
1:30.0	His acting career continues with Hollywood blockbusters like Deadpool and Mission Impossible,
1:35.1	but so does his most important role as an advocate for the health service and for bereaved families.
1:41.0	He says, optimism is good. I suffer from it congenously, but let's not be ridiculous. The world is still just a horrible toilet.
1:49.0	Rob Delaney, welcome to Desert Island discs.
1:52.0	Thank you.
1:53.0	I'm so excited to be here.
1:55.2	Thank you very much.
1:56.7	You are very welcome.
	...

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