Why in the Name of Pierre Novellie
Comedy of the Week
BBC
3.8 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Unarguably tall comedian Pierre Novellie uses his unique style of erudite bafflement to focus on the deep and the shallow in a comedic answer to In Our Time. In this episode, all about why we can’t stop eating, Pierre discusses the misuse of soap, weaponised crisps, Saint Aetholwold, and George Orwell vs the pizza.
As Pierre says, “I’m delighted to be given the chance to perform my own comedy on the BBC, the original source of my obsession with comedy as a child. It’s a chance to bring my stand up to a hypothetically grateful nation.”
Written and performed by Pierre Novellie and produced & directed by David Tyler (Cabin Pressure, One Person Found This Helpful, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive)
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommas Ranganaathan. |
| 0:25.9 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.5 | Why in the name of Pierre Novelli? |
| 0:39.0 | A show where I ask why and then I tell you why. |
| 0:42.3 | This episode, Why in the name of Pierre Naveli, can't we stop eating? |
| 0:52.6 | By the 14th century, many of the monasteries in England had become decadent. |
| 0:57.3 | The monks were eating so much meat and drinking so much booze and becoming so overweight that they had become constipated. |
| 1:03.3 | The situation was serious enough that they wrote down medical advice for their bound brethren, |
| 1:09.2 | which we still have. |
| 1:10.6 | It was, in my best Middle English pronunciation, |
| 1:13.8 | take a piece of soap, make it small, and put it in your fundament. |
| 1:21.8 | Aside from being probably quite effective, |
| 1:24.3 | this is also a very satisfying thing to say when they try to upsell you in lush. |
| 1:32.4 | Take a piece of soap, make it small, and put it in your fundament. |
| 1:38.9 | Sorry, I should have said, hello, I'm Pianoveli. Welcome to the show. And today I'll be |
| 1:43.5 | talking about eating and overeating. |
| 1:46.0 | Apologies for the rapid start. |
... |
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