S11 EP23: Joe Thomas

31 Oct 2025 · 50 min · 19 chapters

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In short

Parenting Hell episode S11 EP23 features Joe Thomas (actor from The Inbetweeners) discussing modern parenting and his own experiences with a 3-year-old daughter. He and co-hosts talk about “screens” and argues it’s not screens themselves but algorithms that can push kids toward addictive content; he lets his daughter use a phone for music and watches kids TV.

Key claims

parenting is a long “marathon” without weekends off; single-sex schooling can send harmful messages about girls; and work-from-home always stays in your head (he once worked on a laptop in a park and was scolded by another child). Notable examples include: his daughter thinking his cryptic crossword is his job; her repeating “that was close” while he drives; and his story of cutting the umbilical cord and keeping a piece in a drawer.

Guests

Joe Thomas; hosts Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Parenting Stories from Australia

0:29 to 0:54

Hosts discuss listener feedback and parenting anecdotes.

“Let's talk about Peyronie's disease, or PD.”

Parenting Stories from Australia

0:58 to 1:20

Hosts discuss listener feedback and parenting anecdotes.

Parenting Stories from Australia

2:14 to 3:16

Hosts discuss listener feedback and parenting anecdotes.

“This is our three and a half year old son Seb.”

Inbetweeners and Auditions

3:16 to 4:32

Discussion about auditions and experiences related to The Inbetweeners.

“But I just felt like I was in like Wales or Scotland.”

Listener's Wild Travel Story

4:32 to 6:40

A listener shares a humorous story about parentless travel as a child.

“In the early 90s, my parents were invited to go to Portugal with some friends to stay in a villa they'd booked for a week in the summer.”

Joe Thomas on Parenting

6:40 to 8:30

Joe discusses his parenting experiences and daughter.

“Saw Robin Cambridge earlier this year, and we're off to see Josh tonight.”

Balancing Work and Parenthood

8:30 to 13:20

Discussion about the struggles of balancing work responsibilities and parenting.

“Is your daughter excited about, is she going to be central to the wedding or are you going to kind of...”

The Balancing Act of Parenting and Work

14:01 to 19:10

Discussion on the challenges of managing work and parenting responsibilities.

“Does she not understand the commissioning process, this child?”

Navigating Screen Time and Education

19:47 to 28:00

Exploration of screen time policies for children and the impact of educational choices.

“Well, she's also like, she's incredibly susceptible.”

The Challenges of Parenting

28:00 to 29:20

Discussion on unexpected challenges faced when becoming a parent.

“You know, she'll get in trouble at school.”
Show all 19 chapters

The Marathon of Childbirth

29:20 to 30:40

Exploration of the prolonged nature of childbirth and its emotional toll.

Experience of Labor and Support

30:40 to 34:20

Joe shares his experience during labor and the feelings of helplessness.

“Was it long for you guys then, the birth?”

Joe's Podcast with James Buckley

34:20 to 36:40

Joe talks about his podcast where he swaps interesting facts with James.

“We are different, but I think in a curious way, I think we're both quite sensitive and I think we're both quite emotional.”

Urban Myths and Funny Stories

36:40 to 39:20

Discussion about various urban myths and humorous anecdotes.

“This is one where there's a little old lady goes to bed every night and she's got a little doggy and she puts her hand.”

Wrap-Up and Final Thoughts

40:14 to 42:00

Joe shares more humorous anecdotes and thoughts about life and his podcast.

“There's another one where the woman has a one-night stand.”

Introduction to Joe's Podcast

42:00 to 42:48

Learn about the concept and format of Joe's new podcast 'Fact Up'.

“What's happening with you sort of day to day?”

Humorous Facts and Personal Anecdotes

42:48 to 44:24

Discover quirky facts shared by Joe and humorous commentary on their presentation.

“I mean, a lot of the comments recently have been complaining that my trainers are very dirty.”

Fact Verification and Audience Engagement

44:24 to 45:52

Listen in as Joe explains how they verify the facts shared on the podcast.

“Are you going to use any of the facts I've given you, the urban myths I've given you?”

Parenting Perspectives and Challenges

45:52 to 47:08

Explore Joe's insights on parenting and the challenges he faces.

“Also, what's good about that fact is I think of, I was speaking to somebody and she was like, oh yeah, I heard that on another podcast.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:54Josh Widdicombe:visit talkaboutpd.com when the going gets tough get after it with NOS Energy keep your foot flat to the floor and never let off thunder from top gear to no fear never back down never slow down your body is machined with 800 horses coursing through its veins so go hard go fast go on grab a can of NOS Energy and get after it

1:28Hello, I'm Rob Beckett. And I'm Josh Willicombe. Welcome to Parenting Hell, the show in which Josh and I discuss what it's really like to be a parent, which I would say can be a little tricky.

1:37Josh Widdicombe:So, to make ourselves, and hopefully you, feel better about the trials and tribulations of modern day parenting, each week we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how they're coping. Or hopefully how they're not coping. And we'll also be hearing from you, the listener, with your tips, advice, and of course, tales of parenting woe. Because let's be honest, there are plenty of times when none of us know what we're doing.

2:02Hello, you're listening to Parenting Hour with...

2:05Josh Widdicombe:Hey Sebi, can you say Rob Beckett? Rob Beckett. And can you say Josh Widdicombe? Josh Widdicombe. Josh. There we go. Rob, where were they from? Australia. Correct. This is our three and a half year old son Seb. We're long-time listeners First-time emailers After seeing Rob in Sydney this week Whoop State theatre, mate Make sure you do that on your tour It's amazing We love the show Thought my accent might keep you guessing Josh's house move content Has reassured us That we're not going insane Or making us feel very glad To not have pets As we plan to move to New Zealand In December Oh Very sexy and relatable Sarah, originally from New Zealand Jo, originally from the UK Seb, 44 months And Ollie, 12 months In Sydney, Australia a Sydney Australia you weren't a big NZ fan were you well I just find it's very calm and chilled I'd say Australia's loose neck New Zealand's stiff neck right yeah and I'd say the scenery is beautiful in New Zealand but it's more like waterfall mount in green than it is blue sea beach and they've got you know the beach some of the beaches are black sand and it's a bit more wet and green.

3:15It's beautiful. Right. But I just felt like I was in like Wales or Scotland.

3:19Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where Australia was a bit warmer so I prefer the heat. As discussed. As discussed, Rob. As discussed. Joe, when was today? Were you big in the in-betweeners scene? I actually went and got auditioned for the in-betweeners. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you? Yeah, there was an open casting thing up in Edinburgh one year for the film. I remember this. I went for that and I didn't get anything And then there was another audition to play the guy in the film that is like a London geezer that goes up to Jay, approaches him down a dark street. I don't remember. Well, back to you, did you get auditioned for Inbetweeners, Simon Bird, Ron?

3:57I didn't, no. We're a bit young, weren't we? No, they're about our age, aren't they?

4:01Josh Widdicombe:Well, The Inbetweeners was famous before I was in comedy, I think. It was huge, wasn't it, in like the mid-2000s? Yeah. So is it 20 years since The Inbetweeners started? Jesus wept Joe Thomas looks exactly the same I know what's wrong with his skin why is it so the same what's happened he was presumably playing older at the time it's great casting though because he still looks like a virgin he still looks like a virgin he does right do you want to do a correspondence before we get him on quick bit correspondence yeah do you want to put him a parent in yeah I do actually yeah here we go hi Rob Josh and Michael on the recent Alan Davis the return episode Josh spoke about his solo flight from South Africa, and I felt compelled to email my own story of childhood parentless travel.

4:47In the early 90s, my parents were invited to go to Portugal with some friends to stay in a villa they'd booked for a week in the summer. The friends had one child, and the villa slept six people, so my parents and a child could join them. Sounds great, I hear you say, but unfortunately, I'm one of three children, so rather than miss out, my parents decided to pick their favorite child, my brother, the youngest of golden children, and just take that one. What? No way. That's his mentor. My sister and I are about 10 and 12, and therefore too young to be left alone. So they decided we would go and stay with my auntie and uncle for the week.

5:19All well and good. But we live in Suffolk, and they live in a small village 20 miles north of Glasgow.

5:24Josh Widdicombe:Jesus fucking what? So they needed a plan for us to get there. Enter my granddad's neighbours. Turns out they were going on holiday to Scotland around the same time. So they decided they would take us up with them and drop us off at my auntie's house. That is wild. I've only met these people a couple of times. I bet those people were livid. If someone said to me, if I was going on a holiday, you don't mind dropping my kids off, you're like, are you fucking joking? That has transformed my train journey from relaxing to weird and awkward. I'd only met these people a handful of times. They had to sit in the back of their car for seven hours in a drive to Scotland.

6:00Oh, what is a car? Yeah. To make matters worse, they drove up the M6 rather than the A1. So we didn't even get to stop at our childhood favourite services, Scotch Corner.

6:10Josh Widdicombe:I don't think that's it. I don't think that's the worst thing. I don't think that's the big problem here. I should add that my parents knew them well and the man was a retired police officer. Yeah, because they're no trouble, are they? But even so, I can't imagine A, picking a child to have their first holiday abroad. Oh my God, it was the first holiday abroad for all of them. But only one got to go. Send the others away with practical strangers. My sister had a lovely week in Scotland with our cousins and when they got back from Portugal, our parents drove up to pick us up. So at least the return journey wasn't too random.

6:40Oh, my God. My husband and I love the pod. Saw Robin Cambridge earlier this year, and we're off to see Josh tonight. Keep it sexy and relatable. Right. Joe Thomas. Here's Joe. Joe Thomas, do you have children? Yes, I do. I have one daughter who's three. Do all the in-betweeners have children now? You sound really sad about that. Oh, no, I'm not. Most people start happy. Yeah. And then moan. But they start happy. All right. No, no, but you delivered that like you said you've got, you know, rising damp. I'm starting from a neutral place. And yes, all the in-betweeners do have children. Yes, we do.

7:17Do you share parenting tips with James Buckley? Well, his children are older, they're considerably older than mine. And there probably wouldn't really be an overlap. Like, I think, I know that one of his sons, I think he's going to boxing. So I don't know, that probably wouldn't apply to my toddler. Well, it's probably to be toddler. Is she even a toddler? Yeah, she's three. I don't know, is that toddler? I think that's beyond toddler. She's not holding. She's walking. She's a little girl. She's a little girl. She's just a person now. There's a bit where they're so basic or apparently basic that you can just get a book that's like week one, this is what they'll do.

7:52Almost like day 10, afternoon, three o 'clock, this is what they'll be doing. And then it comes to a point where they're like, yeah, it's just a person now. Yeah, yeah, deal with it. Imagine if there was a book for like 41-year-olds where it was like, oh, so it's week 3 ,012 of your life, it's Tuesday, this is what you'll be doing.

8:11Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, you'll be hating going to work, you'll be wondering whether your marriage is going to last. No. Bit quick with that, Josh. Sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll be checking whether you signed a prenup. I'm just spitballing here, guys. I'm just spitballing. Lou had more money than me when we got married. She needed a prenup, not me. Are you married, Joe? I'm engaged to my partner. Yeah, Hannah. That's normally the way. Yeah, to her. That's the same way I did it, Joe. Is your daughter excited about, is she going to be central to the wedding or are you going to kind of... Oh, yes. I mean, I would say very much so.

8:47Josh Widdicombe:Because it was the cause of the proposal. Well, no, no, no, nothing like that. You'd be mental to have that kind of asset and not deploy. Flower girl or bridesmaid? Interesting. Now, I feel flower girl probably. I feel like bridesmaid is a lot of responsibility, isn't it? She's not organising the hen, is she? Yeah, she can't book 10 flights to RB for an hour. No, no. She's not going to be calling up jonglers and being like, right, we want three pictures of cocktails. I mean, I would quite like to see what kind of hen she would organise. I know a great place, nursery. It's going to be a nursery.

9:26Josh Widdicombe:Often a hen, they'll do stuff that's like, that a child would enjoy. Do you know what I mean? Like some hens will do like, you know, balloon modelling or whatever. Licking cream off a policeman's knob. Yeah, yeah. Joe, how do you feel about having a bastard?

9:47It's fine. You know, she's actually very pleasant.

9:52She's only sometimes a bastard. You didn't have a bastard, did you, Rob? No, no, we were married, had a couple of kids. That's all nonsense anyway. They don't really matter if you're getting married before. I was bastard up to my divorce. It's expensive to get married if you're trying to buy a house and have kids. Exactly. You could do one of the three. You can't do all three. And you've just moved, Joe. I mean, I say I've just moved. We've actually been here for more or less 18 months, but we've got nothing done. Where are you?

10:20Josh Widdicombe:You look like you're in the shed. I'm in a sort of upstairs room. With a tongue-engrooved wooded ceiling. Where have you moved to in 1972? it looks like a sauna or something doesn't it but actually yeah the thing is this room really is the reason we bought the house because it's got a really nice view which i'm sort of looking at now oh look at that could ask a question when it comes to um being in charge of the three-year-old yes would you say are you more of the general in charge of decision making or more one of the sort of on the ground soldiers i've met you a few times you're a little bit wonderful chaos yeah I think that's probably right.

10:58The truth is, is that actually, I don't think me or Hannah is particularly capable. Right. I know that there's supposed to be like one adult in the relationship. I think it's basically like two babies trying to raise a third baby, essentially. I often feel that there actually should be a third person in the relationship as sort of manager figure. I'm talking about, you know, in the bedroom. I'm talking about in the study. I do want to have a threesome, but I want it to be a kind of bureaucratic threesome. Yeah, of course.

11:31Josh Widdicombe:This other person kind of makes a spreadsheet and then me and Hannah fill it in. You don't fill the other person and you fill the spreadsheet in. Yeah, yeah. It seems to be going okay. No disasters. It's going okay. What can I tell you about my parenthood? So basically, the time where I thought I'm not doing a very good job, I had a crossword book for Christmas, The Guardian cryptic crosswords. I'm working my way to put it. This is last Christmas as well, by the way. so we're in like mid-October now. When did you finish that book, Rob? About March, hadn't you? Yeah. I barely finished this into the sentence.

12:01He lost me at the Guardian. Right. Is it begging for a quid at the front? Please support us. We bring you such well-balanced cryptic crosswords. There's no majority shareholder in these cryptic crosswords. Absolutely. But I was spending so much time with the cryptic crossword book that there was a bit during the year where my daughter pointed to it and went, Daddy work? Oh. As in, like, she thinks it's my job. Yeah. That's bad. That was when I'm not putting up into it. Can you give me the context

12:32Josh Widdicombe:where you'd get the cryptic crossover book out? Just get it out. I would go to the park and, like, I lug my work around in my bag and, like, so I've got the laptop there. I was told off by a child in the park. I had my laptop in the park. Sorry, Joe. Considering you're talking to us in an unfinished room on a phone, what is this other work stuff you carry around with you? Because I'd say you're going into this a little bit low on equipment. Well, I do have a laptop that, as I say, I was genuinely, I was admonished by a child for using my laptop in the park. Really? Yeah, I mean... Or for being a nerd or for...

13:06No, I think for being a bad human being. Was you not watching your kid then? Was your kid playing? Yeah, but like, I had to do it. Like, I mean, it was like... You're defensive. Your child's playing in the park and you're on your laptop. She was fine. That's all right. Yeah. I genuinely had to get something sent off. I had a deadline. I just couldn't. Yeah, I think that's acceptable. Have a working partner. I mean, this is, you get in trouble for, you know, polluting their lives with your work, but sometimes you have to do it. I'd say that we have a life where there's no...

13:35Josh Widdicombe:Because you do a lot of work from home. You've got a job, one of those jobs, like me and Rob, it's basically the same job, really, isn't it? Yeah, you carry it around with you everywhere. Like, I mean, people think that it's, you know, and yes, you do have times where, you know, you're your own... By the way, I definitely shouldn't be my own boss. I would really, really benefit from having really quite a formal working setup yeah so yeah we all have the same job really you know we're kind of we're constantly chewing over about four or five different things that we might be doing like yeah i'm trying to get a treatment in i'm probably supposed to be doing an audition tape and although you know that you can do it whenever you want to do it it also never turns off like there's never a point where you're like oh i've finished work for the week i don't have to think about it anymore so i carry it around with me it's always in my head that's why i was on my laptop and was it your child or was it another child it wasn't so it was someone else's child came up to me and i think she literally said like get off your ipad mate and i was like it's not an ipad it's a laptop i didn't say that obviously but i was like i think a laptop's acceptable i think it's more acceptable than a phone in a weird way everyone's very very puritanical about you know screens but first of all it was me on a screen yeah and also i was just trying to get a sort of treatment away or something like it really wasn't.

14:50Does she not understand the commissioning process, this child? She didn't seem to. No, I suppose she probably thought I should have asked for an extension or something. You've got to sit there, copy and paste it out the name of the person you wanted to host the show and then resend it in with another person's name on it that may be available. Find and replace can be hard. Have you ever had an email where they've left the old name in?

15:10Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, I have one where I was called Greg throughout. Yeah. I must have told you this, Rob. I did one where I had replaced Jack D at the script stage of a panel show. Yeah. They used to find replace on the word Jack with Josh. And then in one of the links, there was a reference to Samuel L. Joshson.

15:36So how did it end with this child when you were in the park? The child went away. And I suppose, frankly, I felt sort of slightly peeved at her parents for, you know, being a little bit over puritanic.

15:51Josh Widdicombe:Is there an argument? I've heard Richard Osman make this argument. Yeah. That screens are how we live our lives. I know. And children need to. I hear both sides of this. So the two things that everybody seems to agree on are it's absolutely pointless trying to kind of rail against technology kind of writ large, whether that's AI or anything else. It's like, you know, you can't, you know, this is just the beginning. We just have to embrace it, lean in. Right. So that's one argument. And then the other argument is your child shouldn't know what a phone is. So how do these two fellows go together then in terms of like, so here's one over here.

16:32I think the problem's the algorithm. Yeah. I think the screen's fine if they're just watching something or playing a game. But the problem is the algorithm where it like gives them stuff that's sort of, you know, one step to the left of what they're watching until they're watching something completely different. Well, yes, exactly. That is a very, very different thing. I totally agree. Yes, it's not the screen, is it? It's the machine learning that's trying to get you addicted to something, which is that's a different thing to like, don't look at a screen. I'll tell you another thing about screens.

17:01Only very, very, very recently, as in like this year. I'm quite fascinated by these things your parents tell you and then you just think they're true forever. I thought the other day, oh, you don't actually get square eyes, do you, if you're too close to the present? And what's so funny is that me moving away from that is a fairly big deal for me. That's like somebody walking away from Mormonism or something. I'm like, you know what? I've become ready to leave that. Did you have when you were a kid

17:26Josh Widdicombe:that if I sat too near the screen, it was bad? I say that to my daughter. I'm like, don't get so close to the screen. And I'm like, why am I saying that? It's like that thing where Andy Murray, just to bring him in at last, somebody said, why do you do that thing where you get three tennis balls? Oh, yeah, what is that? And you give them a bit of a bounce. And before you serve, you have three of them. And you check two of them and bounce them and then chuck them away and select one of them. He said, why did you do that? And he said, I don't know. It's just what everyone else does. Is that right?

17:56Josh Widdicombe:Because I'm obsessed with that. They'll check. I presumed that there was bad tennis balls. Well, that's what I mean. I mean, if Wimbledon can't get a hold of good tennis balls, I really don't know. Also, it would be an advantage to throw in the odd bad one. Yeah. It would take the opponent by surprise because you do your whack of a serve and it would just plop over the net. I think every two should be three tennis balls and then one fruit, like an orange or... Chop the strawberry. What do you think the most advantageous fruit to serve would be? Something incredibly heavy, like a grapefruit. Do you think?

18:27Josh Widdicombe:It just gets them. Not like a grape absolutely flying past them. Well, if it hit them, they'd also be in breach of the dress code. Because they'd be like, oh, because they're very posh, aren't they, women? It's like, oh, disgusting. Go and change. And they'd be docked points for, like, bringing down Britain for not being clean. Right now, get up to 15 % off select storage solutions. Put heavy-duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid, impact-resistant design prevents cracking. and the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15 % off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home from your garage to your attic.

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19:16Josh Widdicombe:At Sock Talk, we know being a healthy adult is like living in a video game. Every day has side quests, taxes, laundry, birthdays. and just when you're leveling up, you have to book a doctor. The insurance portal crashes. They put you on hold. Your doctor doesn't take your plan. Game over. We see you. So we made booking a doctor easy. Download ZocDoc. Search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Book instantly. No cheat codes required. Find a doctor you love with ZocDoc. Is your daughter allowed screens then, Joe? Is she allowed to go on an iPad or not? We're quite lax with audio. so like we don't mind like quite a lot of car journeys i do let her have the phone and she can flick through songs on there like nursery rhymes and so she watched telly obviously i mean i suppose like i work in television so if i'm like yeah like i've got to recommend my own product surely yeah but then a butcher don't let a kid play with a knife does he yeah that's a good point in a way no he would feed his kid meat yeah well exactly but also i don't mean she doesn't watch the show's that I'm in, she watches Jojo and Gran Gran, that sort of thing.

20:27I like Jojo and Gran Gran. I like Jojo and Gran Gran. Well, she's also like, she's incredibly susceptible. Like everything she wants to do is just because it's just been on Jojo and Gran Gran. So at the moment she wants to be a drummer.

20:37Josh Widdicombe:Oh, that's an nightmare. Yeah. Because also they get through a lot of stuff, don't they? Every episode is a new thing. Don't James Buckley's kid all play instruments and stuff? Yeah, I think so. I mean, also they're being allowed to learn the call instruments as well. Whereas when I grew up, I learned all the kind of loser ones, like violin no one wants a violinist in their band like really i don't regret not being able to play a classical instrument yeah in the end you want to learn either guitar or piano those are the two big ones because they're the two biggies aren't they guitar piano or push drums drums is fine as well with a violin it's very much like unless there's about 50 million of them in an orchestra they can't you need to be in a big swarm otherwise you're not really like it's a shit instrument did you go to a posh school joe then if you're doing violin i went to a grammar school so which i suppose is sort of posh i had to pass 11 plus so i would always insist it wasn't posh it was you know it's not posh that's just a higher level of education type of thing on the other hand if you're asking do rich kids get coached specifically for the 11 plus by private tutors then obviously the answer is yes although i didn't actually to be fair but then again my parents are teachers so effectively i did get private tuition for free because so basically like everything in britain it like it doesn't appear to be about class but in the end it's absolutely massively about class so yeah get your violin out tiny violin

22:00was it single sex joe oh hell yeah yeah i would actually say i think that single sex education is a terrible idea i basically i when i was a teenage boy obviously like i was interested in girls and you know i suppose what i would say is teenage boys like girls right yeah or boys or

22:19Josh Widdicombe:boys or boys you got a problem with that joe so if you're a teenage boy who likes girls and you go to single session if you're a teenage boy that likes boys you're in amongst it well yeah apart from the sort of latent homophobia but yeah yeah horrendous eight years of your life being bullied for it yeah that's also just essentially sort of not really an environment in which you would feel you were able to express that either probably yeah but so the sake of argument you're a teenage boy you like girls and you're putting a school for only boys the message that sends is basically life is not here for your pleasure life is supposed to be difficult and you're not here to enjoy life you're here to suffer and to achieve and i think that that's basically and listen it was a lovely school the boys were great it's just that i don't really understand why you separate boys from girls unless what you're saying is fuck you life isn't for you it's just something else do you think that made you view girls in a different way than if they were i think it made me think that girls were a kind of alien thing and it took me later than it would have taken other boys to be like oh girls are just same as me yeah like just talk to them they're the same they got a brain the things that you might say to a boy to say to a girl like it's the same yeah i mean that's not a particularly startling revelation but in making such a big shift at 11 to be like right no girls the other message you seem to be sending is that like girls will fuck up your work like because it's the ground it's like you're clever so we're going to help you fulfill your potential so we're going to create an environment in which you have a chance to fulfill your potential and the first well not maybe not the first but the most obvious feature of that environment is we're getting rid of this thing that's going to really fuck up your education this terrible thing this force is going to fuck up your education and that force is girls yeah well Apparently, my wife used to be a teacher, and she said that boys with girls do better, but girls on their own do better than being with boys.

24:12So it's like... Once again, it's just a case of like, women are better. So what you need to do is you need to put the boys around the women and then they might make them better as well. Or drag them down as they pull themselves up. No, I've heard that said as well. And I think it's also slightly to do with the different ways

24:31Josh Widdicombe:that boys and girls socialise at that age. Was there a girls' school across the road that you used to look into Longingway? There was, and we were told not to speak to them. Were you? Was it everyone or just you? I think it was. It seemed to be an issue if we stood outside the school gates. Not that I ever fucking did it. I'm making out loud on this character. But basically, they said I couldn't do it. And I was like, believe me, I'm not doing it. But in all the sense that seeing the teenage boys and the teenage girls socialise with each other, it was like, oh, there's a whiff of trouble about that.

25:04And you're like, why? What are you talking about? Especially with the way that some teenage boys are now. You're like, fucking hell, that's brilliant. They've got girls their own age. They're actually their physical friends. It feels like the equivalent of the no ballgames signs, which I feel I've read are now being sort of taken down. Because it's like, don't fucking play ballgames. That'd be brilliant. That's the whole problem, isn't it? That no one's going outside and they're not socialising. It feels like for quite a long time there was this sense of like, don't let the teenagers do any of this stuff.

25:33And then actually when you look at stuff, you're like, that's all quite good, isn't it? Like playing balls, like talking to members of the opposite sex, like in real life and sort of being their friends. Like, isn't that, I don't know. I suppose I just, I don't know why I'm so passionate about it. Which is probably, I suppose there's an argument for saying that I should be more focused on my daughter's education than on my own. You've been listening to LBC. Thank you. That's Joe on the line. That's all that is. Teenage years. Come on. Come on. I'm on Radio 4. That was Radio 4 level. That was like

26:02Josh Widdicombe:you had that LBC energy. I'll give you Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. I'll give you Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 is fine. Let's talk about your podcast with James Buckley. Oh, right. Yeah, we talked about that. Is that a platform for your strong opinions as well, Joe? Well, not yet, but it's the Trojan Horse. Yeah, and basically, it's like James doesn't know this, but basically, I've prepared a dossier of just my theories about the world. What else annoys you? Let's do that first. What else annoys you? No, let's not do that. Come on, let's open Pandora's box. No, no, let's... Do you drive?

26:32Oh, no, don't. I do drive, yeah. Or noise about my car. I actually quite like my car. It's all right. I don't mind doing it.

26:40Josh Widdicombe:Are you a tentative driver? I can't imagine you hitting 73. Oh, he's changing lanes every three seconds, this guy. He's reversing back on slip roads. He's indicating... Well, Hannah says I'm quite a jerky driver. Like, when I'm in the car with Hannah, she's often assuming a position that I would describe as the brace position. And actually, my daughter has started using the expression, that was close.

27:09Can Hannah drive? Yes, but she doesn't. Oh, right. Well, no, she can only drive an automatic. We have got an automatic. That's fine. She still doesn't drive it. I don't really know why. How are you jerking an automatic? Because you're not even doing the gears. I get it if you're jerking a manual. I think she means I put my foot down too quick. I brake too suddenly. Right. I think there's a sense that my reaction time is less than hers. I think she panics too early. And I'm like, no, I am going to slow down. But that car's like half a mile away at the moment. Where's your thought getting that was close from?

27:43Is that Hannah? That's Hannah, yeah. What else has she got? We're trying to wean her off saying fuck's sake. What's wrong with children's wear? How are you weaning her off? Like two a day, then down to one a day. The problem with children squaring as a parent is, it is just really funny. Yeah. I know that's not a good argument. You know, she'll get in trouble at school. It's true. So we are trying to not laugh. We're like, we don't find that funny. Yeah. But then you're like, it is really funny. So how do you wean her off that? Do you tell her off when she says it? Or is she allowed one a day?

28:13Starver. Starver of the... Attention. Not literally starver. Again, that shouldn't do that. Yeah, no, no, no. Don't do that. That is a no, no. You should bring out, I think, the tips of parenting books. You know what? I'm not giving her the oxygen of publicity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What would you say has been the biggest shock for you from having a baby? What's been the most challenging thing you didn't expect? Things that are really obvious to anyone else, like they don't give you weekends off. It's the weekends. I'll be like, oh, weekend, lie-in. You're like, what the fuck? What? Of course he's not a lie-in.

28:37She'll be up at the same time. And what time are you up? You know what? We're actually quite lucky. She will sleep till about 7.30 now. It's fine. I mean, it's not even a... The trouble is it's not even a time that other people would consider it's just the time you have to get up for work but me and annie used to love sleep we would sleep till you know 11 minimum so we're night owls we'd stay up wow watching telly you know we'd put a box set on at one or something and then stay up and then like we go to bed late we get up late and it worked you know we were productive we got our work done what did she do joe she's an actress that's hard though because you're always off in different places all the time i mean it's good because you can kind of you know you understand each other's lifestyle but on the other hand it would be nice to have one fixed hours fixed hours yeah so what are the shocks i mean i suppose the thing i think that it's difficult to explain to people who don't have children is that it's not that any one single moment is like beyond endurance it's just that it goes on and on and on like the metaphor you know when there's a marathon going and then some muppet kind of runs alongside and goes i'm running at the same speed as the marathon runners you're like yeah but they're gonna do another fucking 26 miles you twat yeah yeah he's not a different twat i mean it's all right he's just having a laugh he's just having a laugh and a sunday i don't have any problem with that person but like that's the thing i would say and again this is me i'm appropriating a narrative that isn't much appropriate but that was what occurred to me about the birth as well was that people talk about the pain of childbirth like it's this kind of like very very short intense pain like having a fingernail pulled off or something and what struck me about the birth was the time it was like this is a marathon yeah it isn't like you lay down next to her and go i'm having a baby too just with pain as well obviously but like i think it's that sex of like the component about an experience that i think it's most difficult to convey to a person who has not had the experience is the time component because in a way for ages yeah exactly so i think if you wanted to explain somebody to somebody what having a child is like, you should explain to them, but the explanation itself should go on for 100 hours.

30:41And then you could say, hey, no. How was the birth? Was it long for you guys then, the birth? I'd say it was about 48 hours. And also Hannah went mental before we went in. She started tidying our flat. She was nesting, but like she stayed up all night before we went in. And also she was in labour, but she said it was Braxton Hicks. It just definitely wasn't. She was just in labour. I'll tell you what you need to do if you're having a baby, clean the back of the highest cupboard. That's really important. That's really important to clean that.

31:09Josh Widdicombe:Because also, the weeks after you've had a baby, there's not downtime, but there is a lot of time where she's feeding and you're in the house and you could be cleaning the back of the cupboard. So Hannah stayed up all night. So when we got to the hospital, Hannah was already exhausted. And then at one point, the midwife went, put on some fast music, like some dance music. And the thing is, that is not my sort of music. Yeah, that's not surprising. I like sort of Nick Drake and that kind of thing. So when this midwife said put on this sort of music, all I thought that that meant was put on some music that I would not generally listen to.

31:46Yeah. So I put on Raw by Katy Perry. And actually, that's just quite slow. Yeah, it is quite slow, yeah. And then after a while, the midwife went to Hannah, do you want this on? Pointing the finger at me. Yeah. And Hannah was like, not really. and I was like yeah but you told me to anyway basically what I'm saying is I felt like I was just in the way and I think I was in the way at one point I think I literally was in the way so you just felt like you just didn't know what to do during the labor then just yeah I am I felt totally and understandably just humbled and like I thought that I'd been a kind of fairly significant partner throughout the pregnancy and then when we got to the hospital I very quickly realized that actually if it was up to me to help hannah like fucking anything could happen like everyone might just die or like i just realized i was like oh actually i'm just completely fucking useless like this is just like i'm no more i mean and obviously because i'm not a medical professional but like i think up until that point you can kind of maybe think that you're kind of vaguely helpful because of you've got good attitude because i'm very positive towards this But then actually, there was a point actually where like doctors had to come.

33:06And actually at that point, I was like, I'm totally irrelevant. I mean, obviously, I know that. Did you cut the umbilical cord? Did you cut the cord? I actually did cut the umbilical cord. I did cut it. Did you do a good job? I think I did an okay job. Yeah. Yeah. I've actually still got a bit of it in a drawer. Yeah. What's it kept in? Just the drawer. I say I got a bit of it. What I've got is the little bit of cord that came away from the belly button. You know, there's always a little bit. Oh, yeah, yeah, the bit that's attached and then it falls off. I didn't really know what to do with that.

33:36So I put it in the drawer next to our bed and it's just in there. And I'm like, I don't know. It felt weird to kind of toss it in the trash because it's like it's part of my daughter's body. But like, you know, when people have like the drawer, you know, like comedians like to joke about that drawer with all the stuff in the kitchen. You've got some umbilical cord in it. That's an item that would go in that drawer, is the bit of Charles' umbilical cord. You know, AAA battery.

34:02Josh Widdicombe:Bone charger, et cetera. Tell us about your podcast with your old pal, James Buckley. So the podcast is me and James, and we are basically swapping facts with each other. And have you been close since the Inbetweeners? I think we have, yeah. I think it was sort of, you know, love at first sight. So I'd say you're quite different. We are different, but I think in a curious way, I think we're both quite sensitive and I think we're both quite emotional. We both like to laugh. And although we had come from very different backgrounds, like James had really been working as an actor since he was a child, pretty much.

34:40And I'd kind of gone through lots and lots of education. I've been to university and stuff and I'd only really come to it after all that. But I do think that we have a kind of, I don't know, similar sort of vibe. I think we kind of, the same sort of thing amuses us, I think. So what are the facts? Just random facts and you just swap them? Random facts. So like the most expensive bar of soap ever made was made with fat extracted from Silvio Berlusconi. Was it? I think it was also secreted. I mean, he basically had liposuction and then somebody worked at the clinic, got the fat and like. Made it into a bar of soap?

35:17Ready to bar a soap. Well, I'll say this. It actually wasn't bought, amazingly, for£40 ,000, because why in Christ's name would it be bought for£40 ,000? It was divided up into four pieces. They're for sale for£10 ,000 each. And they haven't sold either. So in a way, is it the most expensive bar of soap? No, but if it hasn't sold, that's not its price. It's the most overpriced bar of soap. Well, I've got a bit of soap from my hotel room that's£11 ,000, if you want to buy it. Yeah. if you need a bit of content for the week next week so how are you getting your facts i go on the whatsapp no i get them from my brother's whatsapp group what's your brother's whatsapp group well my brother's on a whatsapp group and they're always just putting stupid stuff on there and then i basically take it and put it on my podcast you monetize it yeah i monetize it where's james getting his facts from the internet i mean i think he's getting them from more traditional sources.

36:15I've also got a book of facts that I've purchased. It's called The Book for Odd Moments and it was published in 1890. Some of them are actually not facts. Wessex man always has a natural magic about him. I bet some of them are not PC either. Also in general we're quite interested in urban myths and the idea of facts that seem to circulate.

36:38Josh Widdicombe:What's your favourite urban myth? Is it about the person that has the kidneys removed in the bath now that's prince with a rib no no that is a good one prince with the rib the urban myth is the person who gets drugged and then they wake up in a bath of ice yeah with a note saying i've taken your kidneys call 999 fucking have you heard that i haven't heard that i've heard one that i like is a good one about the pet snake no bloke has a pet snake right yeah big old snake he starts sleeping in bed beside him yeah next to him like unfurled i don't like this what straight straight and he's like that's weird snakes don't sleep straight do they this one does yeah okay yeah no next night the same sleeping in bed well it's a pet doesn't matter and he mentions this idly to his mate i don't know who this mate is some naturalist he says oh snake sleeping in bed with me length ways and the friend says right get out of that house and have that snake destroyed because what that snake is doing is it's measuring you oh god when it's big enough it's gonna eat you i don't think that's true but that's a good story yeah that is a good story there's a good one about the person who is looking after a dog yeah and the dog dies are you aware of this one i would lick in the hand oh no what's licking the By the bed.

38:03Josh Widdicombe:By the bed. What's that? This is one where there's a little old lady goes to bed every night and she's got a little doggy and she puts her hand. It's like a scary one. And she puts it down and the dog licks her fingers. So she knows the dog's there and it's her little comfort blanket. She hears a noise in the night. She does that. The dog licks her fingers. Oh, I know where this is going. She does it one night and I hear the noise and then does it and then does it again. And then she wakes up in the morning and some sort of intruders killed the dog. So there was an intruder who'd been laying there licking her fingers all night.

38:31Oh, God. oh god oh god I've pictured that but that's the vibe that would be told on like Caravan Park with Cousins oh I don't like that yeah so this one's

38:40Josh Widdicombe:less bleak is about the person that is looking after the dog for someone and the dog dies and then they I can't remember why but they have to say take the dog corpse to the vet to be dealt with because the person's away for two weeks yeah yeah so they put it in a suitcase because it's a big Alsatian they get to the bus another person goes madam can you do you want me to help you with your suitcase or whatever and she goes yeah that's lovely and then he runs off with the suitcase oh egg on his face egg on his face it's a lovely funny story that one Alsatian in his case that's the nicest story Alsatians are heavy man yeah maybe it wasn't an Alsatian maybe it was just a Jack Russell yeah in a small man bag yeah

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40:10Josh Widdicombe:You're so back. There's another one where the woman has a one-night stand. You must have heard this one. Yeah, I think I have heard this one. She does the shit in the toilet. Yeah. And have you heard this, Rob? No, I just don't know what this episode is. we're both talking about my daughter, aren't we? We've tried. Let me just tell you this. Yeah. Rob, so the woman has a one night stand. Yeah. He goes to work and he says, let yourself out on the way out. Don't worry. Yeah. She goes to the toilet. She has a shit. It doesn't flush. Yeah. She thinks I can't leave that in there. What am I going to do?

40:54Josh Widdicombe:She goes into the kitchen. There's a plastic bag. She goes, what I'll do. Yeah. I can't put it in the bin. I'll fish it out. I'll put it in the plastic bag. She gets it. She's leaving. She thinks, I'm going to leave him a note. She puts it down. She writes, give me a call with her phone number, piece of paper. Leaves the door, shuts the door. The moment the door locks, she realises she's left on the side next to the note, her own turd in a plastic bag. That's actually happened to me in real life. No. It was shitty pants when I had a bad stomach. can I shit my pants at ex-girlfriends? And I bagged them up in a bag to take with me.

41:32And I left the house and the door shut behind me. And I realised the bag of shitty pants was left on the bed in a carer bag. So I had to text the girl and say, please put that in the street bin and not look in it. And do you think she did? I hope so. I've got a sick head to keep it.

41:45Josh Widdicombe:Did you see her again? Yeah. She was my girlfriend at the time. We broke up then. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Now she's put her on eBay along with Silvio Bellis going in soap. Joke. So what's the podcast called? You actually haven't said that. It's called Joe and James Fact Up. Right. And when's it out? What days? When does it come out? I actually don't know. Joe, can I ask a question? How do you sort of get by? Have you got a good agent? What's happening with you sort of day to day? Because I get the vibe that... It comes out weekly. Right. I think it comes out on a Monday or a Tuesday. Yeah, but I feel like when we stop this interview, you may still just be stood at that window looking out of it talking.

42:25Even without us. I've asked my agent to call me when the interview's over. So I'll know to leave the room.

42:36So it's out weekly, and it's called Fact Up. It's out weekly, it's called Fact Up, and it's me and James swapping amusing facts and trying to kind of interrogate them a little bit. And also, it's just a freewheeling discussion. Yes. Filmed. It's on YouTube. It's filmed on YouTube. I mean, a lot of the comments recently have been complaining that my trainers are very dirty. I basically got into podcasting because I wanted to wear old clothes and now because it's all visual it turns out I've got to wear a fucking white tie

43:07Josh Widdicombe:I've had that kind of criticism from Rob actually that annoys me but fair enough, they are gross how gross are your trainers? well they're not that bad you've got one pair they're about 6 or 7 years old you should wear one pair all the time for whatever you're doing I had two pairs, but one of them were covered in plaster dust when I was deplastering the house. So I threw them off. And I was wearing a pair of trousers that you can't really wear formal shoes with. So I had to wear these trainers. They're all right. They were once white. The laces are all bedraggled and the lining's kind of coming out the back by the heel.

43:44You know, when you take your heel out and it drags out that bit of... Maybe treat yourself to a pair of podcast shoes or a nice bar of soap to clean them with. Exactly. Well, by a quarter. a quarter of a bar yeah so that's an hour so yeah it's it's you know there's a visual component but i mean i you know you don't have to you know the pure audio component as well it's he tells me a fact i tell him a fact we have a viewer fact which we decide whether it's true yeah sort of basically just based on whether we feel it sounds right basically whether it rings true or not so we ever think about that and we confirm whether it's true or not and then that's them fixed.

44:19Was that true or not? And yeah, other than that, it's just me and James talking to each other.

44:24Josh Widdicombe:Are you going to use any of the facts I've given you, the urban myths I've given you? I'm going to use them. Yeah, the bag of shit is good. Florence Nightingale used to keep an owl in her pocket when she was on the wards. Did she? Called Athena. Little owl. She had a pet owl in her pocket that she was nursing back to health. That's a good fact. I think that is probably true as well, because there's no... It is true. I don't know why you seem to have a decision on if it's true or not. That's not how facts work, mate. well because it's a format point for my podcast yeah yeah so will you check or will you just decide internally if you think it's true we decide internally we have a discussion we're like because of the supreme court so basically like we have a chat and we're like does that seem like the kind of thing that we think should be going on and then like we say yes or no right okay so another one another nice one was that there was um a voice on the tube used to be the mind the gap voice yeah and it was this actor and he died and they were gradually replacing his voice with a digital voice i don't know why i mean it's very old but apart from at one station i believe it was embankment and um his widow used to go to embankment just to hear his and then it was taken down she was heartbroken but she wrote them and they located the voice in the archives.

45:41I don't know why. They made out that this was really difficult. They were like, how hard could that possibly be? Anyway, but well done. Thank you. They reinstated. So now just at Embankment. That is a good fact. Very good fact. Yeah, it's a good fact. Also, what's good about that fact is I think of, I was speaking to somebody and she was like, oh yeah, I heard that on another podcast. Yeah, I had heard that before. I'd saw that in the news. Okay, so that's good. So what I'm saying is, if you want to hear facts for the second time, because you know when you hear a fact and you're like, I did like that, but I'd like to hear Joe say it.

46:10Josh Widdicombe:Exactly. None of you had heard it, so that's 50%. I haven't heard it. I like that. I'll be telling it again. And I'll be telling it again and I hope that the person I tell won't have heard it either. Well, it's actually two out of three. So I've told that to three living people and two have heard it. Are you broadcasting to the dead as well? Yeah, to that guy. And they're all welcome. I mean, if that counts as a listen, then yes. I mean, in a way, that's probably quite a good, could be a good idea, actually. I mean, I don't know whether that, I don't know whether you can advertise to the dead, but I mean I'm happy happy to Josh I think we see the final question for Joe talking format points Joe format points yeah we always end with the same question which is which uh one thing about your partner as a parent do you think is absolutely incredible and you can't believe that you you're in awe of them and which thing annoys you about the way they parent and you haven't brought it up but were they to listen to this they would find out and this is specifically as a parent yeah well no it doesn't have to be yeah this is going to be sound incredibly shallow she's fair this is not the best thing about hannah's parenting but one thing that i do i'm very proud of is this is i can't believe i'm using this as an example because there's much better stuff than this but like my daughter just eats really really well and like that's because hannah spent hours and days making homemade baby food when my daughter was like six months and getting on to that's a good one just because i know that's quantifiable and i didn't do that hannah did that there's also huge amounts of other just basically like you know emotional intelligence and stuff but like in terms of something where i can like almost like statistically say that wouldn't have happened yeah annoying stuff oh fucking hell too precious about clothes like i let my daughter just choose her own clothes yeah then hannah will be like she can't wear backwards trousers and two t-shirts and like but it doesn't matter joe i agree with you on this i agree on that and also i don't really care if they're mucky because she's a child you've seen your trainers yeah exactly you know she's not like she's grown up going on a podcast with a shitty pair of trainers on is it yeah there was an age where you really you should have your shit together and then if you don't have a problem i think we'll comment and go what are those i think that's a very good ending joe thank you very much it's been a pleasure to talk to you thank you with joe and james or is it james and joe it's joe and james it's joe and james i'm First, because I'm so completely across, you know, when it's out.

48:33Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're on all the program. If you want to get in touch, get in touch with Joe. You're the engine room. Because, yeah, I'm the engine room. I'm like a spider. I'm like running all of it. That's how a spider works. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Cheers, mate. Good luck with it. Will do. Bye. Joe Thomas, ladies and gentlemen. I do love Joe. He's in his own little world, isn't he, Joe Thomas? looking out at the skyline I don't feel like he changes whatever he's doing but at some point people press record and he'd be chatting that way like that you know about stuff he just gets on a train of thought and he's gone he's for real Rob me and you were putting on this mask we're supposed to be talking about my daughter aren't we I'm trying trying to lasso you back on topic we're back on Tuesday Joe doesn't know what day he's on we're back on Tuesday we'll see you then bye

From the publisher

Joining us this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) is the brilliant comedian and actor - Joe Thomas.

You can listen to Joe's new podcast 'Joe and James Fact Up' wherever you get your podcasts.

Parenting Hell is a Spotify Podcast, available everywhere every Tuesday and Friday. Please subscribe and leave a rating and review you filthy street dogs...

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