Add You’re Dead to Me to your watchlist
The last time I spoke to Greg Jenner for RT was just before the first Covid lockdown in 2020 and he had just been caught in a downpour. Nevertheless, he was in good spirits – and had every right to be. You’re Dead to Mehis podcast that brings together a historian and a comedian to discuss a specific topic every episode, was less than a year old but already number one in the Apple Podcast charts, with almost 10 million downloads.
Six years and 120 million more downloads later, Jenner is taking his smash-hit creation (“The comedy podcast that takes history seriously… and then laughs at it!”) on a four-date UK tour for the first time. It’s something he’s wanted to do for years and the natural next step for a man who defines himself as a public historian.
Before the podcast, he was “chief nerd” on Horrible Histories and then, as lockdown took its toll on the education system, rolled out the Homeschool History podcast alongside You’re Dead to Meand last Christmas released the spin-off Dead Funny History. He is also a prolific children’s author.
His efforts to bring history to the people have not gone unnoticed. “It’s the loveliest thing when I get messages from kids, teenagers, adults, parents or whoever, telling me the podcasts or books have been helpful,” says the 44-year-old modestly. “I’m always very happy to respond and say thank you because it’s a privilege to inspire people to enjoy the subject I love.”
To assist him on that mission, Jenner surrounds himself with young people already inspired by history. “We have these super smart, hard-working PhD students who come and research with us. Typically, they’re given three episodes each and will interview the chosen expert on each topic, provide about 5,000-6,000 words of briefing notes and then help co-write the script. This extraordinary commitment to making sure we get it right is what makes You’re Dead to Me different to a lot of other podcasts.”
The buzz from a live show is something else
It’s not all altruism. “In the seven years of doing the podcast we’ve always recorded in studios, but four or five times we’ve done live recordings with an audience and I loved it. The buzz from a live show is something else.
“The one on Mozart remains a highlight,” he adds. “I was on stage with our expert Dr Hannah Templeton and the comedian David O’Doherty. I pointed behind me and said, ‘And now, the BBC Concert Orchestra.’ Suddenly, 50-odd musicians started playing, right on cue. To have that power felt amazing. I wish I had an orchestra to follow me around in daily life!”
The tour will follow the same template as the podcast but will run for two hours and focus on audience interaction. “We’re asking people to submit their favourite historically-themed music beforehand and, whereas we normally quiz our comedian with 10 questions, we’re getting the audience to set the questions at the end,” explains Jenner. “We’ll have some props and a half-time interval thing. We’re making sure it’s a really fun night.” The shows won’t be recorded or put out as a podcast.
“It’s for one night only in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester, so if you want to hear it, you’ve got to be there,” says Jenner. “We’re taking one show on the road with one script.” In the comedy corner for a single show each will be Desiree Burch, Catherine Bohart, Marjolein Robertson and Shappi Khorsandi, all You’re Dead to Me regulars. “Desiree is our most-capped guest and was on probably my favourite episode to date, about timekeeping,” notes Jenner. “Catherine was in our 150th episode on the history of the telephone, and Marjolein did a brilliant job on Gilgamesh, while Shappi’s take on Catherine de’ Medici also landed big time.”
Will the comedians know the subject in advance? “We might tell them if they demand to know, but that’s all we’ll say. It’s a very famous person from history, but I don’t know if any of them know anything about this person, so it will be interesting. Hopefully, our audience knows that they can trust us to be funny and interesting, whoever the subject is.”
