Jennette McCurdy on Reclaiming Her Voice

Families are fascinating: how those first bonds shape our understanding of love, security and ourselves. In this episode, we revisit episodes with Bella Freud and Danny Dyer, who each open up about the simultaneous beauty and complexity of family life. Bella Freud, speaks about losing both of her parents to cancer within a week. As the great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and the eldest sibling, she reflects on a complex childhood, the responsibilities she carried and how grief reshaped her sense of identity. Secondly, we hear from Danny Dyer, who shares what it was like growing up on a council estate with a single mother. He discusses the shock of discovering his father had another family and how the absence of love in his early years shaped the devoted parent he is today. Family dynamics can feel messy and taboo, but I hope this episode offers reassurance, validation and insight into the ties that form us first and stay with us for life. Listen to Bella Freud’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/mQntNELQPRhZ9CjFQO77 Listen to Danny Dyer's full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/L192dU5DZHQnCUjFWuX8 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Family Support: www.family-action.org.uk Elizabeth’s Substack: theelizabethday.substack.com Join the How To Fail community: howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday Website: www.elizabethday.org Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mo Gilligan started out working in retail (think Jo Malone and Levi’s) but quit in 2018 when his online comedy videos went viral. The leap paid off - sell-out tours across the UK, a late-night entertainment show on Channel 4 and his own breakout format The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan, which earned him the first of three BAFTA wins. Netflix specials, world tours, primetime TV and a podcast soon followed. Now in 2026, Gilligan is launching the biggest year of his career to date with a global tour, a major new partnership with Netflix and a feature documentary which will offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the 37-year-old at the top of his game. In this episode, Mo opens up about being a dad to his six-month-old daughter and two-year-old son, the pressure of representing the Black British community in stand-up and the debt that shadowed him for years. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 03:51 Retail Experience and Its Influence 06:11 Audience Interaction and Respect 09:13 School Struggles and Dyslexia 18:14 Family, Fatherhood and Financial Lessons 25:19 The Standup Struggle 26:37 Credit Card Chaos 31:12 The Viral Breakthrough 33:35 Touring Triumphs and Tribulations 36:04 Code Switching and Representation 39:43 Handling Success and Praise 45:51 Family and Future Plans 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: I really wanna make people feel cool. I think it’s the nicest feeling ever. Knowing that I am my children’s universe... That is such a gift that I didn’t know I needed to have. I find it hard to listen to praise about myself. I find it very, very hard... I'm always trying to move on to the next one. 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Get Mo’s tour tickets here: mogilligan.com/mo-live Mo’s new Netflix show is available to watch now: Mo Gilligan - In the Moment Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 📚 WANT MORE? Ashley Walters - on growing up fast, struggling with self-destruction and how accountability, therapy and fatherhood helped him rebuild his life and career. Fun fact: Ashley and Mo both went to the same school and had the same inspirational drama teacher! swap.fm/l/ksDRiLDV1iOXHRTTsdJ5 Miranda Hart - on public embarrassment, private anxiety and chronic illness. Plus: how learning to accept herself became her greatest success swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu Fern Brady - another stand-up who has experienced the precariousness of the industry and battled debt early in her working life swap.fm/l/cmeompBv7EHK20enmwbS 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Elizabeth and Mo answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re taught that love should happen early, and if it doesn’t, something’s gone wrong. But what if that’s not true? In this episode, we hear from past How to Fail guests who found love later, or in their own time. Luke Evans reflects on meeting his soulmate in his forties and Dolly Alderton talks about heartbreak, celibacy to reassess the role of sex and romance in her life and learning that sitting with uncertainty can be the bravest choice. I met my husband in my late thirties and I've found that trusting your own timing is often what leads to real love. I hope this is helpful for those unsure of what’s next. Listen to Luke Evan’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/2AAJhVeDNGdKIJGdznR9 Listen to Dolly Alderton’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/XM98joc3GFEMTsLfkEfR 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Elizabeth’s Substack: theelizabethday.substack.com Join the How To Fail community: howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday Website: www.elizabethday.org Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A few years ago, Shabaz Ali was a chemistry teacher in Blackburn. Today, he’s one of the internet’s most beloved creators, best known as Shabaz Says, with millions of fans and a knack for skewering the most outrageous (and often tasteless) displays of online excess. Since quitting the day job, Shabaz has launched a podcast, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and published his book I’m Rich, You’re Poor. Beneath the humour though, there’s always been something more serious at play: a sharp commentary on the psychological erosion that comes from spending too much of our lives online. In this episode, we talk about Shabaz’s upbringing, being bullied at school, how his taxi-driver Dad didn’t even realise his son was famous until recently and why no-one should ever spend £10,000 on an outfit. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 03:03 The Impact of Social Media on Youth 05:14 Navigating Imposter Syndrome and Success 10:53 Embracing Authenticity and Overcoming Criticism 12:46 Growing Up in Blackburn 15:45 Challenges of Intersectional Identity 22:36 Family Perspectives and Cultural Expectations 24:04 Struggles with Poverty 25:20 Empathy 30:15 From Teacher to Social Media Star 31:24 Unexpected Career in the Hospital Morgue 33:38 Finding Viral Success Online 37:16 Representation and Finding Your Voice 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: You can be a man and still speak up for women's rights. You don't have to be a black person to speak up for black people. You don't have to be trans to speak up for trans rights. How you present yourself is always how the world's going to treat you. [Death] definitely gave me an appreciation for life. It gave me appreciation for human beings... I have so much love to give for humanity. I don’t care if I’m palatable for you. 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Shabaz’s book, I'm Rich, You're Poor - is out now Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 📚 WANT MORE? John Bishop - on how insecurity, self-doubt and feeling like an outsider shaped both his comedy and his life. Plus: almost getting divorced but then changing his mind swap.fm/l/wRGKwuonJFQoujFlmDHI Celeste Barber - on using humour to challenge impossible beauty standards, early struggles with rejection and how embracing authenticity changed her life swap.fm/l/qLmwfjyeSolWuFeaHGdt 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Elizabeth and Shabaz answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re revisiting two deeply moving conversations that explore what it means to find hope in the face of profound adversity. First, we hear from the 11-time world champion and a six-time Olympic champion, Sir Chris Hoy. He speaks with remarkable honesty about living with stage four prostate cancer, as well as the shock of discovering that his wife had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during the same period. He talks about finding hope, and appreciating the small things in life. Then we hear from the legendary British children’s author, Michael Rosen, who reflects on the devastating loss of his son, Eddie, who died at the age of 18. He explains how talking about him now is in fact a relief. These stories speak to resilience, love and the ways hope can survive even in the hardest of circumstances. Whether you are personally affected, or know of someone going through a tough time at the moment, I hope these conversations offer comfort and a fresh perspective. Listen to Sir Chris Hoy’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/vkdUVszJnMghYNMSLFdO Listen to Michael Rosen’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/3lr5HOsDIw6hgOnD7vgc 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Cancer Support UK: www.cancersupportuk.org Bereavement Support: www.cruse.org.uk Mental Health Support: www.samaritans.org and www.mind.org.uk Elizabeth’s Substack: theelizabethday.substack.com Join the How To Fail community: howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday Website: www.elizabethday.org Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices