Big interview with stand-up and Spinal Tap II star Kerry Godliman

Stand-up Kerry Godliman stars in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – which is out today – as the legendary band’s new manager. She resumes her Bandwidth stand-up tour next week and will next year be heard in Ricky Gervais's new animated Netflix comedy, Alley Cats. Here she talks to Jay Richardson about how she's happy she never got her own TV sitcom vehicle, improvising with Christopher Guest and her time on Taskmaster.

How's things?

They're fine. It's just a funny time. I'm taking my daughter up to university at the weekend, so it's a new beginning. That's a bit of what Bandwidth is about, transitioning from having young children to grown-up children and what that brings up.

You're talking about your daughter's similarities with you?

Yeah, in some respects, though that's almost certainly my own projection. An 18-year-old daughter reminds you of your 18-year-old self. I don't doubt that was true for my mother as well. My daughter's not that like me. Though she is going to drama school.

Your husband's an actor as well, wasn't that always a possibility?

Yeah. And I feel bad because all roads lead to parental guilt. Have I not helped her to realise other professions are available? 

You've spoken of worrying about leaning on your family too much in your stand-up. But that's what audiences relate to isn't it?

My stand-up has always been pretty domestic. I don't have another comedic voice to lean into. And that's true for a lot of women's art because the domestic is their landscape all the time. 

My last show was around the tail end of 2021. And I think a tour every four years is reasonable for me. It's like an update, an audit on my life. It's like season 12 of the Kerry Godliman sitcom that rolls in my head.

Is that in part because you haven't had your own television sitcom?

That's just the way I think. Obviously, when you start out as a comic that's the thing you try and get, the Miranda or Josh in your head, the vehicle. It's a rite of passage for stand-ups. You're invited into meetings, the possibility is floated. 

But it never happened. And I'm fine with it actually, I'm quite relieved it never happened. Because I don't think I'd have got all the brilliant, lovely acting jobs that I have done. After Life, Our Girl, Save Me, Adult Material and Trigger Point. I don't think I'd have got any of them if I'd been known as a Miranda-esque actor. It would have affected my casting quite a lot.

Stand-up is what I've done instead. Stand-up is my scenes, my episodes and sketches. You act out real life beats and moments that have happened to you, like a live sitcom episode.

But presumably you're still open to being cast as a lead in something comedic written by someone else?

I've long since stopped thinking that's within my control. I used to think 'oh, if I go to enough meetings, surely one will end up as a television programme'. But those meetings never came to anything. And I've no appetite for it now. 

I love stand-up, the energy of it. I suppose it comes from my 'boshy' nature. I don't like wasting time endlessly talking about things that probably won't come to pass. I did those meetings for ten years, now I've moved on. I really love acting and get to do brilliant, amazing, high-quality TV shows by professional writers. I'm really lucky that I have that and stand-up. So I didn't get my own vehicle? Good.

Greg Davies ascribed that 'boshing' personality to you on Taskmaster. Is that your great strength, adaptability and being reactive? You've not had a five-year career plan have you? 

No. I remember when I first left college. People were asking about that and oh God, at most I had a five-week plan. If you're in a career as unpredictable as the arts, planning too far ahead is fatal. You can't have a corporate mindset for a fluid, creative profession. You've got to see where it takes you.

I never anticipated becoming a stand-up when I left drama school but that's how it went. I did it out of curiosity, perhaps thinking it would become a hobby. But it went quite well so I kept doing it.

Kerry at a Spinal Tap II screening this week

Did your drama training help, in that you had a bit more stagecraft and confidence when you started?

Yeah, maybe a bit of stagecraft. And maybe some understanding of the nature of the profession. I wasn't defeated by things that might defeat other people. Some of them felt like they weren't moving forward quickly enough. But I knew I could navigate it because I'd been trained to. 

One of the main messages in drama school is that you are very unlikely to work. You're constantly told unemployment statistics. So you get good at being disappointed. And I don't worry about it.

It might seem more obvious for an actor to become a character comic. Did you make a conscious decision to keep acting and stand-up separate?

It wasn't highly conscious. Briefly, at the beginning, I did a sketch show with David Lane, we took that to Edinburgh. But I didn't enjoy the regalia of all the shoes, costume and lighting changes that were required. 

What I love about stand-up is the purity, just me walking on stage, talking. Even though they're both performance-based, stand-up and acting were always separate in my head. They're completely different jobs.

You've recorded Bandwidth at The Comedy Store. Is that being released soon?

That's not my decision. I'm sure my agent is trying to get it on somewhere. But I've no idea what platform. I doubt it will be Netflix, I can say that much.

You don't think you've got an 'in' with Netflix after After Life (above)?

If there had been any interest I would have heard about it by now. Because Netflix has really been a great platform for women's stand-up hasn't it? How many have they had? You can almost count them on one hand.

True. Your reviews often describe you as 'relatable', 'down-to-earth' or 'everywoman'. How do you feel about that?

It's so hard to get on in this industry that I'll take any attention. I won't bitch about any of it. It's fine if people see me as relatable or an everywoman. I could never don a persona that's alien to me, suddenly becoming an esoteric, whimsical, juggling philosopher. 

That does sound compelling though. Do you miss the 'spesh acts that used to feature more on the circuit? 

I do. I like all kinds of comedy and stand-up. But when you start out, you have to get savvy at working out what your voice is. Mine is 'woman down the pub'. That's another phrase that gets used a lot. One of your mates. 

Do you sympathise with newer comics, now that self-marketing is so much a part of the job?

I really do. That's a side of it I'm glad I'm the generation I am and don't have to do so much. Posting on social media doesn't come naturally to me. I've been doing my posts with my 15-year-old son. They're very sporadic. I don't even know what language to use and I'm not good at catching the algorithms and all that. 

But that's the modern world. If you don't do it, no one's going to know you're touring. So much depends on how many followers you've got. So yes, I sympathise with younger creatives, having to navigate that. They won't get anywhere if they don't. Some comedians don't do social media and it doesn't matter because they were already famous. But others who haven't done it aren't working now.

One of the things I loved starting out was that I would just get in my car - being able to drive was a massive advantage in the beginning, driving other acts got you gigs – and go and work live. Comedy is as much screen-based now, so many people come through on social media. 

I loved finding my community and connecting with other comedians, making friends, being a sort of gang. Now, it feels like it's more phone-based and tape-based. And that's sad to me. But that just makes me sound old.

Podcasts are social media though and you've got that with Jen Brister on Memory Lane ...

But that's a friend I made in the real world when we started 20 years ago. And thank God for those friendships because these are the people I can do a pod with now.

Remind me, you did the podcast on your own initially didn't you?

I did it on my own in lockdown because the guy who created it asked me to host it. It was never my brainchild. But I did six or seven episodes and really enjoyed it. We had some amazing guests but it was all done remotely. Then, when the world went back to normal, I didn't have a podcast when everyone is supposed to have a podcast. I didn't want to start one from scratch, my heart wasn't it. Joel [Porter], the producer, wanted to bring it back. And we thought it would be fun to have a co-host. Jen was an obvious choice. It just evolved from there really.

Has making it changed your stand-up?

I don't know, that's a good question. Lots of my things marry together. My stand-up feeds my acting. My acting and my podcasting feeds my stand-up. There was a time when I was reticent to do too much podcasting, especially when it's navelgazing in vibe because that just feels like unrefined talking. It's not crafting, editing and making these little routines punchy, re-ordering the syntax to get the best out of the gag. All those things that require a bit of refinement and work. 

Podcasting sometimes feels so banal. You could stick a microphone at the back of a bus. It's not like I'm a particularly skilled or dextrous broadcaster or interviewer. I'm not asking anyone on so I can interrogate them or give them therapy. 

So I was reluctant at the beginning. But that sounds as if I'm putting the podcast down, saying it's pointless. I think I'm a better stand-up as I've become a better podcaster because you have to avoid banality, just chatting for the sake of chatting. You learn to move the conversation along and forward.

The original Spinal Tap is so beloved. Did you have trepidation getting involved in the sequel?

If you have too much trepidation, you won't do anything. Then you'll be a 'I could have been a contender' human. Thinking 'I could have been in the Spinal Tap film but I was too scared'. That would be shit. It was such an incredible honour to be asked. There was a tiny bit of concern it might not live up to the original. But if you don't make things, you won't ever find out.

Because you're playing his character's daughter, did you take anything from Tony Hendra’s performance as manager Ian Faith in the first film?

Well, no, because she's fairly estranged from him. Ian wasn't a particularly good dad and growing up she didn't have much to do with him. She's got daddy ​issues I suppose.

So no cricket bat moments?

No, nothing like that, it's not in her nature. Her name is Hope Faith. And that was the spirit I carried into the characterisation. She's very hopeful, very faithful.

Filming with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, were you given much latitude with the improv? Or were you mostly just reacting to them?

A bit of both. But obviously it's mainly reacting. You don't want to step on their brilliance, they're just so good. And they've been doing those characters with each other for decades. They've been playing music and improvising together since they were 18 or 19. So that's pretty intimidating. You don't want to get in the way of any golden lines by treading on anything. But they were really inclusive and warm. We'd pre-decided what the relationship was, there was an understanding of what was expected of my character.

What kind of outline did they give you for the scenes?

Bullet points. You have a sense of what you need to find. Lots of it is in the silences, the reactions and the little gaps between the lines. You'll do a long take that goes on and on, you might repeat yourself, you circle back on things. Then you have a take where Rob [Reiner] goes ‘stick with this bit, focus on that, say that again’. It's like stand-up, you refine the bits that work.

You have to trust that they're going to get it right in the edit?

Yeah. But if you're going to trust anyone, Rob Reiner is that person.

Presumably it helped acting with someone like Chris Addison who you knew from the circuit?

Actually, I'd never met him before.

Really? But could you establish a bond, just from having had similar experiences and knowing some of the same people?

Yeah, Chris and I found a groove. We found our double act energy quite fast. His character, Simon, is a sort of slimy, money-orientated type, probably based on Simon Fuller or Simon Cowell, that kind of corporate music industry person. And my character is a bit of an old hippy. Maybe a bit of a chancer? But a bit naïve, respectful and awed by the band. To her, they're legends. Whilst Chris’s character is like, 'I've never heard of them, how much money can I make out of them?'

Does Hope have any underlying steeliness?

Only when she defends them, then she's quite protective. There's a maternal edge to her, even though they're ancient and she's considerably younger. That's when you see some steel in her, when she thinks she has to protect them. There's a childlike quality to them.

What was it like shooting scenes with Elton John and David Furnish?

Oh, it was so thrilling. I had a whole improv scene with David Furnish, he was loads of fun.

I grew up watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? but I haven't done loads of improv. I was always a bit phobic of it, the Theatresports scene isn't my thing. The stuff Kiell Smith-Bynoe does looks great. But I've never really done it in this country. Bizarrely, the only two times I've done it have been with Christopher Guest, in Spinal Tap and Mascots.

Who better to do it with? 

It's kind of mind-blowing to me. In the last five-ish years, acting-wise, I haven't done loads of comedy, it's mostly been drama. So to get to do a comedy like Spinal Tap was incredible, the highest calibre. I haven't done a sitcom since Bad Move with Jack Dee.

But working on Ricky Gervais' shows is a mix of comedy and drama. Isn't that scripted but with a certain amount of improv?

Yeah, totally but there are different outcomes for different characters. I think he lets David Earl play around quite a lot. With Hannah in Derek, there was a bit of movement there, because we were on set the whole time, so it was a bit like a play. With After Life, with regard to Lisa, when I'm on the iPhone that was all quite improvised. But there wasn't loads of room to just come in and see what turns up. Because [Ricky] knew where they were going to sit in the script.

After Derek, were you tempted to leave stand-up behind and just focus on acting?

Yeah, I thought about it. I've had long breaks from stand-up. But I can't stop doing it. I don't see the value in stopping doing it. Why would I? Even though I've done some lovely acting stuff, I've never been able to entirely depend on it. Whereas stand-up never lets me down. I really love it. I was at Latitude again this summer and watched loads. There's still a kid in me that can't believe I get to do it.

And you're established enough now to just say whatever you want, right?

Yeah, I've heard the phrase 'the fuck it years'. I'm in that and that's kind of what Bandwidth is about. 

There's a myth that middle-aged women become invisible. That's not been my experience. And I'm not just talking about me, I'm talking about all my women friends in comedy and in life. They're suddenly all worrying less about how they come over. 

And some of that might be cultural. But with social media, even the younger lot are a lot less bothered. When I started out in comedy, there just weren't as many opportunities for women, they were discarded and dismissed quite a lot. That isn't as true now, there's been a democratisation through social media. If you don't like it, don't come. Because there are people who will. I'm performing for them.

Talking about the perimenopause as it's become a bigger part of the cultural conversation ...

Absolutely. When I've done my tour, I can see who's coming. And it's people going through it at the same time. I mean, if I say 'are there any Gen Zers here?', there's less than three. If younger people are coming to see me, it's usually because of Taskmaster.

Did Taskmaster change how you think about your humour?

Definitely. When we were doing the tasks, I kept saying to the producers, 'surely you'll just have five people all doing the same thing?' Then we'd watch it in the studio and I'd be like 'what the hell is he doing?!' I cannot believe that people approach it all so differently. But that's the joy of the show. I've used this phrase before but it's human tapas isn't it? I didn't know I was the potatoes.

Some contestants have blatant game plans …

Or they approach it trying to be funny above everything. I never attempted to be funny. My way of being funny comes from doing something else and being funny as I'm doing it.

Over the course of a series it's impossible to suppress your true personality I guess…

There's something really funny about a middle-aged woman having a breakdown over a sausage. But when I'm playing those games, I'm playing to win. Some people don't like that, they think I'm taking it too seriously, that I'm being too aggressive or whatever. But I've always found anger hilarious. Bootless anger is just funny.

Absolutely. I mean, it's the bedrock of of your stand up, isn't it?

Yeah, my stand-up is howling at the moon, bewilderment and fury. The human condition, ranting into an abyss.

Is it tricky finding the tone of sharing your annoyance with your kids without sounding too harsh? 

No, I think it's just imbued in your nature. Everybody's on the same page with the suspension of disbelief. I'm not a monster, I love my kids deeply and it all comes from love doesn't it? Even loving your audience. What gets you out of the house is caring about people and wanting to connect with them.

Over the course of your comedy career, is there anything you've completely changed your mind about?

The world has changed so much since I started. I wonder if that's true for every generation. I wouldn't want to be starting now. Television isn't what it was. Live At The Apollo isn't what it used to be. The objective used to be to get on panel shows. And they're now quite diminished. 

There's another landscape. And a lot of that is because of social media. So I don't know if my opinions have changed. But the world has changed, which obviously means how I approach it is different.

You and other comics still get credited and introduced as Mock The Week panellists. Do you lament its passing and the fact there are so few panel shows now?

I never loved them. I found my way with Mock The Week and it helped me out a lot. For a long time I was wary of doing it, partly because there were so few women on. But when I did finally come round to doing it, I started to learn to enjoy it. It was never an easy job. But I did it nine times in the end. 

I never find them fully relaxing. They're very contrived, almost the opposite of podcasting. And quite heavily edited. You can have what feels like a great experience in the room, watch it back and be pretty much cut out of the whole thing. You never have much control and can end up looking like a gurning loon. I've never really watched them if I'm honest. So I don't feel like they're an amazing thing that's gone.

You supported Micky Flanagan on tour and he was an early mentor wasn't he?

Yeah. People often liken us because we're both working-class with a London accent. And I get that, people think I'm like a female version. 

Micky is a brilliant comedian but we're quite different in our worldview. He was massive on the circuit for a really long time, headlining, before he finally broke through. I don't know if that's still possible for a successful circuit comic to become a household name in that way.

Does it feel as if there are fewer and fewer certainties in the comedy industry, like it changes more and more each year?

Yes. Live At The Apollo's back on. And there was a time when that was the really big gig of the year. For everyone on the cusp of a breakthrough, established in the live world but not quite established on telly, that was your break. Now it's just seen as a high production value gig that you can clip up and put on your socials.

Taskmaster feels like the only television that still shifts live tickets ...

Yes, though Last One Laughing seems to be getting a bit of traction that way.

You've added extra dates for Bandwidth. Was that always the plan or have you been surprised at the demand?

Yeah, it wasn't an expectation, I didn't plan it all. Putting a tour on means committing to dates very far ahead, whereas the nature of acting work is that it's very last-minute. So a tour can feel like you're locking yourself out of other work. I'm always a bit reluctant to do it. That's why I've always loved the circuit, because it's a bit more fluid and it means I'm available for acting.

I thought I'd do a modest amount of dates. But I ended up enjoying it far more than I'd anticipated. And I've been playing really beautiful rooms, big rooms. It's the first time I've ever played rooms that size. The shows have sold out and I've been pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. When my management asked me if I wanted to put more dates in, I was quite keen to do it. 

You say you're on a four-year touring cycle. Have you begun thinking about your next show?

If I was a full-time, exclusively stand-up comedian, maybe that is how my brain would work. This one would be drawing to a close and I'd think about working up the next. But because of acting, I just don't think like that.

What's happening with Alley Cats, this Ricky Gervais animated series for Netflix that you're in?

Oh yeah, that'll be on soon. I think I'm going to be seeing it with the cast next week. It's been very drawn out because I don't think Ricky appreciated quite how much work goes into animation. 

I've also got a [true crime drama], The Witness, coming to Netflix in January, that's really dark. But otherwise, it's just Spinal Tap, Bandwidth and Alley Cats. So I will be available for acting work. Maybe more Whistable Pearl? But I haven't heard about that yet.

It's called a portfolio career, isn't it? Great to have lots of different irons in the fire. 

Yeah, but it's never been by design. I was only able to do Pearl because the Covid pandemic happened and all my tour dates came out of my diary. It's all been a really happy accident, some things I could never have controlled or predicted. 

• Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is in cinemas from today. Kerry Godliman tour dates.

Published: 12 Sep 2025