...and he tells of becoming more reserved as an adult having had his idiosyncrasies 'shamed out' of him

James Acaster has opened up about having therapy to stop him from being overly critical of himself.

Speaking to fellow comic Kemah Bob on her Icebergs podcast, which focusses on self-discovery and self-acceptance Acaster said he inherited the trait from his parents. 

He said: ‘ I said to my mum once…  I'm, like, I'm too critical of myself, and she went, "I think that's my fault." And I was like, Well, obviously it is, because you've turned this into a criticism of yourself.

‘But yeah, I am, and it's not her fault, either. I am very critical of myself, and I try not to be, because I think that, especially for my girlfriend, she's very nice about it, but it must wear thin.  I'm now criticising myself for being too critical of myself.

He said he was now having weekly therapy ‘just about being realistic about actually what's going on, and not just being super-critical of myself, and listen to the more realistic, reasonable voice, rather than the super-critical one.’

Acaster he now has a better work-life balance, having previously been ‘flat-out working all the time and never really giving myself any time off.  Huge burnout every now and again, often while I was doing shows.

‘So I’d just be awful on stage. Just like complaining to them that I was even there. They're paying for the privilege of seeing it. Now it's way better. Like, loads more days off. Not taking on as many projects at the same time if I can help it. That’s way better.’

Their conversation also dipped into Acaster’s childhood, with the comedian explaining how is idiosyncratic childhood behaviour was  ‘shamed out’ of him, until he became a more reserved adult.  

‘I got shy as I got older definitely,’ he said. ‘But I used to just very boldly just go into situations and just be myself, unashamedly. And then I got maybe shamed out of that because I realised I was weirder than I thought I was.’

‘Like when I was a kid, like we went to church every Sunday  and I thought that was awesome. I would be like, "Yeah, I go to church and Jesus is great" and they were like, "This guy is a weird guy". It went pretty bad for me.

‘So I probably did get more reserved. Predictably, I was always trying to be funny. So I was just always trying to do jokes. And to varying degrees of success.’

Acaster also spoke about his cancelled mockumentary about his moves to become a musician – having been a drummer before turning to comedy.

He said: ‘It ended up being, like, having this narrative to it that was about, death and purgatory and resurrection, which was, originally created as a joke.

‘When the whole thing started out, it was going to be a mockumentary about me becoming a musician. And then that got canned because of the pandemic, but I had all these drums recorded already that I'd done during the mockumentary. So I sent them out to musicians.… I wanted to give them stuff to work with.

‘So I'd say this is the Purgatory portion of the album and this is from the Resurrection bit. And that would just help. So a lot of the lyrics reflect those themes and it runs through.’ 

He did release an album, Party Gator Purgatory, under the collective name Temp in 2023.

When Bob asked if he felt limited in his music because people knew him as a comic, Acaster said: ‘You kinda just have to accept that. And also in a way you've got a little shortcut, people listening to your music know who you are, so you can get interviewed a bit easier and even reviewed easier. It's very hard to get your music reviewed these days. 

‘That album that I put out, it was easier to get in front of people and music journalists so there's loads of advantages to it. You just have to accept that some people are going to not be able to get past the fact that you're a comedian.

'But also I think sometimes you can lean into what you're known for, your persona, and make that a part of it I was thinking the other day I'd really like to form a band that can play live, that is, me and two other people, and those two other people are also known for other things that aren't music. like me, a reality TV star, a TV presenter, uh, and all be a really horrible noise band. like a really difficult noise.’

• Icebergs is available on all podcast platforms

Published: 3 Apr 2025