Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died
Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years.
Hired in 1996 as a writer for French and Saunders (alongside best friend Sue Perkins), Mel’s career took off and she went on to co-present hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and then the Great British Bake Off.
Since then, Giedoryc has written a Sunday Times bestselling novel and fronts the podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake. Now she returns with a new book, The Comeback, a funny, big-hearted novel about second chances set in a community.
In this hilarious and moving episode, we talk about how she feels she is always ‘getting away with it’, life post-Bake Off, having children, not making it to her mother’s deathbed due to a big night out, and the recurring nightmare that she has never been able to shake…
IN THIS EPISODE:
00:00 Introduction
02:55 Getting Away With It
05:43 Bake Off
08:43 Life After Bake Off
09:45 The Comeback Novel
10:21 Theatre And Family Roots
17:18 Cambridge Degree Disaster
28:49 Mums Deathbed Regret
30:46 Strokes And Stolen Years
32:05 Boozy Night Missed Call
36:10 Work As Grief Shelter
39:36 Remembering Rosemary
43:50 VHS Shame Spiral
52:00 Goodbyes And Final Thoughts
LINKS + MENTIONS:
Listen to Mel’s podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake here: swap.fm/l/ZuaKfvomuCzS7P3cLJzx and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@WhereTheresAWillTheresAWake
The Comeback is available to pre-order now: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/mel-giedroyc/the-comeback/9781472256263/
Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content
Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com
WANT MORE?
Miranda Hart - swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu
Celeste Barber - swap.fm/l/qLmwfjyeSolWuFeaHGdt
Stephen Merchant - swap.fm/l/Lta5mlFbVnPHyFb8R1n2
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Every success story you've ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out.Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary - and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them. Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we're still finding out.With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK's most successful podcasts. And yes, we're aware of the irony. Pick an episode. Start anywhere.An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production.All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address.Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]
- No. of episodes: 396
- Latest episode: 2026-08-12
- Society & Culture
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