Alexei Sayle shares with us his upbringing in Liverpool, son of a Jewish mother and both parents part of the Communist party. He tells of his life in a happy, stable working class family.
His career starts when developing comedy with a friend they begin stand up nights at the student union bar. Then in 1982 he starts working on a late night comedy show called OTT where he meets fellow comedians Lenny Henry and Chris Tarrant, but it's when he is given his own show in 1988 that he describes this as a time of tremendous happiness.
In 1984 Alexei breaks into the charts with his single "Ullo John Got a New Motor" and is a guest on Top pf The Pops.
More recently Alexei is producing his own podcast and is intending to ride around on his bike with a go-pro sharing observations of the streets of London.
Referred to as The Godfather of Alternative Comedy, Alexei delivers a mixture of stand-up, memoir and philosophy from behind the counter of his Imaginary Sandwich Bar, which can be heard on Radio 4 along with dark comic plays adapted from his original short stories.
Available to download from Thursday 8th April, The Lonely Arts Club can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more podcasting platforms.
This episode was recorded virtually meaning the quality of the recording may be slightly different to normal.
This podcast is brought to you by the Institute for Creative Enterprise at Edge Hill University.
Making connections through culture.
The podcast is edited by Roz DiCaprio who is the producer alongside Karen Appleton and Carl Hunter.
Audio production is by Sam Auguste of Onomatopoeia Studios in Liverpool.
Music is by Joseph McDade.
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