Walking The Dog with Emily Dean

This week Emily and Ray head to South London to meet the brilliantly funny Harriet Kemsley and her beautiful Cavapoo, Sunny.

With torrential rain putting a stop to the planned walk, Harriet welcomes Emily and Ray into her home instead, where things get off to a slightly chaotic start when a questionable-looking cashew milk coffee leads Emily to secretly send a photo to ChatGPT to check it’s safe to drink.

Once the coffee situation is resolved, Harriet chats about growing up on a farm, studying drama in New York and eventually overcoming her shyness to try stand-up comedy. It turned out to be a very good decision, with Harriet going on to appear in shows including Last One Laughing, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You?, alongside building a hugely successful career as a live comedian.

Her brand new stand-up show, Floozy, heads out on tour this autumn, with dates across the country through to February. You can book tickets now at HarrietKemsley.com.

Harriet and Sunny can also be seen in the new TV series Wagging Rights, alongside Rhod Gilbert, Sara Pascoe, Kae Curd and Vicky Pattison, as they attempt to train their dogs and compete for canine bragging rights. You can catch the series on U & Dave and stream it for free on U.

It’s a wonderfully funny and chaotic chat with someone Emily describes as a human serotonin boost. And despite one small toileting incident on the living room floor, Sunny proves himself to be an absolute gent.

Follow Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadean
X: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_em

Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part two of Emily and Ray’s walk with the fabulous Shazia Mirza, there’s plenty more from one of Britain’s most distinctive and brilliantly funny comedians, as Shazia reflects on her life, career and the experiences that have shaped her comedy.

If you haven’t already, do go back and listen to part one, where Shazia talks about growing up in Birmingham, secretly pursuing stand-up while working as a science teacher, and the special role Emily’s late mum played in encouraging her at the very beginning of her comedy career.

Shazia will be heading out on tour next year with a brand new show, 'Prude', so keep an eye on her Instagram, @TheShaziaMirza, for tour dates, tickets and all the latest details.

Follow Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadean
X: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_em

Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Emily and Ray take a stroll with the fabulous comedian Shazia Mirza.

Emily and Shazia actually go back a long way, as when Shazia first decided to pursue comedy, she took performance lessons with Emily’s late mum, an acting teacher who became a great friend and source of encouragement. This is Shazia’s first meeting with Ray, though, and despite admitting she’s usually a little nervous around dogs, it isn’t long before he’s won her over and been officially declared Britain’s first halal dog.

Shazia talks about growing up in Birmingham in a strict household with strong academic expectations, studying biochemistry at university and becoming a science teacher, before eventually realising that what she really wanted to do was stand-up. She began performing comedy in secret, and within just a few years found herself appearing on the hugely influential American programme 60 Minutes as the world’s only female Muslim stand-up comedian.

Since then, Shazia has become a fixture of British comedy, appearing on shows including Have I Got News for You, QI and Would I Lie to You?, as well as memorably reducing Hugh Jackman to hysterics on The Jonathan Ross Show.

It’s a funny, fascinating and at times very moving walk, particularly as Shazia remembers the support Emily’s mum gave her at the very beginning of her career. Shazia will be touring again next year, so follow her on Instagram at @TheShaziaMirza for details of upcoming shows.

Follow Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadean
X: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_em

Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part two of Emily and Ray’s walk with the wonderful Fay Ripley and Apple, Fay looks back on the huge success of Cold Feet and the incredibly difficult decision she made to walk away from the show at the height of its popularity.

She also tells Emily the story of how she met her husband, actor Daniel Lapaine, recalls a rather unpleasant encounter with a very famous actress, and reveals why her friendship with David Baddiel has reached the level where he feels perfectly comfortable popping round to her house for a poo.

If you haven’t already, do go back and listen to part one.

Follow Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadean
X: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_em

Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Emily and Ray take a stroll across North London’s Parliament Hill with the wonderful Fay Ripley and her very smartly dressed dog, Apple, who arrived wearing a bow tie especially for the occasion.

Fay chats about her childhood growing up in Surrey, her brilliantly named dad Beverly and the three attempts it took before she finally got into drama school. She also looks back on some of the more unusual jobs she had before acting took off, including working in a tanning salon and, rather wonderfully, as a clown.

They talk about the role that changed everything, playing Jenny in Cold Feet, and how Fay dealt with suddenly becoming incredibly famous. There’s also the story of meeting her husband, actor Daniel Lapaine, and the rather surreal occasion when Fay found herself giving acting advice to Robert De Niro.

And away from acting, Fay talks about her other great passion, food. She’s written three bestselling cookery books and shares how cooking became another important part of her career.

It’s a wonderfully funny and unfiltered walk with one of Britain’s best-loved actors, featuring two extremely handsome dogs, some refreshingly candid thoughts on fame and a passing child who makes the grave mistake of complimenting Ray without extending the same courtesy to Apple.

Follow Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadean
X: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_em

Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.