Early Work with Rhys James

For many performers, their biggest fears is that people will find the creative writing they produced when they were younger. Early poetry, short stories, song lyrics, scripts and more shouldn't stay hidden in shoe boxes in our parents' house or in password protected folders on our laptops. It’s time we monetised that shame and gave those pieces the public outing our 15 year old selves would’ve wanted. Each week a guest brings something they wrote in their adolescence to be discussed and co-analysed with Rhys - who will be bringing something embarrassing of his own to level the playing field. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

EP35: Steen Raskopolous

March 2, 2023 • 62 mins

Australian jock and NOT Nepo-brother Steen Raskopolous pops by Early Work HQ to expose himself once again to the cruel world of sketch pitching, a la SNL style read-throughs. Timberlake, Kutcher, Goliath - the big three - all get their flowers, before Steen performs a Tupac/Biggie (couldn't say which) inspired rap. Rhys also reads a flimsy comedy sketch idea written in his teenage years and everyone goes home horny.

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EP34: Sophie Duker

February 23, 2023 • 58 mins

Sophie Duker brings a teenage blend of filth to Early Work with, you guessed it, erotic Harry Potter fan fiction. What else would you expect from the life-online generation, experiencing fame first through internet comments describing you as a literary messiah. Rhys responds in kind with a disturbing semi-sexual rap about technology written when he was, erm, 18. ADULT CONTENT WARNING TBF!!!!

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EP33: Tom Odell

February 18, 2023 • 59 mins

Music royalty Tom Odell heads into Early Work Mansions (sheds) to share some bona fide insight into the creative process, how your childhood affects your job and crucially, some ACTUAL SONGS. We are treated not just to the song lyrics of a future Ivor Novello and BRIT award winner's youth, but the melodies, as he plays his piano for us live on air. Impossible to match up to this greatness, Rhys panics and reads something from when ...

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EP32: Lucy Beaumont

February 9, 2023 • 62 mins

Lyrical Hull superstar Lucy Beaumont enters Early Work towers to share WILTY level anecdotes about short taxi drivers, school roof campouts and being picked up by a 'crow'. We dip a toe into collaborative poetry in response to being grounded, going solo and secret house parties, entirely for her mate Claire. Topped off with 'The Boy With Crystal Eyes', to this day one of the most beautiful poems ever written. In Lucy's words, it's ...

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EP31: Hugh Dennis

February 2, 2023 • 68 mins

For the first episode of the 'Lost Episodes', recorded in 2021 for a series that never came to be, Mock the Week, Outnumbered, The Now Show and general British comedy legend Hugh Dennis joins Rhys to share his childhood writings: military precision diary entries, ballads and odes for his classmates and the biggest cliffhanger in the history of the murder mystery genre. Surprisingly

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Early Work 'Lost Episodes' Coming Soon!

January 31, 2023 • 2 mins

Early Work returns with 5 episodes recorded during the pandemic for a series that never was. Hugh Dennis, Sophie Duker, Tom Odell, Lucy Beaumont, Steen Raskopolous. All coming soon.