{"id":52732,"date":"2025-08-07T19:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T19:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/52732\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T19:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T19:28:08","slug":"sometimes-i-overshare-adam-buxton-on-fear-fun-finance-and-falling-out-with-friends-adam-buxton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/52732\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sometimes I overshare\u2019: Adam Buxton on fear, fun, finance \u2013 and falling out with friends | Adam Buxton"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a muggy summer day, Adam Buxton<\/a> is talking me through the songs on his debut album, Buckle Up. \u201cThere\u2019s one on there called Standing Still,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich was written when I was feeling absolutely bleak and lost and is about opening a packet of pasta when all the pasta spills. I thought: \u2018You can get a joke in there about being a fusilli billy and maybe that will distract a bit from the more earnest and pain-laden lyrics about how, every morning, I drink a cup of tea and it helps me with all the thoughts I have to smother.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What are these thoughts? \u201cI get overwhelmed by the world and, the worse the news gets, the harder it bites,\u201d he says. \u201cI get existential fear and I think I should go and join M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) and work with them. But then, is that really the best use of my talents? My wife is like: \u2018Please don\u2019t join MSF. It\u2019s really helpful to have you around here. And, also, I think you\u2019re good at doing your podcast and that helps people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Buxton, 56, cuts a pensive figure as he strokes his grey-streaked beard. He has travelled to the Guardian\u2019s London offices from his home in Norfolk, where he lives with Sarah, their three children and their dog Rosie, who regularly features on his podcast. The Adam Buxton Show began in 2015, the year that his longstanding comedy partner, Joe Cornish<\/a>, went off to make movies. During Covid, at a time when people were more isolated and atomised than ever, Buxton\u2019s gentle, affable chat won a vast and loyal fanbase.<\/p>\n

Conversation is important to Buxton. He was raised in west London by his journalist father, Nigel, who was travel editor of the Sunday Telegraph, and Chilean mother, Valerie. He has described his dad as \u201cgruff, pompous, conservative and harshly critical of nearly everything I enjoyed as a youngster and beyond\u201d, while his mum was his \u201cally\u201d, someone who squared up to his father and encouraged Buxton\u2019s love of music and eventual TV and comedy career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching my parents, the problem was they didn\u2019t talk enough,\u201d he says. \u201cStubbornness, pride and hurt feelings prevented them. It\u2019s probably why I feel it\u2019s ultimately a good thing to talk more rather than less \u2026 Sometimes I feel I overshare and sometimes I can hear my dad or even my mum going, \u2018It\u2019s too much \u2013 say less.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Buxton family circa 1981. Left to right: David, Nigel (worried that the photographer is aiming too low), Adam, Valerie and Clare. Photograph: Courtesy of Adam Buxton<\/p>\n

Buxton\u2019s readiness to talk about his own life encourages his podcast guests to let their guard down. His friend Louis Theroux opened up about his drinking problems, admitting that during the pandemic he would regularly be parenting his three sons hungover. \u201cI did sometimes wonder if you could do the job drunk,\u201d he told Buxton. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s controversial, but I\u2019m going to say yes.\u201d Singer Pauline Black talked about performing in front of skinheads who were on speed in the 1970s and constantly fearing racist violence. Zadie Smith reflected on the \u201cdeath terror\u201d that inspires her. How does Buxton approach such a wide range of guests? \u201cI\u2019m always just looking for a moment of genuine connection,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The guests aren\u2019t all celebrities. The Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad described being detained and tortured by the police for attending a protest, then paying smugglers to take him on a dinghy from Turkey to Greece. Once the overfilled boat began to sink, he swam for seven hours to make it to Lesbos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s valuable for people to be able to talk to each other about complicated things,\u201d Buxton says. \u201cI grew up in a house with parents who I didn\u2019t agree with politically, but that didn\u2019t stop me loving them. The problem now is that people are very prepared to think the worst of anyone. That seems to be the default position, to read the most bad-faith version of whatever\u2019s going on in the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, for the first time, he\u2019s had some permanent fallings out with friends over politics. \u201cIt was really shocking when it happened, because I sat down with them and tried to get past it,\u201d he says. \u201c\u2018Surely we can talk about it?\u2019 I said. \u2018We\u2019ve got too much in common.\u2019 And it was so upsetting and frightening when it was apparent that we couldn\u2019t. It completely threw me for a loop for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Me, Joe and Louis in 1995, aged about 26, enjoying our traditional Christmas Eve get-together at my parents\u2019 place in Clapham.\u2019 Photograph: Courtesy of Adam Buxton<\/p>\n

He has written two memoirs: Ramble Book, published in 2020, about his life in the 1980s and the death of his father in 2015; and 2025\u2019s I Love You, Byeee, which covers his TV career in the 1990s and the death of his mother in 2020. He spent nine months caring for his father after he was diagnosed with cancer. \u201cBefore he moved in, I\u2019d imagined conversations filled with tender reminiscences, confessions and closure,\u201d he writes. \u201cIn the end, we were just two uptight men who found it easier to be on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother\u2019s death felt more sudden, despite her health deteriorating over a number of years. \u201cThe ones who really love you, you end up taking for granted,\u201d he told Cornish in a podcast episode recorded a few months later. \u201cI just had it in my head that we were going to have another chapter and she would be with us. I was totally sideswiped by her death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing him grapple with his bereavement has helped me with my own grief over the death of my mother. At the end of I Love You, Byeee, he thanks his mother for loving him and apologises for not taking the time to talk to her more about her life. It\u2019s a regret I\u2019ve often had myself, holding on to questions that will now never be answered, and there is a comfort in hearing that expressed by someone else. How is he coping now? \u201cI feel as if I\u2019ve really been in the hole with grief for ages, looking through photos, thinking about it, talking to relatives, maybe spending too much time there and not moving on sufficiently,\u201d he says. \u201cI really miss them and that doesn\u2019t go away. I\u2019m surprised how much that doesn\u2019t go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is still haunted by one song that reminds him of his mother, Randy Crawford\u2019s One Day I\u2019ll Fly Away. \u201cI listened to that song the night after she died, since it\u2019s one of her favourites, but this time I suddenly heard such darkness in it,\u201d he says. \u201cShe sings, \u2018I follow the night \/ Can\u2019t stand the light \/ When will I begin \/ My life again?\u2019 and it made me think of where my mum might be and I began to feel so fearful. There\u2019s grief and then there\u2019s fear and the fear is worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornish and Buxton met at Westminster school in London, and went on to form a comedy duo. Photograph: Tony Kyriacou\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Buxton went to the fee-paying Westminster school in London, which is where he became friends with Theroux and Cornish. It was while studying at Cheltenham College of Art that he began tinkering with the self-filmed sketches he sent to the Channel 4 show Takeover TV, and which formed the basis for the Adam and Joe Show. This began in 1996, and included everything from a toy-themed recreation of The English Patient, to Buxton\u2019s father being filmed as he explored the nightclubs of Ibiza. At a time when shows such as Spitting Image and Brass Eye were skewering politicians and celebrities, Buxton and Cornish preferred to make fun of themselves.<\/p>\n

The show was axed after four series, and the pair went on to work together on the radio. With the 30th anniversary of the Adam and Joe Show coming up, does he think they will ever make another TV series?<\/p>\n

The Adam and Joe Show. Photograph: Channel 4<\/p>\n

\u201cNever say never, but it would be quite weird,\u201d he says. \u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve discovered the podcast is a good medium for us because we know how we fit together in that world. We do the Christmas podcast together every year and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to stop anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a new celebrity-fronted interview podcast seemingly popping up every week, does he worry about the future of his show? \u201cI don\u2019t think about it really,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not on social media, I don\u2019t check numbers and I gauge it by whether I\u2019m still getting sponsors. I do sometimes think, if the sponsors went away and it wasn\u2019t financially worthwhile, would I still do it? And I think I would. It is fun. I\u2019ll probably only stop when Rosie dies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not on social media, I don\u2019t check numbers\u2019 Photograph: David Levene\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

From 2007 to 2009, he co-hosted a BBC Radio 6 Music show with Cornish, which included jokey radio jingles. He sees his album as a natural progression for this musical tinkering \u2013 a selection of \u201cproper music\u201d with a funny edge, written by him over five years and produced by Joe Mount of indie group Metronomy. The 15 tracks span everything, from fast-paced electropop about sitting on the moral fence (Dancing in the Middle) to 1970s Brazilian bossa about drying the dishes (Tea Towel), Dylanesque folk singing about differing musical tastes (Skip This Track) and thundering jungle breakbeats for a love letter to wearing shorts (Shorts).<\/p>\n

This solo project puts him centre stage, but he is still keen to work with others. \u201cI like anything where it\u2019s collegiate and you have an experience with people,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I always wanted to go into the [I\u2019m A Celebrity] jungle. Now I do get offers to go in there but I think I\u2019m too old. I don\u2019t know if I could hack it physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

What if they offered you a million pounds? \u201cIt\u2019s not about the money, man \u2013 it\u2019s about the experience,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019d do it for free if the right people were in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also keen to act more: in 2007, he was cast in Edgar Wright\u2019s romp Hot Fuzz, where he played a local journalist who meets a grisly end. \u201cI\u2019m hoping I might be entering my more castable years as an older man. It might be easier to slot me into a few creepy old guy roles. That\u2019s the dream: get a part on a show that ends up doing really well. You just show up, you don\u2019t have to write it and you don\u2019t have to worry about it, just hang out with talented people. That would be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Buxton\u2019s new single Doing It Wrong is out on Decca. His album Buckle Up is released on 12 September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a muggy summer day, Adam Buxton is talking me through the songs on his debut album, Buckle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-52732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}