{"podcast":{"title":"What The F Is Going On? with Mark Steel","slug":"what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372","podcast_index_feed_id":4026372,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel","website_url":"http://www.whatthefisgoingonpodcast.co.uk/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/2cd557ca-ee3f-11ed-ab5d-370bd57ccb60/image/80b8db6fea9750b38502f4520f7d536a.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Carousel Studios","episode_count":232,"summary":"The world’s a mess, politics is ridiculous, and nobody seems to know what’s going on. Join Mark Steel as he sets out to make sense of the chaos — and maybe even figure out how we can fix it. Each week, Mark sits down with brilliant guests from comedy, politics and culture for funny, honest and occasionally furious conversations about modern life. Featuring guests including Miles Jupp, Jeremy Corbyn, Caitlin Moran, Zack Polanski, Alan Davies, Matt Forde, Ash Sarkar and many more, all helping Mark answer one big question… WHAT THE F IS GOING ON?","last_synced_at":"2026-06-15T10:19:42.874126+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372"},"episode":{"title":"Ep 177 with Laura Smyth (Part 1) : Gigging is so real, we are very lucky","slug":"ep-177-with-laura-smyth-part-1-gigging-is-so-real-we-are-very-lucky","published_at":"2026-03-02T05:27:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372/ep-177-with-laura-smyth-part-1-gigging-is-so-real-we-are-very-lucky","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR1041267384.mp3?updated=1772399605","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR1041267384.mp3?updated=1772399605","summary":"Mark is joined by comedian Laura Smyth as they discuss surviving cancer, stoicism and hypnotherapy, body neutrality after mastectomy, social media outrage and “narrative construction”, the loss of real-world connection in the age of smartphones, stand-up as communal therapy, raising daughters and sons differently, and why facing your mortality can make you finally stop carrying the shit you don’t need. You can hear the second part of the interview in next week's episode – but if you can't wait, why not join us on Patreon? For £4 a month you can listen or watch the whole interview straight away. www.patreon.com/wtfisgoingonpod For media, press & guest enquiries please email mikey@carouselstudios.co.uk Follow What The F*** Is Going On? with Mark Steel on Twitter @wtfisgoingonpod Follow Mark Steel @mrmarksteel Follow Laura @thatlaurasmyth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Mark is joined by comedian Laura Smyth as they discuss surviving cancer, stoicism and hypnotherapy, body neutrality after mastectomy, social media outrage…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2319,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372/episodes/ep-177-with-laura-smyth-part-1-gigging-is-so-real-we-are-very-lucky/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-4026372/ep-177-with-laura-smyth-part-1-gigging-is-so-real-we-are-very-lucky.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}