The award-winning Happy Hour podcast is making a second stop on tour in the North East on May 4 after a highly popular first leg of the Round Sheep Tour.
Hosted by friends Jack Dean (known as JaackMaate), Stevie White and Robbie Knox, the gang chat everything from being a pretend President of England to planning their ultimate heist.
Started in 2018 by Jack, the podcast tops the charts as the most popular British Podcast on Spotify and boasts an impressive following of 55,000 on Instagram.
After shows across the UK including Newcastle, the extension will see the show come to Middlesbrough's Town Hall next month.
Read more: Consett Comedy Festival 2023: What to expect this year
Ahead of their second leg, Jack, Stevie and Robbie spoke to The Northern Echo about the podcast, what tour has been like so far and whether there are any plans for a second.
Jack said: “I’ve been doing YouTube about fifteen years now, starting the podcast coming up to five years ago now. I had just fallen out of love with YouTube, and I’d just moan about other YouTubers.
“When you hit your mid-20’s, that gets old really fast.”
Jack admitted he has always been a fan of Ricky Gervais, inspired by his former radio shows on what’s now called RadioX, leading him to form the podcast with Stevie and Robbie.
He added: “I said, ‘let’s go to London, let’s record it’. But, like anyone with a podcast we thought we were the funniest people around… but that’s still up for debate.”
The trio ended up meeting each other in a rather unconventional way, coming together for the podcast despite at first working in different industries, with Stevie first working on the now axed TV show SoccerAM.
Stevie told the Echo he first collaborated with Jack in 2014, lending him a costume for a video.
He said: “I lent Jack a Batman costume. He was doing a YouTube sketch and needed the costume, so a mutual friend of both of us said ‘Stevie, you’ve got a Batman costume.’
“So I met him at the back of a spoons and we then just became friends.”
Hosting Happy Hour, the trio have welcomed guests including Ricky Gervais and ex-Apprentice and Masterchef star Thomas Skinner.
Read more: Comedian Garrett Millerick at Newcastle's The Stand
Now, extending their first national tour, Jack told the Echo going on tour in the first place was a “pipe dream” of theirs.
“It was always something we wanted to do. We dipped our toes in the water a few times with shows here and there.”
He joked: “Then, Robbie said ‘we should take it on tour’. I said, I’m incredibly lazy… so as long as I don’t have to do anything apart from turn up and do it, then we’ll do it!”
Speaking about their success, Robbie agreed that the first leg has been “incredible”.
He said: “I remember the first night we did the show, it all went really well. Then we were told there were a few people at the stage door who want to meet you.
“We went out thinking it would be 20 people but there were hundreds out there. We were there for an hour and a half speaking to people and it was like that every night.”
Attendees in Middlesbrough can expect a show just as entertaining as the podcast, filled with skits and audience interaction.
Get more from The Northern Echo with a Premium Plus digital subscription from only £1.50 per week
Robbie added: “It’s not something only people who listen to the podcast will get. There are a few in-jokes there that people enjoy but its accessible.
“I’ve had friends who come along who had never listen to the podcast and they enjoy themselves.”
Though the trio have enjoyed their time on tour, they admitted that this will be the only time they do it, urging their fans to see them live while they can.
To get tickets and find out more about the tour, click here.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here