Barry Ferns on the importance of meditation - a podcast by Steve Whiteley

In this conversation I chat to comedian, writer, director and co-founder of Angel Comedy, Barry Ferns (https://barryferns.com).

Barry has as written for the BBC, Channel 4 and Radio 4. His short films have been selected for The LA Comedy Film festival, Raindance and North by Northwest and he has won the Malcom Hardee Award for Comedy, as well as the Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe award. And in addition, Barry has been nominated as one of the best MC’s in the UK.

We kick things off, talking about the need to eat healthily, to feel good and how Barry needs a creative outlet everyday, to make him feel balanced and normal. We discuss Barry’s creative projects and the time management involved in running them alongside Angel Comedy.

Barry describes how he started stand up as a 17 year old and then took a 10 year sabbatical to write and perform in sketch comedy, with Chris Head. He explains that part of the reason he created Angel Comedy, was because he felt people wouldn’t want to hire him, so he built his own space where he could do what he liked; whilst also offering stage time to fellow comedians.

We discuss what society deems as being creative and the idea of glorifying the tortured artist. The tension between being creative and wanting to be seen to be creative on social media. Barry explains that we’re not lazy at the things we enjoy and are good at, where as we’re lazy at the things we don’t enjoy. We also talk about whether the multi hyphenate approach is best, or just to focus on getting better at one thing at a time. Barry also emphasises the importance of learning how to network.

We share our experiences of attending US short film festivals and Barry describes how friends and family crowd funded to cover his flight and accommodation to attend the LA Comedy Film Festival. He talks about the struggle of selling and putting your art out there.

Barry also describes the experience of attending a zen dojo and vipassana 10 day meditation retreats and a 2 month long meditation retreat, in the middle of the jungle in Burma. He opens up about his struggles with depression, explains the importance of keystone habits, we discuss psychedelics and loads more!

If you like this episode please do rate and review the podcast on Apple.

Happy listening :)

Steve - @offkeysteve

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