Kerry Godliman has opened up about working with Ricky Gervais, her latest comedy special and an upcoming reunion with the comedian on the latest episode of the nature podcast Outsiding.
The actress and comedian joins hosts Caitlin Moran and Adam Frost for a conversation that ranges from gardening and camper vans to perimenopause, celebrity crushes and the lasting success of After Life.
Kerry revealed she will soon be working with Gervais again on the animated project Alley Cats, explaining that the recording process relied on natural conversations rather than traditional scripts.
“Alley Cats is coming up. He wants it to be as natural as possible, and then he’ll back animate it. So it was kind of capturing the relationships and the wisecracks,” she said.
Looking back at After Life, Kerry admitted she never expected the Netflix series to have such a huge impact with audiences.
“That whole job was a massive surprise. I saw him out and he said, ‘I’m doing this thing, do you want to play my dead wife?’ Then obviously he explained how it would be, and it all became this lovely thing that kind of came out of nowhere.”
She said fans still approach her to talk about the show’s themes of grief and loss, adding that it continues to mean a great deal to viewers.
The conversation also covers Kerry’s new stand up special, Bandwidth, which she describes as an “angry hour”, before comparing the creative process behind comedy to gardening.
“It sort of evolves. I liken it to gardening. You have little areas that grow and then you expand them. Then you realise there’s a story there.”
Away from the stage, Kerry speaks candidly about perimenopause and how friends helped her recognise the symptoms.
“A friend said, ‘You’re probably in perimenopause.’ I was like, ‘How dare you?’ Then I realised that was certainly the case.”
Gardening remains a huge part of Kerry’s life and she fondly recalls growing up with fruit trees, vegetable patches and a slightly wild family garden.
She also explains how watching Gardeners’ World during lockdown changed the way she approaches her own outdoor space.
There are lighter moments too, including her confession that she still owns an unreliable camper van that nobody seems willing to buy, and an affectionate joke that Adam Frost remains one of her celebrity crushes thanks to “the gardening mainly… and the charisma.”
The episode also features stories about battling slugs, visiting gardening museums, dreaming of becoming a seed pioneer and why she would always choose a bonfire over a barbecue.
Outsiding with Caitlin Moran and Adam Frost is available now on all podcast providers and YouTube.
