After years of cultivating a devoted following through his quietly surreal stand-up, character work and cult-favourite podcasts, UK stand-up stalwart Mike Wozniak has become one of the most distinctive voices in comedy.
Beloved for his appearances on Taskmaster and its Junior incarnation, Man Down, and podcasts Three Bean Salad and St Elwick's Neighbourhood Association Newsletter, Wozniak is now touring his acclaimed new show The Bench - later this month he comes to Dublin's Ambassador Theatre for a pair of eagerly awaited performances.
We asked Mike for his choice cultural tips..
FILM
I'm not sure if this counts has a cultural hot tip as this came out last year (although it’s still doing the rounds in some cinemas, I believe) but I have to choose The Ballad of Wallis Island. It’s a note-perfect indie comedy written by and starring Tom Basden and Tim Key: two men whose work I am consistently jealous of. In a nutshell, it’s about a reclusive, island-dwelling lottery winner who tries to engineer a private comeback gig by his favourite band. Brilliant writing, brilliant performances and made in something like 18 days, which for a handsome devil of a film like this is impressive and I’m getting all jealous again now so I’ll stop and move on.
MUSIC
Emily Jane Roberts. High-end guitarist but also a terrific composer. She’s got an excellent EP called The Persistence of Memory which I highly recommend unless you’re one of those people who says they don’t like jazz in which case I say give jazz a chance there are many jazzes and there is a jazz out there for YOU. Cards on the table: the EP is from 2022, but I think that’s exciting in terms of the near future because it must mean that surely there’ll be something new from her soon please.
We need your consent to load this Spotify contentWe use Spotify to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
BOOK
Hot and fresh off the printing press is The Crystal Vase by Astrid Goldsmith: an utterly beautifully made graphic memoir about the author being dispatched by her family to sort out the belongings of her formidable and recently deceased German Jewish grandmother. There is all sorts in it, including a flight from Nazi Germany, petty squabbles within a grieving family, disagreements on funeral rites, road trips and transnational moths. It could easily be mawkish but it isn’t one jot which gets a personal thumbs up from me. It’s moving, gripping and is, at times, very, very funny. It also has timely themes if you’re in the mood for some pensive chin scratching.
THEATRE
I have never seen Road by Jim Cartwright but I want to see Road by Jim Cartwright and now there’s a new production happening at the Royal Exchange in Manchester that is apparently excellent and has a blindingly good cast (Johnny Vegas and Lucy Beaumont included). As I’m on tour currently it’s looking like I will miss this production and continue my habit of not seeing Road by Jim Cartwright but if I can make it I will and in the meantime I will be muttering incantations continuously in the hope that The Cultural Gatekeepers decide it can be extended and go on tour (starting, of course, with runs in Exeter and Ireland).
TV
Things You Should Have Done is a BBC sitcom by Lucia Keskin and it’s so far up my own street I know that if you liked it too we could definitely be friends. It’s dark and it’s weird and it’s hilarious and it doesn’t feel like the suits on the top floor have interfered with it at all.
GIG
No doubt the type of person reading this sort of cultural hot-tip piece will already have procured themselves tickets for the Bon Jovi World Tour’s only Ireland date in August this year. See you there.
ART
I’m going double local for this one (local for me being Exeter in South West England). Firstly there’s the magnificently funny (and Exeter based) artist, cartoonist and illustrator Moose Allain. The man’s work is pure joy and there is heaps to be found online, plus his online shop (temporarily closed but soon to fire up again) at www.worldofmooose.com is a treasure trove. I’ve got a print of his Boiler & Pipes hung up directly in front of my desk and it never fails to make me want to make things. Secondly (also Exeter based) is ceramicist Matt Jones whose utterly beautiful pots and wotnots can be found at his Crooked Clay, Crooked Clay website. As far as I know he’s not got any Ireland based exhibitions planned soon BUT we’ve all got people we love who need gifts don’t we so why not try having sending-someone-a-Devonshire-pot as your new love language?
PODCAST
Full disclosure: this long running comedy podcast is the brain child of a good friend and long-time collaborator of mine. The Beef and Dairy Network podcast by Benjamin Partridge is a genuine one-off in my view. There is no fictional, comedy podcast out there that has had the same level of world-building. Also the production and sound-design is top-drawer in a way that is rare in podcasts generally and particularly in comedy. It’s been going for more than a decade now, and if you know what’s good for you you’ll start at the beginning.
We need your consent to load this Spotify contentWe use Spotify to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
TECH
I am tech ignorant and have nothing to other for cultural tech tips but I will take this opportunity (if I may) to doff my cap to people using tech to create environmentally friendly dog poop bags. These people shall never be cast in bronze in our town squares but they shall be shown to be on the right side of history.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
If I had to put a fiver on who from the British comedy scene will one day be a household name in Britain, Ireland, America, the International Space Station etc etc etc then it would be Amy Gledhill. Many of you may know her already. I think those of you who don’t will soon. She’s a star turn. Caveat: I’ve never predicted anything correctly before but I feel in bones that it’s different this time.
Mike Wozniak is at The Ambassador Theatre, Dublin on Saturday, 7th March 2026, with shows at 2pm and 7pm - find out more here
