Martin Deeson UNLOADED

Podcast Room LB
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Arts
  • Updated Biweekly

Martin Deeson Unloaded is the new podcast from Loaded founding team member and star writer Martin Deeson, interviewing the characters who made the 1990s the unforgettable decade it was. Deeson sits down with the musicians, comedians, photographers, models, DJ's, actors and mischief-makers who lived through the decade that forgot to say: “No thank you, I think I’ll have a quiet night in.” These are stories from the last great pre-social-media era — when what happened on tour stayed on tour.

Episodes

  1. Aug 13

    Tracy-Ann Oberman on EastEnders, Doctor Who & Toast of London

    She killed Dirty Den and buried him under the Queen Vic. Then she ran Torchwood, got turned into a Cyberman, and lost a soap award to a small dog in a bow tie. Tracy-Ann Oberman has been in more of the things you love than almost anyone alive. EastEnders, Doctor Who, Toast of London, Friday Night Dinner, After Life, It’s a Sin, The Witcher, The Sandman, Ridley Road, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the new Harlan Coben series on Netflix. She joins Martin Deeson, who has known her since they were teenagers, for a very funny and occasionally jaw-dropping hour on fame, tabloids, antisemitism, Matt Berry, and why the best thing that ever happened to her career was being told she did not look right for the part. In this episode: Why the head of her drama school told her to change her name, and what she said backReading the Toast of London pilot script and immediately ringing her agent to turn it downMatt Berry, Mrs Purchase, Clem Fandango, and why the dads at the school gates suddenly wanted to talk to herAuntie Val, Friday Night Dinner, Auntie Val Core trending on TikTok, and the dog cage she refused to come out ofTen days from audition to Albert Square, and the Selfridges spree with an unlimited budgetWhat Leslie Grantham said to her in the EastEnders chemistry test, and what she said backBeing told she was the Katharine Hepburn to his Spencer Tracy of WalfordKilling Dirty Den, burying him under the Queen Vic, and then acting opposite him while he was under itTurning up to work on the Monday after a six-page tabloid expose of her co-starThe small dog in a bow tie that beat her to a Soap Award, and why she thinks about it more than a BAFTARussell T Davies, Dr Who, Yvonne Hartman, Torchwood, the Daleks, the Cybermen, and getting cyberedIt’s a Sin, and the friend whose family burned the bed sheets and buried the cutleryRidley Road, Cable Street, and her great uncle put through a plate glass window by Mosley’s BlackshirtsBecoming the first female Shylock in The Merchant of Venice 1936Noel Coward’s Present Laughter reimagined with a female lead at Studio 54, opening at Bath Theatre Royal Three things you will take away: What it actually costs to join a soap at the height of the tabloid eraHow a jobbing actor turns a part she nearly refused into a cult classicWhy she calls herself an accidental activist, and what she thinks that obliges her to do Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloadedX: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeesonWebsite: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/ Tracy-Ann Oberman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyanno/ Present Laughter tickets - Theatre Royal Bath, then touring to Cambridge, Cheltenham, Malvern, Liverpool, York and Chichester: https://linktr.ee/PresentLaughterTour

  2. Jul 30

    John Niven: Oasis v Blur, Coldplay and Kill Your Friends

    In 1997 a young A&R man at London Records opened the post and found demos from two unsigned bands called Coldplay and Muse. He listened, shrugged, and decided Britain did not need another Radiohead. Episode Summary: John Niven spent the 1990s inside the record industry at London Records and Independiente, and then turned all of it into Kill Your Friends, the novel that caught the decade's greed, cocaine and moral collapse better than anything else written about it. In this episode he tells Martin Deeson about the demos he waved away, the American visitors his label laughed out of the building who turned out to be setting up Yahoo, the five broke years it took to become a novelist, the memoir he wrote about his brother's suicide, and why Oasis stitched themselves into the soul of the British people in a way Blur never could. John Niven is the author of eleven novels including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming, Straight White Male and The Fathers, and the memoir O Brother. His first stage play, The Battle, is about the 1995 Blur and Oasis chart war. Three things you will get from this episode: The best explanation you will hear of why Oasis became bigger than Blur, from the man who has written a play about that summer.What it actually felt like inside a major record label at the peak of the money, from a man who was paid a fortune to be there and freely admits he was terrible at the job.A working writer's account of how you get there: the discipline, the poverty, the seventeen rejections, and why the first draft of Kill Your Friends had to be thrown away. In this episode: The Loaded job John Niven applied for and did not get, and the letter James Brown almost certainly binnedCocaine on the desk: why the music industry and the magazine industry behaved identically, and why only one of them was making real moneyKingsley Amis on the moment lunch becomes dinnerThe truth about turning down Coldplay and Muse, and the photocopy of a photocopy line that ended up in Kill Your FriendsTake That, East 17, Boyzone, Westlife, and underestimating the public's appetite for the same thing againThe American visitors to London Records in 1994 who described streaming, wireless listening and the death of the CD, and got laughed out of the officeThe £50,000 investment London Records turned down, the second Menswear album they made instead, and the Yahoo fortune that got awayGiving up the company car at 30 to write a novel, and being turned down by seventeen publishersMusic from the Big Pink, drug dealers, private jets, and why that particular life curve rarely ends wellWhy the first draft of Kill Your Friends was unreadable until Steven Stelfox took over the tellingPaul Schrader writing Taxi Driver on bourbon and cocaine, Bruce Robinson typing with his nose, and why John Niven could not write with a hangoverStraight White Male, Irvine Welsh, and inhabiting men you would not want to be in a room withThe Fathers, Dan and Jada, and the two versions of John Niven's own lifeO Brother, his brother's suicide, and the median peak age for male suicideWhy books, films and music can be a lifeline for men in middle age, and what happens to the men who never had themThe Battle: John Niven's play about the summer of 1995, Country House and Roll With ItFrom Damon Albarn saying it should have been shared with Oasis at the Brits in February, to Noel Gallagher's AIDS remark by JulyWhy the 90s revival has arrived exactly on schedule, thirty years on, just as the 60s did for the 90s80,000 people at Wembley knowing every word, the magnetism of Liam Gallagher, and the Lennon and McCartney comparisonApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloadedX: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeesonWebsite: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  3. Jul 2

    Maria McErlane: The Fast Show, Eurotrash & Graham Norton

    She narrated Eurotrash, starred in The Fast Show, and has spent thirty years sitting at the next table to everyone - Nigella, Graham Norton, Cilla Black, Salman Rushdie. But Maria McErlane didn’t come on to drop celebrity names; she came on to talk about how to actually live, and somehow we ended up discussing the two bottles of morphine in her fridge. Episode Summary: Martin Deeson sits down with Maria McErlane - Fast Show star, the unmistakable voice of Eurotrash, actress, journalist, Agony Aunt, and Graham Norton’s comedy partner on Radio 2, Virgin Radio and their hit podcast Wanging On. What starts as a tour through 90s comedy turns into one of the most quietly profound conversations of the series - on fame, mortality, ageing without bitterness, and finding the joy anyway. Three things you’ll take from it: how to develop a thick skin in an age that’s lost the knack; why “death is not a life ended, it’s a life completed” might be the most useful thing you hear all year; and how the people who treat fame as a licence to be horrible (yes, that story) always end up the loneliest in the room. In this episode: How Maria landed The Fast Show - replacing Caroline Aherne, recruited by Mark Williams “I’m Not Pissed,” “Suits you sir,” and the secret-alcoholic sketch The voice of Eurotrash - 16 seasons of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Antoine de Caunes and refusing to be cruel about Lolo Ferrari Why the women of 90s comedy were genuinely frightened of Loaded and James Brown’s mob Being a woman on the 90s circuit alongside Jenny Eclair, Jo Brand and Hattie Hayridge Her book Bumps in the Road - and why it’s a book of philosophy disguised as a showbiz memoir John Diamond, Nigella Lawson, and the vodka injected straight into the stomach The Salman Rushdie moleskine-pad story - “f**k off, I’ve got cancer” “Death is not a life ended, it’s a life completed” - and where the phrase came from The two bottles of 25-year-old morphine still in her fridge Meeting Graham Norton on Carnal Knowledge, and how he got famous overnight The three types of fame - and why Cilla Black made her call her “Miss Black” The Maureen Lipman “I’m sure you are” takedown Martin’s day from hell with Vinnie Jones, GQ and a helicopter to the dogs Howard Marks, the nicest man at Glastonbury John Cleese’s stem cells, ageing, and doing it all with grace

  4. Jun 11

    Rowland Rivron: The Young Ones, The Comic Strip & Soho

    Rowland Rivron was there at the birth of alternative comedy, sharing stages and dressing rooms with Rik Mayall, French & Saunders, Alexei Sayle and The Comic Strip. In this episode he reveals what Soho was really like during the wild 1980s and 1990s, from The Young Ones to the Groucho Club and beyond. Episode Summary / Bullet Points In this episode of Martin Deeson Unloaded, Martin sits down with comedian, actor, writer, musician and broadcaster Rowland Rivron. Long before alternative comedy became mainstream, Rowland was part of the scene that transformed British entertainment. From living with Rik Mayall while The Young Ones was being written to performing alongside French & Saunders, Alexei Sayle and The Comic Strip, he found himself at the centre of one of the most influential cultural movements of modern Britain. The conversation also explores the legendary excesses of Soho, the Groucho Club, television in the Channel 4 golden era, life on the road with Jools Holland, and the infamous Loaded magazine Christmas stunt that left children convinced Father Christmas had been killed. Topics include: Rik Mayall and the creation of The Young OnesThe Comic Strip and the birth of alternative comedyWorking alongside French & SaundersAlexei Sayle and the early comedy circuitJonathan Ross and Channel 4’s golden eraJools Holland and life as a touring musicianThe infamous Loaded magazine drunken Santa stuntWild nights at the Groucho ClubWhat Soho was really like in the 1980s and 1990sWhy comedy, music and television were changing Britain Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloadedX: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeesonWebsite: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  5. May 28

    James Brown: Loaded, Chaos and the 90s

    James Brown changed British culture when he launched Loaded magazine in the 1990s - and changed Martin Deeson’s life along with it. In this hilarious, emotional and frequently chaotic reunion, the founder of Loaded sits down with his former star writer for the first time in years to talk about magazine wars, addiction, creativity, grief, comedy, the Beastie Boys, Keanu Reeves, Irvine Welsh, Hunter S. Thompson journalism and the wild rise - and fall - of 90s culture. This episode is part reunion, part argument, part therapy session. Martin and James interrupt each other constantly, disagree repeatedly, laugh hysterically and revisit the stories behind one of the most influential magazines Britain ever produced. Topics include: The real origin story of Loaded magazine  Why the 1990s felt radically different from the 1980s  The explosion of comedy, music, rave culture and laddism  James Brown’s years at the NME before Loaded  Discovering writers, bands and cultural movements  Hanging out with the Beastie Boys and Keanu Reeves  Why Loaded connected with ordinary young men  Addiction in 90s media  The emotional toll behind the chaos  The infamous GQ champagne bottle incident  Howard Marks, Damien Hirst, Vic Reeves and Hunter S. Thompson  Why James eventually got sober  The strange legacy of Loaded today  Plus: Stephen Fry airport chaos  Cannes Film Festival disasters  Nuclear war paranoia in the 1980s  Stringfellows stories  Terrence Stamp telling Martin to go away  Why James thinks Martin was the funniest travelling companion imaginable  An unusually loose, funny and emotional conversation between two old comrades who helped define a decade - and somehow survived it. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloadedX: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeesonWebsite: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  6. May 14

    Keith Allen: Gazza, Prison, Groucho Club Chaos & Vindaloo

    Keith Allen joins Martin Deeson for a wild, funny and surprisingly moving conversation about punk, prison, Gazza, The Comic Strip, alternative comedy, World In Motion, the madness of 90s Britain and what it really felt like to live through the cultural explosion of Channel 4, rave culture and Cool Britannia. From opening for The Clash and Dexys Midnight Runners to smashing up a members club, going to prison, writing World In Motion with New Order and accidentally giving Rik Mayall a criminal record – this is Keith Allen at his absolute, outrageous best. In this episode of Martin Deeson Unloaded: Keith reveals the chaotic true story behind World In MotionGazza “rapped but you couldn’t understand him”The birth of alternative comedy and The Comic StripWhat Channel 4 was REALLY like in the 1980sSquatting in London during the punk yearsGoing to prison after smashing up the Groucho ClubOpening for Dexys and The ClashWorking with Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle and Ken CampbellThe Hacienda, Tony Wilson and the Manchester explosionFat Les, football culture and 90s BritainWhy Keith believes institutions can be “fun”Growing older, fatherhood and staying creatively alive Plus: Stephen Fry, Damian Hirst, Alex James, Irvine Welsh, Derek Jarman, Michael Barrymore, Robbie Coltrane, New Order, Trainspotting, Twin Town and much more. Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloaded⁠ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674 X: https://x.com/martindeeson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeeson Website: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  7. Apr 30

    Jenny Eclair: The Original 90s Ladette Looks Back

    When people talk about 90s ladettes, they usually think of Sara Cox, Denise Van Outen or Zoe Ball. But before them came Jenny Eclair: PVC-clad, vodka in one hand and f*g in the other. Before Jenny Eclair became a beloved comedy veteran, novelist, podcaster, artist and national treasure, she was one of the defining women of the 1990s: loud, filthy, funny, fearless, and right there at the start of the ladette era. In this episode, she joins Martin Deeson to look back at when she was guest editor of Loaded, on winning the Perrier Award, on fame, hangovers, reinvention and the complicated legacy of a decade that was enormous fun – until it wasn’t. Jenny Eclair is one of Britain’s most distinctive comic voices: the first woman to win the Perrier Award, star of Grumpy Old Women, author of novels and memoirs, podcaster, performer, and one of the few people who can talk about shame, sex, ageing, ambition. dog castration adverts and blow jobs in the same breath. In this funny, filthy, sharp and surprisingly revealing conversation, Martin and Jenny revisit the 1990s from the inside: the Loaded years, the ladette label, the pressure to be outrageous, and the emotional bill that went with it. In this episode: Jenny remembers winning the Perrier Award – and why the morning after was anything but glamorous.Martin and Jenny revisit her infamous guest-edit of Loaded magazine, including the bondage photo shoot in which she trussed him up like a chicken. They discuss the original ladette era, why the word was both powerful and a millstone, and how much of it was performance. Jenny reflects on being clever, funny, reckless, ambitious and sometimes deeply uncomfortable in the persona she had created. Martin and Jenny talk about the Loaded live tour, lad culture, the BBC documentary, and where the magazine’s legacy became more complicated. Jenny explains how she moved from PVC trousers and filthy stage persona to novels, Radio 4 monologues, Grumpy Old Women, podcasting and later-life reinvention. They discuss ageing, family, work ethic, addiction, anxiety, writing, performance, and whether it is ever too late to do your best work. This is a conversation about the 90s as they really felt from the inside: hilarious, excessive, clever, frightening, liberating, embarrassing and unforgettable. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloaded Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674X: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeeson Website: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/ Jenny Eclair official website for tour dates, books, podcasts and more: https://jennyeclair.com/ Jenny Eclair — Older & Wider Podcast Jenny’s podcast with Judith Holder. https://jennyeclair.com/podcast Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny MemoirJenny’s memoir, which is heavily referenced in the episode available on amazon

  8. Apr 16

    Brandon Block: From Ibiza Chaos to Recovery

    He was the wildest man in 90s club culture - and by his own admission, probably would’ve “won the World Cup of caning. "I realised I was more scared of living without drugs than I was of dying with them.” In this raw, funny and unexpectedly moving conversation, Martin Deeson sits down with legendary DJ Brandon Block - the man synonymous with Ibiza, excess, and one of the most extreme lifestyles of the 1990s. But this isn’t just a chance to tell war stories. It’s a deep dive into addiction, recovery, dopamine, modern anxiety - and what happens when the party stops. How Brandon went from Ibiza icon to 28 grams of cocaine a day The moment he realised: “I can’t live like this anymore” Why addiction isn’t about substances — it’s about behaviour and dopamine The truth about anxiety: “It won’t kill you — but it will test you” The power of empathy — and how it shaped both his DJ career and his recovery work Why Gen X might be uniquely struggling in the modern world Ibiza, spirituality, and the strange magic of that era Follow Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloaded X: https://x.com/martindeeson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeeson Website: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  9. Apr 2

    Kathy Lloyd Breaks 20 Years of Silence on Page 3 and the 90s

    In the 1990s, Kathy Lloyd was everywhere. As three time Page Three Model of the Year she was one of the most recognisable faces in Britain - appearing in the country’s biggest newspaper and Loaded magazine. Then she disappeared from the media spotlight for twenty years. Until now. Episode Summary In this rare interview, Martin Deeson talks to Kathy Lloyd about fame, media culture and the surreal world surrounding the rise of Loaded magazine in the 1990s. Kathy recalls what it was like becoming a national sex symbol almost overnight, the strange experiences that came with Page Three fame, and the madness of touring with Loaded magazine - with Bez from the Happy Mondays. But the conversation also looks beyond the headlines. Kathy reflects on the reality behind the glamour, how that era shaped her life, and how she views the culture of the 1990s today. It’s a funny, honest and occasionally revealing conversation about one of the most extraordinary periods in British media history. Kathy Lloyd discusses: What life was really like as a Page Three star in the 1990sTouring the UK with Loaded magazinePartying with Bez from the Happy MondaysThe world of 90s lad culture from the insideWhy she decided to give her first interview in 20 years Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4f8zXJ9K7LcFFG1YjYoo1OApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/martin-deeson-unloaded/id1885169674Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MartinDeesonUnloadedX: https://x.com/martindeesonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martindeesonWebsite: https://www.unloadedpodcast.com/

  10. Mar 13

    Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting, Oasis & the 90s Greatest Party

    What really happened when Trainspotting exploded and suddenly the author was partying with Oasis at the height of Britpop? Irvine Welsh joins Martin Deeson to talk about fame, the chaos of the 1990s, and the single greatest party he ever witnessed. Episode Summary When Trainspotting became the defining novel and film of a generation, Irvine Welsh found himself at the centre of the cultural storm that was the 1990s. In this episode of Martin Deeson Unloaded, Irvine looks back on the era when literature, music and nightlife collided - from the rise of Oasis and the Britpop explosion to the surreal experience of sudden global fame. Along the way he tells the story of the Trainspotting launch party at the Cannes Film Festival – and reflects on how that decade shaped, and continues to shape, the people who lived through it. In this episode we talk about: What it felt like when Trainspotting suddenly became a cultural phenomenon The 1990s party culture that surrounded Britpop and Oasis Irvine’s memory of the most epic party he ever attended How the wild energy of the 90s still echoes through culture today How taking DMT live on camera turned him from an atheist into… something more mysterious. If you lived through the decade – or wish you had – this conversation captures the madness, creativity and excess of the 1990s from someone who was right in the middle of it. https://www.instagram.com/martindeeson https://martindeeson.substack.com

  • 10 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Martin Deeson Unloaded is the new podcast from Loaded founding team member and star writer Martin Deeson, interviewing the characters who made the 1990s the unforgettable decade it was. Deeson sits down with the musicians, comedians, photographers, models, DJ's, actors and mischief-makers who lived through the decade that forgot to say: “No thank you, I think I’ll have a quiet night in.” These are stories from the last great pre-social-media era — when what happened on tour stayed on tour.

Information

  • Creator
    Podcast Room LB
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Podcast Room LB
  • Show Website
    Martin Deeson UNLOADED