How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

How to Fail
How to Fail

Every success story you've ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out. Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary - and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them.  Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we're still finding out. With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK's most successful podcasts. And yes, we're aware of the irony.  Pick an episode. Start anywhere. An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production. All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

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  1. 17h ago

    David Sedaris - ‘My Father Said I Was A Bad Influence Because I Was Gay’

    David Sedaris is one of America’s best-loved humorists, famous for turning the absurdities of everyday life into razor-sharp, deeply human essays. He joins Elizabeth Day on How to Fail to talk about the moments that have shaped him: from dropping out of university and ending up in his parents’ basement at 20, to being thrown out by his father and growing up with a parent who seemed to actively invest in his failure. He talks candidly about heartbreak after a breakup at 32, the fear of being alone, grief at losing the people we love and his past crystal meth addiction and sobriety. We also hear about the embarrassment of dropping out of Japanese school in Tokyo at 50…and the possibility of a cameo on The Archers. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 03:39 How His Writing Evolved 04:27 Train Music Confrontation 07:03 Failure One: Dropping Out 10:38 A Father Rooting Against Him 13:16 Money Promises and Betrayal 18:03 Thrown Out and Self Worth 20:31 Friendship and Grief 23:22 Failure Two: Breakup at 32 27:38 Writing Love And Routine 28:46 Sharon The Practical Mom 33:08 Heartbreak Versus Grief 35:54 Crystal Meth And Fear 38:59 Conceptual Art On Fire 40:24 Tokyo Japanese School Quit 46:08 The Archers Cameo 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: “I just took every bit of advice [my father] ever gave me and did the opposite, and it was a really good strategy.” “Fear kept me drinking. Fear kept me smoking. Fear kept me from leaving.” “You’re never going to get what you want if you don’t work for it.” “Every day is a new beginning.” 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: The Land and Its People by David Sedaris is widely available across both online retailers and physical bookstores in the US and the UK. Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com 📚 WANT MORE? Dawn French - on fertility, friendship and being an anti-perfectionist http://swap.fm/l/NJDrzxLKhyi6icOrxmHT Simon Cowell - on judgement, power and the uncomfortable responsibility of shaping someone’s future http://swap.fm/l/hSwuCNEuZNgnaG20v0yB 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Elizabeth and David answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://lnk.to/7i0moR Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: askhowtofail.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    David Sedaris - ‘My Father Said I Was A Bad Influence Because I Was Gay’

  2. 22h ago ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    How to Be Content – with David Sedaris

    David joins Elizabeth to answer your questions. This week: how to cope with the lifelong failure to feel truly content, how to become braver when fear stops you travelling alone and how to set boundaries when a newly single best friend suddenly becomes flirtatious. Elizabeth then reflects on her time with David – a conversation about failure in all its strange forms, the humour we use to survive it and the self‑compassion required to revisit the versions of ourselves who were simply trying to make sense of the world. To hear David Sedaris tackling your failures join our community of subscribers here: https://lnk.to/7i0moR Do you have something to share of your own? Click here to get in touch: askhowtofail.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Sound Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

    How to Be Content – with David Sedaris

  3. Aug 26

    Failure Throwback: Mo Gawdat

    This episode with Mo Gawdat originally went out in 2019, but its message feels as relevant as ever. We’re re-releasing it to celebrate the 500th episode of How to Fail. Just occasionally, you meet someone who changes the way you think about the world. That’s what happened when Elizabeth met Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X, who spent years trying to solve a problem that seemed impossible to quantify: how can one individual be happy? After 12 years of research, Gawdat developed an algorithm for happiness: happiness is greater than or equal to your perception of the events in your life, minus your expectations of how life should be. He wrote about it in his international bestseller Solve for Happy. But that algorithm was put to the ultimate test when his beloved 21-year-old son, Ali, died in tragic circumstances. Mo joins me to talk about grief and depression, happiness as a form of fitness, coping with break-ups, the isolating effects of social media, why life is like a computer game, the illusion of time - and why we should always be polite to Siri. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 03:23 Success Yet Depressed 06:14 Chasing Stuff for Joy 07:22 Engineering Happiness Reset 11:37 Six Modern Illusions 15:17 Happiness as Equation 20:35 Taming Your Inner Voice 28:51 Useful vs Joyful Thoughts 29:55 Grief Without Suffering 31:02 Ali Lived Reframing 32:47 Life as a Video Game 35:02 Halo Lessons on Purpose 40:13 Preventable Death and Resentment 45:09 Tech Promise and AI Risk 55:26 1 Billion Happy Mission LINKS + MENTIONS: Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com WANT MORE? Mo Gawdat’s episode from 2025 - Dr Gabor Maté - LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Guest bookings for How To Fail only come from official @sonymusic.com emails Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Failure Throwback: Mo Gawdat

  4. Aug 19

    Failure Throwback: Phoebe Waller Bridge

    To mark 500 episodes of How to Fail! To we’re re-releasing the first ever episode with Phoebe Waller Bridge, which originally went out in July 2018. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag, writer of Killing Eve, superstar feminist and human embodiment of a Star Wars droid, joins How To Fail to talk about how she failed at her 20s (but got lots of brilliant material from the terrible dates she endured), failing at drama school, terrible auditions (including one for Downton Abbey) and how her female best friend is quite possibly the love of her life. She also talks about emotional vulnerability, why women fail at anger and about finding glory in one’s mistakes. There’s a great exchange about whether women should be open about whether or not they want children and a whole segue into the desirability of alabaster foreheads. Oh, and we cover the time Phoebe met Meryl Streep and embarrassed herself horribly, in what might be one of the greatest celebrity anecdotes of all time involving apple crumble. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 02:04 Sudden Fame Reality 04:33 RADA And Early Rejection 07:50 Emotional Acting Truth 08:41 Love Life Failures 13:14 Fleabag And Female Voice 18:05 Auditions Power And Ambition 25:37 Creative Lifeline Friendship 26:21 How They Met Vicky 27:40 Muses Not Mistresses 29:15 Women And Anger 30:55 Female Killers Fascination 33:20 The Babies Question 40:54 Feminism And Body Image 44:40 Celebrity Encounters Finale LINKS + MENTIONS: Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com WANT MORE? Dolly Alderton - swap.fm/l/XM98joc3GFEMTsLfkEfR Miranda Hart - swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Guest bookings for How To Fail only come from official @sonymusic.com emails Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Failure Throwback: Phoebe Waller Bridge

  5. Aug 12

    Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died

    Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years. Hired in 1996 as a writer for French and Saunders (alongside best friend Sue Perkins), Mel’s career took off and she went on to co-present hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and then the Great British Bake Off. Since then, Giedoryc has written a Sunday Times bestselling novel and fronts the podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake. Now she returns with a new book, The Comeback, a funny, big-hearted novel about second chances set in a community. In this hilarious and moving episode, we talk about how she feels she is always ‘getting away with it’, life post-Bake Off, having children, not making it to her mother’s deathbed due to a big night out, and the recurring nightmare that she has never been able to shake… IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 02:55 Getting Away With It 05:43 Bake Off 08:43 Life After Bake Off 09:45 The Comeback Novel 10:21 Theatre And Family Roots 17:18 Cambridge Degree Disaster 28:49 Mums Deathbed Regret 30:46 Strokes And Stolen Years 32:05 Boozy Night Missed Call 36:10 Work As Grief Shelter 39:36 Remembering Rosemary 43:50 VHS Shame Spiral 52:00 Goodbyes And Final Thoughts LINKS + MENTIONS: Listen to Mel’s podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake here: swap.fm/l/ZuaKfvomuCzS7P3cLJzx and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@WhereTheresAWillTheresAWake The Comeback is available to pre-order now: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/mel-giedroyc/the-comeback/9781472256263/ Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com WANT MORE? Miranda Hart - swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu Celeste Barber - swap.fm/l/qLmwfjyeSolWuFeaHGdt Stephen Merchant - swap.fm/l/Lta5mlFbVnPHyFb8R1n2 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Guest bookings for How To Fail only come from official @sonymusic.com emails Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan and Jen Mistri Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died

  6. Aug 11 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    HELP! I Lost My Temper with My Child - with Mel Giedroyc

    Elizabeth and Mel answer your questions including someone who has stayed in a toxic relationship because they are too scared to be themselves; another listener who feels guilty for losing their temper with their child; and finally, someone who regrets breaking up with their boyfriend. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Do you have something to share of your own? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan and Jen Mistri Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

    HELP! I Lost My Temper with My Child - with Mel Giedroyc

  7. Aug 5

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham - ‘I’m a better politician for having failed.’

    Andy Burnham is the first Prime Minister on How to Fail. Past leaders have run scared of doing a podcast with ‘fail’ in the title - but not this one. As he says in this conversation: ‘if you’ve not succeeded, you have to understand why it happened, and what you’re going to do about it.’ Wise words from a global leader. Burnham is now our 7th Prime Minister in 10 years, having won a decisive by-election in Makerfield and having received nominations from 94% of Labour MPs in an unopposed leadership contest. In this exclusive episode, recorded at No. 10 North, Andy talks about growing up, how his Catholic faith has shaped his outlook (and whether or not he snuck some communion wine as an altar boy). Plus: imposter syndrome, what he learned from his past failed leadership bids, friendships within politics, how his wife responded to his desire to run for PM, the meaning of ‘home’ and whether or not his dad, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, knows his son has become Prime Minister. A must-listen, even if we do say so ourselves. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 03:12 Imposter Syndrome and Authenticity 06:13 Faith and Catholic Roots 08:32 English Degree and Power of Words 10:19 Failed Leadership Bids 16:50 Politics Friendships and Family 21:07 Post Cambridge Job Hunt 25:06 What Home Means 26:26 Hillsborough and Two Britains 27:36 Number 10 North Vision 28:43 Building Safety and Hope 32:49 Radical Yet Sensible Politics 35:35 Fixing Social Care 38:16 Roy and Alzheimer’s 43:10 Faith Power and Farewell LINKS + MENTIONS: Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com WANT MORE? Ed Miliband - swap.fm/l/YTnZMo8h78DZNf7ZmKnF Sadiq Khan - swap.fm/l/FcuzDh396Ul76Sc46KRb Jess Phillips - swap.fm/l/EHHLbfGCH6oBDbOaMhbX LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Guest bookings for How To Fail only come from official @sonymusic.com emails Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan and Jen Mistri Sound Engineer: Ed Gill DOP: Keith Gubbins Assistant Camera Op: Charlie Painter Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham - ‘I’m a better politician for having failed.’

  8. Aug 4 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    HELP! I Have Two Boyfriends and Feel Guilty

    Elizabeth and Producer Hannah answer listener questions on the train back from recording with Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Questions vary from a listener who feels going on antidepressants is failing, another reckoning with the profound effect their mum’s death has had on their relationships, and finally, a listener who is dating two men simultaneously and has got in too deep. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Do you have something to share of your own? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan and Jen Mistri Sound Engineer: Ed Gill DOP: Keith Gubbins Assistant Camera Op: Charlie Painter Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Alex Lawless How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

    HELP! I Have Two Boyfriends and Feel Guilty
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About

Every success story you've ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out. Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary - and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them.  Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we're still finding out. With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK's most successful podcasts. And yes, we're aware of the irony.  Pick an episode. Start anywhere. An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production. All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Information

  • Channel
    How to Fail
  • Creator
    Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    525
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment
  • Show Website
    How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
  • Provider
    Pod Sub LLC

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