What happens when honesty becomes risky, and how do we care for ourselves and others when we tell the truth?

In this episode of The Bardo Podcast, comedian Marc Salmon is joined by writer, performer, and comedian Abby Wambaugh for a wide-ranging conversation about vulnerability, creativity, and honesty in performance.

They discuss comedy, sincerity, trauma, and responsibility, with Abby reflecting on making work that risks truth without causing harm. The conversation explores humour and social change, contemporary clowning, audience care, and Abby’s acclaimed show The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, produced by Hannah Gadsby.

A thoughtful and often funny episode about comedy, ethics, imagination, and what it means to make honest work while staying connected to ourselves and others.

In this episode we explore:

• Bodies, illness, embarrassment, and telling the truth
• Vulnerability on stage and the risks of sincerity
• When openness becomes unsafe, and how to care for audiences
• Creativity as compulsion rather than performance
• Metaphor, repetition, and “rats in the wall”
• Comedy, compassion, and responsibility
• Imagination, hope, and the idea that another world is possible
• Writing, practice, and learning to stay with what we resist

Guest

Abby Wambaugh is a multi award-winning American comedian, writer, and improviser based in Copenhagen who regularly performs in the UK. Their debut show The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows won Best Newcomer at the Jones ISH Comedy Awards, Best Show at the European Comedy Awards, and Best Comedy at the Theatre Weekly Fringe Awards.

🔗 Follow what Abby’s up to:
https://www.abbywambaugh.com/

Support the show

If you’re enjoying The Bardo Podcast, subscribing, rating, or sharing genuinely helps.

You can also support the show financially on Patreon:
👉 https://www.patreon.com/TheBardoPodcast

About the podcast

The Bardo Podcast explores alternative ways of thinking, inner and outer change, and what happens in the space between.

Hosted by comedian Marc Salmon, the show features thoughtful conversations with comedians, philosophers, Buddhist thinkers, and other curious minds, not about certainty or expertise, but about questioning assumptions and sitting with ambiguity together.

New episodes explore comedy, philosophy, Buddhism, creativity, and alternative ways of living.

Find updates and more information at:
https://www.marcsalmoncomedy.com/

Music by Marc Salmon and Robert Fuller
Artwork by Zoe Brownstone - Check out her special on YouTube

In this solo episode of The Bardo Podcast, I reflect on what accountability looks like for me in practice.

This is a more personal and reflective episode than usual.

I talk about sobriety, spiritual identity, ego, mixed motives, and the discomfort of speaking publicly while still figuring things out. I discuss Buddhist ideas like samsara, beginner’s mind, and confession without self-punishment as a way of thinking about accountability as something lived and ongoing.

Artwork by Zoe Brownstone - Check out her comedy special here

About the show

The Bardo Podcast explores Buddhism, philosophy, comedy, and alternative ways of thinking through reflective conversations and solo episodes.

Hosted by comedian Marc Salmon, the show is not about certainty or expertise. It is about questioning assumptions, noticing habits of mind, and sitting with ambiguity, often with humour, in the space between inner and outer change.

Find updates and more information at:
https://www.marcsalmoncomedy.com/

In this episode of The Bardo Podcast, I’m joined by Mark Simmons, award-winning one-liner comedian, for a focused conversation about stand-up comedy, confidence, failure, and the philosophy of laughter.

We explore what really happens when a joke lands or fails, how audiences perceive confidence on stage, and what “dying on stage” actually means. The conversation covers joke writing, wordplay, timing, audience trust, taboo, and why the same material can succeed in one room and fail in another.

Rather than offering formulas for being funny, this episode looks at comedy as a practice shaped by surprise, tension, perspective shifts, and shared meaning, and what humour can teach us about confidence, creativity, and relating to others with more lightness.

In this episode we explore:

• Dying on stage and losing the fear of failure
• Confidence, belief, and audience perception
• Fun as a skill in stand-up comedy
• Joke writing, wordplay, timing, and structure
• Audience trust, taboo, and tension
• The philosophy of laughter

Guest

Mark Simmons is an award-winning one-liner comedian known for his sharp jokes and meticulous approach to joke writing. He has toured internationally, appeared on television and radio, and hosts the podcast Jokes with Mark Simmons.

Mark’s is on tour now here's his website:
https://marksimmons.co.uk/

Mark’s stand-up special on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRn6iEuZvPU

Reading List

Emily Herring - Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People
Sigmund Freud - Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

Zoe Brownstone's new Stand-Up Special (Go check this out now!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJkF4QSNPmE

Support the show
If you’re enjoying The Bardo Podcast, subscribing, rating, or sharing the show genuinely helps.

You can also support the show financially on Patreon:
👉 https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheBardoPodcast

The Bardo Podcast explores Buddhism, philosophy, comedy, and alternative ways of thinking through fun philosophy conversations with comedians, philosophers, and Buddhist thinkers. The show brings together exploring Buddhism with playful, thoughtful discussions about creativity, meaning, inner and outer change, and what happens in the space between.

Hosted by comedian Marc Salmon, the show features conversations not about certainty or expertise, but about questioning assumptions and sitting with ambiguity together.

Find updates and more information at:
https://www.marcsalmoncomedy.com/

Music by Marc Salmon and Robert Fuller

Artwork by Zoe Brownstone