Olly Mann

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Olly Mann

Hello, I'm Olly. Perhaps you know me from my radio shows, podcasts and columns. Or perhaps you just think I have an approachable face. Let's be friends.

13/12/2025

Season's Greetings from The Modern Mann - our annual Xmas special is on your pod-feeds, with some of our favourite guests from 2025 dropping by, and amazing live music from Sarah Smout 🎄

01/12/2025

Perhaps the sh*ttiest lottery of all time?

27/11/2025

Why is GARLIC so globally popular? 🧄

19/11/2025

Thirty years ago today, Microsoft released Windows 1.0, making it possible to look at a Word document AND a frozen edition of Paint simultaneously

17/11/2025

On 'Today In History with the Retrospectors', we check out one of the weirdest TV variety shows ever...

14/11/2025

There are divisive sitcoms. And then there is Warren.

The BBC1 show, starring Martin Clunes as a misanthropic driving instructor, was called ‘the final nail in the coffin for British sitcom’ by the Daily Telegraph. While, in their review, the i said: ‘It’s rare that I will watch an entire comedy without once cracking a smile, but Warren truly broke me’.

It was cancelled after one series.

Six years on, the show’s co-writer, Jimmy Donny Cosgrove, has opened up to me for The Modern Mann.

He received death threats from irate viewers.
He was dumped by his agent.
Warren had been his big break - after which he went back to being an office manager.

Behind the scenes, he tells me, he felt he had lost control over his scripts, which began as a self-made YouTube sketch. As a debut writer, he saw how his voice was deprioritised on set. And he explains how the scheduling of the show - in a double-bill with ‘This Time with Alan Patridge’ - made his heart sink the second he heard about it, because he knew the two shows didn’t pair well and Warren needed more room to breathe.

There’s no shortage of creatives wanting to come on my podcasts to talk about their successes, but it’s rare and difficult for someone to talk so honestly about their biggest public failure. Thanks Jimmy.

11/11/2025

Learning CPR was a lot more physically challenging than I expected...

10/11/2025

"Bieber at Anne Frank House vibes"

08/11/2025

Just heard the sad news about Quentin Willson, whom I met on a family holiday when I was 17.

As he was the only person I knew who worked in telly, after my A-Levels I asked him some advice.

He was v supportive and told me to a) study English Literature at Uni and b) read lots of Clive James - both excellent insights.

I was always delighted to bump into him again afterwards, and always attempt to help whenever young people ask me for advice in return!

08/11/2025

🫢am going to assume nobody Googled this phrase before sticking it in the Marks & Spencer Christmas catalogue ...

31/10/2025

Every UK radio station news bulletin today: "The time has come to listen to victims."

Every UK radio station playlist today: "It's Halloween! Let's play Thriller by Michael Jackson"

30/10/2025

A brief history of beds 🛏️
- from ep411 of "Answer Me This!" out now at https://answermethispodcast.com

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