The Dear Joan & Jericha podcast began in 2018, and quickly became a cult hit. That was no surprise as the spoof's creators, Julia Davis (Joan) and Vicki Pepperdine (Jericha), have impressive comedy CVs behind them; Davis created and starred in Nighty Night, Camping and Hunderby, while Pepperdine co-wrote and starred in Getting On.
Joan and Jericha are agony aunts, women of uncertain age (“trained in psycho-genital counselling”), who give appalling relationship advice in jaw-droppingly graphic and unPC terms: “We don't beat about the bush. Apparently you're not allowed to say that any more.” But whatever the subject matter from their “correspondents” – whether it's about a couple's sex life that has become boring, or sullen teenagers, or a husband's roving eye – it's always the woman's fault, particularly if she's “large, lonely, middle-aged and menopausal”.
The podcast won awards and its two series are still gaining followers, and so it was a joy when David and Pepperdine recently took the joke one step further by appearing in the flesh for the first time for a livestream to publicise their new book, Why He Turns Away: Do's and Don'ts from Dating to Death.
“Sexpot” Joan, it turns out, has a mane of blonde curls, was wearing an animal print jumpsuit and augmented breasts (“I've had them done a hundred times”). Jericha was a little more staid in pastel with Prue Leith spectacles and a big hairdo. Any worry I had that the vision in my mind's eye would not be matched by reality was dispatched immediately. They surpassed it.
The book allows them to extend the gag even further, with, among other delights, more gruesomely bad understanding of gynaecology and shonkingly bad illustrations. The Joy of Sex is finally off the hook.
Davis and Pepperdine's working process for the podcasts is to work unscripted, and they clearly egg each other on to be more outrageous. They then edit, taking out all the corpsing, for the broadcast version. The podcasts are dementedly misogynistic and gloriously filthy – as someone has described them, Joan and Jericha are the female version of Derek and Clive without the swearing.
The transfer to live performance worked so well that I hope Davis and Pepperdine will do it again – it would be something joyously funny to look forward to in 2021.
- A Night In With Joan & Jericha livestream available until 3 November at fane.co.uk/our-shows
- Dear Joan &Jericha podcasts available on all platforms
- Why He Turns Away by Dear Joan & Jericha is published by Orion, £16.99