PROFILE
He’s entertained millions with his unique brand of humour, but it was his smash-hit podcast, Off Menu, that made Ed Gamble a star. He tells Danielle De Wolfe why tapping into his true passion was a revelation
Found it!’ exclaims Ed Gamble, clutching a tiny earring tightly between his fingertips. Mere seconds earlier, the 37-year-old comedian and co-host of chart-topping podcast Off Menu had been explaining via Zoom why a career in stand-up ought to be classified as the ‘loneliest of endeavours’. But, clearly, a far more important matter has arisen.
‘I’ve just found an earring in the bed that Charlie thought she’d lost,’ he explains, referencing his wife of nearly two-and-a-half years, TV producer Charlie Jamison. ‘It’s her most important earring. She’s going to go absolutely crazy with happiness,’ he says, a wide smile stretched across his face.
Chatting from the comfort of his bed in the east London home the couple share with their cat, Pig, Gamble is currently making the most of a bit of downtime ahead of his 53-date stand-up tour, Hot Diggity Dog, which kicks off this March. ‘If I’m not on tour, I try to have as boring a life as possible,’ he admits. ‘Quite often, all I want to do is sit on the sofa and stare at the TV.’
While the show features his trademark brand of self-deprecating humour, its title is a nod to Gamble’s love of food, as is the T-shirt he’s wearing, which is emblazoned with the words ‘delicious meals’. He describes his childhood self as the kid who loved Delia Smith and would eat everything and anything. ‘Food – and my enjoyment of food – has been pivotal to my entire life,’ he explains. Despite rising to prominence on the UK’s TV comedy circuit, with appearances on Russell Howard’s Good News, Mock The Week and Taskmaster, it’s Gamble’s appetite for top-notch cuisine that has propelled his career to new gastronomic heights.
And it all started with a podcast. In 2018, in the midst of his comedy career, Gamble teamed up with his former housemate and fellow comic James Acaster to launch their passion project, Off Menu. The concept was simple: invite a celebrity into their fictional ‘dream restaurant’ that can produce any food and drink and ask them for their dream menu (in case you’re wondering, Gamble’s currently features ‘a wheel of Parmesan, king crab lobster and Shackfuyu’s matcha soft serve’). The podcast has now been downloaded more than 130m times, and regularly attracts big-name guests, from Ed Sheeran to Stanley Tucci and Nicola Coughlan. Part of what makes the podcast such enjoyable listening is the charisma and chemistry of its co-hosts, with the bickering and banter that comes with long-time friendship permeating each episode.
The pair’s friendship can be traced back to 2013, when Gamble was renting a flat in London with comedian Nish Kum
