Cat Noir is a character based, fully scored, British comedy series trapped within a podcast.

We first began writing comedy together when we were studying performing arts at college, even starting a band. Moving to different parts of the UK, Matt became an actor and Kevin a musician. After being reunited 25 years later, we bring these skills together in our unique comedy podcast.

Cat Noir Comedy Podcast is a comedy sketch show trapped inside a podcast. Every fortnight we start our chats and then the characters of the world take over.

Expect the unexpected and take nothing at face value.

If you like silly and absurd humour, a cross pollination of music and high production values, then this podcast has been lovingly made for you.
 

We wanted to create an accessible comedy audio show where we retain creative freedom of the process, and podcasting seemed an ideal format for that. I’ve listened to some podcasts (usually comedians on a rant) though I tend to prefer the audioplay style of listening, where I can hear characters explore their world with sound effects etc. This is a style we’ve brought into Cat Noir. I’m not sure it’s a widely used style in podcasts - where I tend to think more of a couple of people with mics chatting - so we thought it might be something new.

Motivation came a long while back when we used to write and perform comedy together back in college in the 90s, and then meeting back up after over 20 years and finding we’ve still got ideas we want to try. We want to get our comedy out to a wide range of listeners, because this is something we love to do. We both work in health and social care, (although, not together) and writing the podcast has been an antidote to some of the tensions we’ve seen during the corona pandemic.

We started virtually as soon as we reconnected after Matt moved back to Norfolk. We outlined some ideas in early 2020 and quickly began recording to determine style, what works / doesn’t, how much needs to be scripted, etc. We recorded through 2020 and the first episode went out in June 2021.

We were hoping to go live summer 2021, but, you know… corona… lockdown… Initially we were looking at an episode every 4 weeks, but decided that, (because we’re new) once a fortnight would be better to build an audience. So, in a way the delay helped us to build some time to develop ideas and scripts.
 

We release a 23 min (ish) episode fortnightly. We’re writing continuously, but don’t work on a single episode at a time (except for the specials); we more sort of block record some sketches. Kevin will then edit, mix and add effects and music. Then we’ll listen and add additional dialogue if needed. We'll then slot the finished piece into an episode where it fits with other sketches. It actually took a year for season 1 and its 2 specials, but for season 2 we’ve managed to tighten up through what we’ve learned.

Matt says: It’s really hard to fit in the podcast around the day job! I’m sure everyone who loves what they do wishes they could do it full time (me included), but we’ve all got to pay bills. I’m writing all the time (my partner is really understanding that I’m always pulling out my Dictaphone app to sketch ideas!), and Kev and I meet weekly or fortnightly to record for a few hours.

Kev says: It's a little easier for me; work allowed me to change my hours to fit in time off for the project and I work on the editing every morning as I am a very early riser (I have had one week off since we started).

All funding is split 50/50 between us. We’re lucky in that Kev had all the equipment we needed already, so we already had access to sound and recording equipment. Beyond that we’ve funded the platform host ACAST, and for advertising etc we have discussions about cost vs benefit before committing. We had a small Facebook promotion early on, which really wasn't worth our time. We have seen more listens from word of mouth than any advertising at this time.
 

We’ve been happily sponsored by www.zapsplat.com since our inception - as we use some of their sound effects in our show. Sponsorship for us, is about tools to create or promote rather than money at the moment. We’ve been approached by a few shady outfits offering cash. Luckily Google is a friend when trying to determine legitimate offers.

Matt says: I need to have a creative voice. Comedy has always been an antidote to the world’s sharp edges for me and is definitely a creative outlet. So podcasting is a perfect way to get my voice out there. I also do some acting and VO work, so podcasting is a useful way to build an accessible portfolio.

Kevin says: I was a semi-professional musician for years and this is a way to keep that spark of creativity burning. I'm still releasing music, but this is a collaboration and sharing the fun is the best part. Some sketches can barely even look at each other through laughing. That's why I am here
 

Matt says: Kev is better equipped to answer that than me. I have no idea. It’s just wires and boxes. And something I’ve learned is called a Pop Shield. As for guests, they just sort of keep appearing…

Kev says: Scarlett 2i interface to record using good quality microphones. All mixing is completed on Reaper. Sound effects either from my own library of samples and Foley or from Zapsplatt.com. Most of the music we use is created by myself using keyboards, guitars or midi (for example using LABS - it's excellent, get it if you don't have it) or occasionally I might use a little royalty free sample if it's perfect for the job.

We prepare for each episode by making a lot of notes and sending voice messages to each other most days of the week! We’ve learned that preparation is key. Being better prepared helps us to be more efficient with recording. Sketches are written and polished, ADR notes are made, and we’ll usually use some recording time to address any planning we need to make also (episode order, season arc, etc). Kevin builds recording templates for characters, backgrounds or certain situations so if they appear in the sketch show again, we can record them in situ, as it were.

Do we have guests? No. Well sort of. The mechanism of the sketch show within a podcast, could be seen as we have many guests every week, and you'll never know which characters will appear. We like to keep that fresh but there are ongoing season arcs and for some, a continuing story.
 

We are powered by Acast and have a website with them. We are available on all the big platforms, Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, Google. We find we are listened to more across YouTube, Acast and Spotify than the others, due to where we are sending people to listen to the show from Instagram and Facebook.

Instagram is our friend for advertising - both Kev and I use the app separately beyond the Cat Noir account, and we promote new episodes that way. It’s slow to get started - our plan is to continue to produce consistent, quality comedy in order to build a following. We’re still new; a lot of data around which platforms people listen to more than others takes a few weeks to come through. We’re still learning demographic figures and guess we will still learn the longer we do this.
 

Not everyone knows what a podcast is. People who know podcasts tend to have a preconceived idea of the format, making it tricky for us to sell the idea of a complete comedy sketch show delivered within a podcast format. And people who are unfamiliar with podcasts tend not to realise they can just stream us on their preferred music platform, as they usually think they have to buy something new to do it. Makes it hard to stand out and get noticed, particularly when there are millions of podcasts out there already.

We tend to Google specific questions rather than access general resources, but Acast has excellent advice available. YouTube has some fantastic podcasting advice vids too.
 

WEBSITE: https://shows.acast.com/cat-noir-comedy-podcast
EMAIL: catnoircomedypodcast@gmail.com
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