Not just Superman. Not just Geralt of Rivia. But the man who sat on the Graham Norton sofa talking about Warhammer 40,000 with zero apology and total conviction — and made AJ feel like his passions were worth owning out loud.

In this special episode, recorded in partnership with Luton Comic Con 2026, AJ traces a journey from post-military identity crisis to full-time creator, and explores why a Hollywood actor's unashamed nerdiness changed the way he sees himself, parents his kids, and shows up in the world. Along the way they dig into tabletop gaming, the controversy around Henry's casting as Superman, his battles to keep The Witcher true to its source material, and the Warhammer film that's quietly in development.

If you've ever hidden a passion because you thought it wasn't cool enough — or needed someone to show you it's safe to be exactly who you are — this one's for you.

Gen Dearman, CEO of disability charity Challengers, first picked up an Agatha Christie novel as an eight-year-old in a hotel in Worthing — and hasn't stopped since. In this conversation, Gen traces forty years of companionship with Christie's work: the accessible, put-it-down-and-pick-it-back-up quality of her writing, the feminist defiance hidden in plain sight, the disability Christie never let define her, and the Poirot theme that still conjures the warmth of Gen's late mum on a quiet evening.

Gen also shares the work she leads at Challengers, a Surrey-based charity that transforms the lives of disabled children and young people through the power of play — with a non-exclusion policy as radical as anything Christie herself might have championed. Find out more at disability-challengers.org.

If you've ever found a book that felt less like reading and more like coming home, this one's for you.

In this episode, Jonathan is joined by Nicky Banger — former professional footballer and CEO of the Knights Foundation — who has dedicated his life to supporting families with children who have additional needs. But today, Nicky isn't here to talk about his work. He's here to talk about his daughter.

Sophia's story is one of extraordinary, quiet courage. Multiple major operations. Cyberbullying. An eating disorder. A system that repeatedly told her family she wasn't worth the fight. And yet, at 21, she's studying law — and one of the world's biggest law firms has come looking for her.

Nicky reflects on what it meant to parent through fear without showing it, why resilience can't be taught but can be modelled, and how Sophia is becoming the role model she never had.

Learn more about the work Nicky leads at the Knights Foundation: https://www.theknightsfoundation.org/

If you've ever watched someone you love face odds that felt impossible — and seen them win — this one's for you.

Hendrika Willemse was 23 years old. After working late with her brother Andre a phone call changed everything. A heart attack. A stroke. No goodbye. And a company to figure out alone.

Andre was 18 years older than Hendrika — part big brother, part business partner, part father figure in a home where her biological father was never present. He was the reason she went into tech when almost no other young women were doing it. He was the one who showed her what it looked like to combine deep technical knowledge with genuine commercial instinct, to work hard and play hard, and to squeeze everything out of life.

He was 41 when he died.

In this episode, Hendrika — three-time world karate champion, keynote speaker, and partner at Storyo — shares how Andre's way of living became the lens through which she sees the world. His legacy isn't a lesson she was taught. It's a standard she holds herself to every single day.

Learn more about Hendrika at https://www.hendrika-willemse.com/

If you've ever lost someone before you had the chance to say thank you, this one's for you.

A woman who raised three daughters largely on her own after losing her husband young. A woman who worked every job imaginable without ever making a fuss about it. A woman so well-known and so deeply loved in Liverpool that, as the family saying goes, if her picture appeared next to the Pope's in the newspaper, everyone would ask: who's that man standing next to Betsy Devlin?

In this episode, singer-songwriter Sam Leyden takes Jon inside the life of his grandmother — the storyteller at the Sunday roast table, the woman in the comments of every single post, and the quiet force behind some of his most personal music. From the backstreets of Liverpool to open mic nights with four people in the room, Betsy was always there.

Sam reflects on how her selflessness, resilience, and unspoken grit shaped not just who he is, but how he writes — and why kindness, not status, turns out to be the thing people remember.

Follow Sam on Instagram at @sam_leyden or find his music on Spotify.

If you've ever had someone in your corner who never once made it about themselves, this one's for you.

Heather Alford is a legend in the IT channel and founder of Counting Creators (countingcreators.co.uk) — a passionate advocate, a powerhouse in a room, and, by her own admission, someone who has spent years masking extraordinary inner turbulence behind extraordinary outer energy. Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia in the last 18 months, Heather is still unpacking what it means to finally understand herself.

But this episode isn't really about Heather. It's about Tony — the Bulgarian man she first noticed buying his cleaning team coffees and holding the door open before he ever sat down himself. The man who, when she handed him every reason to walk away, simply didn't. No games. No ego. No flinching at her walls.

The first card she ever bought him had an anchor on it. She didn't know why at the time. She does now.

This is a conversation about what genuine steadiness looks like in a person. About the quiet masculinity nobody puts on a pedestal but everyone deserves. About being truly seen — ADHD, anxiety, armour and all — and held anyway.

If you've ever had someone who stayed when leaving would have been easier, this one's for you.

Mitch MacEachern walked into a stand-up comedy course at Toronto's Second City, threw out his entire prepared set at the showcase, grabbed a bicycle from backstage, and riffed to a room of total silence. He performed open mic nights with a pigeon feather he'd found on the street. He wrote devastatingly sad songs about pigs on their way to slaughterhouses — and sang them, voice cracking, to anyone who'd listen. And then he moved on. Not because he'd conquered anything. Because it wasn't scary anymore.

Mitch lives by a quiet but radical principle: discomfort isn't the warning sign. It's the destination.

In this episode, mental health counsellor, stand-up comedian and former background Glee cast member Jack De Saram reflects on how watching Mitch model that philosophy — over open mic nights, in a smelly back room in Toronto, and in a basement full of guitars — slowly changed the way Jack moves through his own life. From performing comedy songs quietly to an audience of two, to eventually finding his voice in ways he never expected.

You can follow Jack on Instagram at @laughingfreud, and discover Mitch's music — which is genuinely worth your time — on Spotify.

If you've ever had someone in your life who made it feel safe to be bad at something new, this one's for you.

Siobhan Dodd is an award-winning comedian, sign language interpreter, and host of the Following Through Podcast. But in this episode, she's not here to talk about herself. She's here to talk about her mum — the woman who fought to keep her in mainstream school when others wanted to send her elsewhere, who drove her to theatre three nights a week just to watch her daughter come alive, and who quietly pointed her toward her life's work.

What unfolds is a rare and honest reckoning with how much we take our mothers for granted — and what it means to finally stop and count the cost of everything they gave. Siobhan reflects on growing up neurodiverse, finding her voice on stage, and tracing almost every defining chapter of her life back to a woman who never sought the credit.

This one will make you want to pick up the phone.

Follow Siobhan on Instagram at @siobhandoddcomedy and find the Following Through Podcast at @followingthroughpod.

Five years ago, Dan Albaum received a message that would rewrite his family's story. Through 23andMe, a connection surfaced: Regina Jones, his great-grandfather's daughter, a woman born in wartime South Central LA, raised with little, and driven by something that no circumstance could contain.

Regina married at 15, became a mother of five by 21, and was working the switchboard at the LAPD the night the Watts riots ignited in 1965. Instead of stepping back from that fire, she and her husband Ken ran toward it — and from that crucible, SOUL newspaper was born. The first publication of its kind, SOUL told the stories of Black musicians, entertainers, and artists at a time when no one else would.

At its peak, 127,000 copies were in circulation. When it ended, and her marriage with it, Regina didn't stop. She built a PR agency. She worked alongside icons. She gave back through children's welfare nonprofit Crystal Stairs. And she did it all while raising her family, refusing every ceiling placed above her.

Now, her extraordinary life is the subject of the award-winning documentary Who in the Hell is Regina Jones? Dan joins Jon to celebrate the woman history is finally catching up to.

Before the next chapter begins, host Jonathan Griffiths pauses to do something simple but important: say thank you out loud, and mean it.

This isn't a full episode - far from it - it's a moment of gratitude for everyone who made Season 2 what it was. For Declan Edwards, Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, Steve Price, Kristen Rider, Simon Cresswell, Tom Barnes, Anna Stewart, Roger Black, and Kriss Akabusi - and for the brilliant humans at the heart of every one of their stories.

But there's a message in here for you, too. Somewhere in your life, there's a person who shifted something in you. A teacher, a parent, a stranger, a friend. Someone who probably has no idea how much they matter to you.

Our ask is straightforward: don't wait. Tell them today.

More episodes are already recorded and coming very soon. In the meantime, subscribe, follow, and if you have a brilliant human you want to celebrate, reach out at brillianthumanspodcast@gmail.com. Because the most powerful thing you can do today might just be two words.

For Kriss Akabusi MBE — Olympian, world champion, and one of the most iconic figures in British athletics history — that moment arrived in 1985, when a teenager called Roger Black turned up to train with a group of seasoned internationals.

Roger was Racy Roger from Portsmouth Grammar. Kriss was a working-class boy raised in a children's home who'd joined the army at 16. They had almost nothing in common — except the track. And that track would change both of their lives.

In this episode, Kriss reflects on the brilliant human who shattered a quiet but suffocating mindset inside Team GB: that simply making the plane was enough. Roger didn't just compete — he won. And in doing so, he gave an entire generation of British athletes permission to believe they could too.

Kriss also speaks about Roger's devastating injury setbacks, the unshakeable tunnel vision that kept him going, and how their friendship forged in the hardest training sessions ultimately led to one of the greatest moments in British athletics — the 1991 World Championships Men's 4x400m relay in Tokyo, a race you can watch here: https://youtu.be/9a1r9NC_Po0?si=OT9NzC8G8znAYsJi.

This is a story about friendship, belief, and what it means to know yourself — and show yourself.

In this episode, two-time Olympic silver medallist Roger Black MBE celebrates the brilliant human at the centre of his story: Kriss Akabusi. The man the public knows as larger than life, infectious, joyful. The man Roger knows as the most committed, self-aware, and quietly methodical athlete he's ever encountered.

Together, they trained, sacrificed, and pushed each other toward heights neither might have reached alone. Their partnership culminated in one of British athletics' most iconic moments — the 1991 World Championships Men's 4x400m relay in Tokyo, a race you can watch here: https://youtu.be/9a1r9NC_Po0?si=OT9NzC8G8znAYsJi

But this conversation goes far deeper than gold medals. Roger reflects on what Kriss saw before Roger saw it in himself, why their differences were never obstacles, and how the most transformative people in our lives are sometimes delivered to us simply by geography — by the extraordinary accident of being in the same place at the same moment in time.

Simon Cresswell first stumbled into Paul Heaton's world through a borrowed Best Of CD in the late nineties, and what started as a love of sharp, witty lyrics slowly became something deeper. Through the House Martins' protest folk, the Beautiful South's bittersweet duets, and solo albums that tackled stillbirth, alcoholism, and refugee crises with equal tenderness, Paul became the unofficial soundtrack to Simon's entire life — school, university, first jobs, Sunday drives with his grandparents.

But it wasn't just the music. When Simon discovered that Paul Heaton also collects vintage crisp packets, something clicked beyond admiration. Here was a millionaire who passed his driving test in his fifties just to take his daughters to school, who tried to nationalise his own back catalogue for the NHS, who toured the country by bike to support struggling British pubs.

In this episode, Simon — social worker, dedicated dad, and proud Beautiful South fan who fought that corner alone at secondary school — shares why Paul Heaton's quiet brilliance has shaped not just his taste, but his values.

The physical recovery stalled. The mental weight grew heavier. A girl who had backpacked solo across Australia, bungee jumped, and taught English in Nepal at eighteen now couldn't sit down for any length of time. She began to see herself as disabled.

Then her sister-in-law suggested she see a London osteopath named Naval Mair — a man who treats actors, sultans, and sick babies in hospitals for free with equal commitment. Naval looked at Anna and said four words that changed everything: I can get you better.

He treated her without charge. And when she asked how she could ever repay him, he offered her a phrase she'd carry for the rest of her life: don't pay me back — pay it forward.

This is the story of what it means to be truly seen in your most vulnerable moment, and how one person's confidence, humility, and open-handedness can quietly redirect the entire course of a life.

Long before Tom and his rowing partner Rich pushed off from the Canary Islands into 72 days of open Atlantic, it was Paul who said six words that changed everything: "What can I do to help?" No hesitation. No doubt. Just a quiet, unconditional yes - and then years of relentless behind-the-scenes work to get two full-time working men to a start line that cost over £60,000 to reach.

And Linda? She was the energy in the room before Tom even knew what energy meant. A PE teacher who made her own school feel like home. A volunteer who never stopped - Brownies, Citizens Advice, furniture runs for strangers in need. A woman who, at 73, is still moving sofas for people she'll never meet again - and who has never once called her son to say she's having a bad day.

This episode is about what happens when you grow up surrounded by people who lead with generosity, faith, and an instinct to show up. And what it means to carry that forward - as a father, a friend, and someone trying to figure out what kind of person he wants to be.

In this episode, Kristen Rider honours her father — a man whose brilliance wasn't just found in a cockpit over Vietnam, but in the way he returned a shopping trolley, anticipated what the person next to him needed, and held everyone around him to a standard rooted in love, not fear.

Kristen shares what it was like growing up as a military child across three continents, the quiet devastation of watching a high-performing man fight a disease that robbed him of himself, and how losing her parents within years of each other led her to spend 12 years working alongside the Alzheimer's Association.

This is a story about service in its fullest sense — the kind that shows up in war, in marriage, in parenthood, and in a car park where everyone else has walked away.

Alzheimer's resources: 🇺🇸 USA: alz.org 🇬🇧 UK: alzheimers.org.uk

Coach Ed Harris didn't just teach Steve Price how to play American football — he saw something in a hyperactive 11-year-old British kid who didn't know the rules, didn't respect authority, and was more interested in causing chaos than playing the game. While teachers suspended Steve, Coach Ed did something radical: he stayed.

Through relentless discipline, fourth-quarter punishment runs, and an unexpected moment of recognition, Coach Ed transformed Steve from the team's biggest liability into one of its captains. He channelled Steve's energy, backed his progress, and showed him what it means to be someone worth following.

This episode explores how one coach's refusal to give up on a difficult kid didn't just change Steve's relationship with sport — it changed the entire trajectory of his life. From Portsmouth school fights to American football stardom, this is a story about discipline, belief, and the power of seeing people for who they could become.

Angela Mabbs never thought of herself as brilliant. But when her daughter Fiona's world shattered with the loss of her 16-year-old son Dan, Angela became the quiet force that held everything together — moving in for six weeks, shielding her family from the media storm, and playing the 'glad game' even in grief.

This is a story about a mother who taught resilience not through grand gestures, but through kindness, presence, and an unshakeable belief that there's always something to be grateful for — even when life is unimaginably hard. Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, founder of the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation and OBE recipient, shares how her mum Angela's quiet strength shaped her into someone who could turn tragedy into a mission to protect young lives through drug education.

From childhood lessons in Pollyanna's 'glad game' to five major surgeries faced with grace, Angela embodies what it means to choose light — not by denying darkness, but by refusing to let it have the final word. This episode is a love letter to the unsung brilliant humans who show up, hold space, and remind us what we're capable of becoming.

You can learn more about the amazing work Fiona and the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation are doing by visiting https://www.dsmfoundation.org.uk/

For happiness researcher and BU Happiness College founder Declan Edwards, the answer has a name: Sebastian Terry - known to many as "the Bucket List Guy."

When a 16-year-old Declan, struggling with self-doubt and a lost sense of identity, stumbled across Seb's story from a hospital bed, he had no idea it would become the spark for an entirely different kind of life.

In this episode, Declan pays tribute to the man who first showed him that happiness could come before success and that living a life true to yourself wasn't naive idealism, it was actually the smartest thing you could do.

We explore what made Seb such a profound influence: his willingness to step in as an informal mentor to a teenager who needed one, the way he modelled radical authenticity long before it was a buzzword, and perhaps most tellingly the moment years later when he pulled Declan aside and told him something he didn't want to hear, because that's what a truly brilliant human does.

Along the way, we also get into:

• The science behind why happiness leads to success, not the other way around
• The #1 regret people share on their deathbed and how Seb's philosophy speaks directly to it
• Why the people who challenge us matter just as much as the ones who champion us
• How one person's courage to live differently gives others permission to do the same
  

This is a celebration of the quiet, lasting power of a brilliant human and a reminder that the ripple effect of one life lived with intention can reach further than we'll ever fully know.

🎓 Want to learn the skills and science of happiness? Declan's Certificate of Happiness Studies through BU Happiness College is now available - with lifetime access and just six weeks to complete.

👉 Enrol here: https://buhappinesscollege.thinkific.com/products/courses/certificate Use code BRILLIANT at checkout for 15% off - bringing lifetime access to just $280 AUD (approx. $199 USD).

📚 Pre-order Declan's book How To Be Happy:
🇬🇧 UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Happy-Declan-Edwards/dp/1394421117
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Australia/NZ: https://amzn.to/40AU8BT
🇺🇸🇨🇦 US/Canada: https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Happy-Chasing-Happiness/dp/1394421117/

When I started The Brilliant Humans Podcast, I wanted to shine a light on the people who make our lives better. I didn't realise quite how many of you across the world were waiting for these stories.

In this short "Phase One" wrap-up, I want to say a massive thank you to:

• The Guests: Who shared their vulnerability, their laughter, and their heroes.
• The Brilliant Humans: The Paul Morts, the Uncle Freds, the Irinas, and the Bobs who make the world a better place.
• The Listeners: Every stream, comment, and share has meant the world to me.

I’m taking a short break to recharge and prepare for the next chapter. We’ll be back in the New Year with more stories, more brilliance, and more reminders of what makes us human.

Until then, remember Logan's advice: Be kind, and pick people up if they fall down.

See you in 2026!

#PodcastCommunity #Gratitude #BrilliantHumans #SeasonFinale #PodcastGrowth #HumanStories #Community #2026Relaunch

In this very special Christmas bonus episode of The Brilliant Humans Podcast, I’m joined by my son, Logan, for a short, joyful, and surprisingly wise conversation about kindness, courage, and what it really means to be a brilliant human.

Released on Christmas Day 2025, Logan shares what his day looked like, explains his important role as a school assembly assistant, and talks about why helping others, cheering people on, and being kind really matter. With the clarity and honesty that only a seven-year-old can bring, Logan offers life lessons we could all use - whether we’re seven or seventy.

This episode is a gentle reminder that brilliance doesn’t come from titles, achievements, or status - it comes from kindness, listening, standing up for others, and helping people back up when they fall.

A short, heartwarming listen for the festive season - filled with family, laughter, and a simple message the world always needs more of.

🎄 Merry Christmas from The Brilliant Humans Podcast.

#BeKind #LifeLessons #ParentingMoments #FamilyPodcast #ChristmasSpecial #HumanKindness #RaisingGoodHumans #Wisdom

Content Warning - This episode of The Brilliant Humans Podcast contains references to suicide. Please take care while listening, and if this feels too heavy today, it’s okay to skip this episode or return when you feel ready.

On this deeply moving episode of The Brilliant Humans Podcast, Jonathan Griffiths is joined by Chris McIntosh - founder of Always Forward.

Chris is here to talk about his brilliant human: his brother Grant, who tragically died by suicide in 2017.

What follows is an open, honest, and compassionate conversation about grief, brotherhood, mental health, and the invisible weight so many people carry - often without those around them ever knowing.

Chris shares who Grant really was; the life and soul of the party, fiercely generous, deeply loved, and unforgettable to everyone who met him. He also reflects on the shock of losing someone with “no warning signs,” the unanswered questions that follow suicide, and the long road of learning how to live with loss.

From that pain came Always Forward - a powerful movement where Chris takes on extreme physical challenges, including running 50km and 100km wearing a weighted vest, raising nearly £30,000 for mental health charities. The weight, he explains, is a symbol of the unseen burdens people carry every day - and the relief that comes when we don’t carry them alone.

This episode is about:

• Suicide, grief, and the reality behind “happy faces”
• Why checking in on people really matters
• Men’s mental health and learning to talk
• Turning pain into purpose
• Carrying love forward, even when someone is gone

Above all, it’s a reminder of this simple truth:

You are loved. You are wanted. And you matter more than you know.

If this episode brings anything up for you, you don’t have to face it alone:

• Samaritans — Call free, 24/7: 116 123
  Or visit: https://www.samaritans.org/
• NHS 111 — Ask for the mental health crisis line in your area
  (24/7 support across England)
• If you are in immediate danger, please call 999

Chris’s challenges have raised vital funds for these incredible organisations:

• Tiny Changes — supporting young people’s mental health https://tinychanges.com/
• Suicide & Co — counselling for those bereaved by suicide https://www.suicideandco.org/
• SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) — including The Nook, a walk-in mental health service https://www.samh.org.uk/

Find Chris and his work on Instagram:
@always_forward_mental_health

If this episode resonates, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing. Stories like Grant’s, and Chris’s, deserve to be heard.

And if someone came to mind while listening…

maybe send them a message today.

#SuicidePrevention #AlwaysForward #GriefAndLove #TalkingSavesLives #YouAreNotAlone #MentalHealthMatters #TurningPainIntoPurpose #PodcastStories #HumanStories #RealConversations #LifeAfterLoss

Today, he celebrates his friend Gareth Bone - a man he describes as “the human personification of a hug.” Across five and a half years of friendship, Gareth has helped James find his voice, reminded him to be himself, and shown him what it means to show up for the highs, the lows, and the everyday in-betweens.

Together, Jonathan and James explore:

• How true relationships aren’t transactional - they’re chosen commitments
• Why being unapologetically yourself helps others do the same
• What it feels like when someone sees you, supports you, and celebrates you
• The moment Gareth helped James recognise his own worth - and the LinkedIn post that made him feel truly valued

From virtual meetups in lockdown to hiking weekends, karaoke nights, and simple messages to just check in, James paints a vivid picture of a friend whose intentional kindness and infectious energy make the world feel lighter. It’s a heartwarming celebration of the people who help us speak up, show up, and step more fully into who we are - and why those humans are worth honouring every chance we get.

The Brilliant Humans Podcast - celebrating the people who remind us what makes us human.

But the person he credits with changing everything? A humble grassroots-club chairman named Bob Bowers. As a 10-year-old Jamie joined Bob’s local football club, where he wasn’t just the boss - he filled the roles of coach, tea-server, maintenance man, and supporter, building community with grit, generosity, and authenticity.

Through Bob’s quiet leadership, teaching Jamie to own failure, show up for others, and flip the traditional hierarchy on its head, Jamie learned the fundamentals of resilience, humility, and real leadership. Years later, when football ended and life felt uncertain, it was Bob who helped him reorient, rebuild, and carve a new path.

This episode explores:

• What it really takes to turn raw talent into success and how the right mentor can make all the difference
• How failure, heartbreak and identity loss can lead to reinvention
• Why authentic, humble leadership and community-minded values matter more than fame or fortune
• How to build a “giving-first” mindset and why giving back can be your greatest strength
  

The Brilliant Humans Podcast honours the unsung heroes - the people who quietly shape lives, communities and values.

Helen pays tribute to her Uncle Fred - a gentle, warm, endlessly funny presence who shaped her childhood with kindness, silliness, and a deep sense of belonging. From daft jokes to playing the fool, Fred was the kind of person who filled rooms with laughter and made everyone feel seen.

In this conversation, Helen reflects on:

• How Fred’s warmth and humour became a defining part of her family
• The power of silliness and why laughter is one of the purest forms of love
• The comfort of unconditional acceptance from an adult who truly “gets” you
• How loved ones can shape who we become long after they’ve gone

A gentle, uplifting celebration of a man who embodied kindness, community, and joy - and a reminder that the people who make us feel safe, seen, and light-hearted are often the ones we carry with us forever.

🎧 The Brilliant Humans Podcast celebrates the people who remind us what makes us human.

In this episode of The Brilliant Humans Podcast, Jonathan sits down with teacher, choreographer, and lifelong musical theatre lover Jo Burston, as she shares the deeply personal story of the brilliant human who changed the course of her life.

Jo opens up about the lifelong anxiety she carried from childhood, the trauma of a serious car crash, and the profound heartbreak of losing her brother to suicide. Feeling lost in her early twenties - unsure of her path, disconnected from the joy of dance, and struggling to find her place in the world - a chance conversation in a nightclub led her to Andrew Tilling, who helped her on a transformative journey of coaching, clarity, and finally feeling seen.

With honesty, warmth, and humour, Jo reflects on:

• How Andrew guided her through overwhelming self-doubt and helped her reclaim confidence
• The strange and beautiful coincidences that connect their lives, including the name of her son
• Why the right person, at the right time, can shift your entire direction
• The power of being encouraged by someone who truly believes in you

This is a story about the unexpected moments that alter who we become, the people who walk beside us when life is too heavy to carry alone, and the brilliance of giving someone the courage to be themselves.

The Brilliant Humans Podcast celebrates the people who remind us what makes us human.

Paul shares his remarkable journey from feeling trapped and voiceless to rebuilding his life with purpose and compassion. He opens up about the moment that changed everything - discovering coach and speaker Paul Mort, whose honesty, accountability, and belief in personal responsibility helped him regain his confidence and sense of self. Paul tells Jonathan how 'The Cliff Video' started it all, which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7OJjSiKw7I&t=475s

Together, Jonathan and Paul explore what it means to take back control, to rebuild after trauma, and to find freedom through focus and kindness.

The Brilliant Humans Podcast celebrates the people who remind us what makes us human.

Content warning: this episode includes references to domestic abuse and suicide, which some listeners may find difficult. Please take care while listening, or feel free to skip this one if it feels too much right now.

From late-night comedy to quiet moments of self-doubt, Chip reflects on how Conan’s openness about mental health and imperfection makes him not just funny - but profoundly relatable. Together, they explore why the best humour often comes from honesty, how comedy can connect and heal, and why being human will always be funnier - and braver - than pretending to have it all figured out.

🎧 The Brilliant Humans Podcast celebrates the people who remind us what makes us human.

In this episode of The Brilliant Humans Podcast, Steve reflects on the powerful lessons he learned from his brother Paul Shaw - lessons forged through nearly two decades in professional football with clubs including Arsenal, Millwall, and Gillingham. From the discipline behind a 19-year career to the resilience needed to stay grounded under pressure, Steve shares how those same principles now guide his own approach to business, leadership, and family.

A thoughtful and inspiring conversation about persistence, character, and what it really means to pursue excellence on and off the pitch.

Ryan opens up about his brilliant human: his mum, Ann.
A formidable, outspoken woman who never let her MS diagnosis define her, Ann showed strength, compassion, and fierce love throughout her life, especially when Ryan came out as gay in the early 2000s.

Together, Jonathan and Ryan explore how resilience, acceptance, and advocacy can ripple through generations and how love, when it’s loud and unwavering, can change everything.

A conversation about disability, pride, parenting, and the power of a mother’s belief in who you are...long before you believe it yourself.

Sasha shares the story of her Brilliant Human, Irina, a formidable journalism teacher whose lessons went far beyond writing. Through discipline, curiosity, and compassion disguised as toughness, Irina transformed shy young students into fearless, independent thinkers.

Nearly 20 years after Irina’s passing, her impact still shapes how Sasha lives, leads, and inspires others. It’s a moving reminder that real teachers don’t just teach skills, they teach us how to be human.

Lloyd reflects on how Abbott inspired him to pursue a career in comedy, the importance of family entertainment, and the role of teachers in nurturing talent. The conversation delves into the evolution of comedy, the significance of kindness, and the legacy of entertainers like Abbott, highlighting the impact they have on future generations.

🎙️ Subscribe to The Brilliant Humans Podcast for more conversations that celebrate kindness, creativity, and the everyday people who make life brighter.

📧 Email: brillianthumanspodcast@gmail.com
📺 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@brillianthumanspodcast
🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/4o5HwNa
🍎 Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/48HwOYA

#BrilliantHumans #LloydHollett #RussAbbott #Comedy #Kindness #Inspiration

From Ian leading the largest peacetime aid convoy to Romania to Cecilia founding a transformative theatre school, their stories of resilience, courage, and community impact reveal what it truly means to be a brilliant human.

Andrew reflects on how their examples shaped his life and work, offering lessons in leadership, purpose, and creating change. If you’re inspired by stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, this episode will move you and make you think.

👉 Listen now for an uplifting mix of storytelling, personal growth, and real-world impact.