It started as a bit of a laugh and has now taken over Jamie Morton’s life. Cityscape talks to the podcast creator about sharing his dad’s pornography with the world.

This is your second visit to New Zealand – anything you’re particularly looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to going to Waiheke Island, that’s one of my plans this time, going to get some wine and just chill out. I actually love New Zealand – when we were here last time we started the tour in Auckland then we went straight to Australia and did that leg and we finished in Perth, and James Cooper, my co-host, and I flew right back to Queenstown and explored all of New Zealand – it was amazing. So I’m really, really excited to be back, it’s going to be great.

What can punters expect to see? There must be some challenges in turning an audio podcast into a stage show?

It was quite difficult to think how we were going to do a live show, how it was going to work and how it was going to be different to just the podcast. What’s exciting is that we’ve got a wealth of stuff that my dad has written that he’s never released or shown anyone so we’re going to delve through that. And we’re going to get the audience to help us make sense of this work, so we’re going to employ them to tell us where we want to go next with the story and if we want to do a little more of this or a bit more of that. So we’re going to really include the audience and we’re all going to go on this crazy journey together, trying to make sense of my dad’s weird erotica. We’re going to use the audience as if they’re the editor that my dad never actually had with the book, and try and make him a better author in the process. And also have loads of drinks and get people up on stage – it’s going to be a really really fun night.

Do you think the audience will have any real idea what they are in for?

I don’t think they’re going to be realising how crazy the writing is because it is the weirdest stuff he’s ever written. Hopefully, if you like the podcast you’re going to be able to come and revel in the fact that you’re in this world. And if you haven’t ever listened to the podcast before, it’s a great place to start because we are open to virgins of my dad’s work too, so hopefully there’s something for everyone.

Are you being joined by any celebrities on this tour?

Who knows? Depends whether there are any in the audience. People do tend to out themselves as fans of my dad’s work. We got Michael Sheen involved in a show in London once and he jumped at the chance to be involved. So yeah, if there are celebrities out there we will sniff them out, don’t you worry.

Who have been some of the most fun guests?

I have to say, being invited around to Emma Thompson’s house for dinner was pretty cool, when she said, look, I love your dad’s work, come round, I’ll cook you dinner, we’ll have some wine and we’ll chat about it. That was pretty cool for Dame Em to get involved.

What is it about the three of you that makes it all work?

I dunno, I think it’s because we are genuinely three mates. We aren’t comedians, we were never setting out to make something that was a comedy show really, we just make each other laugh and we just hoped that other people would find this story funny. And I think maybe that’s it – it’s our authenticity, that we aren’t trying to one-up each other with our jokes, we just genuinely want to make each other laugh and through that the audience laugh, and people like that.

This has taken over your lives, hasn’t it?

I try and make it not my entire life. We all still have our day jobs, and that’s been really nice to keep everything a little bit normal. But it is certainly a crazy tangent of my life, yeah.

Have you thanked your dad for what’s happened?

Of course, every day. I thank him for being crazy. And what’s nice is that he’s part of the business with us so he gets to be involved with it all which is great.

It’s like a cottage industry, isn’t it?

It’s basically the family business now, I’m not going to lie. We’re going to start getting my sisters to do some presenting as well on the show. That will be fun.

What does your mum think of it all?

Mum – yeah, do you know what, she’s really cool about it. She doesn’t listen to it, she doesn’t want to involve herself in the whole porn aspect but I respect that, it makes sense. But she’s really proud of us and I think now that it has got to this point she gets it a bit more. They both come on tour with us when we travel around and they get to see all the audiences and to see people get so excited. For my mum she’s like, oh my goodness, this thing you wrote in the garden shed is actually bringing a lot of joy to people and that’s really nice. She’s proud in a strange way.

What has been the most surreal moment in it all?

A surreal moment was having our faces on billboards all over LA for our HBO show – that was crazy. Down Sunset Boulevard – that was mad, seeing your face huge. Doing the Royal Albert Hall was a pretty big night, just because that’s such an iconic building in London. The fact that we got to talk about pornography in the Royal Albert Hall was pretty crazy, the fact they let us in was a surprise in itself. There have been so many amazing moments, we’ve been so lucky with it.

What would you be doing otherwise?

I loved the job I had before, and I still do it so I would just be doing that, which is directing TV stuff, commercials, but it’s certainly a more interesting life, having pornography in it. I’ve just always thought it’s healthier to not have my whole life dictated by my dad’s erotica.

Did you ever think you would have even said that sentence?

Exactly – the fact that that is even part of my life is worrying enough, right? It can’t be the whole of it.

My Dad Wrote a Porno

Isaac Theatre Royal, January 22

mydadwroteaporno.com