When William Hanson and Jordan North step out onto the stage at Manchester’s AO Arena next month, the final night of a UK tour, it won’t just be another tour date. It’s a homecoming of sorts.
While Hanson is from Bristol and North from Preston, the two cemented their chalk and cheese friendship, and the mega-popular Help I Sexted My Boss podcast here in Manchester.
“I’m very excited because I used to live in Manchester,” Hanson says. “I can see the arena from my flat. It was very close. So it is extraordinary because I didn’t in a month of Sundays think that [this] would actually happen.”
North echoes the disbelief. “I’ve been seeing so many acts there, so many bands, some comedians and everything. I saw Strictly Live there with my family years ago. It’s mad that we’re gonna be there. Just saying it out loud, thinking about it.”
That origin story is key to their dynamic. On paper, they come from very different worlds – Hanson, the old fashioned etiquette expert with a cut-glass accent and a love of order; North, the former radio presenter from Burnley with a fondness for chaos and a “lads’ holiday”. In reality, that contrast is precisely the point.
“One thing that seems to be a bit of a buzzword at the moment, apparently it’s what Gen Z likes, is authenticity,” North says. “Even if they disagree with you in [your] beliefs, as long as you’re authentic in yourself. I like to think since we started, just our true, authentic selves.”
Hanson expands on the theory. “We live in a world that is becoming increasingly tribal, where supposedly you can’t possibly move outside your tribe. Actually, Jordan and I on the surface come from different tribes, but actually we get on like a house on fire. Life is a lot better if you actually diversify your groups of friends and you move outside your comfort zone.”
On stage, that chemistry is dialled up. While the podcast is known for its listener dilemmas and increasingly risqué confessions, the live show is deliberately bigger. “I tell these people who listen as well, I say, look, it’s not just us on stage talking” North explains. “We put on a full variety show.”
Hanson is quick to clarify his own contribution. “It’s all singing, all dancing,” North continues. “A friend of mine said it’s a bit like Bongo’s Bingo meets Saturday Night Takeaway meets a podcast.”
The scale may have grown to arena proportions, but the core remains intact: audience-submitted problems read out in the room, unfiltered and unseen beforehand. “The thing is with the live show, it’s in that moment,” Hanson says. “Some podcasts go on tour and then it becomes a podcast episode on the feed a week or two later. This is just what happens in that room. So we can be slightly, even riskier.”
North agrees. “We actually encourage the audience to send their problems and dilemmas on the night… and we don’t see them before.”
As for pre-show rituals, they couldn’t be more different. Hanson prefers “glacial silence” before going on stage, while North insists: “I can’t have silence. I’ve got to have noise. I’ve got to have stimulation.”
There is, however, common ground when it comes to celebrating afterwards. Both have fond memories of nights out in the Northern Quarter, namechecking the likes of Common and Soup Kitchen from their early Manchester days.
Hanson, ever the etiquette authority, has one final request for the Manchester crowd: “Just remember it’s everybody’s night. It’s not just your night. If you’re going to film certain bits, just be conscious of where your phone is in relation to other people.” Well, we can’t argue with that.
Help I Sexted My Boss comes to the AO Arena Manchester on Saturday 28 March. Book tickets here.
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