Podcaster Ollie Collard spent most of last weekend doing what he does for a living, just a great deal more of it: between September 11 and 13, he conducted 70 back-to-back interviews at the Films at 59 studio in Bristol, setting a new world record for the most interviews completed in 56 hours.
Collard finished in 56 hours and 44 minutes, beating the previous mark by 34 minutes, according to coverage of the attempt. He slept just 9.5 hours across the entire stretch and had medical staff on hand to monitor him as the hours wore on.
The marathon wasn't just a stunt for its own sake. Collard ran the attempt to raise money and awareness for Talk Club, a mental health charity that encourages people, particularly men, to talk openly about how they're really doing. The effort brought in roughly £5,500 for the group.
Sometimes people need someone to stop, listen and ask how things really are.
Ollie Collard, podcaster
Talk Club co-founders Ben Akers and Gavin Thorpe said the stunt captured what their organization is trying to promote. "It embodied true mental fitness and resilience," the pair said of Collard's effort. Kim Palmer, founder of the wellbeing group Clementine, which also took part in some of the interviews, added a simpler summary: "A problem shared is a problem halved."
By the time the clock ran out, Collard had spoken with entrepreneurs, charity workers and members of the public in back-to-back sessions stretching through two full nights, turning a format built for leisurely conversation into something closer to an endurance sport — all in service of getting more people to say, out loud, how they're actually doing.