I first met James Cooper backstage at the Royal Festival Hall, after the final night of My Dad Wrote A Porno Live in October 2017. My wife and I had waited outside the stage door, only to learn the cast weren’t coming out – so we found our way into the backstage party instead (not the recommended behaviour of 1883 Magazine or its affiliates, obvs). We were swiftly (and very politely) escorted out by security, but only after meeting Alice, Jamie, and James himself – and, most miraculously of all, Rocky Flintstone, the elusive ‘dad’ behind the porno. You won’t find a photo of him online. He gave us badges – out of a pocket full of them, signed our book (photo of autographs near the end of this article), and quietly vanished back into the night like some kind of erotica-writing Bigfoot.

Now, 7 and a half years later, Cooper has swapped erotic literature for musical theatre, with Lovestuck, a rom-com inspired by a woman who famously got stuck in a window with her own poo. It’s outrageous, it’s heartfelt, and it’s opening at Stratford East. I caught up with James to talk musicals, My Dad Wrote a Porno, and what it takes to turn a viral disaster into a love story.

Hi James! Great to see you again. How are things going in rehearsals?

It’s going really well. I’m tired, I’m stressed… but I’m happy. We’re in week four, which everyone says is a turning point. Things are starting to come together, but we’ve got eight days until the first preview – so it’s full steam ahead.

And what’s more daunting – listening to Jamie read bad porn, or putting on a musical?

Oh, definitely putting on a musical. I didn’t realise how much goes into it. Stratford East has been incredible – every department is working flat out. It’s overwhelming in the best way. I had the idea six years ago, and now it’s real, with this huge team all caring about it… I’ve been crying a lot lately – in a good way.

It must be wild seeing something you wrote come to life on this scale.

Yeah, it’s surreal. I thought I’d be in the room every day, but I’ve had to step back and trust the team. Jamie’s doing an amazing job, the department heads are brilliant – and now when I pop in, I either think, ‘That’s exactly what I imagined,’ or ‘Wow, that’s even better.’ The nerves are definitely kicking in now, though.

With My Dad Wrote A Porno, did you ever imagine that reading terrible erotica with your uni mates would lead to HBO specials, world tours, millions of downloads…?

Never. But it taught me that if you believe in an idea – even a ridiculous one – that belief is half the battle. We really trusted our instincts. You dream of success like that, and somehow we actually got it.

What surprised me most was how international it became. People say comedy doesn’t travel, but we toured all over the world. I still can’t fully explain why it resonated – it was lightning in a bottle. We launched right at the start of the podcast boom, and I think the three of us balanced each other perfectly. Plus, Jamie’s dad being so up for it helped!

Looking back, it feels like another life. I’ll see a photo and think, I can’t believe we did that.

Was there a most surreal moment from that whole journey?

I always say the time we got an email from NASA. One of their astronauts, Kayla Barron, was listening to My Dad Wrote A Porno on the International Space Station. She only had a few personal video calls, and she used one to talk to us – from space!

We expected a fancy NASA set-up, but it was just… Microsoft Teams. She gave us a tour, showed us stuff floating around – it was wild. We were meant to support her mental health, but we were having the best time.

Later, when she came back to Earth, we met her properly – hair behaving normally and everything. That was amazing. Emma Thompson’s sex guide and many other moments are up there, but the astronaut definitely stands out.

The podcast wrapped in 2022 – is there any chance Rocky might pull you back in?

Not in the same way. That run felt complete. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. People still ask us, and we’re always talking. We love the show and what we created – so never say never.

Porno: The Musical.

Exactly! Porno: The This, Porno: The That. We’ve probably thought of every idea you’ve thought of – and some worse ones.

Oh God, I’ve just thought of a themed restaurant. Definitely with spaghetti and a lot of pasta sauce.

That was actually an idea at one point – a pop-up Belinda restaurant. We genuinely discussed it. But yeah… we didn’t go there. Porno was such a homemade project. We just loved building something from scratch and having full creative control. So yeah, we’re always thinking about the next thing – even the weird ones.

Speaking of creative control… what’s it been like having your MDWAP mate Jamie Morton direct?

It wasn’t the original plan. Jamie just said, ‘Could I direct this?’ and once I thought about it, it made total sense. We’ve known each other 20 years. We can challenge each other without ego. There’ve been heated chats, but always respectful – and they usually lead to better ideas. He’s doing an amazing job.

Any creative choices that surprised you?

The set. The show’s about a woman stuck in a window with her own poo, obviously – and Jamie took that window motif and made it mean something. It became a metaphor for how we see ourselves, how we think the world sees us, how social media reflects us back. That hadn’t occurred to me at all, but it’s now shaped the whole visual identity of the show. It’s bold – a real statement.

Why choose the iconic Theatre Royal Stratford East?

Strangely enough, I hadn’t heard of it before this opportunity came up – but once we connected, it just felt right. It’s got a history of championing new voices and inclusivity, and the support has been incredible. I’m in every day now – it genuinely feels like home.

The show’s inspired by that viral 2017 date story, right?

Yeah – a woman on a date, stuck upside down in a window… with her own poo. Most people remember it. She was just so raw, real, and unfiltered. We live in this curated world, and she cut through all that like a shining beacon.

That’s the central moment, but I didn’t want the whole show to be about that. It’s a rom-com with heart – a proper musical comedy. It starts with this absurd hook, but it’s really about two people figuring out who they are, and how to love from that place.

The four tracks you released last week all have a really distinct sound. Was that intentional?

Absolutely. We wanted the first drop to be catchy and poppy – but there are another 14 songs to come, and some of those are more classic musical theatre.

How did you and Bryn Christopher work together on the score?

I’d plan the story, figure out where the songs go, and give Bryn a brief – the emotion, the scene, the sound. For LoveStuck, it was like: ‘Friday night in a bar, the leads are venting about dating – the bar music becomes the song.’

He’d come back with melody options, and we’d shape it together. I led on story and lyric, but he’s amazing with musical instincts. Some songs we’ve rewritten over years. It’s not like writing a pop track in a day. That contrast was the point – I wanted someone from outside the musical theatre world to keep the sound fresh.

We didn’t want a show with one recurring musical motif. This is more like a pop album – every song distinct, every moment its own.

Why a musical? You’ve done TV, podcasts, all sorts – why tell this story on stage?

I’m a huge musical theatre fan, so it’s always been on my radar. And when I first came across the original story, there was something oddly Cinderella about it – this image of a woman, upside down in a window, mid-poo, felt like a twisted midnight moment, when the magic wears off and she’s suddenly back in her rags. That was the spark.

That moment also instantly felt like a song to me – it was actually the first one we wrote. From there, it started to build. Initially, I wrote it as a two-hander, just something small I might even stage myself. TV and film are so hard to break into – theatre felt like a medium where this could actually happen.

As the idea grew, so did the cast and the scope. It became about more than just the window incident – it tapped into the way we all grow up on Disney fairytales and internalise these glossy, unrealistic ideas of love. I wanted to explore that in a way that was both big and bold but also had heart. Once it all started to click into place, I thought, right – this is it. Let’s make it a musical.

The show’s full of fun and chaos – but you’ve mentioned it also touches on things like mental health, self-esteem, and the pressure of modern dating. What do you hope audiences take away from LoveStuck beyond just a good laugh and catchy songs?

Well, the final number is called Everybody’s Got Their Shit, which kind of sums it up. We live in a world that’s increasingly warped by social media – it’s distorting how we see ourselves and each other. I’d love it if the show reminded people that they’re doing better than they think, that no one has it all together, and that it’s okay to just be okay.

There’s so much pressure to curate this perfect version of yourself, but when you step away from that and live authentically, that’s where happiness and connection actually live. It’s a feel-good show, and I really want people to walk out feeling better – lighter, maybe a bit more hopeful, and definitely humming the tunes.

Awesome. Let’s talk about casting. So what were you looking for in your Lucy, Peter, and the gang? Like, what were the specific qualities or vibes that you knew the actors had to have to really nail the show?

We talked a lot recently, actually, about how it feels like our two leads are normally the people who are the best friends in the romcom of the leads. That was a bit of a guiding light. We wanted people who felt relatable and ordinary – and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. Just normal people. But also, comedy is hard. So we were looking for actors who could really deliver the comedy but also had great voices.

We were expecting a lot from our leads, and I really think Jessica Boshier, who’s playing Lucy, is someone who’s been a guiding light for that character from the start. She’s a friend of mine and has always been someone I’ve checked in with on the writing to see if it feels true. It’s been lovely to see her get this opportunity, which she absolutely deserves – and she’s just taken it and run. She’s so funny, so brilliant.

Then we’ve got Shane O’Riordan playing Peter, our male romantic lead. His voice – oh my God. I just want to hear him sing all day. But also, he’s just got this likeable, down-to-earth quality that you can’t fake. Between the two of them, we’ve got great anchors for the show – really believable, relatable, and talented.

And we’ve been lucky with the whole cast. It’s one thing rehearsing a musical; it’s another rehearsing a brand-new musical, still tweaking lines and shaping scenes. They’re all rising to that and helping us build it together day by day. We also wanted a cast that reflected modern society and felt contemporary, and I think we’ve achieved that.

You’re staging Lovestuck at Stratford East, a theatre known for championing new voices and inclusivity. Was it important to you that the production reflect modern, diverse London? How did you and the casting director approach that?

Absolutely. Stratford East has such a brilliant history and ethos, and it was really important to us that the production reflected that – and reflected the London we live in. We just opened the casting call wide and said, send us anyone you think could fit these roles, and we’ll see them. We weren’t trying to box characters in ahead of time – it was about who came into the room and felt right. Some actors walked in and it was immediately clear – that’s David, that’s Cassandra. We wanted the cast to feel genuinely contemporary and reflective of real people, and I think that’s what we’ve ended up with.

Mental health and self-image are clearly themes in Lovestuck. Did that influence how you worked with the cast? Was there space to explore those topics during rehearsals?

We had a workshop back in January which was brilliant for bringing in new voices and interrogating the material. I’d been working on it for so long, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees anymore, so it really helped to have actors in the room exploring the characters and testing things out. I’m always open to notes – if something resonates and helps me find a solution, I’ll run with it. Even now, I’m still changing things.

In terms of the deeper themes, I’ve deliberately kept the show grounded in feelings we all experience, rather than diving into anything too traumatic. It’s not a show about depression or specific mental health diagnoses, and I wouldn’t feel equipped to write that. But it does touch on pressure, self-worth, the stories we tell about ourselves – stuff that’s personal to me, and hopefully universal.

We haven’t brought in a drama therapist because I don’t think it goes that far emotionally. But we do have a dramaturg, Kate Golledge, who’s been invaluable – like a mechanic under the bonnet, helping identify issues and refine things. The beauty of theatre is the time you get to keep shaping and improving. By the time we get to opening, I hope it’ll feel like something really honed and authentic.

It sounds like such a collaborative experience.

It really is. I’ve heard people say theatre is the most collaborative medium, and I think that’s true – so many moving parts have to align. And honestly, we’ve got such a lovely team. Everyone’s confident in their own ability, no egos, just people genuinely wanting to make the show the best it can be. Everyone’s working for the show, and it’s such a positive vibe. I hope every project feels like this.

You’ve ticked off TV, podcasting, now theatre. Is there another medium you’re itching to explore? Maybe film?

Let’s see how Lovestuck goes first! I’m always led by the idea – I don’t think I have that many good ones, so when one grabs me by the hand and says ‘follow this,’ I do. The medium usually comes second. With My Dad Wrote a Porno, it had to be a podcast – no TV commissioner would have gone near it in the form we wanted. Chapter by chapter, long-form audio was the obvious route.

With Lovestuck, for reasons we’ve already talked about, it made sense as a musical. So I suppose whatever I do next will depend on what the idea demands. One of the things I’ve loved about doing this is it’s felt like going to uni for theatre – learning on the job, absorbing everything. As long as you’re open to being wrong and really listening to other people, you learn loads. I’ve loved the writing process and I’d absolutely do it again.

Okay, quick-fire round. Favourite musical?

Little Shop of Horrors

Ooh, great choice!

If you had to be stuck in a lift with one of the My Dad Wrote a Porno characters, who would you pick and why?

Maybe Giselle – she’s smart and would probably figure out how to get us out quickest. I thought about Bella, but depending on how long we were stuck, she might start to get annoying. Fun, but annoying!

One person you’d love to collaborate with, if there were no limits?

I’d love to work with Robert Lopez. I’m a big musical theatre head, and I love his comedy and musical style – Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Frozen… His approach really resonates with me. He just seems like a cool person in interviews. Kristen, his wife, too – they’d be a dream team to collaborate with.

Listen, this has been a really good chat – and I didn’t even have to break into any parties this time to talk to you.

You’re now always going to be that person!

It’s a story I’ll never stop telling! Good luck with the rest of rehearsals – I can’t wait to see the show!

Lovestuck is playing at Stratford East until Sat 12th July 2025.
Book your tickets now at theatreticketsdirect.co.uk

Words by Nick Barr

Photography Mark Senior