Kicking off his career with everything to offer, media favourite Alhan Gençay has gone from strength to strength with his accomplishments and proved time and time again why he’s the man of the hour.
The London-based journalist and documentary producer stepped into 2020 with a new venture which just provides more insight into the charisma he has to bring to the ever-growing industry. We linked up with him to discuss his new podcast Alhan’s World, where he picks the brains of a number of big names, from MCs to comedians and even experts, to discuss a lot of topics you’ve undoubtedly wondered about from time to time.
To start things off, we wanted to know what to expect from the forthcoming 21 episodes and how he was adjusting to adding his new podcast to his track record of content creation, with him revealing:
“Yeah I’m gassed, it’s a big look, I’m excited. I’m gassed the news is out there but I’m more excited for people’s reactions and for people to actually hear it and see what people think. So the first episode, we’ve got Lily Allen, legendary Buddhist monk Gen Kelsang and the astronaut Tim Peake. We basically talk about peoples’ well-being and just like tips on how to stay sane during lockdown – even though lockdown’s finished now, but in this new socially distanced world.
“I think a lot of people might be losing their jobs, might be going through hardship, maybe they’re back in with their family or something or maybe they’re going through lots of disagreements with mum and dad or something, but yeah there’s obviously loads of things happening in peoples’ lives and a lot of things have changed for everyone so it’s just keeping sane during that.
“But the show as a whole, the next few episodes are all about socially distancing and surviving lockdown because it’s still a possibility that we can go back into lockdown, so hopefully it’s a guide and kind of like an advice bureau that people can refer back to. We cover loads of things like finance, love lives, relationships, family, so yeah it’s to help people get through these next few months ‘cause no one knows what it’s going to look like. Then after that it’s kind of just us exploring the world which is very vague.”
With a number of notable guests joining him on his podcast, we wanted to know what the process was behind picking the ‘chosen one’ to come and join in on the talks. Revealing that there was no real goal in mind when picking guests, Alhan admitted that it was pretty much a “meet in the middle” situation.
While it differed from his notable YouTube series Gasworks, where he and Poet tend to bring on friends of theirs, who are big names in the music industry, he explained that he also kept up with efforts to incorporate a similar vibe with Alhan’s World. He detailed that a big difference with the guests, in this instance, is the variation of expert opinions joining the podcast, with him acknowledging they’re “people I might never necessarily get a chance to have on my platform, [but] we now have.” Alhan added:
“There’s some people that I was not expecting to be a great guest who have probably been the greatest guest. We had Deborah Meaden from Dragon’s Den, for example, who’s a top boss. She’s someone that I’ve watched as a kid growing up. It’s important to get a good balance so as much as there’s people from like my world and we can have some banter and a chit chat and a catch up and a laugh, there’s actually experts who can tell you, you know, what’s right and what’s wrong, or try to at least.”
Alhan explained that his aim was to “be a lot more ambitious with this show and take it to new heights”, during the 21 podcast episodes, despite COVID-19 limiting him to conducting the interviews at home, via Zoom. As we wondered what Alhan’s World was destined for, in terms of any concrete future plans, he revealed that so far, the first six episodes are “like a bitesize corona edition”, with the following 15 bringing more focus on meeting people, with the hope of making the episodes more interactive and filmed at a social-distanced ‘face-to-face’.
However, content creation during lockdown for him hasn’t stopped there; Gasworks has been ongoing, with the internet sensation duo Alhan and Poet still bringing out their series with a quarantine kick, called Gasworks In Isolation. But how has he found content creation during a time where interviews and chats are limited to Zoom calls? He told us:
“I feel like with Alhan’s world, on the BBC, we can just get anyone, like actually anyone. With Gasworks, we don’t even wanna get the people we’ve got on this podcast, purely because it’s like our world and the things we talk about – it’s familiar to us and the UK scene, but with Alhan’s world, we had an astronaut in episode one, like we would never have had this astronaut on Gasworks, it’s impossible. So, it’s just me jumping on and getting the big names that I’ve always wanted to get.
“But that’s the main difference, I would hope that I haven’t changed much, I’ve tried to stay true to myself, but Gasworks is fun, like I don’t think there’s a point to Gasworks, we just sit down and chat shit but to this there’s actually a point, like I wanna teach people things. Like some of the future episodes we got; was Churchill a bellend? I know that’s a big thing now, there’s loads of stuff but I want people to listen to this and think ‘I’ve learned something’.”
Despite the consistency of his content creation, lockdown definitely put it on pause in the sense of keeping certain areas off-limits, and Alhan admitted that parts of content creation at a time like this have been intervening in some ways, but helpful in others, explaining:
“I’ve been fine during lockdown. Mentally calm, but for content creation I think it’s just been shit. Like no one wants to watch you sit there at home on Zoom interviewing people, especially with what I do, I have to be out there in the environments or mingling with people or like with Gasworks, you’ve gotta be in the studio grilling them. So, when it’s just over the webcams it’s horrible. But, one thing that has been good content-wise is that a lot of people have loads of free time, so all the people we’ve managed to get on this podcast, for example, I don’t think we would’ve been able to get them if we weren’t in lockdown. They’d have just been busy doing what they’re doing, but genuinely no one is doing anything. You know when you go on holiday and say ‘I’m not doing anything’, you still are, you’re still on your phone, you still might check emails, you’re still kind of bound to your work or whatever, obviously now everyone’s working again, but during lockdown everyone was free.
“We’d send an email out and the next day producers are like ‘we’ve got them’, so in that respect it’s been good, peoples’ availability, but when it comes to actually creating content I think it’s the worst time ever. There’s a lot of people who have been able to create from home using green screens and stuff but it can be very boring so, I just wanna get back out there and make more films and do more stuff in person. Thing is with us content creators, influencers – as much as I hate that word – all our world, we’re in a privileged position where we’ve managed to stay working throughout this so I can’t be ungrateful.”
So, as we’ve seen throughout his number of interviews, Alhan always stays ready to have a candid chat, whatever the topic may be, so we had to ask who does he really want to pick the brains of, if anyone could take a seat in the chair for Alhan’s World? And it wasn’t an easy decision to come to for him. With a string of people in mind that could definitely provide some statements he’d be willing to pick apart, he rattled through a number of political figures, including Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Priti Patel and David Cameron. Each reasoning was as detailed as the last, with Alhan saying:
“I’d love to get Priti Patel on ‘cause I always joke about how buff she is but I think she’s an idiot, I think she’s such a doughnut, her policies are all wrong, I mean if her policies were implemented when her parents were around then she wouldn’t be where she is today, there’s no way. So, I’d love to chat to her, maybe talk some sense into her pea-brain. Obviously, Boris would be good, Corbyn might be good, but that’s all politics. I don’t like Politics that much, and every answer I gave you was a politician so scrap all of that, I would love to just sit down with David Cameron and say ‘bro, it’s mad, what the fuck’, because a lot of people blame him and say it was his fault for pulling the trigger on the referendum, but you know, that was one of his promises and he stuck to it. He gave the referendum, it was a mad ting and then he dipped. But I’d love to just say ‘bro, what the fuck have you done?’ It might be a momentary thing where my answer could change in four months, like by then someone could do something crazy. Actually what’s that [Epstein] woman’s name, Ghislaine Maxwell, let me sit down and chat to her. Basically, anyone can get it.”
With a serious amount of names going from pen to paper, it’s easy to grasp his hunger for his art and what sets off his creativity. At a young age, with a series of accomplishments behind him, there are only more projects that are remaining to be unearthed by Alhan.
What we wanted to know was what sticks out to him, if any singular step, in terms of personal highlights in his career, so far. Alhan revealed that he’s “nowhere near” reaching his end goal, adding:
“Let’s say it’s a hurdle race and it’s like a million kilometres long, I might be a mile into it, but there’s still a million kilometres left. There’s a lot of things coming.”
He went on to add that although it seemed “cliche”, it was just the start of his career. Despite his podcast being something he really admires, he explained how starting it during lockdown almost “wore off” the excitement that the new venture could’ve given him, had he not recorded it at home. However, he insisted that he has “a lot more to do” and we’re sure it won’t be long before he follows suit with a new addition to his impressive career.
So, what do you see yourself doing in 5-10 years time?
“Big things. I hope you guys are all around to see. I have my five-year plan and my 10-year plan and my 10-year plan is to own the next massive media corporation, which will happen. That’s my end goal, to become a billionaire off of media, but the stuff I grew up on, VICE and what not, I will make the new version of that. But like I said earlier, as grateful as I am to have this show, it’s just chapter one and there’s so much more to come.”
Starting off as a teenager keen for a successful streak in media, we wanted to know what and who it was that inspired Alhan to start on the path that he did. He replied:
“You know what, I have said time and time again that Adam Deacon is probably my biggest inspiration, I think he’s fucking sick and growing up watching him, he was just the guy growing up. Like Anuvahood, he won his BAFTA, which was a public vote, he was up against some big names and he won so yeah, for me he’s always always been a big inspiration and I’ve always wanted to dominate how he has. Jamal Edwards has always been a massive inspiration to me and I think Alan Sugar as well, but my ego doesn’t really allow me to idolise people, I always just think ‘yeah, I’m the best, fuck everyone else’, but them three, and Shane Smith as well, he’s a bad boy, he’s the guy who owns VICE, I can learn from each of them and just build bigger.”
His current path aside, there’s always the element of turning other hobbies into practice, and following on from his iconic appearance on GRM’s very own Dine Daily, we had to ask if that was something he had on the cards to dabble in, in future. Alhan said:
“This is why I love GRM – thanks for my Rated Award by the way guys. I actually do wanna master cooking and you know what’s mad, we do have a cooking episode – there’s an episode where I actually interview a Michelin star chef and we kind of rate our junk food [even though] he doesn’t really eat any junk food. But that’s always one thing, like culinary skills is one thing that I’ve wanted to master. Do you know Seapa, he plays MC Grindah in Kurupt FM – the guy that plays him is a bad boy chef, like an actual sick, amazing chef and sometimes I look at his stories and I’m like ‘Oh my God, you’re so sick’. You’re looking at his stories and it’s like exactly what you’d see at a restaurant or something.
“But again, it’s basically life skills innit, I would just like to be able to plate up food that just looks like it’s come from a restaurant. I can cook, I don’t have to rely on takeaways, even though I do a lot, but like how do you know when a steak is medium-rare or medium? That’s something I wanna conquer, but any other hobbies? I don’t know, I’m not like a daredevil. I find skydiving stupid, I think bungee-jumping is stupid. I just wanna make documentaries for the rest of my life, that’s it.”
Getting on to the subject of documentaries, we couldn’t not dedicate a whole conversation to the topic that makes you think of Alhan, himself; so what was it he had in mind when it comes to documentary-making? With a modern Louis Theroux vibe about him, we delved into the key question of what’s on the cards for the documentary series, which he revealed he was in the process of writing:
“Yeah [Louis is] actually the GOAT. I’ve done documentaries in the past for VICE, I was lucky enough to be embedded in the British Army for like a week when there was an operation in Norway. I lived with the British Army and that was sick, it was probably the best week of my life – nah actually it wasn’t because I had to sleep in tents and stuff, but that was a very fun week. Just making more of that stuff, I just wanna travel lots and you know because I’m young I think I just have this ability to just be cheeky and get away with it, which I know rubs people up the wrong way and they’ve just think I’m some entitled, young kid, but actually, it’s very fun to make those kind of things and I think comedy is the best way that people learn and with that particular documentary I did with the British Army, it was like the first day I done all the presenter-y things, but then later in the trip they were just banter’ing and swearing, I was like ‘Oh my God, soldiers are actually calm’.”
“Like you know when sometimes your teacher would slip out like a swear word and you just think ‘they’re human’ and you get reminded that they’re human, it was like that. It was seeing these soldiers just talk about Nando’s and Domino’s and shit like that and it’s like ‘you’re actually normal people’, and we just had the best time ever just talking about anything, half the shit couldn’t go on camera – that’s how mad it was – but they were very fun people to hang around with. So yeah, it’s just teaching that on camera and I think the best way to do that is comedy.
“I would wanna explore anything, any topic. I don’t shy away from anything, especially taboos, like there’s so much stuff that kids can’t sit down with their parents and talk about and I think it needs to be taught. But, whatever it is, whatever documentary I do, I will always remain funny and yeah, I do wanna do a documentary series, I’m writing one at the moment and there’s so many different topics that we’re working on as well, it’s gonna be amazing and I’m excited for people to see, but I’ll always remain funny. That’s why Louis is sick as well, he’ll just throw himself in the deep end and do the awkward conversations, but yeah what’s my documentary series gonna be about? I don’t know, everything.”
Media aside, those who follow Alhan on social media know that he’s quite often expressed his interest in running for Mayor of London, and with a former tweet outlining his views and what his policies would include, it was definitely a conversation we wanted to get into and find out the details. He explained:
“It’s happening, I’m definitely running for Mayor of London, I’m thinking out loud but it’s 100% happening. You know what, I actually wrote my policies down.”
I’m serious about running for Mayor of London. Gonna bring back bendy buses and orange wednesdays. Eradicate all cycle lanes and allow electric cars to drive in bus lanes. Free travel on Sundays and triple congestion charge if ur cars bright blue because that’s an eyesore— Alhan Gençay (@alhan) December 11, 2019
Reading out the tweet he shared with his followers, it listed: “I’m serious about running for Mayor of London. Gonna bring back bendy buses and orange Wednesdays. Eradicate all cycle lanes and allow electric cars to drive in bus lanes. Free travel on Sundays and triple congestion charge if ur cars bright blue because that’s an eyesore.”
Going on to explain his reasoning, Alhan added:
“It makes sense, right? I think cycle lanes should go because people that cycle are just massive pains in the arse and they think they own the road, so they should go. I think, gone are the days of Mayors who love cyclists. I think the world was a better place when we had Orange Wednesday’s, don’t you agree? Orange doesn’t exist anymore, it’s turned into EE, but we can have ‘WEEndsday’s’, like just put like loads of EE’s in there or something, but yeah that was sick, and Wednesdays are shit. It’s half-way through the week, there’s nothing to look forward to, like people should be in the cinemas. Electric cars to drive in bus lanes I think is a great idea because people should be investing in the future, keep pollution to a minimum and congestion charge if your car is bright blue because it’s a shit colour.”
I’m redirecting all calls from my work phone to Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz. Call and leave him a message. I’ll personally cover all costs and it won’t charge you for calling America. 0208 1234 282— Alhan Gençay (@alhan) May 29, 2020
Following the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of police brutality, which sparked numerous Black Lives Matter protests worldwide, Alhan kicked off an amazing project, where he connected calls from the UK to the US in order for people to get in contact with the Governor of Minnesota, which allowed them to vocalise their thoughts. Throughout this, he emphasised that it was “crazy” to watch each and every call come in, through his laptop. He revealed that they received more than 85,000 calls, with 18,723 connecting voicemails being left on the Governer’s phone. Admitting that he “would’ve loved to have done more”, he explained how he was keen to build a similar phone number initiative:
“You can tweet all day long, you can go on Facebook, you can go on Instagram, you can do stories all day long, which is like I said, great, it raises awareness. But there’s something in picking up the phone and talking to someone and getting it off your chest. Like even though you’re typing, you’re not getting it off your chest, it’s still in you, you’re not actually speaking. It’s kind of like if you were to go and see a therapist and just talk your problems out, it can go a long way. So, I felt like a lot of people are doing sick things online but it would be nice if we could just speak and there wasn’t anything set up so, I thought we can change our office number for it to redirect to the number of the Minnesota governor and let’s be honest, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people were leaving messages, so is the Governor gonna sit through and listen to all of these messages? No, like we know he’s not. He could probably press one button and it clears his inbox and he starts fresh.
“But it’s just the fact that people can just take time and actually speak and use their voice, it feels like you’re doing more. I wanna do something bigger with this phone number project and make it a thing where people can call and voice their opinion on anything, so that’s something I’m working on at the moment. But it was so sick to see. Like, to sit there on my computer and watch all these calls come in, it was nuts. A lot of people said it was so cool that we managed to get like 18,000 messages but I don’t think I can actually explain being sat here on my laptop and watching every call come in, it’s crazy.”
To understand his platform and his influence at just 21-years-old, as well as using it for a positive change, it’s clear he has a bright future ahead of him. We wanted to get real about the stigma that comes with being an ‘influencer’ in the creative industry, so we asked how mad it was to have that type of influence over young people observing him in his path.
“I do find it mad, but at the same time I get it because when I was young and watching people on YouTube and these big shows and stuff it was sick and it’s just important for me to send the right message to young people. As much as I can have a laugh and banter and stuff, there’s times I wanna remind people that I’m actually a calm guy. I think people have just made up their minds before they’ve even met me and then after a couple minutes of conversation they’re like ‘oh, so you’re not a prick’, but I can’t blame anyone. But yeah, I think it’s mad that people do look up to us and sometimes I forget how much they look up to us and you realise you do have a responsibility, kind of, but at the same time you don’t because you’re not liable for anyone. But as ‘influencers’, you do somewhat actually have an influence over some millennials and you’ve just gotta do the right things with your platforms and I hope that this is another one of those things.”
Last but definitely not least, a key question to someone with a fast-evolving path from the age of 15 – what would he want to say to that version of him, who got him where he is today?
“The 15-year-old version of me was just a know-it-all, he thought he knew everything. To be honest with you, I look back at the 15-year-old version of me and would like to thank myself very much because at 15 I was so dumb hungry; I’d walk into the VICE offices and pretend I used to work there and I’d have meetings. There’s actually a man who works at the BBC called Jan, he’s one of the executive producers in the factual department; he’s actually got a framed email that I sent him when I was 16 and I had a meeting with him when I was 20, last year. I was in his boardroom and he was like, ‘you know you emailed me when you were 16?’, and I was like ‘what? I didn’t even know’, and then he showed me.
“So yeah, I would like to thank my 15-year-old self and say, ‘well done on emailing and flooding everyone’s inbox and harassing everyone, it paid off’, big up 15-year-old me. I think sometimes he might have been hungrier than I am now, now I’ve got into places and got a couple shows, I’ve become a bit lazy and comfortable. Got a show on the BBC and I spend hours on Call of Duty now, whereas 15-year-old me was like, ‘no, I need more emails’, so I would like to say thank you because without him, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I wish I could take him out for dinner now, he deserves it.”
Alhan has been steady paving the road for his success and we’re sure to see more of it in future.
For now, don’t forget to check out Alhan’s World on BBC Sounds!