You'll be on the recording. That's the bit nobody tells you.

Doors an hour before — Because a room takes an hour to settle and a recording that starts on a shuffling audience sounds like one
Ninety minutes, then out — Recording is about an hour with a stop in the middle. The venue needs the room back and we always give it back
Free, and it stays free — There is no ticket to buy and no tier. Say you are coming and the chair is yours until ten past seven
It might move — Once, at most, and you would hear directly rather than finding a different date quietly sitting here
Replace this with your own — One date does more than a list of six. A page advertising a season is a page nobody reads to the end of

The room mic picks up everybody — Laughter, the odd heckle, one person's cough that becomes locally famous. That is the sound of a live episode and it is why people listen to them
Nobody is named without asking — If you ask a question, you'll be asked on the night whether your first name can be used. "No" is a complete answer and it is never queried
You can be cut — Email afterwards with roughly when you spoke and it comes out before publication. No reason needed and no pressure applied
If you'd rather not be recorded at all — Say so when you arrive. There are seats at the back outside the room mic's useful range and somebody will show you to one
Photographs — A few, from the front, and never of the audience without asking first. If a camera would be a problem for you, tell us and it stays pointed away
Under-18s — Welcome with an adult, and no under-18 is recorded asking a question. That is a flat rule rather than a case-by-case one

It is not a gig — Two people talking in chairs, with a room listening. Nobody is going to make you join in and nobody is coming down into the audience
Things get stopped — A plane goes over, somebody fluffs a name, the recorder does something odd. It gets stopped and re-done and that is normal rather than a disaster
The awkward pauses stay in — A silence in the room feels enormous and lands as about a second in the edit. You are not required to fill it
Laughing is doing us a favour — Genuinely. A quiet room makes a flat episode, and there is no polite way to say this that isn't just saying it
The questions bit is optional — Nobody is picked on. If nobody has a question that is completely fine and we move on rather than waiting somebody out
It is over at quarter past nine — And most people go to the pub next door. Leaving straight afterwards is equally normal and nobody notices either way

The door — Beside the bike racks, not the main entrance, which is locked by seven. There is a sign but it is small — look for the bikes
Step-free, with a caveat — The room is level from the yard door. The main entrance has four steps, so use the yard and say so and somebody will meet you
Hearing loop — Fitted and tested, and tell us if it isn't working — it is the sort of thing that fails quietly for months if nobody says
A quiet space — The side room, always open, no need to ask. You can leave and come back at any point and nobody will look up
Latecomers — Let in between segments rather than mid-sentence, which is usually a wait of about four minutes. It is not a telling-off, it is the microphone
Leaving early — Sit near the back and go whenever you like. Say at the door that you might and you'll be put somewhere it is easy from

About three weeks later — Editing a live recording takes longer than a studio one, mostly because a room needs balancing against two microphones that were closer to it than you were
What gets cut — The stops, the plane, and anything a guest asked to take out. Nothing is cut to change what somebody meant
The questions — Usually included, always with the asker's agreement from the night. If you said no then, that stands and nobody comes back to check
You can still change your mind — Up until publication, and afterwards too — it can come down and be re-cut. That has happened twice and both times it was the right call
Everyone who came gets told — One email when it goes out, with the link. That is the only thing the address is used for and there is no list afterwards
The room is thanked by name — The venue, not the audience — nobody is named in credits without asking, including the people who were brilliant