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Let's let's look back on the 
kind of the 18 months of the 

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bunker show that that on night 
network who who are your faves 

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that you had on Mel Brooks was 
good and Stephen Fry was good 

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because I just used to say hello
and then he would just talk for 

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half an hour and say goodbye, 
drink and fall asleep. 

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People that were a bit verbose, 
they were always interesting. 

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I thought one of my favourites 
was the guy used to be in oh, I 

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forgot his name. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

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You know the. 
No, No. 

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I must think of a name. 
Hold on. 

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Hold on. 
Used to be in Prince Charles's 

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favorite mode. 
What they called the goons. 

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The goons. 
Spike Milligan. 

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Spike Milligan. 
Yeah. 

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He was good, wasn't he So good? 
No, he was a prat. 

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That was he. 
Yeah. 

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He's mad. 
He's completely off his head. 

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He'd say hello, Spike, and he's 
off. 

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You know, it's like you can't 
get through to him. 

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It's a shame. 
Start live with him now. 

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Really. 
Yeah. 

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So you're all happy? 
Yeah. 

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No, he was. 
He was one of my favourites. 

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I remember that. 
Hello and welcome to Goon Pod. 

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Now overseas listeners may not 
be familiar with my guest this 

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week, A difficult guide to pitch
and hole. 

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Roland Riveron is a musician, 
comedian, presenter, a 

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personality, I guess you'd call 
them, seen on British television

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screens for 40 years now and or 
never at the forefront of what 

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we might now call the 
alternative comedy scene. 

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He was certainly on the Subs 
bench and often given moments to

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shine. 
As many of you will know, I'm 

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not one to stick rigidly to the 
confines of this podcast remit, 

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but while we do sometimes stray 
away, there is always some 

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connecting tissue. 
Roland is someone very 

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instrumental behind what I 
consider to be one of the finest

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examples of comedy achievement 
to come out of Britain in the 

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80s. 
That is the comic strip film Mr.

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Jolly Lives Next Door starring 
Rick Mail and Adrian Edmondson, 

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and this was a topic I wanted to
cover with Roland in some depth 

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as it was we we did talk about 
that, but also other interesting

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curious in a career which seems 
largely built on happy accidents

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and being in the right place at 
the right time. 

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This is not to underestimate or 
undermine his talents, of 

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course, but as he himself says, 
he was always at heart a jazz 

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drummer who was asked to do 
comedy. 

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He did interview Spike Milligan 
rather disastrously, and we 

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talked about that in a 
conversation which paints a 

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portrait of a man very much in 
the thick of the British comedy 

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scene in the 1980s, which is not
a period we talk about a lot on 

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Goon Pod. 
I thought it made for an 

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interesting chat and I hope you 
think so too. 

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By the way, the day we recorded 
this was an absolute scorcher in

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early May and part of the 
interview was conducted outside 

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in my garden. 
So you may hear some sounds of 

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nature here and there. 
The honey, be it play with the 

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Sparrow, plus the occasional 
distant hedge strimmer and my 

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cat at one point, but nothing 
which will particularly 

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interrupt your listening 
pleasure. 

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I used to. 
I used to do the holiday show 

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for the BBC. 
Yes. 

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One of the jaunts that they 
lined up was me taking my family

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from a caravan in holiday. 
And we'd never, ever done. 

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We'd never, I don't think we'd 
ever used the word caravan in 

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conversation. 
And they said, would you, would 

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you take your wife and kids to 
northern France, you know, for a

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holiday show for the bee? 
But. 

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And I said, all right, I ran it 
past the wife. 

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She wasn't too impressed. 
It's usually it's Marbella or, 

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you know, Sri Lanka or somewhere
like that. 

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But no, we were in a caravan on 
the northern coast of France. 

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But we did it and my kids 
absolutely loved it and my wife 

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fell in love with it, having 
been very sceptical beforehand. 

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And ever since that day all 
we've done when we've gone on 

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holiday is go on a caravan 
holiday. 

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So that's how it came about. 
And I think the the show went 

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out on the BBC, the Holiday show
and the Caravan Club, as it was 

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called back then, the Caravan 
Club of Great Britain, 

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membership increased by a third 
or something like that. 

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People just signed in and signed
up. 

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Blimey. 
So I momentarily became patron 

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St. of Caravaning. 
Yeah, I think they'd call you an

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influencer today. 
My word, yes, I exactly thinking

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about it, yeah. 
Do do you not find it a little 

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bit restricting? 
This is sort of everything sort 

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of crammed into a fairly limited
space. 

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Do you not find that? 
Do you know troublesome? 

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My wife likened it to a Wendy 
house. 

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That's what why she warmed to it
so much. 

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My kids just loved it because it
was like a Playhouse. 

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And to an extent I liked it 
because they liked it and it was

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it was a completely different 
and unique thing. 

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Up until then, we'd we'd go 
twice a year courtesy of Virgin 

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Atlantic. 
I used to do the in flight 

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destination guides. 
We'd go, I'd drag my kids off to

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Disneyland in Florida and we'd 
I'd filmed for five days and 

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we'd have five days there. 
So when they were growing up, 

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that's all they knew was the 
Disney dollar. 

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And then we are doing this 
caravan stuff and they just 

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absolutely loved it. 
I don't know what it is. 

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It's like the freedom that you, 
you know, the kids hang out with

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each other. 
The sites are fantastic. 

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We sort of tentatively every 
year went further and further 

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down the West Coast of France. 
And then we eventually bumped 

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into Biarritz, right on the 
South southwest coast of France,

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about 810 miles inside from 
Spain. 

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And we've been going there for 
30 years, ever since. 

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Yeah, you said they're about 
you're doing the the in flight. 

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What was the in flight 
announcements for? 

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No, I used to do the destination
guides on the Virgin Atlantic 

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flights. 
They used to have destination 

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guides and if you didn't want to
watch a film or 40 Towers or 

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something, you could watch me 
telling people what they're in 

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for when they get to their 
destination. 

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Because most of the people on 
this on the flights were going 

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to Disney Florida. 
So I used to go twice a year, 

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Easter and then just before 
Christmas and do make new 

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destination guide videos about 
sort of 1820 minutes were. 

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You one of those? 
Because somebody told me and I 

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can't remember who and I might, 
I might have got this wrong. 

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But did you? 
Did you used to hang about the 

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Groucho Club back in the 80s and
wait for for voice over gigs to 

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come in? 
Yeah, yeah, because they were 

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all in Wardell St. and Dean St. 
That's where all voice over 

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studios were. 
So I'd just, I'd, I'd roll up to

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the grouch at about 10:00 and 
just wait for the phone to ring.

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And literally I could, I could 
tell him I'll be there in like 

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10 minutes. 
So, so that worked, that all 

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worked very well. 
And I was doing loads of voice 

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overs and ads and that all went 
very well. 

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And I was doing up until I did, 
I used to do the Guardian Colour

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supplements. 
So we'd record it on Friday and 

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it'd go out on Saturday ready 
for, you know, people buying it 

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on Sunday. 
So I went and did the, the, the,

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the Guardian read, you know, it 
said in this, in this week's 

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Guardian colour supplement. 
And then I'd read, read all the 

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stuff. 
And then I said great, fine, 

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good, that's lovely. 
Cheers. 

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So back to the grouch. 
Troy went, started drinking, got

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absolutely pissed. 
Then they rang and said can you 

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come back? 
The lawyers a bit worried about 

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some of the word. 
And it was like, Oh no, they're 

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going to be more worried about 
the wording after I turn up. 

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So that was that. 
There was a long, some sort of 

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technical word that I was, I had
to read. 

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And they said, no, that's not 
the right word. 

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So I had to go back really drunk
and try and pronounce this sort 

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of four syllable word. 
God, it was a nightmare. 

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Something in Welsh or something?
Yeah, it was just, you know. 

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But though they, they were, they
were heady gorgeous days. 

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Just sitting at the grouch, 
slowly getting drunk, going and 

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doing one or two, maybe 3 voice 
overs in a day and just 

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existing. 
It was bizarre. 

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Was it good money or was it 
just? 

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It was, that was the other thing
that was in a way it started to 

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affect me a bit because the 
money was too good. 

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It really was money for old rope
because I'd go and read and 

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after a while it felt like I 
haven't actually earned this 

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money, but they've given it to 
me because I wasn't doing 

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anything. 
All I was doing was reading and 

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and they, they people loved it. 
I was doing the McDonald's ad, I

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was doing Citroen. 
I was doing some cleaning stuff,

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Ziff or something, just loads of
different ads and the money back

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then was great. 
It got sort of deregularised or 

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whatever and people started just
using unknown people for ads and

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and sort of the the the bottoms 
ripped out of of voice overs 

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apart from the Welsh guy that 
was does all of them. 

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Were you being employed because 
people would recognise that it 

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was Roland Rivron or were you 
just being employed because you 

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were good at doing voice over 
work? 

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00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:06,680
I. 
Think I might have been quite 

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good at doing voice over work, 
but they, I had, I, I went 

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through a period of my voice was
the voice that people wanted by 

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choice, You know, when they did,
when they did audience. 

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The thing is, you know, where 
they, the people, they, people 

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would pick out my voice. 
So now that's, I like that 

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voice. 
So I, I kept getting books to do

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gigs because my voice was, you 
know, because if you, if you 

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listen to ads now there's 
probably about four voices, 

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different voices, you know, and 
it's because people have got 

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used to those voices and they're
reassuring and, you know, 

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people, it's easy on the ear, 
but that, that'll only last so 

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long. 
I lasted about four years. 

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Then they wanted fresh blood. 
I've, I was just being bombarded

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with money and that's not good 
because there's, there's 

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something about earning money 
and feeling like you've actually

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earned it rather than, you know,
acquiring money. 

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It was very strange. 
It sounds like I'm being very 

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decadent, but honestly, that was
how it that's how it came 

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across. 
That attitude does you credit, I

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00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,120
would say, I would say 
absolutely. 

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And and look, Roland, I've not 
really properly explained about 

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the the the podcast. 
I mean, it's it's it's very 

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freewheeling and loose, OK. 
It started out very much focused

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on on a sort of a salute to the 
members of the Goon show and the

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Goon show itself. 
OK, But I'm a I'm a huge fan of 

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Peter Sellers and and Spike 
Milligan, of course, but also 

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00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,400
Perry and, and even Michael 
Benteen and, and, and, but it's,

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00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,680
it's gradually evolved over the 
the years where it's loose 

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00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:54,880
enough that we can we can just 
talk about people within comedy.

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00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,680
But I'm a huge fan. 
I mean, look, I consider 

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something that you were very 
much involved with, I consider 

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to be up there as one of the 
greatest examples of comedy from

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the 1980s, which is Mr. Jolly 
Lives Next Door. 

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00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:12,320
Oh, right. 
Yeah. 

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00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:15,560
Yeah, this is another 
traditional Old English pub 

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00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:18,000
which is very close to closing 
time if you don't mind, right? 

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00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,440
I've told you 4 times already, 
we're closed, you 2 out now. 

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00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:35,280
Look, Buster, Brenda, stay out. 
Oh look, a traditional Old 

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00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,680
English illegal drinking 
establishment. 

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00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:47,120
Right squat. 
Squat over here. 

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00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:49,840
I think you're going to like it 
here, mate. 

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00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,520
We're regulars, you know. 
Hey, Monica, get home. 

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00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,960
All right. 
The other morning are you 

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00:12:57,960 --> 00:12:59,560
talking about? 
What do you want? 

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00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,120
Well, I think we'll indulge in 
two massive gins. 

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00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,160
Please, Monica. 
Nothing for the French geezer. 

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00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:05,560
Sorry, mate. 
You have to be a member. 

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00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:08,360
Well, I think we're going to 
have a very nice time here. 

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00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:15,200
I think we're here. 
So I was keen to talk to you a 

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00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,000
little bit about that, but also 
I wanted to talk to you about 

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your comedy influences, who you 
like. 

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00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:25,920
The thing is, with you, you're a
little bit difficult to 

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categorize, I suppose, but do 
you consider it 'cause you're a 

225
00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,040
musician? 
Are you a musician or presenter 

226
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:33,000
or or a comedian or how, what 
what? 

227
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,360
What do you claim yourself to 
be? 

228
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,200
This is the problem. 
Can I tell you how what 

229
00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:37,320
happened? 
Right. 

230
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,840
So when I was at secondary 
school, all I wanted to do was 

231
00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,280
play the drums, jazz drums. 
The school I went to, 

232
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,560
Abbotsfield Secondary 
Comprehensive in Hillingdon, 

233
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,080
didn't have a school classical 
orchestra, they had a school 

234
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,880
jazz orchestra. 
So what used to happen 

235
00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,800
periodically, people going 
through the school, once they'd 

236
00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,080
finished the school, they'd, you
know, finished sixth form, 

237
00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,960
they'd leave and which meant 
they left the orchestra, the 

238
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,240
jazz orchestra. 
So there was a constant sort of 

239
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,120
turn around of fresh musicians 
needed. 

240
00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,200
And I got sort of hired or 
persuaded to play the drums when

241
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:18,640
I was 12/13 Start learning drums
because the drummer was going to

242
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,440
be leaving in a couple of years 
and they needed a replacement 

243
00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,520
drummer. 
One of the drummers that was in 

244
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:32,600
this orchestra is Ian, or Ian 
Pace I think it is, who plays in

245
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,880
a very successful band that used
to have Fish as the lead singer.

246
00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,920
What's that band? 
Oh, Merillion. 

247
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:40,800
Merillion, yeah, he play. 
He's. 

248
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,000
He's oh, Ian, Ian Moseley. 
Ian Moseley Not Ian Pace. 

249
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,120
Ian Moseley Yes, right. 
I took over from him. 

250
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:48,760
Oh wow. 
OK, he was. 

251
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,400
The drummer in the jazz 
orchestra. 

252
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,000
And then as I, you know, became 
proficient enough, I became the 

253
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,840
drummer. 
Now this by and by, I thought, 

254
00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,080
oh, I like drumming, in fact 
much more than I like school. 

255
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:08,600
So I started playing jazz drums 
sort of professionally when I 

256
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:13,240
was about 17, while I was still 
doing my O level A levels in a 

257
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:16,600
pub in Shepherd's Bush that no 
longer exists. 

258
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,240
It's a roundabout now, sadly, 
The Duke of Wellington. 

259
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,840
It was cool and all I wanted to 
do was play the drums. 

260
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,880
And by the time I was 20, I was 
a professional jazz drummer in 

261
00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,800
London gigging 345 nights a 
week. 

262
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,120
That was all I wanted to do. 
So much so that when I got back 

263
00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,920
into, well, not back when I 
moved into doing TV and I was 

264
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:44,320
doing a program called A Set of 
6 where I played 6 technical 

265
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,520
brothers and they said you we 
we're going to Iceland, we need,

266
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,200
you need a passport. 
I had to look at my passport and

267
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,080
my passport was 15 years out of 
date. 

268
00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,000
Such was the contentment that 
I've had in London, just playing

269
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,120
drums. 
It was just phenomenal, 

270
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,080
unbelievable. 
Didn't go on holiday for 15 

271
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,320
years, didn't need a holiday, 
you know, every day was a 

272
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:06,440
holiday. 
It was just. 

273
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:12,160
Fantastic. 
But then suddenly a drummer 

274
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,840
colleague of mine who was 
playing drums for The Secret 

275
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,120
Diary of Adrian Mole at the 
Wyndham's Theatre in the West 

276
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,600
End, and he said, I'm going on 
holiday for two weeks, can you 

277
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:23,920
dab? 
Can you sit in? 

278
00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,680
And I said, oh, Blimey, I don't 
know about that because it was 

279
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:32,000
just a, a trio, a massive drum 
kit, the the MD playing about 

280
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,840
four different keyboards and a 
guitarist with about 12 

281
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:38,400
different guitars. 
So anyway, I said, oh, fuck it, 

282
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:39,600
yeah, all right, come on, let's 
do it. 

283
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,240
So did that. 
You sent me all the songs, about

284
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:47,800
23 songs I had to learn and 
there was no rehearsal. 

285
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,760
I just turned up on the Monday, 
went in, sat at the kit. 

286
00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,920
The the keyboard player was to 
my left behind baffle boards. 

287
00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,080
So I couldn't actually see him. 
But there was a little square, 

288
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,119
probably 2 inch, 2 inch square 
cut in this baffle board and his

289
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,560
finger would poke through it and
he'd go 121224. 

290
00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,079
And that was my cue. 
Every, every number had a four 

291
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:19,200
or eight bar drum solo that I 
had to perform in order that all

292
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,760
the kids on stage could run and 
get into position ready to start

293
00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,920
singing. 
So I was just shitting myself 

294
00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:27,920
doing this. 
The first show came in half an 

295
00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:32,920
hour early because I was just, 
you know, shit in my pants. 

296
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,760
And the second show was a lot 
better. 

297
00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:45,840
By the 5th show I was smuggling 
in a litre bottle of screw top 

298
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:53,320
suave white wine which I drink 
during the show in a mug with 

299
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,200
the secret Diary of Adrian Mole 
written on it, so the audience 

300
00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,240
thought I was drinking a cup of 
tea. 

301
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:04,120
Basically what had happened 
doing this show had rinsed out 

302
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,920
any enthusiasm I had for 
drumming. 

303
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,560
It was quite bizarre. 
I just then I hated it, you 

304
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:16,400
know, within about 5 shows. 
So consequently when I finished 

305
00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,720
that I just really didn't want 
to play drums. 

306
00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,840
And fortuitously I was sharing a
flat with Rick Mail and Lisa 

307
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,000
Mayer, they were writing The 
Young Ones. 

308
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,760
So we were going to the pub a 
lot and I was meeting Paul 

309
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,120
Jackson who produced it all 
corrected it. 

310
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:35,760
He asked me in the pub one 
night. 

311
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,040
He said, Roland, I'm doing this 
show, Don't Miss Wax, which is a

312
00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,360
a chat show with Ruby Wax and a 
big band and all that. 

313
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:43,960
Will you come and do the warm 
up? 

314
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,480
And I thought, what, what are 
you talking about? 

315
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:47,880
Do the warm up? 
I'm a jazz drummer. 

316
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,040
He said, yeah, I know, but you 
always make us laugh when we're 

317
00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,040
down the pub and I don't want to
get a conventional stand up 

318
00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,680
comedian. 
So I said, oh, alright, what 

319
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:57,640
what do I do? 
I said, we just come and talk 

320
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,800
and, you know, interact with 
people like you do in the pub. 

321
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:02,000
You know, you're funny in the 
pub. 

322
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,160
We be funny. 
So I did that and that's how I 

323
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,240
sort of made my way into 
television because there was a a

324
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,840
woman in the in the audience 
that was responsible for Night 

325
00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,840
Network on ITV. 
They asked me if I'd go on that 

326
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:22,920
and I did the Bunker show, which
is just a piss taker of Desert 

327
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:24,600
Island Discs. 
Desert Island Discs here. 

328
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,640
Video Things. 
Jonathan saw me on that and 

329
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,080
said, wait, can you come on the 
last resort? 

330
00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,280
Jonathan Ross. 
Jonathan Ross, Yeah. 

331
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,600
Ross Yeah, At the same time Dawn
and Jenny were doing a show, 

332
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,440
they they were doing a live show
at the Hampstead Theatre. 

333
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,040
They were employing myself and 
Simon Brinks to the music. 

334
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:49,120
So we sort of formed out of thin
air raw sex in order to 

335
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:51,320
accompany them. 
They very quickly got onto the 

336
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,720
BBC and they were, and they took
took us with them. 

337
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,920
So I, I suddenly, I've been not 
wanting to play the drums. 

338
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:04,000
I very quickly was just doing 
all this stuff on TV and, and 

339
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,240
every time somebody asked me to 
do something, I said I'll, I'll 

340
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,480
do it. 
But could I just, could I just 

341
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,960
preface this with I am a jazz 
drummer. 

342
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,480
If it all goes wrong, I am a 
jazz drummer, OK. 

343
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:18,120
The things you're asking me to 
do are not jazz drumming. 

344
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,440
Not no implication on your 
talents, but in general being 

345
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,040
asked to do comic business. 
Yeah, for want of a better word.

346
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,200
Did you feel a bit of a fraud? 
Oh, yeah, totally. 

347
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,080
Yeah. 
I keep saying, look, I'm a jazz 

348
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:30,960
drummer. 
If this doesn't work, you know, 

349
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,120
you've, you've only got yourself
to blame. 

350
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,720
But it, as I went from thing to 
thing, it seemed to work. 

351
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:38,920
And it was, you know, people 
liked it. 

352
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,760
So I, I really do not consider 
myself a comedian. 

353
00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,760
My first love is jazz drumming. 
That got rinsed out of me. 

354
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,240
Since then, I'm a bit of a, you 
know, a drifter. 

355
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,640
Yes, OK. 
I always bring things back to 

356
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:54,320
the games. 
OK. 

357
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,200
Because were you aware that 
Peter Sellers started out as a 

358
00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:58,360
jazz drummer? 
Yes. 

359
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,920
Yes, because he's got a lot of 
references in. 

360
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,920
I used to listen to him on the 
records that my elder brother or

361
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,600
my dad had. 
And he'd he'd, he'd name drop 

362
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,640
very, very good jazz, American 
jazz drummers. 

363
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,520
And you sort of think, you know,
if you're, if you're a drummer, 

364
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,120
you'd know that person. 
If you're not a drummer, you 

365
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:19,640
wouldn't know who the hell that 
was. 

366
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,680
He just he sort of came into the
war right at the fag end, if you

367
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,400
like, because he was he was old,
just old enough to to see active

368
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,160
service. 
But he before, before he was old

369
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,440
enough to be enlisted. 
I think I'm right in saying 

370
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,000
this. 
He was in a band called the the 

371
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,240
The Jive Bombers. 
Oh, I see what they've done. 

372
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,880
Yeah, yeah. 
And then he after the war, he 

373
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,040
was sort of, I think he was 
doing bits and pieces here and 

374
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,360
there, but then he he 
essentially packed it in when he

375
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:49,120
when he started getting work on 
the radio. 

376
00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:51,720
Yeah. 
And and of course, Milligan was 

377
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:56,320
in a was in a jazz trio as well.
Yeah, Were you a fan of either 

378
00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:01,440
Milligan or Sellers at all? 
I think probably Peter Sellers 

379
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,480
more than Milligan. 
Milligan, what was that? 

380
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:07,880
A bit too sorry, a bit too sorry
for me. 

381
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,400
And I did interview him once and
he was really difficult, bless 

382
00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:14,640
him. 
He did bring a bottle of wine, 

383
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,400
though. 
But. 

384
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,040
Yeah. 
Was it red wine? 

385
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:21,000
Because he liked his red wine? 
Yeah, did Spike. 

386
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,400
So you were sat there with your 
suave, and he was there with 

387
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,480
his. 
Well, I'd moved on from the 

388
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,960
suave by then, but yeah, he, he 
said I'll do it if you buy me 

389
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,200
this bottle of wine. 
So we, you know, the ITV had to 

390
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,320
buy him this really nice bottle 
of wine, though I think we did 

391
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:40,400
drink or maybe just just take it
away with him, I can't remember.

392
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,680
Anyway, that was on the Bunker 
show. 

393
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,720
He came and did the Bunker show 
and I interviewed him. 

394
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,920
A prickly character he was. 
I don't know what you think 

395
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:49,960
about him. 
Goodbye. 

396
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:51,400
You sure you don't want some of 
the bread? 

397
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:55,280
Don't believe I've done this 
program, I think you sure they 

398
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,160
haven't got the bomb and this is
the real thing? 

399
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,400
Do you know something that I 
don't know? 

400
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,040
Yeah. 
This is this is this is a 

401
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,680
simulation of this is this is 
what it's like after the bomb. 

402
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,200
Stop. 
You just do really bad TV 

403
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:11,120
programs all day. 
I I've done some programs in my 

404
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:12,120
time. 
Yeah. 

405
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,040
And this has been one of them, I
suppose. 

406
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:16,480
Oh, it wasn't that bad. 
We've had a bit of a joke. 

407
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:17,720
We've had a look. 
Yes. 

408
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,760
When I started with meandered, 
Yes. 

409
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:24,320
What a terrible way to end a 
career. 

410
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:30,320
Yeah, well, he, he would have 
seen you as being it would have 

411
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:34,880
lumped you in with with what he 
would call waspishly alternative

412
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:35,800
comedy. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

413
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,640
Which he, which he absolutely 
hated. 

414
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,080
Oh, I see. 
He he really did not like Rick 

415
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:41,880
Mail. 
Right. 

416
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,480
OK, I don't think he even met 
Rick, but he he was, he would 

417
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,760
often, he was often quite vocal 
and, and and critical about what

418
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,960
he saw about, you know, like he 
he class alternative comedy as 

419
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,560
as fart jokes and swearing and 
giving people 2 fingers that 

420
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,000
that was his right idea of what 
it was. 

421
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,880
Young ones appalled me for it's 
bodiness and I mean all this. 

422
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:11,800
Well, listen, hang your Willy 
out and tell a joke and that's 

423
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,480
you're not saying that some of 
that his resentment was jealousy

424
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,000
and. 
Absolutely. 

425
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,280
Of of the new. 
Absolutely. 

426
00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:25,080
You think about someone like 
Barry the late, lamented Barry 

427
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,120
Cryer. 
Yeah, right now, the great thing

428
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:31,560
about Barry was that he didn't 
have so many comedians. 

429
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,160
Yeah, there is that resentment 
of the younger generation coming

430
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,440
up and and Barry. 
Embraced him. 

431
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,720
Barry embraced, yeah, younger 
comedians, didn't he? 

432
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,080
He loved the fact that there 
were other people coming through

433
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:47,400
being as funny as him. 
Yeah, Spike was bitter. 

434
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:53,320
I mean, he, he, he had ABBC 
show, the Q series up until the 

435
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:58,880
late 70s and then he had another
final BBC show 8283. 

436
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,520
And after that the work kind of 
dried up. 

437
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,640
You know, he was just getting 
chat show work and stuff like 

438
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,720
that and he was very bitter 
because he felt he still had a 

439
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,720
lot to give. 
But but you've seen some, I 

440
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,800
mean, he the key series is great
in in places there's a lot of 

441
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,760
great stuff, but you watch if 
you watch it in its entirety 

442
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,520
today, a lot of it is is. 
Is difficult. 

443
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:24,600
Oh yeah. 
A lot of what he was doing, it 

444
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,160
was not a million miles away 
from AID and Rick, you know. 

445
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,040
Yeah. 
It's very similar sort absurdist

446
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,200
stuff. 
Yeah, he said. 

447
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:36,960
He can be. 
He can. 

448
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,520
He couldn't be. 
He was a prickly, stickly 

449
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,880
character. 
He was so so who were your? 

450
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,440
I mean, do you, did you have any
particular comedy heroes when 

451
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,240
you were growing up? 
I used to use, I used to watch a

452
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:55,640
lot of those real book standard 
classic sitcoms, you know? 

453
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,480
Yeah. 
So, but not to the point that 

454
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:02,240
I'd hero worship them, but I 
sort of appreciated them and 

455
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,320
understood them from, you know, 
are you being served to the good

456
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,880
life? 
And you know, there's real sort 

457
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:15,920
of down the middle shows. 
I mean, Morecambe and Wise were 

458
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,920
were when you're when you're 
sort of 9/10/11 12:00 and you're

459
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,640
just sort of understanding about
comedy. 

460
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:28,360
Those, those sort of people are 
the I think are the ones that 

461
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:34,840
you notice first. 
I used to love the Marx 

462
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:39,760
brothers. 
That was that was all good And a

463
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:44,280
much like aid Rick and aid. 
I used to love Wiley Cote, the 

464
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,680
cartoon characters, you know 
the. 

465
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,120
I do. 
Is that where they got the name?

466
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:54,480
Yeah, 20th century. 
That's it. 

467
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,600
Because they were massive fans 
and there was a series that I 

468
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,880
used to watch because it was 
only in the afternoon and I 

469
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:02,680
wasn't doing anything in the 
afternoon, called Ed. 

470
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:04,640
Ed and Eddie. 
Do you know that? 

471
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,560
I do know. 
That yeah, there's a guy in that

472
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:13,560
called Richie or, or or 
something who's just the exact 

473
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,800
sort of replica of how Rick used
to be. 

474
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:22,120
It was weird. 
So I love that that they they, 

475
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,800
they were fantastic Those those 
cartoon shows. 

476
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,080
So how, how did you, how did you
actually end up living or 

477
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,960
sharing a flat, I should say 
with with Rick, with. 

478
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:39,320
Rick and we I there was the The 
comic strip was used to perform 

479
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,880
Friday and Saturday, 2 shows a 
night at the Boulevard Theatre 

480
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:50,880
above the Raymond Review Bar and
in Soho and every double act 

481
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,040
invariably had a song. 
So there there was a a trio was 

482
00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:01,000
required piano, bass and drums. 
So I got asked to go and play 

483
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,800
drums with Rod. 
Melvin was the pianist he used 

484
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,640
to be. 
I think he wrote What a waste he

485
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,080
used to be in Kilburn in the 
high roads with Ian Dury. 

486
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:15,840
Ian Dury, yeah. 
OK, Rod, Rod Melvin, he still 

487
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:20,040
plays piano at the Groucho Club,
you know, OK, One twice, 3 * a 

488
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:24,640
night, three times a week. 
So Rod was on piano, Simon Brint

489
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:29,080
was playing bass. 
And they knew me somehow. 

490
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,520
I don't know. 
And they wanted a drummer. 

491
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,160
So I used to go and drum. 
So every Friday and Saturday 

492
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,360
night, 2 shows a night, we'd be 
there supplying music. 

493
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,480
The girls during the journey 
used to do a song Rick used to 

494
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,040
do. 
If you're looking for trouble 

495
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:50,320
it's Kevin Turvy and Lexi I 
think used to do Doctor Martin's

496
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,080
on stage. 
I'm not sure whether that's true

497
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,800
or not, but I seem to remember. 
But all, all the acts, all the 

498
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:01,480
comedy acts, they invariably in 
a weird sort of nod to old 

499
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:06,040
school traditional entertainment
where a comedy show's got a song

500
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,600
in it. 
They would do a number. 

501
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:14,400
So we were required to play, 
supply the music, which we did. 

502
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,040
Rick and Lisa were looking for 
somewhere to live when we came 

503
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,960
back to London, as was I, So we 
both the pair, well the pair of 

504
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,200
them and me went and had a look 
at this flat in Ellington Road 

505
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:46,040
off of Liverpool Road in 
Islington and we liked it. 

506
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,880
So we just moved in and it was 
there. 

507
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:55,080
It was about 4-4 months, weeks, 
I don't know, Later they started

508
00:29:55,080 --> 00:30:00,480
writing the the Young Ones, and 
we used to just, you know, go to

509
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,760
the pub every lunchtime, play 
pool. 

510
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:08,440
When the pub shut at 3:00, we'd 
go to a restaurant and just buy 

511
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,720
a kebab and a bottle of wine. 
Then the pub opened at 5:30, so 

512
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:13,240
we'd go back and carry on 
playing pool. 

513
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,200
It was that sort of a existence.
Aid actually talks about it 

514
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,400
lovingly, he says. 
That was the most favorite time 

515
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:26,320
of my life, just hanging out in 
pubs, playing pool and writing. 

516
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,920
It was just an idyllic 
environment. 

517
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:33,240
And that's how I got to meet 
Paul Jackson, and you know that 

518
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,440
and all that developed. 
So they were writing The Young 

519
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,840
Ones. 
Yeah, so were you. 

520
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,280
Did you ever throw ideas into 
the into the ring, or were you 

521
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,040
ever? 
Down again, yeah, yeah, 

522
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:49,760
obviously bats home that was one
of mine just because they'd be 

523
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,920
talking about it when we'd be 
out in the pub and, you know, 

524
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,640
threads and and and storylines 
were just, you know, thrown 

525
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,400
around but we were making 
ourselves laugh in the pub so 

526
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,320
yeah, so there's that. 
I wouldn't put my hand up and 

527
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,720
say, yeah, I've got, you know, 
there's no writing credit 

528
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,840
involved. 
But you know, that was the odd, 

529
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:15,200
the odd thing with Mr. Jolly. 
That's exactly how that 

530
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:17,080
happened. 
Because Wick and Aid were not 

531
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:21,440
going to write Mr. Jolly or they
were going to write a comic 

532
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,880
strip film. 
And I was hanging out very heavy

533
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,680
closely with them because we 
were just drinking partners. 

534
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,360
And they said, right, What we'll
do is we're if you come up with 

535
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:34,760
we're, we're going to be writing
this. 

536
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,920
If you chip in with 1010 jokes, 
we'll give you 10 funny things. 

537
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:41,640
We'll give you a tenner for each
one. 

538
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,040
So I thought, oh, great, this, 
this is good. 

539
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,480
So we're hanging out, we're 
drinking here. 

540
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,920
And two days later they said, 
all right, OK, you've come up 

541
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,080
with the, the title. 
You've come up with the Mr. 

542
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,280
Jolly person. 
You've, you know, you said, 

543
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,880
well, they said, right, we'll 
just split it three ways. 

544
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:58,960
You know, we'll have an equal 
writing credit. 

545
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:04,880
So that's how I sort of again 
drifted into getting an an equal

546
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,240
writing, taking credit on that 
film. 

547
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,920
But that was just fantastic fun 
to do because we see it was all 

548
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,040
written in the pub. 
It was unbelievable. 

549
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,840
Well, most of it takes place in 
the pub, Yeah, Yeah. 

550
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,040
So. 
So where did the idea of calling

551
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,680
in Mr. Jolly come from? 
I because this guy was a 

552
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,680
murderer, was a contract killer,
it just seemed obvious that he 

553
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,560
should be called Mr. Jolly and 
absolutely, you know, and they 

554
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,120
lived next door to him. 
Did you? 

555
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,320
Did you Did you think of Peter 
Cook? 

556
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:38,120
I think we all did because we 
all loved Peter Cook. 

557
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:42,400
That's another person who I 
could put my hand up and say 

558
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,160
Pete and Dad, they, they were I,
I, I very much identified with 

559
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,360
their humour. 
But Peter Cook was very, very, 

560
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:54,760
very, very high up in our, in 
our combined estimations of, of 

561
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,720
what is funny. 
So yes, he was our first, our 

562
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,720
first choice and it was just 
fantastic to get in. 

563
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,640
Escorts mascots come in if 
you're saucy can. 

564
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,680
I borrow some fairy liquid. 
What? 

565
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:09,800
Again? 
Shut up. 

566
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,000
Of course you can, Ralphie. 
Oh, you're right, Ralph. 

567
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,680
If you cut yourself shaving, 
I'll bring it back. 

568
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,600
I guess you're a lot of fairy 
liquid, doesn't he? 

569
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,760
Why must you always be so rude 
to Mr. Jolly? 

570
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,720
You are jeopardizing our 
relationship with him. 

571
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:36,720
I'm what? 
I said. 

572
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,000
You're jeopardizing our 
relationship with Mr. Jolly. 

573
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:41,080
I'm. 
Stop squeaking. 

574
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,400
What about Nicholas Parsons in 
Mr. Jolly Loves Next time? 

575
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:56,600
That was a handbrake turn. 
I think what who we wanted Max 

576
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:02,920
Bygraves originally and he was 
too much money and he lived on 

577
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,920
the South Coast and he had a 
massive, great big Saint George 

578
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,560
flag in his garden and we didn't
want him to get down. 

579
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,679
We didn't want to get too close 
to him, I think. 

580
00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:16,320
From what I know of Max 
Bygraves, OK, Yeah, One thing I 

581
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:18,760
say about Nicholas Parsons, 
having listened to him over the 

582
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,800
years on Just a Minute, Yeah, 
he's very willing to take the 

583
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,639
piss out of himself and other 
people to do the same. 

584
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,040
Max Bygraves, not so much. 
No, no, not at all. 

585
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,159
Also, you know, buying the 
rights to Oliver, you know, Oh 

586
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,679
yes, you know, that was just 
because the bloke had no money. 

587
00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:41,000
It was there was something just 
you should have bought them and 

588
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,440
then giving them back. 
But anyway. 

589
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,600
Somebody something like because 
we've we've talked about the 

590
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:48,760
film version of Oliver, because 
Harry Secam's in it, of course. 

591
00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:54,480
And is it did he did Lionel Bart
sell them to Bygraves or 

592
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,360
something like £75? 
I don't think it was £75 but it 

593
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:03,400
it was an amount of money that 
Max Bygraves could easily afford

594
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,800
because Lionel Bart was right on
his uppers. 

595
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,200
Yeah. 
And it and it got him out of the

596
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,040
situation, but, you know, get 
him out of the situation, then 

597
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:14,960
give him the money back when 
he's all right, you know? 

598
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:16,680
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
But anyway. 

599
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,400
OK, so, so, so you decided on 
Nicholas? 

600
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:21,640
Parsons. 
Yeah, we're. 

601
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,640
Yeah, Nicholas Parsons was 
mooted and we thought, yeah, 

602
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,040
that's good. 
And he just completely overacted

603
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:28,560
it. 
And. 

604
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:35,400
And I think it works very well. 
But you're my agent. 

605
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,520
You've got to do something. 
Well, they're the strangest Mr. 

606
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:42,800
and Missus Cooper I've ever met.
Are you sure they're not Terry 

607
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:47,840
Scott winners? 
I can't call the police, but 

608
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,640
they call me here with these 
tweeted. 

609
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:53,080
Ruin my reputation. 
And I'm a family entertainer, 

610
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:54,440
remember? 
You've no idea. 

611
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:55,520
What? 
Oh, my God. 

612
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,280
It's it's getting worse. 
You want to watch those stairs, 

613
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,800
*** Well, you've got to do 
something of breaking the place 

614
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,880
up. 
This bottle is empty. 

615
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,160
Have you got one that's exactly 
the same, but unopened? 

616
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,360
I haven't got any more bottles. 
Right. 

617
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,120
Good night. 
Good night. 

618
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,120
Oh, good night. 
Good night, right, Nicholas and 

619
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:29,000
now pissed from Norwich. 
Nicholas pound games and don't 

620
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,520
spare the monkeys. 
Where's the van? 

621
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:39,160
It is a bit strange working with
people that are you know, you 

622
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,920
literally grew up watching and 
then suddenly you're, you know, 

623
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:45,400
hanging out with them. 
It's it's odd. 

624
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,760
It's like, hang on a minute. 
You shouldn't really exist in 

625
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,920
the real world because I only 
know you through this medium. 

626
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,680
And of course, Rick and Abe were
playing slight variations of the

627
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:56,920
characters that they always 
play. 

628
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:02,400
Yeah, in, in Mr. Jolly, which is
the two despicable wretches, 

629
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,320
basically. 
Drunken, despicable wretches, 

630
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,400
basically. 
Yeah, selfish. 

631
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:12,040
Yeah, Ruthless, cowardly 
failures. 

632
00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,760
That's it. 
And and and the idea of 

633
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,720
exploding tonic water. 
Was that one of yours? 

634
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:24,240
I have quite possibly I don't 
know one of mine was the when 

635
00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:30,560
when Mr. Jolly's cleaning the 
the the glass partition and and 

636
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:36,040
Rico stop squeaking. 
I remember that that was, that 

637
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,880
was a nice one. 
But there was there was loads of

638
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,160
different things. 
Yeah, it's difficult to put your

639
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,320
finger on exactly which, you 
know, because we were sort of 

640
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,080
when he said let's, let's write 
it together. 

641
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,680
It would just became we, we 
would just be in conversation 

642
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:54,480
about it and then some Rick or 
aid would go to the typewriter 

643
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,920
and and type out what we just 
chatted about, you know? 

644
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,520
It's definitely something to be 
proud of because it's I think 

645
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,760
it's really, really up there as 
being one of the greatest comic 

646
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:08,480
strip episodes. 
You call it an episode. 

647
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,480
Ever. 
I mean, we did with, you know, 

648
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,720
John Rain I. 
Do know John Rain? 

649
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:20,040
We, we did a tour where we, we 
put on Mr. Jolly and we did AQ 

650
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:22,880
and A and we did A at A at a Mr.
Jolly quiz. 

651
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,000
And the people that came to 
this, the, the gigs to the 

652
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,440
screenings, a lot of them 
actually dressed up as the 

653
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:35,080
characters in the film. 
And they knew every line. 

654
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,600
You know, because there's so 
many punch lines that escorts to

655
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,880
escorts come in if you're saucy.
Yeah, never, ever bloody 

656
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:44,800
anything. 
Ever. 

657
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:50,280
Yeah, yeah, it was bizarre. 
And also getting Stephen Frears 

658
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,040
to direct it. 
Rick and I really put their foot

659
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:55,800
down and said we're not having 
it. 

660
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:57,680
We're not making it unless we 
get Stephen Frears. 

661
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:02,320
So. 
So the comic strip, I got in 

662
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,680
touch with Stephen Frears and 
said, Rick and I would like you 

663
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,200
to direct this. 
And he was it right in the 

664
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:11,600
middle of prepping. 
What's the John Malkovich film 

665
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,320
that he did? 
Oh, dangerous. 

666
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,200
Liaisons, he was right in the 
middle of prepping that, you 

667
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,760
know, so imagine the phone calls
coming and going between 

668
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:25,560
Dangerous liaisons and phoning 
him saying we're going to try 

669
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,360
and set up AIDS light in his own
farts. 

670
00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:31,640
What are your thoughts? 
And he said, hang on a minute. 

671
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,960
I've got John on the other line,
you know, and he's he's sort of 

672
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:39,880
juggling these two completely 
different spheres of 

673
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:41,520
entertainment. 
It was quite amazing. 

674
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:46,160
For for what it is, it's a very 
cinematic comic strip for sure. 

675
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:47,600
Yeah. 
And it's got, it's got some 

676
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:49,560
great supporting cast. 
It's obviously, I mean you're in

677
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,720
it briefly, aren't? 
You I've, I've been at about I 

678
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,040
play 5 different characters. 
I'm the barman. 

679
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,920
I'm in raw sex. 
I double as Peter. 

680
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:02,280
Peter next door when he's when 
you see him chopping somebody 

681
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,200
up. 
I'm one of the people on on the 

682
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:09,160
Mortuary. 
Yeah, I'm in it a few times and 

683
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:13,400
Simon and I did the music. 
Just on raw sex, where did the 

684
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,880
name come from? 
I just we just made it up. 

685
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:19,720
It was like what, what what is 
the complete antithesis of how 

686
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:28,040
we looked And it's like that. 
So isn't raw sex again that that

687
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,640
was something that just came 
came came about very, very 

688
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,240
naturally. 
We both slipped in. 

689
00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:38,440
Simon very easily became the, 
you know, hearing aid, the old 

690
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:43,240
man at the keyboard and I very, 
very easily became a drink 

691
00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:48,800
sodden conga player again. 
You know you there was no method

692
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:53,440
acting and of course. 
You you did a lot of work with 

693
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:55,080
French and Saunders, yes, as 
well it. 

694
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:57,160
Was great. 
It was perfect timing because 

695
00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:01,240
Simon and I, the girls, when 
they, they, when they peeled off

696
00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:07,640
and did their own two woman show
on stage live, they wanted music

697
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,280
because they, they did 3 or 4 
numbers. 

698
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,680
So the first person people they 
turned to are the people they've

699
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,360
worked with before. 
And we obviously, you know, we 

700
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:20,200
got on with them. 
We didn't upset them, probably 

701
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:25,680
didn't later on, but we, Simon 
and I found ourselves sitting on

702
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:30,560
stage all of their gigs, you 
know, supplying music and and 

703
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,640
then we, and then they said, 
let's create a, a character on 

704
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,080
stage persona. 
And that's how they're all Ken 

705
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,360
and Dwayne, Ken and Dwayne 
Bishop. 

706
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:42,160
That's how that Ken and son 
Dwayne, that's how that came 

707
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,360
about. 
But at that time as well, maybe 

708
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,400
10-15 years before there there 
was on Opportunity Knox and 

709
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,520
things like that. 
There were father and son duos, 

710
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,920
you know, sort of rising star 
type things. 

711
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:01,680
So subconsciously I probably 
thought, you know, nicked it 

712
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,200
from, you know, that that those 
those things that I'd watched. 

713
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:05,800
Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah. 

714
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,960
But. 
Yeah, we toured with we did a 

715
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:13,680
big free 4 month world of the 
nationwide tour did did the 

716
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,000
first couple of series of French
and Saunders. 

717
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,120
It was great. 
And then and then you started to

718
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:24,600
get your own, I guess becoming 
more front and centre as a, as a

719
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:29,680
presenter or performer because 
you had the groovy fellas with 

720
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,440
jewels, of course. 
Yeah, I used to. 

721
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:41,080
I used to go and provide script 
lines for the the tube for Paula

722
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,320
and Jules. 
I used to go out with them every

723
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:47,920
week and hang out and just, you 
know, suggest if this pans on, 

724
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:51,440
why don't you say that? 
And you know, I was becoming a 

725
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:57,520
bit of a sort of advisor, comedy
advisor again, you know, 

726
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,320
prefacing it with, by the way, I
am a jazz drama. 

727
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,760
So if it doesn't work, please 
don't, you know, don't don't 

728
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,560
blame me. 
So I got to know Jules really 

729
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:08,880
well. 
And we sort of, we sort of, we 

730
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:14,320
clicked really quite quickly. 
And I remember when my mum saw 

731
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,960
the tube once accidentally on 
television and she phoned me and

732
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,720
she said, Roman, there's a bloke
on the television is, is just 

733
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:24,960
sounding and acting just like 
you are. 

734
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,960
And it was really strange 
because Jules and I, we sort of 

735
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:33,040
had a, a weird sort of sympatico
thing where we could say 

736
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:34,880
something and nothing happened 
for 20 minutes. 

737
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,360
And then you provide the answer.
You know, that's sort of how 

738
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:43,840
people get on with each other in
a very sort of, you know, it was

739
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,000
weird. 
We, we, we just gelled and, and 

740
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:51,160
yeah, so and the groovy fellas 
came about because, because he 

741
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:54,120
got banned from the television 
for saying that if you want to 

742
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:59,480
be a groovy fucker, watch. 
And it was a live advert, 4:45. 

743
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:02,680
That wasn't the the bit your mum
saw, I hope. 

744
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,360
No, that, that's not that. 
No, but so the the the groovy 

745
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:12,600
fellas, that was a a brilliant 
series in in as much as nothing 

746
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:17,160
was written down really. 
It was it was all sort of throw 

747
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,040
ideas around and you said all 
right, yeah, blahdy, blah, blah,

748
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,360
blah, blah. 
Yeah, we'll do the bloody blah. 

749
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:28,240
And it was, it was just a very 
natural sort of not forced. 

750
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,040
You didn't have to run it past 
lawyers or anything like that. 

751
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:35,600
It was just all really, we want 
to, we fancy doing that, so 

752
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,000
we're going to go and do it. 
It's not like that at all. 

753
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,680
Now, being from Mars, you won't 
really have much of A historical

754
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:42,560
perspective or any perspective 
on the planet Earth. 

755
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,080
Are you up on the street at all?
We're in an ideal place. 

756
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,480
For instance, just over there, 
it's Hadrian's Wall. 

757
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:49,640
Have you ever seen Hadron's 
wall? 

758
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,440
It's a wall that was built big, 
big wall to keep people out. 

759
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,800
Have you ever, have you ever 
seen you have things like that 

760
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,400
on Mars? 
No. 

761
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:57,960
Well, I'll tell you what. 
Let's just wait for the cars to 

762
00:44:57,960 --> 00:44:59,920
get more crossover. 
You know, there's quite a bit of

763
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:01,960
blending in you're going to have
to get to do, but I'm sure 

764
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:02,920
you're going to be able to 
manage it. 

765
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,840
It's fascinating. 
Friend of mine is marching. 

766
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,320
Thank you. 
Fascinating thing for you to 

767
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:12,160
see. 
The very painful thing was the, 

768
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:16,080
the, the aerial on my head and 
the remote control device that 

769
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:20,480
made it spin round. 
But Jules and I came up with 

770
00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:22,920
this idea of we wanted to go 
around the country. 

771
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:28,400
Why don't, why don't Jules show 
me what it's like on Earth? 

772
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:32,000
And particularly in the, you 
know, in the United Kingdom, in 

773
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,960
Britain. 
So where we again, it just sort 

774
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,040
of came about. 
We, we, we didn't have 

775
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:39,400
scriptwriters or anything like 
that. 

776
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:45,000
It was just me, Jules and Tim 
and we just cobbled it together.

777
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,440
You have you've touched on 
before you you had a series 

778
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,600
called Set of 6 in which you 
played the the the Scrote 

779
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:53,720
brothers. 
Yep, Yep. 

780
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:58,160
That was probably my finest 
moment actually in television, 

781
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:02,120
to be honest. 
If I'm if, if I'm asked, you 

782
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:04,280
know, what's your proudest thing
that you've done? 

783
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:10,880
I think set of 6 is, is 
certainly it again, not written.

784
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:13,040
No, we, we didn't. 
There's no, there's no written 

785
00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:15,680
dialogue. 
It was just scenes were mapped 

786
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:19,040
out and I improvised them 
because I was hopeless. 

787
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:21,480
I'm left-handed, dyslexic and 
word blind. 

788
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,040
I've got the full set. 
So I couldn't, I couldn't 

789
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:29,160
remember lines to save me life. 
So we sort of, we Ian Brown, the

790
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:34,440
guy that I wrote it with, we, we
just mapped out scenes and 

791
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:36,000
scenarios of what's going to 
happen. 

792
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:41,520
And then, and then I'd, I'd sort
of improvised the scene because 

793
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,600
I didn't want to learn lines. 
Hello, Cherry. 

794
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,040
Hello, Mr. Singles there. 
So how's it going? 

795
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:49,080
It's not bad. 
I'll just run backwards here. 

796
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,400
Good news is we've got a big one
lined up for you. 

797
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:54,280
The big fight, Cherry. 
Yeah. 

798
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:55,480
Who's it going to be against 
again? 

799
00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:59,720
Well, we're still working on the
fine details some, but it's a 

800
00:46:59,720 --> 00:47:01,840
big one. 
But first, what time you be 

801
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:03,600
over? 
About 4:30. 

802
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,640
It's going to definitely be. 
It's a big one. 

803
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:09,040
Yeah. 
All right, so things are going 

804
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:10,800
well. 
And are you looking good? 

805
00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:13,880
Yeah. 
I'm going to run sideways now. 

806
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:24,920
Formerly Terry the Tornado 
Scrote, he was renamed after his

807
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,960
first few fights and is now 
known as Terry Scrote. 

808
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,280
But that that sprang from a 
doctor on. 

809
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:36,160
Yeah, Doctor Scroke, that's how 
that started. 

810
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:38,920
Doctor Scroke, the guy on 
channel the, the commissioner at

811
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:43,320
Channel 4 liked what I did. 
And he said I went into the see 

812
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:46,120
him, the Scottish guy, I've 
forgotten his name. 

813
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:50,720
That will come to me. 
He said we'd like to, you know, 

814
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:53,280
expand. 
We, we like what you're doing 

815
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:54,480
this, this Doctor Scroke 
character. 

816
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:58,400
I said, oh, good, great. 
And he said, what about doing 

817
00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:01,560
other things? 
And I said, well, that sounds 

818
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,560
like I've got to learn lines. 
So I said I'll go and think. 

819
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:09,920
And then I, I went away and I 
thought, right, I, I don't think

820
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,360
I'm a very good actor. 
So what I'll do is I, I went 

821
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:17,800
back with what I'm going to do, 
it's going to be 6 brothers, 

822
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:19,760
identical brothers. 
That means I don't have to do 

823
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:23,280
any acting. 
I can just be myself, much like 

824
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:27,920
Rick and Aid just be themselves 
identical brothers and separate,

825
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:29,640
you know, all went their 
separate ways. 

826
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,240
When they're 18, we catch up 
with them 20 years later or 

827
00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:36,800
whatever. 
And that we, that's how we, 

828
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:40,240
that's how that came about. 
And that they, the commissioners

829
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:42,640
at Channel 4 loved it. 
And they said, yeah, great. 

830
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:48,040
Again, back then, given so much 
free rein, we could just, you 

831
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,600
know, if we got somewhere and we
thought we were going to do one 

832
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:52,960
thing and it, it looked like, 
oh, there's something better 

833
00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:55,960
over there, then we just, we'd, 
we'd change tack. 

834
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,520
It would, it wouldn't be, oh, 
well, it's going to go back to 

835
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:02,720
the, you know, the, the writers,
they've got to sort of sort it. 

836
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:06,760
And, you know, so I've been very
lucky in that respect that 

837
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:12,200
pretty much everything I've 
touched, I've made sure that I 

838
00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:16,960
do it exactly on my terms. 
Yeah, absolutely. 

839
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,720
And a good, I guess a good five 
years before the likes of Chris 

840
00:49:20,720 --> 00:49:25,240
Evans and TFI Friday. 
Yeah, where they would do do 

841
00:49:25,240 --> 00:49:28,160
stunts like this, you would do 
you had your own show, Revron, 

842
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:32,600
where you would, Yeah, you 
interviewed Tony Blackburn, sort

843
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,920
of nipple deep in the Thames. 
Yeah, didn't you? 

844
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:40,000
He arrived on a jet ski. 
Yeah, that was quite that. 

845
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:45,360
Again, that was, I was doing 
the, the night network, the the 

846
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:49,520
bar for ITV is on about the 5th 
floor on the South Bank. 

847
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,640
And we used to be in the bar 
drinking with the producers and 

848
00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:54,880
all that sort of stuff. 
And I, I looked out the window 

849
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:56,960
and said look, look at this 
backdrop. 

850
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,680
It's fantastic. 
Why don't we? 

851
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,720
What a waste. 
If there was some people in the 

852
00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:05,400
river there with that as a 
backdrop, it'd be, it would make

853
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:08,520
fantastic television. 
And we, you know, the next thing

854
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:12,760
I know, they're making inquiries
with the river police about, you

855
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,440
know, usage, what it's like with
the access to the Thames. 

856
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:21,160
We were told that every month 
they, they oi count 1 1/2 

857
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:23,840
bodies, which was nice. 
Nice. 

858
00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,440
Yeah. 
But then we went to the East 

859
00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:32,400
India big dock, knocked it all 
up with a boat and everything. 

860
00:50:32,720 --> 00:50:36,200
And I, I was in the water and I 
was in the water for about four 

861
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:39,920
hours because they're just ferry
as the, as the guests turn up 

862
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:43,840
and got into a dry suit, they'd 
do the ferry amount to me. 

863
00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:47,760
And again, it was like, let's 
just suck it and see. 

864
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:52,760
But that was that was fantastic.
Sadly curtailed by the March and

865
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:58,760
S disaster where the Pope rammed
the the the bridge and all those

866
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:02,800
people died in the Thames. 
Suddenly it was like, oh, we 

867
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:05,880
can't because I'm sure I'd like 
to think we'd be making it 

868
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:06,480
today. 
Yeah. 

869
00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:09,160
I was going to say, but for 
that, you'd it would be on its 

870
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:11,200
30th series, yeah. 
Exactly. 

871
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:17,120
You know, we're to speak to 
people like yourself. 

872
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,800
I'd like to bring up maybe some,
some more sort of obscure, Yep, 

873
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:23,560
projects that they've been 
involved with, right, that may 

874
00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:26,760
even have forgotten about. 
There's just a couple of orders 

875
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:29,320
to run past you here. 
Do you remember The Smiths? 

876
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:34,960
Not the band, but it was a it 
was a comedy pilot. 

877
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:38,880
Yes, with Kevin on. 
Granada That's right. 

878
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:40,560
What do you mean? 
Do you remember much about that?

879
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:43,720
No, because me and Kevin were 
absolutely hammered the whole 

880
00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:51,880
time that that whole period was 
a a drunken haze for me. 

881
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:55,680
It's got a bit fair. 
Is it, is it still or have you, 

882
00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:59,040
have you, have you moderated? 
Oh, I've moderated a lot. 

883
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:04,440
I've yeah, I mean, at the height
of it, it was like 4 bottles of 

884
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:07,760
wine a day and and God knows 
what else. 

885
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:10,320
But that's that's all behind me 
now. 

886
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,800
Much more moderation. 
What are the shows? 

887
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:17,400
I wanted to mention which I 
think you turned up on the, if 

888
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,360
not the pilot, certainly the 
first episode of Shooting Stars.

889
00:52:20,360 --> 00:52:21,720
Do you remember that? 
Yeah. 

890
00:52:22,240 --> 00:52:24,960
Roland. 
Hello, Lovely, real Roland. 

891
00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:28,360
Hello, Sir. 
The ugly one out of Birds of a 

892
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:30,400
Feather is the niece of Charlie 
Drag. 

893
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:35,320
Yes, it's true. 
It's. 

894
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:40,760
No, it's. 
False. 

895
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:42,920
No, this happened to me with the
lottery as. 

896
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:45,160
Well, he's down. 
He's ugly. 

897
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:46,320
Which? 
One's the ugly one anyway. 

898
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:47,200
At all. 
Me. 

899
00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:49,400
But that was fun, yeah. 
That was that was because 

900
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:53,200
everybody involved with that, 
they were just in the sort of 

901
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:59,200
bloom of, of, of attention and, 
and freshness and everyone liked

902
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:00,480
them because they were 
different. 

903
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:05,360
And it was like they had the 
television world at their feet. 

904
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:09,400
It was, it was just all really, 
nothing was a slog. 

905
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:13,480
Nothing was hard work. 
Every everyone was just giggling

906
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:18,360
the whole time, you know, no one
was aware of any backstabbing or

907
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,800
egos weren't really involved. 
You know, we just hung out. 

908
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:26,560
We, one of the other shows that 
I was really, really fond of was

909
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:32,280
Saturday Zoo that Jonathan 
presented before, because that's

910
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:37,440
where a lot of those comedians, 
we'd come together and we'd 

911
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:45,000
present company ideas to the, 
the producers of the, of the 

912
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,400
program. 
And they'd, they'd, they'd 

913
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,840
formulate a program that, you 
know, bought together a program 

914
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:55,640
out of all these ideas that we 
just threw in that was just a 

915
00:53:55,640 --> 00:54:02,040
really nice sort of communal 
comedy environment where 

916
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,600
everyone was the same. 
Everyone, you know, there was, 

917
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:08,240
there wasn't a big star. 
And we've all got to, you know, 

918
00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:11,000
be revered. 
Apart apart from Steve Coogan of

919
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:14,600
course, who of course, who who 
always used to bring a box to 

920
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:17,840
stand on did. 
He. 

921
00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:22,400
No, but he he assumed he was on 
the box. 

922
00:54:23,720 --> 00:54:29,480
But so those shows were were 
pivotal in in that sort of 

923
00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,520
comedy making a name for itself 
with Victoria and Bob, because 

924
00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:35,880
they I think they did some stuff
on that. 

925
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:41,720
Certainly all the fast show 
guys, they they cropped up. 

926
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:47,040
I got Hacked Off with the whole 
sort of TV thing because it got,

927
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:52,040
it started to get really boring 
and laborious with having to, 

928
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,320
you know, get things cleared by 
certain people. 

929
00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:57,440
Then it would go to another 
group of people. 

930
00:54:57,440 --> 00:55:02,520
Then they'd come back. 
And twice I had two script ideas

931
00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:07,440
I submitted and, you know, twice
I saw them on television. 

932
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:10,720
Six months later, somebody else 
was doing it, You know, I don't 

933
00:55:10,720 --> 00:55:12,600
know. 
And I thought, this isn't, this 

934
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,960
isn't, this isn't how it used to
be. 

935
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:18,760
So that's that's why I turned my
back on TV, really. 

936
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:23,480
Well, do you think, do you think
that the rocks set in really 

937
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:27,600
when cheap, the people realised 
that they could make cheap TV 

938
00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:29,960
by, you know, reality 
television? 

939
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:30,960
Yeah. 
Oh yeah. 

940
00:55:31,960 --> 00:55:36,080
And and sketch shows stopped 
being made and and sitcoms. 

941
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:38,840
But in any money, but in any 
money whatsoever into a show 

942
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:43,040
that that got, you know, that 
will dried up. 

943
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:49,960
And so so people's imaginative 
free reign became very sort of 

944
00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:54,960
caged. 
You couldn't, you know, we had 

945
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:57,760
flights of fancies and we'd see 
it on television. 

946
00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:01,800
And then it's just that all that
all became a thing of the past, 

947
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:03,920
really. 
But you've kept busy over the 

948
00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:11,600
years and you did you. 
You won strictly on for Comic 

949
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:13,040
Relief, wasn't it? 
Doing. 

950
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:16,200
The dance What? 
What is it? 

951
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,360
Let's let's dance for Comic 
Relief. 

952
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:19,560
Let's dance. 
Sorry. 

953
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:20,480
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

954
00:56:20,640 --> 00:56:23,320
Because you did. 
Weapon of Choice by Fat Boys, 

955
00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:26,240
then, of course, yeah. 
I was playing Christopher 

956
00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:32,000
Walken, Yes, yeah. 
I mean, again, this is typical, 

957
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:36,920
the way it works with me. 
They phoned me up and said, 

958
00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:40,080
Broden, we're doing this show, 
we've got all the contestants, 

959
00:56:40,240 --> 00:56:43,960
but will you come and learn a 
dance just in case one of the 

960
00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,600
contestants hurts themselves and
we haven't got our full show? 

961
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:49,840
So I said, oh, what? 
So I'm not going to be in the 

962
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:52,520
show. 
And they said, well, maybe not, 

963
00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:55,600
but you know, so I said, oh, all
right then. 

964
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:57,400
So I sort of did it a bit half 
heartedly. 

965
00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:00,920
I was sort of, I'm not even in 
this show, but I went to, you 

966
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:06,120
know, Borehamwood to learn this 
dance and do all that. 

967
00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:09,520
And every week I turn up just in
case one of the one of the 

968
00:57:09,800 --> 00:57:12,800
people doing the dance in the 
dress for I know themselves and 

969
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:15,880
they couldn't perform. 
So I was there ready on standby 

970
00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:21,960
to go on and on the last show I 
did go on and I won it. 

971
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:26,640
And it's just like things that 
that's that sort of seemed to 

972
00:57:26,640 --> 00:57:29,840
happen a lot. 
It's like I was the substitute. 

973
00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:31,880
So that's substitute coming on 
scoring. 

974
00:57:32,800 --> 00:57:36,720
Yes. 
Yeah, that was quite I, I 

975
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:39,360
honestly couldn't didn't believe
that I could do some of the 

976
00:57:39,360 --> 00:57:42,720
things that I did on that do it 
in that dance. 

977
00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:47,120
You know, it's a credit to the 
the dancers and the and the 

978
00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:50,880
choreographer who just sort of 
dragged it out. 

979
00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:55,000
I mean, but that was good fun 
and winning and winning is good 

980
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:56,360
fun and. 
Winning as well. 

981
00:57:56,800 --> 00:58:00,240
It's it's it's proving them, but
proving a point somehow, I 

982
00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:02,480
think. 
Do you still? 

983
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:05,160
Oh, I'm I'm sure you don't, but 
because you were you were a 

984
00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:06,960
member of the Idiot Bastard Band
with. 

985
00:58:07,200 --> 00:58:10,000
With aid and. 
With aid and and Phil Jupiter's 

986
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:12,680
and the late much missed Neil 
Innis. 

987
00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:16,040
So I guess that's no longer a 
going concern. 

988
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:18,200
No, no, no, we haven't done 
anything. 

989
00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:24,680
I mean originally Simon Brint 
was in the back and then he 

990
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:29,120
sadly is no longer with us. 
So we went, we did a little tour

991
00:58:29,200 --> 00:58:32,440
and then nationwide tour that 
was went down really well. 

992
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:35,280
You know, there was talk going 
to Australia. 

993
00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:40,640
We were in talks with Radio 4 to
do a radio series based on media

994
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:44,600
Busted band. 
But nothing, nothing became of 

995
00:58:44,600 --> 00:58:47,200
it. 
Aid AIDS attention moved on. 

996
00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:51,520
So we didn't do anything else 
but that again while it lasted. 

997
00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:54,800
That was that was good fun. 
We did it all on our own terms. 

998
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:58,840
It was. 
Yeah, I know you. 

999
00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:03,640
You've said that your closest, 
if you like, celebrity friend is

1000
00:59:03,640 --> 00:59:05,320
is probably Jules Holland. 
Yeah. 

1001
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:10,320
And, and, and other people that 
you've worked a lot with over 

1002
00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:12,040
the years, you know you're still
friendly with, but you don't 

1003
00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:15,240
necessarily keep in touch. 
No, I became incredibly close as

1004
00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:19,560
as as family members as well 
with Jonathan Ross. 

1005
00:59:19,560 --> 00:59:21,840
When I was doing the last 
resort, when we were doing 

1006
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:25,400
Saturday Zoo, we'd go on holiday
together, You know, we'd sort of

1007
00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:29,840
quite literally living inside 
each other's houses. 

1008
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:36,640
But that what's weird with me, 
if I've become closest and best 

1009
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:39,440
friends with whoever I'm working
with, and then when I'm working 

1010
00:59:39,440 --> 00:59:42,640
with them, there's there's no 
reason for me to come in contact

1011
00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:47,000
with them, you know. 
So it's a, it's to a degree, 

1012
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:52,600
it's a bit like that with Jules.
We were bosom, bosom buddies for

1013
00:59:52,600 --> 00:59:54,920
a long time because I was 
working with him for a long 

1014
00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:57,000
time. 
I still see him now. 

1015
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:00,080
We still have a laugh. 
But you know, we don't go out of

1016
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:03,080
our way to meet up. 
It's just that our paths cross 

1017
01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:06,160
at various things. 
And it's like, all right, he's 

1018
01:00:06,160 --> 01:00:08,200
God daughter. 
He's godfather to my daughter. 

1019
01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:13,560
So I've got I've. 
I've put the, I've got the the. 

1020
01:00:13,560 --> 01:00:15,160
Connection. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1021
01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:18,280
Can you remember the last time 
you saw or spoke with Rick? 

1022
01:00:19,520 --> 01:00:25,800
I think it must have been when 
when I was writing my book. 

1023
01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:27,480
What the fuck did I do last 
night? 

1024
01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:32,920
I went what I wanted to do to 
write this book. 

1025
01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:35,200
I said, I said to half of 
Collins. 

1026
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:38,720
I said, look, what I'll do is 
I'll, I'll catch up with a load 

1027
01:00:38,720 --> 01:00:40,240
of people that I used to hang 
out with. 

1028
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:43,200
We'll go for lunch. 
I'll have a tape recorder on the

1029
01:00:43,320 --> 01:00:47,560
table and we'll just much like 
we're doing, we'll just chew the

1030
01:00:47,560 --> 01:00:52,400
card chat and, and then I'll 
take that away and sort of 

1031
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:54,720
pretty much transcribe it into 
the book. 

1032
01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:58,240
And I, I wanted to call the book
out to lunch with Roland 

1033
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:00,800
Riveron, you know, because these
people weren't quite literally. 

1034
01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:04,680
And also the double dual 
entendre of he's out to lunch. 

1035
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:09,800
He's completely off his face. 
But the, the, the people at 

1036
01:01:10,040 --> 01:01:13,000
Harper Collins or wherever did 
it said people are going to 

1037
01:01:13,000 --> 01:01:16,160
think it's a food book that it's
not right. 

1038
01:01:16,160 --> 01:01:18,400
So I said, all right, we'll call
it. 

1039
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:19,680
What the fuck did I do last 
night? 

1040
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:24,720
Sorry, just to interrupt there. 
Oh, that's my cat. 

1041
01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:28,320
Didn't Aid. 
Hasn't Aid put out a podcast 

1042
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:31,720
recently along the lines of Out 
to Lunch where he goes out to 

1043
01:01:31,720 --> 01:01:35,520
lunch with quite famous people? 
Quite possibly, yeah. 

1044
01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:38,000
It wouldn't surprise him again. 
There you go. 

1045
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:42,080
There you go. 
Sorry, but I I interrupted. 

1046
01:01:42,080 --> 01:01:43,560
But you said that's probably the
last time you. 

1047
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:46,520
Yeah, that's probably I I 
invited him to the grouch. 

1048
01:01:46,520 --> 01:01:49,960
We, we had lunch. 
I put a tape recorder on the 

1049
01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:52,400
table. 
I couldn't really get that much 

1050
01:01:52,400 --> 01:01:56,480
sense out of him. 
He by this time he was, he was 

1051
01:01:56,480 --> 01:01:58,720
on medication. 
He was off the pop. 

1052
01:01:58,800 --> 01:02:02,920
He, it was he, he was, he was, 
it was like I was talking to a 

1053
01:02:02,920 --> 01:02:06,040
different man. 
It was quite sad. 

1054
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:10,200
I mean an aide, I found this 
because the BBC wanted them to 

1055
01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:14,280
do another series of bottom and 
they went and met up with Rick 

1056
01:02:14,480 --> 01:02:20,080
and they went to the bee and 
aide said the the the frame of 

1057
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:22,440
mind Rick was in, he couldn't 
work with him. 

1058
01:02:22,480 --> 01:02:25,560
It was like this wasn't the 
person that I was I used to work

1059
01:02:25,560 --> 01:02:27,240
with. 
So I'm working with somebody 

1060
01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:30,440
completely brand new now and 
it's it's not going to work. 

1061
01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:32,800
So it's. 
Heartbreaking, isn't it? 

1062
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:34,720
That, Yeah. 
I know it's tragic, tragic, 

1063
01:02:34,720 --> 01:02:36,240
tragic. 
That was that. 

1064
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:38,720
I think that was the last time. 
Right. 

1065
01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:41,080
What are you doing at the moment
at work wise? 

1066
01:02:41,080 --> 01:02:42,720
Have you got anything coming up?
Are you working? 

1067
01:02:42,720 --> 01:02:49,640
On anything I've I've been 
recruited to be in a film that's

1068
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:52,440
funny enough been, I think it's 
been directed by Kevin McNally 

1069
01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:56,960
and it's got Griffris Jones in 
it and me and somebody else. 

1070
01:02:57,280 --> 01:03:00,800
Well, quite a few other people. 
I can't say too much about it 

1071
01:03:00,800 --> 01:03:03,680
because it's, but I think 
they're going to, I think it's 

1072
01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:07,000
going to be filmed at the end of
the year or the beginning of the

1073
01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:11,640
next. 
I play a showbiz agent, but 

1074
01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:14,320
apart from that I don't do any 
stuff. 

1075
01:03:14,320 --> 01:03:17,600
I've been doing people's houses 
up because I, I find that 

1076
01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:20,600
immensely interesting. 
Just working, you know, at my 

1077
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:23,160
own speed, repairing people's 
houses. 

1078
01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:24,440
I found that I'm quite good at 
that. 

1079
01:03:25,600 --> 01:03:27,440
Wonderful. 
So that's, that's what gives 

1080
01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:28,760
you, that's what gives you the 
most pleasure. 

1081
01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:31,200
Now that and caravanning. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1082
01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:35,200
Well, doing people's houses up, 
because there's something about,

1083
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,880
like I was saying earlier about 
the how I got disillusioned with

1084
01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:41,360
the voice over. 
You go and do someone's house up

1085
01:03:41,360 --> 01:03:43,960
and you do a really good job and
you're knackered at the end of 

1086
01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:45,240
it. 
They're really happy. 

1087
01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:49,240
You go home and you think, yeah,
I've earned that money, you 

1088
01:03:49,240 --> 01:03:51,520
know, I deserve, I deserve a 
pint. 

1089
01:03:52,960 --> 01:03:55,280
So it's it's very, very 
fulfilling. 

1090
01:03:56,480 --> 01:04:01,000
I was yesterday, only yesterday 
morning and I was sanding some 

1091
01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:06,400
this lady who's a publicist, I 
was sanding a a worktop in her 

1092
01:04:06,400 --> 01:04:12,280
kitchen and re re oiling it and 
all that, you know, just doing 

1093
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:13,880
little things like that. 
It's great. 

1094
01:04:14,200 --> 01:04:15,800
Love it. 
Oh good. 

1095
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:18,840
I'm glad that you, you know, 
you're still working obviously 

1096
01:04:18,840 --> 01:04:22,120
in the shall we say industry 
you've still got your hand in, 

1097
01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:25,920
but also doing something that is
personally. 

1098
01:04:25,920 --> 01:04:29,960
Fulfilling I mean, we've just 
moved and I've waked out about 

1099
01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:36,440
200 VHS cassettes from the loft 
and I thought, oh what I might I

1100
01:04:36,440 --> 01:04:39,920
might toy with the idea of 
setting up a a YouTube channel 

1101
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,800
and just I'll edit together all 
the various different things and

1102
01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:49,640
I'll talk about of a clip show 
just about me because. 

1103
01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:53,040
Do you know I watched you in the
other night? 

1104
01:04:53,120 --> 01:04:56,680
Actually, I watched Jack and 
Jeremy's real lives. 

1105
01:04:56,800 --> 01:04:58,560
All right, do. 
You remember? 

1106
01:04:58,560 --> 01:04:59,960
Yeah, do. 
You remember I played a 

1107
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:02,320
magician. 
You had poor Lee Corns. 

1108
01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:05,840
Yeah, in. 
Yeah, you it was, you're doing 

1109
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:08,560
that thing where he's in the box
and you're putting the the the 

1110
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:10,520
swords through the box. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1111
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:14,520
But but initially you were 
playing an acupuncturist. 

1112
01:05:14,920 --> 01:05:16,640
Right. 
And then you became a magician. 

1113
01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:20,560
But yeah, there was a lot of a 
lot of nice comedy business 

1114
01:05:20,560 --> 01:05:23,480
going on. 
Yeah, I mean again, Jeremy no 

1115
01:05:23,480 --> 01:05:24,680
longer with us. 
What a shame. 

1116
01:05:24,880 --> 01:05:25,320
He was. 
He was. 

1117
01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:29,440
Absolutely fun to hang out with.
So are you feeling any better? 

1118
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:32,720
No, not really. 
So what's next? 

1119
01:05:32,920 --> 01:05:34,440
Looks like a case for 
acupuncture. 

1120
01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:40,200
No, I'll pop your clothes off. 
I'll be with you in a minute. 

1121
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:51,720
Greetings from the dark side. 
I will amaze and confound you 

1122
01:05:52,200 --> 01:05:56,480
with a therapy handed down to me
from an old Acupunki master in 

1123
01:05:56,480 --> 01:06:05,240
Peking Town. 
But first I need an assistant. 

1124
01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:10,680
Sir, would you mind kindly go 
behind the screen and my nurse 

1125
01:06:10,680 --> 01:06:13,880
will prepare you. 
And now a round of applause, 

1126
01:06:13,880 --> 01:06:18,800
please, for my beautiful 
assistant Charmaine. 

1127
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:23,720
Thank you, Sir. 
Would you walk this way? 

1128
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:28,200
But no, that would be great if 
you if yeah, the VHS tapes that 

1129
01:06:28,200 --> 01:06:30,320
you've got, there'd be loads of 
people listening to this. 

1130
01:06:30,320 --> 01:06:33,160
Their ears are all have pricked 
up because there's there'll be 

1131
01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:35,200
gold on that, on those tapes 
that you can't, you know, it's 

1132
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:38,040
stuff that that's nowhere else 
that you can't get anymore. 

1133
01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:40,160
You can't see anymore. 
Well, a load of it, a load of it

1134
01:06:40,160 --> 01:06:45,080
is the, these destination guides
because I, I, I made them funny 

1135
01:06:45,400 --> 01:06:47,560
rather than just try, you know, 
this is what you do. 

1136
01:06:47,720 --> 01:06:51,360
So we'd work out, I'd work out 
sort of scenarios and sketches. 

1137
01:06:52,800 --> 01:06:55,880
So there's a lot of those. 
There's a lot of stuff that I've

1138
01:06:55,880 --> 01:06:59,040
done that people haven't seen 
because it's not been broadcast,

1139
01:06:59,040 --> 01:06:59,400
you know. 
Oh. 

1140
01:06:59,840 --> 01:07:04,600
Brilliant, yeah, to do that on a
when you've got a a couple of 

1141
01:07:04,600 --> 01:07:07,360
months free, yeah, get that done
for sure. 

1142
01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:09,280
Well. 
I'm really looking forward to 

1143
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:13,000
doing it and just take my time 
and getting it right and, you 

1144
01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:16,120
know, just finding all those 
outtakes that people like, you 

1145
01:07:16,120 --> 01:07:18,160
know? 
Thanks again to Roland. 

1146
01:07:18,680 --> 01:07:20,560
So that's it. 
Thanks for listening and please 

1147
01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:22,720
let me know your thoughts and 
comments on this particular 

1148
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:24,680
show. 
I do like to try and keep the 

1149
01:07:24,680 --> 01:07:27,120
show fresh and shake things up a
bit from time to time as it 

1150
01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:30,840
keeps me on my toes and stops me
from becoming too stale and 

1151
01:07:30,840 --> 01:07:33,800
repetitive I guess. 
That said, next week, all being 

1152
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:36,600
well, we'll be covering an 
absolute belter of a goon show 

1153
01:07:36,920 --> 01:07:40,880
with an antipodean guest, 
someone new to the show, and my 

1154
01:07:40,880 --> 01:07:43,920
sainted aunt, someone still in 
the first flush of youth, 

1155
01:07:44,240 --> 01:07:47,360
relatively speaking. 
So join us again for that. 

1156
01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:51,520
In the meantime, keep telling 
your friends and enemies about 

1157
01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:53,120
Goon Pod and encourage them to 
listen. 

1158
01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:55,720
Do it now. 
I'll see you next week. 

1159
01:07:56,040 --> 01:08:47,359
Bye. 
The.

