Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Comedian, actor and writer known for award-winning stand-up, sitcoms and panel shows, and making upper-middle-class privilege his calling card.
On the island
Eight records
Let There Be LoveFavourite
reminds me of me and my brother and sister jumping around on my dad's bed or wearing matching pajamas, singing into a hairbrush
I saw E.T. at the Royal Albert Hall with a live orchestra last year
from a cassette tape that my mum had called Mundo Latino … she used to play it on the long car journeys back to school
reminds me of Manchester … we were very into dance music and this was my entry point
from my favourite film of all time … If we were doing the movie of my life, that would be the beginning
I was obsessed as a kid with The Corrs … I think partly the beauty … of their music
The keepsakes
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:57With stand up, you were not like most people because you're a bit posh. How long was it before you realized you just had to come clean on that?
Oh, quite a long time. And there were various incarnations of Early Me on Stage … me going on and literally talking like I was Danny Dyer … I also thought, Oh, I should go on wearing a jacket, a big Parker jacket, like one of the characters from South Park. And I did these deadpan jokes. I did a poet as well … you have to go on this kind of journey to find your voice.
Presenter asks
6:00Stand up is such a risky business. What was it that propelled you up onto that lonely stage?
I just love making people laugh … so to be able to go on and do that to a room full of strangers was like a kind of drug. And the minute I went up on stage for the first time, I was like, I will always have to do this because I love it.
Presenter asks
9:22Your dad was in his late forties when you were born. He has said that was an advantage, being an older parent. What do you think?
I think it had its advantages in that … when we were younger he'd sort of retired, so he was a present father and really focussed on his family. I think a lot of my love of comedy comes from him and watching old Laurel and Hardy films … I definitely think I looked up to him and thought, Oh, I'd like to do that one day.
The book
Nigel Williams
I'm going to take Nigel Williams's The Wimbledon Poisoner, and it's darkly comic.
The luxury
So my luxury item will be a dinner jacket. Because I want to leave the world as I entered it.
Presenter asks
10:02You do those brilliant moments where you can't believe what your father said on screen. Do you know what's coming, or are those moments of genuine surprise?
I think sometimes I'm genuinely shocked by what he says … every now and again he will just sidestep you with something outrageous.
Presenter asks
20:57You're a very ambitious person. Where does that originate, do you think?
I think the ambition actually comes from just I love working … I work all the time … I never go on holiday … every time that I'm not doing that, I feel like it's time wasted … I feel like it could all go away tomorrow or I could suddenly be out of vogue.
Presenter asks
22:19What was the worst thing you ever had to put up with in those early gigs in Bolton?
The worst thing is when there's no audience … and no mic. So you would literally be stood in the corner of a pub doing your jokes, at which point you just become the madman in the corner of a pub talking at strangers.
“I'm worried because any time I do any kind of like grown up interview, I always read it back and I'm like, wow, this guy sounds suicidal. I sound so depressed whenever I talk about myself, so I'm going to be conscious of nothing.”
“My dad turned to my mum, and I always remember he went, 'This is typical of you, Hilary. You are always defending Mugabe.' I was like, What?”
“I was obsessed with dressing up. I would dress up as Robin Hood all the time to like everything, like family function.”
“In the process of doing this interview, I've realized that there is a glaring omission to my luxury item, and it was obvious all along. So my luxury item will be a dinner jacket. Because I want to leave the world as I entered it.”
“Having listened to them all, I think I'm gonna go with Nat King Cole's 'Let There Be Love', sat on a beach in a dinner jacket listening to 'Let There Be Love'.”