Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Comedy performer and writer, co-creator of Little Britain, known for characters Vicky Pollard and Daffyd.
On the island
Eight records
Original Broadway Cast of 42nd Street
I've chosen it because I've got two great passions in life: Arsenal and Musicals.
Well, look, it's one of the most exciting moments of my life was mum coming in and saying we'd got tickets to see the kids from fame at the Albert Hall do their live show.
Well, partly, you know, this is one of the the um films I was I watched a lot as a kid. There is the story in Hans Christian Andersen of um a little boy with no hair who has his cap pulled off. But um my favourite song from this film is uh Inchworm.
These Are the Days of Our LivesFavourite
Why? Because actually, I keep saying I grew up a huge fan of this and I grew up a huge fan of that. But if I had to pick one person. One person who I have absolutely idolized through my life uh is Freddie Mercury.
Because I've always loved the Proclaimers, and there's something so elusive about them. ... So when you do get a Proclaimers album, it's incredibly precious. And I think they're very rousing and very soulful, and they just stir something up in you that makes you want to run around the room.
My next record is Songs of Love, which is written by Neil Hannan of The Divine Comedy. But this version of it is sung by Ben Folds, and this is a way of combining two of the greatest musicians we have together in one song.
Manuel Felciano and Patti LuPone
My next piece of music, Kirsty, is from Sweeney Todd. by Stephen Sundheim, who, you know, is probably the greatest living writer of musicals. And it's from from Sweeney Todd, as I say, which I think is his best piece, and it's Not While I'm Around.
My last record is from an artist who I've sort of discovered relatively recently, and I don't really know what the words are because they're in French and it's all done very fast, but it's just very joyous.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:10Did you and David Walliams deliberately set out to make a comedy brand with Little Britain?
Not really. I mean, we did have some aims to make the most accessible show possible. We wanted a T V show where you could turn on and within five seconds you'd know what you were watching.
Presenter asks
3:06How do you feel about all the dressing up, prosthetics, and wigs in Little Britain?
What I like is dressing up and being someone else in the process. You know, I'm not that fussed with myself. But I don't get any particular rush out of dressing up as a woman.
Presenter asks
9:08How did losing your hair at age six affect you?
I used to wake up and find all these hairs on my pillow in the morning. It was bizarre, but I didn't find it particularly traumatic. But uh people around me found it traumatic on my behalf and obviously my parents were very worried ... It's hard sometimes going through puberty with something like that because you want to fit in. But it was, you know, that was my lot, and it's fine, you know, it's okay.
The keepsakes
The book
Douglas Adams and John Lloyd
it's just my favorite book because it's just really, really funny.
The luxury
it's this really strange restaurant on the ground floor of a block of flats. And it's amazing, but the the the the best thing is the dessert waiter there.
Presenter asks
13:42Did your parents' breakup hit you hard at the time?
Yeah, absolutely. Because I think you think life is perfect and, um, you know, I I I really, really thought life was like the Adverts as a kid. You know, and my whole life has been a a realization that life isn't like the Adverts.
Presenter asks
21:04What was coming out like for you?
It was absolutely fine. It was really painless. All my friends were absolutely fine. My mum was very shocked and surprised ... But when it becomes a reality, i.e. in my case, when I settled down with somebody and fell in love with just someone who was ... no crazier than me, then you know, and was patently happy as I am now, then I think it it becomes much easier for them to deal with.
Presenter asks
25:29What did Bob Mortimer mean when he said you were the angriest man he'd ever met?
Well, I think I was really angry. I was I'd had this from you know ten onwards. You know, it had been qu things had been quite difficult and and I think I never felt I could get up there and be myself. I didn't really want to. ... So in a way, going on stage was a great way of letting go.
“Well, actually, yeah, you've got to live real life, otherwise, you won't be able to write about it.”
“As a six-year-old kid living in a sort of suburb and with no hair, you're the kid that people point at and you become a little celebrity.”
“I remember when Freddie Mercury died, I remember reading the editorial in the Evening Standard, the London Evening Standard the next day, which basically said this is what you get for living a hedonistic lifestyle, and kind of inferred that he had what was coming to him.”
“Privately, obviously, at home, I've kind of feel in many ways I've been saved by Kevin, really. You know, I don't really know where I was going without him, and I was just really, really, really lucky.”