9. Luke Rollason Interview

[00:00:00] .

[00:00:01] Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast. I'm Greg. And I'm Penny. And this is The Extraordinary

[00:00:29] Cast, a podcast dedicated to the Hulu and Disney Plus series, Extraordinary, created

[00:00:33] by Emma Moran. This is a very special episode. We were privileged and thrilled to talk

[00:00:41] to one of the stars of Extraordinary, Luke Rollison, who plays Giz Lord, who is vying with

[00:00:49] Kerry for my favorite character. I don't know about you, Greg.

[00:00:53] I mean, he's, I would say Kerry has him edged. But no, he was his character and then he himself

[00:00:59] was absolutely charming. And basically, as down to earth as you can get. And it was

[00:01:06] it was awesome sitting and chatting with him. Unfortunately, I was only able to

[00:01:10] hang out for about an hour of our conversation. But I know that you and he

[00:01:15] talked for for another hour, another 45 minutes or so. And we just recorded it

[00:01:21] at all. And you guys get to listen to it as hopefully you guys enjoyed as much

[00:01:26] as I did. Yeah, it was a great time. And he was so generous with his time. And

[00:01:32] so down to earth like you said, it was really, it was a really fun interview.

[00:01:37] Yeah. And so we will not wait you let you wait any longer.

[00:01:42] Here is our conversation with Luke Rollison.

[00:01:46] This last podcast, I actually turned my mic up a little bit.

[00:01:49] It just it sucks because, you know, I've got two young kids and I live in a house

[00:01:53] that I don't have a place to to like go where it's quiet, like a podcast

[00:01:58] closet or something. Yeah. And so I know I'm 20 feet, what six meters,

[00:02:04] seven meters away from my furnace. And it's like, you know, 30 degrees.

[00:02:09] So what is what is 30 degrees in Celsius? 17? No, maybe less.

[00:02:14] Yeah, you're warm. You're warm. No, we're cold. Oh, you're cold.

[00:02:18] Cold. Yeah, I don't know what.

[00:02:20] Yeah, cold over here is something different. 30 Fahrenheit. Yeah.

[00:02:24] Yeah. 30 degrees Fahrenheit would be so.

[00:02:26] Oh, so it'd be zero to be like negative one because 32 is freezing.

[00:02:31] Yeah.

[00:02:33] And now, now, I mean, now it is not.

[00:02:35] It is, you know, four o'clock in the afternoon and it's like

[00:02:38] God, all this fucking math.

[00:02:41] It's probably probably like 11, 10, 11 degrees Celsius.

[00:02:48] So it's actually much nicer here.

[00:02:50] Greg and I don't live in the same in the same place.

[00:02:53] I'm in Boston and Greg.

[00:02:55] Are you in Connecticut? I mean, Connecticut.

[00:02:57] Yeah, near Hartford.

[00:02:58] I mean, I'm only about two hours from you.

[00:03:00] But yeah.

[00:03:01] How do you guys know each other?

[00:03:02] It's enough. How do you guys know each other?

[00:03:03] How does this come about?

[00:03:05] So we are a part of a podcast network called podcastica,

[00:03:09] which was started back in the beginning of that boom

[00:03:13] that I was talking about.

[00:03:15] In 2010, there was a podcast that came out called The Walking Deadcast.

[00:03:20] And it was all about The Walking Dead.

[00:03:22] It was a friend of ours.

[00:03:24] He and a friend of his were a big fan of the comics.

[00:03:27] And when they decided to make it into a show,

[00:03:30] it was, you know, they were like super excited and they were like,

[00:03:34] oh, I wonder if it's going to be good, blah, blah, blah.

[00:03:36] And so they did a weekly podcast for 12 years

[00:03:41] when The Walking Dead ended last year.

[00:03:45] They stopped what one of them dropped off,

[00:03:48] but they replaced my host and stuff like that.

[00:03:49] But so around 2013, 2014, I started listening to them.

[00:03:55] And then we have like a Patreon group that we all like, you know,

[00:04:00] we all basically have made basically I found my people in 2019

[00:04:04] when I joined this this Patreon group.

[00:04:07] And there's a bunch of like-minded nerds,

[00:04:10] you know, like-minded nerds that enjoy a bunch of weird pop culture shit.

[00:04:15] And so then we just we started, we podcasted on She-Hulk

[00:04:21] when it came out last year.

[00:04:23] Was it last year? Holy shit.

[00:04:26] Yeah, first I met Greg when he guested.

[00:04:29] We have a podcast on the show Yellow Jackets,

[00:04:32] and that was my first ever podcast that I did.

[00:04:34] And Greg guested on it.

[00:04:36] So when I decided I wanted to cover She-Hulk, I was like, Greg is fun.

[00:04:40] And now we're just like really good buds.

[00:04:43] And we've been doing this together for a year.

[00:04:45] That's so gorgeous.

[00:04:47] It's really that's so nice.

[00:04:48] And there's like, yeah, there's like 30 hosts now.

[00:04:52] Like it's grown and grown.

[00:04:53] There are so many and there's like,

[00:04:55] like some things are getting great, great press

[00:04:58] and some things are just people talking about fun shit

[00:05:00] that they're talking about like, like this, like extraordinary.

[00:05:03] We I think we have maybe what?

[00:05:05] Like maybe 30 or 40 people that listen regularly.

[00:05:09] Yeah, we get like 500 downloads, almost 500 downloads

[00:05:14] on episodes. So I think we have listeners we don't know about.

[00:05:18] Yeah, I mean, that's that's true.

[00:05:20] But yeah, so we we just like we just keep finding

[00:05:25] like we didn't even hear about this show.

[00:05:27] Like we did want me obviously we heard about it, but we didn't hear about it

[00:05:29] until somebody posted in our little group and they were like,

[00:05:32] hey, check this show out.

[00:05:33] And I watched the preview and I was like,

[00:05:36] hey, Penny, check out this preview.

[00:05:38] This looks funny as shit.

[00:05:40] And she was like, I can get down with that.

[00:05:45] And so we were we were thought we thought that you guys were going to

[00:05:49] not you guys, but Disney Plus and Hulu, we're going to release it a week at a time

[00:05:53] instead of dropping it all at once.

[00:05:55] And we're like, OK, you know, record on it comes out on Wednesdays,

[00:05:58] record on Thursdays, release like Friday, Saturday, something like that.

[00:06:01] And or Monday or whatever.

[00:06:03] And then they dropped everything at the same time.

[00:06:05] I was like, oh, well, shit.

[00:06:10] Well, I guess you know what?

[00:06:11] Fuck it, we're going to do week to week because, you know,

[00:06:13] it sucks to not be able to watch it when I know it's out.

[00:06:15] But it's it's funny like how people

[00:06:19] you know, like I think I I'm not a huge TV

[00:06:23] watcher, which is one of my cardinal sins, but he's really funny

[00:06:27] seeing how I know how TV watching culture has changed.

[00:06:31] But also how like despite even when stuff has dropped all at once,

[00:06:36] there's still people who that is a subreddit thread, right?

[00:06:40] An extraordinary and there are people who are like,

[00:06:42] oh, Episode Five discussion spoilers for Episode Five.

[00:06:47] But these are people who are like having like a long discussion about it

[00:06:49] who have not like watched the rest of it.

[00:06:51] And I really love that there are people who are still

[00:06:55] really choosing to watch stuff like episodically rather than just

[00:06:59] like binging all the way through and like treat and treating it still

[00:07:02] like a gradual release.

[00:07:04] And then in order to be able to have the kind of conversations with

[00:07:07] like means they can still find like minded people.

[00:07:10] I find that really beautiful.

[00:07:11] People are still choosing alternate viewing habits,

[00:07:14] even though a lot of shows are kind of like made to be watched all in one go.

[00:07:19] And like when when like higher ups or like execs or whatever talk about the show

[00:07:25] and they're like, oh, you know, it looks like people are watching it

[00:07:28] like all in one go or like, you know, binge eating like two days.

[00:07:30] And that's like really exciting for us.

[00:07:32] And that's like kind of dreamy and blah, blah, blah.

[00:07:34] Like, yeah, that's true.

[00:07:36] Obviously, that's true.

[00:07:37] Like it's a really weird feeling to be like, oh, yeah.

[00:07:41] That kind of took me from November to March to film and you've watched it already.

[00:07:45] Right.

[00:07:47] Like that's nice.

[00:07:48] And people are like people watching go like, oh, cool.

[00:07:51] So when we're going to see more and you think, yeah, like in like a year.

[00:07:56] Yeah.

[00:07:56] Like how long it takes to make like a year, year and a half.

[00:07:59] I heard you guys were filming and I was like, oh, that's awesome.

[00:08:03] And and then I was like, oh, that's awesome.

[00:08:07] But like that means like another year and a half.

[00:08:09] Well, I'm glad I got two months out of the first season.

[00:08:12] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:08:13] Well, too. Yeah, it's funny how, you know, we're even like

[00:08:17] pretty ahead of the curve in the.

[00:08:21] You know, the show came out.

[00:08:24] I think it was announced we were doing a second series the day before it came out.

[00:08:29] Yep.

[00:08:29] And that was about that was that was because I think someone threatens.

[00:08:34] There was a some kind of news website over here in the UK

[00:08:37] called The British Comedy Guide, who I love dearly, who threatens to leak it,

[00:08:42] which I find very funny.

[00:08:43] I don't know why this happened several times right in the British Comedy Guide

[00:08:45] to keep leaking like the news of shows getting another series is so like

[00:08:50] channels have to like announce it before they're planning on,

[00:08:54] which is hilarious because British.

[00:08:55] British Comedy Guide, I've met the guys who run it like it's

[00:08:58] then they're not a huge outfit.

[00:09:00] I don't know how they're getting this like kind of

[00:09:02] this kind of whistleblower-esque information.

[00:09:05] But obviously we knew it takes a long time.

[00:09:08] Something I did because I never really realized

[00:09:10] and I think most people don't realize is the length of lead

[00:09:12] in which is required before you start filming something.

[00:09:16] So the week the show came out, we were doing rehearsals for series two

[00:09:22] before we were going to start filming the next week.

[00:09:24] So it gets announced, but we were well, well, well into lead in.

[00:09:27] Like we knew from from the previous like August that we were going

[00:09:33] to be making another series.

[00:09:34] I mean, my guess would be that somebody opened their mouth

[00:09:40] and it's it's more a matter of, hey, I'm going to help out this small unit

[00:09:45] or this small paper or media outlet and like rather than

[00:09:51] and then they're either going to have to announce it.

[00:09:53] But let's be let's be really, really honest with the ending.

[00:09:57] I would have been fucking furious if you didn't have season two.

[00:10:03] It's so true.

[00:10:05] Yeah, I feel like sometimes it's like a way of being like,

[00:10:07] how can we make sure it happens?

[00:10:09] Sorry, you didn't say penny.

[00:10:12] Oh, we were kind of blown away by that ending.

[00:10:14] And I was thinking the same thing.

[00:10:17] I was like somebody at Disney must have seen it and been like,

[00:10:20] well, what happened next?

[00:10:21] Green light season two.

[00:10:23] Like like somebody's a fan inside the Disney hierarchy.

[00:10:28] Right.

[00:10:29] And not just an exact, I think.

[00:10:31] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:32] I think that's really cool.

[00:10:35] Yeah, I don't think you're wrong.

[00:10:38] I think there was an element of that, although I think there

[00:10:41] was a fair amount of discussion, not that late on, but fairly early on.

[00:10:46] There was definitely division in various levels of the team

[00:10:50] over whether or not just Lord having a child

[00:10:53] is going to be like a long term big problem.

[00:10:56] I mean, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be.

[00:10:59] But I mean, you obviously can't say anything.

[00:11:01] But yeah, I would say one of the directors was like,

[00:11:04] this is going to create so many problems long run.

[00:11:08] It's filming with children is complicated.

[00:11:10] Like that you can't just pop something in a script and be like,

[00:11:13] OK, no worries.

[00:11:15] Like that's going to be a real...

[00:11:17] If you think filming with cats is complicated,

[00:11:19] this can be a real thing.

[00:11:21] I wonder with the British comedy guide

[00:11:23] because I just don't know how I know them.

[00:11:24] Speaking of filming with cats.

[00:11:28] How did you prepare to act like a man who had been a cat?

[00:11:33] Did you like study actual cats?

[00:11:37] Well, yeah, I guess it was an extent.

[00:11:39] I think there was things I remember specifically when we do the

[00:11:44] you know, the scene in episode three

[00:11:47] where me and Kassha auditioning for Jalanti is.

[00:11:50] Yeah. And the laser eye is.

[00:11:53] Oh, yes.

[00:11:54] Like he does his laser eyes thing and then I like jump on the desk or whatever.

[00:11:59] So I remember for that I watched a lot of videos of cats chasing laser

[00:12:04] printers, like hours of this content for this five second moment.

[00:12:10] But like otherwise, oh no, yeah, no, OK, this is true.

[00:12:15] I this is like really early on.

[00:12:18] So obviously this is before it's been announced even.

[00:12:21] And obviously no one knew what my part was.

[00:12:25] In fact, like I was kind of semi underwrapped for a long time.

[00:12:30] And then the trailer came out and Disney was like, oh, no, sorry.

[00:12:34] The cat literally is out of the bag.

[00:12:36] Like, yeah, it's fine because it get there's a long period.

[00:12:39] I had to press training where they were like briefing me on how we could

[00:12:42] like that kind of allude to why I was there.

[00:12:45] But they were like, no one will know that you're in the series,

[00:12:47] but you're going to be there for the press days.

[00:12:49] You just kind of be like, I'm a character who has a power

[00:12:53] that brings them into contact with the other characters.

[00:12:55] And because of my power, I need to go on an adventure to find out who I am.

[00:13:00] I was like, oh man, this is going to be so hard.

[00:13:03] And we did all this like training.

[00:13:04] And then the trailer drops and it's just like you fully see me turn from cat to man.

[00:13:09] And they were like, OK, fine.

[00:13:12] But anyway, I remember like way before

[00:13:15] even I think that it was announced that I was in the show,

[00:13:19] but I was blabbing my head off about it way too much.

[00:13:22] A old friend of mine.

[00:13:27] I can't even remember.

[00:13:29] They definitely knew that I was playing a cat in this series.

[00:13:32] I think they thought I was voicing a cat.

[00:13:34] But anyway, they had a cat and saw an opportunity.

[00:13:36] So they were like, my cats sit my cat.

[00:13:39] And I was like, oh, I was like, wow,

[00:13:42] OK, that'd be really, really helpful.

[00:13:43] And I did it and you just kind of sit around with the weird thing

[00:13:47] about like sitting around with a cat.

[00:13:50] I don't know that you go around this person's house.

[00:13:52] You're like, I'm going to cats at this cat.

[00:13:54] And after a while, you're like, yeah, I've seen cats before.

[00:13:56] I don't know what am I learning here?

[00:13:58] Am I learning anything?

[00:14:00] It's quite an odd thing.

[00:14:01] And cats are so cats are so like independent

[00:14:05] and like they only will deal with you when they want to deal with you.

[00:14:09] And if they're comfortable with you for sure.

[00:14:11] And which makes a lot of sense with regard to Gis Lord is that as a cat,

[00:14:17] you know, hey, Jen petted you and then you went inside.

[00:14:20] It was really funny.

[00:14:21] I showed my 16 year old son the first episode

[00:14:24] because I was like, hey, you know, you should watch the show

[00:14:27] because I'm podcasting on it and it's really, really funny.

[00:14:29] Maybe a little bit inappropriate.

[00:14:31] And then Jim's like, oh, I spent so long

[00:14:33] that's like trying to come.

[00:14:34] And I was like, OK, maybe I didn't think this through too well.

[00:14:38] And but he saw he saw the cat and Jen's like,

[00:14:43] free cat. He's like, that cat's totally a guy.

[00:14:45] I think I was like.

[00:14:48] All right. Wow.

[00:14:50] It's pretty much a mile off.

[00:14:52] Yeah, like he was.

[00:14:53] I mean, I don't know.

[00:14:54] Maybe he's seen the trailer, but I don't think so.

[00:14:57] I think I think he was just like, oh, this is kind of intuitive.

[00:15:00] I was just like, damn, because I mean, obviously,

[00:15:03] I had seen the trailer at that point, but I was like, good job.

[00:15:07] To be fair, he's also been way more observant than I have at like seven.

[00:15:12] He was talking about I can't remember at this point.

[00:15:15] Basically, he made like a doctor who referenced and I was like, no, shit.

[00:15:19] Yeah, that's a good point.

[00:15:20] And I was like, I mean, I guess there's like an extent to which

[00:15:23] like the younger the generation almost like the more story literate you become.

[00:15:26] Right. Mm hmm.

[00:15:28] Yeah. And yeah, media literate.

[00:15:30] Um, also, Greg, you know, your brain is taken up with like working

[00:15:35] and parenting and stuff, whereas a kid's brain is like free range.

[00:15:38] Yeah, that's that he's just there ready to spot connections.

[00:15:42] And also maybe he, you know, you point that out about any old thing,

[00:15:45] you know, clocks right twice in a day, you know, you're like, yeah,

[00:15:49] to be fair, he could have been like, well, and if he wasn't right,

[00:15:53] who cares? Yeah, he cares.

[00:15:55] Who cares?

[00:15:56] I think a lot of people, a lot of friends, you know,

[00:15:59] there were like various degrees of people who knew or didn't know about

[00:16:02] my involvement in the show or people who knew I was in this show.

[00:16:04] Or, you know, my housemates obviously knew that I was like filming all the time.

[00:16:08] But like, there was definitely quite a lot of people who knew I was in this show,

[00:16:11] especially after I announced, like, you know, oh, this like show that

[00:16:14] and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, who then watched the first episode

[00:16:17] and were like, Luke is really exaggerated.

[00:16:20] The extent to which he's involved in this show.

[00:16:23] He is not in it.

[00:16:24] Like he is just funny.

[00:16:25] I have friends who are the kind of people who don't watch post credit scenes.

[00:16:30] And I think I don't know if Disney Plus has a thing where it's like

[00:16:32] skipped next episode that begins at the beginning of the credits.

[00:16:36] I don't know.

[00:16:37] I can't remember.

[00:16:38] But so in my experience, because I have consumed a lot of Disney Plus

[00:16:42] with children and and just being a media nerd.

[00:16:46] And I they don't.

[00:16:48] They typically will let the post credit scene go before they come up.

[00:16:52] This says skip.

[00:16:55] But I know a lot of people, a lot of people will,

[00:16:59] you know, once the credits roll or at least back before, you know,

[00:17:03] streaming was the huge one.

[00:17:05] It's roll. OK, turn it off or change to whatever else is on,

[00:17:08] especially back when it was like, oh, hey, it's 10 o'clock.

[00:17:10] I'm watching this other show.

[00:17:13] Yeah, it's yeah, I think I do have friends who missed my first appearance.

[00:17:20] You are not in this show.

[00:17:21] And I was like, you have to hang on and they're like, look, just man,

[00:17:25] how much how much drive to hang on?

[00:17:27] How have you watched all of them?

[00:17:28] You've not seen me.

[00:17:30] And that's how you know the people who are post credits people or not, you know.

[00:17:34] Well, there's something I have to point out.

[00:17:36] Patient breed about this post credit scene that I have the most amazing scoop on.

[00:17:39] All right, I don't know if it's a scoop, but I've definitely told this

[00:17:42] to other people, but we know episode five, the one I said at the school.

[00:17:49] Yep. Mm hmm.

[00:17:50] And there's a scene where it's the it's the episode

[00:17:53] where me where cash is in the bath for the whole episode.

[00:17:57] Yeah, yep.

[00:17:58] The post credits scene for that episode.

[00:18:02] Originally, there was no post credit scene and they made one up

[00:18:07] from when the cameras were still rolling in between takes.

[00:18:12] And I was scooping the bubbles to cover Bilal's dignity.

[00:18:16] No more. He says thank you.

[00:18:20] So him saying thank you is just Bilal saying thank you to me.

[00:18:24] The everything I say we edited on afterwards.

[00:18:27] That was like that was like done in in post.

[00:18:30] But but that was just me silently, basically, because, you know,

[00:18:34] every time they wanted to do a reset, someone had to come in and scoop bubbles.

[00:18:37] And I was just like, this is a waste of time.

[00:18:39] Like, I'll just do it to save time.

[00:18:41] Yeah, sitting right there.

[00:18:42] Yeah. And then they bring me in to do voiceover work.

[00:18:45] And they're like, yeah, you do this like new scene at the end of five.

[00:18:47] I was like, what do you mean is a new scene at the end of five?

[00:18:50] Like you can't just conjure scenes out of nowhere.

[00:18:53] And I was like, oh, yeah, no, you can.

[00:18:55] So now I feel really conscious of that.

[00:18:56] Now we're filming series two.

[00:18:57] I keep being like, guys, the cameras are still rolling.

[00:19:00] We should do something.

[00:19:02] We should do something funny.

[00:19:04] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:05] A good time for some improv or dancing, maybe.

[00:19:08] I feel like at the moment,

[00:19:10] we definitely had it a little bit in series one where the ends of scenes

[00:19:15] there'd be a bit of space where you could like say an extra line or something.

[00:19:19] And some of them end up in, but I would love to see a version of extraordinary

[00:19:23] where every single scene has the extra line that we improvise at the end

[00:19:27] just left in because it would be like twice as long.

[00:19:30] Really annoying.

[00:19:32] Yeah.

[00:19:34] Like in episode eight, when I say what's a party,

[00:19:37] that's an example of something that we just said.

[00:19:42] Oh, really? That's a great line.

[00:19:43] I literally just quoted you on the podcast that we just recorded

[00:19:48] because I'm editing it.

[00:19:50] I was editing it last night and I was like, oh, what's a party?

[00:19:53] That was like a good one.

[00:19:56] What's a party?

[00:19:57] Speaking of those lines.

[00:20:01] All right. Were there any of those?

[00:20:04] Like first off, do you watch the show?

[00:20:08] Like have you watched it all edited together and in all that?

[00:20:11] I have. Yeah.

[00:20:13] I mean, it's it's an odd one for me because we watched it.

[00:20:17] I mean the other main three are very close

[00:20:22] and we watched the first.

[00:20:25] We watched all of the episodes at the offices

[00:20:28] of the production company as a four with the writer as well.

[00:20:31] Actually, we watched the first four.

[00:20:34] We went round to watch what was meant to be just as watching the first two.

[00:20:38] And then we enjoyed it so much.

[00:20:40] They were like, yeah, we saw that they had a file on like they they minimized the file

[00:20:45] and we were like, does that say 103?

[00:20:48] And they were like, maybe I'm like, could we watch it?

[00:20:51] And they were like, OK, I'm like, ha, ha.

[00:20:54] And then we watched that and we got so psyched about that.

[00:20:56] Then they called up Disney to request special permission for them

[00:21:00] to be sent Episode four so we could watch that.

[00:21:02] So it literally felt like your parents being told,

[00:21:04] you know, your parents telling you you can stay up like an extra three

[00:21:07] hours past your bedtime.

[00:21:09] We got so excited.

[00:21:10] And then we did the same for the second half of the series.

[00:21:13] So I watched all of it without any visual effects, right?

[00:21:18] And that was like so much fun.

[00:21:20] So watching it, you know, with my three closest friends and like it was.

[00:21:23] It was that was such a joy and really kind of easy going and exciting to watch.

[00:21:29] And then we watched the first two and seven again as part of a cast

[00:21:34] and crew screening with all the extra like finalized final music,

[00:21:37] all the extra stuff added. Oh, nice.

[00:21:39] And that freaked me out because I was watching with an audience.

[00:21:43] But I was watching with an audience, but in audience of people who had very much

[00:21:46] like seen the show, like knew the shows, like knew all the jokes.

[00:21:52] And I was there being like, oh, Christ, this is a man.

[00:21:56] You just suddenly watching your performance and freaking out about it.

[00:21:59] Whereas the first time I watched, I was just so charmed with how it turned out.

[00:22:02] And then I watched episodes one and two again

[00:22:06] at the premiere, but then I was cool with it because I was like,

[00:22:09] I've seen it all great.

[00:22:10] And it was a huge audience of people who hadn't seen it.

[00:22:13] So laughter, good vibes, etc.

[00:22:15] And then the following night, I watched I got up together

[00:22:18] with my best friends outside of the show and we did our own premiere.

[00:22:22] But that meant we watched episodes one and two again.

[00:22:25] And then I was so tense.

[00:22:27] So I've watched episodes one and two like so many times.

[00:22:31] Yeah, that's a lot.

[00:22:31] But since then, although for a podcaster, totally normal amount of time.

[00:22:35] Right. OK, thank God.

[00:22:37] I've since worked through all the rest of them and it's funny how much

[00:22:42] is I was like, oh, I have seen all of them.

[00:22:44] So I watched them all in the offices of the company.

[00:22:46] But then like how much is added by there's so many small, beautiful

[00:22:52] gags in like stuff they've done with extras in the background of scenes.

[00:22:58] And something that's really beautiful, the person whose job it is to cast

[00:23:03] the extras, cast the supporting artists.

[00:23:06] Part of it's actually on series two.

[00:23:08] I never met the person who's on series one, but on series two,

[00:23:11] part of their job is to like find a supporting artist

[00:23:15] for the background of a scene and try and think about what their power could be

[00:23:18] and like pitch ideas.

[00:23:20] Nice. Which like I like some of them were written in like hardboiled in

[00:23:24] and some of them they're like, oh crap, we need like an idea for like,

[00:23:26] you know, this person or we need an idea of like what this person is going to be

[00:23:29] doing. We just need a random one. What's a random one?

[00:23:32] And it's so lovely when you can see

[00:23:35] because it's such a mix.

[00:23:36] Sometimes as a supporting artist, you're just like so far away in the background

[00:23:39] of the scene and sometimes it's like, oh no, we're not going to animate

[00:23:43] like a tongue, is it tongue coming out of your mouth and picking up the phone?

[00:23:47] But to be fair, I wish I could rewatch the episodes

[00:23:50] pre all the VFX because like obviously it's so much better as created

[00:23:55] but there was something really funny and magical about watching the version

[00:23:59] where whenever Ned Portius, who plays Luke flies away, just wires appear on his

[00:24:03] shoulders and then he just starts ascending.

[00:24:07] And when when Andy picks up Mary on the couch in the first episode,

[00:24:12] like there was wires on the couch and like it was just so funny

[00:24:15] watching these scenes with all the like workings exposed.

[00:24:19] I wish that was a setting.

[00:24:20] I wish on Disney Plus you could tick or like a DVD extra.

[00:24:24] Right. I wish you could remove VFX.

[00:24:26] I think that would be so funny.

[00:24:28] Almost like watching a play.

[00:24:30] Yeah, all like every show like that.

[00:24:33] That would be really great.

[00:24:34] But you'd see me just suddenly like trying to like shrink my body and then

[00:24:38] the cat appears like.

[00:24:42] There's this show that I like on Netflix called You.

[00:24:47] It's about a stalker.

[00:24:49] Yeah, yeah, I've heard of that.

[00:24:50] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:51] He's got this like rolling internal monologue.

[00:24:55] And there are people who've edited the show to take out all of his monologue.

[00:25:01] And you realize that this character is going through life,

[00:25:05] having long conversations with himself, but just like awkwardly standing

[00:25:09] around with people when he should be conversing with them.

[00:25:12] And so when you can't hear his inner thoughts,

[00:25:15] it just makes him seem like a giant weirdo.

[00:25:18] And you're like, why does anyone trust this guy?

[00:25:20] Have you ever seen Friends?

[00:25:21] So weird.

[00:25:22] Friends Without the Laughter Track?

[00:25:24] Oh, that would be good.

[00:25:25] It's so funny.

[00:25:27] It's when you watch Friends Without the Laughter Track.

[00:25:29] So this is going quite off.

[00:25:31] But like whatever.

[00:25:32] When you watch Friends Without the Laughter Track,

[00:25:34] I mentioned extraordinary, extraordinary uses music a lot for rhythm, I think.

[00:25:39] And it's something that's quite.

[00:25:40] Oh, the music is brilliant.

[00:25:41] Well, I mean, I have so much to say about that.

[00:25:43] But like, friends isn't really.

[00:25:47] And part of it is because it's like a multi-cam studio audience show.

[00:25:49] And it makes total sense why it works like that when you know about how that that

[00:25:52] that side of TV works.

[00:25:55] But if you just remove the laughter track is 100 percent the story

[00:25:58] of six people who hate each other because they never laugh at anything

[00:26:02] that each other says.

[00:26:03] So a character will say a joke and then you've got like four reaction shots

[00:26:07] of people staring at them like they've said the worst thing.

[00:26:10] And then someone else will say a joke and then you have three reaction

[00:26:13] shots of their apparent friends like staring at them or like kind of shrugging.

[00:26:18] Because the whole point is that, you know, that's the stuff which like

[00:26:19] that's where the audience laughs and everyone gives like a good like fixed

[00:26:22] point and give space for that laughter.

[00:26:25] And then they carry on like a stage play.

[00:26:27] But like it is it is so anxiety inducing watching it without a laughter track.

[00:26:35] Something that I loved about

[00:26:38] this is again a real tangent, but to show how I made love tangents.

[00:26:42] To show how I made a mother,

[00:26:43] which I was obsessed with as a teenager and like obviously has flaws

[00:26:47] as any piece of work does.

[00:26:48] Sure.

[00:26:49] But something I loved about that show was the characters found each other funny.

[00:26:53] I loved that about it.

[00:26:54] That's true.

[00:26:55] Like, do I don't was there a laugh track on how I met your mother?

[00:26:59] I feel like there wasn't.

[00:27:01] No, yes, there was.

[00:27:02] There was there was a track, but I don't know if it was a live studio audience.

[00:27:07] I imagine it was for some of the scenes, but quite a lot of that show

[00:27:11] was also out of out of like the flat or the I imagine a flat in the bar

[00:27:17] like with friends, you know, Central Perkz flats.

[00:27:20] I imagine a fair amount of it was.

[00:27:23] Was I don't know.

[00:27:24] I don't know.

[00:27:24] Candle, I don't know.

[00:27:25] Anyway, but I've never done.

[00:27:28] I mean, it's it's pretty unfashionable now, especially in the UK studio.

[00:27:33] You don't see any studio real sitcoms anymore.

[00:27:36] Yeah, like you know, studio audiences or anything like that.

[00:27:39] Or even any kind of laugh tracks.

[00:27:42] I mean, I feel like I feel like shows have just gotten smarter

[00:27:46] and the writing has just gotten so much more tight.

[00:27:49] Like, yes, extraordinary uses a lot of the music, as you said, for the rhythm

[00:27:55] of the show, but all of those all of visuals end up

[00:28:01] and this is one of the things that just like I one of the things

[00:28:03] I love not only about this show, but yeah, a lot of shows is that

[00:28:07] they just pack as much as they as they can.

[00:28:10] Like we're podcasting for like an hour and 40 minutes on a 30 minute show

[00:28:15] because of the cool shit that we see in the background

[00:28:18] or just a visual gag that lasts a second and a half.

[00:28:22] And we talk about it for seven minutes.

[00:28:24] And it's it's it's it's amazing how much

[00:28:28] it's not even Easter eggs, right?

[00:28:29] Because it's not based on source material or anything like that.

[00:28:32] It's just Emma's vision.

[00:28:35] And I was just like, good, good God,

[00:28:38] like there's so much extra stuff in here.

[00:28:40] And I like we've had because we are American,

[00:28:43] we've had to look up some of the

[00:28:46] some of the jokes that our pop culture in Britain.

[00:28:49] Yeah. And and I was with what was the one it was?

[00:28:53] Who was the the hunger strikest Bobby?

[00:28:55] Bobby's and the body.

[00:28:59] And and so I was like, OK, Bobby Sands.

[00:29:02] I don't know who that is.

[00:29:04] And Benny looked it up and she's and she mentions on the podcast,

[00:29:07] on the last podcast, she's like,

[00:29:09] you really have to be Irish to make that joke because otherwise it's just really

[00:29:13] in poor taste. And I was like, oh, yeah, that joke is pretty.

[00:29:17] It's pretty on the nose.

[00:29:18] We had like we did a lot of press and we interviewed quite a lot of

[00:29:21] we were interviewed by like quite a lot of Irish press.

[00:29:25] And yeah, I think I think in those interviews,

[00:29:28] we really let Maraid take the take.

[00:29:34] Yeah.

[00:29:37] Well, it's awesome that you guys have become so close and become such good friends.

[00:29:41] How much are you guys when when you guys are filming?

[00:29:44] How long do you guys typically go?

[00:29:45] I know that we what I hear about our,

[00:29:48] you know, 14 to 16 hour days.

[00:29:51] Is that about what you guys end up doing?

[00:29:53] Yeah, it's some.

[00:29:55] Yeah, I think a typical day is about.

[00:29:59] Well, it depends because I think often the hours are counted

[00:30:02] from when you arrive on set rather than.

[00:30:05] You know, when you leave your house or when you leave like.

[00:30:07] Sure. Yeah.

[00:30:09] Yes, I think in general, you're looking at like

[00:30:13] maybe like 12 hour days.

[00:30:14] It's so funny. It's a weird.

[00:30:15] Is a weird question to answer because like, actually,

[00:30:17] do you think my sense of time is pretty screwed?

[00:30:21] Like often we're like, oh, guess what time it is?

[00:30:23] Like guess what time it is?

[00:30:24] And we'll be like, it's three and someone's like, it's six o'clock.

[00:30:28] Because also you're inside on a set where there is like an artificial time.

[00:30:32] Like they've made this beautiful like backdrop that surrounds the fake flat,

[00:30:38] which has like, which has like people if it's nighttime,

[00:30:41] like they've lit the insides of windows inside this backdrop

[00:30:45] so that it looks like windows are like turned on.

[00:30:49] So it feels like nighttime or it feels like daytime.

[00:30:52] Because the weirdest thing it being dark outside.

[00:30:54] Oh, completely.

[00:30:55] Being dark outside and you go in and it's like morning.

[00:31:00] Yeah, I can see how that would be rough.

[00:31:03] Yeah, it's really, really screw with your senses.

[00:31:05] It disorientates you a lot.

[00:31:06] And, you know, sometimes you're filming like

[00:31:10] five days a week, six days a week, you know, if one day off, two days off.

[00:31:13] But the weirdest one is when

[00:31:16] you kind of go off the weekly schedule, so you're doing like four days on one day off,

[00:31:20] which means suddenly your day off is like a Monday and like a Friday or if,

[00:31:25] you know, everything.

[00:31:26] So at the moment I'm pretty I have to think about what day it is.

[00:31:29] It's Wednesday at the moment.

[00:31:30] It is Wednesday.

[00:31:33] Yes, today's Wednesday.

[00:31:34] Thank you.

[00:31:35] That's why I came on this podcast was to find out what time it is.

[00:31:38] And we are more than happy to help you.

[00:31:41] Yeah, but you guys have any time you need to know.

[00:31:43] So you're wrong.

[00:31:44] Well, yeah.

[00:31:45] So it is super.

[00:31:46] So we spent a lot of time

[00:31:49] on set with each other and

[00:31:53] quite a lot of time off as well.

[00:31:56] Like we went on holiday last year,

[00:31:59] after we filmed to a very small seaside town in the UK

[00:32:05] called Hastings.

[00:32:07] Everyone was like, why aren't you going somewhere tropical?

[00:32:10] And we were like, I just felt like a lot of organization

[00:32:13] just hopped on a train into this little town

[00:32:17] with a kind of hot tub that gave us all chemical burns, you know.

[00:32:21] Great.

[00:32:22] We'll repeat the experience this year.

[00:32:23] We're considering going to exactly the same Airbnb.

[00:32:26] Well, I can't really say that.

[00:32:27] Well, we're talking about this Hastings holiday so much

[00:32:29] that I actually think we probably need to go somewhere else.

[00:32:34] But yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:32:36] I don't know, like for me, it was the best thing about the show

[00:32:39] was was working with.

[00:32:40] I mean, obviously everyone there's so many

[00:32:42] is so many actors in the show whose work I adore so much.

[00:32:48] Who I'm happy to talk about.

[00:32:51] But I think like the greatest thing was

[00:32:56] working with the other three and it being all of our first thing

[00:32:59] has been so excited to see each other and so excited to work with each other.

[00:33:03] And obviously there are days where you're really stressed

[00:33:05] or one of these really miserable or you can't like just can't be asked.

[00:33:09] But but yeah, that's always been the special thing.

[00:33:13] We had a lot of people the week of the release kind of kind of like

[00:33:16] trying to like be like, never change, like please never change.

[00:33:20] Like telling us horror stories that I will not repeat about other shows

[00:33:24] where they're like and see what happened to them.

[00:33:26] So you must, you know, Sally, who's our executive producer,

[00:33:29] who I adore to bits,

[00:33:32] basically implored us not to change at all.

[00:33:37] Who knows how they've been burned before?

[00:33:39] But yeah, it's been.

[00:33:42] But what's nice?

[00:33:43] Sorry, I'm really I'm really blabbing here.

[00:33:45] But I think something that's nice was that we the show came out

[00:33:48] the week we were rehearsing.

[00:33:50] So we had the premiere and we had rehearsals the next morning.

[00:33:52] And so I was extremely hungover as were others.

[00:33:56] I'm trying to be trying to be

[00:33:58] to different matter when it comes to other people.

[00:33:59] But I was sure I was a mess.

[00:34:02] And then we were filming the next week

[00:34:03] so there was no real time to

[00:34:06] dwell on what was going on with the release.

[00:34:08] So I feel pretty unaware of the fact that it has come out

[00:34:13] and that people know about it.

[00:34:14] So these stuff like this or like being on the street

[00:34:16] and people shouting jizz or that made that I'm like, oh, OK.

[00:34:19] That's fantastic.

[00:34:24] Do you have a favorite episode?

[00:34:27] Yeah, I think it's seven.

[00:34:28] And I think it's seven because

[00:34:33] the dance, I mean, for me, the dance was like such a dream

[00:34:36] because it was like that's the thing that I do love about acting

[00:34:39] because my background is is kind of doing live comedy, really.

[00:34:44] Yeah. But there's something beautiful about you're doing this job.

[00:34:48] And because you're like an inverted commas actor, it's like, OK,

[00:34:51] so, you know, you have this job, which means you have to be

[00:34:54] different people or be in different situations.

[00:34:55] So obviously you're not a dancer,

[00:34:58] but this week your job is to like learn a dance.

[00:35:01] So you're like, OK, we all learn a dance now.

[00:35:04] So like we have these dance rehearsals with this guy.

[00:35:07] And then, you know, there's like another week where it's like,

[00:35:10] oh, we kind of need you to.

[00:35:12] I don't know what else have I had to do, like, you know, to fall over loads

[00:35:15] or, you know, do this or like crawl around like naked

[00:35:18] and like a kind of little little dignity pouch, like whatever.

[00:35:22] And there's something that's really enjoyable about that.

[00:35:25] It's something that's amazing about being like,

[00:35:28] OK, today my job is this.

[00:35:30] So on the prep side, that was really funny.

[00:35:33] I'm not in that episode much because I'm a cat for most of it.

[00:35:36] But I think the reason the main reason why that's my favorite episode

[00:35:39] is I think it's it's got my favorite.

[00:35:44] Three, I think it's my favorite storylines.

[00:35:47] I think Sophia Oxenham, who is the funniest human being

[00:35:52] I've ever met in my life, doing this extraordinary

[00:35:56] Charles Carrie duolog for that.

[00:36:00] That was so amazing.

[00:36:02] I think it's I think it's that so much.

[00:36:04] I think she needs to win an Oscar.

[00:36:06] I don't think Oscar is due TV, which is a pity, because I think I think

[00:36:09] it's I think that episode is.

[00:36:12] I think her work in that episode is unbelievably good.

[00:36:17] We were all so happy to see how the vigilante storyline kind of developed.

[00:36:25] It was so gorgeous.

[00:36:28] Yes, you know, do you have the cat show?

[00:36:30] You have like fears, amazing double act.

[00:36:35] And then like all the vigilantes we've seen come and have

[00:36:39] like their own little moment in that episode.

[00:36:41] Like I think it's I think it's totally golden.

[00:36:43] I really do.

[00:36:44] I can I completely can understand that.

[00:36:47] I like it all kind of not.

[00:36:48] It doesn't all blend together.

[00:36:50] But you talking about those particular because, you know,

[00:36:53] I'll be completely honest.

[00:36:55] I can't stand cash.

[00:36:57] And that means that Bilal is doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing

[00:37:01] and making him such a miserable person to watch.

[00:37:06] It's funny.

[00:37:07] I don't think that's something that I ever realized about cash

[00:37:10] at the time of filming.

[00:37:11] I never realized that he was like, absolutely.

[00:37:17] Our opinion of him went down sort of in time with our falling

[00:37:22] madly in love with Carrie, right?

[00:37:24] Like the more we loved Carrie, the more we were

[00:37:27] like cash is not good enough for a yes to dump him.

[00:37:31] Yeah, for sure.

[00:37:32] Yes, I'm going to do.

[00:37:34] But but I would say that I would say that of all of the episodes,

[00:37:39] we always have like a cash storyline that we that we discuss.

[00:37:43] And that's the one that was the most enjoyable.

[00:37:46] And in all honesty, like, yes, we we like you guys explored

[00:37:52] kind of the depths of what cash is.

[00:37:55] But the side characters were so phenomenal in in most episodes they are.

[00:38:02] But the side, you know, I don't I'm not sure of her name, but Magnet Girl.

[00:38:06] Yeah, let's talk about Magnet Girl.

[00:38:07] Can we just talk about Magnet Girl for a moment? Absolutely.

[00:38:09] Magnet Girl stole every scene that she was in.

[00:38:14] Olivia Marcus.

[00:38:15] Yeah, Liv Marcus is her name and she

[00:38:18] was kind of beautiful.

[00:38:20] I really, really love about a TV, like making TV and episodic TV is that,

[00:38:25] like you're filming, you have the scripts for the first four episodes

[00:38:29] and you're filming those.

[00:38:29] And just about the time when you're getting a bit like, oh, man, this is a real slog.

[00:38:33] Like suddenly you're handed like two more episodes.

[00:38:36] You're like, oh, wow, we get to be.

[00:38:38] We're doing prep for these ones.

[00:38:39] Really excited about these ones whilst we're also filming the previous ones.

[00:38:42] And then you get like a bit like burnt out out with those.

[00:38:45] And then suddenly you're like you're excited about.

[00:38:47] I remember episode eight, we were literally,

[00:38:50] we were told we're going to be set in episode seven.

[00:38:52] We got episode seven then late that day,

[00:38:54] we just got dropped episode eight, which the title of which is surprise.

[00:38:58] And I literally felt it was being trolled so hard.

[00:39:00] But the episodic thing means that like it is quite reactive as a medium

[00:39:06] and like Magnet Girl, I'm pretty certain was only meant to be in that one

[00:39:10] episode for like two lines.

[00:39:13] She was just meant to have that single appearance

[00:39:15] and we were all everyone was like, oh my God, Magnet Girl is so funny.

[00:39:20] Like she is so brilliant and so funny and so lovely.

[00:39:23] And I don't want to be I'm not taking credit for this

[00:39:24] because me and Balala both like we loved Magnet Girl.

[00:39:27] She has to come back, but everyone was basically like

[00:39:29] nodding their heads and winking and being like, oh, you don't know.

[00:39:32] And then they brought her back for that post credit scene

[00:39:35] because that was a rewrite.

[00:39:36] So she was brought in for that.

[00:39:36] And we were like, oh yeah, but guys, come on, like please.

[00:39:39] And then we hit like roots.

[00:39:40] We talked to Emma quite a lot.

[00:39:41] And then Emma was like, yeah, yeah, I think she's coming back.

[00:39:43] And we were like, oh my God, is she coming back?

[00:39:45] And then, you know, and so I think like the Magnet Girl development,

[00:39:50] the moment when she's holding the two guns as I think my favorite

[00:39:55] visual gag in the show is this girl who we know has Magnet

[00:39:59] powers holding two guns and just gesturing with them.

[00:40:01] And everyone's ducking.

[00:40:02] I think it's my favorite visual gag in the show.

[00:40:04] And she's she's such a funny performer.

[00:40:08] She's her very short response to that.

[00:40:11] She has the guns up and she goes to put him out.

[00:40:13] She goes, oh, I was hysterically laughing on my couch watching that.

[00:40:21] She also has one of the best lines in any of the episodes when she's like,

[00:40:25] oh my God, kiss, like it floored me because it's exactly what I was thinking.

[00:40:31] But like I didn't expect anybody to say it.

[00:40:34] So funny.

[00:40:35] Yeah, she's sorry.

[00:40:36] I kind of interrupted your flow to talk about Magnet Girl.

[00:40:40] No, Magnet Girl is a good topic of conversation here.

[00:40:44] Yeah, we we love tangents.

[00:40:47] We love randomness.

[00:40:49] So just bring it on.

[00:40:53] I.

[00:40:55] Yeah, I'm a big fan of of Becky from the school episode.

[00:41:01] Was that episode five?

[00:41:03] Becca, yes.

[00:41:05] High School Bullied.

[00:41:07] I never got to meet her.

[00:41:08] So yeah, you're not in those scenes with her.

[00:41:11] She was so funny.

[00:41:13] I was originally in the school and then.

[00:41:16] I suddenly found out I wasn't and I was like, I'm guessing that.

[00:41:19] Like, don't worry, you're going to be having some of the scenes in a bath.

[00:41:22] And I was like, what do you mean?

[00:41:24] I'm going to have scenes in a bath.

[00:41:27] I'm ever doing the brush bit for like days afterward.

[00:41:31] I was like every time I would pet my cat, I'd be like, good boys, get the brush.

[00:41:36] Like, I just couldn't stop doing it.

[00:41:38] The Evelyn Mark who plays.

[00:41:41] Oh, I can't remember her name, but the woman the woman in the cat show.

[00:41:45] Donna's like Donna.

[00:41:46] That's it. Donna.

[00:41:48] I know the one with the bottle, right?

[00:41:49] The tap in the bottle.

[00:41:51] Evelyn's one of a couple of performers in the show

[00:41:54] who I knew from like comedy, like stand up or like, you know,

[00:41:59] I what what I do is like more like mine, like physical stuff.

[00:42:02] But I knew her from comedy like beforehand and I'm kind of

[00:42:05] especially protective and proud of like all the comedians in comic.

[00:42:09] Like like telling this drawn like more

[00:42:11] from like a comedy background in the show.

[00:42:13] So like Evelyn Mark and Adam who plays Benny, the record executive

[00:42:17] in episode three, I think it is.

[00:42:20] They're all like they're all just from comedy.

[00:42:22] And so it's kind of like weird to both be

[00:42:25] doing this Disney show and being like, oh, hey, man.

[00:42:28] Hey, but Evelyn, I think is so, so funny as Donna.

[00:42:34] Yeah.

[00:42:35] There's even some people who don't even have any like the guy

[00:42:39] who is the judge in the cat show who gives us 10 points.

[00:42:42] Yes.

[00:42:44] The look on his face was so.

[00:42:48] Oh, yes, I liked it.

[00:42:50] Yeah.

[00:42:52] But yeah.

[00:42:53] All right, so I'm going to I'm going to ask a couple of these

[00:42:56] questions that I actually wrote down.

[00:42:58] Please do.

[00:42:59] All right.

[00:43:01] So I already asked that.

[00:43:03] All right. So this is your first like big major project, right?

[00:43:08] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:10] I imagine you're going to get a lot of offers as a result of

[00:43:15] this show and your performance as Gis Lorde.

[00:43:18] I saw on your Instagram the other day, you said the rumors are true.

[00:43:22] You're going to be playing Jimmy Neutron.

[00:43:24] And then I was like, is that a joke?

[00:43:25] Yeah, that was 100 percent a joke.

[00:43:27] I'm quite bad.

[00:43:28] Like I don't know bad.

[00:43:29] I'm quite I get a lot.

[00:43:32] I think again, it's like a comedy background thing, but I get quite a lot of glee

[00:43:36] out of using social media in quite a disingenuous way.

[00:43:40] But I do think it is obviously you have so little control over how people

[00:43:46] read stuff.

[00:43:48] It was just because I posted a photo where everyone's like, you look like Jimmy Neutron.

[00:43:50] So obviously in my mind, I'm like, oh, I can just say I'm now Jimmy Neutron.

[00:43:55] I've yet to have Disney be like, please stop.

[00:43:58] But I do feel like if any of the four of us is going to get told off, it is going to be me.

[00:44:02] The reason I really want to start spreading, which I started spreading

[00:44:06] means Sophia have a passion for spreading rumors on set.

[00:44:12] Sophia has just messaged me.

[00:44:15] Oh, my God, Sophia might join us.

[00:44:17] Wait, I'll just message her.

[00:44:18] Oh, that would be amazing.

[00:44:20] I'll see if she I'll see if she wants to mean to be a have a passion

[00:44:24] for spreading rumors on set and the one I'm currently trying to spread

[00:44:26] is that we're doing a Christmas special of extraordinary,

[00:44:30] which is not true.

[00:44:32] It's 100 percent not true, but I might just announce it on my Instagram today.

[00:44:38] I just you should just take a picture and I will be grateful to understand

[00:44:42] that it is not true because I know.

[00:44:43] But like you should take a picture of you guys of the four of you guys

[00:44:48] in like Christmas area.

[00:44:51] Yeah. And obviously, Moray needs to be wearing

[00:44:53] some ridiculously highly colored outfit that looks absolutely bonkers

[00:44:57] and just be like, oh, yeah, coming this this this Christmas.

[00:45:01] I mean, what?

[00:45:03] And nothing else right coming this Christmas.

[00:45:05] And maybe it's time to pitch like the alternative for Santa hats.

[00:45:09] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:45:11] I got some elf hats.

[00:45:12] I don't even know what that would look like, but.

[00:45:15] But yeah, maybe maybe it's time to pitch a kind of like alternative seasonal

[00:45:18] like a St. Stephen's Day.

[00:45:19] I didn't know what happens on St.

[00:45:20] Stephen's Day, but this is St.

[00:45:22] Stephen's Day special.

[00:45:24] Yeah.

[00:45:24] Anyway, sorry, you're asking me a question.

[00:45:26] I'll come over to you.

[00:45:26] You were saying something this first project or something.

[00:45:28] I don't know.

[00:45:29] Oh, yeah, this is your your your first kind of big project.

[00:45:33] And were you are you like selective about the because

[00:45:38] I read an interview that that you said that this was like the first

[00:45:42] kind of script that made you laugh out loud.

[00:45:45] I don't know if that's a true statement.

[00:45:46] I think it might have been on Wikipedia.

[00:45:48] I'm not 100 percent sure.

[00:45:50] But but are you like selective in what you're like?

[00:45:53] This doesn't really interest me.

[00:45:54] I know you're you participate in the Fringe Festival.

[00:45:58] At least you did for a number of years.

[00:46:00] Yeah, yeah.

[00:46:02] Yeah, I think as like as a struggling

[00:46:06] or like, you know, the comedy that I do is pretty

[00:46:10] it's very prop based and mime and clown based.

[00:46:13] I trained as a clown, really.

[00:46:16] And so it's pretty niche.

[00:46:18] And so there's not you know, I'm not drowning in kind of

[00:46:21] office for my comedy work.

[00:46:24] It's what we're doing here.

[00:46:25] You really have to convince people strong arm them into being interested

[00:46:28] and no one's like, well, this should be a TV show.

[00:46:32] Sadly.

[00:46:34] So I think I really am in the habit of kind of saying yes to stuff.

[00:46:40] But I think to a certain extent, there's an element of like, sure,

[00:46:44] I say yes to loads of stuff and maybe I shouldn't and maybe I should be more

[00:46:46] selective, you know, but also I there is a part of me is actually just

[00:46:52] quite excited to work with different people on different stuff.

[00:46:57] And like, you know, if I have time on my hands,

[00:47:00] I'm pretty

[00:47:02] weird for not being very precious about.

[00:47:05] I shouldn't say this, but like not necessarily pay, but like

[00:47:08] there's stuff that I do where I'm literally like, I don't understand.

[00:47:12] It makes no real sense to me to do this, but.

[00:47:16] Actually, like it just seems like a kind of a fun way to spend my time.

[00:47:19] Like Edinburgh last year.

[00:47:21] I did Edinburgh last year.

[00:47:22] I did a show called Bowerbird, which I'm doing again this year in various

[00:47:27] places, not in Edinburgh, but in London and like this theater that's

[00:47:31] in the West End technically called the Soho Theatre, which is a really great

[00:47:34] comedy theatre and ultimately like I didn't I didn't really stand to gain

[00:47:40] a lot from that Edinburgh.

[00:47:41] Like it's a lot.

[00:47:41] Edinburgh is like a lot of work.

[00:47:43] It's like 28 shows or 26 shows or whatever.

[00:47:45] Basically in a row, you get like one day off if you want to.

[00:47:48] I did gain myself two days off because I was like, fuck it.

[00:47:51] I was like, really?

[00:47:52] I don't know what I'm gaining here apart from like an artistic kind of

[00:47:55] kick.

[00:47:57] You know, like I'm doing this show.

[00:47:59] I didn't actually at that time know that we were doing a second series.

[00:48:02] So actually thinking back maybe I was a bit like insurance.

[00:48:06] Yeah, building something.

[00:48:07] What are these flops like?

[00:48:09] Hell, I didn't believe it would.

[00:48:11] But there's always a terror.

[00:48:12] But like I spent so much money on that Edinburgh run because because you can.

[00:48:20] It's very easy to but also I was kind of like this is for me in a way.

[00:48:26] And the aim for the first time, the venue I work at in Edinburgh is

[00:48:31] called the Monkey Barrel and it's a really, really comedian friendly venue.

[00:48:36] Like it really is one of the few venues in Edinburgh where as a comedian

[00:48:40] you really can make a living.

[00:48:42] And I used to every time I performed there previously.

[00:48:44] But there you go.

[00:48:45] It's all out.

[00:48:46] I was like, if I want something, I'm buying it.

[00:48:48] I can afford it.

[00:48:48] Fuck it.

[00:48:49] Yeah.

[00:48:50] It made no sense really.

[00:48:52] But I just kind of did it because I wanted that show to be the show

[00:48:55] that I wanted it to be.

[00:48:57] So this is a question about being selective.

[00:48:59] I think am I selective?

[00:49:01] I think what I am is I'm quite rabid about trying to put myself out there

[00:49:09] and move myself forwards and make work with people.

[00:49:15] I think there's a lot of stuff that I would do if asked, which maybe

[00:49:22] you'd be like, why is he doing that?

[00:49:24] Or that doesn't make like loads of sense.

[00:49:27] Like last year whilst I was filming the show,

[00:49:30] I was like programming this festival, this comedy festival in about like

[00:49:34] an alternative clown festival in Barns, which is like slightly outside of London.

[00:49:39] And it was like really stressful.

[00:49:41] And I was like doing that.

[00:49:42] Like I was like coming off set and then like zooming someone about font sizes

[00:49:46] for the flyer.

[00:49:47] And I was like, this is this is stupid.

[00:49:50] Like why am I doing this?

[00:49:51] I'm trying to cut back on stuff like that, which is like really dumb.

[00:49:53] But I'm like, this is this is I actually don't have the mental capacity

[00:49:56] for this because I am filled without saying too much.

[00:49:59] And obviously I'm in this series more than the last one because I'm no longer

[00:50:04] a cat for the entire first episode.

[00:50:07] Right, yeah.

[00:50:08] Without trying to give too much away about what I get up to the series.

[00:50:11] But like, you know, I am like a lot busier.

[00:50:15] But yeah, I think I love I love working.

[00:50:19] I love making stuff.

[00:50:23] And I've done that for myself for so long.

[00:50:27] But that's kind of the reason why I've ended up doing this show.

[00:50:30] You know, like I got my agents through making comedy shows

[00:50:36] basically because I felt like it and like really stupid stuff in my bedroom,

[00:50:40] which basically no one asked me to do.

[00:50:42] Like no one was like, this makes sense.

[00:50:44] This makes sense for you to do.

[00:50:46] So I just try and be steered by that as much as possible.

[00:50:49] Like I love doing stuff for the sake of it,

[00:50:53] even though often it's a bit like, why are you doing this?

[00:50:55] I there's a slight slight.

[00:50:57] I know I have a slight impulse of kind of like,

[00:51:00] which is maybe a little self-destructive or maybe nourishing.

[00:51:03] I'm not really sure which but like during the pandemic.

[00:51:08] Yeah, it's really hard to tell, isn't it?

[00:51:10] And I don't think a therapist can tell you.

[00:51:11] But like during the pandemic, I did this weekly show

[00:51:16] with some friends called the Carbord News Network,

[00:51:18] which like no one's ever fucking no one's heard of.

[00:51:20] But we made a weekly show where we were built

[00:51:24] a topical comedy show, a visual topical comedy show

[00:51:28] where all the props were made out of cardboard

[00:51:29] and I would like spend the week making these like puppets

[00:51:32] and pop-ups and like these quite complex ideas.

[00:51:36] And then and then yeah, it's all on YouTube, man.

[00:51:39] Because not like it's really trying to get people to watch it.

[00:51:42] I think at most we had 60 people tune in for one live.

[00:51:46] And then like in general, I like viewership is like 20 people.

[00:51:49] I think including our zooms that was tuning into this thing.

[00:51:52] And it was like so much work.

[00:51:54] But like there's something I find very creatively freeing

[00:51:57] about acceptance in that sense.

[00:52:00] Like it was something where it's like, OK, well,

[00:52:02] we have to make this thing this week and it's not.

[00:52:05] I'm not trying to be like, what's the posterity of this thing?

[00:52:07] Like what's the long term of this thing?

[00:52:10] And honestly, that sounds almost like like what we're doing,

[00:52:13] like podcasts, right? Yeah.

[00:52:15] It's like I don't give a shit about listenership.

[00:52:17] I mean, is that cool? Sure, that'd be great.

[00:52:20] But I do it because it's fun to sit down and talk with Penny

[00:52:23] for an hour or two about a show that I find a lot really entertaining.

[00:52:27] Ultimately, you've got to do things which end up feeling good.

[00:52:32] Yeah. Just as a biological human experience.

[00:52:37] And it's very easy, I think, to get hooked on stuff that don't feel good.

[00:52:40] But but you're like, oh, this is what I should be doing.

[00:52:43] Yeah, I should be doing this. Yeah.

[00:52:45] I think part of the reason why I'm not doing Edinburgh this year

[00:52:47] is for this feeling of like, oh, man, that'd be a lot of emailing.

[00:52:51] Like I do a lot of emailing one night.

[00:52:54] I think on balance, I might be able to be.

[00:52:59] I think on balance this year, I wouldn't enjoy that. Yeah.

[00:53:03] Yeah. But you never know where things are going to lead, right?

[00:53:07] Like something you did for no pay and just for fun

[00:53:11] that felt right to you at the time could come back sometime later in your life.

[00:53:16] That's how art is, right?

[00:53:18] Like it could become relevant in 10 years.

[00:53:21] Speaking of that, what was it called? Cardboard?

[00:53:23] What? Yeah, Cardboard News Network was the name of that show.

[00:53:28] We did about 12 episodes of an incredibly wasteful

[00:53:33] such high, such low production value, such high effort.

[00:53:38] And I think that is kind of in general just so appealing to me,

[00:53:42] but never makes any sense from a career perspective.

[00:53:45] I made a Nativity show last Christmas.

[00:53:47] Me and one of my best friends, we used to perform together.

[00:53:51] We still do occasionally as a double act called Stepdads.

[00:53:55] And we made a one off because I was kind of killing myself,

[00:54:00] like trying to get projects off the ground before extraordinary

[00:54:02] came out before I started filming again.

[00:54:05] And so we decided to put on like a two hour one off Nativity play

[00:54:12] with like different comedians.

[00:54:13] And we ended up basically having to write like an hour and a half of

[00:54:16] like our non-hour and a half, like roughly an hour was worth of new

[00:54:21] Nativity show based material for a show that we did once for charity.

[00:54:26] And it was like, I loved that.

[00:54:28] I was like, this is I feel if I could just do stuff like that

[00:54:32] for the rest of my life, I'd be well chuffed.

[00:54:36] That's awesome.

[00:54:37] Well, sort of speaking of that, what are some of the types

[00:54:42] of things you hope you can do in the future?

[00:54:44] Like, do you want to try your hand at action or drama?

[00:54:50] Do you want to do more, you know, like live straight theater?

[00:54:54] Do you want to stick with doing the clowning stuff?

[00:54:56] Where do you hope that this will lead?

[00:54:58] Yeah, I mean, you know, short term it would be it would be

[00:55:03] obviously be cool to to do more filmed work.

[00:55:08] At all.

[00:55:08] And basically more, I mean, I'm always, I think, trying to fly

[00:55:11] the flag of physical comedy to a certain extent and any role

[00:55:16] or any work.

[00:55:17] Again, I think maybe it's more about projects than necessarily

[00:55:20] about roles for me, but to be involved with any project

[00:55:23] which feel like pushing in that direction or pushing that envelope.

[00:55:29] I'd be so excited about the existence of those projects.

[00:55:33] There are some really stupid, bad experimental ideas for live shows

[00:55:37] that I would love to feel like I had enough of an audience

[00:55:40] to be able to be like get just to get away with doing.

[00:55:45] Yeah, like, like, I would love this like, oh man, this is show

[00:55:48] I want to do.

[00:55:49] I want to do like an hour long show, which is from the big

[00:55:53] bang up until the present moment, but proportionately

[00:55:56] to the dimensions of that time.

[00:55:58] So it would be like, oh, ultimately, the entirety of

[00:56:01] human history would be like the last second of the show, I guess.

[00:56:05] And you're basically like 59 minutes of like rocks forming,

[00:56:08] I guess.

[00:56:11] I haven't really thought it through.

[00:56:12] I haven't like plotted that out, but every time I talk about it,

[00:56:14] people are like, that's really funny.

[00:56:15] And I'm always like, yeah, is it such a funny idea?

[00:56:18] But I think in practice of you, but like, I would love to be

[00:56:20] able to, I would love to be able to like do that.

[00:56:22] You know, I'd love to feel like, oh, I could do that.

[00:56:26] I've been talking about the years.

[00:56:30] It's an idea of me and a couple of the guys had of doing this.

[00:56:34] This is something I really shouldn't talk about this, but I'm going to.

[00:56:37] I really want to do a show which is a combination of magic Mike

[00:56:42] Excel, it's like a strip show with the history of Bill Gates

[00:56:48] and Microsoft called magical Microsoft Excel.

[00:56:51] And it's about Microsoft Excel being created through the power

[00:56:54] of mail strip.

[00:56:56] That is fantastic.

[00:56:57] I'm kind of convinced that could be a huge commercial success

[00:57:00] and would take the rest of my life touring around the world.

[00:57:02] But like, yeah, so like, you know, there's stuff that I want to do

[00:57:05] kind of in live work, which it would be nice to not have

[00:57:11] like a level of insecurity around that work and a level of like

[00:57:15] kind of creative freedom.

[00:57:16] And there are artists who I see who I feel like creating that way

[00:57:22] with TV, like my total dream, I think is to be

[00:57:26] is to is to write a show.

[00:57:28] It's a writer show and be in it.

[00:57:30] You know, I think I feel like it's a little different in the US.

[00:57:34] I think the culture is slightly different.

[00:57:36] But in the UK at the moment, there's definitely a cache.

[00:57:40] There's definitely like a kind of niche or a kind of attention

[00:57:45] towards like writer performers.

[00:57:47] And like if you're a comedian, basically everyone's always like,

[00:57:50] what's your TV show?

[00:57:51] What's your TV show do you want to make?

[00:57:53] You know, you do a like a year working on a live show and then

[00:57:56] you get a meeting with a TV guy who's like great live show.

[00:57:59] So what's your TV show?

[00:58:00] And you're like, I don't know.

[00:58:01] I spent a, are you kidding me?

[00:58:03] When would I come up with that?

[00:58:05] When do you think that would have happened?

[00:58:08] But now I would love to, you know, I would love to be

[00:58:16] kind of on both sides of the camera in that sense.

[00:58:19] Yeah.

[00:58:20] And there are people obviously.

[00:58:21] Like a mini-caling kind of thing.

[00:58:22] Yeah.

[00:58:23] Yeah.

[00:58:24] I think the guy in the UK, you know, the G-Beatle in the UK

[00:58:27] who I think are the clearest dream careers around Nick

[00:58:32] Mohammed and Jamie Dimitru.

[00:58:36] I don't know if either of those haven't made any kind of splash.

[00:58:39] You know, Nick Mohammed is very much so in, in Tadlaso.

[00:58:45] I'm not sure about Jamie.

[00:58:47] Yeah.

[00:58:48] Jamie Dimitru is kind of like a mad huge star over here.

[00:58:51] But it's so funny how like that, what that means internationally

[00:58:55] or what he made this amazing show called Stafflet's Flats.

[00:58:58] And it's done some of stuff in the US and just had a Netflix

[00:59:00] special come out.

[00:59:02] And you look at his stuff and you go like, that is so clear.

[00:59:06] Who that is comically.

[00:59:08] You know, who, when you get them involved in a project,

[00:59:11] you know, or you commission a project from them,

[00:59:13] like what that means comically.

[00:59:15] And I would love to be in the position.

[00:59:19] This is speaking a bit dryly, but like I guess I'd love to be in that

[00:59:22] position where I felt like I was offering that to the world.

[00:59:27] You know, I think that's, that's the thing.

[00:59:29] Yeah, almost like a brand.

[00:59:31] Yeah.

[00:59:32] When you get Luke, this is the maybe not exactly what you get,

[00:59:36] but this is the type of art and humor that you will see

[00:59:42] and have produced.

[00:59:44] It's the reason why the live works are very important to me

[00:59:46] because it feels like the clearest.

[00:59:49] The reason why I started doing comedy was it was the quickest

[00:59:52] and easiest way to go from like up in my head to outside of my

[00:59:58] head is that it was, you know, you could, you could email

[01:00:00] someone and then that Wednesday, to know I've gone for Wednesday.

[01:00:04] It's Wednesday.

[01:00:05] It's always on a Wednesday.

[01:00:06] You can email someone and be like, this week you can do this

[01:00:10] thing where you have a lamp on your head.

[01:00:11] You can do that now.

[01:00:13] And I think before that, I was like trying to direct,

[01:00:16] write and direct films.

[01:00:17] You know, before that it was like, oh acting or like, you know,

[01:00:20] whatever, but it was just the easiest.

[01:00:22] It was such a lot.

[01:00:23] It was just like, if people are convinced it's meant to be

[01:00:26] comedy, you can do anything.

[01:00:28] And it's the reason why I think I try and do work to

[01:00:31] like foster new comedians.

[01:00:34] I run like a kind of artist support thing over in the UK

[01:00:39] for like new, like alternative comedians.

[01:00:42] Mostly because we just read about that.

[01:00:44] Actually, yeah.

[01:00:45] Yeah.

[01:00:46] It's, it's, yeah.

[01:00:47] I mean, I can blab on about this forever, but like it's

[01:00:52] basically because like, you know, I think comedy is a

[01:00:55] training ground actually for loads of other people taking

[01:00:58] a slightly different approach at different jobs in the

[01:01:01] creative industries, whether that's like acting,

[01:01:03] writing, directing, like whatever.

[01:01:05] It's beautiful.

[01:01:06] It's the thing that I find so beautiful about it.

[01:01:08] And it's because it's basically like, you can just go

[01:01:10] into your thing.

[01:01:11] And I feel like with anything else, like theater,

[01:01:14] filmmaking, there's actually like so many other barriers

[01:01:17] to entry.

[01:01:18] And I see people who are making inverted commons comedy

[01:01:22] shows, but you can see that what they really are is

[01:01:25] like an artist or a filmmaker or a writer or an actor.

[01:01:29] And that doesn't, it doesn't matter.

[01:01:31] It doesn't matter because, you know, yeah, I don't know.

[01:01:34] I'm, I'm very passionate about that.

[01:01:38] And basically without comedy, I wouldn't be doing

[01:01:43] anything that I'm doing at the moment that I'm proud of

[01:01:46] or have done that I'm proud of.

[01:01:47] And I feel endlessly grateful towards the people who

[01:01:54] guided me with that.

[01:01:57] Blah, blah, blah.

[01:01:58] Yeah.

[01:01:59] Yeah, that's awesome.

[01:02:00] Who are your comedy heroes?

[01:02:03] Speaking, I guess I'll speak like on one hand kind of

[01:02:09] like in terms of like international or renowned and

[01:02:12] kind of fame.

[01:02:13] And then I guess like people who have been more

[01:02:15] directly, you know, like, like influential.

[01:02:19] I'll start with the second.

[01:02:21] There's a guy called, is it New Zealand Kiwi Mime?

[01:02:25] A guy from New Zealand who's called Trig V Waconshaw,

[01:02:29] who's for so many people I know and so many people my age

[01:02:33] who do comedy.

[01:02:34] They saw him performing at Edinburgh, this Mime.

[01:02:36] He did a show called Squid Boy where he was kind of like a

[01:02:39] squid.

[01:02:40] It was like a Mime show where he was like a squid guy.

[01:02:42] Interesting.

[01:02:43] And it blew my mind.

[01:02:45] And that point I was like, that's what I want to do.

[01:02:47] I want to be, I want to do, but I was like, what's this?

[01:02:50] It's a clown show.

[01:02:51] And I was like, okay, that's what I want to do.

[01:02:53] It's like, you know, this is a guy by himself on

[01:02:55] stage who's doing something that's making everyone in this

[01:02:58] room laugh.

[01:02:59] It's just him.

[01:03:00] There's nothing else.

[01:03:01] Someone playing sound.

[01:03:02] That's it.

[01:03:03] Everyone in his laughing, everyone in his like imagining

[01:03:05] something, their imaginations are so alive.

[01:03:07] And I wept at the end of the show.

[01:03:09] I was like, that's it.

[01:03:11] That was the big light bulb moment for me.

[01:03:13] It was like, I left that show my life had completely

[01:03:15] changed.

[01:03:16] And I've known so many people who feel the same

[01:03:18] about this guy.

[01:03:19] And I think he still tours shows.

[01:03:22] So he was like, that's like a huge thing.

[01:03:27] And there's like loads of people, you know, performers who,

[01:03:29] you know, you see live who do that for you who maybe

[01:03:34] they get cast in stuff or maybe they don't, or maybe

[01:03:36] they just continue performing like live, or maybe they

[01:03:39] don't, or maybe they become teachers or, um, or

[01:03:43] maybe they live on in like other people, you know,

[01:03:46] whatever.

[01:03:47] I mean, again, sorry, I'm getting a bit tired of

[01:03:49] myself, but like, I, you know, this is, it's funny

[01:03:52] how like I can see in people, like not copies,

[01:03:58] but like ripples of someone who's influenced

[01:04:01] someone else who's influenced someone else who's

[01:04:03] influenced someone else.

[01:04:04] And you can, I think it's a really beautiful thing.

[01:04:06] Um, where you can be like, you know, like, like,

[01:04:10] it's like an ecosystem.

[01:04:11] Right.

[01:04:12] Live performer wise.

[01:04:14] Some of my big hitters early on were Trigview

[01:04:16] Waking Shore, Tom Monkton, another New Zealand

[01:04:19] clown.

[01:04:20] Um, a guy called Spencer Jones in the UK does a lot

[01:04:23] of prop stuff.

[01:04:24] Uh, a woman called Lucy Perman over in the UK.

[01:04:27] A guy called Eric Davis who does a character

[01:04:30] called Red Bastard.

[01:04:31] You know, these are all people who like in my

[01:04:33] world, everyone's like, oh yeah, those guys,

[01:04:35] come on.

[01:04:36] Oh yeah, you and everyone else man.

[01:04:40] Like, um, but like, you know, I taught

[01:04:43] you guys, I imagine it's like blank

[01:04:46] stairs.

[01:04:48] No, I'm furiously writing down names now for me to

[01:04:51] look up and I'm going to write in the chat

[01:04:53] Trigview Waking Shore because it's impossible to

[01:04:55] spell, but he's man.

[01:04:57] He's um, yeah, thank you.

[01:04:58] It's great.

[01:04:59] Some of his work online you can watch.

[01:05:01] Um, and I'm inspired also like constantly by

[01:05:05] people who are now more my contemporaries.

[01:05:08] Like, you know, these are people who I was

[01:05:10] like looking up too desperately, but to be

[01:05:12] honest, like some of my biggest inspirations

[01:05:13] now are just looking around at the people

[01:05:15] that are still around me.

[01:05:16] Um, and it's something that I'm always

[01:05:19] afraid of getting too far away from.

[01:05:21] And even people who are like invited

[01:05:23] concert, like, you know, I went to this

[01:05:25] clown school or whatever.

[01:05:26] And there are people who I know because

[01:05:27] they were in the year below me at clown

[01:05:28] school and they're younger.

[01:05:29] And now I look at work they're making

[01:05:30] and I'm like, fuck, I wish I was doing

[01:05:32] that.

[01:05:33] I wish I was that funny.

[01:05:36] I wish I was that beautiful.

[01:05:37] I wish I was that smart, you know.

[01:05:39] Um, so that's, that's amazing.

[01:05:42] It's amazing going to clown school and

[01:05:44] then you're old who's never performed

[01:05:46] before, who is so much funnier than you

[01:05:48] are.

[01:05:50] And you think, oh man, it's humbling.

[01:05:53] Um, I guess in terms of like wider

[01:05:56] influences outside of like the totally

[01:05:59] niche, like people who I think about

[01:06:03] a lot are, um, I'm a big, I'm a big

[01:06:06] Buster Keaton fan.

[01:06:08] Uh, that's, that's super, super

[01:06:11] classical.

[01:06:12] I love, uh, I mean, this is again

[01:06:16] putting a little in the obscure territory

[01:06:18] but I love, uh, I love Jacques Tati

[01:06:21] and, um, the movies of Roy

[01:06:26] Anderson which are super bleak but

[01:06:28] they're shot really far away.

[01:06:30] They come across as really funny.

[01:06:32] Interesting.

[01:06:34] Yeah.

[01:06:35] Roy Anderson made a movie called a

[01:06:37] pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on

[01:06:39] human existence which is basically a

[01:06:42] tragedy but because it's shot from really

[01:06:44] far away, everyone just looks quite

[01:06:45] pathetic and funny.

[01:06:47] Um, think about that film all the time.

[01:06:52] Um, yeah.

[01:06:55] So those are, yeah, yeah.

[01:06:57] So, so, so, I mean, I mean there's

[01:06:59] a guy called Dr. Brown who's in a lot

[01:07:01] of work who was the first, he made

[01:07:04] it some really, really beautiful work

[01:07:06] that's out there.

[01:07:07] He was in a film for Netflix a long time

[01:07:09] ago and he, um, there's a short pilot

[01:07:12] of his called The Passage which is out

[01:07:14] on YouTube and he's again like

[01:07:17] talked to anyone in the comedy

[01:07:19] industry and they're like, oh,

[01:07:21] Dr. Brown's your influence?

[01:07:23] That's cool.

[01:07:24] He only won the biggest award in

[01:07:26] comedy like 10 years ago.

[01:07:28] Well done you for having such a

[01:07:30] cool interest but like I think

[01:07:32] most people don't know who the

[01:07:34] first clown teacher I ever had

[01:07:36] and he told me I was the least funny

[01:07:38] person that he never met.

[01:07:40] And I cried a lot.

[01:07:42] I would too.

[01:07:44] Why are people so mean?

[01:07:46] Yeah, I think it ultimately was

[01:07:48] useful for me.

[01:07:50] I don't, I don't, I don't, it's

[01:07:52] easy just to leave it at that

[01:07:54] anecdotally and be like, but again

[01:07:56] that was a very life changing

[01:07:58] experience.

[01:07:59] That was after I'd seen Tricky

[01:08:01] Wake and Shore on this basically

[01:08:03] like this is what I want to do with my

[01:08:05] life and then went to a course for it

[01:08:07] and then I was told that I would

[01:08:10] never, I would never be funny in my

[01:08:12] life.

[01:08:13] And I was like, ugh.

[01:08:15] Well, haha, Dr. Brown

[01:08:17] figured out a way to be funny.

[01:08:19] Jokes on you.

[01:08:21] But yeah, but I think it's only

[01:08:22] because you're hilarious.

[01:08:23] I think I showed up for that course

[01:08:24] being like, I'm hilarious, I'm going

[01:08:26] to be hilarious and I think

[01:08:28] everything that's been a humbling

[01:08:29] experience is the stuff that

[01:08:31] is the only reason why I'm able to

[01:08:33] be here today talking to you guys

[01:08:35] really.

[01:08:36] Yeah, we appreciate

[01:08:38] you spending the time with us.

[01:08:40] Unfortunately, I have to step out

[01:08:42] and go help make the kids the kids

[01:08:44] dinner, but you and Penny are more than

[01:08:46] welcome to talk as long as you want.

[01:08:48] And but Luke, I just want

[01:08:50] to tell you, I really appreciate you taking

[01:08:52] the time to come on and we'll figure

[01:08:54] out some sort of intro or whatever

[01:08:56] to do.

[01:08:57] And then I can't wait to hear that what

[01:08:59] you two talk about when I listen to this

[01:09:01] a little bit later.

[01:09:02] We're going to talk about you, Greg.

[01:09:03] We're just going to talk about you.

[01:09:04] OK, sounds good.

[01:09:05] Well, I will just toss on my sexy voice

[01:09:07] and then I'll leave you with that.

[01:09:09] Yeah, what's the deal with Greg?

[01:09:11] Yeah.

[01:09:13] Is Greg single?

[01:09:15] What's Greg's deal?

[01:09:17] He is married.

[01:09:19] He's got three kids

[01:09:21] just retired from the Navy

[01:09:23] last year.

[01:09:24] Oh my God.

[01:09:25] Right, is Greg gone?

[01:09:26] Yeah.

[01:09:27] Is Greg gone now?

[01:09:28] Yeah, cool.

[01:09:29] I think so.

[01:09:30] OK, good.

[01:09:31] So if that would be a joke, Greg, gossip.

[01:09:33] I'm aware I've taken us on like a really weird

[01:09:35] emotional clown tangent,

[01:09:37] but is there anything else

[01:09:39] about the show

[01:09:41] that theoretically your listeners

[01:09:43] will actually be interested in?

[01:09:45] Oh, I think our listeners

[01:09:47] are going to like all of this.

[01:09:49] And I personally,

[01:09:51] my preference for

[01:09:53] live art is the weirder the better.

[01:09:55] So you fit my niche perfectly.

[01:09:58] Actually attending

[01:10:00] Edinburgh Fringe Festival is like on my, you know, bucket list.

[01:10:03] Oh man, yeah.

[01:10:05] I, um, it's probably the best place.

[01:10:07] If you're not UK based,

[01:10:10] you know, I think it's the best place to,

[01:10:12] well, I mean, I think it's just where everything collects

[01:10:14] like the drain, you know, it's like the drain

[01:10:16] of all performance.

[01:10:17] So it's, you can see a lot of awful stuff there,

[01:10:20] but a lot of absolutely incredible stuff.

[01:10:22] Although where about you say you're basically Boston?

[01:10:24] Yeah, Boston.

[01:10:26] There's an artist who called Alex Tata

[01:10:29] ski who, uh, if you ever,

[01:10:32] she's ever, she performs a lot in

[01:10:34] New York, but say NY is it by no

[01:10:36] anything? I'll put her in the chat. Alex

[01:10:38] Tata ski who, um,

[01:10:40] yeah, if you want, if you think weirder

[01:10:42] the better, you should check out Alex.

[01:10:44] Yep. I love, yeah.

[01:10:46] Alex, if you're listening to this high and I will reply

[01:10:48] to your message.

[01:10:50] Hi Alex, I hope you are listening.

[01:10:53] Um, yeah, weirder the better is like sort of a mantra.

[01:10:56] I have this one friend who I introduced to weird art

[01:10:59] and now when I send her an email and say like,

[01:11:01] Hey, are you free on such and such date to go see

[01:11:04] something? She's always like, I don't know, is it weird?

[01:11:07] Like she just like, she only wants to go if it's weird

[01:11:10] and I'm like, that's why we're friends.

[01:11:12] That's beautiful.

[01:11:13] Um, that and the fact that she is a compulsive

[01:11:15] baker and constantly drops off delicious

[01:11:18] home baked bread at my house.

[01:11:20] You need those kind of friends really, you know.

[01:11:23] Yeah. Right? Like what's a better friend

[01:11:25] than like a bread delivery friend?

[01:11:27] My housemate who, I have a housemate

[01:11:30] who compulsively cooks like day long curries

[01:11:33] and they are so extraordinary.

[01:11:35] I came home from set yesterday and he'd made

[01:11:37] one and I was so, so grateful.

[01:11:40] Oh, that's fantastic.

[01:11:42] Yeah. I had a roommate who used to bake

[01:11:45] compulsively and, uh, but she would always

[01:11:48] wrap everything up and take it to her work.

[01:11:50] So I would come home to a house that smelled

[01:11:53] like brownies and cookies and there would

[01:11:56] not be a single brownie or cookie in the house.

[01:11:59] It was, it was very painful.

[01:12:02] That is, that's quite, that's quite, um, yeah,

[01:12:05] that feels like a trap.

[01:12:07] Um, one of my favorite things about

[01:12:10] the show is the production design,

[01:12:12] especially the costumes.

[01:12:15] Do you have any input into what Giz Lord

[01:12:17] wears? It's like, some of the pieces

[01:12:20] are just wild.

[01:12:22] There's one costume in particular.

[01:12:25] Yes or no. I mean, like, I mean, I love all of it.

[01:12:28] So there is like a little bit.

[01:12:31] I think it's quite like, um, symbiotic.

[01:12:33] It's never me being like, Hey, I want to wear this

[01:12:36] or I think he should wear this or I don't think he should wear this.

[01:12:38] But we have these like man costume fitting sessions

[01:12:41] where it's like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

[01:12:43] Um, it's like a

[01:12:45] cattle market. You're running in, they put you in something,

[01:12:47] they take a photo, they take you out,

[01:12:49] they dress you in something else similar, they take you out,

[01:12:51] you dress you in something similar.

[01:12:53] And like I do think there's a lot of room,

[01:12:55] especially now series two, like knowing

[01:12:57] all the teams so much better and

[01:12:59] basically a lot of the same

[01:13:01] crew are back, which is really beautiful

[01:13:03] because you know your relationships, they're born

[01:13:05] so much deeper, you know with hair and makeup

[01:13:07] or costume, you know, so you're able to like

[01:13:09] yeah, you know

[01:13:11] a lot more about how each other work.

[01:13:13] Um,

[01:13:15] like I was so passionate

[01:13:17] about the costume that Gis Lord

[01:13:19] wears to the vets in episode four.

[01:13:21] Oh, a lot of people are obsessed with it.

[01:13:23] Yeah, I'm like

[01:13:25] I'm also bad.

[01:13:27] I do love there's quite a lot of license

[01:13:29] in some of the design of extraordinary like

[01:13:31] this is what happens when you have like a large team

[01:13:33] you know like in individual departments

[01:13:35] like in the script someone will be like

[01:13:37] wow this person's dressed really frumply

[01:13:39] and then this character enter who's

[01:13:41] simply wearing a designer suit and you're like

[01:13:43] what's going on here but like

[01:13:45] the thing that I'm wearing in that costume

[01:13:47] like it makes, where does that come from

[01:13:49] is it insane suit

[01:13:51] that I'm wearing to the vets

[01:13:53] and like who's Gis Lord's like

[01:13:55] only been living with the flap like a few days

[01:13:57] like where has he got hold of this kind of

[01:13:59] mad

[01:14:01] full body patchwork

[01:14:03] so I'm so obsessed with that costume

[01:14:05] and I always want to steal it.

[01:14:07] Um, it's fantastic

[01:14:09] but in I sort of assumed

[01:14:11] that they got a lot of

[01:14:13] Gis Lord's clothes from like a

[01:14:15] church lost and found

[01:14:17] been. There's definitely some items

[01:14:19] where there's a few items

[01:14:21] where they are

[01:14:23] explicitly meant to be borrowed from someone

[01:14:25] else so like I'm wearing like Jen's

[01:14:27] leggings or Jen's t-shirt

[01:14:29] or like cash is

[01:14:31] dressing gown or whatever

[01:14:33] otherwise I've got no idea where they're getting these

[01:14:35] absolutely fantastic clothes but there is one

[01:14:37] scene where I am

[01:14:39] wearing a costume

[01:14:41] item which I chose which is literally

[01:14:43] my own clothes because it was

[01:14:45] a day where suddenly we needed a new costume

[01:14:47] option for like a very like a quite confusing

[01:14:49] admin reason

[01:14:51] and Bookie who is the

[01:14:53] she's the extraordinary

[01:14:55] in both senses costume designer

[01:14:57] who had influenced my styles by so much at this point

[01:14:59] and this week

[01:15:01] I've been living in bricklaying because one of my housemates had COVID

[01:15:03] so I was up in a hotel in bricklaying

[01:15:05] and I got shopping the day before

[01:15:07] for clothes and have been texting

[01:15:09] the one of the costume buyers the entire time

[01:15:11] be like what do you think of this just for myself

[01:15:13] and then I brought this item

[01:15:15] and I was like

[01:15:17] Bookie was like I need to find a new costume

[01:15:19] and I was like can I wear this

[01:15:21] vest and it's the knitted

[01:15:23] yellow and blue vest that I wear when I give

[01:15:25] Carrie the picture of the dog that I drew in a hat

[01:15:27] oh yeah

[01:15:29] that is literally just that's just in my wardrobe

[01:15:31] like that is that I was just like Bookie can I please

[01:15:33] wear this I bought this yesterday and she was like yeah

[01:15:35] yeah perfect

[01:15:37] and I will mix it with three other patterns

[01:15:39] so that it's I look at it now in the show

[01:15:41] and I'm like wow I think I made a really bad choice

[01:15:43] I think it's really glaring

[01:15:45] I think it's really weird

[01:15:47] I think it's like a weird

[01:15:49] moment of costume at the time I was like

[01:15:51] this really fits the aesthetic of the show

[01:15:53] and on camera I'm like this costume looks

[01:15:55] I mess up it

[01:15:57] oh I liked it

[01:15:59] I really enjoyed some of your

[01:16:01] fashion looks

[01:16:03] outside of the show like when you were doing some

[01:16:05] red carpets

[01:16:07] fashion icons

[01:16:09] like who do you look up to

[01:16:13] I was picking up like Harry Styles

[01:16:15] a little bit

[01:16:17] yeah I think that's someone who

[01:16:19] I don't know a huge amount about

[01:16:21] but I imagine is like

[01:16:23] it's like we're talking about like ripples of influence

[01:16:25] like I imagine that

[01:16:27] whoever styles Harry Styles

[01:16:29] whoever styles Harry Styles will have taken

[01:16:31] influences from somewhere

[01:16:33] and then like that and then

[01:16:35] he's influenced other people who's influenced other people

[01:16:37] which ends up like influencing

[01:16:39] someone who's influencing my decisions

[01:16:41] you know what I mean so I'm not like

[01:16:43] oh I want to dress like Harry Styles

[01:16:45] but someone is like

[01:16:47] someone should dress like someone who dresses like Harry Styles

[01:16:49] who in turn

[01:16:51] is like borrowed from like Bowie

[01:16:53] when Harry Styles dressed like that

[01:16:55] this is basically Bowie, Circa, Banjo Sold the World

[01:16:57] you know like and like that's

[01:16:59] back to like

[01:17:01] oh man who's the name of that

[01:17:03] oh man that weird

[01:17:05] visual artist that Bowie borrowed from

[01:17:07] it's like Sam Smith now is borrowing from Bowie

[01:17:09] who is borrowing from that guy

[01:17:11] who's Carl something who's that

[01:17:13] oh my god who is that artist

[01:17:15] man who sold the world

[01:17:17] and it's

[01:17:21] just give me a second to try and work out who

[01:17:23] yeah

[01:17:25] I have nothing but time so

[01:17:27] Klaus Nomi

[01:17:29] that's it

[01:17:31] so Klaus Nomi was a kind of

[01:17:33] visual artist performer

[01:17:35] who David Bowie essentially just lifted

[01:17:37] style from

[01:17:39] in a way that and then Klaus Nomi was a backing dancer

[01:17:41] for Bowie so then it was kind of like

[01:17:43] I think it was symbiotic really

[01:17:45] but like

[01:17:47] and so now that's Sam Smith

[01:17:49] what Sam Smith is essentially wearing

[01:17:51] is a Klaus Nomi design

[01:17:53] it's not a K but it's not

[01:17:55] it's fire, fire, fire, fire

[01:17:57] that's a long way of saying

[01:17:59] I'm trying to avoid just being like

[01:18:01] yep I ripped that off

[01:18:03] but I think for me

[01:18:05] my style like inspirations

[01:18:07] I

[01:18:09] always come back to like sculpture

[01:18:11] and like costume I think theatrical

[01:18:13] I'm always really interested in like

[01:18:15] theatrical costume on like a sculptural level

[01:18:19] especially like wearable

[01:18:21] sculpture like I'm kind of

[01:18:23] my favorite thing to go

[01:18:25] and absorb from is definitely like

[01:18:27] visual arts

[01:18:29] again always visual arts

[01:18:31] so like a knit cave sound suit

[01:18:33] like that kind of thing?

[01:18:35] yeah I think like oh I actually didn't know what you were talking about there

[01:18:37] knit cave sound suits but I think again

[01:18:39] you gotta see them

[01:18:41] I think back to like the giant

[01:18:43] suit tiny heads

[01:18:45] talking heads

[01:18:47] Sam sounds suits oh my god this looks

[01:18:49] these look amazing oh my god this is

[01:18:51] yeah I love these these are beautiful

[01:18:53] these remind me loads of them

[01:18:55] they're amazing in person

[01:18:57] I've seen them in person a couple of times

[01:18:59] at museums

[01:19:01] I wish I'd seen these

[01:19:03] and sometimes people wear them and perform

[01:19:05] and then other times they're just like set up

[01:19:07] on mannequins and you can just check them out

[01:19:09] this reminds me of a um

[01:19:11] as an artist who creates these like sculptural bodies

[01:19:13] out of loads of objects which are kind of like

[01:19:15] a consumerism comment or whatever

[01:19:17] which again I'm just gonna try and

[01:19:19] Daniel Furman that's it Daniel Furman

[01:19:21] um does something really similar

[01:19:23] if you search Daniel then

[01:19:25] F I R man

[01:19:27] just like basically this but kind of

[01:19:29] made out of more chaotically a little bit

[01:19:31] these are beautiful

[01:19:33] but I think like that stuff

[01:19:37] I basically want an excuse to get to do visual arts

[01:19:41] as a you know I think like

[01:19:43] whenever I work with a publicist they're always like

[01:19:45] or you could like look cool and I'm like

[01:19:47] yeah

[01:19:49] because they're like oh we don't want people to think of you just as like the kind of clown guy

[01:19:51] and I'm always like yeah

[01:19:53] but

[01:19:55] what if I got to kind of wear

[01:19:57] something that was also art

[01:19:59] that would be great there was this suit

[01:20:01] that almost ended up wearing it was like a suit with another suit

[01:20:03] tight like sewn

[01:20:05] onto it kind of like hanging off it

[01:20:07] it was just shape wise so beautiful

[01:20:09] but it kind of

[01:20:11] I'm glad I went with the pink cat thing

[01:20:13] instead

[01:20:15] it's something that I'm kind of always keen to

[01:20:17] explore with more

[01:20:19] I buy the weird I think the thing that I spend

[01:20:21] the most pointless money on is

[01:20:23] like really weird clothing items

[01:20:25] that I could not wear every day

[01:20:27] so my every day is like the same stuff

[01:20:29] all the time

[01:20:31] whereas I could have this like

[01:20:33] sequined moon covered

[01:20:35] matador jacket that I've worn like twice

[01:20:37] by a duel

[01:20:39] I mean working with this really beautiful stylist called Christian Palmer

[01:20:41] who does

[01:20:43] make stuff himself

[01:20:45] or works with people to make

[01:20:47] like kind of bespoke items

[01:20:49] and that's was hugely exciting

[01:20:51] for me because of this exact thing

[01:20:53] this thing of like how do you get

[01:20:55] to basically have a sculptural

[01:20:57] thing so I think the people who I like look to

[01:20:59] for fashion inspiration

[01:21:01] are essentially visual artists like

[01:21:03] BT Carlson who did this

[01:21:05] crazy

[01:21:07] runway show where all the models

[01:21:09] fell over which is again like clown

[01:21:11] it comes back to visual comedy she makes

[01:21:13] these stupid shoes and all the models fall

[01:21:15] over that's the thing

[01:21:17] and at the end like the actual set

[01:21:19] behind them falls over

[01:21:21] I'm really obsessed with them

[01:21:23] a little bit but so yeah I think those

[01:21:25] are my

[01:21:27] so I'm quite dumb when it comes to celebrity culture

[01:21:29] but I'm quite knowledgeable

[01:21:31] when it comes to dumb culture I think

[01:21:33] fantastic who needs

[01:21:35] celebrity culture there is

[01:21:37] an annual festival of wearable art

[01:21:39] that takes place in

[01:21:41] Wellington New Zealand

[01:21:43] that I think you would also enjoy

[01:21:45] taking a look at

[01:21:47] what's it called?

[01:21:49] I think it's just called like the festival of

[01:21:51] wearable art or

[01:21:53] wow

[01:21:55] festival of wearable art

[01:21:57] I'm gonna write that down

[01:21:59] my other co-host

[01:22:01] I also do a Lord of the Rings

[01:22:03] podcast

[01:22:05] and my co-host on that lives in New Zealand

[01:22:07] and she knows people

[01:22:09] that are involved with the festival of wearable art

[01:22:11] so now I'm sort of

[01:22:13] trying to figure out a way

[01:22:15] to go to New Zealand

[01:22:17] at the right time

[01:22:19] so I can go to it with her

[01:22:21] and there's something called the alternative

[01:22:23] Miss World pageant that does like

[01:22:25] yeah it's this kind of thing

[01:22:27] over in the UK

[01:22:29] I mean I can't imagine

[01:22:31] how long your Lord of the Rings podcast must be

[01:22:33] finished to squeeze an hour out of each episode of Extraordinary

[01:22:39] it's actually we do a pretty good job

[01:22:41] of keeping it to about an hour 40

[01:22:43] you know we covered

[01:22:45] the new show Rings of Power that came out

[01:22:47] this last year

[01:22:49] and then right now we're in the middle

[01:22:51] of covering the movies

[01:22:53] we did the first two

[01:22:55] Fellowship of the Ring in Two Towers

[01:22:57] and we're about to do

[01:22:59] Return of the King

[01:23:01] I'm going to ask you a couple of

[01:23:03] really random questions

[01:23:05] that I just like to ask people

[01:23:07] what is your

[01:23:09] favorite kind of cheese

[01:23:12] I think

[01:23:17] I love

[01:23:19] Compte, I lived in France

[01:23:21] for a little while when I was at clown school

[01:23:23] and me and my

[01:23:25] housemate is a comedian called Christian Brighty

[01:23:27] the same one who makes the Amazing Curries

[01:23:29] and he's a fantastic

[01:23:31] comedian who basically got me into comedy

[01:23:33] he's also probably the one who's the reason why I went to clown school

[01:23:35] drank a lot of wine

[01:23:37] ate a lot of cheese

[01:23:39] and got really into this

[01:23:41] hard cheese called Compte which is a french cheese

[01:23:45] oh it's beautiful

[01:23:47] fantastic there's only one wrong answer

[01:23:49] to that question what's that was blue cheese

[01:23:51] goat cheese no American cheese

[01:23:53] cheese in a can cheese in a can is my favorite kind of cheese

[01:23:57] oh yeah spray cheese it's really fun

[01:23:59] um spray cheese

[01:24:01] do you have any favorite

[01:24:03] internet famous

[01:24:05] animals

[01:24:07] Stoffel the Honey Badger

[01:24:09] I think is my personal favorite

[01:24:11] which is more documentary famous than

[01:24:13] like I know from the internet

[01:24:15] he's a honey badger who

[01:24:17] breaks out of his cage and he's like an amazing Pixar

[01:24:19] shorts double act

[01:24:21] with the guy it's like a south african guy

[01:24:23] I won't do the accent but he's like

[01:24:25] well I will but he's like Stoffel the Honey Badger

[01:24:27] and he's like constantly trying to put him back in his cage

[01:24:29] and then Stoffel finds a new way of escaping the cage

[01:24:31] so he makes a more complex cage

[01:24:33] and it's like it's a beautiful beautiful

[01:24:35] um battle of will

[01:24:37] story to the extent that Stoffel

[01:24:39] breaks breaks out of his cage

[01:24:41] and then breaks into the guy's house

[01:24:43] so it's almost like Stoffel also hates

[01:24:45] this guy like they have this like amazing

[01:24:47] love hate rivalry

[01:24:49] enemy it's beautiful

[01:24:51] Stoffel the Honey Badger yeah

[01:24:53] oh yeah I'm definitely gonna look that up

[01:24:55] mine is um what about bunny

[01:24:57] it's a sheepadoodle that talks by pressing buttons

[01:25:01] oh yeah yeah these dogs who press buttons

[01:25:03] yeah yeah

[01:25:05] bunny's the best one because bunny

[01:25:07] asks existential questions

[01:25:09] and it like messes with your head

[01:25:11] bunny will be like why is bunny

[01:25:13] dog and you're like whoa

[01:25:15] do we believe the buttons thing

[01:25:17] 100% or

[01:25:19] um

[01:25:21] I think this comes into a whole question about

[01:25:23] what is consciousness

[01:25:25] to be honest and I think maybe

[01:25:27] I'm not ready to have that conversation

[01:25:29] but I go back

[01:25:31] and forth about whether I want to get buttons

[01:25:33] and try it out with my cat

[01:25:35] um I'm pretty sure I know what he would say

[01:25:37] I feel like feed me

[01:25:39] feed me feed me well yeah I mean

[01:25:41] if you I mean from from endless lab

[01:25:43] experience when we know that if you if an animal

[01:25:45] any animal can learn

[01:25:47] if you press a button it gets food

[01:25:49] so then like

[01:25:51] I guess the question is

[01:25:53] do we believe that

[01:25:55] that can lead to like abstract concepts

[01:25:57] or do you know like does an animal

[01:25:59] understand that like it gets like

[01:26:01] an ambiguous response of a kind

[01:26:03] if it presses this sequence of buttons

[01:26:05] but I don't know if I

[01:26:07] think that means that an animal understands

[01:26:09] why is bunny dog

[01:26:11] but I do think it understands that this

[01:26:13] sequence of buttons

[01:26:15] can can lead to a certain

[01:26:17] kind of response

[01:26:19] I believe an animal

[01:26:21] can understand that and I think that's still meaningful

[01:26:23] but what else is communication

[01:26:25] so it's also meaningless to be like

[01:26:27] oh but they don't understand it

[01:26:29] like I understand what that fucking question means

[01:26:31] you know so like yeah

[01:26:33] um I just

[01:26:35] uh I find it very soothing

[01:26:37] to watch these dogs

[01:26:39] talk to their people I don't know why

[01:26:43] I already asked you if the Jimmy

[01:26:45] new Trun thing was true

[01:26:47] oh is there a question that you wish

[01:26:49] would ask you that they never asked you

[01:26:51] oof

[01:26:53] yeah

[01:26:57] and not I feel like I've spoken so

[01:26:59] indulgently in it's such length about

[01:27:01] personal

[01:27:03] I really hope

[01:27:05] I really hope you're gonna edit this down by the way

[01:27:07] I really hope you don't just wholesale

[01:27:09] let me

[01:27:11] talk for an hour and a half

[01:27:13] about everything that I talk about

[01:27:15] I think there's so much stuff that I've talked about that I'm happy to

[01:27:17] sorry that I'm like oh man

[01:27:19] like what else could be squeezed out of me

[01:27:21] I think um what I want people to say

[01:27:23] is what do

[01:27:25] if you could have access to any property in the world

[01:27:27] what would you reboot

[01:27:29] what would you make like a

[01:27:31] you know what would be the thing

[01:27:33] and for me I think it's time

[01:27:35] for a gritty reboot of Inspector Gadget

[01:27:39] so it's a Scandi crime drama

[01:27:43] like serious serious serious but this guy

[01:27:45] can 100%

[01:27:47] like he has he can

[01:27:49] do the thing where his like his hat has a

[01:27:51] he can have a cop to place his stupid hat

[01:27:53] but like his knees we played

[01:27:55] 100% for serious

[01:27:57] yeah I think and it would just be called

[01:27:59] Gadget and it would be amazing

[01:28:01] and I want it to be me

[01:28:03] I want to be Inspector Gadget in the gritty reboot

[01:28:05] Inspector Gadget

[01:28:07] would you want

[01:28:09] the part of brain

[01:28:11] to be a regular dog

[01:28:13] or a dog that had some kind

[01:28:15] of like speaking

[01:28:17] or extra abilities

[01:28:19] oh my god so I completely forgot

[01:28:21] about brain brain is brain Inspector Gadget

[01:28:23] it's like what's the deal with brain in real life

[01:28:25] does he talk

[01:28:27] he he kind of talks he's not

[01:28:29] Gadget's dog he's Penny's

[01:28:31] dog yeah which is of course why I remember it

[01:28:33] yeah um and

[01:28:35] he kind of goes like like Penny you'll be like

[01:28:37] oh no what's happening here and brain will go

[01:28:39] rah rah rah rah rah

[01:28:41] like he kind of talks

[01:28:43] but it's a cartoon so

[01:28:45] oh so he also kind of like

[01:28:47] he also

[01:28:49] he also like

[01:28:51] follows him right

[01:28:53] yeah and they

[01:28:55] I mean Penny solves

[01:28:57] most of the crimes Gadget

[01:28:59] wouldn't get anywhere without her

[01:29:01] I think

[01:29:03] brain would be Penny seeing

[01:29:05] I dog

[01:29:07] oh I like the idea of making

[01:29:09] Penny blind that's cool

[01:29:11] and by the way

[01:29:13] Penny is blind

[01:29:15] yeah that's fun

[01:29:17] yeah

[01:29:19] I'm ready I don't know Gadget it turns out that well

[01:29:21] but I'm ready to answer any question

[01:29:23] Inspector Gadget I should probably brush up

[01:29:25] either that or I want to do a Muppets movie

[01:29:27] where all the Muppets

[01:29:29] get turned

[01:29:31] I want to do a Muppets movie where all the Muppets get turned into humans

[01:29:33] and Jennifer Coolidge is Miss Piggy

[01:29:35] and I would play Beaker

[01:29:37] oh perfect

[01:29:39] I would watch the hell out of that

[01:29:41] yeah those are the things

[01:29:43] if I was handed the keys to the kingdom

[01:29:45] I'd ruin

[01:29:47] I'd ruin the

[01:29:49] moral finances that way

[01:29:51] well you know you're in the Disney family

[01:29:53] now and so are Muppets

[01:29:55] that's actually like conceivable

[01:29:57] that you could get involved in a Muppets project

[01:30:01] I would cry

[01:30:03] I mean who wouldn't right

[01:30:05] like the Muppets are

[01:30:07] so important to

[01:30:09] all of us who boo up with them

[01:30:13] I used to it was like one of the few shows

[01:30:15] that I watched with my dad

[01:30:17] so it was like for me it's like

[01:30:19] really associated with him

[01:30:21] yeah yeah

[01:30:23] I'm just checking to make sure

[01:30:25] I got all my questions answered which I think

[01:30:27] I did the only one left

[01:30:29] is I was wondering if any

[01:30:31] of your co-stars or you are

[01:30:33] like pranksters on set

[01:30:36] um

[01:30:38] yeah I think

[01:30:40] me and Sophia especially

[01:30:46] I said before about how we're quite addicted

[01:30:48] to trying spreading rumors

[01:30:50] I think all four of us are quite bad for that

[01:30:52] I'm trying to think

[01:30:54] what pranks

[01:30:56] we've tried that's one of our

[01:30:58] favorite methods

[01:31:02] is trying to spread rumors

[01:31:04] I mean fear often voice note the writer

[01:31:06] pretending that

[01:31:08] things have happened on set

[01:31:10] and pretending to be clarifying it

[01:31:12] and being like oh just checking

[01:31:14] you know you say this thing

[01:31:16] in the script

[01:31:18] we just assumed that meant that

[01:31:20] that's what we filmed

[01:31:22] hope that's okay by you

[01:31:24] also I assumed

[01:31:26] this scene where Jen's crying

[01:31:28] we thought like fear and carryages

[01:31:30] would be laughing in the background

[01:31:32] but if not that can always be edited out I suppose

[01:31:38] I think we

[01:31:40] do a lot of like leaving things in each other's rooms

[01:31:42] oh no man yeah it's me isn't it

[01:31:44] I'm the fucking

[01:31:46] I used to do this thing where like

[01:31:48] I changed all the labels on the door

[01:31:50] in the first series

[01:31:52] it stuck for ages

[01:31:54] I found all these like

[01:31:56] because where we were filming used to be kind of like a university building

[01:31:58] we're filming in a very different place now

[01:32:00] it used to be a university building so all these like

[01:32:02] slot things you meant to slide into the doors

[01:32:04] like label the doors

[01:32:06] and I like glued them to it

[01:32:08] yeah I think Marade's

[01:32:10] um

[01:32:12] was like labelled as the toilet

[01:32:14] I tried to like flip everything around

[01:32:16] and kind of like

[01:32:18] I think maybe it's because I was on a lot

[01:32:20] but actually because the cat

[01:32:22] and various other things I was in the show

[01:32:24] like less than all the others

[01:32:26] I just had like a lot more free time to kill

[01:32:28] and just make trouble

[01:32:30] yeah I was really the

[01:32:32] naughty one

[01:32:34] of the cast

[01:32:36] has that changed

[01:32:38] I don't know I've taken to um

[01:32:40] I steal stuff

[01:32:42] I didn't steal stuff but I keep

[01:32:44] squirrelling things away

[01:32:46] in the first series pretty much in every new set

[01:32:48] I would like

[01:32:50] steal something that would just go into just a little collection

[01:32:52] of items

[01:32:54] and I unearthed them today

[01:32:56] um

[01:32:58] and like

[01:33:00] yeah I don't know in case people be like

[01:33:02] always that thing gone and I'd be like oh I don't know

[01:33:04] I don't know where that's gone

[01:33:06] and it goes

[01:33:08] and then like

[01:33:10] I try and sneak them back into other shots

[01:33:12] absolutely nightmare really

[01:33:14] oh how absolutely cat like of you

[01:33:16] yeah I mean I just

[01:33:18] because there wasn't much to like go on

[01:33:20] you know cause I didn't want to know

[01:33:22] I was never like saying to the right like okay

[01:33:24] tell me like what his backstory is cause like I

[01:33:26] was like he doesn't know so I don't know

[01:33:28] so I didn't know anything so if he doesn't know anything

[01:33:30] I don't know anything easy

[01:33:32] but then it's like how do you

[01:33:34] find your you know you're not going like oh I remember

[01:33:36] this thing of my character's relationship with these other characters

[01:33:38] like how do you find your way

[01:33:40] through the series

[01:33:42] and I think it just had for me had to be like

[01:33:44] curiosity

[01:33:46] and surprise

[01:33:48] and not knowing as much as possible

[01:33:50] so I think that was just what I tried to bring

[01:33:52] to set

[01:33:56] yeah and that's

[01:33:58] so yeah that ended up being like a like my only

[01:34:00] path through it was to like

[01:34:02] trying to be like oh yeah I stole this

[01:34:04] thing on this day so like that would be my pocket

[01:34:06] then

[01:34:08] I don't think you ever see any of this stuff but like

[01:34:10] in my mind and in the day when I go

[01:34:12] to the supermarket on the last day like it's

[01:34:14] all in the jacket pocket like all these like

[01:34:16] weird things that I like took from different sets

[01:34:18] oh that's hilarious

[01:34:20] yeah um

[01:34:22] is there anything

[01:34:24] you can tell us about season 2

[01:34:28] I for fear of being

[01:34:30] um

[01:34:32] mauled alive by disney

[01:34:34] um

[01:34:36] I think that probably isn't

[01:34:38] I think I can say that

[01:34:40] uh

[01:34:42] um

[01:34:44] is there's more I mean this doesn't mean

[01:34:46] anything to you there's there's more

[01:34:48] more

[01:34:50] like British alternative quite

[01:34:52] strange comedians who have like

[01:34:54] roles in this series which I'm really excited

[01:34:56] about that's that makes me

[01:34:58] really happy um

[01:35:00] that's something I guess I can say

[01:35:02] I think I can say that

[01:35:04] like I think there's stuff that

[01:35:06] will blow the cat show

[01:35:08] out of the water in terms of

[01:35:10] bizarre set pieces

[01:35:12] I think the cat show is

[01:35:14] gonna be heavily upstaged by

[01:35:16] some of the um

[01:35:18] later episodes in this series

[01:35:20] um

[01:35:22] I think I can say that like

[01:35:24] things get significantly more complicated for jizz lords

[01:35:26] but I think that's I think that's

[01:35:28] something you can know

[01:35:30] yeah I would say

[01:35:32] um

[01:35:34] yeah I

[01:35:36] really I think I'm not even allowed to say like

[01:35:38] there are some really really

[01:35:40] for me

[01:35:42] from a background of like UK

[01:35:44] comedy or whatever like there are some

[01:35:46] castings in this series

[01:35:48] that I was

[01:35:50] giddy with the excitement about

[01:35:52] but I would be

[01:35:54] slaughtered if I said

[01:35:56] who they were or what roles they played

[01:35:58] but like I think um

[01:36:02] yeah I think

[01:36:04] I think there's characters who are

[01:36:06] gonna love more this series

[01:36:08] good that's what I'll say

[01:36:12] I'm just excited for the

[01:36:14] second season and um

[01:36:16] I thought the whole first

[01:36:18] season was quite brilliant

[01:36:20] and

[01:36:22] fresh and um

[01:36:24] unexpected in a lot of

[01:36:26] ways it reminds me

[01:36:28] in a really good way of

[01:36:30] the good place I don't know if you watched that but

[01:36:32] no I never saw that

[01:36:34] oh it's quite good

[01:36:36] but the way that it's

[01:36:38] got sort of an absurdness

[01:36:40] to the world building the good place

[01:36:42] was like that a lot where like

[01:36:44] there were jokes in the background

[01:36:46] that you had to sort of look for

[01:36:48] you'd miss it and they were

[01:36:50] fantastic and sometimes I

[01:36:52] pause extraordinary and just like

[01:36:54] read whatever is in the background

[01:36:56] and enjoy it because a lot of

[01:36:58] times it's quite funny

[01:37:00] and I imagine that like the set designers

[01:37:02] and set decorators are having

[01:37:04] a ball putting that stuff together

[01:37:06] I think that's kind of the job that I want

[01:37:08] if I quit acting

[01:37:10] I want to be a set designer

[01:37:12] not set designer I want to be art department

[01:37:14] there's something we talk about quite a lot is like what roles everyone should be doing

[01:37:18] if we were acting

[01:37:20] and um

[01:37:22] I can't remember all of them but like belal

[01:37:24] it was like costume belal should be in costume

[01:37:26] or dop like the director photography

[01:37:28] and for me it'd be art department

[01:37:30] I'm obsessed with the art department stuff I get really precious about it

[01:37:32] if I'm like

[01:37:36] there's shots where I'm like I remember being like

[01:37:38] no I have to hold this thing in this way so you can see this thing like this bit of work

[01:37:42] from the art department to whatever you know

[01:37:44] oh nice I think my favourite

[01:37:46] I mean the party in episode 8

[01:37:48] I mean the cat show or oh man the funeral

[01:37:50] the very first thing I filmed was the funeral scene

[01:37:52] in episode 4

[01:37:54] and those rosettes are

[01:37:56] and the amount of like cat statues they had made

[01:38:00] or had managed to buy

[01:38:02] or repainted so they looked like

[01:38:04] hercule was um

[01:38:06] yeah totally insane

[01:38:08] that was an amazing

[01:38:10] amazing set

[01:38:12] and uh that episode

[01:38:14] was my favourite episode until I saw

[01:38:16] episode 7

[01:38:18] um

[01:38:20] yeah cause it's kind of got it's got it got again like it's got

[01:38:22] I mean I think almost too much happens

[01:38:24] that episode I watched it

[01:38:26] recently and I was like exhausted I was like

[01:38:28] what what what how does all this happen

[01:38:30] how does all this happen

[01:38:32] it only like 23 minutes

[01:38:34] we go to a strip club and then a pub

[01:38:36] and then and then there's a heartfelt

[01:38:38] curb moment

[01:38:40] bullshit

[01:38:42] um yeah

[01:38:44] and the vet um

[01:38:46] John McMillan

[01:38:48] John McMillan and Dr. Van Der Beyn

[01:38:50] Lenore Velaryan from House of the Dragon

[01:38:52] yeah I haven't seen that it's really funny

[01:38:54] everyone being like oh my god he's that guy

[01:38:56] um he's so huge

[01:38:58] cause of House of the Dragon

[01:39:00] he

[01:39:02] is such

[01:39:04] a charming funny funny guy

[01:39:06] to film with

[01:39:08] I hope he comes back because

[01:39:10] the character was so funny

[01:39:12] um I know you can't tell me whether

[01:39:14] no no comment sadly

[01:39:16] no comment but uh

[01:39:18] yeah yeah I I loved working

[01:39:20] with him he was

[01:39:22] yeah there's lots of people who come back

[01:39:24] but I can't say who

[01:39:26] yeah um I should

[01:39:28] go before I accidentally spill any beans

[01:39:30] okay well

[01:39:32] it has been absolutely fantastic talking to you

[01:39:34] and uh

[01:39:36] is there anything that

[01:39:38] before you leave you'd like to plug

[01:39:40] like a charity or

[01:39:42] a project

[01:39:44] um I mean if anyone's listening in the UK

[01:39:46] I'm doing my show at the Soho Theatre in July

[01:39:48] um

[01:39:50] or if you fancy flying over to London

[01:39:52] to see my show in July

[01:39:54] um

[01:39:56] I guess I'd plug that

[01:39:58] um that's a that's a project

[01:40:00] that I've got going on

[01:40:02] um and I guess from what we were talking

[01:40:04] about just like

[01:40:06] support

[01:40:08] your local weird

[01:40:10] comedy cabaret or weird alternative

[01:40:12] comedy like you know I think it's just so much

[01:40:14] stuff that's out there that isn't stand up

[01:40:16] and um

[01:40:18] and

[01:40:20] I don't know like

[01:40:22] it it it it has

[01:40:24] an audience and it needs an audience and there's a beautiful

[01:40:26] community out there and it's something you can do

[01:40:28] if you want to do it but um

[01:40:30] yeah seek it out basically

[01:40:32] uh we are

[01:40:35] also going to be

[01:40:37] watching Bilal's play

[01:40:39] that's gonna be available on streaming

[01:40:41] yeah yeah covering that

[01:40:43] so we're gonna cover that on the on the

[01:40:45] podcast beautiful

[01:40:47] and talk about that we're pretty excited

[01:40:49] and uh if you ever want

[01:40:51] to come back on and talk we will always

[01:40:53] be happy to have you

[01:40:55] and um thank you again I can't thank you enough

[01:40:57] it's been really really fun

[01:40:59] great thank you I've had lots of fun

[01:41:01] I should go

[01:41:03] alright have a good night

[01:41:05] I will bye bye

[01:41:07] seriously how fucking cool

[01:41:09] was that and how fucking cool

[01:41:11] was Luke Rawlison

[01:41:13] yeah I just I just loved him

[01:41:15] and um we talked about this before

[01:41:17] but I have developed a huge crush

[01:41:19] I mean like a talent crush seriously

[01:41:21] me too like he's

[01:41:23] I mean like you you you

[01:41:25] talk to him and it was absolutely

[01:41:27] phenomenal and and I had a blast

[01:41:29] yeah me too

[01:41:31] it's gonna be something that I'm gonna cherish for a long time

[01:41:33] yeah definitely it was

[01:41:35] this is this is probably one of the

[01:41:37] high points in my podcast and career and

[01:41:39] and it was the best

[01:41:41] intro to interviewing people that I

[01:41:43] that I possibly could have had

[01:41:45] awesome

[01:41:47] but uh but yeah so

[01:41:49] that's uh that's our show

[01:41:51] um

[01:41:53] yeah thanks for listening everyone

[01:41:55] if you want to get in touch with us as usual

[01:41:57] you can send emails or messages

[01:41:59] or voicemails to

[01:42:01] to us via

[01:42:03] podcastica.com all our contact information

[01:42:05] there or join one of the facebook groups

[01:42:07] and you can send us messages that way

[01:42:09] yeah I mean recorded

[01:42:11] message right there on the website

[01:42:13] um podcastica.com

[01:42:15] or find links to our social media pages

[01:42:17] for other shows and uh

[01:42:19] I know the ones that I'm enjoying right now are

[01:42:21] uh the Mandalorian

[01:42:23] and Yellow Jackets

[01:42:25] uh wait a minute is that

[01:42:27] when did Yellow Jackets come out?

[01:42:29] tomorrow? Friday

[01:42:31] Friday okay um but yeah

[01:42:33] it's uh

[01:42:35] a bunch of great stuff going on right now and then

[01:42:37] um

[01:42:39] I'm just I'm having

[01:42:41] a blast uh but we

[01:42:43] are not quite done yet are we Penning

[01:42:45] no we're not we plan

[01:42:47] to cover uh Bilal

[01:42:49] Hasna's

[01:42:51] groundbreaking play for a Palestinian

[01:42:53] there are streaming tickets available

[01:42:55] that you can buy for

[01:42:57] between zero and 20 pounds

[01:42:59] so uh

[01:43:01] grab a ticket and join us

[01:43:03] uh let us know what you think of it

[01:43:05] and uh we'll be back to talk about

[01:43:07] extraordinary or maybe we'll

[01:43:09] talk one of the other stars into letting us interview them

[01:43:11] you never know

[01:43:13] yeah for a Palestinian is is going to

[01:43:15] be streaming it's going to be available from

[01:43:17] today until March sorry till

[01:43:19] April 2nd uh today March 29th

[01:43:21] until April 2nd you can

[01:43:23] you know go and watch it whenever I

[01:43:25] uh I put uh

[01:43:27] you know donated to some

[01:43:29] of the the local arts

[01:43:31] um that they asked for as well I think

[01:43:33] the is it the Camden Theater

[01:43:35] yeah Camden Theater um and

[01:43:37] uh you know for

[01:43:39] for the price of I mean I guess it ends up being

[01:43:41] like 75 bucks but

[01:43:43] uh whatever like if I can

[01:43:45] if I can help out somebody and

[01:43:47] get some of these artists

[01:43:49] uh to more exposure

[01:43:51] and more ability to to show

[01:43:53] their stuff to the world I mean maybe we end up

[01:43:55] with with more comically

[01:43:57] hilarious people on TV shows that are watching

[01:43:59] exactly yeah you

[01:44:01] gotta support your local arts like we talked about

[01:44:03] with Luke uh that's

[01:44:05] where you grow

[01:44:07] the artists of tomorrow right there in

[01:44:09] regional theater there in high school theater

[01:44:11] there you know uh

[01:44:13] street performers in Harvard Square

[01:44:15] that's one of my favorite places to listen to

[01:44:17] local musicians nice

[01:44:19] yeah I mean we were

[01:44:21] actually able to hang out together in Boston

[01:44:23] um for a couple

[01:44:25] hours a few days ago and

[01:44:27] you know saw uh

[01:44:29] what Feneal Hall um there's

[01:44:31] an artist playing over there

[01:44:33] sorry I was you a violinist

[01:44:35] or violinist violinist yeah

[01:44:37] really good but

[01:44:39] but anyway uh we

[01:44:41] we're not gonna have some fancy sign off for this one

[01:44:43] we're just gonna say continue to support your local

[01:44:45] artists uh go

[01:44:47] check out some weird funky stuff

[01:44:49] um and uh

[01:44:51] and you whatever it is

[01:44:53] you know find out what you like

[01:44:55] and then find out what you don't like

[01:44:57] and uh tell us about the really good stuff

[01:44:59] yeah tell us about the good stuff

[01:45:01] or the stuff that you're like oh that was weird

[01:45:03] but Penny might like it yeah

[01:45:05] I would like to hear about that

[01:45:07] alright well thanks everybody for listening

[01:45:09] and uh we appreciate

[01:45:11] your patronage and listening