0:00

Prime members, yes you,

0:02

you can listen to Bridenhand early

0:05

and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download

0:08

the app today.

0:12

Well, this has been a long time coming. I

0:14

spoke to Matthew Rhys, I think in February.

0:18

February. It is now

0:20

the autumn. You have to bear that in mind

0:22

as you listen to it. I bang

0:25

on about, hey, I'm about to go and tour Australia

0:27

and New Zealand. I have,

0:30

I did. It was great. You'll

0:32

hear us trying to arrange lunch

0:34

over the summertime with David Walliams.

0:37

We had the lunch. David couldn't come.

0:39

It was a long time ago. It's

0:41

such

0:42

a great interview. It's the second time we've

0:44

spoken to the wonderful Matthew Rhys. Please

0:47

sit back and enjoy Bridenhand,

0:50

Matthew Rhys.

0:53

Look at you.

0:58

Way

1:03

to begin. Should I just show you the size

1:05

of the chair I'm sitting on? Oh,

1:08

dear, dear. Oh, yes. Oh,

1:12

is that to make you feel big? Is that

1:14

the sort of thing Sylvester Stallone would do in a film?

1:16

He'd deliberately have a little chair. I don't know if you should

1:19

say that, but Sylvester told me to

1:21

purchase several small chairs to place

1:23

around the house so when I sit in them, I sit with the air

1:25

of a king. You look fantastic.

1:29

And I knew you would. And it annoys me.

1:31

Let me tell you why I've got a moustache.

1:34

I'm doing a Windsor Davis biopic. No,

1:36

it's not true, actually. The

1:38

school to which my son goes

1:41

has an inordinate amount of very

1:43

famous actors whose children also

1:45

go there.

1:47

And I've been out of work

1:49

for so long, I thought I would grow

1:51

a moustache so that they might think

1:53

I'm in work. Is

1:56

that true? Is that true?

1:59

Yeah. Oh, that's hilarious.

2:02

Now, the last time we spoke, we

2:04

had a bit of a kerfuffle over you having

2:06

a light source behind you and

2:08

da da da. Now, you're beautifully lit, but

2:11

you're looking, you're

2:12

not looking down your lens. Yeah. Now,

2:15

why is that? You understand cameras. I've

2:18

never understood cameras, which is why the theatre

2:20

is my natural home.

2:22

Now, as you're looking there now, what are you seeing? You're

2:24

not seeing me now, are you? You're just, that's a… No,

2:27

but I do that on purpose anyway. I

2:29

never quite look into your eye because I always feel I'm kind

2:31

of dancing with the devil to a degree. So,

2:34

I'm deliberately avoiding your gaze. Well,

2:37

in the old days, there's a lovely joke I'd have made, but

2:40

not anymore.

2:49

If you are tired of searching the

2:51

grocery store for meat you can trust, you

2:53

need ButcherBox. They're a subscription service

2:55

that delivers humanely sourced meat and

2:58

sustainably sourced seafood right to your door. You

3:00

can customize your box and it always

3:02

ships free. Plus, when you sign up

3:04

as a member, you'll get access to exclusive

3:07

deals, delicious recipe ideas,

3:09

and first dibs on their newest cuts and

3:11

products. ButcherBox is offering our

3:13

listeners ground beef for life, plus $20

3:15

off your first order. That's

3:18

two pounds of ground beef free in every

3:20

box for the lifetime of your membership, plus $20

3:23

off your first order when you sign up. Sign up

3:25

today at ButcherBox.com slash Wondery

3:27

and use code Wondery to claim this offer. That's

3:30

ButcherBox.com slash Wondery and use

3:32

code Wondery to claim this deal. Subscriptions

3:34

draining your wallet? On average, people have 12

3:37

paid subscriptions, and they might not even remember

3:39

subscribing to half of them. Seriously, think

3:41

of how many free trials you've subscribed to that

3:43

you forgot to cancel. If you have no clue

3:46

how much you spend each month, you need Rocket Money. It's

3:48

this great

3:49

app that tracks all of your expenses

3:51

so you know exactly where your money is going. Rocket

3:53

Money is a personal finance app that not only

3:56

finds and cancels unwanted subscriptions,

3:58

but also monitors your spending. and helps you

4:00

lower your bills, all in one place. The

4:02

app recommends custom budgets based on your

4:04

spending history and notifies you when you've reached

4:07

your spending limits. Plus, when you finally get

4:09

around to cancelling unwanted subscriptions, you

4:11

can do it through Rocket Money with just the press

4:13

of a button. They can even negotiate to lower

4:15

your bills for you by up to 20%. Just

4:18

take a picture of your bill and Rocket Money handles

4:20

the rest. Stop wasting money on things you

4:22

don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions

4:25

and manage your money the easy way by going

4:27

to rocketmoney.com slash Wondery. That's

4:29

rocketmoney.com slash Wondery. Rocketmoney.com

4:32

slash Wondery.

4:34

Now then, one thing, when we last spoke,

4:37

we did go through your filing cabinet above

4:39

you.

4:39

Anything new that we should, any new folders

4:42

like... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to love

4:44

this. Go on. I was hoping someone would ask.

4:46

Great.

4:47

Yes. Let me just take this

4:49

is... Have you kept all the programs from your kind of,

4:51

you know, music mentor? No,

4:54

I got, well, I mean, there's all

4:56

sorts of it. Look at this, look at this. Come

4:59

on, come on, show us. Can you

5:01

read that? No, I can't. No, I

5:03

can't read a thing. It's all blurred.

5:06

You're blurred. All right. It says

5:08

it's handwritten

5:09

and it says they can be a

5:11

hard audience. Right?

5:14

Now, do I need to guess? Yeah, try,

5:17

but there's no way you'll guess.

5:19

Jimmy Tarbuck. My God, he

5:21

was in the room. My God,

5:23

how did you come up with him? Because he's

5:25

one of my heroes also.

5:27

That is, that is bizarre. He

5:30

was at the table. How on earth would

5:32

you pluck that name?

5:34

Because these are my heroes, Mr.

5:36

Brighton. Jimmy Tarbuck.

5:39

Actually, that's it. Well, Jimmy Tarbuck,

5:42

that was, I'll tell you the story and

5:44

let the commenters say, oh,

5:46

let Matthew

5:48

speak for why? No, no,

5:51

no, no. I only speak when I have words

5:53

given to me that I learn and then, and then

5:55

recite in front of a camera. You speak freely

5:58

from the soul.

5:59

heart. I went to a lunch that

6:02

was honoring Sir Michael

6:04

Parkinson

6:06

and I was one

6:08

of the speakers at

6:10

this lunch.

6:13

The other speakers were,

6:16

who else? Well, the main

6:19

notable one was

6:21

Barry Humphries, who

6:24

is a massive hero of mine

6:27

day, Mednar Everett of course, for those who are perhaps

6:29

wondering if they're not familiar, they

6:31

Mednar Everett, and he's a sort of friend of mine, and

6:34

Jimmy Tarbuck was

6:36

there and he was on the table. And

6:38

this lunch went on for quite

6:41

a while and

6:43

by the time we got to the speeches,

6:45

and I was going to be the last speaker,

6:48

Barry had elected to go first.

6:52

Barry did his thing and it was wonderful,

6:54

but there were quite a few other speakers and as

6:56

it went on the audience became a little distracted.

7:00

So I had the lovely thing, I noticed

7:02

Barry scribbling something down on a bit

7:04

of paper on the opposite side of the table,

7:07

and then with a malicious malevolent

7:09

grin he held it up, they

7:11

can be a hard audience.

7:14

That

7:15

is a brilliant story

7:17

and I can only imagine what that lunch was.

7:21

It kind of hearkens, but I've always had

7:23

a fascination and a kind of love

7:26

of those nostalgic, you

7:28

know, the heavyweights, the kind of the hell-raising

7:31

actors like Burke and the Harris of Tool, the

7:34

old school comedians, you know, all

7:36

that, you know, I think as the older you get, I

7:39

become more nostalgic. I find myself on

7:42

YouTube looking at the two Ronnies and Lachman

7:44

White,

7:46

laughing

7:47

like a drape. And you mentioned

7:49

early on you said that the moustache

7:51

was for a Windsor Davis biopic.

7:54

Well, I would love to record

7:57

Whispering Grass with you.

8:00

This has been mentioned in the past.

8:03

And you, with you as Windsor, me as Donestell,

8:05

is that how you saw the roles

8:08

being divided? Yeah. Yeah. Now,

8:11

when is the next comic relief and who do

8:13

you know that could make this happen? Richard Curtis.

8:16

I mean, let's go straight to the top.

8:19

Are we looking

8:20

at a very small

8:23

specialist audience here who would

8:25

go, what in the name of

8:27

God are they doing or pretending to

8:29

be? Have we just lost leagues

8:32

of generations who just go, I don't understand

8:35

what's going on? Not a small audience

8:37

that would say that. The vast bulk of the

8:39

viewing audience say that. And some people

8:42

who are heading towards the grave would

8:44

know what we are talking about.

8:47

And there's a part of me that goes, those,

8:50

and forgive me for this phrase, those are

8:52

the boxes I'd like to tick. Yeah.

8:55

I'd like to say, did we talk about Windsor Davis

8:57

in our last chat? I can't remember. I

8:59

can't remember. But one of my great, you know,

9:02

my first, the first play I ever did

9:04

was the National Theatre. And it was with

9:06

people like Ken Cranham from

9:09

Shine on a Harvey Moon, Daniel Evans,

9:12

Andrew Howard and of course, the great

9:14

Windsor Davis. And I was truly,

9:16

I was truly gobsmacked

9:19

when I first met him. I grew

9:21

up with this man. And there was

9:24

one night, everyone would go to the bar after the show

9:26

called Cardiff Feast, which was set in Cardiff. And

9:29

one night we walked upstairs and

9:31

there was Windsor Davis having

9:33

a drink with Harry Seacombe. And

9:36

Andrew Howard said to me, he said, well, we've seen

9:38

it all now. And

9:41

to me, in many ways I have.

9:43

I didn't know that, well, Ken

9:45

Cranham is a friend of mine. Oh. Ken

9:48

Cranham takes us back to our shelves. Look

9:50

where my hand is put. Are you on your, yeah,

9:52

you can see it. That's Elvis,

9:55

right? Yeah. Yeah. That's

9:57

Elvis on the Milton Berle show when he did Hound Dog. The

10:00

way it's presented there is

10:02

a collage made by

10:05

Ken Cranham, because Ken makes

10:07

these lovely – he loves Elvis like

10:09

I do, and like I do, I

10:11

do love Elvis – Ken

10:15

makes these. There

10:17

we are for people at home. Below

10:20

him, I think I said before, that's Victor Spinnetti, another

10:24

Welshman. So that's Ken, but tell me now.

10:26

Tell me now. You're in that play, so

10:29

first of all, the first play you're ever in was at the National

10:31

Theatre. Yes. I mean,

10:33

that's damn good. Daniel Evans was in it

10:35

as well. Yes.

10:38

Andrew Howard. They love us.

10:40

Daniel. Yes, yeah. Oh,

10:44

it was a right group. Mark Lewis-Jolars,

10:46

Lisa Palfrey, Windsor Davis,

10:48

who else was in it? DiBocher. Wow.

10:52

Oh, it was the great and the good. And then

10:54

we took it to Cardiff. That

10:59

was, well, you know, I'd not have

11:01

got it. It was ready to see myself

11:03

and Daniel Evans going at it hammering

11:05

tongues,

11:06

not a stitch between us. You know, he

11:08

runs Stichester now.

11:09

I know.

11:11

Isn't he going to the Royal Shakespeare Company?

11:13

I don't know. I hadn't heard that.

11:15

Leave here, which is wonderful.

11:18

For people listening now, when I say that Daniel

11:20

Evans runs Stichester, he's not become a

11:22

mayor or a counsellor. He

11:24

runs the theatre. Yes, he's not some kind

11:26

of Godfather figure of Stichester. Although

11:30

his fingers in place, spend

11:33

a little longer, spend a little longer telling

11:35

me about Windsor Davis. I was never lucky

11:37

enough to meet him. Tell him what sort of a man

11:39

was he.

11:40

He was very quiet. And

11:43

I'm not sure as to how much of it, like, you know, and

11:46

we were all so desperate to ask,

11:49

one, for an impersonation of Elena Hotman,

11:52

or two, to ask a question about anything,

11:54

about filming, the making

11:56

of it, anything. And none of this evidence, and I

11:58

regret

11:58

it to this day. I was like,

12:02

well, maybe I could be wrong here. But I was like, I'm sure

12:04

you would have loved to talk about it. It

12:06

was the making and making my household name.

12:09

I also wanted to ask him about

12:12

Never the Twig, which he did with

12:14

Donald Sinden. Classic

12:16

classics of our time. Well that's the program

12:18

that me and Steve Coogan are always joking,

12:20

saying we're going to reboot it.

12:23

You have to. You have to.

12:25

I mean, that's right for a remake.

12:29

I do remember one of the things, he was so old

12:31

school, the one thing he used to do that

12:33

thing, I'm sure Victor Spenetti could say, he

12:35

would place a small kind of red dot

12:38

on the inside of his eyes. It was the old kind

12:40

of theatrical tradition

12:42

playing stage makeup that kind of

12:44

says it pops your eye more. He came up to me

12:47

in the tech run and goes, you might just

12:49

want to put a little love in the

12:52

eyes. And I was like, oh,

12:54

thanks very much. A little love. Now how are

12:56

they to do your show, Rob Rydon? Now you

12:58

can say whatever you want, although people will

13:01

judge you, but you can say whatever you want. Listen,

13:03

listen, our chosen professors, we are here

13:05

by the grace of God to be judged.

13:09

So

13:10

in this play Cardi C, there's a moment, Daniel

13:13

M's and I, we come on naked

13:16

and as I say, love ensues.

13:19

And we do the first guest rehearsal and and

13:21

and Windsor Davis played lovely, comes up to me.

13:24

What's wonderful. You're a red dot, pops the eyes. Thanks

13:26

so much. Ken Clanton comes to me and says,

13:29

you might want to put a little bit of toothpaste on

13:31

your old boy. And I said, what? What?

13:34

And he goes, he just keeps saying, you know, floods

13:37

it with blood.

13:38

And I was like, what?

13:41

And of course, I got confused.

13:44

I put the toothpaste in my eye. My

13:46

eyes were streaming and I looked

13:48

like I had a nasty rash on the old

13:50

chap. But the reviews were worth

13:53

it. I

13:57

love it. Here's a funny thing. Here's a funny

13:59

thing. Interesting.

14:01

So you had the two older actors coming

14:03

up to you and giving

14:06

you advice. And that's lovely. I've just

14:08

finished, if you'd spoken to me two days

14:10

ago, I've had a goatee beard

14:12

and a mister, all that stuff. So I've been filming a thing

14:15

set in Tudor times.

14:18

Oh. And I was one of the

14:20

older members of the cast. Yes. I

14:23

often found myself wanting

14:25

to impart little

14:28

things, and I would have to keep stopping myself. But

14:31

there was one day, one

14:33

of the younger actors, and I won't say who it was because

14:35

he may find it embarrassing,

14:39

but we were doing a scene with these stunt people

14:41

in it, and we had to sort of hit them over

14:44

the head with rubber things,

14:46

you know, and they fall down. And that's it.

14:49

I mean, a stunt-skull, it was day

14:51

one, very easy for them, right? And

14:54

he, this younger, lovely

14:56

guy, terrific actor, would always

14:59

offer to help his guy back up off

15:01

the floor. And

15:03

I said to him, I said, I

15:06

wouldn't offer to help

15:08

him back up off the floor. You know, this is his

15:10

thing. This is what he does. Yes.

15:14

And he said, oh, OK. Well, then I went

15:16

home and then I was filled with guilt. I thought,

15:18

oh, Rob, what are you doing? Maybe

15:20

you should. What's your take on that?

15:23

Do you should you be offering to help

15:25

the stunt guy up after a very

15:27

simple stunt? No,

15:30

I think I think you're on to something with age because

15:32

this is the age I'm at. I would

15:35

maybe in my early

15:36

20s, you're kind of all you're full of, you know,

15:39

gun hole and low. Let me help and

15:41

let how can I help out? And probably

15:43

yes.

15:44

And then as you get older and creaks set

15:46

into your own body, you start to worry

15:48

more about what you need to do and let everyone else

15:51

figure it out. I mean, the

15:53

first ever the first ever job I did

15:55

before just before Cardi B's, who's

15:57

a film, Mark Evans, called How to Love.

15:59

House of America with Sean Phillips.

16:02

And my first day was with the incredible

16:05

Brian Hibber. You know, you remember Brian

16:07

Hibber of the Flying Pickets

16:09

thing.

16:10

And I'm walking to this little green

16:13

room and he's lying down, and he's lying down

16:15

and rolling a cigarette.

16:17

And I sort of gasped, because I recognized

16:19

him immediately, because he was so known with

16:21

his sidebursts and Flying Pickets. And I went, ah!

16:24

And all he said was,

16:27

never stand when you can sit, never sit

16:29

when you can lie. Come here, boy, and I'll

16:31

gum your plums. Ha ha ha! And

16:34

that was my welcome to show. Good,

16:38

right? Yeah, much missed.

16:48

Are you shopping with Rakuten yet? They help

16:50

you save money on almost everything you buy.

16:52

With all the cash back you get, you can treat yourself

16:55

to the things you love, like new athletic

16:57

apparel and even home appliances. In

16:59

case you're wondering, the stores on Rakuten

17:01

are ones you know and love, like Bloomingdale's,

17:04

Zampos, and Samsung, plus so many

17:06

cool ones waiting to be discovered. There

17:08

are over 3,000 stores. It's

17:11

free and easy to join Rakuten and start

17:13

getting cash back. Just go to rakuten.com

17:15

now or download the Rakuten app today.

17:18

That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Disclaimer,

17:21

cash back rates change daily. See rakuten.com

17:23

for details.

17:25

At Bombas, we make socks, underwear,

17:27

and t-shirts that feel good and do good.

17:29

They feel good because they're designed with the softest

17:32

materials and comfort innovations. They

17:34

do good because for every item you purchase,

17:36

we donate another item

17:37

to someone who needs it. So far, we at

17:40

Bombas have donated over 100 million

17:42

items and your purchases add to that impact.

17:45

Go to bombas.com slash Wondry

17:47

and use code Wondry for 20% off

17:49

your first purchase. That's

17:52

B-O-M-B-A-S.com slash Wondry

17:54

and use code Wondry at checkout.

17:58

Just back to my stunt man and my. and

18:00

my perhaps ill-timed

18:02

advice. It was more,

18:04

it was less to do with the aches and the pains,

18:07

although there are certainly plenty of those. It was more

18:09

that thing that I think that on a set people

18:11

have the thing they do. Let's say somebody

18:14

from the wardrobe hasn't done something maybe

18:16

they're supposed to and you offer

18:18

to do it, it just highlights

18:21

the fact that they haven't done it. So

18:23

sometimes people with the best of intentions

18:26

are actually landing other people in it. To me

18:28

it seemed that if you're helping the stunt guy get

18:30

up, it's like one of

18:32

the... No, I agree. I mean,

18:35

my things on the 18 page that we regard as that were

18:38

very separate in a way.

18:40

I just think I'm not

18:42

sure how the stuntman felt about being helped

18:45

up. I used to be that

18:47

person in my youth that kind of thought

18:50

that you had to help everyone and I

18:52

realize now

18:53

everything works far better if you

18:55

just worry about your core. That's what I'm

18:57

saying. That's exactly what I was saying

18:59

to this lovely guy who I got

19:01

on with, spent seven months with him, adore him,

19:04

very young. So I just thought, well,

19:06

here's something I can pass

19:08

on. I couldn't tell him to put toothpaste on his, you

19:11

know, and that was Ken that told me that. I'll probably

19:13

be speaking to Ken soon. Please

19:15

remind, remind, remind him of that. And

19:18

he's very kind, he's always, he always had great

19:20

advice. He always had, well, apart from, you know,

19:22

keeping something buoyant or full

19:24

of blood, he always

19:26

had about, about clothes. He's always impeccably

19:29

dressed. He always made these incredible mixed

19:31

tapes for us all. Yes, that's

19:34

right. Yes, still does.

19:35

He was just one of those, he was one

19:37

of those old school actors that I was always

19:39

so taken with.

19:40

That they, they just nearly,

19:42

you know, sometimes I'm a little half a Guinness before going

19:44

on. It was like, it was everything I wanted

19:47

from that

19:48

experience. Going back to Ken Khan, it was Elvis.

19:51

Do we talk about this? I played a Welsh speaking Elvis. No. It

19:54

was the reason, it was the thing that made me

19:56

decide to apply for drama school. I did, I

19:58

played Elvis because I would do a Welsh speaking.

19:59

school.

20:01

I played out at the age of 18 in a school

20:03

musical and it was translated. They took

20:06

the English musical and they translated it into

20:08

Welsh.

20:09

And even

20:11

the spelling, because

20:14

in Welsh a single f is

20:17

the v sound. So they changed,

20:19

which I never quite understood, they changed his name to a set elfist.

20:22

It was like elfist but obviously

20:24

you said elfist. And

20:25

then we used to come out and go, what elfist?

20:28

Is it about an elf?

20:28

What's that about? Are you

20:31

like an elf in a jumpsuit? But

20:33

I sang 26 Elvis songs in

20:36

Welsh and it was that experience that made me

20:38

think I'm going to apply for the Royal Academy and

20:40

I'm going to make my life out of show. Do

20:42

you remember any of those songs in Welsh?

20:45

Hound Dog is milky.

20:47

You ain't nothing but a milky.

20:49

T-18 didn't bead on milky. T-18 didn't

20:51

bead on milky. Well come on, give

20:53

us more than that. This is delicious. That's

20:56

literally all I can remember. But

20:59

Mrs. Morse who taught sewing made

21:02

me an incredible rhinestone

21:05

jumpsuit that I ended it with.

21:07

It was truly one of the highlights

21:09

of my career. Do you sing

21:11

any Elvis songs? Well the show

21:14

I'm doing at the moment is a show with a band.

21:17

Yes. I sing. I do

21:20

a bit about him, some

21:22

impressions, Daddy D and I

21:24

say here's one of my favourite Elvis songs from the

21:26

70s and I do a thing he did in 1976 called Hurt. You

21:31

know, I am so hurt

21:33

to think that you lied to me.

21:37

And then he goes, I'm so hurt, darling,

21:39

much more than you'll ever know. Yes,

21:41

darling, I'm so hurt because

21:43

I still love you so. Oh but even

21:46

though you hurt me like

21:48

nobody else could ever

21:51

do. I do that. That's

21:53

the thing, that bit

21:55

alone is worth the ticket. Oh

21:57

you haven't seen the prices.

21:59

Oh.

21:59

I tell you because

22:02

I am very intrigued so he started doing

22:04

this.

22:04

To me it's like it's kind of the fulfillment

22:07

of a dream watching like Sammy

22:09

Davis. You know I mean I just saw

22:11

an incredible rendition

22:16

of I can't remember my own name today

22:19

but it's with Sammy Davis Jr and Tony

22:21

Jones what I'm saying what the world is. Yeah

22:24

we're gonna do it now. What the

22:27

world needs now. And

22:29

it's amazing the Saturday's you keep saying

22:32

what the world is now Tom and

22:34

he says Tom about eight times

22:36

and Tom always like slightly looks

22:39

at it with it he's actually you know go what oh

22:41

right. What

22:43

as if he's trying to get his attention. Yes yeah

22:45

he's just timing like what oh right yeah. Oh

22:48

good yeah yeah. What the world needs now Tom is. Oh

22:51

that's good. I

22:53

love Sammy Davis Jr and if you do

22:55

a show that has humour and

22:58

stories and music he's the gold standard

23:00

obviously I'm not even

23:02

in the Premier League I mean the Bees

23:05

are home Sunday League but nonetheless you

23:07

know we can aim we can

23:09

aim high. I'm taking it soon to Australia

23:11

oh no when this goes out I'll already have been forget

23:13

that. Forget it.

23:15

But get it. Wait are you gonna see C.D.

23:17

he's there. Not anymore he's finished now isn't

23:19

he.

23:20

He's finished the show. What can we do it? Yeah.

23:25

Well it'd be nice wouldn't it just make a bit of space. Yeah

23:28

yeah come on come on give us a give us a chat

23:30

give us less somewhat 80. What was he

23:32

he was doing Rock Me Amadeus wasn't he was he

23:34

doing the by Falco

23:37

he was playing Falco. He was playing

23:39

Falco Edie Falco was incredible

23:42

incredible transformation. What Edie

23:44

Falco did Rock Me Amadeus I didn't realise

23:46

that. Yes he did he's very versatile

23:48

actress.

23:49

This is what I want to ask you when you go what

23:51

so

23:52

go back a bit now who came up with the

23:54

idea of doing the show. Well

23:57

I'd had.

23:59

Matthew talk more. I'd had

24:02

the idea of doing

24:04

a show with music. I'd wanted to for ages,

24:06

but I was

24:08

believe this Matthew, I was very shy.

24:10

I was so shy darling and

24:12

I didn't want the criticism. I really didn't because

24:16

I'm a very shy woman.

24:17

I know I was a bit because you

24:19

know, let's face it, when someone off

24:21

the telly says and now I'm gonna sing,

24:25

it's very easy to raise your eyebrows and go

24:27

okay. Even though I'd sung in

24:29

a million shows. Right and you can, yes,

24:31

but you can back it up. I know, okay. So

24:33

what happened was I was guesting on a friend show. There

24:36

was a producer who I already knew in the audience. Afterwards

24:38

he said you should do something like that. It was kind of a cabaret show.

24:41

I said well I wanted to, why don't you get it and

24:43

he got the wheels rolling and that's

24:46

how it happened and I love it because you,

24:49

number one, you're with the musicians. So

24:51

it's like being in a touring play or

24:53

a touring show. Right. You've got companionship.

24:56

You're not, you know, the lonely life

24:58

of the stand-up comedian. Although the

25:00

stand-up comedian keeps all the money. So

25:02

you know, it's swings and roundabouts. So

25:04

when I saw you doing it,

25:06

I just thought that to me looks like so much

25:09

fun. That's great, yeah. And I would

25:11

imagine, well it's so many performances, but it's something that is

25:13

just gonna evolve and grow with,

25:16

you know, with every turn of the clock. Are

25:19

you having the time of your life? Yeah, I've enjoyed,

25:21

well I've not done it for a bit now, so I can't

25:23

remember. My memory can remember some things, not

25:25

others. So I stopped some time last year and I've just

25:27

done Australia and New Zealand. Yeah,

25:30

yeah. Although not,

25:32

let's be honest with our listener, not while we're speaking,

25:34

but I'm about to go off and do it. And then maybe I'll

25:37

do more. We never got round to doing Scotland, we

25:39

never got round to doing Ireland because of the pandemic

25:41

and then just the way the dates fell.

25:44

But enough about me. Now you said you

25:47

grew this wonderful moustache.

25:49

Yeah. Because you've been, so you now

25:51

are in a position where you've

25:53

got to really choose carefully

25:56

because you've done some fantastic

25:58

stuff and you. You,

26:01

no, no, no, you've got to be very careful

26:03

now, because you've just done really

26:06

good stuff. And you can't

26:08

slip under the radar and go and do some

26:11

rubbish, can you? So

26:13

this is a strange quandary

26:15

and up to unbelief means to brine, up

26:17

to unproblems, up to unproblems.

26:19

But it's the kind of banal thing you go through, you

26:22

know, management conference calls

26:25

with, where they say, now look, you can't just take

26:27

in, we're in a hot spot now,

26:29

we've got to ride this one out, you're

26:32

on the back of the stallion

26:35

and we're into the,

26:37

eight for long and you have no idea what

26:39

they're talking about. They keep kind of saying, you can't

26:41

take this job anymore, you can't take that any

26:44

job, what are they calling you, a thing you're gonna

26:46

lower? Your currency is gonna lower and you're

26:48

like,

26:49

right. But at some point, can

26:52

I take any, can I do some

26:54

thing? Can I accept something,

26:57

can I do anything that

26:59

would just make me feel like I'm contributing

27:02

in some small way or just get me out back.

27:05

Because it's been a while, because they keep saying, well,

27:07

you know, it's gotta be the right, the next project,

27:09

the next project is so crucial after Perry

27:11

Mason, the next one is so crucial. That's

27:14

how the world's gonna view you.

27:15

You're like, so how long has it been? I've been working

27:18

since, we finished Perry Mason seven months ago

27:20

and I haven't worked since then. I'm

27:23

going out of my mind. So

27:25

what are you doing? You're keeping

27:27

fit, you're exercising, you do not. I am exercising,

27:30

it's about the only thing I've got. A

27:32

quick question, a quick question has been, I've

27:34

been pondering,

27:35

do you think

27:37

it's possible

27:38

to do a film or a television,

27:40

limited television series about Tom Jones?

27:43

Oh yes. But here's the other

27:45

thing, love him as we do.

27:48

It's like,

27:50

where does it land? Do you know what I mean? Yeah,

27:52

yeah. How edgy can it be?

27:55

Yeah, well that's interesting, because you know, the

27:57

Elvis, the Baz Luhrmann Elvis film, which

27:59

I love. love, not everybody did. I

28:02

loved it. Was

28:04

interesting because you could argue in that

28:07

that whilst there's

28:10

some things they went, Oh, look, here we see him

28:12

with these drugs and that drugs. It did

28:14

make it look as if there

28:16

were no other significant women

28:19

in his life other than Priscilla, which I don't think

28:21

is the case. I mean, I

28:24

know all his names because I'm such a fan. I won't embarrass

28:26

myself by saying them.

28:28

That's not strictly true.

28:33

So I don't know, I depend what you'd focus

28:35

on. But he's had a I would think

28:37

perhaps with Thomas.

28:39

It's never really got that bad for him. I mean, he's

28:41

had he's had I

28:44

think he said to me that when he wrote his book,

28:46

they wanted him to kind of if there

28:48

were any moments of doubt in his career,

28:50

could he slightly up it a bit? And he was sure

28:53

it's been been brilliant. It's been good. And

28:56

and because he's and he's not he's

28:58

not a man of doubt, is he? He's not he's not a man.

29:01

He's not sitting up in the middle of the night going,

29:03

Oh, God, you know, he's bloody living life

29:05

and loving it. I mean, he's he's

29:08

had the most wonderful, wonderful

29:10

life. Yeah. And wonderful career

29:12

that's just gone. You could argue there was a

29:14

little slump. Maybe I know in the

29:17

80s, perhaps until he did kiss. And

29:19

then this third act of his career has

29:22

been, you know, Mr. Saturday Night

29:24

on the TV, critically acclaimed albums,

29:27

live filling big venues. I mean,

29:29

so that's the only thing I remember saying to

29:32

Steve Coogan once I said, Oh, I'd quite like to

29:34

because I love Larry Grayson and he had a long

29:37

face like me. And I thought I could I could play like

29:39

I said I could I could play Larry Grayson.

29:41

And he went he went he went he went. He

29:43

went, what did he say? There's no conflict. But

29:48

what he meant was there wasn't really

29:51

much tragedy in Larry's

29:53

life. And there wasn't anything

29:55

massive. I've looked into his life, you know, there

29:57

are ups and downs. But. because,

30:00

and now Mark Gatiss has played him in,

30:04

Helena Bonham Carter's done a thing that Russell T.

30:06

Davis wrote about Noel Gordon

30:09

from Crossroads. And she was very good

30:11

friends with Larry and Mark

30:13

plays Larry. I haven't seen it yet, it's available, you

30:16

can see it. Larry Grayson is another

30:18

one who I remember sitting with my mother watching

30:20

Larry Grayson and howling. Howling.

30:24

It was, you know, it was an

30:26

early kind of introduction into showbiz

30:28

when I would try and go look at the Muck in here, you

30:31

know, to my own mother's. Well

30:33

you've given him quite a butch voice there. That's

30:35

as good as I can go. That

30:38

was Windsor Grayson. Windsor Grayson.

30:40

Go on, give me your Grayson. Okay,

30:43

right, okay, hang on.

30:47

Now, now what, what, what,

30:50

what's the day today? Thursday. Ooh,

30:53

place alive. Shut that door. Anyway,

30:57

slack came round, slack Alice came round

30:59

because you've not been well, you see. Well I've not been well,

31:01

you know. Last week I had it all down this

31:03

side. And now this week I've got it

31:05

all down this side. I mean I can't wait for

31:08

next week. People.

31:12

See, it's humour you can't beat

31:15

nor repeat.

31:17

When will it come back?

31:23

You should play Grayson. Make up

31:25

the conflict. There's no conflict.

31:28

So I should put a tear to my eye in the best

31:30

way.

31:39

Oh, hey, so you've grown the moustache

31:41

to create the impression because the school that

31:44

your children go to has many

31:47

a celebrated parent. I don't

31:49

want to pry into your private life but who are we

31:51

talking about?

31:53

I mean look, we didn't, this is just within

31:55

the square mile I would say. We

31:58

got Daniel Craig, Rachel O'Hara. Good God.

32:01

Good God.

32:04

There's um, John Griddin's gambling

32:06

blood. Wait should I be

32:08

saying this? Now I feel like I'm betraying them in some

32:10

way and then I'm kind of going, you can't tell people

32:12

when actually I'm going to school you. Oh you haven't said the name

32:14

of the school have you? All you've said is

32:17

that I think, I think that's reasonable. I

32:19

mean and I wouldn't want you to

32:22

say that because I've seen Daniel Craig,

32:24

I've seen him kill people. Um, yes

32:26

I was like. Again and again. Um,

32:29

he's very beat. And he's very good at driving

32:31

a car, he can jump out of planes, he can

32:33

shoot people, I mean they're always vicious. Yeah,

32:36

yeah. So I wouldn't want to incur his

32:38

wrath. Um, but

32:41

neighborhood wise it's quite

32:43

showbiz towers around here. You know, Matt

32:46

Damon, Adam Driver, Paul

32:48

Rudd, they're all local. And

32:51

this is Brooklyn. This is

32:53

Brooklyn, yes. So we're

32:55

all in a small section of Brooklyn.

32:58

So I kind of got myself, I kind

33:00

of sized my hair quite short.

33:03

I got them last year thinking they might just

33:05

think World War I, Edwardian,

33:08

maybe you know Rupert Graves, I'm

33:10

playing Rupert Graves. Or

33:13

Windsor Davis. I just, I make

33:15

things up now because I reworked in seven

33:17

months. You genuinely grew it, you

33:19

genuinely grew it for that. I genuinely

33:21

grew it. So maybe, maybe, you

33:24

know, they'll probably know that I'm not doing anything

33:27

because I do school drop off and

33:29

pick up. Yeah,

33:30

yeah. So they're like, well, you're not working because

33:33

you're here every day.

33:35

And is Kerry working? Yes,

33:37

working like a trooper.

33:39

Yes. Them

33:40

stuff. Netflix shows,

33:42

a film called Cocaine Bear which

33:44

is out. I saw the trailer for, I was sat

33:46

somewhere. Where was I yesterday?

33:49

Why can't I remember where? I was somewhere yesterday.

33:52

I was in a restaurant and they had a little,

33:54

like a bar pub and they had a little TV screen,

33:57

a tiny one above the bar and they kept looking with sport

33:59

on. And I kept seeing this trailer for

34:01

Cocaine Bear with a bear

34:03

that runs and jumps out of a car into the

34:06

back of one. I've looked rather good, I thought.

34:08

And guess what? This is based on proof.

34:11

What is the story then?

34:13

Well, in 1983

34:15

or something, there was this incredible,

34:18

incredible character that I

34:20

played. And

34:23

he was a number of things. A policeman became a DE

34:25

agent, then became a drug

34:27

runner. And they were in it as well. I

34:30

would say my screen time

34:32

in the film average would be anywhere

34:34

between six to eight seconds. And

34:38

what happened was he was running cocaine

34:40

up and down the Appalachian Mountains and his

34:42

plane was going down. So he threw kilos

34:45

and kilos and kilos of cocaine out into

34:48

the Appalachian Smoky Mountains as

34:50

his plane crashed. And

34:52

a black bear close to Knoxville, Tennessee

34:54

ate.

34:56

I ate, I think, a kilo of cocaine.

35:01

It didn't end well for the bear. And

35:03

this is, you know, they've obviously stretched

35:05

the fiction. But that, the actual

35:08

bear that

35:09

went on this rampage is

35:13

now stuffed in Knoxville, Tennessee.

35:15

And you can have your photo, you know, if you

35:18

stand next to it. And he's called Pablo Escobie.

35:20

That's great. Yes.

35:23

His memory lives on. But in so in the film,

35:25

he jumps into trucks. He does

35:28

all sorts of things.

35:29

I mean, there's a liberty taken. There's

35:31

a liberty. Is it a comedy?

35:34

I'm very much so

35:37

because I laugh like a drape. So

35:39

as you as you do the school run and you

35:42

drop off and pick up and that's wonderful. That's an investment

35:45

in your relationship with your children.

35:48

You can't buy that sort of thing.

35:50

You will have in your head now,

35:52

Matthew Reese, will have an idea of

35:55

what he wants to do. Is he going to you're going

35:57

to get together with Michael Sheen and go

35:59

to Broadway for the Sunshine Boys.

36:02

Now that I could see the two of you doing that.

36:05

How there? Or you and and

36:07

Reesey fans doing that. You

36:11

know me and Sheen used to live together. Yes of course

36:14

of course. Are we kindling or

36:16

what else? Well maybe you'll

36:18

cut this bit out but let's just talk about it quickly. Have

36:20

you ever seen a film called Staircase

36:23

with Rex Addison and Richard Burton? David

36:25

Walliam some years ago said to me

36:27

that he and I should do that. But

36:30

I would be the first to admit that Michael

36:32

Sheen and Matthew Reese is a far

36:34

more sexy proposition. Have you seen

36:36

the film? Only bits of it. I know all

36:38

about it. Oh it's very would be. It would

36:40

be deemed very offensive in this day and age. But

36:43

one of the greatest reviews I read about because

36:45

they had their campus Christmas

36:47

in it. It says Richard Burton and Rex

36:50

Addison to the world's biggest heterosexuals

36:52

playing to the world's most unlikely

36:55

homosexual. Or

36:59

unconvincing homosexuals. It was it

37:01

wasn't their best moment. But that

37:04

I mean I would gladly do

37:06

a stage version of Staircase with

37:08

Sheedy. So it is so easy. The

37:10

other thing over the seven months

37:13

is because you know some

37:15

things did well. Peri-Racing did relatively well. So

37:17

then you're approached by a number of people

37:21

to start developing. So

37:23

I what is known as I mean the midst of development

37:25

hell. Where there are about 10 projects.

37:29

Books mainly that you're in constant

37:32

Zoom meetings about. Notes. Notes

37:34

on treatment. Notes as you know. Notes on

37:36

the script. Who do we pitch

37:38

to next? You're just in this round robin's

37:41

flow of pitching

37:43

to people like Apple and Amazon and Netflix. And

37:45

HBO going oh this this project

37:48

is

37:49

my life's work. And

37:52

like my age is also you've got to say this is the

37:54

most important part because you said that a few times out. Said

37:56

that by the last one we picked for and they

37:58

were there for that. So

38:02

I'm in development for a number

38:04

of days.

38:05

But I suppose the one thing that I'm

38:08

genuinely excited about that I've been trying to get

38:11

made for so long is a story of O'Ow

38:13

England. And that's

38:16

been the epic hill

38:18

slog. That's been about a 12 year development

38:20

on the sea. As I explained

38:22

for people who aren't aware, if

38:24

they don't know Windsor Davis, they may not know

38:26

O'Ow England. Right. O'Ow

38:29

England

38:31

was,

38:33

as many deemed, the last

38:38

Welsh prince of Wales who in the 16th

38:40

century led an incredibly successful

38:42

rebellion against the English. When

38:46

things turned for the worse for Wales, as

38:48

they did for Scotland and Ireland,

38:50

Grendu united a very kind of

38:52

divided Wales

38:54

and not only retook Wales

38:56

but started to push into England

38:59

incredibly until

39:02

the English kind of like, this is far, far

39:04

too much on the teams. And

39:07

they came back with a vengeance.

39:09

They took his family and they came back upon him with a

39:11

vengeance,

39:12

the like of which we never kind of set up modern

39:15

Wales as it is now. Could

39:17

that film have a happy, uplifting ending?

39:19

Yes, it probably ended with when we won the

39:21

last Grand Slam.

39:23

That's quite a leap.

39:26

Yes. You know, you do that quick, you know, it's

39:28

like, you know, seeing, seeing, seeing.

39:34

Now there was a film, Grand Slam. We're

39:36

back to Windsor Davis. We're back to Windsor Davis.

39:39

And Hugh Griffith. Hugh Griffith.

39:42

Lying little butterfly. I was

39:45

some great, what

39:47

if it was for Windsor Davis and

39:50

it all kicks off, what did all it? Before

39:54

we leave Richard Burton and the staircase,

39:56

because we established in our last conversation,

39:59

I. I bow to no one

40:01

in my admiration for your Richard

40:03

Burton. And I think we told the story

40:05

when we were in Brooklyn and

40:07

going to see Neil Diamond together. And

40:10

we're in the back of the car and we start doing Richard Burton.

40:12

I started doing it and then you did yours.

40:14

And I shut up pretty quickly. How

40:18

would Richard, if he were here today and I were

40:20

asking him about his experiences

40:22

on the staircase, what might he say

40:24

about it? Well, as characters

40:27

go, it was

40:29

quite a stretch for me.

40:32

But Rex seems to fall

40:34

into that incredibly camp

40:37

overture very

40:39

successfully, very easily. I

40:41

haven't done burn for a while. It's a little rusty. It's

40:43

a little bit. No, but you've got the overture.

40:46

Overture. You've got

40:49

the slight pinched quality

40:52

within it and

40:55

when you did it before, there was

40:58

a breath. When you did it the last time we spoke.

41:00

Yes. That ain't going

41:03

to go pretty slow when he's acting,

41:05

especially when he's doing Shakespeare. He's

41:08

doing

41:08

to be or not to

41:11

be. You hear it more,

41:13

it's more effective in proper

41:15

acting. But your story of Hopkins, of

41:17

you both shout screaming

41:20

at each other, I tell often with

41:22

a man.

41:23

I

41:26

know, it's become that. I mean, I was just

41:28

screaming at the same time and I

41:30

was about to have an asthma attack or something. I

41:33

was overwhelmed to sit looking at this

41:35

God. Yeah.

41:38

Turned you back at me and said, I'm your eyes, Mr. Flayer, sir. Turn your

41:40

back at me, man. And

41:43

I'm looking back at him going, I'll turn you

41:45

back at me, man. Incredible.

41:47

Oh, blooming heck, Matthew. Have

41:50

you been back to Wales lately, Matthew? Not

41:53

since last summer. I

41:55

took Sam the youngest.

41:59

took him back for his proper,

42:02

you know, we missed so much because of Covid.

42:05

I took him back my father's from Mid Wales, so I took

42:07

him back to the farms of Mid Wales and

42:10

lead him work with livestock and feed

42:12

cattle and, you know, introduce

42:14

him to his roots. But we're

42:16

going back again, fine, funny enough, it's really

42:19

stable. So he's always talking about when are we going

42:21

back to the farm? Which farm

42:23

is this? This is a farm

42:26

in Penhall, just outside Macun Czert,

42:28

which you can go and stay at because it has B&B,

42:30

office, bed and breakfast. And it

42:32

was the farm where my father was born and raised,

42:35

still being farmed by the family. So it's

42:38

a magical place. Oh, would you

42:40

take me there?

42:42

I would, in a heartbeat.

42:45

I was the last time you were in Wales.

42:46

Well, don't ask like that.

42:50

I think just before Christmas.

42:52

Oh, a

42:53

child's Christmas in Wales. Now,

42:57

that's something you should do as a one man

42:59

as a one man show. What a Dylan

43:01

Thomas thought where I speak

43:04

like this and now as

43:06

I sit naked, nith the

43:08

apple blossom cherry tree green

43:11

and black crow black. Trishing

43:15

boat bobbing sea. Um,

43:18

I do a bit of that in my show. You talk

43:20

about I do. I do the duet between

43:23

the duet. Who do you want to view? I do

43:25

the, I do the no duet duet

43:28

between Captain Cat and

43:30

Rosie Probert. What seas did you see Tom

43:32

Cat Tom Cat? Oh, sailoring days

43:35

long ago. What sea beasts were in the wavy

43:37

green when you were my master? I'll

43:39

tell you no lies. Seas barking like seas.

43:42

Seals blue, seas and green. Seas

43:45

gliding with eels and the seal barking

43:47

moon. Oh, good lord.

43:51

I mean, come on. There's no, that's

43:53

another thing I'm in the middle of development is play.

43:57

A play about Dylan Thomas in

43:59

New York. Yes. And

44:02

it always opens, the pitch always tells others,

44:04

you always kind of go, we're so excited, great

44:06

to meet you, great to meet you. So excited to

44:08

take this meeting. So, tell

44:11

us, what are you talking about? So,

44:14

as you know, Dylan,

44:15

you go, Dylan Thomas, and you just see

44:18

him go... They're like, boys, well, come on.

44:26

But

44:29

you know that Tom Hollander has done

44:31

a thing about, I mean, I didn't

44:33

see it, but I heard he was very good. He

44:35

was incredibly good. He

44:37

was incredibly good at that. In a

44:39

way, you know sometimes you see some people, it's just

44:42

they depress you, you go... Yeah, yeah. It

44:44

was one of those, I kind of limped

44:46

away from that one, kind of resented, I know him, Tom,

44:49

he's lovely, but I resented him more,

44:51

a part of me died when I saw that performance. He's

44:54

having a hell of a run at the moment, isn't he? He's

44:56

really kind of come into his own, and

45:00

I'm going to be watching him in

45:02

this white lotus, which I've not watched yet, I'm

45:04

saving it up for the flight to Australia, which

45:06

by the time this goes on, I hopefully will have

45:08

taken very successfully. He's

45:13

very good in that, he's very good. And

45:15

he was great in the night manager. I

45:18

tell you what, Tom and I, I don't know if I've mentioned

45:20

this before, and this brings us back to rec fans.

45:23

Do you remember resplayed Peter Cook in Not

45:25

Only But Also? Yeah, yeah. Jesus

45:28

called that. Yeah.

45:30

And when they were casting

45:31

that, they said, oh, they want you to go in

45:34

and read for Peter Cook. Now,

45:36

I'm five foot seven, right? Peter

45:39

Cook was something more than that,

45:41

right? And I said, well, I could

45:43

never... You know when you know, there's

45:45

no way I'm going to get this part, but your

45:47

vanity, they're saying to you, oh,

45:50

they think you're so... So I went in and

45:52

it was Tom Hollander who read

45:54

as Dudley Moore. And Tom is

45:56

one of the few people I'm marginally

45:59

taller than. So we

46:01

did it together and I remember then thinking

46:03

that Tom's Dudley Moore

46:05

was very impressive.

46:07

It was very, very good. That's

46:10

something I would have seen. In fact, the guy who played

46:12

Dudley Moore, Aidan McCarville, I was in the same class

46:14

of him in Elrada. He's

46:16

Steve Coogan's cousin.

46:18

No way. No

46:20

way.

46:21

Well, it all comes full circle.

46:23

What are we talking about then?

46:25

Michael, to the side of this guy. Tom

46:27

Holland. I

46:29

was giving you a little glimpse into my show. What's

46:31

easy to see, Tomcat, Tomcat. And you're saving

46:33

days long ago. I tell you, you realize the only sea I saw was

46:36

a sea, saw sea with you riding on it, lie

46:38

down, lie easy. Let me shipwreck

46:40

in your thighs.

46:43

I mean, it's incredible. We're on to Bill Thomas. And

46:45

then like, I said, oh, it's gone. Gone. Basically,

46:49

yes, I'm a walking cliché. I'm basically trying

46:52

to develop Welsh

46:55

male

46:56

heroic figures of the past. Now, you wanted as

46:59

well. You were pushing for a long, the

47:01

one man show, The Shaking Stevens story.

47:03

Now, where are you with that? Quaking,

47:06

shaking. That's how we go to Broadway in

47:08

too much on that. And that starts there. But you couldn't

47:10

get the rights to Green Door, this

47:13

whole house, or O'Julie.

47:15

No. So we've changed the lyrics. It's Mean Door,

47:18

this old mouth.

47:21

Yes. And that's it. That's it. All

47:23

right. Well, fair enough. I understand.

47:26

Matthew. The Shaking Stevens I saw

47:28

has now just released a thing.

47:31

He's got a new record out. Yeah. Yeah.

47:34

I've sung with him on when

47:36

I did the Keith Barrett show in

47:39

the early thousands, we had

47:41

a Christmas special. The guests were

47:43

Ulrika Johnson and her then husband,

47:47

somebody else who I can't remember.

47:51

And the musical guest was

47:53

shaky. And me and my

47:55

guys as Keith Barrett from Marion and Jeff,

47:58

it starts off with him and

48:01

with Mary Chris, he goes, he's on the stage and

48:03

he goes, but he had a bad throat so he had to

48:05

mime his bits and I sang mine life.

48:08

So he goes, dang, dang, dang, doo

48:10

doo doo

48:13

doo, snow is falling, he's there,

48:15

all around me.

48:16

And you know then it gets to the next, when it goes, doo

48:18

doo, that was me. I went,

48:21

and I come out to the top of the stairs, time

48:23

for parties and celebration.

48:26

Well, I tell you what, I loved

48:28

it and not in an ironic way, not

48:30

in a, oh let's have a look, no no no no no, it

48:33

was brilliant. And then I'm

48:35

down there doing the dance next

48:37

to him. And so because of that, it

48:40

was my 40th birthday not long after

48:42

that, and he came to my birthday

48:45

party

48:47

and sang with the band. I was about

48:49

to

48:49

say he sang with the band. Stuart

48:52

Cable got on the drums. Oh

48:55

my god! It was, hey, I

48:57

tell you what, Sheen was there. I bet he

49:00

was. Anywhere. Re-lagging a sandwich,

49:02

that one. Known for it.

49:06

Listen now, I'm looking at the clock and I'm thinking

49:08

to myself, he must be thinking

49:11

he's got things to do. You want to

49:13

walk around Brooklyn holding

49:15

a script in your hand as if you're learning something. That's

49:18

another thing I do, I do go to the coffee shops

49:21

and I'm on the kind of,

49:23

I'm on the iPad swipe as

49:25

if I'm reading something but I'm not. I'm kind of

49:27

on trick to,

49:29

you know,

49:30

fumbling. I literally,

49:32

literally, I feel ashamed. I've had nothing

49:35

to talk to you about in this conversation.

49:37

You've answered with a heavy lifting as

49:39

I've tried desperately to claw

49:42

myself some kind of, some

49:44

kind of existence and

49:46

I'm failing and I apologize,

49:49

Ron. I apologize.

49:51

One of our finest, finest

49:54

guests, Matthew Reis, who died

49:57

earlier today. Well, tribute to him. have

50:00

been thick and fast. Rob Brydon,

50:03

we go to Rob Brydon now, well I was speaking

50:05

to him, it's not gone out yet, but he

50:08

did my second thing on

50:10

my podcast and he was saying that

50:13

the work, he was a lot of development

50:16

and he was joking about it, but I sensed

50:18

a deep thing. But nobody

50:21

thought he'd do what he did.

50:22

Nobody thought... Career, career

50:25

suicide. He played Shaky.

50:29

What if Shaky listens to this? I

50:31

know now as a man. Let's not get out.

50:33

I was in a restaurant

50:36

with David Williams,

50:37

the last time a Pope died and we

50:40

were in Rome, we were having

50:42

a lovely dinner and a maitre d' walk

50:44

said, who says something very dramatically

50:46

in Italian and the entire restaurant went out

50:50

and everyone stood up and started

50:52

to walk out.

50:54

So we asked the waiter, what happened? He said,

50:56

the papa has died and everyone

50:58

now walked to the Vatican. So,

51:01

so, Williams goes, guess, walk to the Vatican, right?

51:03

So we get out and as this horse

51:05

walking towards the Vatican and he's wearing, as

51:08

he does, a beautiful pale blue suit and

51:10

we walk in and we see the light of a

51:13

news camera on and I'm a man

51:16

with a microphone.

51:17

And just as we get into a good shot

51:20

of it, like,

51:21

Wyand grabs my hand

51:23

and starts tending to cry. I think

51:25

it's probably Italian, it's an Italian kind

51:27

of

51:28

news

51:29

camera man. And all of a sudden

51:31

this boy's going, oh, oh, David,

51:33

David, this is Mark for the

51:35

BBC. Could we have a word? So

51:41

he's never told me that he was pretending

51:44

to be in grief at the death of the Pope.

51:46

Yes, it was wearing a pale blue suit holding

51:49

my hand. In a, as the,

51:51

as the baby said, oh, David, could we have

51:53

a word? In a funny sort of way, it brings

51:55

us back to Larry Grayson.

51:58

Oh.

51:59

In what?

51:59

Well, David is today's

52:03

Larry Grayson.

52:06

I just and to that good, I would

52:08

say, I would say if you're if you're going to be compared

52:11

and compared to a great

52:12

then it's all good. I played Frankie

52:14

Howard, David in one of those BBC

52:17

biopics. I did one where I played Kenneth

52:20

Tynan. He did one where he played

52:23

Frankie Howard and I phoned him up the next day

52:25

and I said, I saw you last night

52:27

in that thing. I said, I said, you're very good.

52:30

I said, just to say in some of the things you reminded me

52:32

of Frankie Howard. Did

52:38

you find that funny? He did.

52:40

He did. I was living with she at

52:42

the time when he was doing Kenneth William. The

52:44

day he did his remember he did for that

52:46

thing before he did. He went on

52:48

a cabbage soup diet to lose all that weight.

52:51

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I thought I'd never recover.

52:53

I should have got some kind of a was he was he doing the

52:55

voice all the time?

52:56

Oh, yeah.

52:59

What are you doing? I was

53:01

just hearing him doing and I'm just trying to maybe wonder

53:04

where you see. I'm

53:06

not stopping me. No, no,

53:08

no, no, no, no, no. Right.

53:10

Listen, we've got to stop. We've got you've

53:13

got you've got to go and try and find some work. I

53:15

it's the evening for me, of course. So why

53:17

are you going to have to see a dinner? Um,

53:20

I don't know. Tonight, you probably

53:22

don't eat after six p.m. Do you?

53:25

I say that. You're one of them. You're

53:27

one of them. I've had a tab since 1989. Are

53:30

you talking about no far from

53:32

it? Um, no, no, no. Look at you

53:34

live as a whip to.

53:36

Yeah, no, that's my long face, Matty. That's all

53:38

that is. Oh, the horse.

53:41

If only it didn't stop at the face. Now,

53:44

look, I'm going to go. I'm

53:46

going to leave you. I'm not going

53:48

to be in America anytime soon. So God

53:51

knows when I'll see you in the flesh. Yeah.

53:53

Yeah. Well, listen,

53:55

I'm going to London in

53:57

almost the entire summer, and I've told

53:59

volumes. We are in a lunge. So

54:01

why don't we ask three, we have

54:03

happy three, we try all that at a full,

54:06

have some kind of oozy lunch.

54:08

We're only, you're not the only one

54:11

to speak if it's a showbiz

54:13

anecdote. Well, fine by me.

54:16

I love those. You do meet some people who

54:18

are rather dismissive of

54:20

anecdotes. What do

54:23

you do? And I think, what is wrong

54:25

with you?

54:26

I think the anecdote, not only

54:28

the anecdote itself, but the art of

54:30

the perfect delivery of an anecdote is a dying

54:33

art. It must be, and people

54:35

like

54:36

you, you're stewards of

54:38

this incredible craft.

54:40

So

54:41

well done. I am carrying the rod

54:43

of the anecdote teller. I

54:46

am the steward of it. In many ways, I am

54:49

the rod steward of...

54:54

I'm not going to get a bigger laugh than that. Let's leave it there.

54:57

Matthew Reiss speaking to us today in Brooklyn,

55:00

where he has nothing to do.

55:01

Cheers, Joe.

55:09

Prime members. Yes, you.

55:12

You can listen to Bride Nand early

55:15

and ad free on Amazon Music. Download

55:18

the app today. Bride Nand

55:20

is produced by Talent Bank and executive

55:22

produced by Rob Brydon. He does such

55:24

a vital job. In collaboration with

55:27

Wondery. Don't forget to check out

55:29

our Bite Size videocast on YouTube.