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ComCom Redacted live at 4pm on the Saturday.

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Where It Gets Interesting, I

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1:20

And welcome back to part two. This is

1:23

the second part of a special episode of

1:25

Comedians Comedian Podcast with Dara O Briain to

1:27

celebrate episode 450. In

1:30

the first half of this part, we're going

1:32

to discuss Dara's ranking in the comedy world

1:34

and the struggle of touring a show across

1:37

the world as a family man. We're also

1:39

going to discuss including local references within a

1:41

show or whether to simply implement the Vienna

1:43

model. That's some absolutely classic Dara. You can

1:46

join the Insiders Club at patreon.com/comcompod where you

1:48

can watch the full special now. Without further

1:50

ado, here is Dara O Briain.

2:00

bottom of the mainstream or the top of

2:02

the cult. Oh yeah yeah yeah. And I

2:04

wondered sort of with that in mind you

2:06

mentioned at the very beginning of this conversation

2:08

that you're not in the Netflix stable and

2:10

I wondered if you had any thoughts about not

2:13

being in the Netflix stable. I think that I'm

2:15

never going to be because I think I'm now

2:17

just too old. I am, there's

2:19

a filter of me going because I'll

2:21

be 52 in a couple weeks time

2:23

and anything I say about this

2:26

is never attended as a complaint or as a thing.

2:28

I think this is showbiz and there

2:30

are new generations come along whenever the

2:33

it was like when MOC ended. There's

2:36

an amount of like grants I had I

2:38

was given a really good go and

2:41

built an audience from it and now

2:43

there's a kind of a I mean that's well how

2:45

much more how much how much more

2:47

time do you want to spend trying to impress people? Which

2:51

is impinging on my thoughts for the first time

2:53

and how much energy do I have to re-compil

2:56

at the stage? Yes because that's particularly

2:58

if you start making forays into social

3:00

media and a new approach. Yeah. Do

3:02

you have the energy for what the

3:04

young people call the grind set? Yes

3:06

yeah so I'm not sure

3:09

the so I don't begrudge

3:11

the fact that other younger comes because I always I

3:13

spoke of it as always that this is how it

3:15

works. This is showbiz in front of a very weird

3:18

when older people go oh I'm

3:20

not getting the amount of no you're not

3:22

that's you know and I will

3:24

I now and I will take turns

3:26

to say Ted Gamble in 10 near

3:28

time there will be a new Ed

3:30

Gamble and I think he will get

3:32

the show that you've got the light.

3:34

The new Ed Gamble has already been

3:36

born. Yeah he's out there somewhere. He

3:38

doesn't know he's in the Ed Gamble.

3:40

He knows. He's making a beeline

3:42

for you. Ferdinand Kingsley the

3:45

baddie in season 2 of Jack Reacher. Oh

3:47

okay fine. It

3:51

follows. Oh Yes yes.

3:53

God That's a great movie. It follows

3:55

as a life of comedians where you

3:58

slowly walking towards you is a. Younger

4:00

versions who do it. you know you

4:02

gotta be far more more digitally native

4:04

Oregon. Tempo reference guess after reps those

4:06

a knows what they at the case

4:08

of your you kits into Durable since

4:10

they know a deeper truth that you're

4:12

alone. It's worth adding. Run from up

4:14

with you can't ever for these guys

4:16

back as one says it will kill

4:19

you have any since eighth a thing

4:21

as followed by something else which shows

4:23

you follow them with yes oh yes

4:25

that's that's stupid mouth Stay yes. So

4:27

I'm kind of it into this is

4:29

a kind. Of a weird faces I've got. Em

4:32

good kid. I will end of two motors

4:34

to they. That's all I know how to

4:36

do. Stay at both. It's a ass You're

4:39

going to go in. okay granted I had

4:41

to. they don't her. Yep

4:44

yep yep that's the with a point

4:46

to I will I switch with this

4:48

twenty years going into that sites to

4:50

that worked your heart, your hot your

4:52

heart is god's then companies disappear, you

4:54

go and for twenty five years. Dot.

4:57

Massager inside to be you did you

4:59

fall It is a journalist, harlequin or

5:01

with cats and than seventy five nanometers

5:03

so you could survive if I can

5:06

make his next twenty two years. Yeah.

5:08

Fucking last. I

5:11

was chatting to Bring comic in Bristol recently

5:13

whose husband is as fifty seven and he

5:15

was kind of. She was relating the story

5:17

of him talking about a career move or

5:20

having had a lucky break were biomes, the

5:22

surviving member of a department and dumb and

5:24

wondering what to do next. and she was

5:26

sort of talk about passing on the back.

5:28

again. you've done it. You. To

5:30

Get You Got it. And we were just talking

5:32

about that like he's not retirement age yet. But.

5:35

There is a point at which you kind of go

5:37

has made I think I said at it's heart is

5:39

broken, the bus service and and possibly even when I'm

5:41

forty six at the moment. and then. The.

5:43

Idea of like maybe ten years

5:45

from now fading like would maybe

5:47

have done. Yeah. Most of the

5:49

stuff I was gonna yeah as a fifty two

5:52

year old at the moment this is talk a

5:54

little bit about. Am. Not

5:56

about you decline a semi any means, but yet

5:58

I had at war. Is that said, like you've

6:00

done tore off to tour. I think at the

6:02

time we we last spoke which is a long

6:04

time ago you talk about the next one might

6:06

just be a hundred dates. Rather, Than

6:08

one hundred the kid growing up the

6:11

kept going us what happened was at

6:13

that at that point so let's which

6:15

twenty twelve and fourteen so the air

6:17

and we sending interest was it without

6:19

doing oslo have a say in and

6:21

of you're not going to reduce the

6:23

dead when you can go know so

6:25

well file bard we did Athens with

6:27

him and then did say exists and

6:29

I'll add to this cold kits both

6:32

For the first time this year I

6:34

found the going. And that the

6:36

turret hundred been in game and Buddha an

6:38

item any cebu they and the air and

6:40

is an element of alec with a global

6:42

version of the it's a circuit and you

6:44

just keep going round that you know the

6:46

comedy club circuit human this such and such

6:48

a dressing room for the fifth time in

6:50

the like this again to when you get

6:52

that with Buddha or did it in a

6:54

way to the is a just go to

6:56

him so am in northern know it with

6:58

that nothing as an answer of the magic

7:01

Oh so very busy so where is the

7:03

danger of kind of becoming tail Warned about

7:05

the international. Yeah exactly I am a computer

7:07

that was a huge burst of energy and

7:09

new places and some of that and then

7:11

some point to point you going on finalists

7:13

which it's bad though way but also the

7:15

yes but I'm also and that is you

7:17

know that if if if it's a for

7:19

knock it off the plane were ever go

7:21

to go on it's on What a walk

7:23

on over the sec away to explore this

7:25

place the you know and then gods a

7:27

good odds are you with a new but

7:29

yeah yeah yeah I was amazing then they

7:31

he finds her back in go in hello

7:33

again have like the Buddha gray. Survey has

7:35

lost our didn't get rounds of Israel's right

7:38

to see a regular still isn't as good

7:40

as dead. you just density the game to

7:42

take a lot of and family and your

7:44

Wales. So we're told to me about that

7:46

sorts of me about family something eyes as

7:48

is my kids and as nearly eight and

7:50

five and I love same original pocus because

7:52

I know that we people listening her. Currently

7:54

I haven't had kids yeah as they get

7:56

ahead don't be lot less they could get

7:58

going to walk outs yeah and but the.

8:01

I'm I'm feeling almost agoraphobic about leaving the

8:03

house because I feel like every moment not

8:05

with them is is wasted. I mean a

8:07

thing I head a lot the time but

8:09

I have a real sense whereby at the

8:11

last couple of years have been increasingly a

8:14

challenge to go to to go up and

8:16

do a gig in Newcastle. A pretty do

8:18

the stand. Want a room? yeah been working

8:20

you know like spin. It took a long

8:22

time building that relationship and now part of

8:24

me like will not stealing a whole weekend

8:26

of my kids that both at school and

8:28

I'm going to be away the whole weekend.

8:31

Have you had you encountered that?

8:33

Because obviously you're on colossal dates.

8:35

Globe trotting, Colossal tours. But

8:38

as a man with kids yeah I you'll

8:40

find a few. it's compared. schedule I have

8:42

it is safe for two years ago Schedule

8:44

now it's very was three or four week

8:47

rather than five or six week and so

8:49

with actively would narrow that down aid the

8:51

things are over longer periods time to show

8:53

is over two and a big years because

8:56

you hundred and seventy five to yes I

8:58

we had some huge put that evil down

9:00

see I heard. It's yellow, just so yeah

9:02

and so yeah. I'm aware that the

9:04

Am and A that they're interacting with

9:06

me of as of my absence. When

9:08

they're interacting with your by your absence

9:10

more Yeah I've got that. You're aware

9:12

that has just started happening. Yeah now

9:15

in my daughter got that a wide

9:17

you want to go to go to

9:19

another show. Would have loved our current

9:21

this series. however I think. If

9:23

you do hitting the you you love

9:25

they should see you do anything. you'd

9:27

have a damaging thing that you've worked

9:29

to get to they should see you

9:31

doing that or the way to to

9:33

see me most part of in the

9:35

house and anywhere near of daddy Pay

9:37

Korea where the stages of deaths since

9:39

his so comically played of anyway let's

9:41

use widgets to that we some competent

9:43

that you can demonstrate that that's as

9:45

at freshness as a friend of with

9:47

a that it is crucial. The ongoing

9:49

dialogue is always our that is of

9:51

kinky dad and Alaska possible. The job. Where

9:54

does that come from? Observe of yeah, no

9:56

idea Paid baked. a

9:58

lot of reparations for a lot

10:01

of presumed patriarchal stuff

10:03

like that. And

10:07

also for a long time it was Daddy's office's holiday to

10:09

get to that. And that's for a long time. It still

10:11

is. I mean, when I go into

10:13

America, it'll be when you're off the holiday. I'll say

10:15

the same thing when I go, please stop referring to

10:17

them as my holiday. And

10:20

then I'll make the mistake of constantly going, you know,

10:22

I'm not getting to it actually, I'm just out and

10:25

in and wherever. And

10:27

I'll say this, I rang her

10:29

from Vienna. Oh yeah, bring

10:31

Vienna back in a second. We did a gig in Vienna.

10:33

First I went to Vienna. We went over the day before.

10:36

Because I tried to get over the day before and

10:38

see stuff. Just to go, hey, here

10:40

we are. You do a lot of

10:43

music. I mean, really deep observations like there's

10:45

a lot of music here. Whatever. What's with

10:47

the... Yeah. But then I

10:49

rang her and said, she said, oh, are you

10:51

on stage? And I said, no, no, no, that's

10:53

tomorrow. She said, why are you over there now?

10:55

I said, you know I do. You know I

10:57

always go over there. Still, it's like a negative

10:59

check mark of like, oh, you're on your... Yeah.

11:01

It's difficult to... Oh, those two hours you do

11:03

on day two are difficult to use the justification

11:06

for the, you know, that we don't think you're

11:08

having. You can't. Ridiculous. So the model

11:10

I made crazy is, you know, they're inspirational.

11:12

When they see people say, what did you learn

11:14

from your father? Is to swing

11:16

a gig that allows you to essentially

11:18

live the life you've always wanted to

11:20

live. Like night times

11:23

and... Yeah. And then not...

11:25

Yeah. And if you

11:27

can get away with that, it picks

11:29

back. Like you're laughing at the... Vienna

11:31

was... Here's the thing. I

11:33

have a second version of the show called the Vienna

11:36

Model, which we pump because it's the

11:38

Vienna Model. Why do I know you've got the Vienna

11:40

Model? Did you talk to me about it? I made

11:42

sense the other day because the Vienna Model is when

11:44

I go to somewhere where I've not... Generally,

11:46

somewhere I've not been before or somewhere I've not been

11:48

in a while. And

11:50

it just doesn't feel like I'm

11:53

going to do that story. So

11:55

there are times when I've opted out of

11:57

doing the story. Oh. and

12:02

Vienna was one of them because it's just a

12:04

certain late and I've not been in Vienna before and

12:06

you are going well for the first time I'm

12:08

here rather than doing that I'll take 30 minutes of

12:10

stuff from the previous show that just works and I

12:12

know it's good stuff I do all the time. You've

12:15

never been to Vienna before so you know they've

12:17

not seen it yet. So it's fine and then

12:19

it's and then it is it's the boom boom boom

12:21

ha ha ha version of the show so you

12:23

don't do that and I've done I've done it either

12:25

in places where I thought it's late and this is

12:27

going to which means the story's gonna arrive in late

12:30

for example or it's

12:32

weird as in Gibraltar, Gibraltar is a weird gig

12:34

in a it's in a cave and they put

12:36

in a kind of seats for a sound and

12:38

light show for the cave and the real we've

12:40

accidentally built an 8-under-seat theater so we

12:42

bring over comedy shows and but it is in a

12:44

cave and they were like and we did two shows

12:47

stacked two 90-minute shows on one of the nights and

12:49

then the other show was a full show I thought

12:51

well maybe I'll do it there but a woman had

12:53

a medical thing in the middle of

12:55

it and we had to do break and I said no

12:57

fuck this and I can I can click very easily from

13:00

proper show to Vienna model. Why model? I

13:02

love it it's so you I wanted to

13:04

ask on the basis of the Vienna model

13:07

what other because we've had boom boom boom

13:09

ha ha ha we've had trust me of

13:11

a comic what other kind of terminology what's

13:13

your kind of private terminology of comedy can

13:15

you think of any other little thing oh

13:18

God about hang on oh

13:20

right no I'd like to kind of I can get

13:22

a coin at home I would I would be delighted

13:24

to create an industry term for

13:26

us the let me see if we'd accidentally come back

13:28

what's the one that what's

13:31

the one that Stuart Lee identified that you do

13:33

it's like Dara O'Briand's truncated something oh yeah this

13:35

is the air thing that I would hold attention

13:37

by going that's the kind of a common yeah

13:39

yeah that is a common thing I think it

13:41

was a bit unfair to attribute it to you

13:44

because like I recognize it in other people a

13:46

lot more that thing of

13:49

of finishing a sentence and going

13:51

uh I'm holding your attention and then yeah

13:53

exactly like not letting anyone else interrupt oh

13:55

despite the fact you're like normally you don't

13:57

let them interrupt by making them laugh the,

14:00

um, there, I just did it again. Yeah,

14:03

it is. It is. I'm sure, I'm sure it's

14:05

some, you know, male technique

14:07

that women have not realized, this is what you have

14:09

to do. You just go, eh, the end thing. And

14:12

I still hold the crunch. If

14:14

I, if I keep going, eh, I'm going to steal

14:17

the point. Eh, while I'm trying to think of the

14:19

thing I want to say, none of you can go

14:21

in now. Cause I'm still making a noise. That's essentially

14:23

what it is. One of the panel shows would be

14:25

very useful. Yes. I have, by the way, already bagged

14:28

the autobiography title to, eh, is human. Oh

14:30

yes. There we go. That

14:33

thing of holding attention reminds me, uh, I

14:35

for a little while was the warmup man

14:37

for ITV's loose women for my sins. And

14:40

one of the camera tech said to me that they'd

14:43

noted when the camera operators said there's this

14:45

thing whereby when they do a joke, the

14:47

ladies will grab their cup of tea and

14:49

wiggle it around because it makes it

14:51

impossible to cut away from, so they

14:53

get a, they managed to hold the attention of

14:55

the camera. They go, well, that's

14:57

what I said. Mm hmm. Like

14:59

this, because if, because if they managed to do it

15:02

from the end of the, I don't even know if

15:04

they're aware of this, but that was the theory of

15:06

the camera operator a long time ago. He probably doesn't

15:08

work there anymore. Certainly not worth snacking, but doing

15:10

this as a means of like when they stop

15:13

moving, the camera can cut away. And as long

15:15

as they're still, that's what she

15:17

said kind of thing. I love the fact that

15:19

as many as there so are, I said to

15:21

new people coming through as if these

15:23

are tricks of the trade. Oh, you got

15:25

to learn kid. You got to learn how

15:27

to do the engaged holding pause. Uh,

15:30

I mean, you're going to, you're not going to

15:32

go anywhere with your like bag of jokes you've

15:34

written on the ground. You

15:36

have to know how to do them, but

15:38

also am I right? Uh, at the end,

15:40

like, so it's like, so you're definitely going

15:42

in or definitely not going in or, you

15:44

know, the, and then there isn't this kind

15:46

of like, yeah, there isn't, uh, you know,

15:48

like all Katie's, Katie's are funny sounds and

15:50

other ones are not like this kind of

15:52

idea that there's somehow these magical rules.

15:55

They think, I'm not sure if they really are. They,

15:57

uh, what, what, what have you. Let's

16:00

get back to your look. Oh, so we don't have a

16:02

lot of time left. So which is your favorite thing to

16:04

talk about from then? The only time

16:06

for me objected to the show was a

16:08

man and a bar, we went to the

16:10

show in Birmingham in the Hippodome, which is

16:13

a fabulous, wonderful show. Lovely place, always great

16:15

room. Then went for drinks afterwards

16:17

and ended up in a pub directly across

16:19

from the Hippodome. And

16:21

I sit there in the microwave and said, do you want to

16:24

know what I thought of the show? Ooh,

16:26

yeah. And I said, sure, I

16:28

said. I mean,

16:30

yeah, no meter could have measured

16:33

the lack of

16:37

interest I had in this guy's taking the show, really,

16:40

how he started it, like whatever. But yeah,

16:42

sure, I said absolutely. And

16:45

he said, well, I enjoyed the first

16:47

half. And I

16:49

said, OK, I think there's absence there we have to address.

16:52

And I repeated, sure. And

16:57

then he said a thing which I, I've had a

16:59

guff in a bit there. Maybe

17:02

this is the he spoke to a certain

17:04

unspoken fear that I had, but then spoke

17:06

to an interesting cultural thing because he said,

17:09

yeah, I mean, I don't come out to here at

17:11

something like that. I came out to I came out for

17:13

a comedy show and I didn't come out to hear that.

17:15

OK, and I said, OK, well, you

17:17

know, he said, he said, that's

17:20

the kind of thing, you know, that people maybe

17:22

will talk to their friends about, but they won't

17:24

go make money on us. Now, that

17:26

isn't the unspoken fear. That's the some of

17:28

you just going, I was boring.

17:30

I wasn't didn't care that much. That was always

17:32

a good worry that this is indulgence in some

17:35

sort of way. But then he drifted into, you

17:37

know, you don't go around making money off this

17:39

stuff. They don't go around making money off this

17:41

stuff. Yes, he said. And I said, and

17:44

I have a hack of a drop at this point.

17:46

So it becomes a far more tense conversation. I

17:48

said, the I said, what was your problem? And he

17:50

said, you know, we said

17:53

that there's a time and

17:55

a place. And I turned and pointed at the building

17:57

we just been in and said, it's just.

18:00

the time and place for stories like that and I said

18:02

I turn and point this is it I said it's a

18:04

fucking theater and I'm kind of

18:06

mean that that is literally the place for

18:09

stories like that like whatever but but a

18:11

lot of it I think was he was

18:14

Irish or of Irish of Irish descent and

18:17

it was you're talking Ireland down in

18:19

Britain now

18:22

then yeah and then actually he had two daughters

18:24

that came over and they said okay we were

18:26

actually we went but we didn't like the way

18:28

you you said something about the church and I'm

18:30

going to say I literally pointedly don't say anything

18:32

about the church but there's one joke about none

18:34

some of that and they objected to this and

18:36

they go no you know can't be dealing with

18:38

that you know if you're that if you can't

18:40

take one gag about the church and I can

18:42

give them how much I could have said about

18:44

the church in this specific story I didn't say

18:46

that but that was a thing that I that

18:49

I heard I was an Irish guy in Birmingham

18:51

or a guy you know I think it's

18:53

a long time immigrant probably the best as

18:55

far as remember and but

18:57

he was talking Ireland down you know it's

18:59

interesting because the thing if you could be

19:02

accused of talking Ireland down what you're

19:04

talking down is a very specific yeah hey

19:06

policy that is that needed to be taken

19:08

down and yeah but it was it was

19:11

a but still that's our business and there

19:15

shouldn't be maybe that he

19:17

was just or me

19:19

who knows what other things may have been that

19:22

played there shawl only knows what other things

19:24

might have been there yeah it does and

19:26

there's something else because he was very angry

19:28

about it yeah and they his daughter had

19:30

to take him away they

19:33

and and I'm like I was quite shook and

19:35

I go and and Martin my tour

19:37

manager they're going would you want to go I said no

19:39

it don't want to go they've gone let's go to their

19:42

table that's

19:46

some big Dora energy and then

19:48

on the way the bathroom there

19:50

was two of the people who grew super

19:52

nothing and I chatted down best night there and they

19:54

were like oh no we love it I was really

19:57

interesting and I said but then they were English they're

19:59

thrilled we love I love how you talk time.

20:01

Yeah, I love that. What was our favourite bit?

20:03

Because we were so confident, Ireland. But

20:06

it was, yeah, so that was the one time. Occasionally,

20:10

people are going, you know, maybe it's a

20:12

bit serious, whatever, but, you know,

20:14

I think there's so much other stuff in it. Like the show, that was

20:16

19 minutes plus 30 of this. So,

20:19

you know, and even the 30 of this has

20:21

various things in it, build up, whatever. But the,

20:23

but always, and it fed into

20:25

a thing of going, we were crippled by, do we sell

20:28

us as this or not sell us as this? And that

20:30

was a huge thing. Yeah. Because in

20:32

the one hand, you want to get credit for doing a

20:34

thing which is different and interesting and serious. And the other

20:36

hand, you don't want to push people away because they'll take

20:38

the whole evening off. You don't

20:40

want to bait and switch their expectations. Yeah.

20:42

Well, you will actually know you don't. You

20:45

never want to say what the commentary often is about because people

20:47

get ideas in their

20:49

head and they go, I don't see that. You

20:51

know, my argument, as I may have

20:53

said before, is, you know, the answer

20:55

to this, people don't go, what's a new album about? And

20:57

she'll go, what's about? Yeah. Yeah.

21:00

See it. That's it. I

21:02

always think that your job is to do precisely what

21:04

you want to do and they opt into being what

21:07

you want to do. They just don't know that. Yeah,

21:09

exactly. They, they, they come into the room. You get,

21:11

once you're in the room, you're mine and then we'll do what we

21:13

want to do. So I don't want to give away too much of

21:15

why you're in, I don't want to know why you're in there. I

21:17

don't want you to be in the room for specific purpose

21:20

other than, okay, you do, you do whatever it is you're

21:22

going to do because that, that's, that's when it works. That's

21:24

when you're like, I can let you go quiet and I

21:26

can tell you a serious thing and then I could, and

21:28

I know it's going to pay off whatever. And you're in

21:30

the room more difficult when you're,

21:32

you know, when it goes to the listing, the TV

21:34

listings, you know, do we say it? Do we not

21:37

say it? You know, cause you wanted to be, you

21:39

know, are you giving away too much about the whole thing? It's

21:42

very, it's an awkward one. I mean, I found

21:44

exactly the same with the climate show. Yeah. Yeah.

21:47

I didn't want to say my big fat climate show because I thought people had just

21:50

stopped out with it. You get 10 flies and one

21:52

of them says climate. I'm like, oh, yeah. I'm not even recycling

21:54

that one. But

21:56

Then, But then how do you manage those

21:58

expectations? How Do you, how do you get

22:00

people? to engage with the thing that. They.

22:02

Will enjoy it but they won't opt into

22:05

it said the other day I mean because

22:07

I think he said at a but this

22:09

one but the my rather you did this

22:11

is to show but it's there will be

22:14

certainly will go or the really interesting seeing

22:16

that the jerry different have been do I

22:18

may be interesting I mean ducts you know

22:20

we seen a massive might beverages example the

22:23

Nes am a deal with ya for example

22:25

of big red laser he showed some far

22:27

more story telling them i'm with the S.have

22:29

you found there and audience huge audio into

22:32

the attic. For that with the yeah but

22:34

you're it's to doing the that old is

22:36

there that rock and then you got this

22:38

audience here who commands expected boom boom ha

22:40

ha. So and it's interesting that the into

22:42

the man said you know you're making money

22:44

off this I said no I'm making it

22:46

the exact same amount of money because I'm

22:49

not selling the show in the back of

22:51

this year, we just coming in a fact,

22:53

maybe for the next show that he was

22:55

without other was mutual. like so mechanical, maybe

22:57

only less money because my dad again the

22:59

able to do you think about in time

23:01

to say to his i. Am I don't think

23:03

he was. He was following the. Packers

23:06

economies of of show will. hopefully one day

23:08

he'll listen to this, know he'll he'll be

23:11

here. be added or revise all my work.

23:17

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23:50

Services. dollars more for doris shortly coming

23:52

up in the second half i put your

23:54

questions to door including the possibility of bringing

23:56

what the back to a new channels and

23:58

of course some chat about his legs legendary

24:00

stint in Taskmaster. You can

24:02

catch Dara's special So Where Were We on

24:05

the iPlayer and find out more about him

24:07

at a variety of easily Googleable places. And

24:10

you can find out what I'm up to

24:12

with a quick trip to stewartgoldsmith.com. The key

24:14

things I'm up to include the McCunford Comedy

24:17

Festival where I'm doing a special edition of

24:19

Redacted, which is a sort of knockabout multi-guest,

24:21

con-con flavoured sort of a game show. You

24:24

can come along and see that if there's any tickets

24:26

left. You can also see my award-winning climate comedy show

24:28

at... when is it? 8pm.

24:31

8pm on the Saturday of McCunford

24:33

and the World Comedy Festival later

24:35

in May. And if you

24:37

fancy having a little look around stewartgoldsmith.com

24:39

you can find out more about the

24:42

various shows and climate comedy sets that

24:44

I offer to organisations of all sizes

24:46

to refresh and recharge their climate comms.

24:48

Sounds intriguing? Well if it does you're probably someone

24:50

who would like to find out more about it

24:53

and maybe use it. But if that

24:55

doesn't sound intriguing or it just sounds like

24:57

confusing gunk then ignore it completely. Fine by

24:59

me. Let's get back now

25:01

to this final section of the second

25:03

part of this episode with the brilliant

25:06

Dara and Bork. Before

25:12

we wrap up I have a couple of audience

25:14

questions. This

25:17

is just a quickie. Paul

25:22

Savage asks, there was a variety show he did called 28

25:24

Act in 28 Minutes. Do you

25:26

remember that? Dear to my heart I was there supporting

25:28

a friend who was an escapologist on it and it

25:30

was in the green robe of that. I went fuck

25:32

it I have to become a stand-up comedian. That was

25:34

like that's... Really? That

25:36

tipped me over the edge. But he said, Paul says,

25:38

all the other comics did there, says Dara

25:40

followed a roller skater and spent his entire

25:42

minute taking the piss out of roller skaters. It was

25:45

clearly not material. Did he make that choice in the

25:47

split second and did he get any backlash from the

25:49

producers? Zero. It was Rohan who did the

25:51

producer. I remember Rohan's love about this. The

25:54

actual opening words after the roller skater was, I

25:56

can't believe that bitch stole my act. I

25:58

remember it! I feel

26:01

bad now with the bitch line maybe. Of course,

26:03

of course, of course. It was, oh my god,

26:05

I had a whole day. A whole day. And

26:08

then all day. And so, because there were only a minute,

26:10

so yeah. So yeah, it was, yeah. Is

26:12

there any news, Lucy Ross asks, is there any news

26:14

about bringing back Mock the Week on a different channel?

26:16

No, and the, not,

26:19

there's an idea maybe doing, there's an American

26:21

version apparently that people are doing, I certainly

26:23

will be doing that. The... Oh,

26:25

is that what that is? That's on already? No, no,

26:27

no, no, no. No, that's different things. But

26:30

none at all. And also that I would

26:32

tend to think that because we did eight

26:34

episodes in which we said goodbye, including

26:37

one in Tuxedos, in which we had a montage,

26:39

and we'll do it again, we've done a goodbye.

26:41

The only way that that could come back after

26:43

those many goodbyes is if there was money involved.

26:46

Well, okay. If a channel were

26:48

to come back in and do... We've had

26:50

nothing. We've had absolutely nothing. And

26:52

yeah, I'm not, I'm not, because it

26:55

was at the point of this tour, so I honestly hadn't

26:57

really noticed. In certain ways I hadn't

27:00

noticed because the tours that they kicked back in at the same

27:02

time. Post COVID, the news

27:04

of tears reopening and mock stopping

27:06

came in the same week. And

27:08

one of them was significantly more important

27:11

than the other. So it's tough on

27:13

the blow a lot, I think. Can

27:15

we talk briefly about Taskmaster? And

27:18

you're the champion of champions? Yeah, the other third. Are

27:20

you the most recent champion of champions? No, yes, I

27:22

am the champion of champions. And

27:25

I didn't see the champion of champions series, but I'm

27:27

a bit more familiar with the original series that you

27:30

were in. And I just, I

27:32

think the thing... Something's really fascinating

27:34

if you watch the kind of Adara's best bits

27:36

thing on YouTube, the comments, they're

27:38

very, very pro-Dara. Like given that

27:40

you wipe the floor and so many other comments. What

27:42

I think people liked, what they seem to mention over

27:44

and over again was sort of the

27:46

fact of your intelligence and creativity and humility

27:49

and clearly the fact that you were just

27:51

up for a laugh. You managed to really

27:53

want to win and win whilst not being

27:55

a prick about it. Oh good, okay cool.

27:57

Because I really wanted to win. the

28:00

reason I wanted to do this was because I wanted to do

28:02

more Taskmaster. Yeah. Very, very quickly I realized

28:04

this is so much fun. It's so much fun. It's

28:07

like you're given a new escape room every

28:09

hour. Or whatever, a

28:11

new toy, a new game, and you whatever, every hour.

28:13

And I went, oh, I really want to do this.

28:16

And also, if you give me a puzzle, I want

28:18

to do the puzzle well. But

28:20

I was surprised, not surprised

28:22

myself, but I was very,

28:24

very happy to gurn

28:27

and be silly and

28:30

be wrong and do whatever. And

28:33

in the Champions of Champions, I

28:36

had a wig. I got a wig for the

28:38

prize task and then did a gig in the

28:40

wig in Auckland. And they

28:42

just reached through because I walked out in the wig and

28:44

said, oh, there's a strange energy in the room here. Yeah.

28:47

And so they were like, what's with the fucking wig? And

28:49

so it was, yeah. And

28:52

so, but I had a rubber band firing up

28:55

at it. It was just silly, you know, and

28:57

I'm very happy to do that. I mean, what's

28:59

exciting is how many doors is open, which is

29:01

none. Nothing. When

29:05

you do it and you get the end, oh,

29:07

there's a big triumph and all that like whatever.

29:09

They immediately show the trail for the next series.

29:11

And like the end of the Truman Show, where,

29:14

you know, he walks out the door and then

29:16

two security goes, okay, well, what's on next? And

29:18

I see what you're like, it's gone, it's over.

29:21

It's funny. It's just, there's never

29:23

any mention of it. I thought of people

29:25

who really look taskmaster. Is there any sort

29:28

of a frisson between you and Greg, given

29:30

that arguably you would be a good taskmaster?

29:32

Oh, no, I was happy. I

29:34

was, I was had to be in his, in his,

29:37

um, thing. I mean, I think he

29:39

may, I don't know if he would have treated

29:41

me differently because I'm clearly his generation who older

29:43

or whatever, or whatever. I

29:46

don't, they do particularly. Um,

29:49

but like, I just wondered as like, you're, you're

29:51

a sort of a more experienced host of multiple

29:53

comic format. Right. Okay. He's

29:56

obviously brilliant. But, but there is, I

29:58

wondered if there was a sort of a, all right

30:01

mate, kind of like an energy. I think there's a

30:03

bit of the within the thing and we both know

30:05

how yeah how this has to be redone again, let's

30:07

do that again, blah blah blah, we don't know how

30:10

to do to you cut to the thing, whatever. Yeah,

30:12

I think what do you mean? You mean kind of

30:14

like in the moment self

30:16

editing where you go, can we take that

30:18

again? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the idea more neatly,

30:21

but like whatever, for example, there's a thing about the clicking

30:23

fingers, I click fingers during a task

30:25

like the and on the champion thing.

30:28

And he said, do you seem to

30:30

stop clicking the fingers? And I said,

30:32

well, look, I, I suppose if you

30:34

said it's a jazz rhythm and the

30:36

task happens between the notes and it

30:38

got around the clothes. And

30:40

then somebody else said something, you know, for

30:42

everything and he went and you could see

30:44

by going, no, that's done. That's got an

30:46

applause. Yeah, yeah. The

30:48

end of that is now over. Everything

30:50

is not going to be part of that. So

30:53

you had a little moment to kind of clock in.

30:55

Yeah, yeah. I don't mean to do that. But

30:58

anyway, I guess, but it's things like that. You

31:00

would. But like the dynamic we had

31:02

was very much with very different because it was me

31:04

and Sarah on either side

31:06

of our children. The because we were

31:09

clearly obviously more senior, more well known.

31:12

But also we were doing the

31:14

things and they were they were going for the

31:17

for the mad prize rather than for the actual

31:19

prize. I could ever get kind of fun because

31:21

they were like and even they would turn into

31:23

each other and talk. The three Fern, John and

31:26

Munya would turn into each other. And myself, Sarah

31:28

were like parents in the front of the car

31:30

with three kids in the back seat.

31:33

So that was sweet. Yeah, that's

31:36

lovely. Last question. This is from

31:38

Michael Howe, good friend of mine, former street

31:40

performer. And Dara is

31:42

a man after my own heart as he's

31:44

into both science and comedy. My question is,

31:46

how scientific does he think comedy is? And

31:48

for that matter, does science have a sense

31:50

of humor? Yes, and

31:52

scientists have a great sense of humor. They're very, very

31:55

good. They don't tease you. I don't think it never

31:57

helps you write stuff. There's a tendency to post.

32:00

analyze, to rationalize backwards about

32:02

stuff and come up with rules for things and why

32:04

they work. In comedy. In

32:06

comedy, yes. Sorry, because it would be obvious in science. There's

32:09

a lot of that anyway. To work

32:11

out how things work, whereas I think it

32:13

tends to be instinctive when you're

32:16

actually writing it, knowing what the rule

32:18

of three is, is moot unless you've

32:20

got a premise and the premise has

32:22

to come from a part of your

32:24

brain. I think that's so much, given

32:26

that in some ways the origins of

32:28

this podcast were about trying to identify

32:30

the formulas and then recognising, no,

32:32

no, no, if for the most part that

32:34

stuff is done backwards after you, I'm forever

32:37

watching a joke and going, oh, that's clever.

32:40

They've done that and that and that. But they didn't do that at the time

32:42

they were writing the joke. They blurted the

32:44

joke or they crafted the joke and then they

32:46

may have sharpened it according to certain rules of

32:48

how to sharpen something. But there's

32:51

no formula for inspiration. No, I started

32:53

a bit for spotting that X is

32:55

like Y and therefore that's funny. Or

32:57

if it's not like Y is that

32:59

funny, it just has to pop into

33:01

your head and there's no... And are

33:03

there ways for getting you into the right frame

33:05

of mind whereby the thing will pop into your

33:08

head? Wine. And this is traditionally

33:10

to be a little bit knocked off your kilter or

33:13

on stage where you're panicking and adrenaline is running and

33:15

you can spark things out at the end. But at

33:17

the point where I'm going to go back to my

33:21

cup of glass of wine, kind of a thing, just

33:23

seared. 9am, couple of glasses,

33:25

breakfast wine. I've got it because I'm a

33:28

night writer. Oh I see.

33:30

Yeah, and I used to be anything about

33:32

supposed to be not January and supposed to

33:34

be all that kind of trying to faff

33:36

to whatever, trying to not do late night

33:39

food. But it's a,

33:41

yeah, I need to be slightly

33:43

tilted off the axis so I'm

33:45

not self-conscious about it. And

33:47

I may do not self-conscious on stage when I'm in

33:49

the acting, messing things out in the panic just overwhelms

33:51

the self-consciousness of it all of, oh my God, what

33:54

do you do for a living? Shit,

33:56

what the fuck? You know, and then stuff just comes

33:58

out or I beat a... path to

34:00

something by waving my hands and

34:02

finding things. Well, those things

34:04

are a point where you forget yourself. I've

34:06

always said that the best difference

34:09

of how you write comedy is Douglas Adams'

34:11

description of how you fly, where you fall,

34:13

but you forget you're falling. And

34:16

I think you have to be doing that. And

34:18

it's essential not to be reminded that you can't

34:20

possibly be doing it because you'll suddenly, that will

34:22

come true. You'll immediately stop doing it, like whatever,

34:24

and then you'll be like, dogs are funny, eh?

34:28

Walking around trying to have a funny idea is

34:30

the worst. Some people can do that. I guess

34:32

there are those kind of pro comedy writers

34:34

who you go, I need a bit on this.

34:37

And they go, pick the thing, you can do

34:39

this, this, or this, I'm in awe of that.

34:41

Yeah. Because I think that for me, it's absolutely,

34:43

it's yes, you have to somehow put

34:45

yourself in the state whereby you don't. And it's

34:47

interesting for you, you mentioned self-consciousness. Is that what

34:50

you think the root of it is for you?

34:53

Yeah, I mean, I think that that thing stops because

34:55

you're thinking about it. You're thinking about yourself, you put

34:57

it, yeah. And if you are self-conscious,

34:59

you are kind of, oh, here I am writing comedy,

35:02

then yeah, nothing

35:04

comes out like that. Particularly if you're looking for

35:06

a very rich idea that'll give you a routine.

35:09

Yes. And that's even

35:11

more, you know, that's for the long

35:13

shows. We never saw the puzzle of how long a

35:15

show should be, by the way, that's gotta

35:17

be a thing. The how long,

35:20

you know, I'm just gonna go and write another two hour

35:22

show. You can start, you know, I wasn't going to, as

35:25

you said, yeah, but that's not, that's over.

35:27

Just do 60 minutes. Yeah, no, well, because

35:29

the other thing is your audience grows up

35:31

with you. And they expect and

35:34

demand certain things of you or they're used

35:36

to certain rhythms. And you can make a

35:38

big effort to change that. But if you

35:40

enjoy, I think we had another question, I'll

35:42

quickly try and attribute it, about the golden,

35:45

is there a golden ratio of

35:47

material to crowd work, asks Daniel. Oh, really

35:49

interesting, that really is interesting. I do 20

35:51

to 30 minutes, I suppose, of crowd work

35:53

in a two hour show. So yeah, there

35:55

is a sense of it, because there is

35:57

a, so not specifically the golden ratio. which

36:00

is one plus root five over two in relation

36:03

to one. But it is a, yeah,

36:06

because I think it's how much

36:08

the audience are excited about crowd work versus

36:13

how much the audience would like you to have done some work.

36:15

Who would like to think that there is a show that exists.

36:17

And so I think a section

36:19

of the first half is what works for me

36:21

and then some random messing around as it appears

36:23

is sort of what I've settled on. But again,

36:25

I often think sometimes maybe my shows have become

36:27

too certain what they are and I

36:30

should shake that up a bit. But

36:32

it's a, yeah, I think there is. And I think it's, I

36:35

can't give an exact number, but it wouldn't be

36:37

20%, 20-25% if you want to do that much.

36:41

Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a solid thing

36:43

that people are getting. We never settle the

36:45

issue of how long a show should be.

36:48

That's a whole thing. I think you've got a whole thing about whether it's

36:51

in Jesus Sport Act, not in Jesus Sport Act,

36:53

go out to an hour and a half, second

36:55

half, whatever. Or Jesus Two Things Yourself. There's a

36:57

whole debate there to be had and the force

37:00

is moving into long, force is short. I will

37:02

say this, that if I am going to stick

37:04

with what I do, which is likely, the I

37:06

Should Not Do What I Did in Sydney,

37:08

I think, which is as I move into

37:10

the third act, note that and say to

37:12

the audience, these young comics with their 60

37:14

minute show. I

37:19

feel that was ingracious. I think that was,

37:21

I'm better than that. That's

37:23

a lovely place to end. Thank you, Dara. Thank you

37:25

so much. Thank you very much. Thank you for indulging

37:28

me. Quickfire. Are you happy?

37:30

Yeah, I am. But I'm having a stage in

37:32

two months, so I don't know who I am

37:34

or what my value is.

37:37

And I, but I'm going to say

37:39

tonight. Oh, you get it. Can

37:41

you text me when you remember what your value

37:43

is? Text me when you remember your value safely.

37:45

Yeah. The phone

37:47

ring twice if I'm, if I'm of high value. If

37:50

it's one ring, oh God, Dara's lost.

37:52

Yeah. Thank you so much. That

38:00

was Dara, what a lovely way to

38:02

finish off a two-parter episode 450 of

38:04

the Comedians Comedian

38:06

podcast. It's probably, what is that,

38:09

paper, gold, iron, I don't know, some sort

38:11

of special achievement. I shall have myself a

38:13

lovely bit of trifle later on. You

38:16

can watch Dara's latest specials. So where were we?

38:18

On the iPlayer, if you're in the UK or

38:20

have access to a VPN, let's be honest. And

38:22

you can join me for a double bill at

38:25

Mac on Saturday the 4th of May where redacted

38:27

returns followed by spoilers. In

38:29

the show notes for all of those. And a

38:31

quick reminder that the Insider's Club has moved

38:33

to Patreon so you can get full video

38:35

episodes, extra content in video as well as

38:37

audio, exclusive guest announcement and membership offerings, including

38:39

the monthly Stew and A. February is out

38:42

now so catch up. By the time you

38:44

hear this, I imagine marches will

38:46

be out as well and I've got a really

38:48

good feeling about that one. So

38:50

go to patreon.com/comcompod to get on board.

38:52

You get access to the full back

38:55

catalogue of extras as well. Thank

38:57

you to our Insider Producers Sam

38:59

Allen, Jay Lucas, Gary McClellan, Dave,

39:01

Miles Walsh, Nick Waite, Andrus Purdey,

39:04

Caroline Schmidt, Jonathan Stewart, Richard Lucas, Paul

39:06

Swaddle, James Burry, Ashley Stewart and Mike

39:08

Sheldon. And a great big thank you

39:10

to our special and very

39:12

fancy Insider Executive Producer Neil...

39:17

I haven't thought of one. Peters! Bye

39:20

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