00:00:01.36
alexei sayle
Hello everybody, welcome to episode 70 of the Alexey sale.
00:00:05.87
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Wow, Alexey, bit more energy, come on.
00:00:12.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hello, everybody, welcome.
00:00:12.74
alexei sayle
oh Hello, let hello, ever hey, hey guys and gals, cats and kittens, dogs and mice.
00:00:20.40
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yes.
00:00:20.96
alexei sayle
yeah welcome to alexisail the sons of alexisail on the podcast they're here on alexisail's podcast yeah yeah yeah yeah i but we um we re-recorded because
00:00:31.70
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
There we go, bit more mustard on that spoon.
00:00:40.33
alexei sayle
Partly because I just felt, um because we recorded Sandwich Bar in December and ah then I just felt that that was too big a gap because it drops on the 5th of March. Everybody remember that date as well as going out on the and as well as going out on Wednesday, the first episode going out Wednesday 6.30 on Ready of four, they're also dropping, simultaneously dropping all four episodes on BBC Sound, so you can listen to them all, which is a tribute to the show, because they don't do that with a lot of shows, you know.
00:01:08.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
oh oh oh okay is that a good thing in your mind then fifth of march 630 did you see
00:01:17.20
alexei sayle
It's a good thing, yeah, apparently, what they tell me is, so, you know, who am I to argue, really? um So, ah yeah, so and that that will be happening.
00:01:29.24
alexei sayle
Fifth of March, yeah, but there was such a gap. Yeah, 6.30, 6.30 slot. And they've been repeating, they're repeating a couple of episodes of series four.
00:01:40.88
alexei sayle
One went out on Wednesday and another one goes out next Wednesday, just to get the audience warmed up.
00:01:45.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Nice.
00:01:49.88
alexei sayle
um And what was I gonna say? and
00:01:54.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You've been re-recording.
00:01:56.00
alexei sayle
Yeah. So I just felt partly that it was just too big a gap, you know, from December to March. So I wanted, so we went in on, um, yes, last night.
00:02:05.70
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh yeah, you did this yesterday, at the news quiz recording.
00:02:08.74
alexei sayle
Over front of the news quiz. Yeah. So 40 minutes. Um, um, one of the guests was Aisha Hazariko, somebody who had despised and so I had to stay out of airway.
00:02:20.97
alexei sayle
Um, you know, traitors, uh, right wing labor. member of the House of Lords now. Anyway, so I managed that. But yeah, so we recorded about 40 minutes at the radio theater last night.
00:02:34.72
alexei sayle
um And yeah, it went amazing. Actually, think the audience were even more enthusiastic than when we did the recordings after I said to them. They were laughing, you know, the really fantastic response to the new material.
00:02:49.16
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Great.
00:02:50.51
alexei sayle
So now all the shows, I mean, it's, it's not much, but it's just a kind of vibe really, you know, just of, of and and just, um, I mean, it's not a topical shirt, so, you know, it doesn't not really have topical references, but just, I felt like I wanted that freedom just to, you know, put in a bit more stuff.
00:03:09.39
alexei sayle
Obviously mention, only in passing, but really, but mentioned Trump and Elon Musk and kind of thing.
00:03:16.24
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So you've put like a bit of new stuff in each episode, like a little Botox injection.
00:03:19.77
alexei sayle
Yeah. kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Just to.
00:03:25.59
alexei sayle
Just to lift it, you know. ah Yeah, because it just felt like. I felt like it was too big a gap, really. So so we did that last night.
00:03:34.02
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Nice.
00:03:35.58
alexei sayle
That's why I'm a bit dozy, I suppose.
00:03:37.27
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Very well done.
00:03:38.00
alexei sayle
Even though I was done by 745 felt like it does feel like I mean, this recording in this series has I think it's.
00:03:40.69
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh, it's a late night.
00:03:47.95
alexei sayle
Fantastic. I mean, when people listen to it, it's a show which manages just to, I think, really bottle what it likes to be in 2024, 2025 without over political,
00:04:06.20
alexei sayle
ah saying without reference to really specific events by and large, but just, um it's funny, are we were talking last night with Rich, just saying that like, I mean, show three trended at series three showed trended at number one on Twitter for like three days, I think.
00:04:24.23
alexei sayle
And I wonder what that was in. I mean, seriously, it was about the optimism of Corbin, really. I think and maybe that's why I thought if I could replicate how you could get that effect, I would.
00:04:34.32
alexei sayle
But I don't know how to do it. and But then show back on.
00:04:37.22
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, it's not like not like you did it intentionally at the time. just These things just happen.
00:04:41.36
alexei sayle
No, no, no, but there was just a yeah, there was just a kind of as I guys through it in which the show fit and show for series four was really about if it was a few, it was kind of suffused with disappointment about the
00:04:43.21
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It has to be organic.
00:04:55.38
alexei sayle
um the defenestration of of Jeremy Corbyn and so but show series five is just I think if is um about just the kind of where you know it's about to kind of despair and panic and fear in in a very broad sense about you know existence in general as it were which is difficult difficult stuff to make comedy out of really but I think it's it's managed with a great deal of effort it's managed to to bottle that really so there's a there's a kind of on the you know it's it's very very funny some great gags in there but there is also an underlying I think kind of um ah kind of expression of of of where we are ah you know in this this
00:05:47.37
alexei sayle
first quarter of the 21st century, you know, and that's, you know, that's fantastic.
00:05:50.50
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hmm.
00:05:52.35
alexei sayle
I think it's ah it's an amazing achievement, really. And, you know, sometimes it's not, you know, say it's not, there's not overt references. It's just a sense of the opening stories and, you know, which are not necessarily about.
00:06:05.30
alexei sayle
Well, you know, they're about puppets or theoretically or a present we got. But there's a, you know, I mean, I don't know I'm doing this really, but there's a kind of theme that emerges really, and I do think, I mean, it's it's taken a lot of right in this series, but um I think it does really capture, it is really remarkable.
00:06:29.80
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's exciting.
00:06:30.27
alexei sayle
Now it's, now it's done. I mean, there's still, there's still an edit. Yeah, I mean, there's still, there's still an edit to go through.
00:06:36.74
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Any more re-recordings, do you think?
00:06:37.94
alexei sayle
and
00:06:41.01
alexei sayle
Christ, no, I'm not going through that again. No, it's done now. I mean, it's, and yeah.
00:06:44.25
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, congrats. Hey, when, uh, when someone like makes a sitcom or something and directs a sitcom or a series, they go in, they are like in the edit every day for months.
00:06:56.94
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
That takes longer than the shoot. Sometimes is that do you go in and sit in during the edits for something like this?
00:06:59.88
alexei sayle
Right.
00:07:04.82
alexei sayle
I don't know. I don't. I mean, Rich, the producer just sends me the edit, it really. And then I say, you know, yeah, you know, I just kind of just say, yes, I know there's no point in me being in the edit because it's I was there when it was done.
00:07:14.89
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
right yeah there's some back and forth you give notes and stuff yeah yeah
00:07:17.62
alexei sayle
So I know what, you know, it's it I mean, there is. this yeah then There's some fine tuning that needs to go on, dropping a line, swapping a word, sometimes through a word in a different recording, almost on that granular level, really. But um there's no necessity for me to be there. I've never been one. I mean, perhaps a mistake. i mean I've never been one too.
00:07:43.09
alexei sayle
really going to the edit on anything I've done. I didn't did non-stuff or new or you know any of the radio stuff that I've done. I don't it's not my I think once you've once you've made it then your next intervention is probably should be to listen to a rough cut and then say you know, things you'd like to change.
00:08:07.48
alexei sayle
And then the final, just listen to the final cut, just to check it over really. But I know, I know other people do, um, do go and sit in the room, but it's, uh, it's kind of wasted time.
00:08:12.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
yeah
00:08:15.32
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:08:19.74
alexei sayle
You know, for me, it's not a, it's not an attractive proposition above anything else. Listening to myself over and over again.
00:08:28.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah, fair enough. It's not the same. It's not a visual medium where you have to sit and.
00:08:32.32
alexei sayle
No, no, no, but um it it yeah, it's, it's, um, uh, yeah, no, I do.
00:08:35.22
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But.
00:08:39.97
alexei sayle
I, I, I am, I think when I listened, when I listened to a final copy and judging by the response to the new material last night, it was just everything.
00:08:50.57
alexei sayle
Um, Really comes together to just make an astonishing piece of work I mean, it's I mean like rich was saying the challenge in a way that if you think that I've written 10 hours of bloody top-notch comedy, you know Yeah, he said that's 10 Edinburgh shows, you know, I mean nobody writes 10 Edinburgh shows, but that's what I've done since 2016 I've written 10 Edinburgh shows and the the um You know the the challenge is It's a lot, you know, so you know, and especially.
00:09:24.55
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
surely no for a man of your esteem and seasoned experience you
00:09:29.46
alexei sayle
It doesn't get and I think it doesn't um I mean, the experience, I suppose, you know, kind of helps you get there quicker sometimes. I don't really think, you know, I mean, it I mean, gags, you know mean especially because my.
00:09:43.03
alexei sayle
Because my work's unique in or pretty unique in that it's both monologue and observation. there's also i like I've always wanted to put proper old-fashioned jokes in there. And they're just hard to come by and sort of think of, really. you know ah they just They just take a lot of sitting down and thinking about, especially, when I guess, probably when you get to my head.
00:10:06.37
alexei sayle
um and ah yeah so you know it it it it it doesn't get any easier in fact I think it gets harder really and also you know what what I had with the previous series was i had the I had the tours the 2017 Edinburgh show and then the 2020 tour to take material from and put in the show and I had really kind of I'd used up all of that really
00:10:33.15
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Mm.
00:10:34.14
alexei sayle
this very There's a bit I think where there's an excoriating kind of bit that I've been doing, either I've held back, but I'm putting this show about just about the corruption and kind of the the the kind of the the the absolute shittiness of comic relief, which goes out I think at one point it was going to go out in the week of comic relief.
00:10:58.39
alexei sayle
I think it goes out another week after. So that was a junction. That was a junction we had to avoid.
00:11:02.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
That's fun. That's some BBC balance.
00:11:05.73
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:11:05.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
There's a live and true.
00:11:07.09
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:11:07.70
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Excorious, excurious. What's that word?
00:11:10.78
alexei sayle
Excoriating, excoriating.
00:11:13.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
What's that word mean?
00:11:13.96
alexei sayle
I don't know what the... It means like flaying in a variable, you know, but in a variable sense, you know, the savage, the savage kind of take down.
00:11:20.36
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Ah, a demolishing kind of thing. Ah, excoriating. Okay. i looking forward to hearing that shit.
00:11:34.42
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You've been working hard.
00:11:34.71
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just, it is just jam packed. You know, people are, I don't know, but people are so,
00:11:44.77
alexei sayle
I always used to think that when I used to write columns, you know i used to think somebody would write a column when when that was a big thing, and somebody would write a column about one thing that happened you know with a plumber didn't call or some shit like that. And I always used to write about, ah it was not yeah you're writing in a fucking national paper, so i was always my columns would always be about three things.
00:12:06.96
alexei sayle
kind of interwoven, you know, and that that would kind of tie up and link up in ways that you wouldn't necessarily imagine, you know, but didn't didn't get many more readers than fucking Bridget Jones. But I mean, you know, I just felt but compelled to do that really, you know, to to to make everything really dense. And as I said, don't I think he probably just confuses a lot of the public who just want like one thing, you know,
00:12:35.73
alexei sayle
Garlic bread, I've seen in the future.
00:12:36.09
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:12:38.83
alexei sayle
Oh, that is a good bit. But I mean, um you know, I mean, now but my inclination has always been to make it so that it's very dense, but it also works here. Sometimes there's callbacks, you know, something that starts out, you don't think.
00:12:53.46
alexei sayle
is, you know, related to something actually then turns out. I I think there's like there's a bit in, I think, is it show one? I'm not sure a bit the bit about puppets that turns out to be sort of linked to a kind of comedic exploration of the ideas of neoliberalism and monetarism. There you go.
00:13:19.10
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Would you ever do a show, would you ever do Taskmaster?
00:13:25.28
alexei sayle
No, no, I don't know if I've been offered Taskmaster, but ah actually, I've not really watched it in a way, but I think it probably requires too much kind of giving yourself away. I mean, I enjoyed enormously.
00:13:43.17
alexei sayle
um doing richard Richard Osman's House of Games last year.
00:13:48.93
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh, yeah.
00:13:49.89
alexei sayle
And two the the night the the revelation for me, and I was chatting to Emma City about this as well, was Anthony Costa from Blue, who was just, have I talked about this already?
00:13:56.90
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yes, yes, yes. yeah, yeah. yeah you You fell in love with him.
00:13:59.86
alexei sayle
All right, yeah, but we'll go on then. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:14:02.40
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Have you stayed in touch with Anthony cluster?
00:14:04.07
alexei sayle
No, yeah, of course, no, no, no, no.
00:14:05.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Did you watch the boy band documentary series?
00:14:07.33
alexei sayle
I'm just watching the boys own one. I've watched all of the boys. Yes. I've watched the one I've watched boy bands forever, just so I could catch a glimpse of Anthony really. And that now I'm watching the one about boys and I've become fascinated with them.
00:14:21.49
alexei sayle
Boy bands in a, in a, in an entirely, um, academic way.
00:14:26.16
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Of course, yes, um of course.
00:14:27.08
alexei sayle
Yeah. But, um, it's, yeah, it's kind of interesting.
00:14:28.80
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
00:14:30.03
alexei sayle
I mean, cause that was, that I mean, obviously that was after by after my time.
00:14:31.75
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, I don't know about Taskmaster giving too much of yourself. I think they just shoot it over a couple of weeks. You're just like, and it's up to you what you, but the new series, I just wanna, I'm really happy to say, my friend is on the new series.
00:14:39.52
alexei sayle
It's quite a commitment. Yeah.
00:14:48.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Her name is Fatihah Elghurri.
00:14:49.71
alexei sayle
All right.
00:14:51.19
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
She's a Moroccan, British comedian, she's from Hackney. She goes, I'm from the Middle East, the Middle East of of London or the Middle East End or something.
00:15:01.94
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
She has a joke like that.
00:15:02.39
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:02.74
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And she's just like, I think we started out around the same time and we've gigged together a lot.
00:15:08.19
alexei sayle
Right.
00:15:09.16
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And I'm just so fucking proud of her. She's been on so much TV recently and now Taskmaster with one of my favorite people, Jason Mantzoukis is on it with her. But she is just busting stereotype it's the kind of Arab I want to see on telly because she wears a hijab and she's a big girl and she is so full of life and energy but she is scary like she will she's like effing and jeffing and you know not being like the kind of muslim ah stereotype muslim girl you'd expect and repressed hijabi
00:15:26.87
alexei sayle
Right Right Right
00:15:48.09
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
She's like, you what? You fucking what? You call me a ragged? This is fucking Gucci. Like that kind of stuff. like it's and And it just makes me so happy to see her on telly and doing her thing.
00:15:58.76
alexei sayle
I think I might have caught a glimpse of her on some other panel show.
00:16:03.41
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:16:03.78
alexei sayle
8 out of 10 shitbacks or something.
00:16:05.62
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Maybe something like that. or shit um But she's on the news Taskmaster and I couldn't be more chuffed.
00:16:09.52
alexei sayle
You're right.
00:16:11.45
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And I think out of like all the kind of panel-y,
00:16:12.06
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:16:15.00
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
celebrity game showy type things. Taskmaster's not that I've seen every episode, but it's it's the one that I think is genuinely funny and a good use of comedians in a non-standup format.
00:16:28.35
alexei sayle
Right.
00:16:28.96
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And i i think you I think you would be amazing at it.
00:16:29.33
alexei sayle
No, um I've never really watched it. Yeah. Well, I don't think they've ever offered offered it to me in all fairness, but I'll have a look at it.
00:16:40.69
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
00:16:41.00
alexei sayle
ah
00:16:41.82
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
something they did offer you. ah I have to give a shout out to Mark on the Patreon. He's one of the most active users. ah Big up yourself, Mark. And by the way, patreon dot.com forward slash Alexi sale podcast.
00:16:57.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
If you want to support the show, please pay a visit, maybe join ah one of the tiers and you can watch the video version of the podcast every week.
00:17:08.00
alexei sayle
Give us a few sovereigns, Gavner.
00:17:10.33
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Just arms for the poor, please.
00:17:12.44
alexei sayle
A couple of shiny sovereigns, Gavner.
00:17:14.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Arms for the poor.
00:17:16.48
alexei sayle
I can't buy it now.
00:17:17.58
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Clean your shoes, go.
00:17:19.36
alexei sayle
So weird, Gavner, yeah.
00:17:22.22
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um Mark has posted on YouTube some episodes of your sitcom from 1994.
00:17:30.72
alexei sayle
Oh, Paris.
00:17:32.22
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Paris, I don't know if we've talked about Paris.
00:17:34.56
alexei sayle
Don't we? Well, it's a...
00:17:35.63
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I saw it this morning ah that he's posted it and I can't wait to watch episode one.
00:17:38.34
alexei sayle
Right.
00:17:41.14
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Would you recommend it?
00:17:41.24
alexei sayle
Yeah, but yeah, I think so. I mean, it's a long, I mean, it was, yeah, it's a slightly sensitive subject.
00:17:46.68
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Tell us the story.
00:17:48.84
alexei sayle
I mean, it was, it was when I was riding high, really, I suppose. And this was a sitcom written for me by, it was the first sitcom they'd written, written by Graham Linahan and Arthur Matthews.
00:18:01.32
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh.
00:18:02.04
alexei sayle
And it was about, I would get all kinds of shit if you, you know, uh,
00:18:03.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
00:18:08.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah, we do. Fuck it. But in the past, he was a great fucking...
00:18:13.31
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:18:14.03
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
He's created some of the best TV moments.
00:18:15.76
alexei sayle
Absolutely, yeah.
00:18:15.86
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh, right. I never knew this was one of his...
00:18:17.56
alexei sayle
So, yeah, so Graham and Arthur wrote it for me. And I thought it was going to do for me what Blackadder had done for um Rowan, yeah.
00:18:23.38
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Rowan.
00:18:28.30
alexei sayle
And it went out, it was big billboards, I remember, on on the the used on the Houston Road. And it would just... flopped really with the public, I think.
00:18:40.04
alexei sayle
It wasn't, I'm no Rowan, I think. And also, I mean, i mean mean mother, I mean, not that, but my Molly had had the stroke, I think, on the first day of rehearsal. So on my day off, I had to go up.
00:18:49.65
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah
00:18:52.30
alexei sayle
And I think that we tried, I mean, Graham and Arthur got to make all the, get to ah to commit all the mistakes, which they then didn't make on father Ted, which is what they went on to write.
00:19:05.33
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Right.
00:19:05.99
alexei sayle
So they got glad to have saved that, uh, judge on that job for your lads.
00:19:07.51
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hmm.
00:19:12.72
alexei sayle
Um, I think you're probably the director and she's dead now. So I think the director never got a grip on the, on the show and never really, I felt very lost as to really what my character was.
00:19:26.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, you shot a whole series without a grip. That must have been hard.
00:19:33.37
alexei sayle
Ha, that's an industry joke, isn't it? And people know that it won't work really. And ah it just, so she she wasn't a help really. And ah we attempted to do too many things at the same time really, because the set is very expressionistic and it's not like a real set. It's sort of like, it's based on some table mats that Sean Ed, the producer's mother had bought in Paris in the sixties, I think.
00:20:02.79
alexei sayle
So it's, I mean, and I mean, and char I mean, I love Charlotte, and she's she's the one who commissioned Sandwich Bar. But I think we tried, we also tried to do too much in that show, I think. So it's sending, I mean, it was, a you know, I mean, that's with me, it's a very ambitious failure. And script and I think the scripts read great, really. But, um you know, I'm not Probably the, it it's it's set in Paris in the, it's also, I don't know if the world is ready was ever ready for a sitcom set in Paris in the 1920s amongst avant-garde artists, really.
00:20:45.48
alexei sayle
So there was that, and they were fictional, but I can't remember where the real artists appeared, but it was obviously the time of,
00:20:45.61
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Like real artists all made up.
00:20:51.04
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Okay.
00:20:53.99
alexei sayle
you know, of butca Picasso and all the other abstract expressions, you know.
00:20:54.18
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I think I see...
00:21:02.39
alexei sayle
So it was a time of great format in Paris, but, um ah you know, we didn't really, we didn't, I don't know that, you know, that it, I don't know, it was, ah you know, it was a a it was a very ambitious failure.
00:21:18.64
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You require a certain audience to appreciate it, don't you?
00:21:22.63
alexei sayle
Yeah. um And I say I'm not necessarily, you know, so I'm not necessarily the greatest actor. I think I am probably the greatest standup in the history of humanity, but as an actor, I'm variable really. And I never found, I never found my role or my part in that, I think.
00:21:43.16
alexei sayle
So ah yeah, but by all means, um, thank you, what she called Mark for, uh, traditional rules of copyright and, um, putting that up on YouTube as he put it up on YouTube.
00:21:48.33
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Mark.
00:21:58.36
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's on YouTube, yeah.
00:22:00.33
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:22:01.69
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um Yeah, Mark even watch out.
00:22:02.14
alexei sayle
My solicitors will be in touch. Thank you very much. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:08.48
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's called Mark Sist, Mark Sist on YouTube, M-A-R-K.
00:22:11.73
alexei sayle
I don't know if we can get his address, that'd be handy.
00:22:14.16
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Excite, yeah. Yeah, Mark, pop us your address.
00:22:15.27
alexei sayle
Yeah, no, so I'd be interested to know what people think if they want to watch it. Yeah, I mean, I think it was a kind of glorious match, really.
00:22:25.10
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'm seeing Neil Morrissey, I'm flicking through the episode here.
00:22:28.07
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:22:28.92
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Neil Morrissey, I'm seeing the guy from the thin blue line. I can't remember his name, but I love him. I think he did a Drunk in Time with you and Peter as well once, the Rasputin scene.
00:22:40.93
alexei sayle
Oh, Jim Carter.
00:22:43.39
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
He was in Gimme Gimme Gimme with Kathy Burke, James Dreyfuss, yes.
00:22:45.31
alexei sayle
Oh yeah, James Dreyfus. Yes. No, he was great.
00:22:48.99
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I love him.
00:22:49.99
alexei sayle
Yeah. He was a wreck. I think he was a serious wreck. I was very fond of James.
00:22:53.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You've done a few things for me.
00:22:53.92
alexei sayle
these Yeah.
00:22:55.45
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I've seen some Nazis, were there Nazis in the 1920s?
00:22:58.99
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:22:59.97
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, they've got a red armband anyway. I'm not seeing any swastikas. It looks cool, the costumes, the sets.
00:23:06.78
alexei sayle
yeah Maybe it's.
00:23:08.10
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You're like, you look like this kind of, you're obviously like down on your luck, kind of poor.
00:23:12.53
alexei sayle
Yeah, I'm a, I'm a kind of, yeah, it's a similar black, I mean, vain, talentless kind of artist really.
00:23:19.37
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Right.
00:23:22.12
alexei sayle
um I don't know, maybe, I mean, I thought, I think, I think the 90s, I mean, we've talked, I mean, I'm talking, you know, talking and sandwiched by about 1990s Alexei, you know, that he was slightly lost, really, I think that the zeitgeist had turned against him, you know, it was it. So you just hanging around the Zanzibar Club with Anthony Warhol Thompson.
00:23:44.47
alexei sayle
um That, you know, he, that I think I was probably out of fashion as well. ri I don't know if that contributed to I remember John Peel, who was a big fan of mine, really, of my stand-up, kind of gave it quite a negative review in the radio times or something.
00:24:06.40
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh, shit.
00:24:08.65
alexei sayle
So, you know, you got to, you kind of got to take that on board in a sense. So yeah, so yeah, if people want to watch it, then feel free. it' and it is ah I think it probably is a kind of interesting mess, really.
00:24:22.58
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
One sec. Keep talking. I'm just grabbing water.
00:24:32.99
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
interesting mess. You know a memory came to me the other day um of something that happened in primary school.
00:24:43.51
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah
00:24:43.53
alexei sayle
Yes.
00:24:45.71
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah thought of it we ah the I was thought of it when I was reading about the Grammys for some reason um and I thought what if there was an award show called the Mammy's and it was all awards for like different versions of the song Mammy from 1926 and like the best country version of Mammy, best hip-hop version of Mammy.
00:25:08.65
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And then I remembered Al Jolson, yeah.
00:25:09.54
alexei sayle
Al Jolson. Yeah. ma
00:25:12.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um So he was an old, I think, ah so old Jewish ah vaudeville minstrel act jazz singer.
00:25:14.03
alexei sayle
yeah The Jewish, it's saying they're doing, they're in black. Yeah. They're in blackface.
00:25:25.01
alexei sayle
Unpicked that firm.
00:25:25.11
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And I was like, oh yeah, it was a blackface minstrel song, wasn't it?
00:25:27.84
alexei sayle
Yeah, of course it was.
00:25:28.15
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Because that's why it's called Mammy, because it's they're making fun of the black vernacular of the time.
00:25:28.60
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:33.31
alexei sayle
Oh yeah.
00:25:34.17
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And and then there's so many apologists for Al Jolson because saying like, he was Jewish and he'd been persecuted so he understood the struggles.
00:25:34.45
alexei sayle
Unpicked the levels of prejudice and not working. Stu.
00:25:47.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and But then why did he do it then?
00:25:48.03
alexei sayle
yeah
00:25:50.29
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
00:25:50.54
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, I don't, I mean, yeah, I wouldn't particularly, I mean, I mean, that's a question. I mean, that is another, I mean, and I think philosophers and social commentators, this is a kind of endless debate, isn't it?
00:26:05.28
alexei sayle
it's It's to what degree you should apply the morality of now to the past.
00:26:11.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yes.
00:26:11.61
alexei sayle
You know, I mean, it's a, it's a parallel debate to that one. We sort of had about enjoying, you know, the work of Wagner, even though it's not to see might, or, you know, Yeah, Roman Polanski or...
00:26:23.08
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
No, but that's that's a bit different.
00:26:24.87
alexei sayle
Isn't that a separate thing to...?
00:26:28.59
alexei sayle
justice Yeah.
00:26:28.65
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
No, I know what you're talking about. but I think wa there's ah where one thing is applying the morals of today to the art of yesterday, but but so if someone's an actual nazi or something that's there's a it was immoral at the time sorry yeah that's oh he wasn't an actual night yeah and i think globally well well i don't know but anyway so fucking mammy yeah uh even okay if you want to apply that logic don't apply uh today's models to it you wouldn't necessarily
00:26:44.89
alexei sayle
Well, Wagner was really. I mean, yes, Wagner was an actual natural. It was, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
00:27:10.28
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
recreate that song today or do a cover of it today or perform it today, would you?
00:27:12.74
alexei sayle
No, I mean, it's...
00:27:17.53
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But then I remembered I had this flash in like year five, well, in like year four or five back in primary school, we did a live, a show, a primary school,
00:27:22.87
alexei sayle
Hang on. So I'm just doing the podcast. You okay? Should I go ahead? Yeah, go on. You have to flash.
00:27:39.75
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
play show musical thing and it was called lights camera action and it was like a celebration of Hollywood and it was all these different vignettes scenes with a kind of loose thread between them telling some sort of story of a Hollywood production and I had the role I i my job my role was to sing Mammy
00:27:59.87
alexei sayle
Right.
00:28:00.57
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And i wasn' and then i wasn't that's the one step they didn't take.
00:28:01.27
alexei sayle
In blackface.
00:28:05.91
alexei sayle
Right. Yeah.
00:28:07.41
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But I was e i was brown. i'm so like i'm I'm like the non-white kid.
00:28:12.09
alexei sayle
Right.
00:28:12.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah And I had a whole scene. I sang the whole song. And then like the director goes, cut. And then the scene carries on. And like you know so it was like that was like the framing device of it.
00:28:22.18
alexei sayle
but Yeah.
00:28:23.51
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But they got the brown kid to sing Mammy.
00:28:26.23
alexei sayle
Right.
00:28:27.12
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
at a primary school, an English primary school, my mom, you know, like me at the time was unaware of the historical and racist context of it.
00:28:34.14
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:35.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And she was in the crowd going, my boy is thinking about me. And she was like crying her eyes out so proud. and And I'm just like thinking back on it going, was that, is that really fucked up or not?
00:28:40.97
alexei sayle
Yeah. ah Well, i yeah.
00:28:46.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'm not sure.
00:28:48.61
alexei sayle
Well, it is now. I mean, was it at the time? I don't know.
00:28:52.42
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It would have been in the nineties.
00:28:52.65
alexei sayle
I don't, I have no, I provide no easy solutions. I throw this out there really too. I remember loving, uh, I loved it. Well, the jazz, the the reason, one of the reasons that Al Jolson is famous is because the jazz singer was the first movie with sound.
00:29:08.08
alexei sayle
So that's partly why it's, um,
00:29:10.14
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
oh
00:29:10.88
alexei sayle
interesting Interesting side note that the, the Jolson story, the film, which is about Al Jolson, the actor who plays Al Jolson, I can't remember, was one of those who was blacklisted. Who was it?
00:29:22.90
alexei sayle
Al Parks. Al Parks, Linda knows for some reason. I'll look into that later. the But the actor who played Jolson in the Jolson story and was blacklisted in the McCarthy's, the McCarthy with Johnson in the 1950s.
00:29:32.11
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh,
00:29:38.64
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
okay.
00:29:39.06
alexei sayle
And I remember a particular bizarre bit where Jolson meets Al Parkes playing Jolson or some weird kind of meta thing that happens in that film. I can't remember.
00:29:49.27
alexei sayle
I can't remember whether it's Al Jolson who himself is in the film. I can't, it's complicated.
00:29:54.98
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Al Jolson is in the jazz singer, yes.
00:29:57.78
alexei sayle
He's in the jazz signal, but he's in is he in the Jolson story?
00:29:59.71
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh, in the Jolson story. I can tell you in a second, but he does do a blackface scene in the jazz singer as well.
00:30:08.01
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, that was what he did, you know. um
00:30:12.27
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
1946, the Jolson story.
00:30:18.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Anyway, yeah, go on.
00:30:20.74
alexei sayle
ah No, that's all.
00:30:22.43
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So you're a fan of Al Jolson, but...
00:30:23.25
alexei sayle
That's all I've got really. It seems. Yes, I seem to me when you watch him, I think preferably in without the makeup on, I've seen footage of him performing and you can see that he has a tremendous.
00:30:38.34
alexei sayle
Charisma and ease of sometimes, you know, you can hello Larry Yeah, I'll didn't sound right Larry park Right, ah but um ah But it Also seems to have tremendous kind of yeah performing ability really
00:30:44.21
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Thanks, Linda. Yeah, Larry Parks, yeah.
00:30:48.71
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And Al Johnson's not in the film. With his charisma, you say he's vague.
00:31:09.63
alexei sayle
ah But yeah, and so yeah Why were we talking about oh yeah you had a vision of of of singing Mammy when you were five Yeah,
00:31:14.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Okay. Yeah, well, he had a troubled life and he was so fucked up.
00:31:26.92
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'm just like Googling Mammy and pictures of him and it's really fucking messed up that that was so acceptable right until like the sixties and stuff.
00:31:31.77
alexei sayle
I mean minstrel shows were common
00:31:35.81
alexei sayle
Yeah. Well, the black and white minstrel show was on BBC one until 1979.
00:31:44.56
alexei sayle
So, you know.
00:31:46.36
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And that's where the image, that's where Mickey Mouse gets his design from.
00:31:52.41
alexei sayle
Tell me what to have, what, where, who?
00:31:53.76
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Because Mickey Mouse, that's why he wears white gloves.
00:31:56.90
alexei sayle
Oh, because he's a kind of minstrel.
00:31:59.03
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah Yes, essentially, especially like Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse before he was refined.
00:31:59.81
alexei sayle
Ah.
00:32:07.21
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But that was, um,
00:32:12.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Anyway, yeah, I just felt, I just kind of felt this kind of whiplash just remembering that and just thinking, was I a victim of racism against African Americans in my my childhood?
00:32:14.36
alexei sayle
Yeah, but yeah, that was ah probably.
00:32:26.67
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Or why did my school do that?
00:32:26.99
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:32:28.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Why was that okay?
00:32:31.51
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:32:33.51
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Or were they innocently just like, it's a cute song. Let's get this kid to sing this cute song.
00:32:37.54
alexei sayle
Yeah. What year was this?
00:32:39.84
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It would have been, probably 1996 kind of time um right uh
00:32:45.89
alexei sayle
Fucking hell, that is quite fucking recent. Yeah.
00:32:54.86
alexei sayle
Well, I don't know. Again, I would throw that out to our community really to, you know, if somebody's got a definitive answer on, you know, I'm not a social psychologist or a social historian. So I don't have a definitive answer for you there, but I'll throw that open to be disgusting.
00:33:13.29
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Thanks, boss. Speaking of our community, our LEGO Alexi auction was selling off the last LEGO Alexi because the winner of it decided to give it up to charity. So we're up to 15 pounds. Wow. ah Money will go to MAP, Medical Aid for Palestinians.
00:33:34.48
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
15 pounds is not nothing and that's fine. And I'll post it to you for free.
00:33:36.67
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:33:37.85
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I just need you, we'll organize how you do it. Just screenshot me proof that you've donated the money and I'll send it to you. I need to localize where people can bid because so at the moment I'm getting Patreon messages and Instagram and YouTube.
00:33:53.28
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So I'm going to do a post on Instagram with some pictures of the Lego Alexi. You can comment on that post or you find this episode that you're listening to right now on YouTube.
00:34:05.46
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and leave a comment there um and let's up that bid.
00:34:12.36
alexei sayle
Yeah, come on.
00:34:12.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Let's sell off, do better than 15 pounds.
00:34:14.31
alexei sayle
Come on, people.
00:34:17.61
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Four of one of five very limited Lego Alexi with a signed, it's got a signed card. You've signed the card that it comes with a certificate of authenticity.
00:34:28.97
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:34:30.81
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Right. um Do you want to talk about Trump buying Gaza?
00:34:35.89
alexei sayle
I suppose so, I mean,
00:34:37.34
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
i'm i'm definite i'm not sure I'm not sure if I'm taking it seriously.
00:34:43.27
alexei sayle
Well, um, I
00:34:43.30
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah But just the thought of it, the idea of it is so horribly racist, so fucking genocide or an ethnic cleansing.
00:34:49.89
alexei sayle
suppose so. I don't, I mean, it, yeah, I mean, well, I mean, somebody that I follow, I think, and it was basically talk census professor John Mearsheimer of the university of Chicago.
00:35:01.36
alexei sayle
And he has always said, I mean, he in his delineation of the, the well they the mean Israel-Palestine, he's always and particularly in the last 15 months, has always said that the there way the Israelis have a problem with the Palestinians and they can solve it in a number of ways.
00:35:19.97
alexei sayle
They can solve it by giving them all equal human rights and absorbing them into a single state or you know which is which they do not want to do. It involves giving the Palestinians a viable state, which again, they they have no wish to do. it It's never going to happen really under the Linda doing?
00:35:47.69
alexei sayle
um Can you hear that?
00:35:50.62
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah, I can hear it. There's some noise in the back.
00:35:52.12
alexei sayle
What are you doing?
00:35:55.92
alexei sayle
She stopped doing whatever it was. But they can they can have ah you can have a two state solution, which where would be the settlement of deliberately disrupted the West Bank.
00:36:10.86
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yep.
00:36:11.19
alexei sayle
or you can ethnically cleanse or physically murder the Palestinian population and that is the option that they have decided on. That was it was happening under Biden and it is now happening under Trump that is that the the wish of Israel and most of the Israeli population is to, is to murder or physically displace the, whatever it is, seven, and I don't remember how many million Palestinians there are, but to get rid of them in one way or another and Trump's plan is just a kind of a, a bus stop on that road really. And he's made, in a sense, he's making it explicit. I think he's done, perhaps done,
00:37:00.24
alexei sayle
Palestinian cause a favor and that he has highlighted that this is what it's about. So it's not about Israel defending itself or any of that, which was always fucking bullshit anyway.
00:37:04.44
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yep.
00:37:10.06
alexei sayle
It is simply about ethnic cleansing and genocide.
00:37:13.18
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
That's the one but positive thing about Trump is he he tends to just say the quiet bit out loud and, um, as
00:37:15.04
alexei sayle
Yes.
00:37:18.04
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah. He's making it very clear. I think the only, I don't know. I mean, the only thing I can think of is that the Arab states will feel so insulted.
00:37:29.46
alexei sayle
that they will try and, you know, they may offer a different solution of some kind or may at least offer some push back towards, but I don't know.
00:37:39.94
alexei sayle
I mean, these are cruel, corrupt men themselves.
00:37:41.97
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But you know, if he's a, if he's the businessman, he prides himself to be, he'll be, and knowing the leaders in the surrounding Arab countries, you know, he'll, they'll be like, he'll just take the best, the lowest bid, like who will take however many billions of dollars to take these Palestinians as if they're his to move around.
00:38:00.78
alexei sayle
Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:06.14
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But he'll strike a deal with Jordan or or the Lebanese leadership or Egypt, probably Egypt.
00:38:11.32
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:38:12.93
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Here's $3 trillion dollars for your economy or for your personal stash, Captain Sisi.
00:38:13.12
alexei sayle
Egypt's got a bit more room, I suppose. Yeah.
00:38:19.25
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And um take these Palestinians. We'll arrange the delivery. They'll bring some death buses and load them all up.
00:38:28.14
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:38:29.36
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Shoot them if they don't comply. Send them to Egypt.
00:38:31.44
alexei sayle
Well, that that has...
00:38:32.05
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
This is what he wants. I think it's ridiculous. and i don't
00:38:37.02
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I can't see that happening
00:38:37.30
alexei sayle
but No, I guess not. But that is the objective. That is the objective both of Israel and of the United States to some but somehow bring about that end.
00:38:49.00
alexei sayle
So I don't know really. That's what they want. That's the objective. whether they can bring it about. I mean, it also means that they will perhaps restrict, you know, they will restrict aid, they will restrict the building materials back into Gaza.
00:39:09.00
alexei sayle
I think they're already stopped. The Israelis are already stopping tents and sporting cabins from going in.
00:39:15.26
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
How is this fucking happening? I don't understand.
00:39:21.17
alexei sayle
Yeah, well,
00:39:21.21
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Like, what what well time and what world are we living in? Where you talk about just emptying a land. The the blatant hypocrisy and like, he's like, oh, it's a land of death and destruction.
00:39:36.41
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
No one wants to live there. Look at it.
00:39:38.58
alexei sayle
Yeah, sitting next to the contour actually fucking destroyed it.
00:39:41.72
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You what?
00:39:43.40
alexei sayle
ah chagrn bastards to Two grinning with bastards with comb overs.
00:39:44.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Who did it? Yeah.
00:39:47.71
alexei sayle
Yeah. Um, well, yeah.
00:39:50.29
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Is this fucking real? And I just wanna fucking scream and and throw my laptop out the window. I can't believe the gall to say those words on an international stage like that as if it's fine. And then there are people out there who actually think it is a great idea.
00:40:12.40
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, I say this is what they've been aiming for, really. I mean, certainly.
00:40:16.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
to pretend like it's for the good of the Palestinians just admit admit your intentions don't act like you're doing it for for that no but admit why why i like don't say it's for them they live in they this is not a safe place for them they have to they should leave and we'll get them jobs and it'll be good for them fuck off
00:40:20.05
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:40:25.36
alexei sayle
Yeah. Well, he is really. Why racism? And yeah, yeah.
00:40:43.55
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's um I just it just makes me laugh though that the people who are acting like this is so kind of Ootre. This is, as I say, this has always been the objective of ah the the Israeli government for a long, long time. And people pretending it's come out of the blue, I think is fucking naive and you know our governments all European governments apart from Spain are going along with it essentially.
00:41:16.63
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
yeah no or or not commenting on it properly not calling it what it is
00:41:19.52
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So um it's I mean it is. It is shocking but it is only a statement of what is there's always been in the works.
00:41:39.76
alexei sayle
oh so yeah that's that's where we are this week but yes it is extraordinary i mean it is that that i mean that rules based order that post-war settlement i don't know whether it it was ever that effective but ah obviously It is breaking down really, and I don't know what the, I can't predict what the consequences of it will be.
00:42:02.71
alexei sayle
Obviously you see Trump, I think yesterday, sanctioning and the, I see the International Criminal Court, which grew out of the Nuremberg trials, you know, and a response to.
00:42:13.96
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:42:15.66
alexei sayle
you know, which was a response to to Hitler and seeing them. They were actually attacking that. I mean, they were never signed up to it.
00:42:23.49
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
yeah
00:42:24.72
alexei sayle
They were never in the jurisdiction of the ICC, but they never now they're actually physically attacking that. I mean, what does that say about... I mean, you know, those things were supposed to, I guess, provide a degree of security and it and ah and ah ah you know a kind of methodology in which autocracy didn't didn't return. I mean, how's that working out for you?
00:42:51.20
alexei sayle
ah it is you know um
00:42:57.06
alexei sayle
you know he is that is a problem I suppose but then it was I guess in a way it was always just a fiction you know m I know people have been commenting I think Aaron Jones is commenting on you know Democrats in the States saying well well you know you're glad you vote you know you didn't vote for Biden now fuck off you know 200,000 people probably were massacred under Biden's fucking watch.
00:43:19.49
alexei sayle
So, you know, don't blame it. He was not voting for that shit bag. Um, you know, the choice being offered the choice between, between him and Trump was always an impossible one.
00:43:27.48
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:43:33.33
alexei sayle
And at least, I mean, I mean, Palestinians are still being killed, but I mean, the rate of killing at the moment has gone down, you know, under Trump.
00:43:42.23
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I did see this interview with an Arab American who voted for Trump because of Harris's and Biden's actions and stance on Palestine.
00:43:53.99
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:43:55.30
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and how his whole family of now like his whole family he's like having major beef with his family and loads of them like see what you did blah blah blah and he's like i just thought i was doing did i think at the time and uh you know and uh i couldn't vote for harris because of what they were doing in the middle east and i'm like yeah but you don't have to vote for trump either like that wasn't
00:44:04.75
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:44:16.03
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:44:19.10
alexei sayle
Okay. Yeah. ah that I don't know what that it just
00:44:21.25
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Like, and, and Harrison Biden would have done our aiming. They both have the same goals. They were just not saying the things that Trump says. They're both.
00:44:31.31
alexei sayle
Yes, it just has happened a bit slower under Biden. I don't know. it's um I mean, it's a it's an interest. I mean, one of the things that I don't know is that, I mean, again, somebody like John Mearsheimer says that the interests of Israel are not the interests of the United States and that it is only because of the particular like corrupt system of ah the way you get elected to power in the United States means that it's a money talks and so that the Israel lobby is essentially bought and paid for, um you know, senators and president, you know, I mean, Trump got a hundred million dollars off, a million Adelson, just for one, um fanatical Zionist, Zionist.
00:45:09.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
yes
00:45:21.65
alexei sayle
um So that the the that the interests of the United States and Israel are not the same. I mean, I find that the day of just being bought, all these people bought and paid for, as have you know large sections of our political class, 80% of conservative MPs are in can conservative your friends of Israel.
00:45:32.51
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yes. Hmm.
00:45:41.97
alexei sayle
I think it's 40% of British MPs in Stalmer accepted large amounts of donations from various times but um I find I mean I find it's I don't know don't know why I find it more disturbing that uh that that it's in it's not in the United States Israel to act all in lockstep with Israel and then that it which is what people like me as I say but which as compared to that it is in the interest of the United States that Israel is a kind of static aircraft carrier it's a projection of US power
00:46:15.43
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Mm hmm.
00:46:15.92
alexei sayle
into the Middle East, I find that slightly less disturbing than it is all just bribery and corruption from the Israel lobby. really i don't I don't know why. In the end, it should matter, but it does seem to me that not to that level that Mearsheim is wrong, really, that it does also suit the interests of the United States. Again, I would, if anybody's got strong feelings on that, I'd be interested to know them.
00:46:43.54
alexei sayle
I mean, he says that, you know, the, that the United States, for instance, would like a two state solution and they're being enforced to spend all this money because they are bribed by the Israel lobby is not what they want, which I just, for some reason, I find particularly unsettling. So there you go.
00:47:04.23
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I think the only viable solution is the equal rights. The the option one of your friend that you mentioned is just just acceptance and atonement is going to take Israel making a humongous apology and just giving all Palestinians the same rights as everyone else in that land.
00:47:13.59
alexei sayle
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So somehow a ah one state solution, but I don't know how you get there. I mean, if the United States.
00:47:31.57
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:47:33.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But then my my big question is what would you then call the country?
00:47:34.03
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:47:37.93
alexei sayle
I think that's the least. I think that's the least.
00:47:42.00
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well.
00:47:43.01
alexei sayle
I mean, the problems connected with that particular proposal, they call it Israel, I don't fucking care. But it's how you get to that point. I mean, um I read years ago,
00:47:52.15
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hmm.
00:47:56.50
alexei sayle
I remember ah reading a science fiction story. Science fiction stories, you know, because they are talking, you know, they're they're kind of encoded ways of talking about the future and the present. there I think I read it in some magazine. I can't remember who wrote it, but it's about this couple and they're on a motoring holiday in South America. And like everybody's like, oh, see, Senor, so great to see you. You know, welcome.
00:48:21.39
alexei sayle
so you myuuis And then for some reason I think, which is unexplained, the United States disappears. It's obliterated in some way.
00:48:30.13
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
What?
00:48:30.53
alexei sayle
And and it's just, it's ah what the novel is about, what the short story is about, is just how people's attitude immediately changed because that terrible bully has gone away.
00:48:43.57
alexei sayle
people start, I think a fair start just being kind of rude to this couple. And I think it ends in my memory as their car is sort of driving along the road and is surrounded by a huge menacing crowd.
00:48:55.60
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Right.
00:48:55.69
alexei sayle
And obviously that obsequious attitude, the people had, they only had it because because of the yeah the terrible and awesome and awful power that the United States either deploys or threatens to deploy. And without that monster, that nation, you know, the world, I, but you know, I think the world, I mean, it's, it's counterfactual, isn't it? You know, that idea, you know, what hit if Hitler would want the first world war, but second world war. But if it's that idea, what would the world be like if the United States didn't exist? Now you could say to some other
00:49:33.89
alexei sayle
Empire would fill the void. But I mean, Christ, you know, you think if the United States just didn't exist, you think, well, I mean, if I knew it was coming, I'd ring Alan and Irene in Baltimore and I'd ring Judith in New York and say,
00:49:49.16
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
yeah get out of there yeah i've got a lot of family out there
00:49:50.17
alexei sayle
ah the united I tell them, I tell them about it. I'd say, my friends, you know, look, get to Canada quick. But, um you know, i would I would let them know if if if i if I was bringing it about. But you think Christ, wouldn't it be wouldn't the world be, if that terrible bloody place didn't hadn't existed, you know, maybe the world would be better, you know.
00:50:15.34
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, did you hear about the cause of the financial kind of almost crash in America a couple of weeks ago?
00:50:22.97
alexei sayle
No, which, um which almost crash.
00:50:24.91
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Is that the AI war?
00:50:29.25
alexei sayle
And I tell me, you know,
00:50:31.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So there's a, you know, America's invested billions and billions and billions into AI over the last few years. You've got chat GBT, you've got Google AI and the third one, which I can't think of right now.
00:50:37.69
alexei sayle
Yes. Yeah.
00:50:45.29
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Like, oh, I think maybe even trillions, but up but their stock has been going up and up. People who invested in AI early on are now, have made so much on that investment.
00:50:58.40
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's kind of like the trajectory that Apple had, you know, Apple Macintosh computers.
00:51:02.89
alexei sayle
Mm hmm.
00:51:05.00
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, China released an AI and it's called DeepSeek.
00:51:12.99
alexei sayle
Yes, and I know this, yes.
00:51:14.74
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and they made it it was uh oh right i i heard about it on a instagram reel um
00:51:16.11
alexei sayle
I did it in my newspaper, in the saloon bar of the, over a pint of mild. Yeah, go on. Yes. um maybe I had about it on my crystal radio.
00:51:32.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah news just coming in from China, DeepSeek has crashed the American stock market.
00:51:35.33
alexei sayle
could be pretty but but me
00:51:38.95
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah They made DeepSeek in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the cost, probably due to, you know, lower costs to pay humans to work and so forth.
00:51:42.90
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:48.89
alexei sayle
I think also they use rather than bringing in fancy chips or whatever, they found a way to to um i'm ignorant about yeah is to somehow use existing technology to do.
00:51:58.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, that's I think of a lot of the ah
00:51:59.16
alexei sayle
it
00:52:02.73
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
maybe a lot of it is laced with racism and xenophobia towards the Eastern Communists. But ah you know people are saying, oh, it's only because they don't have human rights in China.
00:52:14.57
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's like, well, what about their innovation? What about their intelligence that also probably contributed to it?
00:52:18.45
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:52:21.01
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So deep seat comes out at fractional price, fraction of the time, and it's 10 times better than anything the Americans have made.
00:52:21.26
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:52:28.74
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:52:29.84
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And
00:52:32.41
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
instantly just overnight all the stock in American AI just crashed into the ground.
00:52:36.25
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:52:40.31
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um Why did I bring that up? Oh, because you're talking about the end of America.
00:52:44.29
alexei sayle
Yes. I love that.
00:52:44.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It doesn't just have to be like a physical literal thing like that.
00:52:45.33
alexei sayle
Yeah. No.
00:52:47.91
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But things like that can just, you know, that really like embarrassed America really embarrassed them.
00:52:50.46
alexei sayle
And I think we are, yeah, yeah. I think you could probably say that we are on Trump symptomizes it that we are in the, at least in the the beginning of the beginning of the end of the middle of the beginning of the.
00:53:05.25
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:53:06.72
alexei sayle
Not the beginning of the end. I trying i was thought I might try a bit in Sandwich Bar do in that, but in the end I didn't. So this is not the beginning or even the mid beginning of the middle, of the beginning of the end of the middle.
00:53:20.07
alexei sayle
It is indeed the beginning of the middle of the end of the beginning. sort I don't know, but anyway I didn't do it. But it's Churchill speaking after the Battle of El Alamein, I think.
00:53:26.96
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
but
00:53:29.41
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Uh huh.
00:53:30.67
alexei sayle
ah But ah um I think we are seeing the very beginnings of the collapse of the United States Emperor would be my guess how that collapse is going to play out. And I suppose in a sense that it would just have been once conventional warfare that would have that just, you know, whatever the, the, you know,
00:53:59.44
alexei sayle
but there would have been a war, an invasion, or whatever, and China would have been made. But I was suppose nuclear weapons had a kind of complicating factor into that. But I think it's undoubtedly true. And you can see it in this, I mean, again, there's this sort of I was trying to think of a parallel with kind of the end of the, you know, the Roman Empire, really, and and and Caligula, you know, when that's the Roman Empire was collapsed in the Emperor, Caligula, a very decadent Emperor, you know, elected his horse to the Roman Senate.
00:54:27.89
alexei sayle
And I was saying that Elon Musk kind of plays that role, really.
00:54:28.21
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:54:32.28
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah
00:54:33.15
alexei sayle
I'm happy I should have put it in.
00:54:34.06
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah
00:54:36.15
alexei sayle
ah that ah That, you know, that that there is that
00:54:39.76
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah, it's giving Murray and to Annette as well vibes.
00:54:42.71
alexei sayle
Yeah, there is that kind of ah death of, you know, propriety and, you know, that, you know, if it does feel quite end of days, doesn't it Trump, you know, and but, you know.
00:54:51.09
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah Yeah, man. You know, and we we live our whole lives being taught. and I know this might be fucking obvious to you, but you know, you, you get these. Realization, but you you live your whole life just being told China's the bad guy.
00:55:06.10
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Russia's the bad guy. Our values are better. The Arabs are the bad guys, blah, blah, blah.
00:55:08.73
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:55:11.12
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Good versus evil, all this. And all of that is just to make us reliant on Western ideals and Western um economies. and
00:55:19.52
alexei sayle
Yes.
00:55:20.29
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah Because, okay, yeah, Russia's done bad things. China do bad things. Russia does bad things. Arabs do bad things. No one's a fucking saint, but America do bad things.
00:55:31.83
alexei sayle
Yes.
00:55:32.13
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Britain does bad things. No one is worse or better.
00:55:34.06
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:55:36.42
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
We're all fucked.
00:55:38.01
alexei sayle
yeah
00:55:38.40
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
We're all evil, especially those in power. Like there's no, no one is free from evil in their nation apart from Uruguay. And that's, I don't know about that.
00:55:49.34
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah So like,
00:55:52.57
alexei sayle
happiest people on the planet, I think.
00:55:52.65
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It just makes you think that if we were not reliant on America for our culture, our films, which are the biggest, it's such a big part of our lives, film and TV that influence us and makes us aspire to be like these shows and films.
00:56:00.98
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:06.50
alexei sayle
Well, we're part of the empire of the United States, aren't we really?
00:56:11.00
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
But, you know, one day, and half the world doesn't have that in their life. Half the world relies on China and Japan for their culture and their technology and all that.
00:56:18.14
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:56:20.67
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So, and they're doing all right.
00:56:23.28
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:56:24.19
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Everything can change. Nothing is in a stasis, isn't it?
00:56:27.60
alexei sayle
No. Absolutely.
00:56:30.38
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
There is a future where America isn't the ideal and isn't what we all look at and look to for inspiration.
00:56:35.40
alexei sayle
Yeah, ah hopefully that day is coming quite soon.
00:56:37.38
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and
00:56:38.43
alexei sayle
I think probably not. Not in my lifetime. Let's think, you know, that's the collapse.
00:56:47.19
alexei sayle
It's more rapid. I suppose you could. yeah I don't know what how.
00:56:52.18
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah if you If you ever go to the Middle East, shut up a second Alex, if you ever go to the you go to the Middle East,
00:56:52.43
alexei sayle
close they are to civil war, I suppose that's the other thing. Yeah.
00:57:00.15
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um it's so strange because that I think that might be the key. Once they get turned around, because whether you're in Dubai, Egypt, even maybe not Syria, ah Lebanon,
00:57:17.05
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
you you There is such an old ancient culture there that is very clear and on the surface, and the people live by their ways, but American TV and film, shit like McDonald's and KFC, the though they've become necessities as well there.
00:57:40.22
alexei sayle
Right.
00:57:40.27
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And ah There's such a reliance on American money, American culture, American food. In Dubai, especially places like that, like it's so cool to have the latest American fad, whatever.
00:57:54.89
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:57:55.72
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
but And that kind of just keeps the Arabs on a hook in a way and stops them turning. I don't i don't know, but there's something there.
00:58:05.89
alexei sayle
Possibly. I mean, you're cultural imperialism. really Yeah. I don't know.
00:58:13.57
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's fascinating.
00:58:14.55
alexei sayle
ah
00:58:16.27
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Anyway, I'll think on that.
00:58:17.40
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:58:18.12
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'll think on that.
00:58:19.26
alexei sayle
Yes.
00:58:20.14
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
We'll do our episode in Syria soon as well in April, I think.
00:58:22.25
alexei sayle
yeah But that was one of the fascinating things about Chile. I mean, it was the only place on, one of the few places on Earth during, under the assets where there was no Coca-Cola, but there was some local version, you know, there was no McDonald's.
00:58:33.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:58:35.16
alexei sayle
There was none of that. And it was, it was like stepping through to a weird kind of alternative.
00:58:36.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
00:58:39.50
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
macarabia that's what it's called in dubai you can buy a macarabia so they do shawarmas in mcdonald's and it's like mate what are you shit is working yeah man mcdonald's taking massive losses starbucks we need to get gales like you know the bakery gales
00:58:40.23
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:58:44.15
alexei sayle
Really.
00:58:47.22
alexei sayle
Right. and They do learn, don't they? They do adapt. i think Are we boycotting McDonald's? I think we've nearly destroyed Starbucks, haven't we? so
00:59:01.71
alexei sayle
Yeah. It's gone broke. Yeah.
00:59:10.25
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I live in Dalit and it's all the people here, so lefty, but posh lefties. And they all, there's a big Palestine movement here every Saturday outside the park.
00:59:17.73
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:59:22.60
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
You see them with their banners and stuff, but the gales, there's two gales in my vicinity and they're full all the time.
00:59:25.32
alexei sayle
Yeah.
00:59:29.54
alexei sayle
Wow.
00:59:30.83
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And every morning there's a queue, there's a queue going out of the door.
00:59:34.60
alexei sayle
Do they support genocide?
00:59:36.49
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's an Israeli company.
00:59:37.61
alexei sayle
Oh, it wasn't originally, but...
00:59:39.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It is, it was founded by a fucking settler and they do support genocide, yeah.
00:59:43.45
alexei sayle
Really?
00:59:45.67
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um And it drives me crazy, because I'm looking in there and you see all these like lefty liberals in there.
00:59:45.92
alexei sayle
I did not know that.
00:59:53.15
alexei sayle
yeah should be possibly be careful what we say here ah yeah i think we might have to yeah i think i think you're gonna have to cut that bit out hey
00:59:54.91
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
00:59:57.84
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and The bakery bakery has Israeli origins.
01:00:02.78
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
01:00:05.71
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
They're to accusations, and but oh, they deny it. They currently have no ties to Israel, but... my ah Why Why cut?
01:00:20.96
alexei sayle
You can't accuse somebody of being a supporting genocide if they don't.
01:00:28.51
alexei sayle
I'm going to blame you if you do.
01:00:31.11
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hmm.
01:00:31.31
alexei sayle
I'll throw you under the bus.
01:00:34.86
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I could be liable, could it?
01:00:36.53
alexei sayle
Yes, it could certainly be likely.
01:00:37.50
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Shit.
01:00:40.31
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Okay. So you're talking McDonald's Starbucks. Okay. If we're going to do an edit point there.
01:00:46.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Okay. Yeah. They've been denying it.
01:00:51.32
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh yeah.
01:00:51.72
alexei sayle
Well, yeah I mean, yes, I mean, I have.
01:00:53.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And KFC and KFC as well as a huge one. And they pride themselves on being halal and very Muslim friendly and all that, but it's there on the boycott list in a huge way.
01:01:07.93
alexei sayle
Fine.
01:01:08.50
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
People should stay up to date with their boycotts.
01:01:11.35
alexei sayle
Absolutely.
01:01:11.91
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um
01:01:12.31
alexei sayle
And it where it is working. I mean, that's one of the reasons they try and make it illegal. You know, if you if you apply for a job in Texas, you have to say. As a speech therapist, you have to say that you will not.
01:01:25.23
alexei sayle
You support Israel.
01:01:27.98
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Really?
01:01:28.31
alexei sayle
You will, you do not, yeah, genuinely any government job that you will not support, boycott, divestments and sanctions, because it it works.
01:01:34.36
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Oh my God.
01:01:39.11
alexei sayle
um
01:01:41.53
alexei sayle
Anything else? Are you going to talk about raves? Do we have enough time?
01:01:44.30
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I am going to a rave tonight. Let's finish on this. I'm going to a big fat rave tonight.
01:01:46.84
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:01:48.85
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
My bones are aching. My muscles hurt every, anytime I do a tiny bit of exercise, I've got this pain in my wrist that won't go away. Um, yet. Off I trot tonight to a big fat rave in Angel.
01:02:01.77
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'll be out till five in the morning um in a place called the Electro Works.
01:02:04.57
alexei sayle
Where is it taking place, this rave?
01:02:11.71
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So it's like this huge venue with like eight different rooms, winding stairs.
01:02:16.10
alexei sayle
I don't know it.
01:02:18.85
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um And it's kind of a hippie, kind of dippy rave.
01:02:22.32
alexei sayle
Not the music be like, maybe all that.
01:02:23.78
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's very,
01:02:26.59
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah. So there's lots of different rooms. So there'll be lots of different vibes.
01:02:28.54
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:02:29.75
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I'm sure there'll be a chill out room. I think there's a techno room, some drum and bass. There's even going to be like a live, like I said, it's very kind of, it's not a typical rave. There's like a cabaret show happening. And on the ground floor, there's even a room where they're doing like workshops all night, like different types of little work, fun workshops.
01:02:48.09
alexei sayle
Right.
01:02:48.23
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I think last time we did them. Uh, what do you call them? Life models. What do you call? Yeah. When you sit and draw someone life drawing and everyone, you could go up and pose if you wanted.
01:02:54.70
alexei sayle
Life drawing.
01:03:00.65
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Um, keep your clothes on, but like, I'm not a whipper snapper anymore, but, um, I think it will be fun.
01:03:02.00
alexei sayle
Well, that all sounds like hell to me, but obviously you're, you know,
01:03:12.54
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Um, fun night out with the misses. Uh, but I was going to ask you about any. rave experiences. Obviously you were big in the 90s when it was really blowing up.
01:03:21.49
alexei sayle
Not realistic, yeah. Me and Lenny Henry used to go to a club in Leicester Square called the Soul Kitchen and dance. Dance our little hearts out, me and And I can't remember, no I can remember me either coming out, I think, and and because I was a bit sweaty so much, and it's in that esteem coming off me like,
01:03:49.72
alexei sayle
like ah and a steam locomotive, like the Flying Scotsman, just this huge kind of cloud of steam rising from it.
01:03:58.62
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah.
01:03:59.87
alexei sayle
um um I think I cycled there. I remember when I got home, I was still so through. I can't remember an awful lot about it, apart from that, really, that we used to dance.
01:04:11.60
alexei sayle
some I probably ah don't know if people probably didn't. it was mostly I think it was mostly black.
01:04:19.78
alexei sayle
People were very, people didn't. I don't remember people mocking me for my dancing. I can't imagine it was any good, but... ah So that that's that's something that immediately springs to mind. If anybody else remembers us, seeing you, seeing me and then down there, at the soul kitchen at the empire ballroom, I think in Leicester Square. and
01:04:46.90
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Was Lenny a good dancer?
01:04:48.12
alexei sayle
1990s. I think he is. I can't remember, to be honest. though It's all a bit of a blank, really. He is pretty good dancer, yeah.
01:04:56.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
So if you're getting that hot and sweaty, it must've been rammed, you've not been to any of these ah ah electronic music, drum and bass, rave, jungle, never once.
01:04:59.52
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.
01:05:04.03
alexei sayle
I don't know why I can't remember more about him.
01:05:11.11
alexei sayle
No. No, I don't quite. No, no, never. I don't think my friend's son is a real big superstar DJ called tells his name, um, uh, but proper, like not maybe first rank, but certainly it's kind of second rank. I forgot this bloody name. Dennis something or other. Uh, I can't remember his name now.
01:05:42.78
alexei sayle
I've never been to anything that he's, he's the one who's marrying Cisha, Monica Jackson in the, in the summer in Ireland, the girl from the Derek Huth. I mean, I know his real name, but I can't remember his stage name.
01:05:58.98
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
shit well that's a cul-de-sac of uh... joy uh...
01:06:03.53
alexei sayle
Yeah. So at least I'm now a superstar DJ, even if I'd never been to anything they've ever done.
01:06:13.54
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Yeah, I know a few of those. All right, I think we'll end it there on that bombshell.
01:06:18.94
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:06:19.89
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Alexi sale. Um, may I just say a few words at the end here about how you can help the show? Obviously.
01:06:26.09
alexei sayle
Yes.
01:06:27.17
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Thank you. Obviously you can go to patreon dot.com forward slash Alexa sale podcast. Chuck a few quid our way. It would mean the world to us. Once we get to 500 patrons, we're going to do, to be honest, you might do it beforehand because I don't want to wait.
01:06:42.79
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It sounds like fun. We might do a strangers on a podcast episode where we do a live stream and have some listeners join in.
01:06:47.10
alexei sayle
Yeah. I will say when' we start right at the beginning of the show when we were doing that improvisation, like give me a few shorts ago I thought I was going to come out with something really good and I came out with nothing at all.
01:06:58.44
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Unlucky.
01:06:58.48
alexei sayle
So I apologise for that now. i ah If anybody found that particular improvisation underwhelming, I sincerely apologise.
01:07:00.20
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Unlucky, mate.
01:07:06.70
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
That's another thing.
01:07:07.07
alexei sayle
Mistakes were made.
01:07:07.30
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
At high school, I i came into English once really tough to myself and I bragged off to my teacher and my fellow students that um I had been reading Sherlock Holmes novels and that um Arabs are in those books.
01:07:07.71
alexei sayle
but
01:07:22.92
alexei sayle
yes
01:07:23.14
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
I was like, yeah, we're very, ah you know, we're part of British history. There's lots of Arabs in the Sherlock Holmes novels.
01:07:28.43
alexei sayle
Yes.
01:07:29.58
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
They're his friends. They give him intel about what's happening around the city. And my teacher very gently ah let me know that Arabs was actually the term for pickpockets.
01:07:41.51
alexei sayle
Street Arabs.
01:07:42.26
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And it was the street Arabs.
01:07:43.27
alexei sayle
Yes.
01:07:44.53
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And that's actually just, it means dirty thief.
01:07:47.16
alexei sayle
Yeah, there weren't people from the Middle East.
01:07:47.44
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And that was his network of virgins who gave him intel.
01:07:50.65
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:07:51.75
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
and A thing that I wasn't able to compute at the time, but you know it's a thing that I look back on regularly and I'm like, goddamn, this is a racist place.
01:08:01.84
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:08:03.74
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Fucking hell. Everyone hates us, huh? Leave us reviews on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show.
01:08:10.03
alexei sayle
Oh yeah, please.
01:08:12.26
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah it mean It really helps.
01:08:12.38
alexei sayle
Please.
01:08:14.85
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
The most best thing, which I seldom ask you to do and I should do, tell a friend about the show. if you have friends who are similarly minded, if you have friends who care about the history of comedy or
01:08:24.47
alexei sayle
Please. No.
01:08:27.35
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
ah today's politics or or frustrated with how the world is going, let them know about the Alexa podcast.
01:08:33.64
alexei sayle
and we'll find their answer here, yeah.
01:08:33.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Let them know it's a nice, comforting place, a safe place to sit and listen to two hairy, balding men talk about sea mites, talk about how the world is and how angry it makes them and other stuff.
01:08:42.39
alexei sayle
Seamites.
01:08:49.43
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
um Really, that's a great way to help just spread the word about the show. um thank you uh that's my broadcasters that's uh that's me i'm feeling a bit i'm gonna have to sit down and recover after this i was also looking through um my girlfriend's grandad's old dead grandad's uh photo albums and yeah there were some pictures in there from the 40s and They're at some party and a bunch of them were dressed up as Arabs, as a costume.
01:09:17.54
alexei sayle
yeah
01:09:20.06
alexei sayle
Yeah.
01:09:20.66
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
like And I still see it now at festivals. You see the odd guy who's just dressed up as an Arab, like it's a costume.
01:09:27.79
alexei sayle
He's not just an, he is not, he's not an Arab.
01:09:29.78
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
No, the whitest palest bucket hat teen dressed as an Arab, because it's such a hilarious costume.
01:09:29.91
alexei sayle
He's just dressed up. All right.
01:09:39.56
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
My people are not a costume.
01:09:41.02
alexei sayle
Yes. Well, they will be, give me their names.
01:09:45.28
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
uh it's uh yeah what yeah um go i'm gonna need to recover from this actually by the grace of god basically is the equivalent of that
01:09:45.39
alexei sayle
They will fill the wrath. Arath. Yeah, the week is out.
01:10:01.96
alexei sayle
What does alhamdulillah mean, by the way? Is it alhamdulillah? By the grace of
01:10:11.96
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Like thank God, like something good has happened, Hamdulillah, like God's good grace has it happened.
01:10:18.22
alexei sayle
I'm doing a lot.
01:10:19.96
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
It's like the opposite of inshallah, inshallah is I hope it will happen, hopefully it will happen and God will help it happen.
01:10:23.35
alexei sayle
Yes. God willing. Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:26.60
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Hamdulillah, oh, it happened and God made it happen.
01:10:29.63
alexei sayle
Right. He's busy.
01:10:30.94
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
And a stuff for Allah is, fuck, I can't believe that happened. Fucking hell, God, why did you make that happen?
01:10:38.98
alexei sayle
He gets in everything, doesn't he?
01:10:40.82
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
He does.
01:10:40.86
alexei sayle
God.
01:10:41.52
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
He's got his fingers in all the pies. It's such a busy body. Like, fucking, I'll give us a second.
01:10:48.89
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
He does get in everything.
01:10:49.53
alexei sayle
All right. I feel like we're winding down.
01:10:53.23
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Well, we are.
01:10:53.87
alexei sayle
All right.
01:10:54.08
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
Let's say goodbye. Hamdullah, we finished the episode.
01:10:57.17
alexei sayle
And yes. Bye bye.
01:10:59.88
Talaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalaltalal
See you next week insha'Allah.
01:11:01.03
alexei sayle
InshaAllah.
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