00:00:00.12
Talal K
the

00:00:00.70
alexei sayle
How old you going to be?

00:00:02.86
Talal K
I'm going to be 39. Aye,

00:00:05.49
alexei sayle
Hey.

00:00:07.49
Talal K
aye, aye.

00:00:10.90
Talal K
What a world.

00:00:11.86
alexei sayle
Okay.

00:00:11.90
Talal K
Oh, sorry. Sorry.

00:00:14.89
alexei sayle
I'll be recording.

00:00:15.83
Talal K
Yes, we are.

00:00:18.14
alexei sayle
Hello, everybody. Welcome. not

00:00:20.74
Talal K
There's something on your head. Has that always been there? Like there.

00:00:24.39
alexei sayle
What?

00:00:24.76
Talal K
Have you got a mole or something? No, that's a bit of

00:00:30.01
alexei sayle
There. Oh, there.

00:00:34.34
Talal K
There, yeah, it's gone now. You got it.

00:00:37.20
alexei sayle
There, Jam.

00:00:37.28
Talal K
Well done. Bit of chat. I don't know, it's back. It's still there. Can you not see it on your screen? no, you're too small on your own screen.

00:00:47.80
Talal K
On the other, opposite that.

00:00:51.18
Talal K
Yeah, down a bit.

00:00:54.90
Talal K
Is that just a mole? Have you got a mole on your head?

00:00:58.20
alexei sayle
as I don't know, I've never seen that before.

00:00:58.55
Talal K
but I've never noticed.

00:01:01.18
alexei sayle
think it is jam. It is literally jam.

00:01:13.05
alexei sayle
It is jam.

00:01:16.25
Talal K
Oh.

00:01:16.60
alexei sayle
I'll include this in the podcast.

00:01:22.36
alexei sayle
Hello, and episode 115 the Lexile Podcast Discovered The A mole on my head was in fact jam. Now, it just just gives you an insight into my toast making process.

00:01:40.89
alexei sayle
and ah After the...

00:01:45.04
Talal K
How did you manage that?

00:01:46.78
alexei sayle
I don't know, it's quite an achievement. I just had jam and peanut butter. often have jam and peanut butter. Sometimes I have a banana with it as well.

00:01:57.21
Talal K
In the sandwich.

00:01:58.48
alexei sayle
Well, it's just one slice of toast with...

00:02:00.50
Talal K
ah

00:02:03.48
alexei sayle
and We're now back to... what we we And last week as well, weren't we? We were three of guests, three of pesky guests making this podcast interesting.

00:02:13.12
Talal K
Yeah.

00:02:16.86
alexei sayle
And back to just you and me like it.

00:02:22.86
alexei sayle
crap's last podcast i'm samuel beckett kind of in a in an empty void um yeah

00:02:30.25
Talal K
Yep. Waiting for poddo. hu Oh, you like that?

00:02:37.78
alexei sayle
my yeah not because i've just been might be hysterical because i've just uh you know had um I thought I had a skin cancer and now I don't.

00:02:48.82
alexei sayle
Skin cancer turned out to be jam. And ah the other relief is making me hysterical. It's sort of given me a new a new interest in life, a new zest for living after that reprieve, yeah.

00:03:00.07
Talal K
Oh, that's good. so what are you going to change about your life now?

00:03:05.69
alexei sayle
um

00:03:06.81
Talal K
What have you been doing wrong these last few years?

00:03:08.31
alexei sayle
Oh, God, everything. Absolutely everything. Oh, where would you start with that, really? um Shall we?

00:03:22.17
alexei sayle
This is no good at all, is it, really?

00:03:25.25
Talal K
It's good.

00:03:25.30
alexei sayle
center Is it entertainment? Is it, you think?

00:03:28.14
Talal K
It's relaxing.

00:03:29.37
alexei sayle
right,

00:03:30.12
Talal K
Yeah, it's like a massage for your ear holes.

00:03:33.72
alexei sayle
Good.

00:03:35.08
Talal K
Yep.

00:03:35.25
alexei sayle
Well, we should get on to... So, um what have we got to talk about? i My appearance at the Slapstick Festival in Bristol ah on Saturday.

00:03:41.91
Talal K
Oh, yeah.

00:03:43.78
alexei sayle
We've got that.

00:03:44.06
Talal K
You had a sold out crowd.

00:03:45.91
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, it was good.

00:03:48.25
Talal K
How was it?

00:03:49.45
alexei sayle
It was good. I felt a bit funny looking at the clips, really. I mean, it was weird. I don't know if anybody liked me.

00:04:01.85
alexei sayle
i mean to I mean, I suppose i was less i mean i i mean I was less forthright about my views, really, and it wasn't an issue, really, to be left-wing and to be a major light entertainment.

00:04:17.20
alexei sayle
star you know in the bbc it didn't seem to matter really i think the world is much more contested now but it is it's such a good show uh stuff i really you should try and get them to put it on the iplayer or whatever know there's bits floating around on youtube but um it would uh it is so clever and creative and uh i mean a really brilliant mixture of me and and david renec and andrew marshall

00:04:20.07
Talal K
Yeah.

00:04:46.10
Talal K
did they choose Did they choose nice clips?

00:04:46.52
alexei sayle
And Marcus Moore.

00:04:49.30
Talal K
Were you happy with the clips they chose?

00:04:50.01
alexei sayle
Yeah, the clips are fine. Yeah, yeah. ah the one The one that, I mean, the one that I was hoping, that the the Bishop sketch, which I think is the funniest thing, um which is where, because when we, I mean, I said that the thing, but um David Nandy used to come to our house every week and we used to sort of comine compine you know combine our work really to make the script.

00:05:15.13
alexei sayle
And we had this cat then, Dexter, it was a Tom, an unused Tom, which is, until we'd spent, I mean, I or Linda had spent time going, he'd walk up to the window and go, you want to go out? you want to go out? And then he'd turn his back and wander off the other way. And then he'd say, where is he now?

00:05:30.01
alexei sayle
He's on top of the bookcase. And so David and Andrew wrote this sketch, which is, but they just changed, from a cat, they just changed it to a bishop. so you've got tony millen dressed in full kind of bishop rig being treated as a cat me and this and uh jan ravens played the other woman go i go hello where do you want to go out you want to go out um where is he now he's on top of the bookcase or tony was doing it as a bishop and he i just think it's a brilliant brilliant sketch really

00:06:03.10
Talal K
Yeah, that's genius.

00:06:03.96
alexei sayle
And they didn't show that. But, um yeah, the clips were fine, really. And it was, you know, it was nice, yeah. I mean, it would be...

00:06:15.67
Talal K
Is this the one where you'd have the monologues to camera as you're walking down the street and stuff?

00:06:19.10
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:06:20.43
Talal K
The Charlie Brooker, that you ripped off Charlie Brooker stuff.

00:06:23.03
alexei sayle
Yeah, exactly. I still have from Charlie Brooker.

00:06:25.46
Talal K
And did you also do that in your other series?

00:06:29.69
alexei sayle
Yeah, I mean, they were all very similar.

00:06:30.30
Talal K
You did.

00:06:31.13
alexei sayle
I just kept changing the name, really, to just kind of get rid of the viewers. Um...

00:06:36.66
Talal K
but

00:06:37.13
alexei sayle
so

00:06:38.26
Talal K
its Well, uh...

00:06:39.26
alexei sayle
um So the first i mean first first three series were written by David Rendick, Andrew Marshall and me, and directed by Marcus Morse, my producer and director.

00:06:50.14
Talal K
Uh-huh.

00:06:52.87
alexei sayle
And then second, then it was called The All-New Alexi Sayles Show, and that was written by me and Graham Lynn and Arthur Matthews, and directed by Metin Hussein and produced by like Alan Nixon.

00:07:04.30
alexei sayle
and then the final series was called Excels, Merry Go Round, can't remember the name of the producer, but it was directed by Edgar Wright, 22-year-old Edgar Wright, and was, yeah, yeah, all six years, yeah, no, no, he did all six, um, um, but was written by me, and just as a lot of writers, Andy Riley, who we mentioned last week, for instance, and, um,

00:07:12.54
Talal K
The whole season was? oh wow. I thought you just did an episode. Oh, right.

00:07:28.79
alexei sayle
other people's names, I can't remember. Dave Cummings. Yeah.

00:07:35.78
Talal K
Alexis Sales Stuff is a British television comedy sketch show which ran on BBC Two for 18 episodes over three series from 1988 to 1991. Recurring cast including Angus Deaton.

00:07:48.82
alexei sayle
Deaton.

00:07:49.64
Talal K
Deaton. Mark Williams.

00:07:51.76
alexei sayle
Yeah. Father Brown now in on daytime telly.

00:07:57.27
Talal K
Oh, right. Okay. um Arabella Ware or Weir.

00:08:02.00
alexei sayle
Annabella Weir, later later, the Fast Show.

00:08:06.17
Talal K
Oh, is that the My Bum Looks Big in This Lady?

00:08:08.44
alexei sayle
Does my bum look big in that disco?

00:08:10.24
Talal K
Oh, she's brilliant.

00:08:10.84
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:08:12.54
Talal K
Yes. Tony Millen.

00:08:16.17
alexei sayle
Toni Mellon, yep.

00:08:17.80
Talal K
Any feel? Yeah, feel free to keep those interruptions coming. Jan Ravens.

00:08:22.51
alexei sayle
Jan Ravens, now of Dead Ringers, of course, amazing impressionist.

00:08:26.58
Talal K
Oh, you say now.

00:08:29.22
alexei sayle
Well, yeah, she's still in Dead Ringers.

00:08:30.84
Talal K
Are they still doing that show?

00:08:32.18
alexei sayle
Yeah, I think so.

00:08:33.56
Talal K
On the radio?

00:08:34.42
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:08:34.94
Talal K
Oh, right. OK.

00:08:37.40
alexei sayle
And live.

00:08:37.52
Talal K
It was on telly when I was younger. um Owen Brenman.

00:08:42.40
alexei sayle
Owen Brenman, yes. He he was in who was there later in One Foot in the Grave. And his brother.

00:08:47.74
Talal K
Oh, Compo Burst's Dog. Was that the other? No, that was one for me. Nope.

00:08:55.17
alexei sayle
That was our podcast last week.

00:08:57.05
Talal K
Yeah, but that was from Last the Summer Wine, was it? Or was it one for me?

00:08:59.48
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:09:01.11
Talal K
Harriet Thorpe.

00:09:02.38
alexei sayle
Harry Thorpe, yes.

00:09:04.62
Talal K
Felicity Montague.

00:09:06.18
alexei sayle
Felicity Montague, of course, a Alan Partridge is his assistant in the the classic Alan Partridge and many other things besides Lin, yeah.

00:09:11.71
Talal K
Oh,

00:09:15.83
Talal K
Lynn.

00:09:18.51
Talal K
Oh, wow, poor Lynn. And Morwenna Banks.

00:09:22.31
alexei sayle
Well, Wenner Banks, now a very successful screenwriter and um the partner of David Baddiel.

00:09:31.29
Talal K
Oh, all a nice team, good people to work with.

00:09:34.49
alexei sayle
Yeah, everybody was, yeah, yeah, nobody was, it was before Angus was famous, it was just a part of my repertory company, before he got, have I got news for you?

00:09:46.90
Talal K
That was the real big one for him, wasn't it? That was the only reason I knew him growing up myself.

00:09:49.78
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.

00:09:54.58
Talal K
And then...

00:09:54.76
alexei sayle
He was also in One Foot in the Grave, though, David Rennick liked him a lot.

00:10:01.63
Talal K
The one time I met Angus, I didn't know that you and him had worked together and I ah pissed him off.

00:10:09.35
alexei sayle
Yeah, you

00:10:09.98
Talal K
Yeah. I think I mentioned someone that I thought... would make him wanna chat to me, but it was someone he hated that I didn't know that they had a rivalry. I don't know.

00:10:21.46
Talal K
can't remember who it was. Someone I'd worked with or something. And if only I'd known that you knew him, maybe he would have been more friendly to me.

00:10:27.26
alexei sayle
yeah you could have, yeah. Yeah.

00:10:31.06
Talal K
But me and you weren't so close back then.

00:10:33.29
alexei sayle
Oh, well, okay. Okay.

00:10:34.26
Talal K
as we have our strong bond now. um I'm reading the Wikipedia, by the way. This will fill time.

00:10:39.96
alexei sayle
Oh, right. Yeah, yeah.

00:10:41.30
Talal K
ah Sketches are interspersed with sales trademark angry stand-up monologues delivered from increasingly odd locations.

00:10:47.68
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:10:50.94
Talal K
What was the oddest location that you delivered a monologue?

00:10:52.96
alexei sayle
Oh, I can't remember now. we We did all kinds of things. I mean, later on, we got even more inventive on the... on the Alexis El-Jones did. mean, sometimes... mean... some i mean We had a crane, I remember, when we were doing all the new Alexis Celso. And the crane essentially has two seats. And I said, I just started doing the monologue. I said, well, I'll put me in the other seat until I do this monologue again, just a monologue. And then just sort of take off. You know, it's never referred to.

00:11:22.97
alexei sayle
he just I'm just flying through the air, essentially.

00:11:23.06
Talal K
Wow.

00:11:25.82
Talal K
but

00:11:27.30
alexei sayle
And we did all kinds of stuff like that, really.

00:11:31.26
Talal K
Was the cast going back to that recurring cast where you like, ah did you build a strong familial bond with every everyone and were you like the father figure?

00:11:36.72
alexei sayle
Repertory. No, not really. No, not really. I mean, um was too...

00:11:44.57
Talal K
Would you take everyone out for dinner?

00:11:46.36
alexei sayle
No, no, no. no No. No, I should have done probably, really, but I wasn't... I was too concerned with just the data. Well, I mean, I was... Yeah, but they were all friends. Marcus marcus had been... Marcus Morton had been location manager and... um floor manager on the young one.

00:12:10.14
alexei sayle
So I knew him from them. Um, so and David and Andrew were friends. So, um, it was okay.

00:12:18.01
Talal K
Everyone else was just the hired help.

00:12:18.83
alexei sayle
I don't think I wasn't, I don't think I was awful. already but

00:12:26.20
Talal K
um I wonder if we ever had a real diva moment and like kicked off.

00:12:31.34
alexei sayle
Um, I don't think so.

00:12:34.52
Talal K
This was your first solo show, right?

00:12:36.38
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:12:37.21
Talal K
That was best. It must have been. Was there was a big pressure or did you really enjoy it

00:12:41.41
alexei sayle
I enjoyed it. No, I loved it, really. I mean, it was sort of, you know, it in the I mean, it was um also, you know, with the beat i mean that if looking at those sketches, the budget is extraordinary.

00:12:51.72
alexei sayle
I mean literally the budget for one sketch looks like you could get a whole series of,

00:12:52.22
Talal K
Yeah.

00:12:58.46
alexei sayle
a Channel 4 comedy series now out of it, really.

00:13:00.70
Talal K
Yeah.

00:13:00.82
alexei sayle
It was just so lavish. I mean, partly because then BBC stuff was still in-house, so it didn't technically cost anything.

00:13:07.62
Talal K
Yeah.

00:13:10.20
alexei sayle
But also, they just you know they just threw a lot of money out it. There was some guy there backstage and that said that what they used to do because a comedy was, Top of the Pops was also, as I said, in the light ends, came out of light ends comedy.

00:13:31.51
alexei sayle
And so they just used to steal all the money off Top of the Pops, really. Top of the Pops used to have a massive budget and then they'd they'd pay for cost overruns on my show just by taking it off Top of the Pops.

00:13:42.78
Talal K
It really was the magic.

00:13:43.11
alexei sayle
They didn't need it.

00:13:45.21
Talal K
People will never know how fucking good the BBC was.

00:13:49.30
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:13:50.07
Talal K
Like, people will never understand. Like, even when I worked there, there was still the majority of things were in-house.

00:13:58.20
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:13:58.87
Talal K
And even I, just with my pass, I could go to the... the higher room, the the higher office whatever, and you could just hire out cameras and sound equipment.

00:14:10.97
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:14:11.35
Talal K
but I need this for three days. be like, all right, great. And you just walk off with a camera. But now if they want to make a show, obviously they have to hire a production company and they have to charge for all the equipment and everything.

00:14:21.27
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:14:21.85
Talal K
It's just so much waste.

00:14:23.51
alexei sayle
They were often I mean, in the sense the early days, they would Yeah, they would lay off people and then hire them back at twice what had been costing them already, you know, as freelancers and stuff.

00:14:24.60
Talal K
So much fucking waste.

00:14:32.48
Talal K
Yeah.

00:14:33.11
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:14:34.10
Talal K
They'd have actors, a troupe of actors on a salary just waiting to for, you know, they'd be like, what gigs are doing this week?

00:14:34.26
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:14:40.94
Talal K
You're going to do radio play here. You're going to be on EastEnders. You're going to go do that. Everything was just so efficient and fucking liberated and people could just create without this minimal risk because the costs were so...

00:14:48.34
alexei sayle
yeah

00:14:54.84
Talal K
It's easy to get around. it's it's it's It's just, it confounds me why they just tore it to shreds and sold it sold it off piecemeal.

00:15:02.55
alexei sayle
Well, yeah, it was. i mean some yeah a matter I mean, it's a metaphor for all the insanity of all that privatisation, really, I think.

00:15:09.53
Talal K
Absolutely. Stature.

00:15:10.94
alexei sayle
i mean, there was, you could get sometimes, you could get, um you know, scene shifters and all that. i remember they were very, I think, was it the pilot of The Young Ones or one of the fit the Paul Jackson shows, Boom Boom or whatever, and all the scene shifters, and this is fucking rubbish.

00:15:30.87
alexei sayle
And also...

00:15:33.37
Talal K
Wait, who's saying that?

00:15:33.38
alexei sayle
I remember people who moved the scenery around.

00:15:34.21
Talal K
What's the scene shifter?

00:15:38.26
Talal K
Uh-huh.

00:15:38.90
alexei sayle
So they weren't really invested in the artistic.

00:15:42.33
Talal K
Yeah.

00:15:43.38
alexei sayle
But also I can remember filming an arena documentary at Ealing, which was then owned by the BBC, and there's the electricians pulling the, you know, they wouldn't go over at six o'clock. They just yank the cables out the sockets, you know.

00:15:58.38
Talal K
Wow.

00:15:58.81
alexei sayle
Again, they weren't invested artistically in there but you could have, you know, but that was still fine. Yeah.

00:16:04.20
Talal K
There's pros and cons, I guess, yeah.

00:16:05.88
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:16:06.84
Talal K
But, you know, working class people could get a career in and TV, which is so hard to do now.

00:16:12.63
alexei sayle
yeah

00:16:12.66
Talal K
and And it was there were union the unions were stronger, I guess.

00:16:17.43
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, I think there's not... John Sullivan, who, you know, wrote Only for his notices and stuff, that he he couldn't... e He became a scene shifter, I think. And then there was a bar in the BBC Club on and TV Centre. There was a sort of There was a bar that was off the side. There's now a gym, I think, or it is, because it's not...

00:16:36.70
alexei sayle
But um it was the the comedy, it was where all the comedy drank. And he sort got in with them and then pitched them Only Fools and Horses. I don't know, I might be exaggerating that story.

00:16:48.98
alexei sayle
but

00:16:49.22
Talal K
Yeah.

00:16:49.88
alexei sayle
But yeah, it was, it were and it obviously it also it trained, you know all the great makeup artists were trained at the BBC, you know, makeup artists, air artists, costume designers, they all got, you know, they provided an education and they then went out into movies and out into the world, really.

00:17:07.48
alexei sayle
It was, i mean, if you win, I mean, it yeah, and it did provide, it was more, I think it was more, i I don't know whether it was more diverse in terms of class or not, really, but I mean, once you got in there, it was, it did feel like can imagine an amazing institution, really.

00:17:30.50
alexei sayle
And it is much now. It's a sad question. so

00:17:34.46
Talal K
Yeah, man.

00:17:35.19
alexei sayle
that

00:17:35.29
Talal K
And like television center is such an iconic building.

00:17:38.52
alexei sayle
Yeah, and they saw them.

00:17:38.97
Talal K
was designed on a napkin drunkenly in a pub.

00:17:41.72
alexei sayle
Really?

00:17:42.30
Talal K
Yeah. Guy just drew a question mark on a napkin. He said, there you That's your building. And he had to explain it a bit more. And then they were like, yeah, that's a great idea. And so that's why it looks like that.

00:17:55.00
Talal K
And now it's just all swanky shops and apartments.

00:17:56.19
alexei sayle
think made... Yeah.

00:17:58.91
Talal K
And it's a Soho club is there. And

00:18:01.57
alexei sayle
Yeah, so it has, yeah.

00:18:02.68
Talal K
ah that is Like you said, it's a metaphor for our fucking country, you know, our capitalist nightmare.

00:18:05.75
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah. And they made so many bad, I think they made so many bad property deals, iron in buildings they didn't need or use and stuff like that.

00:18:13.02
Talal K
Yeah.

00:18:17.33
alexei sayle
No, it was a golden age, really, you know.

00:18:19.03
Talal K
Yeah.

00:18:19.38
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:18:21.18
Talal K
I remember I was working at Watchdog and next door was... Top Gear and like across the hall was the one show. you know, everyone was there and everyone was able cross pollinate and talk to each other and share ideas and gossip and all that, you know.

00:18:29.72
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yes.

00:18:34.46
alexei sayle
Yes.

00:18:37.78
alexei sayle
It was, it was, but...

00:18:39.16
Talal K
Now it's all just hired production. card A few places, a few shows obviously still made in house, but they tend to be like the daytime or talk shows and stuff. um The bulk of the content was Oh wait, no, I've skipped a bit Sale is seen traversing the country on a moped In a vague attempt i don't remember this In a vague attempt to catalogue and comprehend All the stuff about him So is that the main concept of the show?

00:18:51.02
alexei sayle
I think we've...

00:19:04.09
alexei sayle
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it was, I mean, we didn't, read you know, yeah the sort of initial concept was a kind of parody of ah Jacob Brunofsky's, what was it called, Civilization.

00:19:18.14
alexei sayle
So it's these kind of these kind of very ambitious documentary series that you got in the 80s. So, but it started out as that, but we sort of, you know, we didn't we didn't particularly stick with that format for long, really.

00:19:27.98
Talal K
Right.

00:19:31.32
Talal K
I know more about Sid Meier's Civilization, but you wouldn't know about that. It's video game. Okay, the style of humor is often highly surreal and blunt. Obviously, bulk of the content was written by Sale himself with Andrew Marshall and David Rennick.

00:19:46.07
alexei sayle
ah No, I would say it was... No, that's... um I mean, that's...

00:19:49.29
Talal K
That's the other way around, isn't it?

00:19:49.59
alexei sayle
No. Yeah, no, that's... ah I don't know who's written that, but no. it was I mean, it was an equal third, so I certainly didn't.

00:19:57.53
Talal K
equal third let's get ah Let's get our say lights out there on the corrections department to go and fix that.

00:19:57.88
alexei sayle
a lot of the a lot of the A lot of the really significant stuff is there. David and Andrew.

00:20:04.79
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:20:08.34
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's

00:20:08.50
Talal K
Additional material was contributed by David Stafford and Hugh David Thomas.

00:20:12.50
alexei sayle
my dear friend, David Stafford. Yeah. David Thomas, Hugh Thomas, I think he's still going. He runs that comedy club in Crowdend at the King's Head. He tours at Middlesex Polytechnic.

00:20:24.68
Talal K
Hmm.

00:20:25.14
alexei sayle
And and he I think he just, is that in stuff? He just had this great routine about riding a motorbike. And I said, can I buy that off you? And so he said, yeah, all right.

00:20:37.15
alexei sayle
Because he wasn't to do anything with it.

00:20:38.78
Talal K
Jesus.

00:20:38.79
alexei sayle
And we took down a cog, give it an info, come round round about. I was laughing. She was laughing. It's a brilliant routine about riding motorbike. I altered it slightly, but it's it's just this bloke talking about riding the motorbike. Drop down the cord. can't remember it now. That was the reframe. Drop down the cord, give it hand full, come round roundabout.

00:20:59.03
alexei sayle
His girlfriend ends up getting chopped off for some reason. I can't remember why.

00:21:04.82
Talal K
jesus

00:21:05.29
alexei sayle
I can't remember anything else about it.

00:21:09.90
Talal K
Although sales humor in the program covers many bases, politics is always a favorite target. Recently, I had to get married because I got my girlfriend into trouble.

00:21:20.76
Talal K
Got her involved in the civil war in Angola.

00:21:28.47
Talal K
No, they could have picked a lot better.

00:21:31.10
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:21:31.20
Talal K
There's one where you should say like, them should be shot or something. Okay.

00:21:37.27
Talal K
okay Okay. Beginning a series two, in a sequence spoofing the creation of Mickey Mouse, sketch reveals that Alexei Sale is in fact a cartoon character.

00:21:44.76
alexei sayle
That is brilliant, yeah. Who's the leader of the game? You know mean? Yeah.

00:21:52.06
Talal K
ah steamboat fatty.

00:21:52.25
alexei sayle
yeah

00:21:55.50
alexei sayle
I've got a cell from that. I should email the woman who did it.

00:21:59.93
Talal K
ah Series one's titles features a handsome young man.

00:22:00.15
alexei sayle
a lead Again.

00:22:02.89
Talal K
This is like just brilliant. The handsome young man arriving to television center ah to the music, the wanderer with prosthetics, makeup and padding being applied to change his appearance to that of Alexis Sale.

00:22:18.97
Talal K
When the receptionist then utters, who is that fat bastard? which has

00:22:23.99
alexei sayle
Moenna Banks.

00:22:25.30
Talal K
Which was to become the show's catchphrase. Oh, that was... Wait, that was who?

00:22:33.50
alexei sayle
That was Moenna Banks.

00:22:34.90
Talal K
More Winner Banks.

00:22:35.36
alexei sayle
That's the only time she appears, I think.

00:22:38.22
Talal K
Oh. Series 3's title sequence is a pastiche of Zorro. I don't think I've seen that.

00:22:45.66
alexei sayle
Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, it's kind of, it's, yeah, it's, I was slightly, it's not quite as clever as the other ones, but it's very extraordinarily lavish.

00:22:57.08
Talal K
This fat renegade carves a bee with his blade. A bee that stands for...

00:23:01.21
alexei sayle
Peter stands for a bastard.

00:23:07.67
Talal K
One episode in series two begins with a lengthy cold open. They're picking the most random things to put into the summary.

00:23:12.65
alexei sayle
Well, it was, I mean, yeah, yeah.

00:23:16.50
Talal K
One episode in series two begins with a lengthy cold open of an initially straight scene from Juliet Bravo featuring...

00:23:22.62
alexei sayle
Yeah. I mean, that were I talked about this because Robin, i obviously Robin had been through the Wikipedia as well. that it was i mean the So the announcer says, over um'm over on BBC Two now, Alexis Sales, Doffy's beginning, and then whereass over here on BBC One, an episode of Juliet Bravo.

00:23:39.74
Talal K
Oh.

00:23:42.26
alexei sayle
And it was so daring. So, I mean, can you imagine the BBC doing that now? So you had BBC Two presenting to BBC One, and for a long time we got the cast of Juliet Bravo and a Carteret.

00:23:54.33
Talal K
Wow.

00:23:55.51
alexei sayle
And it just, you think you're in an episode Juliet Bravo. It only slowly emerges that it's a that it it turns out that Owen Brenman doesn't know what, it was just constantly, doesn't know what a woman is.

00:24:08.89
alexei sayle
He thinks it' a she's a wigma at wigwam, I remember. So Anna Carter, you know. I mean, it's it I suppose in some ways it's in the spirit Monty Python, but it very daring, you know, no laugh track.

00:24:22.68
alexei sayle
And, um you know, you can imagine the BBC doing that now. Yeah.

00:24:28.38
Talal K
Well, think of how many production companies would have to work together to blend two shows together like that.

00:24:31.80
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:35.64
Talal K
use Was Juliet Bravo, yeah, a BBC show? You would have just gone and knocked on their door said, hey, come over. we kind of It wouldn't have been that casual.

00:24:41.37
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we used the credits to Julia Bravo, and yeah, it was just, I mean, I loved it when David Downey came up with that idea.

00:24:47.54
Talal K
That's great.

00:24:50.18
alexei sayle
I just loved it, really. It was so so um daring, you know.

00:24:52.82
Talal K
I should give that show a watch.

00:24:56.18
alexei sayle
Yeah, but I don't know. Yeah. Right to the BBC demanded to put on iPlayer.

00:25:02.46
Talal K
Yeah, man. Go on, everyone. Go on, say lights at home. I'm starting calling them say lights. Fuck it. um Right to points of view.

00:25:16.34
Talal K
which I don't think they do anymore, do they?

00:25:16.38
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:25:18.26
Talal K
Maybe it's just on the radio now, or maybe it's just a blog.

00:25:18.52
alexei sayle
No. Is it?

00:25:23.54
alexei sayle
Well, just write to that's your MP.

00:25:26.51
Talal K
Right to MP.

00:25:27.73
alexei sayle
Right to the BBC. Demand. Alexi sells stuff. And the all-new Alexi Sassio. I'm to go around. They're all put on the iPlayer. Of course, all-new Alexi Sassio brought us Bobby Chariot as well, Mark.

00:25:36.18
Talal K
Yeah.

00:25:40.50
Talal K
Yeah, oh, he didn't come until then, all right.

00:25:42.54
alexei sayle
He didn't know it was only Series 4, as it were, that I thought of Bobby.

00:25:47.10
Talal K
while you're writing your MP, do mention that the ceasefire is a lie and the genocide continues in Gaza.

00:25:51.86
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yes.

00:25:54.97
Talal K
And we should stop supporting an apartheid state in the Middle East.

00:25:55.89
alexei sayle
Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. yeah

00:26:03.26
Talal K
And that true anti-Semitism is the murder of thousands and thousands of Semites whose heritage is connected to that land way more than a bunch of Europeans who've taken over that.

00:26:18.81
Talal K
section of the world.

00:26:19.35
alexei sayle
yep Yeah.

00:26:22.94
Talal K
Memorable sketches, social workers. ah

00:26:25.64
alexei sayle
Are we sticking with this, are we?

00:26:27.00
Talal K
ah Now I'm gonna skip memorable sketches, but they've got a nice, they highlight a bunch of really good ones. Lord William Rees Mogg, a few moments with Lord William Rees Mogg.

00:26:36.02
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah, it was something.

00:26:38.65
Talal K
Is that Jacob's dad or something?

00:26:40.58
alexei sayle
Yeah, but it was somebody playing. It was Angus playing him, I think.

00:26:43.67
Talal K
Well, certainly, but you knew the Rees Mogg family.

00:26:43.78
alexei sayle
And I think it was, wasn't he on a trampoline? I did.

00:26:48.54
Talal K
And yet you were you were lambasting them here.

00:26:50.58
alexei sayle
Well, that's the way it was, you know. Yeah. yeah

00:26:56.12
Talal K
Good on you, all right.

00:27:00.54
Talal K
Oh, you did a word association sketch.

00:27:03.51
alexei sayle
There was a song I'd written called Word Association with me and a sexy dancer.

00:27:08.41
Talal K
Oh.

00:27:10.97
Talal K
It gradually reveals your dirty mind.

00:27:13.91
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:27:16.73
Talal K
um But the psychiatrist falls in love with you at the end. Okay. Oh yeah, and the Monsieur Aubergine as discussed on a previous episode.

00:27:25.34
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:27:26.10
Talal K
That made me absolutely piss myself. It came out on but Was it shot on video or was it shot on film?

00:27:35.48
alexei sayle
and Stuff was a mixture. but it was a mixture of of video and film. I think mostly the stuff on location was shot on 60mm film and then we shoot the the studio stuff, you know, pedestal cameras on video.

00:27:40.95
Talal K
Okay. Okay.

00:27:45.94
Talal K
studio stuff.

00:27:53.11
Talal K
So multi cameras.

00:27:55.06
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:55.74
Talal K
And then you would have a live audience for that.

00:27:58.80
alexei sayle
We'd have a live audience for the live sketches, and then we'd also play them in and record their laughter of the film sequences.

00:28:06.33
Talal K
And you'd show them that on a screen.

00:28:08.54
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:28:10.39
Talal K
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah, what did I see where they did that? Oh, I went and saw a live taping of two pints of lager and a packet crisps.

00:28:22.57
alexei sayle
All right, yeah, yeah.

00:28:23.80
Talal K
And whenever there was an outdoor screen, they'd lower a telescreen and we'd all we'd all like, have to.

00:28:28.22
alexei sayle
yeah i mean by then it would have all been shot film it was it was ah unsettling really because obviously the the they used to do that on all sitcoms that they would shoot the interiors in in the studio and obviously with an audience and then when they went outside it was you know i mean because it was shot on 60 millimeters the the quality was completely different was very grainy and um

00:28:41.41
Talal K
Hmm.

00:28:51.22
Talal K
Yeah.

00:28:52.06
alexei sayle
you know, the sound was like all the place, but people didn't, people just kind of accepted it really. And well, because David Renwick was a sort of devotee, he was quite old fashioned when they did one foot in the grave, he still, even though the technology by then allowed you to shoot it all on videotape, he stuck with that, um, that format of, uh,

00:29:15.42
alexei sayle
you know interiors video and then that exterior 16mm film. there? Hmm.

00:29:24.73
Talal K
They released VHS cassettes of the series in the late 80s.

00:29:29.53
alexei sayle
yes

00:29:29.59
Talal K
and night In 1990, there was a 79-minute compilation video, The Best of Alexis Hell's Stuff, released by the BBC.

00:29:35.22
alexei sayle
was there

00:29:37.56
Talal K
But it wasn't out on DVD until 2005, and then another one in 2006. Well, this is interesting. Okay. No extra, no bonus content on the DVDs.

00:29:50.25
Talal K
Come on.

00:29:50.40
alexei sayle
No, they just sort of knocked it out, just stuck it out, yeah.

00:29:51.48
Talal K
Come on.

00:29:54.78
Talal K
As is common practice, certain sketches were omitted or truncated on the DVD releases, likely due to music licensing rights or copyright issues.

00:30:01.05
alexei sayle
um Really, I've never...

00:30:06.62
Talal K
This included the removal of all of the linked Michelin Film Awards sketches from Series 2, Episode 2.

00:30:15.62
alexei sayle
Must make it. Must make it. um I remember we it was was yet was a Michelin Awards, wasn't it, which was presented by Michelin Men.

00:30:26.55
alexei sayle
i remember we filmed that Ealing Town Hall and it was the hottest day of the year and all these or these extras inside these giant foam suits were collapsing.

00:30:39.26
Talal K
ah They were collapsing.

00:30:41.53
alexei sayle
Yeah, with heat, they were so hot. We made them work anyway.

00:30:45.02
Talal K
yeah That's quite extreme. so

00:30:47.35
alexei sayle
Yeah, well.

00:30:48.67
Talal K
Get up. Come on. We've got to finish our Ealing town.

00:30:49.88
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:51.86
Talal K
God, you spent a lot of time in Ealing, man, where I grew up.

00:30:54.87
alexei sayle
Yeah, no, long time at Ealing Studios, obviously.

00:31:00.88
Talal K
All right. that's It was a critical success, apparently, they're saying here.

00:31:03.90
alexei sayle
It was, won all the awards in the the first year, ah yeah including an international.

00:31:07.26
Talal K
so Why would they not allow it to have more of a legacy and like reissue it and shit, man? Put it out again.

00:31:14.30
alexei sayle
Yeah, were sorry that's not in my gift, but I would like that, yeah.

00:31:14.73
Talal K
Fucking assholes.

00:31:18.33
alexei sayle
Yeah, we won Emmy, Rosa Montreux, Broadcast Press Guild.

00:31:22.52
Talal K
International Emmy Award.

00:31:24.66
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:31:25.94
Talal K
Wait, you won an Emmy?

00:31:28.04
alexei sayle
I did.

00:31:30.34
Talal K
Fuck off. Sick. Where is it?

00:31:33.21
alexei sayle
Well, let i tell that story I didn't know I was won it until um ah saw a Channel 4 Breakfast News was there then. i saw Benny Hill picking it up.

00:31:46.42
alexei sayle
They hadn't told me I was entered for anything. They thought whether they gave it to Benny Hill. We lived in a hall, but lived in a house together. So he picked it up. and then i never i mean it Jim Moyer, then the head that we was at of comedy like entertainment, then just he would get all the awards and then lock them in a cabinet. So I've seen it in Jim's office.

00:32:09.48
alexei sayle
don't know where the hell it is now.

00:32:12.13
Talal K
Bloody hell.

00:32:13.43
alexei sayle
But they then they then went, when I was up for a golden rose in Montreux, they changed policy and flew me out. and Linda thinks I just annoyed everybody.

00:32:25.40
alexei sayle
yeah It wouldn't be better if they hadn't.

00:32:31.77
Talal K
Oh yeah, didn't you do something silly on the night?

00:32:34.46
alexei sayle
Now it was, I was... i was so if you won I won a bronze. i Sometimes lie, I didn't pretend I won a gold. It was actually a bronze. If you won the silver, you would then almost automatically get the bronze. were having dinner the night before, and there was this guy from Vatican TV. was an undercover priest, and he said, I'm on the panel, and I'm going to make sure you don't win the silver and therefore the gold.

00:33:04.15
alexei sayle
And he was in plainclothes, he wasn't it. I said, why are you going to do that? He said, because of the things you said about the Pope. I'm like, oh, okay.

00:33:10.46
Talal K
Oh, yeah. Bastard.

00:33:13.30
alexei sayle
So I was done out of my golden rose mantra by an article of a priest.

00:33:22.94
alexei sayle
But yeah, broadcast press. The only one that didn't win, I've never won, is a BAFTA. But um all the other ones, Writers Guilds.

00:33:32.79
alexei sayle
Yep. One no more, man.

00:33:39.26
Talal K
Congrats.

00:33:39.40
alexei sayle
It was a big deal, you know. it's weird i find it I find it really weird, know, that it was a big deal.

00:33:41.02
Talal K
Should we...

00:33:46.78
Talal K
Should we enter our...

00:33:47.36
alexei sayle
Lee Mack was ze ewa at the slapstick festival as well.

00:33:49.02
Talal K
Go on, Lee Mack was what?

00:33:52.40
alexei sayle
was nice to see him again. He was talking about not going out, which is in his, like, 20th series or something.

00:34:01.11
Talal K
He is so sweet.

00:34:03.06
alexei sayle
Such a nice man. Yeah.

00:34:05.09
Talal K
He's really fucking sweet. I wish I was here for that episode. Um... But ah at the time I was, I don't know if I should say this, but I did bump into him and he was, yeah, i did bump into him at one point and he was just so, well, that's what I'm not sure if we should mention.

00:34:21.27
alexei sayle
Yeah, because you taught his drama to his kids. Oh, right.

00:34:26.81
Talal K
But yeah, i bumped into at one point. He's just the sweetest man. He he made a point to come up and and say, hello, because you're Talal, aren't you?

00:34:29.50
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:34:32.94
Talal K
Oh, Alexis, tell me a lot about you, blah, blah. He's just such a sweetheart.

00:34:37.91
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's unusual.

00:34:40.72
Talal K
I'm looking at your Wikipedia now. When was the last time you looked at this?

00:34:44.53
alexei sayle
it's well out date, isn't it? as of ah some as Has anybody put anything up there?

00:34:52.69
Talal K
Well, yeah.

00:34:56.89
Talal K
Okay, there's two sections that two sections that are

00:34:57.41
alexei sayle
Most of it's fair enough.

00:35:02.97
Talal K
interesting here. Okay, there's one section called Labour Party.

00:35:07.22
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, I don't remember that.

00:35:08.02
Talal K
It says, in February 2016, sales said of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

00:35:08.68
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:35:14.07
Talal K
Who's that? he's a He's ascetic and morally incorruptible.

00:35:18.81
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:35:20.41
Talal K
The propaganda that's thrown against him is disgraceful. Until he appeared, you had to vote for one kind of Oxbridge twat or another. People who all go to the same dinner parties, people like the Ed Ballses and George Osbournes,

00:35:35.48
Talal K
Jeremy has shown that within a democratic tradition, other things are possible. It's kind of, they feel like the golden years now.

00:35:42.14
alexei sayle
Yeah, so we felt like something had happened. Yeah, so that's all.

00:35:46.07
Talal K
ah yeah Yeah, absolutely.

00:35:46.92
alexei sayle
Yeah, that's all fair enough.

00:35:50.14
Talal K
2016, wrote a comment piece for the Guardian saying that he was happy to mock new labor in his acts, but now Corbyn was about to reform the party in his own image. He would stop making jokes about labor. Okay.

00:36:01.62
alexei sayle
that That itself was a terrible.

00:36:01.66
Talal K
But then in May, 2018,

00:36:04.93
Talal K
Regarding the expulsion of Mark Wadsworth, I don't know, don't remember who that is.

00:36:08.27
alexei sayle
All right.

00:36:12.30
Talal K
Sale commented, the party should walk over broken glass to beg people of Mark's calibre to work with them. They are very few and Mark is one of the best. There is a battle going on to destroy and reverse the unexpected and amazing gains the left has made in the last blah, blah, blah.

00:36:29.27
Talal K
Mark is a casualty in the battle and I'm joining the fight to see him mar reinstated to the front line. Did he ever get reinstated?

00:36:35.49
alexei sayle
Oh, do you fuck? Mark Wadsworth, yeah, he campaigner. He was one of the sort of central members of the the the Stephen Lawrence campaign in the early days, really, you know, when they were still confronting massive racism within the Metropolitan Police. And it was that thing that Jeremy and the people around him did where they thought they could throw, they could sacrifice. And then he was involved in... It was a bit...

00:37:01.91
alexei sayle
there was a there were there weren Sami Chakrabarti had done a report on anti-Semitism and there was a launch and then Mark Wadsworth criticised.

00:37:14.17
alexei sayle
He saw Ruth Smith handing it in he thought, with a Daily Telegraph journalist, criticised her.

00:37:16.79
Talal K
Uh-huh.

00:37:25.40
alexei sayle
She ran out the room crying, said it was anti-Semitism. Mark didn't know. I mean, it was all...

00:37:33.37
alexei sayle
It was all, what can I say really? I think, don't know whether it was staged or whether it was, I mean, I think they were looking to create some kind of, they were looking in some way or other to detract from Sami Chakrabarti's report and I guess Mark handed them that opportunity, but it was clearly,

00:37:54.74
Talal K
Well, he won his libel case against the Jewish Chronicle and they had to compensate him and apologize.

00:37:58.14
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he i mean but I think i think i mean a very fundamental mistake that Jeremy made, and those I blame John McDonnell for this partly, was that they they sacrificed some people, Ken Livingston, Jackie Walker, Mark Wadsworth, in the hope that that would placate you know the pro-Israel lobby, the board of deputies, and the campaign against them.

00:38:21.24
Talal K
Right, yeah.

00:38:23.22
alexei sayle
Of course it didn't, it just encouraged them, really. and They should have stood with... And it was a you know it was a terrible mistake to do that, really. and that's

00:38:35.22
Talal K
They made their mistakes and suffered for it greatly, man.

00:38:36.57
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah, well, they did. I mean, it it's what ruined them, really, that and Brexit.

00:38:43.80
Talal K
um Okay, last thing here. Okay, involvement with accusations of party antisemitism.

00:38:52.12
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:38:53.11
Talal K
January 2020, you were condemned by some Jewish groups. After being one of, like and condemned like an old factory, after being one of after being one of thousands, thousands to sign an open letter criticizing Rebecca Long-Bailey and other Labour leadership candidates for saying they would sign a 10 point pledge intended to combat antisemitism.

00:39:17.39
Talal K
The letter was organized by momentum.

00:39:17.51
alexei sayle
Yeah. Board of deputies. Yeah, no, it was it was stupider. I mean, Rebecca Long-Bailey, I mean, again, Paul hold Holden's book.

00:39:30.14
alexei sayle
I mean, Paul, Rebecca Long-Bailey was screwed anyway, but she shouldn't have. Again, it's giving in. it's trying It's that same appeasement that never works. It's trying to mollify the pro-Israel lobby.

00:39:44.92
alexei sayle
And she was stupid. The only one who said, I think the only one who said he wouldn't sign it was Richard Bergen. Leeds MP.

00:39:50.68
Talal K
Richard Burton?

00:39:52.00
alexei sayle
Bergen, very good Leeds MP. Left-wing MP. Just told them to go fuck themselves. Which would have been the correct response.

00:40:02.04
Talal K
In May 2021, Conservative MP Matthew Offord.

00:40:07.20
alexei sayle
I know. Desert Island Discs.

00:40:09.43
Talal K
Oh, was that what? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

00:40:10.81
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:40:10.91
Talal K
I see that.

00:40:11.16
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:40:11.51
Talal K
I wrote to the BBC Director General urging unsuccessfully that the planned broadcast of Desert Island Discs featuring Alexis Sale on 23rd of May be halted on the basis that every broadcaster should be wary of giving a platform to anyone who is seen to be excusing anti-Semitism.

00:40:31.21
alexei sayle
Fuck you, you cunt.

00:40:32.48
Talal K
He's literally Jewish. There was an outcry on social media in response, rejecting the claim that Sale was doing this with support for Sale from across the board. Whose mother came from an Orthodox Jewish background, it says.

00:40:43.23
alexei sayle
There.

00:40:46.07
Talal K
And the resulting hashtag, what is it? Say it all together, everybody.

00:40:49.40
alexei sayle
I stand with Alexis Zale.

00:40:51.26
Talal K
Very good. Trending on UK Twitter.

00:40:52.51
alexei sayle
Trent... something on twitter for three days the number one i think yeah

00:40:57.98
Talal K
And there have it. Then it lists all your films and shows and all that shit.

00:41:05.71
Talal K
Alexis Sale at the National Portrait Gallery.

00:41:11.05
Talal K
Sitter and two portraits. Wow.

00:41:16.50
Talal K
Yeah, you got two portraits in there. They might be in the archive, not on the walls.

00:41:19.90
alexei sayle
sure they are yeah

00:41:24.57
Talal K
Wow, that's a nice one, that first one.

00:41:29.13
alexei sayle
Well, I don't know what that I've got no idea what that is.

00:41:32.15
Talal K
If you go to the bottom of Alexei's Wikipedia, there's some external links there.

00:41:34.44
alexei sayle
All right.

00:41:35.87
Talal K
and Some interesting stuff there.

00:41:38.72
alexei sayle
Who did the portraits of me?

00:41:40.95
Talal K
Oh, I can tell you now. Sorry, i've I've already clicked on something else. that Looking at your records now, your vinyl records. Who did the portraits of you? First one is from 1984. You're standing in a very sultry, seductive manner. you've got a cocked knee, nice snake-like shape to your body as you hold your arms up behind your head and the crisscross pattern of the shadows of the window pane

00:42:10.08
alexei sayle
Is this a photograph?

00:42:11.48
Talal K
Yeah, ah cast a shadow across your body. And it's a photograph by Alastair Morrison.

00:42:18.47
alexei sayle
have no idea who that is.

00:42:20.38
Talal K
The next one is you're dressed as Bobby Chariot and you're holding ah you're pushing a tire along.

00:42:26.45
alexei sayle
Alright.

00:42:26.81
Talal K
And there's a poster of Michelin behind you.

00:42:29.27
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:42:31.32
Talal K
And that's by our friend, the Giza who took the picture of our logo, our podcast logo, Andy Hollingworth.

00:42:33.54
alexei sayle
friend of the show.

00:42:36.42
alexei sayle
Angie Hellingworth.

00:42:39.48
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:42:40.68
Talal K
It's from 1995. That's a cool picture.

00:42:44.86
alexei sayle
Yeah, I took that in Manchester at my I was playing Manchester Apollo.

00:42:45.35
Talal K
That's a cool picture.

00:42:49.98
Talal K
Whoa. Oh, so you'd come out as says Bobby in your live shows. Yeah.

00:42:53.98
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah, it was good. they the they What would happen would be that, because you Bobby was like a warm-up man, there there was like a ah sequence on slides and that would break down and then Bobby would come out.

00:43:00.76
Talal K
yeah

00:43:08.02
alexei sayle
I'd do a quick change.

00:43:11.51
Talal K
You've got a nice page on BFI's screen online. Now, did what happened with this British Comedy Guide Awards?

00:43:19.32
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten all about that. I obviously didn't win it. don't know.

00:43:22.93
Talal K
Well, did they even announce it yet? I did not see it announced. Just having a quick look here.

00:43:36.50
Talal K
Search.

00:43:40.57
Talal K
Oh.

00:43:43.58
Talal K
Come on, mate.

00:43:47.51
alexei sayle
linda was looking Linda was looking at comments.

00:43:48.14
Talal K
Awards.

00:43:49.87
alexei sayle
and She looks at stuff because I don't have to. She said somebody was just I was eating all the way through the podcast and I disgusted them and they're never going to listen again.

00:44:00.28
Talal K
but

00:44:01.18
alexei sayle
I was eating that croissant, of course, from Opanda Papi.

00:44:01.24
Talal K
Okay.

00:44:04.70
Talal K
Yep.

00:44:06.02
alexei sayle
It lasted me the whole show, but I apologise anyway.

00:44:09.34
Talal K
I don't remember it being an a nuisance to listen to.

00:44:13.98
alexei sayle
No, maybe they're hypersensitive to mastication.

00:44:16.38
Talal K
Yeah. All right. You don't have to watch every episode. It's like the people who don't like the D&D episode who are genuinely angry about it.

00:44:28.38
alexei sayle
Yes, every day people come up to me and say, please tell me you'll never do that again.

00:44:33.82
Talal K
No, they bloody don't. Shut up.

00:44:39.00
Talal K
They bloody don't. I'm reading about Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of World War I. I'm creating a great one for this Halloween. And anyone doesn't want to listen to it can take a week off.

00:44:50.02
Talal K
Re-listen to a classic ep.

00:44:53.34
Talal K
um

00:44:56.73
Talal K
Why was I mentioning that? Oh yeah, no, they haven't announced the British Comedy Awards yet.

00:45:00.03
alexei sayle
They haven't? Okay.

00:45:01.18
Talal K
Okay.

00:45:02.61
alexei sayle
Still in with the chance.

00:45:02.66
Talal K
We're still waiting.

00:45:03.63
alexei sayle
Still a hope.

00:45:04.63
Talal K
Yeah.

00:45:05.94
alexei sayle
Still waiting. Ha ha ha. I'm waiting. Ha ha ha.

00:45:14.01
Talal K
So I do get, I don't know what, I think it might be since the Stuart Lee, whenever we have Stuart Lee on, our show's listenership goes gets a little boost and it's it holds up quite, and people still, like, they stick around for a bit after he leaves as well.

00:45:23.54
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:45:26.65
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:45:30.20
alexei sayle
Yeah, and then we finally get rid of them, but they do stick around for a bit, yeah.

00:45:31.20
Talal K
LAUGHTER

00:45:36.34
Talal K
So hello everyone, you know, if you're a new listener, welcome to the family, you know, this is what the podcast is normally like.

00:45:38.26
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:45:43.00
Talal K
And, uh,

00:45:44.37
alexei sayle
It's not entertaining, but it's an act of solidarity.

00:45:48.06
Talal K
and there have been new Patreon members, uh, which is really nice to see as well.

00:45:48.13
alexei sayle
And it's...

00:45:56.50
Talal K
Um, you know, say we can say hello to like Greg, um, You know what? You say, say hello to Greg, Alexi.

00:46:06.81
alexei sayle
Hello, Greg. Welcome to the Alexi Self family as a Patreon member. Thank you very much for your support.

00:46:13.62
Talal K
And Andrew and George.

00:46:15.15
alexei sayle
Andrew and George.

00:46:17.69
Talal K
Mary.

00:46:17.75
alexei sayle
Also, Mary, thank you. Muchas gracias.

00:46:22.53
Talal K
Yeah, yeah, I think.

00:46:23.87
alexei sayle
Poso dinero.

00:46:26.19
Talal K
And Nick, Nick upgraded his membership.

00:46:29.08
alexei sayle
Good man, Nick.

00:46:32.15
Talal K
No, thanks you guys, new new folks. It means a lot, Victoria and Daniel.

00:46:34.62
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:46:37.94
Talal K
Did we already say them?

00:46:39.32
alexei sayle
No, no, we didn't. Victoria and Daniel.

00:46:40.44
Talal K
And Lee.

00:46:41.91
alexei sayle
Lee. Yeah.

00:46:42.74
Talal K
few people from Norway signed up, weirdly enough.

00:46:46.03
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:46:46.07
Talal K
ah And Andy. Look, it means a great deal. and and and Mike and Brian and Rebecca. God, more than I realized.

00:46:53.88
alexei sayle
yeah

00:46:55.54
Talal K
Welcome to the fam. You know, we love having you here. And if you want to join them and support the show, what the hell is their website?

00:47:01.66
alexei sayle
yeah

00:47:02.42
Talal K
Can you remember it offhand, Alexi?

00:47:05.11
alexei sayle
Lexisale...

00:47:06.50
Talal K
Nope.

00:47:07.00
alexei sayle
No, that that's wrong, is it? but I don't... put that so Podcast forward slash...

00:47:14.05
Talal K
Nope. What's the website they go to to sign up? What's it called? I say it every week.

00:47:18.76
alexei sayle
Lexisalepodcast.com No.

00:47:23.70
Talal K
What website is that, though? Where do they go? and like when I say it every week.

00:47:26.05
alexei sayle
I don't know.

00:47:27.90
Talal K
They've joined the...

00:47:30.55
alexei sayle
don't know.

00:47:31.26
Talal K
The p-p-p-

00:47:33.14
alexei sayle
Podcast...

00:47:36.01
alexei sayle
Patreon.

00:47:36.60
Talal K
Yes, yes, yes, there we go

00:47:37.56
alexei sayle
Oh, Patreon, yeah.

00:47:38.97
Talal K
Okay, so there go What's the website?

00:47:40.54
alexei sayle
This is fucking elder abuse.

00:47:40.77
Talal K
Let's build it. so I know, it's my new hobby.

00:47:45.57
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:47:46.40
Talal K
Patreon.com forward slash

00:47:48.51
alexei sayle
Forward slash AlexiSale podcast.

00:47:51.66
Talal K
pod. Yes!

00:47:54.65
alexei sayle
Patreon.com forward slash AlexiSale podcast.

00:47:57.88
Talal K
We'd really love it if you went on there and you know, for the price of a cup of coffee, not what accent was that? i was trying to do blind boy for the price of a cup of coffee every month.

00:48:04.91
alexei sayle
I don't know.

00:48:09.08
Talal K
You know, you can support the show and help keep this, uh, keep this fucking thing going. If you really, for for some reason,

00:48:15.64
alexei sayle
Yeah, if if she if you think that's a good idea.

00:48:19.77
Talal K
the keep us in business.

00:48:22.07
alexei sayle
Yeah, we've got a few live dates, haven't we?

00:48:22.78
Talal K
Um,

00:48:24.31
alexei sayle
We're starting to rope tackle, we're talking about in the...

00:48:27.77
Talal K
Yeah, end of July, Rope Tackle back in Shoreham.

00:48:29.24
alexei sayle
a

00:48:30.97
Talal K
Be good to see all you folks again.

00:48:33.50
alexei sayle
and

00:48:35.48
Talal K
August at the Roundhouse in Camden.

00:48:35.51
alexei sayle
and at the Roundhouse.

00:48:38.98
Talal K
I think it's during the Camden Fringe Festival, but I don't know if Roundhouse is an official venue.

00:48:42.04
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:48:43.82
Talal K
I think it's too big to be fringe.

00:48:46.42
alexei sayle
I don't know.

00:48:47.38
Talal K
They're asking us to bring a guest to the Roundhouse. Who would you love to see in a live show, folks?

00:48:49.78
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:48:52.79
Talal K
um If we were to have a guest. We don't normally like having guests in our live shows.

00:48:56.25
alexei sayle
Why don't we see... Because, of course, the all-new Alexi Selshow didn't have a repertory company, but instead we were just higher actors. and you know need You know, and a beta, you know, friends, or, you know, obviously Peter Capaldi was in it.

00:49:11.45
alexei sayle
But also, of course, two-times Oscar winner Christoph Waltz.

00:49:15.47
Talal K
Oh my God.

00:49:16.09
alexei sayle
was, why don't you see if we can get Christoph on the podcast?

00:49:20.18
Talal K
Oh my God.

00:49:21.98
alexei sayle
That would be, I mean, I can't imagine he would do it live, so, but, why don't you ask Christoph?

00:49:27.09
Talal K
You've teased me with this for years, Alexi.

00:49:29.62
alexei sayle
Or why don't you reach out to his people?

00:49:31.38
Talal K
me

00:49:32.66
alexei sayle
Yeah, I'm not fucking doing it.

00:49:35.38
Talal K
do you ah Can you give me their contact information?

00:49:37.50
alexei sayle
I don't know, he'd be with some United Artists or something, or he'd be with some big American agency for something.

00:49:45.41
Talal K
I'll try.

00:49:45.43
alexei sayle
no

00:49:45.93
Talal K
You know, i've I've achieved certain things on this podcast, so it's not out of the realms of possibility.

00:49:46.48
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:49:50.61
Talal K
I'll try, but... o Christoph Waltz, Oscar winner. ah Hello, do you remember this guy, Alexi Sayle?

00:49:59.33
alexei sayle
we were friends. We were good friends. It was just...

00:50:01.30
Talal K
Yeah, but I'm not asking him, I'm asking some...

00:50:03.16
alexei sayle
Yeah, his people. Yeah.

00:50:04.25
Talal K
His people, they're going what are you talking about?

00:50:05.40
alexei sayle
Yeah. That's Carison Ford as well.

00:50:06.33
Talal K
A podcast?

00:50:11.02
Talal K
Harrison Ford, you said you were a fan of Alexei's.

00:50:14.68
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:50:16.25
Talal K
And he editor it was very nice to you about that. perhaps ah But mentioning Capaldi, maybe he'd be a great idea as well.

00:50:24.86
alexei sayle
yeah yeah yeah there is a possibility of us getting

00:50:25.55
Talal K
He's comfortable on stage too. So yeah, all listeners at home, who would you like to see us live on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden with?

00:50:36.60
Talal K
And on May the 2nd, we're going to be at the Wellingbrook Diggers Festival.

00:50:39.87
alexei sayle
oh yeah

00:50:40.82
Talal K
But head to patreon.com forward slash AlexiDale podcast. Chuck us three, five, ten, twenty pounds a month. Three is fine, honestly. And just help the show out. Thank you very much. Now, since... So why did this come up? Stuart Lee. Since we've had Stuart Lee on the show, I've been inundated with emails that seem to be...

00:51:04.57
Talal K
kind of like computer generated or just like copy paste.

00:51:08.31
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:51:09.08
Talal K
ah Collaboration suggestion or most commonly ah guest suggestion.

00:51:20.54
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:51:22.01
Talal K
um We have this person who's promoting this book, article, TV show, whatever we think would be a great match for your show. And you know in my head, i'm like,

00:51:32.84
Talal K
You've never heard this show, have you? Why do you think this fucking random person no one's ever heard of would be a great match for our show? Interview opportunity, that's what they would say, it's an opportunity.

00:51:44.57
Talal K
And they always start with, dear the Alexis L podcast, which just shows that it's a computer generated message straight away.

00:51:51.00
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:51:53.78
Talal K
um And then I got one though that I couldn't ignore. because it was from the team of someone called David Zucker, which is a name I've been familiar with since I was a kid.

00:52:09.62
Talal K
And this is the guy who made Airplane and Naked Gun.

00:52:18.58
Talal K
You know, he was like the classic, the guy who made those like one-liner comedy films, you know that just like joke joke, joke, joke, joke.

00:52:23.32
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:52:25.18
Talal K
And if you don't like one joke, you're already laughing at the next one by the time you realize you don't like the previous joke. And he also famously did um Top Secret. Which is just being added to Netflix. And that's why and why we're giving them a fucking free promo. Because that's why they emailed.

00:52:42.20
Talal K
They said he wants to promote that it's going on Netflix. The funniest movie ever made. dear Now that Top Secret is on Netflix. And some are calling it the funniest movie ever made. And this one did start with Hi Alexi.

00:52:52.86
Talal K
Not Dear the Alexi Tell podcast.

00:52:53.71
alexei sayle
Oh, that's clever. That's conning.

00:52:55.90
Talal K
David would love to discuss it on the Alexis Hill podcast, along with any of the other talking points from the press release. And then there's a list of those talking points. Thank you. And then there's a line and then there's the copy paste to kind of press release underneath it.

00:53:10.87
Talal K
And I'm like, whoa, okay. Would be interesting to talk to this guy. You know, what do you think? So, Alexis, I messaged you, said, have you ever heard of David Zucker? And then you called me and you're like, why are you asking me that? And I'm like, well, he wants to do this show.

00:53:27.64
Talal K
But then while we were chatting on the phone, I just started like casually looking through his IMDb and then found that he worked on an Israeli show called Mossad. And it's like a zany airplane style sitcom about Mossad. So it's like slapstick-y,

00:53:49.85
Talal K
Mossad agents going around, you know, guns slipping out of their hands, slipping on banana peels, that kind of shit. And mid-conversation with you, I said, forget it.

00:53:59.68
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:54:00.10
Talal K
I've just seen this.

00:54:00.60
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:54:01.22
Talal K
We're not having him on. Fuck him. Prick. How can you go and make a joke out of Mossad like that? Promoting, you know, it's all propaganda shit.

00:54:13.34
Talal K
So he must have gone and spent some time in in Israel working on that. There is Mossad, 5.6 out of 10. Oh, they're going for like a comedy James Bond style vibe.

00:54:30.12
alexei sayle
Fucking hell.

00:54:33.24
Talal K
I'm looking at the trailer. They've got two terrorists on their knees. They're standing behind them with guns and they're having like a awkward conversation. They're about to execute these people, but not.

00:54:47.03
Talal K
Um... Which is not funny, really.

00:54:50.52
alexei sayle
No, I'm sure it isn't.

00:54:52.70
Talal K
Johnny English, only better. This is one of the reviews. ah So, yeah, we went off the idea of having David Zucker, but I wanted to ask you your thoughts and memories of those films I mentioned, those ones that you know I grew up on.

00:55:00.86
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:55:07.04
Talal K
Airplane, Naked Gun.

00:55:08.67
alexei sayle
Yeah, I like that.

00:55:09.27
Talal K
Were you a fan of those?

00:55:09.81
alexei sayle
rough Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was funny.

00:55:14.95
Talal K
Great. That's been the show, guys.

00:55:17.30
alexei sayle
Yeah, we've really managed to stretch that out. I thought I was going to have to talk about, you know, this but I mean, it's been quite a week in the news, but let's not bother talking about it, really. We're doing this.

00:55:29.86
alexei sayle
Mandelson.

00:55:31.91
Talal K
Well, we did a big Mandelson thing last week.

00:55:32.66
alexei sayle
Jim Ratcliffe. In the Oscar. and The In the Oscar and the deer is a shit car, I'll say that. It's one parks outside my house.

00:55:42.26
Talal K
Free Palestine forever.

00:55:44.44
alexei sayle
Yeah. And that would

00:55:45.91
Talal K
That's not going away.

00:55:47.54
alexei sayle
Yeah, sadly.

00:55:51.82
Talal K
did,

00:55:51.90
alexei sayle
she was say Oh, there's a thumbs up appeared by your head there.

00:55:57.98
Talal K
oh. did oh

00:55:58.71
alexei sayle
just started doing that, has it?

00:56:01.08
Talal K
The screen can like sense your gestures and then does stuff.

00:56:02.94
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:56:03.84
Talal K
So if I do a peace sign, you get balloons.

00:56:06.55
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, you get balloons.

00:56:08.95
Talal K
And if I do two peace signs, you get some confetti there.

00:56:13.82
alexei sayle
All right.

00:56:15.31
Talal K
I think two thumbs up makes fireworks. There you go. You can turn it off, but I kind of find it funny that it happens accidentally sometimes.

00:56:23.00
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:56:23.26
Talal K
um ah

00:56:25.72
alexei sayle
As Miranda says in The Tempest, O Brave New World, that has such things. int

00:56:30.75
Talal K
Int. um I'm taking... Oh, you see Riz Ahmed did... It's done Hamlet.

00:56:39.35
alexei sayle
Yes.

00:56:40.73
Talal K
Looks interesting.

00:56:41.78
alexei sayle
Yeah, I like mean, he's a great actor. mean, he's very good.

00:56:44.26
Talal K
Yeah.

00:56:44.90
alexei sayle
I'm palestine as well.

00:56:46.36
Talal K
Yeah, I like him. would you Would you like to have him on the show?

00:56:47.63
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah, absolutely.

00:56:51.52
Talal K
Okay, I might have a connection to him.

00:56:52.76
alexei sayle
Yeah, said hello to him backstage at that thing at the Troxie last year.

00:56:57.05
Talal K
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Wuthering Heights is coming out tomorrow on my birthday. um And Heathcliff is white, as white as can be.

00:57:04.96
alexei sayle
not emerald fennel.

00:57:08.29
Talal K
In fact, he's Australian. And he's not meant to be white, right? And there's some controversy about that.

00:57:13.66
alexei sayle
Well, it's, I mean, it's, well, it's, it's I mean, where do you start with Wuthering Heights? I mean, it's, it's, I think it's implied, I mean, Wuthering Heights is a very wildly ambitious novel.

00:57:25.57
alexei sayle
The first time really that we meet the, ah the kind of character, of the unreliable narrator, because it, it's initially narrated by the maid whose name I've forgotten, but you, you're not, no, it's, course, you, um,

00:57:37.11
Talal K
a Catherine I think there's like the multiple Catherine's no but yeah she's not the maid what is her name

00:57:44.09
alexei sayle
yeah but you're not sure so you know but there's certainly an implication that Heathcliff was black or mixed race anyway um in the but I mean that's in the book I think if you look closely at it though it's never explicitly stated but Emerald Fennell isn't it who's you know I don't know I just kind of resent for no reason

00:57:52.86
Talal K
yeah

00:58:15.00
Talal K
What do you mean?

00:58:17.02
alexei sayle
No, um well, she's i mean she's talent she's done some interesting things, Emerald Fennell, but she is obviously very posh and well-connected.

00:58:23.16
Talal K
Oh, the director?

00:58:25.01
alexei sayle
She's the writer, isn't she? don't know, she directed it as well. She did Saltbendon, she did stuff before then.

00:58:30.07
Talal K
Yes, exactly, yeah. And so she was asked about this.

00:58:32.63
alexei sayle
But she's the daughter of Theo Fennell, the celebrity jeweller, I think.

00:58:41.69
Talal K
ah She was asked about this and she said, well, I can only make the film that I imagined when I was reading the book and that's all I can do. And so that means that she probably, she's not good at reading then because she's skipped certain words, you know?

00:58:55.77
alexei sayle
Well, it's not, I don't, I mean, I asked the readers, i it's not explicit, but it's implied, I think, that he's mixed race.

00:59:03.96
Talal K
i'm trying to find the word because there is a word used

00:59:06.71
alexei sayle
Is it Jacob Elordi who plays?

00:59:08.54
Talal K
Yes, he's very strong actor, you know.

00:59:11.29
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:59:12.76
Talal K
There is a word used in the book and I'm trying to find it. And it's like an antiquated slur. um So it's easy to kind of miss because you look at the word and go, what what does that even fucking mean?

00:59:23.77
alexei sayle
yeah Right.

00:59:25.06
Talal K
but Because no one uses it anymore. ah Where the hell is it? And it was like an old Victorian word for like brown person, basically. And I can't find the bloody word. Listeners at home, let me know.

00:59:39.35
Talal K
think it begins with an L.

00:59:40.99
alexei sayle
Last scar.

00:59:42.27
Talal K
Lascar, yeah.

00:59:44.18
alexei sayle
Often characters, often populated Sherlock Holmes novels, there was often last scars.

00:59:50.04
Talal K
There you go. Lascar is exactly the word. Well done.

00:59:52.45
alexei sayle
Hmm. Hmm.

00:59:52.82
Talal K
not meant i would have seen that word and just ignored it, basically.

00:59:55.54
alexei sayle
Yeah, I never quite knew who where they were, the Lascars, but yeah.

00:59:55.70
Talal K
I carried on reading.

00:59:59.45
Talal K
Well, they were sailors or militiamen from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the Arab world, or British Somaliland.

01:00:03.44
alexei sayle
Right, yeah.

01:00:07.97
Talal K
So, you know, that's quite, and that and he's called that in the book at one point. So that's quite explicit, isn't it?

01:00:15.58
alexei sayle
If he's actually referred to as a Lascar.

01:00:22.74
Talal K
And so, you know, this is the kind of culture that you propagated in your acting career, Alexi, where we whitewash brown characters. ah Sorry to put that on you.

01:00:34.66
Talal K
I love you so much. I'm just kidding.

01:00:36.41
alexei sayle
What do

01:00:37.37
Talal K
ah Yeah, he's explicitly called Alaska in the book.

01:00:43.28
alexei sayle
you think?

01:00:45.36
Talal K
His mysterious origins in Liverpool suggest he may be of mixed race or South Asian descent. So I was quite looking forward to the film. i haven't seen it yet. and and You know, Charlie XCX is doing the soundtrack. track That's all quite exciting.

01:00:59.18
Talal K
I like the song she did with the the guy from Velvet Underground. can't remember his name, not Lou Reed.

01:01:08.14
alexei sayle
John Cairn.

01:01:09.37
Talal K
Yes. She did a song with him and it's really, really cool.

01:01:16.34
Talal K
But let's see, we'll let's see.

01:01:17.47
alexei sayle
Let's see. Let's see. Let's reserve our judgements.

01:01:19.26
Talal K
But it's a shame, you know, just sick of whitewashing, man. Come on, it is annoying. I'm gonna get some pushback on that, whoever that commenter is who's like, you always talk about being Arab, Talal. I was like, well, what?

01:01:34.78
Talal K
Stop making me think about it then. um All right. Love you, Alexi. We were going to take this week off, but we're not.

01:01:38.84
alexei sayle
All right.

01:01:42.09
Talal K
We're taking next week off, though, most likely, listeners.

01:01:43.86
alexei sayle
Are we? Okay.

01:01:44.81
Talal K
Yeah, most likely.

01:01:45.06
alexei sayle
All right. Right.

01:01:45.93
Talal K
i'm a I'm away, I think, going to Brighton.

01:01:49.02
alexei sayle
All right.

01:01:50.07
Talal K
It's going to be hard to fit it all in.

01:01:51.86
alexei sayle
alright

01:01:52.82
Talal K
um

01:01:53.62
alexei sayle
Some people may feel like we took this week off.

01:02:05.55
alexei sayle
Bye-bye.