00:01.38
alexei sayle
back hello everybody welcome to tap episode 126 of the alexisale podcast and we've been a bit uh intermittent of late i mean it's largely talal's fault tell us what you've been doing

00:13.62
Talal K
Yes. Apologies all. um God. Well, look, i'm i'm a I try to make a living as an actor and it's hard and you don't get much work.

00:25.91
Talal K
Well, I don't anyway. um i don't know if you've been in that position, Alexi, because you were you started as a comedian and then got flung into the spotlight with the young ones. And I'm sure the offers just came flying in after that.

00:38.61
alexei sayle
They did. I mean, even before that, really, I mean, from when I, um as soon as the comedy store opened, really, we, I started, I started getting other people, you know, i started to get, nu maybe only it was only like 30 quid, 40 quid, you know, to perform in somebody's pub.

00:45.78
Talal K
With the, wit oh yes.

00:54.82
alexei sayle
But, um you know, the offers started to, and I always think that's a sign really of, you know and people ask me about, you know, continuing with their careers. I would say, well, if you, If you start to get offers, no matter you we incremental offers, no matter how small, then it means you're doing something right.

01:11.09
alexei sayle
If you're not getting those offers, then you need to have another think about what you're doing.

01:14.45
Talal K
Yeah.

01:16.92
Talal K
All right.

01:17.19
alexei sayle
then It's not necessary.

01:17.24
Talal K
All right. I get it. I get it. What are you saying?

01:19.90
alexei sayle
ah So, yeah, I'm always, always, always in demand.

01:20.81
Talal K
I should quit.

01:25.85
Talal K
um And obviously you had the comic strip as well. So you guys were kind of doing it for yourselves as well.

01:30.49
alexei sayle
Yeah, I mean, that was a few years later, but yeah.

01:30.79
Talal K
Making your own shit. Oh, that was few. um Well, you know, I get pretty good work as voiceover stuff, you know.

01:40.18
alexei sayle
You do. You're very much in demand.

01:42.64
Talal K
I'm in the new James Bond game as well. If anyone's playing that, it's ah that's like my biggest voiceover job yet. And um it's very exciting. I'm playing it at the moment. It's good game. um but so But screen acting, it doesn't come very often. you know I've done an advert here and a big bit part in a series or something, um like ah a line in a show. But then I get this offer to be in a film.

02:07.80
Talal K
And to fly out to Morocco for two weeks, which is where I've been, ah listeners. And I was a bit conflicted because it was it is a biblical film and I'm not religious and I don't really, you know, obviously it verges on propaganda.

02:25.01
Talal K
Is it propaganda or is it just people who like the Bible, enjoying Bible stories? I think it's probably more like that.

02:30.83
alexei sayle
It's made for the america it's for the American kind of evangelical market.

02:34.98
Talal K
It's actually a Latter-day Saints film, it turns out.

02:38.38
alexei sayle
What's Latter-day Saints?

02:38.42
Talal K
Yeah?

02:39.62
alexei sayle
Oh, right.

02:39.74
Talal K
That's what people commonly call Mormons.

02:41.94
alexei sayle
all right Okay, right. All right.

02:43.67
Talal K
But they don't like that term. They don't use that term.

02:46.14
alexei sayle
All right.

02:46.87
Talal K
they They believe in the Book of Mormon, but they are the church of the Latter-day Saints or Jesus' Latter-day Saints, something like that.

02:52.86
alexei sayle
right.

02:56.41
Talal K
So... But so on the one hand, I'm like, okay, am I gonna go do this? I'm poor, I need the money and the it pays. And it's a trip to a paid trip to Morocco the where I've never been.

03:11.16
alexei sayle
there Yeah.

03:11.64
Talal K
so I hope you can forgive and understand why I took the job, you know?

03:15.00
alexei sayle
yes thought Yeah, Yeah.

03:15.24
Talal K
And I'm getting paid to be an actor, which is what I want, you know? And my agent my agent said, just look at it as a historical, our agent said, look at it as a historical film.

03:18.39
alexei sayle
And what was it? It was... Yeah, go on. Our agent. Yeah.

03:25.04
Talal K
don't don't think of Don't think too much about

03:26.78
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah,

03:28.50
Talal K
And you know what? it's the It's a cliche, they're known for it, but the... I'll call them Mormons as a shorthand here, but I do acknowledge that they like to be called Latter-day Saints.

03:37.50
alexei sayle
yeah, yeah.

03:39.02
Talal K
They're very nice. That's one of their gimmicks is how fucking nice they are.

03:43.55
alexei sayle
Right. That's better than being horrible, isn't it

03:45.85
Talal K
Yeah, and supportive and like, you know, after every take, that was awesome, Talal. That was awesome. like

03:51.09
alexei sayle
it?

03:51.80
Talal K
God, you're so good. i know what And it's just like, wow, am I really that good? know They make you feel amazing. But I'll tell you one little thing that was kind of serendipitous and that kind of told me it was kismet, this job. yeah um So when I was a kid as ah in an Arabic house, obviously we I loved Aladdin when I was a little boy, the the Disney cartoon Aladdin.

04:17.59
Talal K
um Cause you know, were we have so little representation, even these like American, you know, where all the bad guys have Arabic accents and all the good guys have American accents and all this shit.

04:29.81
Talal K
We're still fucking loved Aladdin. And there was one, there's a near the beginning of the film, there's an establishing scene in a market, yeah, and in ancient Agrabah. And there's two, there's ah there's a guy who like jumps into the camera and goes fresh fish and he's holding a fish. Fresh fish, we catch them, you buy them.

04:49.91
Talal K
ah As like a market call out. And that always stuck in my head and i used to recite it in the playground, you know, to my friends, you know, cause I was the Arab kid and I'd do all the lines from the film.

04:58.42
alexei sayle
Yeah, right, yeah.

05:00.60
Talal K
And then fast forward like 25 years or something and they do a Disney live action remake of Aladdin. And I'm on the team that did the ADR, the crowd loop group for that film.

05:11.64
alexei sayle
All right.

05:14.18
Talal K
And there's an establishing market scene at the beginning of the film. And I've noticed that no one's doing the lines that I remember so well. It was a fresh fish.

05:22.49
alexei sayle
Right.

05:23.10
Talal K
We catch me by men and sugar to dates, sugar dates and figs, sugar dates and pistachios.

05:27.51
alexei sayle
ye

05:29.34
Talal K
You know, I was like, why aren't these lines in there? They're iconic. So I fucking did it. And if you listen closely in that terrible movie, ah you'll hear my voice doing those call outs in the market scene.

05:40.02
alexei sayle
All right.

05:42.17
Talal K
Then fast forward another, whatever, 15 years to today, and I get this job offer, and it's a fishmonger in ancient Jerusalem.

05:50.94
alexei sayle
everything is Everything is connected.

05:55.10
Talal K
how can I not do it? And so in the background, you know I did my scenes and there was this a day on set in this Moroccan outdoor village where I'm at the market and we've got all this fish. I'm selling fish, I'm a fishmonger. And in the morning it's all fresh and it's piled with ice on top of it and everything. But by three, four in the afternoon in the desert sun,

06:19.38
Talal K
It was nauseating how disgusting the smell and the scene involves us chopping these fish up, slicing their guts out, scraping the scales off. And by the end I was covered in fish guts and just made those.

06:30.33
alexei sayle
Oh dear.

06:33.78
Talal K
It was disgusting. And when we weren't filming, i had to go sit in this green room and I was just sitting in this smell. It was worse being indoors because this I was sitting down.

06:42.52
alexei sayle
Yeah.

06:42.66
Talal K
The smell was coming off my apron into my face of this rotting fish.

06:46.33
alexei sayle
This is what they don't know. this is what they they ask of us. This is what we suffer our spectators.

06:51.19
Talal K
full day in the desert with with rancid fish it was gross and and surprise surprise i got very sick a couple days after that i think either that or it was the tap water or a combination i think maybe i had some fish under my nails and i like bit my nail or something but uh i got really sick out there and i was for three days basically i got food poisoning and it triggered my diverticulitis which gave me a fever and i was sweating and i was like

06:59.13
alexei sayle
Oh, that's why you think he got sick. Yeah, right.

07:08.30
alexei sayle
All right.

07:18.02
alexei sayle
I'm going to get so many complaints.

07:19.96
Talal K
ah

07:22.39
alexei sayle
I don't want...

07:22.49
Talal K
But I had to film like that.

07:23.43
alexei sayle
Who is this guy? You had to film, oh dear.

07:26.21
Talal K
I had to go on set for one day like that as well.

07:28.12
alexei sayle
oh

07:28.49
Talal K
But yeah, there I was. And there was a scene when we did my close ups and all that. But then the later on, I'm in the background selling fish. And guess what? I shout out fresh fish. We catch them, you buy them.

07:38.84
alexei sayle
Yeah,

07:40.44
Talal K
And so, yeah, it was kind of poetic in that way. and uh i do feel grateful but you know don't judge me i'm a jobbing actor and i've took a job you know forgive me

07:49.22
alexei sayle
yeah, yeah, Well, welcome back to the more the more, um you know, the less, no, the more, what would you say really?

08:02.18
alexei sayle
The more, and not exactly ethical, but the more, the less morally traduced world of the Alexi Sail podcast.

08:10.04
Talal K
Yeah, I always feel safe here and we always I'm happy with the message we give on this podcast.

08:11.67
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's a safe space. Yeah, things have,

08:16.25
Talal K
i do It does feel valuable, doesn't it, that we have this output and we're able to speak the truth and stuff.

08:21.81
alexei sayle
I suppose so, yeah.

08:23.50
Talal K
you know is not very people Not many people have the privilege of having a platform like this.

08:27.93
alexei sayle
No, no, it's um yeah know it its just it's you enough for me, really.

08:28.70
Talal K
and But...

08:36.41
alexei sayle
but I feel yeah I have to do other things.

08:37.62
Talal K
What have I missed? I've been completely out of the loop, mate.

08:39.38
alexei sayle
Well, yeah, um ah no was gonna say you know gentlemen are wearing badger feathers in their fedoras on pall mall.

08:54.17
alexei sayle
And they do say that Lady Arch and Grippers, I don't know. Well, the political, mean, it's what we got, really. Andy Burnham is running for them, probably will get elected as the MP for Makerfield. I think that, I was just talking to a friend of mine who was a kind political columnist, just saying people I think going to be rapidly disappointed with him, but I suppose it'll be...

09:21.43
alexei sayle
put off the collapse of the Labour Party for another year or two until we've until they've delivered us into the hands of the oligarchs. um

09:31.82
Talal K
He's running, when is this election gonna be?

09:34.49
alexei sayle
I don't know. It should be fairly soon, presumably.

09:37.14
Talal K
And then we're expecting him to challenge Starmer for leadership?

09:39.85
alexei sayle
And then he'll, yeah, chance to start from leadership and then, you know.

09:42.13
Talal K
We'd take him over West Streeting though, wouldn't we?

09:45.27
alexei sayle
i suppose I'd just like to see the Labour Party destroyed. i just think it's a force for bad, so the sooner we get it over with, the better, really.

09:48.30
Talal K
Right.

09:52.62
alexei sayle
I think that presumably... um um bernum won't do anything with the repress you know whether i don't know what you know suspending jury trials the uh highly illegal and immoral detention of the filton elbert systems you know ah protesters all that yeah the yeah plans to charge some you know sentence them as as if they've committed terrorism i mean all that really i mean there's a yeah there was a un reports a few weeks ago just saying that

10:06.84
Talal K
Oh my God, yes. Under terrorist charges, right?

10:22.65
alexei sayle
talking about the, I think it was UN and then the charity, just saying the, just the erosion of civil rights in, Britain is really precipitated, you know, precipitated, I suppose.

10:36.09
alexei sayle
You know, it's's it's, done this is I mean, it's all, I think, personally, it comes from Stalin, but that's the one thing he's passionate about is is um Zionism, yeah, i'm protecting Israel and Israeli interests, yeah.

10:44.80
Talal K
Zionism. That's the root of it all, isn't it?

10:50.04
alexei sayle
So we've got that. um Also, though,

10:53.83
Talal K
I can't tell you how blissful it's been not to think about Starmer for two weeks.

10:57.56
alexei sayle
right, yeah.

10:57.97
Talal K
i not He hasn't crossed my mind.

11:01.05
alexei sayle
It's been quite quiet hear about him, I see. But also, in you know to if we follow our um this podcast, highly unpleasant and interesting military matters, there's a they you they this group, like Electronic Intifada, John Helmer and Asa Winstanley. They've been sharing some very interesting...

11:31.08
alexei sayle
uh footage from hezbollah in southern lebanon and they have um but what these i mean there's been articles in the mainstream media but not really in enough is these first person viewer fpv drones which uh are controlled via like 25 kilometer long kind of control wire of like essentially about the the thickness of a kind of fishing wire so very thin strand of wire and these you there's a lot of footage of these drones flying straight into israeli army jeeps with you know israeli army soldiers in them or into tents or rooms with israeli soldiers in and um the israelis are not of course reporting but these they're suffering you know substantial losses on the battlefield i think they're also flying them into northern israel and causing panic there um and the only israel's only response is to you know bomb

11:57.30
Talal K
Oh.

12:26.04
alexei sayle
innocent civilians in the suburbs of Beirut, you know, it's just some monstrous kind of, you know, lashing out, but they can't, the cowards can't, you know, they can't defeat Hezbollah on the battlefield, so they're just destroying, bombing civilians, you know, it's disgusting.

12:40.33
Talal K
Yeah.

12:43.41
Talal K
I've seen that they've been creating new craters in Gaza as well with some new during Eid.

12:43.54
alexei sayle
um

12:48.98
alexei sayle
Yeah, and they carry on, then they're kind of squeezing, you know, squeezing, taking 70%

12:54.96
alexei sayle
Gaza and just, you know, just, I mean, them the the behavior of, well, genocidal behavior of inhuman monsters, which is what they are really. But it's it's interesting to see that, um yeah, these FPV drones are really, they they've got no tactic at it.

13:14.01
alexei sayle
I don't wonder, I mean, i don't know whether they're, I mean, um armed resistance in the West Bank is less because of the quizzing leadership of the Palestinian Authority. But I think if militants got their hands on those drones in the West Bank, it'd be interesting to fly them into

13:23.08
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

13:29.94
alexei sayle
some illegal Israeli settle settlements and see how they reacted to that. So maybe that will happen um in time, really. But, yeah, it's interesting development on the battlefield. I've run out things say now.

13:52.31
Talal K
Well, i didn't that's fascinating that the fascinating that the drones are wired like that.

13:52.64
alexei sayle
Well, that's...

14:00.15
alexei sayle
Yeah, because obviously if it's if you use a radio signal to control them, then um it can be jammed, you know, it can be interrupted.

14:07.51
Talal K
Right.

14:08.72
alexei sayle
I mean, I always thought that, really. I remember years ago when I was still writing for The Telegraph and the editor was this woman, what she called, Erin, and her boyfriend worked for Jane's...

14:25.75
alexei sayle
ah yeah which is kind of a Jane's then was probably still does did books about equipment. I mean, for the military really and for people interested. um And i I remember I was, cause I always thought, how can you defend against from where?

14:38.65
Talal K
Wait, you cut out there a sec. Could you start that thought again, please, about from Jane?

14:43.77
alexei sayle
that her Her husband worked for Jane's where kind of used to produce these books of about military equipment for for professional, you know, for armed forces and stuff.

14:54.26
alexei sayle
And I remember asking him about um how you could, then I was thinking just about, then it seemed like the authority, you know, the bad guys, which I would consider, you know. our own government or the Israelis would you know i would would operate drones and how could you defend against them, you know whether there was a way to interfere with the uplink, really, with the radio signal.

15:18.23
alexei sayle
I think there is. um But so um obviously these drones that the Hezbollah are using, just cheap Chinese drones off Alibaba, but yeah, they you you can't...

15:31.80
alexei sayle
Unless you can physically cut the wire with a pair of scissors or whatever, there's no way to...

15:35.99
Talal K
yeah

15:37.78
alexei sayle
There doesn't seem to be an effective way at the moment to stop them, really. So it's it's really a game-changer for the moment, really, button button putting the offensive back in the hands of the a the the oppressed rather than the oppressor, however briefly.

15:55.18
alexei sayle
I'll be in interested to see how they, when I say it's unresponsive, just kill more the sensibility.

16:00.76
Talal K
Yeah.

16:01.15
alexei sayle
It'll be interesting to see how they respond to these these these drones. They cost you a couple of hundred dollars. They're armed with, I think they usually arm them with the warhead off RPG-7 anti-tank rocket.

16:16.74
Talal K
Right.

16:17.53
alexei sayle
um And yeah.

16:21.37
Talal K
That's fucking mad.

16:21.50
alexei sayle
so but i mean obviously that i mean the israelis have used drones liberally in gaza and you know use them to drop hand grenades on children and shoot children in the head and so on so yeah yeah all that stuff yeah so it's uh it's an interesting boots on the other four for once it'd be interesting to see

16:29.13
Talal K
Yeah.

16:32.41
Talal K
Yeah, and lure people out with the sound of babies crying just to shoot them.

16:43.32
alexei sayle
how how widespread the use of these FPV drones can become, really. And at the moment, there is no defense from, know, they're taking out them car the Macaver tanks, they're taking out, there's now carriers, taking out those fucking awful bulldozers.

16:59.25
Talal K
Mm.

17:02.91
alexei sayle
the J9, D9 bulldozers, armed bulldozers they used to just yeah demolish people's homes. And obviously they're taking out soldiers as well. The Israelis are not you know keeping quiet about the level of their losses as they always do, but they're much greater than...

17:18.97
alexei sayle
and one of the ones was the the commander of the the force that killed hind rajab and then killed the uh the met paramedics who went to try and save ah he's been recently been severely injured by of those drones and is in hospital

17:27.09
Talal K
hint.

17:34.87
Talal K
Oh.

17:39.77
alexei sayle
so you know fuck you um Yeah, so it's ah it's a game changer. That's the other thing I was going to, just to completely change the subject, about a week ago there was a, The Guardian does this sort of feature, How We Made, you know, like How We Made, you know, the Penthouse and Pavement album for Evan 17 or whatever.

18:05.56
alexei sayle
And so they did How We Made Letter to Brezhnev. Now, for those of Letters to the Brejvenoff is a film from, I think, like 1982. And it's about the story of, it was written by Frank Clark.

18:23.19
alexei sayle
brother of Margie Clark, who was one of the stars of it. and And it's about two Russian sailors, because one of the things you used to get in the 80s in Liverpool was that Russian ships used to dock, and then the sailors used to come ashore, and they used to go shopping. I remember there was a shop called Greenberg's, I think, in Liverpool, where used to sell kind of 1950s light winkle pickers, and their only customers was Russian...

18:51.42
Talal K
ah Sailors.

18:51.70
alexei sayle
Russian merchant and seamen. So anyway, um this film is about... It's called Letter to Brezhnev, and it's about two Russian sailors who come ashore, and they're played by...

19:04.64
alexei sayle
One is played by Alfred Molina, and the other one is played by... is it Who is it played by? Is it is one of the Firth... Older Firth brother, I think?

19:16.54
Talal K
Peter Firth.

19:17.68
alexei sayle
Peter Firth, I assume he's related to... Colin Firth. Yeah, and and and he falls in love with this girl played by Alexander Pig, who's an alumnus of Brookside.

19:30.20
alexei sayle
And then can't, you know, so it's it's and just, it was really ah unusual then because, you know, Russians were very rare, you know, it was still a, it was still a, yeah, it was still the Cold War, really.

19:42.42
Talal K
like Cold War time, wasn't it?

19:45.17
alexei sayle
And so letter to Brezhnev, I think Alexander Pig then writes a letter to Brezhnev who was the president of the Soviet Union, at that point, asking either to let her come and see her boyfriend or let him come and see her.

19:58.46
Talal K
oh

19:59.34
alexei sayle
I can't remember what the story is now.

19:59.70
Talal K
Oh.

20:00.90
alexei sayle
But what the link in the... and the link It links to the trailer for the movie, the cinema trailer for the movie in the article.

20:10.33
Talal K
Yeah, I'm watching that right now. It's been remastered.

20:14.78
alexei sayle
Yeah. And then when you click on the the line, at there's a line at the end, a voiceover artist at the end says something like, a dead great movie about love and the Soviet Union. And that's me. I did that.

20:32.54
alexei sayle
And i remember I didn't fucking get paid. hey fucking The producers the movie never paid me for doing that. Which I think was Video Palace.

20:41.63
Talal K
Whoa.

20:42.98
alexei sayle
might have been Nick Powell and Branson, maybe. Anyway, I never got paid for doing that.

20:48.08
Talal K
That's you. From Liverpool to Russia with love. Absolutely, absolutely.

20:54.95
alexei sayle
That's me.

20:58.36
Talal K
from livevipele to ra with love

21:01.08
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's pretty terrible, isn't it, really?

21:02.71
Talal K
ah

21:04.58
alexei sayle
There's no reason not to pay me.

21:07.06
Talal K
absolutely absolutely

21:07.51
alexei sayle
i never got paid for that. I never got paid for that. You can play that anyway. So it was a weird little interview. Play it again.

21:17.66
Talal K
Okay. Oh, you could hear it properly then, could you?

21:20.63
alexei sayle
ah I can only hear it via your microphone.

21:20.65
Talal K
I'm just playing out the speaker.

21:23.52
alexei sayle
number you obviously You can play it in, can patch in.

21:28.25
Talal K
Letter to Brezhnev. A 10th good classic brilliant British film for the 80s. From Liverpool to Russia with love.

21:40.18
alexei sayle
You've got admit the writing's pretty bad, so i's doing my best.

21:43.03
Talal K
But I guess you're doing ah From Russia With Love pun.

21:45.53
alexei sayle
Yeah.

21:47.45
Talal K
um

21:47.67
alexei sayle
Yeah.

21:48.98
Talal K
And the headline of this article is, the film humanized Russians at a time when Rambo was killing them.

21:55.69
alexei sayle
Yep. Yeah, so, yeah.

21:56.82
Talal K
Because Rambo was helping out the Taliban, wasn't he, in his film?

21:57.80
alexei sayle
Yeah,

22:02.24
alexei sayle
think I didn't want to get to know.

22:04.72
Talal K
He was helping the Taliban.

22:04.82
alexei sayle
The second one, not the first one. and this He was just he's just killing.

22:07.35
Talal K
Oh, yeah, yeah, the second one.

22:08.95
alexei sayle
Well, interestingly enough, um yeah, this is... I was trying to think how to use this in some way. The first movie that I ever starred in was... I don't know if I've talked about this before, was... um One of the other actors was Gorky Park and one of the other actors in it was a, um, and that very good American actor called Brian Dennehy, who I think plays the sheriff in the first Rambo film.

22:34.14
alexei sayle
Um, and Brian Dennehy, there was a book came out called Stolen Valor, which was all about how people falsely claimed to be, to have served in Vietnam.

22:35.03
Talal K
Yes, yes. yes

22:47.99
alexei sayle
And Brian Dennehy was one of those that he claimed to have served in Vietnam.

22:51.74
Talal K
ah

22:52.28
alexei sayle
And he hadn't. So... Stolen Valor. That was him. He's dead now. I remember him telling stories about going out on the town when we were in Helsinki filming.

23:06.90
alexei sayle
I don't know what to believe now soon as he lied about serving in Narm.

23:10.04
Talal K
He told you stories about Vietnam?

23:13.18
alexei sayle
No, no. He just told stories about...

23:16.85
Talal K
Other shit, other shit.

23:16.91
alexei sayle
can't remember now. About how he was married. i think he's like he was married to Twyla Tharv, the... the avant-garde dancer and new Lenny Bruce and stuff like that. and We were in the bar. He was one of those big brash Americans that would hold court in the bar if he wasn't having sex with Russian prostitutes.

23:35.77
alexei sayle
um But yeah, he...

23:38.64
Talal K
I remember he shows up in the South Park movie.

23:39.22
alexei sayle
did

23:42.58
alexei sayle
Does he ask Brian Dennehy or just...

23:42.71
Talal K
and of and I think it's someone lampooning him, but...

23:47.74
alexei sayle
Because of that line about serving in Nam...

23:50.65
Talal K
they just there's a There's a really good... there's the The South Park bigger, longer uncut film is one of my favorites. It is it really holds up. so funny. And they have a song about Brian Bodando.

24:03.89
Talal K
who's like a figure skater. And then Brian Dennehy just walks into frame and goes, hey, are you talking about me? And they're like, who the fuck are you? And he goes, I'm Brian Donahue. But no, no, fucking Brian Donahue. Brian Brodano, get the fuck out of here. And he's like oh, okay, sorry. That's it. That's the whole cameo.

24:20.34
alexei sayle
All right.

24:21.11
Talal K
But those South Park guys obviously went on to make the Book of Mormon, which I couldn't stop singing in my head songs from that the whole time I was out there.

24:25.05
alexei sayle
That's it, which brings us ah

24:32.13
alexei sayle
Yeah, I once, I guess it's funny because I was listening to a radio program, someone had mentioned Lou Reed, and I remember doing the Clive James show with Lou Reed, and just all I could, you know, talking to him, I was just going, my head's going,

24:48.67
Talal K
Dude. It's.

24:49.53
alexei sayle
to to just to constantly, like, all the colored girdles go, did didy also did I think Kylie was on that show.

24:57.08
Talal K
as

24:59.18
alexei sayle
and remember because this are quite a good People say it's quite a good documentary about Kylie on Netflix, I think. remember Clive James, who I got to be quite friendly with towards the end of his life. but It was a lecherous old fuck just going on about how hard Kylie's ass was.

25:16.50
Talal K
Yes.

25:19.16
alexei sayle
But she's very nice, actually.

25:19.26
Talal K
Well,

25:20.20
alexei sayle
I mean, I don't know many. I've met twice.

25:23.22
Talal K
how hard it was.

25:24.70
alexei sayle
Yeah, kind of muscular, like tone, you know.

25:26.65
Talal K
Yeah.

25:28.63
alexei sayle
um I've met her twice and once doing the Cloud James show and then once, if I don't know, some Australian, i think we had like a launch at the Savoy and were televised live by Australian television, do you?

25:28.86
Talal K
Right.

25:44.53
Talal K
Hmm.

25:45.47
alexei sayle
I don't know what the point of it was. think she was a bit of a dip in her career at that time. And she just signed with, I can't remember the record, but it's like a really kind of hardcore dance label in London.

25:58.62
alexei sayle
And she was trying to kind of find her groove, which as she did later.

26:03.96
Talal K
She certainly did. And now she makes.

26:05.72
alexei sayle
She did. She's very nice anyway.

26:07.51
Talal K
Now she makes champagne and she has a fashion line and really, really cool, trendy DJs remix her hits and make them so that you hear them in the clubs and the festivals.

26:07.93
alexei sayle
So there you go.

26:21.56
alexei sayle
Right.

26:22.23
Talal K
It's still very present.

26:22.49
alexei sayle
you know

26:23.35
Talal K
um

26:24.47
alexei sayle
Yeah, I'll go for her. Yeah.

26:27.51
Talal K
But yeah, I remember her big comeback. I was a teenager.

26:31.80
alexei sayle
Yeah, because she'd gone from that.

26:32.22
Talal K
And that music video spinning around and and half of the music video was and an extreme close up of her hard butt.

26:35.57
alexei sayle
Yeah.

26:40.12
alexei sayle
Was it?

26:41.05
Talal K
Yeah. um Not to say, you know, she's asking for it. Clive James wouldn't know how hard it was unless he'd been fucking gross and grabbed it or something.

26:46.30
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

26:49.40
alexei sayle
He hadn't he touched it. Yeah, he laid his hand on it, which I'm sure he he had done.

26:53.34
Talal K
But, you know, as a teen boy, my point is, as a teen boy, I was a big fan of Kylie Minogue when she made her comeback.

26:58.17
alexei sayle
Yeah.

27:02.17
alexei sayle
Well, yeah, fair enough. i mean you know I mean, to go from that kind of stockache in Waterman puppet being an artist with your own validity, I think is impressive.

27:13.27
Talal K
Huge global star, huge.

27:14.56
alexei sayle
Yeah.

27:15.92
Talal K
Did you, when you were out in Australia, did you ever do a cameo in like, a in Neighbours or Home and Away?

27:16.28
alexei sayle
Yeah.

27:23.93
alexei sayle
No, no, I didn't. know No, no.

27:27.32
Talal K
that would have been cool.

27:29.18
alexei sayle
yeah now well because i was Yeah, I was either doing stand-up while I was filming, so I didn't really have the time to do it. but um other So the other thing I was going to say was when I used to when i went to Los Angeles, when I went to Hollywood in the 90s and would have meetings...

27:39.47
Talal K
Hmm.

27:48.60
alexei sayle
um a lot of people I met would tell me how much they'd enjoyed my performance in Let's Zubrezhnev. At first I would correct them and say, no, that's Fred Molina. But then after a while I gave up and just said, thank you.

28:02.62
alexei sayle
Yeah, it was a great, you know, we had a great,

28:03.90
Talal K
No, they were talking about your performance in the trailer.

28:08.50
alexei sayle
Oh, of course they were.

28:09.62
Talal K
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

28:10.54
alexei sayle
You're right. i well you've Thank you for clearing up that misinformation after all these years.

28:14.14
Talal K
They were...

28:17.78
alexei sayle
Of course they were. They loved my performance in the trailer for Letter to Bresneth.

28:22.17
Talal K
Yeah, they knew what they were talking about.

28:24.38
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

28:25.05
Talal K
Hollywood people know what they talk about.

28:25.26
alexei sayle
they weren just They weren't just saying nonsense to get me out the room as quickly as possible.

28:32.09
Talal K
good

28:33.34
alexei sayle
And also, so just talking about Fred Merlin, I haven't seen him for years, but used to think of me as the... He used to call me his brother, really, and the brother because we looked quite similar at one point.

28:43.46
alexei sayle
um he's in a

28:43.95
Talal K
Oh.

28:45.97
alexei sayle
He's in a Netflix, think it's Netflix series called The Burrows, which is kind of produced by the Dover Brothers. But it's about an old age community and it's not great, really. I mean, Fred's i mean fred's great in it, but it's just like Stranger Things, I think, but set in the fucking old people's home or old people's community.

29:08.89
alexei sayle
So I watched one episode of it got me really depressed about being old.

29:09.08
Talal K
oh

29:13.99
alexei sayle
And then I stopped watching it.

29:16.12
Talal K
Was it the boroughs?

29:17.34
alexei sayle
The Borrowers, yeah.

29:20.15
Talal K
And did you watch the boys?

29:23.12
alexei sayle
No, I've never watched that, really. I know something Muriel goes on about. It was game chasing when it started. I never really took to it. would i Would that... Would it give me something to live for if I re-watched all of the boys? There's about four series, isn't there?

29:39.90
Talal K
I guess it is. I guess when it started, yeah, it was, wouldn't.

29:45.02
alexei sayle
Is it a bit that kind of Alan Moore kind of like Watchmen thing of like...

29:50.49
Talal K
Yes, in a sense that it's a reaction to superhero films. It's ah it's ah it's not a traditional super, it's ah basically saying, it's an anti superhero film.

29:54.30
alexei sayle
Yeah.

30:00.51
Talal K
It's like, what if if superheroes were real, what would they actually do with all that power?

30:00.82
alexei sayle
Yeah.

30:04.92
alexei sayle
Which is what Watchmen was thought about, wasn't it?

30:05.05
Talal K
Wouldn't they all be, yeah, wouldn't they all be corrupt dickheads?

30:07.20
alexei sayle
really Yeah.

30:08.44
Talal K
And it is, but unlike Watchmen, it's ah it really ah takes most of its pleasure in shock factor and,

30:08.63
alexei sayle
Yeah.

30:17.66
Talal K
you know, really gory, explosive, bloody scenes and stuff like that.

30:18.01
alexei sayle
Right.

30:21.21
alexei sayle
I don't like that.

30:21.82
Talal K
And and the opening scene is very is very effective in that manner, but then it just keeps playing that note over and over again.

30:30.71
alexei sayle
Right. Right.

30:31.48
Talal K
The opening scene's great. is um it's's the It's the lead character. It gives him his whole reason for the whole season. Cause it's about the boys are a group of people who want to end superheroes.

30:43.76
Talal K
That's their mission.

30:44.02
alexei sayle
right

30:44.64
Talal K
And the main character at the beginning is in love. He's got a beautiful girlfriend. They're walking down the street. He's asked her to move in with him or something like that. Gives her a big kiss. And then she just explodes because the fastest man on earth, basically like the flash just runs through her.

31:00.41
alexei sayle
Right.

31:03.83
Talal K
on his way to solve a crime or something.

31:03.83
alexei sayle
Right.

31:05.71
Talal K
And he's not even considering, they look down on human beings basically.

31:06.07
alexei sayle
Right.

31:10.11
alexei sayle
I

31:10.15
Talal K
And he just runs through this woman who explodes at mid kiss and he's standing there covered in blood. This is the opening scene of the show.

31:18.13
alexei sayle
don't know if I've seen that. Yeah.

31:20.25
Talal K
So I think by the fifth season, I think that's what it just was.

31:25.24
alexei sayle
Just that all the time. Yeah.

31:26.36
Talal K
it's it They have to keep upping themselves.

31:28.76
alexei sayle
Yeah.

31:29.46
Talal K
And you're like, fucking hell. But I did find myself, even even in the last few episodes, going, whoa, I wasn't expecting that, even though i very much should be expecting it. um

31:39.13
alexei sayle
But doesn't there's no narrative kind of development on that theme of...

31:43.26
Talal K
There is, yeah.

31:44.15
alexei sayle
Yeah.

31:44.66
Talal K
Yeah, they do. The story's decent.

31:46.78
alexei sayle
i don't I don't like people being...

31:47.51
Talal K
The acting is very good.

31:48.62
alexei sayle
yeah i don't like people being killed for, you know, comic effect, really.

31:52.41
Talal K
It's a lot of that, and it is sickening sometimes.

31:53.05
alexei sayle
of told Yeah, hate that.

31:54.49
Talal K
Like, you find it a bit much.

31:56.44
alexei sayle
Yeah.

31:57.69
Talal K
But there's also very creative things. Like they have to think of hundreds of different superpowers. So some guy's superpower you know is like, I could be invisible, but then they have to start thinking of more and more absurd ones.

32:08.38
Talal K
And one of them is that his dick is a massive controllable limb, you know and he uses it to fight with, or some guy can fart poisonous gas, you know and they just get ridiculous with it.

32:14.01
alexei sayle
All right.

32:20.82
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, you see that in, like, Deadpool thing.

32:25.02
Talal K
Yes, yes, it's all that fame.

32:25.14
alexei sayle
um You know, lots of, you know, like...

32:26.86
Talal K
But the the acting is very strong in it. I'll say that.

32:29.38
alexei sayle
There's also disappointments. There's also, i have to say, the latest Jason Statham film.

32:36.38
Talal K
Yeah.

32:36.82
alexei sayle
it's not It's not that good. i was like i like I used to like a mindless Jason Statham film. I know somebody who met him a few times and said hes that he is also very nice.

32:47.09
alexei sayle
And he is obviously a very skilled martial artist. you know i don't know what i don't know what I don't know whether he he just was a TV martial artist or whether he's trained in one particular martial art, but he's he's ah he clearly can do it.

32:50.84
Talal K
yeah

33:00.99
alexei sayle
but

33:01.11
Talal K
think he's a kickboxer.

33:03.74
alexei sayle
Like My Tai or something like that.

33:04.66
Talal K
I could, yeah. um But he was recently pictured driving around Hollywood in his big four by four with a big Palestine flag on the bonnet on the bonnet of his car.

33:15.57
alexei sayle
Oh, right, okay. That's fucking, that's brave, yeah.

33:18.42
Talal K
Literally saw that this morning.

33:20.89
alexei sayle
Good for him. um ah Well, he's, you know, it's you know he's ah he's an ex-Special Forces, yard blah, de blah, blah, blah. You know, but, the I mean, they've sort of basically given up. I mean, I suppose it's John Wickers.

33:36.49
alexei sayle
They've basically given up on any plot. um You know, once somebody, the woman he's... The woman he's staying with is killed and then he just goes on a killing spree after that, really.

33:45.53
Talal K
Right.

33:45.85
alexei sayle
And it's just, you know, it's just...

33:46.87
Talal K
Yes. you You watch it because you like him. It's not for anything else.

33:49.98
alexei sayle
Yeah, and, you know, that the the fight scenes and stuff are, you know, very professionally done. But I was going to say one of the... I mean, one I often think about that.

34:02.26
alexei sayle
I mean, I'm not a particularly huge fan of the Austin Powers film, but there is a brilliant bit... And I think it's the second one or the first one where, ah you know, ah ah one of those, you know, numberless characters is killed, you know, like a henchman is just killed.

34:19.31
alexei sayle
But then rather than just, know, that being it, you then follow his story.

34:19.48
Talal K
yeah

34:26.10
alexei sayle
So you get like...

34:27.38
Talal K
Yes, you find out he's married and...

34:28.06
alexei sayle
You know, his family's, it's his birthday and his family are waiting for him to... I was thinking, I mean, that's fucking brilliant. That's really clever shit, you know. Because one, it's funny in itself, but also it's, um it's it's um you know, it's a commentary on the kind this kind of idea of the endless kind of slaughter of, you know, um people in these movies.

34:50.01
Talal K
Yeah, killing being made into entertainment, yeah.

34:51.70
alexei sayle
Yeah. I just thought that was so clever. Because he's a scouser, isn't he?

34:54.99
Talal K
It's good, isn't it?

34:56.16
alexei sayle
Michael Myers. he's His mother was from Liverpool.

34:59.93
Talal K
Oh, I thought was Scottish. Maybe his granddad was Scottish.

35:02.55
alexei sayle
Now I think he's...

35:03.41
Talal K
His granddad was Scottish, who he based the character from So I Married an Axe Murderer.

35:03.71
alexei sayle
he's Yeah.

35:10.52
Talal K
His dad in that is Scottish, and he he plays his own dad in it as well.

35:12.04
alexei sayle
Oh, right. Okay. Right. It's gone very quiet of late, hasn't it?

35:15.48
Talal K
he

35:16.77
alexei sayle
Whether he just got so fucking rich and successful kind of he kind of gave up.

35:23.18
Talal K
I think he does stuff in Canada. Like TV.

35:26.46
alexei sayle
Well, that's no good to the rest of us, is it? We can all do stuff in Canada do if we want. ah that's not That's not playing the game.

35:38.74
alexei sayle
living know what what What does the internet say about it? Otherwise, you move back to Canada or something.

35:43.22
Talal K
working on Shrek 5, in development.

35:45.69
alexei sayle
All right. Okay. Oh, Christ.

35:50.23
Talal K
What else?

35:52.82
alexei sayle
But that's not, I mean, that's a couple of days work, isn't it, really? He'd probably do it from his fucking broom cupboard as well. He's got, you know.

36:00.63
Talal K
God, oh, he was in that fucking, fuckingking is in that Michael Jackson film.

36:01.05
alexei sayle
We don't even need the ISDN line anymore. You just...

36:07.63
alexei sayle
That's a weird choice.

36:09.22
Talal K
And he hasn't been in anything for a few years before that. Like 2022. He's done cameos in Saturday Night Live.

36:20.50
Talal K
he's

36:20.66
alexei sayle
Yeah, maybe he just got fed. know, not.

36:23.46
Talal K
There's a rumor of an Austin Powers 4 and Shrek 5.

36:31.12
Talal K
Yeah, I think he's he's very comfortable. He doesn't need to work, does he?

36:34.74
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, that's...

36:34.94
Talal K
And I looked up Jason, i was trying to figure out what Jason Statham film you were talking about.

36:39.26
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's the beekeeper.

36:39.90
Talal K
was looking up latest Jason Statham and he's in like four films already this year.

36:40.69
alexei sayle
Yeah.

36:45.22
Talal K
Like he's just, he works so much.

36:46.32
alexei sayle
its see

36:50.52
alexei sayle
Yeah.

36:51.51
Talal K
He works so much. Oh, so the beekeeper, I remember seeing the beekeeper and going, what?

36:53.50
alexei sayle
This is the big...

36:56.54
Talal K
So it is just his wife dies and he gets revenge.

37:00.05
alexei sayle
it's It's not even his wife. It's some lady who's looking at her who said she'll cook him a meal. like it's like the It's like the thinnest motivation.

37:06.17
Talal K
Jesus.

37:08.90
alexei sayle
She says, like um she it so like he's he's live's it's very thinly sketchy. And he's like he's he keeps bees.

37:21.69
alexei sayle
And ah this woman's nice to him. And she says, why don't you come up to the house and I'll cook you tea to tonight. And he says, oh, nobody's ever been cared for me before.

37:32.95
Talal K
Let me guess, he's like an ex-Secret Service military...

37:34.94
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah. Well, it turns out, well, yeah, he's ex-fucking, yeah, special forces and that box. But in the meantime, in between cooking, I don't think she ever gets around to cooking his tea. Because in the afternoon, she's scammed out of all the...

37:50.78
alexei sayle
all their savings and a charity that she looks after just to up the ante because they obviously felt that just they're losing their savings wasn't enough. So she scammed out and said, she shoots herself with a, bri with a, oddly enough, a Beretta nine millimeter model 90 or model 92, which she has lying around for some reason. Um, and, um, uh,

38:15.54
Talal K
because it starts with B.

38:16.02
alexei sayle
Jason Statham. So it turns out Jason Statham is but is's both a beekeeper. I'm not spoiling this for anybody, but it wouldn't matter. he's both He likes keeping bees and making honey, but he's also, there's a kind of shadowy organisation called the Beekeepers,

38:34.17
alexei sayle
who are kind of founded in the 1950s and their job is to protect the hive really is to stop shit going out of control essentially. And and he's a retired beekeeper and that's why he's got all these kind of martial skills and stuff.

38:50.98
Talal K
expose the corruption, protect the hive.

38:51.29
alexei sayle
Yeah.

38:53.62
alexei sayle
yeah Yeah. But it's just, yeah.

38:54.84
Talal K
ah So they're like a a secret society of beekeepers.

38:58.52
alexei sayle
So he, he, um, He then goes on a rampage because this woman has hasn't made him his tea. And it turns out it turns out that the guy who's like running these um scams is the is the dissolute son of the President the United States, but no fucking reason whatsoever, really.

39:21.81
Talal K
Oh my god, is that a play?

39:22.68
alexei sayle
I just...

39:23.31
Talal K
Is that a commentary on Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden or something?

39:28.68
alexei sayle
I suppose so. like I mean, it's it's so kind of heavy-handed that it doesn't really, you know, it doesn't particularly fit us. Anyway, I was a little bit, you know, I'll pull up with a lot from a Jason Statham film in which he plays a reclusive fucking special, ex-special forces, blah, blah, blah, but was I was frankly disappointed.

39:46.49
Talal K
Jeremy Irons, Jeremy Irons, I'm sure phoning in a performance.

39:49.17
alexei sayle
Yes, Jeremy Hines is squandering, yeah, squandering his talents.

39:54.84
Talal K
Speaking of bees, listeners, I behoove you to consider joining the Patreon.

39:57.08
alexei sayle
Yes.

40:01.05
Talal K
Go to patreon.com forward slash AlexiSalePodcast to join the chat groups there. We've got the general chat group. We've got the questions for Alexi chat group. We've got suggestions for Alexi Reacts. We've got Alexi Reacts, a weekly show where Alexi Reacts to shit he's done in the past, hosted by me.

40:20.92
Talal K
and ah

40:22.33
alexei sayle
TV shit, I don't react to like, you know, if, if say, theoretically, I shoplifted a book from Phillips and Nephew's bookstore in 1962, I don't react to that.

40:34.90
alexei sayle
Not that there would be any before surveillance cameras really.

40:36.69
Talal K
oh ah ah ah you React to your own crimes of the part. Well, maybe you we never know how how ah how how near the bottom of the barrel we'll get in the future.

40:42.23
alexei sayle
yeah

40:47.03
alexei sayle
Yeah.

40:47.20
Talal K
But yes, Alexei will react to TV shit.

40:47.51
alexei sayle
Yeah.

40:49.12
Talal K
People have sent in your albums, clips from your albums to react to, but that would just be us sitting there listening to something.

40:54.49
alexei sayle
That's audio in it. Yeah. It's not, you could, yeah.

40:57.11
Talal K
I think watching stuff is better. We're going to record one in a minute and do put that straight up on the Patreon just for paying Patreon subscribers. There's also other stuff on there, bits and bobs that we've filmed over the past ah years.

41:12.25
Talal K
Go to patreon.com forward slash Alexis L. Pete. Go to patreon.com forward slash Alexis L podcast and support the show. Throw us a couple quid a month and it means a great deal.

41:23.98
Talal K
It keeps the machine going and it means we can stay in business. I know we've been out of the, out of the, the, out of our regular,

41:32.31
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry.

41:33.67
Talal K
scheduled programming for the last few weeks but we're back baby okay until the next obstacle comes along but we mean to be back every week we're always around we love you and we especially love our patrons so thank you very much keep being patrons uh alexi yeah what what go go go

41:35.61
alexei sayle
very sorry. Yeah. Yeah. We try. Yeah. We

41:45.24
alexei sayle
there

41:49.31
alexei sayle
um'm i'm ah yeah I'm at the Rick Mail Festival in Droitwich on the 5th of June. It's sold out, but that's a testament to Rick rather than me, really. I just thought I'd better think of some things to say about him.

42:03.48
alexei sayle
um But I'll be there in Droitwich.

42:03.59
Talal K
That's true.

42:06.46
alexei sayle
Droitwich.

42:07.45
Talal K
Let me give you some. So, Alexa Sale, in conversation at the Rick Mayall Festival. Oh, that's sold out though.

42:14.84
alexei sayle
It is sold out.

42:15.06
Talal K
That's 5th of June.

42:15.60
alexei sayle
I'm just...

42:16.14
Talal K
We're also gonna be at the Roundhouse in Camden, which is our biggest ever fucking venue.

42:16.38
alexei sayle
yeah

42:19.35
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, it isn't.

42:21.42
Talal K
We need people to buy tickets.

42:21.69
alexei sayle
Yeah, that very much isn't sold out. yeah

42:25.36
Talal K
We've totally shot way over our fucking bar.

42:28.21
alexei sayle
That really isn't sold out by anyone. Yeah, yeah.

42:30.52
Talal K
um No, no, no. The tickets are going fast. They're nearly sold out. Please, you need to buy them now, now, now. ah We're playing the Roundhouse in Camden on the 2nd of August with extremely special guest, Diane Morgan, a live taping of the LexisL podcast. And we're also sold out ah at the Rope Tackle.

42:51.23
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, are we putting in an extra show?

42:51.42
Talal K
um That'll be in July.

42:52.93
alexei sayle
I can't remember whether we...

42:55.10
Talal K
We're gonna give it a bit of time before we decide, but yes, we have the option of doing a matinee because it did sell out quite quick.

42:55.26
alexei sayle
and

42:58.40
alexei sayle
Right, am I putting an extra show? that Yeah.

43:03.67
alexei sayle
Yeah.

43:04.98
Talal K
um And the matinee wouldn't be a live podcast. It'll just be like a Q&A with you. I'll just interview you on stage.

43:10.62
alexei sayle
Right, right.

43:12.34
Talal K
ah Or should we find someone else to interview you You'll be sick of me by the time we record the podcast.

43:16.69
alexei sayle
Never.

43:17.82
Talal K
Never. Oh, thank you.

43:18.95
alexei sayle
I'll never be sick of you.

43:21.23
Talal K
Oh, Alexi, same buddy, same, right back at ya.

43:24.08
alexei sayle
Yeah.

43:26.26
Talal K
Thanks to Barry Ferns for our last episode. That seems to have done well, mixed responses, but people are reacting to it, certainly.

43:28.95
alexei sayle
Yeah,

43:34.90
Talal K
ah Some people had a problem with his he he his commitment to not picking a left or right. He doesn't believe in left and right. And we know what lefties are like, that's basically saying, ah it's like saying I am not a Hitler.

43:45.75
alexei sayle
it's not. Yeah.

43:54.33
Talal K
to

43:55.18
alexei sayle
What?

43:55.74
Talal K
To a real lefty, they're like, what do you mean sitting on the fence?

43:57.43
alexei sayle
Oh, right. Yeah, yeah.

43:58.81
Talal K
You can't do that.

43:59.15
alexei sayle
I'd forgotten that. We didn't... I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt on that one, really.

44:03.61
Talal K
Well, he's obviously pretty right on with his politics. He just doesn't like to i't like to label it.

44:06.39
alexei sayle
Absolutely, yeah, he's not supporting the... bit Yeah, yeah, yeah.

44:09.33
Talal K
That's it, you know, each to their own, it takes all sorts.

44:11.96
alexei sayle
They had a... they had at the At the Bill Murray, they had a comedy festival in the street um yeah on last...

44:17.54
Talal K
yeah. Hmm.

44:19.35
alexei sayle
It was last Sunday. And some friends of mine were in that um having a drink in the Duke of Cambridge, which is, that I think, the world's first organic pub. This was in the 90s.

44:32.23
alexei sayle
So then I cycled to the comedy festival in the street, saw the crowd from a distance, turned around on my bike and went, fuck that.

44:41.53
Talal K
ah

44:43.51
alexei sayle
got Got about within 100 yards of it and then...

44:46.45
Talal K
Couldn't be asked. what did it It looked busy.

44:47.18
alexei sayle
Went home, yeah. Busy, and also I think it would have looked a bit weird. I mean, with you know, not to overstate my importance, but I think it would have just looked a bit weird for me to, you know, to be there, really.

45:01.09
Talal K
To show up as a punter.

45:02.49
alexei sayle
Yeah, or just wandering about, like...

45:06.14
Talal K
i get the I get that. I get that. Like I love festivals and I am lucky to work at them, Glastonbury and Boomtown in particular, but it has ruined, i basically, I'll never buy a ticket for a festival again.

45:21.66
alexei sayle
Yeah.

45:23.03
Talal K
Like i get I get invited and I get to camp somewhere special or else I'm not going.

45:23.86
alexei sayle
Yeah.

45:27.98
alexei sayle
I'm not fucking... I'm not going.

45:28.89
Talal K
but

45:30.11
alexei sayle
I'm not... that

45:31.45
Talal K
Because those days are behind me, you know, putting the what things people will put up with at festivals. You're just, you don't know who you're going to be camped next to.

45:36.79
alexei sayle
Oh, Jesus. Really.

45:38.51
Talal K
And they could be the most hideous, odious, nasty people who just make noise all night.

45:42.04
alexei sayle
Really.

45:44.00
Talal K
And like, I'm like, I won't take that risk anymore. And you know, it's just different.

45:48.94
alexei sayle
No. Actually, that's one story I could tell. I just don't think the time think about the stories of Rick. There's a story which is sort of jimes to a degree with what you were saying, that one story Rick loved was about Peter O'Toole.

46:04.16
alexei sayle
don't know but if I've told this story before.

46:05.83
Talal K
No, I've never heard this.

46:07.04
alexei sayle
All right, so Peter O'Toole was sharing a flat when he was a very young actor, was sharing a flat. I think with like Richard Harris or some sort of thing. Michael Caine or Norman Wisdom or somebody. And um anyway, so he got his first part in the movie.

46:25.18
Talal K
Right.

46:25.25
alexei sayle
I think it might have been Michael Caine. Anyway, so his his call is like 5.30 or something. Michael Caine gets up at like 9 and O'Toole's still sitting there.

46:37.02
alexei sayle
And he said, what are you doing here? supposed to be, you know, on this film. And he says, I'm waiting for my taxi. ah michael goes up yeah right So finally, they um yeah the phone goes, and it's the production obviously you asking him where it is. And he just says to them, he says, no taxi, no O'Toole.

47:00.36
alexei sayle
And slams the phone down. ah Rick loved that story. and No taxi, no O'Toole. And based his entire personality.

47:09.98
Talal K
Well, that's the business, isn't it?

47:11.60
alexei sayle
Yeah.

47:11.62
Talal K
You start to expect things just because you got it a couple of times and that just sets the new new so new bar.

47:16.09
alexei sayle
Yeah, but I don't think he'd... Yeah, I mean, the irony was that he you know that he was is at his first part when was supposed to get himself to the fucking set. um But yeah, no, I mean, start as you mean to go on it in a way.

47:24.92
Talal K
Oh, I didn't catch on to that.

47:29.34
Talal K
Yes. You know, there's a level of you If you don't respect yourself, no one else will. and If you don't have standards for yourself, no one else will.

47:38.46
alexei sayle
Yeah.

47:38.65
Talal K
But I honestly, I didn't catch that that was his first acting gig.

47:40.41
alexei sayle
Yeah, I always used to think, no taxi, no.

47:41.57
Talal K
Right.

47:43.06
alexei sayle
Because of you see you see these stories, these documentaries about carry-on films, which always hate anyway. But they the they always used to sit they tell these stories about how they'd all have to get the bus or the you know to the set.

47:55.93
alexei sayle
They wouldn't send a car for them or anything.

47:57.91
Talal K
Right.

47:58.52
alexei sayle
I thought, why the fuck did you put up with that? you know Why would you allow yourself to be treated like that?

48:02.42
Talal K
but

48:05.53
Talal K
yeah

48:07.03
alexei sayle
seemed ridiculous. i mean, because obviously those films were making...

48:11.74
Talal K
They were really popular.

48:12.18
alexei sayle
phenomenal amounts of money for its producers, although not for the cast.

48:12.78
Talal K
Yeah.

48:16.42
alexei sayle
But for some reason, they didn't... They didn't... you know I think in those days, the turns, as it were, were considered dispensable and kind of put up with it, really.

48:28.26
alexei sayle
I said, I'm not making you fucking poxy film, send a car.

48:33.18
Talal K
What about when you did it? We'll carry on.

48:35.03
alexei sayle
Well, i fucking sent a car. I mean, I was very well paid, then they sent it.

48:36.73
Talal K
Yeah, okay, good.

48:38.55
alexei sayle
I wish they hadn't. I wish they hadn't set the car. And then I wouldn't have been in it, which would have been probably been the best outcome. But

48:46.68
Talal K
ah No limo, no sale.

48:49.81
alexei sayle
I Yeah.

48:52.57
Talal K
All right, let's let's wrap it up because we've got an Alexi Reacts to record after this.

48:52.63
alexei sayle
No s***. All right. All right. All right.

48:58.30
Talal K
And I don't want to take up too much of your time, Alexi. I know you've got lots of places to go.

49:01.21
alexei sayle
No, well that was all right. it was free-ranging, but I enjoyed it tremendously.

49:04.79
Talal K
Yeah, we're back, baby.

49:05.69
alexei sayle
So we're back and we're we up we'll never... Well, me and Daddy will never go away again.

49:11.22
Talal K
Promise.

49:12.29
alexei sayle
We promise.

49:13.47
Talal K
Promise.

49:14.68
alexei sayle
Bye-bye.

49:14.74
Talal K
a

49:15.92
alexei sayle
Bye-bye.

49:18.97
alexei sayle
um but