Sex Lives of the Potato Men - British Sitcom History Podcast

[00:00:05][music] [music] Hello and welcome to the British Sitcom History Podcast. I'm Gareth and with me as always is Alan.

[00:00:23]>> Oh, well hello there.

[00:00:25]>> Get get the timing right. Come on.

[00:00:26]Honestly, [laughter] we've done this a thousand times. [clears throat] Welcome everybody. Welcome to the British Sitcom History Podcast and we've got a bonus episode. We've been covering Ideal for the last couple of weeks. And in order to do a bonus episode, there's no ideal movie. So, what we decided to do was do a a Johnny Vegasbased spin-off. And we are going to look at the greatest British comedy movie ever made, Sex Lives of the Potato Men.

[00:00:50][laughter] >> You're setting it up for a fall there.

[00:00:53]>> I am a little bit. No, listen. Obviously that was a joke and you know let's not tip our hand too early but this is rubbish but the point is this had this film has a reputation of being you know the worst British comedy film ever made.

[00:01:07]I think that might be a bit harsh but it's certainly a contender.

[00:01:11]>> It is. Yeah. And it is what it is a sort of infamously bad uh look at this. Just throwing up an image there. This is >> Is that the poster?

[00:01:20]>> This is not the poster. This is the sort of the title page from a screenshot from the actual film. So, this is the font they went with.

[00:01:27]>> Weak. [laughter] >> Actually, you know what? Before we even get into this film, >> the title of the film presumably couldn't call it Confessions of a Potato Man for illegal reasons. [laughter] >> The title's stupid. It's a terrible title.

[00:01:40]>> You know what though? It does. I think it does come back to exactly what you've just said. I think it's playing into the same vibes of those kind of well the confession series definitely but also just generally kind of exploitative bee movies where the title is basically you grab you're grabbing people with that.

[00:02:01]That's all it is. It's kind of like you know back in the day they would have like I married a female werewolf or something like that you know kind of [clears throat] these be movie titles.

[00:02:09]>> Dr. Jackal and Sister Hide particular favorite of mine.

[00:02:11]>> I'll I'll give you a more contemporaneous example. Uh, lesbian vampire killers.

[00:02:16]>> Lesbian vampires. Was that Do you >> remember that one?

[00:02:18]>> What's his name? James Cordon.

[00:02:20]>> Cordon Hordon. Yeah, that was one of those. Um, and I think this plays into that uh the same same way. I think that's kind of what it's doing.

[00:02:30]>> Oh, this is definitely a hark back to those 70s sex comedies, isn't it? It's I mean, I'll be honest with you, I'm not all that familiar with the Confessions films. I think I might have seen one once, but I'm not, you know, it's not something I've spent a lot of time watching. Yeah, >> but is it, you know, are we talking about a 30 years on 2000's version of the same thing?

[00:02:47]>> Well, do you know what, right? The So, the writer director here is called Andy Humphre. I'm going to talk about him later, but what I heard was that basically this was pitched as Dumb and Dumber meets Confessions of a Window Cleaner. It was kind of a British answer to what was going on at the time. And if you think this is made in 2004, right?

[00:03:06]So just think the five years before that you've got things like American pie road trip. It's kind of gross out comedy is definitely the the phrase.

[00:03:15]>> Um also we've got kind of lad culture in Britain.

[00:03:20]>> Workingass lads who [snorts] like tits and beer that kind of thing.

[00:03:26]>> Yeah.

[00:03:27]>> It feels very Yeah. This this do you know what this feels very 90s lad culture and shockingly it was made in 2004 which you know if you'd have if you' played this film to me well you did play this film to me and I thought this is like late 90s no 2004 yeah but I I just saying pre prefacing it with all that because I think on paper I can see how this film got made now we'll talk about why it's not a good film and it's not I think that's a subjective viewpoint [laughter] I It's not even No, it's an objective viewpoint. I think it's objectively bad, but also subjectively bad. But I I can see why on paper this got made and why it got the funding. Um, speaking of which, actually, bit of controversy about the funding.

[00:04:12]>> Um, it kicked up a bit of a fuss because it was funded in part uh by the UK film council which distributed money >> uh from the National Lottery Fund.

[00:04:25]>> Yes.

[00:04:26]So for anyone not in Britain, the National Lottery is a sort of um voluntary tax. [laughter] >> What are you talking about? You're not in Britain. If you're not in Britain, you can figure out from context what the national lottery is. Come on.

[00:04:39]>> But my point is >> do the work.

[00:04:41]>> They take the money from that and put it back into society in some some ways. One of that was funding films and the UK film council was was part was brought in as a third party to distribute funds. So when this film came out and it was a big bomb and everyone thought it was vulgar and crap, not just a bad film but a a a disgusting film and Whittingham didn't like it.

[00:05:08]>> Oh Whitam didn't like it.

[00:05:11]That's actually gone up in my estimation. [laughter] >> Exactly. So um so the fact that it got public money essentially to make it were was was um somewhat um controversial.

[00:05:22]However, I I um you know my view on art Gareth um art should be funded even if it's crap. That's that's my um and you know the point I I think >> vested interest aren't you? You're a vested interest. [laughter] Well, from what I've read, I think the they were making a deliberate effort to like we don't just have to make period dramas and kind of worthy films. We we we can make entertaining films and fun.

[00:05:47]>> We can make rubbish films as well.

[00:05:49]>> Yeah, we can make crap. That's fine. We can do that. Sure.

[00:05:53]>> Listen, I'm being a little unfair there because nobody sets out to make crap.

[00:05:56]But I I think what I'm hearing from you here is that they set out to make a a a gross out sex comedy. you know, they hopefully would have liked it to have been better, but but they weren't trying to create a work of art.

[00:06:09]>> But here's just here's the first issue before we actually start watching some clips and getting into it a bit. It's it's a gross out comedy meets British 70s sex comedy, right? But it doesn't fulfill either of those in terms of this kind of old school softcore sex comedy.

[00:06:26]It's not very titillating. It's it's >> there's no tits there. There's no >> there's no explicit nudity at all.

[00:06:33]There's like there's there's a lot of sort of simulated sex. Um there's a lot of swearing, but there's no actual nudity.

[00:06:42]>> Implied, isn't it?

[00:06:43]>> Not even an ass. Like not even a McKenzie Crook ass in a sort of Robin Asmith style hanging out the window.

[00:06:48]>> Like [laughter] I've written in my notes here, I'm not being funny, but it would have been nice to see a couple of bums here and there.

[00:06:53][laughter] >> Exactly. Yeah.

[00:06:56]Which is interesting that it it it obviously didn't go that way. It went the gross out way and like a lot of the sex acts we see are kind of >> nely gross but they're sort of they're showing the kind of warts and all of of sex >> domin's entire story arc.

[00:07:11]>> Yeah to that. Yeah. But uh and in terms of hitting the gross out stuff, it's gross but not funny. And it's kind of like goes too far or it's too intimate or something. I'm not quite sure what's not working. We can discuss >> as we go along. But yeah, fundamentally flawed from the very beginning. So, shall we watch some of it? [laughter] >> Well, let me set let me set up the story. So, we've got uh Mackenzie Crook and Johnny Vegas are the stars and they are potato delivery men. That is their job. Uh they've got a colleague Dominic Coleman who I mentioned and the boss is Mark Gatus and the setup is that they are all unlucky in love in various ways.

[00:07:51]And we're gonna the film follows their separate stories and until they all find happiness and I I have to use the phrase separate well yeah not not a lot happens but they are very separate stories you know so rather than I think you know when we cover a sitcom episode we'll we tend to go through things in sequential order scene by scene. I don't think we should do that today. I think what we should do is take each of our four characters and look at their storyline because they are very separate. you know, they sort of bump into each other.

[00:08:19]The the people bump into each other, but the story lines don't at all.

[00:08:23]>> No. Uh yeah, it's pretty poor, isn't it?

[00:08:26]And I was You've sort of raised, >> you know, Alan, it's almost an anthology film. It's almost like four completely separate bad stories.

[00:08:35]>> Yeah. But doesn't feel like it's been deliberately written like that, does it?

[00:08:38]>> No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:08:41][clears throat] >> You you've hit on something there that I kind of threw me straight away. I I've never seen this film before, but I knew it as Sex Lives of the Potato Men. It's Mackenzie Crook and Johnny Vegas.

[00:08:51]They're on the front cover and all that kind of thing.

[00:08:53]>> I come to watch it and the Potato Men are actually four. There's four of them, not two of them. Dominick Coleman and Mark Gatus, who was, you know, Mark Gatus was as big a star.

[00:09:03]>> He was a star at the time. Yeah.

[00:09:05]>> Johnny Vegas. Mackenzie extremely high off the but >> I would say that I didn't have a stopwatch out, but I would say that they have pretty much equal screen time. the four of them, don't they? There's probably not that much in it.

[00:09:16]>> Um, yeah. I don't know. Maybe they favor Crook and Vegas a bit, but not enough to kind of It feels like >> we are setting up four potato men here.

[00:09:26]And, uh, it's interesting that the in terms of the marketing, uh, that's not what we got, is it? I tell you what, before we start talking about Johnny Vegas and his character, um, let's talk about the opening scene because we get like an opening montage over the well, the the music is the the Ace of Spades, Mohead's Ace of Spades, which is which is always good to hear, >> but such a weird little montage. The opening montage is so odd, isn't it?

[00:09:52]>> Uh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's I mean, it's just some gags. It's like two and a half minutes at the beginning. It's you're getting the titles, you're getting the names up on the opening credits. Let's do some gags. Okay. So, is it >> So, they're they're delivering potatoes and every little clip of the montage has a visual joke and and they're all bad.

[00:10:11]They're all really bad jokes. They're driving around this poor shitty van.

[00:10:16]>> And uh yeah, it just it just like the first couple of gags I was kind of rolling my eyes and thinking, "Oh, come on." And it didn't get any better.

[00:10:24]>> Oh, we got a clip.

[00:10:25]>> There we go. I tell you what, I'll turn the We'll take Ace of Spades as red.

[00:10:28]Let's turn the volume right down. We can talk [laughter] over it.

[00:10:32]But yeah, so it's kind of a knackered old van. The potato men >> [ __ ] on.

[00:10:37]>> We got Johnny Vegas and Mackenzie Crooks sat in the van. Johnny Vegas got [ __ ] on.

[00:10:41]>> And here we go.

[00:10:43]>> And now this is all set in Birmingham.

[00:10:46]>> Yeah. I don't think it was >> Well, I want to talk about the accents because some of them are doing Brummy accents and some of them just not bothering.

[00:10:55]>> Yeah. So, we're getting bits uh you know, swearing at other traffic. Uh they're un unloading potatoes and loading.

[00:11:04]>> Can I just make a point about Johnny Vegas?

[00:11:06]>> You certainly can.

[00:11:07]>> He looks quite good. He looks all right, doesn't he? [laughter] I don't know. I think it's cuz we just watched him in Ideal as a complete mess and you know his live standup persona a complete mess. [laughter] It's all relative.

[00:11:19]Johnny Vegas does not look like a healthy man here, but he he sort of looks a little bit better than normal.

[00:11:26]>> Yeah, I know what you mean. I think a leather jacket does a lot for him.

[00:11:29]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, he looks he looks cool. He looks quite cool.

[00:11:32]>> And his hair's a bit longer. Yeah, he's all right, isn't it? [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:11:36]>> So, here's a nice Incidentally, if if you're listening in uh in audio, we've got a still on screen here where Mackenzie Cook's holding a carrot like a penis and Johnny Vegas is holding two melons like breasts. There we go. That's the joke.

[00:11:49]>> That's fine. It's [laughter] great.

[00:11:51]>> But look, it's an opening montage and we're just throwing in some visual gags.

[00:11:55]I don't think we need to be too kind of uh highbrow here, do we? I think that's all right.

[00:12:00]>> Well, it don't get any better.

[00:12:02][laughter] >> So, the woman in the chip shop's got horrible dandruff, which is going in the chips like salt.

[00:12:09]>> Yeah. Then she flirts with Johnny Vegas.

[00:12:12]>> This is Vegas's best acting there.

[00:12:14]Lovely, lovely response.

[00:12:17]Now, >> meanwhile, McKenzie Crooks in the in the back office [laughter] having sexual intercourse with the lady from the chip shop.

[00:12:26]>> Now, I want to talk to you about something, Gareth. Um, I want to discuss montage.

[00:12:32]Montage. Now, >> Montage, you want you want to discuss montage theory?

[00:12:37]>> Yes. So, now, as as you well know, Gareth, I'm sure, um, but people at home may not, I've got a master's degree in film theory. And uh >> well you should have said >> by God I'm going to use it. So [laughter] >> pay for itself already. [laughter] >> So basically what I want to discuss is montage theory. So what we got here at the beginning is a montage as we kind of know it these days which is an assemblage of images which tells us a narrative story condensed into a kind of smaller space. Right?

[00:13:10]>> It's classic. It's Rocky 3. It's it's everything we want um from a montage.

[00:13:15]However, I want to take you back uh a little bit further than that to silent cinema and uh the more specifically Soviet cinema of the 1920s.

[00:13:25]>> Are you sure?

[00:13:27]>> Yeah. Go with me here. [laughter] Come with me.

[00:13:30]>> All right. All right. See, this is what our listeners love. A bit of film theory.

[00:13:34]>> So, now Soviet montage theory is a little bit more specific than what we know montage as now. And it is, but it's essentially about the assemblage of images. And bear in mind, this is film before sound. And so it was much cinema as an art form was much less literal. It was much less show reality. It was a bit more like creating visual imagery.

[00:13:55]>> And soviet montage theory is a very simple process uh at its heart of put two images together and they will have a different meaning than separately. So, uh, just to use a kind of very classic example of the what they call the Kulageov effect. You take an image. Go with me.

[00:14:13]>> I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I will let you carry on in a minute, but I'm on screen. We've got Savalo and I think I know where you're going with this.

[00:14:20]>> Back to you. [laughter] >> So, [clears throat] there's a famous a famous kind of experiment called the Kulashov effect called Lev.

[00:14:31]>> Not a thing from Star Trek listener.

[00:14:32]>> The [laughter] Kulash effect.

[00:14:34]>> Yes. And uh so Lev Kulishov, he took an image of a a well-known actor just he told him to do a neutral face and he filmed him for like 10 seconds and then cut that clip of him next to a an image of a a bowl of soup and everyone saw it and went, "Oh, what an amazing actor. He how well he portrays hunger. This man is so obviously hungry." You take the same image of the man, cut it next to a a child in a coffin, and everyone says, "What an amazing actor showing grief.

[00:15:03]this man is pained by the death of his child.

[00:15:06]>> So the that's a very simple uh demonstration of how putting different images together can change the meaning of them, right?

[00:15:15]>> Do you know what?

[00:15:16]>> So I I I've been rude. That's genuinely interesting. Thank you. [laughter] >> And and let you know that's that's a kind of it's in its simplest form. Uh but I I'm I put it to you, Gareth, that this film, this opening montage.

[00:15:30]>> Yeah. [laughter] Uh have a watch of this little uh visual montage.

[00:15:35]>> So we got a savoy.

[00:15:36]>> No. [laughter] Well, a savoy. This is it. But watch this. Okay, so we have Mackenzie Crook taking a lady from behind. They are reaching the the vinegar strokes. Here we see Gerkins and then Oh, look. Look, it's a spunking ketchup bottle. Gareth, did you >> This is not montage theory. [laughter] So, I put it to you [laughter] that someone putting ketchup on chips does not evoke the image of a spunking [ __ ] unless you precursor it with McKenzie Crook doing the chip girl from behind.

[00:16:12]>> Bloody hell.

[00:16:13]>> That's the Soviet montage theory.

[00:16:14]Gareth, >> okay, I I I accept the the truth of what you just said, but come on. This is funking bottle of ketchup, man.

[00:16:24]>> Like obviously I'm I'm kind of harking back to the people who were kind of creating the the montage here, but like we see this a lot. You see it a lot in cartoons where like someone gets angry and then you cut to an image of a kettle boiling or something. Yeah.

[00:16:37]>> Or Yeah. The car going into a tunnel, you know, and we or a rocket blowing off as as someone >> visual images creating a narrative.

[00:16:46]>> Yeah. So, and so I'm saying that Andy Humphre was evoking Sergey Eisenstein when he put those clips together, but I he got an he's got a master's degree in film theory as well. So, uh >> well, I tell you what. So, Sex Lives of the Potato Men is how he paid off his student loans. How are we paying off ours, Alan?

[00:17:08]>> If you would like to become a Patreon, >> that is an organic one. Yeah. If you would like to become a Patreon for just $5 a month, you can get more of this sort of nonsense.

[00:17:19]>> Gareth, it's5 because we're not American. Five pounds a month. And uh what we're doing now, we're going to have three episodes a month. Two on our normal sitcom as always. One bonus episode like this as always and a fourth episode which will be exclusive for Patreons. And we'll tell you a little bit later on about what this month's will be. If you're interested, go to patreon.com/brickcompod and you can sign up there. Okay, let's get back on with it.

[00:17:44]>> Let's let's get into a bit of footage.

[00:17:46]Who who should we deal with first? Which character should we deal with?

[00:17:48]>> Well, I think we should probably do Johnny Vegas first. He's the reason we're here. Uh, obviously with an ideal connection. So, let's let's talk about Johnny Vegas's character. Um, so, you know, we'll we'll we'll when we when we first meet him up after the opening montage, we see that he is he's married.

[00:18:04]He's got a young child. He is a terrible terrible husband and father, and his wife chucks him out. That is the that's the the opening of his arc of his story line. Um and so you know like it felt it feels very old-fashioned. I don't know.

[00:18:22]Was it still oldfashioned in 2004? You know it feels like my granddad in the 60s or 70s.

[00:18:27]>> Yeah. Well, do you know what hit me about it? um is that these characters are supposed to be like late like late 20s and the actors are about that age, >> but they're all married and or divorced uh and with kids and stuff and like as a 41year-old with no kids like that really kind of throws me off >> because it's not why I relate to [laughter] >> but late 20s and settled down is not out of the ordinary.

[00:18:54]>> Yeah. especially for what is, you know, a workingass lifestyle, which I think does lean a little bit more towards get a job, have some kids, uh deliver potatoes, you know, it's um >> and that's what this film is showing.

[00:19:11]It's supposed to be, and this is what the writer director says, it's about workingass bloss.

[00:19:18]And that's why the middle class critics don't like it. [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:19:23]Seems like the working-class audience didn't like it either, but whatever.

[00:19:26][laughter] >> I tell you what, I I I sort of mentioned this earlier, but there there is a lot of swearing. I like I don't like I don't I'm not, you know, I swear a lot, but it it I just noticed it. It sort of clanged a bit like they seem to be just casually swearing in their conversation. Now, you might argue that is quite normal. I do know lots of people who do that, who speak like that. I don't know. for a film. It just felt a little bit um uh egregious.

[00:19:52]>> Yeah. Yeah. What is egregious?

[00:19:56]>> Well, look, so Johnny Vegas, his wife chucked him out, and so his his story line essentially is just him desperately trying to get laid. That that's the whole film for him. So, he goes to see this woman called Poppy who seems to have shown some interest ages ago. And we have this scene where he knocks on her door and he's talking to there's a sort of pullback and reveal. think he's talking to her husband, but it turns out it's her brother. But that doesn't really change anything because he's talking about, "Oh, she said I could have a threesome with her and he's having this conversation with her brother."

[00:20:23]>> To give a bit of context, >> a weird conversation like he's married with a child of about 6 years old. And so he goes to his when he breaks up with his wife, he goes to his ex-girlfriend's house. So, we know this is several years in from the past, right?

[00:20:36]>> And he goes, "Oh, yeah, she said she'd be up for a threesome." Uh, yeah. And she's talking to the bloke and Yeah. the the the reveal that it's her brother and not her husband doesn't make any difference. It's like obviously it's an inappropriate conversation to have with anyone who lives in that house.

[00:20:51]>> And that's the joke, I guess, that he doesn't recognize here is that the other part of the joke, yeah, it's completely inappropriate. There's no way she, you know, this is like six, seven years ago.

[00:21:02]And of course, you know, she is up for it. She's totally up for it. So So [laughter] we end up, she he goes and has his threesome with Poppy. Oh, but it's with another bloke. I thought it was going to be with another girl. Oh, we laughed.

[00:21:13]There you go. [laughter] >> Well, uh, yeah, I've got a couple of clips for you. Got some threesome clips.

[00:21:18]Do you >> have you got Have you got you got a bleak threesome clip of it?

[00:21:22]>> Well, this is the the I'll show this clip because the joke here is like the reality of a threesome is always a bit more awkward and just kind of weird than you think it is. So, uh, let's show that clip here.

[00:21:35]>> So, um, I've taken the sound off this because, you know, >> just as well. [laughter] But the visual >> Johnny Vegas sweating and with a bloke's feet in his face.

[00:21:45]>> Yeah. [snorts] And we're very much focusing on Johnny Vegas's face >> having a [ __ ] >> He's [laughter] got a [ __ ] on halfway through. Yeah. And that the G this just this is quite a nice bit.

[00:21:57][laughter] >> It's always a bit when you end up on the side and you're just sort of like you're tagging in.

[00:22:03]>> Yeah.

[00:22:04]>> Yeah. Have a [ __ ] Have a rest.

[00:22:06]>> Yeah. So audio listeners uh Yeah. Check out the the YouTube to see Johnny Vegas 7 threesome if you want to get the visuals there.

[00:22:14]>> It's all pretty grim. Although I would like to point out that soon as we're here because of Ideal, Poppy, the the woman is Nicola Reynolds. It's Nikki in um in Ideal, isn't it?

[00:22:24]>> Yes. And from what I understand, Johnny Vegas recommended her for the job in Ideal and he knew her because he'd worked her on this with her on this. But I've got a clip. Let's have a little little view of Nicola Reynolds uh having a threesome with Johnny Vegas and and someone else.

[00:22:39]I like cauliflower and I like cheese, but I don't like cauliflower cheese.

[00:22:45]Same with mate. I like apples and I like toffee, but I don't love toffee apples.

[00:22:49]>> But then I don't like actual tomatoes, but I love tomato sauce. It's just weird.

[00:22:55]>> Are you two going to shut up or what?

[00:22:58]>> Sorry, love.

[00:22:59]>> It's D. Cheers, mate.

[00:23:01]>> I don't care who it is. Just shut up and concentrate. I'm doing all the work here. Let's just get it finished.

[00:23:07]funny because she's Welsh.

[00:23:09][clears throat] >> Yeah.

[00:23:13]>> I want to I want to sort of try and defend this film in some ways. Now, I think >> the concept there is that they're having a threesome, but Johnny Vega's always just chatting with the other bloke and like when they have a group sex later on, there's eight men there and he's just like he's chatting away. He's >> talking about parking.

[00:23:30]>> Yeah. Yeah. He's always about the parking. I think that's a funny concept.

[00:23:34]I think it's actually quite nicely realized. That scene is one of the better scenes and then she pops up from underneath and shouts at them in Welsh and and you know it's funny.

[00:23:45]>> No, I accept that. That's that is that is one of the funnier scenes >> there. And when they have the group sex scene and like he comes into the room and there's 12 guys there already and he goes, "What number are you?" He goes, "Three." He's like, "Oh, I'm 15." He's got a little ticket machine.

[00:24:00]>> Yeah. Just like like trolley. Yeah.

[00:24:02]>> Yeah. Nice gag. I'm all right with that.

[00:24:04][laughter] >> That's good. That's good. But this is this is basically it. Like this is his storyline. At the very end of the film, his wife sort of takes him back and he goes back and you know >> that's the redemption.

[00:24:18]>> His wife takes him back, but he doesn't change or grow.

[00:24:22]>> There's been no romantic comedy.

[00:24:24]>> No, nothing. He's done nothing. We We haven't even seen her since the opening scene. Like there's been no redemption.

[00:24:31]There's no one scene. Come on.

[00:24:33]>> There's one scene where he goes back and he basically says, "Oh, I do miss you.

[00:24:36]I'll come back if you want." And she's like, "No. [laughter] >> Forget it. You're useless."

[00:24:42]>> And by the way, this film is a breezy 82 minutes. Um, there's definitely room to put more stuff in if you wanted to beef the plot up a bit.

[00:24:50]>> Let's move on to Mackenzie. So, the setup for him is that he's recently divorced and for some reason he's now living with his exmother-in-law who is Kate Robbins. And um she it's this is a classic 70s trope. She's a sexual predator. She's forcing herself on him. We saw this in the man about the house movie, didn't we? But it's the same but turned up to 11. There. So for we got a lovely picture of Kate Robbins in a massive bra there. [laughter] >> Some kind of woman's bra.

[00:25:21]>> Yes. [laughter] >> Very good. Actually, I think I think Kate Robbins is glorious. She's a really good performance from start to finish.

[00:25:31]And I think it is it works because she's she's a bit of a mil, but she's not like a really obviously attractive woman.

[00:25:39]She's a middle-aged woman. A bit of middle-aged spread, but she's a she's a cougar, I guess they would call it now.

[00:25:46]>> I like the way she's very matterof fact.

[00:25:48]She's like, "Come on. Come on. What's his name? Ferris. Come on, Ferris. Let's get on with it. Come on. Down to business."

[00:25:52]>> Oh, wow. You could have asked me all day. I would not have picked that name out. Mackenzie Crook is what I called him. I didn't get any other characters names. I didn't really pick. Well, I haven't bothered with anyone else's names, but it was Ferris. And I thought, well, that must be Ferris Buer, surely.

[00:26:08]But [laughter] I didn't do the maths. I couldn't do the maths. I don't think it would be the right age. Anyway, he's called Ferris. [snorts] Um, there's a great scene with Kate Robbins where her mom, so his grandmother-in-law, >> turns up and she's like, "Show me your [ __ ] Ferris." [laughter] This genuinely made me laugh. That's really funny because he's got a really big [ __ ] apparently and it's just it's just an old lady being inappropriate again, isn't it? That's always classic classic comedy stuff. I think it's one of those things where they kind of bring it back later on and it kind of just goes a little bit too far which is probably the problem with the film alto together not knowing when to draw back >> um or to hold off so to speak. But you know >> that that scene with the grandma in it, I um I've definitely recognized her. So I I looked her up and she is the grandma that David Williams fancied in Little Britain. So So that that inappropriate relationship, same same vibe. So that's that's definitely what she's typ cast as.

[00:27:06]>> What a weird thing to be typ cast.

[00:27:08][laughter] >> Let's talk Mackenzie Crook sex sex life.

[00:27:13]So Kate Robbins and then the chip shop girl. But this relationship evolves because um well first of all he moves into the chip shop. So he's sleeping on the on the shelf out the back of the chip shop. He's had to move the gerkins and [snorts] that's because he wants to get away from Kate Robbins. But then but then we get this subplot where the chip shop girl is married and her her husband likes to watch basically.

[00:27:38]>> So then we get more and more of that.

[00:27:40]>> Yeah. So we have this big pretense. Oh no, if my husband catches us, all of that business, you know, >> and so yeah, and Mackenzie Crook doesn't know about it. So he's he's he's banging this girl and then the the sort of fat husband falls out of the wardrobe naked.

[00:27:57]>> Uh and then they sort of force him again. That's quite funny, but then they force him to they tie him up and then they're in the basement and >> it doesn't make any sense. The bloke is tied up for a while, but he's also >> The sexual dynamics of this make no sense at all.

[00:28:12]>> Yeah. And then at one point they're in a he's in the boot of the car. It didn't make a lot of sense, did it? That's not >> The husband like is one of those faces I recognize. Nick Holder. I kind of I looked him up. He was in Psychoville, which I'm not sure if that qualifies as a sitcom, but uh that's he's been in a few things. One or two episodes of everything. A film that most of our listeners will have seen that he's in is The World's End. is one of the one of the bar men and one of the pubs in the world end.

[00:28:37]>> Yes, I watched I saw him in a film. He played a supporting role in a film called Sweet Sue that I watched recently which was directed by Leo Lee who is Mike Lee's offspring and it seems to have fallen not far from the tree and it was a very similar style as Mike Lee's films but he plays a supporting car but it's a really funny scene where they're all on drugs and he's he's very good in that. Uh, so I've got a kind of good memory of him from that that I just saw, you know, a few months ago.

[00:29:05]>> But yeah, it seems like a really good solid character actor. Some of the acting is a bit dodgy in this, do you think?

[00:29:10]>> Well, yeah. So, no, interesting you say that because I I think that if you take the main characters out of the equation for a minute, a lot of the supporting characters were really bad and and you know, when sometimes you get that one actor, you think, oh, that's a pretty wooden performance. There were just so many of them here that I thought, well, that can't be, you know, these are professional actors. They can't all be terrible. It must be something to do with the direction or the script or the, you know, whatever.

[00:29:35]>> There was a lot of flat wooden acting.

[00:29:39]>> Would this be a good time to talk about the director?

[00:29:42]>> Yeah, let's do it. [snorts] [laughter] >> We're going to start slagging off the direction. Um, so, uh, Andy Humphre is our man here. Um, so he wrote it and directed it and it's on his IMDb. It's his first credit.

[00:30:04]>> Now, obviously it's not his first thing he did. Uh, so I dug into it a bit deeper and I found um I found on the website of Bookingham, sorry, Bookinghamshire New where he is currently, as far as I can tell, the course leader of the BA in film production.

[00:30:23]>> Okay, >> so that seems to be his job at the moment. Um, so the following information comes from the bio that they have on there which is written in the first person. So I assume he wrote it. So, uh, according to that, he got an MA in film and he started working at Granada Studios in Manchester, um, working under Tony Wilson, who I'm sure you're familiar with.

[00:30:46]>> Yeah. Tony Wilson. Yeah.

[00:30:48]>> And, uh, he produced shows and directed shows with Steve Kugan, Carolina Hearn, and Vic Reeves.

[00:30:57][snorts] >> Right.

[00:30:59]>> Now, uh, >> but but they didn't make it to IMDb.

[00:31:03]>> Yes. It's the sort of small scale stuff that was being made on regional ITV shows that has, you know, when IMDb came along 15 years later, you know, it just hasn't kind of caught those kind of smaller things.

[00:31:13]>> Okay, I'm with you. Uh, however, as it happens, I'm reading a book at the moment called Carolina Hearn, Rebel in Disguise, uh, by a man named David Scott, uh, who, uh, has written this.

[00:31:27]It's it's kind of a biography of Carolina Hearn, but it's more focused on the work and and the the sources and inspirations and stuff rather than a personal life. Uh, we have an interview with David Scott about that book, which has just come out, so we talked to him about it and, uh, that is on the YouTube channel. Uh so go and have a look at it.

[00:31:44]But it just so happens that I was reading that book uh while watching this and um one of the things that gets mentioned in Carolina Hearn's earlier career is a sketch show. It was just a one-off sketch show called The Dead Good Show, which featured Carolina Hearn, Steve Kugan, and John Thompson as the sort of primary >> Manchester based um you know, sketch comedy actors. And um Andy Humphre was the director of that. So right, >> uh, that's definitely that's one just as an example of what was going on.

[00:32:13]>> So he was he was in that world. He was in that Northwest comedy world.

[00:32:17]>> We're talking about the early 90s when he was making that kind of stuff. Um, and he went on >> Yeah, there's a big gap. Yeah, that's 10 years before this.

[00:32:25]>> Well, he was working. He he was just doing, you know, that kind of stuff, small scale TV stuff, producing, directing.

[00:32:33]Um, but then he gets this feature film and uh in so in his bio that it seems like it was written by himself. It says, "I wrote and directed a feature film with Johnny Vegas with a£3 million pound budget."

[00:32:49]>> Oh, that's >> factually accurate, >> but he's not naming it in his bio.

[00:32:53]>> That's it. That's all.

[00:32:54]>> You go and look it up. [laughter] So after this film came out and it was a massive flop. It wasn't like the critics didn't like it. But >> it was one of those it was one of those um flops where everybody, you know, it becomes a a punchline. Oh, this is nearly as bad as type thing, you know.

[00:33:11]So didn't just do badly. It did >> famously badly.

[00:33:15]>> Yeah. Which is probably fair. Uh I I we'll talk about our overall feelings later, but yeah. So after this he basically didn't work in fiction kind of content. his his credits and his career seems to have been based in uh producer director of those kind of he works for BBC Latin Same for Channel 4 shows such as The Secret Life of Bob Monk House, The Untold Tommy Cooper, those kind of talking head shows with clips and um slightly catchy titles to make it on a couple of those. You haven't worked with him. [laughter] >> No, no, this I don't think he does this anymore. This was kind of um 10 years ago. Like I say, he seems to be an academic now. He seems to be a teacher rather than um working in the industry quite directly anymore. [clears throat] >> So I mean this film is the anomaly really in his career. He got the chance at something a little bit bigger than what he was doing and it fell on its ass. Um how much can we blame him for that? I I well listen I think I you know I've been negative about this film and I guess it's his fault you know but I do think I do think it's unfair that he never really got another chance you know it's hard making a film we we talked about this before you know there's lots of moving parts lots of things to do and yeah it's a shame it's a shame >> and a lot of stuff he' done before would have been quite studio-based this is much more like location filming and your single camera filming >> I wonder how much of a learning curve there was in that even for someone who was you know relatively experienced because I found a lot of the visuals to be quite static.

[00:35:04]>> Yeah.

[00:35:05]>> And then there were these moments there were these flashes of things like there was one bit where >> they're having a drinking montage and there was a a shot where the the camera was, you know, at the bottom of the glass and you could see them drinking and the the white >> like little moments like that. I was like, "Oh, that's a visually inventive interesting thing." Let me let me show you a shot here. Look, I just guess I've just got a still.

[00:35:29]Look at that. That's a lovely shot.

[00:35:32]>> This is the potato van out in the middle of a field and it's Yeah, it's beautiful landscape. You got cows to one side.

[00:35:38]Yeah. It's a wellframed image. Yeah.

[00:35:40]>> Yeah. Which, you know, obviously that's not in a script. Is this just a good DP on the day going that's a nice shot.

[00:35:47]Let's nail that. I don't know. The fact that the we've got our farm worker there wearing all red. Uh it seems a very deliberate choice against the green and I don't know the clouds feel very specific. It's a beautiful shot.

[00:35:59]>> I think you're overthinking it. I I I agree with you. It's a beautiful shot, but I don't know. I I don't think that that was storyboarded.

[00:36:07]>> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I will give you another example, though. Um, here's a I'm just going to show this clip and I've taken this volume off cuz it was just music basically, but uh it's what I called a surprisingly mobile clip because so much of this was very static and pretty should over the shoulder kind of pretty basic stuff. So, let's have a look at this shot of Johnny Vegas walking out of a shop.

[00:36:36]Bit >> amusing.

[00:36:38]All >> [music] >> right, put your hands up if you're going to be shagging two women this afternoon.

[00:36:48][laughter] >> So, obviously with the the dialogue there is a lovely finish, but basically it's Johnny Vegas walking out of a shop walking over to his mates and the camera is it's a it's a tracking shot.

[00:37:00]>> Yeah. where well here's the thing and I would be appreciate if anybody else would like to throw in their opinions on this because I could not for the life of me figure out if this was a tracking shot or a steady cam shot. It's really nicely done whatever it is but it's weird that they've chosen this particular shot like why this is this nice dramatic movement. It doesn't it's not necessary at all to tell the story.

[00:37:25]>> It's interesting. Yeah, because whether it's a tracking shot or a steady cam, that's that's they've had to get some kit in to do that. Like that's a deliberate decision.

[00:37:33]>> Yeah. But and especially in 2004, like steady cam's been around a long time, but it's a spe specialist job. You hire a steady cam operator. They come with their gear. They get paid, you know, hundreds of pounds a day. Whereas a tracking shot is kind of track. You have track. You know, you're making a film, you have track. But it's still tracking shots thing.

[00:37:51]>> As tracking shots go, that's a complicated tracking shot because it's around a big old curve.

[00:37:55]>> Like you said, that's a that's a decision, isn't it? So why Okay, here's a shot of Johnny Vegas coming out of a shop with a dirty magazine cuz he's delighted he's having a threesome. Why now? Why is that the scene where we're going to do something a bit special?

[00:38:07]>> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um and it might which makes it it the whole thing kind of that stinks of we've got the budget to get this stuff in. Let's do it.

[00:38:20]>> Uh what should we do with it? And yeah, but why that short? Yeah, who knows? Cuz there's there's and there's a bit of visual inventiveness and let's use this as a way to segue into uh the Mark Gatus storyline. And I'll show you a clip.

[00:38:34]>> All right. Well, >> of Mark Gatis as character uh who is a stalker. So, let's have a quick look.

[00:38:40]>> Yeah, he's a pretty dangerous predatory stalker.

[00:38:44]>> So, this is looking through his binoculars.

[00:38:47]>> Yeah.

[00:38:49]And >> we're seeing a woman in a bra. He's he's looking through binoculars and, you know, he's a filthy stalker.

[00:38:56]>> Yeah. So, he's in the bushes. He's looks around, gets his [ __ ] out. We don't see that. Uh, but, you know, it's implied.

[00:39:03]And then we cut back to the binoculars, POV of the binoculars, and they're shaking.

[00:39:09]>> So, he's masturbating.

[00:39:11][music] >> Now, okay, look, I'll grant you it's crass. It's uh kind of you know it's it's our gross out humor.

[00:39:21]>> What's where's the but coming here >> but [laughter] >> because it's gross out but >> that is that is a nice and comedic visually inventive way of showing that the cuz we're getting that binocular POV that we see all the time is like going from window to window and then it's just jiggling a little bit.

[00:39:39]>> It's good. I'm all right with it as a directorial choice. [laughter] Well, look, let's let's let's stop talking about directorial choices and start talking about Mark Gus because we we've moved on to his story. So, basically the story here here is in the f first scene we see him. He's talking about Ruth, his girlfriend. And then we meet Ruth or he's trying to give some flowers, I think, to Ruth and she tells him to get stuffed and he's it's his ex. She's dumped him. He's stalking her and he's properly stalking her. He's watching her from behind a bush in the park, you know. He's writing writing aggressive letters to her. that there's nothing nice about this. Like it is properly unpleasant.

[00:40:16]>> It is played for laughs. Um >> I think it is. I don't I don't It's pretty It's pretty malevolent. I don't think it's funny enough.

[00:40:22]>> It's played for laughs. Whether it's it succeeds in that or not is a different matter, but it is supposed to be funny.

[00:40:29]>> Creepy.

[00:40:31]>> Yeah. Uh it's because Yeah. We we see that he's kind of in love, but then he goes to meet the woman and she says, you know, you you know, you're a liar. you lied to me about, so I'm not interested.

[00:40:42]It's Lucy Davis. Um, as in Jasper Carrot's daughter, uh, famously who's who is off of The Office and this is 2004, so fresh off the office >> and off of is it the is it the Wonder Woman film that she's in? She's in one of the Marvel films or >> she is in one of those. Yeah.

[00:41:00][clears throat] As as the, you know, the friend or something, but >> not quite Brock America, though.

[00:41:06]>> No, not quite. She's she's out there.

[00:41:08]She's doing stuff. So Lucy Davis and Mackenzie Crook were hot off the office. Mackenzie Crook's the biggest star in this. Johnny Vegas is also a star, but not particularly as an actor. So, you know, whatever that means. Anyway, that's who's playing his girlfriend. So, he just starts following around. He steals her dog just cuz he's obsessed with her and that's what kind of weird stalker people do.

[00:41:30]>> And uh then he's going to kill the dog at one point, but he can't bring himself to do it. That's the line, Gareth.

[00:41:37]That's where you don't go too far >> because he he likes he likes the dog so he can't be all bad.

[00:41:42]>> Yeah, exactly. But yeah, he is literally standing in the bushes wanking uh while watching her through binoculars.

[00:41:48]Although he ends up watching the neighbor cuz you know >> Yeah, it's not her. It's not even her.

[00:41:52]The scene we just watched, he's watching some other woman through some other window >> because he's there. The thing is, Gareth, he's he's not there to have a have a wife.

[00:41:59]>> It's not his fault.

[00:42:00]>> He's there. He's there to watch her because she's seeing another man and he wants to be jealous of that.

[00:42:07]>> Well, well, we all live happily ever after because he meets Julia Davis. Uh, not Lucy Davis, Julia Davis, who is one of my favorites. I think she's great.

[00:42:15]And, you know, after an initial pretending to be something he isn't. He admits that he lied. She's got something in her past as well, I forget. And so, we all live happily ever after.

[00:42:24]>> She's also an a nut job and she did a load of weird stuff to her ex-boyfriend.

[00:42:29]So, they got on really well.

[00:42:31]>> So, it's going to be fine.

[00:42:33]>> It's funny you mentioned there about Julia Davis. Of course, Julia Davis did crop up a little cameo in Ideal. I don't know if you saw that episode.

[00:42:40]>> I don't think I did. No, >> she played the mom of Jenny uh in one episode and she had cataracts.

[00:42:51]>> That was the gag. She couldn't see.

[00:42:53][laughter] >> I didn't say that one.

[00:42:55]>> Yeah. Um it's Can I be slightly controversial? I don't know if I like Julia Davis that much. I never really >> Julia Davis I really like her.

[00:43:04]>> I really like the stuff she's she's m written >> and produced. I like that awkwardness that she does.

[00:43:10]>> Uh I I think she's I've only ever really seen her do that one thing as an actor.

[00:43:15]I mean >> I haven't really seen no any range.

[00:43:18]>> Um but I like it. I like what she does.

[00:43:20]>> Yeah. I don't think I do. And like we I would love to tackle Night properly at some point.

[00:43:26]>> I think we will at some point definitely. what I've seen of >> I particularly enjoyed Honda the period drama she did period sitcom that she did >> it just never quite chimes with me somehow but I've never kind of really sat down and figured thought about it that much so there is a fourth character who gets very little >> set up but I tell you what it is we'll talk about the his his plot in a minute because it's poor but it's it was nice to see Dominic Coleman sort of front and center you know he's definitely not he's not the top of the cast list, but he's got he has not not a lot to do. He has a single thing to do several times. It's nice to see it's nice to see him like he always just pops up in one episode here and there. It's nice to see him actually in a starring role.

[00:44:10]>> Sure. Yeah. I mean, we saw him recently in Trolid in which he ended up playing quite quite a regular part. Dominic Coleman, I do like him. He has a very specific comedy acting style. You know, I wouldn't I wouldn't hire him to play, you know, the bereaveved father in a in a haunting drama. Um, but that's okay.

[00:44:28]He does what he does well. Uh, and I [clears throat] I he fits here fine. It's But even in this film, it his character and what he's doing feels ridiculous.

[00:44:42]>> Yeah. So, his entire plot line >> to the rest of the film.

[00:44:46]>> He he he likes to lick jam out of fannies. That's it. Like that's it.

[00:44:50]That's his thing.

[00:44:51]>> That's his his his kink. And so there's, you know, there's some grim [snorts] spreading raspberry jam on various types of fish product. It's it's all pretty grim, but that's it. That's it. That's his story line. There's a bit of telephone dating where he's he's trying to get a good Do you remember telephone dating? Is that before your time?

[00:45:09]>> A little bit. Yeah, I certainly am.

[00:45:11]>> I I mean I It's before my time as as in dating, but I remember when I was a kid, it was a bit of a trope, bit of a comedy trope. So you you kind of left a one minute voicemail on some central repository and people could ring in and if they liked it they would leave you a message and you know it was it was Tinder of the naughties.

[00:45:28]>> Yeah. Uh so but but eventually you know there's lots of him checking the messages. You have no messages and then he finally gets a message gets a date and it turns out that she's she she's into sex as well. So she takes him to Adrien Charles's sex club. [laughter] >> Oh yeah. Yeah, I didn't get a clip of Adrien Charles, I'm afraid. Yeah.

[00:45:48]So, they go to some house party, which is a sex party, and the door is opened by a topless Adrien Charles, and that's it. He lets them in, and oh, welcome to No, that's it. Like, that's that's his that's his which is which I quite [laughter] enjoyed.

[00:46:01]>> I assume that's what happens in >> this is before Adrien Charles was a sort of national treasure um auncular character. He was like the guy off of business news, wasn't he? [laughter] Uh, do you want a quick clip of uh Dominick Coleman? We we'll we'll see a bit of him.

[00:46:17]>> How How grim is it going to be?

[00:46:19]>> It's It's not too bad. Uh, I like this one because >> the one where he's licking jam off an octopus.

[00:46:24]>> We're not seeing him licking anything here. He goes to a sex shop to try and buy a fake Fanny so that he can put um jam on it.

[00:46:31]>> Actually did. Do you know what? Before before you play the clip, this is one of the two times in the entire film that I laughed out loud. Sorry. Carry on.

[00:46:38][laughter] >> Yeah. And I like the guy who plays the shop clerk, the shop owner here is is a nice little >> four lines, but he does a lot of good stuff with it. Yeah. Have a watch at this.

[00:46:49]>> How [music] much you plastic [ __ ] >> 50 quid price.

[00:46:52]>> What you used to um what' you put inside it?

[00:46:56]>> You [ __ ] >> No, I meant to make it all slippery. You put like margarine in it or something.

[00:47:02][music] >> There tubes of ky jelly next to the vibrators.

[00:47:05]>> Yeah, but he doesn't taste of anything, does he? You're not supposed to eat it, mate.

[00:47:09]>> No. No, obviously. But is there anything else? Is there anything that's got a more proper fanny flavor?

[00:47:16]>> Yeah, a proper fanny.

[00:47:21][laughter] >> A thoughtful.

[00:47:24]>> What do you put in it, you [ __ ] That may >> I love that. [laughter] >> Out of interest, do you would you like to know the second time I laughed out loud at this point? [snorts] >> Oh, go on then. It was um it was a joke at the end where McKenzie Crook was uh reflecting on his period living in the chip shop and he says, "Yeah, I got me fingers burned at the chip shop. Tried to get a pound coin out the fryer."

[00:47:46][laughter] That's a good joke. That's a good joke.

[00:47:49]That's a pullback and reveal joke. And I laughed out loud. Not for long. I went, "Ha, that counts."

[00:47:56]>> Yeah, fair enough. I'll give you that.

[00:47:57]>> Maybe I was euphoric. It was near the end of the film. Yeah, it's like you just start to lose your mind slightly.

[00:48:03]It sounds like we haven't addressed the plot very much. Nothing happens.

[00:48:07]>> We we have addressed the plot, mate. We have discussed everything that happened.

[00:48:12]>> Yeah. Yeah. And not not much happens.

[00:48:15]There isn't there's no there's not really much in terms of character journey. Like McKenzie Crook, he shags people and then he ends up back where he started, I think, or he gets his own place or something. [gasps] Ah, yeah.

[00:48:29]>> I can't remember. I can't remember. I genuinely can't remember.

[00:48:32]>> Not satisfying narrative arcs. Uh, we have four separate arcs that don't come together particularly well.

[00:48:38]>> They don't come together at all. These guys all work together, but that's it.

[00:48:42]They've got these separate story lines >> and and it's like love actually.

[00:48:47]>> Yeah. Mark go spunk actually. Um, sorry about that.

[00:48:53][laughter] Okay. This is this is this is more than I laughed at during [laughter] the whole film.

[00:49:00]>> Mark Gates's character particularly barely interacts with the others at all.

[00:49:04]Um the so you got Johnny Vegas and McKenzie Cook are kind of the mates and Dominic Coleman's the other one and they go and stay with him. Johnny Vegas stays with him so he has to like live with a weird mate.

[00:49:13]>> Um you know but that's about about as far as you get with that. Um yeah but overall thoughts it's not just that it's kind of it's oh it's gross. It is gross.

[00:49:24]It's vulgar in a not funny way and I guess that's a thin line sometimes. Um, but even at the time in 2004, it's kind of went beyond the pale, >> but it's it's uh like in terms of how it's put together, it's pretty basic, but it's functional. Like from a directing point of view, I think the writing is a lot worse than the directing. And performance-wise, it just feels kind of >> thrown together that it's not like the people are doing a bad job. It just feels like this is not born of passion, is it? This is just throwing something together.

[00:50:00]>> I I think you know there are exception like I think of Kate Robbins as an exception. I I really liked what she did. I thought she was very funny. But but in the main Thank you. [laughter] some sort of woman's bra in the main um most of the ancillary characters, most of the people who are just popping in aren't very good. The performances aren't very good. And although our four main characters, I don't think they're doing a terrible job, but there's not a lot to work with. The scripts aren't very good. That's the truth.

[00:50:31]>> Yeah. Yeah. And you know, in a very direct sense, it's not particularly funny, but then an overall sense, the the plot is kind of nonsense and messy and Yeah. And it's as a as an actor to like you get presented with a character that has no kind of real arc or personality. Like what do you do with that? You swear and try and make it funny. I um you you've put up on screen there the DVD cover and the the tagline is the year's most controversial comedy and that is someone in marketing desperately trying to spin the fact that this was an absolute bomb at the box office.

[00:51:05]>> Yes, it was controversial. Nobody went to see it. But you can't put that on the box.

[00:51:09]>> Yeah. And this and the secondary line is the search for the lowest form of life on the planet is over. So this is very much saying we're laughing at these people, which I don't think is what was intended. Uh but that's how they're trying to sell it. could be the lads film of the year. It says at the bottom there. What who's that from? Who said that?

[00:51:26]>> Um someone uh like the Daily Mirror or something, but I think it may have been in a kind of Well, maybe the lads will like it. Ah, this is >> Well, if you Garrett in in 2004, right, you're about the same age as the likes of a Johnny Vegas and a Mackenzie Crook.

[00:51:45]>> Were you a bit of a lad? Did you watch this film with your mates and have a couple of beers and go, "Oh, it's amazing."

[00:51:52]>> Well, by then I had my son was No, my son wasn't born in 2004, but I would I had settled down then. Uh I I don't think >> so. Mackenzie Crook, he got divorced.

[00:52:03]>> Perhaps perhaps if you if you take me back a couple years earlier before I was in a relationship, then you know, I was desperately trying to get laid like that's that's normal. But I I I don't think I went about it in the same way.

[00:52:17]No, >> that's an interesting point you just make there. A lot of comedy in in this kind of arena comes from people trying to get laid, especially men trying to get sex and struggling.

[00:52:28]>> That doesn't happen in this film that basically just getting laid all over the place.

[00:52:32]>> Uh including, you know, Johnny Vegas just goes to almost a random woman says, "Do you want a threesome?" And then she says, "Yes."

[00:52:40]>> Yeah.

[00:52:42]Uh, and uh, Dominic Coleman is kind of the one who's he's not trying to find a woman. He is trying to find a woman, but for a specific purpose, and then he finds a woman. So, it's like I don't know what's >> I don't What is this film? What is it trying to achieve?

[00:52:57]>> I I listen, I didn't enjoy it. I laughed twice and I rolled my [snorts] eyes and I watched it with my wife. [laughter] I I I set this up as this is really bad.

[00:53:10]don't expect anything. And she was I wouldn't say she was appalled. That would be too strong. But she was like just this is crap. This is [laughter] actually Do you know what? That's a good point. That's a good point. It wasn't even appalling. It wasn't shocking in the sense that oh my god, they haven't said that. Oh my goodness. It's just like, oh god, this is lame.

[00:53:29]>> Yeah, it's Yeah, >> it's lame. There you go. One word. Lame.

[00:53:35]>> Well, I think that's it. I think we covered the sex lives of all four potato men. Are you uh have you got anything else to say or shall we wrap this uh this up with mercy?

[00:53:45]>> Yes. Let's wrap it in tin foil and stick it in the oven.

[00:53:48]>> Thanks. Thank you, Alan. So, uh thank you everyone for listening. And again, if you're listening, you can watch on YouTube with uh the clips that we've been talking about as well. And you can find us on Instagram, Brickcommpod, on Facebook, British Sitcom History Podcast. And once again, next week we will be having a bonus exclusive Patreon episode and we're going to be looking at an episode of the comedians. You'll remember in Ideal we had Mick Miller who was Johnny Vegas's dad. So we're going to look at an episode of the comedians from 1985 which featured Mick Miller.

[00:54:22]>> Yes. And uh I've got some clips also of a couple of other comedians who appeared in Ideal as a little bonus for you.

[00:54:28]>> It's gonna be very interesting. So you can you can go to patreon.com/brickcompod if you would like to sign up for5 pounds not dollars5 pounds a month and um you can you can then have access to our exclusive episodes. Please don't worry if you're not a patron you'll still get three episodes a month that will be uh that will be happening from now on.

[00:54:48]>> Nice. All right. Great. Thank you very much.

[00:54:50]>> Thanks for watching everyone. Thanks for listening and we will see you next week.

[00:54:53]Bye >> bye.