-Our next guest is a very
talented actress and comedian you know from shows like
"After Life" and "Motherland." Her very funny show
"Cunk on Earth" is streaming now on Netflix.
Let's take a look. -Just look at this 14th-century
painting of Jesus having his fateful tea party. The dimensions are all wrong. The room's squashed up so it looks like it's happening
in the lid of a cardboard box. Jesus is twice as big
as the others. So it looks like it's enjoying
an intimate dinner with some schoolboys --
not a good look. And what are those,
bowls or seashells? It's just shoddy craftsmanship.
Absolutely disgraceful. Shouldn't even be in a museum. But da Vinci's reboot
of the same painting is a different story. He knew how to perspective
the [Bleep] out of things. Look at the angles of the walls
in "The Last Supper" and the table there.
You almost feel like you could crawl inside it
and betray Jesus yourself. [ Laughter ] -Please welcome to the show
Diane Morgan, everybody. [ Cheers and applause ] [ Mid-tempo music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome to the show, Diane. -Well, thanks for having me. -I'm really thrilled to
have you. I keep saying everybody
has been talking about "Cunk" for the last month to me.
And I love -- I mean, the name Philomena Cunk is such a wonderful
character name. -Yeah.
-When you first saw it, did you know,
"Oh, that's really good"? -Uh, yeah.
I thought, "That's weird." -Yeah.
-And, well, it turns out that they wanted,
like, a posh character. And I'm not posh.
[ Laughter ] And so, I went into the audition
for Philomena, did my best posh.
And but I knew that it would be just better
in my own accent, because it's so flat.
[ Laughter ] And depressing.
It just adds something. -Well, it is -- The most
wonderful thing is, you have this character who
is telling us about history and just seems not only
disinterested, deeply bored by everything.
[ Laughter ] And I think that's where the
flatness really comes in handy. -Absolutely.
'Cause I know that everyone watching it
is bored by history, as well. [ Laughter ]
So I know what people want. -Yeah.
-I know. I know, when someone is being
really boring and dull, to move it on.
[ Laughter ] Or just yawn in their face.
[ Laughter ] -It's true because when
you watch those history shows where the host is
really excited about it, it makes you feel bad
because you don't share it. -Yeah, 'cause you're thinking,
"This is boring." -Do you have any personal
interest in history yourself? -No, I hate it.
[ Laughter ] Boring. Unless it's
something really weird. -Okay. So you --
-I like weird stuff. -Yeah.
-I like to hear about the Bermuda Triangle,
stuff like that. -Okay, gotcha. So, that's -- -I realize that's not history.
But, you know... I like -- Just saying
I like weird stuff. If it's not weird,
I'm not interested. -Yeah. So, you -- I know you've
done a couple series of this. You did "Cunk in Britain,"
and this is "Cunk on Earth." One of the things
that's been a through line is you do talk
to very informed people, experts, professors.
[ Laughter ] And I mean, it's so wonderful
to watch you talk to them, because you ask them --
let's be honest -- very funny,
but very dumb questions. [ Laughter ] -Yeah.
Very deep questions sometimes. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] One of my favorites
in the series, you believe the Renaissance,
Cunk believes was -- thought was a sauce.
-A nice sauce, yeah. [ Laughter ] -Now, while you're speaking
to this Renaissance expert, how much do they know
ahead of time, when you shoot those, what they're
about to embark upon? -They don't know -- Well, they
know that it's a comedy now. The cat is out of the bag now.
-Right. -But they play along.
But they don't know what I'm going to ask.
-Yep. -So they don't know
any of the questions. And it's nice to sort of
back people into a corner... -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -...and watch them struggle.
-They do a very -- They do a very nice job
of not breaking, because -- -They break.
-Yeah, and then you -- -They just cut it out.
-You just edit it out, yeah. [ Laughter ]
Now, do you like them? So, you, obviously, know
it's unusable once they break. But do you, as a performer,
enjoy the moment that you make these professors
and art historians laugh? -Yeah, but you think "Oh, no,
we'll have to go back and do it again."
[ Laughter ] -You do a wonderful job. It feels as though, you are --
everybody who makes this show is experts in the sort of tropes of these historical reenactment
or travel shows. You do a great amount
of walking in the woods. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -A lot of walking and talking.
And we were talking backstage, there's a scene
in the second episode where, I mean, I think it's
about a four-minute monolog where you're walking
around a castle. -Yeah.
-I'm so impressed by the amount of
walking and talking you do. -I do a lot of walking.
-Yeah. Do you enjoy being
out in the woods, doing your walking and talking?
-Uh, not really. It's very cold.
-Yeah. -But it's just
one of those tropes that history documentaries
always have. They're always walking
through the woods. [ Laughter ] Or just staring off
into the middle distance. [ Laughter ]
You know? -You do wonderful
as a performer. I'm very taken
with how Cunk trips a lot. -I love a trip.
I love a bit of physical comedy. -They're all very little trips
that you try to then play off. -Yeah. -I'm such a fan
of the little trip. -Are you? I love a trip!
-Oh, I love a trip. Especially from someone
who is hosting a history show and there's
this real gravitas to it, and then a little trip.
-Fall over. Yeah. -Yeah.
-Do you know when you've done a good one
when you're shooting? You're like, "Perfect, yeah"?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there was one I rolled
down a hill at one point. [ Laughter ] Which I was at the top
of a sand dune. And I thought -- I didn't tell
anyone I was going to do it. I just thought, "This is
going to be quite boring, me walking down a sand dune.
So, I'm just gonna fall over." [ Laughter ] No one came to help me.
I was rolling. [ Laughter ]
Just kept rolling. And they were just filming. [ Laughter ] -This is how much you care
about your craft, you're willing to take a header.
-I'm just worried that people are gonna be bored,
so I think, "I'll fall over." [ Laughter ]
-Now, again, because there's
such attention to detail, have people, when this
first started in the U.K., did people think
it was a real show? -Yes.
-Okay, so, they did. -And they still do.
-They still do? [ Laughter ]
-On Twitter, I still get people going, "This presenter
is terrible." [ Laughter ] "She doesn't know
what she's talking about. She's getting
all these facts wrong." [ Laughter ] "The BBC
are really dumbing down." [ Laughter ]
-Now, were you -- Did you originally think
comedy was your path? Or did you think
just acting in general? -No. I wanted to be
a comedy actor from age 15. -Oh, wonderful.
-That's what I wanted to do. You know, I grew up watching,
like, Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy, and
I was just, you know, obsessed
that's what I wanted to do. -And did you do it at all
at university? Or did you --
-I went to drama school. -Okay, gotcha.
-Yeah. -And then how were they
with attempting comedy? Were they alright with it?
-Well, I went -- I went to the head of the school
and I said, "Look, I'm not interested
in Shakespeare, you know? I only want to do comedy.
So just let me do -- I just want to get better
at comedy." And he started giving me, like,
Lady Macbeth, parts like that. But, luckily, I got big laughs
as lady Macbeth. [ Laughter ]
I was really proud. -To this day, they say you were
the funniest Lady Macbeth. -The funniest Lady Macbeth,
yeah. -And then, it is true that you
did stand-up for a while? -I did it for nearly 10 years.
-And did you love it? -I hated it.
[ Laughter ] I hated it.
Did you do stand-up? -I do, still, a little.
-Did you hate -- You still do it?
-I do, yeah. -Do you hate it?
-I don't hate it, no. -Why not? It's awful.
[ Laughter ] -What did you hate about it?
-just going about at night on your own,
traveling around late at night. Dealing with crowds
that, you know, were horrible. [ Laughter ]
You could just tell, some nights,
they were just horrible people. And be like, "Ugh."
You'd have to pander to them. -Yeah.
-I just-- I just felt physically sick
every time I did it. [ Laughter ]
-Do you feel great relief being past
that part of your career? -Yes, absolutely, I mean,
you know, fingers crossed. Knock on wood.
-Well, I certainly -- -I might have to go back
at some point. -Base on what you've said,
I won't be very excited if I'm in an audience
and you walk out. [ Laughter ] -Oh, no.
-And now, we were talking about this backstage,
but, you know, this hasn't been on Netflix
very long, but here you are
in New York City, and people are recognizing
you from "Cunk"? -It's amazing.
People are lovely. They're so enthusiastic.
-Well, it is a show that deserves
all the enthusiasm. It's really wonderful.
And thank you so much for being here.
-Thank you for having me. -I'm just delighted
that you're here. [ Cheers and applause ]
You guys, that's Diane Morgan. "Cunk on Earth"
is streaming now on Netflix. We'll be right back
with more "Late Night."
