Paul Merton | Full Q&A at The Oxford Union

[Music] [Music] [Applause] you almost look amused that people have turned out to come and watch you good it's it's I mean it's it's something wonderful III was I've been asked over the years to come along and I I've always sort of said no because I suppose I was feeling a bit shy about it really but I think that's about the third time of asking in about 15 years I thought has always been a bit rude it was about time I said yes so I'm just pleased on such a sort of dark and miserable night there's so many people here that's good it's free I was saying to Paul before that the the committee member that invited him asked me whether we should invite him I said well he don't bother he won't accept and there and here we are so yeah thank you so much Paul for for joining I wanted to start my questioning with where you started and how you got into comedy what what got you first interested in comedy how did that develop and end up as your your vocation I guess I think it was just just the clowns at the circus it was was that was the thing that really sort of first did it for me there was a circus and Olympia that ran after the second world war through to the early 60s that was I had a free thousand-seat a tent you know so you had this massive marquee and I was about sort of four or five something like a very early age and I saw the clowns I'd never seen this as we know there wasn't a lot of TV around it in those days so I think I'd seen clowns before I'd certainly never seen adults behave like this because I don't where they usually the people said no get off the furniture or you know it's time to come in or they weren't sort of dressed in baggy trousers they weren't like these adults who were sort of like who drove and drove cars where the doors fell off or they'd last see each other with sausages and and 3,000 people laughing was such a powerful feeling that I and I remember at one point that they asked for volunteers to go into the ring and I was you know I was too far back and I was too shy and I was too late putting my hand up but from that moment from that night that evening I wanted to be part of the process that was making all those people laugh it would have been enough for me to just to sort of pick up the props after they'd left or in just to be part of the whole business of creating a huge bubble of energy and laughter that was just you know simple little clown tricks which they've you know they've been doing for centuries where you see somebody for the bucket up with water and then you somehow the bucket gets switched and you don't notice it and they throw the bucket over the audience it's all confetti and that laughter thinking you're going to be soaked by something and then it's just confetti everybody roar and it just paid a huge impact on me and for me it was yeah that was the first time where I just sort of the power of laughter in a big space the power of laughter to transport you no matter what your but your problems were at that point it just sort of flush through your brain these endorphins these chemicals you know that just sort of like made you feel happy it just seemed to be the most extraordinary process and to and to be part of that I think was sown in my heart from that very early experience and I think I'm right in saying that your sort of path from that point into comedy was a more traditional conventional but nowadays things are changing quite a lot of social media and those things do you think that the path into comedy is is very different to to how the path that you followed to get into comedy well I was very fortunate in that the time of the nice the The Comedy Store opened up in London in 1979 and the big thing about the Comedy Store that was different was that you anybody could get up and give it a go it didn't mean that necessarily you were gonna be any good at it but you had that you had stage time essentially you had the chance to stand on stage and try and make people laugh before the comedy story and that's how I was about 22 at that point so it was it was a very good time for me the timing was perfect before that they you know we looked at some that Peter Cook Dudley Moore Oxbridge people that was one way in which I wasn't I wasn't gonna happen for me holiday camps redcoats that was another way in or working men's clubs in the north so none of those free options would have been it I wasn't naturally a gregarious character so judging the knobbly knees contest at Butlins wasn't going to be any good for me so those were the traditional ways in because music who had long since sort of disappeared and variety theatre had disappeared so the Comedy Store has opened up and the more that people do I mean when I started doing it the idea of doing stand-up comedy was as akin to saying you wanted to be an astronaut it seemed to be an impossible incredible thing but nowadays I mean there's thousands of people doing it so then it's it's it's more difficult in other ways because there are so many more people doing it but there are other venues it's it's easy I think probably to find somewhere where you can get up for 10 minutes and do an unpaid spot somewhere just to give you a little bit of experience about what it's about and to see whether actually temperamentally you can do it my great fear was I had this really big ambition to do it but until I tried it I might not be any good and so that was the that was the big concern so I was very fortunate the first time I played The Comedy Store I had this idea I'd seen this documentary back in the late 70s about a police operation called Operation Julie and this was a police operation that was in Wales and basically what had happened there were some people making the drug LSD in this Factory in Wales and the police raided this place without being aware that there was a lot of LSD dust in the air so they ingested this without being aware that they've ingested it and there was a documentary about what happened to these policemen afterwards and there was a various I just remember this piece of dialogue as I was waiting for a bus one evening this policeman is talking to camera about his experience and he said I was sitting in the pub with Detective Inspector Norris when I noticed that my pint of beer was getting bigger and it was that combination I've sort of described and a hallucination in a sort of like deadpan policeman way that I realized was that there was a comic friction there and so I went back to the beds that I was living in and I spent about three or four weeks that's righted this four minute thing about a policeman given evidence in court describing his hallucination in a deadpan way but describing you know meeting Marilyn Monroe or whatever it was and and as I say that the the connection the the friction between what he was saying and he's delivery made it very funny and so it was the first thing I did at The Comedy Store and they loved it yeah I was very lucky because it was the best thing I had for about 18 months after there every gig I had for the next 18 months died off really well and then started to go down here because I didn't have anything as good as that but in a very the very first time of getting up on stage I knew that I could do it and I had the temperament to do I'd even sort of written down the lines for the policemen so I could be consulting a notebook so I could make sure I wouldn't forget it but I didn't need it and I found that on stage I had the temperament for it I wasn't too nervous that I couldn't do it mm-hmm I guess that was your first breakthrough and the second one that I would say say was the breakthrough into television and I think it was on channel 4 you first sort of I said John had to tell us a little bit more about how you got into television whether that was something you'd always wanted to do well it was but I was in no rush to do it I suppose being somewhat of a working-class background I had in my head that and also my knowledge of other comedians you know history of comedians it seemed to me that the people who spent some time getting to be successful with the people that success lasted so I thought of it is like being a five-year apprenticeship to go and just do sort of you know odd gigs here and there I was lucky the cabaret circuit was starting up at that time so the first year I did 30 gigs the next year I did 60 the year after that was like a hundred or something so there was lots of sudden there was lots of opportunity to get on stage make mistakes get better improve realize something note I mean if you delay a laugh you can delay a laugh by the way you time the joke all that sort of stuff which I found find fascinating because it's not a science it is an art and I realized that all those make those mistakes when nobody's watching and and learn from that so I felt by the time I got to television that I was kind of ready for it I didn't want to rush into it you know because there were lots of people can you know you can rush in and come out the other side and so fights it sort of worked you know a half for her well what you are known for is this this deadpan and brand of comedy and so when you entered into television did you think consciously think okay I need to go in with that persona people need to see me on screen I think it came from the policeman on acid rooty which is what I called it whether the policeman being very deadpan about his experiences I knew it wouldn't be funny if he thought what was happening to him was funny he was deep embarrassed by bite by the hallucinations and there was a thing in our family now there were no rules in comedy because whatever you say can be proved by the opposite but our family use that didn't like comedians at laughed at their own jokes but actually Billy Connolly is somebody that laughs at his stuff and he's supreme you know so there isn't that you can't say that he's a bad comic you know he's one of the most incredible comedians in the since the second world war in this country and but so it seems sometimes boys being deadpan you can extend the laughter by looking like you don't know what people are laughing at so it's it's it's a technique really you know so I did sometimes I have a good news for you where I say something and just so you know just look around and wonder what all the hilarity is about but it's just you know it's just a technique yeah it looks it looks more charming than probably thinking you're the funniest person in the room the sort of next step after that I guess was you studied to present quite a few really prominent shows and I was actually wondering whether there was a difference in your approach to presenting a show or just being on a panel well what I did a series I did a series called room 101 that ran for many years and the we interviewed people like Spike Milligan and George Mele and John Peel and quite a few big names and the point of that program for me was to create a platform rather than like what you're doing now create a platform for the person that you're interviewing that's that's quite rare these days that quite often the idea of a person that presents a chat show is that they are the star and that the person I'm interviewing is sort of like revolving around them a bit but I always felt that if we could get some ideas on room 101 the idea was you know you got rid of things you found personally irritating or annoying or whatever and you can find out about somebody by the things they dislike as much as the things they like over the course of an hour so we'd cut down to half an hour so each one of those shows I felt was different from the other ones because you're getting something kind of personal I do the person that you're interviewing so that was I wasn't trying to make myself the star of it I was I once interviewed Johnny Vegas who was talking about his addiction to online computer games and he he became riveting III didn't have to say anything for about 10 minutes just listening to him and at one point I mean generally in the interviews I always like to ask a question ask questions I knew the answer to that I knew would lead to somewhere and he was you know I'm just addicted to these games Paul I can't stop and I said well how was the longest you've ever sort of sat in a chair planning playing a computer game you know he said well I think it was 24 hours and my jaw just drops I had no idea was gonna say that but it was fascinating I didn't feel I needed to sort of interrupt or come in or whatever because I knew that what he was saying was absolutely you know riveting I've got a now ask a little bit about how I got new to you and certainly for me it's been shown that I've grown up with my mom and a lot of people have grown up with it yeah indeed I wanted to ask about sort of the political correctness that we're seeing instead of how that relates to the TV show and whether you found something you were asked upstairs is whether there is a joke that can go too far do you think and actually one we're talking about just before words whether the the program can lead to cynical ISM cynicism of politicians yes what are you what's your comment on that and sort of how the TV show could have some negative impacts and that regard well I think maybe we was a good question somebody asked upstairs I wasn't yeah I I think suppose it's it's not necessary that we're bringing the politicians in this into disrepute it's their actions themselves that are often doing that you know I would draw your attention the factory in his lab who is a an Oxford man loses virtually every week against the boy who has a comprehensive school education so I wonder whether the education you're getting here is as good as you think it is because the Imperial evidence is over the last 28 year mean get through your note about not winning but I think it's I I tend to guess that the missing words round more better than he does so that's where I tend a sort of school to score the points but relation to your question yeah I mean you have to it's always there's always been sort of making fun of powerful people I mean Charlie Chaplin made the film the Great Dictator which was essentially a parody of Hitler he said afterwards this is before they knew about the sheer real horrors of the Nazi regime so he wouldn't have made the film if we'd known the full you know what had happened but in Hollywood they didn't open you know that the film companies didn't want him to make this film because they didn't want to upset the you know European audiences or the German box office or whatever but you know you have to you have to draw attention to when people would be an idiotic I think because you know Trump or whatever you know you you it's we had him on the other week China beat a marvelous clip of an interview in saying to him you're not very humble are you he said listen he said I'm the most humble person you've ever met you you couldn't believe how humble I am you know so if we don't we have to laugh at that even though he's also scary figure hmm throughout not just haven't got newspaper all the programs you know who has been there the funniest all most outrageous guests that you've had to engage with probably the favorite host Bruce Forsyth won't have a good news view and mainly because of the effect it had on Ian because Ian's in had a television set that didn't have an ITV button on it so it had it removed by Howard's you know an early stage and so he when he when Bruce was doing play you Iraqi cards right Ian was right you know he was appalled and he had never seen the show play your cards right at ITV show and so it's so turning over these basically pictures of war criminals was something that the friction as always mentioned early about the policeman on acid the friction between Ian and Bruce Forsyth was really clear they were this was the only place that we're ever going to meet and yeah that was fun that was fun it's I was gonna actually bring up Bruce Forsyth MC he was the one he rewarded you the BAFTA ya thousand three in the new subsequently awarded him the BAFTA yes which is a strange the whole thing was very surreal because you know as a boy you're watching this program Sunday night London Palladium and Bruce Forsyth is on it and you remember watching it when you were five and then there you are sort of whatever is 40 years later 45 years later and he's given you an award on the very stage that you're at and there's a boy I I'd never dreamed of something like that happening because it seems so ridiculously it seems so implausible I hope that one day I would become a professional comedian but the notion that he would give you a prestigious award I mean it is it's you can't dream of those things because if this doesn't seem real it was was he an influence and a lot of your presenting I mean he's sort of I mean he was what he was really good at with Bruce was sort of like he is you know he was a skilled pianist he played a bit of jazz piano he was a dancer you know he was a singer you could do all these things but he's dedication to what he was doing a dedication to rehearsal was was very strong in him and yeah we had in one room one in one once and on have a good-news who's a huge fan of it you know he was a huge fan of the show and he phoned up and phoned me up one day to sort of test the waters to see whether they'd sort of like having one as a host and I said yeah you know I think it'd be great I mean I can't say yes myself but I've talked to the producers and stuff and yeah I mean on the night he was he knew how to handle an audience he knew how to sort of reach out to people myself and Sookie my wife he once went to Ronnie Scott's the Jazz Club in London with him and his wife and my fame just disappeared completely standing next to him it was like I was holding a candle and he was a lighthouse you know because he was just so famous that all eyes were drawn towards I mean he did have it he had a kind of magnetic personality as well he was an extraordinary figure and to survive that long doing all those shows over the course of you know whatever it was nearly 60 years you you have to have something special about you I suppose something you've done a lot more recently is been on radio quite a lot and I was wondering if you could give us a comparison of the two mediums how you have to obviously you can't have that straight face look around on radio yeah how how you have to approach those differently well it's him in radio stage TV that were they're all different but they were essentially the same kind of thing it's interesting on radio with just a minute is probably the show you're thinking of it's coming up for its 50th anniversary Nicholas Parsons is 94 he was 30 when the Queen came to the throne he was 15 at the outbreak of the Second World War I mean his extraordinary life is he's actually mentioned in the Bible I mean it is in the old in the Old Testament he he's one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse it's great fun but it's interesting that sort of how that people miss what's happening on the radio it was certainly said it doesn't paint the full picture because you were just listening to the sound you haven't you haven't got that you you not see there was something was one person that used to play the game on a regular basis that was really sort of like difficult to work with he was always frowning and scowl enjoying the recordings who always sort of look daggers at you if you dared interrupt them or challenged them and yet listeners never heard never saw that they they just saw oh she's very good is it she you know and so you don't to disabuse them but actually sometimes you can get away with stuff on radio because people aren't literally seeing the whole picture so there that's one of the differences I suppose I want I want to look now at some of the just the technical side so I a lot of people watch have I got news for you in those sort of shows but wants to know sort of how they work and how that comedy comes together hmm so how could you explain how scripted how I've got news for you is um what if you do improvise weather how often that's allowed and well essentially what happens is that the person in the middle of who's got an autocue today when they're looking at you at the screen you know they're seeing the words in front of them so they're there that's all scripted because they're introducing film clips and they're asking the questions and they've got all the various things all the stuff that myself and Ian and the other people do isn't scripted at all and you can tell really because you know I'm often what I say I made living off something that's to sit next to me or what that person has said over there so that can't be rehearsed and an audience can always tell the difference you know you if you try to present something that has essentially improvised that isn't audiences would smell a rat they would know because that you can't I mean when we go out on tour we do it you know we do a lot of Tours and stuff and sometimes journalists say well are you ever tempted to do the same jokes over and over again well it's much easier not to because first of all you'd have to remember whether you did this joke now we did you do it half an hour I go did he do it last night somewhere else and and it would it would feel awkward it would feel semi staged it wouldn't feel natural it would be like watching a football match where the footballers had predetermined exactly what they were gonna do it wouldn't it wouldn't feel real it wouldn't feel right it would feel somehow there were some fakery going on but now essentially I mean they showed the some of the questions beforehand but that's essentially mainly for the guests I mean you know the opening question will be something very big news story which is mute footage so they're told they're beforehand this is where you can talk over there so talk about what you're seeing so it's easier for them to know that before they go out into the studio you know but essentially they try and maintain the quiz element of it so the odd one out things and you'll see quite often we don't know the answer so that sort of indicates that it is a genuine quiz because if we did know the answers would be some of us would be much better wetter than we are you do have a good go at some some guests that you have on the show and I was wondering them there must be times when you have friends that come on and you accidentally have a good go maybe because they're friends you have to come off like that I'm sorry well who maybe took the joke too far there I don't tend to sort of lie I don't tend to have a go at the guests that I can remember I mean my body language is very is very clear if I'm sitting next to somebody I don't like I usually sort of have my hands like this and my knee no I usually I was sitting across my leg so you know I know I was I was sitting next to you Kip representative a little while ago and you it was really clear that I wasn't enjoying it you know so but no you I don't tend to sit I don't tend to have a going to get ian is being the you know a journalist is much more forensic in his questioning and so quite often I was sitting next to somebody who I don't particular one to sit next to you but it helps Ian because it's easier to be a sniper than a than a dagger if they're sitting next to him he will still do it but you know but it's it makes life a little easier if they're sitting next to me so but now generally speaking now I mean if they're friends you just you want the thing to be I get a bit nervous when it does get a little bit sort of rancorous because my DNA I suppose is that it should be I'm trying to be funny the whole time you know trying to make things funny or whatever but you know part of the show is sometimes you know when we when Boris was first on the show Ian gave him a hard time about something that boss wasn't happy to talk about and he didn't like it at all I remember yes you know I take my handle to him you know IDI does a good job in those circumstances and other than me of course who have you not had on have I got news for you that you'd like to have would you like to do the show well yeah if you invite me we it's not entirely up to me but yeah I can put a break I'm gonna put the recommendation in for I don't know I mean it's been going for so long now that anybody everybody that wants to do it because some people don't want to do it at all aren't interested in doing it I mean Victoria would would have been only met her fleetingly a few times but I always a huge admirer of her I always thought she was just incredibly good her sketch show from about thirty years ago it still has sort of you know real sort of incredible classic moments in it she was a very talented person we we tried several times to get on to room 101 but she was you know she didn't want to do it and it's you know some people don't and maybe have a good news for you wasn't her thing either really but I would have loved to have been on it yeah it would been fantastic my final question before we open up to the audience is just looking forward for you are there any to the projects that you you have in your mind that you want to work on a start that you haven't really touched on well the one area that I haven't which is is for me that you know perhaps the most potentially rewarding areas is to make a film I've made documentaries over the years about early cinema and stuff we've made a Hitchcock one and a few other ones about very early cinema and we've got a screenplay at the moment we really trying to sort of walk around a bit and and adapt and change and make it sort of what he wanted to be there to direct that that would be the ideal thing because I think my going back to the circus thing is that sort of directing your own material it's just it's such a joy but I wouldn't mind if I wasn't in it it wouldn't matter to me not to be into you whether I was in it or not but to be able to create that world to be able to sort of say to somebody I tell you what if you just stick your head out that dustbin there that's so much funnier than doing it there that kind of thing where you your years of experience lend you a sense of instinct based on experience which gives you so good oh yes that works I made a short film a long time ago called the suicidal dog which went out in cinemas there's a 10-minute short it was went out with the Billy Elliot film and that was great to go to a cinema and and see something you've made on a big screen with people oh yeah that that's that's that's something special so that's that's the one on unfulfilled ambition I suppose is to maybe make a successful movie okay great thank you so much for answering my the time went by really quickly thinking right we're now going to open up to the audience so if you have a question please raise your hand nice and high and wait until the microphone comes to you yeah let's start with you at the back yeah hyah this is a bit of a contentious one start off with but here we go recently Joe brand was presenting the show and there was a bit of a a moment where she gave everybody a bit of a licking over the fact that some people in the panel may or may not have been a bit crass about the Westminster scandal and I was just wondering what your thoughts were in that and also about the problem of having all-male panels and kind of diversifying comedy and making it less of like an old boys club well I take a second point first about the I was it was Danny Cohen who was the controller of BBC one a few years back who said that there should be women you know we should have a women represented on these shows and I totally agreed with that because I agreed with him making it public as well I'd like it I do like having you know more women on these shows just a minute which we do on the radio quite often has two women and two men's and has done for a number of years and the Jo Brand thing I mean it was Quentin let's was kind of setting the tone and really her remarks I felt were more addressed to him I didn't feel that I was being ticked off over anything because I hadn't sort of you know I'm I don't think it's a yeah I don't think it's an easy subject for humor it's sexual harassment and it's horrible and I you know I'm not going to sort of get into this sort of thing of sort of saying well there's nothing wrong with a hand on a knee because it's all part the same thing in the end you know there's no it's not acceptable behavior I don't think she I mean I think I'm glad she said what she said I think it was unfortunate that we had Quentin let's on who didn't seem to you know when he it was one point he talked about the Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee and said how he you know he wanted to pin her down and tickle her now it's a jocular remark but it's the pinning down is that's the very thing that we're talking about this artist horrible that that you know we're saying we don't agree with so that was unfortunate but I think what Joe said was was fine but I don't think I have a good news who generally has a problem with having female panelists on it we have in fact I think there's two women on this week I think Victoria Collins hosting and sarahpascoe is one of the guests so for my money I think it's always better I think it's always better than home I just think it's you know it's a better mix yeah just sort of follow up on them one thing you're saying before was just when were in the bar was about when some people make jokes about Donald Trump's comments on North Korea for example really serious issues that you don't think should be too trivial at trivialized or put into a comedic context well how do you are you able to influence it of the jokes and the script or have I got news for you if you're I mean I mean I can say afterwards I don't think you should I mean that yeah they weren't there are jokes that occasionally get into the script which I don't think should be there and I will say that after the recording because I'm not aware of the script beforehand because it's the person in the middle of that's doing it and they would I mean I don't think has ever been an occasion when they haven't listened to me you know they've just made a misjudgment on something and it hasn't worked well you know I think that's not a good gag and the audience's response tells you that anyway even though you know it yourself you know you know it yourself there are some jokes which is just no that's not good there would be a Miss a misguided joke about Jimmy Savile or something that was just like no no no no no so you know that's but you get a bunch of writers together in a room and they're looking to for edgy material and sometimes they go you know they go too far but that's okay there is a you know that it happens it hasn't worked it's not right it's not appropriate it comes out do those writers who produce the scripts the presenter actually try and make it funny or they just wanting to provide material for the panelists to make oh no they're going for I mean I think some of the writing in this series has been very strong there's been some very good jokes but yeah I mean they're trying to make it as funny as they can but I don't know too much about the process of that because I'm not there for that but it is there's a you know there's a roomful of mainly male writers I don't think there were many female writers only I think there may be one but I I'm I'm not part of that process I don't see any of that I just arrive on the day and I hear the script as it has been written over the course of three or four days you know okay next question gentlemen here yeah okay you can probably hear you actually you've mentioned the Donald Trump joke about well the Dundrum comment about being humble and that kind of thing and I wondered if you think the absurdity of some of the politics at the moment is a benefit or a disadvantage for your comedy because I know that for example Saturday Night Live in America has really benefited from the ridiculousness of the current American political situation but I wondered if it's also a bit more difficult because you're you're trying to make something funny out of some year already is yeah I think there's a different mean like a Saturday Night Live with Alec Baldwin doing an impression of Donald Trump that's funny because you're seeing somebody doing an impression of Donald Trump and they used to have Steve ban and was represented with a sort of like do you know the the the Grim Reaper and things like that's a different thing for there was a program in the last series which started off by showing my first question was Donald Trump beam verbose about some sub North Korea and then seen kim jung-han firing missiles into the air now that the audience weren't amused by that because you're showing them footage it's actually no potentially very scary if it had been somebody pretending to be kim jung-han or you know playing a part you're removing it from the reality and that's where Saturday live Saturday Night Live has scored well in the States because they're able to Lampoon Trump Robin just visually showing him they're showing somebody pretending to be him so there's a distance which isn't so which is is more comedic does that make sense I think so yeah good question yeah let's go to you yeah hi there thank you um I just wanted to ask whether a new career with have I got news for you has there been in particular time when you thought like wow this is a busy news week and if so why I mean it's hard to remember sort of well there's there was one week I think when there are a few years back when we had a new pope and Prince Charles got married in the same week so that was quite a big story it depends because sometimes this is a strange time now in terms of the program because you have two stories which are just run in the whole time bricks it and Trump so there's always some variation of that story so it's hard to find stuff that's amusing about brexit that hasn't been said before or you know amusing upon the whole thing you know on the other very subject it's sort of something that people aren't particularly wanted to hear jokes about but it because it's such a strong news story you have to cover it and the same with Trump you know you have to sort of cover so you have to try and find ways of making it new and fresh but hopefully and genuine generally Ian's got the heart of tarsier because he they generally give him the the week after we had the Me's been given the question to kim jung-han the firing missiles I did so I can plane to the bit I said I can't make anything funny about this what can I do so the next week my question was about the shortage of a humerus in supermarkets now it was a relief the audience felt sort of like oh this is you know this isn't World War three this isn't nuclear war this is just the shortage of human say it was a being funny about that is was was sort of release I think and the audience were very happy to hear that so you can never judge really what the a funny story is is good but sometimes we had one of our best shows have had a long time is about two weeks ago with rod Gilbert was hosted and it was just just the whole thing sparked he was very nervous beforehand but he's a very funny man but he was very nervous about doing it and that he's energy sparks off a kind of you know you've got something to bounce off if somebody's being quite sort of oh I've done this a few before looking into the camera and they're doing it you know perfectly well but they're not there's no energy about it it's harder to get comedy going so it doesn't always depend on the news it depends on the people that are doing it knowing that you have the rapport amongst the people in the studio I don't think we should under play the shortage of Hamas no no no no I III didn't wish to appear that I was being frivolous on the subject good just wanted to clarify yeah let's go to you in the corner clarify that's always a humorous joke isn't it about somebody been clamoring for anybody hi Paul hi building on from something that was mentioned earlier by my friend at the back here the very obvious negative friction between Joe brand and Quinton let's switch showed itself in the previous week I often wonder what goes on behind the scenes when there has been a confrontation on the show like that I remember one specific incident I think Clive Anderson may been filling in for you but Piers Morgan was on and him and Ian were exchanging some pleasantries with each other that's right yes and I often wonder once the show is over is it a case of shaking hands are going to the back for a drink or does that carry on backstage well with the Quentin let's show last week and you have it's filmed London Weekend Television there's a bar area sort of on the fourteenth floor that's not particularly you know it's just a sort of room I didn't see Quentin let's go I didn't talk to him afterwards myself and Joe were chatting and Ian was chatting and the producers come over and chat but yeah I didn't feel I needed to know quit and let any more than I already did so yeah they just disappear you don't have to eat it you're not forced to you know you don't know I know there was no pleasantries afterwards I mean he had some friends with him or people who've paid to be his friends I don't know so yeah you don't it's not it there's not a force you don't have to sit down and have dinner with them or anything like that you know it's yeah it's generally speaking you do I mean what I would normally do is afterwards I would say to the guests well done that was good you know because they're very nervous they haven't done it before I have only done it a few times before and it's when you've been doing it for a long time it's not so nerve-racking and my job whoever I've got on my team is to put them at their ease to make them feel comfortable to make sure they enjoy it really and so afterwards I'll just say well you know well done that was good that was great just something like that but yeah I mean it's sort of sometimes this conversations afterwards sometimes they're not but you know yeah I'm always asking who's on next week and what about that joke is that gonna be in and is that you know and all that sort of stuff but no no no great inquest really but just a general get together afterwards you know no great stories I'm afraid okay thank you for that question yeah let's go to you um like quite a lot of people I imagine I like to play just a minute socially do you have any advice on being a bit better is's yeah play it for 30 years is probably the I I remember just about starting I mean the thing is about its yes don't talk too quickly because on the on the on the radio show you can if you if you set off and use decide that your pace is going to be rather measured and you're taking your time to speak nobody can accuse you of hesitation trades I mean the key to it really is the program is not to speak for a minute successfully because then you wouldn't get any challenges and you wouldn't get the fun of it so I think it's just trying I mean it's just practice it's like anything really I do you do when you played it socially top but it's probably going about 40 seconds that's pretty good you know that's you know anything I went you're getting a double figures I think that's pretty good so yeah I mean but it's then it's it's you know the fun of it is it just really is the sort of the impossibility of it really and if it was if it was any easier it would I think a program where people just spoke for a minute the whole time without committing the free sins of hesitation repetition of engagement would be dull after a while so I think 40 seconds is very good great thank you for that yeah let's go - you just wait home microphone hi you're early talk of impressions put me in mind of the much of the episode you did with Mike yar would oh yes I was wondering if you thought there was much future in that sort of branch of comedy in the UK and also the double act which was quite popular when Mike was doing his thing well the double act is sort of it is it is it's kind of changed over the years it's sort of if we I suppose the classic double act that the more command wise but they started off when they were like in their teens and they were together a long time before they became popular in fact in the very early days only wise was the comedian and Eric was the straight man now I don't know if you have so much definition these days if they do do you have a straight man and a funny man and a double act that they tend to both be kind of amusing I suppose I don't know if there is so much of that sort of delineation any more impression so always we know we always find impressions very amusing when they work well I mean I I'm slightly ashamed of the fact I mean Mike yard was on that was a long time ago but he he was famous for his Harold Wilson impression and I beat him to it I did an impression of Howard Wilson before him which I shouldn't have done really but I was kind of showing off so I just you know I I did my brief Harold Wilson impression which I won't do now because it would bring the house down and it would hardly sort of be topical comedy would it but I used to love him pretty Peter Sellers you know I was a big fan of Peter Sellers in an early day and I used to I used to be able to do a couple of impressions and there was one that he did there's a classic Ealing film called Kind Hearts and Coronets and out we had the oh you look like it you know you know it so the way Antechinus plays eight different parts and he plays the part of the vicar that he's been interviewed by Dennis price and Alec Guinness this was the impression of Peter Sellers did on the Michael Parkinson show and the show was released on an LP so I used to listen to this LP to try and get the impression so it feels like in these sort of circumstances these environments are to try so this is Alec Guinness is the old vicar in Kind Hearts and Coronets if you don't know the film this impression is spot-on the view from my West window as all the exuberance of Joseph we have none of the concomitant crudities of the period that's an Achilles thank you for that question didn't think I'm doing that tonight that's good to you out of all the politicians you've had on the show over the years who would you have won again and why perhaps I can answer your question by taking the exact opposite of what you said who I who I wouldn't have on again all the politic mice let me try and answer your question first of all there were strange breed politicians they have to be because you have to be quite thick-skinned because people from an early age are going to challenge you your you know your your opinions and so you can't take that to heart too much I suppose politicians we've heard on again Caroline Lucas the Green Party she was she was an exception in that she was a very you know she was a very normal individual some of them are very odd they aren't very odd and Widdecombe now you forced it out of me she hosted the program twice the first time she did it it was kind of okay and it was you know beginners enthusiasm and the audience sort of liked and stuff and the edited version went out and all the mistakes were cut out and all that sort of stuff and her friends or maybe herself had convinced her that she'd done a really good job on it because in the Edit she looked fine you know so the second time she came on she was telling the producers which jokes would work which the wouldn't work she at one point said to me come on be funny that's what you're being paid for which is still the lowest point of my professional career being given showbiz advice by Ann Widdecombe I've made myself filial just sort of talking about it Michael Heseltine who's never been on the show but this is an example of politicians will say anything you know really if whatever suits them at that particular moment I said to me have you ever been asked to be on have a good news you never heard of it he said and this was about three weeks after he then leader William Hague had hosted it so I mean he he'd obviously knew what the show was but I think politicians generally they're it's what passes for wit in the House of Commons is quite thin stuff outside so then they're not always that good but they're always welcome he said oh yeah but I can't think of anyone on one of their back thank you for that question yeah let's go to here first of all I just like to say thank you because I'm pretty sure on my first memories of proper comedy are whose line is it anyway and I've got the song cassette tapes yeah and just watching you and Josie Lawrence Clive Anderson we still do a show Josie the comedy store and a Sundy so Josie's is there every Sunday if you go to the comedy store website you'll see it so come along one night we do an improv thing which is very much like who's that we started off before whose line but it yeah it still works very well hmm yeah I know my question are youare you ever worried about either being replaced on have I got news for you or have I got news being to you being canceled it comes from a good place I said I was a fan but you'd like to see somebody else do what I do well I think they're in Widdecombe would be my idea you can't be complacent in show business because you can't you know you you have to be employed by somebody else so it's if I mean particularly in the stuff that I do we've impro can't sort of just bus get or phone in because you you it's you can't do the show you did the time before so you always have to be as bet do the best you can do sometimes you're not not quite firing for you but you've got to always keep trying because at some point you know showbiz careers do end and somebody might say at some point all it needs to be freshened up or whatever but so far that hat that point hasn't been arrived at but you you can't you can't dis County so you you always always try and do the gig like this is your one opportunity to do the gig and then they'll ask you back so that's my sort of philosophy on it so I'm always trying to sort of not not resting on my logs essentially if they're happening great we have time for a couple more yeah that's guilty hi I was just wondering the program you did where you went and did like popular holiday experiences you went to I be fair and went on a cruise and things like that yes and I was wanting without any particularly good bits or bad bits or things you'd actually do again India was really exciting place to be filming and we were there for sort of I suppose about two months two and a half months there was if when you go to somewhere like India or China and you you need to have some really good people with you you need to have really good technical people so the cameraman is the guide is getting up on the hotel roof at four o'clock in the morning to shoot the beautiful sunset or he's picking out faces in a marketplace and whatever I had in the India I had an experience where the director was unfortunately an idiot and he had no sense of humor I was trying to keep trying to make things difficult for me thinking that would be funny now the people I was interviewing were very good because the production assistants had gone out there they found really good people so so the the program looked great the program wasn't affected by the fact that this guy was foolish but he was for example there was a moment when I was singing karaoke and a barne picked a song which is I got free octaves and which I can't possibly do and they thought it'd be funny to watch me not singing very well well actually you know you want to see somebody struggling at first and then be able to do it otherwise you're just watching somebody who's not really good at something and so trying to explain humor to him and comedy to him was very difficult I said like the humor will will happen naturally I'll be speaking to somebody I'll get to know them something will come across you know we'll be fine but at one point because I think I was very nervous making this show because it was stressful at times because of the the director we he said I've been eating a very basic diet because I was having a lot of tummy trouble so I was basically naan bread and rice like the plainest things you can find you know and he said this would be really funny so I want you to do a piece the camera about how you've come to India and you can't eat anything and I said well doesn't it sound a little bit sort of like I don't like in and food now it'll be hilarious it'll be funny okay say alright so you you always want to try and please the director because you're there to make a film and you do I'm gonna be a prima donna I hate all that sort of business of that you know we're there to make the best program we can so he sat me in the corner of a restaurant about an hour before the restaurant opened and I started talking and I said I said there tell me about them the naan bread and the rice I started talking about I said well I you know I since I've been here I've got a bit of a dodgy tummy I've been eating naan bread and rice in fact I I thought this might happen so I bought my own rice with me in a suitcase over from lier just making stuff up he said cap cut cut cut cut I said what did you say well it's not true is it I said what is it really didn't bring a suitcase of rice here we can't use that I said I mean it wasn't a great joke anyway but the fact that I did know it was a joke and so that was very difficult my wife is Sookie was there absolutely ambassador because she was became the link between me and the rest of the productions I stopped talking to them after a while because they were they were pushing the crew too hard the crew have got a sort of dinner you've got one couple of cameras here you might even go in abroad you've got so many silver boxes full of stuff the check in and out of airports takes forever you were to go through security these guys you know you may be sort of filming in 98 degrees Fahrenheit but they've also got a huge camera on their shoulder you know and a sound guys got a boom so they're they're working harder than you and they weren't being treated well so it was the key thing to all in the end was if you're in that time to program if there's gonna be a weak link it should be the director because you can work around that the cameraman can be really good and can follow what's happening the sound guys on it they're the contributors that you interview and have been really well panned picked I mean at one point just an illustration of just how some people just don't get it this is the camera here the cameras looking towards the Ganges it's filming there the director is here smoking a cigarette and the camera has to tell him to stop smoking a cigarette because it's drifting across the lens now that's pretty basic I don't know if I've answered your question but I have certainly given a character assassination to a person I haven't named now you've got time for one more I hope it's not the director yeah let's go to you the purple so obviously you've had a very successful career at which of how I got into you is just a small part of and I was wondering how you felt about the prominence of the show and how you felt about having such a platform in a sense well it is you know it's like everything I mean I ever the three things I do the Comedy Store players been going since 1985 just a minute since 1988 when it was going before I joined for 20 years having new news was been guys it's 1990 so they are continuous yeah I mean it's I I just I I said at the top I think talking about the clouds of stuff the fact that it's still getting millions of people watching it that we're still getting a sort of combined figure of on this Friday night and the Monday night repeats of about five and a half million which in this day and age is extraordinary the fact that five and a half million at laughs and it's stuff that I do is just it's overwhelming really it's incredible I I'm eternally grateful in the end to the viewers that watch it because if nobody watched it we wouldn't have a show so long may it continue I suppose yeah it's it's it's it's great it's it's really is wonderful it's you know the you always want to play to the biggest audience possible so to still be able to do that after 27 years of the show and you know just a minute gets a good figure as well and the comedy still has room for you on a Sunday night so yeah it's it's I'm I'm more successful than I could have dreamed of great thank you so much Paul for joining us well thank you join me in thanking Paul matter you

Channel: OxfordUnion

Views: 177,194

Rating: 4.7850466 out of 5

Keywords: Oxford, Union, Oxford Union, Oxford Union Society, debate, debating, The Oxford Union, Oxford University

Id: 0fijsyWOLbw

Length: 52min 21sec (3141 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 15 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Gustyarse]

One of the greatest panel show comedians we've ever produced: 28% of you downvoting a very interesting discussion with this brilliant man.

I had no idea so many morons subscribed here.