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Another rather joyous and sold out RHLSTP, thanks to my guests Phill Jupitus and Jack Whitehall (and two cracking backstage interviews for subscribers). I was tired from looking after the baby and Jack was jet lagged, having just got back from LA, but the podcast is always better when no one is really sharp enough to know if what they're saying is right or wrong. Phill was very much focused and together and aside from him calling me Stewart at one point (he won't win Pointless like that), had some great stories and made an impassioned (if somewhat pessimistic) defence of the BBC. The time travelling finger morphed into something rather darker and more morally troubling and again we saw the vulnerability of the performer. Phill is also an excellent mimic, doing a perfect Mark Steel and backstage (unrecorded alas) Eddie Izzard. He's a man of many talents, funny and thoughtful and it's always a pleasure to see him.
I don't think I've seen Jack since we gigged together in Charing Cross in about 2007. Even then it was clear he was going to be a hugely successful comedian, but it has gone even better for him than I would have guessed. Pertinently he is also dating Gemma Chan, the actress from Humans who I have made much capital out of in this podcast, my new stand up show and my dreams. I was unsure as to whether I should broach this subject, but inevitably I did, very early and repeatedly. He took my desire to have him killed in as good a spirit as was possible and I warned him that I had been on TV when I was 28 and look at me now. I was a warning from the future. He remains remarkably down to earth given his success (both in his career and love life) and we got through our mutual tiredness, even if I did momentarily forget his name at the end of the podcast (I don't think anyone spotted it, but my tired mind went blank). These will be going out in early December I think.
Next week's show is sold out, but there are plenty of tickets for the last three (and I am aiming for some big guests) so come along if you can. It's lots more fun when it's full!
Gunter Schabowski died this weekend and the BBC summed up his life with the headline “Berlin Wall Blundererâ€. A bit harsh I thought. It's hard to think of a more damning three word summing up of a man's life. I mean go for something positive at least. I hope I do better, though suspect it will be “Pointless Celebrities Failureâ€. Pete Farries on Twitter suggested "bourgeois Apricot choker†which would be bad too. A few people went for something along the lines of “Not Stewart Lee†but they'd misunderstood. It was meant to be a negative obituary.
