Alan’s BAFTA Nominations, Red Carpet Beef & Supermarket Wine Secrets

0:00I sold my car in Carvana last night.

0:02Alan Carr:Well, that's cool. No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer, down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong. So, what's the problem? That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes to smoothie. I'm waiting for the catch. Maybe there's no catch. That's exactly what a catch would want me to think. Wow, you need to relax. I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood? I think it's laminate. Okay, yeah, that's good. That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. Where is Daredevil? I'm right here.

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2:37Alan Carr:Hello and welcome to Bottoms Up with Alan Carr and Lee Peart. This is our weekly wine podcast where we open a bottle, answer your wine questions, and bluff our way through it like two people who once went to a vineyard and went, yeah, we can do that. And we're also joined by wine powerhouse, Helen McGinn. Yeah, she'll be here later on. But before that, we have got our welcome drink. And this, you've chosen this, a bit of gin. Gin. And now I love this. It's Fisher's Gin. And I took my mum for her 70th birthday and all the family to Suffolk. Nice. And we went to Oldbrun. I never know if it's Old or Bugger.

3:17Alan Carr:Old Bugger and Suffolk. Is it Sufam? Is that what you said to your mum on her birthday? There you go, old bugger. I'm taking you to old bugger. I'm bringing your friend Sufuck. No, it's... Why is everything like rude in Sufuck and old bugger? It's not. I've never looked at the word Sufuck and thought, Sufuck. It's you. That's a good drag name. So this is... If you like a gin, this is a ginny gin. Can I... Ginny gin gin. Do you know, I used to be such a gin guy, and I still am. I do like a gin, but it's not as much my go-to anymore. It's weird. But way back when, kind of in my 20s, I think gin was having a kind of big surge, wasn't it?

4:04And there were so many nice gins. There's so many now. And this looks, the bottle again, you like a label. I love a label.

4:11Alan Carr:And all the botanicals are from that part of the world, and the distillery is by the sea. You know when you have a gin and you want a gin that's a gin, that tastes like a gin? You want it to cut through. And it's quite savoury as well. I love it. Listen, have a little taste. Oh, cheers. It's so lovely. Not noticing that I have already maybe had a slight sip. Do you get it? It's very ginny, isn't it? And also, can I just say, orange slice. Well, do you want to know a little secret about me and gin? Yeah. If I have three glasses, I get blotchy. Well, I will take that to my grave, that secret. No, I don't know what it is.

4:54Alan Carr:We might speak to Helen about it later. Analogy. Analogy. No, we shouldn't speak to Helen. We should get, like, Dr Raj or Hillary. Because why? I have three glasses and I get, like, basically the outline of Iraq on my face. And it's purple. and I think I'm allergic to juniper. Maybe you are. But I love gin. I think for me, gin, I can't have too much of it, obviously, because of blotch gay. Well, why don't we, why don't you drink more throughout the show and let's see how you get on. You want to see Iraq?

5:34Alan Carr:Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. It's itchy too. Oh, that sounds like an allergy. You're allergic. This is an exclusive. We finally found an alcohol Alan can't drink. I know. It's ruined my life. Oh, God. And I like gin on a sunny day. Yeah. Even though I won't stick with gin. I like gin as a nice sitting by the seat. And that's why I loved it in Olderburger. Olderburger. Olderburger. That's why I liked it. And it was my mum's 70th. And we just sat on the seafront. It was freakishly warm weather. The spirit of the coast, it says. It is. It is like the spirit of the coast. It's perfect to see it watching the world go by.

6:13Alan Carr:I miss out on that lovely pavilion. And I just thought, oh, I'm going to buy a bottle of that because it's UK-based and we love that. Love that. And listen, I saw you on a red carpet. Normally I'm used to seeing your face down on a doormat. What was you doing on the red carpet? Well, you know, I'm a little... And you were looking very slick and you did a dance routine. I did a dance routine. Well, there's two actually. I did two in one week. I'm moving up in the world, babes. Two dance routines. No, no, red carpets. Let's not remember before we can walk. And so I went to a HBO Max launch. That was amazing.

6:54Oh, my God. So sometimes you go to these events, as you will know, you don't know whether they're going to be good or whether they're going to be a bit... When I walked in this HBO Max thing, it was like the stars, Lisa Kudrow, James Lott. And you love her. You love the comeback. You got me into the comeback. I love the comeback. It's like a cult show. And it started years ago. This is the third season. Loved it. So she walked past me. I did that thing.

7:19Alan Carr:Did you get the impression she knew who you were? Do you reckon she watches Bottoms Up? I saw her go, oh, my God, that's Leap here. Really? No. No, she walked past. And the thing is, I was thinking about her. I wonder when, at these events, she's always got someone there ushering her. You can't just stand there chatting. But James Norton was there. Woof. Woof, woof, yes. And it was this amazing event. They kitted it out like a big house party and each room was like, there was a kitchen, there was jelly shots in the fridge. And there were those... Oh, wow. The staff were fit. Fit? I will say that, because I used to work in promo work, so I would be booked on jobs like this.

8:01Alan Carr:Outside front or in the kitchen? Well, I was going to say, I looked round, I said to my friend, I said, because the staff were all like, I said I would be on cloakroom for this. Like, there's no way. Because this man opened the fridge. He was like, would you like a jelly shot? And I just went, yes. Like, he was unreal. Because I worked in a gay cafe on Oxford Street in Sydney and it was the fittest gays ever. I went for the job. Guess what I was? What? Dish pig. What's a dish pig? I wasn't allowed to come front of house. I was just with the, what's it called? what's the two flaps they put the dirty dishes in?

8:40Alan Carr:Oh. And you know me, and they'd go, dish pig! And I'd go, ding, ding, ding, ding! And I'd just come and grab through. And I became a bit of a minor celebrity because people know who the dish pig was. Was it a bit like Quasimodo, Hunchback of the Nautilus? Yeah, that was it, yeah. Did they ever let you out, like on the feast of fools? No, I was too ugly. No, but you remember Quasimodo had one day where he went out. Did you ever get that? No, they didn't parade me in the speech. with people throwing rotten veg at me. Oh, funny that. There's poo. It was just a funny story that I thought that you've now twisted into something.

9:20Alan Carr:They whipped me into Market Square. No, they didn't. There's poo because I wasn't a looker, so it was all the fit people out the front. Yeah, well, that was like Hollister. Like, you remember Hollister? And everyone was fit. All the lights on, didn't you? I know. I used to think, why are you hiring fit people? You can't even see them. I know. I could get a job in there. But then I went, I hosted, I then hosted a red carpet, the Kinky Boots Gala. Oh. Yeah, and that was funny. It was quite chaotic because they closed down St Martin's Lane and they had a big red carpet. But I've got a little bit of beef with someone who I do like, Christopher Biggins.

9:57No, you got beef with Biggins? I've got beef with Biggins.

10:02Alan Carr:I've got Biggins beef. Beef. This could be a segment in the show. Beef, we're Biggins. What's Biggins done? He's one of the nicest people you could meet. You must have pissed him off. No, no, he was lovely. He walks up on the red carpet. I go, Biggins is here. Everyone cheers. He goes to me, you get everywhere. Thank you, Biggins. Where have you been? Was he at the HBO? No. I'm like, you're also, you know, He's a socialite. He goes places too. You get everywhere. Saying that to you, that's a slap in the face. I know. I thought, hot kettle biggins. Anyway, it was great. It was stars of Michael Ball, Graham Norton.

10:46Yes. Graham, which was great to see him. And Johannes Radebe, Matt Cardle, who was starring in it. Johannes. Oh, my God. The presence of Johannes. Yes. Like, oh, his entrance in this musical just comes up and it's like, boom, I've arrived. I wish I had that present. Well, you don't.

11:07Alan Carr:What I like about Kinky Boots, based in Northampton. I thought of you, actually. Why wasn't I there on the red carpet? You were busy, you were busy. But I found it awkward on the red carpet. I found it quite like, hosting it was fine, because I was kind of there in a job thing, but when I've done them before, you just don't really know where to stand. You start standing, you must have done them loads. Well, the thing is, and you don't want to be like first world problems, But if you're lucky enough to be nominated for an award, you get out the car, you've got all the paps shouting, Oi, Erlen, Erlen, like this.

11:41Alan Carr:Now, people know me, but when I started doing them, I would be with Amanda Holden or Melanie Sykes, and people wouldn't know my name. She'd go, you, with the teeth, you with the teeth. And, of course, they get more money. Dish pig, dish pig, get over here. Iraq.

11:59Alan Carr:yeah and then some they get more money if they're with for a beautiful woman so if someone i'd go out with melanie sykes we did the radio show you know we'd go out and they'll or amanda holden or sorry so me i would bring the price of the photo down so they would go on your own amanda not you you with the teeth move oh my and then i would just be standing there like that there is an etiquette and a hierarchy oh so and i think sometimes you go there and then you have to have chats with the press and sometimes they're trying to catch you out well i've had it before because sometimes you get sent in there i remember going to a katie perry one and they're all like that and you you i don't choose to do it they go right go through stand for a photo there and i've had it before where the cameras are like that because someone like amanda holden or alan cars there i walk there they just put the camera down they can't even be bothered to take it they're like no point wasting the storage no i know so at least yours is worth something well i mean the Cameras, now they could have just, even if they just pressed the flash, just to make you feel like they were taking a photo.

13:00Yeah, just go like, you know.

13:02Alan Carr:Yeah. Looking great. Thank you. It's still got the cap on. Well, you know, and red carpets. Suppose I'll be bloody heading down one in May. God, I know you hate those award shows. Oh, after my two BAFTA nominations. What? Wow. Cut that out. Alan, this is amazing. Two BAFTA noms. Two BAFTA nominations. So you've got one for the moment of the year, is it? Yeah, I was in a show called Celebrity Traitors. Yeah, anyway. It's no other comeback. And then Alan and Amanda's Spanish job. Yes. I thought it was Greek job, but Spanish job. So that's good. So me and Amanda will be doing the red carpets. I'm sure she's buying some cheese wire and two post-it notes to pop on.

13:59Alan Carr:So that's exciting. But then also I'm going to, even though I'm not BAFTA nominated for this show, I'm still going to take all the glory. Changing ends. Oliver Saville. Well, you wrote it. Yeah, the boy who plays me. Yes, yeah. He's also up for BAFTA. So in a way, it's free. It's free. It's free. It's free. It's free BAFTA nominated. Yeah, I'm going to stick with that. Yeah, and I think Graham Norton's show, and you've been on that, so that's four. That's brilliant. Yeah, yeah. Naked Attraction, I watched that religiously. Five. Is that up for a best? That's a bit obvious. That's up for a wanker.

14:41I don't know what. So, yeah. Oh, amazing. So we toast. This is Fisher's Gin, Spirit of the Coast, all the way from Suffolk. Suffolk. Bottoms up.

14:58Alan Carr:Ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant is a bit of a performance, isn't it? A bit of nodding, a bit of, mmm, yes, and then pointing at the second cheapest bottle of wine on the menu saying, yeah, I'll have that one. Well, in the perfect pairing, do I say that right? Perfect pairing? No, but carry on. Me and Alan are here to help. This is the segment where we're basically going to be pairing wine with actual food and seeing which one, figuring out which one works. And today we're at the, we love this place, we're at the Broadcaster in White City trying their delicious menu. And we're having, I believe, a champagne chicken and leek pie with tarragon mash.

15:39And we're going to put to the test two wines and see which one pairs perfectly with that dish.

15:45Alan Carr:Oh, okay. Rich! Rich, where are you? I'm coming, I'm coming. Oh, here's the... Wow, what a tasty-looking dish. And the pie's not looking bad either. I've been on the gin. I know, like last week. Okay. So, Rich, this looks amazing. So tell us about this dish. So we've got a chicken pie that's made with champagne, mustard. it's a bechamel which is how we cook the sauce with the liquid that we cook the chicken in nice it's got plenty of leeks in there little button mushrooms and then on the side we've got quite a rich it's like a 50-50 mash I love that that's what we call it half butter half mash oh I love oh my god and a big dollop of tarragon oil and tarragon oh so do you not put milk with it in what the in the mash cream cream this is not like cream it's not like no Oh, I've double-jabbed me a Zen pig today as well.

16:46Alan Carr:So, no, this is not one for light and healthy. No, I can't wait. It smells gorgeous. It looks gorgeous. And as a chef, where should you put the gravy? Is there a right thing? Once you open it, lash it on. Oh, you open it. Okay, lovely. Wicked. Right. Thank you so much, Rich. I will say, though, Rich, my sisters, they love gravy. They would be a little bit concerned over the height. What, portion size? The portion size of this. but is that common? it costs a lot it takes two days to make that does it? yes oh okay well we'll use it still your sister only eats chips that's called back thanks so much it smells delicious let's do it before we get cold enjoy thank you thanks so much thank you right let's tuck in so we've got the oh my god I'm excited what did he say?

17:34Alan Carr:we've got to take the top off and pour the thing in oh did he say that immediately? that's the best way to put the gravy in oh Oh, I would just cut it in half. Shall I just frack a little bit off the top? Oh, look at this. Smells lovely. He said pour it in, didn't he? Pour it in, pour it in. So, while you do that, let me explain. A nice bit gravy, isn't it? We've got two... Next time, I would not have poured the gravy like that, but never mind. How can you... What's the correct way to pour gravy? he said put it in the pie I'm not going to argue with you we've got a perfect pairing to do it's like we're having a domestic over dinner no no no could it no put it back on for continuity for continuity no one can tell that no one can tell there's been gravy cut back cut back right we've got let's not have gravy with this

18:38right focus for god's sake so right so we've got a puis-fouissé okay that is this one it's a white burgundy premium chardonnay all right buttery soft you get you know go for it involved um buttery soft orchard fruit with a little toasted almond moment has enough weight to sit with a Before you eat though. Oh, this flaps. Before you eat, let's have a taste. Before you put it in, let's have a taste. We're getting on my nerves today. No, taste it like a married couple. Don't put the gravy on. Taste it. Let's see how it is without. And then we have it and then we do it back. Let's have a bit of this.

19:23So this says it has enough weight to sit with creamy sauce without disappearing. I don't think you would like that, would you? I do like it. You do, interesting. It is creamy. Mirrors the mash and leek so all the flavours tie together. So let's have a little bit. I'm going to have a bit of mash here. I'm going to have a little bit of this. I've been eating a lot of mash recently. Have you? Why? I don't know. You've just been into it. I love a bit of a good mash. Oh, this is so delicious. So it's a cosy but still chic option. So if you're ordering a pie, let's have this. See how that affects the taste.

19:59It's the most chaotic. That's why people don't invite me around for dinner, because there's always some drama. I still am baffled by how different it tastes when you've had a little bit of that. It's so much nicer. Yeah. Now, it might be a little bit of a rogue option to then drink champagne when you're eating a pie. I don't think I would ever order that. Yeah. I would maybe have champagne to star or something like that.

20:25Alan Carr:Yeah, but you usually have champagne with little bits, don't you? Like picky bits. Well, vol-au-vents. Exactly. Is it vol-au-vents? Yeah. So it's crisp, it's celebratory, house champagne, bright and citrusy with a lovely toasty brioche note. The bubbles cut through the pastry. Oh, that goes all the way down. It says the bubbles cut through the pastry. Like I'm swallowing, weirdly. So it says the bubbles cut through the pastry and cream, so it never feels heavy. It lifts the dish and keeps each bite fresh, turning the pie into a bit of a party. I would never have ordered champagne to drink with my pie.

21:05Never. That I prefer to the poise-poise. You're joking. No, I'm not.

21:10Alan Carr:So what are we saying? Go with the champagne. How's champagne at the broadcaster? Perfect with a pie. And that is a good pie. That's a perfect pairing with the pie from Piat and Pallon.

21:27Alan Carr:Joining us today is someone who knows her way around a bookshelf as well as a wine glass. She is the queen of the supermarket shelves. It's the knackered mother herself. It's Helen McGee. Oh, thank you. That was a long sentence. You got a breath. And no auto queue, I'm impressed. Thank you. Helen, welcome. So I'm thrilled you're here because I followed you on Instagram a while back. And do we call you Helen or do we call you the knackered mother? What do you go about? Oh, well, whatever you want. I mean, I answer to both, to be honest. So, yeah. But Helen's fine, yeah. And you're a wine expert, aren't you?