578 - TIM OLIVER - David Brent Impersonator on Viral Fame, Worst Gigs, & Being Ricky Gervais’ Hollywood Body Double!

27:17They gave you all the money. I took the whole budget. Yeah. You know. So, right, 2001, Office comes out. You had your PA tell you that you look, you sound a lot like Ricky. You said it was about 18 months before you started doing it or something like that. When you got the goatee and stuff like that. 18 months did you have to it did take me 18 months to grow a goatee by the way so that would be when did you first decide I have the puberty yeah so when did you decide to grow the goatee did you wait until you were like you know what I'm going to give this a go yeah I had to yeah I had to convince myself that I wanted to do it yeah did you have doubts him this episode is brought to you by Born in Roma fragrances by Valentino Beauty the iconic fragrance duo.

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28:49Sensational price. With those savings, your next girl's night is basically free. Find your perfect match at Walmart.com or at a store near you. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? sunscreen snacks a stapler the new paypal app is like that but for your money shop pay manager account and earn rewards all in one place and with purchase protection on eligible items biometric security and pass keys you're protected at every step download the new paypal app to get started see paypal.com protection terms did you have doubts early on well the main thing was I was doing okay Yeah As a businessman Yeah I'd get a new car every year And I was like I was mad about town You know Right It was like brilliant Yeah Going really well But very highly stressed Because the events industry is So I was working day and night And I I miss seeing my kids a lot Yeah Because I'll be out in the evening Making sure the gigs were going well Yeah All the events were going well And people turn up on time and stuff And then during the day I'll be in the office Like organising stuff So Yeah It was a tough job 18 years I did it for Did you?

30:00Yeah Yeah, it was a tough one. Fucking hell. What lifestyle, what life do you prefer? This new Brent life or that old businessman life? The Brent life because it's just so great. Yeah. It's so easy. It's so, for me, because I am very much like Brent. Yeah. I just turn up at a gig for two hours. I fuck around and then I go home. Right. It's not like a, people try and troll me and go, oh, mate, get a proper job. I'm like, why?

30:33what yeah are you mad

30:39so i'm gonna get on to some stories about your best and worst gigs a little later on but so so when you realize right you're you're gonna go for this you're gonna become this david brent impersonator did you have to sit there and kind of like learn the mannerisms or did it just instantly come naturally or well what i did i watched it a few times obviously yeah back to front yeah quite a few times what so it's good so i mean like you'd already decided you're going to go into this yeah and then you re-watched it like with that in mind yeah okay right yeah yeah so i really studied it yeah and like um and also back in the day it was on dvd so i stripped the audio off the dvd burnt it to a cd and played it in my car did you so driving around the uk to various different gigs i'd listen to the audio all the time but i was back in the day when you had cd players in the car yeah and i'd just turn up and i'd just yeah i'd just would you just in the car yeah would you be repeating it back it's like your duolingo yeah and you're just learning yeah yeah and i'd sort of pause it and then repeat that line and then play again and yeah so so i kind of so you were really committed to it from the art yeah i wanted to be good i wanted to be professional because there's a lot of lookalikes out there that aren't yeah uh i won't name anyone No.

31:56You're obviously incredible, one of the best. That's why the TikTok's blowing up now. Yeah. Because I think, and I'm allowed to say this to you, I think, because you're good, there's nothing bleaker than a bad lookalike. Like when you see a bad lookalike, there's just something, you recoil, don't you? Yeah. So what I like hearing about your sort of studying process is because you're a great one, a lot of people might just, when you get the troll comments, they might just think, oh, he's lucky that he looks like him or he sounds like them. But this is proving that to be the best at anything, you have to put the graft in.

32:29You've got a graft. You've got to work at it. Yeah, and that's what you've done. Can you teach me and Stevie some Brent mannerisms that we're going to try and do? You probably know them. I'm so bad at anything like this. What's the first thing you have to do to be Brent? The first thing to get into Brent? Well, that's what made me really think about whether I wanted to be Brent or not, was because most people want you to do the highlights and the highlights of the office are the dance. That's the very first thing. And I thought, hang on, I'm doing okay, a businessman. I've got a family, I've got a wife and I'm going to dance like a monkey in front of millions of people.

33:12Why would I? No, I don't think I want to do that. But then I started doing it. How quickly that changed. And it's brilliant. And I know people laugh at me doing it. Yeah. But I just love it because it's so cringy. Unless you can lean into that. That's perfect. I just can't. And I do it on every gig. Do you? Yeah. I'll either storm into a wedding straight after the speeches and jump on the dance hall straight away. and everyone knows I'm there then. Yeah. Or I just, I just, yeah, I just, I break out into the dance anywhere and everywhere. I love it. I love it. What made your thought process change when you've gone, I'm not doing that and then gone, actually I will learn it.

34:03Yeah. Like how long was there between that to go, actually, yeah. Well, you know, Brent goes, I don't do anything for money because money don't make my world go round. I'm reaching out to a higher ground. to a warm and peaceful place. Aye, aye, aye, aye, I can rest my weary face. Cos we're living, we're living in a crazy maze. Yeah? Yeah? Desiree. Yeah. Desiree, yeah? Yeah. And so he says that. But we all do, right, we all do stuff for money. Yeah. Come on. Yeah. We all do stuff. Well, we all do it, yeah. So if you love it as well, it's a bonus. And I love doing what I do. And I do it for money.

34:53So I thought I'll do the dance. I'll do various other scenes. I'll make a cringy speech. I'll do whatever because I'm in character. And just name dropping, I said to Joe Wilkinson the other day and David L. On the Chatterbix podcast. Yeah. Joe made me realise after 20 years how I... Because Joe said, I don't know how you do what you do. And I said, well, you do what I do, don't you? You perform in front of people. Yeah, but it's all, you know, it's in studios or it's all, you know, I don't mix with people. I don't mix and mingle with people in character and stuff. And I said, oh, I think I do it because the minute I put that suit on and the tie on, that is my suit of armour.

35:37Yeah. And I can walk in anywhere and say anything to anyone and it doesn't affect me. Yeah. Because it's like a suit of armour. It's a different character. Yeah, it's not Tim. It's not Tim. You can't really be cancelled, can you? No. Because you're that character. I think if you're a public figure, you can be cancelled. But I'm not a public figure, really. Right. I'm just a jobbing entertainer, honestly. Yeah. So do you think, if you took away the David Brent, could Tim go and do stand-up now? Because you obviously understand comedy. It's so weird you just said that. Because last week, I had a meeting with, he'd like to say he's my manager, but he's not.

36:16assistant to the man. He reckons he got me a gig. He reckons he got me, you're probably going to ask me this question, aren't you? He got me a body doubling gig in the Muppet movie. Yeah. Because Ricky was number two in the Muppets and I had to go to Pinewood Studios and do some body doubling. Yeah. Ricky was out of the country at the time. But anyway, he reckons he got me that gig. So he said, oh, can you meet me at Wimbledon last week? Right. What? The tennis is on me. You're mental. He goes, well, I'm going to turn up in a limo and pick you up. And then we'll go to AFC Wimbledon, the football club.

36:49Right. And we'll have a little meeting and it's going to be filmed. I said, who's filming it? He goes, well, Netflix. I was like, hang on. Netflix, are you having a laugh? He goes, yeah, they're making a documentary about me. Not me, about him. I'm like, what, and you want me to be in your documentary? He goes, yeah, I want to pretend that I'm your manager and I want you to argue with me and stuff, right? So I'm like, okay, mate. I'll meet you and I'll do that. Yeah, that'll be fine. But when he says Netflix, he means the YouTube channel, Netflix. Right. We've still got 32 million people. That was brilliant.

37:25So I went, yeah, I'll do it, mate. I'll do it. And he turned up in the Del Boy van, the Trotter van, instead of a limo, right, and picked me up, which was funny. I quite like that. And then we had this meeting. And during the meeting, he said the reason why Netflix are following him about and they want to do a thing on him, He owns a big removals company up north and everything, and he's doing all right. But he went over there and he made like a bit of a TED talk, yeah, on how to become – because he had a speech impediment when he was younger. Right. So how you become successful and how you get over those things.

38:00Yeah. And so they liked it. And he made it quite humorous and they were laughing and stuff. And then he met the Netflix guy and he said, oh, I want to do a documentary. So he thought, oh, what we'll do then? we're going to so we're going to new york right so what's coming out of this meeting is in october we're going to new york yeah and he's um hired a i'm gonna do 20 minute stand-up as tim as tim okay so i'm currently writing it about my life as brent over the last 20 years right okay that's a Good concept. This was last week. This was just last week. I haven't done a lot. What about that? So, yeah, the last 20 years.

38:42So I'm going to do some stand-up there and we're going to get a book done as well, like being Brent for 20 years. Fucking hell. Yeah, so... This is all just so he can pretend to be your manager. Yeah. I think it is. It sounds like he's doing it now, though. You must have a mad life. What was the first actual gig you remember doing back in the day? Oh, the first one. Yeah, because that must have been nerve-wracking. Yeah. It was this woman wanted me to go into Vodafone in Reading. It was like a big call centre. Right. Was it always Reading, by the way? I don't know. I don't know. This was Reading.

39:25It was the first gig that I ever did. The second gig was up in Newcastle, Delvoy and Bazafoy, walking around a call centre again. A lot of calls. And I just slide in on people's desks and go, hello. Yeah. What time are you finishing? They're just trying to work. Yeah. They're on a really important call. Someone complaining. Yeah. Why are you charging me so much for my electricity? Oh, what are you doing after work? So that was weird. But anyway, the first one, yeah, was this woman said, it's my daughter's 30th. can you go in and sing happy birthday and make her do the dance with you in her office how did you get that gig how did i get it i think my website was already up then okay so i think she probably found me through my website or facebook yeah yeah yeah you know um she probably found me through that and uh yeah i said i'll come and do it it took 10 minutes she had a mate there filming it and i was driving back thinking yes i want more of this yeah this is crazy how can that be a job 10 minutes mucking about it was just 10 minutes of pure laughter and fun and then I just drove home yeah it must be a good feeling because people are excited to see you aren't they no you don't go to any event and no one's like why the fuck's here people love it yeah I like it when they don't so you'll get someone that thinks it's a brilliant idea to get Brent along yeah right so i did a i did my spoof motivational speech up in i think it was somewhere like doncaster or something for this construction company i mean i've done thousands of i've got so many stories i could tell but this this one you've just it just popped into my mind yeah so it was like a early morning conference about 10 o 'clock in the morning everyone just sitting there waiting i come on stage and do my 20 minutes in the morning yeah in the morning so they're all but they're all construction people.

41:28So they're from management downwards. So they're like, they're all, they've, they're all got basic, good sense of humours, you know? Yeah. And halfway through my speech, I looked out and I noticed right staring, staring at me with a real straight face was the mayor. And she had, cause she had a big chain on and everything. I'm like, maybe she was a rapper. And then, yeah. And then, it was getting a bit too much for her right and then I told this little story about a dwarf which you probably I don't know it was fine a little person and I just sort of told this little story and she stood up and walked out right so I carried on 10 minutes right and then afterwards the CEO of the company who'd hired me came up and he went oh he goes you've really that's you've really upset the mayor and stuff and she signs off all my deals she signs off all my deals and everything and he looked me in the eye and I'm like oh uh and he goes I'm only winding you up it's fine right she just she had to go and take a call it's fine she actually quite liked you and I thought oh god because I was about to say to him well I've been paid so see you later

42:55that is why i get paid up front is that is that true what because you're worried just in case someone gets offended have you ever had yeah many gigs where someone has been like nah not that i've known of right okay not and that's not bad in 20 years yeah not that i've actually known of what's been the worst moment you've ever had at any of these events for any reason um they're all good they're all good because They're all wedding. Are they wedding stag-do's? What else is it? What other things? Well, if you've seen that podcast with Joe. Yeah. The wake. Oh, yes. Yeah. That was horrible. Did you know it was a wake?

43:36Yeah, they kept phoning me. So they kept phoning me, these bunch of lads and girls, and they're all ravers, right? And this guy had died young in his 30s, like us. Yeah. Right? his heart exploded because he took too many pills or whatever I was like raving all the time but they were all his raving mates right and they were like please do his wake he loved you he wants you to be there he loves Ricky he loves Brent and he loves you he follows you and stuff and he really wanted to meet you and all this and I was like no I'm not doing it is that the first ever time someone's asked you to do yeah yeah yeah and then they phoned me again and then over a period of three or four days they kept phoning me and I'm like oh it's relentless so i just thought i just like oh okay i'll come down but i don't know well you know whether i'd stay very long or whatever if you walked in eastbourne right in a hotel in eastbourne which is god's waiting room right right so i've got so i walk into this hotel and they're all there they all come down the stairs they're like yes they're all really excited and buzzing they're all having selfies with me we're doing little videos to their mates and stuff and they bought me a lager and stuff.

44:52It was really, it was great. But I was nervous because I was, I've not done a wake. And like, you're not family. You're all friends. So what's the family? Are the family, what are they going to, how are they going to feel? So I went up, they went, all we want you to do is walk in, grab the mic from the DJ, sing Free Love on the Free Love Freeway, and then just, that's fine when you're done. That's what he would have wanted. And I'm like, okay, it's what he would have wanted. Okay, right, let's do it then. So I walk in this room and it's completely silent. Right. And the family are all there and they're looking at me.

45:26And I'm walking like this.

45:31Oh. That is right. And I go up to the DJ and I go, get the mic. And I went up to the, I didn't know she was the mother. Oh, no. And there was an empty chair next to her and I put my foot on the chair and I went, pretty girl on the hood of a Cadillac here. She's broken down on free wind. And I did the whole song, right? And then I dropped the mic. And there was no reaction. They were just looking going, what the fuck? What the fuck is going on? Could you see the friend? Who is this? And the friends were at the back of the bar pissing themselves, right? They were loving it and they were cheering.

46:12and all the family are like, this is... And I thought, oh, fucking hell. Dropped the mic, went up to the back where I felt comfortable. Quickly get me a lager. And the mother started walking towards me. I looked over and the mother was walking towards me and I thought, oh, and she had quite a straight face. And I thought, oh, God. And she came up and she went, thank you so much. He would have loved that. I know he loved you. And I nearly cried. yeah i just that is amazing yeah hugged me and then i felt really good about that yeah like and then i left but yeah i had finished my drink with a lot with all the yeah his friends and then and various family then started coming up and having selfies and stuff oh no imagine that oh yeah we went to uh we went to john's wake um but i got a selfie with friends you know what i mean silver islands haven't I every cloud you're going to be more open to doing wakes now then no way I'm never I'm never going to do that again have you ever had to leave an event early has it ever back in the day funny that you asked that because I was talking about this the other day a stag do I stopped doing stag do's back when I first started 20 years ago I'd get a stag do but back then people got married young so they got married in their early 20s yeah right so they were just out of order most of the time, like stripping off and tying each other to poles and getting completely wasted, which is fine.

47:42But a couple of times, well, one time they picked me up, everyone picked me up and all stuff fell out of my pockets and stuff. And then when they put me down, I just walked off and I thought I'm never going to do any more stag do's. Yeah, right. But now just recently, the last two or three years, I encourage stag do's, I love it. Because it's you guys, your age group, getting married in their 30s, invariably they've got a good career. Some have kids, some have been married, already, blah, blah, blah. So quite sophisticated people. So I just turn up and have a lot, like with Jack, your mate. Yeah, our friend Jack Smith.

48:18Yeah, that's really weird that I met. The listeners know Jack Smith, yeah, yeah. Because he hired you, didn't he? Yeah, he was in Brighton. There were 17 of them. Yeah, right. I was in a bar, sort of restaurant upstairs, and we just mucked around, got the stag to do the dance, and everyone was really well behaved. Right. You know, I'll try and get there before they get absolutely blottoed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that must be weird because obviously you're working so you might have a beer or two but you can't get smashed. So what's it like being around these drunk people? Does that get a little bit intense at times when people are drunk and you're the sole focus of it, I imagine.

48:57Yeah, it can get grabby. You know what I mean? Yeah. It can get, Oi Brent, let's have a selfie. Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit much. It's fine because I'm, you know, it's fine. I don't mind it. That's my job. Yeah. And it's all a laugh. You're a bit battle-hardened to that now. Yeah, I think I am, yeah. Yeah. And my dry cleaner loves me. She constantly has to dry clean my Sergio Giorgini suit. I'm not worn it today because it's too hot. Yeah. Sometimes when these stag dudes book you, do you, if the money was right, would you go on a weekend away or is it only like? You would. But normally stag dudes can't muster up that kind of money.

49:37Right. So with a stag do, it's the cheapest thing I do. Right. Because it's all lads just chipping in. Yeah. So once they've got a bit of money together, I'll go, yeah, I'll do it for that. Yeah. Fine. But, yeah, so if they said come to Ibiza for a weekend, I'd say, right, okay, well, I'll come out Saturday, a couple of hours. I'll see you on Sunday. lunchtime, couple of hours. I'd make sure that it's not 24-7 because imagine how draining that would be. And they're strangers to me. Yeah. So it wouldn't be a lot of fun for me. What's the two questions? What's the furthest you've gone for a stag do?

50:21Australia. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. I'm big down under. But you went specifically for that? No, not a stag do. I've been to Australia a few times. For work? For gigs, yeah. Yeah. Mainly for corporates because they've got the budget. So it wouldn't be for a stag, no. Because it's a 24-hour flight, isn't it, or something like that? Yeah, yeah. It's great. But because if the money's right, you just sit on a plane, drink, watch movies, have a bath with the staff. How often are you getting bookings and doing what you do? This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything?

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52:26Is it multiple days a week? Or is it weekends? It's up and down, said the actress to the bishop.

52:37But no, it's very, I'd say, on average, if you put the whole year together, probably four or five a week. Fuck, that's a lot. At the moment, it is a bit mad at the moment. Have you ever... I think it's all my social media has gone crazy. Is that what it is? I was going to say, because it must come in peaks and troughs, like the work. You must have had a bit of a fallow period sort of thing. But then is it TikTok that's changed the game for you now? I think Instagram and TikTok maybe. Really? Yeah, and LinkedIn. Because what it is, your generation who have grown up watching The Office, a lot of you guys are now quite successful in your own right.

53:21and you'll start to use me to promote your product. Right. Last week I was filming for a company called Salt, S-U-L-T. They do drinks. Right. Rehydration drinks and all that. Yeah. So we did some filming and he sent me some reels earlier on and they'd cut up the filming into sort of four or five episodes and they'd come out really well. The cameraman did a great job at filming it like The Office. Yeah. A bit shaky and a bit, you know. Yeah. And they've come out really well. So he's going to use that across his platforms to promote the product. Yeah. A lot of people are using me to do that now.

54:01Right. It's one of my favourite things to do, filming. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And being on stage. Do you consider, this is a weird question, do you consider yourself to be famous? Do you know what? So weird. I don't. But as I was walking through Victoria earlier on, there was these two guys on a prostate cancer stand trying to raise money for prostate cancer and I was going to quickly scoot by them because I thought I don't want that up there so I was walking past them and one of them saw me and he was like oh famous, famous, famous and he kept shouting famous and I kept walking past like that because I had to get here I was like and uh and he kept saying famous you're famous you're famous and he didn't know my name and he didn't know what character i was famous for but he so he didn't know but he knew that he'd seen me somewhere right tiktok or in sure i mean yeah i think that's what people do now they don't necessarily remember my name yeah they go oh you're the guy you're the guy that yeah i see i've seen you yeah yeah do people come up to you often or like to actually ask for like Just day to day, not like at Staggs and stuff.

55:17If we now left here and we walked 20 minutes to Highbury Station, how many people, are people stopping you all the time? A couple probably, yeah. Really, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's worse later on in the day as well when people have had a drink because they get braver. Yeah. And they come up and that. But that's my job. That's my job, isn't it? Do you enjoy it? Love it, man. Well, do you enjoy people stopping you and stuff like that? Yeah. Yeah. Because it's like, I always look at it like, say I was a plumber. Yeah. and I was walking down the street and a woman came up and went, you sorted out my pipes.

55:50Right? And I'd go, not guilty. No. And that's equivalent to people saying to me, can I have a selfie? Yeah. Like the plumber's done his job really well. Yeah. You're being praised for it. So you're being praised for doing your job well. Right. Because of what you look like. Yeah. Which is weird. Yeah. But like you say, obviously I've honed my art and it's, I've got, you know. Do people ever come up to you and actually like think you're Ricky then? Or do the majority of people that come up go, oh, you're that impersonator from TikTok? Or do some people go, fuck me, that's Ricky Gervais? They used to.

56:27Did they? Back in the day, they would shout, Ricky, Ricky, as I was walking along the street. And I'd go, all right, I'm carrying on. But now people come up and go, oh, you're the guy, you're the impersonator guy. So yeah, people do that. I'm baffled how much you look like him like even your side profile that's what's thrown me it's strange that like the person you're when you were at work and they've said you sound like this guy were you a bit like when you watched it for the first time you've gone I don't just there's similarities beyond how I sound here yeah was that not a shock to you to just be like oh actually this is way more than just that it was a bit weird yeah that must have been so strange yeah well and Ricky when I met Ricky he said yeah it's weird isn't it Like we're both, we're both a bit freaked out by it.

57:12Yeah. When did you first meet Ricky then? Um, I got a call from a journalist that used to run the Total Film magazine. You remember Total Film magazine? Yeah, I do, yeah. And he said, um, would you come up to Hammersmith Apollo, which was called then, it's about to vent him now on it, but would you come up and, uh, interview Ricky for us, um, as David Brent, dressed as David Brent and interview him. We've got some questions for you to ask him. And I was like, yeah, does he know you're asking me to do this? He said, well, he's asked us to ask you. Oh, wow. So he wanted to meet me, obviously. Yeah.

57:50And I said, okay, that's good. So next question, how much bunts? And they told me, and I thought, yeah, I'd definitely do it for that. I'd do it for free. They didn't have to tell me. Yeah. They're going to pay me. So it was great, yeah, meeting him, and we had a laugh. Is that the only time you've met him? It was in the magazine, but then they also sold it to, oh God, who did they sell it to? Loaded Magazine. Oh, right. A lads mag. It was in there. And it was like a five-page article with pictures of me and Ricky just laughing and mucking about. Yeah. Because we did just muck. You know what he's like.

58:30Yeah. We were mucking about for ages. It was just before the Fame tour. He was just going on stage, just doing the fame stand-up. But, yeah, that was really good. Then, obviously, I was his body double in The Muppets. For The Muppets, yeah. So you didn't work with him on the film, did you? No. You weren't there at the same time? No. Because he was out. So how does that work? I met all The Muppets, though. Yeah? That must be cool, right? That was good. Yeah. Because it was a Hollywood production. So I'm in Pinewood, and they'd converted this massive studio It was like an aircraft hangout. And there was a castle in there.

59:09It was a big production Hollywood movie. And, yeah, I was in there and introduced to the director who was a very stressed American guy following in his father's footsteps. So he needed to make an impression. And I was in huddled with them watching Ricky on screen and reenacting some scenes. Right. and I'll never forget one of the scenes, right, was Ricky goes into a museum to steal a painting, okay, and he cuts it out and rolls it up out of the frame, rolls it up and walks out with it. I had to reenact that scene. So there must have been a hundred staff there, lights, sound, cameras, everything.

59:55So he goes, yeah, Tim, man, are you ready, man? Are you in position? I was there and they were filming me from behind. The picture was there. And they said, you've got to cut the painting out with a Stanley blade with your right hand. And I said, I'm left-handed. I can't cut with mine. They said, well, just give it a try, man. And I'm like, okay, fine. Well, give it a try. So he goes, okay, Tim, you ready? Silas on set. Action. And I walked to the painting. And I went, it was supposed to go like that. And I just went.

1:00:31Fucked it. Right He was like Cut, cut Everyone Cut Right, okay Oh God Someone get another painting Get another painting We've only got one left Oh shit They've only got one left They only had one left And I had to try and make this work This time out So the pressure was off And I managed to do it Fucking Was he annoyed The director He was fine Was he? Yeah He was a little bit annoyed He got more annoyed At the supporting actors The extras Oh, right. Honestly. Really? Why? Because, no disrespect to you guys, but God, extras are a nightmare. Are they? They gave him so much grief. It's weird being a body double because you're in the middle of the extras and the actors, so you're not allowed to dine with the extras.

1:01:22Right. You have your own catering. Yeah, right. And then the actors have their own catering. Right. So I'm the only body double there, so I'm sitting in this place on my own. with like this banquet around me. I'm like, this is weird. And I just wanted to talk. So I just went in with the extras and chatted to the extras. But at one point, we were getting to the end of a 14-hour day filming where I'd filmed about two seconds of a couple of scenes. And my thighs were killing me because I kept having to put this coin on the ground and bending down on the ground. I did it a hundred times. It was like going to the gym.

1:02:04Anyway, last scene, I'm walking along and he said, Tim, man, if you just look down the camera lens as you walk past the camera, we need to get that angle on your face. So I was like, right, okay. So I've got the painting under my, walking down the street, all these extras are behind me. So just walking on the street, he goes specifically to all the extras, don't look at the camera, please. I walked past, right? And then this extra was behind me. he walked past but he stepped back and looked down the road like James Bond he couldn't help himself and the director went get off my set man he was like oh no really fired him on the spot yeah it kicked off then what was the extra hoping would happen I don't know we'll keep that in yeah they'd definitely keep that in wouldn't they when you watch the Muppets back then are you like that's my shoulder that's my head yeah that's my hand there's one point where I'm handing a business card to the big bear.

1:03:00What's the big bear's name? Oh, I know what you mean, yeah. I'm handing a card to him and yeah, there's various bits in the movie. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, that's me, yeah. So what's it like? Are the Muppets being controlled by... They're not hand puppets, are they? They are the Muppets, mate. What do you mean? Don't you believe in Father Christmas? How are they doing it, though? What do you mean? They're real. Can't give away the secrets, Jack. Fair enough, fair enough. Actually, I skated with Miss Piggy. I could have never guessed what the next sentence was going to be. Right. But I'll give this away.

1:03:37Three people controlling her. Yeah. Really? How big are they? Like, compared to pretty big. Yeah. She was sort of there. And I'm skating backwards. I'm going to hold her hands. That was weird. And I couldn't take any, I couldn't have any photographic evidence of it. Could you not? I took a sneaky one of Sam the Eagle. You know, Sam the Eagle with new eyebrows. I took a sneaky one with him backstage. So since this has all blown up again, because of the TikTok generation and the Instagram generation, have you had any correspondence with Ricky? Does he like what you do? I think he likes me. Yeah.

1:04:23I had a call about a month ago from, you know, Dutch Barn Vodka that he's promoting heavily. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I love those ads. Yeah, they're good. Yeah. Ricky must think, oh, this is freedom. I can say what I want. Yeah. And I can call you a fat cunt and it still goes out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Brilliant. Yeah, yeah. So his marketing guy from Dutch Barn called me and said, would you be up for doing some adverts with Ricky? Yeah. And I said again, I said, does he know you're asking? He said, yeah, he's asked us to ask you. Oh, wow. And I'm like, brilliant. And I said to the marketing guy, do you think it would be something like, Ricky's got Dutch Bum Vodka, this is brilliant, really good stuff, made from real apples, expensive.

1:05:13Don't buy cheap imitations. And then I just go, ah? You know what I mean? I'd love to be able to do that with a cheap bottle of crappy vodka. Huh? Just that. That'd do. Yeah, that would be great. Yeah. That'd be great. Do you reckon we'll see something like that? I don't know. He hasn't got back to me, so it might be shelved. Yeah. Because I know, have you seen the ads recently? Yeah. They're getting bigger and massive. Yeah, they are great. So is there any, I know we touched on it earlier in the show, but can you give us a little lesson of how me and Stevie can be Brent? What do we need to do?

1:05:48Tell us some little things. Well, what is a massive trait is the overbite under your lip. You know? You can't my left teeth, can you? When I first started doing it, obviously that was the big, yeah? It was that. And I had to remember, but what, yeah, exactly. So one day you could be a Nazi. Yeah, you know when he does that with Martin Freewood? Yeah, yeah. Brilliant. But I had to really remember not to make that face during sex because I'd be like... You know what I mean? My word. And that's Brent. Do you know what I mean? You have to be really careful.

1:06:47How do you get the laugh? Has that always been your laugh or have you had to laugh? No, actually, no. Do you remember your natural laugh? No. So when you do this laugh, is this a genuine, are you actually laughing or are you just doing that? Is that a performative laugh or is that actually your laugh? Good question. You don't know, do you? Well, you're making me laugh, so. Right. So your laughs have been genuine, but they are still that laugh. Yeah. But say you're at home in your house and you're on your own and you're watching the funniest thing ever, right? And you're laughing out loud. You're on your own though.

1:07:28There's no cameras. Yeah. Does Tim have a different laugh or is that his laugh? I probably do. I probably do have a different laugh. Really? Maybe. You don't know? No, I don't. I'm so intrigued because then you said like your kids pick up on it and will say, like, you're being bred. Yeah. So I guess they'll know if you're laughing. I'm so conscious of it now. So if I'm watching something funny with the kids, I'm really conscious of how I laugh. Because if I went... No, if I went... You know what I mean? That's sort of Ricky, isn't it? Yeah. Ricky and Jimmy Carr. Yeah. But I don't know. I don't know what my laugh is.

1:08:17I thought coming in today and meeting you, you would be like, like literally the David Brent impersonator, but he's Ricky as well though, isn't it? Just when you're talking one-to-one, it's like very Ricky. I'm blown away by your accent, your voice. Yeah. But that's what you had before anyway, because that's what your colleague picked up on. Yeah, and people always say that. Ricky obviously grew up in Reading. I grew up in East Grinstead in Sussex. Right. Is that close? It's not far, but there's differences. Yeah. So with the Red In accent, you can get sometimes a bit of a twang of West Country right in there.

1:08:55So Ricky will say the word, he'll go summit. That was exactly the word I was thinking of, summit. Summit, instead of something. Yeah. So I'll go something, he'll say summit. Yeah. So you have to kind of remember those little things. Right. I do wonder how many people who are just listening to this episode rather than watching it will hear it as Ricky. Even when you're not doing the Brent element of it because your voices are so similar. Yeah. Well, also I think that it's the whole package people have told me before. It's like seeing me and the facial expressions and the voice and the movements and everything.

1:09:34So maybe just the vocal side won't come across. do you do you worry like because you look so much like him but looks can change can't yeah so we have changed we both changed yeah years definitely yeah and and are you because you look so much like him now i don't know how like dna and shit works and aging works but like are you gonna as you age are you gonna go further apart are you just gonna look still similar as you get older is there been a time how long you been doing it sorry 20 years has there been a time in that 20 years that you can pinpoint and go that was the most i've looked like ricky no i've never really worried about it have you not no i've never really thought about it yeah because i just go i just i just carry on being brent yeah um i mean people are comment on social media and go oh you're better than the original brent um oh you're you know you're you're keeping brent alive and all this sort of stuff yeah um but then when you compare me to ricky um i'm much better looking than ricky funny audio listeners though i will say like as you said it's the whole package you should come back and watch some of the video because you do direct quite a lot at the camera as well naturally you're obviously doing that down the lens yeah breaking the fourth wall yeah um but no i think we've with if you compare us if if we were both here together standing by side by side you could see the differences straight away yeah you know for sure he's got a little pug nose yeah well David Bowie said that so yeah I'm not going to argue with that you just mentioned that that scene from I love that scene in um in extras yeah in extras ah genius yeah it's so good yeah shubby little loser yeah little nose to it you mentioned the comments there um Do you get any hate comments?

1:11:32Because everyone online who's doing well would get hate comments. What's some hate comments? I just delete them. Do you? Do you actually delete them? Because I see them as a bit of a cancer. Right. Because if you get one hate comment, other people jump on it. Yeah. And it's like, it's going to spread. So I just get rid of them straight away. And I never answer them. Even if they've tried to get an answer, I would never, I would never, I just delete them. Yeah. That's the point of even worrying about it. Yeah. I love the ones where people go, So there's some nasty comments about my colleague, Gareth, who plays Gareth.

1:12:04They'll say stuff like, oh, he looks like Gareth after he's been on crack cocaine for 10 years, stuff like that. He looks like Gareth's granddad and all this sort of stuff, right? They'll say things about me like they'll go, I quite like these ones as well, and I might create this character. They go, oh, Brent from Teemu. Yeah? So I'm thinking of doing my own little videos. on TikTok going, hi, Brent from Timu here. Yeah. I am the cheaper version of Ricky. But just as good. Well, I'll probably break after six months. You get a Timu brand deal. I could be that character, Brent from Timu. Some people go, Ricky from Wish.

1:12:45You're Ricky from Wish. But I don't think a lot of the UK know Wish. It was a big thing for a while. Timu's the one now. Timu's the one. Brent from Timu. Do hate comments get to you as Ted? No, I think to do this job in the first place, you've got to be thick-skinned. You really have. You're walking into a room full of strangers that could hate you. The person that's hired you thinks it's a brilliant idea, but half the room might not like David Brent or Rupert Vase. There's a lot of haters out there. What does your family think of it then, your wife, your kids? Yeah, I think they like it, yeah.

1:13:23Yeah, yeah. They've been through so much with me. Yeah. You know, so, yeah, I think they like it. They just, oh, that's dad. Let him get on with it. Yeah. Kept a roof over our heads, you know, sort of thing. Do you make them laugh with it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we always have a laugh. There's quite a lot of humour in my family. Yeah. Yeah, all my kids. I've got two sons, two daughters. They've all got really good sense of humour. They all love Ricky. Yeah. They always try and get tickets to his shows and stuff, which they can never do because they're sold out in seconds I guess my final question before we get on to the little outro is if you found out Ricky hated it could you still do it?

1:14:10Yeah

1:14:16Sorry Rick

1:14:22Oh, Tim, this has been good fun. This has been good fun. You're a very funny man. I cannot, like I said earlier, I cannot believe how even your side profile looks like Ricky. Yeah, yeah. Every time you sort of look off that way, it's crazy, isn't it? It's strange. What's next for you in 2025? We have got the New York thing. Yeah. So that's going to hopefully wrap up the book. That'll be the final chapter in the book. And the next step, break America as Tim Oliver. Yes. So see what goes on there. Yeah. Other than that, I mean, not a lot really. No? You know, I'm just living life, enjoying it. Yeah.

1:15:00I'm involved in businesses with my kids as well, my two eldest kids. Oh, yeah. My two sons. Yeah. So that's car sales and chauffeur company. Oh, nice. So yeah. Nice. So I sort of dip in and out. We have various meetings about that. Yeah. Brent keeps me busy all the time. I haven't got any time for anything. And you enjoy it, yeah. I love it. I love it. I don't ever want to do anything else. But what I'd like is for Ricky to create a new character. Because I'm getting old, going grey and everything, I can't be Brent forever. Ricky was, I think he was 57 when he made Life on the Road. So Brent sort of...

1:15:43That's the last we know of David Brent. Yeah, so I'm sort of playing on that. But if Ricky could create another genius character, an older version, I could carry on until I die. I just love it. Can you do any of the other characters? Can you do Derek? Yeah. Can you? Yeah, yeah. Can we see it?

1:16:08That is insane. I loves it. Yeah. I loves dogs.

1:16:17But I've got to do the hair, obviously. Yeah. Do the hair. Yeah. Was that annoying when Afterlife was just a normal guy then? Just Ricky, yeah. Yeah, who's going to hire a bloke, go go and call everyone a cunt and wants to kill himself? Yeah. Thanks, Rick. Please create a character that everyone wants. Where can people book you, Tim? Where can they book David Brent impersonator? rickadyfacelookalike.com And you're on all the socials as well? All socials, there's rickadyfacelookalike.com Love it, Tim. thanks for coming on the happy hour this has been a lot of fun pleased to meet you guys you're superb this has been Jack Makes Happy Hour podcast with me Jack Makes Stevie White and the brilliant Tim Oliver David what's the meaning of life?

1:17:04wow hit me with that there isn't one yeah we are just food for predators that is it get over it yeah with no more special than a little beaver. Yeah? You know about predators, don't you? He lived near one when he was younger. See you in a few days, guys.

1:17:34That was great. Happy memories. That was great. We'll cut there. He lived near one. He knew.

1:17:45Childhood trauma. I'm not a pedo, and if I was, you'd be safe, you tubby little ginger. See you, thanks so much. Great, thank you, mate. That was a good interview, that. You're really good. Oh, thank you, mate. You are really good at that. Oh, I appreciate it.

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