It's all ego

22:15Josh Widdicombe:So how's that as a parent? How involved? I'm so fucking involved. Laura doesn't even know what it's called. I know, but you can still be involved. What her degree is. You know, I am involved. I wouldn't say you're overly involved in your daughter's life if you don't even know what she's studying. I do, but I don't ever get the name. It's interior spatial design at University Arts London, all right? There we go. and then she's got a little nannying job and then she works at a little local bakery pillar of the community she's alright the girls she's alright she sounds very sensible and do you think about everyday you like worrying or you oh it's worse no worse when they're older no I bet your mums and dads worry about you more now more my dad I'm going to say about my mum and dad no

23:00don't know what he does I'll give you a quick recap of what my mum and dad recently where I finished filming at something a bit earlier than planned. Say less, man. Say less. I'm home for a few days. Do you want to meet up? I'm busy this week. Fair enough. No worries. Then the next week I went, oh, I'll come down and see you on Monday after the kids. Then I rung her back an hour later and went, it's Bank Holiday Monday. I'm not going to do it. It'll be mental down in Margate. I'll come later in the week. But if you want, you can come up and see me. We've not seen each other for about three, four weeks.

23:29Come to my Bank Holiday Monday. Nah, we're busy. Anyway, I was supposed to go and see him on the Friday. then my flight back from filming got in at 3am from Tenerife I went I'm be too tired I can't do the driving there and back the next day come up if you want nah we're alright so I wouldn't say they're overly worried overly worried they're letting me crack on I just think in your 20s you're a bit weird I see a lot of you on TV though they know what you're up to I'm boring and safe pair of hands adult now 23's the anomaly isn't it are your kids a pool for them though I don't think my mum would bother seeing me she likes my kids yeah the kids have to be an absolute guarantee that they're there for them to come no interest when it's just you also though if the kids weren't there just me and my mum and dad how much do you want to see them am I desperate for that three way church nah you're not desperate for that three way are you Rob no as I sit there and hear about what their mate down the road's been up to what their doctor's doing my mum it's word association with my mum I don't know if she's always been like this but you know when she'll ask you about something and then you say something and it just sparks something in her.

24:35Like, how was the hospital? Oh yeah, it was all right. Couldn't find parking. Oh, I couldn't in Ilford. You're like, now we're just talking about a trip to Ilford. That's what we're talking about. Yeah, so she's actually how the hospital was and you said there was bad parking and then she's on her own story about parking. It's just a word association. Yeah, is that all old people? Is it? Yeah, but yeah. It's all that's us on this podcast to be fair. True, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's a podcast. Yeah, but at least you can choose to listen to this. Do you know what I mean? it's like you can't just sort of say to your mum not really feeling the podcast this week phone down your mum seems to be able to say it to you my famous son and his beautiful kids now we're busy what were they busy with do they give you specifics you will never guess in a million years I'm going to tell you.

25:2627 euros. They went down to the local pub. Shut up your arse. They went down to the local pub, to the function room to watch their GP play drums in a band. What's their GP? Their doctor?

25:40Josh Widdicombe:Fucking hell. What? That's the only way you can get to see your GP. Oh, there we go. Lovely stuff. I bet your dad was bending over for a prostate exam with a drumstick. The thing is, when you get to that age, you can get in the GPs whenever you want. He's like an open door policy over 80. I bet he was fucking gutted to see them. No, they invited him down. He didn't mean it. He just was trying to get him out of the room. Yeah, but they've gone there over seeing me. Can you play the drums? I can't play the drums. What's his band? Did they give you any more specifics on his band? No, but he also edits video because he's offered to edit my stand-up tour shows.

26:18They're cheap, eh? And I think he does magic. Personally, I wouldn't have him as my doctor. No offence to him, but there's too many other things he's into. Yeah, yeah. What are you, Miss Rabbit in Peppa Pig? Just have one job. What I want from my doctor, someone that's into medicine, not playing drums. Someone that's got a book on funny moles because he's into it.

26:37Josh Widdicombe:What card, by the way, before I tell you your test results, what was yours at 6 o 'clock? Shall I ring my mum and ask her about this doctor and what she's into? Because I feel it'd be nice to catch up with her. I don't want to be a bit of a knob, but you know that kind of like, you're Rob Beckett. You know, people know you. You're off to telly. this idea that he's presumably he's a professional doctor amateur videographer this idea that's like if he needs anyone to do his stand up videos you're like I think my team have got that covered I do think if I rang up my agent and said don't worry about the editor my mum and dad have sorted me out a videographer from Margate he's currently a GP I've requested an appointment to do the editing someone's going to bring me back in three weeks you don't want to bring me back in three weeks Sometimes it's like my mate went the other day, like a mum on school, oh, we're doing like the local little street festival that's in the summer.

27:29I was like, we've got a bit of budget. And then they went, just a little bit, if you want to do like 40 minutes, I'm going to do 40 minutes on a street in my local area. Do you know what? You don't want to be that guy that goes...

27:41Josh Widdicombe:There's not enough budget in the world. There's not enough budget in the world. Even if you'd get paid to do like a big cabaret, end of a night set at a big awards do, is 20 to 30 max. It's just kids running around with bubbles that are friends with my kids. What I want to talk about. I'll quickly run around and find out what... No, work's work, innit? She's busy. Well, she's actually getting the kids in an hour because... She's going to think there's something wrong with the kids. Yeah, that's wrong with the kids. She ain't bothered about you, Rob. She's not cared, does she? New number, who dis?

28:14Okay. And that's...

28:16Josh Widdicombe:She'll call back. She'll call back. Yeah, that's summed up. Your relationship with your mum there. Lovely. What are you looking at your texts with her now? Now I'm paranoid that she's never asked me and I only ask her to meet up. You've got it in my head. No, I have got it in your head. You said. So do you ask your daughter to meet up? You're 23-year-old. Or is she coming to you? No, yeah, she'll come to me. We do nice things. She's sort of done that sort of transition where she's got a bit of a flatmate and then it's a little bit... You know that first realisation in the world? You're sort of full of confidence.

28:44Then you realise, oh, all of my confidence is based on rolling my eyes at my parents. Now I'm out in the world. maybe they do know a thing or two about the washing machine and paying bills do you know what I mean so I'm trying to make sure because I've got the little ones I've realised she does suffer from that so I've done little things like I took her to Morocco for a little spa break oh nice I try and have one on one time with my kids I think that's important even when the younger ones separate as well like they really come out of the shell and they operate as an individual not a pair it's nice we call it divide and conquer me and my husband with the little ones sometimes we look at each other and go oh I'll take that and then all of a sudden and go, oh, I didn't know.

29:20Yeah, they come to life, don't they? Especially when you're with the little one for the day. Yeah, and they're sitting in the front, because normally they're in the back chatting, and then you've got them in the front. Yeah, I think they're really nice. How many of you got again, too? Two. How old are they again? Eight and five. Okay, that's cute.

29:36Josh Widdicombe:We're rolling. Are we rolling? Oh, fuck. Eddie. Yeah. It's not great, Scott. But normally when you're rolling, you are in character. Yeah, I am, yeah. Do you like being yourself? or you're one of those actors that hates being um i don't mind being myself i i i like disappearing it's what i do and i quite like that when you know initially up when i first started i thought i was going to be the next tommy steel you know like yeah like charismatic cockney very early on that i was going to be long cheney junior yeah and just play all the monsters so i Well, I might as well earn a few bucks. So how are you out in public, though?

30:17Because, you know, you've done so many films now and you're so known and loved. Do you find that a bit overwhelming when people, like, recognise you and want to talk to you when, obviously, you like disappearing and being a character? You know what's funny? It's people who recognise me for different things. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people recognise me for Ray Donovan. Yeah. And specifically go over to the States. Ray Donovan is a big thing. But over here, some people recognise you for the Mike Lee thing and they want to sit down and talk to you about. the artistic serious chat yeah a lot of the young a lot a lot of the youth know me from Hancock so they just want to talk to me about Will Smith yeah and you talk about that you know that peaked after the Oscars yeah but what you've done if you as Chris what I said I've had him already

31:06how many kids have you four kids kids yeah right i've got 15 year old yeah 17 year old 20 year old and 21. oh wow so they're have they put some of them flown the nest yeah my my two oldest have flown a nest they're at university in drama school my 17 year olds yeah and he's about to my 17 year was about to go into university and my 15 year old's about to do a levels and when you've got

31:32Josh Widdicombe:someone going to drama school do you think oh my god it's a tough industry or do you think amazing i'm so proud of them um i don't think they realize how tough it is yeah because they've seen someone sail through it they only see working actors they don't realize how tough it is also as well they must see you being you which is like yeah just a normal dad yeah going off to do something well if She could do it and he's that bloke who just ran me out smoking on me. And the funny thing is, because when you're dad, there's a funny thing, when you're dad, you're quite useless at home. I mean, I was away so much.

32:06My wife kept it all going. So when I came home, I just fit it in. I'm quite useless. So whenever they consider what I do, they think, well, he is useless. They've seen you at your worst most days. They've seen me at my worst. So they kind of go, well, you know, if he can do it, I can do it. I remember being in Beth McGriner, there was a guy with, he had a drug addiction, he used to be on the street, and he came up to me with Beth McGriner and went, Ed, I want to ask you about acting, because I looked at you and I thought, well, if he could do it. Well, that representation is important, and you've done a lot about that, about working class people being in the arts.

32:43I think that's so important because, you know, if you can see someone else doing it, then it looks achievable rather than it being totally alien. For me, I used to love Billy Connolly and Richard Pryor, but they felt like such. He was obviously a folk singer from Scotland, which when you grab him in South East London, there's like this crazy guy.

32:59Josh Widdicombe:There's not a huge amount of similarities between your act and Billy Connolly's act as well. Exactly. And Richard Pryor and his mad stories about growing up. Yeah, exactly. But neither of them are anything like you. But when I saw Alan Davis and Peter Kay talking about dogs and baked bean juice and biscuits and all that, I was like, oh, there's a world, these are talking about things I understand and maybe I can do it. So for your kids, it must be weird that they're going into a world now where they're going to uni and studying and stuff like that, and they're growing up in a totally different way to how you grew up.

33:33Well, one of the hardest things about, for me, being a parent is I come from a completely different background to the ones my kids live in. So sometimes you don't realise how alien it is. when like when my my boys came from Westland and went to quite a posh school and they play football and all the other dads would be like oh well done Jasper well done you can they'll be on the line go on fire post boy one day my son my my my eldest son and my daughter's the oldest but my oldest boy he's in the middle of a football game he stopped he stopped running he said daddy Les Cockney

34:11you've got range haven't you come on can you disappear for a bit dad at the moment my dad used to have his fag hanging out his mouth and i was literally my father for a minute you know yeah come on boy boy my dad had we had a neighbor called roy roy the boy is a cab driver and he had his cab it was perfectly clean black cab driver and it was it had done 300 000 miles right and this was i lived sort of near mottingham elton way and um i had a girlfriend in islington north london big shot yeah i don't want to show off but i've had girlfriends at the angel and he come up to me so that generation of people he might have been about your dad's age actually he come up and went what you going up to north london for boy and it was like going all the way there for a girlfriend but that boy boy it's like that's sort of died off a little bit that but calling the kid boy

35:02Josh Widdicombe:do you say I came up in this situation and you're in this all the time and the worst thing I did was to tell my kids because I left school at I left school at 15 before I was 16 because I didn't really do any GCSEs so I got no qualifications and I thought I thought that would inspire them because I was giving them a good life and I said look you know but I soon realised that they would say to me daddy you don't know what you're talking about because you never did exams So there is a point where I was just useless. There was nothing I could do. And even doing drama at school, I can't really give them any notes because I'm not really an experienced actor.

35:44I'm just daddy, and daddy's useless. Really?

35:47Josh Widdicombe:Did you go up through drama school and stuff? I went to drama. I eventually got into Mountview when I was... I was an apprentice printer initially, and I was in a club in Mayer Street in Hackney, and I was dancing in the club, and with my mate Emmanuel and Emmanuel was like tall, of St. Lucian descent, look gorgeous, and he ended up being a model. And someone asked him to be an extra in a movie. And he said, yeah, can I take Eddie? And they took me and I was there and I saw Jamie Foreman, who became a friend of mine, do a scene on his dance floor. We had to walk across the dance floor. And I suddenly thought, God, I want to be an actor.

36:20That's what I want to do. And that's how it started. Yeah.

36:23Josh Widdicombe:So how did you then go to get into drama school and stuff? Well, first of all, me and Emmanuel, I tried to get into drama school. so Emmanuel coached me on and neither of us knew what we're doing so I used to be a printer right so in print and in print you got this thing called yeah I don't know boy you but printing is all about the chemical balance between the ink and the paper right when it's wrong you get this thing called scumming where the paper gets dirty right yeah so on Shakespeare you know in Shakespeare you've got a lot of commas like where before words like there's a comma where they miss out the beginning of a word for the iron big pentameter I didn't know what that was so I'm reading this thing and I'm going, man, look at that scumming on that.

37:00Josh Widdicombe:I have no idea what I was doing. And I tried for about four years to get into drama school, eventually got in. Did you want your boss pay for you to go in? Yeah, he was an East End bookmaker, yeah. He paid for it. He said to me, what do you want to do? I said, what do you want to do, boy? And I said, I want to be an actor. He said, well, if you get in, I'll pay. And he did. Oh, wow. He used to run a book in Waldenstow Dog Track. Oh, wow. So it's a totally different childhood your kids have had. Completely different. Completely different. but they love going back to the East End. They love going back.

37:29They go back there. They go back. I've got Emmanuel's mum, his mum, my kids go and see her at Christmas and take her flowers. Oh, wow. You're still... I'm still very much in touch with it, yeah. My kids love that. It's funny because... It's changed a lot, right? Not down my end. Once you get past Palicis, it's still the same. I mean, up near Shoreditch, you saw, you know, a hipster socialist walking around. There were twats that moved into Victoria Park. Yeah, yeah. That was me. I left. I left.

37:55Josh Widdicombe:I've got back to Devon Maurice so four kids and they presumably have come on you know you've been busy for you know 20 years super back to back presumably they've grown up on, they've grown up travelling when we did Ray Donovan and my wife bless her was amazing, she had four kids under the age of 7 and she used to take them on planes over to LA to see me school holidays and summer holidays and be with me and they were amazing they grew up they grew up on film sets they grew up on in Culver City we did Ray Donovan they grew up around that and they used to love all the food because they had a load of sweet you could always tell when Eddie's kids were there because all the door handles in the studio were sticky because the kids were going and were the studio and the producers happy for that to happen yeah they loved it Ray Donovan was very Leav had two kids Dash had a kid so we'd all have barbecues all the kids grew up together oh nice amazing it was great fun because your partner or was she a make-up artist?

38:55Is that right? My wife was a make-up artist. She's a writer now, but she was a make-up artist. Yeah, so is that how you met? Yeah. And then did she stop that one when the kids were younger then when you were working? She met me. Do you remember Monkey Magic? No, what was Monkey Magic? Monkey and Pixie. Do you remember that? Oh, not what the... It was dubbed. Yeah, yeah. I played a movie of that and I played Pixie. Right. So I was pissing. So my wife ended up with make-up. She ended up marrying the pig. But the thing is, the boyfriend before me was like a good look and he was a model and he had headshots.

39:26So I used to put his photograph on the fridge and me as a pig next to it. What you could have won. Yeah.

39:35Josh Widdicombe:And what are you like as a dad then? Because you seem very affable and fun. I can be a sergeant major one week and a hippie the next. Can you? Because you don't know what you're doing, do you? When you go to those parent carters when you're a kid and when you're about to have your first kid and someone's read a book and they think, well, that's how you do it. You think, no. Yeah, yeah. You make it up as you go along, really. Yeah. All you can do is just love them, really. You know? Yeah. And they do see the worst of you and they see the best of you. Yeah. You know, I mean, there's two of my kids don't get on and one of my kids the other day kind of got really upset and stormed out the house and we didn't know where he was.

40:13And then the one that he doesn't get on with phone, he said, no, he's with me, don't worry, I've got him. And then you suddenly realise that there's connections you don't realise, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's really good like that, really. Yeah. I've got funny stories. I meditate because I suffered from anxiety, so I meditate every day. And I was trying to teach two of my kids, my two youngest, to meditate. Because they were like running around. What age was this when they were little? And I said, right, we're going to meditate, boys. So sit down, I'm going to show you how to do it.

40:43And I sat down and I closed my eyes with them. And I thought, a couple of minutes, and I thought, this is going really well. And I was talking them through it, closing my eyes. And I thought, they're really quiet. And I opened my eyes, and the older one is standing. He's pulled his pants and trousers down, and he's getting his willy, and he's going... LAUGHTER And the younger one is crying, laughing, trying not to lie. You've got your eyes just taking a wig out.

41:10Josh Widdicombe:Did you always want a big family like that? I came before. It must be exciting, like, always stuff going on and, like... Yeah, it's... I mean, exciting, stroke, exhausting. Yeah, it's both. I mean, life's like that, though, isn't it? I mean, life's one thing you realize. One thing I've realized was that when I was younger and I wanted to be an actor, I thought once I achieve that, I'm good. Life's just going to be happiness is going to be one direction. Yeah. Yeah. Life's not like life expands like a flower expands. So I love it. But it's also exhausting, stressful. There's a responsibility. And being a parent is like that, isn't it?

41:47Yeah. The joy is one direction, and it's amazing, and the love you feel, but the anxiety you feel. I mean, I tell my wife to turn off that Live 360. Oh, is that the tracker? She knows where I had 21 hours. I say, turn it off. I mean, God, if my mum would have known where I was, there's no way.

42:13Josh Widdicombe:Wishing you could be there live for the big game. soaking up the atmosphere of the crowd but too often life gets busy or the price holds you back. Priceline is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars, you can go see the game live. Don't just dream about the trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com. Actual prices may vary. Limited time offer. Your summer runs just got a boost of energy in Lululemon's Shake It Out shorts. Made in our ultra breezy lightweight swift fabric, the Shake It Out shorts have a flowy, layered hem and a comfy built-in liner.

42:54Josh Widdicombe:These shorts keep you locked in for miles with distraction-free storage and a waist fan that doesn't budge. They might just be the shortcut to your summer goals. Shop the Shake It Out shorts now at lululemon.com. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink or a sweet vanilla, smooth caramel maybe, or a white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

43:27Jack Savaretti, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me, guys. Now, obviously, we're just all getting on so well that we just started chatting. I didn't realise we'd started. No. That's how good we are. It's been a great show. Yeah, yeah. I met you on Graham Norton. Yeah. But full rundown. three kids three kids how many what did you say dogs and cats four dogs and now we've sort of inherited a cat not inherited a cat a cat chose us even though you've got four dogs even though we've got four dogs which is impressive it took her a while somebody had abandoned her she's a beautiful cat I'm not a cat person but she's a beautiful cat I'm a cat person and you've got four dogs it took her six months I built her like a little chalet meow meow I call it it's like a little cat house it's like a little log cabin for cats oh wow And so she started staying in there and now that it's sort of spring we have the doors open she started to sort of come in Oh, no, the dogs aren't bothering a little bit scared of her.

44:21What don't you go? I've got a border collie and then we have three Cocker poos cocker sort of small dogs. No the border collie is quite big. She's quite big. She's sort of my size She's my soulmate. Massive. Not that big. Big for a dog, though. Big for a dog. Too big for a dog. We just sort of walked everywhere together. She's my soulmate. And then the other three are just pretty hectic. I was reading your Wikipedia name, and you're not called Jack. No, I've always been called Jack. My mother's called me Jack, but on my passport, I'm Giovanni. Giovanni, yeah. I was named after my grandfather. Because I was born in London, my mother's English, and she was just like, Giovanni's going to be a tough one.

45:00ah right but you know especially like early 80s she was just like she wasn't crazy she just wanted

45:06Josh Widdicombe:i thought you'd picked a less spectacular stage name i thought you'd go like i'm one of the only people who told down their name for the stage no i've been asked to change my name i've been asked to change my last name a lot in the music business really i would have thought it's a sell i agree i think it's interesting it's also just who i am like it is what it is yeah but i've been told i've got one executive said if you keep your name we'll have to put in the world music section i hate the term world music already so but it's just music it's just music not in english yeah um but yeah that was an interesting it happened a few times what name did you toy with did you ever consider there was already it was never a shortlist no he did he did suggest sav or savo or something like that jacks sounds like a criminal from the 50s i mean jack sav used to work with the craze to be fair Jack Savareti sounds like a criminal Jack the Hat so that sort of midlife crisis realisation then you wrote the album off the back of that basically is that what was the motivation it didn't manifest in anything else other than the album with like decisions of no not really I mean it had just come from a period where I had lost my father we'd just had a third child sort of thing we were coming through that which was also a shock to the system because let's just say Celeste number three but Celeste it was a surprise it was a very much like we were sort of out on the other side six year gap yeah ten year with the eldest oh god yes that's a long yeah it was a long time and we were starting to find ourselves again and starting to just it was just things were changing with my wife and I was starting to hang out a lot more yeah hence hence what happened too much time together

46:50it's happened again um but i mean it was the best thing that happened to us and i'm gonna throw that cliche out there because it is oh of course it yeah it's just but it can be a shock at the time it was a real shock my wife was very happy she was really happy it was a bit like the same again i mean she might not like me saying this but it was a bit with her midlife cries the same thing with maggie the dog like keeping her alive this was another thing yeah because it's yeah she was We were having our own moment of questioning time and is there time for one more? Could I do this again? Should we have another one?

47:20She was very much in that mentality. I really wasn't. I mean, it was just during COVID as well. And like it was during the lockdown where finally the world did stop for me. I mean, I hate saying that because it wasn't a great time for people. But for me personally, it was really nice to stop and to not have that sense of guilt for stopping. Yes. Or worry. It was taken out of your control. Exactly, that somebody else was doing what I should have been doing and all that. It was like, no, everything stops, so you can actually turn off now. And when that happened, I was like, I was tired. I realized I was actually really tired.

47:52And when this, so when we got pregnant again, I was like, oh, man, I've got to go back to work. This is going to be tough. But luckily, it's actually been the best source of inspiration for that. Yeah. For both of us, for my wife and I. And what does she do? She's an artist. She was an actress. Yeah. And then during, she's always been an incredible artist. Yeah. but she had focused mainly on her acting and done some amazing films, worked with Tim Burton, Francois Zahn, done some great stuff. But then during lockdown, again, there was a real, she realised, I don't want to go back out there. I think she had just had her time.

48:26Getting the job and being rejected was becoming more... I think it's horrible being an actor. It's brutal acting. That becomes kind of the craft, surviving that.

48:34Josh Widdicombe:Do you know what? You so rarely get it in our job where you are up for something and there's a list of people or you don't know the list of people but you have to go along and you have to audition. I don't know. It's so rare. Yeah. And then you'd have to watch whoever got the job and your whole life, if you're an actor, is presumably lived in just this kind of edge of will I get that? What if I get that? When do I find out about that? I've got a callback. I wonder how many people have got a callback. All of that. I don't know how every actor isn't insane. A lot of them are.

49:13The worst part of a normal job, like when I worked in an office job, the worst part of working an office job is going for job interviews and your first day at work. And that's essentially all acting is. All the time. It's going for the interview and then being there for a day and then moving on. I mean, there is a buzz if you do get the job. Yeah. And that was becoming more of her, like she was very, becoming quite competitive. Ah, okay. And I think the craft was taking a back seat and that's when she was like, Like, this is not good. She didn't like that feeling. It was no longer about the craft of acting.

49:42It was the craft of, like, the audition, getting the job, which is part of it, don't get me wrong. Yeah, of course. I think that's when she was just, like, done with that. And so she wanted to, I think, really master a craft again in creation, and art was there. Suddenly she was in charge. She was the one that could just make things come to life from nothing, and she's a ridiculously prolific, wonderful, and successful artist. so that was an interesting switch for both of us as well. How did she find you going back on tour then? Because obviously I'd locked down home together. Very happy about it.

50:13Really? I think for multiple reasons. First it means I'm still working which is a nice thing but also I think we've always had that in our relationship. We've been together 22 years so that distance makes the heart go fonder. It keeps us incredibly like the choice of being in love rather than it's easy to be in love when everything's hunky-dory but to choose it when there's a struggle and all that. I think that the touring and being away from each other makes you feel like you're sort of fighting and holding on to something again. And it is incredibly bonding for us. Do you find that, Rob? Well, it's different for comedians, isn't it?

50:47Because we go to Doncaster for the night and drive home. So do I. I'm not exactly. No, but with music, when you tour abroad a lot more and you're away for six weeks nonstop where comedy really is like two or three nights.

51:03Josh Widdicombe:I'll do the school run, but then I'm going to Leeds. Yeah, but I have to be honest. Me, personally, have been able to build much more of that. Oh, that's good. Not by joys, by lack of success, maybe. I don't really have, like, I'm never away from, like, two weeks is kind of the limit. Yeah, I can't do any more than that, especially with the kids. Totally. I don't like it. I don't like what happens. No, it's horrible. I get too detached. They get almost too detached as well. They sort of, like, just move on without you. They're not running to say hello anymore and all that, So it becomes a bit, two weeks is the most.

51:34Josh Widdicombe:Yeah, I think that's a good decision. Does it feel different going back out when you've got kids? Yeah. I think it's getting harder, actually, if I'm totally honest. Just because parenting is getting so much cooler. Yeah. At age, I love it. And also, when the first time around, you've got a sort of six-month-old kid in your hand, and you're like, this is it forever. You don't realize how quickly time flies. You don't realize how quickly that six-month-old is wanting to spend the weekend with friends and not answering your text messages when you're like, where are you? Suddenly, that's gone. That moment is gone.

52:09And so now, I mean, I feel sort of sorry for my daughter because I am properly holding on to every moment I can with her because I know how quickly this goes. So I think the absence. I literally felt like, you know in a film where her soul leaves the body?

52:26Josh Widdicombe:Oh, no. Should we go back to having all your friends there and thinking one decision could ruin it all? I mean, you're laughing a lot for someone who's really bringing some dark thoughts into the room. That's why he's good as singer-songwriter. This is like my therapy. I'm giggling. Am I allowed to call you a singer-songwriter? Is that allowed? Is that not... I don't know. It's world music, isn't it? Don't have a go at him because what he said made you question your own... It's in English. I've made one world music album in Italian. The rest is in English. No, I mean... I'm a very jolly person.

52:58I only write sad songs, so I don't usually write when I'm out. Do you find,

53:01Josh Widdicombe:this is an interesting thing. I think the darkest comedians are often the lightest offstage, right? Yeah. And the light, fluffy ones are the ones that the real... Yeah, they're a cover-upper, kind of. A deep... What do you try to say? Well, what I'm trying to say is, like, Chris Martin's quite a laugh, from what I can tell, but he's quite sad in his songs or whatever. Is there a lot of people that do sad music, but they're actually quite a laugh? Is that... In my experience, 100%. yeah i think howdy is a good example howdy's a good example perfect example actually i always find some it's the same thing the ones that are making all the jolly sort of stuff like that there's a darkness to them yeah yeah obviously don't want you to see they're hiding it totally yeah yeah for me it's always been a bit like that i remember when i started to provide an example of that person no i would never do that uh but when i started out for example i used to i mean all the the guys Some of the guys that I really admired, they were all very quiet and somber on stage.

54:01They wouldn't say much in between songs. And I remember when I started out, I used to sort of imitate that. It was actually my wife who was like, what the fuck is that? Like, that's not you. You're the guy who doesn't shut up and I can hear you laughing from four hours away. Why aren't you doing that? And actually, once I got comfortable with just being that, I think the songwriting got better, funnily enough, because I didn't have to sort of, I don't know, I was able to put it there and it didn't entirely define me. like that's just a part of yeah it wasn't my everything there isn't almost a shame with

54:31Josh Widdicombe:musicians to being a laugh yeah you got to be cool but like do you like see matt like she see matt is now she had harry hill on stage when she did alexander polish she's really funny she does and it's the same with lewis capaldi there's there's totally this thing now where i think people are going oh i can be funny and it doesn't undermine the music i also think we know more about artists now. Like, I think back in the day there wasn't that much known but they were actually like that. Like, Leonard Cohen was hilarious. Right. Leonard Cohen. Yeah, well that's a perfect example, right? And like, I don't know if you've seen the documentary on him.

55:06It's fantastic. Like, he's very witty, very social. You never think that. You think this is what he's...

55:12Josh Widdicombe:Well, David Bowie's really normal. Whenever you see David Bowie interviewed, you're like, oh, he's like a really normal bloke. That just dresses up and performs. Yeah, totally. I love his interviews. When they're, back in the day, they're trying to trip him up all the time because he was trying to bring it out of it you must be weird and he was so good it was going no i'm all right no brilliant yeah i love bowie big boy but that that's definitely i think something that now that we know more about those artists even from that time yeah you don't have that weight of having to keep up appearances by being cool and quiet yeah can i ask you about the graham norton show yeah because we did that together thank god you were there man did you did you think he had as bad a one as he was what do you mean he's too nice for that he's trying to pretend i had a badge gig no that was all right no but sitting next to a naughty school kid like you kept making me laugh like i was trying to be cool on that so far i was like okay be cool was it so was it chris pratt cynthia erivo don french me then you yeah right it's a classic you would have met up anyway well actually it's my dream dinner guest party that I'd asked for the week before and it just happened.

56:19No, because as a comedian you're on at the end to try and lighten the mood and be the bit of the joke when they've got their sort of film stars, mega stars, come on. But it's weird though for the musicians because you're not involved at all then you do your song and it's very hard to do those songs in a studio audience with TV. Yeah, one, two, three. And it's every single person I've seen ever do it. They're doing it and they're doing really well but it's not like a normal gig. You're playing for the environment. And then you sort of have to do it twice, because they make everyone do it twice, you do it once, you do it another one for cameras or whatever, and then they go, right, welcome over, Jack Savaree.

56:52So we've been there for like two hours. It's like being late to a party where everyone's getting along. And then you're all out of breath because you've been performing, and then you shuffle over, you're like, hello, and it's so hard.

57:02Josh Widdicombe:So what are you thinking about when you're stood backstage thinking, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, as we all think? Literally, yeah. Are you thinking, yeah, yeah, are you thinking, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, I've got to do the song in the studio or you're thinking fuck fuck fuck i've got to go and talk to them no no the song is easy like the song's fine it's not easy don't get me wrong no no but you hope it is what it is yeah you can you can't go back now that is what it is it's the like please say something a little bit so that's hanging over the song that's hanging over the song also because some you talk about kapal that some guys are amazing at it yeah they'll come and they'll drop that bomb that they know will you know it'll do something the viral or you know that's all they want that's all they yeah but they're good at it can you say something that goes viral exactly that's what they kept no otherwise I'd be doing it all the time but I've never had that until this time they kept saying just say something that maybe go viral oh they actually said that to you yeah twice before I went on I was like if I knew how to do that I wouldn't have to be here 100 % so I did the Claudia recently Claudia Winkle Show and the American person who it always depends on yeah who was the guy from Schitt's Creek who is oh I saw this about Mr Blob yeah he was such a laugh and suddenly everyone's like ah just relax I think the best thing to do on those shows is to just have a laugh I think when I was really young and I went on them I would try to be very serious and whatever and nothing comes no one wants you to be serious I once sat through an incredibly long chat about Shakespeare and I thought no one's getting anything out of this

58:42Close your eyes Exhale Feel your body relax And let go of whatever you're carrying today Well, I'm letting go of the worry That I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class I got them delivered free from 1-800-CONTACTS Oh my gosh, they're so fast And breathe Oh, sorry I almost couldn't breathe When I saw the discount they gave me on my first order Oh, sorry Namaste Visit 1-800-CONTACTS.com today to save on your first order.

59:10Josh Widdicombe:1-800-CONTACTS