Ed Gamble

0:00The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

0:39Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction. But there's only one Zinn. Check out Zinn.com slash find to find Zinn at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. There's the part of me that everyone sees. I'm Howie Mandel, the comedian. Apparently, I know what funny is. Funny bought me a house, but I also know what isn't funny. OCD. I've lived with OCD my entire life, and people throw the term around like it's no big deal. But OCD is severe, often debilitating.

1:20It's a mental health condition that involves unrelented, unwanted thoughts that can make you question your character, your beliefs, even your safety. General therapy can help with some things, but for OCD, it can actually make things worse. That's why I want to tell you about NoCD. NoCD is the world's largest treatment provider for OCD and is covered by insurance for over 155 million Americans. Their licensed therapists specialize in ERP, the most effective treatment for OCD. If you think you might be struggling with OCD, go to NOCD.com to book a free 15-minute call. They are here to help. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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2:23Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm here, Jessie Ware, sitting, nursing, a really unfair hangover. And mum is here fanning herself because I haven't been able to help that much today. It's very hard. I've had the oven going since nine o 'clock, darling. I'm really sorry. And I thank you. It's not your fault that the oven was going, but I think I chose wrongly the food. Why? Because I didn't realise it was going to be probably the second hottest day of the year. and having an oven on for five hours doesn't help the kitchen. So tell the listeners what's on the menu. Well, darling, what's off the menu, if you'll pardon the expression?

3:06Very good. Yeah. Well, first of all, the guests on, I think I don't think I've ever been more jealous of anybody's. What, for the success of his brilliant podcast? Well, besides that, the fact that he's got, as you would say in the profession, such a good gig. he's he's got a few good gigs i know he's but he's a judge on the great british menu which is probably my all-time favorite cooking program because it's all these amazing chefs and he gets to taste all their great food to prepare for a banquet yes we have ed gamble from the off menu podcast judge on great british menu and he's coming here to talk about his new book glutton which is a food memoir and we're very excited to finally meet Ed Gamble and to talk food he's the nice one on the great British menu he's the kindest judge I wonder if he will be kind about your cooking and he loves food yeah his book Glutton I mean it goes the first page is about him being like the biggest greediest baby and it carried on I think the whole time so yeah he's kind of doing the right thing what's on the menu well it is a warm day and it's a late lunch so I didn't do a kind of big heavy meal I've done an onion tart and the crust is made with semolina and flour and butter that you heat up and then just pour it all in and let's hope it's nice and crispy because of the semolina and then the onions it's shallots really and some spring onions and I've made confit roast tomatoes and some creamy butter beans with a herby oil to go with it and just a green salad it looks really delicious and then I've made panna cotta which is I feel a bit guilty because it is very easy but I do think it's delicious with passion fruit and peaches would you recommend people that are doing dinner parties at the moment to make a panna cotta I think panna cottas are fabulous and they're dead easy.

5:20I was always frightened of doing them because of gelatine, but it's so easy to use. Two and a half sheets of gelatine, soaked in cold water, and then you put it in and it all melts, and it's delicious. And I think I've got the quantity of gelatine just right because I always get a good wobble. You do get a good wobble. Well, let's see how it wobbles today. Ed Gamble coming up on Table Manners.

5:49Well, we're very excited to have Ed Gamble on our podcast. Our major competitor. Yes, absolutely. And you've been invited. This felt like something from a gangster film where there's a summit set up and then I thought it was just going to be shot in the back of the head as soon as I arrived. They're going to poison you, don't they? Yeah, yeah. Also, Ed, you have... I don't think I've ever been as envious of anyone. You have my dream job. Yes, I think I know what that is. Yeah. Judge on the Great British Menu. Oh, my God. Yeah, I can't believe I'm doing that job, to be honest. I know how you got the gig, because you're funny and you like food.

6:23I went and guest judged on an episode, because they were doing it about innovation, I think was the theme. And they wanted a, you know, just, I think they wanted a comedian for that last episode. And then they seemed to enjoy me on that, and they were making a big change, where they were getting rid of the old judges and shipping new people in. So I was lucky to be there at that time, but it is the dream job. It is. It really is. Fabulous. We're starting with an aperitif today. Fantastic. Only for great British menu people do we start with an aperitif. Glad to hear it. But this is quite a poor man's version of the mountain vermouth.

6:54Have you tried? Have you been to mountain yet? Not been to mountain yet. Freaking amazing. Very excited to go. They have this amazing... You try. Is it Sicilian vermouth? No. Anyway, this is not the same. I love this. It's tasty. What they do, they do it with soda and they definitely do it better than this. And they put one of those gorgeous olives in. So yeah, cheers. Cheers, Ed. Cheers. Cheers, you try it, darling. It's not bad. Okay, fine. It's very nice. I think it's medicinal. It's kind of dry and nice. I'm kind of going to sort my hangover out. Okay, yeah. It's a hangover cure. We'll call it that.

7:27Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. Where have you come from today? From East London, North East London, Walthamstow. Is that where you live? Yeah. What did you have for breakfast? I had two... I'm doing this awful thing at the moment where I get my meals delivered in the morning. Why? Oh, because I don't have any time to do proper cooking at the moment. So I just end up eating crap. I do cook when I have time. But if I'm gigging a lot and doing loads of other stuff, it's really hard. So who delivers your food? It's like some fitness place. Are we going to ruin that for you today? Yeah, good.

8:00Have you lost weight? No, no, no. I keep it at a level where I don't lose any weight. But it's just so I can eat sort of decent food and don't end up getting delivery all the time. Is it like called fresh fitness food? It is, yeah. Your pro green was talking about it the other day. Right, okay. And I was thinking actually I was going to do it for my rehearsals because otherwise you just end up eating it by a love pro. It's nice food as well. It is good, but you do feel a bit pathetic picking up your meals from outside your house every day like you're in prison. So what did you have for breakfast from your little box?

8:26It was like little egg, you know, like those little egg pucks. What's a puck? And my wife calls them like evil egg pucks. What is an evil egg puck? They look like hockey pucks. They're like, you know, if you made them, you'd put them in like a muffin tin and bake them, like bake, take, bites sort of thing. Nice. How many? Two, two big ones. Are you hungry? Yeah, I'm starving. I mean, I deliberately didn't eat the entire box because I was ready to... And that's hard for you as I gather from your book. Yeah, I'm just like constantly thinking about food. It's the greatest. Yeah, of course. Do you think it's a blessing or a curse though?

8:56I think it's a blessing because I consider it a passion and a hobby that I enjoy indulging and I see people who don't enjoy food and I just think they must have a completely empty life. do you when you're in bed at night do you think what you might have the next day yeah of course me too try and plan out the whole menu in the head the whole day of what i'm eating yeah absolutely yeah and if i'm going out to eat that's when i'm like excited the whole time so where have you eaten recently that you've thought was fabulous do you go to any of the chefs that have been on the program yeah i try to i try to but then you know that because they're from all over the uk um if i'm touring i'll try and go to one of them but the best meal i've had this year is long clume i'm so desperate to go it is amazing i'm going again for new year's oh my god that's such a great idea are you performing no no no just night off eating it's a long meal as well it's like a four or five hour meal there do you think it'll be fun as well or is it all serious eating no no no it's very it's quite relaxed so and you know everyone who works there is really good fun and uh yeah it's me and james acaster and nish and our partners are all going up to long clume for new year's and you'll be laughing too yeah yeah yeah which is your best course i mean are you someone who says i just live for the dessert i could start with that absolutely not me neither i'm a starter boy so on off menu we're diametrically opposed i'm a starter boy and james is a dessert boy love mains as well obviously but starters are what excite me the most i think yeah and do you like vegetable starters or fishy starters or it doesn't matter bring it all absolutely bring it all like i'll it depends what i'm having for main as well so if I'm having a fishy main I'll go for like steak tartare or something to start.

10:34Do you remember last Great British Menu they did that thing with mushrooms and it looked like you were in the woodland? Yeah there was a lot of that last series. That was so clever though. It was fantastic. Did you get a bit sick of foraged mushrooms? Well because the last series was the first series where the starters had to be plant-based and the majority of western chefs I I think they hear it's got to be plant-based, so they're going with the most meaty thing possible, which is mushroom. Which is why Avi, who got through, won, because he's an Indian chef, who's very used to cooking plant-based food, so it was just an incredible dish.

11:10You do have the best job in the world. It is amazing, and we start again next week. I can't wait. Back to Stratford-upon-Avon. Is that where it's filmed? Yeah, it's filmed in Stratford-upon-Avon, yeah. In the centre of England. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Oh, is it at the place where they do MasterChef? No, it's in an industrial estate. of Strapford of Von Avon. John Turode, when he came on the podcast, he said, well, no, when I went on MasterChef and was like a guest judge or guest taster because I definitely didn't, I mean, I just was really excited about everything. But he said that he wouldn't eat all day if he knew he was filming.

11:42Yeah. Are you similar with that? Well, I mean, it's tricky. It'd be amazing if I managed to eat before because we start at like nine in the morning. You're eating by that point. My first day I had breakfast before we started and they were like, what are you doing? You can't do that. so we start like 9 9 30 and then get a dish every half an hour basically oh my god yeah it's a lot okay so like yeah a four or five hour tasting menu you're like yeah exactly i've done the training so finals week is the hardest because that's that's four days in a row and it's eight starters on one day eight mains the next day or eight fish the next day eight mains the next day and eight desserts and that is the roughest day is eight desserts in one day that feel and you're diabetic yeah so that is normally how do you balance it all now well the dessert day is the trickiest one i think do they allow i mean what can you just bring your insulin i mean yeah i just inject when when i mean it's it's like i'm a proper like ninja diabetic in that situation most of the time absolutely fine like eating because you can eat like little bits of it i don't but um and you can sort of manage to balance it through the day but that dessert day is a wild ride i don't have a pump i've got a constant glucose monitor so i get my blood sugars on my phone yeah all the time but with the insulin it's just sort of it's years of experience just trying to work out how to how to manage it how old were you when you were 13 oh what a shitty thing to happen yeah it was but I mean I don't at the time I think I was a bit blasé about the whole thing and also my mum was a nurse for many years so okay she spotted all the signs really early so a lot of people's diagnosis story is they end up in hospital with you know super high blood sugar but I didn't have that were you thirsty all the time yeah thirsty all the time lost weight yeah I did lose weight which was a surprise for me at that age yeah that all went straight back on again as soon as I was diagnosed so the care I got was amazing like the from the NHS from the like youth diabetes centre uh the hospital was incredible so brought up uh southwest London in Wimbledon Wimbledon yeah yeah so let's take it back to childhood you loved everything your mum talked about you being kind of you know a hungry baby yes bottomless pit yeah love it similar to me gobbled it all up absolutely what was a really memorable dish from your childhood well we were a proper Delia house my mom like real Delia house or good housekeeping magazine so there's a lot of like still I'd say like probably vintage good housekeeping magazines in my mom's house amazing because they've got one recipe in them yeah that we just used to eat all of the time so there was one I think it was a good housekeeping one which was like chicken noodles and like coconut milk and we'd have that once or twice a week I'd say and did you love it oh absolutely loved it like three helpings every time always going back for more like let's spring onions and ginger and garlic just who was around the dinner table well it's just me and my mum in the house really so uh I mean we'd you know she'd often have friends over and stuff and you know or I'd go to my dad's for dinner but at home my main memories of food me and my mum normally chicken noodles roast chicken do you don't have brothers and sisters I've got a half brother and half sister uh so they're with my dad so I would see them you know every other weekend I wonder whether that played a part in you being a good eater well you came out being a good eater but that idea of like your mum cooking meals for you both and it not being like peer pressure of other shitty eating habits from brothers and sisters yeah you were yeah I think so and yeah and then I was just also she made a big pan of it and I got to eat most of it so that probably that probably helped and she was a nurse yeah she was a nurse for many years uh and then for actually the majority of her career she was a health visitor so just sort of stomping around full and visiting babies really oh yeah a pretty good job are you close to her yeah very close yeah yeah yeah does she watch the great british she does she loves it it's one of the things that i do that she will watch regularly because podcasts she can't keep up with she don't i don't think she knows how to get them right still i've told her to be honest If I wasn't on one, I wouldn't know how to get one, to be perfectly frank.

15:42So you and your mum eating around the dinner table, her cooking these amazing meals. Dinner table, it was normally on our knees in front of the telly. Really? Which I stand, but I know people say it's nicer to eat around the dinner table, it's better for the family unit, but it's exactly the same. You have a great relationship with your mum. Yeah, yeah, yeah, great relationship. What were you watching? Oh, well, I was trying to remember the other day, we'd watched The Soaps, definitely. Did you? Yeah, big time. You see, Jessie was on Strictly. I didn't know half the people on it because they're all in soaps.

16:08I'm very behind now. Are you good now still with your soaps? No, I've fallen very behind. I'll check back in at Christmas. Okay. So which ones were you watching? Corrie and EastEnders mainly. Oh, wow, the rivals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't discriminate in your house. No, God, no. No, no, no, no. I love that. Also, Corrie was the funny one back then, and then EastEnders is the proper gritty one. Yeah. So you would eat and you would then go to your dad's and kind of... Yeah, go to Dad's on some weekends. Was he a good cook? He's a brilliant cook. Oh, really? Yeah. Also, he uses cooking in the same way I use cooking to be in the kitchen all day and not have to converse with anyone else.

16:44I do that. I can't believe that of you because you're like a warm, lovely person. Yeah, but I have to save that up and then I run out of that eventually. So if I'm having people around, I like being in the kitchen doing stuff and I'll be chatting to people, but I like having something to focus on. I'm totally with you. And it's kind of quite, you really can escape. Yeah. Which is really wonderful. It sounds really naff, but like it just is really, you focus on the opposite. Oh, I'm the opposite. I want to be a guest at my own dinner party. And I hate, and then I resent everyone. By the time they've come and I've cooked, I think, oh, fuck.

17:18When was your last dinner party that you hosted? Oh God, it was probably a while ago. It was probably a few months ago. We had James A. Castron and his girlfriend over and it was in the sort of winter months. So I like doing proper slow cook stuff. So I did like beef cheeks, slow cooked beef cheeks and polenta. Delish. Yeah, fantastic. That was right on my street. And your wife? Yeah. Does she cook? No, not at all. Not at all. And she wouldn't mind me saying it. She absolutely does not cook. The whole idea of it makes her very nervous of messing something up. What does she do for a job? She works in TV.

17:50She's a TV development producer. So she just comes up with TV ideas. That is such a stressful job. Stressful job, but she's very good at it. but she's just not, cooking is just never, when we first got together she tried to cook for me once because she thought it would be something that she had to do and then was so stressed the whole time. What was the dish? It was like a chicken curry, it was like a Jamaican chicken curry. Did it work? It was edible but there was some burning of onions. I mean we've been together for so long now I think that's that now. How did you meet? Sort of through comedy and TV so she was working for a TV production company and she they were like coming to see comedians do gigs and we met yeah where was your first date um meal wise meal wise did you choose it no it was sort of I mean we're both a lot younger uh so I don't think we didn't know much about restaurants how long you've been together like 12 years yeah 12 years but married for two we went to it's not there anymore but it's somewhere we I used to go drinking a lot with people uh down on the south bank there It was somewhere called Studio 6.

18:54It was really near. Oh, I don't know that. It was really near where London Studios used to be. Right. Just down on the South Bank. I mean, it was fine. We went and ate there. And really just, I think we had about two bottles of wine. And then we were drinking that heavily for the first, I'd say like six months of our relationship before she eventually went, I don't normally drink this much. I've been doing it to try and keep up with you. And I need to stop this now. I can't do it anymore. But we went to Studio 6. Yeah, it was a really fun evening. Stephen Fry walked into the room at one point.

19:24That's quite memorable. Yeah. I think maybe he's a good omen. Did you see what he ordered? No, didn't have a look at what Fry ordered. Too busy looking at the face of your future wife. Absolutely. And that's what I thought at the time as well. It was really creepy. I thought, you're my future wife. Oh, did you? No, no. Oh, oh. Well, where'd I come from then? It took us like 11 years to get married. Was that because you weren't up for being married? No, I mean, I was always up for being married, but I just don't think we ever really thought about it until... How did you propose? I need to know all this information.

19:54We were in Japan. So I decided quite early on in the year, so like January, that I wanted to propose. And then we went to Japan in October. So I was planning it all the time and getting the ring designed and made and stuff. How did she get on in Japan with food? Oh, she loves it. She loved it. She just doesn't cook. She loves food. She just doesn't cook, yeah. So yeah, we got to Japan and I brought the ring with me and I basically proposed to her day one. So then it was like burning a hole in your pocket. I was like, this ring is not my problem anymore. Yeah. You have to look after this for the rest of the three week trip.

20:26So yeah. And we're going back actually next year. We're going back and we're staying in the hotel that we stayed in when we first arrived in Tokyo after I proposed. We'll probably go to the same place. It is like the most basic, like it's the one in Shinjuku that's got Godzilla on the top. So that's why I've got, I've got a Godzilla tattoo. Because I proposed on that trip and we were staying in the Godzilla. let's talk about these tattoos how many tattoos do you have and i don't know now you got a godzilla tattoo yes to remember that you proposed did you need to get the godzilla inked on your arm to remember that well look i also think you love godzilla is really cool right let me see let me see luckily oh it's very it's quite arty god yeah it's nice right yeah it's nice also i'll tell you some more stuff about this tattoo and you'll realize it's actually really it's really nice and romantic.

21:15Okay, cool. So, this was done by two people, Ian and Barbie, who are our friends, professional tattoo artists and artists in general. Ian did the Godzilla, and then Barbie did all these flowers. I like that. Yeah, and these flowers were also on our wedding invitation, because Barbie designed our wedding invite. You're a bloody romantic at Gamble. In this tattoo, and then the rest of them, that's an eyeball. Thank you. It's quite a terrifying eyeball. It's an eyeball with their tendrils and the jaw. So there's no romance. What's that one about? I just wanted that. You just wanted that one? I wanted that, so I got a man to do it on me.

21:50Did your wife suggest the other one? No, no, no, not at all. I came up with this idea. It's okay. It's like a real justification. Then what have we got? Oh, you've got a skeleton. Sort of Dance of Death skeleton. Dance of Death. Very cool. Cowboy skeleton. I love him. I really like him. Yeah. Got a wolf there. Oh, God, yeah. I'm covered in him. Right. Will you help Ed? Smells amazing, Mum. I hope so. Oh, Mum. Is it nice? That's a good pastry. Oh, it's pastry made with semolina. It's really good, is it? It's made with semolina and hot butter. Mum! I don't know. Mum, it's better than any of your other pastries.

22:28It's better than your bloody poor Hollywood moment. Oh, my God. That was a worse moment. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me. Cheers, darling. Cheers. Cheers. By the way, we didn't mention that Ed Gamble bought Astro Bunny, a lovely pet nap. Thank you very much. Yeah, I love that stuff. Yeah, I had it lodged in my mind from listening to an episode that you also like it. Will I like this? Still love it. It's perfect. Will I like it? It's like fizzy grapefruit juice. Is that wine?

22:58Is it wine? Is it? Yeah, it's just not the fucking fortified stuff that you feed everybody. Yeah, exactly. This tart looks amazing. I hope it is. Tell me what you think. I like the semolina. It's got semolina in the pastry. That's really tasty. Do you use some of those chefs a tip? Honestly, I think you could. Let's go for it. What is your last supper? Starter. I'm interested by this. Yeah. Are we going to have a meze? I mean, I do like a meze. Who doesn't? Yeah, if I'm getting a delivery or something. I mean, Turkish food is our normal takeaway. Welcome to this. Yeah. Which is your place that you go to?

23:40So there's a place called Gokki Zoo in Walthamstow that's fantastic. There's a place called Goons as well, which is absolutely amazing. What's your regular order? Well, we will get a selection of starters. What or cold Meze? A bit of both. Great, love it. Yeah. Okay, so Meze, you'd go with that. What else do you order at your Turkish? So I'll, because I'm greedy, like when it comes to the kebab stuff, I'll always get like the one that's like a selection of loads of different kebabs, but it ends up costing so much bloody money. Like a huge foil tray of like three kilos of meat. The lamb shish, the chicken shish.

24:14Sometimes the lamb is a bit tough on the shish. Can be. It's rolling the dice really, I think. It is. I do think that. You're safer with the mince. The mince as well is really good. Yogurt though. The Adana. The Adana is fantastic. Absolutely love it. And lamb ribs sometimes as well is like, I love lamb ribs. Yeah. Can absolutely go through a whole rib cage. Fantastic stuff. And what sides would you do with that? They always bring the rice and the bulgur wheat. Yeah. I prefer the bulgur wheat to the rice. I'm going like a pile of that bulgur wheat. But then I'll have like all the chilli and garlic sauce.

24:49What about like, do you ever get pat le jean soslu? You know, like the kind of mixed veg. Oh yeah, sort of like the tomato. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really, really good. Really love that. And I love the, is it sucuk as well? The sausage. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely fantastic. I love it. Yeah. I like Greek sausage as well. Yeah. Okay. But is this going to be your starter for today? I think the starter would be the mixed meze. So like some halloumi, the sutra maybe. I mean like taramu salata as well. A bit of baba ganoush. And like proper fresh breads as well. Like off the grill. I think that's fantastic.

25:23Yeah, that's fantastic. Okay. That's your starter. What are you going to drink with it? Well, do I have one drink for the whole thing? Whatever you want. I feel like you're a greedy bastard. So you should have one drink for each one. Yeah, I should do really, shouldn't I? And I like this. It's exciting. I mean, you can't go wrong with a sort of martini to start a meal. How do you take yours? Vodka or gin? Normally, normally vodka. But I do like a gin martini as well. What's the difference? Well, one's got gin and one's got vodka. I know that. But do you think it tastes... Do you think it tastes radically different?

25:53I think gin has more of a taste. Me too. And there's so many different types of gin. Like you can get like floral ones or ones that taste a bit peppery and stuff like that. whereas vodka I think really good vodka doesn't taste of anything yeah it's just neat spirit totally so for like a bit of rocket fuel the vodka martini's good just to really kick off her we're going out for lunch for my dad's 70th tomorrow where are you going to go we're going to the Ritz oh I've never eaten that it's fantastic is it it's so good I took my mum for her birthday but we're having lunch at 12.45 and my dad suggested we meet in the bar at 11.45 Jesus are you going to do it he's not cool yeah it's going to be martinis I think to kick off with.

26:33I've been to the cocktail bar and I love that and I've had a dirty martini there and it was fab. I like a dirty martini. Something I've still never had but a lot of our guests have talked about is having a martini with an olive but the olive is stuffed with blue cheese. In the martini? Yeah. You know where it does a really good one? Where? Rita's. Oh great. And they think they do it with the stuffed cheese. Ed, would you like some more tart? Yeah, I will do actually if that's alright. Well, I know that you like seconds. Yes. And birds. So this is, it would have felt awkward if you hadn't have said yes.

27:02Sometimes I'll deliberately take a smaller first portion of something I've made just so I can go back for seconds. It's just the act of going on. I do that too. Yeah, it just feels like a treat, doesn't it?

27:18The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. There's the part of me that everyone sees. I'm Howie Mandel, the comedian. Apparently, I know what funny is. Funny, he bought me a house, but I also know what isn't funny, OCD.

28:00I've lived with OCD my entire life and people throw the term around like it's no big deal. But OCD is severe, often debilitating. It's a mental health condition that involves unrelented, unwanted thoughts that can make you question your character, your beliefs, even your safety. General therapy can help with some things, but for OCD, it can actually make things worse. That's why I want to tell you about NoCD. NoCD is the world's largest treatment provider for OCD and is covered by insurance for over 155 million Americans. Their licensed therapists specialize in ERP, the most effective treatment for OCD.

28:39If you think you might be struggling with OCD, go to NOCD.com to book a free 15-minute call. They are here to help. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

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29:42Have you just been promoting so much, the book? It's just starting the promotion, actually. Okay, that's good. We did a day where I went round in an ice cream van with copies of the book in, proof copies of the book. Oh, thank you. How did that go down? It was so much fun. But we went to some newspaper offices and then visited some friends and dropped off the book and stuff. So we went to Josh Widdicombe's house and Ian Sterling's house and a few people like that. Amazing. But visiting the offices of the newspapers was very funny because there'd be like two people in there who knew what was happening.

30:13So they'd come down, get an ice cream, get a book. but then obviously just word spread around the offices that there was just someone outside giving out free ice cream. So I basically worked a shift as an ice cream man. Such a big queue at The Independent. I was loving it. I forgot to give the books out. You've got Sweet Tooth at The Independent. I did think, you know what? If comedy all falls apart, I could be an ice cream man. Master of your own domain. Is this your first book, Ed? Yes, it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why did you decide to write it? Well, I mean, it's sort of a sneaky comedian's memoir.

30:45so a lot of comedians have done this where they're like well I want to talk about my life but also my life hasn't necessarily been interesting enough just to talk about that well if you didn't like it Lenny you could have said okay we have not finished the last supper okay so we've got a starter meze martini yes main now I was going to say I can't just say another kebab based thing can I but there's just one there's one thing in Edinburgh that to me I thought you were going on to a fruit kebab then for your dessert no no no no No, no. Save that. There's one kebab shop in Edinburgh that represents the entire Edinburgh Fringe to me.

31:23Like, I can't go to Edinburgh without having this kebab. How is it? It's on Nicholson Street. It's called Palmyra. It's like this yellow frontage. And comedians love it because it's open until like 3 in the morning. It's proper, proper nice kebab. But they put it in a big wrap. I get the mixed one, obviously. The chicken and the lamb. Bit of salad, bit of sauce. But then they wrap it up and toast it in a big sort of panini toast. and then they wrap it up for you and I take it back to wherever I'm staying and it's just, it weighs about three or four pounds I think, it's so warm in there and just the mix of the sauces in there, it's just amazing Did you go to Edinburgh Fringe this?

31:57Yeah, I went and did work in progress shows because I don't want to do the full month ever again because it's a hellhole It's so stressful doing the full month Really? Yeah, so I just went and did two weeks stayed in the hotel I basically turned into the comedian that I used to hate when I went up to the Fringe as a student Yeah, absolutely Stayed in a nice hotel, did two weeks. My shows were at noon. I went to bed early every night. Oh my God, that's brilliant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was great. So you didn't have to have really like acid reflux after the big kebab. No, absolutely not. Because you're not sleeping straight on it.

32:27Exactly. That's that for you. Yeah, I could have it for lunch if I want, yeah. What would you have for your drink for your main? Drink for the main, I mean, I'm a wine boy. I do like a lot of wine. Big Riesling phase at the moment. Really? Yeah, huge Riesling phase. Comedians like Riesling. Jamie Dimitri brought one over. Yeah, he knows his stuff. He seems to. Why do you like Riesling? I just think, I mean, there's obviously a massive scale in terms of sweetness and dryness. Please say you like it dry. I like sweet Riesling in place of a dessert wine. Like a Bermuda Venise. Yeah, it's great. And I've got, so I went through a bit of a mad phase of buying wine with the Wine Society and storing it all in their warehouse.

33:06Where do you get your wine from now? A lot of it from the Wine Society. Even Pet Nat? No, Pet Nat, there's a shop near me. that is a natural wine shop, but literally around the corner when we moved in, I was like, I can't believe this is here, because it's on a road where there's loads of normal shops. Kebab shops. What's it called? A firework shop that's open all year round, and that. It's called Gnarly Vines. It's a really great shop. Spelled with a G? Yes, but I want the spell with a G. It's pretty cool. You should get a tattoo. Yeah, I will do. I mean, at this point, I don't care. Just get anything on there.

33:39I didn't catch all the tattoo. Do they all have great meaning? No, that one does, and then all of the rest of them are just things I fancied when I was awake. So I get them when I travel a lot. So the cowboy skeleton was in Melbourne. I got that in Melbourne. Ed, can I ask you something? Yes. Did your mum cry? She wasn't happy. Yeah, that's how I would be. The first one I got, she was not happy at all. Which one was the first one you got? I got this one in New Zealand. You thought you were going to show me your bottom. Oh, yeah, they're on your legs too. Yeah, it's that like magician sort of hands one.

34:09James Acaster did that one, the tally chart. What's the tally? Why have you got seven? Because that's how many days we lasted on Celebrity Hunted. And when we were on the run, we went to Ian and Barbie's tattoo shop and he did it on me. Okay, so tell me about Celebrity Hunted. Don't do anything that you're going to get tattooed. Also, I'm not going to... You don't have to get a tattoo. Tell me Celebrity Hunted. So have you seen Hunted before? No. It's been on for years. It's a Channel 4 show where basically members of the public, they just go on the run and they have this HQ where the hunters are and they will hunt you down wherever you go in the country i'd be so shit at it because i'm lazy i'm not very clever at finding i don't yeah i'd be shit where did you go in your and you lasted seven days that's incredible so we didn't plan it at everyone else had planned it and planned where they were going to go you are like you are like fucking jason born well wait till you hear what we did first so we had to the first place we started was shrewsbury prison and we all ran out of shrewsbury prison how did you get out uh well they let you out okay otherwise it'd be a terrible show if they would just lock the doors okay see see if you can escape um and we everyone like they got on trains there were people on a motorbike there were you know people getting in a car and we walked into the town center and went to a michelin-style restaurant that is absolutely genius we had a tasting menu straight away there's there's a shot of us sat there eating this tasting menu and you can hear a chopper outside that was so much fun that is brilliant okay next day was it like gastronomically yeah well we they cut out a lot of stuff that we did because we i think we traveled too much i I think other people were staying where they were for quite a while.

35:44Did you stay in Shrewsbury? No, we went to Birmingham for a bit. Stayed in a comedy club. How did you get there, driving? Got a lift off the waitress.

35:55This is wild. But they're very good at, like, not telling you what to do, but, like, you have to facilitate it. But they're obviously like, you guys have got to go. Did you have to give her money? No, I don't think we did. Not even for petrol? No, I think the restaurant we're very happy with. Did you get her an M &S service station? Should have done. No, because you don't have any cash. You don't have any cash. You don't have phones. You've just got to be on the run. So you have to just use your charm and wit and nows. Yes, which is why we didn't get to the end. Seven days? How long is it? Two weeks.

36:24People are on there doing it for two weeks. Don't they need to wrap that shit up by that point? Okay, so where did you eat in Birmingham? Where did we eat in Birmingham? I don't think we were in Birmingham for the night. Actually, we got amazing takeaway, very handily paid for by the comedy club, from Tiger Bites Pig in Birmingham, which does amazing bows. Okay. that was great then we went to you went to the comedy club you were really like leaving real massive breadcrumbs huge clues and at the club we were like there were old posters of ours up and we were like signing the posters to the hunters for when they saw it it was a real buzz we ended up going to Marlow and staying in one of the Hand and Flowers rooms no stop yeah that's amazing but that didn't make the edit this sounds like a really romantic it was lovely it was a lovely getaway for me and James yeah and Sam who was filming all of it and then eventually I'm like, I need a proper shower and I need to be at home and I want to see my wife and my cat.

37:15So I basically went home after James got caught and they caught me round the corner from my house and the hunters had to give me a lift back. Oh wow, you left James? Yeah. No, James got caught. How did you, weren't you supposed to be together? Yeah, but we went to the Taskmaster house to stay the night and then we prank called them from the Taskmaster house. I think we were just done with it. So we prank called them, they traced the call, turned up, we sprayed them with water pistols and then they caught James and I ran away and lasted like six more hours or something. It's really exciting. It does feel like you're in the Bourne identity, but with more Michelin-style meals.

37:49Now, from Michelin to this, I... That is so mean. No, I don't know what it is. When I see a Pana Cosa, I think, come dine with me. Fuck off. Not a good Pana Cosa. This looks amazing. No, look at the wobble on that, Mum. Is there a wobble? Yeah. It's great. Beautiful. Look, I've not tried chocolate fondant yet, ever. Yeah, it's panna cotta or chocolate fondant on MasterChef. You think... That's delish. Just don't do it, right? Mmm. Mmm. That's so good. Delish. Nailed it. I know why you think panna cotta... Because panna cotta is very easy to make. Well, I've never actually bothered to make it. Because the gelatine and all of that kind of feels like...

38:29People mess it up a lot, right? No. This is a good one. I think this is... Well, mine works always. Delish. Really good. So you're going for a Riesling? Yeah, I think so. Like a dry Riesling. Okay. Any particular bottle? I really like Prum. Prum Riesling is very good. There's also a really nice Australian Riesling made by a guy called Mac Forbes, which is very, very delicious. But, you know, if I'm at a restaurant, I'll just look down the list and look for a word I recognise, and I go, that one, please. And then check the price and panic. I tell you what I also really ended up drinking a lot of in Australia is Fernet Branca after meals.

39:06that's if you're ill no no no it's a digestif it settles the stomach after a big meal does it it tastes like fries balsam it's thick brown isn't it they also do a mint one a Fernet Branca menta maybe I could do that yeah but I think if you're tasting menu if you're feeling a bit sick would you not have a cheese board yeah I'd throw in a cheese board do you like cheese yeah I love cheese me too so what's going to be you know what I quite like I like starting with cheese yeah that's good oh Jesse why But I can't stop when I start eating cheese. So if I start with cheese, like nothing else is getting eaten.

39:41So what's going to be on your board? A very, very mature cheddar for a start. Like the crystalline. Like the Cornish, crystalline one. Manchego, for sure. I'm a hard cheese guy, really. Comte, like a really, like 24-month Comte. Then something blue, like probably a Stilton. An Apoise or anything like that? I don't know. I like a really smelly... I don't mind it. Like stinking Bishop. I quite like Stinking Bishop, but it has to be in a separate dish, nowhere near the other cheeses. I quite like the oozy ones, like a couple of them. What do you have with your cheese? Quite often I'll just go straight cheese.

40:17No cracker, no apple? No cracker. But I like to have the crackers there as a suggestion. Jesse's hardcore. But I will go straight cheese, yeah. Bit of quince maybe, but I'm not really bothering with that. Membrilla. I just want the cheese, yeah. So how did you and James meet? We met on the comedy circuit, really, like as little baby comedians. You always end up like, it's a brilliant thing because it's so sociable. You end up seeing people at the gigs all the time. I find it so brave that you put yourself out there to... I'd say it's brave the first three times you do it and then ego kicks in.

40:50And yeah, and then if you're gigging a lot, it doesn't matter. You learn to just go out and do it. And if it goes well, fine. If it doesn't go well, fine. But what did you do at university? Philosophy. Oh, so that could work as... Yeah. ...to prepare for comedy. I think it's one of the only courses that feels like it does lead to writing something like comedy because you're formulating your own arguments. Yeah. But, I mean, useless degree otherwise. No. No degree's useless if you're using... It was the way I did it. Okay. Absolutely pointless movie. What was Durham like? Is it very fancy pants?

41:23I was at one of the colleges that has a reputation for being the poshest, but I sort of lived outside of the college. But there's one, I mean, some of the accommodation's in the castle. Like there's a college that's in the castle. Not Barnard Castle. Not Barnard Castle, no. Not Barnard Castle. I have done a gig in Barnard Castle. Did you? And how was your eyesight for that? Yeah, absolutely fine. How did you get there? Yeah. I died on my arse actually at that gig, so thanks for bringing that up. Is it really scary when you stand up there and you look out and you think, how many people are here?

41:55Well, people are there. they bought tickets to see you it's not like a festival where they don't know what they're getting yes yeah so they you know that they like you yeah uh that's the nice thing about the position i'm in now that i can go and i know that people are at least semi on board why did you die on your ass that night that was a preview that was years ago um and that's what like because like you just did your work in progress you what do you call it yeah yeah and so that's you trying things out yes and do you tell people to not film uh yeah they don't really do it's fairly respectful for my audience most of the time.

42:25So do you say it's called a work in progress? Yeah, Billet is a work in progress. Tickets are way cheaper than they would be on a normal tour show. I tell them they're all cheap for coming. Let's talk about the book. How are you feeling about it coming out? It's your first book. I feel very weird about it coming out. So why are you feeling funny? Just because you do. Did you feel like you worked quite hard on something and then? Did you bare your soul? I probably bared my soul more than I normally do in comedy. And the thing is with, you know, standing on a stage and doing stuff, you're like, you can be like, well, I'll finish this and then I can get in the car and go.

42:54And there's no existing record of it. Whereas this will be everywhere forever. Not everywhere. Has your mum read it? No, she hasn't read it yet. She will read it. Has your wife read it? Are you nice about her in it? Very nice about my mum, yeah. Are you nice about your dad as well? Mainly, take the piss out of my dad quite a lot in it. Will he mind? I don't think so. You have a good relationship with him? Yeah, I don't think I mind. He's taking him to the Ritz tomorrow. Yeah, I'll take him a copy of the book as well. So the book comes out. When does the book come out? The book comes out on October 26th.

43:22How are you going to celebrate? Where are you going to eat at your celebratory day? Where's the launch? I don't know where the launch is, actually. Are you doing a launch? Bloody hell. Well, I've already been around in a bloody ice cream van all day, you know. How many ice creams did you have that day? I saved myself right till the end and then made like a massive mega one. And did you have a flake? Of course I had a flake. And so? Yeah, for God's sake. Do you know, do they still do oysters? Yeah, there was oysters. Oh, I love an oyster with a bit of marshmallow in it as well. Yes. Oh, my God.

43:50Oh, he had all the stuff in the back of that van, yeah. No, I waited right until the end and had an ice cream at the right at the end. It was great. Where am I going to eat? I mean, actually, the night before it's published, I am going out with Nish Kumar to Kitchen Table. Do you know Kitchen Table? No. Is this the one that's very small? It's bigger now. So it was, it used to be... You know, like seats or something like that? It's like kitchen, sort of like a chef's seating area. Yeah. But it used to be in the back of a restaurant called Bubble Dogs, which is like a champagne and hot dog restaurant.

44:21restaurant but then that went and they took over bubble dogs essentially so there's like a bar at the front but then at the back there's you go and see there's more restaurants than you sit at the counter but it's the chef is james napper it's it's fantastic but i've been there before with my wife and it was it that is like five and a half hours that's a big that's you sit in the bar for a bit and get snacks in the bar and then they bring you through to the and you and nish are going to do it so nish is a bit of a foodie yeah we should get nish on this i want to ask you about a really memorable taste that is pure nostalgia for you that can take you back transport you back somewhere happy or sad or a smell i mean it would have been that that chicken noodle dish but i've already mentioned it so i'm definitely gonna need to think of something else snack wise i tell you what really takes me back is when i was first diagnosed as diabetic like we had a lot of meetings with uh the nurse who's called theresa who's amazing and she they're quite basic with it in the nhs it's like one fits all policy and they're like if you're going to exercise you need to eat something sugary before so um my mum went well you need to eat something sugary before exercise what do you want and I was like Mars bar because I'm just greedy we bought these many Mars bars and kept them in the fridge oh delicious and a mini there is nothing nicer than a mini Mars bar from the fridge unfortunately it was there for medical reasons but I would keep going back and like popping another mini Mars bar but if you had too many didn't it do things to you yeah yeah it wasn't ideal I was very bad at controlling diabetes for the first sort of 10 years being diabetic I think I was very glad I said about it.

45:48Did you ever end up in hospital? No but I was just I always did the bare minimum to get through but now I'm way better at it like once I realised it is like having an extra full-time job like now it's just. And was it genetic? No I mean I think there was like my grandpa's cousin was type 1 diabetic but that's the only one we could we could trace it back to but there's no yeah there's no other diabetics in my family I'm the special one. very special i mean how long have you had your patch for a couple of years because they're quite relatively heim you know the high yes yeah yeah she's got one james norton's got one yes yeah we were me and james were hanging out at a diabetic event recently oh diabetic it's a real scene guys sorry you can't join what did you eat at the diabetic event nothing no me and james had to do like an on stage like q a thing like chat about diabetes but it was mainly people asking questions about happy valley it's amazing like someone was like asking questions about happy valley and a woman in the back went i haven't seen the end of it yet and then someone else gave a spoiler and it all kicked off guys i'm here as well i'm diabetic have you tried the trick of dates medjool dates and peanut butter no in the freezer no it's like a healthy mars Snickers nice so you can just do that and it may just like satisfy that that memory Jessie it doesn't it does I think he'd like it I might just get a Snickers though to be fair yeah fine fair enough sod it do what you like have you got good table manners Ed I mean my elbows are on there right now everyone's elbows it's a wonder we're all just sitting up it's quite a high counter to be fair yeah yeah I think I have good table manners I mean at home with my wife I don't know I mean the phones are on the table That's bad though, isn't it?

47:36The phone's on the table. You don't go on your phone at mealtimes. No, but like phones are on the table. I think that's quite... Well, he was brought up watching soaps during his dinner. Mum, you're saying that very judgy. With the fan as well. I watch football here on my own. With your elbows on the table. With my elbows on the table. It's my favourite sport. I will now and again. The phone will be on the table. I'm not saying I check it, but it is there. I check it and I get in trouble by my husband. Yeah. You were very good on holiday this year. Thank you. Do you like karaoke? I do like karaoke.

48:06What's your song? Well, I ruin karaoke for other people. Why? Because I'm like an old school metal head. I got into metal when I was 13 and that was sort of like the new metal era. Oh, it goes with the tats. Well, there you go, yeah. And I really love metal. So what would be your song? Would you even know that? Well, it's whatever they have on karaoke. So what is it usually now? It's normally Limp Bizkit. They have a song called Break Stuff that I went to a friend's karaoke party recently. in, there's a karaoke room in the basement of Bow in Borough. Which is great. If you want like a night doing karaoke and just ordering Bow.

48:38Yeah, you can just order it down to the karaoke room. You really like karaoke then? Yeah, I love it. Jessie, I do. It's if my birthday if you were here. Okay, so I'll go to Long Plume with you. You can go to Bow with mum and do some karaoke. Okay, thank you. But I found Break Stuff on the karaoke machine and then put it on and there'd been some glitch where the lyrics weren't at the bottom so it was just the video for Break Stuff. Still did it perfectly. Oh, yeah. And it would have been cool were it not a Limp Bizkit song. And if anybody knew it. Yeah, no one knew it. Where does the name Limp Bizkit come from?

49:08I think it might be a reference to a rude thing. A flaccid willy? Maybe. No. Why? Why did I go there? Limp. Yeah, I think so. Biscuit. What's the biscuit then? Well, I don't know. Just say it. I actually don't know what it is. Well, you should know. What do you think it is? Support them. What do you think that? Well, I thought it was a reference to Soggy Biscuit. What's a Soggy Biscuit? Oh God, I can't believe this is happening. This is the train of pain. What is a soggy biscuit? I cannot believe this is happening. What's a soggy biscuit? I want to stress that I... You've not participated in it.

49:39I've never participated in soggy biscuit. Okay, tell us. How has this happened to me? So it's apparently a boarding school thing. Did Fred Durst go to boarding school? He didn't go to boarding school. I don't know. You're getting it. But this is what I thought I always used to think it was a reference to. So tell me... Lenny, I can't believe I'm about to say this. Say it. I'm a social worker. I'm very broad-minded. Okay, well apparently they all get in a circle around a biscuit. And pee on it? No. No. Ejaculate. On a biscuit? Why? It's a game. Apparently they all start masturbating. Is it for aim?

50:14They all start masturbating. Shit me. And the last one to come on the biscuit has to eat the biscuit. Oh my God. I just feel faint. You're kidding me. that's not in the book are you sure that reference is correct I don't know can we Google it oh my god that's amazing so it might be a reference to that oh yeah I'm so glad you asked the karaoke question Ed Gamble thank you so much for educating us all cheers we've both got our fans out of your body expression I am

51:09Oh, Ed Gamble, what a nice bloke. Gorgeous. Really, really lovely. Well, I'm glad he wore shorts and I could see the whole stories of his tattoos. Jesus, Mum, I thought we were going to say something else. Okay. I feel like his last supper was very much in keeping with the heat of the moment. Turkish, lots of Turkish. I'd really like to go out for dinner with Ed Gamble. Yeah, I think it'd be fun. Because I know that he'd probably order the whole menu. He's going to Long Clune for New Year's. I'm really jealous about that. How did he get that gig? He must have booked about 100 years ago. No, he's Ed Gamble.

51:42He probably can bloody just speed dial Simon Rogan and just say, yeah, I'm coming. Okay. Thank you so much to Ed for coming and eating with us and bringing Petna, Astro Bunny. Love you. the hangover has kind of gone up and down, up and down, up and down. Maybe I just need to have a paracetamol and a cup of tea now, I don't know. But it's been a pleasure. Glutton is out now. You can go and read it or listen to the audiobook. He's on tour next year. He's going to be on the Great British Menu. He's touring with James Acaster for their Off Menu Live. Yeah, he's busy bee. And if he has time, Ed Gamble, please can I go out for dinner with you and your lovely sounding wife who will let me finish her courses.

52:27That sounds right, unless he fights me for them. Okay. And also, sorry, should we just... Can you email in to hello at table manners podcast dot com to just confirm whether Limp Bizkit slash Soggy Bizkit is what Ed Gamble thinks it is? Or is he just disgusting? Thank you for listening, and we will look forward to hearing your answers.

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