Harry Hill: From Doctor To Comedian, TV Burp & Success in America

23:46Romesh Ranganathan:Ben actually came to see you on the tour. Where did you see me, Ben? Apollo. No, was it Shepherds Bush one? Yeah. Get your story straight. West London? Shepherds Bush. I love playing Shepherds Bush. I don't really like playing Hammersmith. It just seems a bit of a barn to me. But Shepherds Bush, you're right on the front there. If it was more rock and roll, I mean, it's a cliche because it's a rock and roll venue, but yeah. And actually, Tim came and saw me there and he started playing it as well. Viney. Yeah, you two are really close, aren't you? Tim is the funniest person. Oh, he's unbelievable.

24:21Yeah. I mean, just like casually.

24:24Romesh Ranganathan:When you went on this tour, which is a mix of kind of golden, you know, old gold and new bits. Yeah. How did you balance it? What was the kind of balance? And how much did you worry about that? I did it because the tour before, I thought I really enjoyed. And that was the first time I toured for maybe 10 years or something. And I thought, oh, this is great. This is really good fun. I thought, I want to tour. And I realized the kind of thing, if you want to maintain your live crowd, you have to tour regularly. Yeah. Because TV, you might sell tickets. People might watch you on TV or you might have a big TV career.

25:02You know, people might very well know me. But it seemed to me they didn't necessarily know me as a stand-up. Yeah. I mean, you know, your generation is perhaps different. But, you know, there's a big group of people who remember me as a stand-up. And then there's a big group of people who just know me from, you know, You Can Frame, TV, Burp, and of course now Bristles.

25:23Is he going to do Bristles? Is he going to open his Bristles? And then most people watching this won't even know what we're talking about. No, they have no idea. But I didn't, I can't turn over that amount of material. Right. Right. In that time. Yeah. Because I think it was like two years. So I thought, well, I'll call it New Bits and Greatest Hits. So if I can't fill, you know, if I don't come up with enough stuff. You can go to the gold. Go to the gold. And I just did my favorite bits. And you know, you know, like in a tour show, normally what you have is some really good bits. And you have a little bit of what I call them, A jokes and B jokes.

26:03You've got a great opener, you've got a great closer, and you've got maybe four or five flags along the way that you look forward to getting to, but sometimes there's a little bit of filler.

26:12Romesh Ranganathan:Sometimes you're relying on momentum. Yeah. I get you. So I took all the flags from the previous tours and put them all in one show. And then I actually probably came up with enough, like half of it perhaps was new stuff as well. so it was a good balance and i the worry with it is and no one seemed to mind you know paranoia is that people will know what i know i know i know yeah i think we worry about it much more than uh than audiences do and then you've been doing it for long enough do you still because one of the things that because i love touring it's my favorite thing to do yeah how much do you worry about audience response because you've been you know you're you know what you're doing do you do Yeah, but you never know what you're doing.

26:58It doesn't change because when you're starting out, you don't know what you're doing. Then you get good at it. I mean, the best point to be is really good and a surprise.

27:09Romesh Ranganathan:Yes, that is. I think it's been talked about before. The best time to be a comedian is the least well-known on a charity mixed bill when you're getting really good. I mean, that is. When you're really on the money. I think people take that moment for granted, but nobody's heard of you before the gig. well you don't each each uh sort of stage is a stage yeah and you don't know it's a stage yeah yeah i can remember being on like uh red rose in finsbury park it's a big club you know and uh i'm like uh i'm doing 10 minutes and you know and um mark thomas is on you know and mark's the big sort of and i went on and you know and i was just like you know i could just you know everyone was just night it was just like a real surprise and uh it was it was fantastic yeah yeah and uh and then what happens is they see you and they then they expect it i know so you've got the weight of expectation you it buys you you know a couple of minutes but it's really only a couple of minutes doesn't you know it gets you the big round of applause they're excited yeah the excitement dies and then they really are paying scrutiny yeah and then you just got to be funny you've got to be funny and you've got to be funnier actually i think uh and um and that's the challenge so i don't think it ever changes and you know i've seen people who are really really good struggle i remember doing the uh amnesty international gig you know that one that eddie is on yes so it's like wembley arena everyone's there for eddie basically eddie is the big thing you know, Vic and Bob are on, you know, Paul Whitehouse, Harry Enfield, Tom Jones.

28:55And Eddie goes on, you know, and I could just see he was struggling. And I thought, oh, this is interesting, you know. And I saw him change up a gear. Really? Yeah. And he did like an old routine, yeah, and got them. Yeah. And I thought, yeah, it's interesting because even when there's like 15, I don't know how many thousand people it is they've all come to see you yeah it was good

29:20Romesh Ranganathan:yeah it's good to see people struggle yeah it is sort of makes the hairs in the back of your neck turn up doesn't it and you have to you have to struggle you know it's the only way you ever find out what works I know and also really taking risks when you're trying stuff out and all of that do you get because obviously when I do most stand-ups you just turn up and you talk for a bit and then you leave yours is like uh it's pretty involved right physically yeah is there is there is there a physical like are you knackered at the end of shows yeah i i mean i you know i put i put on a show

30:04so what i like is bells and whistles isn't it well what i like is you know uh is i have to have fun too right and i find that if i'm on the road and it's just me and a driver i just get a bit bored sad yeah a bit sad yeah you know you get you know here's the hotel breakfast and the you know um ginster's buffet bar and um so i like to have a you know a stooge or you know someone i've got this guy kevin your little kev he comes on his real need for him but um you know he's got a couple of moments that i just really amused but i did this thing right so tv burp years ago i had this character wagbo which is just a pure indulgence of my part was this idea that wagner from x factor had mated with mary byrne who was on the till at tesco and they had this child and i called it wagbo yeah and so i really loved a lot of people didn't like it they just wanted the clips but anyway we persevered with it

31:08Persevere with it. Some of the other writers on TV World didn't even like it. And then the producer kind of, and what he would do is he would turn up on other people's shows and he'd kiss them, run onto the set. So he'd run onto the set of the Alan Titchmarsh show. He'd kiss Alan Titchmarsh. So all these shows were in on it. even Newsnight, Kirstie Walk on Newsnight allowed it the producer kind of leant on me to kill Wagbo off right, how do they break

31:43Romesh Ranganathan:that to you? He said well you know he's quite gruff you know Spencer is quite direct shall we say so like when I used to write the script for TV, I'd write it on a Saturday email it through and then he'd send me notes on Sunday and often the notes would be not funny capital letters not funny really

32:07he won't do it can't get permission it would be like all these you know because he wouldn't he was concentrating on the negatives yes and I'd be sort of furious somehow it worked and and he was brilliant for that though because that's sort of what you need it is what you need you don't like

32:26Romesh Ranganathan:you don't like seeing it but it is what you need so anyway he said you got to kill him off so we had um i think i think i can't remember how he died but i think maybe the nissed character machine gunned him i think that was what happened next week i say and i just as genuine i had this idea i said i've had an idea i said

32:50first of all we we'd done this other one which was that louis walsh had mated with uh Mary Byrne, who'd only appeared once, called Logbo. It's Irish, like done up as a little Irish leprechaun. I mean, you can tell by this stage in TV, but I was sort of bored. Yeah. We'd kill them both off. And I said, I had an idea. I said, so they get this, the knitted character and Wagbo mate to make Nickbo. He goes, we're not doing that.

33:34Nickbo. Yeah.

33:37Romesh Ranganathan:Oh, God. That's good. And one of the things you are good at, actually, because actually, as you can do, one of the things. That came out. Yeah, it came out. The intonation was wrong. one of the few things you're good at is just to be clear that's what I meant you are very good at keeping an eye for new comics coming through and stuff and I know you're mates with James Gill who obviously is always booking James Gill, yeah on that podcast of mine the Ariel Show we mention him virtually every week on that show when you get comics talking eventually the conversation comes around to ABC comedy and James Gill.

34:21Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. And the comics love that. He runs it in a really great way, but also it's a really easy crowd. You can't fail that. No, but that's the problem. Imagine one day you do. Then what happens to your self-esteem? Yeah, that's the end. Yeah. That's when you know it's time to give up. The night you die at ABC. When you die at ABC, he'll be waiting there, you know with a sort of um a letter from the sort of international sorry maestro it's over it's quite nice for you who do you like watching now like well i like the oddball so i like um freddie meredith yes he's very odd i mean very unusual you know like you and me we've sort of seen every comic and most of the time i don't know you but i stand at the back and I think, yeah, I know where this is going.

35:16Yeah, yeah, I know where this is going. Yeah, pull back to reveal, you know. Oh, he's on the bus all along, you know.

35:26And, you know, part of me gets a bit angry as well. Do you really? Yeah. I get a little bit angry. I think, oh, God, it's a bit lazy, you know. But with him, Freddie Meredith, you know, Sam Campbell, I know. I mean, these guys, in the time that I've sort of, you know, kind of in my own to myself championed them um they're beginning to get work on tv and stuff sam has got his new series coming on which looks really interesting and uh he's great and i'm watching them thinking well no idea where this is going why is this funny yes you know which is the thrill yeah it's the thrill of seeing a comedian you know and that is why i mean bringing it to sean lock was why i loved sean lock was that nine times out of ten i wouldn't know where the hell he was going yeah yeah you know and that's what you know that idea of the comedian's comedian is

36:20Romesh Ranganathan:that that's what we like yeah we like to sometimes you watch something you go this is really good and it's working really well but i can see yeah the the machinations of this yeah and then other times it has a root in something else yeah and but then other times you watch something i don't i can't I can't figure out how this person thought of this. Yeah. I don't know why I find this as funny as I do. That's like magic. Yeah. Yeah. This idea that we've all got a sort of signature joke, which tells you everything you need to know about the comedian in a way. Yeah. We've got a question from my mum.

36:52Romesh Ranganathan:Oh. Where is she? She's in that laptop. Hi, Harry. You were a doctor before you started comedy. I always wanted Romage to be one. The closet he's got is pretending to be a doctor in a play. Did you make any of your patients laugh or you were quite serious when you were working? I'd love to know. Have a good day. There you go. Thank you. I'll try to. Was it funny? Was I funny as a doctor? No, I wasn't. I mean, you can't be. At all? No. I mean, you wouldn't have these colours, for example, would you? I did used to do a thing because I was, the truth is, I was a bit bored because my heart wasn't in it so what I had in my pocket was a little electronic organ it was about that big a little thing with little tiny rubber buttons a bit like a stylofoam and I used to to amuse myself I used to play Telstar on that you know down down down down down down down You know, as I walked up and down the corridor.

38:05That's how you knew if your doctor was coming. And incidentally, it was Margaret Thatcher's Desert Island disc. What was? Telstar, was it? I maintain they should have played it when her coffee went through the curtains.

38:23Romesh Ranganathan:This episode is brought to you by Sky Ultimate TV. For the first time, Sky is bringing Disney +, HBO Max, Netflix and Hey You together in one simple single subscription. No more struggling to find that one TV show your friend keeps going on about. With Sky's playlist feature, you can easily find all the shows you love in one convenient place. I even made a personal playlist for mum when she comes over once a year. If you're not sure what you fancy, it'll even make personalised recommendations based on what you watch. So no more getting stuck in a content rut re-watching the same shows over and over again.

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39:28Romesh Ranganathan:Includes Disney Plus Standard with ads, Netflix Standard with ads, HBO Max Basic with ads and Taste of Hey You. For full T &Cs, visit sky.com slash TV. Can I talk to you about something I watched a few days ago, which was you on David Letterman? Oh, yeah, that popped up, I think. Yeah, it's you doing like, I think, a six or seven-minute set. Six, yeah. Yeah, and what was really strange about it is David Letterman. Obviously, it's a huge thing to be on Letterman. Was it... I'm not sure when it was, actually. 1978? No, 1996 or 7 or somewhere like that. What is really weird about it, Harry, is David Letterman says, I'm going to introduce this great British comedian who's doing a show at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.

40:21Yeah. I know well I told him they said you know with the Yanks you know with the American comics the whole thing you've worked over there

40:30Romesh Ranganathan:yeah like I would go into the warm-ups for that and you know in the clubs and the compes it's like some two-bit you know it's like ABC yeah in Kennington but they'd say so what's your intro you know what's your intro you got any you know credits and those American comics would have this thing you're going to see them on you know, the Ellen show, he's doing Letterman in March, and now he's got a, doing a sitcom pilot for whatever it is, you know, he's a piano. I said, well, you know, I don't have an intro. I said, I'll tell you what, say, say plucked from the womb of his purposeless splendor, Harry Hill.

41:11And they're like. So I said, they said, what's your intro? And I said, you know, I'm playing, you know. I mean, it's like really weird that I was there. You know, I wasn't, I mean, it's a long story, but yeah, it was brilliant that though. And actually one time I went on it, because I went on it a few times. It was at Rise Lip Golf Club I was playing. I thought I'd lean into it, to the obscure thing.

41:38Romesh Ranganathan:What was it like doing it to that? I mean, I don't know how. How did it look? I mean, as I remember it, I went out, I gave myself a week to try and find, you know, five or six minutes. and uh it was really tough yeah but but what it looks like clubs in new york apart from anything there's like three clubs yeah just try stuff out you know but what it what it looked like to me was you know they didn't know what to make of you initially no they didn't it felt like they bought it even in that short set by the end of it you did break them down that's what it felt like watching well a big part of that and i have a really clear memory of it was uh you know it's Sullivan Theatre so it was like a really big deal you know for me well you know the story was they'd already flown me out and I hadn't got on you hadn't got on no well they pulled you yeah I mean it's a long do you want me to say the whole story is I did it in he came over to Britain yeah they wanted an English comedian right British comedian so there's a long list of people everyone thought it was going to be Eddie Izzard or Lee Evans with the two front runners because they had some sort of American profile.

42:45And they had these auditions, which I thought, well, I'm not going to an audition. Those sort of showcases, forget it. They want to see me, they come and see me. And I had this phone call in this office, and this guy saying, I said, he said, just do the five minutes you do on Dave, you know, right out of the blue. So I was just doing, because I was match fit, I did my, he's really laughing. And then I thought, well, that's that, you know. And they said, yeah, you're going to do it. We'll pick you up, you know, send a car for you. I'm sitting in my flat. And they said, you know, there's a chance it overruns, in which case, you know, you won't get on, but we'll fly you out and you can do it.

43:24So I'm sitting in my flat, didn't even get in the car. The phone rang, you know, been there sat there for about two hours. It's got dark.

43:36I'm just sort of sitting there. Yeah, they didn't even send a car for me. And they said, we'll fly you out. I thought, yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. Sure enough, they did, right? So fly out there, go around the clubs, die in my ass everywhere. Get this six minutes. The amazing thing about it was they were so relaxed about what I did.

43:57Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. They didn't need to transcript or anything like that? They sent this guy out with me, you know, Eddie Brill. They used to go around with me and I'd do these bits And I'd say, yeah, that's good. Whatever you want. Whatever you want to do. He goes, you know, Dave doesn't like anything rude. Doesn't like swearing. I mean, that wasn't really a problem. The main thing was just the language barrier. You know, they didn't know what casserole was. But you opened with casserole. Yeah. I mean, I literally had boiled it down to there's only like literally just about six minutes out of, you know, the two hours I had left that, you know, I could possibly do.

44:42You know, I come out, right? Chicken, liver, carrots, onions, everyone's talking about casseroles. Everyone's like looking at each other. What do you say?

44:56And like I had to say, is that the one where I do the shy horse joke?

45:01Romesh Ranganathan:You do the, you frequently reference your lining. Oh, you like the lining. There was one I had to do that one I did where it goes, um, something about a Shire horse. I forgot what the joke was and they don't know why Shire horses. I had to say Clydesdale, you know, little things. So I felt stupid sort of saying Clydesdale, but anyway, so I go there, uh, I sit in my dressing room. It's in this limousine for me. It's in the dressing room and they, and they announced the beginning of it, right? Tonight on the, on the late show, Walter Cronkite you know really big sort of stars blah blah blah Kevin Spacey that dates it and I watched it watched the whole show and then I watched as they re-recorded Harry Hill they re-recorded the intro without my name knock on the door yeah sorry we'll bring you back right right and I walked down the corridor the lift opens and there's David Letterman right yeah and I'm like a massive David Letterman yeah and he's there right and he goes you the kid from England I said yeah he goes we'll bring you back yeah so you know a few months later I flew out again this time I'm on with Parliament of Funk nice George Clinton and his drummer knocks on the door and he says this is my dressing room

46:38I said I don't think so he said yeah he said you English and I said yeah he said you English comedian I said yeah that's right I'm doing the comedy he said oh yeah you English comics he said you know who I like I said no who Ronnie Corbett like really crazy anyway I sit there again watch the whole show re-record the title fly home third time right yeah literally i mean like it's i'm really by the time it gets the third one what's what's your how's i've got that six minutes really down but how how zen are you feeling about this whole thing yeah so i'm so by the third one i mean the first two i'm like yeah you know shaking and third one i'm thinking i'm just sitting in the dressing room waiting for the knock on the door saying you know you haven't made it yeah it's like a sort of an elaborate at wind up i was thinking well maybe they do this a lot maybe you have to sit here six times this is part of the uh actually i thought to myself if this happens again i'm not coming back did you really think yeah but you would have come back i don't think i would really no it was a real drag it was costing me a fortune as well oh yeah okay yeah anyways third time i go on so i'm just really relaxed yeah knock on the door you're on and suddenly yeah down in the lift i'm at the side of the stage you look across there's david letterman you know i've only ever seen on tv uh biff you know the floor manager the famous floor manager and he goes to me uh okay dave uh well you go on here's your dave will come over to you at the end you shake your hand uh and uh sometimes not always but sometimes you know if he you know if he really likes it he'll asked you to go and sit next to him and then we'll go to the ad break and then after the ad break we come back and you'll be sitting there and he'll go he'll say what's happening tomorrow right this is that short bit you know so go on i'm doing the act and like you say it was a bit sticky to start you know but i could hear him really laughing i mean i could really hear him that must have felt amazing yeah so he's not that far away yeah and paul schaefer's really laughing as well and they're laughing between each other and i'm getting through it and i'm thinking okay yeah they're coming around and i'm like that you know finishing you do the a-team thing do you know the a-team bit what is it you go you say um you say um there's a popular show i went i was about to do an

49:08Romesh Ranganathan:impression there there's a popular there's a popular show uh that's popular in the uk now I'm sure it's very big over here, the A-Team. And maybe I was thinking, if we all together shout A-Team, maybe they'll show up. Yeah, yeah. And then you get the whole, did you go, one, two, three, A-Team. And then you go, it was a long shot, wasn't it? Yeah, that's really brave. I mean, I'd never do that. It is really brave. I'd never do that now. That was a bit silly. And then suddenly, and then it's over. Oh, and he's there. I forgot that's what happens. And he goes, take a bow. And I think, take a bow.

49:54And then he goes to me, come and sit there. So I'm sat next to him. So it's just me and him. And it's like the outbreak. And everyone's like running around. And I'm just sort of talking, you know, talking to him. And I said to him, I did actually say to him, I said, you know, Dave, there's any chance that I could get her signed photograph? Yeah. Then I get a tap on the shoulder. All right. And I look around and there's a, this girl says to me, she says, so what, you know, I've been sent here because Dave needs to concentrate on the next bit. It's like, shut up. Don't bug Dave, you know. And, and that was that, you know, comes back, you know, tomorrow night we got whoever.

50:34Yeah. And, and he sort of just walked off. and then there's this photograph in the dressing room which is very sweet of him, which I still have. And then I went back fairly regularly. I did it, I don't know how many times I did it, five times, something like that.

50:51Romesh Ranganathan:Were you thinking that? And the second time I did it, I'm waiting there to go. So I never got bumped again. Second time I get there, I'm waiting in the wings. I look across at Dave. He sees me and he goes, hi, Harry. Like that. That's so amazing. That's so cool. I mean, it couldn't have gone better for me. And then at one time, he started doing You Like the Lining. Yeah, I've heard about it. Yeah, I've got a video. John Gordillo. He calls back to you, yeah, yeah. John Gordillo, you know, the comic. Yeah. He used to get, I don't know how he got hold of it, but he sent me a video of him going, you like the lining, you like that.

51:22And he's going, let's get that guy back on. It's not a very good impression. But yeah, it was thrilling. That's incredible, though. It was thrilling.

51:30Romesh Ranganathan:I know you're a Letterman fan, but were you thinking this is my pathway to getting huge in the States? No, not really. I mean... Was it just about Letterman in itself? I suppose I was hoping... I mean, I was thinking maybe that might happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's just such a thrill to do it. But I never got any work out of it. You know, I never got a single... Nothing at all? No, never got anything. The truth is, if you're the comic on Letterman, you're going on, last thing on a Friday night, which is like half past 12. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Half past midnight. you know the viewing figures for David Letterman at that time were about a million.

52:10Yeah. You know, it's, it's really late. It's really late. Everyone forgets that, but you know, it's a really late show that, and, um, I never got anything out of it. And actually by the time it came to, the last one I think I did was, and it was a new year's Eve, which is like a weird, and I was getting really short of stuff. I, you know, I was like, I mean, actually the last one I did this thing, which I'm crazy thinking about, was I said, I'm going to recreate Elvis, it's the Ed Sullivan Theatre, I'm going to recreate Elvis' debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan show with my knees, right? And I had this thing where I'd roll up the trousers and I had a face painted on my knee of Elvis, and I had another one painted of, I said painted, it was drawn on with marker pen, of Ed Sullivan, right?

53:01I mean they were just like faces yeah

53:04Romesh Ranganathan:realistic depictions and I would roll up the trouser leg and I'd go ladies and gentlemen Elvis Presley and then I'd roll it back down and I'd and I'd go you ain't nothing but a half and then the punchline was that I had them both up and I'd go take a bow and I would go like that I would bend my knees and it would appeared that they were bowing. Right? And I remember, I did that. I remember that night. I got in there to the hotel. I had a bath, right? And I'm lying in the bathroom. I think, oh, glad that's over. And I looked down and poking up above the water, Ed Sullivan. I'm looking at my knees thinking, this is not a way to live.

53:56Just those private moments where you think, What are you doing with your life? Yeah, but it was thrilling. It was probably the best, most thrilling thing. Yeah, I mean, it's actually... The weird thing was I'd come back from it. So I'd done this thing, you know, and no one had seen it. That was the other thing. If you did Des O 'Connor, at least, you know, you go into Londis.

54:26Romesh Ranganathan:But I think it's very exciting to see a British comedian doing that. It's really exciting. And, you know, the kudos. I mean, no one else was doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is before Ricky Gervais or anyone. You know, hardly any comics ever get any work over in America, actually. I mean, who was I talking to? Phil Wang. I had him on the podcast. He's very funny. He's very funny. he um he was sort of saying afterwards that he wants to break it in america but i mean no one does no no um you can you if you want to be a big star in america you've got to move to america start and you've got to like work and work and work it just sounds like a lot of hassle doesn't Yeah.

55:13And I had plenty of work over here. Yeah. And you ended up doing Letterman. I kind of wish I'd done it. I sort of wish. Because at the end, they said, oh, you know, it was like, oh, is he going to, oh, they're on the phone. You know, do you want to go? And I thought, I don't really want to go. I can't actually go. No, I haven't got the stuff. I feel like it was going to be, I didn't want to get to the point where I did one where it was a bit ropey. And so part of me wishes I'd maybe gone. Like gone for it, gone for it. gone back you know maybe i'd gone back and done letterman a couple of years later or something you know actually sort of fished it out yeah yeah you know i just got busy it happens um okay it's

55:52Romesh Ranganathan:time to play misquoted this is a game that we play where i'm going to give you five quotes some of them you said some of them you didn't okay and it should lead to some light kind of hello yeah content discussion okay here's your first one last a format point

56:08Romesh Ranganathan:sorry that's okay

56:16it's misquoted okay good luck shave it off you won't know what's under there otherwise

56:24Romesh Ranganathan:that sounds like me it was you in the guardian in 2024 answering a reader dilemma of whether to shave off his thinning head of hair or style it out yeah i'd always recommend that yeah yeah shave early yeah because you'll you know you're spend i'm looking around here none of you maybe and none of you guys but yet there's this moment between there's this moment where you're we start losing your hair and when you shave it off yeah and did you clean how long did you cling on three years really beyond when you should have done uh well that's not for me to say but yeah i mean and then and you you know spend ages looking in the mirror and you sort of fiddle around with it and you know one comedian I know who had thinning hair used to spend an hour standing on his head.

57:17Oh, yeah, to stimulate some sort of...

57:24And you just shave off. Yeah. Then you stop thinking about it. No, it's good. Unless you've got a birthmark or something.

57:32Romesh Ranganathan:Do you know your style in general? For example, the cufflinks are incredible. Thank you. yeah yeah when did you when you started doing comedy were you straight in with this always there was a variation of it i mean i always wore a suit like this this is the you know copy of the sort of original suit really 60s you know three buns and that was because i like the 60s and you know i bought i bought my clothes from oxfam and in the 80s 90s the clothes you could buy in oxfam was from the 60s and 70s but do you but you think I thought, you know, I was kind of, well, I mean, didn't call it this at the time, but it was like a kind of postmodern thing about entertainers of the past.

58:21So I grew up watching those entertainers. You know, you know, Max Bygraves? Yes. So Max Bygraves line, you know that, come on. So when Max Bygraves came on, he would walk on and he'd walk around a bit. Right. and what he says uh what you do is you walk on you show him the suit because it was like an exotic thing you know you know you go and see these stars and you know like ronnie corbett when he came on he'd have these tartan trousers of velvet you know it was like you know people didn't you know it was like show clothes yeah and so that's what i did you know and for a while i had like a sparkly waistcoat from top shop actually i saw a photograph of David Essex from the 70s the other day, and I noticed he was wearing that same waistcoat.

59:11But I dropped that. You know, I just, like, settled on it.

59:15Romesh Ranganathan:And then when you see comedians sort of going on stage casually... Yeah, I don't like it. Yeah, I don't think you would. You've got to look. You have got to look. You think so? Yeah. But you need to... Show clothes are a good thing, aren't they? Well, they are, because otherwise you've got to make a decision. Yeah. And also you've got to, you know, dirty these show clothes. You know, it's sort of, I don't know, it's like, it's nice to put a uniform on, I think, to take away any decision making. Yeah, so that was great, Chad, and that was only the first one. It's a real content generator, this, isn't it, in this game?

59:52Romesh Ranganathan:Here's your second one. At medical school, I had a sketchbook I'd draw in, and I'd use it to show people what they'd look like after surgery. No, I don't think that's me. No, it's not. I did have a sketchbook. Yes. The actual quote is from the Times, June 25. It says, at medical school, I had a sketchbook on which I used to take out my frustration. Yeah. Is that what, and my question for you is, is that what inspired you to play Bristles in Go Get Arto? Yeah, yeah. Well, when that came through, that job offer, I thought, yeah, this is something I can work with.

1:00:29Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, here's your next one. And you're doing really well at this, by the way. Thank you. I was doing some decorating, so I got out my stepladder. I don't get on with my real ladder. I never got on with my real ladder. There's another little bit to it, isn't there? That's the only bit. I remember when I came up with that. It's such a good joke. Were you cleaning the windows? I was walking along the road with Al Murray. Yeah. And he said something about a stepladder. and I said, not my real ladder, my step ladder. Never got on with my real ladder. That's the joke. Yeah. And we both had this look in our eyes like, who's going to have that?

1:01:09Really? And I said, can I have that?

1:01:13Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. He said, yes. Oh, here's your next one. To this day, if anyone asks to try my glasses for selfies, it makes me really antsy. Yeah, I don't like that. How often do people do that? Well, since I said that, not much. But it was a thing from school that they would do it. Right. You know. I had a pair of camouflage glasses. And I was wearing them. Do you know when we were. You mean glasses that you couldn't see? No. Do you mean contact lenses? No. What about camouflage glasses? They had a little camo on. Yeah, I like that idea. And I was, you know, when we came out of COVID and we were all sat outside pubs pretending we were having a nice time because we weren't allowed inside.

1:01:59Romesh Ranganathan:Not me specifically. No, just us generally as a public. Yeah. And a lady came up and asked me if she could try my glasses. And I said no. And she said, but I really want to try on your glasses for a photo. And I said, well, I'm sorry, you know. And she goes, why not? But then, Harry. But then it's why not? And then it's all this angst. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, then she said to me, oh, you're not a very nice person, are you? And then I said, well, no, but that's not anything to do with this conversation. and then she logged onto her Facebook and started Facebook live with me saying this is Ramesh Ranganathan, he trades on being a nice person Do you trade on that?

1:02:37Romesh Ranganathan:No, I don't, exactly, thank you No, absolutely and then she just basically sort of Facebook streamed me out of the pub, I ended up having to leave just because I wanted to try my glasses on Facebook streamed out of the pub Sorry to hear that Thanks I was waiting for an opportunity to share it. Thank you for letting that happen. You're better off going along with it. Yes. So do you say no? You don't say no? Well, I try and make excuses, but if they're, you know. They're persistent. Okay, here's your final one. I mean, I'm worried they're going to put them on runoff. I know, that's the big thing.

1:03:17How am I going to get home?

1:03:22Romesh Ranganathan:before i go on stage i tell the mc or compare you must say extra before i go on stage i did it already i know i know this is sort of before i go on stage i tell the mc or compare you must say extracted from the chrysalis of unnecessary greatness please welcome harry hill but actually it is as we know plucked from the womb of his purpose is splendor please welcome harry hill so there you go um you did really really well thank you it was really good you got five out of five congratulations harry yourself well listen harry it's been amazing to talk to you really good what what do you think of the have you enjoyed it you can be always like you know i love to talk to with comics about comedy you know i mean i could do it all day long uh and i what i love about you know you know being a comic is that thing where you get a group of comics together and we all chat about who's funny who's not funny why it's funny why it's not funny yeah i mean i'd love to yeah we can't we do another version where we name names when you come back but um but one of the things that we like is to have like a song no if you've got a song i'd love a song if you've got a song i finish my this is you know i finish my podcast with a vodcast with the song okay is and do you Is it with instruments and everything?

1:04:40It's on a track. You haven't got that sort of budget. Okay. I'm self-funding it, remember.

1:04:44Romesh Ranganathan:Butterfly and blue juice. But if this goes the way I think it will, hello, Domestos.

1:04:53Romesh Ranganathan:What we are. They don't need to advertise. No, that's true. Everybody knows about them. We were wondering if you could give us like a hot take or a viral, you know, something that we could clip up and put out there that would sort of get millions of views and draw a lot of attention to the podcast. Have you got anything for us? What we've been doing is, and you can use this if you know. Well, what I've been doing is. Very quickly refracted. What I've been doing is at the end of the vodcast, I film the guest attacking me. Okay. And I use that as. Verbally or. C-MAT hits me over the head with a champagne bottle.

1:05:32Stuart Lee tries to strangle me with a telephone cable. Nish punches me down behind the sofa. Yes, that sort of thing.

1:05:38Romesh Ranganathan:Okay. In the hope that that will tickle people's interest. Thinking, oh, they've got that bad that the guests attacked him. But we can't do that. Well, it remains to be seen if that's going to work. Oh, I see, yeah. It's just that you looked at your hand there as if... I'm just... Yeah, but what you did was you just... It's quite scary what he did. Yes. This is the cereal kettle. Don't go into the garden.

1:06:15Yeah.

1:06:16Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, great. Thank you so much. Give it up for Harry Hill, everybody. Thank you so much for watching this episode of the Romesh Ranganathan Show. I've been told that some of you are watching this, enjoying it, wallowing in it, but you still haven't subscribed. That's mad behaviour. You're going to miss episodes. Very silly. So follow and subscribe to the Romesh Ranganathan Show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. We drop new episodes every Monday and Thursday. On Monday, I'm here with amazing guests talking about their career, what they're up to, having a laugh with them.

1:06:46Romesh Ranganathan:And then on Thursdays, I'm joined by my mum, widely regarded as the audience's favourite Ranganathan. And we answer your questions, your stories, and your family dilemmas. So I'll see you on Thursday when I'm back here with my mum, Shandy. Send your questions and stories to podcast at rangaby.com, voice note or text on 07731 623 355. We genuinely love hearing from you and there's a good chance you'll hear yourself on the show. See you next time. Oh, shut up, Romesh. Hablas Español. Spreys to Deutsch. Condénosque. If you used Babbel, you would. Babbel's conversation-based techniques teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world.

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