Mickey Drips, Paintball and Wedding Anniversaries

0:23Romesh Ranganathan:Welcome, sorry. Do you want to do that? I'm always doing like the, I always do the like functional bits. You do them now. Hello friend. It's me, Tom Davis, aka The Wolf, and... The Owl. ...a.k. Romesh Frank and Nathan. And this is a listener email special brought to you by The Wolf for Now. Subscribe, friend. Really good. Actually, much better than I would do it, so well done. Here's our first one. Hi, Wolf for Now. My husband and I are avid listeners to your podcast. So much so that my husband even started listening to all of your episodes right from the very beginning last year, and he's almost caught up.

0:57Romesh Ranganathan:I listen to your podcast most days when out walking with my six-month-old baby. Sometimes I think you must think I'm mad on our own and we start laughing in the middle of the street when listening to you guys. As of the 12th of April, it's my husband and I's first wedding anniversary. I was three months pregnant at the wedding, but we didn't tell anybody until after, so nobody had a clue. With it being paper for the first wedding gift, I decided to book Romesh a stand-up for him and I in Newcastle in February next year. I printed the confirmation off which class has been paper. Kind of heartbreaking that that's when Newcastle shows are selling so badly.

1:27Romesh Ranganathan:I think we're going to have to hit another show. Anyway, if you've got any suggestions what I'm getting for our second wedding anniversary, that would be very much appreciated. Just for context, it's cotton. Peace out, you sweet, sweet souls. Another fellow owl. We've got another owl in the building. Wow. I would say a T-shirt with both their faces. Are you doing Newcastle? I am doing Newcastle, yeah. Yeah. I mean, in October or November, I believe. Okay. Yeah. And how's it going? Well, it sells. Actually, it sells okay in Newcastle. So it's one of the ones that was actually saying, okay. What would you get?

2:03Romesh Ranganathan:Did you do that? No, no, I didn't go that. With like the paper and the cotton and all that? No. No. We still do gifts. We just had our 10-year wedding. I don't even do the faithful. Oh. Wagger, wagger. But if you're going to go, it's quite a cute thing to do. I think a T-shirt with both their faces on would be nice. Like a sort of T-shirt from the wedding, you know. What would you do with that? wear it where i don't know wear it out and stuff i don't think people wear enough t-shirts with their faces on i don't think i think they if anybody does it it's too many really who the fuck's wearing a t-shirt their own face on i think that'd be although actually i do i've worn wolf and ale merchandise yeah but if you wore a t-shirt right with uh yours and lisa's vow renewal that well that nice picture you got it's really that photo of me and lisa yeah on a t-shirt yeah fuck off if you walk past someone and go oh hello good day i just think actually we we wear like stuff with other pictures on and other that don't really mean anything to us and actually having like a picture of someone you know no you know i disagree well okay you turn up somewhere and you know so you're going for me tom if you came to meet me yeah and you had a you were wearing a t-shirt with you and katherine and a photo on the front i would ask you what the fuck is wrong with you okay right let's do something now let's do a little role play right okay fine okay uh who's wearing a t-shirt with a face on uh me okay you're right right see see what it brings right okay all right where are we you could design this one okay fine uh we are meeting uh it's a friend's birthday party okay and they want to do something that this is something they've always wanted to do yeah they've always wanted to get their mates together to go paint paintballing.

3:48Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, cool. So we turned up to the woods. Yeah. And it's like the little, you know, the area before you go in and you've got to get your equipment. The holding zone. The holding zone, yeah. That's another thing I'd have to do, but I have a big Wolf and Al paintball. No. Why? I think it'd be awful. Really? Yeah. Us two with a load of Wolf and Al fans. I think it's me, you, John, JT and Ben, and they've all got to find us. Yeah. And then, so we're not going to invite anybody we actually like.

4:19and they're hunting us down. Okay. Okay, cool. So you turn up. We don't know each other.

4:25Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, we do know each other. Okay. Or we don't know each other. Let's do what we don't know each other. Okay. I'm a friend. I'll be, I don't know. Let's do it based on how you do it. Dan Smith, and you can be Archie Pothelswaite or whatever the fuck. Okay, cool. Quite a posh guy. Pothelswaite. Archie Pothelswaite. Archie Pothelswaite. And what's your name? Dan Smith. Okay, Dan Smith. So you know Lee from work? Yeah. Okay, it's Lee's birthday. Oh, good one. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, no, I've known Lee for years. Yeah, no, his dad used to work for my dad. Oh, hey, man. How are you? Hey, guys. How's it going?

5:02You've got to be Dan.

5:04Romesh Ranganathan:I am Dan, yeah. Yeah. How did you know that? What made you say that? Oh, no, I've seen a bit of Lee.

5:13Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, can we just pause? What is going on with you? I find you so funny when you do this. I don't know what it is. It just makes me laugh so much in these role plays. You just do these little bits. Yeah. Oh, no. All right. Oh, my God. You've got to be Dan. Yes, I'm Dan. Lee's got a picture of you on his desk. It's so cute. Lee has? Yeah. Yeah. He's got a picture of me on his desk. Yeah, you and the guys. Yeah, you and Brad, Cliff. Okay, but I would say that's... Well, I know Brad and Cliff. That's not a picture of me, is it? Oh, I see. I've never met you. You've probably heard of me. I'm Archie Possilfwaite.

5:52Romesh Ranganathan:Well, yes, I've heard of something like that, yeah. Yep. Cool T-shirt, by the way. Cool T-shirt. Who's that pretty lady with you on there? That's my wife. Oh, wow. That was when we did a vow renewal to try and convince ourselves that there was still something in this. She's absolutely stunning. You've done well there. You've done very well there. That's a beautiful lady. Are you okay, Archie? Yeah, sorry. No, it's just a nice thing. It's a bit of a flex wearing a cool t-shirt like that with a pretty lady on. And you, of course, Dan. Yeah, that was a vow in the old thing. Yeah, yeah. It's a hell of a dress.

6:29Romesh Ranganathan:That's a nice dress. Are you okay, Archie? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know what? I am just going to, before we get ready for the paintball, I'm just going to go turn this inside out. Yeah, you don't want to get paint on that t-shirt. Maybe take it off entirely. Or I could wear it for you. have you got copies of that that people could wear no i don't have copies of it it's difficult to know now whether you fancy my wife or me well no i just think it's a cool picture yeah oh maybe i'll get a picture with me and my cousin martin on is that how you fuck

7:08no no no my my wife left me three months ago so martin's moved in with me it's sad but unexpected

7:14Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. So, yeah. Cool. I noticed, by the way, your hair looks so nice in that picture. Thanks. Do you not like my hair now? I think it looks better in there. It's quite square now. Okay, great. So, see? It's straight away. All right. Okay, yeah. Like a nice thing. Yeah, I think it's awful. Okay. What should... So, you suggested T-shirt... Or a cape? Yeah, a cape's nice. A cape to wear. I think maybe a nice little monogrammed handkerchief. What? Who's used a handkerchief? by the way handkerchiefs once you've got bogeys and stuff on it once yeah but that's not nobody's using the handkerchief are they what were they for they're completely obsolete then it's just cool to have one isn't it how often do you have a handkerchief on you never exactly there it'll get squirreled away to the bottom of a drawer yeah you're right in about 20 years time you're fucking going through stuff no you're right yeah you're right whereas with a t-shirt with your picture on you're going to wear every day no even if you don't wear it you look at it yeah well you could look at the handkerchief couldn't you you don't look at I think you're cheating.

8:10Romesh Ranganathan:No, you're right. I'm getting with a shit idea. Okay, anyway, good luck, Al. Or a pillowcase. That's a one. Pillowcase. Pillowcase is a good idea. Yeah. Every day you sleep. Not with your photo on it. Yeah. What? Yeah. Pillowcase with your photos on. Yeah. Monogrammed pillowcase. Yeah, okay. Okay? Yeah. Monogrammed pillowcase. That's what I'd say. That's a one. Get that. Okay. All right, good luck, Al. Dear Wolf and Al, I appreciate your wisdom about how to deal with an overwhelming experience. Yeah, you fucked it, haven't you? Yeah, okay. Because what happened there was a sentence that was a lot longer than you're anticipating and you've run out of steam.

8:48Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. Try it. Okay, look, take a deep breath. No, it's more actually I've read ahead now and I need to start doing that because I've actually... Christ. Oh, is that what happened? Okay. Dear Wolf and Al, I'd appreciate your whisper about how to deal with an overwhelming experience of grief following the sudden death of our wonderful pet cat who we learned was knocked over by a car earlier this week. Okay, can we do this all again? Because it's made me laugh so much that you were going to do it. Can we put that out? Legally, we can't say drinking Storm makes you smarter and more focused. But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking Storm.

9:27Romesh Ranganathan:Storm. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life. Pool days call for cookouts and lots of laundry. This Memorial Day at Lowe's, save$80 on a Charbroil Performance Series 4-Burner Gas Grill. Now just$199. Plus, get up to 45 % off select major appliances to keep dishes, clothes, and food fresh. Having fun in the sun is easy with us in your corner. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid for 527. While supplies last, selection varies by location. See associate or lowes.com for details. Dear Wolf and Al, I appreciate your wisdom about how to deal with an overwhelming experience of grief following the sudden death of our wonderful pet cat, who we learned was knocked over by a car earlier this week.

10:12The extreme feeling of grief caught me and my family by surprise, and I found myself feeling embarrassed to show my feelings to others and try to be strong and hide it from my wife and kids. To make matters worse, we were on holiday, so we were expected to be happy and smiling, rather than walking around miserable and upset. is it okay to express these emotions publicly publicly and should i tell the truth if people see me sad and tearful or make something up if you do have these strategies for coping with these powerful emotions when generally it feels like fewer people recognize grief over an animal compared with a family member and expect you to carry on normally normally with life soon after we still feel quite numb and lost and aren't looking forward to going home to a house with no pet to greet us and memories that will bring back the feeling of loss again your podcast is one way of cheering us up and this episodes this week have really been a welcome distraction

11:00Romesh Ranganathan:many thanks for your thoughts the tearful kitty thank you so much for your email um i will say quite honestly like the death of a pet is this yeah i didn't anticipate when when a dog died i didn't anticipate or fathom quite how much it ripped yeah it's horrible me apart it was Absolutely. And I also, alongside that, you do feel like in a weird way, like when you bring that up to people, I think, certainly people who haven't got pets, but even people who don't, because even when people would talk about having a pet that passed, to me before, I could never quite get made around how upsetting that would be.

11:41Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. And I think it's, yeah. But I also think that you kind of have to be, I think, repressing any kind of emotion or anything you feel is is such a it's such a really it's quite dangerous thing to do i think i think you kind of have to sit with the feeling and express it yeah and i'm not sort of you know to your loved ones to you you know the people right i remember like when my dog died just sobbing to my dad i was so upset it was a very strange time because grace had just been born and you're trying to get your head around it all and um but i do think it's actually letting out those feelings is a thing where the in in just in therapy recently where i didn't realize how much i've repressed so much stuff over the last 30 years whatever and talking to a therapist i realized quite that is it's almost a default i have and as much as i'm quite open i'm quite i chat about my feelings a lot there's a lot i sit with and repress i don't want to bother other people so i don't you know i don't show a lot of that stuff and actually just since talking to Catherine about it and talking to, I spoke to you about it and stuff that you well up and you build up, it can become quite a negative.

12:55So I think actually just doing that and I think, you know, I think as well, I think strangely like, you know, this happening on a holiday where there's an expectation that you've got to be walking around in like, you know, sort of grinning and feeling on top of the world just because you're on holiday. I think life happens and I think a lot of people will understand that. Also, you don't have to tell everyone why you're upset. The world doesn't have to know. I think you can, like I say, if your families know, you've discussed it with your kids and your wife and you all have a cry together and you're all quite open about how you feel and you discuss that, then I think that's a good place to be.

13:37But I don't think you have to, I don't think anyone, you don't owe anyone the fact that if you're walking around feeling a bit, you know down and a bit broken by it you don't need to have to explain that to everyone i think it's enough that you explain it to be the people that matter and for the rest of the world you know you know walk a higher path and just don't worry too much about it uh typically thanks for your

13:58Romesh Ranganathan:email um i think it's totally reasonable to be upset about a pet passing away and i don't think you should feel any kind of guilt or embarrassment about that i do think it's like i've been without going into details i've been going through it a bit recently and then i've also been forced into lots of social not forced into social situations whatever because people can come around it was my birthday recently said people come around but i was i was feeling it a bit and um when that happens people you're expected to kind of there's a like even if you've got close people around it's there's a performative nature yeah you know and you've got to like be on form or whatever and so um i think it might be easier to sort of say to people i'm feeling a bit down at the moment i would say i did that to a couple of people i said i'm struggling a bit the downside of that is is that um they then keep checking in on you and actually i think it's a way of like you know if you start to get quiet they go you're right you're right you're right and i think and although that's coming from a good place sometimes you just want to be struggling you know you just want to be upset or you're just dealing with being upset or you're not even upset.

15:07Romesh Ranganathan:It's just that you haven't got the capacity to be all singing, all dancing. So it's that thing of like saying to your people that are close to you or coming around or whatever, I'm feeling a bit down, but please don't worry about me. If I'm quiet, I'm just being quiet because that's where I am right now. And I think it just makes it a bit easier because particularly, if not that I'm particularly the raconteur of a thing, but people were expecting me to be a bit more, I guess, bouncy than I was being. And then they're going, are you okay? What's going on? What's going on? And then you just have to go, look, I'm, I think I ended up, I actually ended up saying I'm just, I'm knackered or whatever, just to sort of get, get over it.

15:48Romesh Ranganathan:So I think it's, I think one, you shouldn't feel guilty at all. And two, just tell people. I think it's fine to tell people. You tell somebody if you're feeling ill, why not tell somebody if you're feeling down? Yeah. You know? Hi, Wolf and Our Laughing Hyena here. we've got to do this quickly so I'm going to read this quickly Hi Wolf and I are laughing hyena I'm going to listen to your awesome pod I can't get enough of your improvs and bands so I'm currently working back through the archives on a daily basis keep it up I have a question about Mickey Drips made famous by the hilarious King Gary series what's the origin of the phrase was it created by the wolf or was it an existing phrase is it possibly rhyming slang of a theory that might come from the fact that an alternative way to say taking the piss is taking the Mickey and say rather than saying piss drips the phrase comes Mickey Drips can you film one way or another to help settle an argument with me and the rest of my hyena pack cheers guys the laughing hyena so in summary Tom Mickey Drips who did you rip it off of?

16:30Do you know who told me about it? I was talking about, shoot, unbelievable. You really are.

16:39Romesh Ranganathan:Who's got two thumbs and invented Mickey drips? This guy. No, I'm joking. I was talking about it. So the storyline. Tom often coughs when he's lying. So the storyline had been written and Camille Kuduri, who played my mum in the show. Fantastic. who's brilliant Katie said oh you're talking about Mickey Drips and as soon as she said that it just made us laugh and yeah it was like yeah that became where'd she heard it no idea no idea she could have well come up with it she's genuinely one of I mean you know she's the sort of person who sort of that slighter phrase would yeah yeah but yeah so that was that's very honest of you you could have just claimed that there yeah no but that's not my way you're not that type of guy weirdly now I will say by the way on the subject of Mickey Drips in the last two months Mickey drips have become worse and worse what generally or for you just no for me I'm like yeah I had a pair of trousers on the other day and me and Catherine were out for dinner nice little romantic meal beige trouser went to the toilet thought everything was secure rested my gun back in its holster and it almost like was like someone had left a tap on it was literally like I was having to text Catherine you pissed yourself yeah like I pissed myself it was like like a little stream down my leg I was like where's that even come to me dick what did you do I was in the toilet going why are you fucking doing this to me why have you done this and this is insane I was like what a stupid design flaw that's true I think that's a fair point yeah but then so now I'm having to go and bandage my dick after every time I take a piss a lot of people do that yeah I can see why I never did it now I'm doing it.

18:27Romesh Ranganathan:What do you do about yours? I don't. I finish pissing before I put my dick away. No, but... No, I'm joking. I know you've had Mickey drips. When? Because I've touched your lap before. I've been a bit down. Oh, no. I do think it is a real issue. Yeah. But I do the... Do you do that? What the what? You put your finger up your arsehole. No, you know when you... You know like... You push the perineum? Yeah. Yeah, but I've done that. It doesn't always work. Well, it doesn't always... You have to really finish pissing. Yeah. Really finish. By the way, I'd finish the choking. Really finish. Yeah, I'd finish.

19:01No, Tom. Really finish. I'd finish, give it a little squeeze, done that.

19:05Romesh Ranganathan:Fine. Then you do the perineum. Yeah. Then another shake. Yeah. Then the perineum again. One more shake, then away. You're standing at a urinal doing that. That's about 45 minutes, but it's worth it. Listen, it's, yeah, it's something I'm now just, that's it. Bass slacks are out for me. It's a shame. Yeah. thank you so much for emailing in we will see you next time why did you just kiss the microphone I don't know I just got carried away if you want to get in touch email wolfowpod.gmail.com if anybody can help us with our quest to we've started talking about putting on a night haven't we get in touch and let us know there will be like a mickey drip zone at the night so you can go and chill there if you've got mickey drips we're just going to put a single hand dryer no get a Dyson at waist high yeah and you can just come in and dry off if you've Mickey dripped take care of yourselves thank you guys peace out like and subscribe please bye please like and subscribe okay bye please like and subscribe please