Back Row and Chill with Jahannah James and Noel Clarke - Stay Home Special Series - Episode 5 - Nina Dobrev, Jim Bradshaw, Chris Addison, Tova Leigh, Koko Brown, Jacob Hawley, and Quinton Aaron

Episode Date: May 24, 2020

In this episode of Back Row and Chill Stay Home Special, Noel and Jahannah spoke to Nina Dobrev, Jim Bradshaw, Chris Addison, Tova Leigh, Koko Brown, Jacob Hawley, and Quinton Aaron.

Back Row and Chill with Noel Clark and Johanna James on Feebar Radio. Quinton Aaron. Don't lie, my G. Quinton, how are you with that? Hello! Quentin, my G! What's happening, brother? What's going on, man? What's going on? How are you, big fans? What? You of me? Shut up, man. I'm a big fan. Come on.

We're big fans of you. Yeah. For real. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Thank you. How's it treating you in Glasgow? Because that shit be cold, you know? Us black people, we have to be careful of the cold. could they be trying to kill us in Scotland, so just, you know, talk to me. You know, it's funny, though, I'm a rarity. I'm probably the only black person I know that loves the cold. I'm enjoying this weather right now.

We're about to fall out. I'm about to get on the train and come up there and knock some sense into you. How can you be talking that you like the cold? I'm from New York. All right, all right, yeah. I know it can be cold in New York, too. It can be cold, but you get them good summers, though. You get those good summers.

So we're here to talk about your new film, which is called Halfway. And people might know you before. They'll definitely know you before from the blind side. Boom, yes. So we just want to talk a little bit about halfway the new film. You know, we're acting, so we know it's new to the world, but you shot this like, what, a year ago? Almost two and a half years ago.

No, yeah. Sometimes films take a while. It's in the pipeline. Yeah, yeah. All right, yeah, so tell us about the movie, and then let's talk about it because I enjoyed it myself. I'm a big fan at how you got up with them cows. I don't be dealing with animals, man.

Especially animals that can't train, like dogs and stuff like that. And cows, when that cow was sucking your fingers, I was like, oh, he's going to lose his hand or something. It's basically a film that came about from the direction. director who's actually from London, Ben Carr. He wrote it and it was originally about a young British kid who was fish out of water coming into Wisconsin to live on a family farm, but he wanted to change that aspect of it and make it more relatable to today's society and the social injustice was going on in

the prison system and today with minorities going to prison for repeated crimes and stuff. So, you know, about the recidivism issue. And so Halfway kind of speaks on that and in the sense where it takes the story of Byron, who was recently released from prison. Yeah. And it follows his life through his life on the farm. Yeah. He's the fish out of water, you know, in a sense where he's doing his probation out on the family farm.

And it's totally outside of his element. And it's a stepbrother's farm, right? Step brother in his family. Yeah, yeah, exactly. His stepbrother got him out of prison. and the favor he had to return, you know, by, you know, his due diligence on the phone. Exactly. And it's a story about choices.

I like to put it in that sense because everything we do in life is based off the choices that we make. And Byron was presented with the opportunity to either make a better man of himself or go back into his usual ways and possibly land back in prison. I think it's a beautiful film. I watched the whole thing. For me, it was a real subtle movie. Today's movies is like you sit down, you put in the mad glasses and it's explosions and everything. So it's always good to see a character-driven movie. And I mean, I've got to tell you, man, I've seen a few of your things.

And obviously, everyone's like, blind, I'm talking like, but this performance was good. I'm talking like, they're all like, case Manchester by the sea. But your subtle performance in this was some good shit, brother. I got to tell you, like, really, really. Thank you. Really was good. You're right, it is about choices, but it was interesting for me to see that, you know, the director chose to go that way because it added a new dynamic,

like when you meet the old man from the other farm. That was my favorite. You know, without giving too much to the audience. He was awesome. Yeah. Jeffrey DeMond is an amazing actor, amazing talent, and just really cool guy, you know. Yeah.

It's fun to be around on set. Definitely, he's one of my favorite characters to work with. But it speaks about also, you know, you have the young guys being overtly racist to your character or being quite rude, but then even the guy that is really supportive and really friendly has that sort of ignorant racism. Not in a bad way, but like he's calling you colored when he doesn't know that it's not acceptable anymore.

And it's like it speaks about society about the way people are treated and even if it's not intentionally and how there needs to be more awareness about this whole thing. And I thought it was really good by the director and writer. Because your character, Byron, he's the only black farmer in the area

or becomes the only black farmer. And I've got to say, you're becoming like the king of living with white people. Living with white family. You're the king. Byron, the king of living with white folks. I was like, again, he's got another. funny.

I accept that. I accept that. I like to think I can get along with anyone. Yeah. People person. Maybe that's like your film niche. Like every family in your film,

they're just all white. You've got to just be like up in the white people's house, living a good... Listen, talk to me about these cows, bro. You got to talk to me about these cows. Oh man, the cows are awesome. It's funny because whenever they were teaching me

how to milk them, they said you have to talk to them, you have to walk up, you talk to them and rub it behind. So I was like, okay, so it's pretty much like you... Yeah, exactly. That's how my wife did me, bro. That's how my wife did me, bro. wife did me, she milk it, and she rubbed my

behind and talk to me in my ears. It was awesome, man. It was definitely experienced. The cabs were, they were hilarious, man, the way they just sucked on your finger. It was funny, the first day one of them almost took a ring. I was like, whoa, I'm gonna eat that back.

That's what I'm talking about, man. Yeah, the baby one that got out was cute. I was like, how was he touching with these cows, man? And then the one that got out, I was like, okay, that one's cute, you know, I can live with that. Then he started sucking your finger. I mean, just for the audience, no, obviously the film's not about cows, but it's a really touching movie about this character who comes out

on parole and ends up on his stepbrothers farm and then of course realizes that the stepbrother is not as genuine as we believe but we don't want to give too much away. But I mean, I really want our listeners and everyone to see this film. I want to tell you, my brother, that you were brilliant in the movie and again, once again

subverting and defying people's expectations of what we're supposed to do, man, I loved it. Appreciate that. Thank you, man. Definitely. And how long are you going to be over in the UK? Sunday, I will going down to London for a few days. Niva, listen, we're in London, boy, you better come to see me.

Okay, okay. I love how this is just turned into, like, a casualty. Well, we brothers, man. Black people have to stick together, man. Why, he's always trying to kill us and shit, and, like, that's what we, you know, we're brothers. You feel me, bro? I know you feel me.

I know you have to be PC. You got to be PC. I don't have to be PCs, my show. I was over the fuck I want. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. Yeah. Jacob Hawley, welcome.

Thanks for having me. These are little studio people over there that are way of applause to everybody. That's nice to them, isn't it? Yeah, so, isn't it? Just getting ready for the applause, which I'm sure you will be getting lots at Edinburgh Fringe. Yeah, I hope so.

So what kind of show is like a one man? One man, yes, it's just me. It doesn't sound like much fun to be on the shoe because it's just me talking for an hour. Talking yourself? Well, hopefully talking to people, if people buy tickets. Yeah, it's a funny show, so it's a little bit political. Some of it is a little bit, not sad, but, like, personal.

And yeah, it's quite funny. Did you write it yourself? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, write it all myself. How do you start writing? Is it what, it's a 40-minute show? About an hour. An hour show. How do you even write, what do you do?

Do you look like little 10 minutes and squish them together? Yeah, well, kind of, yeah. So, I mean, like, I've been doing stand-up for like four years now. Okay. So, and some of the material I've been doing for two years, they would have started as like three-minute little bits, and then they've grown and got bigger and longer. And yeah.

What's your show called? Howl? I have to really enunciate that because of my accent. I naturally say howl. Yeah. You can't hear the hell at the end, and people just think it's a question. People can't say how. Well, I thought he said owl.

Like, an owl! An owl! I was like, oh, maybe it's an owl a show about burns. Yeah, all about birds. All about birds. It's a feather. Why is it called Howell? Why is it called Howell?

Have you read it? I have not. I've not either, to be perfectly honest with it. Okay, great. But yeah, it was... Why did you name it after that? Because, well, it's too long a poem to read. But basically, it was, you have to name your show a long time before the actual thing.

So I had to name it in January. And at the time, I thought I was going to write this really long, funny piece of material about that poem. And then I started doing the bit of material, and I thought maybe it's not going to be a very long bit of material. And then, yeah, now I don't do any material. So it's an accident. But it could always be that because why is it called how? Because you were going to howl with laughter. Yeah.

I'll take that. I'm open for suggestions. If you've got any other suggestions about how I can make the title work. There you go. Yeah. That's the building. That works me. Whenever anyone asks me now, I'm going to say that.

I'm going to say it because people howl with laughter. Because you're going to howl with laughter. So you don't stand up for four years. Where did you start? In London. You're from London? No, I'm from just outside in Stephen Hitch. Have you been? I've not had the pleasure.

Why not? Why haven't been to Stephen? Why have you been? I'm in London and I tend to stick to London. Where did you go out from London? I was born in Lewisham, so... Really? Yeah, so you're from South?

Yeah, I live in South now. Where do you do? Canberra? Can I? Oh, now I live in Peckham. Do you? We just done the roof, Richard, then. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

But no, yeah, so I'm from Stephen Hage. I moved to London. I went to uni in London and then I started doing stand-up straight away. So where did you do it first? My first gig was in a club in North London called Downstairs at the Kingsheads. Oh, the King's Head.

Yeah, I was awful. I was really bad. I just wanted to be Russell Brown. So I was wearing like a really tight black blazer and like tight black jeans and like a sort of... Eyeliner. Not quite eyeliner, but yeah, I still look ridiculous. But yeah, and that was a long time ago now.

Cool. And do you remember what your first stand-up was about? Well, because I wanted to be like Russell Brown. I wanted to be like really like controversial and talk about like big topics and stuff. So I was trying to talk about like religion and stuff like that. And it's not, it's not very me. So yeah, it didn't really see me very well. My things that tickle me, my funny bones, is awkward situations.

Okay. Or I'm just so interested in what happens. Like when somebody falls over, not really them falling over, but what do they do to save that? Like. Oh, okay. So when people style it out. Yeah. Yeah.

Or when someone like, it's happened to me a lot in my life where I've gone to like shake someone's hand and they've like not seen it and turned away. and then I've been like, how do you... What's your go to? Do you scratch your head? Is that your sort of way of getting out of that? Well, now I'm like, boy, mate! I see you insist if someone shake you hair. I'm shaking your hands up. Okay. What if someone was to go for a handshake

but you go for a hug? How do you feel about that? Oh, well, then they just sent to cut my breasts and it's really awkward and it's just going there or you... Just get groped. Or you don't know whether you go in for a kiss or not. I've had someone just sort of kissed my earlobe. Do you like that? Quite softly.

I mean, it felt nice, but I was like, I don't know you. some this is like someone's dad or something really awkward yeah I think there should be like maybe a lesson or something when you grow up like how to teach you how to greet people how do you know what do we do yeah absolutely so is that your favourite thing awkward situations awkward situations yeah that's just really tickled me I've got some of them in my show

oh really I've got a lot of them in my show are they from your own experience from my experience perfect yeah I love that the end of my show is talking about when my sister had her kid and me and my family went and we got really drunk and they tried to kick us out of the hospital because we were too drunk you were drunk in the hospital yeah Well, I can imagine that would be...

And we were using the gassanet. You know, like, you get the gassanair out the walls. Oh, yeah. We were having a bang on that whilst my sister was next door, having the kids. Oh, your poor sister was like, where's my gassan air? Yeah, we had it all. You're like, I don't know, babe, we're just looking for it. Yeah, no, tried to kick out of the hospital.

Well, that would do it. I mean, yeah, has she had any more kids since then? Yeah. Yeah, and to be fair, the second one, the mainstream one, we were very well behaved. Okay, you know, you're not. We just smoked. We didn't. Oh, okay.

That's, yeah, that's more chill. You know what I mean? Gassaner bring you up. We're just hanging out of that one. That's crazy. I've toyed with the idea of doing stand-up. Have you really? Yeah, because I make comedy...

That's my idea. I'm a comedian and I make comedy sketches. Okay, cool. And, like, comedy shows. And, but I've not done anything on live. Do you know what you would do if you were to do stand-up? Do you have any ideas? Yes, I do.

I've kind of thought about it and either... Yeah, again, awkward situations. Okay. I have, like, a serious, hilarious history of dating life. I'm like, I'm terrible at it. And also I am 70% deaf in one ear. Okay. That has also brought about many funny moments in my life.

Do you want to try some of me? Do you want to try a story on me? Like some stand-up? Some stand-up? Yeah. You're going to put me on the hot seat right now. This is my show, do you. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, I'm trying to think of like the funny story. Okay, once there was a guy who was chasing me through an airport. And I had like headwinds on, so I was just like bopping away. And then the guy... So a guy was chasing you through an airport. I know, right?

He was trying to like flag me down. And he was like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. And he ran up and he finally caught up with me. And he was like, hey, I've been like shouting at you since the ticket move. He's like, what are you deaf? And I just turned and showed him my hearing aid. It was like, oh, yeah. And he was like, I'm so sorry, can I buy you dinner?

And this is, this is rolling, you're not going wrong. And I was like, yes, you can't fucking buy me dinner, absolutely. And how long have you been together now? Nine years. That's inflecting, yeah, as Gerald. I mean, you know, blessed soul, he's dead now. But it was good. Another one was, I was in bed with a lover.

And I didn't have a hearing aid in. so it's always a bit of an odd time when you can't hear. Do you find that men try to speak up a bit more in that situation when you're not wearing your hearing? Yeah, if they're trying to talk dirty or something, I'm like, you've got to shout! So the neighbours can hear it. Yes, because otherwise I can't.

And there was a really confusing, I need to remember exactly what he said, but he did, he whispered something extremely dirty into my ear. And because I was deaf, I didn't hear it. And I thought he said, I'm only happiest when I'm with you. So he said this thing, and I turned around and was like, babe, that's the nicest thing.

ever said to me and he looked at me like what is the filthy thing that he said i can't remember it was something it was something about putting something somewhere right and uh and like his reaction the ultimate confusion of me just being like oh my god i love you he's like well she is kicking yeah yeah yeah do you think you talk about sex on stage quite a lot i mean i've clearly have like autopilaged to that i don't know i never talk about sex on stage you never because you've never had it I mean you caught me out but that is actually why you. But one day you will and then you can add into your show.

Yeah, yeah. Next year's show is all going to be about my first time. Okay, oh guys, give me tickets in. Jacobs' first time. Yeah, but this show's going to be good as well. Okay. Yeah, even though there's no sexual stories, isn't it? There's just political stories on the last one.

Well, it's not that political. I think I think I might, like, some of it's political, but I think the sort of people that like my stuff don't usually like political comedy. Do you like political comedy? Not really, because I don't find politics too funny at the moment. Right, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

But I think you like my stuff then. People who don't like political comedy, you like my stuff. Okay, maybe you'll swing me around. Yeah. Back row and chill with Mel Park and Johanna James on Cibar Radio. So a huge welcome to Coco Brown. Welcome. Okay.

You get an applause as well, babe. Thanks. What's you do? Can I do that? Can I call you Coco? Yeah, absolutely. It's encouraged. Great.

If you want, right? I'm willing. I'm willing. But you have to stick with that now. I'm with it. Oh, don't worry. I'm with it. before you haven't asked you so it's all good.

Is that your ruling? Yes, the name that everyone calls me. My birth name is Corrine, and it's spelled K-O-R-E-I-N, but when you ever try and say it in a club or, you know, when you're like networking, you're like, hi, when he's Korean, and they're like, Karina, Karina, Corin, and you're like, no, babes. And you know what's easy? Coco.

K-O-K-O. I love that name. Same letters. I'm called Johanna with an A. Everyone's like, Yahana. Are you Swedish? Like, just J.J.J. Yeah, I know, people.

Do you? I kind of like really envied kids when they were called just like Emma. Jane. Sally. I just want a normal new. Yeah. Kind of exciting times. You have got a show on at the Roundhouse. Yeah, I do. At my home, that's like my home venue. Oh, you're from the North? Yeah, born and raised in Kilbin. I was about to do gum fingers and I'm like, no. I want to be with it. I want to be with it. I'd have to be with it. How did that happen? And also, what is the show about? It happened because I've been working with the Roundhouse for like two. years, started kind of creating a little bit of work with them and said to them, look, I really want to make this show about being mixed-raced because there's not much about that.

Support me. And they were like, yeah, sure. And I was like, great, this is what I need. That's exactly how it happened. I told them what I needed. And yeah, they like, they just did it and then did some more. And yeah, they're great. And so the show's called White.

And it's about being mixed race. It's about being a mixed-race black woman and just identity and stuff like that, full of spoken word and vocal looping. So, yeah, like the stuff that Ed Sheeran does. But also the stuff that, like, some other great vocal loopers, like Grace Savage, who's a beatboxer. I find that magic. Like, I've seen people do that with their little boxes,

and I don't understand how it works. So for me, it's like, I'm just like, oh, press the buttons and I can hear four of them. You're going to have to come into my studio and play. Oh, yeah. That's what it is. Yeah, we'll do, like, skill swap. Yeah, let's do it.

Teach me how to say words on the radio world. And I'll teach you how to say words into a machine world. It's not something I can do. But okay, we can see. Yeah, because you can take stuff. Have you seen the movie Baby Driver? No. Oh, because he does that.

He, like, always recording stuff. Like, he records stuff he hears and he goes back home and he puts it in his little box. And he makes music out. And he loops it. Oh, sick. Yeah, it was great. I love that. I'm all about electronic, like, weird music that you can create other things.

Computer music. Yes, computer music. I'm just a nerd who happened to do theater and music. Like, that's what it is. Did you study theater? I never studied theater in, like, drama school. I went to drama school. In my room in the mirror.

Yeah, boom. You know, I did the performing arts beat tech, all of that classic stuff. And then I was like, you know, theater and like going to auditions is really soul destroying. Back then, I used to be a brown girl with dark curly hair. So like textbook, mixed race chick.

And so there'd be a thousand other mixed race chicks who looked just like that in the same room. And you're like, wow, there is no difference between us except maybe like, you know, how we say a word. I mean, that's kind of a universal. I don't know if you guys find that in auditions, but like, I've gone in for an audition.

and you're feeling pretty confident you're like I think I've got this I think I can do this and you go in there and there is literally just 12 carbon copies of you and you feel so I'm like oh this is just like 12 blonde girls great so I decided that I was like over that so I'm gonna start making my own work because fuck the system I didn't go that far I remember at drama school I kept getting mistaken I had brown hair then and I kept getting mistaken for some of the other girls on the course and I was like I don't look like her so like a day before we did our final showcase in front of all the agents and everything I dyed my hair bright ginger so like yeah i was like fuck this bitch i think yeah all the other brunettes were like fuck i wish i thought it yeah exactly

yeah so it was just like a sea of brunettes and then me like the jinge at the front it's good i got an agent amazing hopefully not just because of the agent putting you up for ginger rolls yeah i can just start changing my hair to do that yeah i recommend it everybody turned ginger and it you stick out okay i also got a bit of heckling

and abuse wordly cool nice nice nice nice it's either like people who have a love it like loads of guys being like oh you're such a furry red-haired weird and it's like what was that guy boys like okay well your guys so you don't understand but that is so like hashtag related oh people are really negative and like shouted like like like okay okay okay I mean it's the same guy that said both I was very good one guy

heckling from the crowd like do you like it what do I do okay cool he was indecisive you know It seems like one woman. Yeah, it's a solo show. It's just me talking about my struggles and stuff. It's just me and my loop stations. Just talking about being mixed-raced and being a mixed-raced black woman and kind of exploring all of that in a fun way. You know, just the way that I would do it, really. Where's your heritage from both sides?

What's your... My dad is Jamaican and my mum is Irish. Nice. So I'm an Irish-Gamican. I'm an Irish-Gamacan, yeah, absolutely. I've never been to either island. so island being island island and the island and the other island yeah never been either those places but I think both of those will be such an experience I wanted to find out like

my like genealogy because you can now the technology's there so I did that thing where you like do a DNA test and I've sent my sample off and you have to spit like quite a lot I thought it would be just like seriously there's not a swam no it's not a swamp it's literally you get like a test tube and then there's a line and it's like fill it up to there make sure it's all spit no bubbles so I was there like at first I was like okay I can do this. After a few minutes, I was like hacking into this thing

and then I was like, I had dry mouth, I was like, there's nothing left. I got it left for you, man. You've got nothing. Completely stuck me dry. Yes, I've sent it off. I've got nothing left. Yeah, they send it off

and it has to go around the world. It has to go to the Netherlands and then the actual labs in like L.A. or something. And then they're going to send it back to me in a few weeks, but I'm going to get a full genealogy of where all my ancestors are from. all over the world. That is sick.

I'm hoping for something a little bit tropical. And, um, yeah. And they also at the same time do like a full medical history thing. And I had to sign a waiver to say that I had to accept what I was going to find out about myself because they, they tell, yeah, they tell you like the likelihood of you getting Alzheimer's, the likelihood of you getting breast cancer, which is all good things to know. No way.

Thank you. Good things to know. Good things to know. Because then you can like make, like, you can, you can prep yourself and get some step But they were like, you have to understand the psychology behind knowing this, like if you are in the top bracket of maybe getting this or maybe getting that. I think it sounds so depressing fighting about yourself. No, it's so funny.

Would you like to know when or how you would die? No. Because that's what that sounds like. Would you like to know when or how you would die? I'm a very curious man, so I would be. Yeah, but what do you look? You can't un-look. Yeah, you can't unlearn.

What you have learned? Yeah, well, then I'll just change it, you know? I'll find a different way to die. No, because that's how it is. You can't change a racist. I don't think that's like work. No. Maybe one of those films where like you end up causing your death because you find out about it and then you do everything you can.

Final destination. Yeah. Exactly. What do you think you are? What, like genetically? Yeah. I think that I've got probably like some Scandinavian or something because I went to Iceland. Everyone was talking to me in Icelandic and I was like, dude, I'm English.

I don't know. But thank you because everyone in Iceland's hot. I mean, right? So I was like. I was like, oh my God. Yes, and of course I want to be a little bit from Wakanda, so you know I'm helping. Wakanda forever, one can hope.

I've got a little game I'd like a sort of play. Okay. It's called Guests the Disney Lyric Challenge. I didn't mean to let out. That's not. But let's play this. Right, am I out? Because apparently, Marvin's going to be, am I out?

Do I not get to play? No, I always get to play, but we all get to play. We'll see about that. We'll see about it, but... but he knows it all back to front. Oh, my God, Marlon. You're exposing yourself left, right and centre. No, I love it.

This is not true. I'm telling you that. Very true. You used to watch Zoe 101. Don't lie. Like, it's like, ah. Listen, sorry 101 was butt. See, he's the one who does that.

I mean, no, my sister told me that it was bad. I don't, I've never watched it myself personally. Oh, God, you guys are so young. I don't know what you're talking about. Let's do this. Let's try and play this. Nothing time is over. So what's going to happen, they're going to play a song,

and they're going to cut the music, and we've got to continue singing it. If not, just make up the lyrics, this could be really jokes. Let's give this a little go. I'm not going to be good at this really. Let's give it a little go. We'll have forest to the fire within. Oh.

Once you find your center, it was sure to win. Yes, we got it. That's like two points of the girls. You didn't even see it. We did. They did. They were up. Hey, under the sea, yeah, maybe. Hi, fly us and eat us in fricacy.

Hey, I think the music show. They were, okay. You know the lyric. You want to copy us. Under the sea, I'm there. Go like a cook. The sea we're on the hook. Prince Ali, Fabulous.

He. Ali, Baba. Hey. Go on. Go on. Get off the point. Out of the point. Come on.

Wait, if you'll see. Go on, ma. I'm not getting this one. I'm not my. Now try your best to stay calm. Brashe up your Sunday's alarm. Coco is rocking in my eyes. I told you.

I told you that's the wrong one rush. This is a laugh. I'm not in an am yet thing. I mean, what is that from? It's from Coco. How is it? Oh, I've not seen Coco. Oh yeah, I've seen this actually

I have seen your own music, Co-Cola. He's the guy that's the guitar like plays the guitar Go on Ray, go on Go on Bibi Bobbitty-Boo Put them together and what have you got Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo Yeah, I've got that one

Come on give us a point, that's a point That's a half a point You said Bibi-Bobbibbibbiboo Yeah Poff the lyrics Oh, love the bitty bobpity, ooh. There goes the baker with this train like always. The same old bag, we're going to brush it by our Disney now.

Every morning just the same. It's like the morning that we came to this born revenge will sound good morning, Bell. Good morning, Miss here. Wow. We're like impressing you right now. Oh, I'm like you. Yeah, a little bit of peace pack, a little bit of press. All those Disney auditions.

I mean, I never have some. Okay. Of simple, their necessity. Forget about your word. about your worries and your strike. Yeah. Fair necessities. The mother's nature's recipes.

I mean the fair necessities. Come all right. Go on. There's a lot. The fair necessity. Come on. Oh, come on, man. You are people.

That is a well. People who look at as, think like you. But if you want the footsteps of a stranger, you'll find things you never knew. The girls are cheating. Yeah, the girls are clearly cheating. There is clarity lyrics on the screen. I can't see that loose in the screen, right?

Okay, ready? Mr. Rallin, sir, was with your fellow beast? And take your order, jodd it down. You ain't never had a friend like me. God damn. You guys are shit, sorry. Really, what happened in your childhood? No man.

You know this, no, go on, bro. You know it. You've watched this about five times. Any more. Please open the door. Oh, Jew. I started talking to the pictures on the wall. Hang in there, Joan.

Hang in a little, it's like. Damn. Just make it up. Hang it in there, me. Make it up. So, go out. Come in down. Yeah, it's okay.

Come in down. It's dreaming. Something shower drain. We need a toilet. You guys literally said that word for word exactly the same. Did you watch this before they came here? I mean, there's a connection here. I don't know what you've got a point.

I've got a half of point. Where's your point that? There's a set of demand. Yeah, I got that. All right, go on, boys. You take this one. Yeah. It's all you are.

It's all right. It's all right. I don't know what I say. Nearly. Close. Close. Come on, Ray. Go on, Ray.

This one. I'm regressing so well I'm almost kind and he was mean and he was courte and now he's sweet and so unsure I wonder why I never felt it there before

Wow, least you definitely didn't go out when we were young man Yeah trust me you stayed in front of the TV Well I can say that we absolutely won that round Just just slash it by that one point No we want it fair and square It's not fair. Sorry.

Girls win. They had the lyrics on the screen. We didn't. So I guess you were. We won. I want the lyrics to this one. To Diana Ross, but not the movie. But not any of those.

It's like we rehearsed that. I was brilliant. I mean, I'm feeling like show number two. Maybe be like a two girls show. Can we just do this? Just do a Disney show. It's a Disney guest to lyric show. On a loop.

Oh, my God. Literally, quit the looping. Back row and chill with Noel Clark and Johanna James on Cumbar Radio. We've got Toberle in the studio, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, that's not the right thing. Here we go. We go big here. Go big and go home, basically.

That's my thing. I love it. I knew you before I knew you, basically, because I'd seen your videos whizzing around the internet on Facebook. So you were one of the three. I was one of the three people. Me, your mom. Your husband.

Yeah, it was really great because you do really refreshing. I'm not going to say rant videos because they're not like angry, but they're just like you have a mouth, you have a voice and you're not afraid to use it and you say the stuff that most people think in their head which I think why you resonate with so many girls. Oh my God, I come across as not angry

so I guess I'm a really good actress. I'm furious. I'm so furious. I've actually discovered that if you smile, you can basically say anything and people kind of go, oh, she's cute as long as you smile. Yeah. No, I started like a couple years ago and it was literally at the point

where I just couldn't like you know I was like I can't take this anymore like somebody has to just say oh my god being a mom sucks sometimes you know so yeah I'm a mom by the way you're a mom of three three girls yeah I've been a mom now for seven years yeah and I love my kids you have to say that okay we have to start

we have to this exactly I love my kids I love them love them love them but they are pains in the ass so yeah so that's kind of how it started I basically wrote an article saying I love my kids, but sometimes I wish they would fuck off. Okay.

And I literally didn't mean anything to happen with it. Oh, he started on a blog. Yeah, it started on a blog. And then I suddenly got like, you know, loads of people just sending in messages saying, oh my God, thank you for saying that. Because I literally feel that way. And it kind of like went from there.

So I started doing videos and yeah. Now's your full-time job. And now it's my full-time job. Yeah, basically complaining about my kids. That's great. I've expanded since then. By the way, I complain about my husband. the dogs,

everything. Everything. Everything. A professional complainer. With a smile. With a smile. Which means that it's not a negative thing. Exactly.

It's great. It's like constructive criticism on the universe. Exactly. But it's good. And I remember as well, so a couple of other friends that I know, they'd seen your videos and they were like, oh,

you know that Tova Lady. I love her. Oh my gosh. So I think that, yeah, you're getting like a really positive response. And guys as well, not just women's funny. You guys,

there are dads out there. Yeah. There are dads that follow the page. At the beginning, it was a bit weird. I was like, But actually, since then, I have started talking about other things. A lot of them do include vaginas and, you know, women's stuff. But I don't know.

The guys are there, I guess, because they're interested. A lot of stuff, parenting stuff, obviously appeals to the dads as well. And, you know, there's a lot of young people as well now recently. Young followers, not just parents, because I talk a lot about body shaming and, you know. Yes. And one thing that you do really well on your Instagram, and I love this is that you imitate or take the piss out of parody a lot of, like, like the celebs kind of phot, no, Photoshop's, glamorous images,

and then you do like a real version of it, which is just amazing. Yeah, and I think like we all do that. Like I put filters on my stuff as well. Obviously, we all do. Like, yeah, I try, I try and try and keep it real. So I will use, I'll put my hand up, I'll use filters. Yeah.

And then I'll, every so often I will try and do like, no makeup vlogging on my Instagram and stuff and try and be like, yeah, no filter, no makeup. And yeah. Yeah. So we, I do the same. Like I obviously use filters sometimes, but I started doing all these parody videos, especially, not so much celebrities, but the sport ones.

So like this is everybody's into fitness today. And by the way, it's funny because sometimes people say to me, what? You want to like be, you know, you want to be fat. You don't want to like work out. And it's not about that. I love working out. But I only do stuff that I really enjoy. So like, anyway, we do these sport videos, these people that are into like extreme sport.

And they're amazing, by the way. Like they're really, really fit. And me, my husband just kind of like doing it in the garden. And neither of us are extremely fit. Not professional, not professional. Yes, don't try this at home, you know what I mean. What did your husband think when you were first like, did you discuss it with him or did it kind of happen and he got on board with it later? Does he understand?

First of all, my husband is so British. Like, you've met him, right? Yeah. So you know, right? He's in his 50s, right? And he is so British. But he just goes along with anything. I have no idea why he does it.

Like till this day, I just don't understand. And sometimes I'll ask him to do stuff and he'll go, okay, and I'll go, but you're really, I don't know, like you're, aren't you like, you're like a adult? You're an adult. And he's like, yeah, but I understand that it's comedy. He's great. He just goes along with it. So he's been great. When I started, I don't think he knew that any of this was going to happen and that it would become like a job and stuff.

He's up for it. So that's good. And one thing, I have a couple of conversations with people when I talk about like, oh, I work on the internet. internet and I kind of put to a degree a lot of my life private and non-private on there and people are like oh but like how do you feel about putting kids on the internet and stuff and so did you make a conscious decision to be like yeah because your kids feature a lot in your stories because they're so funny and they're part of the comedy it's weird you know at the beginning it bothered me more because it was such a new thing and I didn't know where it was going to go till this day I don't really use their real names anywhere so like their names are I've never been revealed like not their real names I didn't notice that yeah And they don't, you know, they feature in videos, but not as often as they could have, you know. And actually, my eldest is into it now. Like, she likes doing it. So, like, you know, I'll let her do it.

She's the seven-year-old. My twins are completely not interested. So, you know, we don't force them or anything like that. But, yeah. You must perform. Yeah. But then when you think about it, everybody has, like, when you look at other people's Instagrams, whatever, a lot of people have their kids.

I don't know. I feel like we can't. You have to protect them, but then you can't also, like, put them in a bubble. Like, do you know what I mean? Yeah. It has to, there has to be, you know, some sort of balance. Yeah, I think, yeah, you can, you can, you can, I don't personally, like, if you put your kids off the internet. Yeah, tell me.

Yeah, I think where I see, and everyone has to go of what they, what they feel. I mean, it might be different. I might have a kid and be like, nobody looks at the hammer. She's precious. But I feel like, yes, there are some dark people and weirdos on the internet, but that kind of comes with. And it is always through that filter, like, they're not physically going to be. It's funny because you don't even think about what they understand. So obviously I explain to my kids that this is my job.

And it's important for me to tell them that this is work rather than because, you know, we're all addicted to our phones and social media, la, la, la, la. And they often see me with my phone. And it bugs me, you know, as an addict to social media. You know? But then again, I sort of make a point to sometimes say, I'm actually doing some work, whatever. They did alive with me once. My eldest did alive with me.

and I had to explain before that the people that I'm talking to right now are strangers. I don't know them. You don't know them. We don't know them, you know. So then a couple of weeks later, I had a Skype call with somebody that I actually know, but they live overseas. And she kind of went, but mommy, it's a stranger. You can't say my name.

Strangers in the computer. And now I have to explain the difference between a Skype call and a Facebook live. Yeah. Yes. Because you've been doing this now for like a couple of years now. Where do you like want to go with this if you're driving this? Like would you like to have a talk show? Would you like a, because you're an actress.

Would you like a sketch show? Yeah. In the world is dreams. I mean, to be honest, all of this is like makes me laugh. Because I did not see this coming. I did not plan this. I know your background's acting as well. I was an actress and I left that world thinking that was it after I became a mom.

Yeah. And this just is so random to me right now. But I am writing a book. And again, I was a bit like, oh, why? would I write a book? Who would read it? No, 100%. Think of all the young moms. Yeah. And the new moms. I don't have to be young. But like, there's a lot of

new old moms. But that would be a great thing to read. Yeah. So I, like a real, you know, because you get this pregnancy books. What's to expect when you're expecting? I'd prefer to read one that you write. Oh. Do you know what I mean? You're going to be real. Like, I found out the other day about like the, what's it called? The, like, the perineum tears thing.

like nobody tells you this shit nobody tells you that you have to massage the little piece between your your ass and your vagina otherwise it can tear you really need to massage you need to massage that shit or that's gonna just break on you and like this is not in the movies I mean even in the movies you have the baby

and everyone's like mah they don't do the after birth I know there's these all these things I think being a girl there's like a back street they've improved in movies like before it was you know lying down going push no push and like three pushes the babies and then every Everybody's smiling and she's sort of still somehow looking semi-normal.

No. But they've improved since then. But you're right. The after baby, that's what they don't show you. They don't show that. They're walking around the house, like with the breast pumps, just going, do, do, do, do, the sound effect, because that's what you need, you know? Oh, my God, crying.

Yeah, I wish that there was more realistic picture. Because I hear, like, rumors on, you know, in the schoolyard or wherever. And it's just like you're in a bar with some friends. And someone's like, have you heard about this? this, this that can actually happen? And you're like, why does nobody mention this in the handbook of being a woman? You know, but some people like tell me sometimes, because I do videos and I tell everything. Like, I'll say to me, you know, Tova, I feel like you're really scaring young moms.

Like you're scaring women. They won't want to have babies. Yeah, well. Yeah, you know, there's enough people in the world. There is. Yeah, we're overpopulated. Is that really so bad? You're actually helping the population control, actually.

Exactly. That's great. Back Row and Chill with Noel Clark and Johanna James on Cibar Radio. You're listening to Backrow and Chill, Johanna James, and today with Teage World. Teage, that's me. A huge welcome, thank you to Jim Bradshaw. He's the head of film in the awards team at BAFTA. So thank you very much for coming in.

Actually, you deserve the fanfare. I salute you. I salute you. Yes, Jim, I salute you. This is the godfather of the BAFTA's, really. Like, you know what I mean? He's like the Wiley equivalent, you know, you could be, if the enemy did film...

I've never been called that before. The Wiley of the BAFTAs right now, that's it. I've crowned you. Thank you very much. I accept the crown. There you go. Amazing. So, I was so excited that you were going to be coming in

so that we could sort of pick your brains because for a lot of our listeners, my level of award show knowledge is, well, I kind of see the outside of it. I see the glitz and the red carpet, and I sort of check up on... Which is a big part of it? I check up on who's one.

and stuff, but I don't really know the process of how anything would even get to be viewed or like awarded anything. Who really chooses what wins and how do we ensure that the real winner actually wins? Because I mean, if I was doing the envelopes, yeah, okay, right, I was the independent adjudicator, you know, like the man with the white gloves for the lottery, yeah, I would just put my name in all the envelopes. I'll be best actress, best supporting actress, best female, lifetime achievement, it'd be tea. That's my job to make sure that that doesn't happen. You trust this lady? We trust that, yeah.

Can I get her phone number so I can... Well, so Basta is 6,500 members. Shees. Six and a half thousand people who have made a significant contribution to their area of filmmaking, one of whom is Noel Clark. Yes. Ah, yeah, he's on the dream.

So, you know, people who have made films won Baffers in the past. Yeah. And obviously, going back years and years. So six and a half thousand people who really know what they're talking about in terms of great editors, great directors. Definitely. So a range of different people, that's good, so it's not bad. That's six and a half thousand includes people making, working on every type of film from locations to production design to props to absolutely everything you can think of.

Yeah. On a film set and post-production. An eclectic bunch, yeah. And so they vote in the first round. Getting to the nominations, they all vote. So they all watch as many films as they can vote for the ones that they really loved. Uh-huh. They all vote for best film.

They all vote for the performers. And then in the other category is the editors will vote for the editors, the directors. the directors are worked for the directors, so they're getting that really specialist knowledge. Oh, okay, yeah. That seems fair. So the directors are voting for all the directors. Yeah, and then once they've done that in the second round,

when we get at this point, when we've got our five films in each category, then everybody votes for their winner. So everybody gets to have their say on what they think the best visual effects or the best editing or whatever is. Because obviously, you know, in real world, they're all working together to make films. So they've all got their own opinions on it, so.

Wow, that sounds amazing. So it's a lot of people. It's a lot of people. That's good. That's what's important about it, because it's not. 12 people sitting in a room. That's what I thought.

I pushed like nights at the round table. No, yeah. The last supper kind of thing and everyone just decides. Yeah, that would be so easy. If it's 12 people in a room, that's so easy for like, somebody to sway it or you've got to make sure that those 12 people are biased and representative and it's impossible. Yeah, we get a bit of Vladimir Putin, wouldn't you?

Yeah, exactly. That's another part of my job, making sure none of that sort of stuff goes on. Checking. Digital security is my biggest headache at the moment. I'm making sure everything's unhackable and un-hackable. and I'm okay and I shouldn't talk about that too much on that.

No, no, no, that's good. No, that's good. So we know it's secure. Yeah. That's put my mind at ease because I'm like, no, what if like, you know six and 12 people,

then obviously you're going to get nominated. Actually, I was thinking I've only got to chat to make 12 friends, but now I know I've got to make 6,000 friends. Six and a half thousand friends. Yeah, it's not going to happen now. It's hard to bribe six and a half thousand people. You've got to have a lot of Rolexes to get away.

And is it my understanding that the board of people or on BAFTA, you get to come together like a committee and think up sort of new guidelines and rules and things. So that's another big part of my job. So when people say, you know, what do you do the rest of the year? As soon as the ceremony is finished, film and the process of making film is always changing, especially with technology. Yeah. So we're, every year, things will come up and we're looking at what went well the year before, where we need to make tweak categories, where we may need to be looking at. Yeah. You know, are there new things happening? Yeah. Over the last few years,

we really changed the move from special effects, which is like explosions and things happening in real life to visual effects, which are all digital and computers. Yeah. That's happened over the last sort of 15 years. But, you know, there's always things changing like that. But also, like, processes in the voting and kind of, you know, tweaking, are we doing things in the best way to get to the best results?

That process happens immediately. So the day after the film awards, we go straight into that. And there's a committee of people, which, again, one of whom is Nell Clark, who do that process. So that's a committee of people from the membership. And again, it's directors. editors, writers, so that's a representative group as well

and they kind of make the decisions on what those rule changes should be and that's the bit I enjoy most about the job so when we get to the point where you have to apply the rules and we have to have discussions about what's a documentary what's a British film and kind of work out these definitions that are right and they're always changing.

One really exciting thing that Noel actually he told me last week was about the change of rule to make diversity one of the key things. You've got a good ethic and drive towards that. Yeah, we're something. we've been trying to do for a long time. So we do a lot of stuff alongside the awards. All of our awards have special categories that offer new talent.

And that's something that we've always done. And then we have a lot of work the rest of the year that goes on that people don't get to see where we work with upcoming talent to give them opportunities to match them with members and mentoring schemes and learning schemes and all that kind of stuff. So that's something that's very much at the heart of what Bafter does. And one of the things that we've done this year, which will come into effect for the next couple of years, is where BFI have diversity. standards which is saying are the crew of this film diverse does it talk about underrepresented

stories like what's happening on screen what's happening off screen what education opportunities were available on this film and what we've done is we're going to say that from 2019 any film in our British categories yes feature categories will have to have met those standards they will either have to be telling a story from an underrepresented group you know on screen on screen diversity is one part of it or they're making sure that their career as diverse as possible. And it's a really good system that the BFI are put together because it means that there are some types of films,

some types of stories that you can't really... You can't put minorities in every... Because I was thinking that as like, there might be a story about, I don't know, 18th century Sweden. Exactly. Which necessarily you couldn't really fill... Say you want to make a Jane Austen adaptation. You can't chew horn minorities into that because, you know,

it's hard to do it. And that's doable, but it's harder. But then you... The opportunity to fill the crew and get through with a diverse crew. Yeah, like you said, it's a film is not just people on the front of the screen. A film is everybody behind it as well. What's interesting is that diversifying in front of the camera is the easy bit.

Easy. Because actually it's really easy to give opportunities to other writers and other actors and get different stories told. Actually, that is the easy thing. If there's a will to do it, that's the easy bit. Actually getting people to the level where they can be heads of department

off camera in terms of cinematographers and editors and that's the bit that's hard and that's the bit that the industry is kind of going, that's what really needs to change because that's what's really going to affect meaningful diversity. Say if you are like it, a DOP or whatever and you want to be in contact with this initiative.

Like, is there a way they can make themselves heard or do BAFTA seek out these people? It's a bit of both. So if you're already working in the industry and you're a DAPE or trying to be a DAPE, we have something called BAFTA crew, which is for people working in those below the line things for the ones that, you know. And that's a sort of structured program that anybody can apply to be on. Is it? You have to have one, I think it's one or two credits on something.

And it doesn't have to be a film. can be like a music video or documentary or whatever it's good that also allows people to see that not everyone has to be in front of the camera there's so much that happens behind it and it's good that it's showing that and something like that and this program will teach that and show that there are other ways to get into film without having to be yeah totally i was reading the day that was saying like no matter what you want to do no matter what your skills are what your talents are yes you can do it in film you can yeah you know props costumes lighting music all sorts of things pushing button Catering is catering is what the most of the most important thing.

Trust me. Unit nurses, everything that exists on a film set because their whole little world is themselves. And it makes a difference. I've been on film sets where if the food is amazing, then everybody else is happy. Everyone gets into their job. Everyone goes for it.

If the food's bad, everybody is focusing on the food rather than on the job and everything. Something like that is just... I've got a friend who's a producer and she says that's the first thing she sorts out is the food because everything... If people don't get food...

It rolls down. It's true. I'm, trust me, and you go on set Ang, because me, yeah, like, me without food is not a happy day for nobody. It's not happy, me too. I'm sure the earth will stop spinning, the hearts will stop beating if I'm hungry and I'm set. Hungry! With a capital H! Yeah?

And the things I remember going on and I said, I'm going to say what it was. There was a comedy that I was doing. I went on, I asked for a baking sandwich, and because I wasn't the star on the show at the time, I think they forgot my order. And then she brought me a blueberry muffin. That's not the same. The runner brought me. same you know what I want to let it slide if she put me a sausage not even if she bought me a chocolate chip muffin but blueberry muffin do you know what I mean I'm like

she's trying to make me teacher I didn't know you were a diva I was about to get Jackie Chan yeah roll over Mario Carey yeah teachers here so and you also have what I really like I always look out for the rising star because it's interesting to see who's coming up and yes oh who yeah and I think this is a great list this year let's see let's see so obviously no announced these for us the rising star and this is the one that's voted for by the public. This is where the public do get to have their say on an award. It's interesting because sometimes you get people

that are at different stages in their careers. Whereas this year I think all five are people that have really landed this year, certainly in terms of their film careers. The young guy who is going to be the next Spider-Man, I was so excited that they cast a Spider-Man who was an actual teenager, rather than a 25-year-old playing 19. They cast a teenager and he looks at it.

What they did in Captain America after sort of introducing him as a cavalier in Captain America so that everyone's raised. and excited for him. So Tom Holland, he's a British, and then the range of people there, so I don't know if you guys saw a film called Victoria, which came out in the summer.

So it's this German film that was done in one single take. All in one single take, all the whole film. So it's about this girl going on a night out, and she gets involved with these... So she's a Spanish girl living in Berlin, and she gets involved with these guys. She's just going home from work,

she gets involved with these drunk guys, and the night takes a bad turn, and it's just all taken to the camera, is just following them around Berlin, takes in one take, and the girl, Lya Costa, who plays Victoria, this incredible, performance and would be an incredible performance in a normal film let alone that she's

doing it a one take well they sort of improvised it apparently so they did it obviously they had to do it over a number of nights so they just sort of ran the thing six or seven times I think that is and then the one that he is on the film is I think the sixth night they did it and you watch it on two levels because you're watching it it's a good film it's a really exciting film it's a sort of thriller so you're really excited about it but then on the other hand of it as someone who loves film you're watching it going how the hell did they do that how the hell did they get the camera into the car without

there's bits of getting in and out of cars obviously it ends up there won't give too much way but there's chases and it's like you know and it's all seamless and all because you think cinematographer did a ridiculous job so one camera or two cameras literally one camera one take no cutting and it's not like third man or some of those things where

it seems to be one take and it's fake yeah yeah that's not an exclusive because I'm thinking okay if they run some super track and they've got like a super dolly and a super track like going through that they're running through a car but then you can't run that much track, then they must be like a steady cam,

and then which one do you pick? Exactly, so you watch it on these two levels, because you're watching it going, I'm so into the story, so into this characters, but then go, how did they do that? Someone I was talking to about, just thinking about all the people that must have been running around, like stopping traffic and stopping people coming into...

Oh my gosh. The logistics of it must have just been ridiculous. I think they did it at like 3 o'clock in the morning. Imagine trying to bash the wires for that. Totally. Or even if they did it with like a battery thing, you're gonna change where you're still going. I would love to see that.

They have to do it behind the scenes. Please, please let them. Yeah, exactly. I wanted there to be a documentary that shows the other side of it. I could see this being a new genre, one take. Best one take film.

I love the direction that things are going there. And it's so good to hear that it's forever changing. Like having the things like, draw animation, I guess that wasn't always there and like... I think, oh, is it always... It's been there for a while, but again, that's where people who make short animations

aren't always new talent, but they often are. And certainly these guys, I think. I believe the Basta is in good hands in your... hands too. I'm filled with confidence now. And just on a personal level as well, just wanted to ask what your favourite performances and movies, just not as someone from BAFTA, but just as in yourself. What have you really enjoyed and liked for our audiences to maybe go and see it. I mean, the really nice position this year of

genuinely liking all of the films that nominate, certainly in best films. Some years you're kind of a bit like, some of these aren't so great, but I see why they're nominated, but I don't like them. Whereas this year, I really love them all. I'm not supposed to pick one, but if I had to, I would pick Moonlight. It's just a really great film about sort of coming of age thing. Again, what we were talking about before, about diversity, a kind of story that hasn't really been told. Can I get your opinion on this year, right? I'm advocating for this to happen, yeah?

Okay, because you know, they're remaking a lot of films at the moment, all right? Yeah. I think it's time that they make demolition man. Remake demolition man. And who do you want to see in that? That's what I'm saying? Who would you cast as Wesley Snacks and as, what's his name? A slide.

Oh, man. I can see you know all going at it in this film. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I can't, don't make me to choose who's going to be. I know, I know. I mean, me as Wesley Slats, you know. I thought you'd probably want to be what to do. I like, I don't know how I don't feel about being Sly, but... I don't know, I don't know.

Maybe Tom Hardy or someone younger. Yeah, Tom Hardy or maybe go different routes from like Ryan Gosling or something. Chris Pine, maybe. Ryan Gorson. Because there's no one that can replace Sly, really. Sly is Sly. It's true. It's true.

Well, I'm going to have a think about it, and we're going to make this happen this year. Okay. We shall make it. I look forward to getting you nominated next year. There you go. That's art film nominated. Plus we've got inside man, so what's going to happen? And if we can't do it, Putin will.

Back row and chill with Noel Clark and Johanna James on Fulbar Radio. Hopefully Chris Addison is on the line. Let's have a little look. Chris, are you there? It's true. I'm here. I'm here using the magic of telephones. It's magic, isn't it? I still don't know how they work. I don't know either. Thank you for joining us. Pleasure. Thanks for having me. Right. So I have heard all about your new show today, which I was like, oh, didn't know about that.

It's the Glynbourne Opera Cup, which sounds like it's in her. Harry Potter, which I love, first of all. Yeah. And it's an international singing competition about young opera stars, which I was like, oh, love this move. So Glyborn is, it does sound like something out of Harry Potter. Doesn't it? It's a country house down in Sussex where for 84 years, every summer, there's been opera all summer. In fact, to the point where a few years ago, they built their own massive, amazing opera house in the grounds.

It's brilliant. It's a beautiful place. And they have started competition for singers between 21 and 28. which is just a great way of them getting a sort of leg up into the highly competitive world of opera. 2128, that means I can compete if I want to. TJ, sorry, mate, I think you're just out of that, aren't you? Yeah, I'm just out of that bracket, but...

Don't worry, T.J., there's plenty of other competitions you can enter, I'm sure you're... I'm not worried. I just feel bad for Glandbourne for missing out on such talent. Yeah, absolutely. That is me. Fundamentally their loss. Yeah, I know.

Thank you. I know you... Alright, there you go. Yeah. Chris, you're known for your comedy and you're acting and you're directing. Why the move to the opera? I mean, it's not, well, is it a move? Just me doing a thing that I really like.

So I've been a fan of opera for years. I've come down to Glymbourne every summer for the last 20 years or so. Okay. And I love it. It's just the most incredible art form. It's the best singing you can possibly hear at close range. It's amazing. It's beautiful and moving and all of the things that you want out of going to see somebody performing.

And Chris, have you seen the new Amadeus production at the National? Do you know what? I still haven't. Because I couldn't get tickets. Have you seen it? it? Is it amazing? Yeah, it is. It's a really clever. It's almost a modernized version. It's half modern,

half true to the sort of original 18th century. So they have mobile phones but they're in costume. Mozart wears dot martins and it's just really it's so good. Because I think it shows like Amadeus and maybe like Phantom of the Opera. Growing up, they were my only real experience of opera. Yeah.

So this is kind of cool. Sky Arts is making a move for young people. Make an opera cool. Yeah, because the thing about it is, right, obviously it's one of those things that you hear that word and instantly in your head you sort of see people in tiaras and dicky bows and all that eating caviar off poor people and none of it is actually like that i was telling this story the other day about like the best thing i ever saw in a comedy club like 20 years ago when i started out was a really but you know back before the smoking ban and all that

proper smoky stale beer and sweat kind of comedy club and there's a Friday night with a properly drunk crowd and the emcee you know just doing that kind of what do you do to the audience and this girl said, I'm an opera student, and he went, shut up. Go on then, go on then, sing as a song. And she stood up, and she sang this song, which I know where that's from now, but I didn't then. All I knew was I'd heard it on adverts and in films and stuff. And she sang this song, a song called Omio Babino Caro by Puccini.

It's so beautiful. And no one was expecting her to do it, but she stood up and she started to think, and people immediately went silent. Like a proper drunk Friday night crowd went totally silent. And when she finished, they went lunatic, like proper kind of X-Factor win. crazy because you're hearing a human doing a superhuman thing because they're using the voice which is like the most basic instrument you could use in the most ninja of possible way there's something incredibly moving about it just sort of strikes you right and it makes your bones shake it's sort of

just there in you to sort of hear that and be moved by it and that entire crowd who are very you know a very tough bunch of mancunians were just on the ceiling by the end of it yeah i think it's for anybody you see. I think once you get rid of all of the sort of trappings of the cliches of it, if you just listen to what people are doing, it's gorgeous, man. Yes. Can I ask you, what are your thoughts about contemporary opera to classical opera? Yeah. And are you against opera not being sung in Italian? Well, I think you should do what you want to do with it. The material is there, now do what you want with it. Kind of like that Amadeus production that you're talking about. Amadeus was only written in the 70s,

but it definitely wasn't written with Doc Martins, and obviously there weren't mobile phones, but that's a legitimate adaptation, right? I think you should be able to do anything. So I think opera should be allowed to be sung in whatever language you want. It definitely helped if the composer wrote it in a certain language. That's the music that they've got in their ears. Yeah, because the translation could be a bit joking. Yeah, exactly.

So that's the thing, but it doesn't stop you from doing it in English. And I think the idea of modern opera is that's vital. There are companies around the world who are really doing their best to commission new works and get quite modern stuff going. There's an opera house in Philadelphia, if you Google, and the stuff they do is absolutely amazing. But there's stuff happening in our country as well. There's a great woman, fabulous young opera director called Daisy Evans,

and she has this thing called Silent Opera. And you turn up to this tunnel in Bermansy, and it's like there's only a handful of you, and they've pre-recorded the orchestra, and you listen to their headphones. The singing is live, but it's sort of miced and mixed live into your ears, into your earphones. And they're walking among you during the production,

and you're sort of, it's like an experience and stuff. All of that stuff's really fantastic because it's keeping the whole thing live and new and it's renewing it and all the things that any kind of art needs to survive, you know. Back row and chill with Mel Clark and Johanna James on Cumbar Radio. I'm going to play a little bit now

of my interview with Nina DeBrev from the Triple X movie. How did you get involved with Triple X? Well, I had to audition and fight for it. They didn't really see me as the, techie geeky girl being the workforce now I'm not in high school or college on screen I'm finally grown up I'm finally grown up so it was a welcome challenge I had a lot of fun playing this role because this role brings a lot of comedy to the film it's like you're a good comedic relief it's a geeky girl she's hot but she's geeky but she's funny is comedy something

more because it is a step to the side for you this kind of thing yeah comedy something more you want to go down definitely yeah I've done a few things as of late in that genre and And it might be my favorite so far. I mean, getting paid to work and laugh all day and try any things and be goofy. Like, I really couldn't believe that this was happening. The whole time, I was just running around, falling over, geeking out on people and talking too much and being cluts. So it was so fun. Back row and chill with Mel Clark and Johanna James on Fulbar Radio.