Good Hang with Amy Poehler - Idris Elba

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Idris Elba knows that life begins at 50 in Ibiza. Amy hangs with the actor and talks about his work as Stringer Bell on 'The Wire,' regional English accents, and DJing until 4 a.m. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: John Cena and Idris ElbaExecutive Producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson, Belle Roman, Francis X Bernal Jr., Caroline Jannace, and Aleya Zenieris; audio producer Kaya McMullen; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal Music: Amy Miles This episode is brought to you by Degree Deodorant. Grab the original Cool Rush at Walmart or Target today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. I'm very excited about our guest today. It is Idris Elba. Idris is in studio. And we're going to talk about a lot of great stuff. We're going to talk about growing up in the 80s. We're going to talk about Stringer Bell, of course. We're going to talk about cringe comedy. He's going to try to convince me to go to Abitha. So there's going to be a lot of fun to be had. And we always start our podcasts the same way. We ask somebody who knows our guest to zoom in and give us a question so they can kind of help me get to know them. And we have a real big star zooming in today. It is John Sina. John? Look at your suit. You look so nice. Can you hear me?

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It was a really good hang. Oh, you got this beautiful background. You got to spend so much money on this production. I want to be able to see it. It was just a dot in the corner of them. I want you to be able to see my fake plants and my fake food. They're great. John, it's so good to see you.

What's in the fake mug? This mug? Yeah. You know what's in this real mug is real berries tea, a wonderful Irish tea, my favorite tea to drink. Awesome. Excellent. Not even a sponsor. What do you have?

Drinking my own urine. John's drinking a yellowy liquid. What do you got in there? What are you drinking? No, it's my own urine. I'm going through Howard Hughes, Fitton. Okay. How are you?

How's it going? It's great to see you. We haven't seen each other in person since we did a movie together. Well, we... No, we bumped into each other. We did. That's right. Yeah, yeah.

Some conversations among friends about wine and good stories and sunsets and all that, which I'm very grateful for. I loved working with you. I would love to do it again. You're constantly working in doing such great stuff. And I think of our time together very, very fondly. That was a really good time on the movie Sisters.

That was a great time. Where you were busy, and I was kind of just playing Pizzou in the background. So I had a lot of time to hang out, and it was really, really fun. And that was actually the first time I'd been in a location, because, of course, Sisters was a massive ensemble piece. so like you're in you're doing work and i'm like in a lot of the shots just fully tatted up

but a lot of my days weren't a lot of heavy lifting so you kind of gave me my first vacation like 15 years i really i'm grateful for that i know because no one works harder than you you are you work hard well you're about to talk to somebody who i think wins that argument really he he beats you in the hard work category drus is a robot period end stop like every if you think you're working hard You know, there's always somebody at the next level. Idris is crazy. Like, he goes. He goes, yeah.

That's amazing to hear from you because I know how you approach your work. It's very professional, very serious. You love it. You have fun and everybody feels fun when they work with you. But you work really hard. So you're telling me that Idris is even more of a machine. Yeah, he just, like, I need to shut down. Like, when it's time to go, all right, cool.

and I'm like a nine to five person. Idris will work a full day and then fly to Vegas to DJ for the whole night and then fly back to work the next morning and then go to the studio and make new music. Like he just, I'm like I need to be put in my lane and be like, okay, this is the day's work. Go out and get it. He's everywhere all at once. I don't know how he does what he does. That's one of my questions is literally how do you stay awake?

Honestly, he does live an AM and PM like an AM, like an AM, AM, AM, AM, life. You know, like, he's doing his last set at 4 a.m. And then he's on, on set and insane when the camera turns on. Like, he's, he's, and he's a great human being. I, I can't say enough good things about it. Your movie Heads of State is coming out on Amazon. And, thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. You're so welcome. I hope everybody watches and enjoys it. It looks so great. And you play a fictional president of the United States. And he plays the prime minister of, the UK.

Yes. Never know if I should say England, the UK, or Britain. So that's why I hesitated. We got all three. So you're covered. Great. Covered.

And I have to say, it looks like such a satisfying timely and fun and juicy film because I would like you to be president. Will you be president? And when putting you on the spot? They don't let folks who wear

coats like this. That's true. That's true. You did ruin your. You left myself out of the position. Yes, indeed. You're wearing a very striped coat and they're not going to let you in. But yeah, that was your first time working together? We worked together on a movie called The Suicide Squad. Of course. Where we played superheroes that were like a buddy comedy almost. But he's got, he's the head down guy. I'm the aloof ignorant guy. And Peter Safran, the producer of that movie was like, this is good. We need to do this again. And the thing about heads of state that's very fun. And you said, you know, you play a fictional president. He plays a fictional prime minister. you being a writer would know that the sooner you can define those characters and stand for, the more fun you can have.

So basically what we have in Heads of State is a buddy comedy. It looks so fun. And also, I mean, can Idris, I'm going to ask him about accents, but can he do a Boston accent? Because you're a Boston boy. Yeah, but my Boston accent sucks. It does? I need to have like, yeah.

What, you lost it, John? What, you think you better than us? What? Yes, I do. I do think I, it's gone away. It's been, I don't know. You haven't watched the Karen Reed trial and gotten and brushed up on that. My family was, my phone would not stop with that.

You have no idea. It's taken the state by storm. Maybe I knew if I stopped drinking my own urine and start drinking some, some Sam Adams. It doesn't come back to you? Boston doesn't come back. percent comes back. Every time I go to West Newbery to see my family, my wife is literally like, what happened to you? You talk different. And it says you go back and you just get into the vortex. There's just some friends who you can't say their name without having the accent.

You cannot. Yeah. I try. You cannot. Okay. So what question do you want me to ask Idris today? Is there anything you want to know about Idris that you didn't get a chance to ask him or something you think I should ask him? So that's a great question. Idris is somebody I respect and admire. And a lot of the driving force there is because he's still so motivated. Somebody who's been an on-screen performer and a great one for decades and literally have so many achievements. It would be the same question if you gave me a question to ask you, like, what keeps you going? And in the stories that Idris has shared with me, he comes from very humble beginnings.

This is a former automotive assembly line worker who, you know, he was just talking the other day about how I moved to New York and work the door at a club. And then we go after hours with all the club folks to a special place that you just lock the door and leave at 7 in the morning. Everybody in life has such an interesting story. And Idris is no different. But to be where he's at and to still go like he does, I just want to know, I don't want to know the secret

because everybody's story's different. But I really want to know what keeps him so driven. You know what I love about you, John? And by the way, I hope someday you, come do this. You say this houndstooth jacket, I agree. It's this houndstooth jacket that you're wearing and the urine that you're drinking. No. No, what I love about you is you love people. You are a curious person about people. You care and see, like, in my experience with you, you're very interested in how all different types of people approach life. Everybody truly does have a story and you can learn from

everybody, you know? Thank you so much for doing this. It really means a lot that you gave the time and I can't wait to see your movie and see you in person. Let's like have a decant some wine somewhere. This is the soft open to an actual good hang. All right. Thanks so much, John. So good to see you. Amy, thanks so much. Thanks, buddy. Talk to you soon. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Degree Cool Rush Deodorant. I'm a big fan of people owning their mistakes like how last year degree changed their cool rush formula and men were mad one guy even started a petition so degree listened admitted they messed up and they're now bringing the o g cool rush scent back it's clean crisp and fresh no wonder it's been the number one men's

antiperspit for the last decade and it's in walmart target and other stores now for under four dollars just look for the light blue one degree cool rush is back and it smells like victory for everyone. Oh my God. Wait. What? Wait. Oh.

We're twinning. Wow. We cue to slow motion music. You know, there is a part of me that always tries to think about what the guest would wear. And I do try a little bit unconsciously to just dress for my guest. Oh, no way. You're joking. You did it.

Look at us. I mean, I can take this off and do the t-shirt. No. I feel like we have to stay. We have to stay in this now. I'm so thrilled to talk to you today. Wow. Thank you.

And I, you know, we are the same age. I think I'm older than you. No, 172, babe. 1971. And we're both Virgo. And when's your birthday? September 16th. I'm September 6.

And I saw that. And I want to ask and start asking you a question, which is what does it feel like to be a Virgo? What does it feel like? Do you identify as a Virgo? Do you see qualities in Virgo that you feel worse? Okay, so if I'm really honest, I have this weird statistic thing, right? Let's just get this straight. That's what I understand.

Okay, there's like how many billion people on the earth, right? Yeah. Are we suggesting that everyone? This is very Virgo of you. I know. But everyone that was born in that particular time period, around that time, has similar traits. I mean, this is the logic that I find myself wrestling with. I understand.

You're a challenger. You're a Virgo. It makes sense. Or is it that everyone you've met that says, hey, are you a Virgo? I'm a Virgo. Do you do? I do.

And then that becomes the myth. Would this make you feel better? Beyonce is a Virgo. Do you want to be in the club now? Yep. Okay. That's what I thought. No, I knew she was a Virgo actually.

Yeah. Well, Virgo see each other. They recognize each other. Yeah, it is. Okay. We don't have to get into it. No, we can. But you are in your 50s.

I want to ask you, what is it like being in your 50s? What do you think of this decade? Um, really interesting, right? Because, you know, we were born, uh, when we were 10, 11, the 80s happened. Our consciousness was born at the same time under the coolest decades, generationally ever. Yeah. And we were born into that, some of the coolest things, art, music, culture, some of the craziest world politics that set the dynamics where we are right now. All happened when we were sort of like, our emotions were blossoming and our adolescents were growing. I mean, we're a very unique generation.

Okay, I agree. I love being Gen X. I feel proud of it. Do you feel like exactly what you said. I feel like we straddled these two different worlds. Yes. Our young world was like our parents and now we're in future robot times. That's true.

Which, you know, partly we invented because it's like robots, toys, 2001. What was that going to be like? We're in it. We got to see it. We got it. I know. We watched movies about flying cars, and it's going to happen. It's happening.

Robots that talk and aliens. Do you believe in aliens? Yeah, of course. Oh, but not astrology. Well, astrology is based on some weird alien science that has left us left behind. Aliens left behind. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, do you know that these...

Anyway, I was going to say that the other part about being 50 is that I don't love that they say, at this age, the age of being wellness and consciousness is so upon us, yet our bodies fail us. I know, that's the biggest bummer. I mean, the fact that you can get hurt, just getting out of bed, that is the part that just feels like, well, I mean, what you have to do, you have to use your body still a lot, you use it a lot in this movie that we're talking about, heads of state, how do you, do you have to do, like, what do you do to stay flexible? That's what we have to do is stay flexible.

Do you do yoga? Do you do, what do you do for your stretching? Because I'm trying to get more stretching. Really? I'm quite, I'm not very flexible. Like, do you have tight hamstrings? Yeah, tight hip flexors. Yeah, so mine are my hamstrings, which is embarrassing because I'm so short.

It's like to not be able to touch your toes. You ever say my, same outfit? Same age. Yeah. So do you do pigeon, pigeon pose? Do you know the pigeon poses? No, what does that look like? It's the yoga pose where you get your, like, where you get, you stretch your hips, basically.

Do you know that pose? So you're sitting on your bum and you got your legs like that? And you like put your knee up and you kind of lean over your knee. I don't do that. Okay, good. I do, well, it's the squat. Just squatting. Yeah, you know like the, like before we were homo sapien squat, you know.

You do, you can squat. Yeah. That's impressive. It is, actually. Your knees can handle that? No. Getting down is easy. That's the thing.

Getting up. You got a guy who helps you get up because you can't get. Once you get down, you're stuck. No, my pride is too. There's no guy helping me get up. I am like, I'm okay. And everyone's like, we're ready to shoot. We're just waiting for Idris to get out of his squat.

He's get out of his squat. Good thing about squatting, though, not to be graphic. It's good for the... Pooping. I was going to say number two. But we can go and pooping. It's really good. A lot of people know that.

But, I mean, I feel like my 50s, to your point, age-wise, like, or like emotionally, mentally, mentally, spiritually, I feel great. Feel good, yeah. Right? I feel finally like I'm figuring myself out in a way that's very real. Yeah. I have a lot, enough wisdom and enough ahead of me, and you're kind of the oldest, youngest, youngest, oldest person. That's right.

That's so true. and, you know, your influences change, you know what I'm saying? I think in my 30s and 40s, like, I was sort of like blown with the wind a little bit with what was influencing me, what my goals were. And in the 50s, I'm like, no, that wind have to pass around me. I'm not getting as easily influenced. Yes, you just exactly right. You're like a steadier tree.

But it does hurt to get out of a car after a long car. You know what, though? I wellness Yeah So I found People who were like Really that doesn't work It's like astrology

But grounding mats I love a grounding mat I have a biomat Do you have a biomat No grounding Oh is that the same thing Is it what's a biomet Well it's like a heated mat

Oh no This is not heated This is just grounded So Talk to me about this So basically you know The Earth's frequency Electromagnetic frequency

Is a thing And it vibrates at a certain thing You know When you have a radio And it hasn't been grounded into the earth, it will have static the moment you ground it, it stops that static and our body's work in a similar way. And the inflammation just suggests that inflammation and blood circulation works better

when you sleep on the grounding mat or if you're under a desk, you bear foot, and by the way, you can do the same thing if you just stand in your garden in the grass for 20 minutes. Well, have you heard the young people say touch grass? It's like a term basically, which is like get off your phones, get off the internet and go outside and touch grass. I didn't think it meant that grass. No, it's a real grass. That's the Gen X in you. There's a touch, grass.

Yeah, you go touch it pot. Touch pot. That's what they're saying. Go touch pot. Okay, that whole touch grass thing, I was like, dude, this is a little much. My algorithm is all messed up. I didn't realize. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

is the idea of just like actually getting your feet on the ground. But it works. And it works for our age because inflammation is a real thing. That stiffness you're feeling. Do you cold plunge? You've got to get into that. Really? I do it all the time.

How often? I try to do 11 minutes a week. What? Not all at once. Why do you do that? It's really helped with inflammation. It is a huge, it is, I don't, it's really helped with anxiety. Any anxiety.

depression and inflammation because you're like flooded with a serotonin you know you are like it's like natural yes i'm not going to run i can't run i'm not going to run i've got to get some kind of feeling that i've like had this you know like big bursts and the cold plunge does it for me and like i don't like to do it it's not like i don't like to do it all right then you know it works with you talk about shrinkage is like wait what oh no this is not only a very uncomfortable but Really killing my dingo. What? Just doing it on your own time.

Just doing it on your own time. Yeah, I'm not doing it like naked at the gym. No. I'm telling you, it will change your life. I'm telling you. You know what? You're going to look back at this interview and you're going to be like, remember when I was in my 50s and Amy told me to call a punch?

And I said, what? And now it's going to change your life. Okay. You know what? I'll listen to you because I think we have a lot in common and there's some observations that you're making that is really making me think. Also, I imagine something about you, and tell me if I'm wrong, that you kind of like a forced austerity. Like you don't, you're not afraid of difficult things. Right.

Yes. No, I am not afraid of difficult things or challenges that make me uncomfortable. Yeah. And to choose your own discomfort is like a privilege at our age. Like, I'm going to be uncomfortable, but I'm going to be in charge of it. Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. I agree.

I actually, what I also enjoy about my 50s, I'm 52, 53 this year, is that I really want to learn more. Yeah. I want to learn. And it's about, oh, that's new, but how is it connected to what I already know? Yeah. You know what I mean? And that cusp is really interesting to me. You know, like we talk about AI and all that stuff.

I refer to it as like, wow, that's the future that we talked about as kids that was just in our imaginations. And here it is. Well, I want to stay in the present and I want to talk about the future. but if you will indulge me a little bit of past because, and I promise I'll make it fast, but I'm such a huge fan of The Wire. And I know you talk about it all the time. It is many years ago, 20 plus years ago. You've talked about it over and over again, and I won't make you talk about it too much.

But it's a series that changed my life. I watched it three times, the series three times. I could talk to you about it forever. And also, I feel like not to keep making comparisons, we are dressed the same. But I was on a show that meant something to a lot of people still. And like, you know, almost 20 years later, they come up and they keep engaging in it. So you must get that too. You must all the time have people say to you what I'm saying to you.

What is that like? I mean, the truth is that I actually don't speak about the wire as. Much as people might think, even though I am definitely, at least once a day, someone says, bro, string a bell, the wire, whatever it is. Yeah. And, you know, it really does, it surprises me how much impact that show had in a good way. It surprises me continuously. That, you know, multi-generational, it's still being talked to as people that weren't even born then. Yeah.

Watching the wire and be like, yo. I saw that. That's incredible. I feel proud. I feel a sense of pride. I feel a little bit, though, if I'm really honest, like I didn't watch The Wire. I've heard this. You didn't watch it. I didn't watch it.

And I feel bad. It's not that I'm not a fan of it. I was there. I made a show that was, you know, it was so intense and so real. So important. And even though we didn't realize, I didn't realize, the importance of the show while making it. Yeah, rarely do we. Right.

Yeah. But I didn't participate in its celebration as a viewer, as a fan. And so I feel a little bit like outside the club. Could you start celebrating it now? No, man. Why? I mean. You can't watch it now?

No. But I bet Idris, I bet you have, I bet you have a feeling about it that might, you might be kinder to yourself and it watching it now. It's not that. Okay, so why can't you watch it? It's more that, again, like, I felt the presence of it all my, you know, life since the wire, right? Yeah. In terms of its impact, in terms of what. And I also was there making it.

So to me, it was almost a bit like I was Stringer Bell. I'm not Stringer Bell, but I also feel like when Stringer Bell, no spoilers. Well, look, at this point, okay, let's get ready. If you're listening, Spoiler, Stringer Bell dies. Dyes. Yikes. There are people still watching it. Well, they got to catch up.

It's been. But when Shringabelle died, there was a part of me. And that died with that character. And it's weird for me to go back and watch it. I don't like being overly conscious of what my performance is like or whatever because it makes me conscious about doing it. I like being in it rather than watching it. I hear you.

That makes me sad that you can't enjoy how good you are in. the wire. You're so good. Idris! Okay, I know, okay, I'm going to turn into like... From my twin, I'm taking this. Thank you. Okay, because, okay, just a few questions, which is, Stringer

Bells, can you just tell me for the super fans that are listening? And again, if you haven't watched The Wire, skip through this part, and how dare you? But that final scene when you were, when you were killed by Omar and brethren was his own and you just have this moment where you have it's a beautiful acting moment where you have to

decide we have to realize that avon has given you up like it's just your brother i mean so shakespearean this this entire show but that relationship in specifically and you have the tiniest moment that flashes across your face where you you know you're resigned to the fact that not only are going to die but you're going to die you know by the hands of someone who you really love And the acting with you and Wood Harris in that scene previously when you're on the rooftop and your is such good acting. And I just want to, I have no question here. No, but I guess the last line.

What was on the crafty table is what you wanted to know, yeah. But I think about Stringer's last line because it's such a testament to David Simon and the writers of that show. The writing was so incredible. When Stringer says, like, I guess there's nothing I can say to change your mind, get on with it then, you know, paraphrasing. But it's his entire arc as a character. He's spent the entire show trying to convince people to, like that there's another way of doing things.

It's, can you just tell me about that scene and shooting it with rest in peace, Michael K. Yeah, man, I mean, it was in a really interesting time. Yes, testament to the writing, David Simon, and the poetry of what we're saying about beheading the man, the character that is offering a slightly different perspective on this chaotic town, chaotic situation for, you know, the residents, the people of Baltimore, but also the towns across America in this,

sort of, I would say, what's the word, you know, not culture, but that lifestyle, that this is a perpetual thing that keeps going. And then along comes a spider where he's like, hey, let's try something different. Let's turn this into this and crawl out of this hole, but we kill that character. That's why the wire is so good because the system is the machine. Yeah. People keep trying to get up out of the machine. and the system keeps pushing them down.

But the system is also using puppets to do it to each other. Right. So the system isn't really prevalent. It's the strings, no pun, are holding Brother I'muzon, who, you know, has his reasons. You've got Omar who has his reasons. But the system has made everyone blindfolded. And Stringer was like, no, no, no, no, take them off.

I know. I know. Stringer had a plan. And what do you ever think about or did you guys ever talk about if Stringer stayed on, lived as a character, what he would go on to do? Yeah, we did. I mean, a lot because Stringer is a real person who is still alive. And Stringer went on to become a very successful businessman who, you know, will remain anonymous forever. But successfully built a lot of businesses and, you know, crawled out of the hole.

So in dramatic terms on the wire, you know, it wouldn't have made sense for Stringer to get out, although in reality, Stringer did get out. Wow. Okay, but that's not dramatic enough, you know. I mean, that's not the story. No, and it was like a season three gut punch, and it also, I mean, good shows do that, is they sacrifice. They sacrifice, yeah. And I was for it.

I had, I've told the story, I had reservations about how Stringer was dying. I mean, you know, there was various ways that David Simon wanted to depict that and I was a little bit against some of that but the actual beheading of stringer was an important move, I think, you know, just to illustrate to the world that, hey man, take the blinkers off, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, okay, last question. The character of Bodie that played by JD in your mentorship with him is one of the many incredible relationships on that show. That is a heartbreaker. It's a heartbreaker what happens to Stringer and it's eventually a heartbreaker

what happens to J.D.'s character, Bodie. What was it like working with him like a young actor like that? Amazing, man. Like, you know, he was a fly dude. He was the fly dude. He was the fly young kid on the set. Him and Michael B. Jordan, actually.

And, you know, because he was a little bit younger than us, you know what I mean? He was like fresh and green and he would hang out with his big boys. brothers. And I remember one time he challenged me. He was like, yo man, I could drink you under the table. I'm like, Jay, leave it, man. He's like, now, I'll drink you under the table. And literally, I drunk him under the table. Like, he sat under the table. He was like,

I can't, I can't fuck with you all no more. Like, did you hear my accent? Like, do you know where I'm from? Like, drinking is, you're from London, man. But, um, no, but actually just in real life, we had that real dynamic, you know what I'm saying? Like, again, he was a young He lived in New Jersey as well, so we would travel up sometimes together on a train and whatnot. Okay, so mentoring is important to you. Like, you've done it a lot now. And before we move on to... Heads of State, the movie that comes out on Prime.

Thank you. July 7th, July 7. July 7th, Priyanka. But you, can you talk a little bit about the stuff you're doing with the King's Trust? I love the work that you're doing there. And that was an important thing to you when you were young. Yeah, yeah. I mean, basically I'm paying it forward, you know, like the King's Trust at the time, Prince's Trust, gave me an opportunity via a check and some resources.

What did it do? You how old and they, it was a scholarship? I was around 14, 15 years old. I auditioned to get into the National Theater's youth program, which is called the National Youth Music Theater. And they were doing a production of guys and dolls. And my drama teacher encouraged me to go for it. I went in and I got the audition. But I didn't realize you had to subsidize.

subsidize your board because they flew around the world. We were going to Japan, we went to Greenland. I mean, we taking this production, it was a semi-professional production, but you had to pay for it. My parents couldn't afford it. And my drama teacher said, hey, you know, the prince's trust. I'm like, sorry, are you talking about Prince Charles? But you want me to audition for Prince Charles?

Not for Prince Charles, but he has a trust where he helps young people. And I was like, he's never going to help me. I'm a kid from East London, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I auditioned, I got the gig, and I got the money that he helped me with and the resources to help, you know, get me into this theater thing. And ever since, you know, I mean, without a doubt, that really structured how I thought my sort of myself as an actor. You know, it was a professional theater. I was singing around the one, and this was what I wanted to do, just at that point in my age where I wasn't sure. I liked acting.

What made you think it, like, what was the thing? Were you watching movies and what made you know you wanted to be an actor? There's two things. Really, it was my teacher. Yeah. Miss McPhee. I went to a boys' school, okay? She was a lovely blonde, blue-wide teacher.

She was going on. But she was this really lovely nurturing figure in my life at the time at boys' school where no one really took drama seriously. Sometimes it just takes one team. Teach your man to change your life. Real focus, and she was like, you can go for it. It was mentorship, right? And also there was an actor called Paul Barber who was in a film called The Full Monty. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And he's a black actor in that film. And he came to this school just to sit amongst the boys and say, hey, we think about acting. And we were like, aren't you the guy that takes your clothes off in the Full Monty? But I was just like gassed. I was so moved by his storytelling. And the fact that he came, he was famous. is on TV, came to our school to talk about acting.

So those are the two real, like, if I can remember, junctions where I was like, okay, acting might be a thing, crystallization of that. And ever since, you know, I realized that, you know, I can do exactly the same. It's an intervention moment of just a young person who isn't sure. Yeah. Having a conversation and being like, let's examine what you want to do. I mean, sometimes it kind of scares me. Well, not sometimes.

What is scary is that the slightest change changes the driver. direction of your life, especially around that age. And the positive version of that is what you talk about, right? Which is like, you see someone that you want to emulate and you just realize, like, this is the way my life's going to be. And then in the same way, like, the tiniest bit of nudge the wrong way. And you're off on a track. And then you're like, that's so true. You know, in our generation, right, you know, human empathy, we got a lot of our sort of magic from TV. And those are unilateral moments where we all sat, watch the same shows, whatever they were. And those are our influences, right?

All at the same time, where it's America, Europe, we're all watching the same sort of thing. The Fons, happy days, you know, whatever it was, right? Now, and if an uncle and auntie spoke to you about what you want to do, you know, that conversation meant something because you weren't getting a phone, you weren't staring at a phone which has all these different influences. Now, right, young kids are influenced by so much, they're just overstimulated.

And a lot of it is negative. A lot of it's pitting themselves against things they'll never be able to afford or have. This elevated sense of self where, you know, in our day, I think, I hate to say it in our day. Well, we're really sounding really old right now. If we're going to talk about phones, we're screwed. I mean, my phone is my best friend. Yeah, right. I mean, I don't want to talk about my best friend like that.

I've got an AI voice as my best friend. Yeah, so, you know, we're sucked in too. Yeah, we are. But the truth is, does. So we at least had the benefit of the monoculture. And we had human intervention that actually could have that ripple butterfly effect. But the monoculture different in the UK and the U.S. And I'm constantly surprised by how comedy when we were growing up, we were not watching the same things.

Really? You weren't watching the Fonds? Okay, I was watching Happy Days. But there must have been, there must be American shows that you, comedy shows that you hear about that didn't make it over there. Because I know when we were watching British comedy, it was like contraband. Like it was given to us on VHS tapes. Like Benny Hill? Well, Benny Hill.

Oh, my God. That was what we got. We got Benny Hill nonstop, which is like, I guess. It was Monty Python, Benny Hill. But there were like so many shows like, you know. What about MASH? Okay. I loved MASH.

You watched MASH. Did you watch the Norman Lear shows, like All in the Family? No. See? All in the family. Yeah, which was based off of the British show. Ah. Yeah.

That famous British show? The famous British show called something. I'll get it. But there was like all these like famous like the Jefferson's Good Times. Do you know them? No, later on in life. They weren't, yeah. Did you get Desmond's?

No. Desmond's? I don't even know what Desmond's is. Desmond's is the barbershop show, man. It was a black show. It was comedy. It was like, I don't want to say to Cosby's, but it was a family that ran a barbershop.

It was hilarious. Yeah, so there were versions of each other's comedy at the time that we didn't know about each other, which I think is so interesting because we're so aligned, but there was something specific about UK and U.S. comedy at the time in the 70s and 80s where you, like, found out about people's stuff

and it felt like you were seeing it for the first time. I mean, I can remember, like, learning about, yeah, Steve Coogan, for example, and no one knowing who he was. or like, I remember coming to New York, New York City. Yeah. In the early 90s and speaking with my accent and black folk, black people were saying to me, wait, what?

Why are you speaking like that? Yo, listen to this dude. They didn't know, no idea. They didn't think that there were black British people. Yep. Wow, America continuing to really represent. No, but to your point about monoculture, like our show. you know, our culture did not, you know, ABC was not picking up Desmond's, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, we did not, we had really flat versions of each other. It felt like, like, Americans were like, you know, confident and loud and taking in too much space. And the Brits were reserved and polite and artistic. Secretly better than us. I mean, and I do think that the accent gets you, the accent gets you, people think people with British accents are very smart. This is true, actually, you're right. We somehow give a sense of that the way we speak is, makes us more intelligent. You're right.

I've dined off this for a long time. I would too. I'm not that smart. I was going to say that growing up is realizing that British people are not any smarter than you. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's what I? That's what it is. How did we get this?

That's being an adult. You're right. You're right. It's facing the truth. Yes, because it's so hard, easy to get sucked in. But you have to, I want to talk about your comedy, you're like what you were watching as a young person and getting in a comedy because you've done quite a bit of comedy

and, you know, you're doing more of it now, which I think is so cool. But for a second about accents, you have had to do a lot of accents, a lot of different accents where you're playing Nossi Mandela or you're playing like, you know, an African warlord and you're playing all, and you do them really well. Is there one that you can't do?

American. That is not true. Your American accent is, no one knew you were British. Well, you know, we watched The Wire. No one. Idris. You know what it is? The truth is when I was doing The Wire that I was not British, I was like,

living in Brooklyn, then New Jersey, and in the depths of New Jersey near Newark. And at that junction, you know, I'd live in in America for four or five years. Like, my accent shifted. Yeah. And Alexa Fogel, the casting director of the wife, she was like, by the way, don't come in here with that British accent. Now I see why you don't watch it. Now I get it.

I think you don't watch the wire because you're thinking about your accent. Of course, but also. I'm here to tell you, it's, and I have a thing about Brits and their accents. You do? Yes. Okay. Because they win a lot of awards. And their accents are like, let me tell you something, sir.

Like they're like, you're not American. Everyone knows, and it's like, well, I like how you say HBO. You've said HBO. I've said that, yeah. H, H. H. H. H. HBO. That's good. Thank you.

I haven't done any sort of regional English or English accents like, you know, Wells or, you know, Liverpooly or any of those. I'd love to. Yeah. But, boy, if I get them wrong. Let's try it right now. No. I'll go. You go first. Okay. Liverpoolian, I'm going to think about Paul McCartney.

Just think about the Beatles. Right? That's all you need to do. Okay. Liverpool. Liverpool. Liverpool. Hey, lad, what's going on? No, oh my day. See, you're too hard on yourself. No, because I'm going to get memed. I'm asking you to do it. Anyone listening. No one's going to meme you.

Okay. Do Wells. Can you do Welsh? Can you do Welsh? Tom, Tom Jones. Oh, yeah. Um, I, well, I'm Welsh. Hey, yeah, okay, yeah, hello, boyo, a boyo from Wales, eh, boyo, eh? That is so, they, they speak. I can't go back to Wells now, ever. Okay, so talk about comedy, your relationship to it.

Because I think people probably think you're very serious. and I've learned that you're not so I bet people assume you're mad, you're serious, you're tough I'm an actor yeah and they come up to you and they take you and you probably are like I like to have fun like everybody else. I'm a little goofy, I'm very goofy

you are you're a goofball yeah a little bit but you know I like playing dramatic roles I do I just also when it comes to comedy most of the comedy you have done has been the straight guy that isn't meant to be funny So when I did The Office Yeah, tell us about that

How'd you get that job? I mean, I got that job Because I think John Kaczynski He was a big wire fan He was like, we need that guy, we need that guy Paul Feig Yes, Paul Feig, great director Great director

He, um But it was a part of that casting process for me And you know, it was described As this guy who's a bit like string of bell It's real serious It's a businessman But you know, you don't laugh at anyone You don't suffer for

and I was like, okay, but first of all, the UK office. Incredible. Oh. The biggest fan. Better than the American office? No. What? Different.

Not better, but in many ways, like I've talked about this with Mike Scher who created Parks and Rec and who went on to, who started working on the American office and did Parks and Rec and many other shows. And I remember when he was going to do the American office, I thought this is a terrible idea. Really? Because the British office was so good. It was a complete, specific POV, and we thought, no way.

But then we heard that Steve Carell was hired, and I knew Corell from Chicago. And I was like, he's funny. He's really good. And suddenly it was like, oh, this is just going to be a different version. So I would say, I can't compare the two. But I do have a special place in my heart for the British version because it was the first one I saw. Me too. And the cringe humor.

This is crinch humor. And I think the Brits do cringe human better, not better, but do it well because we're so repressed. Totally. And anything that is like embarrassing, we're like, oh my days. And in America where it's larger personalities. Well, America's embarrassing. Well, you again. America's embarrassing.

There, I said it. No, no. What I mean is, is that Americans are okay with big personalities coming in. That's part of the comedy, you know, fabric. However, I really loved working on the office. Because I did get to be in a comedy, right? And the guys working on the show basically tried to make me laugh all the time. And the joke was that you're not going to get me.

And the more silly they got, the more I stayed straight. And that became the comedy. It was amazing. So you're good at keeping a straight face? No. I'm a proper good. I want to be in the stupid side. I want to be doing stupid shit.

But the gig was that I, I stay. really serious. Even just now, you're not very serious. It was a lot of fun. It was amazing. It was amazing. And then since then, some of the comedy stuff I've done is really playing the straight guy.

Yeah. In heads of stay. Yeah. You get to get to get in there. Yeah. But we're still playing on the trope of repressed British prime minister. Right. Doesn't like this big American personality.

And we're still playing with that. So, but yeah. But, but, but, but, But, like, do you want to do more comedic stuff? Do you like it? Yes, please. Isn't it fun? It is, man.

Because I got to say, like, your job, a lot of the stuff you do, it combines a lot of things I don't want to do. Running. Shooting nights. Like, yes. So many night shoots on the wire. Like, I watched and it was like, oh. Crying. Crying.

Like, jumping. But you've said that you like all this action stuff. You like doing stunts? I do. I do. What do you like about it? it's a choreography, it's a dance I love learning a new fight

and I like, I'm always convinced that I can make it look realer you see someone that's like kicking butt but I want to make it look a little bit more real I love it though I love the, you know the technicalities of it

yeah I like fighting do you well I mean I like to fight that's painly it I mean I think about like I do sometimes have fantasy about doing an action film that requires very little talking

because that's the one thing I like about action films it's like your day is just walking like the born identity like a shooting day is just him walking from one train station to the other like wearing a leather jacket what a dream yeah yeah yeah

so in this movie you're working with John Sina the great John Sina the great John Sina tell me about you and John worked together first in Suicide Squad yeah yeah how do you guys get along what do you think about you?

You know I think everyone had a bit of a crush on John Cena, right? The wrestler, you know, he's like this big personality, cool, big wrestling type. And then, you know, I watched him transition into acting and thought, wow, like, yeah, you know, the wrestlers tend to be great at performance regardless, so they end up transitioning to acting in really cool ways. Yeah. And I felt John was one of those transitions that did really good. Yeah.

I liked him. Then when I got to work with him in Suicide Squad, I mean, first of all, when you ever met John Cena? I did. He was in a movie that me and Tina Fey were in Called Sisters, and we spent like a couple weeks together. He's a Renaissance man. Dude.

He loves wine and art. Classical piano. Yeah, he's a very sweet, like artistic, tender guy. Find him to be very emotional and sweet. I agree. And it turns out that, you know, when I met him, I thought he was going to be just goofy big character. And he's like, hey, Idris, how are you nice to meet you?

I'm a really big fan of your work. And I'm like, ha, ha. What's going on? Are you acting? I'm more goofy than John is. Yeah, you did the thing that happens to you where people were like, Idris is very serious. You were like, John is so funny. And Tom was like, I'm kind of serious.

Yeah, he's very serious. And you were like, I'm a goofball. Yeah. When I first, when I walked into his trailer one time, we're going to just run some lines. And then I was like, oh, there's a grand piano in here. Why is that? He's like, oh, yeah, I'm teaching myself to learn classical piano. Anyway, so about these lines.

I'm looking at him like, what are now? First of all, he has fingers the size of, like, you know, he's like, one of John's fingers, like, you know. So, playing the piano. Yeah. I was like, anyway, I was fascinated. Giant finger piano. But he's a really lovely guy.

I think he and I knew that, you know, working together, we could play into the dynamic of, you know, I'm not naturally comically funny, but I can play against someone that is really trying to, you know, is really funny in that way. But what is naturally comically funny? I mean, like, it's kind of, but it's an interesting,

You bring up something very interesting, which is, like, I think sometimes people don't realize that playing the scene is, like, pretty much the same if you're doing a comedy or a drama. Like, you just got to play it real. Yeah, that's true. Have you hosted S&L? Yes. And how was that experience? It was a classic. Everyone talks about it.

Yeah, sorry. No. Who was the musical guest? Oh, yeah. Kaleed, yes. What year was that? Sorry. What year was that?

I'm so sorry. It was the year that I did that very famous. film I was promoting. Yes. What year is that? Because we'll never be able to find out. I have a laptop here. We can never find it out.

What year did Idris host? Can we find out? And what is the name of the British show that all the family was based on? You're going to come back. Jenna, please tell me. That's what happens if you can't let things go. I know. Forget it.

Memory is, it's done. Because we have too much stuff to think about. This is true. The storage is full. Sometimes I like to think about. dragging files in my brain to trash. Like, I'm not going to need to know that anymore. Wow.

Because I mean, I think I'm dragging files. Dragging it to trash to make some room. Don't you feel like all the lines you had to learn as an actor? Like sometimes I'm like, it just has taken up too much space in my head. No, I don't. No. No, that's it. Are you good at learning lines?

I'm good at learning the sense of things and then the lines will follow. Yeah. I hate when, like, it's like, okay, you have to go to this address at 5 o'clock to pick up that person. I'm like, what? But if I understand that you and I have a debate about something, I'll remember the lines based on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But SNL, which was the classic. Not that far, not that long ago.

Oh, it was a seminal year. So in 2019, when you hosted SNL, what was that like? Was it fun doing it? Man. You had a good time? I had a most amazing time. It was really hard work. but I had the most amazing time

and I was like how many giants, you know? But see, S&L growing up was not big in the UK when you were growing up, right? No, that's right. It's really true. It's really true. And now I think there's starting one over there. Yes.

Yeah, I'm trying to be a main character. You want to be in the cast? Yeah. Is that weird? You know? No, just go in there and say, you know what, if you showed up and said him in the cast, everyone would be like, okay, I assume he is.

Doing it. And they'll see how. How goofy I am, how the writer's sessions, how really funny I'll come up with the wackiest shit. Well, that was always the toughest thing, Idris, is when a host would come in and be like, I'm really funny and be like, okay. I did. And be like, okay. They'd be like, I know I'm usually pretty serious, but I love to do characters and I was like.

Dead. Let me tell you, I was that guy. I remember the first writing meeting I walked in and everyone was like, hey, Idris, man, we love you, man. What's going on? drinking their coffee and what are you into? What are you thinking? They're, you know,

soft them are hanging. They're like, okay, what do you do? What do you want to do? I was like, yo, man, I got this idea about these football presenters. And they're like, you mean football as in,

what kind of football? I'm losing. Yeah, man. But they were kind. Yeah, they were like, Idris, thank you so much for your ideas. You know what? There's so much here to work with.

We're going to, we're going to come back. You take a break. Yeah. You know what? Do less. They were like, you know what, take a break this week. Have fun.

I had a great meeting with Pete, though. And his office walked in. Bush. What's up here? Yeah, what's in you want? Yo, I love that bit that you was talking about, man. I love football. It was actually a really good week.

Yeah, people don't know that you walk around from office to office and you just kind of go into everybody's office. Yes. And you're just like meeting. It's like speed dating or something. and you're just like getting people's ideas and I'm sure you got pitched a lot of like I have an idea where you're a guy who

you know you're a bouncer and you throw people out of a club okay I have another idea where you're a boxer and you beat me up I have another idea I bet you got a lot of like I got a lot of um what do like a James Bond I was like I'm really trying to stay away from that like come on man it's James Bond

no I want to stay away from that you're like I just want to play I just want to play like little giggly characters or real goofballs. I want to be really unrecognizable. And everyone's like

oh fucking hell this guy doesn't want to do he doesn't want to pitch his fastball. We're going to do some stringerbell shit you know where you're like

stringer bow on the hood but before we wrap it up I want to talk a little bit about your relationship to music because I feel like we've been talking a little bit about it today

but you know like there's this musicality to the stuff that you do and it's obviously influenced by your actual love of music. You talk about it a lot, how it, you know, talk about acting coming at a certain time. Like music came to you at a young point in your life. When did you start, like, speak to how important music is to you.

And when you, especially when you were a young person and growing up in East London. Yeah, I mean, definitely music was my first love. First, first love. my dad. I have this record a picture of me holding a Marvin gay album. I'm four years old and I'm about to put it on the turntable. That was like my earliest memory of music and listening

and being able to put the record on. By the time I was like 14, I was convinced I wanted to be a radio host. That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to talk on a radio and play music. And at the same time, I was getting introduced to acting and what?

And the first show I did was a musical. I was singing. I wasn't musical. I didn't learn to play the guitar. I could play the drums. I wasn't really a musical guy in the sense of, you know, making music. I just loved music. And at the same time I was doing acting, I became a radio host on pirate radio. And I was on pirate radio around 15, 16 years old.

I shouldn't say that. Yeah, yeah. It was the 80s, nobody cared. We had jobs at 12. You could go to jail, though, back in the day for being on pirate radio. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, man. the mean streets

that would be pretty funny if they were like what are you in jail for and you're like being on the radio and everyone was like oh drive time

six to eight what yeah they got me they got me they got me hard times but you could go to jail for pirate radio

and but the truth is you know I think the music because I really leaned into playing music and then I started buying equipment

drum machines this is the 80s This is where the drum machines were growing and that electronic sound. You know, music and acting was like doing this at the same time. So music became my sort of my guilty pleasure. Yeah, yeah. Like just for you. Just for me, yeah.

And when I would DJ, I would love it. You know, actually coming to New York because the vinyl shops, that's when I started to really come to New York, late 80s, early 90s. What a time. You talk about the spirituality of how some you, like, house music is really important to you. Yeah, yeah, really much. Like, it's that, what is it about it that hooks you?

And what do you think? How does it hook people? It's, it's the mono moment, that mono moment, that, you know, um-ch-um-ch-um-ch-ch-em-ch-ch-at everyone feeling that new instrument come in. It's a bit like being at church. I don't know if you're religious, I'm not. But that spiritual vibe of adding layers of a mono moment that everyone can join into is like magic.

When I'm on a DJ, when I, you know, I just played coach. Chasela with Cascade, who shell out to Cascades and make amazing DJ. I think we have 15,000 people. Wow. And we're doing it back to back. And it's a spiritual moment to have that many people going, let's go. Yeah. And how do you stay up so late?

Yes. Because you have to stay up so late. Yes. Yes. That's what DJs do. I know. It's such a nighttime activity. No, come on, Amy.

You've got to come out with me one time, man. Let's go. I mean, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m. and wake up at 4 a.m. and meet you out. Like, there's no way I could get to the other side at 4 a.m. Have you been to Ibiza? No. Oh.

That is, it seems... Okay, life begins at 50. All right? Okay. First of all, I would only want to go with someone who knew Ibitha well. Yes, yes. But I'm already stressed thinking about how late I would have to stay up. Like, I'm already...

Like, even thinking about... I don't have to take the longest power nap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's incredible. Do you think that whole power nap thing really works? No, I can barely nap. I mean, I truly, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m. And then be like, I'll see you at the club at 4.

But it is, but I mean, I love to dance. I love music. But I just, I can't do the hours. It's not easy to be an actor and a DJ. It is not, no. I think there's a cell, there's a energy cell that gets awakened with the naughtiness. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

I'm like, okay. Abiza? Yeah. Abisa sounds very, sounds very stressful. Ibiza, Ibiza sounds very stressful. No, you'd love it. Trust me. You know, flip-flop, sunshine all day.

Foam. You can have an ice bucket thing. An ice bucket thing. Why do I? No, you know, like the plunging thing. Oh, yeah. You know what? If I could cold plunge in Ibiza, I would be.

You can do anything in Ibiza. Believe it. me. That's what stresses me out, address. Okay, so we're going to finish with two questions because we always start our podcast with asking somebody to speak about our guest. I always talk to somebody who knows our guest to give me a question to ask him. And so we talked to John Sina before this. Yeah. What? And we just talked, we just zoomed with him. And he wanted me to ask you, and it's such a John question, I think, and it's so indicative of what you talk about. Like, both of you have such an incredible work ethic you really you know you work hard you're very

professional both of you are um like for for lack of a better term like going for it you really have a a lust for life and learning like you said and his question was kind of like basically you work really hard what motivates you it's such a it's such a straight male question what motivates you Um, okay, I mean, look, I don't want to, you know, end on our low note, right? Okay. But I became, you know, successful around the age of 35 years old, okay? And up into that point, you know, life wasn't always great. There was some very tough times, you know, I've spoken publicly about some of the times I've gone through.

Um, both my parents, you know, working class didn't have much at all, all right? So I've been, you know, reasonably, I would say, poor, just reasonably, you know, living a life that is very opposed to where I'm living for longer than I have been famous or successful. And there's part of it which is like, I don't want to let this go. So I'll just keep chocking for it. But the second thing is really and truly is that I used to work nights on the night shift at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, East London, okay? that is grim it's a grim job all right

nothing compares to doing that so when I get an opportunity to come and work with you to come and work on a set it doesn't even feel like work yeah now to everyone else it's like you guys are working really hard but actually

yeah it's not that hard I mean it's not that hard compared to real hard jobs not exactly it's not I agree and obviously we get to do

very different things you know in a job like that I did the same thing every night every night for two straight years. My dad did the same job for 25 years. So I consider this a privilege. Yeah.

I just say it work. Yeah. So what motivates you is a gratitude. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. And what is making you laugh these days? How do you go?

What do you watch, read, you know, listen to that like, like where are you finding your comedy? The studio was really funny to me. So good. Self-referential, but I loved it. I thought it was a really good writing. I'm laughing at myself, letting go of some of my tough man shit and being a bit goofy. I actually enjoy when people go, what?

Yeah. I enjoy them that. I've seen you do, like, you're doing some really, like, I have a really fun TikTok idea I want us to do later. Oh, wow. I have to talk to your team about it. No, Cepard. No, yeah, I do. And listeners, if you don't know this as we wrap up, but Idris and I,

I are wearing the exact same thing right now. We are. We're wearing, what, how would you describe this color? Petro blue? Yep. It's a... I was thinking, you know, um, do you watch football soccer? Ish. Ish, right? At the end of a really great game, there's a tradition where the greatest players against each other. They trade. They trade. Okay, let's trade shirts. We're going to trade shirts. That's good, buddy. We're trading shirts. Okay, this is exciting. This is exciting. And I have a feeling. And I have a This is going to... This is not going to fit.

No, I get to... Let's see how far you can get into my jacket. Technically, you don't have to wear it because usually it's full of sweat. By the way, the shirt smells great. Listeners, if you wanted to know, the shirt smells great. Oh, well, okay. Hold on a minute.

Oh, I like this look. You're just trying to get one sleeve. Just one sleeve. Just one's good. Just one. Tiny jacket. But tiny jackets are funny. Tiny jackets are so funny.

Look, we did it. We traded. Okay, this is funny. This would be a good comedy where, like, yes, but I don't laugh. Okay, very straight. I'm just wanting to go. Yeah, play it very straight where you're,

we're in some kind of shrinking machine or, you know what it is? It's a body switch comedy. It's really what it is. Okay. We should be in a body. Let's go all the way, buddy. Let's go. Indris, uh, show the wire.

Well, um, I enjoyed, um, I enjoyed, um, Working for HBO. Yeah, because, you know, I watched it nine times. Well, I don't watch it. I have to say, string it. When he did that scene, I'm just going to show you. Oh, my God. Okay, sign us up.

We're ready. We're ready. I love this. Thank you so much for this time together. Good time. This was so good. My jacket is completely ripped. Literally can't even get it over his wrist.

I can't get it over his wrist. It's because I'm talking. He's just, his... No, I really can't get up here. You're going to hear from my lawyer because of very expensive jacket. Thank you. That was so fun. Thank you so much for doing this.

I really, really appreciate it. And congrats on your movie. Thank you. Okay, today's polar plunge is brought to you by Wayfair, here to help you make your home your happy place. So that was a great interview. Idris is so much fun. I hope I wasn't too much of a wire geek when I was interviewing him,

but I could have asked a million more questions and made the entire episode about that. But I tried to restrain myself. But we did talk about a lot of other things, and we talked about British comedies. And so I thought I could use this polar plunge to talk about shows that maybe you didn't know about that you should try to find somewhere on your TV or your phone. Brass Eye, the day today, Alan Partridge. look around you. French and Saunders. We also realized that the show that all in the family was based on was Till Death Do Us Part. It took us the entire episode to get it. And it's because

we're in our 50s. So, but yeah, there's a lot of British comedy. Oh, and Desmond's. I'm going to check out Desmond's now that Idris has brought it to my attention. So a lot of good comedy in the U.K., especially in the 80s and 90s that didn't always come over here, so check it out. But you know what you really should check out is Wayfair, because it makes you turn your home into a happy place. Express your style, create a space you love, cozy sofas, smart essentials, free shipping, easy setup. Head over to Wayfair.com. Find something that's just your style today. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair. Every style. every home. Okay, thanks for listening. Bye.

You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Katz-Belaine, Kaya Zanaris. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.