Memory Lane with Kerry Godliman and Jen Brister - S04 E12: Alex Kealy

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

"I met Ivo age thirteen... He started comedy before me... He popped out the fetus with a tight 5 about the womb... " We have the brilliant stand-up comedian @AlexKealy on the podcast this week talking about growing up boarding as a diplomat's son, meeting his wife and Ivo being the dupree of their relationship. Alex's stand-up show is great and definitely worth a ticket - https://www.AlexKealy.com/ Plus... Kerry and Jen chat about Jen's new show and Kerry being too loud. JEN & KERRY STAND-UP TOURS Kerry's 2025 tour is on sale now - https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/kerry-godliman-tickets/artist/1866728 Jen's 2025 tour is on sale now - https://www.jenbrister.co.uk/tour/ PHOTOS PHOTO 1: Clowning PHOTO 2: Muscles PHOTO 3: American tour PHOTO 4: Wandavision PHOTO 5: Wedding... plus Ivo PICS & MORE - https://www.instagram.com/memory_lane_podcast/ A Dot Dot Dot Production produced by Joel Porter Hosted by Jen Brister & Kerry Godliman Distributed by Keep It Light Media Sales and advertising enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Memory Lane. I'm Jen Bristair and I'm Kerry Godleman. Each week we'll be taking a trip down Memory Lane with our very special guest as they bring in four photos from their lives to talk about. To check out the photos we'd be having a natter with them about, they're on the episode image and you can also see them a little bit more clearly on our Instagram page. So have a little look at Memory Lane podcast. Come on, we can all be nosy together.

How's your show? Feeling it? Happy? Is it got an end? These are good sounds. No end. Is it ready, no. Is it getting there?

Don't know. Do I know what I'm doing with it? Are you getting any pleasure out of it? I do like it. Well, that's a great thing. I do I like. I like segments. I've got segments to go.

So you need links. I like this segment. I like this segment. But that's always what your shows are like. And then the segments find journeys to each other. I'm usually a bit closer to finding the journey than I am now. How long have you got? How long have you got?

How long have you got? I've got some time. I've got probably about six weeks. You've got ages? I've got ages. Why don't you get a director? Get a director. Yeah. I'll direct it.

I'll direct it. Will you? Yeah. But you have to come and watch it. I can do that. Can you? Yeah. Are you?

Yeah. Will you? Let's get some dates going. Okay. I'll direct it. All right then. I'll sit at the bat like Peter Hall going, can't hear you love!

Hey, come don't believe you, love. Don't believe you. Did you have to write to shout that at you? I had that a lot. Act better, I had. Oh, that's a good note. I tell you the worst note I ever had was try acting. What is that meant to be?

Helpful. I don't know. Jesus. That was on set. Try acting. Jen, could you try acting? Well, that's... Ouch.

That's painful. But what about do less? I've always got to do less. I mean, I'm constantly gurning. Do less. All of that, but just much smaller. Yeah. Do all of that, but smaller.

But then you go on stage and it's like, do bigger. Do bigger. And then you go on screen and it's like, oh, no. No, do weight less. You look like someone's had a fit. Yeah. Do you find your people, friends and family, say stop shouting a lot.

Ben says that a lot to me now. He's like, Kerry, I'm right next to you. Stop shouting. I have been told that my entire life. I don't think there's ever been a time. I was like, do you find recently that your friends have always said that to me? No, I feel like that it's getting worse for me. Sometimes Chloe's just like, please, could you just stop shouting?

Yeah. That happens a lot. And that's often when I'm just having, I'm being, I think, you think you're being funny. I think I'm being hilarious. I'm like, oh God, I'm so funny. Here's something really funny I'm going to say, da-da. Yeah, but partners don't want that. And they're like, I don't need that.

I don't want that and I don't need it. And if I wanted it, I'll buy a ticket for your show. I'll buy a ticket to you, sure. I don't want that. In bed in the morning. Ben sometimes, if... I'm in bed in the morning. I'm with Ben there, that's right, okay.

Ben's like, I literally just won't. Are you giving you bullet points first thing in the morning? Okay, Ben, here we go. Okay, Ben. What does the day hold for you? This is what it holds for me. Wait till he's had a coffee. You don't see table talk, pillow talk, not table talk, pillow talk,

pillow talk, table talk. That used to be a thing, didn't it, in sitcom. like, couples in bed talking. Yeah, yeah. Why don't you see that anymore? Mind you, we don't watch telly. So you might be, it might be going on. You do watch telly? I don't watch anything.

You don't watch telly? I watch school swap and gardeners world. And adolescents. And severance. Have you done severance? You told me not to do severance. I told Chloe not to do it. Oh, I liked it in the end. Oh, here we go.

You said, don't bother with the second series. I was like, oh, you're watching the second series. I said, oh, I really like the first. And you went, oh, don't bother with the second series. It doesn't make any sense. No, it didn't make any sense. But I kind of was, I sat with it, not making sense. You sat with it.

I did just read James by Perci Leverett. That was really good. What's that? It's a novel that was nominated for the booker called James. The guy who wrote American fiction, the film. Yeah. Okay. I'll check it out.

Yeah, it was really good. Yeah. I'm looking for it in your book. I'm reading, and I am really enjoying it, actually. Six Conversations, Six Conversations We're Scared to Have by Deborah Francis White. It's basically she's talking about six conversations that are quite sort of, you know, polarising and people might feel uncomfortable discussing. And I just think it's such a great book. And also, very accessible.

She manages to take on like six difficult subjects and be able to make them accessible for anyone. So wherever you sit on the argument, Deborah obviously has a definite opinion about each one of these subjects and she makes it very easy to digest and I would recommend it. That sounds great. I highly recommend it. And also, fucking hell. I'm like, I've read books like this and I realize how thick I am. Because you know when you see somebody just being. You're not thick, Jen.

Not bright then. But you know when somebody's able to like just take these really big kind of quix. kind of questions and conversations and subjects and be able to go. And humanise all the... Yeah, but also make it like, oh, have you thought about it this way? Have you thought about it that way? And by the way, if you go back in time and think about it this way, I'm just like fucking out, Deborah.

This is amazing. Anyway, I can really recommend it. Very needed at this time when people are very tribal and they lock in to their opinions. Yes, this book has just come out at the right time. And I'm not sure when it comes out. I'm thinking it's coming out pretty soon. but I would highly recommend people pre-order that. I think it might actually be coming out next month in April.

Can I borrow that copy when you finished? You can, definitely. Six conversations were scared to have by Deborah Francis White. Get yourself a copy. And we'll get Deborah on to talk about it, won't we? Yeah, you know or I don't. I've got to do it. You've got to ask her.

Why am I asking you? I have that kind of authority. I go to you all the time. This is how I am with Chloe. What do you think? Why are you asking me? And I'm like, I don't know. Ben does that to me.

I'm like, don't ask me! I don't have the answers. I like people to like, I like to defer to someone and go, what do you think? Don't ask me. No, all right, I won't. But I will ask Deborah. Yeah, she's got answers.

Yeah. Sometimes when, it's weird, isn't it? When you're with your partner, your wife or whatever, and you're in a work environment. And then you just suddenly devoutter fall into work mode with your partner. Like, what are you talking to me like that for? I've always been slightly, do you work with your wife? She'll sometimes do the reels for my podcast.

Right, right. Yeah. So you haven't worked with my husband for years, but I used to really struggle with it. I always was like... What about when you did that radio show? Kerry's List. Oh yeah, that was fun. That was fun.

Because Ben was, yeah. He played Ben. My husband. Ben was Ben. But, you know, like couples that properly work together, like run a business together and whether. I just think that must be hard. Oh, yeah. wouldn't want to do that.

It's just, it's, you know, because work can get Aggie and you don't want to get Aggie with the person that you're spending the rest of your life with. Also, it's kind of nice to be a part and then come together and go, what did you do today? But it's like, well, you know, because we work together and we were together all day. Yeah. Too much. You're, you're, you'd be quite overbearing, I think. What?

I think you'd be too much. No, no, no. Yeah. No, no, no, no. I really feel like, you appear to have me all wrong. What? I don't. Stand up to me, you pussy.

Yeah, yeah. That's, that's hyperbolic stand-up comedy. You know how comedy works, Jen. Yeah, I do. I'm very laid back in real life. I spend all weekend gardening. Yeah, maybe in the garden you're quite laid back. I am.

Should Ben enter the garden, that's when it changes. You know when a parent drops like a sort of motto or aphorism that is like horrifying when you're like, so my mum will say things like a husband is not for life, not for lunch. And I find it so like she'll drop it and then like titter about it. And I'm like, oh, I'll, I'll, I currently. you can't believe thinking that about my partner, but presumably I will in years to come. Like, I've got this to look forward to.

Yeah, yeah. That's what parents are for. I just put those little seeds in your head and then they just pop out. Yeah, yeah. I'll never be like you. Oh yeah, I'm exactly like you. Yeah.

Okay, great. Yeah. I've got bits in my show at the moment where I'm like, now I'm saying the shit, my mum said to me. Oh, yeah, but we're all doing that. Yeah. All the stuff that we thought like,

I mean, I say stuff to my kids where, that my mom used to say to me that were like really not funny jokes. And then they come out and then they make me laugh. But you know what makes me laugh is I know that they're not funny and also how irritated my children will be as soon as it leaves my mouth. I'm like, oh, they're going to hate this. I got halfway through an anecdote with Elsie this morning.

And she went, I thought she loved this story. And she went, you have told me that story so many times. Oh, no. Oh, no, Kerry. You're reusing your podcast anecdotes on to your child. This is over now, mate. Yeah, I know, but I mean, given that is what we do for a job, which is repeat stories, a lot. And now I'm doing it at home.

And my mum did it. And my mum did it. And I'd be like, oh my God, how many times have I heard this? Yep. Have you ever done that thing where you start a joke again straight off to telling it on stage? No, but people who... I did it in Stroud. And how far did you get into the joke?

I got, I would say, nearly two sentences. And why did that happen? Are you like overtired? happens. Because then you are broken sideboard. Yeah, yeah,

you're like, well, the rest of the gig went a lot better because I had a meltdown as a result in the audience like, oh,

he's a real human being. Oh, really? I like sat on the stage and was like, and you immediately went, hang on, how much.

I was like, this is what's happened. Right. I, it's disgusting what I've done because I've revealed that comedy is a great way. It's like this awful magic trick

where we're like, it's because it's two jokes on the same subject where both of them start with the same setup of like, it's like about dating and then it's like

both of them had the same like and another time I went and then I just accidentally loop back to the first one and then it was just like the worst it was like I found it's so funny but I was like

you were not in the right place if that happens you were not in the zone you were on automatic yeah you were also got coaching your way through that Alginn't done a call back

to a joke I didn't put in in the first place is when when occasionally used to triple and like a double is mad but a triple is a breakdown and then you'd be like I can't remember what I've said Yeah no they're terrible If you, I remember being at Melbourne Comedy Festival

And I did seven gigs in the night Okay And by the seventh gig Oh no I was like I've got no idea what I'm saying I've got no idea if I've said that punchline Or if what the set It's just you're completely like And forget if you go right

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VIT, and RUKV RUKV for a I want to go to your first photograph, which I'm going to assume is this one. I don't know if this, if I'm correct, this. Yes, that's, that's, let's go, we're going chronological, we're going full, linear. Linear narrative.

We're so linear and I want to, first of all, I love everything about this photograph. Everything. This is so gorgeous. The curtains, the hand on hip, everything. And I like, is that a Christmas jumper? I'd never, sorry, it's a helicopter. It's a, it's Barbar, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the royal French elephant in a helicopter.

Oh, Barba, the elephant. Oh, the elephant. Now, was this a premonition of your future? Well, it's just, I, so I, like, was looking through old photos in advance of this, and I, like, never, I've not remembered that photo since, like, four days ago, like, when I saw it. Oh, really?

So it's like, I... Didn't even know this existed. There's, like, a lot of me dressed as clowns. Really? That's great. There's the other one. I mean, like, you know, I can show you the clowns that didn't make the cut. Wow.

How many clown fly? Well, it's like, it's just, I got like, I don't know what it, because my mum talked to, like, my parents are like supportive but skeptical about all of my career decisions. And, but they, but my mum was also like, yeah, it was really fun when you were a kid to just dress you up as a clown. Yeah, I'm like, there's a lot of clowns. But you know what, makeup wise as a parent, if you're going to be like, mom, I want to get dressed up. It's like, oh, I can do clown makeup. I can easily do that. It's when you go, I want to go as a Power Ranger.

Forget it. I don't know what I'm doing there. No, no. But this, I can give you a red nose and put some white stuff around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so easy to... With a bit of black liner.

The physical costume can come off really quickly, but the emotional costume of wanting to become the clown, that stays for life. That is the trade-off that you're making with that costume. I mean, your mum didn't know that at the time, but that's what she's imprinted that onto your psyche. Yeah. That's not just kidding.

If you just dress me up as an accountant, everything would be so much easier in my family. What sort of, Where did you grow up, Alex? Kind of all over. So that's in Paris. Oh, goodness. You weren't there for a clowning workshop.

Not there for a... No, exactly. Look, we went for Lecoq. We started really early. I found my inner clown. Car one. There's going to be a lot of privilege in this podcast, but going to the most expensive clown school.

That's a one bit. That's the one bit where I'm not going to be a little puff boy. My dad is a retired diplomat. So my dad was working in the British embassy in Paris between 92 and 95. Something like that. So I would have been about four in that. Fascinating. So like you, so diplomats, they obviously move around quite a bit depending on what embassy they work at.

So your father only works in France or all over? So mostly the Middle East. So I was, as was referred to in some way earlier. routines I was conceived in Baghdad as one can be and and and but born in Britain but then evacuated from the first Gulf War but like aged one so I don't have any memory of right but so he was working in the in the British Embassy in Baghdad 88 to 91 something like that wow that is a very torrid time a spicy a spicy time he's got my dad has a as a as a track record of I would say it has a diplomat.

leaving regions spicier than they were. Oh, we know. So his diplomacy skills. You know, he could, like, that's when you have to argue, you know when you're like applying for a job that you can either argue you were like good at that job. Yeah. Or you argue that it was so irrelevant in that organization. The organisation's failure. So he's not like, I'm a great diplomat.

He's like, well, it's, I'm just one cog in a large machine. You can't blame this cog for that. So, yeah, so when I was, when I, yeah, the postings my dad had, when I, yeah, the postings my dad had when I was alive were Baghdad, Paris, Jerusalem and Junis. So those... Jerusalem. Another spicy place. Yeah.

So my dad was, if my dad was sort of consul general to the Palestinians, but it's like a, it would basically would be ambassador, but it's more complicated to label that because of the occupation. Yes. So, yeah. I don't know. What fantastic opportunity. And also, Jerusalem is such a city that is. got so much history just for so many different religions, for the Christian religion and for

Muslim and Jews alike, and to have all of that in one city. Yeah. But I guess you're right, between 8 and 11, you're like, you cares, I want to play Thundercats or whatever. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, I think there's somewhere, there's a photo of me and like Yasser Arafat in a... Gets! How? Really?

That should be in there. It should be in there, but I don't think we could find it. Why didn't you put the photo of you and Yasser Arafat? I don't, you know, it's wild. It's, I couldn't find the photo, but even if I had with that, you know, there's a lot going on. It's probably not the right time to bring that out to be fair, Alex. So the Paris picture is preschool? The Paris picture, so I went to like, you know, nursery in Paris.

And so I would have been. And would it always have been that when the time, you would always have gone to school in Britain, that was going to be the. Yes. So, yeah. So you boarded? So I went to boarding school in Britain. How old were you, Alex, when you went? I went on my eighth birthday, which is...

On your eighth birthday? Yeah, yeah. That's... I always tried to get a routine going over the line about how, like, you don't prioritise things correctly as a child because I think on my eighth birthday I was like, brilliant, three cakes. Like, I wasn't really focusing on, like, they're not seeing my parents for, like, large chunks of time.

Do you remember it? How well do you remember? What, that, the kind of feeling of that. I think I was, like, pretty, you know, I think I was pretty homesick for, like, large periods of that time because I think that is too young to not hang out. You're too. You're a baby. I think about my children.

I mean, I've spoken to Ivo about this. Iva Graham who, you know, was taught in length about, you know, going to boarding school so young. But I remember when my children were seven and I thought, I can't imagine sending you to an institution. Put them in a suit. Get them out of the door. Yeah. So as your circumstances are your dad was working about. It's different.

There's a joke about it in my show, but basically, like the two options are don't see your parents aged eight for large chunks of the year or have to move school every three years and then like lose your friends there and not have like a kind of to build that up.

Yeah. So that's the options if you're like a diplomats. Yeah. Either choice pretty tough for a kid. Yes, but so much educational privilege at the last place. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And you have fond memories of Yeah, yeah. I've got really, and I met, you know, I met Ivo at school, like Ivo and I are friends for like 20 years. We're talking into. Let's say the E word.

I was going to bring the E word in. I think, you know, yeah, it's, you know, if you say I've met Ivo at school. I don't know. Oh, you know. No. Yeah, that was the wrong idiom to use at that time. I just love watching that chip suddenly fly off Kerry's shoulder. Very different schools.

So you met Ivo when you were little? Yes. Oh, wow. That's so lovely that you stayed friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I met him age 13 in a maths class and that we remember that I claim to know the ultimate joke ever, but I can't remember what that, like the kind of tenaciousy song.

I can't remember the song. But comedy was the bonding. I think so, yeah. That's great. He started before me, but yeah. I mean, Ivo started. when he was a child he popped out the fetters

with a tight fire about the womb so what was it so tell us what were you like as a kid I mean who was the baby Alex

I don't know I mean I mean like I've yeah I guess I think quite nerdy I've got there's like you were a clown yeah

but I'm not but I'm not there's like it's funny about that is it's just I'm not I'm like the least clowny comedian I'm like a sort of you're like

down it's not yeah it's like I'm like, barbar the elephant. What am I? Some kind of clown? Yeah.

You're dressed as a clown. The next photo is by this pool. Yes. Which I'm guessing is in Jerusalem. It's that. I think that's in Jordan. So your dad was. So we were living in East Jerusalem and then.

And then I think we just went. I think we might have been a whole day for a few days in Jordan. And so that must have been lovely that when you. left school that you would be going somewhere. That was kind of exciting that had like a different culture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sort of really transported you away from. Yeah, and then all, both like Tunisia and Jerusalem have this mixture of like contemporary history,

but also like ancient, you know, both are like have so much like multi-thousand-year-old has so much kind of Carthaginian and like Roman history. So there was a lot. So there's like both modern stuff. so you're going to like some of the best preserved amphitheaters in the Mediterranean. And you were into that by then. You had an appreciation of that by then. I think so, yes.

Did your dad go to Eaton? Is it a kind of family? No, he didn't. So what's his background? How did he end up being a diplomat? Because it's quite an extraordinary life. He went, he went like straight into the foreign office off to university and then stay there until, and you have to retire. Will you have to retire like slightly early in the front?

You retire at like 60, which is a bit mad to me when it's like your assets are, like increased language and cultural knowledge and cultural understanding of other countries so that it feels like 60 doesn't feel like you're already down the dementia minds. Like if 60 feels like you're at the peak. Yes, absolutely. So there's a lot of like, there's kind of a 10 year period where a lot of like dip mats are doing other kind of like freelancing work after they all like have to do like a mini like late career pivot because it's quite quite early for that kind of job to retire.

And to be successful in that kind of work and to have a family was always going to be I suppose he knew that that meant that he was going to send his kids away. And how did your mum feel about that life and moving around? Yeah, I mean, I think my parents really enjoyed it. And it's got so much meaning. And my dad was chairman of the medical heir to Palestinians for 10 years after we, like, after he retired. And I think that.

So it was a passionate kind of. Yeah, it's like, it's always interesting to me, people that have family, and their career takes them away. And it's just though those are two can be quite, you know, they can put in different directions. And it's like that's an amazing decision to say we're going to have a family and we're going to have this kind of life and career and we're going to make it work. Yeah, yeah.

And how did your mum enjoy being a diplomat's wife and her kids going away to school? I think largely enjoyed it. I mean, it is like one of those weird things where there's, you know, there's quite like regressive. elements to it a bit in that like your role as a diplomat spouse is that you're like doing kind of this like unpaid second job where you're like doing all this like yeah just like all this like and like entertaining which sounds like but all involving oh we had to go to a part but it's like you're like hosting stuff that's like vital for like building up trade but it's an

important role like this country and like you're doing you're doing you're doing work but you're not really being like paid for it yeah but it's a package that you are exactly yeah that is which is just you wouldn't have that another you know that it's a bit of you're mad that that's a thing because it feels like a throwback to like the 19th century or something. That it's like this is someone's job, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's someone's job. And I don't think it's something that everyone can do because you're having to navigate

some really difficult conversations. And like you said, often it will be really important to have these relationships need to work or you need to be able to smooth over something that maybe has gone badly wrong or whatever or something that you're representing your country. Your country has done something and then you have to go in. and go, oh, I'm sorry about that, but would you like another... What the attache actually meant was that we shouldn't go to war with you. Yeah, no, it is a really valuable role.

I would find that incredibly stressful. Yeah, it's one of those like you're not, I suppose like very different career to my dad, but like it's another like kind of you're not off in the same way that there's like stuff that you can be doing. And he must have depended a lot on her. Yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah. That's a partnership.

Yeah, absolutely. But my dad married quite, so my dad is 80. It was 18 in October. So I think he got married when he was like 43, like it and had me at like 44. He didn't have me. My mom had me in 40. Our older parents. Yeah, slightly older parents.

So I mean like, I guess, you know, maybe in his late 30s he was like, maybe I'm just going to be one of those single diplomats. But if you're going to say he's got this career, then you are kind of going, I wonder if I'll find someone that wants to do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, because it is a big... Yeah, and I guess I mean, I don't know how much younger your mum is, but I imagine, you know, when you get to that age,

when you're in your 40s, you know, whoever you're dating, there's going to be somebody's around about a similar age to you that's kind of sort of, yeah, we'll know what they're stepping into. It's not like, you know, when you get together with someone really young, and then you go, I've got this idea, I've got, want this career. Oh, I'm going to be a diplomat and you've got to come and be my wife. You know, you're like, oh, I didn't say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, it's a different thing that he's already very established. Your mom would have known what she was going into. That's true. That's true. Let's go to your third picture, Alex. And this picture, well, I don't think, are you in this picture? I am in this picture. I would also say that my hair is so, I've had the worst haircut of my life yesterday. So I'm just.

You've got very floppy hair in this picture. Yeah, yeah. That is more my usual hair than what I'm currently sporting. So there we go. That's me on the left. I swear. I promise. I believe you. What's the guy, what's going around the guy in the middle? So I'm, so I am 19 and I'm traveling around America for a few weeks with my friend Greg. Greg is on the right. Greg's on the right. And we've got, I think, a revolutionary American, that's basically either in Concord in Boston or it's in colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. So it's like a historical kind of... Roleplay actor. Yeah.

I love these guys. I had a full-blown chat with a Roman woman at the Roman Bals the other week. I was like, hey, hi, what are you? And she went, okay. And we locked in. We locked in. And she stayed in character. She stayed in character.

And then I was asking her all the right questions. Where are you from? What's your trade? Have you got family? Blah, blah, blah. She was like fully in. And then we came off piece where I was like, can we just talk now? human to human and she was like, yes.

Have you ever read Moon Tiger? No, what's that? No. What's that? The book of Pernopee Lively book that won the book a prize in the 80s. Anyway, the main character is a historian and she has a full-blown, hilarious row with an actor who is role-playing in a medieval.

I love, I love, because it's a real sliding doors. I could have been, I definitely could have been like a Viking at the York Center without any doubt. Like, if things have, if I hadn't found comedy, I'd have been in a mock lady. App somewhere in the Tower of London show. And you're like going like, this is Pete.

This was the crude oil of my time. My family are from a bog. And definitely, I just, I'm fascinated by people that do that job. Because I'm like never that like that could have been me. That's not their end point. They're not there going, oh, I am. And this is. You don't know that.

They don't think that. They do they. No one's going, oh, I guess this is me now. Yeah, but if you're in the history. He wants to work as well as to general. He's like a private here. He wants to work in general. If you're into history and you're an actor and an out of work actor and then someone goes,

here, wear this outfit and learn a bit of history and talk to his. I'm not saying that. I'm saying there's a commitment there. I can see that. Look at his face. He's not breaking character at all. He looks well into it. He's probably thinking in five years time, I'll be, you know, I'll be opposite to Dan.

I'll be a Hollywood star. Yeah. Anyway, we've hijacked your story. Well, so we were just travelling around. I basically was really. into, so between school and university, I was just really into American history and we did, like, I worked in a pub for a few months and then like, travel around America. Where did you work in the pub? Oh, in the UK. So in the UK, I worked, yeah, yeah.

Right. What I did with, with a year between school and universities, I spent months working in a pub and then promptly travel to the one place that I wouldn't be allowed to buy a pint at my age. So we did like, New England. New England. We did someone called Harper's Ferry, which is this, like, tiny little town on the border of like Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. And then it like changed hands like eight times in the Civil War. It's where the rivers Shenandoah and Potomac connect. And also it's a place where John Brown who tried to two years before the American Civil War

tried to like start a kind of sort of slave rebellion basically. So he like invaded this tiny little town that had like a big cache of weapons and then was trying to basically free a bunch of slaves and then give them arms to like rise up against the like slave owners. And so he's kind of like a kind of martyr for like the like army just gunned into. Yeah, yeah. So he's like a sort of martyr for kind of abolitionist. Is that what Brown University? Is it Brown University named after him or is that somebody else? I don't know. I think that's like older. I'm going to get. Yeah. But but like, yeah. So we did. I bet you love a Ken Burns documentary. Yeah. I love my favorite type of documentary is when there's

No video and it's just old black and white photos with the camera slowly panning across. I'm like the ultimate nerd thing is like I don't even like a history documentary. I just want it to be pictures moving slowly across the screen. So this is a fancy dress party that you're going to. Well, my wife has committed. My wife has smashed it and she has, she's the orchestra. Well, but I'm, well, this is exactly, so this is exactly the question, isn't it? What's that character called again?

So that is vision. Vision. And my wife is dressed as Wanda. Vendor. Vesion. Yes. Bethany. Bethany?

Bethany? Paul Bettany. Paul Bethany. And what movies is that from? So that's from, it's from a lot of the Marvel films. And then they have a... Wonder Vision was my portal into Marvel.

Oh, great. So like all the pastiches of the comedy shows, right? Yes. I loved it. And I didn't really do Marvel. It came out in lockdown, didn't it? So I remember being like, oh, well, we'll watch this and loving it. And then I was like, Marvel.

So it's like they One of the main formats of it is it becomes a kind of running Each episode almost does a like Pastitial loving homage to like A different type of American comedy So you get like classic ones like bewitched And it goes all the way through to like 50s ones

And then Malcolm in the middle one And then there's like an office one So it becomes like quite meta Where they start doing like bits to camera Like the office does It's so good If you love like if you grow up watching American sitcom It just nails it, doesn't it?

It's so clever. Okay, I'll check it out. Where is it on? Disney class. I can't do Disney. Boycotting. Can't do Disney. It'll be a bit...

You can borrow it somewhere, I'm sure. Oh, no, not doing that. So you're not doing Marvel. You've never done Marvel. I've got children. Of course we've done Marvel, but I've had to tell the kids, we're knocking all that on the head now. No more Coca-Cola, no more Disney. Right.

No more Aerial, automatic, no more Colgate and no more Haribow. Sorry, kids. Right, that's a lot of boycotting. Yeah, got to do it. Yeah. Anyway, what are we talking about? Why did you go to this party as Wanda Vision? So that was like, so that was in the first sort of eight, six, eight months of me dating my now wife.

And she is much better. Is that a weird phrase? You've enjoyed that. Well, there's a sort of, in Ivo's best man speech for me, he uses that photo as a jumping off point for a very good joke in it where he talks about. He describes vision in detail implying that I am like vision by talking about him. Wanda being like a fun charismatic. And then who gets together with vision a cold calculating synthesoid. So that's all the energy.

Who painted your head? So Mari did. So she got, put a ball cap on my head. It's so good. It's amazing. And then she spent her birthday painting my head. And it's really cool. Poor Brettony had to do that every day.

Yeah, exactly. And some of the days he'll have just been like a non. body in like a sort of too like all the like Hobbit actors and all of the rings got really they countered the number of days of their feet weren't in shot when they had to put the feet on anyway they uh yeah so I'm I'm like so a bit also the paint didn't dry

she looks amazing but she looks amazing she looks beautiful like a robot yeah but then you look perfect you look exactly like the character you're supposed to be it's such a great job but the paint wasn't fully dry so I went to piano valleys who I think was on the podcast recently, his Halloween party. And so, like, Marie said to me, like, okay, just be very careful because your head is wet.

So, like, enjoy the party, but also don't touch anyone at any point. Right. And so, I think when I came in, I, like, kneeled over to, like, I'm like, I'm going to be a good house guest. I'll take my shoes off. And then when I leaned over, I have my head in the wall. So it's like, Pierre, if you've noticed a red splotch on your wall somewhere, that's vision pain. Yeah. Get the gumption out.

What I'm loving about this photo as well is I'm just zoning in on the drinks shelves at the back. Wow, you are stocked, guys. Yeah. That's a very well stocked drinks shelves. That was at Marys flat. Yeah, she's done well there. I think we've got, I think we've taken most of those. Where did you and her meet?

How did you meet? So we met on Twitter. Twitter. That's not a well-known dating website. Exactly. Pre-fascism, the pre-fascism dating dates. of Twitter. When it was still Twitter.

When it was still Twitter. Exactly. How did that get going? So we were sort of replying to each. I think she's quite a, she'll hate me saying this. She's a big fan of Pierre's podcast Bud Pod. Right. And like I'm very good fans with Pierre.

And I think we sort of met in the kind of mentions of. Started flirting online. Yes. And then I love it. And I wanted to slide in her DMs. But I was like, I don't, I can't. I'm a man in conference. I don't want to sit into my dance,

which is a delight. Yes. I knew that I wanted. When did you know it was on? When were you like, we're not sharing favorite moments from Bumpard anymore. That's not what. I'm just fascinated by people that go from just talking on Twitter to flirting on Twitter to meeting in the real world. Yeah.

I think it's like, I think it's, I think it's like when you do a. DM side, the respectful thing to do is to make it, because like it's kind of like, it's so obvious what you're doing. Because it's like, what? You couldn't continue this conversation in public. Why are you now like, you've done the equivalent of like grabbing someone at a drinks party. Pulling them into a cupboard. You're like, like, so you better have, I think the appropriate thing to do is like everyone

knows why you've gone into the cupboard. Yes. So you better have a fucking great way of them going like, no, thanks, don't want to be in the cupboard anymore. So what? Yeah, yeah. So. So, well.

Back to my question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, Mark, we've been talking about which of the three male CNN hosts of the 2020 election coverage. Oh, my God. You guys are so niche. This is so neat. And so we were debating which of Jake Tapper, Phil Mattingly or John King, we found

most sexually desirable. Right. Who did you opt for? I chose for Phil Mattingly, who's quite a young, boyish one. but she went for the kind of the John King kind of Silver Fox who's like a very John King is like

got the what he's mad he looks he's got a chin like Mr. Incredible like it's like it's crazy it's just like so that was her that was her preference we can bring a few pictures of yeah

best I've got those all these guys what was I can say and as soon as you were in DMs you met yeah it was because it was in the it was in the pandemic it was in like it was in like Jan 2021 so it was quite like

we then spent that whole day basically messaging. And it's like, you've got a lock in a day. You can't let it start to fizzle. So we just messaged all that day and then locked in a walk on Hampstead Heath like a couple weeks later. So romantic. Mild wine and Hampstead Heath two metres apart.

Two meters apart. Didn't you go into a bush? Lots of people were drinking in bushes in our local parks. You know, date two. Date two in a bush. of, you know, might have violated a two-meter gap at that point. Glad to hear it. That's so romantic.

It is romantic. I love stories like that because it's been years since we did anything romantic. Not together. I just mean, like, as individuals. That is me, Ivo. And me, my wife and then Ivo, who is sort of known as Dupree in our relationship, that he's the sort of third, you know, the very much desired third wheel in our relationship. Oh, that's so lovely.

And he was your best man. And he was my best man, yeah. So you went for it. You had a big wedding. We had a big, big wedding. Where did you get married? We got married in Scotland. Her parents live like in quite a rural, well, they live down the Malkantyreth.

So it's like, yeah. That's gorgeous up that way. Yeah, it's great. It was amazing. Did you have a like a trad, Scottish? Did you get married in the castle? Yes. We got married in a church in Scotland.

No kilt. No. Pierre had a kilt. Pierre had his manx. Because like the Isle of Man has a kilt. Oh, they were. You got to have a legitimate reason. I love that he went in a kilt. Good for him. Yeah, yeah. A man that tall with a bit, you know, you've got a big, beard tall man of a kilk. You could upskirt him really easily. Couldn't you?

Sorry, Pierre, but I had to. I didn't mean. I was just watching here. I just stood up and now I bid me under your kilt. Oh, that's a lovely ending. to this. So when did you guys get married again? So we got married in June. Just gone? Yeah, like just under a year ago. Yeah. It's quite near down memory lane. The sun came out as well, which is a rare. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a little bit of rain which my father-in-law said it was, you know, a good bit of luck. You want a little bit of rain,

is what he says. Is that? I don't know. I just say, I think that's... Old people have got some weird things about luck, haven't they? Well, luck is usually just a way of spinning a bit of bad situation. Like if a bird chits on you, it's like, oh, it's lucky. Good luck. Yeah, yeah. But it didn't rain all day, which is lovely. Yeah, yeah.

It was very, great weather, special day, great speeches, fantastic speech from Murray. Get a comedian to be your best man is. Oh, yeah, Ivo did it. And Ivo is a great comedian. He did a tight 25. Have you heard that? He did only do 26 minutes.

Oh, did it? It was like, I think the camera, he'll hate me, the cameraman had to change a memory card during this. Was it in his speech? It was really good. He would have been enjoying himself. Marys was great. Mari's opening line was quoting Princess Diana saying there were three of us in this marriage.

Do you go on holiday with Ivo? You properly have your idea. Did he join you on your honeymoon? No, no. We made sure that he had like some important bookwork at the same time so that he couldn't come out at the same time. Alex, before you go, I would love to you to tell us, Are you on tour? What's going on? Tell us about your podcast you do with Ivo. Tell us everything. Great. Well, yes, I am on tour. I'm taking a show about sort of anxiety around the country at the moment, running from now until... I mean, we can all connect.

Good. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I think so. People relate. We're all feeling anxious, aren't we? But it's my least political show. It's my most personal show. But if you're listening to a podcast about memories and... Oh, we've got a lot of emotions. Great. This is what people want. Yeah. So that's what that's happening at the moment.

I'm very proud of it. I think it's my best show. It's sales are going very well in some places and also not in some places. What's that about? We were talking about that. Why is it that some towns are like, yeah. And other towns are like, who are you? We've talked about crew.

We don't need to go. Lancaster. Lancaster. What's going on? We don't want to buy tickets. Yes. But anyway. they can buy tickets.

They can buy tickets. Alexkely.com if they want to go on there for me. And the podcast is Gigpigs, which is certainly a name that rhymes. Because of what, the availability and then the buying of tickets? So, exactly. So with gig, so Gigpigs is me and Ivo, and we take a guest, usually a comedian,

to go watch a band or just some live music. We then meet up again to talk about, to like record the podcast. We talk about the gig, but also the guests like kind of memories and relationship with live music more generally. It's so fun. But it just,

it means that we have to find a night where three comedians have a night off, which is like, it's hard. And you're all busy. We're trying to be busy. We're trying to be busy. He's one of the busiest men on the planet for some.

He's one of the busiest men in the universe. He sees an empty page in his diary as a personal insult. Plug that or the voices will come. That's what I used to say about gaps in diary. 100%. So yeah, thank you. Thank you so much having me. I really enjoyed this.

Oh, it was so much fun. Brilliant stories. Cheers, Alex. Thank you. I'm Max Rushden. I'm David O'Darney. And we'd like to invite you to listen to our new podcast. What Did You Do Yesterday?

It's a show that asks guests the big question. Quite literally, what did you do yesterday? That's it. That is it. Max, I'm still not sure. Where do we put the stress? Is it what did you do yesterday? What did you do yesterday?

You know what did you do yesterday? I'm really down playing it. Like, what did you do yesterday? Like, I'm just a guy just asking a question. But do you think I should go bigger? What did you do yesterday? What did you do yesterday? Every single word this time I'm going to try

and make it like it is the killer word. What did you do yesterday? I think that's too much, isn't it? That is over the top. What did you do yesterday? Available wherever you get your podcasts every Sunday.