Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 290: Daisy Ridley

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

The force is strong with this week’s guest, as ‘Star Wars’ actor and star of James’s favourite film ‘Cleaner’ Daisy Ridley joins us in the Dream Restaurant. Daisy Ridley stars in ‘Cleaner’, a Sky Cinema release on 2nd May. Watch it here. Follow Daisy on Instagram @daisyridley Off Menu is a comedy podcast hosted by Ed Gamble and James Acaster.Produced, recorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive.Video production by Megan McCarthy for Plosive.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design).Follow Off Menu on Twitter and Instagram: @offmenuofficial.And go to our website www.offmenupodcast.co.uk for a list of restaurants recommended on the show.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Huge news from off-menu towers, James. Big announcements! We've just added extra dates for off-menu live, the tasting menus at the Royal Albert Hall. We will be there on Sunday 15th March 2026 at 2pm. Sunday 15th March at 7.30pm. It's on Sunday 15th March, two shows, 2026. Tickets from RoyalAlbertHall.com and Ctickets.com Welcome to the Off Menu Podcast, taking the chips of conversation, adding the cheese of humour, pouring over the gravy of friendship. It's chips, cheese and gravy, the podcast. Oh, I thought you were doing like a poutine thing, but I guess that was cheese curds.

No, I'm going old school, baby. I'm going UK chips, cheese and gravy. It's lunchtime on a Friday. Lunchtime on a Friday? At school. At school. That's what we would do at school on a Friday. Is it?

Is that your Friday lunch? Yeah, we would go to the chip shop around the corner from the school. And some kids would just get a fish and chips, well, just chips with so much vinegar on it. And then they would huff it and make themselves inhale it and then like see if they would splutter and cough and stuff. Yeah. But other kids would get chips, cheese and gravy. Yeah. And what would you do? I'd have a pop of lunch.

That's it, Gamble. My name is James A. Castle. Together we own a dream restaurant and every single week we invite in a guest to be asking their favourite ever star to make us dessert, side dish and drink, not in that order. And this week our guest is Daisy Ridley. Daisy Ridley, a wonderful actor, of course. Yes. Amazing actor. You will have seen her in Magpie, The Young Woman in the Sea, Star Wars, of course. But soon you will be seeing her in Cleaner. Cleaner. A Sky Original.

A Sky Original. Daisy Stars alongside Taz Skyler and Clive Owen is very exciting director by Martin Campbell. We're gonna talk more about it when Daisy is in the Dream Restaurant. Yes, absolutely. Have you seen it James? Yes, I have seen it.

I'm very excited to talk about it. Is that true? I haven't, I don't, it's not out yet. And I don get sent, I mean I might have got sent a link but... We should have been sent a link Benito, but I'll tell you why we've not been sent a link, is because this wasn't supposed to be today. Oh yeah, I forgot that we were going to destroy him in the intro. Yeah. Benito told us that this was, and Daisy doesn't know this and we're not going to mention this to Daisy. No we're professional. But Benito said to us Daisy Ridley is coming in next Friday When actually send his list three since this filthy little list

He sends a list through for every time we get a new guest booked in our schedule But he says sends a whole list through of all the podcasts that we're doing on the dates and the times and it annoys me Because rather than just send through the new one. He has to put it on his stupid filthy little pervert list. I love the list the list for me You love the list. I've always been in favor of the list. It's a nice reminder. Here's the full schedule And do you check your diary every time the list comes through? No, I When my diary tells me Hey, you're in off-menu today menu today, then I can go on the off menu WhatsApp and because he posted the list regularly now, it means I'd have to scroll back very

far to find the list and go, what time am I in? I'm in that time. Hang on, you don't put the time of the interview in your diary? No, because originally Benito will just say, block out a full day. He'll go, can you block out these days? Yeah, but then he'll say why we're blocking out a full, so it'll be like no no no Daisy Ridley at 3 p.m. No initially he'll just go block out these days But then he'll say here's who we have on the day in the time

That's when you put it in the diary so you block Regardless of what else tries to come in you block out a whole day even if we only have one episode I won't be doing anything else on enough menu day You kidding me. That's why I give so much energy to the pod. Yeah, that's true. You do give a lot of energy to the pod. But this was supposed to be happening on Friday the 14th of March. It was on the list. On two lists, in fact. Two lists.

Pencilled and then confirmed. Daisy Ridley, Friday the 14th of March. It's the 7th of March today. At noon, Benito Mess is just saying, Daisy Ridley in today, get here for about 3pm. You went, yep, see you then. Yeah, you went yep. See you then Yeah, cuz I I looked at I was like, oh I've got it in for next week, but I must be wrong Mm-hmm. It must be me who's wrong and Benito is so wise. He must be right. Whereas I checked my diary Yeah, wasn't in for today had a whole lovely day planned. Mm-hmm relaxing

And I checked the list Friday the 14th. I was right Yeah, Benito has been strung by his own stupid list. And you, you brought it up and then Benito was quiet for a bit. It was just me and you on the group. I was going, Oh, I, I actually did notice this, but I wasn't confident enough. And then we're like, Benito, where are you? And then we were doing a little riff that he had fainted because he had painted and he fainted. And that I imagined him with his head in his hands rocking back and forth. Yeah. And then he did come back on and he was like,

Oh fuck! Oh shit! Oh fuck! Oh guys! Oh, this is my fault. I'm so sorry. And he was very... Can you still do it?

Can you still do it? Yeah, can you still do it if you can? I'll just go between my tail between my legs. I'll tell the PR that I fucked up. We could still do it. We're good guys. I cancelled the wedding I was going to. It was your own one as well, wasn't it?

My own wedding. Sorry baby. Yeah. And Ed's cancelled his day of relaxing. Day of relaxing. Happy wedding. But we're okay with that because we feel very lucky to have Daisy Ridley on the podcast. Oh absolutely.

Very excited to. There's not many guests I would cancel a day of relaxing for. No, it's not. I mean, if it was Hugh Davis, she wouldn't have canceled. No way. Now, as always, we have a secret ingredient and if Daisy Ridley picks it, she will be kicked out the dream restaurant

with a heavy heart. With a heavy heart, yes. And this week, the secret ingredient is... Rabbit. Rabbit. Daisy Ridley was in the Peter Rabbit film as Cotton Tales, who had chosen rabbit. Yes. We really, we try so hard with these secret ingredients to relate them to people's work.

I'm saying that if you've voiced a cartoon rabbit, surely you can't eat rabbit now. Mmm. I can't eat mice. No, that's true. Because you're a mouse. Yeah, John the Mouse. So I reckon that because Daisy played Cotton Tale the rabbit, she won't pick rabbit. You can't eat scientists.

I couldn't if I tried. You're- Parabiologists. and tell the rabbit she won't pick rabbit you can't eat scientists I couldn't if I tried you're parabiologist you love sorry but you loved eating parabiologists before gas busters frozen yeah couldn't get enough but now you empathize with them now I played last pinfield the parabiologist I cannot eat parabiologists yes even if I wanted to this is the off-menu menu of Daisy Ridley. Welcome Daisy to the dream restaurant. Thank you.

Welcome Daisy Ridley to the dream restaurant. I bet it's been here for some time. Thank you. That was big James. You went for it. Yeah. Well, yeah, you've been saying that a lot lately. So maybe you've just got to get used to that. That's the level I go in at the influx of energy

But I feel like it's because I've been saying it to James that he now feels like because you know for the listener James now Pushes himself into the back wall. It's really soft this back wall And I like how it feels when I push my head into the back of it So I don't mind doing that and I've just had my haircut. Yeah. Literally before coming here. Nice. I came here straight from getting a haircut, Daisy. I've never done that for any other guests.

Thank you. What do you think of the haircut? Nice, yeah. I actually thought that looks fresh, yeah. First time I've been to this particular hairdress. I'm not going to, I- How do you feel about it? I hate it.

Don't you hate the haircut? I hate it. Really? Yeah. It's nice. I hate it. But don't you hate a haircut every time on the first day of having it I hate it. Really? Yeah. It's nice. I hate it. But don't you hate a haircut every time on the first day of having it? When it looks fresh, I find it mortifying.

Then people know you've had a haircut. I haven't had my haircut for a while. You know, how long's your hair? About here. I shaved it off a few years ago and I did go to a barber and paid £15 for them to just do that. The problem was I'd bleach my hair. So when it was shaved, I felt quite cool because it was blonde and then shaved off the blonde

and that was not cute. That took a long time to be okay. Were you wearing a hat during that time? Yes. Did you have a particular go-to hat that was like, that's why? I had, was it that hat that I was wearing at the time? I had a bucket hat with daisies all over it that I was given. Nice. Just in case people like, I remember you. Yeah, we're trained with my name on it. Do you meet many daisies? I meet James's all the time and they try and make a big deal of like, oh good James too.

It's like, it's a common name. I don't have a connection with you mate, but do you have that with Daisy? Do you feel connected? I worked with an actress called Daisy Head. It's fantastic. And I worked with an AD called Daisy Rogers. Fantastic. So just in the biz.

It's an industry name. Yeah, maybe. It's an industry name. I'm trying to think. I probably have somewhere else, but those are the two that come to mind. My agent's called Daisy. Oh really?

Shout out. It's an industry name. Producer of the Taskmaster podcast, Daisy. Oh. There you go. There we go. Turns out it's nominative determinism really, isn't it? If you call Daisy, you're going to be in the biz.

Exactly. Anyone listening who's called Daisy who's not in the biz, you have let yourself down. It's very embarrassing. Daisy May Cooper. Daisy May Cooper. Oh yeah. We'll just do this for the rest of it. Or we could talk about Cleaner, your new film. That you loved.

I absolutely loved it. I thought it was so good. Watched it, loved it. Yeah. What was your favourite moment? I thought the whole thing I felt was like, just very, the tone was lovely. I loved the performances. And it made me feel it was very thought provoking as well, which I guess, did that come across

in the script when you read it? Is that what drew you to it? That was so good, man. That was really good. And you just like Sky Originals, don't you? I mainly like Sky Originals, the genre that I like the film. The Sky movies. Yes, I like Sky Originals. It was an actual answer to this question. I really wanted to work with Martin Campbell, the great Martin Campbell, directed Two of the Bonds, directed some of the best movies ever. So when I saw his name there, I was very excited.

But I loved the script, it's proper great action movie and the relationship that you might have been referring to. The tone of the relationship with me and my brother in the movie is really genuinely lovely. So getting to explore that with Matt, who plays the role of Michael, who's my brother in the movie, was really lovely. Was there a scene that like, because you said you really wanted to work with Martin, was there a scene where you were like, yeah, this is what, like, if it stands out in your head, that's like, yeah, this is like a really good day at work, really fun film in this scene.

And what I thought it would be like to collaborate with this guy. It's interesting, because I was rewatching his movies as we were filming. And what I was really struck by is we all know the great action set pieces that Martin does, but rewatching his movies, there's always so much humor and real resonance in the characters' relationships. So one of the things that felt very fun to do in that way, a very sort of charged relationship. I've also never sworn as much ever in a movie. I swear so much at my boss in the film. He is such a plonker.

I love that you didn't even swear describing him there. You were like, I've done all my swearing. We're just going to call him a plonker. I've done it all. Full delt boy. But he was, that was very fun. And that's the sort of humor, I think that Martin does really well in his films. And then honestly falling from the ceiling and, you know, I refer to it as my Spider-Woman moment

and putting a plastic bag over someone's head and resting them to the ground and taking them out. Did you do all that stuff? Were you trying to trip James up? No, I did. Oh my God, does that sound like a joke? No, that's real. All that stuff happened.

Yeah. All that stuff happened. James knows. I was just waiting for James to go, yeah, I love that bit with the ceiling and you to go, well, that didn't happen in that. Yeah. It did happen. Now I've rewatched that scene.

Re-wound it. Yeah, re-wound it, re-watched it. Yeah. I was like, that'll definitely come up. When you put the plastic bag over someone's head, how much rehearsal are you doing for that? That one was actually, that was a moment where I thought I actually don't know that I can carry on because the adrenaline was so high. Getting used to, I mean, I'm used to stunt riggers who are incredible, but a lot of what

we had been doing was, you know, pre-programmed. So you know where everything's going to end up. But the moment that I'm referring to, I had two stunt rigors holding me up and I'm, however, I don't know, 15 feet in the air. So someone had to hold my toe so I wasn't swinging when I dropped. So someone would be holding my toe to keep me still. Then they'd run away. We'd already be rolling.

And then they'd have to drop me. And it was a heavy drop. So I had to drop and hope I didn't hurt my ankles and then getting the bag over someone's head and then there's a sequence of things that I have to do. That it took like 15 goes to get it right and my adrenaline was so high, I was shaking so much. So you're actually dropping from the ceiling and killing someone with a plastic bag. I mean one of the real funny moments in the shoot was my makeup artist, Charlie came up

to me and she goes, God, can you imagine if you were on the side of the building and this was happening inside and you had to save the day? I was like, that's literally my job. Constantly imagining that. Yeah. This is going to segue into food. Watch this. Okay.

When you're doing a scene. We've been through this. Don't announce a segue before you do the segue. Watch this. Okay. When you're doing a scene like that a scene like that, and the adrenaline's all over the place, are you eating anything, drinking anything to get yourself going? Get yourself, get your sugar levels up. Not a good segue. Stop tapping me. For the first time ever, I ordered meals for this shoot because I knew it would be incredibly

taxing physically. So I had a structured meal plan, which was very good. And so I'm making sure I had what I needed. But we actually had our four o'clock hot chocolate club, which was really nice. We had an amazing barista Carlo on set. It was actually a very nice day, a way to break up the day because often with this, we were in the same location for a lot of it. And it's nice to just have a little afternoon moment. So a hot chocolate in the afternoon. Who's in the hot chocolate club? Yeah.

It was me, Tamsin, hair and makeup designer, Charlie, Simon, the writer, and then various people would sort of come in and out. But we were the, I called us the fireside crew because we had a heat or it was very cold in the studio. Clive Owen, not in the hot chocolate club? He could have been. It wasn't that he wasn't invited, but he wasn't there for... The door was open. The door was open, yeah.

But I can't imagine. Can't imagine Clive Owen in the hot... in the fireside crew? Yeah, fireside crew. Can't imagine Clive Owen drinking a hot chocolate on his own. Can you imagine that? What? Can you imagine that man drinking a hot chocolate? Yes.

No way. What do you imagine him drinking? I can't imagine him smiling. Oh my God. But also you will know that I've done a film with Clive before. Yeah, I do. What was the name of it again? What was the name of it again? Post or pre-production. The release. What was the release of the film called? Big Bird. Big Bird? Yeah. Big. It's a Sesame Street Universe movie Big Bird? Yeah. Big Bird. It's a Sesame Street Universe movie. Yeah, it's a Sesame Street movie. It is.

With the perspective, it's the Big Bird origin story. Also, just to be clear, Clive is fantastic. He wasn't in that much, which is why he wasn't in the Fireside crew. I think he's fantastic. And I think he's, I bet he's got a sense of humor, he's a laugh, but I can't imagine him drinking a hot chocolate.

If anyone can imagine Clive Owen drinking a hot chocolate, then they should be an actor. That's a good imagination. A martini maybe, could you imagine him drinking a martini? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, and that's why he got close, but no cigar. We always start with still a sparkling water, Daisy. Do you have a preference? Still, please.

Very, very to the point. I struggled to understand sparkly water. You struggled to understand it. You can't even conceive of it. Like I have a few sips, but it's one of those things that when people are just having glass after glass, I think, oh, it's just like a, it's not for me. No.

Yeah, that many glasses is kind of crazy. I think if you're having more than one glass of spark in water, then that is quite psychotic. I'll glug it. Yeah, that's so strange. Point made. If it's mixed with something, like I'm a big fan of a physi, elderflower. So if you've got elderflower cordial in there, chug away, but not by itself.

Chug away at the elderflower cordial. What is it about? Cause I've never been able to get on with elderflower cordials. Really? But I would say my mum, my sister, my partner, all huge fans. So I clearly- You're trying to make this a gender thing? Oh dear. Oh no, I've done it.

I didn't even realize. Yeah. What you're saying there is- I'm making it a gender thing. You ladies love Elderflower. That's what you're trying to say. Why do the ladies love Elderflower? I don't know why the ladies plural do, but I love it.

I gave up fizzy drinks years ago for Lent. So I never really went back to the, the big brands. I don't know if you're allowed to say I'm on here, the Cokes and what have you. But for whatever reason, cause my mom likes elderflower. So I think I, you know, I took it from her. Maybe it is a gender. Any, any fellas who'd likeflower, tweet the podcast. Tweet. Huh? Tweet is so outdated. Oh yeah, don't do that.

Any fellas who like elderflower. I'll have an elderflower. I like an elderflower. Yeah. With fizzy water. Cancel the tweets. It's been disproven already. What else have you given up for Lent in the past?

I think I tried to give up chocolate. That didn't happen. Glad to hear it. That was the only thing, fizzy drinks, and I really stuck to it. That's the only one that's got it completely. You did it. Did it. I remember talking to my gran at the time and I said, oh, do you give up anything?

And she was a Christian. And she said, you get to my age and you don't need to give anything up. She said, I have my pleasures and that's what I like. You know? Yeah. And I thought, you get to my age and you don't need to give anything up. She said, I have my pleasures and that's what I like. You know? Yeah. And I thought that was quite lovely. I think if my gran said to me, I have my pleasures. I know the way I said it. Oh, God. She didn't say it like that. I'm really apologised for how that's happened.

I'm giving up visiting you for length, man. I never come in here again. You never mention your pleasures again. Oh my God. Oh, that's nice. Once you get to that edge, it's like, no way. Yeah. Why would I do that? Why would I sort of weirdly punish myself?

And then actually someone said something about taking up something is quite a lovely thing to do. Smoking for lens. I didn't do that. That's anti Jesus, isn't it? He wasn't taking up anything in the desert. Is that what it was? I don't know. Is it in the desert? I think it's like he goes in the desert, doesn't he? He's in the desert for ages and then he comes out on pancake day or something.

No! Pancake day was this week. Pancake day's been. So pancake day kicks off Lent. He had pancakes before he went in the desert to give him enough energy. Pancake day cleared out all of the cupboards of people who were about to embark on Lent. I do know that. So he had a pancake went into the desert and didn't have any fizzy drinks while he was there. Correct?

Certainly not elderflower. Then at the end he went, I have my pleasures. He said to one of the people right in the Bible, write this down. I have my pleasures. I have my pleasures. I have my pleasures. Oh my God. I could have, I'm going to do it. But yeah, write that in the Bible. The guy following him around writing the Bible.

Yeah. Yeah. There was a few of them, weren't there? Four of them at least. Yeah. The main guys. Yeah. Writing a lot of it.

Yeah. Have you got my mother told you this stuff? She must have. Oh my God. I'm so mortified at how I expressed my grandmother's sentiments. Yes. You made us sound like a past. Oh God. Please don't ask us to edit it out though, because it was funny. And you come across fine. It's an understandable mistake to make. Problems or bread? Problems or bread? Daisy Reddy? Problems or bread? Bread. It's an understandable mistake to make. Pop-a-dum's on bread! Pop-a-dum's on bread! Tasty, ready? Pop-a-dum's on bread!

Bread. Well, I suppose it's a case by case thing. If I'm in an Indian restaurant, of course I would take a pop-a-dum. But for the most part, I would take bread, yeah. But we're not in an Indian restaurant for your dream meal? No, no. Do you have a look of a restaurant for your dream meal? Like, what atmosphere do you want to be dining in? So, I have actually spoken about my mother's dining table before, but to

me that encompasses love and shared food. So it would probably look a little something like that where there's too many people for the table, there are too many chairs, obviously you want the dream restaurant to be comfortable. But that to me is the epitome of sharing in something when there's not quite enough room, you know? So just a cozy space. Do people talk about table shape often? Not enough.

Not enough, I'd say. Yeah. Because the difficulty is, with a lot of people on a circular table, you can't speak to the person opposite you. So I feel like a rectangular table is nice because then you've got the person to the left or right of you and the person opposite, but then you can't speak to the person down the other way. So I suppose it would be a change each course situation. Change the table shape or change the seats. Change the seats. We can do it either.

Or change the table shape. It's the dream restaurant so it can be a constantly evolving table. Yeah, I'd say a rectangular long table and people change seats every time. Okay, nice. But it has to be a proper shuffle around, not just like move one. Yeah, unless you're in the middle of a really good conversation, then you wouldn't want to move. How do you feel about situations like a dinner party or something though, or a wedding where

you're deliberately sat next to someone that you don't know? I'm not a huge fan of that. I just feel like it can be uncomfortable. Although I went to my friend's wedding last year and I actually ended up knowing someone that was there, not accidentally because it wasn't accidental, but I was like, oh, okay. But the earlier part of the wedding, everybody went to the pub.

So there was the ceremony, then we went to the pub, then we went back. And I told myself to be brave. And I walked up to a group of people and said, hello, I'm alone here. Can I chat to you? And they were so lovely. So it was a good lesson in overcoming that real intense awkwardness, I would usually feel. How much of it was they were lovely and you went up and said, Hello, I'm alone. Can I

talk to you? And how much of it was, it's Daisy Ridley. No, it wasn't that. It wasn't that. Because later on they went, oh my god. Right, okay, that's the best case scenario. They were faking that. Daisy, we haven't known you very long, but you're a gullible bastard. Oh my god. They were faking it.

They had a few drinks in them later on and then they go, oh my god. No, everyone had had a few. But I have to say it was, I mean, shout out Lois and Kieran, it was one of the most joyful weddings or parties. Everyone was so lovely and everyone really spoke to each other. That's impressive. There's normally a rogue person at a wedding. I did go to three other weddings last summer. There were no rogue people anywhere actually.

What kind of bread we talking? I mean, probably a sourdough because that's what tends to be in a restaurant, but fresh out the oven real warm. And I'm a vegan, so I'm not taking butter, but I will take a delicious olive oil and balsamic dip and with a sprinkle of salt. How much salt are you putting on? Because I put on the amount of salt when I'm in public that I feel like is socially acceptable. But if I was by myself, it's going to be about four times, four times the amount. I don't know that my salt depends on the pressure. I feel like it's, it's just a standard sprinkle.

Okay. Yeah. Your dream starter. Okay. So this is the one that I think I actually, well, I have two options here. So one is there's a vegan restaurant in LA called Crossroads that is so tasty and they do impossible cigars. So yeah, it's like filo pastry with impossible meat inside and it's rolled up and they do like an almond dip and it is just so fucking nice.

But there's also a restaurant in Liverpool, and I wish I could remember the name, but it's an Italian restaurant down a tiny little alleyway that my husband was doing a TV show there and we were recommended it. And they had this dish that was butter beans in a creamy sauce the non-vegans had Parmesan on, I did not, with truffle.

And it was mind-blowingly delicious with a delicious crusty bit of bread to dip into it too. That sounds great. Are you doing research, Benito? Are you trying to find the name of this place? I actually tried to find it because we went back there. It's off, if the bombed out church is here and you walk up the road before you take the right onto Hope Street, it's in there, and I remember this because the hotel is called Hope Street Hotel. Yeah. It's in there somewhere. So it's really close to the Hope Street Hotel and the Bombdale Cathedral. While Benito's trying to search for it. Are you too young to remember Blazing Squad? No, I'm not too young. I love Blazing Squad.

Are you capable of going to crossroads and not thinking about them? See you at the crossroads. Stop crying. Love Blazing Squad. Who was your favorite member of Blazing Squad? How many members were there? A lot. They were a lot. And I feel like they were like four or five main ones. And then what they'd done quite nicely is they just got a load of their mates to be like, they're in the band as well, even though they didn't do anything. They just gave them names. I think Kenzie was sort of the lead guy, right? I didn't know you were such a... Fisionardo. Kenzie from Blazing Squad.

I know there was one called Strider. Oh, there was Strider. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'm struggling really. I remember Kenzie and Strider. It was like So Solid Crew, all those amazing big bands. Yeah. But same with So Solid Crew.

I don't think we heard from a lot of them. Asher D. Asher D, of course, but I mean, just like when they were So Solid Crew. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a lot of people who Ashaddy of course, but I mean just like when they were so solid crew, there was a lot of people who were clearly on admin roles. Well also I saw an interview with who was it? And they said 21 seconds came from the fact everyone was allowed 21 seconds to have their piece from the band. Yeah. How great! What a diplomatic way of showcasing. On that song, 21 seconds each. They all had 21 second verses, Yeah, we should have that role on the podcast me and you

21 seconds each. Yeah at a time not throughout the whole pod But like Benito should start a stopwatch every time we start talking and then we've got to stop Mm-hmm, what 21 seconds? How do you think that how do you think that experience would be for you Daisy if the hosts spoke for 21 seconds each? Why don't we see? Yeah, yeah. Let's find out. Yeah, I'll get stopwatch up. It's quite similar to something that happens on one of Benito's other podcasts. Is it? What happens on one of his other podcasts?

On Listen Perfect Brains, they do the conch, which is this idea basically. Is it? Yeah, yeah. Forget it. So you've got to choose between these two dishes. Okay, in speaking about them, I'd say the bean dish. I think the bean dish, you're really into that bean dish. Yeah, yeah, it was so good. The fact you listed exactly,

basically the coordinates of the restaurant. Yeah. I feel like it's going to be bean dish. And then actually there was another time I was really torn because there's also a great vegan restaurant called Down the Hatch in Liverpool, but I wanted the beans so much that we went there for starters and then went down the hatch for a main and a dessert. So you can do a vegan crawl around Liverpool. Yeah. They got some good options. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But down the hatch, oh yeah. I feel like in most cities there's one amazing vegan restaurant. There was one in Sheffield, I can't remember the name, but there's always one really good one. Bean dish sounds like one word to me. Bean dish. Bean dish, yeah. Every time you kept saying it.

Like fiendish. Like f, yeah. Every time he kept saying it. Like fiendish. Like fiendish. Fiendish. Yeah, yeah. I just thought it was a nice name for it. The fiendish bean dish. The Halloween dish.

Yeah. That was when Jesus went into the swamp and he came out and he scared a lot of kids. Very Christian festival Halloween, isn't it? Very Christian. Do you do Halloween? I want to be someone that does Halloween and I end up not really. The last time I actually did Halloween, I was in LA and went to someone's house and it was amazing.

The neighborhood was amazing, but I had very quickly got a costume together. You know, in Mean Girls, when she turns up in that, it was like that. Everyone else was so put together and there was me. I didn't have fake teeth in, but sort of grayish makeup. I didn't even have everything was just off. And I felt really embarrassed and I wish I hadn't dressed up at all. What were you dressed up as? I had found this, I'd found this dress in a winter trot and it was so itchy too. It was horrible. So why was a dead, I don't know, something. Yeah. Yeah. So you hadn't thought about what you were. I've, I mean, I've done those Halloweens before as well. You're just like, well, I'm

yeah, I'm done. And I wanted to take part. Yeah. You should have said that to everyone. Just walk in and go, guys, I want to take part. Just want to let you know I'm a dead something. Yeah, I'm here. Yeah. You must have had people dress up as you for Halloween. Yes, yes. I've never seen anyone in real life do it. Never, but I've seen pictures. So we go with the bean dish. The bean dish, but shout out to Crossroads. Shout out to Crossroads.

Is that in LA? Yeah. Oh really? Yeah, so tasty. Well there you go. So we've had this ago already on the pod. So I'm adding this. Which makes me think,

I've probably asked the Blazers Squad question before. Maybe, but this was a long time ago. I can't see myself here in Crossroads back then, Ed, and not saying, but the Blazer squad thing. When Sam Carter was on the podcast, very early on in the life of this podcast, and he picked the cigars, you must have done the Crossroads stuff. I must have. I apologize. That's okay.

Because I have no memory of this, but clearly I've repeated. We can see how close the riff was to identical and what you brought to it. You know, I bet you can lay the riffs over the top of each other and you just say the exact same thing. Yeah. I'm just saying the same thing. Think of them. Oh, this is off the top of my head. That's great.

Your dream main course. So this is the one that's very difficult for me. So for me, I feel like in trying to think about, I go to similar restaurants, I often try things, but I try to be trying other things. But you know, they're my favorites that I come back to. But I think food for me is so emotional and home signifying that part of me feels like honestly, sausage and mash with bistro, gravy and peas. That's one. And I'm a vegan now, but my gran used to make a casserole with boiled potatoes and peas. So that is also another. Is that the pleasure's grand? Yes.

I was going to say the Christian grand, but fair enough. Was the casserole one of her pleasures? Oh my God, sorry, mum. My mum now does it, but now obviously don't eat it. But in terms of emotion and home, that's it. And then you're looking at an honest burger, the classic vegan bacon. But I know that's not really, but those are the things to... Why aren't you thinking the burger? Well, because I feel like people, you know, talk about incredibly luxurious things. Not really.

Sometimes they do, but you've got to go with what you feel. What you genuinely want to eat. Yeah. Unlike a, not that I was always saying, I haven't worked in a little while, but at the end of a work week, what I would love to do is sit down with either a burger or sausage and mash probably. I think that's what you've got to go for. If it's your dream meal, if you're putting together literally what you want. Here we go.

How about this Daisy? Go on. You get the burger. Yeah. We get the burger. We get it. We get the burger. Yeah. We get the burger.

We get it. We get it. Well, this is what we're going to do. Okay. We put it on a plate. What if we did this and then we build the mash around it with the sausages in it. And then so you have the sausage and mass and then inside you've got your burger there. That sounds horrible.

Yeah, that sounds so gross. What if we put the burger in a bell jar? And then the mash over the... I think that sounds worse. Imagine licking mash over a bell jar. You have to lick it off of there. The mash will be stuck to the bell jar. But for sure it always has to be Bisto gravy. I know the gravy purists will say no, but for me the Bisto gravy out of the red carton.

Nostalgic. But then I also do love a roast dinner. Visto surely making an appearance there as well. Yeah. And I do also, yeah, I cook meat, although I don't eat it. So that is usually involved in the roast, but maybe it would be roast potatoes with sausages. Oh, I don't know. There's a lot going on. I don't know. There's a lot going on. Also, I think by virtue of being away a lot for work, it is just about home. Yeah. So it's funny, because even the idea of a restaurant, I picture everything in a home.

With everyone sat around the table. Which by the way, loads of people sat around a table, too many people and everyone's reaching in and sharing, is my nightmare. Is it? Well, I don't like the reaching and someone's getting burnt and whatever. Like if there was a way that the food appeared

on everyone's plate at the same time, perfect. And there were enough gravy jugs that it's not running out by the time it gets to the other end, you know. Because if you're at the wrong end and you can see the gravy going around, I'm just so anxious. Yeah. And even if someone says, like your mum or whatever, oh, there's more gravy in the kitchen, don't worry about it.

Like the mum. You're like, well, fucking bring it in now. Yeah. Bring it in now and, don't worry about it. Like the mum. You're like, well, fucking bring it in now. Yeah. Bring it in now and let's start down this end. Also, I eat quite quickly. So me and my mum cooked for my mum's friend last week for her birthday. And then I was sort of wedged in. So I wanted to go and get more and I couldn't get out.

And that was quite stressful. How much were you wedged in? There wasn't much room. Well, there were two people aside of me, but you know, there were too many people. Yeah, yeah. That's far too many people if you're wedged in. You can't even get up. You can get to the toilet.

Well, I mean, I mean, it's people just passing the too many people if you're wedged in, you can't even get up if you needed the toilet. Well, I mean, it's people just passing the food to you and you're just like in the corner. Yeah, so then eventually I was passing more and then I left and sort of stayed down the other end so I was free. Just went and stood in the corner. Yeah, standing up, holding your plate.

Yeah, just. Facing the wall like Blair Witch. Asking for more, yeah. Yeah. That's nice, you and your mum making something for a friend. Yeah. I was only meant to do, what was I doing? Oh, I was doing jeweled rice for it. So I was only meant to be doing the jeweled rice and then ended up doing it. What's that?

Well, I had been to New York a couple of weeks before and I went for dinner with my publicist in this delicious restaurant. Again, wish I could tell you the name, can't? Where is it exactly? It's 50 steps east of the lago. Yeah. It was a 15 minute drive from the hotel I was staying in. Anyway, she wasn't into it from outside. It wasn't giving what I think the restaurant was actually giving. And we went in and it was a Super Bowl day, so it was quite empty. So you never can tell, you know, if a restaurant is a bit empty. But they did this, I think in America, they do fried

Brussels sprouts so well. On every menu as well. Every menu. Yeah. So they had done amazing sprouts and then they did this jeweled rice that was just perfect and it had all of the fruit and everything in it, but then it had crispy onions on top. There's fruit in this rice. That's the jewels, baby.

That's the jewels. What fruit? Bananas? Well, the one I made was slightly different. So it was bananas, dried apricots, dried cranberries, almonds, pomegranate, big one, various other things. Oh, nice. Yeah. It's delicious. What do you think the Jules were?

I don't know really. I guess like something nice and sparkly. Like? In the right. Yeah. Yeah Bell job. Yeah, well, that would be good wouldn't it device around a bell jar Have some jewels in the back of the boat. Yeah, once you've finished all the rice you get a nice load of jewels That would be the opposite of you saying I don't want anything too fancy and saying actually I do want a pile of rice with some jewels. Yes please. Are you leaning towards any of these options?

You've got three options here. Bisto makes a play in all of them I think. Not in the burger. Not in the burger. Although would you? Well we can chat about that. No, no, no, no, no, no. You wouldn't pour Bisto on a burger?

No. If I went for a chip shop chip, which sometimes, yeah, I would never order gravy, but I would occasionally use gravy to dip my chips in. I mean, really I'm thinking about sausage and mash and peas. And are we going back to a time before you were vegan? No, no. So this isn't the This Isn't Sausages. That's the brand name. This Isn't Sausages is the brand name.

The brand name is This Isn't. Yeah. And these are the This Isn't. Yeah. And these are the This Isn't sausages. It's wordy, ain't it? Yeah. Not so much, it's just This Isn't. This isn't. This isn't.

This isn't. They do all sorts, but the sausages are very good. This isn't sausages. This isn't sausages. And I will use a vegan butter in the mash, of course. What's vegan butter like? Has it been a successful recreation of butter? Do you think? I haven't had it in, I haven't had butter in so long that to me it's delicious.

But it tastes like normal butter. To me. I've had that with stuff. I had it with cocoa. I just gave up all caffeine, just like you were saying, actually. Did you just say you had butter with cocoa? Yes. You would do that. I had butter with cocoa. I do always do that. I'm going to give it up for Lent. I've had too much butter and cocoa. No, I gave up caffeine. And then I didn't have caffeine for ages. And so I didn't have cokes.

And then I started drinking diet coke and it just tasted like normal coke. Oh, I can't get on board with the diets. I don't do them anymore. So give them caffeine again. Which are you going to have? I think you're leaning towards the, Are you settled on the sausage and mash? Yeah, I'd say sausage and mash, yeah. Sausage and mash, great.

How many This Isn't Sausages are you having within a standard portion of Daisy's sausage and mash? I'd say I'd probably put three on my plate and come back from a fourth. Yes. Go back for a fourth, yeah. You can't go four on the plate for the first helping, can you? No, and I feel like I try to be,

because I often do myself quite a big portion. I'm trying to be a bit dainter, you know, trying to do something and go, Oh, I'll just have a bit more. Cause I feel like that's quite civilized. Even if you end up having eaten the same amount of food. Exactly. Same amount. I feel it's quite civilized to go for seconds.

So it's not going to look like the beano sausage and mash. No, that's great though. Yeah. Yeah. Beano sausage and mash. I wish I I I don't like the sausages sticking out You do. Yeah, but then how you're gonna have to take them out the mash to cut them anyway, right? That's so true Yeah, it's great. It looks great. You know, it's great. Yeah. Yeah, that's first bites with the eye. Would you agree Daisy? By is with the eye for sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's the thing too

Sometimes if people to put too much on my plate, I feel it's overwhelming my senses and actually I'd rather it look eatable. I like going back for seconds as well. Even when I get a takeaway and me and my wife disagree on this, she'd rather put everything on the plate in the kitchen, then take it through and eat it all on the plate. But I go starters. Oh, I don't do that. On a plate.

Then I'm like, I eat those quickly. Yeah. And then we have to pause the telly again, because I'm straight back up again. No, we do a lot of pausing. Yeah. Guess whose side I'm on in this. Yeah. No, I would put everything on a plate, but I feel like if you're getting a takeaway,

I would have a little quick nibble before you've sat down for the starter. Oh yeah, you've got to have a quick nibble walking to wherever you're sitting. Yeah. But yeah, I'm just taking the starters through What's the problem with that? It's crazy what so if you order a curry and you get some samosas onion barji Whatever all on the plate all on the plate with the kind of like all on the table that or somewhere that's near the TV So I'm not having to lay down. I'm not eating at the table. I'm not

Especially if the other person's doing all on the plate. I'm not going to just go just starters have those pause the thing you're watching go away. Load up your plate. But that goes for her doesn't it? She should then go well you're doing this I'll join in with that. No, because yours makes less sense. What having starters if you're in a restaurant. Which are not.

But it makes more sense if you order the barge, you'd get those first, wouldn't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then I still feel like I like them, I like a few and then I still like them to be there when I'm having my main. Yeah. That's the advantage of doing it at home is that you don't have to do it one by one. You can mix the mains and the starts like Daisy says. It's not an advantage.

Interestingly I did actually go to one of the restaurants that had been recommended on this very podcast. Did you? And it was like Daisy says. It's not an advantage. Interestingly, I did actually go to one of the restaurants that had been recommended on this very podcast. Did you? And it was very good. Yeah. By us? I won't name which. By us or the guest?

You can name it whatever else. Apparently, it had been named a couple of times. But what's sort of funny about the whole thing is I wasn't supposed to go to this dinner. There's a group of people that go for dinner often and one of the people invited me and another person and we went and that person didn't go. So we had a really nice time, but I already felt slightly surplus to requirements. Also shout out because one of those people listens to this. But it was, yeah, they said, Oh, this restaurant had been recommended a number of times. So we went and it was, and they didn't like it either.

No, it wasn't good. Yeah. Go on. What was it? No, genuinely. I actually, I don't know what it is. Well, also, cause I Go on, what was it? Believe it out? No, genuinely, I don't know what it is. But also, because I looked on Google, because I really judge restaurants by Google reviews, and the Google reviews were so low, like below four. 3.7, I think. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Time's up.

Your dream side dish. Do you know, I was thinking about this, because was going to say if I didn't have the impossible cigars for a starter, maybe I'd do those for a side, but actually maybe I'd do Brussels sprouts because peas are included already, right? That is my main dish. Oh, in the mash? Yeah. Sure.

Yeah. So you've got three sausages and then one in the kitchen. Yeah. And I've got mashed potato and I've got peas on the plate and I've got gravy. Yeah. Yeah. So you've got three sausages and then one in the kitchen. Yeah. And I've got mashed potato and I've got peas on the plate and I've got gravy. Yeah. So I can have another side dish. Yeah. That's all one dish. Yeah. I'd say Brussels, but I also have started doing these carrots very recently that are a maple miso garlicky carrot. You put them on the hob for a little bit, put them in the oven. So good.

So maybe those two. I feel like we can let you have both of those. Yeah. Okay. One of those dishes that's like split in the middle and you can put two different things in. Nice. How are these Brussels prepared?

Well, I just don't know how they make them so good because whenever I try to do them at home, they just don't work. So presumably there is a deep fried process somewhere. Right. But always cut in half, always crispy around the edges. Quite simple. Garlicy, oily. I feel like roasting them is just as good to be honest. But sometimes roasting makes them soft. And these are particularly crisp. Yes. I think leaving the outer leaves on is important. When I've roasted them, you leave those outer leaves on that you would normally take off. You go, that's disgusting. Leave those bad

boys on. They're crisping up. You guys really know your stuff about vegetables. Brussels. I don't know. All of this is like news to me. I'm learning. You've been saying that for five years, man. Yeah. I learned a lot. I mean, pretty impressive. We've been doing the podcast for seven. So that's quite good. You refused to learn for the first two.

Yeah, yeah. I didn't learn anything. Now look at you. All the research, watching all the films and people coming on. Multiple times. Multiple times. Rewinding your favourite bits. Cleaner. Out now. Not out now. Out in a few days. Not out now, James. How do you watch it?

It's in my house, all the center. You do a lot of cooking? Yes, I would say so. You're saying you're cooking meat at home, but you're not eating it. Yeah, so I cook meat for my husband. Well, the other day I cooked one omelet for my husband, one omelet for my mom.

What did I cook for myself? I was like, wow, I'm literally preparing three different meals for breakfast. Yes, so I cook all sorts, but yeah, I think cook quite a lot. My mum's a veggie, so, and does like most of the cooking at home. So now my dad's just a veggie at home. Oh really? Yeah.

Why did your husband demand meat? It was funny, for a long time in lockdown, there was no meat cooking. I'm very unjudgmental. Like people do what they want to do. It's really, it's my choice. It really does not affect anybody else. But it's quite funny because apparently I cook meat really well, but the only way I can judge it is by the people's faces who are eating. And there is a real lovely satisfaction in watching people enjoy something that you really actually can't enjoy.

That's mad, isn't it? That as a vegan, you've been blessed with the skill of cooking meat so well. Yeah. That's a film. That's a film. Come on. That's a film. Let's take this to the big guys. Who are they?

Come on, you know the big guys. Sky Original. Sky Original. Yeah. You must have met the big guys. A couple of them. How much more detail do you think we'd need before we went to the big guys? The lead character in our mind played by Daisy Ridley. She's a vegan, but she's

been cursed with the skill of cooking meat really well. Blessed. All blessed depending on how you look at it. That's the ambiguity. The audience to us. Yes. And we can say you're attached. Yeah. Thank you. Let's go to the big guys. Yeah. How long do you think we'd last in the big guy room? I don't know if I'd last in the big guy room. You'd last in the big guy room. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're the last one. They'll kick out in the, in the pitch. Just get rid of us all. Yeah, but you'll be, we'll get kicked out slightly earlier than you. We'll be waiting for you in the next room.

Right. They'll kick you out too? Yeah. Yeah. How'd it go? Not good. Not good. I tried to carry on the pitch on my own, but it was mainly your, you guys were the passionate

ones about it. I didn't really, they could tell my heart wasn't in it. Have you ever been in a meeting where at the end of the meeting they go, well, nice to meet you. And then as you're walking out, the the end of the meeting they go, well, nice to meet you. And then as you're walking out, the person you're with, they go, could you stick around? I've got something else I wanted to talk to you about. Has that happened to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really? Yeah, of course. Who was that? I think it was my manager actually. They were like, clearly wanted to talk about one of his other clients. Oh no. Brilliant. And it hadn't gone well, you know.

That's great. But maybe it was just you. I also want to talk to you about door closes. You to drop that. That guy sucks. Was that guy's name again? I hate that guy. We had respect for you before you bought that guy in here.

We had never had to meet him with you again. If you don't drop that guy. Yeah. I do feel like people have become quite okay with saying things that are sort of a backhanded compliment, but the opposite. What would you say a backhanded compliment, but the opposite is? A front handed insult. Insult. Yeah, a front handed insult.

Someone came over to me at something recently and I was with someone who was in something they really, really liked. So that person was getting a lot of feedback. Fantastic. But someone came over to me and they go, I watched Sometimes I Think About Dying, which I know you loved. Yeah, yeah. It really comes into its own on the fifth watch. Exactly. And they came over and went, watch that. It was really interesting.

Really, really good. And I thought, all right, why are you saying it like that? It was a front-handed insult. Interesting is such a, I hate that. Yeah, because I think he did mean that he liked it, but also there was an element of him saying it that was, how did you do that? You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should become a comedian, that's all we get.

Yeah. All we get is... How do you think that went? I would absolutely kill for interesting. Yeah. They come up to you and go, all right, my girlfriend thinks you're quite funny. I don't get it to be honest, I think you're shit. Oh, yeah, well people do that to be honest, I think you're shit.

Oh yeah, well people do that to me. That's what you face. Well, interestingly, in Sometimes I Think About Dying, you'll know I am opposite a standup comedian. Yes. He was in Rummy, but this was his first foray into film and he was phenomenal. But one of the moments was an,

what I thought was an improvised moment. We're walking up this hill and he has to try and make me laugh. So he was telling me this story and I think he got a bit of a chuckle out of me. And I went and saw him last summer. He was here. And I saw him do some stand up and I was talking to his friend after the show and he had used it before. And he said on set that it was a totally new story he'd come up with. And he only got a bit of a chuckle out of you. He got a little chuckle. That would have been, he'd come up with. And he only got a bit of a chuckle out of you. He got a little chuckle, yeah.

That would have been, he would have felt bad for that. Yeah, but he wasn't the one that told me, his friend was. His friend said, oh my God, when I watched the film, he used that bit on me. Yeah, but I mean, as he's delivering it to you, filming and you're only chuckling, you're like, fucks sake. He knew that I'm not like a huge belly laugher all the time. So I think he knew that it was going to be a little tricky and the obstacle was to make me really laugh.

That's a terrifying note to get in a film, isn't it? Make her laugh. Make her laugh. Make her belly laugh. Walk up the hill and make her laugh. What? Just make her laugh. Don't do any old material.

Do people do that to you at weddings and things? Make me laugh. Or at like a party. James is such a bad vibe at a wedding. No one's going to ask him to do any old material. Yeah. Do people do that to you at weddings and things? Make me laugh. Or like at parties. James is such a bad vibe at a wedding. No one's going to ask him to do that.

No, I get a lot of hassle at a wedding. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Do you think bad vibes because you know people are going to ask or? No, definitely. I think I was pretty good vibes before I became a standup and people come up to you and say whatever they want. And now I'm like, oh no, here comes someone I don't know. This is going to be bad.

Whereas when I started out in standup, a very vivid memory of like, I would be on the train hoping I meet a crazy stranger and we can connect and talk about life. And now I'm just like, Oh, I don't like that version of you. Oh, I don't like that guy. I don't like me at any point. Yucky. But now I'm just like, I don't want to talk to any of them because I've been stung too many times when they come up and even if it starts good, it's going bad at some point.

That's why DJs at weddings a lot because then the idea is no one comes to talk to him. Yeah, but then... But then you get requests. Yes. So that's backfired quite a bit. I had a guy square up to me at one of my friends' weddings. Really? backfired quite a bit. I had a guy square up to me at my friend's wedding and really angry because I wasn't playing Brian Adams. And it was in this really weird venue, I had no Wi-Fi signal, so I could only play the playlist that Brian and Grim had given me. It was just as a favour to them. And he was thinking, this fucking big shot isn't playing what the people want. And he was hammered.

And I was having to and I was just, I was having to deal with the whole thing while trying to make sure the Brian and Grim been sick. So I want to ruin their day. Did they ever find out? They found out afterwards when someone else said to them, fucking hell, James had a stressful night. And then it was like-

Did they find it funny? No, they were a bit like, we're so sorry. I was like, you don't need to, nothing to do with you guys. I'm just glad I'm just glad you didn't know. When I was like, well, I'm going to get beaten up, but I just get beaten up very quietly. Muffle your pain. If you're going to kick my head in, can we get under the deck? You beat me up there. I'll hold a cushion at my stomach. You punch me through that.

Yeah. Your dream drink. Oh, my dream drink. Oh, you know what I'd go for? A lychee martini. Oh, lovely. Yeah. But quite a sweet one. Not too alcoholic.

I think we have our answer to who's playing Bond. Just a sweet, l Not too alcoholic. I think we have our answer to who's playing Bond. Just a sweet, a lychee martini. A lychee, quite sweet. No, I went to, because I am a fan of a lychee martini occasionally. And then I went to, I'm not going to fuck remember the name of it of course. I went to a somewhere very fancy in LA for a drink with my team. And I asked for a lychee martini and it was so strong. I took one sip and I don't drink very much. I was off my it was intense. So I would really err on the sweet, not to alcoholic side.

Drinks are strong in America. So strong. I mean, it was, it was a martini with a touch of, you know, but any drinks are just like, they're just free pouring and then putting a tiny bit of mixture in. I love it. Yeah. I take that over the sweet ones, but I get it. Oh really?

Yeah. Is there a lychee popped in there? Yeah, yeah, always. Bobbing around. Yeah. And then I'd go for a, cause I'm allergic to wine, so I don't go for a wine, but I'd always go for a dessert wine. Cause for whatever reason, I think the sugar content cancels out there.

What are you allergic to in the wine? Basically, the last time I had wine, I was so, so, so sick out of a cab, but I hadn't drunk that much. The only answer was I'm allergic to wine, because it had happened previously at a charitable dinner. So sick. And then weirdly, like a hangover the next day, but an emotional one for a number of days. It was horrible. But I think higher sugar content and things sort

of cancels that out. So dessert wine I'm okay with. Will there be, yeah, I guess slightly lower alcohol as well. But yeah, what, what is there a particular dessert wine that you're into? I mean, Tokai, God, I've actually remembered something. A Tokai or a Soturn or the Elysium. Oh no, I don't know. It's a little screw-tot, it's delicious. If you were Bond. Yeah.

I mean, I assume you'd say yes if they offered it to you. This is so funny. Sure. Yeah, I am Bond. Surprise, surprise. Yeah. That question, would you say yes if they offered it to you is Absolutely, and I don't mean it like this, but that is the most clickbait journalist question You could possibly ask is it yeah, would you say yes to bond if they offered it to you? Daisy Ridley says that she would love to be bond

Yeah, I am bond yeah, yeah Would you do it? Would you want to make some little alterations to it? Have a lychee martini. Maybe change some of the catchphrases. You know, do things differently. You're saying that we couldn't have a lady Bond who has a normal martini. Elderflower martini.

Sparkling elderflower. Yeah, you could say elderflower martini for the ladies. Have you ever seen Operation Mintzmeet? Yes. Oh, it's fantastic put on my teeny for the ladies. Have you ever seen Operation Mincemeat? Yes. Oh, it's fantastic. You know, they have the running gag with him trying to sell James Bond. It's so good.

Excellent show. It's a very, very good show. Yeah. I've actually been a number of times. You haven't seen it? Yeah. Oh my God. Even that.

I watch it most nights. This troop of friends did. Oh, it's just one of those amazing stories. My management produced it. Oh really? Yeah, yeah. That's what the person wanted to talk to his agent about. Go join my something.

He gave me tickets, the website crashed. I'd really love to get tickets to Operation Minxmeat. Tell Gumball he can come. Gumball. I'd love to be called Gumball. Fring Gumball. Okay, well, now that you've made it, I'm changing bond because of the gender thing that we can't Can't can't do that anymore. What do you mean? Well, I went out for with the lychee martini thing build a new bond

Yeah, well we can do that. No, I can't any other would you would you change the catchphrases or would you change the why? Because she's a lady Doesn't know it doesn't work as much as you going would you have a martini or would you have a lychee martini? A sweet cocktail. Would you change the catchphrases, Daisy? Oh my goodness, this is so ridiculous. You don't have to answer if you think it's going to become clickbait. I'm worried about that now.

I think that was the conversation previous about Jesus in the desert. I feel like that's more. That's on us. That's on us. There was the conversation previous about Jesus in the desert. I feel like that's more... That's on us. Yeah. That's on us. If they offered you the part of Jesus, would you take it? Oh my God!

Would you play Jesus? Okay, you've got three options. You can play either Jesus... They're all filming at the same time. Yeah. Jesus James or... Jesus Bond or... Why does it say three options and I don't prefer them?

Bond or, oh, why don't I say free option? Dream dessert. Okay. So this is nice because we've got a drink that sort of takes you from the mains through to the sweetness of the, of the lychee martini shake and all that. Um, again, I've got a couple options. One of which I think this is the one I'll probably go with. So my mom used to make us headshot cakes when we were little for our birthdays. So the look of that to me is wonderful.

You said, oh yeah, you've had a hedgehog. Like with matchmakers stuck in it. Yeah, yeah. So is it like... It just looks like a hedgehog. And then what, so it's matchmakers sticking in it for the spines. Matchmakers are the spikes. They can be, they just have a...

Like buttons for eyes or chocolate fingers. Yeah, yeah. I've seen people do it as just milk buttons or even just do it by like manipulating the icing in a way that looks like spikes. I've seen people do that. Yeah. That feels like a rip off. That can't do that.

People that can, well done. But we always went for the matchmaker sort of stick situation. Well, then you get an extra thing as well, right? You don't. Yeah, exactly. Different texture. So the look of that, but recently her friend, and I actually said to my mum, how would you feel about me saying this? Because it's her friend, not something she

made, but her friend makes this Nigella cake. It's a lemon polenta cake that is so tasty. And then she did a lemon curd ice cream, all vegan, on the side and it was really, really tasty. So that's sort of what has been present in my mind as I've been thinking about this. I love like any polenta cake. So good. It's so good. It's so moist. Is it made with olive oil as well?

Yes, a lot of olive oil. I think I've had that exact one. So crumbly. So good. So, so tasty. So I feel like that's sort of what I'm being drawn to. So lemon curd ice cream, is it just taste of lemon curd or is it like... Oh, it's so tasty. It's just creamy and lemony and enough tanginess but sweetness.

Do you have a favourite vegan ice cream, like a brand that you look out for? I had a vegan Magnum the other day. Very tasty. Yeah? Yeah. I had made... I didn't make it. Actually my husband made it. He had made dinner for two of my friends and we think about dessert and I thought, what can we do that's easy? And I thought, magnums actually. Hang on.

So he cooked the main. Yeah. I don't know why I was trying to take the credit for that. Were you in charge of dessert? Yeah. And I, it had been a busy day. You went shop. We went shop.

Yeah. Yeah. And I thought scooping of the ice cream, sometimes you're waiting for it to defrost all of that stuff. A magnum. There's something quite nice about that. It's definitely the lowest effort dessert. Oh, 100%.

Yeah. Yeah. But I tend to bring like a lemon drizzle cake to a situation. So they know I do bake. You've established your credentials already. Yeah. So they know you do bake. You've established your credentials already. Yeah. So they know you do do that. Honestly, one of my, one of my sort of sad moments was I did stand up to cancer bake

off and I'm actually quite a good baker. And I did so horribly on the show that it was sort of a running joke with my friends and family that I can't bake, but I can. But then you don't want to look like a brat, by going, usually I'm really good. And it's for charity and all of those things, but the pressure in the tent is so- The whole thing is a stitch up. The whole thing is like, that it's not fair,

the way it's done. So it makes very good bakers look fair. It's very fair. They did leave it a long time. So some of the others things hadn't set, but by the time they came to taste them, they had set. Who were you on with? I was on with Rob Beckett.

A cheat? Oh my God, Alexandra Burke, Tom Allen. There you go. Oh, it was such a fun episode. Lovely, Tom and Rob went to school together. Oh, it was fantastic. The two of them together were great, yeah. Well, then maybe that was it. You were just, you know.

Well, they had all practiced a lot. Yeah. No way Rob Beckett practiced. He did. He did? His things looked so professional. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And way Rob Beckett practiced. He did. He did. His things looked so professional. He's very competitive. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. And I was just really, I thought, God, I'm good. And I had actually made jam. And I took jam and I was not giving any credit for the jam. That's the life. It was so long ago. I should let it go. You're right.

Looking down the cameras, it's all going wrong. Saying, I'm so good is really. I literally started by saying, I'm either going to win or lose horribly. Yeah. And I lost horribly. I feel like you should have got credit for the jam or lose horribly. Yeah. And I lost horribly. I feel like you should have got credit for the jam.

Come on. Yeah, it wasn't mentioned. I mean, I've said it a number of times. They're like, get over it. Yeah. I thought I would do really badly at that. And then I did better than I thought I would. Interesting.

About halfway through the day, I was like, I'm doing way better than I thought. And that was the killer because then I didn't win and I was livid. I was so angry I forgot my toothbrush in the trailer. That's interesting. You told me at the time that you actually were okay with the fact you didn't win it. It was all right. And I thought in my head that's off-brand. And it's good that I found out now that rightly... Example beat me.

Yeah, yeah. I forgot example beat you. And he used to be a chef. So I think that's cheating. Definitely. He may be a superstar DJ now. And he used to be a chef, so I think that's cheating. Definitely. He may be a superstar DJ now, but he used to work in catering. I'm from catering. Oh God. Um.

Oh my God. You've seen my Bake Off episode? Mm-hmm. I actually will have done, yeah. I watched them all, yeah, great. Yeah, I did well. I for sure see more of your work than you've seen mine. No, come on. I think just Bake Off, generally, is one of the best shows I've ever made.

It's just joyful. It's just delightful. Yeah. That's why I like it when someone gets genuinely angry on them. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're ruining it. They're ruining the whole spell of the show.

And there are a few we've rewound. I don't know if you remember when the guy's like like his knife sort of got stuck in the cake and he threw it in the bin, but the knife was stuck in the cake. So there are a few, it's just fun. That wasn't the baked Alaska guy, right? No. Was it? That's Ian.

That's Ian, yeah. Way back when. Yeah. He threw a baked Alaska in the bin. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because I think that to me represents every time I cook. Oh really?

That reaction. Do you give up entirely? one thing goes wrong that you like I'm dumb I don't give up I plow through but if I'm cooking for someone else and I feel halfway through it's not gone as well as I Thought it should do yeah, I'll complain about it and then when everyone's eating it. I'll spend the whole time going I'm so sorry. This is awful. Yeah It's always delicious. Mm-hmm. It's cooking is fantastic It was meant to be dot dot dot. And it's always delicious. Ed's cooking is fantastic. Who's the better cook out there to you?

Ed by like a million miles. But neither of us really do it that much. So we decided between the cakes, because I... Yeah, I'll go for the lemon polenta. Yeah, that does sound really good. But shout out to your mum's cooking. Shout out to my mum's hedgehog cake. Should we shout out the name of your mum's friend who made this?

Nell. Is this the same friend that name of your mom's friend who made this? Nell. Nell. Nell. Is this the same friend that you and your mom cooked for the other night? Interestingly, it's not, but she was at that dinner and she had done the polenta cake with orange, which was quite tasty. Oh yeah. But I still prefer the lemon one.

Yeah, come on now. Don't mess around with the classic. This is a great gang. I love it. You're all cooking for each other, hanging out. My mom is really a wonderful hostess. She cooks for people. She has a lot of people around. My parents' house is like a merry-go-round. Anyone that needs somewhere to stay goes there. Anyone that needs a meal goes there.

Would Ed and I be welcome? Of course. You reckon your mom would accommodate us? 100%. If we were like, can I get round this table? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do always end up doing the washing up, which is fine, but you know. I'd happily help with that.

He likes that. I'm good at that. I can swerve it. I usually just like, I'll get the tea towel and just be there with like drying up one plate for a long time while socialising. Chatting, yeah, yeah. Oh, see, it might be a controversial opinion. I with the like drying up one plate for a long time while socializing with someone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, see, it might be a controversial opinion. I don't like drying things up. I know. I agree. That's not controversial.

Okay. Because some people can't get their head around why I don't, but I think we'll let that dry and then I'll come back to the next bit when that's dry. Yeah, yeah. You want to create space on the training board. Training board? I thought you said training board. Training board. Yeah, but I feel like, you know, just do it in goes. That's the board that you start on. Yes. And then only when you're ready, you move up to the training board.

They give you a basin but no water. Yeah. Invisible. I bought a new washing up brush recently. Big day in my house. Interesting. Yeah, stiff bristles. Very exciting.

Nice. I go the eco, so I've got those walnut scrubbers. Walnut scrubbers? Very good. I think I've seen the walnut scrubbers. Walnut scrubbers? Very good. I think I've seen the walnut scrubbers. What are the walnut scrubbers? Well, you know, because sponges are terrible because they're plastic. So the walnut is made of recycled plastic and walnut bits and they get everything clean

off. Are they sturdy? They're fairly thin. So they're a scourer, essentially, but good. And no scratching. I just prefer a brush. Interesting. I feel like I like to be a bit more tactile with it.

I like a sponge. I like a bit of distance from the plate. How much distance are you talking? Well, the length of the handle. That's not very far, Ed. You may as well get in there. Who are you kidding? I don't know that I'd go for a brush.

I'd always go for a sponge. Try the brush out. Tell me how it goes. Who you're kidding? I don't know that I'd go for a brush. I'd always go for a sponge. Try the brush out. Tell me how it goes. Well, I think I would look forward to saying the phrase walnut scrubber more than I would brush. Where's the brush?

It's going to feel like I'm far away from the plate. I'd rather be like, if anyone's seen the walnut scrubber, I need to scrub some dishes. How long ago do you think people turned this one off? Is this from the episode where you're people turn this one off? This is the meat of it now. You must be joking talking about walnut scrubbers and washing up brushes. Reward for all the people who've got to the end. They get to hear the walnut scrubber chat. Yeah. I'm team drying up. Just, I go on that. What do you do when the tea towel's wet though? Cause I don't like that one.

Oh, that's so stressful. Yeah. When it's all soft and wet. You're fucking washing up, mate. You're interacting with the wettest thing in the world. Water. Yeah, but it stays wet. Yeah, then water is wet. Yeah, all the time. But then what do you do? You've got your hand in the wetness.

You've dried three plates in a pan and then you've got a soaking wet tea towel. It's not soaking wet. I grow up. After a little then you've got a soaking wet tea towel. It's not soaking wet, I'll grow up. After a little while that is a super wet tea towel. Still does the job man, still does the job. If you're good and you're able to utilize the different parts of the tea towel while you're washing, you're not just doing the whole thing every time. What different parts of the tea towel? It's a fucking square. Oh, this is why your team washing up. You don't know how to make a tea towel last. I'm good at it. I'm really good at it. Yeah, yeah. I've make a tea towel last. I'm good at it.

I'm really good at it. I've got a dishwasher as well. I tend to restack other people's dishwashers too. Do you? Do you not like the... I'll do the washing out, the things that need to be washed up and then I'll restack. Because they've stacked it badly. What annoys you most about other people stacking?

Wasted space. You're doing it alphabetically? It's just use what you've got just get him in there or people running it on half cycle so annoying I always go eco. Yeah Actually, it goes not always the best way because sometimes it goes double the time makes messaging everywhere So it's not the it's not the most ecologically friendly way of doing it Basically, the quicker cycle is the most eco cycle. This is it. This is it. They're tricking you every single time. You've been tricked. How does that feel? I've been tricked by a big dishwasher.

Big dishwasher got you. It feels pretty bad. By the big boys. And it's not even a big, big, big dishwasher. It's a half-sized one. You got a little half-size. Which annoys me sometimes. I go, come on, you're doing well. Why have you only got a half-sized dishwasher? You're talking to yourself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, my agent's on speakerphone. We started this with me saying, God, you know, it's so great for you guys to ask different questions. And I have truly never been asked most of these questions before. Yeah, yeah. Daisy came in and said, it'd be nice to chat about some other stuff. Yeah.

And now she's regretting that. Yeah, now she's like, fucking hell, ask me what it was like to act with BB-8. Fucking ask me about BB-8 for Christ's sakes. Talk to these fucking guys about dishwashers, are you kidding me? He could have been a dishwasher. BB8?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, chuck him in there. Controversial. Yeah, don't, don't. That's clickbait, mate. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. You guys might be all over the tabs. All over the tabloids.

Daisy Ridley says, yeah, BB8 should have been a dishwasher. I said he could have been in dishwasher. Yeah, but you're setting her up. That was a trap. Well done for not falling for it. That was a trap. If ever I heard one, you should be ashamed of yourself. Yeah.

I'll read you your menu back now. See how you feel about it. Still water. Still water. But you didn't ask me about ice or lemon or lime. Tell us now. No ice. Yeah.

Bit of lemon. If I'm feeling restauranty. Like us now. No ice. Yeah. Bit of lemon. If I'm feeling restauranty. Like one slice or a wedge. Yeah. No, one slice looks classy. Although then sometimes you have to deal with it flapping. And that's not classy when it's bumping up against your top lip.

Yeah. No way. Yeah. It gets stuck there. Just rather swallow the whole thing while no one's looking. Everything that's now being said sounds so dodgy. Yeah, it's all clickbait. Yeah, yeah.

We're all going down to the end of all of our careers. It's simply one of my pleasures. Pop it on some bread you would like. Sourdough with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Starter. Butter beans and creamy sauce with truffle from the place in Liverpool. With the crusty sourdough dipped in. That came with it.

That's very important. Near the Hope Street Hotel. Yes. Main course, three quarters, three slash four. Look at the fractions. Three quarters of a sausage. I thought I don't remember this. Three slash four.

This isn't sausages and mash with pesto gravy and peas. Side dish, crispy Brussels sprouts and maple miso carrots in a little dish that divides down the middle. Drink a lychee martini, brackets quite sweet. Sweet, no, boozy. That's what you can say when you're Bond. Dessert, Nels lemon polenta cake with vegan lemon curd ice cream. Beautiful. I'm very excited about that dessert. I feel great. Does sound good.

Yeah. Those carrots, I'm going to try making those carrots. Oh, they're really tasty. Yeah. The trick is you have to cut them sort of chunky on the hob with the miso, garlic, a bit of maple and then in the oven with the lid on for 15, take the lid off for five. There you go. I'm doing it, James. I'm inviting you over.

Oh, thank you. For carrots. I can't wait to see you sitting there going, I'll fuck those carrots up. Don't eat those carrots. Or you try and find a tease out. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. What the fuck is this? This one's so small.

You're doing okay Ed? You're doing all right? Everyone being like, is that it? Yeah. Making you go through and getting one carrot first, bringing it through. Yeah, maybe you go through and get one carrot first, bring it through. Pausing cleaner and then going and getting our main course. I'm not putting cleaner on when you come over, you've seen it already. They can't wait to watch it again. I'm the one who should be bringing it over. And remember your favourite bit?

Yeah. We talked about it. Yeah. Which bit? The song. Daisy, thank you so much for coming to the Dream restaurants. Thanks for having me. Thank you Daisy. Thank you so much to Daisy for coming on the podcast James, what a great menu and a lovely chat. I'm gonna get myself a walnut scrubber. I love it. So we're presuming that's all staying

in the pod right? If it doesn't stay in the pod, then still keep me saying that I'm going to get a walnut scrubber. Yeah, that does. I mean, Daisy wasn't convinced it was going to stay in the pod. No, but Daisy is like, you know, overestimated how exciting our chats are. Yes. Like, you know, it wasn't Daisy's fault that that conversation was boring. It's because that's what we draw out of people and what we inspire, what we bring to the table ourselves.

And also I don't think that chat was boring. I maintain talking about Brush v Sponge is actually a really good chat. Yeah. And washing up v drying up. It was two in tandem. Yeah. Two verses. So I know Daisy's probably used to a different sort of interview.

And so she thought maybe people will turn this off. But our listeners know Yeah, that brush free sponge is very much in our wheelhouse. We're kicking off all over the web now. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god And Daisy did not say rabbit. Yes. Why was she? She's a vegan. So, you know, there was no chance of that happening She didn't yeah as soon as she said she was a vegan. I was like we're safe. We're safe. We're good Maybe maybe that's she's a vegan. We should have asked because she voiced cottontail Maybe it was because she was caught and tell you and vegan. We should have asked that we didn't ask anything about that We didn't ask anything about Star Wars. No

You know, we get we get different things out of guests brush free sponge for example Whether you have a brush or a sponge in that moment you are a cleaner. So make sure you go and watch cleaner How did we not bring it back to that? Yeah in the actual episode. I don't know man hindsight. It's a beautiful thing Is that the phrase? Yeah. Yeah, I'm so 2020. Oh, that was a bad year Message the great Benito Brush or sponge make sure you message the great Benito and say, Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treat for you. And then you say, it's an either brush or sponge.

Brush or sponge. Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treat for you. It's brush or Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treat for you, it's sponge. And then what will happen then if you message in? And then Ben will count them all up. Yeah. And a week, like, so you have one week to do this. Yeah. And then a week later then if you message in and then Ben will count them all up. Yeah.

And a week later, you have one week to do this. Yeah. And then a week later he will publish the results. Yes. Sometimes he cuts these bits out, but we'd like to remind him at this point, he fucked up today so hugely that it would be really a bad sport to cut this out at this point. So he really does have to. If he cuts it out, let us know. Yeah. If you are in Australia or New Zealand, I am coming on tour to you in

June at gambled.co.uk for tickets going to lots of different places in those countries. Why me Cobbers? Get yourself down there. Yes. Thank you Cobbers. Myself, I do a podcast called Off Menu. I co-host it with my friend Ed. If you could listen every Wednesday, every Wednesday, it, it goes out, wherever you get your podcast genuinely fills my heart with warmth that you remember the day that this podcast goes out.

No, that's when we get a WhatsApp from old listy. That's what he wants. What's that? That's what that's true. It's out now. I would list. He sends us the links in the picture for no reason because you're not on Instagram and all I have to do is accept the collaboration.

I don't know how to use WhatsApp properly. So all that means for me is that I've now got to delete a photo from my actual photos on my phone because they're all still. Anyone WhatsApps me a photo, we get saved in my photos immediately. I don't know how to turn that off. Are you kidding me? I don't know how to turn it off. I don't know how to turn it off. I don't know how to use WhatsApp this week. Kyle Smith Bino messing me on WhatsApp and it was from a number I didn't recognise, I don't have his number. So to prove it, he sent me a photo of himself and I noticed that he didn't have a contact pic. So I tried to make it his contact pic and I accidentally made it my profile pic on WhatsApp. And now my profile pic on WhatsApp is Kyle smiling in the trailer

Of some like TV series he's doing. That's it now. Hang on to prove that he was him Yeah, he sent you a publicity photo of Kyle Smith-Bein. It wasn't publicity. He was him sitting in his trailer. Oh, right. Okay Smiling at me. Yeah, like looking like deliberately looking quite comical. Mm-hmm. So that's my photo now Yeah, it's Kyle. I don't know photo now. Yeah. It's Kael. You don't know how to change that. I don't know how to change that now. Yeah. And he told me to keep it like that.

Yeah. So I've got to honor my word. Yes. Well, thank you very much for listening. We'll be back next week with more JAPES from the off menu boys. Oh dear. Whoopsie. Daisy.

Oh. Ridley. We'll see you later. Daisy? Oh Ridley! Lucy Daisy! Hello there off menu listeners. It's me Amy Gledhill and you might remember me from my episode of off menu when I chose to have seaweed on mash and I'll be taking no further questions. And my name is Ian Smith and you may remember me from the one line of dialogue I had in a non-broadcast Channel 4 pilot. Maybe you were in the studio audience at the time.

Who can forget? But that's not what we're here to talk about. No! Northern News, our podcast, is coming back for Series 4. And don't worry, it's not a boring news podcast. No way. We're two northerners living in London and every week we catch up on the weirdest, most bizarre local news from up north. Things like... Woman in tears after spotting spitting image of dead dog in bathmat. Pure evil blackbird named Derek terrorising Yorkshire village and attacking children.

And we're joined by special correspondents every week, like you one and only Ed Gamble, who you might have heard of. You'll remember him from this podcast, the one you're listening to now. Yeah. He hosts it. Yeah. Cool host. He was on my episode of Off Menu. Was he?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he was in the non-broadcast channel for pilot, I did as well. Oh, he will have been. He's a nice guy. Yeah. So that's Northern News starting next Thursday, the 1st of May, and then every Thursday after that. Join us.