The Rest Is Entertainment - Chat Show Secrets, Restaurant Reviewers & Glasto Sound checks

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

How does chat show culture differ in the US, and is it to do with where the host sits? What is the science (and magic) behind recreating magical worlds in theme park design? How do bands soundcheck at festivals such as Glastonbury? All this, and more, answered by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde. The Rest Is Entertainment AAA Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to our Q&A episodes, ad-free listening, access to our exclusive newsletter archive, discount book prices on selected titles with our partners at Coles, early ticket access to future live events, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestisentertainment.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestisentertainment. The Rest Is Entertainment is proudly presented by Sky. Sky is home to award-winning shows such as The White Lotus, Gangs of London and The Last of Us. Visit Sky.com to find out more For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Aaliyah AkudeVideo Editor: Kieron Leslie, Charlie Rodwell, Adam Thornton, Harry SwanProducer: Joey McCarthySenior Producer: Neil FearnHead of Content: Tom WhiterExec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Sky. Now, they really know how to put on a show and to make it easy for us to enjoy them. Everything is just there, no digging around, no endless scrolling. Absolutely, and here's the magic. If you know what you're in the mood for, just say it into your remote. You want something specific, say Sweet Pea, and Sweet Pea will appear. If you want something, a genre, just say, show me horror, and your Sky will show you horror movies, horror TV shows, anything in that

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The world of food you have to go elsewhere. So if you're ready to dive into top-notch entertainment, just head to sky.com to learn more. couldn't be easier. We guarantee freshness store-wide in our produce, bakery, meat departments, and beyond, or your money back. Yes, it's that easy. Visit sobys.com to learn more. Restrictions apply. See in-store online for details. Hello, and welcome to this episode of the Rest is Entertainment, questions and answers edition. I'm Marina Hyde. I'm Richard Osmond. Hello, Marina. Hello, Richard. How are you?

Yeah, I'm all right. I'm okay Osman. Hello Marina. Hello Richard, how are you? Yeah, I'm alright. I'm okay Lots of fun questions to get on with. I'm very excited by lots of these questions This one I actually really want to know the answer to and I know you will Kate Heath says on the program The Trip, the amazing program The Trip, how many of the people in it are actors? E.g. when they're in restaurants etc. are the staff actors or actual waiters? I'm really looking forward to the new series in Scandinavia. I'm really looking forward to the new series in Scandinavia. I'm so looking forward to the new series in Scandinavia. It's one of the best things ever, the trip. I love it.

It's so brilliant. This is Steve Coogan. This is Michael Winterbottom. Steve Coogan and Rob Bridengo, if you haven't watched it, on various culinary tours. And it's a sort of weirdly fictionalised but also not fictionalised. Sort of traveloggy thing where they go to beautiful places, eat beautiful food. Do a lot of celebrity impressions. Do a lot of celebrity impressions. It's like gone fishing, but for food, but also slightly fictionalized because there's

always some sort of little storyline. It's absolutely fascinating as a kind of creative endeavor on every level and I completely love it. So yes, I'd like to know this too. I mean, presumably the waiters are so good and they must work in the places because part of that serving is so high end. Well, I spoke to a man called Rob Brydon. Do you know him? I heard of him. Yeah, I heard of him. So I asked Rob your question, Kate, he was delighted that you'd

asked and delighted you're looking forward to the new series as well. He says that often it will be waiting staff or often it will be friends of the restaurant owners so the restaurant owners know you're coming and they know you're taking over the restaurant or a section of the restaurant for quite some time and so they will have somebody who they absolutely know and trust and you know will work for the whole day and they know will represent the restaurant in the way they want to be represented and Rob says you know they get everyone's always excited to do it he said however they eat each meal three times so when they go to these restaurants it's lucky they go to those sort of restaurants where they just sort

of serving like one cube of redcurrant jelly with a you know anchovy is that sort of thing and so they don't fill themselves up but he says yeah we we eat each meal three times. Italy was a bit more of a challenge in that case because that wasn't that was a lot of food. But because you got Michael Winterbottom directing, he's a movie director, he wants to be around various angles. He wants to do lots of different improv. He wants to get the best out of everyone.

So do it three times, different angles. We take bits and bobs. So he said, even the sort of most friendly of the owners, waiters and waitresses you're ever going to get by the end of a whole day, they're like, Oh, you're doing that again. Oh, you're doing Sean Connery again, Rob. Okay. What could be more scintillating than making television? Yeah, exactly. But he does, he says it's genuinely a really wonderful day of filming and the

restaurants of course love it because it makes the restaurants look incredible. And it's very respectful of food. It's one of those things that's- Oh, completely. But I mean, it is very technical. The waiting and the serving of that type of food is very, very technical. So you couldn't just say, just get an ordinary supporting actor to do it with no offence that ordinary supporting actors, but it is actually an extremely skilled job. A lot of the people I know have done a lot of supporting acting work have also done a lot of waitressing.

You're right. That's a good point. But work have also done a lot of waitressing. You're right. That's a good point. But have they done it in one of those types of places? Because I always think that's when you're having a tasting menu done to you and I often feel that it is being done to you, you can see that it's quite a sort of tall order. And then Kate, as you know, around that there's all sorts of little narratives that go on between the restaurants. But yeah, the bit in the restaurant, they're there all day, they eat three times, but yeah, the staff are the staff or someone that, you know, the, the owners know and trust very, very well.

And everyone has a jolly good time, but I cannot wait for that new series. First, he always looks beautiful. It looks incredible, but there's something about the two of them together that is so Rob Brydon humanizes Steve Coogan in such an interesting way. But you know what I mean by that? Yes, he does. He's a support animal. Yeah. But he's not a support animal because I literally love Rob Briden more than anything.

And it's so compelling and it is so warm, but it is also so edgy and, you know, bitchy. And it's all of the things at, you know, bitchy. Yeah. And it's all of the things at once. I absolutely love it. I can't wait. It's such a treat when it comes. You just think, sometimes I save it all up and think when I'm going through a bad patch, but this, I won't be able to on this occasion.

And if people haven't seen the previous series, by the way, absolutely catch up on them. There's Italy, there's one that's in the UK. There's one in the UK, yeah. And Scandinavia, but really, really worth seeing and and just is what you know Those two to this such a brilliant double. I mean, I'll watch Robb Briden anything And I watched Steve Coogan and almost anything and the two of them together is a is a tree That is a genre of one and anything I think that is that original and unusual and kind of slightly hard to describe as evidence

But anything that genre of one I think is always worth your time. Now a question for you Marina should we stick with restaurants while we're on the subject and should we stick with Kate's and Katie's as well? Katie Roberts, Katie Robarts, is Katie Robarts or do you think someone's just mistyped that as Katie Roberts? I don't know. If you were called Robarts as your surname you would spend your entire life having to spell it for people so for Katie's sake I sort of hopes these Roberts but perhaps these robots to us. You'd always be robots Katie She says restaurant reviews are usually really good and gushing or really bad to the generally picked places beforehand

They know will be more extreme either way to lead to more entertaining reading Okay, that's really interesting and I was actually talking about restaurant views with a friend of mine this week and thinking about what they are. It depends what Steve Coogan is writing. The Steve Coogan character, Steve Coogan in the trip is always writing it up for the Observer or the New York or somewhat, you know, he's sort of doing an article. And there's something about that in the, even in the fiction, they've hired someone who's going to riff on this and that and it's not just about the food. Restaurant reviewers fall for me into two categories. Some who are real food writers know all about it. I have to say, I think,

this is what I was talking about with my friend this week, you have to do some crowd pleasers. Some people think, no, I just want to go to great restaurants and foreground them to our readers and say, they'll go, you've got to accept that a lot of people are reading the restaurant review because they like your writing. Most people do not live in the place where the restaurant is. They're never going to go to those restaurants. And even if they are in that place, they won't get a table. And so yeah, it's expensive or whatever.

So you want to be telling them something about their world. And it might begin with a sort of riff on something completely different. And you know, many of our most beloved restaurant critics will write a huge 500 words on something completely different and then you'll hear a bit about the food at the end. You know you just have to accept that you're in light entertainment. I mean do you think I think I'm in the bit if I'm writing a column about politics do you think I think I'm in the business of changing the way governments do things? Don't be silly I think I'm in light entertainment and that is honestly, even though you might feel grand and think I'm doing it, no,

I don't think that. Light entertainment suits you. Yes. Well, I mean, you want to give people three or four good minutes with something. I'm sorry, I really, I mean, Calvin McKenzie, who used to edit The Sun, and obviously I know people have a number of views about him, but he used to just say about the paper, I want to give people a good half hour with a paper. And I feel often, you know, if you're writing anything, really, instead of thinking, imagining yourself as someone who writes for a newspaper, a news outlet, that you're moving markets

or changing the world or anything like that, think, am I giving people a good three or four minutes with this thing I've written? I think a good half hour with a paper sounds like a night after a particularly bad meal. And I can certainly equate that with Kelvin McKenzie's tenure. But the point is that you're trying to serve the consumer in one way or another. And it should be entertaining. And so I do think that if you're reviewing restaurants, you do have to go and do something stupid like think, even though everyone hates the whole bay, I'm going to have to go and have a look, or

I'm going to go to some, as well as, you know, then there are obviously the bigger openings and your, your editor might say, well, that this chef's got a new one opening and you'll go along because they're a sort of figure in the world. Yeah. I mean, I remember my friend of mine was a restaurant reviewer for a long time and I used to go to so many of them with him. And it is extraordinary. First of all, it is extraordinary when you go to that and I used to go to so many of them with him. And it is extraordinary. First of all, it is extraordinary when you go to that many, because I used to often,

often go with him. I remember, you know, someone had sent us to a place and said it was supposed to be quite good. It was, first of all, it was a disaster. And then the people were saying to us, I'm really sorry, chef likes to see clean plates. My friends said, I'm so sorry, I'd like, you know, a head of farron and a washboard stomach, but we're all having to make compromises here. Does the restaurant know that the reviewer is in? They try to keep themselves secret, but sometimes, you know, if it's Giles Corran you're going

to know who it is, and if it's Jay Rayne you're going to know who it is, but Marino Loughlin, who wrote for a long time, The Sunday Times and also The Guardian before, has managed to keep her face secret so people didn't know what she looked like. And that's someone who I would say is a brilliant food writer and understands all of that world. And it mattered that people didn't know what she looked like. You always see the numbers in newspapers and things. Do the pans, deep pans in terms of restaurants, do they get bigger numbers? Are those the ones that go viral when someone goes to a restaurant and really, really has a terrible time? Yes, I mean, and it's like one-star movie reviews. You know, reviews, people, if it's

a five-star one, they do well, but I mean, I think one-stars probably do better than anything. And the difficulty is, you are when you're writing film reviews, of course, technically dealing with someone's business, but it's, you know, a big movie studio and you just have to live with it. There's something different about doing it to a, I mean, this friend of mine who was a restaurant reviewer once, I remember when Greg Wallace had a restaurant open, I mean, again, it was terrible, but I slightly felt we'd gone along just so he could use the line, cooking doesn't get rougher than this. But, you know, it was a great line and I'm sure that one went viral too. But they tend to, when I've seen the proper pans, it tends to be like if a restaurant has been

opened by, you know, some huge restauranteur or someone with deep pockets, they tend to do that. They tend not to go to some- Pan salt bread, 100%. Yeah, they tend not to go to a local neighborhood restaurant. I assume if they go to a local neighborhood restaurant and have a terrible meal, they just go, I'm just going to leave. Maybe I just won't review this one. Yes, I don't need to review that one. You don't have to review it. I know, just as the film critics go along to lots of films and think, there's actually no...

This obviously took a long time to get this little British film made. I don't actually have to give it a huge kicking. I'll save that for the New Jurassic or whatever it is. And yeah, but in general, I think my personal principle is that you probably are right. You're in a form of light entertainment when you're doing any of these things, political columnist, restaurant reviewer, film reviewer, it's all... I sometimes think it when I present quiz shows, I think, you know, in some ways this is light

entertainment. You know, obviously I don't really think that. What I think is I'm doing some great treatise on the human condition. But sometimes I like to pretend it's light entertainment. You know, what I like is that it just travels both worlds. Exactly. Yeah, mainly light entertainment. Talking of treatises on the human condition, someone's got a question about House of Games. Bethany Squire says, you mentioned a possible House of Games special. Well, it's not even

a possible. How do you prevent contestants from interrupting questions? They seem to wait a few seconds before answering, which helps viewers at home. My husband thinks it's editing, not just your instructions. Bethany, it's so annoying when your husband is right, isn't it? That's the last thing you want. Bethany's husband punching the air currently.

Yeah, you can buzz in at any time on House of Games. And people buzz in before I said the first word sometimes when the things are up on the screen. And then at the end of each show or in fact the start of the next show I will then re-record all of the questions just because it's no fun to watch a quiz show at home. If you were watching the show as it actually happens especially if you've got two competitive quizzes I get like one word of a question out so you would not have read the question at home and the person would have buzzed in and answered.

It's so awful because the contestant has to realise they're on a light entertainment show as well. Yeah. But the competitive thing, I've done one before where I just literally felt like I have to, I know this answer. Yeah, I've got to buzz in. So you have to think, does it matter whether you win or not because you're in light entertainment? I know, but you sort of do want to as well. Because they're also spending all day together, so there's a friendly competitiveness.

So no, they are absolutely, they do not have to sit there as I go, okay, and now you may buzz. They buzz in whenever they want. We then edit all the questions in at the end of the show. When celebrities come on and watch it and they realize that, they sort of are crestfallen. They're like, oh my God, I thought I was good at this show because at home I'm like, God, sometimes I'm half way through the question and I get it right. And everyone on the show is like, waits forever. And I go, oh no, but then they get there, they go, oh, it's literally almost instantaneous. And we funny of our bonus episode tomorrow is a day out at House of Games. We just finished 110 episodes, as I said, I think

I said on Tuesday. And so we've got a day out where we talk to all the people who work on the show, all the little secrets of the show, what a day on House of Games looks like. So for anyone who is a member or would like to be a member, the rest is entertainment.com. We have a life in the day of House of Games. But no, that's the one thing when I suddenly see some celebs who are good quizzes who are just thinking I'm going to absolutely ace this because I honestly I interrupt most questions before they even get read out and nobody does that. And you go, everybody does that, I'm afraid. But quite often on the show, we'll be going, Oh my god, that was a good you got in quick there. Or, Oh my god, you're so quick. And people must be going, it's not quick.

He literally like every question is like waiting a second to laugh the thing. But anytime you ever hear that is because someone would literally buzzed in before I've said the because they'll see on the screen and they just get boom and straight in and it's um, it's sometimes the bane of your life uh because every time they do it I'm like okay that's another pickup okay now I've got to do another pick up sometimes when you get people who don't buzz in I'm like great I will have no pickups at the start of the next show here but yeah the the first five minutes of me recording any episode is me recording all the questions from the previous episode until

I think I've gone insane. That is such a fun episode, by the way. That's such a fun bonus. The bonus one. Yeah. Yeah. And I recommend you will listen. I have seen this because it basically is lots of people I know telling me what they do because sometimes when you're on the floor, you go, Oh, of course that you do actually have a busier day than night. Yes, of course you have to do that. Shall we listen to some adverts? Let's. I don't know why we say that because we're not going to say no.

No, we're forth. So I'm going to say let's listen to some adverts. Yeah, just let's do it right now. This podcast is brought to you by Sky Sports on now. If you're after gripping drama this summer with no script, limited health and safety measures and plot twists in gum shields, the British and Irish Lions are touring Australia. Three tests, six warm-ups, a cast of battered heroes with more bandages ears than a Van Goff exhibition.

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And if you enjoy the way Marina and Richard peel back the layers of TV, music and pop culture, then I think you'll love my podcast, How Do You Cope? Each week I speak to brilliant people, actors, writers, musicians, about the challenges they've faced, from grief and trauma to public humiliation, which I believe Marina and Richard just call Wednesday. I've spoken to the likes of comedian Sophie Wilan, musician Justin Hawkins and political powerhouse Alastair Campbell. And in one of the most affecting episodes we've recorded so far, I spoke to Amanda Knox, who spent four years in jail before she was exonerated. So if you're after something that pairs perfectly with your cultural

deep dives, give How Do You Cope a listen for honest conversations with humor and heart? Search and follow. How do you cope wherever you listen to podcasts? Welcome back everyone Marina Sarah Wilson has a question for you She says my family and I have just returned back from a theme park holiday in Orlando. Well, that's like English dream. And mine. Yeah, the two of you should go together because add on to Wonder Girl. She said, we absolutely love the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disney and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas at Universal. We were astonished at the level of detail in these zones, in particular, the

Cantina Bar at Disney and the new Ministry of Magic at Universal Epic Universe. It looked exactly like they do. Ministry of Magic at Universal Epic Universe. Is it called Universal Epic Universe? Wow. Okay guys, marketing much. Anyway, they looked exactly like they do in the film. How do they get these areas to be so accurate for theme park guests? Do they have access to the original set designs? Who signs off on the finished construction? I've been banged on about on this podcast many times before, I love set design. I've seen so much footage of that Mos Eisley Cantina and it's really amazing because when you watch the original Star Wars movie, the thing about Mos Eisley is that a lot of it is the people who, it's a wretched hive of scum and villainy, so it's the people who

are wandering through that Cantina who make it. But the fact that they've managed to make it feel like you're in the vibe of it, you know you're only allowed like two drinks and then they move you out because people just want to stay there and they're playing the Cantina who make it. But the fact that they've managed to make it feel like you're in the vibe of it. You know you're only allowed like two drinks and then they move you out because people just want to stay there and they're playing the Cantina music. Also it's dangerous because some of the worst villains in the universe are there. Yeah, you could just get forced by a bounty hunter to do something you didn't want to do. A huge advance in materials has been a huge advance because in the old days you used to get like a lot of like fiberglass water. Everything was made of fiberglass including Cinderella's

castle. Cinderella's castle in except in Euro Disney, where they were really so paranoid, the Americans had a complete crisis of confidence and thought, oh my God, France is full of actual castles. So we're going to have to build Cinderella's castle out of actual stone, unlike plastic, like we build all the other ones, fiberglass. Yeah, but it looked much worse in stone. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the whole opening of that park is a five arc, five episode arc of bonus episodes let me tell you. So yes, okay, we spoke to George Lawton who is theme part lighting designer and he said... That's a cool gig.

I know and actually what George said is that scene design in the States it's waning business really because so much more is CGI and so lots of the most talented people in that business are moving over to what is a huge growth market, which is themed experiences. And the reason you can go in the old days, you would go to maybe Universal Studios and Disney World. And if you think how many different worlds there are now, they've got the Star Wars, the Harry Potter and all of those, it's billions and billions every year to the US economy. George says that the accuracy comes from the talented nerdy people who spend years dissecting the plans and construction methods to bring

them to life. You can obviously 3D model everything and you can get people to walk through it. For something like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it's so detailed, it's unbelievable when you're creating sort of Hogsmeade or whatever, even J.K. Rowling will be taken through the 3D modeling of all of it. And by the way, actually, I've got the most brilliant book about this. And you won't believe it. Richard Ingrid came to my house on Saturday night. You will have seen that all the empty bookshelves, which, as you know, because you're only moving in.

Yeah, exactly. Given the issue with the bookshelves, which is coming down the slit way, it's a bit I felt like it was a little bit a little bit like seeing one of those scenes at the start of an Oliver Stone movie. And it's just like a sort of Vietnamese rice field and then suddenly all the helicopters come in. I saw a lot of boxes full of books and I was thinking, where are you just leaving them like that?

It's sort of a pre-war zone. Perhaps this is your new system? Well, actually, one of the weirdest books I own, which is totally fascinating, there cannot be another book like this, is by this guy called David Younger and it's about theme park design and he sort of codified everything about theme park design. And he sort of codified everything about theme parks. And I think he did a doctoral thesis about it, but because no one had spoken to anyone who builds all these parks, he went to speak to all the Disney imagineers, which is what they call them.

And everyone told him all of these things and like, you know, how many fireworks you do and all about rollercoaster design, it's, it's so technical. It's absolutely mental. It's a completely weird book. It's called theme park design. It's like an academic, but it's the only time anyone's ever tried to put everything that they know about theme parks. And you should see the quotes on the back from absolutely every single person who runs every biggest park in the world. Anyway, back to what George

has told us, but you have to understand that these parks are all outside. And so the advances in the materials are really important because they're in all weathers. People are obsessed with making these things immersive because the whole thing about, you know, she loved going to the Mos Eisley Cantina, but if there's no, if it's only just people in their shorts and t-shirts who are on holiday in a park walking around, you really have to make it work. So some places will even, if there are characters walking around, they'll train them in how to do it.

So someone had to fly over from the Walking Dead. You know, at Thorpe Park, they've got that, they've got a Walking Dead ride which they've done several times. Some people from The Walking Dead flew to London to teach the actors how to walk for that, how to be proper zombies. So it's just for, we all know how to walk like zombies. I'd like to be able to give my zombie before being told that I had to do it in a certain way but okay. David Young's book is so weird and niche but if you ever see a copy of it I don't know, even if it's still for sale anymore, but it's like one of the only books I've

taken out of my box is. But he divided all visitors to parks into three tribes. He said there are thrill seekers, there are character huggers, and there are world travelers. World travelers are the ones who want the world to be so totally immersive. And so that's what you like, Sarah, is that you like, you're a world traveler when you're going to one of these parks. And the advances have made them so amazing. If you go back in the past, they were really quite basic. But I remember the first time I went to Disney World, and one of the oldest rides then was Pirates of the Caribbean, which they subsequently, I remember thinking this is so weird.

They're making a movie about a ride, but anyway, it did pretty well, I heard. I remember thinking, this is so amazing. How have they done the ceiling like that, that it actually looks like the night? Everything else looked like quite old and like these weird old puppets But the ceiling genuinely like it didn't look like there was a sort of black cloth over it It just looked like the night and I made my husband go around it about three times Because I just wanted to see how they'd done the ceiling. Poor Karen.

Yeah, I know. That's one of my favorite things about visiting the Thursday Motor Club set was seeing the set people and seeing the designers and seeing what they'd made and just watching them sort of build the whole insides of flats. And that's the thing, they're just incredibly good at it. It's like the people who actually build castles and build, you know, people are doing this in the first place and these people have exactly the same skills, but they work in show business. So, you know, some of the flats in Thursday Murder Club, you think, God, I would absolutely love to live here If it if only it had four walls. Yeah, but they're just beautiful and beautifully designed and you know Tension to detail every single thing every detail about your characters pasts and things tiny little things

Reflected on the stuff they might have on their desk or I find it so amazing I remember when I worked on Avenue 5 which was set in space and Simon Bowles with the production He's an incredible production designer for that. You would see honestly on the back of these tiny little logos that no one could ever see like on the back of people's shoes. The detail was beyond granular on every single thing. It was extraordinary. Ingrid sometimes talks about going into the TARDIS and just how as an actor how you just feel because it's so brilliant you you've genuinely feel you're there like as it doesn't feel like a set, it feels like this real environment and that's the

art of all those people. And I'm so glad that because the experiential industry is now massive, right? And it's huge. And the fact as you say that the CGI took a lot of those jobs away, but there's so many jobs now in this industry and there's only going to be more and more as well. Yeah. Okay, Richard, for you from Mike McDonald. I've been thinking about Glastonbury sound check, says Mike. With normal gigs, bands arrive early, do a full sound check with nobody around and then the gig starts and everybody's set and ready to go. How does that work at Glastonbury? Surely there isn't time for any sound check.

Yeah, I'd always wondered that funnily enough and I never asked my brother so I thought I finally will because yeah, any time you ever go see a band or hang out on a band you can see their sound check in whatever new venue they're in and you know, it's sort of half an hour and you know, all that kind of one, two, two, two, all of all of those things. Firstly that world has changed a lot for various reasons. But yeah, secondly, so I talked to Matt and they've headlined Glastonbury and done all sorts of things and he said, yeah, you don't get a sound check at Glastonbury. He said what you might get if you're a headliner is

a line check. Now this is interesting about the Oasis thing the other day so he said a line check will be your crew can play a previous live recording through the PA to hear how that sounds because they know how you normally sound so they'll so it's not you but they'll play a live recording and that was there's lots of clips that went viral when Oasis played in Cardiff and like the day before when people are going oh they're already here I can hear them playing and that was the crew doing exactly that playing a live recording through the PA to see how it sounded essentially which is a common

thing to say but Matt also says these days almost everyone has in-ear monitors rather than so actually quite when you see those wedge monitors on the front of the stage which are you know the things that you know people put their foot up on when they're rocking out a lot of those are faked and a lot of those won't ever be plugged in so you've got in-ear monitors and you also have a thing which are called modeled amps which is essentially AI for amps which is it's a computer thing and you can recreate any amp sound through it so if you've got like a 70s vintage amp it can literally make that sound for you. It's not perfect if you're going to Glastonbury, of course it will sound perfect on TV because the TV

will take the soundboard feed which is you know you're able to control completely. You know pretty much how you sound in these areas, you know the in-ear monitors and all those things are so amazing these days that actually you need a sound check less. But yeah the sound at Glastonbury won't be the perfect sound that you want but for the headliners if you're like 1975 they would have tested every single bit in some big shed outside London two days beforehand so they can you can control everything you possibly can control it is some of it will be in the lap of the gods but if you're listening on tv that sound should be perfect thank you matt let's finish with this from Mike Collins. This is an

observation more than anything but it's a fun one. I'm a bit of a talk show fanatic, love watching them all from the UK whether it be Jonathan Ross or all the US late night TV shows, Letterman will never be beaten says Mike. Agreed. But over time I've noticed the positioning of the hosts tends to be to the left of the guests in the UK and to the right of the guests in America, why so? That is definitely true and it's really interesting, I definitely think it says a tends to be to the left of the guests in the UK and to the right of the guests in America. Why so? That is definitely true and it's really interesting. I definitely think it says a different slightly different thing about you know the status of the talk show host in American culture.

Your are in Western readers read things left to right and so your eye sort of comes to rest on the right hand side of the screen and therefore that's regarded as the more sort of prestigious place because it's where the eye comes to rest. And by the way, and that works in visual mediums as well, if you think about watching a film, weirdly you are watching from left to right is the weird thing. And actually in Hebrew or Arab things where they don't have the same thing because it's a different way of reading. In the US and the UK, we read in the same direction. It was Johnny Carson who originally started that whole kind of desk late night format and he put himself on the right. And so therefore people sort of just copied Carson

to some extent. And apparently there were kings used to sit there in state banquets and things like that. But British and Irish talk shows have often had the host on the left if you think of things like Wogan or Graham Norton or anything like that and Parkinson. I slightly feel like it's because we defer more a bit more to the primacy of the guest rather than like this is my show, I'm the boss here, I'm the guy behind the desk. Whereas we sort of I think slightly defer more to the guest. Jonathan Ross when he went to ITV did go over to that um US thing of being on the right. It's interesting actually it happens a lot in in portraiture as well. People's faces face left to right, and that's regarded

as a sort of the dynamics even of painting. Even you go right back to the Renaissance and people are doing it like that, you'll feel like someone's got a sort of forward dynamism. It's a power move. But in breakfast TV, funny enough, we think, oh, the status is the person on the left of the screen. And there's always a lot of ferrari. We're like, why is the man there and the woman there? And then some people say, oh no, no, one's eyes read across and it's like, but actually people think, oh, they put the senior presenter on the left on breakfast TV when they're both on the sofa together.

Keep an eye on that all the time. There's also a camera shot thing with most people are right-handed and shaking hands in a certain shot. You know, you want to see if you shake hands from the right with your right hand, I'm not seeing you, whereas if you shake your hands from the left. Or if you're holding up someone's book, you don't want to reach across yourself if you shake hands from the right with your right hand I'm not seeing you whereas if you shake hands from the left. Or if you're holding up someone's book you don't want to reach across yourself if you're interviewing someone so that that's part of it too. But mainly it's the Divine Rite of Kings. Yeah the Divine Rite of the American late-night host. Yeah so often in TV. Thank you Marina. Thank you so much. We did. We've got our bonus

episode tomorrow which is a day in the life of House of Games talking to the whole gang there, the producers, question writers, directors, just wardrobe, just all sorts of people who do all sorts of different jobs in that show which I hope people find interesting. I have no idea if it's interesting. Yes, I found it really interesting. I really loved it. If you're not a member you can sign up at... TheRest is Entertainment.com But other than that, I'll see you next Tuesday.

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Skyglass doesn't just make things easier, it makes finding your next entertainment favourite feel effortless. Visit sky.com today. Hello listeners of The Rest Is Entertainment. It's John Robbins here, and if you enjoy the way Marina and Richard peel back the layers of TV, music and pop culture, then I think you'll love my podcast, How Do You Cope? Each week I speak to brilliant people, actors, writers, musicians about the challenges they've faced, from grief and trauma to public humiliation, which I believe Marina and Richard just call Wednesday.

I've spoken to the likes of comedian Sophie Willan, musician Justin Hawkins, and political powerhouse Alistair Campbell. And in one of the most affecting episodes we've recorded so far, I spoke to Amanda Knox, who spent four years in jail before she was exonerated. So if you're after something that pairs perfectly with your cultural deep dives, give How Do You Cope a listen for honest conversations with humour and heart. Search and follow How Do You Cope wherever you listen to podcasts.