Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Chris Addison

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

This week Emily and Ray headed to Beckenham Place Park for a stroll with Chris Addison. They chatted about Chris being a committed cat-person, his time on Mock the Week, and the upcoming third series of Breeders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You've got to keep up with Chris. Come on. Ray. How have you thought about getting longer legs? I'm going to edit that out so it sounds like Chris is saying that to me. I really liked Chris Addison. I also, it was really nice to women. Imagine that's the trailer.

Oh God, I've got to call. We've got to call the PR. This week on Walking the Dog, Raymond and I headed over to beautiful Beckenham Palace Park in south-east London for a chap with a multi-talented. comedian, actor, writer and director, Mr Chris Addison. Now, Chris is very upfront about being a committed catman, but I thought it was time he took a stroll down Dog Lane to see how he got on with my boy Raymond. Now, Chris has been a critically acclaimed stand-up for many years, but a lot of

people first came across him via his brilliant performance on the thick of it and his hilarious appearances on shows like Mock the Week and Would I Lie to You? But more recently, he's turned his to directing. He's won multiple awards for his work on HBO's Veep. He directed Rebel Wilson in The Hustle. And two years ago, he co-created the Sky Show Breeders, alongside the writer Simon Blackwell and the show star Martin Freeman. Breeders is an incredibly funny, truthful take on modern parenting with really standout performances. And we chatted about the upcoming third series, which, by the way, you can catch on Sky Comedy and Now TV from Wednesday, July the 13. Addison is pretty much living proof that nice guys actually finish first. He's so well-loved

in the industry and you can see why. He's very curious and interested in other people and yes, he's quit-witted and funny, just as you'd expect. But he's got this very benign gentle energy. What I'm saying is he's basically a Star Wars mashup, think the wisdom of Yoda, the charisma of Han Solo and the adventurer spirit of Luke Skywalker. So naturally, he was very won over by my dog Raymond. Yes, he load him over to the dog's side. How did he do that? Well, you'll just have to listen, won't you? I really enjoyed my walk with lovely Chris Addison and I hope you do too. Do catch breeders on Sky because it's brilliant. I'll hand over now to the man himself. Remember to rate review and follow us. Here's Chris and Raymond. He just doesn't know how to mark

his scent. I've never seen his dog do this. He'll see if he does it again. He'll go up to the thing, and then lifts the leg that's furthest away from what he's trying to pee against. Oh no. My worry with this dog, it is a dog, right? I mean, it's not getting off to the best dog, this isn't. The vibe of this dog, it's like,

it sort of reminds me slightly of, oh, there you go. That's how to start a podcast with a lovely turd. He's had a bit of an incident, that's what I call it. An incident. I'm impressed because the amount of hair I would be worrying about, you know, plaguing. I've forgotten the poo bag, so I'm using a wet white. You've not got a poo bag?

There must be, wait, surely there's a... Oh there, Chris. Does this look? This is recycling and this is a general bin. Do you think that's... Well, there must be like a poo bin. Do you know, there is a dog shop there. We could...

Should we ask the man? Yeah, but then do you think we'll have to buy? something you can buy some poo bags. Should we go there? That's a good idea. It's either that or you're walking around Beckham Place Park with a turd in your hand and you know which is one of the many reasons I don't have a dog. It's not the first time it's happened to me. Yeah. Plus? Yeah, first time since you've had a dog though. Should I? The man's going to think I smell of poo. No he's not because you're

going to go I've got a dog. Let's ask him. You must have it. Hello. Do you have any poo bags? Yes. You do? Where are they? Where are the poo bags? Here, £1.50. Oh lovely. I'm so sorry, I've only got a card. Is that annoying? Why, I'm just working here. Oh. I'm doing some building working here. Just ask me, just quickly watch. So you're having to watch the shop, and he's not trained you? He hasn't trained me. I know, I've done it before. Yeah, I don't know how you can start that. I think we might have some money, hang on. In coins, like in the 19th century. I think we've got it. It's really nice to me. It's really nice to me. you thanks for all your help with the poo bags. No worries, no worries. It's got me away from working up there for a minute.

There you go. Oh thank you Chris. Thank you bye bye yeah Sarah. Come on Chris let's get our copies. I like those men. They showed initiative. I like people that show initiative. How can you actually watch a shop if you're not trained to operate the shop? It's literally just maybe he just wants to stop people from stealing things but it seems like an odd thing to ask somebody to do. do and then not back them up with the, you know, the information that they require. Alright, let's get you a copy. There's two setups here. I don't know what's happening. This looks coffeeish. Yeah, this looks coffeeish.

We'll get these. What would you like? What would I like? I would like a decaf. Ah. Americano with milk. Yeah, no, it's not my choice. The doctor told me.

Can we have one decaf, Americano. What, with milk? With milk, yeah. And can I have... Oh good Lord. However it comes. Cold milk is fine. Yeah. And I'll have an oat milk latte, calf, because that's how I roll. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks. He ran off, Chris. How's the old obedience training going? He ran off. He sort of makes me think a little bit of, he's got a touch of, you know, there'll be like cute little

background creatures in Star Wars. You sort of think, oh yeah, somebody's based a design on a dog. Well, you're absolutely right, because George Lucas, apparently, I think he might have had a Brussels Griffin, and they're similar to these... And that's where Chewbacca's from, but rather brilliantly he's called an Imperial Shih Tzu. No! I don't think I've ever seen a dog like Ray. Why do you mean?

No, I don't... that looks like that. Well, you've all seen Discover, he's got... Big dog energy as well. Right. Go to Chris. Where's Chris? There he is. Oh, you're marvellous.

You see, we're going to talk about this, Chris. I know you're more of a cat man. Very much so, yes. Oh, well, he's a charmer, isn't he? He's very good for my ego, because I get no attention at all. It's kind of like going out with a celebrity. Do strangers strike up conversations with you? That's why I can't have a dog.

As it is, I walk around the world. with a big pair of headphones on that basically say, please don't bother me. Do you? A little bit. I'm quite a friendly person, but I just, you know. Yeah. That's yours.

No, that's your. I'll take your lid, Chris. And we're going to put some of the milk in there. Right. We're going to set off on our walk. It's very exciting. Yeah, a nice part of the world this. Let's go, Chris.

Come on, Ray. Let's follow Chris. This is his manner. It's my manner, mate. No shitting on it. So how, like, because obviously he's a tiny weenie dog, so, but you say he's got big dog energy. So how far can he walk before he just goes, this is too much? What are you doing to me?

Um, we've probably got about another three minutes. But then I suppose he's so small, you can just pick him up. Oh, this way, yeah? That really is like having a small child, isn't it? Because that's sort of you spend a lot of your time just lifting them up. He's absolutely intent on marking everything as his. This is Rice Park. This is Rice Park now. Raymond!

Does he have a pedigree name? Because I remember, so when I, one of my mates when I grew up had a fantastic Airdale, great big airdale called Tandy, beautiful dog. But she wasn't really called Tandy because she's a pedigree. So there's a name that goes with that, which was Raj and Steve Snow Sparkle. And you could make the dog whimper. And it seemed in embarrassment by going, Raj and Steve, she would go, ooh! Look a bit as sad.

She really hated it. We're in Beckenham Place Park, which is Chris Addison's Manor. Yeah, mine are not in the woods, in it? And I should formally introduce you. Okay. I'm so excited to have this fabulous man on. I'm with the very wonderful...

I mean, it's going to take the entire podcast to list everything you do because you're such a polymer. I've just been around for a lot. long time that's what that means he'll do that a lot as well he's very self deprecating but I won't have it comedian actor writer director opera star I did also once work in a sandwich shop do you want to put that in when I was about 18 our daily bread it was called ah like R for Roger and daily bread like a double

barrel surname daily Thompson yeah I'm with the very well Wonderful Chris Addison and already this man has a fabulous energy. That's nice to know because I'm coming out the other side of a very bad hangover. So that's good. Maybe I'm maybe maybe... Where were you last night? Are we allowed to know? Yeah, I was it. It was strange. So just to put it in context, it's the perfect... Last night was the night that Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resigned from Johnson's cabinet.

And as it happened, I was going for dinner with Dara, Brie and Hugh Dennis and Michael McKean in an extraordinary restaurant that was, get this, a Polish-Mexican restaurant. Yeah. So, like, you could get nachos with kielbasso on and stuff. It was amazing. Yeah, so anyway, but wine, you know, there was wine with the meal, I seem to remember. I didn't feel terribly good this morning. Oh, I love that.

I love that you guys all hang out together. Well, I mean, I haven't seen Hugh in like 10 years since I stopped doing him at the week. Yeah. But it was so nice to see him. And obviously Michael's in your fabulous show breeders. Yeah. We're going to be discussing quite a lot in this podcast because I'm a huge fan. But let's start with the animals question.

Okay. So we're with my dog, Raymond. You haven't got a dog. I don't have a dog. No. I've never had a dog, actually. Why not? I was brought up with cats

Also humans Not just It wasn't like a I wasn't left feral With cats But we always had cats when I was a kid And then So did my wife

When she was younger So we've just always had cats And we've had Our cat that we have now If he makes it to next month He'll be 20 So So you know

The question hasn't really come up in the last two decades as to whether we would get a dog because we've got this poor animal. How lovely. And what's your cat called? He's called Ernie. He had a sister called Eric. Erica, full, but she didn't make it as far as he did. And did you have, you didn't have dogs growing up then? No. In the Addison household? No, no, we didn't. We didn't. The only dog I ever met was my, was Tandy, that dog my friend Matthew had. But, um, you know, we didn't. We didn't. We didn't. We didn't. The only dog I, I've ever met was my friend Matthew had. But, um, um, No, never did that.

I don't know why. I don't think dogs were as big a thing when we were kids as they are now. Everybody has a dog. And even before the pandemic, I mean, everyone got a dog over the pandemic. But everybody has a dog now. It's sort of extraordinary. And that wasn't the case before, I don't think. I think you're right.

I think it's interesting how I think dogs are seen as a sort of punctuation mark. They're like the full stop on the family now. That's interesting. Whereas I think back then, certainly when we were growing up, they were a bit more friends with benefits back then, whereas we put a ring on it now with dogs. That's interesting. I mean, I remember my encounters with dogs were when I used to, when I was like, I know, I must have been 14 and 15. And I had like a paper around delivering the free local paper. So my encounter with dogs were usually terrifying dogs in houses who did not like, like a cliche from a cartoon,

who did not like the newspaper boy. Yeah. And Alsatians as well because they were huge in the 70s and 80. Massive. What happened to that? The police took them all off the market. They used them all. I love that to be true. Because you can breed more of them. It's the amazing thing about animals.

You can create more stock. It's interesting what we'll allow dogs to do now. I think our attitude has completely changed towards them in lots of ways. I was always struck by my friend of mine who lives in Australia and groups. who lives in Australia and grew up on a farm, just can't stand the idea of dogs and cats in the house. It's a working animal. What's it doing?

Get it out there. And he, even though, you know, he lives in Melbourne now and has done for decades, he still has that sort of mentality. But we've really anthropomorphized dogs. Enormously in the last few years. I got into terrible trouble on guess where, Twitter. Remember this? So I was in a Vietnamese restaurant, just having some tea

waiting for an appointment and there's a couple with a dog in the restaurant. Now I think, I don't think you should have a dog in a restaurant. I don't think that's a place for dogs to go. Lots of good places for dogs to go, but I'm not sure they should be in a restaurant. People were vicious, of course they should be in a restaurant. These people were feeding it off the table and I was thinking if I had a hamster, if in a cage and I brought it in and put it on the table, you 100% objected to that and you'd have every right to do so.

You want to know about the Addison childhood. Right. Because you grew up in... I grew up in Manchester. And you're in Wales originally, right you? Yeah, I was born in Wales, but I was brought up in Manchester. I was born in Cardiff. My dad was a doctor and he was working at the Heath Hospital at the time in Cardiff.

And so that's where me and both of my siblings were born. But when I was very young, we moved to Mank. And... Oh, I love the sound of Dr. Adder. He's marvellous. Is he? Yeah. Yeah.

And how many siblings? You have two. I have two siblings, a sister and a brother. And did your mum work? Was she a homemaker? She worked doing lots of different things actually. So she was before we turned up, she was a teacher. And then she had a few years where she was dealing with, because she had at one point, she had three, there's a lot, there's not a lot of distance between me and my siblings.

she had three under three at one point and then wasn't working because how do you deal with that? But then she went back and taught in a hospital for a bit and then became a social worker and then a counsellor and then eventually once we'd all gone went back to doing what she really wanted to do which was she went back and did a degree at Manchester University in English language and literature 10 years later she's another doctor Edison she did a PhD she got a PhD when she was 70 oh yeah because I remember seeing once I thought it was really lovely when you were given an honorary oh yeah degree graduation speech at Birmingham University it's really lovely and I because it's such a brilliant speech I love graduation speeches anyway because they they kind of

generally make me cry yeah but that really made me cry oh wow but yeah that is that That speech was just me. I basically emailed everybody I knew and said, what do you wish you'd known when you were, if you were, sitting in the room with your cap and gown on and about to go into the outside world? What would you tell your 22-year-old self? And it was quite moving, getting the responses from people actually. And the biggest response, which is something that people on, you know, on social media have started to become a bit snippy about. the biggest response from people was just be nice and it's it makes everything better if you're if you're nice people want to work with you people want to be

with you just be nice and I reckon 70% of people sort of said some version of that in their in their responses well I was it's such a lovely address you gave it really was well so yeah so imagining little Chris I already love little Chris I bet he was quite cute he had he had a fairly unruly head of when I was very little golden curls it was a very sort of yeah like a different era what was the sort of atmosphere in your family like was it because with a doctor I mean I'm always so impressed by people that grow up in families like that because I always think there must be quite a lot of structure and...

Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, I think... I don't know. It's difficult to know how to answer that question, only because it's the only atmosphere that I've ever grown up in. But, you know, it was just a... It was a regular family. Sometimes we got on, sometimes we didn't get on.

Yeah. Yeah. Were you the sort of... The attention seeker from a young age, do you think? Yeah, I think so. And it's odd because I'm the oldest, so. Traditionally, it's the youngest or even the middle. The middle is an awful place to be because you're neither the youngest nor the oldest.

You're just, you're sort of stuck in No Man's Land a little bit. But yeah, it's odd because I turn out to be the performer in spite of being the oldest, which must mean that I am. So I'm not, I wasn't trying to achieve something, you know, people becoming performers because they're the youngest, that's them trying to get attention from their parents. I wasn't trying to achieve it. I already had it. So it just shows what a powerful show-off I must be. That, despite the fact that I had all the attention that I needed,

this is not enough. I need people to print posters with me on them and pay money to listen to me for extended periods of time. Or I will not feel validated. I would say you're the definition of a benign show-off. What does that mean? It means that you're... I suppose what I'm saying is you show off, but not at the expression.

fence of others? I hope so. I mean I sort of feel it's interesting because I it's about 10 years since I did any stand-up and because other things have sort of got in the way really. Can I just say that's the most Chris Addison arts ever like Emmys and other things have sort of got in the way really. Yeah, but they have. And and and but it's interesting because I you know I've just turned 50 and you start to do whenever you turn a decade there's a little. lot of kind of assessing isn't there and I was looking back on my stand-up and thinking good I I wonder I think I would probably do it differently now and I'm

sort of embarrassed by some aspects of how I used to talk to crowds in certain certain people in crowds in particular circumstances I was very very combative and I think and and I sort of and now me now I think I'd be maybe less worried about less inclined to do that because the insecurity that it showed I think isn't there because in the same same way just because as you get older you tend to you tend to become less insecure because you realize well I guess this is just me then isn't it I've got I've got to learn to live with that and then that's that's one of the best

descriptions of ageing I've ever heard is I guess this is just me yeah but do you know I mean I I always I wonder often whether whether there's any sense in, and this sounds so stupid, there's a huge culture of, of, you know, self-help and, and, or going to therapy or, you know, and finding a way into your personality and, and tinkering around with it. And, uh, and I think that's a really useful thing for a lot of people to do. I kind of wish that I could do it, but I also think there is something in the fact that to an extent we need to learn to live with ourselves a little bit. It's balancing up those two things. I'm not saying don't go to therapy, definitely go to therapy, definitely do the

self-help stuff. But there's only so much you can change about yourself and you can either be depressed by that or you just sort of have to find a way around it. I have this expression which I always use about stuff which is when, I don't know, let's say that thing that you had on Twitter with the angry people that were angry about you saying a dog was in a restaurant. So if you get any sort of issues with people on Twitter or I always say I have a choice here as to whether I allow that to be woven onto the tapestry of my life yeah I think that's a brilliant way of thinking about it I think it's also for me that Twitter thing or even how I would deal with audiences and it's like you don't have to win every

fight I mean you do actually have to win the fight with the audience because otherwise you're dead but and but like you don't have to don't have to get involved with this. And I hope I'm less inclined now on things like Twitter to respond to everything. People are going to disagree with you. And that's OK. There's no way of changing it.

You've got to keep up with Chris. Come on. He's got lovely long. Have you thought about getting longer legs? I'm going to edit that out. So it sounds like Chris is saying that to me. And everyone was like, oh, I really liked Chris Addison. And I also, it was really nice to women.

Imagine that's the trailer. Oh God, I've got to call the PR. Yeah, deal with this. Oh look, that's an Airdale, isn't it? I think it is. No. Is that an Airdale? What kind of dog is that?

You're a rescue dog from Ray. Oh, it's a quite nervous. Are you nervous? Do you want to meet Raymond? This is Raymond. Oh, nice to meet you. What's your dog called? Indy. Indy.

Lovely to meet you, Indy. Bye-bye, Indy. Bye. Indiana was what we named the dog. That's what he says in the film. Oh look, that's a nice friend. Oh, yeah. What's that?

I'm going to say puppet. What's that dog? A Paternale. I love those Paterdale's. Miss Raymond? Yeah. Oh, well, listen. Hello, Raymond.

I heard you on the podcast often. Who's all? Well, this is Nancy. This is Nancy. Nancy and she's 15 weeks old she looks like a kid's drawing of a dog that's what people used to say about her predecessor but you know it's like the Socratic ideal of a dog that's what it's amazing she's beautiful Nancy it's lovely to meet you well it's very nice to meet you as well yes you too bye bye bye nice to meet

you oh so you don't get that with other cat people Well, we, you know, dog people, greet dog people, you know, like bus drivers kind of flash the lights at each other. Dog people do that, don't they, when they cross? Dog people like dog people, but cat people, you wouldn't know, because you don't take your cat for a walk unless you're a lunatic. And there are a few of those. So somebody once saw, somebody, who was it? Somebody, who was this? Saw a man in Lewisham and the market in Lewisham taking a stout.

for a walk. There's so many questions. Oh, I love it. So, yeah, so we were talking earlier about junior Chris and a bit of a show off. Oh, yeah. Academic, good at school, worked hard. I went to quite an academic school

and was absolutely in the middle of that school. I didn't work terribly hard. No, I'm a quite, I'm a deadline. type person. Yeah, and I'm inherently quite lazy. And I sort of need fear as a motivator with work, I find. Do you think that's true of a lot of creatives in some ways? Yeah. I've found it really, there's a great book by Russell T. Davis and Benjamin Cook, which is sort of a correspondence between the two of them whilst Russell T. Davis was writing the third series that he wrote of Doctor Who. And it's fascinating because you're just, you're just inside somebody's creative process. And he, he's

says in it, I just can't, I know that I've got to do 12 pages in the day, that's what I've set myself to do. And I know that if I sit down now at this point in the morning, I can get them done in the day's moment, but I will not do that. It'll be getting on for midnight and I'll go, ah, and I totally get that. Were you popular, Chris, when you were a kid? What sort of team were you in? Do you know what I mean, like at school? Oh, I was in the music geek team. That's that I was very much anti-joc. I wasn't nerd because I wasn't like I wasn't a science enough to be I suppose I've always sort of

learns as a slightly sciencey thing but I was yeah I used to hang out in the music block with other Faye individuals and uh you've got the sort of romantic poet vibe what you think I don't know I mean it was sort of like I used I sang a lot in choirs when I was when I was a kid and my squad they had loads of them and yeah it was just sort of, there were a handful of us who just basically gravitated there and it was because the music block was aside from the main school building. So it was sort of like, it's like a safe place to go. And you got into stand up a bit sort of relatively late in, in, by today's terms, certainly. Yes, I was 23 when I started. Yeah. In today's terms, seems very old and long

in the tooth, doesn't it? But that's because you can, because everybody's got a camera, Now, you can start creating your own stuff whenever you want to start creating your own stuff. But back in those days, you couldn't do that. It was, you know, your way in was, you couldn't, I mean, you could film your own stuff, but you'd have to buy a lot of very expensive equipment to do it, and there would be no way of distributing it. I mean, it's, so I just, it's great, actually, because I do think, oh, it's so beautiful. Explain what's happened, Chris. So we've just, Raymond's just encountered a beautiful, what is this?

What is... Whippet. There's a beautiful great wippet. Absolutely beautiful. What's the whippet called? Bo. Bo. I love the name, Bo.

It's a fabulous colour. It's not such a lovely name, Raymond. This is called Raymond. Yeah, this is Raymond. I think he likes Bo. Look at Bo's coat. I know, it's beautiful, isn't it? Does Bo have a raw diet?

She does, yeah, yeah. That's the coat, I knew that. Is that right? Yeah. Isn't that right? That's why the coat's so nice. Okay. And then sometimes you break an egg into it.

Sometimes you'll have a sardine. You're basically making a steak tartar. That's what you're doing, aren't you? Absolutely, yeah. It's very, very fancy. I mean, I'm embarrassed to say in front of my friend because I think he already thinks I might maybe indulge my dog. I can't wait to hear this.

But I cook him. I get the blender. There you go. I cook him. He loves chicken. Eminest child grill chicken is his favorite. I mean, come on, man. No cost of living crisis in race.

Raymond's World, is there? No, no. Looks like it's very well. Oh. Come on, Rayan. Well, it's very lovely to meet you and Bo. Bye, bye, Bo. If you were going to have a dog, Chris, what would you have, do you think?

Oh, that's a good question. I've always, I mean, I've always loved labs. They're such, but I think, actually, if I could be bothered, if I could be bothered to put the physical effort into it, I'd love to have a husky. But they need a lot of running out. There's a guy. He doesn't do it anymore, but there was a guy in Bromley who used to have had four huskies and you'd see him, he would fix them up, attach them to like a trolley and they would, they were

taking around Brumley on a trolley like he was in like he's in the tundra trying to get to the South Pole. Extraordinary. But that's what they wanted to do those dogs. Yeah, yeah. Come on. So. Let's hurry up and get you famous. Okay. So you go to university and you did English, didn't you? I did. And you were going to be a director.

I wanted to be a theatre director, yeah, that was my, that was what I was big into that at the time. Yeah, I really wanted to do that. And then I didn't because it's really hard. It's too hard. Because you can, at school and at university, it's easy to do. You just got a lot of like-minded people who also have a ton of time on their hands and you can just put plays on or whatever. But once you get out, it's not the same. It's harder to do.

And so I ended up doing stand-up as a sort of pressure release, really, like just for something creative to do. But that's so interesting to me, Chris, because a lot of stand-ups you speak to, they're sort of, you know, they say they're driven. into it and they couldn't do anything else. Yeah. Whereas... What they mean is they failed their exams. That's all that means. That's just the man in the job centre said that to them, basically.

Johnny Vegas told me a story once about, because we started out around the same time, and Johnny was over in St Helens and there's quite a big scene in Manchester in the mid-90s. And he used to do a night in St. Helens, but he was signing on, I think, at the time. And he said, you remember going in and the guy going, have you had any work in the past two weeks? And Johnny going, no, no work. And he said, and behind it, behind the guy, whilst he was asking all these questions,

was a picture of Johnny doing a karate kick and sort of gold trimmed flares. Right in the dude's head. Not, of him. Not, mate. He's an actual genius. Yeah, that still interests me there that you approached stand up, I guess, in a moment, more pragmatic way? I think it's sort of, like I've always loved comedy. I've always been obsessed with comedy from when I was, you know, kid onwards. I just, I loved it. I used to watch, like the, I can remember taping, you can still get this, Billy Connolly, an audience with Billy

Connolly, which is taped in 1985, I taped off the telly, and I just watched it over and over and over and over. To this day, I still think it's the best hour of stand-up that you can find. And I just, so I loved, I loved all of that. I loved, when I was growing up, the BBC Radio 4 used to repeat all of the classic radio comedy. So I would listen to Round the Horn and I'm sorry I'll read that again and the Goons. And it was really big. In fact, the Goons, that was, I really came across the Goons when a classmate of mine lent me, his dad had some El P's of the of shows, a couple of goon shows.

And it was a proper kind of road to Damascus type moment where I went, holy shit, I had no idea you could do that. I didn't know any of that was possible. And it completely, like it rewired my brain in terms of what sort of what I was interested in in comedy and so on. I can remember that going downstairs and watching hello, hello directly after listening to the goons and going, well, this isn't funny. The week before I'd been going, that's the fall of Madonna with the big movies. This is gold. But yeah, the goons just totally rewired my entire way of thinking.

And then Python did again when I sort of discovered that. But you didn't have anyone, you didn't grow up with a sort of showbiz connections. No, no, nothing like that, no. You just thought, I'll give it a go. So did you start writing and book yourself some gig? I booked a gig in. the frog and bucket in Manchester, which in those days,

it was in a tiny wee pub on Newton Street that's no longer there. And I was living in Birmingham at the time. I graduated the year before, but I was hanging around doing tent work. I guess we go this way. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, so I went back home to Manchester

for the Easter holidays, and I was in a pub, and there was a leaflet for raw a night at the Frogginbucket on a Monday, which was an open mic night. And I was going to be there for Easter Monday. So I just thought, I'll go. I'll go and do that. And it was horrific.

It was a genuinely horrific experience. Was it? Oh, yeah, man. So it was, I turned up, I'd never been to a night like that, so I didn't really know what to expect. Turned up at doors. And of course, no, it was there at doors. So I was in, I was in this place on my own, nursing a pint because I didn't want to drink. nursing a point for like ages and then and then eventually the door opens and some more

people came through but the more people were Caroline Hearn and her then husband Peter Hook out of new order and they came they came through oh my God and anyway I did my five minutes to silence but I can just remember looking over and seeing a table in the corner seeing Peter Hook with his with his chin resting on his hand looking at me going who's this brick Anyway, but I was very fortunate because lovely Dave Gorman was in that night. And he said, he came up to me afterwards and said, don't worry, this audience is shit, you've got some nice jokes there, you should do it again.

And I don't think I would have done it again if that hadn't happened. Oh, isn't that nice, Chris? You never forget things like that. No, no, you definitely don't. He was so super helpful. And then, but you had the confidence to go back. Look at this. So we're walking through a lot of leaf litter.

I say we're walking through it. Ray is dragging it with him. So, and then you decided, right, I'm good at this. After, you know, enough times of doing it. Yeah. Try to figure out if a bird just shot on me. Let's have a look. I can't see anything.

Wait. But you know what? can't see anything but I've got wet wipes just in case. No it's fine, don't we. Let me have another look. Look. It all looks fine too. I think that was just a leaf or something.

A genuine, that would be perfect, wouldn't it? Can I just say, I've just touched Chris Addison's hair and it's beautifully soft. Thanks. I made it myself. Are you on a raw diet? Yeah, yeah, I know. Just because I can't be asked to cook. It's not a health thing.

Heating bills are really expensive. We'll all be on a raw diet by October. Oh, so, you know, you're going to be on a raw diet by October. So, you know. Yeah, so you got the, you got the bug really. Yeah, yeah, I do. I mean, it's fantastic. It's brilliant.

And it is, as a creative thing, it's one of the most pure things you can do. It's just you, you are in control of everything. You write the stuff and you perform. It's, it's so sort of liberating. And it, you know, if you put to one side of the fact that most people are scared to death of the whole idea of it, it is just the easiest thing that you can do. Because all you do is rock up at a place and go, hi, I'll go on. And somebody else has sorted out everything else, they've organised the night,

they've booked the equipment. I know you've said before, and I really like that. You pointed out. People always emphasise how terrifying the concept of going on stages. And you always say, but that's not the hard bit. The hard bit is the slog of writing it and failing each time you sit down to write. Yeah. The only way that you can put a show together,

It's not like anything. You can write a novel on your own in a room and then come out and go, done it, guys! That's fine. You can do that. But you can paint a painting, you can do almost anything creative on your own,

except to create a stand-up show. You have to think of some things, then go and show them to some people and have those people tell you, this is a terrible, what were you thinking? This is rubbish. You're a charlatan. Go away.

And you repeat that process until you've got enough things that they haven't reacted like that to. And so humiliation is baked into the process. But where's your damage? Because I don't see any. Because of... Because of your job. Because of that humiliation. Where's my damage? Yeah. I think I am...

Yeah, I think I'm just quite corn fed. You know what I mean? I'm quite... I'm a free range. corn fed, our hens are happy kind of comic. You know, so I, yeah, I've, I've not really ever had anything like that to mine. And I don't think it's necessarily a good thing not to have something like that to mine. You know, I think it can be, it can be useful creatively to have that kind of thing, although nobody really wants it because it's, you know, it's a trauma.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I really think it's about showing love. I think that's basically what it boils down to. is it's just it's just um it's talking with chris stain wow you can't take the whole park away with you ray so you ended up then your career really took off and you obviously did brilliantly at edinburgh and that's where you were kind of launched really wasn't it and you then started doing a lot of tv yeah mock the week yeah i joined mock uh directly after frankie left so I never went on it with Frankie in fact so the first time I ever did it was

when they hadn't sort of found a replacement for him yet and they were just trying various people out I suppose but I mean mark the week is a was a real kind of bear pit you absolutely had to fight for attention in that you had to you know because there's six other people well five other people six I suppose if you include if you include Dara who are racing to get to the same joke as you often. I can remember once there was, we would do these caption things

and the picture was of just a plane and the window, the porthole window in the plane and it was of Abba al-Hamsa, who was being deported and captioned this. And I absolutely knew that every single person around that table was what was going to try and say,

I've had enough of these motherfucking shapes on this motherfucking plane, right? I knew that was gonna happen. And it was just, and I got in, and I think about it all, not all the time, but I think about that when I think about Monk of the Week, God, we all knew that that was the obvious joke.

And you just had to, it was brutal, you absolutely had to fight for it. But I'll tell you how we knew that the atmosphere changed was, there's that bit, scenes we like to see. And it's two or three minutes of the edited show. In reality, it's,

45 minutes, that section is 45 minutes of basically going and doing joke after joke after joke after joke. But there's no order in which you do it. So everybody's kind of fighting to get to the microphone. And you would have to, you know, you'd have to wait. Somebody was just about to put their foot back, you know, up onto the, up onto the ledge where you were standing. And then you, you know, you had to go as quickly as you possibly could in order to get the next space. But over the course of my doing mock, it changed. And there was, I remember one, one time, everybody was just a lot nicer to each other and a lot more sort of polite about that

I can remember one time I think Hugh had done a joke and then gone back and nobody went forwards because we're all going please after you after you and Andy I remember Andy laughing and going

maybe this has gone too far but it was they were hard to do it was a really hard show to do and then interestingly you were so well established as a comic and then you decided to do acting you got offered by it was amanda yonucci who you've worked with in radio and or just over the years you have worked together have you no so well no we'd yeah well we'd we'd done one thing together yeah we were

both on an episode of the news quiz on radio four and in those days the news quiz used to the the last show of the series they would go away they'd most of them would be done in the radio theatre or the drill hall where most BBC radio shows were recorded and then one would be away on the road and we'd gone to South Sea near Portsmouth it was me and him and and Linda Smith and Alan Corrin so it was like I was in a car full of my heroes and it was very very overwhelming anyway but at that point he was just doing a documentary he was the BBC had this series the greatest British sitcom or whatever and he And he was making the case for yes, Prime Minister. And it had got him thinking, oh, I'm about a modern-day version of it.

And we talked about it over dinner afterwards. And I think, and he said, oh, you must come in and chat about that. Well, you're really excited. What I actually thought, I mean, Armando, I remember, you know, because I was such a big fan of Radio 4 comedy as a kid, I'd heard Arm's name a lot because, you know, he was a producer, and he also produced what I think is the funniest radio. show that's ever been made on the hour, which became the day to day on TV. I mean, and I was

obsessed with that show. And so I was just excited at the prospect of more time with Armandi Inucci, actually. That's what I was mainly thinking. I don't think I thought, oh, this could be it. This is the path. But it really was the put-off. As it turns out, yeah. Did it change your life quite a lot in terms of suddenly, I presume you were being recognised, certainly in certain Post codes of London quite a lot. Well, there's like, when it first went out, and it was three episodes on BBC 4, the thick of it. And, yeah, there was, if you were anywhere near Westminster,

you would instantly be spotted anywhere else, no. It didn't, I mean, yeah, it did, it changed. Yeah, it sort of gradually changed my life because it, because it meant that I sort of expanded out from doing, just stand up and so on. I mean, I didn't think of it long before I did mock the week. So these things, you know, like think of it, the first series of think of it is 18 years ago.

Yes, it's because it run for so long though, didn't it? Yeah. Because was it 2005 it started, no. Yes, it started in, yeah, because it had to, we had to wait until after the election for it to go out. So we'd already, we'd recorded it. We'd shot it in like January and month. March of January February really quickly really really so unbelievably quickly each

episode took three days which is insane and yeah we had to wait until sort of the BBC didn't want to put it out until after the election in case they got in trouble and then yeah and then it did sort of just a yeah a kind of world of possibilities opened up and Jamie Britain who who created skins I've remember bumping into him. It's because you're in skin. Yeah. And he went, and he went, I'll write your part if you like.

And I went, great. Thank you. And so he wrote me, you know, wrote me as the David Cameron-esque evil headmaster. And it was great. And that's, you know, that's all off the back of, I mean, yeah, the thick of it, in all sorts of ways, totally changed my life. And being in that gang, changed my life.

And you being the polymath that you are, he then decided, actually, I want to do a bit of directing. In some ways, did Armando? You know, she kind of helped kickstart that in a way. Yeah, he totally did, yeah. So what happened was the thick of it is shot in its really unusual way. It's not actually that unusual anymore, but at the time it was shot in a way that was just not the standard way

that you would make a TV program. And so Arm had directed all of it. Oh, I'd love to be on arm terms. Can you make it happen? Come on. Invite him on the podcast. Show him Raymond. That's what you must do.

Go on, Chris. But he, so he directed everything up to the final series. But the final series was shot in between the first season of Veep and the second season of Veep. It's madness. Now that I look back on it, it's pure lunacy to take it on, but take it on they did. And he realised, well, look, I can't direct everything. But I need, so I need other people to direct it. people to direct it but because it's shot in this unusual way and need people from

inside the family to do it so he knew that I had wanted to be a theatre director so he said why don't you come and do an episode of this and Tony Roach the writer did an episode and Billy Sneddon our editor and Natalie Bailey who'd previously been arms assistant one of his amazing strengths and I don't think it's sort of talks about it I don't think it's recognized a lot but he's he's really good at going, you come over here and try this. And he, like, if you present yourself as, I don't know, a stand-up to him, he goes, okay, I'm not going to think about you in those terms.

I'm going to think about what your potential is. And he, so he's fascinating. He, I really feel like there's a whole bunch of us who came through the Academy of Armando because he basically taught us. So Simon Blackwell, who, you know, who I've worked with for 20 years now, He was one of the original think of it writers. But before he wrote on the thick of it, he was writing in gag rooms for Have I Got News for You

and the kumas at number 42, all of those sorts of shows. He was a gag writer. And it's really hard for gag writers to get the jump into narrative comedy. But Armando, being Armando, went, oh no, you're really interesting. Come over here and try this. And so, you know, so that's what Simon is now.

he's an award-winning writer of narrative comedy. And Armanda does that the whole time. So Natalie Bailey, his former assistant, who's now like a legit film director back in Australia. And Sean Gray, it was another of his assistants, who's now a big writer. That's sort of what he did. And yeah, so I think he just went,

I know you like the idea of directing theatre, so that's good enough to try this thing out. Were you nervous though Chris when you first the first day of VEEP you've got those headphones on did you get the North Face Jacket to look the part I have a North Face jacket I have gone a North Face jacket baseball cap yeah no well VEP so I'd done it I'd done an episode of them think of it that was the moment that was the moment where I can remember setting up the first shot of that which was Roger Allum and Will Smith and Olivia Pule walking down corridor and And talking with Nick, who was the DOP, the director of photography, about how we were going to do this thing. Getting back to the monitors, which Armando was at the monitors as well, putting the headphones on and waiting for the first assistant director to call.

And I remember thinking, what am I doing? What possessed me to think that I, what the hell? What am I going to say to anybody? What am I going to? How do I do this? And then he called action. And I can remember watching them coming down the corridor and thinking, oh, no, that's not quite right.

And being half out of my chair and going, OK, cut. And I sort of, I went, oh, I think I will know it when I see it. And as a starting point, that sort of worked. But yeah, and Veep was a whole other thing because it's Julie Louis Dreyfus. You know, I've been knocking around with the Thickovic gang. I knew all those people. But to go over there and, you know, at what was at that point, an established show already. Man.

Did the power frighten you or did you quite like it? I don't think I noticed how powerful I potentially could be in that role for years. Like it took me a long time until I made a film a few years ago and it was when I was making that film that I suddenly went, wait a minute. We can do the thing that I want because it's literally my job to say that's the thing we're going to do. And honestly, it was like I'm so stupid because it was a proper, wait, people have to do what? I ask that, so we can do that. Why am I, why am I bending over backwards to try and accommodate the needs of whatever it was,

presumably the studio, but actually I can just go, no, no, no, this is what we're gonna do. And it took me a long time to realize that. Because I'm not particularly interested in the power aspects of it. What I'm interested in is I like getting in and tinkering with the comedy. The reason that when I sat at the monitors that first time

and did that first take, I suddenly went, no, no, I know what, I know what this is. It's the same thing, it was the same feeling that I get if I go to say the theatre and I go, no, no, not like that. I've always had that. Oh, no, I want to get in and fix and fiddle. There's no doubt that I have ruined many a lovely evening of my wife's television viewing pointing things out.

You know? Like there are people I should probably WhatsApp and go, fuck me. But there are, I mean, I'm quite, um, a demonstrative person, something, find myself going, oh, God. I think some of us do sit and think about things in those terms. Oh, the nightmares. Oh, God, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I also think there are people who work in sort of, you know, broadly speaking in the, well, you know,

creative industries, in the creative industries, I suppose, as a whole, as a whole, I think we are terrible for that kind of thing. But it's because we're interested in it. Well, I want to get on to your latest project. Yes. because was it three years ago? Breeders started? Yes, three years ago. Two. This is season three, so it must be two years ago. Yeah. Surely. And what brought breeders into the world? It was essentially a dream that Martin Freeman had. We were sort of set up on a date essentially together, Martin and I. Did you think, oh, he'd be quite a nice friend for me? He's a... I do that with people. I do. I look at people, I think, oh, they'd be a nice friend. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I'd be a nice friend. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I mean, Yeah, well you definitely, I think you always want to, if you're going to get into something with somebody for an extended period of time, you definitely want to think we're going to be, we're going to get on. It'll be okay.

We're going to, we'll get. If we think, oh no, this is not going to work. Get out of that project because it's just going to be a nightmare. But so we were set up because his agent had spoken to my agent about he's, he's, Martin had some some idea. Anyway, and it turned out that the idea was that he had had a dream where he was walking upstairs. His kids were upstairs and making an astonishing amount of unnecessary noise. And he was walking upstairs and saying to himself, you don't have to shout at them, knowing that he's going to shout at them, be better than this, be better.

You don't have to do that. And then opening the door and just tearing them to pieces. And this was his dream. And he said, he said, it felt really real. He said, I think about the way that our kids make us angry. The truth about having children is that, as everybody says, oh, you'll never know a love like it. Definitely, you would kill for your children.

Equally, nothing can make you angry than your own kids. Nothing. They can be so infuriating. And those two things are very linked. And he observed that, particularly in sitcom, you've never seen that. You don't see that. You see, you know, sitcom families are either kind of teenagers or wise-cracky teenagers or something but nothing that felt like a sort of

nothing that felt sort of nuanced yeah and actually that dream that Martin had ended up being the opening scene of the and what I love is get that you get to refer all the time to the dream that Martin had yes and yeah yeah it's not the first Martin to have a dream it's not the most important dream and Martin's not the most important dream and Martin's ever had but um but we do and I think the thing that struck me when I first saw it because I have been a fan for some time and I think you know one of the things it sounds like a simple thing but it's actually to me it's not because the swearing the parents swearing I just felt that was really honest and I really liked it and I thought it was quite brave as well because I suspect you

felt you might encounter some controversy with that. Yeah and people that I think it's interesting because people tend to have quite a strong reaction to the show one way or the other and there are people who cannot watch it because of the swearing and specifically the swearing at the children which is all you know that's all very carefully managed we don't actually swear at those children we shoot it in such a way that we can make it look like that's happened but but people do object to it and I get that I do get it yeah but I think it's so like I say I think it's very truthful and those characters the relationship that the parents at

Stacey Haggert who's a brilliant actress isn't she and Martin Freeman and it's it was started from what I gather it was you and Simon and Martin would sort of sit and have these lunches yeah and kind of swap stories really yeah and about, you know, the kind of non-Disnifide version of parenting. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. It was, it's interesting because men don't really talk to other men about that stuff that often. And so it was sort of like being a support group. It was like we were in some sort of father's support group.

And we found ourselves telling each other things that were, you know, the darkest parts of our soul were bare. were bad and and it was sort of quite cathartic and it's why we realized there's definitely something in this because and that's what the other reaction the other reaction we always get to the show is people going oh thank God thank God it's not just me thank you for saying those those things because I was going a bit mad here and actually that's you know not that's what we set out to do it I'm not suggesting we're all marvellous people and deserve night huds but I think that that's where

the truth comes from and in those early meetings we realized oh yeah yeah there's there's definitely legs in this and when we've always when we started to make the show properly um after we've done the pilot when we started to do sort of 10 episodes seasons of it we would have writers rooms which we've always been very careful to make sure that half of the writer's room is as women because it's three white middle aged men who've created this thing it could very easily become an extremely boring show about another white dude's midlife crisis. So, but everybody in that room were, to begin with, parents of children of different ages. And so we ended up, you know,

over the weeks of the storylining writers room, sharing a lot of really quite grim stuff with each other. And, you know, a lot of it has made it into the show. And I think that's why, that's, I think, I hope, that's why it's sort of feels truthful. So season three is about to start, it's on Sky. It's already out in America, isn't it? It's already out in America on FX. And streaming now on Hulu in the States.

It's going now TV as well on the 13th. And I think I'm correcting saying all episodes will be available all at once. Oh, I like that. I like to binge. Well, I watched all of them. I was lucky enough to be sent them all. And I watched them all. It's very impressive.

Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot to go through because it's something quite bleak. It was a roller coaster for me, Chris. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was left on something of a cliffhanger at the end of season two because Martin Freeman's character, Paul, had moved out of the family home.

Yeah. And that was another thing I really loved. That sounds like I'm saying I love that he moved out of the family home. But what I liked is that he moved out of the family home because he was struggling in his relationship, not with his partner, but with his son. Yeah. And I thought that was really interesting because,

that tells you quite a lot about how things are different now. Because back in our day, when we were growing up, the idea of a father, of a child having that much agency and that much of a voice in a domestic setup. And I thought that was so fascinating. It really got me thinking about how, yeah, now I can see that would happen, that if her father had anger issues and it was upsetting the kid,

the mother would say, yeah, I think it's best that you move out. Yeah. Part of what we thought about it to begin with is what a strange thing it is for parents now, but particularly for fathers who in the space of a generation have had to basically do a complete gear change in terms of how they parent the fathers of our generation were, you know, different. It was a different time. They were different people. Most of all of that stuff was left to the mother and, you know,

and still is, to be honest. But it's interesting that people like Paul have no specific role model. So his father is one of the characters, Jim. And Jim's, you know, just a very ordinary working class bloke who, you know, would work for Watney's, would have gone to the pub of an evening and, you know, and Paul's mum would have done all the work, basically. And then it's an odd thing for men of our generation. to go, we're having to slightly invent it.

Do you like the mound, by the way? I was just going to say, we've just come to the mound. I feel like, do you know that film picnic at Hanging Rock? Yes. Oh, it is very like that, isn't it? Chris Addison has taken me to a mound. The mound.

And do you know anything about the mound? Well, I mean, don't come here on midsummer. That's all I'm telling you. Particularly not if you're wearing all white. I like how he sort of widens out as he sits down. You know what, Chris? You know why I love him? Because he brings so much joy.

I love the way that the ears go up. It's like, it's like his entire head expands because there's so much hair on it. Come on, Rayleigh. It takes quite a lot of boldness and balls in a way to have the confidence to try different things. Because most of us get told at quite a young age, Yeah, that we can't. You do this.

You have to specialise. You get boxed in. And I think people who are outliers who think, actually, I'll try this, I'll try this. That takes, you're facing sort of external judgment in a way. Who are you to do that? But I think it suggests someone who comes from quite a stable kind of home environment. Right. Because you've got a safety net there.

Do you know what I mean? You don't feel you have to. create your own? Yeah. There's absolutely no question that what I, the career that I've been able, the weird sort of patchwork career that I've been able to make for myself over the last quarter of a century. My agent said to me a couple of years ago, you have the bizarrest career of anybody I've ever met, let alone managed. It's fucking ridiculous. All right. But there's no question in my mind that that is because I am immensely privileged. That's how I've

been able to do that because I have a stable home I had a stable home environment that you know I'm from a nice middle-class family I was never going to starve do you know mean like so so you can take the big swings because somebody's got somebody has your back if nobody has your back it's fucking terrifying they're the brave people it's it's I'm not brave I'm just I'm just you know I'm well set up I'm the lucky dude you're resilient is what I would say because you need to be resilient don't you because Every time you try anything new, you fail inevitably. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, there's a lot of failure. What do you like as a dad, Chris? I bet you're a nice dad, aren't you? Are you strict? Do you know what? I'm not... I'm not massively strict. But I think I'm more inclined to be strict than my wife is, probably. Are you? Are you the disciplinarian?

Well, yeah. Your kids are a bit older now. Yeah, so my son's just finished his GCSEs, and my daughter's just sort of beginning hers next year. So they're there, you know, he's off in six forms. She's in the middle of high school. So it's a different adventure now from how it was. But yeah, no, I definitely, I think I was the one more likely to put my foot down.

But there's not a lot of foot putting downing. It's been going on. I think you're quite a pushover. Yeah, probably. Well, I think that's a real problem with parents is you can't be a pushover because if you are, but you, it's death, it's, not death, that's, it's terrible, but it's, like it's, it will ruin your children. They definitely need the boundaries, definitely.

And you do, you sort of try not to do stuff because you don't want to not like you. And sometimes they're gonna have to not like you and it's your job to put yourself in a place where that uncomfortable thing happens to you because it's for the great good. It's easy for me to say this to you now here, but actually to put it into practice in the minute

is really hard. You're doing two things. at once you are having to learn to trust them and they're and they're and you're also having to teach them to break away from you but your job is apparently so weird because your job is your job is literally to make your children leave you right for put you to take the thing that you love most in the world and equip it to leave you that's your job and then and so it's it's it's very hard to to balance those things we just you know I don't think my parents were

on me when I... Were they not? No. But the doctor, I imagine the doctor had strict rules. The doctor was at work. You know, I mean, my dad was on call a lot of the time, you know, when I was a kid and I just don't, you know, I, mind, like, I did fuck up my A levels a bit by, by being, yeah, because I'm lazy. He kept that out of the old honorary degree speech. Oh, absolutely, yeah, they don't need to know that. I didn't fuck them up badly, but I definitely didn't do what I could have done if I'd actually put the effort in but that is sort of the story of my life well it's not the story anymore what I want to know yeah is how you if we had an argument yeah how would that work if you're upset with something I did or said would you

call me and say am I'm really upset about that or do you would you just mull on it oh I'd on that. Would you? Yeah. Would you just not reply to my text or something? No, I'm, well, I'm, I'm so desperate to not fall out with anybody. Are you? Yeah. Yeah, I can't bear it when it feels like something, something has gone a ride there. And it's not a good, that's not necessarily a good thing to, to have as a characteristic, particularly not in my job. But, but I, but I can't bear the idea of somebody, you know, of just, I can't bear the idea of somebody being crossed with me, so I'm, you know, I can't, you know, I can't. Do you not like conflict? No, I don't really don't like conflict. I'm terrible. How does that work as a director then? Because a lot of the conflicts

built into the job, right? Well, I don't think it has to be built into the job. I don't think any director needs to, like, that sort of, um, the cliche of the director, shouting at everybody. Why the fuck is that dead? Get that out of my sight. You're all fired. And they're a Definitely those people. And I sort of understand why they're like that because it's a highly pressured job. There's an awful lot riding on your shoulders. And it's you, and it's you, you're where the buck stops.

So I get it. But you're not going to get anything good out of people that way, are you? Like, it's just not, if you treat people like that, they'll do their job, but they're not going to go the extra mile or anything. And they're not having a nice time. And that infects the atmosphere and that affects everything that's happening. So purely from a kind of totally selfish point of view, you shouldn't be like that. Just be nice.

Make the atmosphere nice. It'll work better. It'll all work better. What would Mrs Addison say? What's the thing that drives her most mad about you, would you say? Lack of communication. Failure to communicate. That's it.

That's exactly what she would say. Write the thing down on the calendar. How is anybody supposed to know that you're doing the thing? If you've not written it, write the thing, explain where you're going. You know, just talk about everything. Make me, let me understand where you are and why. I think that would be the thing that she would. But to be honest, it's the head of what I imagine is a reasonably large list.

I always ask people on this Chris What do you most Wish people would say about you when you leave a room? And what do you most fear? So what do you most fear people would say about you when you walk out of a room? Crikey. Interesting question. Well, thank fuck for that I suppose But but I think I go, hi, well last week you get some real conversation going. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I just, I have, I have an absolute

paralysing need to be liked. Yeah, I, I'll also find the idea if I, it's funny, this seems so stupid, it's going to sound so stupid, particularly bearing in mind the job that I've had since 1997, six, even, five, fuck, but, but I'm always surprised that people are talking about me when I'm not there. I find it genuinely odd that anybody would yeah we were talking about you were you I still find that but I find it really peculiar and let's do the nice bit Chris okay what do you really hope people would say when Chris leaves the room what a great shirt and let's say last night you were with Dara and Hugh and Michael McKean for dinner yeah as you Dennis Dara O'Roein and

Michael McKean yeah let's say you'd left first what do you wish they would all say about you um apart from nice shirt yeah I think maybe there'll never be another one of him I would really like to see that guy again as soon as possible you know what I'd say about you Ray picks up on people and he's been really happy spending the time with you he's a little sweetie I can't imagine him not liking anybody. Well we're standing here with a with a dog who looks like something out of Star Wars and what I'm saying is you're a Jedi. Oh right. You're a dead eye but I'll tell you what else you are Chris. You're a romantic poet meets

physics teacher that ever fancies. Russell Howard used to call me the sexy lecturer but that was many years ago. Chris I've loved Darwin. How do you feel about Raymond? I love Raymond. He's an absolute marvel. I've never seen a dog like him. I'm thrilled to to have made his acquaintance. Chris, I've loved having you. Say goodbye, Raymond. And everyone, please watch season three of breeders and you need to catch up on,

if you haven't already called up with season one and two, I saw, I caught them, called up with them on now TV on Sky. Yeah, that's where they are. It's so brilliant. You will binge them. I'm so pleased you liked it. Oh, I love it. I didn't, oh.

Oh, hello. Oh, is this? This one's a bit fancy. Very fancy. What's with the, oh is it? It looks like her some sort of poodle. Look at the tail. I know, fantastic.

Well, Chris, we've loved today. So goodbye. Bye, Ray. It was lovely to meet you. You look after Emily, won't you? Thank you, Chris. How does he speak, Chris? I imagine it's sort of a bit like that.

Yeah, all right, yeah, I will see what I can do. You know, I'm only little, but... If I turn around, maybe that's what's happened. You'll really just become each other. I really hope you enjoyed listening to that and do remember to rate, review and subscribe on iTunes.