Wolf and Owl - Home Alone, Gordon Ramsay & Making Friends

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

Is it harder to make friends after 40? On this week’s episode of Wolf & Owl, Rom and Tom tackle one of life’s trickier questions as they dish out advice on making new mates as an adult and why it can be harder after you hit 40. There’s also a Home Alone deep dive, a surprising switch up from Tom on his Gordon Ramsay opinion, a debate about Itchy And Scratchy and inevitably, one of Tom’s most revolting stories yet. As always, the boys are answering your emails, oversharing where absolutely nobody asked them to and some terrible American accents from Tom. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Platform Media. 00:00 Intro 00:56 Tom’s American accent 3:30 On Home Alone 4:52 Itchy & Scratchy vs Tom & Jerry 7:27 Tom’s vulgar poo story 9:16 An email from you 11:50 Tom goes backtracks on Gordon Ramsey 16:26 Advice on making friends 22:05 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yeah, what do you want? Beak or jaws, feathers or fur, sharp teeth or feet with claws, whatever's prefer. Just kidding every word in his songs about two grown men dressed up as a bird and a dog. Welcome to the Wolfenow Podcast. Extra special. Email special. The correspondence episodes I've been told to call them. Yeah, correspondence episodes.

You correspond to us at Wolffowlpod at gmail.com. And we've gone back, baby. That's what we're here for. The correspondence life. That's the correspondence life. Correspondence life. Oh, yeah. You like correspondence.

Oh, you get it. Have you ever paid anything as an American? No. Okay. I for so long wanted to be American. Like a schoolboy. Like Dawson. I was obsessed with Dawson's Creek for too long.

Do you want to read in these emails? Yeah, I'm quite happy. Do you want to do it in an American accent? Okay. Okay. anxious axolati axolati here before christmas tom mentioned

it played on his mind during home alone they made in fun of buzz's girlfriend who he was worried about and got a little read your has missed up he's got a bit shawshank redemption yeah yeah who he'll start again first of all it's axolotl okay excellent do you want me to do

what more Dawson yeah go on okay bouncy okay anxious alaladal here axolotel Before Christmas, Tom mentioned it played on his mind that during home alone, they made fun at Buzz's girlfriend, who he was worried was a real person. They used to get a cheap laugh. Just wanted to stop you that.

It's fine what you're doing, but I don't, you've put so much on that. I don't know if people need a bit of catching up on what we're talking about here. No, we'll do that after. Okay, fine. Let's do that about after, okay. It's just that he's about, Axelot is about to reveal the ending of this. So I'm trying to set up a bit of tension. Okay, a bit of tension.

So we talked about Home Alone and McCauley Colkin, what's his kid's name? Kevin. Kevin McAllister. Yeah, Kevin McAllister takes a piss out of Buzz's girlfriend. Yeah. And says, woof. Woof, yeah. Yeah.

And then you expressed concern. Yep. And I seconded that. Yep. There's a little girl out there who is forever going to be canonized. Yep. And would never be able to get the joy from Homeland, that Homeland brings so many.

guy so that's what he's referring to the actual just want to she yeah just want to put his mind at ease it's actually documented it was a member of the crew's son and a wig hope this helps tom and it goes to show just what a legend jans he was there also as well by the way by doing on well yeah love the show and keep doing what you're doing guys ha i'm a recent convert at war for now and for a long time i felt it was cheating on parenting hell but now managed to Jill parent, the two shells, Gilfrey. It's me, it's Richard, your new friend.

So you think Americans pronounce it Wulf? Wulf, Wulf, wolf. Wulf. The wolf for now. It's not Walf, is it? Yeah, it depends which bit of America you from. Which bit of America they're saying Wolf? By the way, my, I just literally think of a... It's wolf, isn't it? Wolf.

I think of a person, rather than the actual... Which person was that? What, when I was doing that exit? Yeah. Sort of middle management guy. So not actually a... No, no, not a per. I can't do it. impressions. Wolf. Wolf. Woff.

Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. He was a walf. Do you think it's better that it was a boy? No, that a boy's forever in that thing. No, but I think it was probably done as a sort of, there was a bit of a jovial way of doing it.

I mean, there's different things. Some people say it was the set designer's kid. Some people say it's the director's kid. But either, I think it's really what I've, because a lot of people got in touch about that. And I, it put my mind at ease. Because you're worried, weren't you? Terribly so.

Because it's a really fun film. Grace, by the way, has just mastered out to do the, she does the whole thing. Yeah. Well, that's really cute. You say the whole thing, that's just, no, no, wash it in. Oh, she does the whole rigmaro, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. She does the whole thing of going. I put da-da-da-da under my arms and it yeah

yeah that's very cute yeah do you think you can make that film now well home alone yeah

why not well I just think you know they've made a TV series of it yeah but it's not I will say actually since she's

watched that she's become a lot more casual with her violence well that's exactly the point I was gonna make kicking

when I fell down the stairs she found it hilarious well didn't she like swing a bowling ball into your face from the top of the stairs

less straight of micro machines on the stairs yeah But she found it. It took a while for her not. I mean, a lot of it, it's very carton. You know, because you know in Tom and Jerry, they always just have a go about Tom and Jerry.

That's what itchy and scratchy took the piss out of. Yeah. Because, like, it's like violent. What happened to itching and scratchy? They had it all. What do you mean? They had it all, didn't they? What are you talking about?

In The Simpsons, itching and Scratchy. What do you mean they had it all? What did? They were smashed it. They could have had a spin-off. So close to them. You're going to taste in it. At one point, itching,

Scratchy, I'd say almost surpass the Simpsons. I'm pretty sure they did episodes of Itching Scratchez Spinoff. Really? Almost certainly, yeah. But you don't want to just watch Itching Scratchy the whole time, do you? I used to think they were genius. They were so surreal and just, yeah. It wasn't that, I mean, it was just Tom and Jerry turned up to turn.

Yeah, there was an element to it that had a little bit of laughing, sort of breaking the fourth wall, going, hey, you're a part of this too, friend. Whereas Tom and Jerry's felt very about them and their relationship. Itching Scratchy's about them as well. Yeah, yeah, but it felt like there was more of a daughter. open to saying, come in, we're friends. We're Tom and Jerry fellow. Why? No, no, no.

I'm not going to let you get away with this. No. How did they do that? Just because they were a bit more whacking? What was it when Scratchy stuck a missile up the Itchy's ass? No, but it was a bit more sort of tongue. Or when he staple gunned his tongue to a plank of wood. I'd have to sit and watch an episode together.

And then I'd say there. And then you go, oh, I see. Yeah, that's good. Itching and Scratchie is just Tom and Jerry. It's not. It's so much, there's so much more going on. No, but it's just the whole, the whole, itching scratchy and Scratchie was a state. about Tom and Jerry.

Yeah, it was, but then it's a past even Tom and Jerry. In what way? It became bigger and better and more... Itchy and Scratchy. Listen, by the way, there's itchy and scratchy world now, at the Simpsons world. Yeah, I know that. It's within the Simpsons world, yeah. I know, yeah, but they've got...

Tom and Jerry have got nothing now. It's sad, but it's... I think that's probably an age thing, isn't it, time thing? Yeah. You know, there's lots of people... I don't know what our demographic is for this podcast. Lots of people going, who the fuck are they talking about? Do you know, every time...

Thomas! When... You know who that is? Yeah, yeah. Thomas's owner. Yeah. Or, yeah. Yeah.

Why did you get so nervous about that? No, I'm just like... Okay, you went Thomas's owner, but then you reacted like you thought that might get your house on. No, there's an element is that his owner? Yeah.

Or is it, you know what I mean? Is it just someone having a go at a cat who doesn't live there? Because she's not very, like, she never really strokes him. She's always shouting at him. You know what I mean? It's not like a love there.

I think if you saw a cat in your house, the first thing I wouldn't do is give it a name. No, but if you know, knew it, it lived like three doors down. Right. We have a cat that comes to her garden all the time looking to make friends with my cat.

Also, the other thing is... By the way, there's an awful thing at the moment. My cat's trying to, I think, like, he tries to jump in the toilet all the time. I don't know what's going on, whether he's just... Why do you keep putting your shits on a little string? My butt hairs. Can I just say, by the way, I did a gig the other night with rats and Dinesh, right? Which one of these guys is...

No, I did a poo that was so vulgar. that the guy running the gig literally had to walk out and leave the room. And it was not in that literally, it drifted in. And Dinn was, if that was you, you rinse me,

you terrible. Dyn's so polite, but I'd bought them both pizza and neither of them could eat the pizza. It was so bad. We were just all sat there, and I was like, I'm so sorry.

And Dinn was like, no, it's really not that bad. And I was like, Dinn, it's disgusting. It's completely taken away. He was like, I can't really smell it.

And Gratz was just like, Like head against the wall. It was one of that is awful. I am, I, when I did Missaventance of Romish Rang & Aheanation in the Arctic,

the guy that was with Johnny, Isalak. Yeah. Isolak, sorry. Cool name, by the way. He could do anything in life. He was like my co-host. Right.

And he only ate me exclusively because he's just hunting and he didn't really have vegetables. Anyway, we were getting a flight out of the Canadian Arctic. Yeah. And, um,

he did a fart. Bearing in mind, it's, you know, I'm not talking about Heathrow. It's like a small little terminal hub. He did a fart that was so toxic, he emptied the terminal. What? Yeah. Everybody left the building. Oh, my God.

Yeah. I mean, I'm talking like 40, 50 people, but still. Did he reference it? He was proud. Wow. I was about to say he didn't give a shit, but I imagine he did shortly after that, based out of smell. Johnny Isack?

That's a cool thing. He's a luck. Yeah. He's an actor as well. He's a great guy. Yeah. Anyway, thank you so much for clearing that for us. That's great.

That's the kind of stuff we love on the podcast, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. That's kind of a big-sized business. You need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system. And it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow.

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You should read this one. Okay. Accent? Read it like you are a cheeky little scamp who's just found out how electricity works for the first time. I mean, it's a very specific fucking direction. That's easy. Come on.

Just, Vladiel, just listen to Tom's disbanding the Gordon and I'd watch out. But you're on the same list as James. Oliver. Wow! Wow! You know he's been awarded 17 Michelin Stars in his time and currently holds eight. Oh dear, oh dear. That's actually insane. Yeah. That's really good. That was yeah. You literally conveyed exactly. Yeah. Anyway, the point is... He actually meant to be quite a threatening email, by the way. Yeah. I mean, the truth is,

you went in two-fitted on Gordon Ramsey. Yeah. I would go as far as to say, if you were that way inclined, three-footed. I mean, you called him the Jake Paul of cooking. You said that you could go toe to toe with him in a cook-off. Yeah. He implied it, certainly. Yeah. Yeah. You said that the only reason he's got anywhere is because of his

personality. That is basically the gist of what you said. Can I just say, I want to clear up a few things. The Jake Paul thing, what I meant by that is, there's, he's got an attitude about him. Don't start, don't, don't, don't, I don't compound the crime by repeating all of the things he's sitting here. But when Catherine listened to this back, she said you're basically the Jake Paul in the situation, Tom. And he's like the Tyson Fury or the Anthony Joshua.

Yeah, I get that analogy. Yeah. And you're the, your bad mouth in someone who's actually really, really good. I will say, chef in wise and cook, I don't know. Obviously, he's one of the best ever, right? I will say. You didn't say any of this, by the way, the previous time. No, he's a, I'm starting he's the best ever.

He's a very good chef. Because your ass has gone a little. bit because you're on a public forum, you've gone in on him. Yeah, but I will say this. I would stand, I would go to stay with him and see what happens. I want to talk to you a little bit

about the psychology of this, right? Yeah. Because I want you to imagine, yeah. You listen to a podcast. Yeah. And they start ripping into your acting or your stand-up. Which has happened.

On a podcast? I don't know about a podcast, but I'm aware of conversation. Yeah, obviously that happens. Obviously, you don't need to stipulate that it happens. obviously it happens in public in chats. Can I just say, by the way, this is more about me than Gordon Ramsey. I think Gordon Ramsey's really good at what he does.

This is such a fucking 180. You said, because he shouts a bit and swears a lot. That's where he's got to where he's got to. No, no, no, no, no, no. As a personality, are you telling me that when, if you're a channel, a broadcaster, a streamer, looking for someone to host a TV show as a chef, that when you see Gordon Ramsey, you go, this is gold because of his. That was not going to be like a dispararer.

not a horrible remark. My thing was he's got... You've gone right around the house. No, no, no. But when you watch it, the shouting. No, the shouting, the attitude, the swearing. All of those things, right? Don't get me wrong.

I stand by what I said. But a lot of that added to the illusion of the whole sort of brand that became Gordon Ramsey. Illusion? What do you mean? I think he's quite a nice chap in real life, by the way. If you meet him, he's one of the most general.

So not only can he not cook? The personality's fake as well. No, no, he's a lovely man. He's not authentic. No, I think he's real. When he's outside the kitchen, he's like a fighter. Inside the, inside the kitchen, he's a killer outside of it. He's a lovely gentleman.

I think he's a beautiful human being. But what I'm saying to... Wow. You have fucking folded on this so pathetically. No, I'm just saying to you. But I'd still go toe to toe to toe. And I still think... To toe with what?

In what? In what? In what? An omelet? You think... Tom? Actually, not an omelet. I'm not very good at omics.

Okay, fine. Name something. Okay, what I could go tell you're really good at making. Scramb a egg? Fuck off, Tom. Suflae? You think you could do a better suflay than Gordon Ramsey? Given a little bit of practice?

Currently holds eight Michelin stars. A direct quote from 10 seconds ago. Given a bit of practice. I think he's probably quite rusty as well. He's like an old champion. Tom. Can I tell you this? The last Rocky film.

Gordon Ramsey could be in a car accident. He's in a coma for nine years. They bring him around with some smell insults, and you have spent the interim exclusively making soufflays. Right, yeah, yeah. They wheel him out of the hospital. They get him straight into the kitchen. His souffle will still be better than yours.

Mate, I'm just telling you, well, you know, have you ever had one of my soufflays? You wouldn't even eat them anyway. No. They've got eggs and stuff. Correct. I think. Have you made a soup?

I think. Have you made a souffle? I've made a chufel. Which suflay did you make? I've made a chuce. Three cheese soups. Okay, great. Well, I'm just saying to you now, right,

my thing is, a lot of it is about the branding. It's all of the stuff around it. That's what made him this absolute legend that we all adore, right? I don't know what I'm more appalled by, your initial comments or this absolute ring-licking. Do you know what? I'll tell you what you could cook with right now. He's arsewold. As squeaky clean as it is.

I'm just saying that that Do you think he can cook though? Yeah. To what level? He's a very good cook. He's a very good chef. He's a like decent chef. Very good chef.

Decent chef? I will say that. I don't think it's an insult comparing into Jamie Oliver. I mean, that did cause some cases. Yeah, could I just, what? Yeah, but I think like Jamie Oliver's a minute. Jamie Oliver, by the way, young upstart.

It's a bit like the kid out of Ratatoui. Do you what I mean? He did that. He's 50 now, I know. How old is Jamie Oliver? No, I'm just saying to you. He's Jamie Oliver's rise to fame He's a bit like the kid from Rattahoo

He's 50 years old Yeah But when he was a youngster Right He was like a pot cleaner and all that And he learned how to use Leather Ropes Yeah

He's basically By the way I think he inspired The story of Rattourourne Don't I for definitely Not because of the rat bit But anyone could cook Jamie Oliver Inspired Rattatoo

Maybe Google that Because actually think There's an element of truth What's happened here is You can't stomach it With Gordon Ramsey So now you think I love Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver's great. Yeah, he's a sweet art. As is Gordon Ramsey. They're both excellent chef. Exactly. Exactly. But so why is the insult me saying that Jamie Oliver's as good as Gordon Ramsey?

That I don't understand. But I think Gordon Ramsey's achieved more... Yeah, but Jamie Oliver's such a sweet guy. Yeah. And they both are. Yeah. So what I'm saying is it's like, I don't know, you turn around like an insult being thrown at me about,

oh, you know, this comedian, you're... Anyone who is doing professional comedy is good at what they do, right? No, I don't stand by that No. Anyway, thank you so much for your email. I will remain anonymous if that's okay. I turned 40 last year and my amazing wife wanted to throw me a birthday party

to celebrate. The idea of this kept me awake at night for a while. Not the social anxiety of the party itself, but the realization that I don't have any friends to invite to it. I have a lot of family that would come and see me,

and we have a couple of friends or from her side of the fence, but no one that would just be my friend. No one I keep in contact with. While I'm happy with my life occasionally, I think it would be nice to be able to message your mate and go for a pint and a chat and chat shit for a few hours. I'm not sure you can make new friends at Post 40.

Should I be embarrassed not to have those friends? And how do you change it? I'm not a weirdo or anything. People tend to like me, just apparently not enough to sustain ongoing contact. Any help much appreciated. Love the pod and the manager electrolytes. up the good work.

By the way, yeah. Email's been included. Well, I'm glad that that was in there because Manjol really needs a shot in the arm. Does it really? What's going on with me? I was really suffering at the moment. What's going on?

We don't know what to do, how to push it more. I mean, this guy's actually, I mean, I feel like we should deal with the pressing matter. But you're not wearing any Mandraal merch now, which seems like an opportunity missed. Yeah, yeah, no. I should, yeah, we should actually probably start working more and like having a mandrel bottle here,

really upping the overlap sort of like they do with Huell. But yeah, anyway, By the way, you should start this. Because I usually start when I read them. Oh, yeah, okay. Thank you so much for your message. I feel like you're beating yourself up about not having anybody that you're like friends with or go for a point with. I think that's a pretty common thing.

I think that, you know, a lot of the time I think about the number of people you talk to on a day-to-day basis. But then when actually when you drill that down to, who could you actually phone right now to go for a apartment with them. You know, those type of people are hard to come by. And particularly when you get older, everyone gets busy. Like Tom and I are like best mates, but

it's quite difficult for us to pay each other. I said this is a pressing dick. I looked at the amount of people that I don't talk to anymore as friends. And not I've fallen out with these people or I just, you know, you felt like I've drifted away. But I felt like that on my 40th, I would say. Yeah, I would say, in my opinion, I think,

when you're in your 20s and probably in your 30s, I think you sort of make, you can't move for making friends because you're in these social situations and then all of, you know, you exchange your number and all that. As you get older, I actually,

you can make friends post 40. I do think the difference is, is that you have to actively do that. So in the past, everyone's looking for friends, right? Because your, because your evenings are made up of meeting up with people. What does that mean?

Well, everyone's there for, we all know why we're there. Right. You know, friendship's quite cheap. It's second hand sometimes. You'll meet your friend for a friend. No, no, not that. It started to work as an analogy and then you started to become yourself. But, like, I think that, you know, you're constantly looking to go out.

Whereas when people get older, actually going out as something you fit in alongside family or whatever else you've got going on. And so what that means is, is you're not putting it out there to try and and make friends, right? Yeah. And so actually you can make friends, but you have to make it, in my opinion, something that you're trying to do.

The first thing I'll say is there's nothing to be ashamed about about your situation. Lots of people have that situation. I have that. Sometimes I'll go to Lisa, I've got a free night or whatever. She's out and I think, I might pop out. And I think, what the fuck I'm going to go out with? What?

You know what? Come here, shout. I'll probably do. Yeah, but you're so far away. Yeah. But, um, so that... In distance, by the way, not in like... Yeah, and it's sort of emotional.

in intellectually and spiritually. But I don't think that's the thing to be ashamed of. I don't think you start getting down about it. But if you want to be in a situation you've got friends, I think the difference when you're post 40 to sort of reiterate the point of making is you just got to be a bit more proactive about it and look to. Often you'll find people that you didn't think were up for going

for a drink, want to. Do you know what I mean? People do want to get, you know. And what I would say is going out for a lot, when you get above 40, going out on a big one is not as common a thing. but just literally popping out for a drink. Yeah, nice curry, whatever.

All of that, good times. I always think it's a little bit like a film in some ways. Okay. Is it a film about a car boot itself? No, it's like early years, like, it's like when you switch on ITV2, right? And if a movie's like, you know, sort of 15 minutes in, you'll go,

oh, what's the rest of this? I've only missed 15 minutes. Even if it's halfway through, you might watch it. But once it gets the sort of dying of episode of movie, you're not going to watch like the last 15 minutes of layer cake. I'm not sure what this analogy is. You won't make friends on 10, because they're going to die,

I'm just like, have you seen the best bits? Have you seen the best bits of the movie already? What are the highlights? This does not hold up at all. People are not, if you're not going,

I don't think I'll go out of the drink movie. I think you've had all your highlights. I think all the action sequences in your life are done. Well, I think most of mine are. But I had some action sequence, let me tell you, in the 20s, but I look at it now and think,

yeah, I'm like, but I'd actually say, some of the best, the best people I've met, have been in the last sort of six years, seven years. I've met some great people after Forte that I look at and go, I don't think you should be embarrassed, no,

don't be embarrassed. I don't think you should be embarrassed about anything is the truth. What in life? Generally, no. Good luck to you, thank you so much. Cheers, thank you for writing in. And that's it, isn't it?

That brings us... If you enjoyed the emails that you heard read out today, maybe you'd like to email in to The Wharf and our podcast. Most to the address, Tom. Wolf and Our podcast The Wolf and Ow

Podcast, podcast Wolframau? No. Wolfowpod? Yes. At gmail.com. Correct. Wolfowpod at gmail.com.

Why don't you send your thoughts, worries and animated endeavors? Thank you.