Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S13 Ep 6: Michael Bublé
Episode Date: March 30, 2022We did EVERYTHING in our power to get this guy in mum's kitchen, but covid had other ideas…however - the man, the legend, THE Michael Buble joins us on Table Manners on Zoom this week and he did not... disappoint. We spoke about Michael’s discovery of Dishoom in London, his Nonna’s red sauce risotto, Sunday BBQs in Buenos Aires, how he met his wife, his children being bilingual & McDonald’s nostalgia with his grandfather. This episode called for a singsong & of course we don’t disappoint.Next time you’re in London Michael, you’re coming to Clapham! For dinner, and we can get right into destination weddings again!Go and listen to Michael's brand new album Higher which is out now x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm livid.
You're Covid.
Very good.
Never mind about livid.
I'm livid because I have Covid and because we are doing this episode on Zoom.
Now, this is the kind of gent that we are dealing with.
He not only changed the day in hope that my line would be faded and non-existent,
but he is also doing it after doing a full day of promos.
This is a day later, not getting mum's grub, and we're on Zoom, and it's 8pm.
But I'm so excited.
And can I tell you, I'm going to cry me a river.
Please don't.
Cry me a river. Please don't. Cry me a river.
Well, I'm going to, I feel like I just need to go,
I just haven't met you yet.
Anyway, I could do this all day because we have had his albums.
I remember his first song I heard on the radio was a cover of
You'll Never Find another love like mine.
Do you remember that one?
No, not that one.
It was a cover of a Van Morrison song.
Which one was it?
The moon.
Oh, moon dance?
Oh, it's a marvellous night for a moon dance.
And I thought, what a fabulous voice.
I remember you got it and I thought,
God, this guy's a bit handsome and he's like a crooner.
And we played his album a lot.
This was when I was still living with you.
I must have been 19.
No, younger, I think.
Anyway, we have the incomparable Michael Bublé on.
I'm really excited.
I just, I have a lot of expectations about this,
that he's going to be charming, suave, funny, a great guy.
And we're all going to want to marry him at the end.
And I wished I could have got my hands on him oh I mean or served him my food um what were you going to serve him or
should we wait to tell him well no because I'm going to serve the others I'm going to do this
just replace them unless they've got a chicken allergy they're going to have
Monday night's going to be chicken with olives and tomatoes and the lemon ice cream's made job done well he was going to get a river cafe chicken tomatoes and olives I think
the last time we did this was for Stacey Dooley but the guests that you will learn about um soon
will be getting that probably in next week's episode and then what was for Pud, Mum? Lemon ice cream. Oh, heavenly.
Oh.
And I have to say,
it was bloody gorgeous because I tasted it
when it was just churned.
So it was like Mr. Whippy ice cream
and it was all lemony and delicious
and I just thought,
this is wonderful,
but it has as much sugar and cream
as I could consume in a year, probably.
That is why it is so wonderful.
Yeah, it's delicious and wonderful.
Alex, is Bar Mitzvah ice cream maker still going strong?
Still going, darling.
Wow.
It was a good buy, wasn't it?
That's over 20 years old.
It's 21 years old.
Well, Michael won't be eating any of this.
He'll be in his hotel room probably having a club sandwich
but we will tell and titillate him
with the menu that we
were going to give him and maybe he'll come on
again for another episode to eat your food.
Jessie, what's your favourite song of his?
Look, he does a good cover. Like on the new
record, he's got A Nightingale
Sang in Barclay Square.
He's also got My First, My Last,
My Everything. I do love it when Michael
does a cover. I think he makes it his own as
Simon Cowell would say. And then he's got some
really like sexy new ones
that he's done with like Ryan Tedder and
Haya. I don't know which one's my fave.
I don't know. I have an affinity with
You'll never find
another love like mine.
But anyway, Michael Buble
coming up on Table Manners.
Is everyone recording?
Are we doing this?
Yes, we are.
I love that you're so professional and that's the first question that you ask.
Hello, Michael.
Hi, I'm so happy.
I'm sorry about the earphones.
My little ear pods didn't work.
So I got these gigantic things on now.
But I feel like a radio DJ.
I want to just apologize and say thank you for being such a gent and so lovely and pushing it to today in the hope that we could be together.
And now we can't because I have a faint line on my COVID test.
But thank you.
Do you know, I just want to say that I'm sorry.
Because even though you don't know, it is my fault that you even had the COVID thing.
Oh, well, I wasn't going to say, but go on, carry on.
Whatever it is, whatever it is, I'm just, I'm a, we call it a promo loser.
It means that no matter where I show up, I wreak havoc on whatever.
You know, I was, I was just, I was on The View in America. And I went to go on and the same thing happened.
They said, I'm sorry, you can't come on, COVID loser.
You're going to have to do it from a Zoom.
And so that's just what, let's just hope that during this interview, nothing bad happens.
Oh my God.
Jesus, Michael.
I'm sorry.
I just want to say I'm sorry before anything does go wrong.
It is my fault. And I take complete responsibility for it.
I just knew you were going to be such a pro and such a gent,
and I love you even more now.
Now, I want to know this get-up.
You're in a hotel room, I believe.
This is my hotel room.
It looks cozy.
It's really quite nice, yes.
Have you ordered your dinns yet?
No, but I'm hot. do you think you're having?
You know, I went to this place last night
and it had a beautiful curry,
and it was so good.
Which, where was it?
What was it called, Suze?
What was it called?
Dishoom.
Oh, Dishoom.
Dishoom.
Oh, you heard her, but I can't hear her?
Yeah, it's great.
It was really good.
Now, is this Susan?
This is the Susan.
Now, I've heard about Susan because my makeup artist, Justine Jenkins, gave me a message.
Justine!
Oh, I love Justine.
I love Justine.
Of course.
I know Justine.
Well, she said, I hear you've got the darling on.
Here she is.
Hi.
Hi, Susan.
And she said, my best friend, Susan.
And Michael's a darling.
Well, anyway, it's lovely to meet you, Susan.
And thank you for making this all work.
And I want to know, so you're going to get a curry again?
I think I'm going to get a curry.
Now I only wish I had Justine so I could look better.
You look gorgeous.
Thank you very much.
But I feel like you need to eat that curry soon,
especially if you're going to sing tomorrow, Michael,
because I'm worrying about the acid reflux on the old vocal cords.
Oh, no, I'll just take it, Tom. Now I'm stressing about the acid reflux on the old vocal cords oh no I'll
just take it Tom's or something well I know now I'm stressing you out no sorry no don't worry I'll
be fine I'll be so fine how was the one show I'm in love with Gordon Ramsay simple as that why
I'll tell you why because he was on there with me and uh it and there's nothing as beautiful as going on a big, big show and just being that comfortable and having that much fun.
And we were all just being goofs, and the hosts were so sweet.
It was so much.
And you know what, you guys?
Not to get too deep and dark, but it was a special moment for me.
Because the last time I was on the one show I was in
the the basement the dressing rooms yeah and my wife called me and she said they
found they found something wrong with your with our son and that's what I
thought that's when I found out that was the moment I found out and I had it was
the worst moment of my life I had to go upstairs and sing and and I knew and I had it was the worst moment of my life I had to go upstairs and sing
and and I knew and I had to sing God only knows I don't even know I don't
even know where I was like I was you can imagine I was I was I was I was over my
life was over and to come back and get to be on that show, and my son is good, and Gordon Ramsay is so sexy, and getting to sit.
Oh, my God.
He didn't shout at you.
I like when he shouts.
I find it attractive.
No, but he was so lovely.
It was beautiful.
I had the best time.
I just had so much fun.
I'm sure he's lovely and good fun.
Yeah, it was so much fun.
How about you guys?
How are you doing
how's everything going
you know what I'm obviously feeling better because I've got a glass of wine
Michael so you know what I mean
this is what is annoying like in about
four hours you know
I can go and snog anyone I like
basically like it's just annoying
but anyway
God you had a lucky escape
I was so excited to be with you guys.
Really, I was.
And I'm bummed.
We're going to have to do it again.
Because I'll tell you what mum had planned on the menu.
Okay, tell me.
Okay, because we heard you liked Italian food.
I'm Italian.
Yeah, well, we weren't going to try the pasta because we can't do that.
So mum was going to kind of try a different route, a kind of seconde.
Have you heard of River Cafe?
No, I haven't.
It's exceptional Italian food.
It's beautiful.
You should go whilst you're here.
Yeah.
What was the actual dish that you were going to do?
So I was going to cook this chicken with olives and tomatoes, which is very nice.
Oh, I like that.
I was making these little
courgette fingers that were dipped
in parmesan and cayenne pepper.
Little courgette fingers, I like that.
And then little tiny things.
And then I was going to do cavolo nero with a
parmesan dressing
and some little rosemary garlic potatoes.
And I've made the best
lemon ice cream that you'll ever, ever taste.
I'm so hungry right now.
I'm so sorry.
But you're drinking too.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Join the club if you fancy it.
Oh, that's amazing.
Cheers.
Cheers.
The sun has come out in England,
so everyone gets rosé open the first day that the sun shines.
I was going to say, I'm Canadian, so we get,
you know, I'm from Vancouver.
We have the same exact weather.
So usually when the sun comes, we just take our shirts off
and a bunch of pasty, a bunch of pasty white people are drinking beer everywhere.
You know, my favorite pasta, the mix, I love, I don't know what it's called,
but I like it when you have the olives and the capers and the tuna.
Oh yeah, like a puttanesca.
Ah, it's a puttanesca.
Oh, I love, I love.
Me too, I love that. I love puttanesca. Ah, it's a Puttanesca. Oh, I love that. Me too, I love that.
I love Puttanesca.
Me too.
I love it.
So, Michael, I find this, your voice,
and I've heard you speaking before,
but your voice is exactly like your singing voice.
It's kind of...
That's because I'm in interview mode.
Oh, okay.
So when I'm doing an interview and things,
I do that sort of voice.
Because if I wasn't,
say that we turn off the thing, like off the record.
Let's say off the record. I talk like this this is more of my real voice so listen listen should we go back to promo mode ah back to promo mode all right so is buble an italian name well
that's a very good question it's's weird. So it's Italian,
but the name Bublé
is actually Croatian.
And I found this out
because I went years ago
to do a show in Croatia.
And I knew that there was
part of the family
that was from Croatia,
but this is where it gets weird.
During the Second World War,
I think that part of Croatia was actually Italy.
And then when the borders changed, it was Croatia.
So I had half of my family that would always say,
no, we're Italian.
We were born in Italian land
and the other half that's a Croatian.
So then I would hear this,
the Bubler's family were from this place,
this place in Istria.
And then they wanted to meet me.
So before the show, they came to meet me and it was so weird
because they walked in and they all look like me oh wow and i went like oh no that's where i came
that's my that's where my face comes from and uh very sexy people yeah very attractive people
absolutely no one what was the doctor in ER called?
George Clooney?
No, no.
I mean, we love him.
No, the Croatian.
The Abbey fellow. Luca.
Luca.
I have no idea.
I have no idea.
All loved Luca.
Gorgeous.
So then I found out the Buble name that was so popular in this little place in Croatia.
It was like Smith.
You know what I mean?
It was like everybody was named Buble.
But it was a French, some French bishop came in the 1500s or 1600s. So I don't know what I mean? It was like everybody was named Bublé. But it was a French, some French
bishop came in the 1500s or 1600s. So I don't know what I am, honestly. If someone tells me I'm
Chinese, it won't be a surprise at this point. So it's your dad's side that's Bublé. What's your
mom's side? My mom's side is Moscone and Santagat. And they immigrated from Italy. Everybody, but all
sides came from Italy. Okay.
So Michael, when you were growing up in Vancouver,
who was cooking your meals?
Was it your mother or your father?
What were you eating?
And what's a really memorable dish from there?
Oh, I mean, that's, I mean, food is life in our family.
And so it was my, my grandmother was the matriarch of our family,
my Nona, and so it was always the most beautiful.
My favorite, she made the most beautiful risotto.
She'd make like a beautiful red sauce, like a tomato risotto with these, like a cube, little cube steak, little beef cube things.
Oh, my God.
And they were so good.
But funny, because I used to watch.
I loved watching.
I was fascinated
by sitting in the kitchen and watching her. And she never used a measuring cup or a... And so it
was hard for my mom, who was also a beautiful cook, to learn because she would say, so what,
you know, what are the ingredients? And my grandma would say, wow, it's this much of that. And then
you take this and you put that. And so it was such a natural, organic thing for her to cook and eat a little bit.
And, you know, so it was, there's so many beautiful things they made.
God, she made.
And it's interesting, too, because one of my grandma's best friends was a woman who had immigrated from India.
And so she had taught my grandmother how to make curry chicken.
But the, like, real, you know, I guess you would saute onions and apples and all of the stuff
and make this, and it would just melt in your mouth.
And I miss my grandma.
I miss my grandma every day and my grandpa.
And what's been really cool is watching my wife and my mom
and sisters go through my grandma's recipes and start to figure out,
because there weren't exact measurements,
but to start to figure out by playing around.
And now it's like my grandma's back
because we taste these things.
Like my sister will make the most beautiful sauces
and pastas and little Christy's beautiful little pastry things.
And it's like, they figured it's like they figured it out.
They figured it out.
You need to make a cookbook for your non-oven.
I have.
Oh, you have?
I'm so sorry.
Oh, I've been part of it.
Well, I didn't have a thing where I sold it.
I did things for charity where they said,
oh, would you help us put together a recipe?
And I would put together all these.
My favorite, though, was, this is going to sound simple,
but it's so great. She would take
these little drumettes, these little chicken drumettes. She would take them all. She'd take
a whole bunch of them and she'd slather it with just olive oil or vegetable oil. And then she
would take a ton of garlic and chop up the garlic really fine. And she would take a bunch of
rosemary and then just like seasoning salt, like Lowry's or whatever the brand is that they have,
and then just like seasoning salt,
like Lowry's or whatever the brand is that they have,
and kind of mix it all up and preheat the oven to about 375.
And she would just cook them till they were crispy.
Oh my God.
Your mouth is watering.
But you should try it.
We used to call it grandma's camping chicken
because we'd take it when we went camping.
So if you guys try it at home, just try it.
Remember what I'm saying.
These little drumettes, just a bunch of garlic smashed up, rosemary and some seasoning salt.
Mix it up right in the oil.
Get your hands in there.
Put it in the oven and let it keep going.
And kind of flip them over until they get really, really well done and crispy.
I mean, incredible.
I need to know about these camping trips.
Was your family quite an outdoorsy family? is that just what Vancouver, Vancouverans,
Vancouverans do? Vancouverites, I think they're called. Vancouverites, sorry. We, we, my
grandpa loved it. My grandpa wanted to be a geography teacher. He was a plumber, but
he just loved taking us up and we do these camping. It's funny now we think
about it. We put our kids in our and we have like the van and they put the thing in the
seatbelt and the special other seatbelt with the thing and at that time when I
was a kid there was nothing we just go in a van you just shove everybody in a
van and you know we go up there and these big thick sleeping bags and he
would tell ghost stories and it just we're you know just a really tight
beautiful family that go up and enjoy the outdoors.
So you do it with your family then?
Absolutely not.
There's no possible way.
There's no way.
Because I'm a guy who needs to have bathrooms.
I understand that.
And maybe multiple bathrooms so that we don't even have to use the same bathroom.
So that whole thing of going and like roughing it, no way.
I don't want to rough it.
I want a nice hotel room with a bathroom.
I'm with you.
Are you sure you're not a little Jewish as well?
We're Italian, so we are a lot Jewish.
All my Jewish family, it's the same thing.
A lot of love, very loud.
I feel very guilty about almost everything that we do.
And we're so Jewish.
My grandma's saying like, what, you don't love me so much?
You don't love me so much to call?
You must be so very busy.
I understand.
It wasn't like I was there your whole life to take care of you.
But it's okay.
Don't feel terrible about that.
I've already done that to Jesse tonight.
Because I said, I haven't seen you for two weeks.
And I'm like, yeah, COVID's happened.
When am I going to see them again?
You can have the grandchildren.
The young ones got, like, I'd love to give a few of them to you at the moment.
So how many children were there in your family?
So it was me and my two little sisters.
I was the big brother.
And I need to know, can they sing?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. I used to drive my two little sisters. I was the big brother. And I need to know, can they sing? Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I used to drive my sisters so crazy.
Because my dad was a fisherman.
So for a lot of the year, he'd be gone.
And it was just my mom with the three of us.
And so we'd be in the same bed, you know.
And we were just little.
But I loved music.
And I would say to them, like, okay, we're going to sing.
You know, let's sing this song.
What were you listening to when you were a teenager?
As a little boy?
A little boy.
As a kid?
Well, we didn't sleep together as teenagers.
Okay, all right.
When you were little, little, okay.
But we were little.
It would be like, you know, like just simple kid stuff.
I mean, I loved 80s.
I mean, we were the best.
We had the best.
The 80s music was amazing.
But we would, I can't even remember what we'd sing,
but I would always say like,
"'No, no, that's not the harmony.
"'This is the harmony part.
"'You gotta,' and then they'd, you know,
"'I'd like force them into singing harmony and it would be--"
How old were you at this point?
I need to understand like how old you were
when you were trying to get harmonies going.
Eight, nine years old.
What's weird now is that my kids,
Noah's eight, Eli's five,
and I watch Noah doing what I used to do.
And he go like, okay, here we go.
I'm going to go ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ran.
And then he says, okay, Eli, you're going to do the ba-ba-ba.
And then they fight each other.
And he said like, well, I was singing that.
He said, no, no, you weren't doing the right harmony. And it's like they're doing the same thing i used to do with my sisters i just remembered even
as a teenager there was a song called more than words oh yeah and i used to make do you know that
song yeah more than words okay sing it with me for a second yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so
so you go you go you go you're gonna go Saying I love you is not the words I want to hear from you.
Can you just do that part?
Oh God, don't.
I'm good.
Now I'm getting, oh God, I'm getting clammy.
Okay.
I'm going to, I'm going to try and do it and it's not going to be great.
And then I'll try to do the harmony.
Okay.
Okay.
Go for it.
Go for it.
God, Zoom.
This could be absolute shite, but okay.
Okay, go for it, go for it. God, Zoom, this could be absolute shite, but okay.
Say that I love you is my words that I want to hear from you.
We're out of time, but that was heaven.
But you were good.
You have a beautiful singing voice.
You're very sweet.
You really do.
Thanks.
I think if more people showered with you,
everyone would know how great a singer you are.
Well, you are so sweet, Michael.
You really do.
You sang in Keats.
You had your pitch there and everything.
Michael, I hate to break it to you.
I am actually a singer when I'm not being a podcaster.
But Susan, you're getting fired.
I've got actually four albums.
Is that true?
Yes! Is that really true? I didn't know that. you're getting fired I've got actually four albums but you know what is that true you can enjoy yes
is that really true
I didn't know that
I'm really glad
that I sound like
I can sing
no more than
I was like so happy
well why
well then why did you
why did you say
oh I can't do that
I'm all clammy
I can't sing
because I'm British
don't make me sing
because I'm British
and because
I still get the fear
every time someone
asks me to sing
because my mother I will never get over my mother trying to get me to sing.
I want to dance with somebody at Club Med when I was 18
and her being like, well, if you want to be a singer,
then you've got to go and do karaoke.
And I literally, it gets me like, gives me the fear.
All I can think about is wanting to hear you sing.
I want to dance with somebody.
No, no, it was horrendous.
Horrendous.
My mom, my mom is tough with me.
Because my mom isn't the mom that I come off at the Grammys and she says to me, you know,
oh, she'll come off and I'll say, well, and she'll say like, you've been better.
You've done better.
Oh, my God.
No, I would never do that.
I love you, but you've been better.
You need that. No, I shouldn't. My mom, by. No, I would never do that. I love you, but you've been better. You need that.
No, I shouldn't.
My mom, by the way, my mom will watch this.
So let me also say, the best mom who ever lived, whoever was, and she never did that.
I was just lying.
And I'm so sorry.
So, okay.
So from about eight, you knew you could sing?
No, I was a little, I was at six years old.
Really?
Really.
And people knew you had a voice? Five, six years old. Really? Really. And people knew you had a voice?
Five, six years old, no.
Okay.
But I was very sure that I would, I talk about this actually.
I would creep, not at that time, but years later, it was creepy for my mom that I was
so adamant that I was going to be, I'm going to be a singer.
I'm going to be a famous singer.
This is what I am and I'm going to be, I'm going to be a singer. I'm going to be a famous singer. This is what I am. And I'm going to do this. And years later, she was, she'll still tell people, she'd
say like, man, it's weird that he was so adamant. And I used to do a thing, like I just loved
entertaining. So there was a show called The Gong Show. I don't remember it. I was way too young to
remember it. But apparently, I used to come out on the mantle of the fireplace, the little floor thing of the fireplace,
and I was Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine.
And I would show them Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine.
So I always wanted this.
You know what I mean?
I had a desperate need of attention.
I mean, so listen, we're going to bring it back to food
because we have you for another 35 minutes.
And I really hope Susan has got that food in,
that dishum order or that club sandwich.
So we ask all our
guests what their last supper
or their desert island meal would be before they're
about to go off somewhere, that they're not going to have
all their home comforts, their
delicious delicacies.
So you have to give us your
starter, your
appetiser, shall I say, your
main and your dessert and a drink of choice
and there's no bathroom oh no that was mom i'm glad you said that because it actually would have
it could affect my choice but i would still probably so i would begin my starter would be
just a simple steamed artichoke i think with a nice little dish of olive oil with some salt and pepper that I could dip the leaves in.
That would be good.
Yes.
That's a good starter.
And then I think for the main, I would want grandma's risotto.
With the meat chunks.
With the little round steak cubes.
But then as a side to that, I would want some crab and black bean sauce.
Where'd you get that from?
Well, I get it from a Chinese food place right down the street.
Oh, it's a Chinese.
Yeah, it's a Chinese.
But the problem with it is,
I think if you have crab and black bean sauce,
you need to have a bathroom on the desert island.
But that's okay.
We just don't need to think about that.
Okay, let's not think about it.
It's a magical land where you're not going to get the shit.
Excuse me, is the crab fried or?
No, yeah, I think it is fried.
I mean, I love.
Is it soft shell?
I love, no, it's not soft shell.
It's my favorite is with a thing called Dungeness.
It's a Dungeness crab.
It's a something.
You know, that's in Kent.
That's very near, you know, you could go and have some crab.
I don't think it's the same crab, darling.
Dungeness crab.
I know, but I think it's a name of a crab.
It's a name of, it's a type of crab.
It's a species.
Okay, carry on.
But it's really good.
And then for dessert, I would like to have, I think, you know, it's weird.
It's so simple, but like, you know, like a strawberry shortcake kind of thing.
Oh, lovely.
You know, just like with that.
It's almost like a pound cake with some like whipped cream.
Oh, or my mother-in-law makes for me sometimes because she loves me so much.
Yeah.
She loved me so much.
Good.
She makes me tres leches torta, which is three milk cake or four milk cake.
Oh, South American. You know what i'm talking about
it's like a four milk cake and she does it for me and so it's like this beautiful pound cake
and then she takes like a i don't even want to like a syringe looking thing and she puts in the
four different condensed milk and all the different milks and she puts them in holes into the cake
and she fills it up until it's full and then she puts whipped in holes into the cake. And she fills it up until it's full.
And then she puts whipped cream all over the top,
and then she sets it in the fridge so that it's really cold.
And, you know, she always makes it for me when I have to go
and do, like, a promotion thing where, like, I have to shoot a music video.
And I'll say, like, oh, mom, you know, I'm going to be fat, you know.
And she's like, no, mi amor, you so.
And like no matter how fat I get, and I get, I can easily.
There's a Bublé has a record coming out face.
And then there's a Michael Bublé.
Do you have to really like watch it?
Yeah, of course I do.
Where did you meet your wife?
I was doing a show in Buenos Aires.
And I had come out of of a really bad breakup,
and I had my grandpa with me,
and he was my best friend,
and him and his little brother, my Uncle Butch,
they came everywhere with me,
and we called them the Sunshine Boys,
and the Sunshine Boys would come with me on tour,
and I was driving up,
as I was coming out of the theater of the basement,
I saw this girl from across the thing.
And I looked, I was very, it was weird because it was almost sad.
I looked at my grandpa and I said, Grandpa, I just seen the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life.
And I'm sure I'm never going to see this woman again.
And I went up the thing and hours later, I was getting hammered in a hotel restaurant after the show.
And I was well lit.
And my friend Susan, who you just talked to, she said,
Michael, there's some people here that wanted to have a picture.
It's Argentina's most famous movie star.
And I said, you know, Susan, I'm hammered.
I don't really want to meet anybody and look a fool.
And she said, I think you might want to meet this person.
And there she was with
there she was with the most
handsome dude
you ever seen
he made Brad Pitt look
like a piece of
garbage
you know
no he wasn't gay
but he spoke English and she didn't and I thought best friend no he wasn't gay but so but he spoke English and she didn't
and so and I thought they were together so I I was I would never hit ever hit on a guy's girl
ever I think that's just the grossest so I just talked to him and he spoke a little English
and I was trying to gauge where how how you know was it serious and and then finally I was just
like wasted and I was like saying to him,
you have such big, beautiful,
you guys are beautiful together.
And I said like, your arms are so,
look at man, your arms are bigger than my legs.
And he said to me, no, no, we're not together.
I said, no.
He said, no, you know, I think maybe she liked you.
I said, oh my God.
But I didn't know that my wife had been watching me at
the table with this guy and she was texting her mom saying i came to me michael buble and he is
so gay he tried to hit me with my friend and that's the real truth of the whole thing and then
um but you know what's funny my wife tells this, and she does it. She makes me like I was making out with a guy or something.
You know what?
It's like she turns me.
Every time, I'm more of a homosexual than I ever was before.
Can I have my phone?
Because I need to show you a picture of this dude, so you'll understand.
Okay, fine.
I need to understand this.
But isn't Buenos Aires the most wonderful place in the whole world?
They're beautiful people, and they're my people.
It's such a beautiful town.
It's gorgeous.
Did you learn Spanish?
Yes.
How was that early days dating?
Was it quite kind of a lot of Google translation?
That's what it was.
It was translation.
So did the guy come with?
The guy did not come with.
I found his picture here.
This is him.
Oh, Jesus.
Right.
Oh, my God.
Is that not an actor?
He's an actor.
Yeah.
Isn't that Gabriel Garcia?
No, his name is Rodrigo Diaz.
Oh, sorry.
And he talks like this.
Well, he's very handsome.
Then she met Michael Bubba.
She couldn't resist.
And it was crazy because Susan was with me that night.
And I was talking because her sister could speak a little English
and I said to her,
I said, listen,
I'd love to see you again
and I said, listen,
one day I'm going to come back here
and I'm going to marry you.
I'm telling you.
You are, wow.
And she said something
and then her sister translated it
and I said, what did she say?
And she said,
my sister say that all the guys tell her the same thing.
And what was crazy too, she couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Spanish.
So I tried to start learning Spanish, you know, right away.
And I was like writing her and I'd written a song,
Haven't Met You Yet for her and everything.
Oh my goodness.
She came to meet me and she got a coach.
She got an English teacher.
And this is how much smarter my wife is than me.
At about four or five months into the relationship, I had come to Buenos Aires to visit her. And we
were going to go out on a date. And we had watched a movie. We had rented a DVD from Blockbuster.
And it was on the table. And I said to her, mi amor, would you like to take the DVD back to Blockbuster?
And I swear to you, she said exactly this.
Yes, please place the corresponding CD within the correct package.
And I was like, what the hell?
And by the way, this time I was saying things like, hola.
Como estas?
Si, como estas?
Por cerveza?
Yes.
Which language
do you communicate in now?
The language of love.
The language of love. Sometimes I just
look at pictures of Rodrigo Diaz.
So she
did this thing where when we got
pregnant for the first time, she said to me, I want you to know I'm not going to speak any English at home.
And I said, like, what?
And she said, no, I want my children to speak Spanish.
She said, you speak English, it's fine.
So she didn't speak any English.
It was all Spanish.
And I thought, like, well, how's that?
Again, my wife is so much smarter than me.
Thank God, because my beautiful kids are so,
and they're speaking Spanish perfectly,
and then they turn, boom, English.
It's so cool.
So cool.
So where do you live now?
Do you live in Los Angeles?
No, I live in Vancouver still.
I never left my hometown.
I never left.
I live in Vancouver, and we live in Buenos Aires. So she makes movies. She's an actress still. I never left my hometown. I never left. I live in Vancouver and we live in Buenos Aires.
Go back.
So she makes movies.
She's an actress still.
So usually when she goes
and makes movies,
I go and I'm the set bitch.
We call it the set bitch
because I go and I get,
you know,
I take care of the kids
and I rub her feet
and bring her stuff.
And then when she comes,
you know what's weird?
I just realized
when I go and she's making her movies, I'm the set bitch. But when she comes, you know what's weird? I just realized when I go
and she's making her movies,
I'm the set bitch,
but when she comes on tour with me,
I'm still the bitch.
So I don't know how that worked out for me.
What's your favorite restaurant in Buenos Aires?
Oh, you know, it's not a restaurant.
It's every Sunday.
It's a very cultural thing in argentina that every sunday you
have a salo which is barbecue and all the family comes over and they it takes them hours to make
this beautiful fire and then they put all of the the meat and chorizos and there's all these it
sounds gross i won't tell you what it is, but it tastes great.
Ignorance is bliss.
And then you make provoletta, which is the cheese, and they melt it.
But the whole thing is about, like, you know, very Italian,
where it's, yeah, it's about the food,
but it's about the family and the company and all the time it takes. And everyone's having a drink and, you know,
the kids are nuts and running around.
That's the best.
It's a beautiful country.
I'm so proud that my kids are Argentinian.
It means a lot to me.
So where are they now?
Are they in Argentina at the moment?
They're with mommy, and mommy's making a movie,
which is ridiculous because she's making a movie
where it's like a...
She usually does very serious kind of stuff.
She started off as a comedic kind of...
This beautiful girl doing light stuff,
but now she does these very serious, beautiful films.
But this is the first time she's done this, I'd say, dark comedy
about a couple who are basically going through therapy.
It was very funny, dark.
I said to her, babe, but you're pregnant.
Are you pregnant in the movie?
And she said, no, they're gonna hide the my tummy you know but i i didn't want to say it but i thought it's not her tummy's
little but her boobs are gigantic they're just rockets say like how are they going to hide your
boobs like people are going to know they're going to think it's added value yes yes how many children
have you got now mich Michael? I think three.
Three.
And is this going to be the fourth one?
This is the fourth one, yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
You've been busy.
I'm brave or stupid.
It's one of the two.
No.
Why don't you do, and forgive me if you haven't, you've already done acting.
Are you thinking about doing acting with your wife?
Yes, I would love to do acting with my wife.
I think you should do this. You know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about doing a show with wife? Yes, I would love to do acting with my wife. I think you should do this.
You know what we were thinking about?
I was thinking about doing a show with her,
like a sitcom, but without a laugh track,
like a dry, dark, called I Love You.
I think it would be so cool.
Do it.
My wife is funny.
She's so, and she makes fun of me.
And it's not me thinking,
she doesn't laugh at my jokes.
She thinks my jokes are shit.
But she, it's all, everything is just making fun of me and I die.
I cry.
I cry.
Like the other night we were watching, I wanted to watch James Bond and she's in bed and she said, I want to watch A Marriage Story.
I said, I don't want to watch A Marriage Story.
It looks depressing and I don't want to watch it, you know.
It was very good.
So good. She fell asleep in 15 minutes.
15 minutes she was out, and there was me watching another story,
and I got to the end, and I woke her up, and I said,
I swear to baby Jesus this is true.
I said, babe, please, let's never get divorced.
For our kids, I love you so fucking much, you know?
And so she said, like, fuck, Mike, you know?
And she woke up the next morning, and I said, like, babe, don't do that ever again.
You made me watch the movie.
And she said, you know, Mike, it's sweet, but you a cry bitch, you know?
That you cry.
And I die.
I die because I laugh at myself.
Because it's true.
Where was the wedding?
We had two weddings.
Go on.
We had two because I...
My kind of people.
I might be, this might be controversial.
I think people who put on destination weddings are assholes.
Jessica.
I did a destination wedding.
Jesse wasn't destination.
You're an asshole, Jess.
Fuck you.
Okay, you had two weddings.
I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Where did you, you did a destination wedding because you wasn't destination. You're an asshole, Jess. Fuck you. Okay, you had two weddings. I'll tell you why.
I'll tell you why.
Where did you,
you did a destination wedding
because you did one
in Buenos Aires
and fucking Vancouver,
For the family
that couldn't afford to come
and that I didn't pay to come
because there was a ton of them,
I put on a thing for them too.
You're so lovely,
aren't you?
God, you're such an asshole.
Oh, what?
You know what?
Listen, you know what?
Just pay a bunch of money
that you can't afford
to fly to my destination wedding because I'm so important that you need to be there.
Now, I agree with you about that in a way.
Listen, you're uninvited to the back.
Where was your wedding, Jess?
Where did you?
It was in Greece where we go every year and everyone used it.
Oh, of course it was.
Well, and it was very easy for us.
Well, we used to be bloody in Europe.
But of course, because you're wealthy and you're rich and famous, you flew all your family.
You flew all your family there.
No, we didn't.
We paid for everything when we were there.
Wait, wait.
Just let me ask this again.
So you invited these people to the wedding in Greece.
And then you asked them also to pay for their flights and their hotels and stuff.
Listen, listen.
I was on my second album and it hadn't done that well.
Do you know what I mean?
And also, look, like we thought maybe not as many people were going to come because it was a destination.
No, they all bloody wanted to come.
It was over 200 people.
Over 200 people?
You asshole.
I can't believe you did that.
But wait, but then you came back home and for the people that couldn't afford to come that you didn't pay for,
you thought I'll just put on a little bit, not a second wedding.
No, I'd done a lunch already.
Okay, you know what?
You just saved yourself from, oh, you did.'ve done a lunch already. Okay, you know what? You just saved yourself
from, oh, you did a, well, that's
okay then. Because you know what? I didn't have
two, like when I said two weddings, I had
a, what do you call it? Like a reception.
So I had so many uncles and aunts. I'm Italian.
I would have been, they would have been
so hurt. So I had a bunch of people.
But it's a schlap from Vancouver
to Buenos Aires. Are you kidding me? It's a huge,
it's 16 hours. You're just so thoughtful and lovely.
You're just the greatest guy in the world, aren't you, Boo Blank?
Jesus.
So where was the wedding in Vancouver?
The wedding wasn't a wedding.
It was a reception.
I put on a nice little thing.
We had some food and a woman who dressed up as a cake.
I didn't understand that.
She dressed up as a cupcake.
And you know, can I tell you guys a story that nobody knows?
Yeah, go on
yeah tell us
so we did the wedding
in Buenos Aires
it was beautiful
it was like a
it was like a
Cinderella wedding
okay
she got everything she want
she's so famous
that when we came down the street
all the streets were closed off
and I didn't understand
and there were people
in the balconies
throwing
and it was like
it was like a movie
she was like Eva Perón
like it was crazy so then in Vancouver we had this just a few it was like a it was like a movie she was like even like it was crazy so
then in vancouver we had this just a few there's a couple hundred people in a little thing and it
was a pretty thing my mom helped me put it on and it was very pretty and it was lovely well my wife
got she got smashed smash all in okay so i said to her hey we had your wedding and because in
vancouver it's boring you know what i mean it's. Because in Vancouver, it's boring. You know what I mean?
It's closed early at 12.
In Argentina, we dance until 7 in the morning.
But in Vancouver, bars closed 11.30.
Bars closed.
So my sister said, well, we have our room.
We all go up to the room and we can party.
And I said, babe, we're going to party.
But my wife was hammered.
And she kept saying to people at the party, I'm talking to people.
They say, thank you so much for having us and she would
say, you know what, I'm going to go
have sex with my husband
and we're going to have
Susan's laughing because she knows
she said, we're going to have sex or we're going
to eat hamburgers and I kept saying
babe, stop telling people that, you know
I have some really Catholic
so long story short
11.30 bar closed.
I said, we're going to go up now.
We're going to go up to the room and party.
And she said, no, you're going to come to the room,
and we're going to eat the hammer.
I said, but no, babe, this is my turn.
And she said, you're going to come up to the,
and so guess what?
I was so mad that our it was our wedding ended that
night our wedding I was with her eating this hamburger and and me I thought that
was an innuendo her eating the ham on no no the hammer right sorry it was like it
was it was it was amazing so the Argentine wedding it was Cinderella
princess and the Vancouver wedding was her falling asleep. I love it.
Yeah.
I love it.
So we haven't asked you whether you can cook.
I feel like you're good at everything, Michael.
So can you cook?
I am good at everything.
You know what's crazy?
What's your dish then?
I do love to cook.
It's funny.
I walk around the kitchen because I'm about 6'5", 6'6".
I didn't think you were that big.
I'm very tall.
Very tall.
And I have absolutely washboard ab stomach.
And I will walk around with my incredible voice and looks and everything and the charisma.
And I will... Okay, yeah, I'm 5'10", 5'10".
And I'm a small, so no, I love to cook, but I'm not, my wife is the greatest cook,
but I love to cook.
I really do love to cook.
So what's your favorite dish that your wife does?
My favorite dish, God, does um my favorite dish she
god you know what i love about her she tries every she just one day she says like i'm gonna make
chicken chow mein with crispy noodles and then i and i said like do you know how to make she said
no but i'm gonna and then it's amazing can she make empanadas she makes empanadas i don't like
her don't you like them i like them i don't like them i like empanadas i don't like her empanadas. Don't you like them? I like them. I don't like them. I like empanadas.
I don't like she puts in like olives and I don't feel like it.
And eggs.
She always puts in eggs.
Oh my God. I don't like the eggs.
Okay, fair enough.
Can I just ask you something a little controversial?
Sure.
I was a bit disappointed when I went to Argentina and I had steak there, which is probably the
best steak in the whole universe, But they like it well done.
I agree with you.
We fight about this all the time.
What is this about the well done there?
It's kind of sacrilege, if you ask me.
Why do they do it?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
So if you want a steak in Buenos Aires and you say you don't want it well done,
what's the word for that?
Like if you don't want it raw?
Well, I don't want it raw, but I want it rare.
Porque me gusta mi carne crudo.
I like mine raw.
But medio, medio.
You say medio.
Yo quiero medio.
But they don't do medio.
It's very strange.
It's always well cooked. It's really odd. I want medium. But they don't do medium. It's very strange. It's always well cooked.
It's really hard.
I agree.
I didn't tell you guys what I cook well.
Go on.
Go on.
I do amazing scrambled eggs.
Well, how do you do your scrambled eggs?
What's your trick?
Well, Gordon Ramsay taught me.
He did not.
About two minutes ago.
He did.
Two minutes ago.
You just put a big...
No.
You know what's funny? All the things that I thought I was good at cooking, I used to cook for my wife. And when we started to date,
like the first time that I was really dating her, she said in her apartment, she said,
well, you're hungry. I'll make you soup. And I said, like, I love soup. And then she took a
package and cut it and she poured the in, and she put hot water in.
I was the one who would make the beautiful roast, or I would make –
God, I loved cooking.
I would make beautiful veal cutlets and, you know, just all this great –
gnocchi.
I would make gnocchi.
I would actually make the – and now she's better than me.
She exceeded you.
I did love – I do love to cook.
I really do.
She surpassed you.
She surpassed me in everything. She's even taller than me but i love to i did love i do love to cook she surpassed you she surpassed me in everything she's even taller than me now
michael before i leave we leave you um so that you can eat your food i have a few more questions
to ask you one is your most like most nostalgic taste that would bring you back to a certain
moment in time that you can just like it's there it could be a smell
a taste oh my most nostalgic taste oh this is gonna sound weird it's it's it's it's mcdonald's
i don't eat a lot of mcdonald's but um my grandpa was my is was my best friend in my my my life and
and i don't assume that you know the history of me, but the reason that I'm talking to you,
the reason that I fell in love with the songs I fell in love with,
was that that was my, he and I were just peas in a pod.
That was the most beautiful man in the universe.
And he came on every tour.
When I was 14 and 15 and I started singing,
he brought me to every single,
I'll miss my grandpa. When I was 14 and 15 and I started singing, he brought me to every single gig.
He would trade plumbing.
He was a plumber.
And we didn't know anybody.
We didn't have any connections. So he would go to the clubs.
And you let this kid up on stage with your band.
I will come in there and I'll fix your hot water heaters and I'll fix it.
Oh, my word.
So he was my buddy.
He called me Sunshine.
And so every day when I would come home from Vancouver,
I would do the same thing.
We would go and I would meet with him and his buddies.
And this is when I was, I mean, this is well into my 40s.
I would come every day.
It was the same thing every day.
I'd get up in the morning.
I'd go pick up Grandpa.
And I would take him.
And we had something called the McDonald's gang.
And it was him and all his old buddies.
And we would shoot the shit.
And we would have a cheeseburger.
And we would talk about hockey and the music.
And why was Dean Martin better than Sinatra?
I'll tell you why.
And we would do.
And it's weird because now I, when he was getting older and frail,
he had these caretakers because I refused to put them,
I wasn't going to allow them to be put into a home, you know.
And when my grandma passed, it was hard on all of us.
And she had Alzheimer's pretty bad.
But I never, I just, I gave them care.
I hired these caretakers.
So for the last five or six years, he fell in love with these caretakers.
They became, they were such beautiful people, these Filipino people.
And before he died, he would always say, God,
they're such beautiful people. He'd say, you know, like they send their money home. They send all
their money home to take care of their family. He said, boy, I would love it if when I passed,
you know, this house didn't get sold and I could give it to them to live in. And so then these
friends of mine called the Property Brothers that are beautiful, these two beautiful souls. I don't
know if you ever heard of the Property Brothers. They came to me and they're like, we have this show that we're doing where
we renovate and help fix up places for people that want to do something nice for someone else.
It can't be for you. It has to be for someone else. And I was like, oh, this is it. So I,
I gave the house to the nurses and they live there now. I bought the house and they live there but I go and visit
this lady, Manette,
and I pass that McDonald's
and every once in a while
I go and I bring her McDonald's
and it's so crazy,
McDonald's, right?
But man,
I think about him
every day when I pass there.
But I have a coffee cup anyway.
Every morning I have coffee.
It has a picture
of my grandma and my grandpa on it
and I kiss it and everybody kisses it
and then we have our coffee and we go,
why can't I stop crying?
What the, what is wrong with me?
Do you know, the first 40 years of my life,
I never ever, I was a Teflon dude.
And now I'm a little bitch.
Listen, that, and honestly,
thank you for sharing that.
That's so beautiful.
Thank you.
Have you got the coffee cup with you on tour?
No, not on tour.
But I usually, I always have a, it's not here, but when I'm on tour, I have, it's probably like you, Jess, when you have a, I have always a pitcher with me.
That's lovely.
Jesse, do you hear how important grandparents are?
All right, fine.
I'm going to, yeah, fine.
All right.
You know, I think that we've, so I'm going to get emotional now, but I just realized, Jess, that I would never, ever have a destination wedding.
Oh, stop crying.
Very good.
Cry me a river, Michael.
You're a fucking piss taker.
I can't wait to hang out with you guys in real life.
I like you a lot.
I think he knows the word schmoozer.
You're a schmuck and you're a schmoozer.
No, you're not a schmucker.
You're a schmoozer.
Did you say hoser?
Did you call me a hoser?
No, a schmoozer.
That's a very terrible thing
to say to a Canadian.
You know,
that's what they call Canadians.
What's hoser?
It's a hoser.
You're like such a Canadian.
You're such a hoser, eh?
I don't know that.
What is a hoser?
Maybe I'll throw that out
next time, wish.
Michael Bublé,
before we leave you
I believe because you're you know
you've been around the world you have been
brought up brilliantly by your nonno and your
granddad and your parents
do you have good table manners? No
oh
nope my wife gives me
my wife kills me for it by the way
even Susan kills me for it
Susan what does he do? she Mike, you eat too fast.
Why are you eating
so fast? And why don't you use your utensils?
You don't use
your utensils. Where's Susan from? Liverpool.
Oh, that was very good.
Go ahead, Susan. You tell them.
The food never touches the sides of his mouth.
He's a greedy
bugger. He's greedy and I think it's
an emotional disorder.
Oh, well, listen, I thought
I liked him and I think that's, I'm a greedy
cow too and I do the same. I am too.
Doesn't touch the sides of my mouth.
But is he faster than you?
Yes, he's faster than me.
Tell her about what just happened.
We died laughing.
We each ordered a little starter
and I ordered all starters for mine.
And what I didn't know is the two people that were with me had ordered what I'd ordered as my main, as a starter.
So when the food came, I ate it all.
And I was like, no, this is mine.
This is mine.
This is mine.
I threw this.
And they were sitting there going, where's ours?
We waited a fucking hour.
I love you.
I ate everything.
I love you.
I love you.
Soon.
Love it.
Soon.
And it's all true.
Oh, God.
My wife gives me so much shit.
And now what's funny is, then I say to my kids I go
hey Noah
Noah
come on
don't use your
I go
Noah use your
fork and knife
and she look at me
and she goes like
you asshole
why would he use his
fork and knife
you're eating with your
hands Mike
oh man
I would love to be
at the dinner table
with the Bublays
we're gonna be at the
dinner table
Michael Bublé
I absolutely am.
Michael Bublay, it's been an absolute treat having you.
I knew you were going to be great,
but you're even greater than how great I thought you were.
I'm so sorry we couldn't have you in.
Don't worry, we'll make it happen.
I can't wait for you to meet my wife,
because you'll like her so much better than me.
Everyone does.
It's the same thing every time.
He's a nice guy, but his wife, oh.
He's fabulous.
Michael Bublé, thank you for being on Table Manners.
Thank you so much.
Michael Bublé what a joker
such a delight
top joker
I loved him
so good
I mean
I kind of feel like
yes it could potentially
have been better
in the flesh
but how much better
could it have been
as an episode
he's just like
he gives it
full welly
and I just loved meeting him he's just like, he gives it full welly.
And I just loved meeting him.
He's just like the best mimic.
I think we've made a new friend, Mum.
I love him.
I love him.
But I loved him more than I thought I'd love him.
I love how he speaks about his wife.
Very fun.
He's funny.
He's brilliant.
He didn't know I was a singer.
That was amazing.
Hey, you've got a good tone there.
Oh, boobs.
I forgive you.
You're brilliant.
He was lovely.
Anyway, thank you so much to Michael Bublé for being on the podcast,
for making the time,
for actually not wanting to leave.
He was well up for eating his sandwich
in front of us and chatting.
It was such fun.
Just what a pro.
And next time we'll make you that dinner.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you next week.