THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST - EP.156 - LEE MACK

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

Adam talks with English comedian Lee Mack about boring super heroes, bad technology, meditation, Buddhism, drugs, sweets, booze and why people feel obliged to get X rated in his presence.PLEASE NOTE: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGEThanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support and Becca Ptaszynksy for her help on the edit.Podcast artwork by Helen GreenThis episode was recorded remotely on April 1st, 2021RELATED LINKSSIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER ON ADAM'S WEBSITE (SCROLL DOWN ON HOME PAGE)DONATE TO MSF UKRACHAEL SMITH - COMICS AND ILLUSTRATIONS (RACHAEL'S WEBSITE)SAMUEL PEPYS DIARY - 13th MAY, 1665 (ENTRY ABOUT NEW WATCH)I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUDDHA PODCAST WITH LEE MACK AND NEIL WEBSTER (GLOBALPLAYER.COM)MACK THE LIFE (LEE MACK AUTOBIOGRAPHY) - 2021 (WATERSTONES)THE SKETCH SHOW - JOCKEY (YOUTUBE)LITTLE BITBOY RAMBLE CHAT REMIX (METAPOP)RAMBLE CHAT REMIX COMPETITION WINNERS - 2021 (METAPOP WEBSITE) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening I took my microphone and found some human folk Then I recorded all the noises while we spoke My name is Adam Buxton, I'm a man I want you to enjoy this, that's the plan. Hey, how are you doing, podcats? Adam Buxton here. Ooh, it's quite a cold evening.

The sun is almost down. But it's been a beautiful day towards the middle of April 2021. Out here in the Norfolk countryside there's just a peachy glow over on the horizon. A couple of strips of cloud fringed with peachy gold. Rosie, my dog friend, is off bounding across the fields, having spotted a rabbit slash hare over in the distance. I don't know if you can hear. You hear that?

Bangy, bangy music is drifting across from the direction of norwich i guess people are beginning to start doing fun things outdoors now that the evenings are getting longer and the restrictions are easing somewhat bangyy bangy party. Anyway, look. Focus. Oh, it's quite cold. Sorry, I'm just going to do up my jacket. Brr. Let me tell you a little bit about my guest for podcast number 156. The English comedian, writer and actor Lee Mack.

Lee facts. Lee, currently aged 52, was born and grew up in Southport, a town on the coast of Merseyside, northwest England. After leaving school, he ended up working as an entertainer at a Pontins holiday camp at Hemsby in Norfolk and Morecambe in Lancashire. These are selected back facts. While studying drama at London's Brunel University, Lee continued to hone his skills as a stand-up comedian, and a couple of years after graduating, he was a full-time professional funnyman. In January of this year, 2021, the BBC aired the 11th series of his sitcom Not Going Out,

which started its life back in 2006. 11 series. That is American-style business right there. Meanwhile, as well as numerous national stand-up comedy tours, Lee has been a regular on a number of British TV panel shows, like They Think It's All Over, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and, most enduringly, and BAFTA award-winningly, Would I Lie to You, alongside David Mitchell and host Rob Brydon. Sir Paul McCartney told me it was one of his favourite TV shows when I was chatting with Sir Paul McCartney last year on the podcast.

Sir Paul McCartney. Also last year, 2020, Lee began co-hosting his own podcast, along with his comedy writer slash producer friend, Neil Webster. I worked with Neil once on a show called Rush Hour. Hello, Neil, if you're listening. That was fun, wasn't it, back in the day? Neil and Lee's podcast is called I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha. Just let that sink in for a while. And it's a series of conversations charting their quest for spiritual enlightenment. It's a side of Lee, I think it's safe to say, that isn't so much in evidence in much of his TV work, but as you'll hear in my conversation with him

and on his podcast with Neil, it's become an important part of his life. Although, as you might expect, that doesn't stop him joking about it too. OK. Hello, mate. There's a bird up in that tree. But he's too small to see.

He's singing to me. And I'm going to identify him. Or her. Or, or they. Come on, chirp-o-matic. Analysing. Oh, that's a robin. Erythacus rubecula. Oh, that's a robin. Erethacus rubecula.

Cheerio, robin. Anyway, sorry. Where were we? Notes. My conversation with Lee was recorded, perhaps appropriately, these are great notes today, I think, on April Fool's Day this year, and we had quite a few technical problems to begin with I don't know why it's been I've been having a few recently thanks to Lee's patience

we were able to struggle through and got a whole conversation recorded albeit perhaps partly because of the stopping and starting nature which you won't hear because the podcast has been so seamlessly edited, we went off on a lot of tangents. A lot of random tangents. But that's good. I like tangents. So amongst other things, we touched upon boring superheroes, bad technology, meditation, Buddhism, drugs, sweets, booze, and why some people feel obliged to get potty-mouthed in Lee's presence.

And I should say at this point, this episode does contain strong language, and towards the end, very strong language. Instead of the usual ramble chat jingle this week, I am going to play you one of the winning remixes from the recent competition on the metapop website there's a link in the description if you would like to hear the other amazing remixes of ramble chat that people came up with for that competition there were literally hundreds and lots of really good ones this This is an old school 8-bit style version of Ramble Chat. From Little Bit Boy of Northampton. After which you will hear my conversation with Lee Mack. Here we go. ស្រូវាប់បានប់បានប់បានប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប hi adam hello lee i can hear you i'm trying to slightly avoid my dog seeing me because he will start barking so i'll open the curtain okay there we go how are you i'm good man how are you yeah thanks yeah i'm a bit

new to this world of podcasting so everything seems very loud in my ear so it might be loud in yours as well no it's good this end actually now you are looking a little bit like a kind of American podcaster to me, Lee. You are sat there with your nice mic, a baseball cap. Behind you is a red brick wall and a framed poster of the Joker movie. Did you love the Joker? I can't tell you how much I love the Joker. I thought the Joker was absolutely brilliant. And it feels to me that it falls into two camps generally,

which is people who really love superhero films, the Batmans and the Spidermans, aren't as keen on Joker as, say, people like me who superhero films leave them cold. I have no desire to watch Batman or any of those comic strip films. And so I'm not disappointed when I watched the Joker that of course it isn't a superhero film at all. It's about mental health, isn't it? So I thought it was absolutely brilliant. What did you think? I didn't like it as much as you did.

You didn't commit it to a frame? No, I already knew what to expect. I read quite a bit about it. Maybe that was a mistake. And also, I'm just quite pathetic when it comes to really grim stuff. You know, I feel more and more as I get older. I just think, oh, that looks grim. So I'm not going to watch it because I just want to watch something that makes me feel a little more

positive i just feel as if i have quite good access to grim things in the real world and for my entertainment i just want something a bit more uplifting do you like superhero films not really less and less it's taken me ages to try and remember that i don't like superhero films because i've got young children or at least they're not that young anymore are they I got three teenage children but when they were little we used to go to the cinema all the time anytime a new superhero film came out we'd go and see that shit and each time I came out of the cinema just feeling more and more determined never to see another one again how about you my kids I think like them a bit. They watch that big thing.

Was it Endgame or something? I don't know. Is that a superhero film? I think it's a superhero film, isn't it? Yeah, that's the Marvel one. How about Zack Snyder's Justice League? Have you waded through all four and a half hours of that? I've not done anything.

I think I must be the last person in the country who watched, what's it called, The Dark Knight. Oh, yeah. Because that's supposed to be the classic Batman film. But unfortunately for me, it still had Batman in it. Because I thought, oh, this is about the Joker, and Heath Ledger playing the Joker was also supposed to be sort of well received.

He won an Oscar for it or something. Yeah. And again, I thought it was brilliant until Batman started appearing. And I thought, okay, whatever. Not interested in you, mate. But it's interesting what you just said about you feel like there's enough darkness in the world already. I think it's because I've spent 16 years now, I think it is, writing a studio-based sitcom. And because of that, I now cannot watch anything unless a child has been kidnapped or it has to be dark.

Really? I need a break from that lightness. The very nature of studio sitcoms is that they're fairly light. And I don't mean that detrimental to my own genre because that's why I like it. You don't get any lighter than Tim Vine, but by God, he's a brilliant artist when it comes to joke writing. Yeah.

And so I just feel like I need some misery. Wow. That's interesting, isn't it? Adam, I'm going to make a suggestion if this is all right. The delay is so bad. Can I, is it too late to say, can we go out and come back in again and just see if that helps? Absolutely. And you know, the other thing we can do is we can try turning off the video because the audio is the most important thing. Yeah, okay. I'll try that. I'm taking a photo with my tea to put on my Instagram

Some people like to see the tea of another man People be tripping on tea, picky Yorkshire brew and a nice picky But I can't upload Cause my wifi's too slow Come on

Come on and we're back and this is old school audio only yeah i know this is right and you put it out on vinyl um all right cool well we'll we'll do it this way fucking modern technology how's your relationship with the wonderful world of tech i absolutely hate it i know it's a bit of a cliche but it's just i'm 52 53 this year and i just hate things that are supposed to make things easier in life that don't and more importantly things that make things easier in life when they were fine anyway that don't and more importantly things that make things easier in life when they were fine anyway yeah you know what i mean it's like i went to a hotel and there was a a light switch in the bathroom which was a you glide your finger up a piece of flat metal you've seen those yeah you sort of brush up for dim up and brush down for dim down and of course you've got wet fingers and it

doesn't work properly and it was infuriating. And more importantly, I've never, ever gone into a bathroom with a light switch and gone, well, they need to sort this out. It's always been fine. Always. Why change it? And that's how I feel a little bit about technology. But would you turn the clock back? Like, I mean, obviously you can't turn the clock back.

I'm so bad at technology. I don't even know how to do that. Speaking of clocks actually i came across a thing the other day on the internet and it was about samuel peeps he of the diary fame yeah and see i made a note of it somewhere oh here we go look may 1665 he's just got a watch and he is beginning to realize that he's becoming obsessed with looking at the watch all the time. Yeah, that's incredible. And he was fine not really knowing what the time was before.

But here he is in his diary in 1665 saying, But Lord, see how much of my old folly and childishness hangs upon me still, of my old folly and childishness hangs upon me still, that I cannot forbear carrying my watch in my hand in the coach all this afternoon and seeing what a clock it is one hundred times. It's iPhone of that century, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. He was fine without a watch. Now he's got a watch. He just looks at the watch all the time and he's anxious about the time. You were about to ask me a question, which I assume would,

would you wind the clock back to a time when yeah we didn't have what iphones or or just generally technology that we have at the moment do anything i want to go pre-wheel but um but yeah oh how i keep looking at my wheel on a daily basis i do personally think that we justify it to ourselves a bit by saying how about think of all the positives and you go absolutely there's a lot positive but i'd still say that there's a lot of negatives if we take the iphone as an example if you weigh it all up it's a negative not a positive yeah you reckon yeah if you add it all up if you add up the amount of time we're just living through it for everything i mean literally i can go a whole day realising that I've done the last 20 things

I've been connected with the phone, from sat-navs to messages to texting you this morning. Everything is in that little box, you know. And I find it quite fascinating, just like the watch with peeps, you know. It goes from being a... It does make you think, how often were people checking the time before wrist watches probably once a day at most because they had to go

and look at a clock and it was fine but now you can't live without a clock can you every second are you uptight about timely when you get to 53 you're always worried about the time ticking away but of course i'm not that i'm trying to crowbar it in since my podcast about Buddhism and meditation. Right. I've started to realize that, of course, there is no such thing as time. So you're asking me, am I worried about time? You may as well ask me if I'm worried about brackets, fill in mystical character that

we're not allowed to say in case children are listening. Close brackets. I think most people listening to this podcast are up to speed on the Santa situation. I actually meant the tooth fairy. Is that one of the things that Buddhism teaches? Is that time is... The tooth fairy, yeah.

Is that the tooth fairy is not real. But I really know nothing about Buddhism. You've got to imagine that if there's a scale of knowledge from zero to 100, if you're saying you know nothing, I'm going to got to imagine that if there's a scale of knowledge from zero to a hundred, if you're saying, you know, nothing, I'm going to give you that you're on a one, right? Be very aware before we start any conversation. I'm on a two. Okay. I do a podcast about it, but the whole point of the podcast is that we don't,

me and my mate Neil don't know about it, but want to know about it. Oh, okay. So it's very much, we're on the journey to find out about it but want to know about it oh okay so it's very much we're on the journey to find out about it now he definitely is into it more than I am he goes to retreats and he meditates more but I'm you know I've been meditating for say six years and now I'm in the last 12 months been taking it to the next level of learning about Buddhism that's one of the things they teach there's no there is no well of course there isn't there isn't time in the sense that we you know i think it's a generally accepted thing that time is an abstract concept it's not a thing is it it's a you know the sun comes up and the sun goes down but the fact that we divide it

into 24 and then into to minutes and seconds you know is is a creation isn't it it's not a thing right it's just a way of looking at the world but what is a thing though is entropy and gradual deterioration man dies yeah everything is gradually dying if you're not spiritual then yes the physical body dies yes but the fact that we call that time is something we've created people who don't buy into the concept of that would say that the body disintegrates and simply transforms into something else so it's not actually ticking away like a clock or it hits the end and that's the end of the day that's the end of your life it merely it's not connected with time because there is no time i thought we were going to be talking about uh things that were far more in my ballpark of knowledge we'll get to um pasties pasties willies farts all that stuff is i've got a lot of questions

coming up later was there a point when you started thinking about all this stuff when you decided that you were going to meditate and was there a specific reason for it well my first sort of introduction to it was i went for a walk with my colleague and good friend Rob Brydon our families know each other so we just had a little walk in the park this was about six years ago and he said he loves Jerry Seinfeld and Jerry Seinfeld has been meditating like for 20 years 25 years and I think Rob just simply said well I really like Jerry Seinfeld and he meditates so I'm thinking of meditating. It was that simple.

And so I said, oh, I might have a crack at that. And that was it. It was so casually said. And then I went home, did a little bit of research. And then before you know it, I'm in a room with a man offering a sort of gift to the yogi. A handkerchief and some flowers. Basically everything that I thought I would never do. Because I would laugh at someone else doing it

because it would be very pretentious. I'm going to be honest. I look back at that time now and still think it's possibly a little bit pretentious. But that doesn't mean, you know, something can be pretentious and true. And what do you get back from yogi? Well, the key thing, I suppose, is the mantra.

So you're given a mantra. So you pay for this guy to come and see you and then he gives you the magic word. And even as I say that out loud, I go, I've been conned, haven't I? You get given a mantra. So you pay for this guy to come and see you. And then he gives you the magic word. And even as I say that out loud, I go, I've been conned, haven't I? You get given a mantra and that mantra is a, is a word that means, means nothing in the, well, certainly in the English language, it means nothing. And I think it doesn't mean anything in any language. It's just a sound. Yeah. So you are thinking of the minimal amount of thing you can think of, which is a sound, So you are thinking of the minimal amount of thing you can think of, which is a sound, a rhythmic sound in your head.

So, because if you say, you know, don't think of an elephant, you think of an elephant. If I say don't think of an elephant, but whilst you're not thinking of an elephant, say this word that means nothing in your head over and over again. It's a bit easier to not think about an elephant, I think is the theory, but I might be wrong. But that was the sort of entry level anyway. It's not that different to just sitting down and doing nothing for 20 minutes. And that's why I always recommend to people that even if you don't think there's anything in Buddhism or meditative states in terms of the bigger picture of supposedly getting in touch with the oneness of it all, how often do you just sit down and do or think of or try and think of nothing for 20 25

minutes it's probably never right i mean you might have a cup of tea and read the paper but that's not the same thing when's the last time you sat in your garden and just looked at a flower hey man yeah you know what i did that the day before yesterday i suddenly realized that i had a little bit of time before my next chore the The sun was out and it was before, because I live out in the countryside out here in Norfolk. Right. And yesterday they sprayed all the fields around where I live with this fertilizer stuff that smells like a turkey's gooch.

A turkey's what? Isn't that the correct term for the area between the bum hole and the dangly dangly bits yeah it's a very specific smell i mean you could have gone straight to the bum hole for horrible smell of course but it's more than that it's more than just bum hole it's a bit more fleshy it's fleshy it's chemically it's quite acrid because there's it's bad it's everything bad that smell started to permeate yesterday but the day before yesterday before they had sprayed the fertilizer over the fields i was able to enjoy the sunshine and it was wonderful i lay down on the grass although i had a blanket but even with the, I started just getting covered in insects pretty quickly.

Yeah. And that really led to me giving up on lying on the ground for a while. If you were a Buddhist who'd been studying this for years and years and you were meditating and there was insects, wouldn't bother you in the slightest. Right. It's whether you react. It's whether you go, I'm going to be led by emotions and led by senses and led by what i feel is me which actually isn't you it's the mind taking control and saying right come on have a scratch that's annoying me when actually the argument is there's something that's really you beneath all

that that doesn't get agitated by those things hmm that's me speaking as a layman you know i'm introducing the course rather than the practitioner and the man at reception going, that's what he says anyway. So do you want to pay and go in or not? See me as that person. That sounds good to me. Yeah. I've got to put aside my ant prejudice and just be at one with everything.

Just go with it. I mean, it's quite fascinating when you say I'm currently doing a, a course of, of a guy in america that my mate found and he always says do what you want in your head i can't control that all i ask from you in the next hour is you don't move just don't move and if you feel that you've got an itch and you need to itch or slightly adjust yourself well don't that's his rule and i can't help but every now and again i I have a little peek and by God,

he's still, he does not move for an hour, but you know, I'm a relative beginner to this world still. And I'm still a bit fidgety and I'd be, I'd be like you. I wouldn't put it with the ants. That sounds like torture. What you just described. It sounds like, of course it does, because it sounds like you're doing it by your own standards of going, Oh my God, I want to scratch it. I can't. That's what it sounds like you're doing it by your own standards of going oh my god i want to scratch and i can't that's what it sounds like but of course you just doesn't matter anymore because you you can feel the scratch but you don't make the associations that go with it like this is hell or he uses another book i've read about why buddhism is true talks about the idea of

what they call circular saw things that make a high-pitched squeal. Of course that's irritating. It's a high-pitched screaming sound. But there are other high-pitched screaming sounds. Certain birds make horrible high-pitched sounds. But actually, you go, one's beautiful and one's aggressive and violent and nasty. And we make these sort of rules in our heads and we stick with them. And we go, I can't listen to that noise

because it's sending me insane when actually you just go it's only what my brain is telling me to feel listening to that noise makes sense yeah that makes sense i mean i slightly don't buy it because i think that there are there there are reasons you know aesthetic judgment isn't just totally subjective sometimes it's attached to practical reasons like you know generally people don't appreciate the smell of shit because there are practical reasons why it's good to avoid shit and i appreciate that you could rewire yourself mentally to make different associations and have it affect you less yeah like when i watch space films when i watch space films which i love i love space so yeah yeah i do but one of the things that would stop me going to space if i

had the opportunity and specifically doing a spacewalk ie. floating in space inside a spacesuit, is the terror that I would want to scratch my nose and I wouldn't be able to. Yeah. That, to me, that's my worst nightmare, or at least up there with that. Yeah, I know what you mean. Listen, I feel like I've knocked on your door and saying, can I talk to you about Jesus? No, I'm interested in it. And I listened to your podcast.

I can't believe it's not Buddha. All right. And I thought it was very enjoyable. I like hearing people talk about that stuff. And I like the way you and Neil talk about it because you're not being too evangelical and prescriptive. It's just a nice exploratory. Well, I mean, we've done about 30 episodes now. And we said on day one and this is

in the podcast where we just say look we're both into meditating we both see the benefits of that just on a sort of a lifestyle health point of view but in terms of it going deeper and and feeling like there is uh truth in buddhism is it just basically true is it just this whole world is true or is it also possible that given that i now don't drink alcohol anymore and given that i became a vegan for a while i'm now a veggie but veggie stroke vegan is there a possibility that we're just a pair of showbiz wankers i mean that is definitely a possibility and we need to find that out i'm not taking away that possibility yet yeah those are positive changes though and i appreciate that they can sometimes be associated with people who are having a kind of luxury induced crisis

so i i think it certainly is a real phenomenon that people particularly in the entertainment industry reach a point where they are overwhelmed by a sense of futility and pointlessness with what they spend their time doing so they just get manic about all the self-improvement they need to embark upon yeah i think there's a lot of truth in that but it's also true that if you believe in the basic teachings of buddhism of of the egoic mind running the show then no one's going to find out quicker than a showbiz person about the egoic mind. Yeah, I think that's true. If I'm going out, then I wear a mask. With my friends and family, I wear a mask.

Having sexual intercourse, I wear a mask. And when I'm on my own, I also wear a mask. I have to wear a mask because I am toxic. Terrible things are spilling out of me. I also wear a mask because you are toxic. things are spilling out of me i also wear a mask because you are toxic a tiny bit of you could be deadly mask mask put on your mask if you care about the human race mask mask always wear a mask cover up your frightening deadly face i wanted to ask you have you had your jab by the way your i have just had my jab about a week ago, my first jab.

May I ask which one you got? I got Michelle Pfeiffer. Right. Which apparently is the one that not as many people get. I should point out, I mean, Pfizer, obviously. I don't want, they said you were on Oxford, Pfeiffer, or, weirdly, Michelle Pfeiffer would come in and inject you with a mystery drug. Hooray.

No, it was the Pfizer one that, when I went to the clinic, that's all they did that day. Today's Pfizer day. Any side effects? Yeah, well, I was knocked out for the day. I knew that would happen. I've got very low... I'm a wuss. I really am.

I knew it would happen to me. Whenever there's a thing going around at the kids' school, I'm a wuss. I really am. I knew it would happen to me. Whenever there's a thing going around at the kids' school, I go, just give it to me now. I know I'm going to get it. I've got low immunity. And my new thing now, to add to my Shelby's wanker things, is kombucha, which I've been recommended, which is supposed to be good for immunity.

So I'm necking down the kombucha at the moment. Mm. Do you think that you are someone who is attracted to kind of non-conventional approaches to things are you someone that is receptive to conspiracy theories online for example or interested in all that kind of thing i sort of i'm now open to all anything now and to the point where i think i'm ridiculous. You know, someone could come in and say, have you tried, you know, dancing naked in the street whilst, you know, burning some Jostics in the air?

Apparently it's very good for your sinuses. I'd be out there in five minutes because I just go, why not? Give it a bash. But I wasn't like that originally at all. I mean, until I first meditated, probably, I was, you know, what's wrong with five Ginsters pasties a day get a grip that kind of person yeah so do you think it was just being in the showbiz environment and meeting people who were more open to alternative lifestyles that changed you possibly I think if I'm going to be

honest it was the opposite when I I found them all a bit of pretentious you know I thought oh god I don't want to be like these people. However, what I did do was have a go at meditating once. And then I thought, oh, she's all right, actually. And then stuck with it. And the truth, Mary, that's probably what's changed me as a person. The idea that, I mean, anyone who meditates regularly will tell you that you just get these glimpses and they are so small.

But when you get them, you suddenly have a slightly different perspective to the world. And I've had those glimpses that suddenly make me think that other ways of thinking are definitely possible. So why not have a bit of kombucha? Is it possible to sort of describe the nature of one of those glimpses? Probably not, because the whole point of it, this is why it's so hard to talk about this kind of stuff is it's sort of bypassing the intellect right so i can only tell you intellectually i don't mean i'm intellectual but i mean in an intellectual way and that's the whole point you're not using your brain anymore

using something else whatever you call that your spirit your soul your connection and and so that the only way i could describe it is in deep meditation. If I said to you now, who is Adam Buxton? Apart from you going, well, why the hell did you come on my podcast there? Apart from that, you would probably think of yourself as somebody that lives behind those eyes that's looking at this computer screen. Now you exist inside your head because you are your brain. That's probably what most people, you physically see yourself or feel yourself in your head, don't you? Whereas when you meditate, you have moments where you sort of feel yourself existing sort of in your chest. It's the only way to describe it. You feel lower down

to the point where you're talking out your ass. I thought I'd get it before anyone else did. It's a feeling of sinking down, forgetting the brain for a while. I thought I was the only one that felt this way. And then I described it on the podcast and my mate Neil, who knows far more about this subject, he reads more. So I don't know, your description of it is very similar to what a lot of people have said, which is a sort of, it's almost like being in a black cave is all I can describe. It's pitch black and your boundaries are much bigger. So instead of existing in your head, you suddenly feel like you're existing in something that is infinitely wider so put it in words that i know you're gonna like adam like being in space i love space you love

space don't you i picked that up early on in the conversation i thought i'll get that if you'd have if you'd have said i love nothing more than strawberry angel delight i'd have said the feeling you get is like you're inside a massive angel delight. But you didn't. You said space, so I went with it. Space and angel delight!

And of course, there is a connection between strawberry-flavoured angel delight and space. Do you know what that connection is? No. Well, they say the centre of the universe smells of strawberries.

Have you heard of this? No. Or is it raspberries? It's either raspberries or strawberries because I did it on my show Duck Quacks No Echo on Sky. Oh, yeah, okay. And it's center of the universe, whatever that means, smells of,

and then you have to fill in the brackets. I can't remember if it was strawberries or raspberries. I mean, the thing is that there are so many impossible-to-quantify variables involved in that whole concept that it is more or less meaningless. I can prove I did a show on sky if that's what how do they know the center of the universe smells of strawberries i don't know i don't know that's a very good question other than someone told me and i'm telling you we are recording this on april the first that's right there you go we're just lapping all this stuff up from the blue pill media keeping us in our matrix style reverie

by the way what do you think about the online conspiracy theory world i think i understand why people get wrapped up in it and go down those rabbit holes but i strongly advocate steering well clear of it because i think that it's not ultimately enlightening. Like, I understand that the attraction of knowing the truth, whatever that may be, is strong in people. And it feels like it would always be preferable to know the truth than to be living in a world of lies and propaganda. Yeah. be living in a world of lies and propaganda yeah but actually the practical consequences of that if you see it through to its logical conclusion that does not make for a happy and contented life in many many ways if you knew the actual truth about many things in your day-to-day life

starting with what other people think of you, what your friends really think of you, what they say behind your back. You know, maybe not in a totally malicious way, but just casual things. It's like, that's why you don't read people's diaries. You know what I mean? You don't need or want to know absolutely everything in the world,

whether it's true or not. That's not to say I want to live in total ignorance and just be drifting along, ignoring everything that's going on in the world i want the world to move in a positive direction it's interesting there are parallels with what you're talking about here and the parallels of just you saying the red pill and the blue pill yeah that is a phrase that is often used in buddhism books where they talk about the matrix as being a film that basically some people believe is the subtext of Buddhism. It's all in there.

Yeah. In that you're saying, do you want to live your life in a false way, which will be fine, you can carry on with your life in this false way, or do you want to find out the truth? Now, in that film, the reason why it's a bad analogy, in that film, the truth is pretty grim, because you wake up in a bath of goo and you're a battery. I think I've remembered that roughly correctly haven't i yes that's right and so that's where the analogy falls out because that's not what

buddhism is saying buddhism is not saying just find out the truth you've been living your life a lie find the truth it's grim they'll say find out the truth it's actually much better what i want is some kind of strawberry flavored pill that is somewhere in the middle and there's a bit of truth in it but not too much. I don't want to totally wake up. I want to have one foot firmly in fantasy and be... But Adam, those days are gone. There's no in between. Particularly since Brexit. Yeah. You are a Remainer or you are a Brexiter. There is no other option. You believe in the vaccine,

for example, or you are a conspiracy theorist lunatic we live in a world now where there's there's everything's black or white everything's yes and no everything's i think that's the internet though this is my this is my simplistic reading of it is that i just think that that is the nature of interaction on the internet is that it favors polarization and extremes of opinion. And I think in real life, that's not what I'm seeing. I still see people who are somewhere in between on almost everything. And I am able to interact in a perfectly civil and positive way with people that were I to read their opinions online, I probably wouldn't agree with a lot of

them and I might even get quite angry about some of them but in real life in the physical world I don't see that prevail yeah well that's a good way of putting it I say that to my kids a lot you know because I don't do any any social media at all I'm not I'm not on it and I go on the internet when I need to go on the internet like today doing this and I said that's the same thing to my child you know I just say just sometimes just trust trust school trust your life trust what you're seeing on the bus if the conversations on the bus are moderate then then that's fine most people are moderate you know in your physical world like you say they are two worlds and I don't just mean the internet I mean television you know there's the world of tv and the internet and there's a world of reality and those two things are completely

separate you know from what i can see and problem is you can get a sense of your own importance in the world if you believe that everyone feels strongly about you one way or the other yes it also presupposes that it's possible to be entirely rational presented with a set of negative and positive data about yourself i i believe i'm right in saying that most of the research in this field indicates that people skew i'm using the word skew because that makes me sound as if i know what i'm talking about very strongly towards anything negative and that's what sticks in your head of course you can't of course it's going to have an that's what sticks in your head. Of course you can. Of course it's going to have an effect. If you were in your house watching the telly and someone through the letterbox shouted, I love you. And then five

minutes later, someone shouted, I love you. And then someone's five minutes later shouted, I think you're awful. I hate you. And this carried on every five minutes. And your wife said, why are people doing this? And I said, said well i did put a note on the door saying please feel free to shout through the letterbox what you think of it my wife wouldn't say my wife wouldn't care what they were shouting she'd care that i'd asked yeah and that is what twitter is exactly they call them trollers now they used to call them blokes or women mumbling half pissed in a pub and if you walk past they might go fucking hate you you dickhead you're not funny there you go all right mate and you'd walk past and you'd never think about that again but suddenly you read that on

twitter i fucking hate you you dickhead you're not funny it's in writing it's got power it's got weight and it needs responding to and he's done it twice i'm calling him a troller i'm calling the police don't ask close the, it's got weight, and it needs responding to. And he's done it twice. I'm calling him a troller. I'm calling the police. Don't ask. Close the door. It's an option. Right, let's go again. What don't you fucking understand? Kick your fucking ass.

Let's go again. What the fuck is it with you? I want you off the fucking set, you prick. No. You're a nice guy. The fuck are you doing? No. Don set, you prick. No. You're a nice guy. The fuck are you doing? No. Don't shut me up.

No. No. I like this. No. No. Don't shut me up. I like this. Fuck's sake, man, you're amateur.

Seriously, man, you and me, we're fucking done professionally. You were one of the names that I had on a list that said never to be asked on the podcast that's not true it's a joke but then what changed was talking to paul mccartney were you told about this you know what i didn't realize just how big your show was until when people talk about you you know he's happened before with other people off the telly or whatever will say something nice you might get the odd text going oh i saw so-and-so being interviewed and they mentioned you but when paul mccartney mentioned me on your show i mean i cannot tell you how many people told me about this well i mean he's obviously a touchstone culturally

and artistically for so many people you know in a way it's weird to have someone like him still alive you know he didn't do that as his intro no what i mean to say it's weird that he's still alive yeah that was very badly put no it's it's wonderful is what i mean a link to the dawn of a new cultural sensibility. And he was at the center of all that. Not only that, he's still around. He's still productive. He's still articulate.

He's still good to talk to. And still, I have to say, very funny as well. I find him funny and witty. Yeah. And I listen, obviously. I'm not, you know, I'm a person who's meditating and trying to get rid of my egoic mind. Even I draw the line at one of the Beatles as mentioned. Put it on, I want to listen.

And I'd actually met Paul McCartney once, and I did something which, even to this day, I'm really embarrassed about, which is my hometown is Southport, and my mum used to work in a nightclub that the Beatles used to come from Liverpool to play in, and she used to pay them. But this was pre-going off to Germany. They were not known at all at this point. It might not have even been the original

or what we think of as the lineup, but it was certainly Lennon and McCartney were in it. And I think even George Harrison used to come over and she used to pay them. And of course, when I met Paul McCartney, I had 30 seconds with him. So I said, oh, Paul, I'm glad to meet you because actually my mum used to pay you. And I could see him looking at me in a way that just basically said, I have spent my whole life saying hello to people and they tell me their connection with the Beatles. Everybody's got a connection. And was i expecting not christy oh you mean the one who's

posing a brown envelope i've been trying to track her for years i wanted to marry her you know what i expected him to say he didn't he just looked at me as if to go can we not well you know i was speaking to my wife about the fact that I was going to be speaking with you. And she got more than usually animated. She was like, Oh, cool. And I said, what do you think is so good about Lee Mack then?

And she said, he's just so funny. And so I laughed and I said, well, that is his job. And she said, yeah, but most comedians don't do their job.

He's always funny. funny oh that's nice and we agreed that over and above your actual jokes and the substance of the jokes right which people can disagree about whether they're funny or not what is undeniable is how consistently quick and on it you are i don't know this is maybe a impossible question for you to answer but are you aware of your mind doing something special when you're in those situations is there a part of your mind that's thinking wow look at you you are firing on all cylinders making all these connections oh god absolutely not no i mean i would i mean example would be, I suppose, if, say, the opposition sits David's team are having a chat and something will be said. And at the end of a sentence, I go, well, now someone's about to do the obvious joke that comes at the end of that sentence.

And I wait and they haven't done it. And I've thought to myself, well, I know it's interjecting a bit. It's not me talking at the moment it's them but they're not saying the joke and I know it'll get a laugh even though it's a bit obvious and they're not saying it so I'll just say it and then I say the joke. Now if you said to me everything I've just said to you what was the time it took to have that thought process I would say well at the time it felt like a good three or four five seconds you know i left enough space but when i watch it back it's instant so the thought process i had of oh i know what they're going to say oh they're not saying it i'll go on the news say it'll get a

laugh the producers will be happy and i've said it is in fact a millisecond yeah and i don't realize that toughness at the time i'm not oh, I'm firing on all cylinders. I'm just going, well, no one else is saying it. I might as well say it. And also there's this thing that apparently I may have ADHD. Oh, okay. And I'm very careful with these words because the reason I say maybe is because seven or eight years ago I wrote an autobiography

and I went to see a psychiatrist and said, you read the book, and then after every chapter you can interview me about that chapter. And I'll transcribe it into a sort of script of Lee walks into a psychiatrist and this is what happens. It was a device. And during those meetings, the woman suggested that perhaps I had ADHD. And I mentioned that in the book. And of course, since then, I've been inundated with requests to be ambassadors of charities connected with ADHD. And I keep saying, well, I'd feel fake because I have no proof I've got ADHD other than that one information. And if it was true that you did have ADHD, you don't feel that it negatively impinges on your life?

Well, again, I've only ever lived this life so if i've always had it i don't know any different but what i would say about it is that um if i used to go to a pub i'd be with a friend and talking away and the person behind me would be having a row with his wife or something uh or the person on the table over in the corner was kicking off or someone in the corner was making a fool of themselves whatever you tune into about nine different things it's like having 10 radios going off instead of just the one you're listening to, your friend. And it's not that you're nosy. It's not that you're not interested in your friend. It's just that you can't help but hear all these sounds and they're all seem fairly equally loud. And then you

go out the pub and you go, car, that was all kicking off, wasn't it? And your mate would go, what was, you know, the big argument next to us didn't hear a thing maybe i'm lucky enough to have this condition that makes me listen to four conversations equally right right but depending on your perspective that's the kind of enhanced mental state that some people try to reach with chemicals and drugs in the comedy community to their massive detriment on the whole and that presumably was not a phase that you ever went through you were only ever a drink i i drank but not you know i was your bottle of wine in front of netflix type drinker so my reason to stop drinking was less about oh my god i'm waking up in a skip. But with the world of drugs, absolutely not. And in fact, I was best man at my best mate's wedding.

And I had to organize a stag do at this house. And it was one of those relationships where he's my best mate, but I don't really know many of his friends in a different world. And suddenly I'm in a big old rambling house in the countryside with about 30 blokes and they all decide to participate in taking stuff pro plus yeah that's it powdered

down pro plus and I'd never done that in my life and neither of my best mate and we said should we just do it and we did it and I thought this isn't having any effect on me whatsoever. So an hour later, I did it again. Still nothing. I said, well, I'm glad I've never been involved in this world because it's overrated. Then cut to about three hours later, I suddenly turn into what can only be described as a mother figure. And they're all in the living room.

There's music blasting and they're all dancing around and there's booze everywhere. And I get it into my head that I'm going to cook for everybody. So I start making pizzas that we've got frozen. I start putting them in the oven. And I think, well, this oven's a bit dirty. I know, I'll give it a bit of a clean. So I stick an apron on.

I get down on my hands and knees and scrub crazily this oven. And it's sparkling. And they come in and go, Lee, you're not going to come in there. They go, no, you enjoy yourself, lads. I want to clean out this cooker and then I pull the cooker out I clean out under the cooker and then apparently I spent hours in there just polishing it yeah and I look back now I think that's clearly the effect it had on me where I just got obsessed with cleaning this kitchen with an apron on and little marigolds yeah and every time a lad would come in i'd go hey wait there mate what do you want what flavor there you go go in there have fun i'm cleaning the kitchen come and join

us lee don't be silly you go and dance with your friends and it was honestly like some mother figure where's lee he's in the kitchen he's cleaning like a mother figure what a mother figure is that real melody Motherfucker! Is that real Melody? Have you seen my phone charger? I left it right there. Did you see it? Have you got it?

Where's my charger gone? Where's my charger gone? Where's my phone charger? The battery's about to die. It was on the table. Round and round in their heads go the chord progressions, the empty lyrics and the impoverished fragments of tune. And boom goes the brain box, at the start of every bar, at the start of every bar. Boom goes the brain box. I was going to ask you about family life in lockdown.

You have three children, is that right? I do. And I think maybe similar to your ages. Right. Similar sorts of ages. How old is your oldest so 16 14 and 9 but they're yeah so they're all changing age fairly soon i was wondering if you had been watching much entertainment together as a family during lockdown and if so what the

first big one i suppose during lockdown was doctor who oh yeah which i've always been a lifelong fan of the show the the older kid was able to watch yeah which i've always been a lifelong fan of the show the the older kid was able to watch it first because it's a bit scary some of it you know then then we watched it all again when the second child reached the certain age and now my daughter's reached a certain age so we watched it all again so i'm on my third box set of every episode holy moses i know it's a bit much now um and, and the other big one, which I, I remember vocalizing that I thought it was utter nonsense. It could never work as a TV show was the mass singer. Right. So for people like me who haven't seen that quick encapsulation.

Well, basically it's a singing talent, well, not a talent competition, a singing competition, but people are in costume. So you don't know who they are. So they start with a whatever, a dozen celebs, all in disguise, proper disguise. And they sing the song and they are known for the whole series as only the character name. So if someone's dressed as the Viking, they are the Viking. And they go, going out this week, it is the Viking. And everyone cheers and your family go, oh, the viking this probably still don't know who they are in fact it doesn't matter who they are now they're just the viking you've got to love the viking or hate the viking and then there's a little bit right at the end you take the mask off and you finally see who it was yes and it's presumably 50 of the time one of the

cast of the only way is essex well this is the thing this is the thing that's what i said i watched the last series and they were good names they were good people oh yeah it was meryl street i think it was paul mccartney it wasn't it was uh morton harkett yep uh lenny henry occasionally lenny you could tell me it was lenny henry immediately right because he's just he's hard to disguise his voice. He's a big guy as well. Yeah, but he was,

that doesn't help you because the costumes are in such a way that you could easily have Jeanette Cranky as a giraffe. You know what I mean? Or indeed,

Peter Crouch as a vole. There's so many ways you can do this. Actually, it's a lot harder to make Peter Crouch look smaller than it is.

Jeanette Cranky look taller. Not my words. First rule that than it is. Jeanette Cranky looked taller. Not my words. First rule that you learn is showbiz. I'm protecting my career. If indeed we can call it a career. I think we can at this point. You've got some big awards to back it up

and endorsement from Sir Paul McCartney. Yeah, but I still think there's always been something wrong with that word career. It just feels odd to me. Career. Especially when you are being silly just feels odd to me, career. Especially when you are being silly for a living. Well, exactly.

And also the fact that I like to believe in the sort of fake alternative world of the early 80s where everyone who's a comedian has decided to drop out and be a punk. Yeah. That ethos. I like to believe in my deluded head, it's still there, that everyone who's a comedian has gone hey no way i'm not doing what everyone else does i'm dropping out who needs a career when you can mess about but of course that's not the reality is it i sit there nine to five writing

in a boring job most of the time yeah and did you have a a punky outlook when you were a teenager well i was that i think you're similar. So we were the generation of people that just missed out on punk, weren't we? I was. I wasn't quite older. I was about eight, I think, when punk became big. I just found it scary to walk around the street and see these punks and think, ooh, you look terrifying.

Yeah. So when I was at the right age for being a punk, which was, I don't know, 14, teenager, you want to rebel? Rebel? Rebel. You want to rebel? You want to rebel?

Rebel. You want to revel? Do you want to revel? I'd love a revel. I'll go get you a revel. I do love revels. Oh, they're amazing. Fantastic. Orange cream?

Yes, please. I liked it when you bit into it and realized it had a lot of chew about it. The orange was too givey. I love the give. I like to suck those guys you i like to suck those guys i like to suck those balls and wait for them to disintegrate and then you get to the orange part in the middle which still has a bit more give to it and oh it's just i bet you're a

malteser sucker aren't you uh maltesers are too it's all over too quickly. The thing that I've discovered recently is mint aero balls. Oh. Put those in the freezer. Yeah. And then stick a couple of those balls in your mouth. Yeah. And just resist the temptation to bite down on them. I'm still talking about chocolate here.

Yeah. That is a great, great time. Yeah. And letting them just melt. I've discovered the the and it's fatal i've got to stop eating them the little chocolate eggs you can get sort of mini egg type things yeah man dime flavored oh now you're talking my language i love a dime bar i love dipping a dime bar in a cup of tea sucking the chocolate off and then just that lovely thing that's left

in the middle oh Oh, heaven. Dime flavoured. Of course, they changed the name, didn't they? Never mind. What did they change it to? It used to be called the Dime Barn and they changed it to, I think, Dame. D-A-I-M-E. Oh, the Euro spelling.

Yes, yes. Yeah. Brassels and it turned us to change the name of our chocolates. That's why we got out of the EU after the smack in the face that was the re branding of the dime bar yeah go into the shop now ask for a dime bar and when you get a dame bar with an ai just go i thought we changed all this we haven't things are just the same dime is an amazing bar you know what i found? Just a couple of weeks ago, in fact, I went into Tesco and I saw a big box full of Reese's eggs. Reese's eggs? What's Reese's?

Have you ever had Reese's Pieces? Oh, my God. Those little round things. Oh, my God. Indeed. Peanut butter cups. Incredible, those things. Yeah.

And you can get them as an egg. You can get them as an egg you can get them as an egg and there is a thick chocolate outer shell and in the middle is this dense crumbly peanut butter situation and it is oh man do you worry i mean i've got a massive sugar addiction and i i find myself like i will sit there if there's nothing and I'll go into the drawer where the sweetie things are kept, and I'll look and there's nothing else. And I find myself coming back with, for example, snakes that are covered in sugar, sugary snake things for the kids. And I'll eat a packet of them and just find myself thinking,

I'm 53 this year and I'm eating sweets with sugar on the outside, you know? Yeah. Well, yes, is the answer. I have that same problem. But for me, I feel less guilty for some reason about chocolate than I do about those rubbery, chewy sweets like Mauam stuff. Wine gums. Well, wine gums.

My wife swears to me that wine gums are relatively healthy on the sugar scale. Yeah, she sounds like a woman in denial. I'll dip you in my tea. But pull you out before you fall apart. I won't abandon you. Biscuits, biscuits. Mm-hmm. Nice. Now, we skidded off on a few different tangents there. Before, we got into chocolate because we were talking about...

No memory. Not at this age. Not at 52. Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? I'd like to pretend it's because I'm so immersed in the world of Buddhism, I only ever live in the moment, never the past or the future. It's not the reality. The reality is I can't remember anything anymore.

Yeah. So your veganism has now been moderated to vegetarianism. But what made you want to become a vegan in the first place? Well, it was to do with uh your classic you know watching a bit of a netflix documentary and thinking you know this is probably a good thing for health it was mainly health i've been doing soccer aid for the last three years and uh i'm always the oldest person and i'm also one of the least good if not the least good player and i'm sick of it being so exhausting that it's not enjoyable so So the last three years, Soccer Raiders kept me fit

because I have a little goal that, oh, God, I've got to do that for four days. I better get a bit fit. And then I noticed more and more people I knew were going vegan, and I thought, I love giving things a bash, and I gave it a bash. And I did notice an improvement in my health, mainly on the sort of treadmill. Times were getting faster or distances were getting a bit longer you know i i was it was having an effect on my health i've been a sort of try hard veggie i say try i

wasn't doing it properly but for as much as i could for about a year or two and then went hardcore and went vegan for a whole year and and also it's just quite easy that's i always think that about it's about climate change and all that when people people say, some people say, oh, there's no such thing as climate change, mate. And some people say, oh yes, there is. And I always think, well, you know what? If I have to make some changes and it's dead easy, I'll just do that. And then if it turns out the climate change people were right, then I did the right thing. And if it turns out all the climate deniers were right, doesn't matter. All I've done is changed to a different type of milk.'s not that hard is it that's my theory i agree with you tell me about your some of your favorite vegan slash vegetarian meals then well like i say i'm i will have proper vegan meals and i i actually go to a i get them

delivered frozen ones because it's my wife is the cook in our house she does all the cooking i'm terrible that's not fair on her to say, oh, I'm vegan. I want something different. So I get this thing out of the oven. I shove it in the oven, and my eldest son will share it with me. So it'll be like a spag bol,

but it's vegan spag bol. Okay. I tried to explore more vegan meals, and I used this thing called Riverford Farm, not sponsored by them. And you can get these recipe boxes delivered and they have all the ingredients and you follow a little printed recipe i'm writing it down as we speak what's interesting about veganism and not drinking alcohol anymore is that people often

particularly with booze the people are obsessed with but if you say something you don't drink the amount of conversations that are basically people saying well then what do you do uh-huh yeah how can you not drink what do you do and it's the same with veganism you go oh what do you eat then and actually the connection between the two things is you end up drinking lots of more different things when you're not drinking alcohol you expand your repertoire of drinks yeah i mean i still find it hard to visualize a world totally free from alcohol because my prejudice is, wouldn't it be a bit boring? But as you say, I used to think that about vegan and vegetarian meals, and I was definitely proved 100% wrong about that. And also, the amount of stuff you – it's a bit like the non-alcoholic beers.

Non-alcoholic beers used to just be metallic and just not pleasant. And then now, non-alcoholic beers have become so much better. I got basically 50 non-alcoholic beers and did a proper full day's taste test. Because if I'm committing to this for a long time, I want to know which is the best one, all right? F-R-E-E-D-A-M, Friedam.

Okay. It is the best non-alcoholic lager in my opinion and if you want something with a bit more kick a bit more of a real ale proper proper head lucky saint they were the top two but i would just look i'm sounding i can hear myself it's all part of this exploration of turning into a showbiz wanker but in for a penny in for a pound if anyone's thinking of jacking in the booze all i would say is just as a little test right when i gave up drinking something really struck with me which was this friday night you've all been working i've been doing an office job i'm sitting looking at i'm doing all my writing in an office and you sit outside a pub in the sun at six o'clock you have a first pint outside in the sun it it's a feeling that's fantastic isn't it and you sit outside a pub in the sun at six o'clock you have a first pint outside in the sun it it's a feeling that's fantastic isn't it yeah you just go you know breath out

you do after you drink you go ah instant right would you agree it's an instant satisfaction yeah and yet it takes at least i don't know what it is minutes, 30 minutes for alcohol to get into your blood system. It's not instant. And yet it feels instant. So it can't be the alcohol that gives you that feeling to begin with. Right. That's just science. It's the associations with the taste. Associations, the taste, all that kind of stuff.

And all I would say is if you want to cut down on boozing, just to see what it's like, get some of that beer I've just said, sit in the sun, have your drink that the normal time you'd have the drink and just go right whatever happens i'm still going to crack open the wine i'm still going to grab but the first one i'm going to have one of these just one and you'd be amazed after you've had it how much you don't quite want the next one as much you still want it but not quite, I must have that pint because it's already been done. You've already done what a lot of people believe is the true reason people feel satisfied after having a beer, which is, it's often the first time you've sat down all day. It's the ice cold drink and that's already been done. Yeah.

That's the fun part. Discuss. It's true, isn't it? Because you're always aware if you're on a night out and you are drinking alcohol, you're aware that there is a sweet spot. There is a window where it just feels terrific and you feel buzzing and excited to be on a night out. And you're thinking, I love booze. But the window is vanishingly small and it gets smaller the older you get absolutely and it's so easy to miss it and just overshoot and convince yourself that no what i need is oh i can't find

the window but i'll just have some more and then i'll find it again and you never ever do no absolutely and i i read a book years ago called alan carr's controlling alcohol and i just genuinely read it out of curiosity. Someone recommended it to me and I read it. By the end of the book, completely changed my whole opinion on booze. And I've had a lot of relationships with it. I grew up in pubs when I was a kid.

Oh, yeah. My mum and dad were landlord and nun lady. And I've had a lot of, you know, deaths in my family through alcohol. So I've got a relationship with booze and it's been a big part of my life without ever considering myself, I suppose what society would call addicted or a heavy drinker. Yeah. Someone with a problem. Yeah. That's definitely not what I would be classed as. Having said that as part of the,

you know, reading this book has made me think differently about it anyway. But I'm not saying that, you know, that's, some people say, well, I do want to have an interest. I don't want to lose my interest in booze. And you go, well, good for you then. Keep going then. but i'm not saying that you know that's some people said well i do want to have an interest i want to lose my interest in booze they go good for you then keep going then but i'm just saying for me i was just like it was quite a nice that's just it's quite a bit freeing to be honest with you yeah you realize how much of your life is committed to it i'm not trying to change you adam i'm simply here to tell you if you discovered meditation veganism budd Buddhism, alcohol-free beers, you know, you might just be a better person.

I might win a BAFTA. You might do. But you know what? You won't be any happier. Do you know what? I think I've come to the conclusion. I am a showbiz wanker. I think I've realized.

I think people have came to that conclusion a long time ago in the first five minutes of this podcast. Well, then we should remind them that you're also a comedian. I mean, because I've never really been a stand up comedian in the way that you are. I've never gone on stage just with a microphone and told jokes. I've tried a couple of times and it hasn't gone that well. I think my mind just doesn't work in that way. I'm just a different thing in my mind

though you are a sort of classic stand-up comedian you go on there you don't have other props it is about the words it's about the way they're delivered it's about the structure of the jokes well i'll tell you how much of a traditionalist i was. I'm not quite as bad. I would not lose the cable on a mic. Everyone was going, you don't need a cable anymore. You can use cordless mics. I mean, this is going back a bit. Yeah. the mic whilst I play with the wire with my left hand and that is the look of a stand-up comedian yes and by taking that wire away from me it was taking something away and as for the next level of headset so both arms are free forget it oh no I could never do that when we when I tour with Rob and David uh in a show we do live it is the headset with a little what i call in a very 1980s way the madonna mic yes you know and that's i feel a bit exposed yeah vulnerable nothing to hide behind that's right

you know yeah and also for me i always associate those things with tv that kind of aesthetic that's a bit more slick and maybe a bit less spontaneous the way i judge comedians i think at a subconscious level probably quite conscious as well the reason i've always loved johnny vegas is because you just don't know at any point like i asked the question could they for no reason drop their trousers and blow a raspberry and it made no sense to what they were then talking and then just go sorry i don't know why I did that. Even they don't have to do it, as long as there's a chance they might do it.

As long as they'd be capable. You know, if I told you that story and you said, who did that? And I went, Johnny Vegas. You go, oh, of course. Yeah, that makes sense. Johnny would do that, right? Yeah. And that's why, even though I think he's brilliant, someone like Jerry Seinfeld definitely doesn't fit that.

Does he? He wouldn't go, yeah, you know, Jerry Seinfeld, he's always, you never know when he's capable of dropping his trousers and blowing a raspberry for no reason. You go, oh no, he wouldn't do anything for no reason. Everything's got a reason because it's all polished and strict. That's true, isn't it? He's like a kind of scientist.

Yes. As opposed to someone like Johnny Vegas, who just feels far more elemental like a kind of out of control force of nature absolutely and i i like the people who you don't know what's going to happen if you go around to a friend's house or whatever or maybe you meet friends of your wife or people who have a connection to you but they're a little bit removed and maybe they don't know the etiquette of what you should and shouldn't say to a comedian. Do you ever find yourself in situations

where people go, ah, tell us a joke? Well, this is interesting, this, because that doesn't happen to, I think people are quite savvy with the fact that actually, despite even me, who's quite gaggy, most comedians nowadays don't tell traditional jokes anymore. They tell funny observations or whatever. Because my act is, I suppose it's often said it's family friendly.

I think people make that mistake sometimes, but you actually watch it, it's just obscenities. I swear all the time. I think people feel that they watch me on stage swearing and think, well, I better be like that then that's caused more awkwardness I mean I've been in situations where like once with a neighbor and it was a brand new neighbor they called over the wall you hi I'm your new neighbor I went oh hello there how are you I said yes I was going to talk to you about this crack in the wall that we've got on our dividing wall i said oh yeah and then she

said in fact knowing what you do for a living i was tempted to shout come over here and look at my crack now i was just like i was gobsmacked this was in 15 seconds of meeting mine and and she obviously thought you know yeah i'm not like the others all stuffy i'm like you the person who swears but of course i don't swear that much i'm not that person on stage i was a bit like oh and i had another incident once where a teacher luckily i can get away with this story because my kids have been to various schools, but one of the teachers came up to me. You know, there was kids there around us and told me a story about going on a canal barge. Sorry, a narrowboat holiday type thing.

And he says, and then I bumped into this person. And yes, that's awkward. They're very hard to steer, those things. Yes, I know. And the person came out of the boat and he looked at me and he said, oh, you want to learn to steer those things. Yes, I know. And the person came out of the boat and he looked at me and he said, oh, you want to learn to steer that thing, you fucking cunt. And I just went, I mean, you're my kid's teacher.

And this kid literally stood around us, but they didn't quite hear it. But I thought there's another example. There's an example of someone thinking, I would never say the C word to anybody else's parents but him i've seen his act he says the c word in his act so therefore that's how he talks but also come and take a look at my crack is a funny joke of a sort but but learn to steer you fucking cunt. It's just obscenity. It's just an anecdote involving an obscene ending. And it's like, what are you doing? Why are you assuming that that's what I want to hear?

Wait, this is an advert for Squarespace. Every time I visit your website, I see success. Yes, success. The way that you look at the world makes the world want to say yes. It looks very professional. I love browsing your videos and pics, and I don't want to stop. And I'd like to access your members area and spend in your shop. These are the kinds of comments people will say about your website if you build it with

Squarespace. Just visit squarespace.com slash buxton for a free trial and when you're ready to launch because you will want to launch, use the offer code BUXTON to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. So put the smile of success on your face with Squarespace. Yes. Continue. Lee Mackie's a very talented boy, yeah.

Hello, welcome back, podcats. I'm trying out a slightly different welcome back. Oh, my hands are cold. It's beginning to get dark now. But there's still some very pretty light in the sky. Dog is on patrol over in the field rosie come say hello no she's not going to come and say hello she's sniffing but uh that was obviously lee mac who i was talking to there and i'm very grateful to lee really extremely grateful because we did have quite a few technical hang-ups that's why the sound wasn't quite as good i'm always saying that though aren't i oh the sound wasn't quite

so good this time i do like to try and get the sound as nice as possible but it does seem to have been particularly hard recently what with one thing or another internet wise who knows maybe this year i will actually be able to sit down in a room with people again and record conversations that way anyway uh lee was really patient and kind and every time there was a breakdown he phoned back logged back into the call and we started again. So thanks a lot, Lee. And thanks to Tara as well. That's Lee's wife.

And I get the feeling that Tara, because she is a podcat, sort of helped out and encouraged Lee to be a guest on the podcast. So thank you very much, Tara. I was talking to Lee about getting the COVID jab. I thought you might like to know I have also had my jab. AstraZeneca, seeing as you asked. Feels kind of like the punk option at this point. I got the shivers for half an hour that evening.

But other than that, all good. I'm happy to report. Thanks very much to the nurses and volunteers at the Gurney Medical Practice. Shout out to the Gurney Medical Practice out here in Norfolk. Riverford Farm I have here written on my notes. Oh yes, well I mentioned Riverford Farm. I just thought it was worth making it clear in case people kind of groaning at the product placement. But I'm not sponsored by Riverford Farm. They, you know, I don't have any connection with them. It was just a from the heart recommendation for a service that has been great for me so far. They didn't ask me to mention them.

I've never got any free gifts from them. Not hoping to get any. I sent one text to Rishi Sunak asking if he could sort me out, but he didn't even reply. This is great topical material, Buckles. Oh, thank you. Also, I should say, Lee is is not as far as i'm aware sponsored by free dam or lucky saint non-alcoholic beer we're just giving you friendly recommendations but as we used to have to say at the big british castle other organic

food delivery services and non-alcoholic beers are available. I feel obliged to say that even though there's absolutely no reason for me to. This is not a publicly funded podcast and I can say what I like, but still, I like to be clear about these things. What else? This is going to be the last podcast that I put out for a little while, I think. In the next few weeks, I've got to start getting myself together for my rescheduled book tour shows, which, if all goes well with the easing of COVID restrictions, will finally be happening from June. Actually, I've got one show in May in Bath.

I think most of them are sold out, actually. I've got no idea how it's going to work, how the theatres are going to work. Am I going to have to put on more shows? I just don't know. And I guess if you want to keep abreast, or even two breasts, of news like that, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website, adam-buxton.co.uk. You go to the front page and you scroll down and there's a button you can click there, sign up. And I will send out details of various things as they come up, like the publication of Ramble Book in paperback, which is happening on the 13th of May. The book tour shows, obviously. And I don't know, maybe the odd random standalone episode of the podcast that I put out in the next few months before I return properly a bit later in the year. Another thing I'm going to be doing in the next few weeks is getting things ready for the auction of memorabilia

in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières that I've mentioned a few times in the last few episodes. I am aiming to have items ready to bid for on eBay towards the end of this month, April 2021. And then in early May, I think around the 11th, that's the date we're working towards, but I will let you know via newsletter exactly when. I will be doing a live streamed show in which I will say a bit more about the items in the auction, tell a few stories, show a few pictures, have a great, great intimate internet time. Because of course, despite all the

carping that I was doing with Lee, and do on a regular basis about the corrosive effects of many parts of the internet, it is in so many other ways great fun, and extremely convenient. Also, over the next

few weeks, I've just got to pull my weight a little bit more in the house. You know, I haven't been doing my fair share, if I'm honest. And I think my wife's getting bored of me. So I've got to step things up a little bit. As well as continuing to go through all my Mars bits and pieces. It seems as if every time I think I've found the last bag of old photographs, I come across another box. So she just seems to have inherited all the family photographs going back to 1852, one of them is dated.

I mean, it is nuts. Quite weird looking back on it. All these people that I never met and didn't know. All this stuff that she never really talked to us much about. We weren't really one of those kinds of families. So, I don't know. Sometimes it's joyful and interesting, and other times it's unsettling and jarring, and other times it's just very melancholy to look back. Anyway, I'm going to be doing more of that, probably with my brother and sister when they're finally able to come and visit.

So that's what I'm going to be up to in the next few weeks and months. I hope maybe I'll get to see some of you out on the road. But for now, I'm going to take my leave. But before I do so, oh, actually actually I did want to give a shout out to a talented comic artist Rachel Smith Rachel spelt r-a-c-h-a-e-l Rachel has created a graphic memoir about life and lockdown called quarantine comics with an x and is, to quote the Waterstones website, a funny, tender, heartfelt and insightful look at isolation. Me and my daughter enjoyed Rachel's previous graphic novel, Wired Up Wrong, which detailed with humour and empathy Rachel's struggles with anxiety and depression over the years. And some of those themes are to be found in Quarantine Comics as well.

It's published on the 13th of May. That's the same day that the paperback version of Ramble Book comes out. You can check out Rachel's work on her website. There's a link in the description. Thanks very much to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his production support. And to Becca Tashinsky for her extremely hard work on this episode. Thanks, Becca. The artwork for the podcast is by Helen Green.

And that's it for a little while. Except thanks to ACAST, as ever, for continuing to support the podcast. And thanks most especially to you for listening. Until next, we occupy the same outer space. I hug you. And I love you. Bye! Bye. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Please like and subscribe.

Give me a little smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a plant with a thumbs up. Give me a little smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a plant with a thumbs up. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Give me a little smile and a thumbs up. Like and subscribe. Bye. Thank you.