THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST - EP.78 - LAURA DAVIS & MAC DEMARCO LIVE @ END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL 2017

Episode Date: August 18, 2018

Adam talks with Australian comedian Laura Davis and Canadian musician Mac DeMarco (who also plays a couple of songs). Recorded live at The End Of The Road Festival, September 2017 (though the main recording failed, this podcast was put together from a back-up recording made on a dictaphone - I think it sounds fine if you wear headphones)Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support and Matt Lamont for additional editing. Music & jingles by Adam BuxtonRELATED LINKSLAURA DAVIS - ‘GOBBY OR SHARK’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Hhs22UpfYMAC DEMARCO - PEPPERONI PLAYBOY (A MACUMENTARY)A lot of clowning in this 30 minute doc, but also some good, interesting stuff about Mac’s songwriting & recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStLz_vkEm8END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL http://endoftheroadfestival.com/ATHLETICO MINCE PODCAST https://www.acast.com/athleticominceTHE A-Z OF DAVID BOWIE PODCAST https://www.acast.com/atozofdavidbowie/CALIPHATE PODCAST https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-new-york-times/caliphate 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 you doing, podcats? Adam Buxton here. Very nice to be with you again. I hope you're still enjoying some of the summer. Hope you have been able to enjoy the summer. I'm currently in France. I'm on holiday with my family.

I'm sat on a wall near an old outbuilding in the middle of the countryside. I'm surrounded by vineyards. And it's the evening of the day. The sun is going down. Beautiful sunset. But listen, before you get too jealous, here's a recording I made this morning when I stuck my head out of the window of the old house we're currently renting. This is what it sounded like.

Yeah, we've had a few days like that, to be honest. I'm not complaining. It's all gravy when you're on holiday. I mean, you know, there's some low-level family tension when everyone's inside and you have to start doing the lecture about spending too much time on the devices and you start trying to get everyone enthused by playing word games and they're not enthused at all.

But on the whole, it's great. I love France. I love holidays. I'm happy. There's also actually, now that I think of it, there's been quite a bit of intrigue with sewage pipes that we've had. Several days have been characterized by meetings with sewage engineers, that kind of thing, and trying to understand what they're saying in French. My wife, my wife, is better at the French than I am, but still. I'll tell you a bit more about the sewage situation at the end of the podcast, if you're interested. Right now, let me tell you a bit about episode number 78. bit about episode number 78. This is a bit of an unusual one, but I thought I would put it out as a summary bonus for you because I have been on a quite a long break. I'm doing bits of writing and I intend to come back on a regular basis in October of this year, 2018. There'll be weekly episodes

from early to mid-October. But yes, I thought I would put this out. There was a few people asking, when are you going to put out the End of the Road podcast that you did? So the deal is that this episode features a couple of shortish conversations recorded in front of an audience, an open-air audience, with Australian comedian Laura Davis and the Canadian musician Mac DeMarco, both of whom were performing last year, 2017, at the End of the Road Festival, which takes place in Dorset's Llama Tree Gardens. Regular listeners will have heard me talking with comedian Bridget Christie at End of the Road in 2016.

On that occasion, we were being heavily pelted with rain in a small woodland clearing. On the next occasion, 2017, which you will hear today, we were in a larger woodland clearing with a nice big crowd of podcats and beautiful weather on the Friday afternoon before Mac DeMarco played his headline show. So what could go wrong? Well, you'd have to ask the End of the Road technical team that day, who discovered at the end of our session that they had recorded none of it. These things happen. It was very frustrating. I was quite angry, but I calmed down and had a lovely, lovely weekend. What you'll hear today is an attempt to rescue as much as possible of our session from the bits of the show that I recorded on my handheld dictaphone. And I was using it for sort of intermittently recording crowd ambience, you know, like crowd noise that I could then perhaps edit into the podcast. And so for that reason,

most of the conversations that you will hear are obviously off mic. But I found that if you listen on headphones, you actually get used to it quite quickly. And from time to time, you feel as if you're really there. I swear to you. So close your eyes and imagine that you're sat on a hay bale in a sun-dappled forest clearing in Dorset, surrounded by the cool and attractive young people that listen to this podcast. Ooh, look at them. From time to time, the sound of left-field music drifts across from a nearby stage, and then out onto the small platform at the bottom of the gentle slope

walks a diminutive hairy man in his late 40s. He resembles a handsome caveman in a baseball cap or Saul from Homeland, also in a baseball cap. He reaches down to his laptop and fires off a jingle. And you and your fellow podcats, because you know all the words, sing along. Here we go! Ramble chat, let's have a ramble chat. We'll focus first on this, then concentrate on that. Come on, let's do the lat, and have a ramble chat. Put on your conversation coat and find your talking hat. Yes!

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Thank you very much. Please welcome onto the stage, Laura Davis. Thank you so much for coming along. Thanks for having me. I've never met you before. Well, we haven't, so that makes perfect sense. Yeah. I've never met you before well we haven't so that makes perfect sense

yeah I looked at the list of comedians that were going to be appearing at the festival this year yes I looked at a few

YouTube videos and I liked yours the best ah yes I just liked your face Laura is that okay to say on the YouTube I mean it's a bit useless

on a bloody podcast maybe I should paint a word picture. Yes. Laura is young. She is a lady. And, I mean, I'm assuming she's a lady. We'll make a lot of assumptions here.

Well, she looks like what we in the old days used to call a lady. She looks nice. She has smiley eyes. She appears to me a Caucasian. Yes. I can tell from her accent that she's non-British. Definitely. I'm guessing Australia.

Yes. Western Australia. Yes. Perth. Yes. Look, I feel like maybe you knew that before. Wow, you did say. Yeah.

You've just been in Edinburgh. Yes. And how was that? You got some nice reviews there. It was lovely. I'm going to let you all in on a big secret. I've never left Australia before. Really?

It's my first time out of my own country. And yeah, everything is new. You have stinging nettles here that is you you go on all australia's full of dangerous animals crocodiles spiders i would swap them all to not deal with stingy nettles you haven't got stinging nettles we have them we have different kinds but they're all in kind of north queensland where you wouldn't go anyway. Your woods are protected by the woods.

There's mild ones and there's really bad ones as well. I think it's like tea. And I don't know what they look like. I just know they exist. So I just assume anything green is a stinging nettle. That's it. That's a bit racist. But did you know that you can deactivate them by just gripping them harshly? No. And one of the things you can do to deal with a nettle sting after you've got one

dock leaves were the things but my parents always say oh, get a dock leaf. They usually grow near. Yeah, but then to find them, you've got to go back in the nettles. Yeah. The whole system's flawed. That's true. Can you be my joke doctor for a second?

Sure. All right. Here we go. So I come on and I say, my daughter's nine years old, but I still try and read to her at bedtime whenever I can. This is all true, right?

She loves historical stuff, also true. Right what you know. Yeah. This is one that we're reading at the moment. Way back in late 1956, three countries were up to invading E-Tricks. They went into Egypt to grab a canal from Abdel Nasser, first name Gamal. It's a bit of Dr Suez. They really loved it. It's a slow burn but yeah.

It's one of those nettle jokes. It's got a big hook. Dr Suez. One of those nettle jokes. It's got a good hook. Dr. Seuss. Do you have jokes? Do you do jokes or do you just talk about stories in your life and things like that? I do jokes. Yeah. Like when you meet...

The Pope goes to a fancy dress party. What is he? A blessing in disguise. Nice! Did you make that one? I wrote that one when I was ten. Ten? That is ridiculous. And I didn't write anymore

for ages and then I went into professional performing. It's hard to come back from that. Yeah. At ten as well. Ten. You're all washed up after dressing in disguise. Alright, I feel like I want to give you another one of mine. Line up another one of yours.

Alright. Okay. What's the drug of choice for the enlightened comedian? Wisecrack. It's really good. I mean, it's no blessing in disguise. No, it's not. But it's quite good. It's quite good.

Is this good comedy technique to analyze and then rate your own jokes very highly? It's certainly good for the ego. It's what Bill Hicks used to do. I'll give that a five stars. Classic Hicks. You've got to come back now, Laura. Why did the dolphin cross the road? Is this another original?

I don't know No porpoise It's like a story It's crisp, like a lettuce You're going to make a film out of it Are those jokes in your set currently? The Pope one is there. If the audience annoys me, then I start doing one-liners until they succumb. Your show is called Cake in the Rain.

Yeah. Is that inspired by the song, MacArthur Park? It was more coincidence than that, but I do know the song. I do like it. I was struggling to name the show and I said yeah I need something that you know I'm I'm dark but it's uplifting it's sad but it's it's sunny at the same time I have a bit of a speech stutter sometimes a bit of impediment and uh I'm just passing it off as Australian over here it's great I I fuck up my words in Australia all the time people are like like, well, you talk a bit

weird here. They're like, oh, that must be it. Oh, she's Australian. We say shunny instead of sunny. That's what we do. Cake in the Rain, though. The quintessential Laura Davis. Do you mind me asking how old

you are? I'm 29. So you've made it past the dangerous hump, which is 27. Yes, apparently that is the danger. Is anyone here in the danger year? Danger year, apparently. It is tough. That's when the rock stars check out.

Yeah, it's mostly very talented people, though. Yeah. I felt like I might have been saved. I just made sure I did real shit work a couple years ago. Then you're going to step up your game. Yeah, put out a couple of stinkers. That's the way to do it, isn't it? Get past 27 and then start really working hard. Yeah, that's the way to do it. You've got to clear the hurdle. That's the way I'm doing it as well. But are you, I mean, not to do too much of a tonal swerve, but are you a sad person? Look, I've managed depression for years and years. How long has that been something you've had to deal with? I presume, I imagine it gets blurry the younger you go,

but probably since I was about 16, 18, was when, you don't notice when you're at high school because it's so bleak anyway. You just assume it will get better, like all the ads tell you it will, and then you leave and you go, oh, no, maybe we'll fix this. And what did it feel like for you, though?

When did you start thinking, hmm, is this and what did it feel like for you though when did you start thinking hmm is this is this normal or as you say like where did you start suspecting it wasn't normal well normally inverted comma yeah well i never i think i think it was when i was 18 and i was at university and everybody else was planning out their lives. And I had not. And I just don't know what I want to do. I just hadn't planned ahead. And when I did, it was quite bleak.

I couldn't talk to anybody. I would order a ticket on the bus and that would be my one conversation for the day. I had such terrible anxiety I couldn't talk to anybody. Were you living at home at the time? Yeah, I was living with my mum and my dad so I would say goodbye, enjoy your day, one bus ticket please and then that would be the end of me for the day. I would go to uni and study. But I had kind of, when I realised it was a problem was when i realized that i'd planned out my entire life around that and so i had in my head planned out a life where i would not have to speak to anybody ever or meet anybody or go outside how did your life look then how was what did that plan

look like get my degree get a job find a small studio apartment that i could afford to live in and then try not to leave it as much as possible uh and when you're looking at that at 18 you know the average human lifespan for a lady is about 82 i think you ain't got a bit of time ahead of you in that apartment so that was when i realized that there was something wrong where people were kind of like oh well what were you doing like well i've got it planned uh we'll be in that apartment but did you always feel sort of uncomfortable and anxious talking to people or was it something that kind of crept up on you was there there weren't any specific incidents that that triggered this were there or i don't know i was as a as a kid very um it sounds so pretentious

to say but just very aware just I couldn't go to school without seeing the institutional bubble around the school like I couldn't you could see the matrix I've always been able to see the matrix I guess you know when they say

for comedians to imagine the audience in their underwear I'd go a few steps back and just see skeletons. I'd just see skeletons made out of atoms that are billions of years old that have been other skeletons previously. It's just cyclic. Yes, Robin Hitchcock sometimes refers to audiences and people as just carcasses. I sometimes find myself looking at people

particularly people with quite a distinctive face and I can see clearly how they will age do you get that? if I get very stunned, yes I can see through time it's a weird thing, to see a young

person, I mean you can just imagine the devastation of time you can see in a baby yeah you know how you can go forwards and backwards infant baby looks exactly like that person will look like at age it's weird it's true yes do you have children no no um but No, no. But you can really see it. The look my second born gave me when he was first out of the womb, just looked up at me and gave me a look of utter contentment. And not that that totally defines our relationship now. Totally.

But there are moments when that that is there it's so weird day one hour minute one just like whoa it's fun to ask a lady comic if you have kids because the kind of standard throwaway line that most male comics do is do you have kids well not that I know of but if I do that then I look very irresponsible. My little brother did when he was about 18 months old and only just started to talk.

He was crying inconsolable one night and we were kind of cuddling. He was like oh what's wrong? It's alright. And he was like I want to go home. I want to go home. Hey you are home. Look it's your bedroom. It's like i want to go home i want to go home he's like hey you are home look it's your bedroom it's just your bedroom he goes no i remember you want to go back in the womb? That's an unpleasant English. I'm just pushing your baby. Anyway.

And so, what were your parents... Do you mind me talking about this? It's weird, obviously. It is a bit weird, but yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, were your parents nice, though? Were they worried about you? Yes, they were worried.

What would they say to you? Oh, I had one argument with my dear, sweet, lovely mother because she had signed me up for a scuba diving class so I could make friends and I was trying to argue that is the hardest way to make friends. You are underwater

with a tube in your mouth. She's like, yeah, you won't have to talk to anyone. I was like, well, touche. She probably read the phrase buddy breathing and thought, oh, yeah, you won't have to talk to anyone. I was like, well, touche. She probably read the phrase buddy breeding. Oh, yeah, this is perfect for Laura. So, yeah, they were... They did their best, in other words. Yes.

How are you finding... I'm interested in trite comparisons, culturally speaking, between Australia and the UK. You introduced me to a phrase I'd never heard before, an Australian phrase, I guess, for the act of fellatio, a gobby. Oh, yeah. Bloody checking the gobby, love.

Isn't that how we say it at all? Checking the gobby. That's a good phrase. It is. Is that considered absolutely beyond the pale in australia if you in a romantic moment chatted about i use it in the joke there's a joke on my i think that one is only up on my facebook page um if you were listening and want to uh i'll be your shark and i i needed a word for blowjob that was ridiculous, and that is the one that I chose.

Gobby. Gobby. I mean, it just makes me think of Harry Potter's elf friend. That's what he does in his spare time. What? That's not cool. That is not okay to say about Gobby the house elf. Is there such a thing as cultural differences these days? Everywhere seems

more or less the same. It is interesting because Australia imports so much of our culture from America and from the UK. We do have a strong national flavour but so much of what we see on television, you know.

Imagine the disappointment of a young Australian child realising that it does not snow at Christmas. but so much of what we see on television you know, imagine the disappointment of a young Australian child realising that it does not snow at Christmas when 100% of your media tells you that it does and yeah so you know, our Christmas specials are all English and

American and so I don't think that I get the culture shock here, in Edinburgh I did find that the bus drivers were very nice and the shopkeepers are cunts. In Australia, other way around. Bus drivers mean as fuck, shopkeepers very nice. So that's my one observation so far. You should open with that.

I saw a picture of you at Late Live in Edinburgh, the real bear pit gig. Oh, that was my favourite, yeah. How was it, though? I love a rough gig. That's my favourite type of gig that I can do, is one that there's a risk of an actual physical fight. Has it ever come to pushing and shoving?

One guy asked to see my tits once and I slapped him in the face with my boob. So everyone was happy. I know. There's something quite threatening about... I've noticed that sometimes just my relaxed level is quite threatening to people. Because I just see skeletons.

I just don't care. And I think they can kind of get that sense of, I will stop the show. I will drag you out. I will spend 25 minutes making fun of you. And I'm not worried. Because what's the worst that happens? We're all going to be dead soon anyway.

And it is that attitude that you win a fight with that attitude. You're playing the long game. Yeah. It was something that I would quite often if people did any sort of kind of sexist, you know, there's little lines you can do. It's like, oh, show us your tits. You're like, well, I'll get new. But if you want to see a cunt, look in the mirror.

You know, little zappy ones. But there's also stuff if you just go, well, there they are. Now what? Now what? What does that mean? Now you see my tits, now what? Have you done that before? Yeah. What's it mean? And they go, oh, we didn't know. Actually, we

hadn't thought this through. But then, we're made of cells, you're made of cells, we'll have a cells, you're made of cells. Have a look, do you? That feels like a good place to wrap things up. Ladies and gentlemen,

Laura Davis. Thank you so much, Laura. Thank you so much, y'all. Now, I have no idea if my second guest is actually here or not, but he is. Please welcome Matt DiMarco. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello! How you doing? Nice to meet you, Matt. Yeah, nice to meet you too. Isn't this weird? It's a weird world where you meet people in this type of way. The first time in front of, I'm going to say, 2,000 people. From the Wigland Clearing.

That's okay, yeah, that's pretty good. You're probably quite good at estimating crowd numbers. What sort of size of crowd would you say this is, in fact? Yeah, 15, 20 grand, something like that.

20 grand. She's going in for the grand. Are you on a big old tour at the moment? This is the last show of a month up around.

So, I'm cooked, yeah. You look all right. You look sprightly. Showered in the village over there this morning. Yeah. Not bad. Do you take care of yourself on the road, Mac? Mac is indicating no.

You are, now you are 27. I am, yeah. I was talking to Laura before about how that was the dangerous hump to be gotten over for every creative person, not just creative people. We'll see. Yeah. Does this feel like a watershed this year?

Uh, yeah. I'm trying not to think about it, yeah. Am I picking away at a potentially gaping wound of neurosis and anxiety? I'm trying not to think about it. Hey, Matt, are you okay to play a little bit of music for us? Sure. Oh, great. If you want, I am.

I think everyone would love that. Would you be okay to play a couple? Yeah, whatever works for me. Will you play one for us now, and then we'll talk a little bit more, and then maybe you play one more before we say goodbye? Sounds good. All right, great. So, we have the guitar over here.

I'm assuming this is for Matt. Oh, that's not it, dude. Anyone got a pick? Come and transport it to the stage, if you could. Hello, sir, what's your name? Zeb. Hi, Zeb. Thank you very much. We'll get it returned to you.

What should I, what do you want me to? It's a summery afternoon. Everyone's mad for it. Most of the crowd are drunk out of their minds. Okay, I'm going to do a song for you, which is an older song. It is a love song for my sweetheart who's back in Los Angeles right now. That's where I live. And I hope? Forgive me.

Here we go. In time she'll see that her and me Were meant to be together And time may pass and it may go fast But we'll still be together Where I go, she's at my side Half of my life together It's easy love, it's like love From up above, together Together

Together Okay Together Okay. Okay. For her and I to be together If it's fine that I've done my time We'll walk the line together And when she's low, I'll always know We'll always go together Get a little mic feedback, eh? It's easy love, it's like a glove

From up above, together Together Tunki etha Tunki etha É a etapa Tungi É a etapa Tungi É a etapa É a etapa 이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이이 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, music stuff interviews with people that you admire and things like that yeah and have you seen that footage of Lou Reed being interviewed in Australia when he gets to Australia does a press conference oh he's just not having it

right yeah yeah that's great and they all they want to know is like so Lou you talk a lot about drugs do you like do you think everyone should take drugs and it's just going yeah I think it's a good model to you know why not so I thought maybe I would interview you a little bit like one of those types of journalists as if it was back in the day I won't do this for very long, but let's see how it goes. Maybe I'll be Australian as well. So, Matt. You've built up quite a reputation for being something of a party guy. Party boy, kind of party mad, party monster man. No.

But you do mad things on stage? You take your shirt off, you just... You do crazy things? No. You talk about smoking in your songs and drinking and taking drugs? No. Are you finding it tough to live up to this party guy image?

Yes. Is that true? Let's transform that question into a real question. Sure. Is it like a bit of a millstone for you? Are you reaching the point now that you're sort of crossing over in a lot of places, a lot more and more people know about you, they're aware of what you do, but you are accompanied by this image that is about, hey, party guy.

And does that cause problems for you, though? And do you feel like, oh, man, I've got to rethink this? I think the only problems that it causes are, like, you know, the deterioration of my body, my mind, my soul. But, I mean, you know know i like to have a good time i don't know but uh i don't know i mean you know you gotta really you know when i'm home i'm just all about the tv and the couch and the hot chocolate and the cuddling and the calmness in the air, you know, so.

And that's what's waiting for you. In a couple of days you'll be back, will you? Yeah, for five whole days in another month. Oh, and you're out on the road again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Matt, do you sport a gap between your teeth known as a diastema or diastema? What?

I guess I like the scientific term for it. That's the name for it, yeah. I didn't know that. I'm going with diastema. Okay. Pural diastemata. Although why would you need a plural? That would indicate there would be gaps

between all your teeth. Some people, I don't know. Yeah, maybe. So, some people, I don't know. Yeah, maybe. So, famous diastema faces. Lara Stone, the model. Right. Elton John.

Yes. Fitty scent. Oh yeah! That's what softens Fitty. Yeah, Fitty. He's cute too, he's real cute. He is cute, isn't he? He's got a sweet smile.

And it's because of the diastema, I think. He also got like shot, his smile got shot like eight times or something too. That's right. Pretty good smile for getting shot in the face. They shot him till he got sweet. Vanessa Paradis. Right, yeah. There's about 70 names I'm gonna go with. Beatrice Dahl from Betty Blue.

Yeah. Did you ever see that film? No. Mate. Get it together. I'm sorry. Do you not like watching films? I mean, I do, yeah. I guess that one just, you know, kind of slipped past me. No, no, no. You can't let that one slip past you.

What was the last film you saw? Ooh. Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones. Woo! And yet, Betty Blue slipped past. You've got some priority issues. How was Star Wars Episode 2, Attack of the Clones, for Mac DeMarco? It was great. It was like the

fourth or fifth time I've watched it on this tour. What's the best bit in that film? It's an absolute train wreck. I don't know. That might be the worst one of the whole lot. Yeah, but I appreciate it for that. You know what I mean? I've nearly finished the diastema section.

Ray Davis. Oh, yeah. Seal. Oh, yeah. Elvis Costello. Uh-huh. Terry Thomas, do you know who he is? No.

He's a British actor. he played cabs and bounders If you needed a cab or a bounder at a certain point, Terry Thomas was your guy I'll keep that in mind, yeah And David Letterman Oh yeah, that's true, Dave's cute as well They've all got some They've all got hardness to them

that is somewhat softened by the diastema. You think it softens somebody? I think it does. Can I smoke? You do what you want, mate. You like Jonathan Richman. I do, yeah. And so do I.

Have you seen the clip of him on Later with Jules in 1994? He's playing Now Is Better Than Before. Oh, yeah, I would have seen that one. Oh, my God, it's great. All his clips are great. All of them are great, aren't they? And you've seen the one talking about Australian interviewers. You've seen Donnie.

You've seen when Jonathan Richman is on tour in the 70s with John Cale. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he sings Jan Vermeer. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. And he sings Jan Vermeer. Yeah. Oh my god, it's good. Look it up, listeners, if you haven't seen it. He's so great, isn't he? How did you get into him and what were the things that really hooked you in with Jonathan? For me, it's kind of like, I think I used to hang out when I was a young teenager with a couple older kids who worked at, you know, the cool record store in town. There's a music festival half from three hours in another away from our hometown in this other town and

This is in Canada. Yeah. Yeah, I lived in Edmonton, Calgary. There was this festival happening They're like, oh we gotta see Jonathan Richmond. I was like, oh and I figured it was gonna be some kind of like, you know Scary like cool like, you know abstract like I'm a cool record store guy kind of thing. So I was like, yeah, cool. I'm down, you know. When we got there and it's like this guy and he's so sweet and he's just playing very simple set up with this little drummer, Tommy. And the vibe that he puts off and the way that he holds himself, the way that he's been holding himself for like 40 years or something, just kind of, I don't know, it was like,

oh, okay, that's how you do a show. That's how you do it, you know? So, I don't know, it just kind of gripped me as a young man. And I see him all the time playing at festivals and stuff now, which is pretty dope. And he's, how old is he now? He must be sort of mid-60s. He's getting up there, yeah, but he keeps it clean is he now? He must be sitting up there. Yeah, but he's think he keeps it clean

He's healthy. He's my friend. Greg actually was doing some Tai Chi with him in a green room backstage area a couple weeks ago So he keeps it on point. Yeah But he's not totally is he completely teetotal or what's he told like What's teetotal? Do you know how that phrase is? Over the pond. So, teetotal means that you have a colostomy bag full of tea.

That means you just know booze. Yeah, I think he's straight as an arrow. Right. Yeah. Good old Jonathan. There you go. And then, were you into him

from the early days, Modern Lovers? Yeah, yeah. And then, were you into him like from the early days, Modern Lovers? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then right the way through? Okay, give me top three Jonathan Richman songs or a top three,

like some of your favorites. Number one would probably be Just Beginning to Live. I don't even know what record it's off. Maybe it's off like a B-side or something. That one I love.

Let's go Pablo Picasso. And we'll go for a classic. Roadrunner. Why not? Do you ever play Roadrunner? Do I? Oh no, I haven't done it before.

Do it tonight. Okay. I mean, you would think that there's not that much to it. It's two chords chords isn't it I love Jonathan Richman me too now I am I was talking to laura about kind of cultural differences she's never been outside of australia before now you're a well

traveled man yeah are there things that you still find jarring when you visit different countries and that you're surprised by is there anything that surprises you in the uk i don't see it that much in the UK but on this side of what you would call the pond I guess the one thing that really still gets me is the shelf the shelf the shit shelf what's that those toilets in some parts of Europe where It's like there's a shelf and all your doodoo comes out and sits on the shelf. Right, yes. It's almost like an inspection table. Yeah, I think that's exactly what it is. Because it's supposed to be part of good health maintenance practice.

To pick through your... You don't have to pick through it. Okay. But take a little look. You really get the full... Flavor. Yeah. See what's going on in there.

See if there's anyone in there. It's kind of dumping in the woods. Get them out. Give them a hand if they're in trouble. And did you... We'll get off this fairly quickly because this is this is not uh fun it's not cute it's not cute it's not funny but it's my comfort zone conversationally this is where i live and uh did you ever i feel okay asking this question because van morrison

wrote a song about it but did you ever have thread worm? I've never had it. One of my old band members had it once. I've had a plethora of other strange ailments on the road. Actually Van Morrison wrote a song about ringworm. Ringworm, yeah. Doctor Sizz, I got ringworm. That's a great album. I love that. For those of you who don't know, that's an album that Van Morrison recorded to try and get out of a contractual obligation. He's probably been ripped off by Zang Records.

I've got another song called Danish. You want a Danish? No, I just stayed. And Big Royalty Check in the Sky is another one. I'm waiting for that big royalty check in the sky is another one. I'm waiting for that big royalty check in the sky. It's not coming. Still ain't coming. Yeah, Threadwell.

The first time you have Threadwell, and you see his little chaps waving at you, that's not a good time. No. I mean, as a youngster, I just thought, what the fuck is that? I'm in a horror film. This is bad.

Oh, no. I said, have you been with any dogs? How do you mean, with? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, kissing dogs. There's probably a bit much to blame it on the dogs. I'm sure you can get a straight word from...

The shelf, probably. From the shelf. This is where this started. The shelf. Yeah. You just sort of said the shit shelf as if I was supposed to know what the hell that was. There's got to be a proper term for it,

but we just call it the shit shelf. I don't know. Yeah. All right, here's another semi-relate. I'm now relying on some questions that I created, especially for you, I might add, that I've grouped under the phrase pod quiz. Brilliant comedian Richard Herring would refer to these as emergency questions, but they're not his.

I've created this one. He would insist that he created the concept of asking people questions. So I've stolen that off him. What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? I'll give you some examples of stupid things I've done to put you in the right area. Back in the day when CD-ROMs were a thing, and I used to love making CD compilations, back in the day when CD ROMs were a thing and I used to love making CD compilations I decided that

the best thing to do would be to customise the actual disc this was before you could print directly onto a CD so I spray painted onto a CD ROM and then I wondered why it got stuck in the drive and ruined the computer because the paint wasn't properly dry

so I was pretty sad that day god i'm stupid i'll keep i'll keep it to the theme that we're currently running on uh you ever been to um the forbidden city in beijing no man i was there once forbidden a couple years ago i mean parts of it yeah but you can go just cruise right in forbidden a couple years ago. I mean, parts of it, yeah, but you can go. You just cruise right in. Cruise directly to the public washroom, actually.

And the person who was taking those around China hadn't mentioned that everybody carries their own toilet paper in China, or at least you should, because there is none. Really? Anywhere, yeah. And instead of using a sock or my underwear and leaving them there, and nobody flushes the paper down there because the plumbing is, you know, so...

Okay. It's like our house. Let's just say I... I used some pre-used. And I became very, very ill. What were you using it for? You didn't lick it. No, no.

So there was just something lying around, was there? And you thought, oh, that one doesn't look so bad. Yeah. That's impressive. I didn't expect you to come back with something that good. Have you ever licked the back of a metal ice tray? Oh, you know, well, not an ice tray, but where I grew up, it gets extremely cold in the winter, so... When you're a kid, it's kind of like,

look at that doorknob. Yeah. Might as well lick it. What is your feeling, Mac, about wheelie bags? Would you say... Can I summarise it this way? Progress or no-gress? Wheelie bag is like a rollable, like rollable?

Yeah, luggage with wheels on it. I don't fuck with that. Fuck. Fuck that shit. It's not for me. I mean, maybe it would make my life a lot easier, but no, I'm a duffle bag kind of guy. Duffle bag. Yeah.

If you can't sling it over your shoulder or god forbid carry it with your hand yeah then you shouldn't be allowed to use it yeah that's what i said yeah straight up yeah wheelie back wheelie here and now no more we're not going to take it anymore because like when you're in a crowded airport or train station or something and everyone's walking slowly with the wheelie bags they're taking up twice as much space because they're dragging the bag way behind them where two or three people could easily be occupying that space yeah to say nothing of the noise the little wheels maybe yes yeah yeah mean, they could just... It's reducing overall fitness of the populace.

Yeah. Laziness. Laziness. The historical pavements are being destroyed. Yeah. Cobblestones. Cobblestones that have been there for thousands of years, untroubled by the souls of human feet and footwear, are now having to deal with the hard wheels of luggage. And Venice is being destroyed. It's a real problem. Yes, a huge problem. Why no inflatable tyres?

That'd be nice. Why no little pneumatic tyres for the wheelie bags? Come on, guys. To alleviate that situation, will you play another song for us? I could, bags. Come on, guys. Guys. To alleviate that situation, will you play another song for us? I could, yeah, sure. That would be great. Let's see if we can do it.

Tell us about this number, Mac. Let's see, which one should we do? We could do another love song or song about dogs. Which one do you want? Dogs. Dogs, okay. People love dogs. So this is a song about a figurative dog.

I guess, yeah. It's called This Old Dog. It's a new song. Well, not so new now, but newer than the other one. Anyway, yeah. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Sometimes my love may be put on a hold

Sometimes my heart may seem awful cold These times come, these times go As long as I live, all you need to know is This old dog ain't about to forget All we've had and all that's next Long as my heart's beating in my chest This old dog ain't about to forget Often a heart tends to change its mind A new day decides on a new design

A new day gets set on another way As long as I live, all I've got to say is I live All I've got to say Is This old dog Ain't about To forget All we've had

And all That's next Long as my heart's Beating in my chest This old dog Ain't about to forget Okay. About to forget. Okay.

Yay! Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mark Markle! Thank you. 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. Hey, welcome back, podcats. Mac DeMarco there. I enjoyed meeting him very much indeed. He was charming, if somewhat enigmatic. It wasn't the right place to really pin him down about some of the other things I would have liked to have talked to him about. And indeed, there were chunks of our conversation that just were inaudible on the backup recording. I salvaged what I could.

I would recommend if you're interested in Mac DeMarco, listening to Mark Maron's interview with him. Actually, that was the way that I got into his stuff. I listened to that and I thought, hey, this guy sounds good. I like where he's coming from. And sure enough, his music's great. And of course, before that, you heard Laura Davis. She's brilliant. And I do recommend seeing her live. She's terrifically talented and charming and interesting and unusual. And thank you to both of them for being my guests.

And thanks as well to the End of the Road Festival. They were very kind and hospitable. I had a great weekend. I was there with my son and one of his friends and we got to see Car Seat Headrest and Mac DeMarco, of course, and Real Estate. Margaret Glaspie, was she there that year? I think she may have been. Ty Siegel. That's still one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. If you ever get the chance, if you like quite intense rock and shouting and loudness, yep, Ty Siegel. This year's End of the Road Festival runs from Thursday the 30th of August

to Sunday the 2nd of September, and featured artists include Saint Vincent, The OCs, one of Mark Reilly's favourites. Mark Reilly's DJing that weekend, I believe, at the festival. Vampire Weekend are playing Feist, Ezra Fuhrman, Yola Tango, and many, many more. There's also a live recording of podcast sensation The Bugle, featuring Andy Zaltzman. He's also doing a stand-up set there. There's a lot of other great comedy that weekend as well. I do recommend End of the Road Festival. It's a nice, manageable, small size,

very beautiful place and excellent, interesting music and comedy. So if you're able, do pay them a visit. I think you'll enjoy it. Before I go today, I will share with you the sewage story. I mean, it's not an amazing, you can probably figure out what happens, right? There's some poo involved. And I appreciate that this has already been a fairly scatological podcast thematically. So, you know, I apologize. And I guess you could always switch off right now if that's not your speed but it made me laugh anyway my wife's sister was staying with us along with her boyfriend and

one day there was a knock on the door and it was someone who lives in this village it's quite a small village where we rent this house and they said in French I think there's a problem with your pipes you better come and see and sure enough there's a problem with your pipes. You better come and see. And sure enough, there was a problem with the pipes. I think one of them had broken or something had got blocked. And so a pipe from the back of the house was debouching. I learned this word because it was used quite a bit in the following days. The French word is déboucher. And you can use an English word as well, debouch, which means to exit from a confined space. And so this pipe was debouching the plops of all the people staying at the house with us

into the village square from quite a height as well. So it was very embarrassing, the process of going out. My sister-in-law had to go out there and just shovel everybody's turds into a bin liner before kind of shamefacedly returning to the house. It's not what you want at any time, and especially, I think, not on holiday. Since then, there have been many liaisons with sewage engineers. It's been like Brazil a bit, you know, with Bob Hoskins. Anyway, there you go. That's a nice edifying note to end the podcast on this week. I'd like to say thanks very much indeed to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his invaluable production support. Thanks so much to Matt Lamont for his edit whizbottery on

this episode. Thanks to ACAST for hosting this and other great, great podcasts. Do check out their platform and see what else is there. There's lots of good stuff. I think they host Athletico Mints. They've got a lot of ones they do romish ranganathan's hip-hop save my life podcast as well i believe i've been listening to a lot of athletico mints over the summer what else uh can i recommend i mean i've been fairly unadventurous actually just sticking with my usual ones a to z of of David Bowie, with Rob Hughes and Mark Riley talking about all things related to Zayn Viz. Always enjoyable, very comforting, I find it,

whenever a new episode comes out. Actually, I'll tell you, here's a good one that you may not have heard. It's Caliphate. I've just started listening to that, but it's already very good. Very excellent, intelligent reporting about the kind of people. Well, I think there's one specific guy that they tracked down and talked to who was an American student and he went and he joined ISIS and did pretty awful things while he was with ISIS,

and then got out of ISIS, and talks all about his experience there. It's quite extraordinary, unsettling, but very well done. I would recommend that, caliphate. I'll give you more recommendations when I come back later in the year. But till then, mid-October, take very good care. Rosie, in case you're worried, is safely back in the UK. I've got some friends house-sitting with us and she's being well looked after. I miss her though. Can't wait to see her next week.

And next time I'm with you in the podcast, Rosie will be there too, I guarantee. All right. Take care, podcats. I love you. Now, will I do a loud one out here or are the French going to be weird about it? No, I'm going to go loud. Au revoir! Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Please like and subscribe. Give me like a smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a pat when my bum's up. Give me like a smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a pat when my bum's up.

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