Idris Elba

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Hi, everyone.

Welcome to another episode of Good Hang.

I'm very excited about our guest today.

It is Idris Elba.

Idris is in studio, and we're going to talk about a lot of great stuff.

We're going to talk about growing up in the 80s.

We're going to talk about Stringer Bell, of course.

We're going to talk about cringe comedy.

He's going to try to convince me to go to Abiza.

So

there's going to be a lot of fun to be had.

And we always start our podcasts the same way.

We ask somebody who knows our guest to zoom in and give us a question so they can kind of help me get to know them.

And we have a real big star zooming in today.

It is John Cena.

John,

look at your suit.

You look so nice.

Can you hear me?

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Oh, you got the beautiful background.

You guys have spent so much money on this production.

I want to be able to see it.

It was just a dot at the corner.

I want you to be able to see my fake plans and my fake food.

They're great.

John, it's so good to see you.

What's in the fake mug?

This mug?

You know what's

in this real mug?

Is Real Berry's Tea, a wonderful Irish tea, my favorite tea to drink.

Awesome.

Excellent.

Not even a sponsor.

What do you have?

Drinking my own urine.

John's drinking a yellowy liquid.

What do you got in there?

What are you drinking?

No, it's my own urine.

I'm going through Howard Hughes favorite.

Okay.

All right.

How are you?

How's it going?

It's great to see you.

We haven't seen each other in person since we did a movie together.

Well, we...

No, we bumped into each other.

We did.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah.

Some conversations among friends about wine and good stories and sunsets and all that, which I'm very grateful for.

I loved working with you.

I would love to do it again.

You're constantly working and doing such great stuff.

And I like, I've, I think of our time together very, very fondly.

That was a really good time on the movie Sisters.

That was a great time where you were busy and I was kind of just playing Pazuzu in the background.

So I had a lot of time to hang out and it was really, really fun.

So, and that was actually the first time I'd been in a location because, of course, Sisters was a massive ensemble piece.

So, like, you're in, you're doing work and I'm like in a lot of the shots, just fully tatted up.

But a lot of my days weren't a lot of heavy lifting.

So, you kind of gave me my first vacation in like 15 years.

And I really, I'm, I'm grateful for that.

I know, because no one works harder than you.

You are, you work hard.

Well, you're about to talk to somebody who I think wins that argument.

Really?

He, he beats you in the hard work category?

Idris is a robot, period, end stop.

Like every, if you think you're working hard, you know, there's always somebody at the next level.

Idris is crazy.

Like he, he goes.

He goes.

Yeah.

That's amazing to hear from you because I know how you approach your work.

It's very professional, very serious.

You love it.

You have fun and everybody feels fun when they work with you, but you work really hard.

So you're telling me that Idris is even more of a machine?

Yeah, he just like, I need to shut down.

Like when I'm, when it's time to go, all right, cool.

And I'm like a nine to five person.

Idris will work a full day and then fly to

Vegas to DJ for the whole night and then fly back to work the next morning and then fly, go to the studio and make new music.

Like

he just, I'm like, I need to be put in my lane and be like, okay, this is the day's work.

Go out and get it.

He's everywhere all at once.

I don't know how he does what he does.

That's one of my questions: is literally, how do you stay awake?

Honestly, he does live an AM and PM life, like an AM P.M.

A.M.

life.

You know, like he's doing his last set at 4 a.m.

and then he's on set and

insane when the camera turns on.

Like he's, he's good, and he's a, he's a great human being.

I, I, I can't say enough good things about your movie, Heads of State, is coming out on Amazon.

And

thank you very much for that.

I appreciate it.

You're so welcome.

Hope everybody watches and enjoys it.

It looks so great.

And you play

a fictional president of the United States, and he plays the prime minister of the UK.

Yes.

Never know if I should say England, the UK, or Britain.

So that's why I hesitated.

We got all three.

So you're covered.

Great, covered.

And I have to say, it's so, it's, it looks like such such a satisfying,

timely, and fun and juicy film because I would like you to be president.

Will you be president?

And I'm putting you on the spot.

They don't let folks who wear coats like this have a chance.

That's true.

That's true.

You did ruin your chances.

I'm going to get myself out of the position.

Yes, indeed.

You're wearing a very striped coat, and they're not going to let you in.

But yeah, that was your first time working together?

We worked together on a movie called The Suicide Squad,

where we played superheroes that were like uh a buddy comedy almost like he's got he's the head-down guy i'm the aloof ignorant guy and peter safron the producer that movie was like this is good we need to do this again and the thing about heads of state that's very fun and you said you know you play a fictional president he plays a fictional prime minister you being a writer would know that is the sooner you can define those characters and stand for the more fun you can have so basically what we have in heads of state is a buddy comedy it looks so fun and

also,

I mean, the

can Idris, I'm going to ask him about accents, but can he do a Boston accent?

Because you're a Boston boy.

Yeah, but my Boston accent sucks.

It does?

Like, yeah, I need to.

What are you lost it, John?

What?

You think you're better than us?

What?

Yes, I do.

I do think I.

It's gone away.

It's been, I don't know.

What?

You haven't watched the Karen Reed trial and gotten and brushed up on that?

Family was, my phone would not

do that.

You have no idea.

It's taken the state by storm.

Maybe a new, if I stop drinking my own urine and start drinking some

Sam Adams, it doesn't come back to you?

The Boston doesn't come back.

100% comes back.

Every time I go to West Newbury to see my family, my wife is literally like, what happened?

You talk different.

And it's just you go back and you just get into the vortex.

There's just some friends who you can't say their name without having the accent.

You cannot yeah i tried but you cannot

um okay so what question do you want me to ask idris today is there anything you want to know about idris that you didn't get a chance to ask him or something you think i should ask him so that great question idris is somebody i respect and admire and the re a lot of the driving force there is because he's still so motivated

somebody who's been an on-screen performer and a great one for decades and literally has so many achievements.

It would be the same question if you if you gave me a question to ask you, like, what keeps you going?

And in the stories that Idris has shared with me, he comes from very humble beginnings.

This is a former automotive assembly line worker who, you know, he was just talking the other day about how he moved to New York and worked the door at a club.

And then we go after hours with all the club folks to a special place that they just lock the door and leave at seven in the morning.

Like he's.

Everybody in life has such an interesting story and Idris is no different.

But to be where he's at and to still

go like he does, I just want to know.

I don't want to know the secret because everybody's story is different, but I really want to know what keeps him so driven.

You know what I love about you, John?

And by the way, I hope someday you come do this.

Say this houndstooth jacket.

It's this houndstooth jacket that you're wearing and the urine that you're drinking.

No.

No, what I love about you is you love people.

You are a curious person about people.

You care and see, like in my experience with you, you're very interested in how

all different types of people approach life.

Everybody truly does have a story, and you can learn from everybody, you know?

Thank you so much for doing this.

It really means a lot that you gave the time.

And I can't wait to see your movie and see you in person.

Let's like have a decant some wine somewhere.

This is the soft open to an actual good hang.

All right.

Thanks so much, John.

So good to see you.

Amy, thanks so much.

Thanks, buddy.

Talk to you soon.

Bye.

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Wait.

What?

Wait.

Oh.

We're twinning.

Wow.

We're cut as

slow motion music.

You know, there is a part of me that always tries to think about what the guest would wear.

And I do try a little bit unconsciously to just dress for my guests.

Oh, no way.

You did it.

Look at us.

We did it.

I could take this off and do the t-shirt.

No, I feel like we have to stay.

We have to stay in this now.

I'm so thrilled to talk to you today.

Wow.

Thank you.

And I, you know, we are the same age.

I think I'm older than you.

No.

1972, babe.

1971.

And we're both Virgos.

And when's your birthday?

September 16th.

I'm September 6th.

And I saw that.

And I want to ask and start asking you a question, which is, what does it feel like to be a Virgo?

What does it feel like?

Do you identify as a Virgo?

Do you see qualities in Virgo that you feel are yours?

Okay, so if I'm really honest, I have this weird statistic thing, right?

Let's just get this straight.

That's what I understand.

Okay.

There's like, how many billion people on the earth, right?

Yeah.

Are we suggesting that everyone?

This is very Virgo of you.

I know.

But everyone that was born in that particular time period, around that time, has similar traits.

I mean, this is the logic that i yeah find myself wrestling with i understand you're a challenger you're a virgo it makes sense

or is it that everyone you've met that says hey are you virgo i'm a virgo do you do i do and then that becomes the myth would this make you feel better beyonce is a virgo do you want to be in the club now uh yep okay okay that's what i thought no i knew she was a virgo actually yeah

well virgos see each other they recognize each other yeah it is okay we don't have to get into it no we can but but you are in your 50s.

I want to ask you, what is it like being in your 50s?

What do you think of this decade?

Really interesting, right?

Because, you know, we were born

when we were 10, 11, the 80s

happened.

Our consciousness was born at the same time one of the coolest decades generationally ever.

Yeah.

And we were born into that.

Some of the coolest things, art, music, culture, some of the craziest world politics that set the dynamics for where we are right now, all happened when we were sort of like our emotions were blossoming and our adolescents were growing.

I mean, we're a very unique generation.

Okay, I agree.

I love being Gen X.

I feel proud of it.

Do you feel?

I feel like

exactly what you said.

I feel like we straddled these two different worlds.

Yes.

Our young world was like our parents, and now we're in future robot times.

That's true.

Which, you know, partly we invented because it's like robots, toys, 2001.

What was that going to be like?

And we're in it.

I see it.

We got it.

Yeah.

I know.

We watched movies about flying cars and it's going to happen.

And it's happening.

Robots that talk and aliens.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yeah.

Oh, but not astrology.

Well,

astrology is based on some weird alien science that has left us left behind.

Aliens left behind.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, you know, do you know that these...

Anyway, I was going to say that the other part about being 50 is that I don't love that at this age, the age of being wellness and consciousness is so upon us, yet our bodies fail us.

Well, me.

Biggest bummer.

I mean, the fact that you can get hurt just getting out of bed.

That is the part that just feels like, well, I mean, what you have to do, you have to use your body still a lot.

You use it a lot in this movie that we're talking about, Heads of State.

How do you stay?

Do you have to do like, what do you do to stay flexible?

That's what we have to do: stay flexible.

Do you do yoga?

Do you do

what do you do for your stretching?

Because I'm trying to get my more stretching going.

Really?

I'm quite,

I'm, I'm not very, I'm not a very flexible.

Like, do you have tight hamstrings?

Yeah.

Tight hip flexors.

Hip flexors.

Yeah.

So mine are my hamstrings, which is embarrassing because I'm so short.

There's, it's like to not be able to touch your toes.

Say mine?

Same option?

Yeah.

Same age.

Yeah.

So do you do pigeon, the pigeon pose?

No, what does that look like?

It's the yoga pose where you get your, like where you get, you stretch your hips, basically.

Do you know that pose?

So you're sitting on your bum and you got your legs down like that.

You put your knee up and you kind of lean over your knee.

I don't do that.

Okay, good.

I do, well, it's the squat.

Just squatting.

Yeah, you know, like the, like

before we were Homo sapiens.

Yeah.

You do.

You can squat.

Yeah.

That's impressive.

It is, actually.

Your knees can handle that?

No.

Yeah.

Getting down's easy.

That's the thing.

Getting up.

You got a guy who helps you get up because

once you get down, you're stuck.

No, my pride is to, there's no guy helping me get up.

Of course not.

I'm like,

I'm okay.

And everyone's like, we're ready to shoot.

We're just waiting for Idris to get out of his squat.

To get out of his squat.

Good thing about squatting, though, not to be graphic.

It's good for the.

Pooping.

I was going to say number two, but we can go pooping.

It's really good.

A lot of people know that.

But I mean,

I feel like my 50s, to your point,

age-wise, like, or like emotionally, mentally, spiritually, I feel great.

Feel good.

Yeah.

Right?

I feel finally like I'm figuring myself out in a way that's very real.

And I have a lot.

a lot enough wisdom and enough ahead of me.

And you're kind of the oldest, youngest person and the youngest, oldest person.

That's right.

That's so true.

And, you know, your influences change.

You know what I'm saying?

I think in my 30s and 40s, like I was sort of like blown with the wind a little bit with what was influencing me, what my goals were.

And in the 50s, I'm like,

no, that wind have to pass around me.

I'm not getting as easily influenced.

Yes.

Yes, exactly right.

You're like a steadier tree.

Yeah.

But it does hurt to get out of a car after a long hurt.

You know what, though?

I, uh wellness yeah so i found people who were like really that doesn't work it's like astrology but grounding mats i love a grounding mat i have a biomat do you have a bio mat uh no uh grounding oh is that the same thing is it what's a biomat well it's like a heated mat oh no this is not heated oh this is just grounded okay talk talk to me about so basically you know the earth's frequency electromagnetic magnetic frequency is a thing and it vibrates at a certain thing you know when you have a radio and it hasn't been grounded into the earth it it will have static.

The moment you ground it, it stops that static.

And our bodies work in a similar way.

And the

information just suggests that inflammation and blood circulation works better when you sleep on a grounding mat or if you're under a desk, barefoot.

And by the way, you can do the same thing if you just stand in your garden in the grass for 20 minutes.

Well, have you heard the young people say touch grass?

It's like a term, basically, which is like get off your phones, get off the internet, and go outside and touch grass.

I didn't think it meant that grass.

I thought it was the

real grass.

Yeah, I was like, that's the Jet X in you.

Just touch.

Grass.

You go touch it.

Pot, touch pot.

That's what they're saying.

Go touch pot.

Okay, that whole touch grass thing, I was like, dude, this is a little much.

My algorithm is all messed up.

I didn't realize.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

It's the idea of just like actually getting your feet on the ground.

But it works.

And it works for our age because inflammation is a real thing.

That stiffness you're feeling.

Do you cold plunge?

You've got to get into that.

Dude,

I do it all the time.

How often?

I try to do 11 minutes a week.

What?

Not all at once.

Why do you do that?

It's really helped with inflammation.

It is a huge, it is, I don't, it's really helped with anxiety.

any anxiety, depression, and inflammation because you're like flooded with a serotonin.

You know, you are like, it's like natural.

Yes.

I'm not going to run.

I can't run.

I'm not gonna run.

I've got to get some kind of feeling that I've like had this, you know, like big burst.

And the cold plunge does it for me.

And like, I don't like to do it.

It's not like I don't like to do it.

All right, then you know it works with you.

So talk about shrinkage.

It's like, wait, what?

Oh, no.

This is not only very uncomfortable, but really killing my ego.

What?

Just do it on your own time.

Yeah,

just do it on your own time.

Yeah, I'm not doing it like naked at the gym.

No, no.

I'm telling you, it will change your life.

I'm telling you.

You know what?

You're going to look back at this interview and you're going to be like, remember when I was in my 50s and Amy told me to call a bunch?

And I said, what?

And now it's changed.

It's going to change your life.

Okay.

You know what?

I'll listen to you because I think we have a lot in common.

And there's some observations that you're making that is really making me think.

Also, I imagine something about you, and tell me if I'm wrong, that you kind of like a forced austerity.

Like

you're not afraid of difficult things.

Right.

Yes.

No, I am not afraid of

difficult things or challenges that make me uncomfortable.

Yeah.

And to choose your own discomfort is like a privilege at our age.

I'm going to be uncomfortable, but I'm going to be in charge of it.

Yeah, I agree.

I agree with that.

I agree.

I actually,

what I also enjoy about my 50s, I'm 52, 53 this year, is that I really want to learn more.

Yeah.

I want to learn.

And it's about, oh, that's new, but how is it connected to what I already know?

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And how that cusp is really interesting to me.

You know, like we talk about AI and all that stuff.

I refer to it as like, wow, that's the future that we talked about as kids.

That was just in our imaginations.

And here it is.

Well, I want to stay in the present and I want to talk about the future.

But if you will indulge me a little bit of past, because,

and I promise I'll make it fast, but I'm such a huge fan of the wire.

And I know you talk about it all the time.

It is many years ago, 20 plus years ago.

You've talked about it over and over again.

And I won't make you talk about it too much.

But it's a series that changed my life.

I watched it three times, the series three times.

I could talk to you about it forever.

And also, I feel like not to keep making comparisons.

We are dressed the same.

But

I was on a show that meant something to a lot of people still.

And like, you know, almost 20 years later, they come up and they keep engaging in it.

So you must get that too.

You must all the time have people say to you what I'm saying to you.

What is that like?

I mean, the truth is that I actually don't speak about the wire as much as people might think, even though I am definitely at least once a day, someone says, bro, string a bell, the wire, whatever it is.

Yeah.

And, you know, it really does,

it surprises me

how much impact that show had

in a good way.

It surprises me continuously

that, you know, multi-generationally, it's still being talked as people that weren't even born then.

Yeah.

Watching The Wire and be like, yo, I saw that.

That's incredible.

I feel proud.

I brought a sense of pride.

I feel a little bit, though, if I'm really honest, like,

I didn't watch The Wire.

I've heard this that you didn't watch it.

I didn't watch it.

And I feel bad.

It's not that I'm not a fan of it.

I was there.

I made a show that was, you know, so intense and so real and so important.

And even though we didn't realize, I didn't realize the importance of the show while making it.

Yeah, rarely do we.

Right.

Yeah.

But

I didn't participate in its celebration as a viewer, as a fan.

And so I feel a little bit like...

Well, could you start celebrating it now?

No, man.

Why?

i mean you can't watch it now no i but i bet idris i bet you have i bet you have a feeling about it that might you might be kinder to yourself and it watching it now it's not that okay so why can't you watch that um

again like i felt the presence of it all my

you know, life since the wire, right?

Yeah.

In terms of its impact, in terms of what...

And I also was there making it.

So to me, it it was almost a bit like i was stringer bell i'm not stringer bell but yeah i also feel like when stringer bell no spoilers well look at this point okay let's get ready if you're listening spoiler stringer bell died

yikes

well they got to catch up it's been

but when uh stringer bell died there was a part of me And that died with that character.

And it's weird for me to go back and watch it.

I don't like being overly conscious of what my my performance is like or whatever, because it makes me conscious about doing it.

I like being in it rather than watching it.

I hear you.

That is, that makes me sad that you can't, you can't enjoy how good you are in The Wire.

You're so

good.

Idris.

Okay, I know I'm, okay, I'm going to turn it into like...

From my twin, I'm taking this.

Thank you.

Okay, because, okay, just a few questions, which is, Stringer Bells, can you just tell me for the super fans that are listening?

And again, if you haven't watched The Wire, skip through this part and how dare you.

But

that final scene when

you were killed by Omar and Brother Mazon, and you just have this moment where you have, it's a beautiful acting moment where you have to decide, where you have to realize that Avon has given you up.

Like, it's just your brother.

I mean, it's so Shakespearean, this entire show, but that relationship

specifically, and you have the tiniest moment that flashes across your face where you

you know you're resigned to the fact that not only are you going to die but you're going to die you know by the hands of someone who you really love and the acting with you and wood harris and that scene previously when you're on the rooftop and you're

is such

good acting and

and I just want to, I have no question here.

No, but I guess the last line of the show.

What was on the crofty table is what you wanted to know.

Yeah.

But I think about Stringer's last line because it's such a, it's such a testament to David Simon and the writers of that show.

The writing was so incredible.

When Stringer says, like, I guess there's nothing I can say to change your mind.

Get on with it.

Then,

you know, paraphrasing, but

it's his entire arc as a character.

He spent the entire show trying to convince

people to like that there's another way of doing things.

Can you just tell me about that scene and shooting it with rest in peace, Michael K.

Williams?

Yeah, man.

I mean, it was a really interesting time.

I mean, yes, testament to the writing, David Simon, and the poetry of

what

we're saying about beheading.

the man, the character that is offering a slightly different perspective on this chaotic town, chaotic situation for, you know, um,

the residents, the people of Baltimore, but also the

towns across America in this sort of, um, I would say, what's the word, you know, not culture, but that lifestyle that this is a perpetual thing that keeps going.

And then along comes a spider where he's like, hey, let's try something different.

Let's turn this into this and crawl out of this hole, but we kill that character.

That's why the wire is so good because the system

is the

machine.

Yeah.

People keep trying to get up out of the machine and the system keeps pushing them down.

But the system is also using puppets to do it to each other.

Right.

Right.

So the system isn't really prevalent.

It's the strings, no pun, are holding Brother Imuzone, who, you know, has his reasons.

You've got Omar who has his reasons.

But the system has made everyone blindfolded.

And Stringer was like, no, no, no, no, no, take them off.

I know.

Right.

I know.

Stringer had a plan.

And what, do you ever think about or did you guys ever talk about if Stringer stayed on, lived as a character, what he would go on to do?

Like.

Yeah, we did.

I mean, a lot, because Stringer is a real person who is still alive.

And Stringer went on to become a very successful businessman who, you know, will remain anonymous forever but successfully built a lot of businesses and um

you know crawled out of this the hole so in dramatic terms on the wire you know it wouldn't have made sense right for stringer to get out although in reality stringer did get out wow okay but that's not dramatic enough you know i mean that

that's not the story no and it was like a season three gut punch and it also i mean good shows do that is they sacrifice they sacrifice yeah and I was for it I I I had I've told the story I had reservations about how Stringer was dying.

Yeah, I mean, you know, that you know, there was various ways that David Simon wanted to depict that and I was a little bit against some of that, but the actual beheading of

Stringer was an important move.

Yeah, I think, you know, just to illustrate to the world that, hey, man, take the blinkers off.

You know what I'm saying?

And

yeah.

Okay, last question.

The character of Bodhi that played by JD and your like mentorship with him

is one of the many incredible relationships on that show.

Like that is a heartbreaker.

It's a heartbreaker what happens to Stringer, and it's eventually a heartbreaker what happens to JD's character, Bodhi.

What was it like working with him, like a young actor like that?

Amazing, man.

Like, you know, we, he was a, he's a fly dude.

Yeah.

And he was a fly dude.

He was the fly young kid on the set.

Him and Jip Michael B.

Jordan, actually.

Yeah.

yeah um and um you know

because he was a little bit younger than us you know what i mean he was like fresh and green and he would hang out with his big brothers and uh i remember one time he challenged me he was like yo man i could drink you under the table i'm like

jay leave it man he's like no i'll drink you under the table and literally i drunk him under the table like he sat under the table he was like no i can't i can't fuck with you no more like did you hear my accent like do you know where i'm from like drinking is

i'm from london man uh but um no but actually just in real life we had that real dynamic you know i'm saying like again he was a young he lived in um new jersey as well so we would travel up sometimes together on a train and whatnot

okay so mentoring is important to you like you've done it a lot now and

before we move on to um had to state the movie that comes out in prime thank you had to stay with the great john cena priyanka um uh but uh

you can you talk a little bit about the stuff you're doing with the King's Trust?

I love the work that you're doing there.

And that was an important thing to you when you were young.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, basically, I'm paying it forward, you know, like the King's Trust at the time, Prince's Trust, gave me an opportunity via a check and some resources.

What did you do?

You, how old, and what

was your scholarship?

14, 15 years old.

I auditioned to get into the National Theatre's youth program, which is called the National Youth Music Theater.

And they were doing a production of Guys and Dolls.

and I got in I my drama teacher encouraged me to go for it I went in I got the audition but I didn't realize you had to subsidize your your board because they flew around the world we were going to Japan we went to Greenland I mean we taking this production it was a semi-professional production but you had to pay for it my parents couldn't afford it and my drama teacher said hey you know the prince's trust i'm like sorry Are you talking about Prince Charles?

Well, you want me to audition for Prince Charles?

No, not for Prince Charles, but he has a trust where he helps young people.

And I was like, he's never going to help me.

Why would he?

I'm a kid from East London, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, I auditioned.

I got the gig and I got the money that he helped me with and the resources to help, you know, get me into this theater thing.

And ever since, you know, I mean, without a doubt, that really structured how I thought my sort of myself as an actor.

You know, it was a professional theater.

I was singing around the world and this was what I wanted to do.

Just at that point in my age, where I wasn't wasn't sure.

I like what made you think it like four what what was the thing did you were you watching movies and like what what made you know you wanted to be an actor it was two things really it was my teacher yeah miss mcphee her and coach I went to a boys school okay she was a lovely

blonde blue-eyed teacher interesting

see what's going on

but she was this really lovely nurturing figure in my life at the time at boys school where no one really took drama seriously.

Sometimes it just takes one teacher to change your life.

Real focus, and she was like, you can go for it.

It was mentorship, right?

And

also, there was an actor called Paul Barber who was in a film called The Full Monty.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And he's a black actor in that film.

And he came to this school just to sit amongst the boys and say, hey, what do you think about acting?

And we were like, aren't you the guy that takes your clothes off in the Full Monty?

But I was just like, gassed.

I was so moved by his storytelling and the fact that he came, he's famous, he's on TV, he came to our school to talk about acting.

So, those are the two real, like, if I can remember, junctions where I was like, okay, acting might be a thing, crystallization of that.

And ever since, you know, I realized that, you know, I can do it exactly the same.

It's an intervention moment of just a young person who isn't sure.

Yeah.

Having a conversation and being like, let's examine what you want to do.

I mean, sometimes it kind of scares me.

Well, not sometimes.

What is scary is that the slightest change changes the direction of your life,

especially around that age.

And the positive version of that is what you talk about, right?

Which is like, you see someone that you want to emulate and you just realize like, this is the way my life's going to be.

And then in the same way, like the tiniest bit of nudge the wrong way and you're off on a track and then you're that's so true.

It's, you know, in our generation, right, you know, human empathy, we got a lot of our sort of magic from TV.

And those are unilateral moments where we all sat watch the same shows whatever they were and those were our influences right all at the same time whether it's america europe we were all watching the same sort of thing the fons happy days you know whatever it was all right

now

And if

an uncle or an auntie spoke to you about what you want to do, you know, that conversation meant something because you weren't getting a phone.

You weren't staring at a phone, which has all these different influences.

Now,

young kids are influenced by so much.

They're just overstimulated.

And a lot of it is negative.

A lot of it's pitting themselves against things they'll never be able to afford or have.

This elevated sense of self where, you know, in our day, I think, I hate to say it, in our day.

Well, we're really feeling, we're really sounding really old right now.

No, if we're going to talk about phones, we're screwed.

Oh, we are.

I mean, my phone is my best friend.

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

I mean, I don't want to talk about my best friend like that.

I've got an AI voice that's my best friend.

Yeah, so

we're sucked in too.

Yeah, we are.

But the truth is, though,

we at least had the benefit of the monoculture.

We had human intervention that actually could have that ripple butterfly effect.

But the monoculture, different in the UK and the U.S.

and I'm constantly surprised by how

comedy, when we were growing up, we were not watching the same things.

Really?

There were some.

You weren't watching the funds.

Okay, I was watching Happy Days.

But there must have been, there must be American shows that you, comedy shows that you hear about that didn't make it over there.

Because I know when we were watching British comedy, it was like contraband.

Like it was given to us on VHS tapes.

Like Benny Hill?

Well, Benny Hill.

Oh, my God.

That was what we got.

We got Benny Hill non-stop, which is like, I guess, it was Monty Python, Benny Hill.

But there were like so many shows like

MASH.

Okay, I loved MASH.

You watched MASH?

Did you watch the Norman Lear shows like All in the the Family?

No.

See?

All in the Family.

Yeah, which was based off of the British show.

Yeah.

That famous British show.

Famous British show.

All in the Family.

Something.

I'll get it.

But there was like all these

famous, like the Jeffersons, Good Times.

Do you know them?

I know.

Later on in life.

They weren't.

Yeah.

Did you get Desmond?

No.

Desmonds?

I don't even know what Desmond's is.

Desmonds is the barbershop show, man.

It was a black show.

It was comedy.

It was like, I don't want to say the Cosby's, but it was a family that runs a barbershop.

It was hilarious.

Yeah.

So there were versions of each other's comedy at the time that we didn't know about each other, which I think is so interesting because we're so aligned, but there was something specific about UK and US comedy at the time in the 70s and 80s, where you like found out about people's stuff and it felt like you were seeing it for the first time.

I mean, I can remember like learning about, yeah, Steve Coogan, for example, and no one one knowing who he was or like um I remember coming to New York

New York City yeah in the early 90s

and speaking with my accent and black folk black people were saying to me wait what why are you speaking like that yo listen to this dude they didn't know no idea they didn't think that there were black British people yep

Wow, America continuing to really represent.

No, but to your point about monoculture, like our shows you know our culture did not you know abc was not picking up desmonds you know what i'm saying it wasn't we did not know we we we had really flat versions of each other it felt like like americans were like you know confident and loud and taking up too much space and the brits were reserved and polite autistic secretly better than us i mean and i do think that the accent gets you the accent gets you

people think people with british accents are very smart this is this is a this is true actually you're right we somehow give a sense of that the way we speak is makes us more intelligent you're right i've dined off this for a long time i would too i'm not that smart i was gonna say that growing up is realizing that british people are not any smarter than you whoa whoa whoa that's that what i what that's what how do we get there

you're right you're right facing the children because it's so hard to get sucked in.

But you have to, I want to talk about your comedy,

like what you were watching as a young person and getting into comedy because you've done quite a bit of comedy and

you're doing more of it now, which I think is so cool.

But for a second about accents, you have had to do a lot of accents, a lot of different accents, where you're playing Nelson Mandela or you're...

playing like, you know,

an African warlord and you're playing all, and you do them really well.

Is there one that you can't do?

American.

That is not true

your american accent is

no one knew you were british

when we watched the wire no one idris this is you know what it is the truth is when i was doing the wire that i was not british i was like yeah uh living in brooklyn then new jersey and in the depths of new jersey near newark and At that junction, you know, I'd live in America for four or five years.

Like my accent shifted.

Yeah.

And Alexa Fogel, the casting director of The Wire, she was like, by the the way, don't come in here with that British accent.

Now I see why you don't watch it.

Now I get it.

Yeah, I get it.

You don't watch The Wire because you're thinking about your accent.

Of course.

But also.

I'm here to tell you.

It's, and I

have a thing about Brits and their accents.

You do?

Yes.

Okay.

Because

they win a lot of awards.

And their accents are like, let me tell you something, sir.

Like they, you're like, it's like, no, you don't.

Everyone knows.

And it's like, you are.

Well, I like how you say HBO.

you've said HBO I've said that yeah HBO HBO that's good thank you I haven't done any sort of regional English

or

English accents like

you know Wells

or you know Liverpudlian or any of those I'd love to yeah, but boy if I get them wrong Let's try it right now.

No

I'll go you go first okay Liverpudlian I'm gonna think about Paul McCartney.

Just think about the Beatles.

Right?

That's all you need to do.

Okay.

Liverpool.

Liverpool.

Liverpool.

Hey, hey, lad, what's going on?

No, oh, my days.

See, you're too hard on yourself.

No, because I'm going to get memed.

I'm asking you to do it.

Anyone listening, no one's going to meme you.

Okay, do Welsh.

Can you do Welsh?

Tom, Tom, Tom.

Okay.

Tom Jones.

Oh, oh, yeah.

Hi.

Well, I'm Welsh.

Okay.

Hello, Boyo.

Hey, Boyo from Wales.

Hey, Boyo.

That is so.

I can't go back to Wales now.

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Okay, so talk about comedy, your relationship to it, because I think people

think you're very serious.

And I've learned that you're not.

So I bet people assume you're mad, you're serious, you're tough.

I'm an actor.

Yeah, and they come up to you and they and they take you, and you probably are like, I like to have fun like everybody.

I'm a little goofy.

I'm very goofy.

You are.

You're a goofball.

Yeah, a little bit.

But, you know, I like...

playing dramatic roles.

I do.

I just also, when it comes to comedy, most of the comedy comedy i've done has been the straight guy that isn't meant to be funny

so when i did the office yeah tell us about that uh how'd you get that job i mean i got that job because i think john kaczynski was a big wire fan he was like we need that guy we need that guy uh paul fig yes paul fig great director great director he um

uh but it was a part of that casting process for me And, you know, it was described as this guy who's a bit like a string of bells, real serious as a businessman.

But, you know, you don't laugh at anyone, you don't suffer fools, and da-da-da-da.

And I was like, okay, but first of all, the UK office.

Incredible.

Oh.

The biggest fan.

Better than the American Office?

No.

What?

Different.

Not better.

But in many ways,

I've talked about this with Mike Scherr, who created Parks and Rec and who went on to, who started working on the American Office and did Parks and Rec and many other shows.

And I remember when he was going to do the American Office, I I thought, this is a terrible idea.

Like, because the British Office was so

good.

It was a complete specific POV.

And we thought, no way.

But then we heard that Steve Corell was hired.

And I knew Corell from Chicago.

And I was like, he's funny.

He's really good.

And suddenly it was like, oh, this is just going to be a different version.

So I would say I can't.

I can't compare the two, but I do have a special place in my heart for the British version because it was the first one I saw.

Me Me too.

And the cringe humor.

This is what is cringe humor.

And I think the Brits do cringe humor better, not better, but do it well because we're so repressed.

Totally.

Anything that's like embarrassing, we're like, oh my days.

And in America, where it's larger personalities.

America's embarrassing.

Well,

again, no.

America's embarrassing.

There, I said it.

No, no.

What I mean is that Americans are okay with big personalities coming in.

That's that's part of the comedy

fabric.

However, I really loved working on the office because I did get to be in a comedy, right?

And

the guys working on the show basically tried to make me laugh all the time.

And the joke was that you're not going to get me.

And the more silly they got, the more I stayed straight.

And that became the comedy.

It was amazing.

It was a lot of fun.

So you're good at keeping a straight face.

No,

I'm a proper girl.

I want to be in the stupid side.

I want to be doing stupid shit.

But the gig was that I

stayed really serious.

Even just knowing that very serious.

It was a lot of fun.

It was amazing.

It was amazing.

And then since then, some of the comedy stuff I've done is really playing the straight guy.

Yeah.

In heads of stage.

Yeah.

You get to, you get to get in there.

Yeah.

But we're still playing on the trope of repressed British.

Prime Minister.

Right.

Doesn't like this big American personality and we're still playing with that.

So, but yeah.

But but but like, do you want to do more comedic stuff?

Do you like it?

Isn't it fun?

It is fun.

Because I got to say, like, your job, a lot of the stuff you do, it combines a lot of things I don't want to do.

Running,

shooting nights.

Like,

yes.

So many night shoots on the wire.

Like, I watched and I was like, oh, crying.

Crying,

like, jumping.

But you've said that you like all this action stuff.

You like doing stunts?

I do.

I do.

What do you like about it?

It's a choreography, it's a dance.

You know, I love learning a new fight and I like, I'm always convinced that I can make it look realer.

Yeah.

So, you know, you see someone that's like kicking butt, but I want to make it look a little bit more real.

I love it, though.

I love the,

you know, the technicalities of it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I like fighting.

Do you, well, I mean, I like to fight.

That's painly it.

I mean, I mean, I think about like,

I do, I do sometimes have fantasies about doing an action film that requires very little talking.

Because that's the one thing I like about action films.

It's like your day is just walking.

Like the born identity.

Like a shooting day is just him walking from one train station to the other.

That's a dialogue.

Wearing a leather jacket.

What a dream.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So in this movie, you're working with John Cena, the great John Cena.

The great John Cena.

Tell me about, you and John worked together first in Suicide Squad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How do you guys get along?

What do you think about John?

You You know, I think everyone had a bit of a crush on John Cena, right?

The wrestler.

You know, he's like this big personality, cool, big wrestling type.

And then, you know, I watched him transition into acting and thought, wow, like, yeah, you know, the wrestlers tend to be great at performance regardless.

So they end up transitioning into acting in really cool ways.

Yeah.

And I felt John was one of those transitions that did really good.

Yeah.

I liked him.

Then when I got to work with him in Suicide Squad, I mean, first of all, when you ever met John Cena, I did.

He was in a movie that me and Tina Faye were in called Sisters, and we spent like a couple weeks together.

He's a Renaissance man.

Dude.

He loves wine and art.

Classical piano.

Yeah, he's a very sweet, like artistic, tender guy.

I find him to be very emotional and sweet.

I agree.

And it turns out that, you know, when I met him, I thought he was going to be this goofy big character.

And he's like, hey, Idris, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

I'm a really big fan of your work.

And I'm like,

what's going on?

Reacting.

I'm more goofy than John is.

You did the thing that happens to you where people are like, Idris is very serious.

You were like, John is so funny.

And John was like, I'm kind of serious.

Yeah, he's very serious.

And you were like, I'm a goofball.

Yeah.

When I first, when I walked into his trailer one time, we were going to just run some lines.

And then I was like, oh,

there's a grand piano in here.

Why is that?

He's like, oh, yeah, I'm teaching myself to learn classical piano.

Anyway, so about these lines.

I'm looking at him like, what, what, now first of all he has fingers the size of like you know it's like one of john's fingers like you know so playing the piano yeah i was like anyway i was fascinated giant finger but he's a really

lovely guy um i think he and i knew that you know working together we could play into the dynamic of you know i'm I'm not naturally comically funny, but I can play against someone that is really trying to, you know, is really funny.

What is naturally comically funny?

I mean, like, it's kind of, but, but it's an interesting, you bring up something very interesting, which is like, I think sometimes people don't realize that playing the scene is like pretty much the same if you're doing a comedy or a drama.

Like, you just got to play it real.

Yeah, that's true.

Have you hosted SNL?

Yes.

And how was that experience?

It was a classic.

Everyone talks about it.

Yeah, sorry.

Who was the musical guest?

Khaled.

Oh, yeah.

Khaled, yes.

What year was that?

Sorry.

What year was that?

It was the year that I did that very famous film I I was promoting.

Yes.

What year is that?

Because we'll never be able to find out.

I have a laptop here.

We can never find it out.

What year did Idris host?

Can we find out?

And what is the name of the British show that All in the Family was based on?

You're going to come back.

Jenna, please tell me.

Okay.

That's what happens.

You can't let things go.

I know.

Forget it.

I know.

Memory is.

It's done.

Because we have too much stuff to think about.

This is true.

The storage is full.

Sometimes I like to think about dragging files in my brain to trash.

Like, I'm not going to need to know that anymore.

I don't know.

Wow.

Because I mean, I'm not going to be able to do that.

Dragging files.

Dragging it to trash

to make some room.

Don't you feel like all the lines you had to learn as an actor?

Like, sometimes I'm like, it just has taken up too much space in my head.

No, I don't.

No.

No, that's not.

Are you good at learning lines?

I'm good at learning the sense of things and then the lines will follow.

Yeah.

I hate when like it's like, okay you have to go to this address at five o'clock to pick up that person i'm like what

but if if i understand that you and i having a debate about something i'll remember the lines based on that yeah yeah yeah but snl which was what year classic

to what not that far not that long ago

so in 2019 when you hosted snl yes what was that like was it fun doing it like man you had good you had a good time i had a most amazing time it was really hard work but i had the most amazing time and I was with comedy giants, you know?

But see, SNL growing up was not big in the UK when you were growing up, right?

That's right.

It's really true.

It's really true.

And now I think they're starting one over there.

Yes.

Yeah, I'm trying to be a main

character.

Yeah.

Is that weird?

You know.

No, just go in there and say, you know what?

If you showed up and said I'm in the cast, everyone would be like, okay, I see who he is.

Doing it.

And they'll see how goofy I am, how the writer's sessions, how really funny I am, come up with the wackiest shit.

Well, that was always the toughest thing, Idris, is when a host would come in and be like, I'm really funny.

And he'd be like, okay.

I did.

And I'd be like, okay.

They'd be like,

I know I'm usually pretty serious, but I love to do characters.

And I was like, dude, let me tell you.

I was that guy.

I remember the first writing meeting, I walked in and everyone was like, hey, Idris, man, what you love you, man?

What's going on?

Drinking that covered.

So what time is it?

is, you guys, what are you into?

What are you thinking?

They're, you know, soft and hanging.

They're like, okay, what do you do?

What do you want to do?

I was like, yo, man, I got this idea about these football presenters.

And they're like,

you mean football as in

what kind of football?

I'm losing.

Yeah, man.

But they were kind.

Yeah, they were like, Idris, thank you so much for your ideas.

You know what?

There's so much here to work with.

We're going to

regret it.

We're going to come back.

You take a break.

Yeah, you know what?

Do less.

They were like, you know what?

take a break this week have fun i had a great meeting with pete though and his office walked in

what's up

man what you want yo i love that bit that you was talking about man i love football

it was uh actually a really good week

people don't know that you walk around from office to office and you just kind of go into everybody's office yes and um you're just like meeting it's like speed dating or something and you're just like getting people's ideas and i'm sure you got pitched a lot of like,

I have an idea where you're a guy who,

you know,

you're a bouncer and you throw people out of a club.

Okay, I have another idea where you're a boxer and you beat me up.

I have another idea.

I bet you got a lot of like.

I got a lot of, what do we do?

Like a James Bond.

Yeah, that was a James Bond.

I'm really trying to stay away from that.

Like, come on, man, it's James Bond.

No, I want to stay away from that.

You're like, I just want to play gig.

I just want to play like little giggly characters who are real goofballs.

I want to be really really unrecognizable.

And everyone's like, oh, fucking hell.

This guy doesn't want to do his, he doesn't want to pitch his fastball.

I want to do some stringer bell shit, you know, where you're like stringer bell in the hood.

But before we wrap it up, I want to talk a little bit about your relationship to music because

I feel like we've been talking a little bit about it today, but you know, like.

There's this musicality to the stuff that you do, and it's obviously influenced by your actual love of music.

You talk about it a lot, how it,

you know, talk about acting coming at a certain time.

Like music came to you at a young point in your life.

When did you start, like,

what

speak to how important music is to you and when you, especially when you were a young person and growing up in East London?

Yeah, I mean, definitely music was my first love.

First, first love.

My dad, I have this record, a picture of me holding a Marvin Gaye album.

I'm four years old and I'm about to put it on the turntable that was like my earliest memory of music and listening and being able to put the record on

by the time I was like 14 I was convinced I wanted to be a radio host that was what I wanted to do I wanted to talk on the radio and play music and at the same time I was getting introduced to acting and what and the first show I did was a musical I was singing all right I wasn't musical I didn't play learn to play the guitar I could play the drums but I could I wasn't really a musical guy guy in the sense of you know making music okay i just loved music and at the same time i was doing uh acting i became a radio host on pirate radio and i was on pirate radio around 15 16 years old shouldn't say that but yeah

and um it was the 80s nobody cared we were all working we had jobs at 12.

you could go to jail though back in the day for being on pirate radio

oh yeah man the mean streets

that'd be pretty funny if they were like what are you in jail for and you're like being on the the radio.

And everyone's like, oh,

drive time, six to eight.

What?

Yeah, they got me.

They got me on drive time.

Hard times, but no, you could go to jail for pirate radio.

And, but the truth is, you know, I think the music,

because I really leaned into play music and then I started buying equipment, drum machines.

This is the 80s.

This is where the drum machines were growing and that electronic sound.

You know, music and acting was like doing this at the same time.

so music became my sort of

uh

my guilty pleasure yeah yeah

and like for just for you just for me yeah yeah and and when i would dj i would love it i i you know actually coming to new york because the vinyl shops that's when i started to really come to new york late 80s early 90s all the time you talk about the spirituality of house music like house music is really important to you yeah yeah really like it's that what is it about it that hooks you and what do you think it how does it hook people?

It's

the mono moment, that mono moment, that, you know,

everyone feeling that new instrument come in.

It's a bit like being at church.

I don't know if you're religious or I'm not, but that spiritual vibe of adding layers of a mono moment that everyone can join into is like magic.

When I'm on the DJ, when I, you know, I just.

played Coachella with Cascade, who shout out to Cascade is a amazing DJ.

I think we have 15,000 people.

Wow.

And we're doing it back to back.

And it's a spiritual moment to have that many people going, let's go.

I mean, it's just.

And how do you stay up so late?

Yes.

Because you have to stay up so late.

Yes.

Yes.

That's what DJs do.

I know.

It's such a nighttime magnet.

Oh, come on, Amy.

You got to come out with me one time, man.

I mean, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m.

and wake up at 4 a.m.

and meet you out.

Like, there's no way I could get to the other side at 4 a.m.

Have you been to Ibiza?

No.

That is seems.

Okay, life begins at 50.

All right.

Okay, first of all, I would only want to go with someone who knew Ibiza well.

But I'm already stressed thinking about how late I would have to stay up.

Like I'm already, even thinking about it, I would have to take the longest power nap.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's incredible.

Do you think that whole power nap thing really works?

No, I can barely nap.

I mean, truly, I would have to go to bed at 7 p.m.

p.m and then be like i'll see you at the club at four

but it is it but i mean i've i've i love to dance i love music but i just i can't do the i can't do the hours it's not easy to be an actor and a dj like it is not no

i think there's a cell there's a energy cell that gets awakened with the the naughtiness yeah you know

abiza yeah sound abiza sounds very

sounds very

stretchful

Ibiza sounds very stressful.

No, you'd love it.

Trust me.

You know, flip-flop, sunshine all day.

You can have an ice bucket thing.

An ice bucket thing?

Why do I?

No, you know, like the plunging thing.

Oh, yeah.

You know what?

If I could plunge, if I could cold plunge in a Biza, I would be.

You can do anything in Abiza.

Believe me.

Ibiza.

That's what stresses me out, Andreas.

Okay, so we're going to finish with two questions because we always start our

podcast with asking somebody to speak about our guest.

I always talk to somebody who knows our guest to give me a question, ask them.

And so we talked to John Cena before this.

Yeah,

and we just talked, we just Zoomed with him.

And he wanted me to ask you, and it's such a John question, I think, and it's so indicative of what you talk about.

Like both of you have such an incredible work ethic.

You really,

you know, you work hard.

You're very professional.

Both of you are

like, for lack of a better term, like going for it.

You really have a

lust for life and learning, like you said.

And his question was kind of like, basically, you work really hard.

What motivates you?

It's such a, it's such a

straight male question.

What motivates you?

Okay.

I mean, look, I don't want to, you know, end on a low note, right?

Okay.

I became,

you know, successful around the age of 35 years old.

Okay.

and up until that point you know life wasn't always great there were some very tough times you know I've spoken publicly about some of the times I've gone through

both my parents you know working class didn't have much at all all right so I've been you know reasonably I would say poor just reasonably you know

living a life that is very opposed to where I'm living for longer than I have been famous or successful.

And there's part of it which is like, I don't want to let this go.

So I'll just keep chopping for it.

But the second thing is really and truly is that I used to work nights on the night shift at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, East London.

Okay.

That is grim.

It's a grim job.

All right.

Nothing compares to doing that.

So when I get an opportunity to come and work with you, to come and work on a set, it doesn't even feel like work.

Yeah.

Now, to everyone else, it's like, you guys are working really hard, but actually.

Yeah, it's not that hard.

it's not that hard i mean it's not it's you know

compared to real real hard no exactly it's not

we i agree and obviously we get to do very different things you know in a job like that i did the same thing every night

every night yeah for two straight years my dad did the same job for 25 years yeah so i consider this a privilege yeah

yeah so what motivates you is a is gratitude basically yeah yeah yeah yeah and what is making you laugh these days how do you go what do you watch, read,

you know, listen to that, like, like, where do you, where are you finding your comedy?

What do you think?

The studio was

really funny to me.

It was so good.

Self-reverential, but I loved it.

I thought it was really good writing.

I'm laughing at myself letting go of some of my tough man shit and being a bit goofy.

I actually enjoy when people go, what?

Yeah.

I enjoy doing that.

I've seen you do, like, you're doing some really, like, I have a really fun TikTok idea I want us to do later.

Oh, wow.

I have to talk to your team about it.

No, seriously?

No, yeah, I do.

And listeners, if you don't know this as we wrap up,

but Idris and I are wearing the exact same thing right now.

We're wearing,

how would you describe this colour?

Petro Blue.

Yep.

I was thinking, you know,

do you watch football, soccer?

Ish.

Ish, right?

At the end of a really great game, there's a tradition where the greatest players against each other.

Okay, let's trade shirts.

We're going to trade shit.

Let's do it, buddy.

Okay, this is exciting.

This is exciting.

And I have a feeling this is going to.

This is not going to fit.

No, I guess.

Let's see how far you can get into my trade.

Technically, you don't have to wear it because usually it's full of sweatshirts.

By the way, the shirt smells great.

Listeners, if you wanted to know, the shirt smells great.

Oh, wow.

Okay, hold on a minute.

Oh, I like this look.

You're just trying to get one sleeve and just one sleeve

tiny jacket but tiny jackets are funny

tiny jackets are so funny look we did it we traded okay this is funny

good comedy where like yes but i don't love

all right okay very straight

yeah play very straight where you're we're in some kind of shrinking machine or you know what it is it's a body switch comedy is really what it is okay we should be in a go go away buddy let's go

Idris uh

show

the why

well um

I enjoyed uh working for HD because you know

I watched it nine times well I don't watch it I and I have to say stringer when he did that scene I'm just gonna show you

oh my god okay sign us up we're ready we're ready I love this.

Thank you so much for this time together.

Good time together.

This was so good.

My jacket is completely ripped.

Literally, it can't even get it over his wrist.

Can't get it over his wrist.

It's because I'm tall.

He's just, his, his, his.

I already can't get it out.

Okay.

I'm going to hear from my lawyer because a very expensive jacket.

Thank you.

That was so fun.

Thank you so much for doing this.

I really, really appreciate it.

And congrats on your movie.

Thank you.

Okay, today's Polar Plunge is brought to you by Wayfair, here to help you make your home your happy place.

So that was a great interview.

Idris is so much fun.

I hope I wasn't too much of a wire geek when I was interviewing him, but I could have asked a million more questions and made the entire episode about that, but I tried to restrain myself.

But we did talk about a lot of other things and we talked about British comedies.

And so I thought I could use this polar plunge

to talk about shows that maybe you didn't know about that you should try to find somewhere on your TV or your phone.

Brass Eye, The Day Today, Alan Partridge, Look Around You, French and Saunders.

We also

realized that the show that All in the Family was

based on was Till Death Do Us Part.

It took us the entire episode to get it.

And it's because we're in our 50s.

So,

but yeah, there's a lot of British comedy.

Oh, and Desmonds.

I'm going to check out Desmonds now that Idris has brought it to my attention.

So

a lot of good comedy in the UK, especially in the 80s and 90s that didn't always come over here.

So check it out.

But you know what you really should check out is Wayfair because it makes you turn your home into a happy place.

Express your style.

Create a space you love.

Cozy sofas, smart essentials, free shipping, easy setup.

Head over to Wayfair.com, find something that's just your style today.

That's w-a-y-f-a-i-r.com.

Wayfair, every style, every home.

Okay, thanks for listening.

Bye.

You've been listening to Good Hang.

The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler.

The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite.

For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Aalaya Zanaires.

For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Burman.

Original music by Amy Miles.

All I ever wanted was a really good hate.