EP.226 - SAM CAMPBELL

Hey, how you doing podcasts?

Adam Buxton here.

I am reporting to you from the usual Norfolk farm track, although it's a different part of it.

And as you might be able to hear, I'm not outside, I'm sat in the car.

And it is chucking it down.

But I'm here with my best dog friend, Rosie.

Say hi, Rosie.

Hi, thank you.

I mean, she's here curled up on the passenger seat next to me.

And the reason for that is that recently she's been very reluctant to come out for walks.

What happens is that we go out, I put the harness on her and then we get to the same stretch of track fairly early on in the walk where I usually do my intros on the podcast.

And she just freezes and refuses to go any further.

And she starts shaking and it's like she's seen a ghost.

My best guess is that she's worried about the noise of shooting.

There's been some shooting around here, you know, people hunting pheasants or whatever the hell they're doing.

And occasionally there's bangs from some of the fields or they scare the birds with these noises and stuff.

She's not great for rows.

She doesn't like it.

And I think that's the reason she's been so reluctant to come for a walk.

So I thought if we drove beyond the point where she usually gets freaked out, maybe it might be okay and we could start our our walk from out here in the field.

But as soon as I arrived, a huge storm cloud moved overhead, and now it's like something out of Twister.

Oh, thank you.

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 Ad Buxton.

I'm a man.

I want you to enjoy this.

That's the plan.

Well, that didn't work.

It's too disgusting out there

for man or beast to go walking.

Rosie got a bit of chicken out of it, so she's happy, I think.

In the meantime, how are you doing, podcasts?

Welcome to the first car intro that I have done on the podcast, I think.

And this is podcast number 226, and it features a truly rambling conversation with Australian comedian, actor, and writer Sam Campbell.

This one was recorded face to face as we walked around on a beautiful summery evening.

So it's a contrast.

Rather than being out and about in my intro in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, this time I'm in a car, but the bulk of the conversation you're about to listen to was recorded on a lovely summery evening at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk back in late July of this year, 2024.

Intercut with the bits of me and Sam wandering around the festival outdoors are a few clips from a chat that we had the following day on stage in front of a small audience in the listening post tent at Latitude.

Up until a few days beforehand, I had been expecting to interview comedian Jo Brand.

She was due to headline that weekend at latitude, but sadly had to pull out due to ill health, which I was very sorry to hear.

I really hope she's doing better and I look forward to recording a conversation with her another time.

She's been on my wish list for ages.

Anyway, sending you all the best, Joe.

But luckily for me, that weekend at Latitude, Sam Campbell was also on the bill and very kindly agreed to step in as my guest at the last minute.

I'd met Sam briefly once before and we'd been trying to pin down a time to record a podcast together for a while.

So this ended up being a nice opportunity to have a good old waffle.

I'd seen enough of Sam's stuff to know that I liked where he was coming from, but not a huge amount.

I would have watched more if I'd known that I was going to be talking to him.

Since then, I've watched a lot.

I love it.

So anyway, what you're going to hear is essentially me and Sam getting to know each other a little bit more, feeling each other out, getting used to each other's conversational rhythms, and having a fun, quite stupid but occasionally very deep conversation.

Quite, well, maybe not very deep.

I don't think you need to know too much going into this.

Sam is a very funny man.

He is already a well-known face in the Australian comedy world and has been living over in the UK for a few years now, where in addition to his live work, he has popped up in TV shows like Bloods, Stathlets Flats, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and of course, he also put in a memorable performance on Taskmaster.

That was the year after he won the main comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022.

I saw his stand-up set on the Saturday afternoon at Latitude.

It was the funniest thing I had seen in years.

So let's get to our conversation, which begins with Sam joining me on stage at the Listening Post tent for our live podcast show, for which I had done some bits about AI at the top before I got Sam on, and later we also did a short play entirely generated by Chat GPT, as you will hear.

And there's also a little jingle after that that is also the work of AI.

Maybe it's a little more successful than the play.

I don't know, you be the judge.

You'll also hear a brief appearance from my eldest son, Frank.

He helped me out on stage with a jingle halfway through the podcast, but the bulk of the conversation you will hear is me and Sam wandering around, mainly in the forest area of latitude.

If you've been there before, you will know where I'm talking about and down by the lake.

Anywhere, the sound of music drifting from the stages wasn't too extreme, basically.

I had a great time getting to know Sam, and I hope you will too.

Back at the end for a bit more waffle, maybe outside if the weather calms down.

But right now, with Sam Campbell, here we go.

Campbell Chad, let's have a Campbell chat.

We'll focus first on this, then concentrate on that.

Come on, let's do the mat and have a Campbell chat.

Put on your conversation coat, then find your talking hat.

La la

la la la la la

la

la

la la.

La

la

la la la la la la la la la la

All right, so without further ado, let's chat AI and all sorts of other things with my guest this afternoon.

And I'm so grateful that he has agreed to come along and be my guest at such short notice.

Please welcome the wonderful Australian comedic genius that is Sam Campbell.

Sam chose that intro music himself.

The big box.

Why do you like that as intro music?

Do you think it makes you appear more impressive?

Yeah, absolutely.

And also, it sort of lets people know that I'm not really someone that can be messed with.

Oh, yeah, okay.

Do you think that you don't get enough respect?

Absolutely not.

No way.

From who, your peers or just people in the street?

The industry.

I want to go on the wheel.

No.

Which shows would you do?

Would you do anything?

Would you do strictly?

Here's my solution to this strictly stuff.

Get rid of these pros.

They're just no good.

Let's have two amateurs trying to figure it out.

Do you spend time worrying about artificial intelligence?

I think you said do you spend time dancing during the American smooth?

What is the question?

Do you

do you worry

with Anton de Beck?

It's so nerve-wracking when they go to judge what you've done.

You're like, we've worked so hard on it.

And then to get a four or anything lower than a five would just be devastating.

What about this?

No pros at all.

Even the judges are amateurs.

The judges are worse than you.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Yeah.

If you had to dance right now, what would you do?

If I made you dance, what would be the move?

And you're asking me that, but I don't actually have to do it.

Well, in theory, yes.

So I'm just sort of describing what I do.

Yes.

I'd like to, I guess, be in some sort of basket.

You'd play something on the pipe, and I'd slowly

in a basket.

I like these, yeah.

I like, I'd like to be summoned.

I like that, whatever that style of dancing is.

Oh, yes.

What's that, sorry?

Snake charming.

Snake charming.

Yes, but what's they're not charming?

They're actually very dangerous.

See me fuck up that heckler?

They're not so.

Oh, wow.

I don't think.

Does a person who's trying to help you?

I fucking destroyed that guy.

Fucking hell, he's going to wish he never came into this tent.

I fucking dunked on that fucking poor fool.

Look at him.

He's not even there.

He's a puddle.

He's a puddle.

I drink him.

So good on you, mate.

How do you feel about people doing Australian accents with you?

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is that your sort of asking if you can do one?

Do you want to do one?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Go crazy.

Yes?

No, that's New Zealand.

Oh, my.

You've got to ask for permission these days, though, don't you?

I think it's still...

There are some people for whom I wouldn't even ask permission to do the accent because I think that it would be understood that the answer would be no.

It's not okay.

But with an Australian, I feel as if it's all right to ask and then do it.

So I'm going to talk like this for the rest of the podcast.

Is that okay?

There's actually a good phrase, like sort of a sentence, if you want to do a good Australian.

Yeah, go on.

Teach me.

Stop mocking our culture.

I'll find that one.

Stop mocking our culture, Gobber.

Mate, stop mocking our culture.

Like that.

Listen, all this is, all this is, is me trying to reassert myself after yesterday.

We wandered around the site recording some waffle.

And at one point, Sam rounded on the hat that I was wearing.

It wasn't this one.

It was a different hat.

I like your hat.

Your hat has no brim.

No, it's

a Docker cap.

Yeah.

I was trying it on as a new look because I always used to wear a hat with a brim.

And at a certain point, I just thought, got things have got to change.

So, I'm trying this.

Do you genuinely like it, or are you a bit worried about it?

I was shocked when I saw you wearing it.

Yeah, were you?

Because I've only seen like sort of um

yeah, I was just shocked.

Did you think I looked like a stevedore?

What's that?

Like a docker.

Oh.

Something to be down in the docks.

Yeah.

A rufty-tufty man.

Yeah.

What did you think?

I don't know.

I just, I've seen them.

I've seen them around, but on different kinds of guys.

This doesn't sound good.

I've seen them on.

Like, yeah.

I don't know.

I think it's cool.

What kinds of guys?

I was just shocked.

I was just shocked when I saw you wearing it.

What kinds of guys?

Yeah.

I wasn't like scandalized.

Met a guy called Andre, who used to work at the cafe called Piccolo in Seven Sisters.

He used to wear one.

It's very trendy.

Was he nice, Andre?

Yeah, he was really nice.

I'm not getting positive vibes from your reaction.

It just sort of shocked me.

It's like if I.

Yeah, it's just something that I've seen, but I wouldn't combine with you.

Okay.

For me, but I just...

Yeah.

I'm wondering where the best place for us to go is, because at the moment it's like barely.

I think there's places like chill-out zones or people who are like

taking too much MD or so.

Yeah, and so we can go there.

Yes, we need to find somewhere for drug casualties.

Yeah, sort of a

Zen

area.

Exactly.

Whereabouts in Australia did you grow up?

Hey, that's a little personal.

Sorry.

No, I'm from Queensland originally, up north.

What's Queensland like?

Yeah, it's great.

Yeah.

It's

people are a little bit self-conscious there.

Like the slogan used to be

the sunshine state.

But then everyone would call Queenslanders stupid, so they changed it to the smart state.

Is that true?

Yeah.

What kind of household did you grow up in?

What did your parents do?

Oh.

My dad is a horticulturist

and my mum is a teacher.

Good one.

What does she teach?

A chalky.

A chalky.

Discipline.

No,

she taught year three mainly.

She was actually my teacher one year.

Really?

Yeah.

How does that work?

Was it not difficult to have your mum as your teacher?

Or was she a popular, well-liked teacher?

Yeah, I just felt very lucky.

Okay, good.

To see the most beautiful woman in the whole world in the classroom and out.

Yeah.

No, she was harder on me than the other kids.

Right.

And she once took me to a storeroom to hit me, and a supply teacher came in and she said, it's all right, he's my son.

But yeah.

I'm not laughing at the idea of you being beaten.

Oh, yeah, no, no.

I don't think that's okay.

Yeah, yeah.

I was just getting smacked.

I think people always talk about hitting kids that it's wrong, of course, but there are different types of smack.

That's the thing, isn't it?

It's a nuanced area.

Yeah.

Although

in a way, it's not a nuanced area anymore because it's illegal.

Who is that?

Wow.

Who's that, geese?

That's from Brighton.

Yeah, yeah.

Presuming Ed, the crew.

Those guys run Presuming Ed in Brighton.

What's Presuming Ed?

It's like a cool...

I think it's a bar, but I use it as a cafe.

Oh, do you live in Brighton?

Yeah, I'm about to move, though.

Okay, where will you move?

To London.

Right.

Why would you want to move to London?

I need to be there for

just the trains

are a bit nutty, you know?

Yes.

Well, that's Southern Rail, isn't it?

That's they're the worst, I think.

Well, the other day, this guy was like, four hours to get back to.

This is ridiculous.

I thought this new government was going to do something.

Yeah.

But it was two days after the election.

Well, give him a chance, mate.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, hopefully,

this is the first time you've looked me in the eyes.

No, I don't think so.

Are you up for sitting down over here?

Yeah,

absolutely.

I was pausing a little bit.

Listeners, Adam is trying to feed me a Turkish gelat.

Was it weird?

Because we were just wandering around the site and it was very loud and I hadn't met Sam before.

I met you once very briefly, so we were getting to know each other as we were waffling.

Was it weird?

I feel like we didn't make eye contact for maybe the first 30 minutes.

But as soon as we locked eyes and I saw those sultanas, I felt good.

The sultanas.

Did you see the synchronized swimming in the lake?

No.

Who was doing that?

Some old ladies.

It was pretty cool.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Why didn't you join them?

I got in trouble for trying to feed them bread.

So

why did you move to the UK and when?

Sort of an accident, I guess.

I was coming over more and more.

I went to do the Edinburgh Festival

in 2016 and then I...

It didn't go great, but I returned in 2018.

It went a little bit better.

And then I started like, you know, you just make videos.

a lot of people here making videos, you just meet people, and so I'd spend a little bit more time each year.

And then during COVID, I got a job working on a sitcom called Bloods about paramedics.

Oh, yeah.

Julian Barrett was in that, wasn't he?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you get to know Julian?

I saw him recently, yeah.

He was getting into a car and he quickly got all this sort of rubbish out of the car and just left it on the side of the street.

And some of it was like sort of artwork that his kids had done.

Okay.

He said, do you want this?

And then he drove away.

Well, yeah, he drove off.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's amazing to me.

Yeah, I love him.

Yeah.

When did you start performing stand-up in Australia?

I wouldn't tell that to my closest friend.

That's so private.

No, no, no, no, no.

In 20,

maybe 2010, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I was 18 years of age.

Yeah.

And what inspired you to begin?

What was the thing that finally made you step up onto the stage?

I think I've just been watching it a bit.

Yeah, you just watch stuff on TV.

What if YouTube?

Yeah, I'll be watching the stuff on YouTube.

Who are you watching?

Oh my goodness.

I love Todd Barry and I would listen to him and

I guess all sorts of things.

But Australian comedians, you love, I love Carl Barron, of course.

Do you know him?

No, I don't.

Yeah, he's huge.

He's the mammoth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What's he like?

He's from Longreach and he used to work as a roof tiler.

Yeah.

And

he's observational.

Yeah.

He's just amazing.

He's so confident.

And what were you doing?

Like, what were the early things you were doing on stage?

I was pretty feral, I guess.

And so I go.

So I'd just talk about

I'd had stuff about the bus driver's knees and stuff like that.

Yeah, lots of short jokes and experimenting a lot.

I'll take my shirt off and I had Illuminati symbols drawn all over my body.

And

my friend and I had a cardboard robot that had you know it was like which we were so we loved Kasparov and Deep Blue and we talk about that all the time so we had a robot that could beat someone at paper scissors rock so they would do theirs and then it would slowly print out

you know

yeah

Okay, I've written down some questions for you.

Oh shit.

About performing live.

What have you learned about performing live over the years?

Are there any lessons that you have consciously absorbed

about performing live

like did you ever see that documentary about seinfeld comedian yeah so that guy ornie adams he would sit there and he would watch back all his performances on videotape

and he'd make notes well i walked past orny adams in los angeles oh yeah i said man i'm a huge fan and he looked like sort of bothered he was like yeah yeah

he's i don't yeah i really like him yeah um you do yeah yeah okay He's on YouTube.

He's got these specials.

And I've seen him live a few times.

Yeah, he's got good stuff about like, he gets worked up about stuff like straws, like paper straws.

He's like, paper straw, you want me to have a paper straw?

I don't want a paper straw.

Like, he's going, like, yeah, he's funny.

He is funny.

He's like, this thing's not lasting in my mouth.

I'm not getting the full drink.

I'm not doing it justice, but he's got good stuff about like the straws.

Sure.

Well,

they seal up, don't they?

The paper straws.

Yeah, I wouldn't be as good as it's.

This is one of the business.

He goes, they they seal up, and everyone's clapping.

Yeah, yeah.

He goes, they seal up.

This is what I would be like with that stuff.

They get soggy, don't they?

And

they're harder to drink, but they lack the rigidity.

of a plastic straw.

Yeah, see, Ornie would probably go, they lack the rigidity,

and everyone's joining in.

Maybe, I don't know.

And then he comes out and he's got that on t-shirts.

Yeah, yeah.

He makes notes a performer like Ornie Adams to improve his on-stage stuff.

Do you do that kind of thing?

I write my set list out and I do record my sets every now, especially if you're doing a full show to learn and to, yeah,

it's not a great thing to listen back to.

It'll really make you grimace.

But have you learned stuff off the back of that?

Have you told yourself, like, okay, I'm never going to do this again and I'm never going to do this again?

I'll be like, I'll listen back.

I'll be like, oh, that bit didn't really work.

And then I'll sort of listen back and I've not really spoken clearly at all I'll be like

and I'm like how did what did I think that was that's yeah so it's important to

be articulate for example you're not too articulate no I made notes at a certain point because I'm not you know I don't perform live nearly as much as you and I did a character called Pavel I did do a character called Pavel yeah but um he was an animator that's right yeah how'd you know about Pavel

from YouTube ah yeah is there anything on you what's on youtube of pavel He's sort of running around.

He's sort of.

He's an Eastern European sort of fellow.

Yeah, was that me and Joe?

Yeah, but I think he.

And then did you do him live as well?

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

But I didn't realize it was filmed.

Maybe I've chatted Pavel with someone.

Maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Like, these are some examples of some things that I wrote down to try and improve my own live performances, right?

Don't laugh or smile at your own jokes.

Oh, yeah.

I that a lot

And was that genuine or was that you just tried to sort of I think did you do that?

I don't know because I thought that it was I think it was out of nerves.

Yeah, but I thought that it made me look like I was relaxed and easygoing to laugh at my own jokes.

Yeah

And I don't think it's a good thing to do necessarily.

I think if it get if it strikes you and if it gets you giggling then don't hold it in.

Sure, okay.

Yeah.

I mean obviously if you're on stage and especially if you're with someone else.

Maybe don't clap after the bits.

Yeah, and pump your fist.

Yeah.

Some comics do that.

Yeah.

I mean, Dave Chappelle kind of does that with his mic tapping, doesn't he?

Oh, he's lost the plot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, here's a...

Or tapping the knee.

Tapping the knee, bending over.

It's like he's doubling himself up.

Yeah.

He's creasing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Don't blame the audience

saying things like, that joke usually gets a much better reaction.

What's wrong with you, Lot?

Oh, you would say that.

I don't think I've said that, but that's one of the rules that I wrote down for myself.

Yeah, in my circles, we call it crumbling, that kind of thing.

Crumbling.

And it's like, everything is, it's the same as anything, like laughing at your own jokes.

You go, oh, don't do it.

Then you'll see someone do it, and it'll be really,

really charming.

It depends, like, sometimes you have to crumble.

If the audience is like, this guy doesn't even, like, you have to say, listen, I get it.

I know what's going on.

You've just seen Neil Delamare.

He's blown the crowd.

This happened to me at Ealing Comedy Festival.

I had to crumble.

Neil Delamare just blew it up.

He was amazing.

He was doing an impression of a Russian telemarketer who's insane.

And so I went on and I'm getting nothing.

And they're looking at me like I'm Roadkill.

I had to say, like, listen, I get it.

I'm, you know, I'm really struggling up here.

I don't know if I can follow Neil Delamare.

This is freaking me out.

I had to admit what was going on.

And did that work for you, though?

Did you get them back on site?

I left the stage to try and find him to come back.

And then that got me a little bit.

They're like, okay, he gets it.

Yeah.

Here's another rule I wrote down for myself.

Commit.

If you suddenly realize a bit is not going to land, double down and commit.

The audience takes their cue from you.

If they see you've lost confidence in something, then they're going to definitely.

Who did you write?

You wrote these for yourself to read.

Yes.

I was trying to be like Ornie Adams.

I thought, look at Ornie Adams.

He's got shelves full of his tapes.

He's taking this thing seriously.

Micro technique.

Hold the mic at the base of the microphone.

The further up you hold it, the more of a wuss you are.

And you'll never, ever, ever get big laughs.

Yeah.

Exactly.

I'm going to...

Let me just write that one down.

At the base of the microphone.

It's crazy that you tried to make...

Like, when you were making short films and things like that, did you ever have these same rules for yourself?

No.

With podcasts and you like that?

You have like these rules?

Well, sometimes people ask you for rules.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like people like me.

Yeah.

And they, and so I come up with them when they ask.

No one really thinks of them at the time, do they?

Yeah.

It's just in retrospect.

Because I'm quite attracted, though, to people who act like there's a science and they know it.

Like Seinfeld is like.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's like almost a simulation now.

Like, because he was in the most famous TV show.

appearing at the start as a comedian he's almost like when you picture a comedian he is the comedian but it's so weird i think he sort of thinks that that he's like i am the comedian where it's like he's just sort of I think he's amazing, but he's still just a comedian.

Yes.

Also, and I don't mean to sound like a sort of knee-jerk male man

trying to be a feminist man.

Is there a word for that?

Sorry?

A snag?

A sensitive new age guy?

Perfect.

I've never heard that before.

Really?

A snag.

Anyway, I don't want to sound like a snag.

But I do think it's something that men do more than women.

Like, I can't think of any women comedians talking about the theory of comedy in the way that I can think of a fuck of a lot of male comedians.

Oh, yeah, yeah, like the craft and all this stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

It's just fun.

I think it's also partly to remind your, like, to keep going.

Yes.

You just want to feel like you're part of something.

So if you make it seem like,

oh, there's this thing that can be mastered, maybe that helps you keep going.

Right.

Also, it makes it feel like a job that isn't just totally bullshit.

Yeah.

Because that is a.

Do you ever find yourself having an existential black hole moment where you just think, what am I doing?

Oh.

Oh, no, not so much.

Okay, good.

I don't think it's that like, yeah.

I don't think you should.

No, I don't think I'm.

I don't want you to.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm just asking.

I just think

it's okay if you're on the make.

If you're just always making things, then it's, you know, not a bad thing to be doing.

Yeah.

Spreading joy.

Yeah, absolutely.

I get a lot of emails.

Hadn't smiled in five years, mate.

Army guy, hadn't smiled.

Saw your act.

Ear to ear.

Smiling like a bastard.

Don't apologise for what you're not.

Oh.

Concentrate on being the best version of what you are.

So once on a TV show I did, I had a joke.

Just before the ad break, and this leads on actually from what we were just talking about.

And I said, uh

we'll be back after the break for more hard-hitting political analysis.

And it was a joke because there was not going to be hard-hitting political analysis.

I was sort of trying to send a signal to the audience that I was sorry

that there was no hard-hitting political analysis.

Oh, on some subconscious level.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, I was ashamed that I was just doing a silly TV show.

It's called Bug.

Oh, yeah, the music videos.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And we did a series for Sky Atlantic in 2012.

Oh, no.

It was good.

Yeah.

But even so, even though it was good, though I say so myself,

there was still a part of me that felt I had to apologize for being silly.

Because, you know, even back in 2012, there were problems in the world.

I don't know if you remember.

Oh, big time, yeah, absolutely.

Kony.

Exactly.

You don't hear about him and his child soldiers so much anymore.

Joseph Coney.

Yeah.

Hey, by the way,

I was thinking that we could do a chat GPT play on stage tomorrow.

Oh, yeah, I'll do anything.

Because it's just like it would be five minutes, and I could type in what I wanted the play to be about.

Oh, so you haven't even conjured it yet?

No, no, no.

It would be created live in front of the audience.

Oh, nice, yeah.

And so we just read it line by line.

Yeah, I'll do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What prompts should we put in?

Like, what should the play be about?

Oh.

I guess Latitude.

I mean, I think it's usually good if it's some place.

If it's some version of us.

So, I would describe us to ChatGPT.

Yeah.

So, it'll be comedian Adam Buxton meets Sam Campbell, Australian comedian at Latitude Festival.

And then you come and you're being interviewed by me live on stage.

Yeah.

And then you make a joke about Barclays or something.

Okay.

Then

I get offended because I bank with Barclays.

Do you?

Yeah, I genuinely do.

Here's the thing: in reality, and this is true, the protest over Barclays sponsoring latitude encouraged me to divest myself of my Barclays account.

So I've switched banks now.

You're just saying that to get all the chicks.

I've heard that before.

It's classic snag.

Classic snag behavior.

Yeah.

You're like, yeah, I've been thinking more about the ocean.

I wanted to impress you.

Some of the stuff that's been happening with the sea life.

It's just not on.

Yeah, yeah.

I wanted to impress C-Mat.

Oh, wow.

What other elements can go in there into the prompts?

I'm looking around.

Think drama.

What's going to be dramatic?

Are we going to stay away from Trump's assassination attempt?

Yeah, throw in an assassination attempt.

Pop it in there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are you going to be, like, maybe we could disagree.

Maybe you could say something disrespectful about.

Well, the thing is that Chat GPT probably won't know about Trump's assassination attempt.

Dude, it hasn't learned about that yet.

I don't think so.

I think it's on a lag.

Anyway.

I'm trying to think of stuff that's been in the news, in the Zeitgeist.

Would you make a joke about Trump getting assassinated and I get upset with you?

Or would it be the other way around?

Oh, yeah, that could be interesting.

That could be good.

Maybe something to do with the food vans.

Well, look, I thought it would be nice to demonstrate the power of AI to the audience by generating live, genuinely, a play, a short play, a two-hander, myself and Sam, and on ChatGPT.

You up for it?

Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Frankie, could you just bring me the mic stand just so I can put my mic on the stand while I type in the prompt for this Chat GPT play.

Oh, I know this guy.

He offered me a pill backstage.

He's like, this stuff goes really good with the Buxton there and really compliments it.

Really good stuff.

Thank you very much.

That's great.

That's great.

Thank you, Frankie.

Take it easy, dude.

Let's see how we do with ChatGPT, shall we?

This is my graphic for the ChatGPT theatre.

That's the robot that's going to be generating our play.

Oh hello.

Alright so this is the prompt.

You can read it out Sam.

Oh absolutely.

Write a 10-minute two-man play about the British comedian Adam Buxton interviewing

surreal absurdist Australian comedian Sam Campbell on stage at the Latitude Festival.

At first the pair get on well but when Sam makes an off-colour joke about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump oh no no hang on let's change that

after seeing what happened to tenacious D I don't want to

I don't want to do that one

let's see

okay hang on hang on can you can you not look at the screen for a second

all right so this one is slightly different in this one there's a disagreement about Sam making a joke about the festival being sponsored by Bankleys.

And they're a bank with controversial investment policies.

But Adam, who uses Bankleys, gets offended.

And the atmosphere becomes tense before the two accidentally discover their shared love of the poetry of John Cooper Clark,

who is going to be here at 8 p.m.

And the play ends with them taking turns to improvise a short poem about ants.

Now, it can be about anything.

Do you want it to be about ants?

Oh, yeah, let's go with ants, I think.

Are there any other details that anyone out there thinks would be more dramatic to include?

Adam and the ants.

Adam and the ants.

Do you think we should do it about Adam and the ants?

Yeah, chuck it.

Just a little bit.

Chuck it in.

Just say passing reference to the Adam and the ants, just because the lady seems nice, but don't focus on it.

To Adam and the Ants.

Okay, shall we do it?

Yeah, nice.

Generate.

So let's see, Sam, can you see this coming up here?

Yeah, absolutely.

Shall I go from there?

Here we go.

So this is called Ants in the Latitude.

Characters.

Adam Buxton, a British comedian and interviewer.

Sam Campbell, an Australian comedian known for his surreal and absurdist humor.

Setting, the stage at the Latitude Festival, with a backdrop featuring the festival's logo.

There are two chairs and a small table with water bottles.

Check.

Are you sure a human didn't write this?

How do they know about the festival's logo?

They're guessing.

They're imagining.

Here we go.

Scene opens with Adam and Sam sitting on stage.

The audience is cheering.

The festival atmosphere is lively.

Yes.

Adam.

Smiling.

Welcome everyone to the Latitude Festival.

I'm Adam Buxton and today I'm I'm thrilled to be joined by the brilliantly bizarre, the hilariously surreal Sam Campbell.

Give him a warm welcome.

Audience cheers.

Sam waves and grins.

Here's your first line, Sam.

G'day, everyone.

It's great to be here in the latitude of of latitude.

Oh, good line.

Adam, chuckling.

So, Sam,

how are you finding the festival so far?

Oh, it's been a hoop, mate.

I swear this is chat GPT.

It does sound like I wrote it.

It sounds like an offensive, slightly racist, middle-aged jerk wrote it, but it is chat GPT.

Yeah, it was pretty good till a dingo stole me, baby.

Fucking bullshit.

I got lost three times trying to find the vegan food stand, but I met a lovely group of mimes who showed me the way.

They were very quiet about it though.

Adam laughs only at latitude, right?

Now, your comedy is known for its absurdity and surreal twists.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Mostly from dreams and those weird moments just before you fall asleep.

You know when you're halfway between reality and a world where pigeons are your financial advisors

some of this is good Sam

some of this is strong

that is a nutty thing to say

Chat GPT continues.

Adam, smiling.

Speaking of finances, have you noticed how prominently Bankleys is sponsoring the festival this year?

Ah, yes.

Bankleys.

Nothing says fun in the sun like a bank that invests in,

shall we say,

some not-so-sunshine industries.

Adam, laughing, then quickly stops.

Well, you know, we all have to make a living somehow.

True, true.

But it's a bit like having a shark as a lifeguard, isn't it?

Come swim, we promise we won't bite much.

Audience laughs, but Adam's smile fades.

Well, I use Bankleys, and they've always been good to me.

Maybe not as black and white as you think.

Sam, realizing he's hit a nerve.

Oh, oh, oh, no offense, Adam.

Just having a bit of fun.

And you are complicit in a genocide.

Chat GPT didn't write that bit.

Sorry, I didn't bring my reading glasses.

But it's all a a bit of absurdism, right?

Adam, coolly.

Maybe.

But some jokes can be a bit off the mark.

An awkward silence settles in.

Both men look at the audience, who are sensing the tension.

It doesn't say to Boo.

Obviously it does.

Sam, trying to lighten the mood.

Well, I think we can both agree.

You know what's not off the mark?

The poetry of John Cooper Clark.

Adam, perking up, John Cooper Clark, you're a fan.

Absolutely.

His words are like a caffeinated octopus playing the drums.

Pure genius.

Adam, smiling again.

I couldn't agree more.

Evidently Chicken Town is a personal favourite.

Oh mate, same here.

His rhythm, his wit.

It's like he's tap dancing on your brain.

Adam, laughing.

Exactly.

You know, this reminds me, we should do something fun to wrap up our chat.

How about we improvise a poem?

Sam, grinning.

Sounds perfect.

Hey, what shall we write about?

Adam, what about ants?

I think it wants three dots after how about.

Oh, how about

ants?

Ants it is.

Hey, and uh, let's sneak in a nod to Adam and the ants while we're at it.

I mean, this is this is supposedly what is going to enslave humankind.

Let's sneak in a nod to Adam and Ants for the honeys.

They stand up facing the audience.

Ants in the grass, marching in a line, tiny soldiers working all the time.

Underneath the sun, they toil and they strive.

In their little world, they come alive.

Ants on a mission, no time to relax, carrying crumbs and avoiding cracks.

They dance and they prance in a rhythmic trance, just like Adam and the Ants, they take a stance.

Ants in my pants, can you feel the beat?

Moving to their rhythm, isn't life sweet?

From the underground tunnels to the festival lights, these little creatures know how to fight.

It goes on.

Oh, it's nearly finished.

So here's to the ants, the tony and bold.

In their microcosm, stories unfold.

We must stop Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader, the biggest enemy of the ant is an ant eater.

Again, not chat GPT.

Busting with the timing, careful trying to salvage mechanical music, sounding like savage cabbage.

Mobile playwright ain't no Shakespeare here.

Packed house whispers turn into cheers.

Comedy aloft in the digital fog, freezing like a glitch in a battery bog.

Okay, we are standing here at Latitude Festival 2024, myself and Sam Campbell.

And it is the evening.

What time is it now?

Like 7.30 or something?

It could be, yeah.

It's pretty balmy, as you said before.

It's well balmy.

And balmy.

Oh, it's exactly 7.30.

And it is sort of perfect weather.

Are we going to say perfect?

Yeah, it's really nice.

Perfect temperature.

Conditions are perfect.

There's clouds, the sun is going down, but they're beautiful clouds.

It's going to be a lovely.

Kassabian are sharpening their plectrums.

They are limbering up to delight the crowds with their stomp rock.

Is that what it's called?

Oh, I'm not good with genres.

Cassabian.

Cassabian.

Cassabian.

Cassabian.

Is that one of them?

I don't know.

Thanks to every song with the band name in it.

We are Kassabian.

I don't really know much about Kasabian.

I think it's more Kasabian rhythms.

Kassabian nights.

Who knows what will happen, Kasabian tonight.

But you know who Cassabian was, though.

Oh, a general or something, sort of, maybe oligarch, sort of

great warrior, Boudica's little sister.

Sorry.

None of the above.

Yeah.

Linda Kasabian was one of Charles Manson's entourage.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I believe so.

Yeah.

I don't know if there was anything sympathetic about her.

I don't know why the band chose to name themselves after her.

Yeah.

Or whether it was just pure nihilism.

He was a good-looking guy, actually.

He got that swastika tattooed on his forehead.

Who Charlie Manson?

Yeah.

It's like, what have you got that for?

You don't want to say anything?

You're like, I don't like it.

His parents were like, he's like, you're lucky.

You're like, I don't know.

Yeah.

Charles, they're not going out like that.

What have you done?

Tell me that's just felt tip, Charles.

That better be the nice one from Hinduism.

That better not be the other, the one with the name.

Is that the nice Hindu one, Charlie?

It's not, is it?

It's the wrong way round.

Oh, Charles.

Why would you do that?

You're a good-looking kid.

I love your new character of Charles Manson's mother.

Mom, Charles.

Long-suffering mother.

You've got so much going for you.

What are you doing at that ranch?

I bet that was Steve that encouraged you to do that.

Which one was Steve?

I don't know.

Oh, sorry, honey.

One of the entourage.

No, that was Linda, wasn't it?

Linda Cassabian with her stomp rock.

Encouraging you to tattoo that symbol on your forehead.

It's a shame.

Don't you think that's weird, though, to name yourself after one of Charles.

I mean, not to add, you know, this is very baldly changing tone after that fun impersonating Charles Manson's mum to suddenly be serious and cast judgment on the band for naming themselves after Linda Cassini.

I think it's a slightly edgy kind of thing.

It is edgy, isn't it?

Do you know much about Manson?

No, I get freaked out.

I've tried to read the Wikipedia and I got a bit upset.

This big old book, like Louis Thoreau recommended a giant Manson book to me.

He loves all that stuff.

I nearly stepped on him.

Oh, yeah, what?

At this latitude in 2016.

Right.

He was lying down with

his kids.

Yeah.

And I nearly stood on his leg.

Oh, you should have done.

No, no, no.

I like his dad.

His dad, yes.

Which of his books have you read?

I've read My Secret History.

Yes.

I've read.

That's the one that upset Louie's mum very badly.

Oh, I can see why.

The stuff with the water pistol and that.

Yeah.

And I've read the Great Siberian Railroad.

The Great Railway Basil.

Yeah, yeah, that one.

And I've read one that's all about the writer V.S.

Naipaul.

Naipaul, yeah, yeah.

Is that good?

I haven't read that.

It's amazing.

Oh, it's incredible, yeah.

Because they sort of had a falling out.

Yeah.

It's an amazing book, yeah.

It's quite petty in some ways.

It's just incredible.

Do you read a lot?

Yeah, I like to read.

What are you reading at the moment?

I'm reading the biography of John Steinbeck.

Really?

Yeah.

Grapes of Wrath.

Do you absolutely love his stuff?

Have you read all his books?

I've only read a couple.

What made you want to know about him?

I just saw the book for sale, and it's got four different photos of him, and he looks so stern.

I read Norman Mailer's biography of him a while ago, and I loved that.

Yeah.

Norman Mailer was a maniac, wasn't he?

Yeah, he built this.

I think he was going to be an architect before he went off to the war.

Same as Steinbeck, they would do things just for the story.

Yeah.

Like Steinbeck had always been hanging out with migrant workers just so he could get their stories to write.

They were really both into like sort of...

appropriating the stories of everyday.

And they're like fascinated.

Yeah, they're both like obsessed with like what's Hemingway doing?

Like,

yeah, it is funny reading about these writers.

Norman Mailer's the guy that there's that YouTube video of him having a scrap with Rip Torn, yeah.

With Rip Torn and biting his ear off.

Yeah.

Or did Rip Torn bite Norman Mailer's ear off?

I think Rip Torn bit Norman Mailer's ear.

And they were, I think he was watching John Cassavetti's movies and I thought, I could do this.

So he would do these improvised films where they would just chase each other around with hammers.

Yeah.

It's really upsetting.

They've been improvising something and then it goes weird and then they start fighting and it gets serious.

Yeah.

And they start hurting each other and Rip Torn, the actor, bites Norman Mailer's ear and it starts bleeding.

And then members of their families

intervene.

And children.

There's some kids run in.

And it's quite upsetting because the kids are upset.

Yeah.

It's, I guess every couple of years that something happens happens to someone's ear, isn't it?

It's a good sort of turn of the century sort of thing.

Which are your other favourite ear injuries?

Mike Tys said.

That's the big one, isn't it?

And then, of course, recently, President Trump is

the corner of his ears.

And you would be more upset than anyone, I think, because you love to.

The ears are your sort of

bread and butter.

They're what you feel.

Me?

Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

Those are sort of your

target audience.

No, but I don't mind the corner of the ear going.

Oh, the lobes.

Yeah, well, what's the opposite?

Like, the lobe is the bottom.

The top bit.

What's that?

Oh, yeah.

It's just the top ear.

We can ask a punter.

Could ask a passer-by, couldn't we?

Hey.

Sorry, sir.

Excuse me.

Do you know what the top of the ear is called?

Oh, no, don't.

It's a good question.

No worries.

Thank you.

He didn't know.

We'll get this guy.

He's not going to know.

Oh, we can just ask.

Excuse me, sorry.

We're with TikTok on the...

Do you know what the top of the ear is called?

The bottom of the ear, this part, has a name, the lobe.

But what's the top cause?

It's a tiny bone, isn't it?

It's cartilage up there, isn't it?

It doesn't have a name.

We have an opportunity to name it now.

Yes.

What would you guys call it?

This bit?

Bob.

Bob.

Wow.

Finlay.

Don't say Stephen, that's a parody, don't you?

Jeffrey.

Jeffrey.

Bob or Jeffrey.

Bob, we're going for Bob.

Thank you very much.

Do you know that this is the guy that you listen to?

Who's that?

Messi.

Bob tomorrow?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

You probably don't actually know what he looks like.

Adam Buxton.

Oh.

Where do they listen to me?

We listen to Vintage Adam and Joe.

And we listen to Adam Buxton podcast as well.

But that will be a good idea.

We also listen to Vintage Adam and Joe.

I hope you carefully cherry-pick them.

Most of them aren't appropriate.

Yeah.

Turn it down.

I've got it.

In case case we use this, is that okay with you?

It's totally okay, yeah.

It won't, but

would you mind just saying your name and saying that you consent for us to use it on the Adam Buxton podcast?

Yes, Oliver Moran, and I consent to you using this on the Adam Buxton podcast.

Thank you.

Just in case we use this.

Nowhere else, though.

If it goes viral, nowhere else.

All right, cool.

Nice to meet you guys.

And you're too.

Have a good one.

Bye.

Take it easy.

Keep supporting the live stuff.

So they were very nice.

So they're calling.

They're just giving it a.

Nice but very stupid family.

All right, Frankie, put your mic on.

Which one?

There you go, that one down there.

One, one, one.

Okay.

Turn Frank's mic right down.

I mean, not right down.

What are we seeing?

But a bit half.

This is halfway through the podcast.

I just went over this with the already.

No, don't hit him.

He's just a boy.

Don't send him away to one of your horrible boarding schools.

Go, boy, go, go!

He didn't go.

I should have sent him.

Then he'd be a bit more disciplined.

Okay.

Alright, here we go.

Give us a count in.

One, two, three, four.

We're halfway through the podcast.

I think it's going really great.

The conversation's flowing like it would between a geezer and his mates.

Alright, mate.

Hello, geezer.

There's so much chemistry.

It's like a science lab of talking.

There's fun chats and there's tea chats.

It's like Chris Evans is meeting Stephen Paul King.

Put it to bed Frank.

Yeah.

He's putting it right to bed.

Okay, that's enough of that.

We are walking walking past the river here at latitude and we're down by the latitude sign, the big metal letters, and it's next to the river.

It's a beautiful evening, the sun going down and the pink sheep are here.

How do you feel about the spraying sheep pink?

Oh yeah, why have they done that?

It's quirky, I think.

Yeah, and it ties in with the

kind of latitude, multicoloured, brightly coloured, fun,

diverse environment.

Yeah, I think it's wrong.

Why is this wrong?

Why they don't need to spray paint the sheep?

I don't know.

I don't think they do either.

I think it is disrespectful because it's like

the fact that they're all sprayed pink as well is sort of

rubbing their faces in their inability to do anything about it.

It's what they do in prisons.

They sometimes put the guys in pink jumpsuits to emasculate them.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Where do they do that?

That's what Campbell Campbell Newman did to the bikies,

Premier of Queensland.

He made the bikies wear pink jumpsuits to emasculate them in prison.

The bikies?

Yeah.

Are they the naughty gangs?

Biker gangs.

Yeah, Bartley was too tough on the bikies.

He was so, like, he had so many rules about like, if you're seen with a bikie, you could get like fined.

And it was too much.

Yeah.

He just was, I don't know.

He had something to prove with the bikies.

So what is he?

Is he a conservative?

Campbell Newman, yeah, he would have, yeah.

Yeah, he was the mayor, the Lord Mayor, and then he went on to be the Premier.

And was he popular?

Not in my circles.

I'm from, you know, my parents are real left-wing pinkers, sort of.

Oh, right.

Yeah, so they don't like Campbell Newman.

But I guess a lot of other people were going, yes, put those bikes in your pink jumpsuits.

Teach them a lesson.

Yeah.

Because they've gone too far.

Yeah, but it's like they want to wear cool black leather jackets, you know?

Yeah.

And bandanas.

Like, fashion's obviously important to them.

And to do that, I just think it's wrong.

I don't know.

I think that's quite lateral.

Now, shall we wander across the bridge or is it just going to get unmanageably crazy over there?

We could go back the way of the hurly-durly.

What is that thing called?

Oh, the Helter-Skelter.

Yeah.

I think it's more quiet around there.

Okay.

Yeah, what's up, Pimp?

Well, shall we...

Let's walk across.

Let's take a different route at least.

It might get a bit more gnarly.

Yeah, we can't go up near the main stage.

Do you feel self-conscious wandering around with the mic?

No, I'll do whatever.

You're okay.

These are not my people.

Who are your people?

Bikies?

No, it's the more disenfranchised people.

Yeah.

Who are like, you know.

They're not here.

They're not at the latitude.

They're not in this field.

Right, okay.

These are the chosen people.

What do you do with your time when you're not performing?

Do you have any other things that you do when you're in Brighton?

Oh, in Brighton I swim

and I play

shuffleboard.

Yes.

I play a bit of shuffleboard.

That's good.

Go to the movies.

What was the last film you saw?

Oh, at the cinemas?

Yeah.

Or in life?

Either way.

Oh, I did see.

I did see that kinds of kindness.

Oh, yeah.

I must have seen something else.

Did you see Civil War?

Yeah, I loved Civil War.

It got me really g'd up.

Did it?

Yeah.

Did you think when Trump got shot that maybe the guy who shot him had seen Civil War?

Oh, do you reckon?

It crossed my mind.

Yeah.

What a name.

It did.

After we saw the movie, I said,

a war is only as good as its correspondence.

Yeah.

And then I started saying that all the time in my life to people.

It just.

It does apply a fair bit.

I think so.

Well, they're the history makers, the recorders.

Say to your wife about something, war is only as good as its correspondence.

I wonder what she would say.

Can you just slip it into normal conversation?

Yeah, it's a nifty phrase.

But yeah, I loved that movie.

Would you like to make a film, a feature-length film?

Yeah, I think so.

Is that the thing you'd like to do most?

It sounds like I'm talking to a four-year-old.

What would you like to do, Sam?

Would you like to make a film or would you like to do a theatre thing or something like that?

Remember, my friend

my friend was talking to a guy.

We knew someone her boyfriend was Portuguese, and he was talking about

his phone plan or whatever.

Like Optus, or in Australia, we have Telstra Optus and stuff.

He goes, What's your plan?

And this guy goes, just to be happy.

I don't know.

I'm trying to make a TV show at the moment.

What would be in your TV show?

Would it be a narrative thing or a sketch show?

It's about

people who are in.

Have you ever watched like Backyard Blitz?

Do you know what that is?

Like, you know where they'll go, and this person's been working hard.

D-I-Y-S-O-S.

The community, like her friends written in.

Home makeover shows.

It's a show about, it's that, but they, it's people who have ideas for movies.

And this team have a van with a camera on top of it, and they make the movie.

They turn their idea into a movie in three days.

And that's your show?

We have filmed a pilot of it, yeah.

Wow.

That sounds a bit like something Michel Gondry would do.

I mean, it reminds me of Be Kind, Rewind.

Is it that sort of spirit?

It's

maybe less like cardboard and stuff like that.

Trying to be a little less craft danoon, maybe.

No,

I'm a huge fan of his.

And are you...

I play the director.

You're the director.

Disgraced.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, that sounds good.

Oh, I'll send you to you.

Maybe you'll like it.

So it's real people.

It's got Kim Noble in it.

Right.

Oh, he's brilliant.

Yeah, he's a troublemaker, but he's amazing.

He's a true troublemaker.

How do you know him?

Just from being around?

Yeah, I don't know, actually.

How long have you known Kim Noble?

I went to see his show.

He freaks me out.

I love him.

I went to see his show at the Soho Theatre.

And everything you say to him, he's like, oh, that's amazing.

I can never tell if he's making fun of me and stuff.

But he was amazing in this.

I thought, he's really funny.

Yeah, he's brilliant.

I don't know what he's thinking about.

He's quite sort of straightforward, isn't he, Kim Noble?

Like,

he's not constantly fucking with your mind.

He's just.

He was definitely recording people on set.

He was doing something.

He was making something.

And a portrait of the queen went missing from the location.

And also, also my Medicare card, which is like our healthcare in Australia, went missing from my wallet.

And then two days later, I opened my wallet and there was a giant like 83 black and white photo of my Medicare card.

Is that real?

I think he was responsible, yeah.

Yeah,

I mean, that sounds like something he would be responsible for.

So weak, and then he's so like polite and so, like, working so hard on it.

But then also...

Yeah,

he's the real deal.

Who else is like that in the comedy world?

Causing trouble.

Yeah, because that's sort of Kaufman-esque, isn't it?

That's sort of Andy Kaufman behaviour.

Just being mischievous.

Yeah,

I think it is good to do.

It can all get a bit too serious.

Yeah, that's true, isn't it?

I mean, I'm quite uptight about that sort of thing, though.

I get unsettled.

And I take people at face value.

Right, right.

You know what I mean?

So.

You don't get like to get mucked around with.

No, I don't think I do.

Like, have you ever said to to someone like, what's that supposed to mean?

What do you mean by that?

Yes, I think I probably have.

I think I have.

Yeah.

Like, I'm writing at the moment, I'm trying to write a book, and I'm writing a little bit about me and Joe being on TV years ago.

Joe Cornish.

Yeah, yeah.

And we used to do pranks on our show.

Yeah.

And I'm writing about the fact that I always had a very conflicted relationship with pranks.

And I don't know if it's because I'm nice and I don't like to take advantage of people's trust and goodwill for the sake of a laugh yeah or if it's just that I'm a little conformist coward and I don't want to disrupt the status quo of society it's hard isn't it because a bad prank a prank gone wrong can really ruin someone's day but a great prank can save the world yeah it's like but there's things there's things I do like when I go to see the movie a movie I'll always say well is there much swearing in it no matter what movie it is?

And I don't think that is hurting anybody.

Who do you say it to?

To the people who work at the cinema.

Because if I was working there, I'd like it if someone asked me a question like that.

And sometimes, if you know, when you scan your bank card, they go, Oh,

you need to insert it, and then I'll say, Oh, what's the code?

Like, then they don't know my PIN code.

Yeah, that's just brightening people's days, isn't it?

By being a little bit weird.

Yeah, yeah.

You're not like, um,

really,

yeah, it's a tough one.

You're not going up and saying, well, the thing we did in

our TV show, we thought we were doing a meta bit about taking the piss out of pranks on TV that took advantage of people.

It was careful fighting monsters, yeah, yeah.

But our version of doing that

was

going to a park, and Joe dressed up as an old man, and I was filming him remotely and we were both playing characters like there was lairs.

Yeah, it was so that the layer one was us playing these West Country characters Martin and Andy and we were like let's go to a park and we'll you pretend to be an old man and you'll be walking along on a Zimmer frame and then when a person a normal person walks past you you fall over and then when they go and say are you okay?

You jump up and say I'm not an old man.

I'm young, and I fooled you.

You're stupid because you thought I was an old man.

Yeah.

So

we did that.

But we did it for real.

So a woman, like a normal woman who was not involved with the production, walked past when Joe, dressed quite badly as an old man.

Fell down, but she just said, oh God, are you okay?

And he jumped up and went, I'm not an old man.

I'm young.

I fooled you.

You're stupid.

And she screamed.

Oh.

And she was really upset.

Wow.

And then we just had to spend like half an hour trying to say sorry.

And that woman's name

was Paula Venels.

And

no, it was terrible.

It was terrible.

Yeah.

And,

you know, there we were trying to take the piss out of cruel pranks.

And it was, it couldn't have been more unpleasant.

and

mean.

And the woman was really upset.

It was awful.

I think I hope you like apologise, but I'm sure it's not something that she's fixated on.

I hope not.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you still text him all the time?

Joe Cornish?

Yeah.

Not all the time.

Yeah.

No, he's busy with.

Is he someone you'll ring up just to chat?

Or do you have to have a reason to ring him up?

Have to have a reason.

Oh, okay, yeah.

Yeah.

He was never.

We were like that.

This is weird.

I've never...

I haven't talked about this.

We were like that, like, when we were teenagers.

Yeah.

But

I think working together changed that yeah right on turns it into a job you know and then

like we get on fine i wish we did talk more maybe i'll ring him up yeah just try it just ring him up i don't think he'll be like hey what's this about i think i think i don't know i the other thing is that um

the other thing is the older you get it does become harder and harder to be spontaneous i think and when you do get a phone call it is like

uh-huh and

what are you calling for?

And then you go, what's any of it about, you know?

Yeah.

So that's, I mean, I guess what we're talking about is you used to be young men being foolish by pretending to be old, but now you're old men who it would be wise for you to act young again and to ring him up.

Yeah.

Holy shit, man.

That doesn't make any sense.

That does.

It makes total sense.

That makes sense for four.

I didn't expect you to drop that

philosophy bomb on me.

I reckon people for half a second will go, oh, no, hold on, wait a second.

No, it does make sense.

That's leaking water.

It doesn't.

Yeah.

How old are you now?

I'm 32.

32.

How do you like being 32?

It's not something I think about, yeah.

Oh, really?

I'm very like, maybe

I just vary moment by moment.

I'm not one that reflects, yeah.

And have you always been that way?

Or did you become that way?

Oh, as in thinking about

how old you are.

No, yeah, like, have you always been a sort of in the moment person?

I think I'm in the moment, but it's not like I'm having a great time.

I'm in the moment and I'm like petrified.

I'm not, you know, like being like...

You know, when you think of in the moment, you're in the moment.

Yeah.

You're not a sort of chilled dude.

I watch TV and I forget to sit on the couch.

Like, I'm like standing up, like, watching the weather.

Yeah.

But what makes you most anxious?

What are the things that frighten you?

Just the uncertainty.

Yeah, I'm very uncertain.

And I've got so many huge blind spots where I couldn't even tell you what they are because I don't know what they are.

But I think they're, yeah, it's all going to catch up to me in a lot of ways.

But do I get a lot of remorse around creative things as well?

In what way?

Just working on stuff, not doing it right, wasting people's time, some of that stuff like that.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Maybe I've just contradicted myself.

No, it's interesting.

Were you anxious when you were growing up?

I'm not saying you're anxious now.

You think I'm anxious?

Oh, yeah.

I don't know.

I think maybe I was.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, on edge.

Yeah, I live on the edge.

What used to worry you when you were younger?

Just all sorts of things that would sort of never matter.

And also, you know, it took me a long time to sort of

make comedy stuff work out.

So it's pretty.

You're in like these environments that are very hostile for so long, trying to make comedy.

Yeah.

But do you get crushed if you have a bad show?

Yeah, yeah.

And how do you feel about it?

It depends where I'm at in the cycle.

Sometimes it's fine, but if I'm more,

you know,

yeah, certain ones can really fool me.

And I'm pretty inconsistent as well, so it happens

more than I'd like.

But in those moments, are you thinking I should stop?

Or

are you just thinking, ah, damn it, I wish I'd done that differently?

Yeah, you wish you could.

I would love to put like a checkpoint just before you go on.

And then if it didn't go well, you can just go start again

just before you.

Time machine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I wouldn't mind doing that.

Do you use a Mac?

A whatsoever?

Do Do you use a Macintosh, an Apple Mac?

Oh, yeah.

That's hard-hitting.

I don't know if I've ever been hit so hard.

Yeah, I do, yeah.

That's what I meant by time machine.

I use the Adobe Suite.

Do you not use the Time Machine?

You don't use the Time Machine function?

No, I've never used that.

It's quite good.

It does exactly what you were just describing.

You're like Douglas Adams.

You love computers.

Yeah, I do.

And gadgets.

Yeah.

Is the podcast something that you find very consistent, that you're consistent with in terms of that you enjoy doing it?

Or do you ever think, oh, this is like, I'm in a bit of a dip with it and I'm waiting for the next

high?

I don't know.

Maybe.

It's weird because recently I've just been very conscious of taking breaks.

Yeah.

That's a genuine lesson I've learned.

It's like take breaks.

Yeah, totally.

Because

it does stop it becoming too much of a routine.

Yeah.

And it does make me concentrate on trying to keep it somewhat good.

When you're working on a creative project are you messy at all or like do other things fall as

other things in your life have to sort of fold in for it to happen or?

Yeah I can only do one thing at a time.

I'm no good.

How about you?

That's refreshing to hear yeah.

Definitely.

Are you a good multitasker?

No, no.

And I can let something really consume me.

Like when I used to do Edinburgh shows and stuff like that,

the two weeks beforehand would be pretty terrifying.

Right.

But that's partly the result of wanting to do everything myself.

Yeah.

Like wanting to be across the detail.

And I'm not sure that's always a good thing.

Really?

I like to experiment more with collaboration and have forced, almost arranged marriages of collaborations just to see what they yield.

Yes.

Like I think with the ends they should have just rotating members, try everything, try it all.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, that's a good point.

I'd like to do that too.

I know, I've kind of isolated myself, really, because I like to do things myself and I enjoy the process.

But the problem is, you do end up quite isolated.

And then, you know, with a family, that's a risk as well.

Is that you kind of just exist within this development?

Do you find like with a creative project, will you ever be like, this is be all and end-all?

Like, if this isn't well received, I'll be finished.

Yeah,

but then they just

aren't well received and then I'm not finished.

You feel like that?

Yeah.

That's mental.

You're bonko.

No, because there've been things that I've done that made no impact whatsoever.

Yeah.

So like TV show things that you wouldn't even know about.

And you would like pour years into them sort of thing.

Yeah, maybe not years, but a lot of effort, a lot of excitement and passion, and then they just literally evaporate.

And, you know, most people, if they know me at all, maybe they know me from the podcast.

Older people might know me from the Adam and Joe show or something.

And both of those things are things I really love doing and I have invested a lot of effort in.

And it's very gratifying that they've connected a tall.

But yeah, things that you want.

I think you've got a ripper legacy.

And if you died tomorrow, it would be an amazing funeral.

Oh, thanks.

That's very nice of you.

Same to you.

Oh, that's nice.

I don't want you to die.

I've never spoken this long to anybody in my life.

Okay.

This is crazy.

I think you put me in a hypnotic state.

Let's hear it for Sam Campbell.

Folks,

so generous for stepping in, for doing the chat GPT play.

Can I do one for you?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, give it up.

I mean, the guy, he's incredible.

This guy, he's carried us through.

He's an incredible, he's an intellect.

He is such a generous performer, and his podcast has saved all of our lives.

Please go absolutely Guga.

It's not just him, it's his entire dynasty.

His son is here.

Give it up for this amazing, give it up for the Buxton legacy.

We love the Buxtons.

The Buxtons will always care for us.

This is a Squarespace advert.

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Wait, continue.

Do you read your reviews?

No.

Do you not?

Are you going to?

No, no, I'm not going to read any of them.

Nah, nah, nah.

They're good people, though.

A war is only as good as its correspondence.

Hey, welcome back, podcats.

The weather has calmed down a little bit.

We've driven to a different part of the farm track out here over towards a wooded area.

And Rosie seems a lot happier here.

I'm going to give her a treat

in the magic Tupperware.

I just cooked it before we left.

It's a bit of chicken.

That's better, isn't it, Rose?

Well, that was Sam Campbell joining me for a Campbell ramble.

And I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

I had a great time meeting Sam.

I hope I'll see him again.

He sent me a link to his pilot, where he plays a director, and Kim Noble's in it.

It made me laugh a lot.

I hope it gets made into a series.

Now, even though we are out here in the woods and it's slightly less torrential than it was back when I was in the car, it's not nice.

and I don't think Rosie's that keen on staying out here for too long.

So I won't make this outro too much of an epic.

But there were a few things that I had noted down that I wanted to say after my chat with Sam.

What is the top of the ear called?

The outer ear is made up of cartilage and skin.

There are three different parts to the outer ear: the tragus, the helix, and the lobule.

The tragus, the helix, and the lobule.

That's going to be my new dystopian sci-fi trilogy.

Anyway, so it's maybe the top of the ear is the helix.

Smacking children in the UK, in all parts of the UK, teachers, nursery workers, and child minders are not allowed to smack children, and physical punishment in schools has been banned since the 1980s.

In the UK, it is legal for parents to smack their children, but there are strict limits on how and when this can be done.

The law allows what is known as, quote, reasonable chastisement as a form of discipline.

But this must not cause injury to the child.

In Scotland, since 2020 and Wales, since 2022, it is illegal for parents or carers to smack their children.

Cassabian.

I'm going to check in with ChatGPT to straighten this out.

Jeeps, did Linda Kasabian have any redeeming qualities?

While Linda Kasabian was initially drawn into the orbit of the Manson family, she exhibited redeeming qualities, particularly through her refusal to participate in the murders, her courageous testimony that helped convict Manson, and her lifelong expressions of regret and remorse.

Okay.

How about this?

Jeeps, is Stomp Rock an accurate description of the the music made by the band Cassabian?

Yes.

Songs like Clubfoot and Fire feature the kind of driving pulsing energy associated with stomp rock.

However, their sound is broader, incorporating elements of electronic music, psychedelic rock, and dance rock as well.

So while stomp rock fits part of their style, it doesn't capture their full range.

It's stomp rock.

Thanks, Jeeps.

You're welcome, Adam.

Okay Rosie is keen to get going.

Alright Rosie, fair enough.

We are heading off.

I've put some links in the description, quite a few links actually, if you would like to go on the same exploring mission that I have been on with Sam Campbell and

spend some time in his wonderful strange universe.

There's loads.

I found a huge Sam Campbell playlist on YouTube.

I have put a link to that.

What else have we got?

Yeah, Ripped Horn versus Norman Mailer, the Maidstone Brawl.

This is the final scene from Norman Mailer's 1970 avant-garde film Maidstone in which he played the part of a famous movie director running for President of the United States.

I haven't seen the whole film.

Who is supposed to be assassinated in the finale?

And this is the description on YouTube of the clip that Sam and I spoke about where Rip Torn attacks Norman Mailer.

Don Alex is the the person that uploaded this clip and he says, Mailer concluded principal photography on his film Maidstone without resolving the final scene and Rip Torn, playing his brother-in-law and assassin, allegedly decided to take it upon himself to improvise an attack by hitting Mailer on the head with a small hammer, drawing blood.

Mailer retaliated by tackling Torn and then nearly chewing his ear off as they grappled viciously.

And it rapidly escalated into an unhinged on-camera brawl as Mela's horrified kids screamed in terror.

This is the completely uncut sequence.

I have to wonder how unplanned it was, as the camera is obviously following Rip closely in the moments before the attack.

And if Principal Photography had finished the day before, why was the camera crew still hanging around filming Rip and the Mela family?

It's more like Mela knew Rip would pull something for the camera, but didn't know what, and overreacted because he wasn't expecting him to use a real hammer and actually start hitting him with it.

Link to that if you are interested, but as I said to Sam, it's upsetting the footage, mainly because you can see the children are upset.

So do be warned before you click the link.

Doobi-doobi-warned, be doobi-dooby, be doobi-doobi-warn.

That's it for this week.

Thanks once again to Sam Campbell for being such a good sport and for stepping in at the last minute to help me out at latitude giving up all of that time I really appreciate it thank you to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for all his invaluable production support Seamus won an Emmy or at least the show he works on won an Emmy my next guest with David Letterman and John Mulaney I think was the episode that won the

Emmy recently.

Congratulations to the team there, especially to Seamus, my Emmy award-winning producer.

Thank you very much to Helen Green.

She does the artwork for the podcast.

Thanks to everyone at ACOST for all their help keeping the show on the road.

But thanks most especially to you for coming back.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

And until next time, I had another person getting in touch with me saying recently that they'd been enjoying the podcast.

They'd only recently discovered it.

And they'd started right from the very beginning and they were working their way through.

And they were way back in the kind of 60s or 70s in the episodes.

And they said, oh, you've started shouting very loudly at the end of the episodes.

I can't remember when I started shouting.

It feels like I've always shouted loudly at the end of the episodes, but I guess maybe

I didn't.

Anyway, this person wasn't very happy about it.

He said he preferred it when I didn't shout at the end of the episode.

But we've had this conversation before.

Some people like it, some people not so keen.

Ah, you can't please everyone, can you?

Everyone likes a hug, though, don't they?

Come here, come on.

Hey,

good to see you.

Till next time, go carefully, please.

And remember, I love you.

Bye.

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