Live! How comedy can bring hope in dark times - with Adam Hills and Kemah Bob | Pod Save the UK

Intro [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to B sa UK thanks very much for coming everybody okay uh how are you Coco I'm good so I had a lovely moment earlier so this is our closing night I believe that we can say that night two of two I'm H this is the end of the Run guys weirdly it was a Sprint not a marathon I'm really getting into it though cuz you know as a journalist you don't normally get to stand up on stage and talk to 150 inebriated people although I do hear that that's what happens in Commons you worked at the guardian you spent every Monday speaking to 150 inated people at the morning meeting how dare you it's a minty organization okay how about my ass but I've really gotten into it I found myself talking to him my other half uh earlier today and he was saying something that I admit bought me so I said I said I'm sorry I have to rest my voice so you couldn't listen to what he was saying I've heard people say they need to rest their voice I've never heard anyone go I have to perform tonight I have to rest my ears I've had some great texts from people today counter protests um and um is a weird feeling being here because Edinburgh is people performers who are at the Edinburgh Fringe often refer to it as a kind of bubble and they mean that in a sort of in a negative connotations they mean that people come up here they get very isolated they get in their own head they lose track of reality and the bubble I have found in the last couple of days has actually been quite protective of me but at the same time I think I felt a tremendous amount of Gill at not being actually out of the sight of some of these counter protest with friends of mine it it's been an odd and strange couple of days but I was very heartened by a lot of the messages that I was receiving that the fash had craw back under the filthy rocket came out of so like oh by the way can I just tell you one interesting fact I learned today you can tell me anything you want about all the people that fought the fash in their great numbers who we love and respect and like you I I wish I could have been there but there was a phrase they talked about with that group and they said they were passive but massive don't you love that passive but massive yeah passive and massive is a great phrase and uh we are very heartened and we send out our love to the people who turned up to the C to prot us today it was amazing stuff very good um so in tonight's show we have some fantastic guest we're going to be talking about the strange ways we all came into politics I don't know about you guys but I didn't wake up at 5: you don't wake up at 5: do you that's I did today because I had diarhea anyway that again that's just too much information okay I think my stomach is allergic to non-alcoholic beer because I had one yesterday and I woke up at 6:00 and I'll tell you my God the Gates of Hell opened up okay so so what I meant was 5 years old okay fine right yeah I should have let you finish I feel like I got into politics reluctantly I didn't want to know about all this [ __ ] I just wanted to focus on other things nature the Arts they made me do it and now I'm here so in a way we're all reluctant I don't know activists reluctant politically engaged we're sort of sure you know that's so I'm excited to talk about our strange weird Roots into getting here and how we resent the Tories for it yeah yeah uh and with that Kemah Bob uh let's bring out our first fantastic guest we have two of them tonight let's make them both feel very welcome please welcome to the stage incredible comedian and one of my favorite people on the planet please welcome kab [Applause] Bob Yeah Boy hi oh thank you for saying nice things incredible comedian favorite person you heard it here first people um before we get into anything political I just want to say that um I am uh tremendously single uh I'm looking for the one or the two and my only request is that they be passive but massive that's what I'm looking for so has someone said that phrase tonight that's that's my thing this is actually a problem that we are trying to move away from because uh a couple of about 6 months ago somebody sent in a suggestion to the podcast that we set up a dating service yeah it yeah that that we called pod shag the UK yeah and it somebody sent it in and said I just think like if you listen to this podcast that's like you've probably got some things in common and so it might be an interesting way it was someone who was sort of Thoroughly fed up with the kind of dating market and was sort of like I think it would be an interesting experience to do this and then we sort of made it like oh we should do this as joke and then people started sending in dating profiles and we started getting into uh what one of our producers referred to as a gdpr tight spot it was a real it was a it was a it was a databased uh uh Minefield and so we sort of abandoned the project but Kea you are now volunteering yourself up yeah and I've just sto myself from making a joke using gdpr tight spots you're welcome just trying to keep it [Laughter] together so I only learned today that you guys know each other from before yeah we we rock we roll we go way back a few years oh Kea uh I'm I met Kea a number of years ago and Kea uh supported me on tour and is going to support me again on tour yeah brother mostly emotionally yeah there's a lot it's mainly emotional support but ke and I also work together so KRA you're a politically engaged individual your comedy has a political tinge to it but it's not necessarily the primary focus of it and yet I forced you yeah to work on two different political shows as a writer look you know uh this I think it was it was an honor okay it was an honor to have to read way too much it's too much the news happens too fast too frequently and it's always so bad it's a rarely you rarely get a story coming through that's like oh house of parliament has a puppy day you know they're like everybody should have rights and by the way love puppies like it's it's never that it's always like the worst [ __ ] and then you have to like chew it up swallow it and regurgitate it so people can take it in but you're stuck with all the skin I don't know how birds I don't know how it works you stuck with all the skin sounds like another line from your dating profile it's weird that cuz there's like there's so many um different uh formats you know uh We Got The Daily Show we got these like shows like there's so many different formats uh that people use to kind of inform folks using comedy as you know not to not to quote Mary pee but that little Spoonful of Sugar like people need it it's hard to keep up man yeah no for sure you know what I'm talking about I mean you you on that popp's dog you trying to get popping tonight yo I don't know about you but I'm on that Poppin I like to crack them up the the the history of this is so I had met Kea I was friends with her I thought she was an incredible comedian and then we got a contract you stop saying such nice stuff man we well I thought I believe I said I thought she was an incredible comedian um but then when we were coming to do this show we did a show that was from here about American politics for an app called quibby Rip forever in our hearts pull one out for the quipsters if you haven't heard of quibby the business model was what if YouTube wasn't free but was worse uh and and it was a show written from here about the American elections and it was the idea was it would give a sort of external perspective but I still felt it was important that we had an American in the room and I also thought that Kemo comedic rhythms would do something interesting to mine and that when you're putting together a W in room you don't want the same type of joke you want four or five different types of jokes otherwise it feels like it gets repetitive so I brought kemer in largely comedically but then also I thought it'd be interesting to have an American perspective and it's the only time I've ever offered someone a job and have them go I don't know man maybe you should get someone else um okay the thing is like uh it's it's it was tough because we were it was right before the 2020 election yeah uh and that was [ __ ] that was a terrifying time I've lived in the UK since 2016 uh like I got in this country right before Donald Trump got in that office and boy oh boy great timing for Mama but I did have to watch like everyone that I know and love be super freaked out uh as you know America got very trumpy um and like so we were writing about the the 2020 election the stakes were so high and it was so creepy so scary uh Supreme Court meow meow meow meow meow so many things yeah that's that's what I doing the writers gr like guys Supreme Court there's like so much and we're trying to like jokey it but I'm like this is terrifying you know uh and it's it's so hard to take cuz you want to you want to uh take it and you want to turn it quickly so that you can inform people uh in a way that they can stomach but it means that you have the stomach it and it may make tummy hurt yeah well I mean you know I don't want to gas either of you up too much but I do think there is a there is obviously a public good in political comedy because it's particularly these days where there are so many what is the phrase permac crisis is that per crisis yeah it's completely natural that people will tune out and zone out but then as soon as they do that they're disempowered because you know you don't know what the [ __ ] is going on exactly and then you can be pushed around manipulated have your rights taken away and so you know you tell the jokes you do a good thing one thing I always wanted to know is is satire in a society a sign of one that is really healthy or one that's doing really badly like is the need for satire showing that something's gone wrong or does it show that that society's really comfortable with itself and it can laugh at itself I mean you guys work in political sat or what do you think I I mean I love that question yeah I mean you would talk about like the spikes and like satire like the spikes had interest in something like The Daily Show was around the bush presidency the war in Iraq that doesn't suggest it was positive um and then post 2016 again brexit Trump rise of the far right in Europe there's another kind of burst of satire um it doesn't it it feels like you're committing an act of disaster capitalism when you do FES about the news because it feels like people like I remember trying to do comedy like in standup clubs about the news in like 2014 and people barely knew who the chancellor was like people knew the prime and it wasn't people would just shut off it wasn't cuz they were angry they were bored and the idea of talking about politic well the [ __ ] would I [ __ ] listen to this [ __ ] and I will say after 2016 For Better or Worse for worse uh people definitely knew that politics had an impact on them and there was more of a Readiness even in kind of comedy clubs where people just buy tickets to see random comedians they it was more of a Readiness I think to hear that kind of thing I wanted to ask you what it's like to be a outside of your country as you watch it kind of lurch from crisis to crisis cuz like there's a 2016 to 2020 period what you talk about man we're doing great I I I like I feel like I think about this a lot with my dad because my dad but my dad left India a long time ago but he watches the kind of situation in India unfold with kind of rising sense of horror I mean if people are not kind of conversent with what's happening in India it's ruled by kind of Hindu nationalist party the BJP nenthra Modi has been accused of perpetrating various kind of um crimes against democracy especially in regards to like minority groups in India and you know he watches it with a kind of strange sense of horror and I I do think sometimes with a strange sense of like oh I don't know like I wish I was there to sort of participate in this somehow do do you feel like that or is there or is there also what I think is the the most understandable human thing to be like [ __ ] I am relieved I'm not in the middle of this every [ __ ] day it's a mix it's giving uh survivor's guilt like it's it's weird because I know a lot of people I know a lot of people in the states at the moment who are like how do I get out of here um and in a way I'm like whoa was I ahead of the curve but then also I'm just like I know so many people like like being able to um leave where you are out of uh like choice and not out of like fear right um like that's that's such a privilege you know and even now as we like approach this upcoming election like uh both of my grandmas are really religious uh in different ways and both of them are praying for the Harris uh presidency um like do you know what I mean they're putting their best foot forward because it's [ __ ] terrifying this idea of this guy getting back in office and like I'm I'm here but like I don't feel uh I don't feel safe I don't feel exempt you know yeah do you feel optimistic about the Harris Waltz ticket oh my God it's so juicy isn't it you didn't fall out of a coconut tree can I can I insert a little clarification here cuz I'm sort of obsessed with that thing there's this idea are you all familiar with this that kamla Harris said something like my mom used to say to us he didn't fall out of a coach is so cool it's like you weren't you know it's basically you were born in a specific context people made sacrifices to allow you to be born you didn't just fall out of thin air right beautiful and people keep saying it's a weird expression now here's the thing that I really need to clarify for everyone KLA Harris heard that from her mother now her mother is South Indian I was raised by South Indians that is the kind of [ __ ] they just say like I cannot stress this enough there that is the kind of [ __ ] my mom is here ask her on the way out she will tell you five of the most unfathomable Expressions you have ever heard in your life if someone was trying to rip off my grandfather he would generally say he would genuinely say what is this cucumber Town what is this cucumber to we don't we to this day we don't know what it means when I was a kid I won a cricket award because everyone was [ __ ] and I was less [ __ ] and my grandmother said well in the Kingdom of no noses the man with half a nose is King and then just left the room oh that's beautiful that's then just left the room and I'm like 11 being like what admittedly I've only seen that clip through various memes yeah brat X the brat CA collab I know I know I know what is brat summer why will no one tell me we are all brat summer you are living on brat summer now every time I ask someone what it is they go it's brat and I go what is going on but just quickly like you know you see those clips of kamela and I think that couldn't happen in the UK obviously she's announced her new running mate again very Mimi a very me guy do you think that kind of like you know personality gets people fired up we are missing that in the UK I was just literally I was just thinking this like she's so human and I love it like it's just seeping out of her and I think it's such a beautiful thing her little laugh so fun and I think like that kind of humanity I think I think people need it cuz Donald Trump is so human it's just the worst kind Donald Trump is human yeah oh that's a real guy you know what I mean he's not like buttoned up trying to be like oh to the line of a politically correct and that's what that's what people seem to like enjoy about him they're like oh man I I know that guy I wish I didn't but like I know that guy and I feel like for so long like politicians have been like I am a robot who does legislation and it's like shut the [ __ ] up no like you're cooky um you hang out with Megan the stallion and America Ferrera and Lance Bass that's what kamla has been up to I love it apparently um Waltz in his role in Minnesota he named a street after Prince and signed it in purple ink that is so cool do you see what I mean that's so cool that's how you get the [ __ ] jinz fired up bro can you can you imagine K starma doing that something can you imagine it I don't know if I can imagine K starm doing anything I feel like he'd call it a Bart summer that's what I feel I'm just right in the middle of my Bart summer [Music] Adam Hills [Applause] [Music] it is now time uh to bring on our second guest someone else who fell into political comedy out of a coconut tree please welcome the legend of the edur festival and the host of The Last L the incredible Adam [Applause] Hills hi can I put my can I put my iron Brew there welc to the stool it's an iron Brew for me it's not alcohol it's just iron iron Brew gets me through this Festival pandering to the Scots oh it's not oh no they're loving it I'll show you pandering to the Scots if anyone can see my prosthetic leg right now oh wow that's how you panded to the Scots for the benefit of people listening to the podcast Adam brage's prosthetic leg and it was simply festooned with a William Wallace's worth of Scotland tax I like the William Wallace reference as well cuz I think the phrase would be they may take my leg but they'll never take my freedom So Adam you and I were talking in the Green Room yes about our Strange Journeys into politics do you do you enjoy it I mean you started life not doing this sort of stuff yeah no no no I always wanted to get into politics and I thought you know what's the best way to do that do a show about the Paralympics we we should I'm sure everybody here is more than familiar with the last leg but the last leg uh started Life as a show in the 2012 par Olympic games that were supposed to be a sort of funny and light-hearted Roundup of the day events uh in the par Olympics hosted by Adam uh with Alex Brooker and little Joshy whin and but then it sort of it it became successful well uh so what what happened was after the paral Olympics Channel 4 called me in for a meeting and said look we like the chemistry that you guys have do you think this could be a regular show and I was like yeah and they said what would you like it to be about and I said well do you know what disability sport is a the type of thing that no one's covering what if we did a show that was about disability sport every week and we could Branch out into topical events but let's start with disability Sport and they said yes we love it and they commissioned it we got to the first episode and they went so it's about politics the gay I see I see and in all honesty uh the two things they didn't want us to talk about when we started making the last leg were disability and Sport cuz they went we need to set you aside we need people to know that it's not a disability Sports show anymore you need to only talk about the news and then 3 weeks into our first ever season Oscar Pistorius made the headlines ni and suddenly we were talking about disability sport all over again but weirdly that was the perfect way of getting into politics because the Paro Olympics is such a joyous event but it it's also live so you have to talk about what's just happened and you can't be cynical because it's people with disabilities winning gold medals so you have to be genuine and honest and speak from the heart so then and bear with me then you have Oscar Pastorius shooting his girlfriend through the door of of of a bathroom and most other comedy shows would probably have gone well we can't talk about this but we went well no we did the Paralympics and we talked genuinely and we talked from the heart so let's talk genuinely about this and let's open by going there are no jokes to be made but let's have a discussion about this and I think the Paralympics weird set us up for being able to be honest and not necessarily funny at all times so in a way it weirdly paved the way for us to then talk about the news and because it because it does go out live it does mean that there are points where you do just have to let the audience sit with something right you can't edit out a moment where the audience is sat with some heavy piece of information you have to that goes out and I think that's part of the appeal of the show I think the way we look at it is in well we look at it in two ways we're kind of like The Daily Show for a pub culture do you know what I mean like America has The Daily Show they have a guy in a suit telling you what's what no one in Britain wants that they want three blocks on a couch who kind of get together once a week and go [ __ ] that was mad but if something serious happens like we were on air after you know Joe Cox was was was murdered then you want those blos on a couch to go to be genuine and to go this is awful this is genuinely awful and I think unfortunately with been doing it for so long we've almost got a routine now when a horrific thing happens we go right this is the way we deal with it and we talk about it genuinely and we let the audience know that there's going to be some light later in the show and then eventually we get around to it I mean the genuiness I think is what's amazing about it and like definitely in my life you know I was an arts and culture journalist and just a general human interest journalist and you start finding that politics is everywhere politics is in sport politics is in dating politics is in what you eat and actually when you look at politics politics sometimes it's other things it's actually more soap oper actually more like you know vendettas and revenge and backstabbing Camp it's so oh okay here's a question for you let's have a sweep Stakes who's going to be the first politician in the next month to use the word brat well they've it's already happened unfortunately that brat ship has sailed and it is full of people embarrassingly old and using it it slightly incorrectly because obviously the ca Charlie brat collab happened immediately because Charlie XX described K as being brat so then the Kam Harris official campaign socials team turned everything into the brat green and then I heard somebody described pretty Patel uh who is uh no every Asian kids least favorite aunt but then somebody people uh uh various uh people close to pretty Patel uh started describing her anonymously to uh reporters as being that pretty was the brat candidate oh so which does not make any I don't even know what brat is unless it's an acronym it only works if it's an acronym for something yeah big racist [ __ ] [ __ ] allegedly but I I did want to ask you s sry sorry to go to go back to my serious questions but I did want to ask you do you enjoy it you too do you enjoy it do you enjoy commenting on politics I mean there's a great old quote isn't it that isn't it the to the philosopher all news is Gossip uh so it's all a little bit of [ __ ] at the end of the day um but I do love it yeah there's something vital and something really urgent about it and I guess it's a bit like sport in that way yeah absolutely I think one of my favorite days ever at the last leg was when Theresa May was prime minister and she was making an announcement to the 1922 committee and our office was in Oxford Circus at the time and I remember it coming up on the screen and and so we're only a 15minute walk away from the houses of Parliament and we have a journalist on that works on staff with us at the last leg um to make sure you know we're actually factual and he we were watching it and they said there's going to be an announcement in the 1922 Committee in about you know 25 minutes time and he went oh I've still got my press pass does anyone want to come with me and our producer went holy [ __ ] I want to be part of this and so 25 minutes later we turn on the TV and our journalist and producer are in the background of the press conf like we are so in the middle of what's going on right now that they're actually literally on screen while we're watching it so just being a part of it being able to talk and as you say being live for us [ __ ] happens at 5:00 on a Friday and all of a sudden we're on a few hours later and we're just going oh my God you're not going to believe what I remember reading out Matt Hancock's messages about the whole like during the ad break they were coming in and I was coming back from the ads going we've got more that's when you feel like you're part of something can I just say something though and I'd like to say so there's a weird thing now because you know i' I've become known for the last league but I've never been that political when I do standup comedy and certainly not topical I don't think there's any point touring a show for two years that you're going to have to rewrite my God so I that's to much Don't Kill My Vibe tickets available now but um no politics was never it's not and it's certainly not my thing when I'm doing standup comedy it's we it because it's like it's not my thing either but I think like uh we are inherently political like our identity are inherently political and anytime you really talk about anything you care about like it does kind of become that you know what I mean so it's it's weird because there um I I like how you put it politics politics right which I guess is like here here the the gentleman across the aisle is a bit of a [ __ ] they're so fiery they're like I've heard enough it's like oh go off I mean I I'll be honest sometimes I get annoyed with it cuz I'm like this isn't a game this is people's lives it's not a circus it can annoy me but I do accept that some times when there's a good disc they I am known to quietly nod yes do you think it's going to be harder to make jokes under the labor party man well there [ __ ] West streeting that guy's a [ __ ] clown jokes jokes are already happening man some of these people are jokes it's so weird cuz you're like yes this is better but how much uh it's it's definitely going to be different uh part of me thinks it's in a weird way going to be easier because it's easier to have a have a playful joke with the people that you love the people in your own family a you idiot why have you done that a when it's the neighbors next door that you hate it's really hard to be funny about them and I know Nish is like no no I I I listen I think I definitely think there's there's definitely some truth to that I also think in some regards there is at least an attempt at professionalism with the labor party that puts us back in a position where if you're making jokes about the news you're dealing with people who are trying to be serious which is obviously inherently funny also I would always remind people that you know I came of age uh in the late '90s and early 2000s I know I'm so brat I came of age I can't just as I realized this I realized I'm now going to have to explain to my mother what brat is and I don't know um I would say that uh in that period of time uh the thick of it is like truly like one of the most enduring classic political comedies of all time if you haven't seen the think of it it's great and it was specifically a satire targeted at the labor party and the labor party's kind of obsession with image and spin and it really got under the hood of what was funny about that iteration of the labor party and I would also always recommend people that they watch uh in the loop uh which is the filmed version of the thick of it and that I think is still one of the best films that engages with the leadup to the Iraq War and it is a extremely funny but pitch black and Furious satire about the leadup to the Iraq War and the kind of appalling decision making that led to that war that brought so much kind of misery and death to that region and is something I would always check out so I that's the thing that I always come back to I'm like you can still do it there's still going to be fuckups I think saai artist finest is um is a mirror um and I think you've got to hold it up no matter who you're holding it up to um like it's it's about self-awareness and like nobody gets off easy you know like oh I can't wait to rip CA please please let it be C and I think even like when Biden was in office oh he still is technically um but like it's a wrap um but the thing like it was tough because people didn't want to like uh go at him too hard because uh there was this big energy that Trump would come back around and so it's like you don't want to like tear him a new one just in case we needed to him to tear it again and that I think that puts people in a kind of compromising place when you have to pretend that this guy isn't melting in front of us all I think ke you've identified something that's really probably interesting and important because perhaps there was a scrutiny deficit of Biden because of the fear of trump and maybe one of the things that we're learning like as Progressive people certainly in the last 20 to 25 years of politics is that it is as important that we scrutinize the people we have more in common with than we we're very happy scrutinizing uh the right when in power we're very happy doing it aggressively and you know again as hon growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s maybe there was a scrutiny deficit of Tony Blair maybe that scrutiny deficit is what led him to make the absolutely unfathomable decision to take us into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq maybe the scrutiny deficit of Biden meant that we weren't pushing him hard enough maybe it meant that it was only when it was sort of exposed on National Television that he was I believe the quote was melting in front of oh my God that maybe what you've identified there is something that's important both for satire and for the kind of liberal or leftist media that it is actually really really significant that we scrutinize our friends as much as our enemies absolutely but you think anyone after Hitler was going oh yeah how are we going to make fun of the next guy yeah yeah that's defin maybe just give the next guy a bit of a free pass for a while yeah that's definitely the energy that I think cuz I like I I I I just to be clear I don't blame anyone especially in America and and to be honest I sort of don't blame people right now who you know sometimes when we go at the labor party on the podcast we do sometimes get feedback from people going ple just please give us a month just please [ __ ] give us a month but but you know but at the same time I do think there might be sorts of lessons to be um learned here and I mean I I do think we are in a a con ably different position um at the moment than America was in 2020 where it was like Trump's been defeated but uh this is like one of those movies where they've definitely set up the sequel in the pr credit sequence the only thing I will say positively about the conservative party is they have had the decency to fully [ __ ] the bed they have the bed is so [ __ ] that at the moment you can't even tell it's a bed you're looking at it going that's a pile of [ __ ] look the the the disarray just at the minute is is pretty is pretty thorough and [Music] [Applause] [Music] Q&A - What are we hopeful for? [Applause] spectacular the next thing I wanted to ask everyone is do you feel hopeful what's giving me some real hope and especially watching everything that's gone on in England over the last couple of weeks and there's I I have a big section in my show about um islamophobia and I have tell a specific story about a moment that I saw of of someone feeling you know worried about uh the color of their skin in England and it didn't get much of a response on the first night here in Edinburgh and I was wondering why and then the second night I said sorry are you more accepting of Muslims in Eden in Scotland than in England and the whole audience went I and I was like oh my God and then I went home and did some research and there is a general feeling that north of the Border there is way more acceptance uh of of people of all ethnicities but particularly Muslims and and to be honest I've tried to work out why and I thought is it a is it because Scotland don't cling on to that outdated sense of Empire that English people have or is it because they integrate Muslims better and then I realize no no no the reason that Muslims are accepted here in Scotland is because they're not in England and this is a whole country of people going what do they do we'll do the opposite and you talk about this bubble okay and you said what a lovely feeling it was being in the bubble but also how you felt guilty about it but this Bubble look sure I'm being Mr positive pants but that has given me a sense of hope because I've thought hang on it's not it's not just written in law that this this island bearing in mind I'm from the other side of the world and completely different Island that everyone on this island is going to act a particularly horrific way so if anything Scotland in this particular last week has given me a little bit of Hope and that's how you panda to a nation [Laughter] starts with the foot and ends with the heart I believe we've just live heard Adam title his next tour that that's the the fundamental hopeful aspect of politics right is that nothing is ever certain there is always possibility and that's worth fighting for so if you'll all indulge me audience I'd like to ask ask you hands up what are you hopeful for and let's share it all right cuz an edin show wouldn't be complete without a little bit of therapy at the end I think yeah before we get into the questions just to save us time um uh just to reminder that I am single just a you know that's one last question everyone's wondering everyone's thinking it no one was thinking it it was the first thing you said um my friend what is your question um so for the lgbtq plus Community it's been a bit [ __ ] the last like [ __ ] knows how long at this point Yeah couple of thousand years yeah that's what that's what the people of color are rounding it up to at the moment it's been pretty shaped for a couple of thousand years I feel like that's the vibe at the moment for everything but for folks who are sitting there going like art been like is there any hope is there any change there is a small mining Village in the northwest of England which I'm from originally and they just held their first Pride ever um like the weekend just gone and it was one of those things where like my aunties took a photo with a drag queen for the first time they've ever done this they were so infused and they took a photo and sent it to me and we like look we're allies and I was like that's so cute like Jesus they were just so happy about it and it was the cutest [ __ ] you've ever seen but yeah so if you're sitting there and you're thinking everything is [ __ ] and people don't change and nothing changes it takes a while but it can change like even in a small way yeah thank you very much thank you thank you for sharing that that was very that was lovely also I think Coco is always very good at saying reminding people that hopelessness and despair is a kind of thing that's going to keep us from actually progressing forward so it's good to remind uh ourselves of the hopeful things yes hello hello what an opening I I um so I've been trying to get more into news and politics over the last year so I've listened to your podcast and listened to James O'Brien as well and sometimes I just feel like there's too much bad news so just like a question for all of you is how do you cope when it feels like it's just a NeverEnding sludge of manure being piped into your ear holes it's very poetic isn't it thank you alcohol I I'm not like a big drinker but I find that a good wank self-care yeah just get that get that weight off your shoulders so single you [Laughter] say no love it independent Modern Woman um uh Coco hsy any uh all right okay can I answer that with a story then um uh working at the last leg uh the day of the Westminster attacks uh which were again clearly Westminster is like a 10-minute walk from our offices horrific watching it on the TV and I went straight into work mode which is how on Earth are we going to cover this this is horrific and this one little quote popped into my head from from Mr Rogers the American Kids TV host which is always when someone had said what do I say to my kids when there's a horrible tragedy or a disaster on the news and he said tell them to look for the helpers always look for the helpers CU there was one [ __ ] in the Westminster attacks and there were dozens and dozens of helpers so in that respect when there's when there's [ __ ] news and there's a you know a pile of manure being pumped in look for the good but look for the helpers because if we look at what's going on in England right now with with the race riots how many I don't know if you've seen tonight but in places like Bristol and Brighton and walam Stow thousands of people in Brighton and this is God what a beautiful piece of irony some of the farri [ __ ] because they're not protesters we know that were being protected by the police the people who've been throwing [ __ ] at the police all week and now depending on them to save their lives because there's thousands thousands of people now coming out so you went look for the helpers and in this case look for the thousands of people around England who have stood up and gone no we're not going to stand for this [ __ ] anymore and look for the thousands of people in Scotland who go and we don't already like you know what I mean so for me it would be look for the helpers I mean I yeah I completely agree you know every story that come you know as a as a journalist myself okay fine sometimes you get stories out because someone's read some data that got released by a government department but most of the time stories gets out because citizens tell you that's why there are we there are plenty of people with good senses of right and wrong in this country I'd say they were the majority and the problem is is that they are constantly made voiceless and they're constantly made powerless so yeah that's always what gives me hope because for every sad story and bad story and yeah sometimes those stories you you do feel like that problem is not going to be fixed immediately and that really hurts but the fact that you know that story is because people know that was wrong and they're not having it and so I think that's something to cling to and something to fight for and keep pushing on um yeah and even just when you were talking about the [ __ ] as in like the manure of life not not the bed of [ __ ] not the bed of [ __ ] but the manure of life I was thinking got it yeah yeah cool got it when I was thinking of the manure of life I then started thinking about our sewage system sorry this has gone weird but people have been talking about um members of the public have been going out and measuring [ __ ] for like a decade that is just citizen journalism citizen activism I don't know their names but whoever you are wherever you are you literally put your hands in [ __ ] so we one day can swim and I respect it so yeah that's that's what keeps me going so we've had a range of answers there we've got citizen journalists look to the helpers alcohol and masturbation th% th% feel like often with all of these things everyone contributed something to that th% yeah does anyone have another question or another thing that they hopeful about uh I have I have two quick questions so one is having seen a longer course of history I'm curious is your mom hopeful about the future or the current uh and what is she hopeful about a mostly second question uh Kima can I have your [Music] number hot Shack the UK you see what I'm saying hot Shack the UK Shack the UK turn up you were so quiet about that you were so unassuming quite confidence quite conf that was brat that was brat no that was passive I mean but massive but massive I [ __ ] with I [ __ ] with I was what I was going to say was we uh we can actually ask my mom what she's hopeful about one of the most polite ways you've ever been called old in your life Bea was by a man saying having seen a longer span of History I love that the last word is going to your mom but we should also I mean I feel like that's going to be I'm set you up with quite a difficult act to follow because that man has also somehow managed to ask for Kea Bob's number and get a comment from I mean this show is ending in the most enthralling fashion possible like I cannot believe we have locked out on quite the conclusion here um Mom uh so I guess we'll resolve the Kea plotline off Mike but for the last word now and with quite the act to follow uh we turn uh to my mother for what she feels hopeful about please don't [ __ ] ask for ke's number as well like we're in all manner of you I'm too old for that so no no you're not too old just seen a longer Manan of History what are you hopeful about mother I I've been living in this country for 52 years now that's a longt most people are nice people so I'm hopeful that they'll stand up and say tell you know stand up for what's right I think I will that's the last word that's my mom we call her killer be she does not like it it um what a hopeful and wonderful way uh to end the podcast from the woman who brought me into this world and I would say reminds me of that on a day-to-day basis uh including cop uses of the word stretch marks uh but uh thank you so much uh to all of you for coming to these shows it was a genuine privilege to do this we're so happy that people came we're so happy that people knew what it was we're so happy that people stayed energetic even though it's [ __ ] 1 in the morning um just before we go can we just have a huge and massive Round of Applause for our two guests the brilliant Adam Hills and the incredible kab Bob you can catch Kema show misfortunate here at The Fringe until the 25th of August check it out it is an absolutely amazing show and you can catch Adam Hills on the last legs coverage of the par Olympics in just a few weeks and his new documentary footfall on the 26th of August on Sky to our listeners at home thank you so much for joining us with taking a break for a few weeks but we will catch you in early September this was a reduced listening production for crooked media thank you and good night