Ep 290: Daisy Ridley
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Huge news from off-menu towers, James. We've just added extra dates for Off Menu Live, the tasting menus at the Royal Albert Hall. We will be there on Sunday the 15th of March, 2026 at 2pm. Sunday the 15th of March at 7.30pm. It's on Sunday the 15th of March. Two shows, 2026. Tickets from royalalberthall.com and ctickets.com.

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Welcome to the Off Menu Podcast, taking the chips of conversation, adding the cheese of humour, pouring over the gravy of friendship.

It's Chips, Cheese and Gravy, the podcast. Oh, I thought you were doing like a poutine thing, but I guess that was cheese curds. No, I'm going old school, baby. I'm going UK, Chips, Cheese and Gravy. It's lunchtime on a Friday? Lunchtime on a Friday. At school. That's what we would do at school on a Friday. Is it? Is that your Friday lunch? Yeah, we'd go to the chip shop around the corner from the school and some kids would just get a fish and, well, just chips with so much vinegar on it

and then they would huff it and make themselves inhale it and then like see if they would splutter and cough and stuff but other kids would get chips, cheese and gravy yeah and what would you do? I'd have a lunch laughing

That's a gamble. My name is James Acaster. Together, we own a dream restaurant and every single week, we invite in a guest to be asked in their favour ever. Start, make, or dessert, side dish and drink. Not in that order. And this week, our guest is... Daisy Ridley. Daisy Ridley, a wonderful actor, of course. Yes, amazing actor. You will have seen her in Magpie, The Young Woman and the Sea, Star Wars, of course. But...

Soon you will be seeing her in Cleaner. Cleaner. A Sky original. A Sky original. Daisy stars alongside Taz Skyler and Clive Owen. It's very exciting. Directed by Martin Campbell. We're going to talk more about it when Daisy is in the Dream Restaurant. Yes, absolutely. Have you seen it, James? Yes, I have seen it. I'm very excited to talk about it.

Is that true? I haven't... I don't... It's not out yet, and I don't get sent... I mean, I might have got sent a link, but I... We should have been sent a link, Benito. But I'll tell you why we've not been sent a link. It's because this wasn't supposed to be today. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I forgot that we were going to destroy him in the intro. Benito told us that this was, and Daisy doesn't know this, and we're not going to mention this to Daisy. No, we're professional. But Benito said to us, Daisy Ridley is coming in next Friday. Well, he sent his list through. He sends this filthy little list through. He sends a list through. Every time we get a new guest booked in, Benito sends a whole list through of all the podcasts that we're doing on the dates and the times, and it annoys me.

because rather than just send through the new one, he has to put it on his stupid, filthy little pervert list. I love the list. The list for me... You love the list. I've always been in favour of the list. It's a nice reminder. Here's the full schedule. And do you check your diary every time the list comes through? No.

When my diary tells me, hey, you're in off-menu today, then I can go on the off-menu WhatsApp. And because you post the list regularly now, it means I'd have to scroll back very far to find the list and go, what time am I in? I'm in that time. Hang on, you don't put...

the time of the interview in your diary. No, because originally, Benito will just say, block out a full day. He'll go, can you block out these days? Yeah, but then he'll say why we're blocking out a full day. So it'll be like Daisy Ridley at 3pm. No, initially, he'll just go block out these days. He will, but then he'll say, here's who we have on the day and the time. That's when you put it in the diary. So you block, regardless of what else tries to come in, you block out a whole day, even if we only have one episode. I won't be doing anything else on an off-menu day. LAUGHTER

Are you kidding me? That's why I give so much energy to the pod. Yeah, that's true. You do give a lot of energy to the pod. But this was supposed to be happening on Friday the 14th of March, was on the list, on two lists, in fact. Two lists. Penciled and then confirmed, Daisy Ridley, Friday the 14th of March. Yeah. It's the 7th of March today. At noon, Benito Mesa's just saying, Daisy Ridley in today, get here for about 3pm. Yeah. You went, yep, see you then. Yeah, because I looked at...

I was like, oh, I've got it in for next week, but I must be wrong. It must be me who's wrong and Benito is so wise. He must be right. Whereas I checked my diary. Yeah. Wasn't in for today. Had a whole lovely day planned. Relaxing. And I checked the list Friday the 14th. I was right. Yeah. Benito has been strung by his own stupid list. And you brought it up and then Benito was correct.

was quiet for a bit. It was just me and you on the group. I was going, oh, I actually did notice this, but I wasn't confident enough. And then we're like, Benito, where are you? And then we were doing a little riff that he'd fainted because he had fainted. I imagined him with his head in his hands rocking back and forth. Yeah. And then he did come back on and he was like, oh, fuck. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. Oh, guys. Oh, shit.

oh this is my fault I'm so sorry and he was he was very can you still do it can you still do it yeah can you still do it if you can't I'll just go with my tail between my legs I'll tell the PR that I fucked up we could still do it we're good guys I cancelled the wedding I was going to and it was your own one as well wasn't it my own wedding sorry baby yeah and Ed's Ed's cancelled his day of relaxing day of relaxing happy

Happy wedding. But we're okay with that because we feel very lucky to have Daisy Ridley on the podcast. Oh, absolutely. Very excited too. There's not many guests I would cancel a day of relaxing for. No, there's not. I mean, if it was Hugh Davis, you wouldn't have cancelled. No way. Now, as always, we have a secret ingredient.

And if Daisy Ridley picks it, she will be kicked out the dream restaurant with a heavy heart. With a heavy heart, yes. And this week, the secret ingredient is rabbit. Daisy Ridley was in the Peter Rabbit film as Cottontails, who had chosen rabbit. Yes. We try so hard with these secret ingredients to relate them to people's work. I'm saying that if you voiced a cartoon rabbit, surely you can't eat rabbit now.

I can't eat mice. No, that's true. Because you're a mouse. Yeah, John the Mouse. So I reckon that because Daisy played Cottontail the rabbit, she won't pick rabbit. You can't eat scientists. I couldn't if I tried. Parabiologists. Sorry, but you loved eating parabiologists before Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Couldn't get enough. And now you empathise with them. Now I played Lars Pinfield the parabiologist, I could not eat parabiologists. Yes. Even if I wanted to.

This is the off-menu menu of Daisy Ridley. Welcome, Daisy, to the dream restaurant. Thank you. Welcome, Daisy Ridley, to the dream restaurant. I've been expecting you for some time.

Thank you. That was big, James. You went for it. Yeah. Well, yeah, you've been saying that a lot lately, so maybe you've just got to get used to that. That's the level I go in at. The influx of energy. But I feel like it's because I've been saying it to James that he now feels like, because, you know, for the listener, James now pushes himself into the back wall. It's really soft, this back wall. And I like how it feels when I push my head into the back of it. So I don't mind doing that. And I've just had my hair cut.

Yeah. Literally before coming here. Nice. I came here straight from getting a haircut, Daisy. I've never done that for any other guest. Thank you. What do you think of the haircut? Nice, yeah. Yeah. Smart. I actually thought that looks fresh. First time I've been to this particular hairdresser. I'm not going to... How do you feel about it? I hate it. Don't you hate the haircut? I hate it. Really? Yeah. It's nice. I hate it. But don't you hate a haircut every time on the first day of having it? When it looks fresh, I find it mortifying. Then people know you've had a haircut.

I haven't had my hair cut for a while, so. You know, how long do you have? About here. I shaved it off a few years ago and I did go to a barber and paid £15 for them to just do that. The problem was I'd bleached my hair. So when it was shaved, I felt quite cool because it was blonde and then shaved off the blonde and that was not cute at all. And that took a long time to be okay. Were you wearing a hat during that time? Uh,

Yes. Did you have a particular go-to hat that was like, that's my... I had...

Was it that hat that I was wearing at the time? I had a bucket hat with daisies all over it that I was given. Wow. Nice. Just in case. Yeah. People are like, I remember you. Yeah, I wear a train with my name on it. Do you meet many daisies? I meet James's all the time and they try and make a big deal of like, oh, good, James too. It's like it's a common name. I don't have a connection with you, mate. But do you have that with daisies? Do you feel connected? I worked with an actress called Daisy Head. Fantastic. Yeah. And

And I worked with an AD called Daisy Rogers. Fantastic. So just in the biz. It's an industry name. Maybe. It's an industry name. I'm trying to think. I probably have somewhere else, but those are the two that come to mind. My agent's called Daisy. Oh, really? Industry name. Shout out. It's an industry name.

Producer of the Taskmaster podcast, Daisy. Oh! There you go. There we go. Turns out it's nominative determinism, really, isn't it? If you're called Daisy, you're going to be in the biz. Exactly. Anyone listening who's called Daisy who's not in the biz, you have let yourself down. Very embarrassing. Daisy May Cooper. Daisy May Cooper. Oh, yeah. We'll just do this for the rest of it. Or we could talk about Cleaner, your new film. That you loved.

I absolutely loved it. I thought it was so good. Watched it, loved it. Yeah. What was your favourite moment? I thought the whole thing I felt was like...

Just very, the tone was lovely. I loved the performances. And it made me feel, it was very thought-provoking as well, which I guess, did that come across in the script when you read it? Is that what drew you to it? That was so good, man. That was really good. And you just like Sky Originals, don't you? I mainly like Sky Originals, the genre that I like the film. The Sky movies. Yes, I like Sky Originals. It was an actual answer to this question.

I really wanted to work with Martin Campbell. Yeah. The great Martin Campbell, directed Two of the Bonds, directed some of the best movies ever. So when I saw his name there, I was very excited. But I loved the script. It's a proper great action movie and the relationship that you might have been referring to. The tone. Yeah.

Of the relationship with me and my brother in the movie is really genuinely lovely. So getting to explore that with Matt, who plays the role of Michael, who's my brother in the movie, was really lovely.

Was there a scene that like, because you said you really wanted to work with Martin, was there a scene where you were like, yeah, this is what, like, it really stands out in your head that's like, yeah, this is like a really good day at work, really fun filming this scene and what I thought it would be like to collaborate with this guy. It's interesting because I was re-watching his movies as we were filming and what I was really struck by is we all know the great action set pieces that Martin does, but re-watching his movies, there's always so much humour and...

and real resonance in the characters' relationships. So one of the things that...

felt very fun to do in that way a very sort of charged relationship I've also never sworn as much ever in a movie I swear so much at my boss in the film he is such a plonker that that I love that you didn't even swear describing him there you were like I've done all my swearing we're just gonna call him a plonker that he was that was very fun and that's the sort of um humor I think that Martin does really well in his films and

And then honestly falling from the ceiling and, you know, I refer to it as my Spider-Woman moment. Yeah. And putting a plastic bag over someone's head and resting them to the ground and taking them out. Did you do all that stuff where you're trying to trip James up? No, I did. Does that sound like James? No, that's real. All that stuff happened. Yeah. All that stuff happened. James does. I was just waiting for James to go, yeah, I love that bit with the ceiling and for you to go, well, that didn't happen in that. Yeah.

It did happen. I re-watched that scene. Rewound it. Yeah, re-watched it. I was like, that'll definitely come up. When you put the plastic bag over someone's head, how much rehearsal are you doing for that? That one was actually, that was a moment where I thought, I actually don't know that I can carry on because the adrenaline was so...

So high. Getting used to... I mean, I'm used to stunt riggers who are incredible, but a lot of what we had been doing was, you know, pre-programmed. So, you know, where everything's going to end up. But the moment that I'm referring to, I had two stunt riggers holding me up and I'm however...

I don't know, 15 feet in the air. So someone had to hold my toe so I wasn't swinging when I dropped. So someone would be holding my toe to keep me still. Then they'd run away. We'd already be rolling. And then they'd have to drop me. And it was a heavy drop. So I had to drop and hope I didn't hurt my ankles. And then getting the bag over someone's head and then there's a sequence of things that I have to do. That...

It took like 15 goes to get it right. And my adrenaline was so high. I was shaking so much. It's like you're actually dropping from the ceiling and killing someone with a plastic bag. It was actually like that. I mean, one of the real funny moments in the shoot was my makeup artist, Charlie, came up to me and she goes, God, can you imagine if you were on the side of the building and this was happening inside and you had to save the day? I was like, that's literally my job. Constantly imagining that. This is going to segue into food. Watch this.

Okay. But we've been through this. Don't announce a segue before you do the segue. Watch this. When you're doing a scene like that, and the adrenaline's all over the place, are you eating anything, drinking anything to get yourself going? Get yourself... Not a good segue. Get your energy levels up. Not a good segue. Stop tapping.

Well, for the first time ever, I ordered meals for this shoot because I knew it would be incredibly taxing physically. So I had a structured meal plan, which was very good. And so I'm making sure I had what I needed. But we actually had our four o'clock hot chocolate club, which was really nice.

nice we had an amazing barista Carlo on set it was actually a very nice way to break up the day because often with this we were in the same location for a lot of it and it's nice to just have a little afternoon moment so a hot chocolate in the afternoon who's in the hot chocolate club it was me Tamsin hair and makeup designer Charlie Simon the writer and

And then various people would sort of come in and out. But I called us the fireside crew because we had a heater. It was very cold in the studio. Clive Owen not in the hot chocolate club? He could have been. It wasn't that he wasn't invited, but he wasn't there for... The door was open. The door was open, yeah. But I can't imagine. Can't imagine Clive Owen in the fireside crew? Yeah, fireside crew. Imagine Clive Owen drinking a hot chocolate on his own.

Can you imagine that? What? Can you imagine that man drinking the hot chocolate? Yes. No way. What do you imagine him drinking? I can't imagine him smiling. Oh my God. But also you will know that I've done a film with Clive before. Yeah, I do. What was the name of it again? Huh? What was the name of it again? Postal Pre-Production. Postal Pre-Production. The release. What was the release of the film called? Big Bird. Big Bird? Yeah. Yeah.

big big bird it's a Sesame Street universe movie yeah it's a Sesame Street movie it is it's a big bird origin story also just to be clear Clive is fantastic he wasn't in that much which is why he wasn't in the Firefly crew I think he's fantastic and I think he's I bet he's got a sense of humour he's a laugh but I can't imagine him drinking a hot chocolate if anyone can imagine Clive Owen drinking a hot chocolate then they should be an actor that's a good imagination yeah

A martini maybe? Yeah, of course. Of course, and that's why he got close, but no cigar. Yeah.

We always start with still a sparkling water, Daisy. Do you have a preference? Still, please. Very, very to the point. I struggle to understand sparkling water. You struggle to understand it? Yeah. You can't even conceive of it? Like, I have a few sips, but it's one of those things that when people are just having glass after glass, I think, oh, it's just like a, it's not for me. No. Yeah, that many glasses is kind of crazy. I think if you're having more than one glass of sparkling water, then that is quite psychotic. Yeah.

I'll glug it. Yeah, that's so strange. Point made. If it's mixed with something, like I'm a big fan of a fizzy elderflower. So if you've got elderflower cordial in there, chug away. But not by itself. Chug away at the elderflower cordial. What is it about? Because I've never been able to get on with elderflower cordial. Really? But I would say my mum, my sister, my partner, all huge fans. So I clearly... You trying to make this a gender thing? Oh dear. LAUGHTER

Oh no, I've done it. I didn't even realise. Yeah. What you're saying there is... I'm making it a gender thing. You ladies love elderflower, that's what you're trying to say. Why do the ladies love elderflower? I don't know why the ladies plural do, but I love it. I gave up fizzy drinks years ago for Lent, so I never really went back to the big brands. I don't know if you're allowed to say them on here, the Cokes and what have you. Yeah. But for whatever reason, because my mum likes elderflower, so I think I took it from her. Well, maybe it is a gender thing. LAUGHTER

Any fellas who like elderflower, tweet the podcast. Tweet! Tweet is so outdated. Oh yeah, don't do that. Any fellas who like elderflower. I'll have an elderflower. I like an elderflower. With fizzy water. Cancel the tweets.

It's been disproven already. What else have you given up for Lent in the past? I think I tried to give up chocolate. That didn't happen. Glad to hear it. That was the only thing, fizzy drinks. And I really stuck to it. That's the only one that's got completely, you did it. Did it. I remember talking to my gran at the time and I said, oh, do you give up anything? And she was a Christian. Yeah. And she said, you get to my age and you don't need to give anything up. She said, I have my pleasures and that's what I like. You know? Yeah. And I thought that was quite lovely. Yeah.

I think if my gran said to me, I have my pleasures. I know the way I said it. Oh, God. She didn't say it like that. And I really apologise for how that's happened. I'm giving up visiting you for Lent, man. I'm never coming here again. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

No, but that's nice. Once you get to that age, you're just like, no way. Why would I do that? Why would I sort of weirdly punish myself? And then actually someone said something about taking up something is quite a lovely thing to do. But I didn't do that. That's anti-Jesus, isn't it? He wasn't taking up anything in the desert. Is that what it was? I don't know. Is it in the desert? I think it's like he goes in the desert, doesn't he? He's in the desert for ages and then he comes out on pancake day or something. No! Back!

Pancake Day was this week. Pancake Day's been... Yeah. So Pancake Day kicks off Lent. He had pancakes before he went in the desert to give him enough energy. Pancake Day cleared out all of the cupboards of people who were about to embark on Lent. I do know that. So he had a pancake, went into the desert and didn't have any fizzy drinks while he was there. Correct? Oh my God. Certainly not elderflower. Then at the end he went, I have my pledges. Yeah.

He said to one of the people writing the Bible, write this down. I have my pleasures. I have my pleasures. I'm going to do it. Write that in the Bible. The guy following him around writing the Bible. Yeah. There was a few of them, weren't there? Four of them at least. The main guys. Yeah. Writing a lot of it. Yeah. Have you got my brother told you this stuff? He must have.

Oh my god, I'm still mortified at how I expressed my grandmother's sentiments. You made her sound like a pal. Oh god. But please don't ask us to edit it out though because it was funny and you come across fine. It's an understandable mistake to make. Pop lobs of bread! Pop lobs

or bread, Daisy Reddy? Pop-Dogs or bread? Bread. Well, I suppose it's a case-by-case thing. If I'm in an Indian restaurant, of course I would take a pop-a-dum. But for the most part, I would take bread, yeah. But we're not in an Indian restaurant for your dream meal? No, no. Do you have a look of a restaurant for your dream meal? Like, what atmosphere do you want to be dining in? So, I have actually spoken about my mother's dining table before, but to me that encompasses love and shared food. Mm-hmm.

So it would probably look a little something like that, where there's too many people for the table, there are too many chairs. Obviously, you want the dream restaurant to be comfortable, but that to me is the epitome of sharing in something when there's not quite enough room, you know? So just a cosy space. Do people talk about table shape often? Not enough. Not enough, I'd say, yeah. Because the difficulty is, with a lot of people on a circular table, you can't speak to the person opposite you. Mm-hmm.

So I feel like a rectangular table is nice because then you've got the person to the left or right of you and the person opposite. But then you can't speak to the person down the other way. So I suppose it would be a change each course situation.

Change the table shape. Change the seats. Or change the table shape. It's the dream restaurant, so it can be a constantly evolving table. Yeah, I'd say a rectangular long table and people change seats every time. Okay, nice. But it has to be a proper shuffle around, not just like move one. Yeah, unless you're in the middle of a really good conversation, then you wouldn't want to move.

How do you feel about situations like a dinner party or something, though, or a wedding where you're deliberately sat next to someone that you don't know? I'm not a huge fan of that. No. I just feel like it can be uncomfortable. Although I went to my friend's wedding last year and I actually ended up knowing someone that was there, my

not accidentally because it wasn't accidental, but I was like, oh, okay. But the earlier part of the wedding, everybody went to the pub. So there was the ceremony, then we went to the pub, then we went back. And I told myself to be brave. And I walked up to a group of people and said, hello. Hello.

I'm alone here. Can I chat to you? And they were so lovely. So it was a good lesson in overcoming that real intense awkwardness I would usually feel. How much of it was they were lovely and you went up and said, hello, I'm alone. Can I talk to you? And how much of it was, it's Daisy Ridley. No, it wasn't that. It wasn't that. Because later on they went, oh my God. Right. Okay. That's good. That's the best case scenario. They were faking that. Yeah.

Daisy, we haven't known you very long, but you're a gullible bastard. Oh my God. No, they were faking it. They had a few drinks with him later on. No, everyone had had a few. Everyone had had a few. But I have to say it was, I mean, shout out Lois and Kieran. It was one of the most joyful weddings or parties. Everyone was so lovely and everyone really spoke to each other.

That's impressive. There's normally a rogue person at a wedding. I know. I did go to three other weddings last summer. There were no rogue people anywhere, actually. What kind of bread are we talking? I mean, probably a sourdough because that's what tends to be in a restaurant. But fresh out of the oven, real warm. And I'm a vegan, so I'm not taking butter. But I will take a delicious olive oil and balsamic dip.

And with a sprinkle of salt. How much salt are you putting on? Because I put on the amount of salt when I'm in public that I feel like is socially acceptable. But if I was by myself, it's going to be about four times the amount. I don't know that my salt depends on beer pressure. I feel like it's a just standard sprinkle. Okay. Yeah.

Your dream starter. Okay, so this is the one that I think I actually, well, I have two options here. So one is there's a vegan restaurant in LA called Crossroads that is so tasty and they do impossible cigars. So yeah, it's like phyllo pastry with impossible meat inside and it's rolled up and they do like an almond dip.

And it is just so fucking nice. But there's also a restaurant in Liverpool, and I wish I could remember the name, but it's an Italian restaurant down a tiny little alleyway that my husband was doing a TV show there and we were recommended it. And they had this dish that was butter beans in a creamy sauce. The non-vegans had Parmesan on. I did not. With truffle. And it was mind-blowingly delicious with a delicious crusty bit of bread.

to dip into it too. That sounds great. Are you doing research, Benito? Are you trying to find the name of this place? I actually tried to find it because we went back there.

It's off, if the bombed out church is here and you walk up the road, before you take the right onto Hope Street, it's in there. And I remember this because the hotel is called Hope Street Hotel. Yeah, it's in there somewhere. So it's really close to the Hope Street Hotel and the bombed out cathedral. While Benito's trying to search for it. Are you too young to remember Blazing Squad? No, I'm not too young. I love Blazing Squad. Are you capable of going to crossroads and not thinking about them? See you at the crossroads, Stockholm.

crying love Blazing Squad who was your favourite member of Blazing Squad how many members were there a lot there were a lot and I feel like there were like four or five main ones and then what they'd done quite nicely is they just got a load of their mates to be like they're in the band as well even though they didn't do anything they just gave them names yeah

I think Kenzie was sort of the lead guy, right? I didn't know you were such a aficionado. Kenzie from Blazing Squad. I know there was one called Strider. Oh, there was Strider. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'm struggling, really. I remember Kenzie and Strider. It was like So Solid Crew, all those amazing big bands. Yeah. But the same with So Solid Crew, I don't think we heard from a lot of them. I should do. Well,

Asher D of course but I mean just like when they were so solid yeah yeah yeah there was a lot of people who were clearly on admin roles well also I saw an interview with who was it and they said 21 seconds came from the fact everyone was allowed 21 seconds to have their piece from the band yeah yeah how great what a diplomatic way of showcasing on that song yeah 21 seconds each they all had 21 second verses yeah we should have that role on the podcast me and you 21 seconds each yeah at a time not throughout the whole pod

But like, Benito should start a stopwatch every time we start talking. And then we've got to stop for 21 seconds. How do you think that experience would be for you, Daisy, if the hosts spoke for 21 seconds each? Why don't we see? Yeah, yeah. Let's find out. Yeah, I'll get a stopwatch up. It's quite similar to something that happens on one of Benito's other podcasts. Is it? What happens on one of his other podcasts? On Perfect Brains, they do the conch, which is this idea, basically. Is it? Yeah, yeah. Forget it.

So you've got to choose between these two dishes. Okay. In speaking about them, I'd say the bean dish.

I think the bean dish, you're really into that bean dish. Yeah, yeah. It was so good. The fact you listed exactly, basically the coordinates of the restaurant. Yeah. And then actually there was another time I was really torn because there's also a great vegan restaurant called Down the Hatch in Liverpool. But I wanted the beans so much that we went there for starters and then went to Down the Hatch for a main and a dessert. So you can do a vegan crawl around Liverpool. Yeah. They've got some good options. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Down the Hatch, oh.

I feel like in most cities there's one amazing vegan restaurant. There was one in Sheffield. I can't remember the name. But there's always one really good one. Bean dish sounds like one word to me. Bean dish. Bean dish. Yeah. Every time you kept saying it. Like fiendish. Like fiendish. Fiendish. Yeah, yeah. I just thought it was a nice name for... The fiendish bean dish. The Halloween dish. Yeah. That was when Jesus went into the swamp. Absolutely.

And he came out and he scared a lot of kids. Very Christian festival Halloween, isn't it? Very Christian. Do you do Halloween? I want to be someone that does Halloween. And I end up not really. The last time I actually did Halloween, I was in LA and went to someone's house and it was amazing. The neighborhood was amazing. But I had very quickly got a costume together. You know in Mean Girls, when she turns up.

It was like that. Everyone else was so put together and there was me. I didn't have fake teeth in, but sort of greyish makeup. I didn't even have... Everything was just off. Yeah. And I felt really embarrassed and I wish I hadn't dressed up at all. What were you dressed up as? I had found this...

I'd found this dress in a winter short and it was so itchy too. It was horrible. So I was a dead, I don't know, something. Yeah. Yeah. So you hadn't thought about what you were. I mean, I've done those Halloweens before as well. You're just like, well, I'm dead. And I wanted to take part. Yeah. You should have said that to everyone. Just walk in and go, guys, I want to take part. Just want to let you know I'm a dead something. Yeah. I'm here. Yeah. You must have had people dress up as you for Halloween. Yes.

Yes. I've never seen anyone in real life do it. But I've seen pictures. Yep. So we go with the bean dish? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But shout out to Crossroads. Shout out to Crossroads. Is that in LA? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. So tasty. Well, there you go. So we've had this cigar already on the pod. So I'm adding this. Which makes me think I probably asked the Blazing Squad question before. Maybe.

Maybe. I can't see myself hearing Crossroads back then, Ed, and not saying the Blazers squad thing. When Sam Carter was on the podcast very early on in the life of this podcast, and he picked the cigars, you must have done the Crossroads stuff. I must have. I apologise. That's okay. Because I have no memory of this, but clearly I've repeated. We can see how close the riff was to identical. And what you brought to it, you know. I bet you can...

lay the riffs over the top of each other and you just say the exact same thing. Yeah. I'm just saying the same thing from here. This is off the top of my head. This is great. Your dream main course. So this is the one that's very difficult for me. So for me, I feel like in trying to think about, I go to similar restaurants. I often try things, but I try to be trying other things.

But, you know, they're my favourites that I come back to. But I think food for me is so emotional and home signifying that part of me feels like, honestly, sausage and mash with Bisto gravy and peas. That's one. And I'm a vegan now, but my gran used to make a casserole with boiled potatoes and peas. So that is also another. Is that the pleasure's gran? Yeah.

I was going to say the Christian grand, but fair enough. Was the casserole one of her pleasures? I think. Oh my God. Sorry, mum. And my mum now does it, but now I obviously don't eat it. But in terms of emotion and home, that's it. And then you're looking at an honest burger, the classic vegan bacon. But,

But I know that's not really... But those are the things to... Why aren't you thinking the burger way? Well, because I feel like people, you know, talk about incredibly luxurious things. Not really. Sometimes they do. Yeah. You've got to go with what you feel. Yeah. What you genuinely want to eat. Yeah. On like a...

not that I've, as I was saying, I haven't worked in a little while, but at the end of a work week, what I would love to do is sit down with either a burger or sausage and mash probably. Then that, I think that's what you've got to go for. If it's your dream meal, you're putting together literally what you want. Here we go. How about this, Daisy? What? Go on. You get the burger. Yeah. We get the burger. We get it. We get it. We get it.

well this is what we're going to do okay we put it on a plate what if we did this and then we build the mash around it with the sausages in it and so you have the sausage and mash and then inside you've got your burger there that sounds horrible yeah that sounds so gross what if we put the burger in a bell jar laughing

And then the mash over the... Yeah. I think that sounds worse. Imagine licking mash off a bell jar. Yeah, that's actually making me feel queasy. You've got to lick it off of there. Yeah, but you've got to get... The mash will be stuck to the bell jar, right? Yeah. But for sure, it always has to be Bisto gravy. Yeah, I like that detail. And I know the gravy purists will say no, but for me, the Bisto gravy out of the red carton. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bomb. Nostalgic. Yeah. But then I also do love a roast dinner. Bisto surely making a...

appearance there as well yeah and I do also yeah I cook meat although I don't eat it so that is usually involved in the roast but maybe it would be roast potatoes with sausages oh dear oh I don't know there's a lot going on also I think my virtue of being away a lot for work

it is just about home. Yeah. So it's funny because even the idea of a restaurant, I picture everything in a home. With everyone sat around the table. Yeah. Which, by the way, loads of people sat around a table, too many people, and everyone's reaching in and sharing. Yeah. It's my nightmare. Is it? Well, I don't like the reaching and someone's getting burnt and whatever. Like, if there was a way that the food appeared on everyone's plate at the same time. Yes. Perfect. And there were enough gravy jugs that it's not running out by the time it gets to the other end, you know. Because if you're at the wrong end,

and you can see the gravy going around. And it's getting less and less. So anxious. Yeah, yeah. And even if someone says, like your mum or whatever, oh, well, there's more gravy in the kitchen, don't worry about it. Like the mum. You're like, well, fucking,

fucking bring it in now. Yeah. Bring it in now and let's start it down this end. I eat quite quickly so me and my mum cooked for my mum's friend last week for her birthday and then I was sort of wedged in so I wanted to go and get more and I couldn't get out and that was quite stressful. How much were you wedged in? There wasn't much room. Well there were two people inside of me but you know there were too many people. Yeah that's far too many people if you're wedged in you can't even get up if you needed the toilet.

Well, I mean, it's people just passing the food to you and you're just like in the corner. Yeah, so then eventually I was passing more and then I left and sort of stayed down the other end so I was free. Just went and stood in the corner. Yeah. Standing up, holding your plate. Yeah, just... Facing the wall like Blair Witch. Asking for more, yeah. That's nice, you and your mum making something for a friend. Yeah, I was only meant to do... What was I doing? Oh, I was doing jeweled rice for it. So I was only meant to be doing the jeweled rice and then ended up doing...

What's that? Well, I had been to New York a couple of weeks before. Yeah. And I went for dinner with my publicist in this delicious restaurant. Again, wish I could tell you the name. Can't. Where is it exactly? Do you remember? It's... No idea. 50 steps east of the Largo. Yeah. It was a 15 minute drive from the hotel I was staying in. Anyway, she wasn't...

into it from outside it wasn't giving what I think the restaurant was actually giving and we went in and it was a Super Bowl day so it was quite empty so you never can tell you know for restaurants a bit empty but they did this I think in America they do fried Brussels sprouts so well on like every menu as well every menu yeah yeah so they had done amazing sprouts and then they did this jeweled rice that was just perfect and it had all of the fruit and everything in it but then it had crispy onions on top there's fruit in this rice that's the jewels baby that's the jewels

What fruit? Bananas? Well, the one I made was slightly different. So it was not bananas. Dried apricots, dried cranberries. Pomegranates? Almonds, pomegranate, big one. Various other things. Oh, nice. Yeah, it's delicious. What do you think the jewels were? I don't know, really. I guess like something nice and sparkly. In the rice. Yeah, yeah. No.

A bell jar? Yeah. Well, that would be good, wouldn't it? The rice around a bell jar. They have some jewels under the bell jar. Yeah, lovely. Once you've finished all the rice, you get a nice load of jewels to take home with you.

That would be the opposite of you saying, I don't want anything too fancy, as saying, actually, I do want a pile of rice with some jewels. Yes, please. Are you leaning towards any of these options? You've got three options here. Bisto makes a play in all of them, I think. Not in the burger. Not in the burger. Although, would you? Well, we can chat about that. No, no, no, no, no, no. You wouldn't pour Bisto on a burger? No. If I went for a chip shop chip, which...

Sometimes, yeah. I would never order gravy, but I would occasionally use gravy to dip my chips in. I mean, really, I'm thinking about sausage and mash. Yeah. And peas. And are we going back to a time before you were vegan? No, no. So this is a, this isn't, the, the, this isn't sausages. That's the brand name. This isn't. Yeah, yeah. This isn't sausages is the brand name. The brand name is this isn't. Yeah. And these are the, this isn't sausages. It's wordy, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

Not so much. It's just this isn't. This isn't. This isn't. They do all sorts, but the sausages are very good. This isn't sausages. This isn't sausages. And I will use a vegan butter in the mash. Of course. What's vegan butter like? It's...

Has it been a successful recreation of butter, do you think? I haven't had butter in so long that to me it's delicious. So it tastes like normal butter? To me. I've had that with stuff. I did it with cocoa. I just gave up all caffeine, just like you were saying, actually. Did you just say you had butter with cocoa? Yes. LAUGHTER

You would do that. I have butter with cocoa. I do always do that. I'm going to give it up for Lent. Sorry, I've had too much butter and cocoa. No, I gave up caffeine. And then I didn't have caffeine for ages. And so I didn't have cokes. And then I started drinking Diet Coke and it just tasted like normal Coke. Oh, I can't go on board with the diet. I don't do them anymore because I've given up caffeine again. Which are you going to have?

I think you're leaning towards are you settled on the sausage and mash sausage and mash how many this isn't sausages are you having within a standard portion of Daisy's sausage and mash

I'd say I'd probably put three on my plate and come back for a fourth. Yes. Come back for a fourth, yeah. You can't go four on the plate for the first helping, can you? No, and I feel like I try to be, because I often do myself quite a big portion, I'm trying to be a bit daintier, you know. So I'm trying to do something and go, oh, I'll just have a bit more. Yeah, yeah. Because I feel like that's quite civilised. Yeah.

even if you end up having eaten the same amount of food no I would eat exactly the same amount but I feel it's quite civilised to go for seconds so it's not going to look like the Beano sausage and mash no that's great though yeah that Beano sausage and mash I wish I I don't like the sausages sticking out of the mash I do you do? yeah but then how you're going to have to take them out of the mash to cut them anyway right that's so true looks great looks great looks great yeah first bites with the eye would you agree Daisy?

First bite is with the eye for sure. Yeah. Because that's the thing too, sometimes if people put too much on my plate, I feel it's overwhelming my senses and actually I'd rather it look eatable. I like going back for seconds as well. Even when I get a takeaway and me and my wife disagree on this, she'd rather put everything on the plate in the kitchen than take it through and eat it all on the plate. But I go starters. Oh, I don't do that. On a plate. Then I'm like, I eat those quickly and then we have to pause the telly again because I'm

Because I'm straight back up again. No, we do a lot of porting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Guess who's side I'm on in this? Yeah. No, I would put everything on a plate, but I feel like if you're getting a takeaway, I would have a little quick nibble before you've sat down for the start. Oh, yeah. You've got to have a quick nibble walking to wherever you're sitting. Yeah. But yeah, I'm just taking the starters through. Fuck it up.

What's the problem with that? It's crazy. So if you order a curry and you get some samosas, onion bhaji, whatever. All on the plate. All on the plate with the curry. All on the plate, all on the table or somewhere that's near the TV. So I'm not having to pause it. I'm not eating at the table. Especially if the other person's doing all on the plate. I'm not going to just go, just starters. Have those.

Pause the thing you're watching. Go away. Load up your plate again. But that goes for her, doesn't it? She should then go, well, you're doing this, I'll join in with that. No. Because yours makes less sense. Two ways through. What, having starters? If you're in a restaurant...

Which you're not. Which you're not. But it makes more sense. If you ordered the bargees, you'd get those first, wouldn't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But then I still feel like I like them. I like a few and then I still like them to be there when I'm having my main. Yeah. Dip in and out. That's the advantage of doing it at home is that you don't have to do it one by one. You can mix the mains and the starts like Daisy says. It's not an advantage. Interestingly, I did actually go to one of the restaurants that had been recommended on this very podcast. Did you? And it was very good.

Yeah. By us? I won't name which. By us or the guest? You can name it. Apparently it had been named a couple of times. But what's sort of funny about the whole thing is I wasn't supposed to go to this dinner. There's a group of people that go for dinner often and one of the people invited me and another person and we went and that person didn't go. So we had a really nice time, but I already felt slightly surplus to requirements. Also, shout out because one of those people listened to this. Hello. Shout out.

but it was yeah they said oh this restaurant had been recommended a number of times so we went and it was and they didn't like it either no it wasn't good oh my god yeah go on what was it believe it out no genuinely I actually I don't know what it is but also because I looked on Google because I really judge restaurants by Google reviews and the Google reviews were so low like below 4 3.7 I think

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actually, maybe I do Brussels sprouts. Good.

Because peas are included already, right? That is my main dish. I mean, the mash. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. So that's part of my thing. Three sausages and then one in the kitchen. Yeah, and I've got mashed potato and I've got peas on the plate and I've got gravy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I can have another side dish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all one dish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'd say Brussels, but I also have started doing these carrots very recently that are a maple miso garlicky. Oh, yeah.

carrot you put them on the hob for a little bit put them in the oven so good so maybe those two I feel like we can let you have both of those yeah one of those dishes that's like split in the middle and you can put two different things in nice how are these brussels prepared well I just don't know how they make them so good because whenever I try to do them at home they just don't work so presumably there is a deep fried process somewhere right but always cut in half always crispy around

around the edges. Quite simple, garlicky, oily. I feel like roasting them is just as good to be honest. But sometimes roasting makes them soft and these are particularly crisp. Yes. I think leaving the outer leaves on is important as well. When I've roasted them you leave those outer leaves on that you would normally take off you go that's disgusting. Yeah. Leave those bad boys on they're crisping up. You guys really know your stuff about vegetables. I don't know do any of this all of this is like news to me I'm learning. Yeah.

You've been saying that for five years, man. Yeah. I learn a lot. I mean, it's pretty impressive. We've been doing the podcast for seven. So that's quite good. Yeah, you refused to learn for the first two. Yeah, yeah, I didn't learn anything. Now look at you. All the research, watching all the films and people coming on. Multiple times. Multiple times. Rewinding your favourite bits. Yeah, yeah. Cleaner. Out now. Not out now. Out in a few days. It's not out now, James. How do you watch it? It's in my house. I got sent it.

You do a lot of cooking? Yes, I would say so. You're saying you're cooking meat at home, but you're not eating it. Yes, so I cook meat for my husband. Well, the other day I cooked one omelette for my husband, one omelette for my mum. What did I cook for myself? I was like, wow, I'm literally preparing three different meals for breakfast. Yes, so I cook all sorts. But yeah, I think I cook quite a lot. My mum's a veggie.

So, and does like most of the cooking at home. So now my dad's just a veggie at home. Oh, really? Yeah. Why's your husband demanding meat? It was funny for a long time in lockdown, there was no meat cooking. I'm very unjudgmental. Like people do what they want to do. It's really, it's my choice. It really does not affect anybody else.

But it's quite funny because apparently I cook meat really well. But the only way I can judge it is by the people's faces who are eating. And there is a real lovely satisfaction in watching people enjoy something that you really actually can't enjoy. That's mad, isn't it? That as a vegan, you've been blessed with the skill of cooking meat so well. Yeah. That's a film. That's a film. Come on.

Let's take this to the big guys. Who are they? Come on, you know the big guys. Sky Originals. You must have met the big guys. A couple of them. What, Richie from Happy Days? How much more detail do you think we'd need before we went to the big guys? The big guys. The lead character, in our mind, played by Daisy Ridley. She's a vegan.

but she's been cursed with the skill of cooking meat really well. Blessed. Or blessed, depending on how you look at it. That's the ambiguity of the film. That's the question we want the audience to ask. Yes. Is it a curse or a blessing? And we can say you're attached. Sure. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Let's go to the big guys tomorrow. Yeah. How long do you think we'd last in the big guy room?

I don't know if I'd last in the big guy room. You'd last in the big guy room, come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're the last one they'll kick out in the pitch. Just get rid of us all. Yeah, but we'll get kicked out slightly earlier than you. We'll be waiting for you in the next room. Right. They'll kick you out too? Yeah. How'd it go? Not good? Not good. I tried to carry on the pitch on my own, but it was mainly your go. You guys were the passionate ones about it. I didn't really. I could tell my heart wasn't in it.

Have you ever been in a meeting where at the end of the meeting they go, well, nice to meet you. And then as you're walking out, the person you're with, they go, could you stick around? I've got something else I wanted to talk to you about. Has that happened to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, of course. Who was that? I think it was my manager, actually. They were like, clearly wanted to talk about one of his other clients. Oh, no. Brilliant. And it hadn't gone well, you know. That's great. But maybe it was just you. Or something else I wanted to talk to you about. Door closes. You can drop that for me.

That guy sucks. What's that guy's name again? I hate that guy. We had respect for you before you brought that guy in here. We'll never have to meet him with you again if you don't drop that guy. I do feel like people have become quite okay with saying things that are sort of a backhanded compliment but the opposite. What would you say a backhanded compliment but the opposite is? A front-handed insult?

Insult. Yeah, a front-handed insult. Someone came over to me at something recently, and I was with someone who was in something they really, really liked. So that person was getting a lot of feedback. Fantastic. But someone came over to me and they go, I watched Sometimes I Think About Dying, which I know you loved. Yeah, yeah. It really comes into its own on the fifth watch. Exactly. And they came over and went, watch that. It was really interesting. Really, really good. Yeah.

all right. But it was a, it was a front handed. Interesting. Yeah. Because I think he did mean that he liked it, but also there was a, there was an element of him saying it that was, how did you do that? You know? Yeah. You should become a comedian. That's all we get. Yeah. All we get is, how do you think that went? I would absolutely kill for interesting. Yeah. They come up to you and go, all right, uh,

my girlfriend thinks you're quite funny. I don't get it, to be honest. I think you're shit. Oh, yeah, well, people do that to me. That's just your face. Well, interestingly, in Sometimes I Think About Dying, you'll know, I am opposite a stand-up comedian. Yes. He was in Rami, but this was his first foray into film and he was phenomenal. He's great.

But one of the moments was what I thought was an improvised moment. We're walking up this hill and he has to try and make me laugh. So he was telling me this story and I think he got a bit of a chuckle out of me. And I went and saw him last summer. He was here. And I saw him do some stand up and I was talking to his friend after the show and he had used it before.

And he said on set that it was a totally new story he'd come up with. And he only got a bit of a chuckle out of you. He got a little chuckle, yeah. That would have been, he would have felt bad for that. Yeah, but he wasn't the one that told me, his friend was. His friend said, oh my God, when I watched the film, he used that bit on me. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, as he's delivering it to you, filming and you're only chuckling, you're like, fuck. Well, he knew that I'm not,

I'm not like a huge belly laugher all the time. So I think he knew that it was going to be a little tricky and the obstacle was to make me really laugh. That's a terrifying note to get in a film, isn't it? Make her laugh. Make her laugh. Make her belly laugh. Walk up the hill and make her laugh. What? You kidding? Just make her laugh.

don't do any old material yeah do people do that to you at weddings and things make me laugh James is such a bad vibe at a wedding no one's going to ask him to do that fair no I get a lot of hassle at a wedding yeah what came first the chicken or the egg do you think bad vibes because you know people are going to ask or no definitely I think I was pretty good vibes before I became a stand up and people come up to you and say whatever they want

And now I'm like, oh no, here comes someone I don't know. This is going to be bad. Whereas when I started out in stand-up, a very vivid memory of like, I would be on the train hoping I meet a crazy stranger and we can connect and talk about life. And now I'm just like... I don't like that version of you. Oh, I don't like that guy either. I don't like me at any point. Yucky. But now I'm just like, I don't want to talk to any of them because I've been stung too many times when they come up and...

Even if it starts good, it's going bad at some point. That's why he DJs at weddings a lot. Because then the idea is no one comes to talk to him. Yeah, but then... But then you get requests. Yes. So that's backfired quite a bit. I had a guy square up to me at my friend's wedding. Really? And really angry because he wasn't playing Brian Adams. Right. And it was... I had no...

it was in this really weird venue I had no wifi signal so I could only play the playlist that Brian and Green had given me it was just as a favour to them and he was thinking this fucking big shot isn't playing what the people want and he was hammered and I was just I was having a oh

deal with the whole thing while trying to make sure the bride and groom didn't see it, they don't want to ruin their day. Did they ever find out? They found out afterwards when someone else said to them, "Fucking hell, James had a stressful night." And then it was like... Did they find it funny? No, they were a bit like, "We're so sorry, I was like, "Nothing to do with you guys. I'm just glad you didn't know about it on the night when I was like, 'I'm gonna get beaten up.'"

But I just get beaten up very quietly. Muffle your pain. Can I kick my head in? Can we get under the deck? You beat me up there. I'll hold a cushion at my stomach. You punch me through that. Your dream drink.

You know what I'd go for? A lychee martini. Oh, lovely. Yeah. But quite a sweet one. Not too alcoholic. I think we have our answer to who's playing Bond. Just a sweet lychee martini. Quite sweet. No, I went to, because I am a fan of a lychee martini occasionally. And then I went to

I'm not going to fucking remember the name of it, of course. Of course not. I went to somewhere very fancy in LA for a drink with my team and I asked for a lychee martini and it was so strong. I took one sip and I don't drink very much. I was off my tatatas. It was intense. So I would really err on the sweet, not to alcoholic side. Drinks are strong in America. So strong. I mean, it was a martini with a touch of, you know.

But any drinks are just like, they're just free pouring and then putting a tiny bit of mixture in. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I take that over the sweet ones, but I get it. Oh, really? Yeah. Is there a lychee popped in there? Yeah, yeah, always. Bobbing around. Bobbing around. Yeah, and then I'd go for a... Because I'm allergic to wine, so I don't go for a wine, but I'd always go for a dessert wine because for whatever reason, I think the sugar content cancels out there. What are you allergic to in the wine? Basically, the last time I had wine, I was...

so, so, so sick out of a cab, but I hadn't drunk that much. The only answer was I'm allergic to wine because it had happened previously at a charitable dinner. So...

So sick. And then weirdly, like a hangover the next day, but an emotional one for a number of days. Yeah. It was horrible. But I think higher sugar content and things sort of cancels that out. So dessert wine, I'm okay with. Will there be, yeah, I guess slightly lower alcohol as well. But yeah. What, what is there a particular dessert wine that you're into? Oh,

I mean, Tokai. God, I've actually remembered something. A Tokai or a Sautern or the Elysium. Oh no, I don't know. It's a little screw tart. It's delicious. If you were Bond. Yeah. I mean, I assume you'd say yes if they offered it to you. This is so funny. Sure. Yeah. I am.

And Bond. Surprise, surprise. Yeah. That question, would you say yes if they offered it to you, is absolutely, and I don't mean it like this, but that is the most clickbait journalist question you could possibly ask. Is it? Yeah, would you say yes to Bond if they offered it to you? Of my new podcast. Yeah, of course. Daisy Ridley says that she would love to be Bond. Yeah.

Oh. Exclusive. I wasn't trying to get you. Exclusive from the podcast, yeah. I am Bond. Yeah, yeah. Would you do it? Would you want to make some little alterations to it? Have a lychee martini? Maybe change some of the catchphrases? You know, do things differently? Are you saying that we couldn't have a lady Bond who has a normal martini? Elderflower martini. Sparkling elderflower. Yeah, you could say elderflower martini for the ladies. LAUGHTER

Have you ever seen Operation Mincemeat? Yes. Oh, it's fantastic. You know, they have the running gag with him trying to sell James Bond. Yes. Oh, it's so good. Excellent show. It's a very, very good show. Yeah. I've actually been a number of times. You haven't seen it? Huh? Yeah. Oh my God. Even,

Even that? I watch it most nights. This troupe of friends did, oh, it's just one of those amazing stories. My management produced it. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. That's what the person wanted to talk to his agent about. Yeah. He gave me tickets. The website crashed. I'd really love to get tickets to Operation Mincemeat. Tell Gumball he can come. Gumball. I'd love to be called Gumball. Bring Gumball. Okay, well, now that you've made it that I'm changing Bond because of the gender thing that we can't,

can't do that anymore what do you mean well I want to have fun with the lychee martini thing build a new bond yeah well we can do that no we can't any other would you would you change the catchphrases or would you change the why because she's a lady doesn't know it doesn't work as much as you going would you have a martini or would you have a lychee martini a sweet cocktail yeah yeah

Would you change the catchphrase, Daisy? Oh my goodness, this is so ridiculous. You don't have to answer if you think it's going to become clickbait. I'm worried about that now. I think there was the conversation previous about Jesus in the desert. I feel like that's more. That's on us. Yeah. That's on us. If they offer you the part of Jesus, would you take it?

Would you play Jesus? Okay, you've got three options. You can play either Jesus. They're all filming at the same time. Yeah. Jesus, James, or? Jesus, Bond, or, oh, why did I say three options and I don't have a third one?

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That's 1-800-Flowers.com slash ACAST. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills...

Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started at linkedin.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. Dream dessert. Okay. So this is nice because we've got a drink that sort of takes you from the mains through to the desserts. You've got the sweetness of the lychee martini shake and we'll start it.

Again, I've got a couple options. One of which, I think this is the one I'll probably go with. So my mum used to make us hedgehog cakes when we were little for our birthdays. So the look of that to me is wonderful. You said, oh yeah, you've had a hedgehog cake. Like with matchmakers stuck in it. Excellent. So is it like,

It just looks like a hedgehog. It just looks like a hedgehog. And then what, so it's matchmakers sticking in it for the spines. Yeah, matchmakers are the spikes. Yeah. It can be. Yeah, like buttons for eyes. Oh, chocolate fingers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen people do it with just milk buttons or even just do it by like,

manipulating the icing in a way that looks like spikes. I've seen people do that. That feels like a rip-off. I can't do that. People that can, well done. But we always went for the matchmaker sort of stick situation. Well, you get an extra thing as well, right? Yeah, exactly. Different texture. So the look of that, but recently her friend, and I actually said to my mum, how do you feel about me saying this? Because it's her friend, not something she made. But her friend makes this Nigella cake. It's...

It's a lemon polenta cake that is so tasty. And then she did a lemon curd ice cream, all vegan, on the side and it was really, really tasty. So that's sort of what has been present in my mind as I've been thinking about this. I love any polenta cake. So good. It's so good. It's so moist. Is it made with olive oil as well? Yes, a lot of olive oil. I think I've had that exact one. So crumbly. It's so good. So tasty. So I feel like that's sort of what I'm...

That's what I'm being drawn to. So lemon curd ice cream, like, is it just taste of lemon curd or is it like... Oh, it's so tasty. It's just creamy and lemony and enough tanginess but sweetness. Do you have a favourite vegan ice cream, like a brand that you look out for? I had a vegan Magnum the other day. Very tasty. Yeah? Yeah. I had made... I didn't make it. Actually, my husband made it. He had made dinner for two of my friends. Mm-hmm.

And we think about dessert and I thought, what can we do that's easy? And I thought, Magnums, actually. Hang on. So he cooked the main. Yeah, I don't know why I was trying to take the credit for that. Were you in charge of dessert? Yeah.

Yeah. And it had been a busy day. You went shop. We went shop. Yeah. And I thought scooping of the ice cream, sometimes you're waiting for it to defrost, all of that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A Magnum, there's something quite nice about that. It's definitely the lowest effort dessert. Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I tend to be, I tend to bring like a lemon drizzle cake to a situation. So they know I do bake. You've established your credentials already. Yeah. So they know you do do that. I just didn't. But you had to have

for that. No, honestly, one of my sort of sad moments was I did Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off and I'm actually quite a good baker and I did so horribly on the show that it was sort of a running joke with my friends and family that I can't bake but I can. But then you don't want to look like a brat by going, you should be

And it's for charity and all of those things. But the pressure in the tent. The whole thing is a stitch up. The whole thing is like, it's not fair the way it's done. So it makes very good bakers look bad. They did leave it a long time. So some of the other things hadn't set. But by the time they came to taste them, they had set. Who were you on with? I was on with Rebecca. Rebecca?

A cheat? Oh my God. Alexandra Burke. Tom Allen. There you go. Oh, it was such a fun episode. Lovely. Tom and Rob went to school together. Oh, it was fantastic. The two of them together were great. Yeah. Well, then maybe that was it. You were just, you know. Well, they had all practiced a lot. Yeah. No way Rob Beckett practiced. He did. He did. His things looked so professional. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And I, yeah, I was just really, I thought, God, I'm good. And I

I had actually made jam and I took jam and I was not given any credit for the jam. It was so long ago. I should let it go. You're right. Looking down the camera as it's all going wrong and saying I'm so good is really... I literally started by saying I'm either going to win or lose horribly. Yeah. And I lost horribly.

I feel like you should have got credit for the jam. Come on. Yeah, it wasn't mentioned. I mean, I've said it a number of times. They're like, get over it. I thought I would do really badly at that. And then I did better than I thought I would. Interesting. About halfway through the day, I was like, I'm doing way better than I thought. And that was the killer because then I didn't win and I was livid. I was so angry. I forgot my toothbrush in the trailer. That's interesting. Yeah.

You told me at the time that you actually were okay with the fact you didn't win and it was all right. And I thought in my head, that's off brand. And it's good that I found out now that rightly... Example beat me. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, I forgot example beat you. And he used to be a chef, so I think that's cheating. Definitely. He may be a superstar DJ now, but he used to work in catering. I'm from catering. Oh my God. Oh my God.

You've seen my Bake Off episode? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I actually will have done, yeah. I watched them all. Yeah, great. I did well? I for sure see more of your work than you've seen mine. No, come on. I think just Bake Off generally is one of the best shows I've ever made. Yes. It's just joyful. It's just delightful. It is.

That's why I like it when someone gets genuinely angry on there. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're ruining it. They're ruining the whole spell of the show. And there are a few we've rewound. I don't know if you remember the guys, like his knife sort of got stuck in the cake and he threw it in the bin, but the knife was stuck in the cake. So there are a few. It's just fun. That wasn't the Baked Alaska guy, right?

No. Was it? That's Ian. That's Ian, yeah. Way back when. Yeah. I feel like I remember him. He threw a Bates Alaska in the bin. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I think that to me represents every time I cook. Oh, really? That reaction. Do you give up entirely? If one thing goes wrong, are you like, I'm done? I don't give up. I plow through. But if I'm cooking for someone else and I feel halfway through it's not gone as well as I thought it should do, I'll complain about it.

And then when everyone's eating it, I'll spend the whole time going, I'm so sorry, this is awful. Yeah. It was meant to be, dot, dot, dot. And it's always delicious. Ed's cooking is fantastic. Who's the better cook out of the two of you? Ed, by like a million miles. But neither of us really do it that much. So we decided between the cakes, because I...

Yeah, I'll go for the lemon polenta. Yeah, that does sound really good. But shout out to your mum's cooking. Shout out to my mum's ketchup cake. Should we shout out the name of your mum's friend who made this? Nell. Nell. Nell. Is it the same friend that you and your mum cooked for the other night? Interestingly, it's not, but she was at that dinner and she had done the polenta cake, but with orange, which was quite tasty. Oh, yeah. But I still prefer the lemon one. Yeah, come on now. Don't mess around with the classics. This is a great gang.

I love it. You're all cooking for each other, hanging out. My mum is really a wonderful hostess. She cooks for people. She has a lot of people around. My parents' house is like a merry-go-round. Anyone that needs somewhere to stay goes there. Anyone that needs a meal goes there. Would Ed and I be welcome? Of course. You reckon your mum would accommodate us? 100%. If we were like...

can I get around this table? Yeah. Yeah. I do always end up doing the washing up, which is fine. But you know. I'd happily help with that. Yeah. He likes that. I'm good at that. I can swerve it. I can like...

I usually just like I'll get the tea towel and just be there with the like drying up one plate for a long time while socialising chatting yeah yeah oh see my it might be a controversial opinion I don't like drying things up no I agree that's not controversial okay because some people can't get their head around why I don't but I think we'll let that dry and then I'll come back to the next bit when that's dry yeah yeah you want to create space on the draining board

I thought you said training board. Training board. Yeah, but I feel like, you know, do it in guys. That's the board that you start on. Yes. And then only when you're ready, you move up to the training board. They give you a basin, but no water. Yeah. Invisible. I bought a new washing up brush recently. Big day in my house. Interesting. Yeah, stiff bristles. Very exciting. Nice. I go the eco, so I've got those walnut scrubbers. Walnut scrubbers? Very good. I think I've seen the walnut scrubbers. What are the walnut scrubbers? Walnut scrubbers.

Well, you know, because sponges are terrible because they're plastic. So the walnut is made of recycled plastic and walnut bits. And they get everything clean off. Are they sturdy? They're fairly thin. So they're a scourer, essentially, but good. And no scratching. I just prefer a brush. Interesting. I feel like I like to be a bit more tactile with it. I like a sponge. I like a bit of distance from the plate. How much distance are you talking? Well, the length of the handle. That's not very far, Ed. No.

You may as well get in there. Yeah, who are you kidding? I don't know that I'd go for a brush. I'd always go for a sponge. Try the brush out. Tell me how it goes. Well, I think I would look forward to saying the phrase walnut scrubber more than I would brush. Where's the brush? It's going to feel like I'm far away from the plate. I'd rather be like, has anyone seen the walnut scrubber? I need to...

scrub some dishes how long ago do you think people turn this one off is this one of the episodes where you're like no more monster this is the meat of it now you must be joking talking about walnut scrubbers and washing up brushes reward for all the people who've got to the end they get to hear the walnut scrubber chat yeah

But I'm team drying up. Interesting. What do you do when the tea towel's wet though? Yeah. Oh, that's so stressful. When it's all sopping wet. You're fucking washing up, mate. You're interacting with the wettest thing in the world. Water. Yeah.

yeah but it stays wet yeah then it's the water is wet yeah all the time but then what you do you've got your hand in the wetness you've dried three plates in a pan and then you've got a soaking wet tea towel I'll soak in wet I'll grow up after a little while that is a super wet tea towel yeah yeah yeah still does the job man still does the job if you're good and you're able to utilise the different parts of the tea towel while you're washing you're not just doing the whole thing every time what different parts of the tea towel it's a fucking square oh you this is why this is why your team washing up you don't know you don't know how to make a tea towel last

I'm good at it. I'm really good at it. I've got a dishwasher as well. I tend to restack other people's dishwashers too. Do you? Do you not like the... Yeah, I'll do the washing up, the things that need to be washed up and then I'll restack. Because they've stacked it badly. What annoys you most about other people stacking? Just wasted space. You're doing it alphabetically? It's just use what you've got. Just get them in there. Or people running it on half cycle. So annoying.

I always go eco. Yeah. But apparently actually eco is not always the best way because sometimes it goes double the time. Makes messaging everywhere. So it's not the most ecologically friendly way of doing it. I think basically the quicker cycle is the most eco cycle. Right, this is it. They're tricking you every single time. You've been tricked. How does that feel? I've been tricked by a big dishwasher. Big dishwasher got you. Yeah.

Feels pretty bad. By the big boys. And it's not even a big dishwasher, it's a half-size one. You got a little half-size? Which annoys me sometimes. I go, come on, you're doing well. Why have you only got a half-size dishwasher? You're talking to yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

No, my agent's on speakerphone. We started this with me saying, God, you know, it's so great for you guys to ask different questions. And I have truly never been asked most of these questions before. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Daisy came in and said it'd be nice to, you know, chat about some other stuff. Yeah. And now she's regretting that. Yeah, now she's like, fucking hell, I'll ask you what it was like to act with BB-8. LAUGHTER

Fucking ask me about BB-8 for Christ's sakes. Talk to these fucking guys about dishwashers. Are you kidding me? He could have been a dishwasher. BB-8? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, chuck him in there. Controversial. Yeah, don't, don't. That's clickbait, mate. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah, if I'd be all over the tabs, all over the tabloids, Daisy Ridley says, yeah, BB-8 should have been a dishwasher. Shh!

I said he could have been a dishwasher. Yeah, but you're just setting her up. That was a trap. Well done for not falling for it. That was a trap if ever I heard one. You should be ashamed of yourself. I'll read you your menu back now. See how you feel about it. Still water. Still water, but you didn't ask me about ice or lemon or lime. Please.

tell us now no ice yeah bit of lemon if I'm feeling restaurant-y like one slice or a wedge yeah yeah yeah no one slice looks classy although then sometimes you have to deal with it flapping and that's not classy when it's bumping up against your top lip yeah no way yeah get stuck there just rather swallow the whole thing while no one's looking everything that's now been

sounds so dodgy. It's all clickbait. We're all going down to the end of all of our careers. It's simply one of my pleasures. Pop it on some bread you would like. Sourdough with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Starter. Butter beans and creamy sauce with truffle from the place in Liverpool. With the crusty sourdough dipped in. That came with it. That's very important. Near the Hope Street Hotel. Yes. Main course. Three quarters...

3 slash 4. A little confraction. Three quarters of a sausage. I thought, I don't remember this. 3 slash 4. This isn't sausages. And mash with pesto gravy and peas. Side dish, crispy Brussels sprouts and maple miso carrots in a little dish that divides down the middle. Drink a lychee martini. Brackets quite sweet. Sweet, not boozy. I guess what you can say when you're Bond. Does

dessert Nell's lemon polenta cake with vegan lemon curd ice cream beautiful

I'm very excited about that. I feel great. Does sound good. Yeah. Those carrots, I'm going to try making those. Oh, they're really tasty. Yeah. The trick is you have to cut them sort of chunky on the hob with the miso, garlic, bit of maple and then in the oven with the lid on for 15, take the lid off for five. There you go. I'm doing it, James. I'm inviting you over. Oh, thank you. For carrots. I can't wait to see you sitting there going, oh, fuck those carrots. Don't,

Don't eat those carrots. I fucked them. Well, you try and find a tea towel. Yeah, I'm sorry. What the fuck is it? This one's so small. You doing okay, Ed? You doing all right?

making you go through getting one carrot first bringing it through yeah pausing pausing cleaner and then going and getting our main course I'm not putting cleaner on when you come over you've seen it already you can't wait to watch it again I'm the one who's going to be bringing it over and remember your favourite bit yeah we talked about it yeah which bit the song Daisy thank you so much for coming to the Dream Restaurant thanks for having me thank you Daisy music

Thank you so much to Daisy for coming on the podcast, James. What a great menu and a lovely chat. I'm going to get myself a walnut scrubber. I love it. So we're presuming that's all staying in the pod, right? If it doesn't stay in the pod, then still keep me saying that I'm going to get a walnut scrubber. Yeah, that does. I mean, Daisy wasn't convinced it was going to stay in the pod. No, but Daisy has overestimated how exciting our chats are. Yes. Like, you know,

It wasn't Daisy's fault that that conversation was boring. It's because that's what we draw out of people and what we inspire and what we bring to the table ourselves. And also, I don't think that chat was boring. I maintain talking about Brush v. Sponge...

is actually a really good chat. Yeah, and washing up V, drying up, it was two in tandem. Yeah. Two verses. So I know Daisy's probably used to a different sort of interview, and so she thought, maybe people will turn this off, but our listeners know that Brush V Sponge is very much in our wheelhouse. It's been kicking off all over the web now. Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. And Daisy did not say rabbit. Yes. Why would she? She's a vegan. So...

You know, there was no chance of that happening. She didn't. Yeah, as soon as she said she was a vegan, I was like, we're safe. We're safe. We're good. Maybe, maybe that's, she's a vegan. We should have asked because she voiced Cottontail. Maybe it was because she voiced Cottontail and I've been vegan. We should have asked that. We didn't ask anything about that. We didn't ask anything about Star Wars.

No. Well, you know, we get different things out of guests. Brush v. Sponge. For example. Whether you have a brush or a sponge, in that moment, you are a cleaner. So make sure you go and watch Cleaner. How did we not bring it back to that? Yeah. In the actual episode. I don't know, man. Hindsight's a beautiful thing. Is that the phrase? Yeah, yeah. Hindsight's 2020. That was a bad year.

Message the great Benito brush or sponge. Make sure you message the great Benito and say, Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treatie for you. And then you say, it's either brush or sponge. Brush or sponge. Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treatie for you. It's brush. Or Beniti, Beniti, I got a little treatie for you. It's sponge. And then what will happen then if you message in? And then Ben will count them all up. Yeah. And...

So you have one week to do this, and then a week later he will publish the results. Yes. Sometimes he cuts these bits out, but we'd like to remind him at this point, he fucked up today so hugely...

That it would be really a bad sport to cut this out at this point. So he really does have to, and if he cuts it out, let us know. If you are in Australia or New Zealand, I am coming on tour to you in June. Edgamble.co.uk for tickets going to lots of different places in those countries. Blimey, Cobbers, get yourself down there. Yes, thank you, Cobbers. Myself, I do a podcast called Off Menu. I co-host it with my friend Ed. If you could listen every Wednesday.

Every Wednesday it goes out. You know what, genuinely... Wherever you get your podcasts. Genuinely fills my heart with warmth that you remember the day that this podcast goes out. No, that's when we get a WhatsApp from old Listie. Yeah. LAUGHTER

That's what he WhatsApps. That's true. It's out now. I would list he sends us the links and the picture for no reason because you're not on Instagram and all I have to do is accept the collaboration. I don't know how to use WhatsApp properly so all that means for me is that I've now got to delete a photo from my actual photos on my phone because they're all still... Are you kidding? Anyone WhatsApps me a photo it gets saved in my photos immediately and I turn that off. Yeah.

Are you kidding me? I don't know how to turn it off. I don't know how to turn it off. I don't know how to use WhatsApp. This week, Kyle Smith Bino messaged me on WhatsApp and it was from a number I didn't recognise. I don't have his number. So to prove it, he sent me a photo of himself and I noticed that he didn't have a contact pic. So I tried to make it his contact pic and I accidentally made it my profile pic on WhatsApp. And now my profile pic on WhatsApp is Kyle smiling in the trailer of some TV series he's doing. That's it now. Hang on. To prove that he was him...

Yeah. He sent you a publicity photo of Kyle Smith-Biden. It wasn't publicity. It was him sitting in his trailer. Oh, right. Okay. Smiling at me. Yeah. Like looking like deliberately looking quite comical. So that's my photo now. Yeah. Is Kyle being like... You don't know how to change that. I don't know how to change that now. Yeah. And he told me to keep it like that. Yeah. So I've got to honour my word. Yes. Well, thank you very much for listening. We'll be back next week with more japes from the off-menu boys. Oh, dear. Whoopsie.

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the official florist of Mother's Day. This is Paige, the co-host of Giggly Squad. I use Uber Eats for everything, and I feel like people forget that you can truly order anything, especially living in New York City. It's why I love it. You can get Chinese food at any time of night, but it's not just for food. I order from CVS all the time. I'm always ordering from the grocery store. If a friend stops over, I have to order champagne.

I also have this thing that whenever I travel, if I'm ever in a hotel room, I never feel like I'm missing something because I'll just...

Uber Eats it. The amount of times I've had to Uber Eats hair items like hairspray, deodorant, you name it, I've ordered it on Uber Eats. You can get grocery, alcohol, everyday essentials in addition to restaurants and food you love. So in other words, get almost anything with Uber Eats. Order now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

Hello there, Off Menu listeners. It's me, Amy Gledhill, and you might remember me from my episode of Off Menu when I chose to have seaweed on mash and I'll be taking no further questions. And my name is Ian Smith and you may remember me from the one line of dialogue I had in a non-broadcast Channel 4 pilot. Maybe you were in the studio audience at the time. Who can forget? But that's not what we're here to talk about. No, no.

the news, our podcast is coming back for series four. And don't worry, it's not a boring news podcast. No way. We're two northerners living in London and every week we catch up on the weirdest, most bizarre local news from up north. Things like? Woman in tears after spotting spitting image of dead dog in bath mat. Pure evil blackbird named Derek terrorising Yorkshire village and attacking children. And we're joined by special correspondents every week like

Like you one and only Ed Gamble, who you might have heard of. You remember him from this podcast, the one you're listening to now. Yeah. He hosts it. Yeah. He could co-host. He was on my episode of Off Menu. Was he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he was in the non-broadcast Channel 4 pilot I did as well. Oh, he will have been. He's a nice guy. Yeah. So that's Northern News starting next Thursday, the 1st of May, and then every Thursday after that. Join us.