The excellent Simon Morris on Radio NZ related a story about Bowie the other day.
He was due to meet him and, as you can imagine, he was excited by the prospect and a little nervous. He was dared by a colleague to ask him the following question:
” What was the first single you really loved? (pause for answer)
Now…what’s your REAL answer? ”
And he went through with it! I forget Bowie’s first answer ( I think he referenced a Jacques Brel song) but then he laughed and said “Purple People Eater”.
I’m a big fan of pithy, well-aimed questions. Bowie proved here what a damned fine, self-aware bloke he was.
Watching Mrs Merton on You Tube recently reminded me just how good she was at this kind of thing too. Would you have any examples?
Norman Gunston, a 70s Australian equivalent to Mrs Merton or Ali G, was interviewing Hugh Hefner. Upon finishing, he said “Well, Mr Hefner, how about an autograph?” Hefner agreed, whereupon Norman pulled out pad and paper and said “Okay, who should I make it out to?”
Norman was shown in the UK in the early, glorious days of Channel 4. The character had a kind of shivery desperation that made him oddly likeable. The English equivalent might be Martin Brown on Radio Active.
You know, I never liked Mrs Merton. I’m not sure why, but I think it was the smugness – it just seemed too easy, like having your cake and eating it. You rely on celebrities to appear on your show to give it a bit of credibility, then you gently mock them for doing so. It didn’t seem right and, crucially, I didn’t really think it was funny. Naughty, smirking, perhaps, but not funny.
Strangely, I do however like Chris Morris, Philomena Cunk, Ali G, Graham Norton and Simon Amstell, all who do (or did) something vaguely similar in undermining and mocking celebrities.
Empire magazine has gone dreadfully downhill over the years, but one feature they’ve kept going is the “How much is a pint of milk?” questionnaire.
Yes, it’s very Smash Hits, but some of the questions can get good answers (e.g. Have you ever knowingly broken the law?), and the title question itself by design diverts the subject into whether their lifestyle still includes shopping, do they even bother looking at prices anymore, or the extent to which “the help” does everything for them.
But of course the sine qua non of all celebrity Q&As remains Tom Hibbert’s “Who the hell does XXX think s/he is?” in Q magazine. I still have the paperback compendium I dip into (rare as hen’s teeth now), but here’s the Tom Jones one for your pleasure…
https://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/tom-hibbert-who-the-hell-does-tom-jones-think-he-is-1991/
That was brilliant. I don’t know how but I’ve never seen that one before. Ah … I miss the days when the “stars” got a proper skewering.
Oh is there a book of those?? Nice. Wonder if it’s still in print….
Out of print for many years, I think. Hibbert’s writing was a revelation and inspiration to me. I still have the first six years of Q on a shelf in my music studio, and dip in occasionally. Last week, I was interested to see how Q had reviewed Mike Oldfield’s Amarok from 1990, because Oldfield afficianodos now consider it one of his better post 70s efforts. Johnny Black reviewed it in issue 47 (Hibbert was having a field day with Roy Hattersley) and gave it the two stars treatment.
Mark Ellen wrote a really nice tribute to Tom Hibbert on his death in 2011.
Speaking as an Oldfield afficionado myself, I agree it’s the best thing he has done in the last 40 years!
I don’t know Amarok – it’s not even on Spotify?
It’s there. Just put amarok into the main search field.
spotify:album:2IamDQJZRFF8SKibgbRV6E
Ah yes, got it, will listen later.
I’ve got a copy. Amongst others Hibbert interviews Rolf Harris, Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter, along with Jeffrey Archer, Edwina Currie and Bros. This book hums with evil.
Billy Bragg went along with it despite knowing what Hibbert’s game was.
I seem to remember Heppo at the old place saying that the evolution of the format was something like 1) “How dare you stitch up our client like that”, 2) “This isn’t going to be for ‘Who the Hell’, is it?”, and then 3) “Any chance this could be a ‘Who the Hell’ piece?”, which was Hibbert’s cue to kill it off…
Is there a vol 2 of the ‘Who The Hell…?” anthology? I really do wish someone would put out a decent Hibbert compendium covering his career
I remember the Gazza one, especially poignant in light of the Let’s Have A Party hitmaker’s subsequent troubles.
I thought the Gazza one verged on bullying.
There were some interviewees able to participate and give as good as they got, some who were shown to be pompous oafs with a shocking lack of self awareness but nonetheless were not stupid, some who got angry with intrusive questioning but I just felt with the Gazza one it was simply humiliation of a guy who was an overgrown child who was totally out of his depth as far as the Hibbert interviewing technique went.
It can be argued that Gazza had put himself in the public eye and so was fair game. But I didn’t see it that way.
I can see what you mean with the benefit of hindsight but at the time Gazza was everywhere, confidently endorsing a thousand products and promoting a terrible record. If anything, he was bullying us.
I found that Gazza LP in a Southwold chazza last week. After an inadvisable spin it was filed away for the @Beany Christmas care package.
Paul Gascoigne, Tony Blackburn, Nigel Kennedy…
….such difficult targets, not at all obvious. What a brave man.
I read that Jones gave up wiping his brow with knickers thrown on stage when a pair he picked up and wiped himself with turned out to be wetter than his forehead.
I thought that was the point.
With urine, to be clear.
Ah…
It’s the ones that deepened his tan that really made his mind up.
Oh dear…
Interviewer many years ago to Pete Townshend, talking about the couple of gigs in the USA that The Who played when the support band was Led Zepp.
“Were you daunted by going on stage after Zeppelin?”
“No way. We were The Who, we were never scared to follow anyone, if anything it made us up our game if the support was good…..*pause*…. maybe one…… *pause*…… following the Sensational Alex Harvey Band in Glasgow was daunting”
Parkhead, 1976 (I think)… I was there, Streetwalkers, the Outlaws, Little Feat. Alex Harvey was sensational…..
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/SAHB4-Celtic-Park-Jun5th-76.jpg
Springer Bell is back??!! Oh happy days!
Merci
Might be a U.K. thing, but thinking that milk still comes in pints would itself mark one out as phenomenally out of touch around these parts.
But I never understand the “still in touch” bona fides of the milk/bread question: beautifully packaged box sets of old Bowie material demand attention to price, as there may be significant discrepancies from one seller/format to the next and, AS YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED THEM YOU MAY SIMPLY CHOOSE NOT TO PURCHASE. When I’m going out to buy milk what I know for sure is I’m coming back with milk. The question of exactly how much it costs doesn’t vex me, although – granted – I do notice it on receipts about once a year or so…