Classic interview with Britain's funniest men

comes to taste things get even trickier

all hell can break loose as the Chaser

team discovered recently which makes you

wonder how Matt Lucas and David Williams

get away with it they're the two chaps

from Little Britain who specialize in

the bizarre nothing's too grotesque

nothing is off limits but it can be

shocking they can make you groan squirm

and Roar with laughter and they're

exactly the same in real life as I

certainly found out when I went to tea

with them in London

hello Liam

hello Matt hello there do you see many

potential characters here on the street

yeah I'm talking to them right now

you've got to be careful with us you'll

end up in the show

Britain Britain Britain the show of

course is Little Britain the cult comedy

that went on to conquer the mainstream

you want the breath enlargement

operation yeah

somewhere to play with Matt Lucas is one

half of The Odd Couple who created this

modern comedy classic and won fans

worldwide including a fiercely loyal

Australian following on the door

oh yes

and don't forget to sit down when you

piss

I love Australia we can't wait to come

back there and we're gonna come back and

see you soon in the meantime we're gonna

do a lovely interview new old smoothie

yeah oh yeah I got all the lines Matt

and his partner in crime David Williams

who made his entrance on the back of a

motorbike have arranged to meet me in of

all places a reserved London Tea Room

very very nice very English this

distinctive Duo famous for bad behavior

and bodily functions on screen uh

surprisingly refined in person gracious

well-mannered and extremely polite okay

great okay

a far cry from the cast of characters

who populate Little Britain

this is just one single episode you took

the Mickey out of rice

gender

wait do we take the Mickey out of race

or racism I will hear racism I'll give

you that one well there's because

there's quite a difference there ageism

uh religion

sexuality

sex there's never been anything about

sexuality in our show how dare you later

I think I think I'm missing a couple out

oh it's very intimate

yeah oh very pleasurable sometimes body

often borderline the Little Britain

characters have struck a chord and

spawned a raft of unmistakable

catchphrases yeah I know there's Vicki

Pollard the unmarried teenage mum with a

problem expressing herself new but yeah

but yeah the wannabe transvestite

convincing no one please remember him is

heated

hey mate can we have our ball back

please

the rude receptionist

computer says no

the overweight socialite who loves to

shed her clothes

everybody dance and dafford the Welsh

lad who's well one of a kind everybody

knows I am the only guy in the village

I mean if people actually came to us and

said oh we've been really really

offended by what what you did we'd be

really mortified this everybody is my

girlfriend

your girlfriend that's right my family

my girlfriend

if you look at something like Daffy you

could be offended by it you could be gay

and offended or you could be gay and

think it's empowering or you could be

anti-gay and offended by its presence

well you could be anti-gay and think

yeah great it's you know it's against I

mean you know there's all sorts of

that's what you feel but there's all

sorts of ways you can read it really

what

you're gay

there's no idea

it's hard to do Comic characters without

there being a level of criticism within

them and that's what people often pick

on because if you're going to have a

comic character they've got to have some

flaws or some traits that make them

funny and of course perfectly kind of I

don't know you know level-headed

reasonable people are not going to make

great Comic characters you know

oh yes can you approve the budget

overspend by first thing on Monday

because it's quite

big

yes severe so now if you don't mind I'm

a quick prime minister get down

there's a strong gay theme to much of

Little Britain

but just to straighten things out Matt's

the gay one well mostly gay I am

hey oh I don't know if everybody's 100

anything I know yeah I know I've been

attracted to to women

so you're not the only guy in the

village maybe not I don't know yeah why

do you because you go the other way do

you well you know no but have you never

thought about it with a with a with a

man

well not off the top of my head no I no

I can't say it you can't I'm very

offended okay you're sitting right

opposite us I know and it doesn't even

fancy me put his best suit on and

everything no wonder t with these two

can get confusing Matt might be gay but

David who's had a string of high-profile

girlfriends plays gay very very well

I think because of the nature of the

show and that the characters who play

lots of Camp characters and we

cross-dress and everything that people

naturally assume I must be gay so I get

asked all the time won't be because they

genuinely look like you like wearing

them yeah because I do have a very I'm

naturally effeminate and I do have a

campsite and everything and I'm not

scared of that at all but so I do get

asked all the time I mean fairly an

interview goes by without me being asked

about it I didn't ask I just assumed

Matt and David were born just outside

London they first met at the National

Youth Theater 20 years ago and soon

realized they had the same Heroes comic

Legends like John Cleese and Barry

Humphreys

we both did lots of school plays and

things like that and we grew up we grew

up watching the same TV shows I guess

which formed a lot of our kind of comic

but my hair fell out when I was young

and I and you know and I liked women

tell us about that though man when did

you hear when I was uh six years old my

hair fell out in the space of two months

Matt went completely bald a condition

known as alopecia doctors blamed stress

after he was hit by a car they've done

very well though haven't you to to for a

little ball boy no no it wasn't exactly

the way I was going to put it with any

little ball boy but really for a young

child do you know what for a five or six

year old it could have gone either way

you can let it Define you if you want to

and I think I'm sure I did and certainly

growing up in a you know uh in Suburbia

and I I was known as oh that's the kid

with no hair you know and um there was

worries about sexuality not having hair

made me feel unattractive physically

um and then you know always would eat

too much I mean now thankfully it's

completely under control but I would I

would you know uh you know there was

weight things and my parents were

divorced and my dad was in prison a bit

so it was a bit it was kind of it wasn't

huge fun look into my eyes look into my

eyes the eyes the eyes around the eyes I

look around the eyes look into my eyes

but the self-conscious teenager had a

genius for mimicry and coupled with

David's brilliant sense of comic

observation a unique comedy duo was born

well where exactly are you from Ting

Tong

King Tong from tooting

toting not pong pong for ting Tong

Little Britain started on radio before

the BBC gave it the green light for

television nine years ago but some of

the characters had their Genesis much

earlier do you stand by your plea of not

guilty no but you're about new because

what happened was right was this thing

happened about [ __ ] I bet wasn't even

supposed to be anywhere even near there

there was a documentary that Matt made

when he was at University we weren't

around asking people in the street how

are you and you interviewed a boy who

was about 11 or something yeah and he

went all I said how are you and he went

all sort of like not good or summoned or

nothing or a thing

and I went how do you feel about me

asking you that question I sort of like

don't mind someone or nothing I didn't

know or someone so we were just watching

it and we thought it was funny to uh uh

that he was so inarticulate so we

created this character that was

inarticulous but yeah but new but what

are they doing on our patch or something

or nothing I thought like thing because

they are well gonna get beaten that was

the birth of Vicky Pollard a teenage

unmarried delinquent mother who in

Australia we'd call a Bogan Vicky

Pollard has left half her kids at home

as she begins her first day at work Roy

wait there

'll just be a few hours that was the one

that we got right on the Zeitgeist with

because there was just this sort of new

phenomenon of out of control teens kind

of perception that they were kind of

roaming the streets of Britain you know

committing crimes and having babies out

of wedlock at a young age and things she

she's had six kids by seven different

men

and and her recent child came out of the

womb smoking

yeah because you do yeah

it may look like they've turned bad

taste into an art form but they maintain

theirs is sick humor with a serious Edge

down some of these barriers you'd be he

really would be amazed at some of the

results we had we love satirizing like

you know I really like the character

that Matt plays Marjorie the Weight

Watchers instructor

play

[Music]

yeah because a lot of people say they

smell funny but I don't think so no I'm

all for Asians we've always painted her

as someone who's casually racist

and I've always thought that was it's a

great way of doing a racist character

that she doesn't even probably even

think she's racist but she is we're

pointing out her racism and we're

laughing at how stupid her racism is we

shall have our first fat Fighter's

wedding oh in English please if you are

going to say anything in my life there's

much of Little Britain we haven't been

able to show you in a family time slot

tonight it's simply too gross or

outrageous which begs the question how

much further these guys can push little

Britain's boundaries

but are you at the extreme end with that

now Matt I mean how much shocking could

it get how much more sure well there are

much more shocking could it get yeah

well I was gonna yeah I'm asking myself

that question very accusingly it's as

much as people would still be laughing I

think I mean we did a sketch about a

mother who still breastfed her son who

was like in his twenties

bitty all right then

me

we filmed it we thought it was funny we

showed it to an audience and they

thought it was funny too if they hadn't

laughed we probably wouldn't included

we'd have thought scratched our heads

and thought we've gone too far we made a

mistake

oh wait beware are you right here oh

there you are they just may be one of

the great comedy combinations of modern

times

not just yet bye-bye bye bye Australia

after our chat David and Matt went their

separate ways but these guys are

intensely loyal and they plan to keep it

that way

would you ever contemplate a day when

you'd be more successful individually

I personally as a comedian no I don't I

don't believe I would be more successful

on my own or even with anyone else we're

a strong partnership with the terms that

comes to Comedy and we want to carry on

exploring you know that relationship

creatively well I think you know how far

can we take this and can we can we you

know create a body of work I'm very

proud when I look at the spines of the

DVDs and think we did that we actually

made something you know and what else

can we do

[Applause]

of you

hello I'm Amelia Adams thanks for

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