Nigel Planer - RHLSTP

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Taking the Full Weight of an Eclair
Richard is back in Cheddar trying to harvest material for the new series of Relativity. So it’s a double remote podcast and the guest this week is a true comedy hero, the brilliant Nigel Planer.
They try to remember what the project they almost worked together in the early 90s was (though have very different memories) and talk about the times Richard spent in Nigel’s house, without Nigel knowing. Plus some great stories about the early days of 80s stand up, coming up with characters in Peter Richardson’s van, the casting of Mike in the Young Ones and why it might well have turned out for the best, being attacked by security guards on the way to a Greek restaurant after being crushed by a huge prop, the genius of Nicholas Craig, how Do They Know It’s Christmas could have been even better, being big in Catalonia and the joy of a rejected script being accepted.
This is the last remote RHLSTP for a while - do keep an eye on richardherring.com/gigs for news of live shows.

[@aquaticpears3183]

Nigel's reading of the Discworld audiobooks is so great

[@LlewynDaviesTheThird]

Thanks ! didn't know he did. Will seek them out

[@aquaticpears3183]

@@LlewynDaviesTheThird He didn't do all of them but they're all fantastic

[@gmann6269]

He was also in two of the live action TV adaptations and did voices in two of the computer games.

[@aquaticpears3183]

@@gmann6269 love it! Discworld 1 on PC! I play that once every few years... amazing

[@retrogamelover2012]

Well, I shouldn't be too surprised, given that he was the guy who did the narrations (as well as the voice of the host) for Grizzly Tales.

[@fenham]

Brilliant! Nigel Planer! The best interpreter of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels

[@serena3812]

"I took the full weight of the eclair."

[@gerrabath]

Watching my 14 year old daughter's gleeful reaction to her recent introduction to The Young Ones made me very happy indeed.

[@garyfenlon5769]

Such a lovely man, and a delightful chat.

[@neiltattersall2078]

As a Neil I am torn because I love the young ones but had to put up with “Neil, Neil, Orange Peel” and “Sorry Shoes” And “stupid hippy Neil” My Dad was really cruel.

[@skawashers]

You was 28 at the time..

[@napalmslayer]

Mate, for most of my life i been called Neil for looking like him! ( the Neil character not Nigel)

[@markbryant4641]

My dad's name was Neil. I taught my daughter to only refer to him as Neil-Neil-Orange -Peel. He died last week. My daughter was upset but I kept getting the giggles because she constantly referred to him as NeilNeilOrangePeel. Once when she said it I dramatically cried "Will I ever see you again?!" She looked at me strangely and said "Ummm. He's dead." R.I.P. pop!! Miss ya, mate.

[@92RedRevolver]

@@skawashers Been 28 the entire pandemic, was really looking forward to creating some anecdotes to use that as a punchline. Ah well.

[@TheOnlyCathyCat]

When I was a child in the late eighties I came across a VHS at my Aunties, she was asleep, having a "lay-in", I woke her up with my howls of laughter. The tape was a BBC Home Video Cassette with Oil, Boring and Flood on it. My dad was happy that I liked it and gave me the book that had been released, when the whole of The Young Ones was repeated in the nineties I recorded the whole lot. When I had children of my own I introduced them to the Young Ones (they found Filthy Rich and CatFlap by themselves) and they showed their friends, even recently my eldest brought her girlfriend round and we watched a couple of episodes after dinner...Sadly I never managed to get it together to make Neils Underpants Garden.

[@stuartculshaw5342]

I can tell that Nigel Planer is a big comedy hero of Richard Herring and it's very cool to watch.

[@alastairjohnson4038]

This has to be one one of my favourite RHLSTP’s…brilliant! Nigel comes across as such nice, down to earth guy, apart from very funny and talented. I was at uni when the Young Ones came out, in a similarly disgusting shared house, with four of us who more or less mirrored the 4 characters, and I was Neil (long haired, hippy veggie)! Hard to believe now. For that reason, Neal/Nigel Planer will always occupy a special place in my heart.

[@markmccarron7645]

To be fair to Jesus sorting the beam, his family was in the trades.

[@neiltattersall2078]

Also churches are the house of god so it’s only fair he should help out around the place.

[@psammiad]

I'm extremely disappointed with the Church of England, worshipping a deity who was in trade

[@iandennis1]

Richard, Thank you so much for doing these interviews through very trying times for your viewers as well as yourself. I look forward to the normal ones coming back. Stay well.

[@ConnbineHarvester]

I'm getting Den Dennis flashbacks and smiling so much right now.

[@lisavandervelde1615]

He's so good. You both are.

[@stoogemund]

"Are you being Severed". Love it.

[@madderhat5852]

I am just looking at pictures of Cheddar. What a pretty town.

[@NeverRubARhubarb]

I am just looking at pictures of Leicester. Um . . . handy for the M1?

[@andrewt836]

The cheddar is increda

[@lwaves]

@@NeverRubARhubarb Cheddar and Leicester? Hmm, cheesy. ;-)

[@philipellis7039]

I spent a couple of days in Gouda once. It’s okay and they have a cheese museum.

[@goodlookingcorpse]

You're right about 'Feed the World'--it never occurred to me at the time that they didn't have any musicians from the Third World involved in it.

[@grahamwyatt7056]

That was great. He's been in so much stuff I'm sure he has at least one more RHLSTP-worth of stories to share. And I've always remembered that episode of Bonjour La Classe! My memory is that the orchestra collapse was preceded by a very funny piss-take of super-serious avant-garde classical music (as performed by the school orchestra) written by Phil Pope I think. Phil Pope another heebee-geebee guest for the podcast?

[@jaylondonjay]

loved the camera lighting - much better than the attic

[@mumfnah]

Good podcast, anybody watching must've thought this was a negative reality inversion

[@mdkramster]

This shows the one flaw with these rhlstp's. Not enough time. It's a pity ones like these can't be two-parters. Nevertheless, wonderful stuff as always.

[@philmus1]

I think Nigel is referring to Clare Francis

[@justindodsworth8893]

Richard, this is one of my favourite RHLSPs. I kind of hoped he would be one of the good guys, not jaded or bitter, and very modest. Always on the right side of politics and some great stories. I just wish you had time to talk about by far my favourite Nigel Planer character...Ralph Filthy 🙂

[@timewyrmrevelations7700]

I had the pleasure of being in the cast of wicked with Mr Planer he was a joy to work with and so professional.

[@SamLowryDZ-015]

The legend that is/was/what/still is/maybe/what Den Dennis!

[@fasbinder62]

it says sausages up there

[@lloroshastar6347]

These interviews I feel are too short sometimes. There is so much to talk about with Nigel, even recently. I'd even like to hear about his connection to Discworld adaptations.

[@geishasha]

Nicholas Craig is wonderful but the best post-Young Ones thing is Bottom. No debate.

[@tonxlookatlife7242]

Indeed it is. They. We’re all in it Except Nigel.

[@davidrobinson2776]

Couldn’t agree more, sir. The Wogan episode still makes me giggle to this day. That show could be an even bigger hit today, that’s how ahead of its’ time it was.

[@punkinmimi]

This was so great, still hoping for a Pete Richardson episode one day :-)

[@DavidDrakeford]

Maunders is a bit pricey. Cheddar tip is good, mind. If you're in town, I would recommend it.

[@IamNotANumber]

Chris Ryan was perfect as Mike. I think Peter Richardson would taken it too far off the wall. I like Peter's acting style (the milk policeman) (Harvey) (Foyle) but I think he wouldn't have suited Mike at all. Both actors are very good, but very different.

[@drucifer00]

I remember in the pilot of The Young Ones, Nigel would direct his monologues to the studio audience. They went straight to camera after that.

[@RighteousBrother]

I didn't think there was a pilot, they just made the first six episodes of series 1?

[@tansiedog]

​@@RighteousBrother After watching the YO so many times when I was younger, I had a good fifteen years' gap until indulging again during lockdown. And now I see episode 1 really stands out as different for its set and presentation to a live audience. The whole thing feels weird, with introductions afforded to each of the characters the first time. Maybe it was another RHLSTP with Lise Mayer or Ben Elton who talked about it being filmed with a different set to the one they adopted for the rest of the two series.

[@philipellis7039]

Lemmy had a surprising number of acting appearances, I can recommend Sunset Society as a real contender for worst movie of all time ( Lemmy died before it was complete and his role is partly done by an animated Lemmy). Very enjoyable interview with Nigel, thank you.

[@fasbinder62]

nice to hear about how he met up with peter richardson and the early hippy days, bit frustrating that there was nothing about the comic strip, filthy rich and catflap and happy families. a couple of times he mentioned rik and ade taking the piss out of him, wish you could have delved a bit deeper into his relationship with those comedy gods. maybe it was embargoed beforehand, I've read a few biographies by mayall's contemporaries and they always seem reluctant to go into detail about what he was like. I'm still living in hope of the definitive rik mayall biography, the only one I can see on amazon is accused of multiple spelling mistakes. hopefully one day you'll get on peter richardson, adrian edmonson, jennifer saunders, lise meyer and ben elton. I really want to get to the bottom of this ben elton / lee and herring spat. I read dead famous again in hope that that was the novel where an insulting caricature of herring was employed, nope, that's not it. anyway, an hour and a half well spent

[@samgarrod4781]

You had me at Jesus the King of the Locksmiths. ❤

[@charliepotter100]

Still really wish the remote thing might have meant he could have got Dan Harmon on.

[@Herring1967]

I tried

[@charliepotter100]

@@Herring1967 I thought you would have done, but that's good to know. It's a shame. Everything I care about would have come full circle.

[@davidrobinson2776]

Richard steers the conversation towards The Young Ones and Peter Richardson with such elegance. It reminded me of Whispering Bob Harris at his peak on The Old Grey Whistle Test. 1:03:14 woo hoo did somebody say spunky!?

[@MrMmnngghh]

What ABOUT Heavy Metal?

[@johnhutchinson4624]

🥳 Long live RHLSTP ☠☠☠

[@alastairjohnson4038]

RHLSTP!

[@TheOnlyCathyCat]

...nah, Chris Ryan is PERFECT as Mike. He is so detached from the group because he is The Cool Person. That's his thing, it's undone by the fact that he is a phoney, but then that is what undoes (p)Rick: the phoneyness. The characters are Yin and Yang, opposites that contain a small part of the characteristics of another. Same with Neil and Vyvyan. ... all protons and neutrons at the nucleus of the show mahhhhnnn.

[@foxee36]

Fabulous!,im soaking wet,laying in bed in my bad news t shirt,eating salted peanuts and drinking vimto!(just got back from my daughters paper round!)

[@jamesnunn7181]

Hang on- did Richard say this was the last rhlstp or did I nightmare it?

[@Herring1967]

It's the "last" remote one (and last one on video for a couple of months), but we're doing them in the theatre again now and there might be the occasional remote one

[@jamesnunn7181]

@@Herring1967 Back to theatre! Great news. Thanks for the reply and for the great content . ✌🏼 and ❤️

[@Superfantastictop10]

What happened to the old RHLSTP music?

[@Herring1967]

Rights issues sadly, even though we had permission from the band

[@tansiedog]

@@Herring1967 Just shows how wonk-brained rights holders are. It's thanks to RHLSTP that I discovered Pest and bought the album featuring the outro music.

[@TheVicar]

@@tansiedog email them and ask for a refund

[@monkeytron5061]

“Extending more rather than pulling back” - we’ve all done that

[@BillyHayes79Music]

Is Richard streaming from my Nan's house?

[@domminney]

Is it sad that I chant rhlstp as you say it like I was in the crowd?

[@lwaves]

I say it in my mind but it's still there.

[@benflint4207]

I do it in public. Be proud!

[@alastairjohnson4038]

RHLSTP!

[@chrisphillips2467]

Love the first 3 seconds!

[@edkent8140]

I miss the old intro/outro music

[@one-man-dan007]

When will we see Alan Davies on the podcast Richard? It would be nice opportunity to reveal why you think he's such a c***.

[@sanoakapurpp]

Somebody is watching you in Russia

[@StonefieldJim4]

8 minutes in and it still hasn't started. Spectacularly dull, if you'd excuse the oxymoron. When's Planer on, FFS? P.S. Credit where credit's due: you've bagged some crackin' interviewees. P.P.S: Update, 40 mins later: good interview. Good point about how easily characters could've been lost. Ronnie Barker comes to mind. He thought Norman Stanley Fletcher was less interesting, initially, than Evan Owen... who no one remembers.

[@Herring1967]

If onlyo KZbin would invent some kind of feature where you could fast forward to the point of your choosing. Ideally they'd need to give you a preview of the image so you could see when the person you were interested in appeared. I guess they never will though because of political correctness gone mad. Glad you enjoyed it once you got in there. Sorry for providing this free service.

[@bobconcussion9537]

@@Herring1967 yeah all this bloody free content, damn you with your hard work creating entertainment for us.

[@TheVicar]

@@Herring1967 I might invent a new virus to get more free 1on1 snooker. Also you must do some more TV stone clearing before Boris's bargain basement Brexit deals destroy all our farmlands

[@petehasplans]

Haven't watched it yet but I am so annoyed that Rich talked all over Nigel Planer so much. Aside, I am not. This is great.

[@monkeytron5061]

Two old men remembering cool stuff, mostly

[@jaylondonjay]

but you do like talking-oh here I go commenting before reading stuff/watching .. twat I am

[@galesito1733]

God I hate him. He’s a bore, he’s a snake. And he’s a bloody eavesdropper.

[@philjones45]

i always disliked Neil as a character. Very annoying.

[@lwaves]

I always assumed he was supposed to be. Then again, they were all annoying (or worse) in different ways. Being unlikable made them likable for me.

[@philmus1]

That was kind of the point

[@philjones45]

@@philmus1 but funny neither.

[@droneracer]

Heavy Man

[@lwaves]

@@philjones45 That's your call for you but I thought he was funny. Usually when combined or interacting with another character but still funny. Each to their own though.