Up next in 10
00:30 The Art of Ventriloquism 02:49 The Alchemy of Audience Interaction 04:26 The Fear and Thrill of Improv 05:32 Early Breakthroughs and Clowning 07:20 Growing Up with Famous Parents 10:32 Shyness and Finding a Voice 18:53 The Influence of Ken Campbell 28:43 The Origin Story: The Puppet Kit 36:03 First Steps on Stage 42:33 Sunlight: The Film 47:55 The Evolution of the Mask Act 57:46 Future Ambitions and Animation In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Nina to explore the unusual path that led her from an acting dynasty and an uneasy start in the profession to becoming one of the most distinctive live performers in Britain. Full Disclosure is a Global Production Listen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. #jamesobrien #Ninaconti #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
This is a Global Player original podcast
0:05
When I found ventriloquism, I thought, well, this is, this is mine
0:09
Did mum and dad discourage you from going down this road? You might get more truth if you speak to the puppet, actually
0:17
How quickly did things develop? The stage door at the Swan Theatre, there's suddenly this big fluffy dog and a teach-yourself
0:24
ventriloquism kit. He had the invitation to make me a ventriloquist. hello and welcome to full disclosure a podcast project conceived entirely to let me spend more
0:42
time with interesting people than i'd ever get on the radio um nina conti welcome thank you
0:48
hello it's lovely to see you um we we couldn't decide whether you would come unaccompanied or
0:54
not we were we were on tenterhooks i'm glad you've come unaccompanied unless you are you
0:58
Unless you're hiding something. Well, no, I mean, my hand could come up like some sort of skeleton
1:05
Because, you know, it is supposed to be a searching but pleasant experience, full disclosure
1:10
Yes. I've listened to it and I find it to be so
1:15
All of those things. But, of course, with your puppets, they can be camouflaged sometimes
1:21
So I did wonder whether or not every time I asked you a vaguely searching question, someone else would answer it
1:27
Like I deflect. You might get more truth if you speak to the puppet, actually
1:33
because, yes, it's like the three. There's a fable, isn't there, of one lies and one doesn't
1:39
But, actually, it switches. The monkey and my characters do switch. The unlikely event that anyone listening to this isn't familiar with your work
1:50
I mean, we should stress that what you do is genuinely extraordinary
1:54
The combination of live improvisation with quite high-tech ventriloquism. You've invented an art form
2:05
You do something that nobody else does. I don't know if I could take credit for inventing something that no one else does
2:15
But I suppose I do it on the... Oh, gosh, I'm trying to think of the word hoof
2:23
Is that a thing? On the hoof, on the hop. On the hoof
2:26
But they both work. Couldn't work out what I was on. But that's the thing I find most sort of pant-wettingly funny
2:31
is the speed with which you are putting words into people's mouths
2:35
Yes, it's amazing when it takes me so long to remember one like two. I mean, if she went on stage, we'd be in trouble
2:42
But yeah, it's a skill of responding to what's there or what's suggested
2:49
So I put masks on audience members for anyone who hasn't seen, which I control the mouth of
2:54
And then I watch their body language and I try to make them say the stuff it looks like
2:58
they might be thinking. So it's just very beady-eyed work, I think
3:03
what I'm doing to see what it looks like would make me laugh that they'd be saying
3:10
So I was watching a few prior to this and I did actually, because I watched it slightly differently
3:14
from when I do as a normal punter, because I was trying to work out how you do it
3:18
And that was my breakthrough discovery is that you know that people are going to bend double with embarrassment
3:24
or that there are things that we do, aren't there? There are physical reactions that we have to scenarios
3:30
And it's like, it's very chicken and egg. The gesture, the words, the words, the gesture
3:36
doing the things like when the woman said, I'm pregnant, and you know she's going to kind of..
3:41
It's a form of alchemy, I think. When it's going well, it must feel extraordinary
3:47
It does feel like cooking. like it starts or igniting and when you're working with someone
3:54
I get a bit sort of dizzy and heady with it too because it's
3:58
kind of exciting and we're doing something that we don't know where it's going we're both in a similar mind state I think me and the audience
4:04
member and they've realised they've got quite a lot of power because they notice that
4:10
something got a laugh and then they think okay that's my game if I do that then
4:14
you know it'll work again so they sometimes repeat actions Crikey. Pick it up quickly
4:20
And there's jeopardy there as well because I feel fear watching it. I mean, there is an absolute sense of anything could happen there
4:26
Yes, I feel fear doing it. Yes, I'm not surprised. They might be rubbish at it
4:31
They might just stand stock still. I mean, just... And that's when you have to let go of your expectations
4:36
because they never help you, ever. I mean, in life, I think that's key to have zero expectations of anything
4:45
Well, you can never be disappointed. Well, exactly. But it's sort of slightly different from lowering your standards
4:52
Yes. But it's just not expecting anything. Because I might think that person looks like they'd be funny
4:59
if they took a sort of hoity-toity attitude or something like that
5:03
And then I'm forcing it and I haven't looked at them and I'm doing something else than what's in the room
5:10
So it's like a tuning in thing is what brings the spoils
5:14
Before we rewind to your early days, Was there a moment of breakthrough
5:21
Was there a moment where you felt and thought on a stage
5:24
that this, if not entirely unprecedented, then certainly rather special thing that you were doing
5:30
was really, really working? I guess there were incremental breakthroughs and I sort of became interested in clowning at one point
5:41
which is getting to be a bit of a boring word these days, and a boring thing, actually
5:47
But I did find that quite useful, going on stage with nothing, facing a group full of other clowning students who would sort of, I don't know, waiting to see if you fail and having really very nothing
6:04
I found that quite exciting. It's like a real Petri dish where you just have nothing
6:10
And then you realize that when you're honest, that's what will get the laugh
6:15
And if you bring your silly ideas of what you think will be funny
6:19
God help you. It'll be grim. There was a more sort of obvious thing was I had that mask
6:25
I had my first ventriloquist mask and I employed a mate to pretend they were an audience member
6:34
And I said I'd make them dance and then they did a sort of reluctant dance
6:38
And it was pretty funny. So I kept that in and I kept that. At one time he couldn't come
6:42
and I had that bit in the show and I thought I should risk it as someone really
6:48
And it was actually about 50 times funnier and I had to be on my toes
6:54
and it wasn't cheating. I mean, I look back on that and think, that's so naff, that's just cheating
6:59
and it's not fun. So I never really looked back but I kept the risk small
7:06
just little, little bits and then grow, grow, grow and then eventually I just ended up doing an entire show
7:10
with no script, which is makes me very happy yes i can imagine because i don't like writing
7:17
um right let back up you are obviously the daughter of tom conti and carl wilson something which i mean from what i read about you you always had quite a difficult relationship not with them but with the fact of their fame
7:37
It's interesting, isn't it? Yes. Is that what comes across with the cursory research
7:41
I think before Nepo Baby, how dare you say cursory, by the way
7:45
Oh, well, maybe not. For weeks. No, no, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to presume that you'd been trawling
7:52
But before Nepo baby was even a thing, you were worried that that was how you would be perceived
7:57
Nepo, finding Nepo. I call it Nepo. Nepo, sorry. No, Nepo's fine
8:03
I was very worried about that. Yes, it didn't have a word
8:07
But, well, I suppose, yeah, it did have a word. It was nepotism
8:12
But I didn't like it. I didn't want to be accused of it
8:17
I was really anxious. and I I mean, but I didn't have
8:23
the husband to change my name and drive to just go at it
8:27
I thought, well if you don't like this that's what you have to do
8:31
but that felt weird to go as someone else with a different name
8:38
It's going to emerge line two of that story, isn't it? Line one is I change my name
8:44
line two, she's Tom Conti's daughter Why'd she call herself Blankensop? And I thought, if I'm really honest, I probably wanted the help
8:52
Yes, of course. You know, it's a hard business to crack into
8:56
And I thought, well, any help I can get. I hadn't gone to drama school because my dad had told me not to
9:03
And then, and they'd also, my parents suggested, you know, it was a good idea to get a degree
9:08
Which you can't help but take as a little vote of no confidence. You have a backup plan
9:13
Something to fall back on. Yeah. A safety net. So I thought, all right, okay, well, it's not going to be easy then
9:17
And then I went and studied philosophy for a while, which is very entertaining, but doesn't lead directly to anything at all, except an existential crisis
9:26
And then I got an agent that my dad helped me get
9:32
So there's the nepotistic advantage. Well, it can get you to the threshold of a doorway, but it can't get you a residence in the room
9:39
It did not get me a job. No. I failed to get a job for years
9:44
And then I put a show on a little pub theatre. And then I started to work on jobs that were, you know, I had other jobs
9:56
I had temping jobs and stuff. And I would just do sort of the free stuff
10:01
But it was really interesting stuff. It was Ken Campbell. And that's kind of like the drama school I went to with this maverick director
10:11
And that then gave me the confidence to sort of build my own thing. And then when I found ventriloquism, I thought, well, this is mine
10:19
This is not my dad's. This is totally mine. And I really held on to it with all head, thinking this is a unique thing for me
10:29
Was it always obvious that you were going to be a performer? Not because of who your parents were, but because of who you were as a child
10:36
Well, I was putting on shows from a very young age, like parties and things like that
10:42
I was putting on shows. I put the twits on at my parents' party in the garden
10:48
I remember thinking during it, this isn't very good. I should have worked a bit harder on this
10:56
But you had an appreciative audience, at least. Well, they were attentive
11:01
I mean, God, they must have been indulgent. It wasn't good. Anyway, no, I had been putting on little shows and everything
11:08
but I was also very shy. Yeah, I thought so. So I think I... It's not a show-off
11:13
No, it wasn't a show-off. I was definitely very shy and still am, really
11:18
And so I needed to do my shows. I had to control the conditions in order to let myself out
11:25
And that's probably how you end up being a comedian. I mean, I think it's not uncommon
11:30
But now I do a show where I do all the voices
11:36
and I have total control, which must have been, you know, in some way
11:41
an antidote to being the quietest person in the room. Were you quiet at school
11:46
Pretty quiet. I had a little posse to the side of the main people
11:51
who seemed like the stars of the year, you know, the confident ones
11:56
I was like slightly to the left of that. And what role did the fame at home play in that
12:04
I mean, did people treat you different? I mean, it must be weird because your dad in particular is one of those actors who everybody feels that they own a piece of
12:11
You know, he's one of those actors with an easy familiarity and a niceness in his sort of essence
12:18
that makes people think they know him when they don't. It must be weird. Really
12:22
Well, don't you think so? Or not? I don't know if I don't think so, But I'm sort of surprised a bit, I suppose
12:31
And a lot of people don't know who he is, young people. Sure
12:36
But everyone when you were at school would have known, wouldn't they? I guess they did know
12:41
I guess they did know. And there were some perks to that in some ways
12:49
Yeah, but he also was away a lot, you know, while I was growing up
12:53
So he wasn't like pick up all the time. And you did drive a Rolls-Royce and took me off sometimes
12:59
It's just way too close to my friends. And I always found that very devastating
13:06
Embarrassing. Embarrassing. Drop me at the corner. It's definitely ridiculous. No, my friend's dad was a Rolls-Royce dealer
13:12
Right. And he was absolutely adamant that you can't drop me off outside school
13:17
Right. Because you'd be pilloried for it. You'd look ridiculous. Yes, absolutely
13:21
It's ridiculous. But Home was, I presume, quite a salon style. I mean, there'd be lots of actors and directors coming and going
13:29
Yeah, there was. Yeah, there was. And my parents had both come from quite prim upbringings in Scotland
13:36
and they went a long way against that. And it was much more liberal and everything
13:43
and there were lots of people around. Yeah, it also looked like fun, the best fun, you know
13:50
one night John Candy came over with I think he maybe shared an agent with my dad
13:56
so my dad's agent and him were over for dinner and that was the most riotous night
14:02
I can remember of my life and he was playing with napkins
14:05
and going oh buddy rabbit and he gave me $50 God knows why
14:09
he was just like on fire the guy was on fire funny
14:14
drank a whole bottle of whiskey and he was on fire and like that's intoxicating and of course you want to join that world
14:23
of course you do you want that fun all the time and um so yeah it was just too inviting
14:33
and so i was sort of pretending a little bit that i might want to do something serious and i did a
14:38
mini pupillage and law and but it was grim i was like no i don't i want the fun stuff
14:43
so university was always just treading water it was treading water and keeping mum and dad happy
14:51
it was treading water my best friend went to drama school right and I drove back from Norwich where I was at university most weekends and hung out with her friends Right That where you kind of wanted to be but weren Yeah And did mum and dad put obstacles more obstacles in
15:08
Did they discourage you from going down this road? No, they didn't. And I think that they had to be a little bit careful of knocking my confidence
15:15
if I was going to go into it. So they were encouraging. But actually, they did transmit whether or not they meant to
15:22
they transmitted some serious concern. Reluctance. A degree of reluctance. Deep concern
15:29
Because they kind of want you to be happy and they want you to be successful and it's not a profession in which either thing
15:34
is easily achievable regardless of who you are. No, and it's terribly dependent on other people
15:41
being an actor. Being a ventriloquist, you do get a wonderful amount of self-control
15:48
and independence. Yes. Of what's happening on stage you do, but you can't control whether or not there's anybody in the audience
15:55
No, but if you make it funny, it does get noticed because you start little open mic nights and it's not hard to get those
16:05
You know, it's easier to control. So I suppose your school was a relatively straightforward affair
16:15
You're clearly bright. Teachers liked you, thought you could... Quite bright. It wasn't very straightforward
16:20
I was very unhappy when I first went to both the schools I went to at the beginning
16:25
It took a very long time. I think I shut down completely in primary school, actually
16:28
Really? Yeah, yeah. You had attachment issues? Seriously, yeah. I didn't know what had happened
16:34
Just the minute you were taken out of this home environment, you suffered
16:39
So much time with my mum. We were really best friends. And then suddenly I looked at the other kids like, this is not, this is almost a different species
16:48
I don't know what I'm doing with this. these things yeah I'm not one of them I felt like I'm not I don't know how to do this and they're
16:58
all getting on with it and I don't know what this is and I think I was just I would just sort of sit
17:03
and wait for the day to be over it's not weird so I don't know what that is now maybe I'd have
17:09
something diagnosed now I don't know I don't think so I was just really it was like everything I
17:17
liked was gone and i was in a place that was noisy and scary and uh long day did it slowly dissipate
17:27
that feeling yeah i managed to make a friend in in the third year it was there gosh yeah and then
17:34
it was fine and by the time you got to secondary school you were you knew who you were uh by the
17:41
time i went to secondary school it was a setback it was back to oh god i'm back to this i'm back to
17:46
the person who's just waiting for the day to end. And then I made a friend
17:53
You need one, don't you? You just need one and then you're okay. But if you don't have one, God, it's a long day
17:59
And the fact that you're not speaking makes it difficult to start
18:05
Did adults not notice? They did and they were sort of, they liked me
18:10
they were encouraging me. I was, you know, I was like a good student
18:14
I wasn't misbehaving or anything. I think they wanted to help me out my shell
18:18
Yeah, but that's all they thought it was. It sounds a bit deeper than just someone who was shy
18:22
It sounds like there's something a bit more profound going on. I don't know. It was a bit chronic, actually, looking back
18:28
But then the fact that it didn't last, and then once you have a friend, you build, and then it was fine by the time I left both schools, yeah
18:34
So, I mean, school and then university. I didn't know you'd done a mini-pupillage
18:38
My cursory research didn't stretch to your flirtation with law. But what was the ambition then
18:45
Were you thinking, because you joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, so you thought you were going to be and you wanted to be a straight actor
18:53
I really knew I didn't want to be a straight actor. So what are you doing then
18:57
What are you doing on this path? At the Royal Shakespeare Company
19:01
Well, that was an audition, and I did three roles, and I had been working with Ken Campbell
19:08
so I wore false teeth to one of them, and I had funny approaches to the thing
19:13
It was like how to game this audition. And I managed to get in
19:18
But then as soon as I was in, I didn't really feel like I belonged because I'd been doing these sort of 24-hour plays with Ken
19:24
Yes. And then I felt like it was very, very straight. So there's a subversion that you're already drawn to
19:36
Somewhere that came in. A sense of subversive. I'm really glad I got that
19:40
I don't know where it came in. Yeah. And Ken Campbell was obviously the sort of deliverer of that experience. Yeah
19:48
Someone who you worked with and fell in love with. Yeah. And he's no longer with us
19:55
But for people who are not aware of his work. He was never with us
19:59
He was somewhere else always, wasn't he? Yeah. I mean, he's an extraordinary figure in so many ways
20:06
Even if your encounter with him was purely professional, it would have been deeply influential
20:10
just what was it about him that was so out of the ordinary
20:15
professionally, thespianly? It was really unpredictability that was so exciting because you couldn't possibly imagine what he was going to say
20:24
His brain just worked differently. And then you'd watch him direct people who seemed like
20:29
a mediocre actor, for example, comes on and he would find something for them to do
20:36
where suddenly everybody's doubled over laughing and he's found the thing for them
20:41
And it wasn't always nice the way he got there, sometimes very cruel, but always fascinating
20:48
So I just thought that there's just so much going on there
20:52
I need to be up close to that. I need to get as much of that as possible
20:56
because it's more interesting than anything I've seen. When did you first come into his orbit
21:01
Well, whilst I was studying philosophy, I was really excited by philosophy, actually, I have to say
21:08
It was treading water. class degree so you must have it was very interesting to me to think about things so
21:14
profoundly that you kind of question everything um and he seemed to be doing that on stage so i
21:20
went to see him at the national and he was doing something it was it was full of conspiracy theories
21:24
and stuff and he was talking about seeking and supposing rather than just believing any old thing
21:31
so I had earmarked him as a goalpost of some kind and then when I heard through a friend
21:40
that he was doing this play that anyone could be in all you had to do was show up
21:45
I went which was very brave and that was very brave for the kid
21:50
you know at school who didn't speak to anybody but you had sensed or seen something
21:56
that you hadn't seen before and you wanted a piece of it Yeah, and it felt kind of desperate really because I wasn't getting into the profession normally
22:07
Nothing was happening. But you didn't want to, even as you tried to. Somewhere deep inside, you didn't actually want to go down the path that your father had gone down as an actor
22:16
You wanted to do something different, but you also wanted to be in that world where John Candy could be sitting at your dinner table
22:22
and you could do something that made you feel fantastic Yeah I think I might have felt like a fraud as an actor probably i still would maybe i still would i don know why there a moment i got actor friends where and the two you can tell
22:42
the difference between actors acting and that curious species of actor who aren't acting you
22:49
know stanislavski in about it or whatever but but you you would always have felt you were an actor
22:55
acting unless you were doing this this kind of work with ken campbell and yeah i remember thinking
23:02
because there was a script in some of the stuff with ken and i remember getting really playful
23:07
with it one day and thinking oh i'm actually quite good but then i don't know it's not really welcome
23:16
to be crazy. I don't know. That's not true. I felt shy as soon as I was in the straighter places
23:23
and audition rooms. Wow. I don't know. The kiss of death to me they were, really
23:31
And then it's hard to leave your desperation outside and then that doesn't improve your performance
23:39
Maybe it does. I mean, Jim Carrey probably, you know, that was probably his fuel
23:43
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know why, but the word lucky that is growing in my mind as I taught you
23:50
It's lucky that you discovered what you discovered. Yeah. Really lucky that something would fit all of these slightly, well, very conflicting impulses and sensibilities
23:59
And you would find something and develop something that suits you so completely
24:06
Yeah, I do actually really like the way things have turned out. And I couldn't have found it without that luck. It's true
24:12
So, I mean, I guess the fact that I took the, chose to stick with the things that I went into
24:20
but it would be strange if I was just an actor. Oh, God, that would be strange. And I was actually talking with my partner last night
24:25
about pilots and things that didn't get picked up. And I was thinking, God, what if it had
24:31
Who would I be now? It would be so weird. Yeah, the path not taken
24:37
That was a parallel life, a parallel universe where you're somebody completely different
24:41
Like a game. I did a pilot for a game show. Did you
24:45
With my masks. The pilot went, well, I thought, this is for sure
24:49
this is going to get commissioned. Yeah. And then I went into ITV and sat with the head honcho
24:54
who said, so what do you want to do? As if that pilot hadn't even been, it didn't exist
25:04
And it was this weird meeting where I was thinking, did you watch it? Yeah. You're not even going to tell me, no
25:08
you're just going to say, so nothing happened. So how are you
25:12
anyway it was quite discombobulating at the time but i i would be a game show host not very
25:19
subversive it's not my bag yeah it would have been really weird it's a danger sometimes isn't
25:26
there of rushing through whatever doors are open we're not stopping to wonder which doors you
25:31
really really want to get through yeah yeah particularly in showbiz i have more failed
25:36
pilots, I like to say that the Japanese Air Force in my on my CV. But again, most of them
25:43
if they'd happened, you'd think Christ, what would be going on now? Doing something that I love doing
25:49
So I think that the ventriloquism was Ken into it before because he did this thing in Kentucky
25:55
and he came back with a puppet. I just I mean, it's a seminal moment in the in the origin story
26:01
this isn't it i mean i think that's just his pranking mind and it's just him being deliberately
26:09
obtuse and unpredictable like what's the naffest thing talking about ventriloquism like it's the
26:15
highest art because at the time it was in the minds of people it's it's it's nookie bear and
26:20
orville yeah really yeah it's tough stuff yeah and and to say we're bringing it back it's the
26:26
best art form it's the most powerful and they did a thing at the national the history of comedy
26:31
part one ventriloquism i mean as if it holds any place on the map and if you said you were just
26:37
doing this to be you know perverse he would absolutely fight you down are you saying you
26:44
know like you'd be in trouble for doubting him because then he would suddenly stand firmly on
26:51
the ground of that underdog or whatever and fight to the death for it. I don't know. He was a guy
26:56
who did things fully and he really didn't like half-arsed attempts at anything. But you still
27:04
don't know whether he was entirely serious when he embraced ventriloquism. He became entirely
27:09
serious, especially when challenged, but the whole thing might have started off as a whimsical
27:15
funny idea. Funny idea. Funny idea, but he would die for those. Yeah
27:19
Yeah, there's a lovely clip of him saying, I think anything that isn't funny is a travesty of life
27:26
He says it with such deathly anger. Venom. Yeah, venom. So what happened
27:33
I mean, did I get that right? He came back from Kentucky with a puppet
27:39
When did you first insert your hand into a puppet? How did that come about
27:45
Well, I did it a few times in groups with him. he was holding sort of workshops
27:52
And I had a troubled relationship with him because I couldn't do everything he wanted
27:58
because it was too extreme. And I had to separate a bit and that made him angry
28:03
and it was a bit tough. But I didn't want to ever have an enemy in him
28:10
you know, so I kept in touch a bit and I went to these ventriloquist workshops
28:15
I thought they were really stupid. and I didn't like it but then I went to the Royal Shakespeare Company
28:24
and I was doing a very normal job and I didn't have big parts, I had small parts
28:28
and I really kind of missed him and I thought, however weird it is I would rather that
28:33
and at the time so I sort of opened the door to him again
28:38
and then he asked me I mean it's a long story full story is that he said
28:46
whilst you're doing this and you're cutting your teeth in the acting world i would like to write a
28:51
book about acting i always have and if you could send me questions about acting that will inspire
28:58
chapters and so and he provided me with postcards but there's a dress on them and uh i had an
29:07
unsuccessful voice coaching lesson with sis berry who's very loud voice coach who said uh you know
29:15
there are voices some I can listen to and the others I just shut off and you've got to make
29:19
yours one I can listen to okay quite tough so I quoted that on this postcard and said what do I do
29:28
and this book that he was purporting to write suddenly didn't exist anymore he had the invitation
29:37
to make me a ventriloquist. And he went at it wholeheartedly. And at the stage door at the Swan Theatre
29:46
there's suddenly this big fluffy dog and the teach yourself ventriloquism kit
29:50
which he bought in Kentucky, which was 30 booklets of how to learn ventriloquism
29:57
And it came with a sort of a lolly stick to hold your tongue. down and a little mirror and I mean and he said this is this is the answer to your question you
30:08
will become a vocal acrobat there will be nothing that you can do it's just very you'll be doing all
30:15
the things she can't teach you and you will know everything about the voice and this is what you
30:19
have to do and it's actually amazing and he was always amazing that was just the kind of thing he
30:27
He did. He did it so fully. And so then I did remember my heart sinking
30:35
Yes, I can imagine. I'm thinking, oh, God, I wish I hadn't asked
30:39
what about your book? Can't you just tell me some vocal warm-up
30:47
And then this is so good. Obviously, this dog has cost you money
30:52
and now I'm involved in this awful thing. and I had to take a video of myself trying
31:01
which I was sort of hoping would put him off. But the videos that I made with this puppet
31:07
and some other puppets which I had around the house, one of which was Monkey
31:12
which belonged to an actor friend, they were quite good. I showed early promise in these videos
31:22
And so it just like, yeah, it didn't stop. It's absolutely extraordinary, isn't it
31:27
Yeah, it's funny. What was the, before we sort of developed that
31:33
the evolution of the act further, what was his, I mean, the possibility that it was all a Wizard Whee's aside
31:40
is it the fact that it allows an actor, when he was doing workshops
31:45
to shed inhibitions in a way that would be harder to do in other circumstances
31:50
What is the role that the ventriloquism plays in the development of the actor
31:54
Or is that even a stupid question? I don't think he cared about the acting part much
32:01
I think he liked to do stuff that no one else was doing
32:07
He was a truffle pig for lost art forms and eccentric and bold ideas
32:12
And so he was just giving himself a quest to bring lost art form back
32:19
and I mean much like he wanted to give the world a language and and studied pigeon for ages and
32:27
made us all translate it into translate my birth into pigeon and stuff like that he would do things
32:32
like that um so ventriloquism was just like yeah the thing of the time and he did it a bit himself
32:39
as well it was terrible so you were his vessel yeah you were the vessel through which he was the
32:45
puppet yeah oh gosh probably yeah in some ways um but i think it does help acting actually and
32:54
he's the same show he used to do an impression of all the great actors like humphrey burghart a man
33:01
of great stature and very little lip movement you know if you watch it if you keep your face still
33:06
you have more power anyway you know no movement at all of the lips and you're really talking
33:11
I don't know but yeah it was subversive it is a subversive art form
33:19
it turns out it isn't just silly naughty jokes end of the pier stuff
33:26
it's very subversive did you feel that early
33:35
I mean because you moved from ridiculousness to fascination I suspect quite quickly
33:40
yeah yeah and then back in the day this there was no internet there was nothing you couldn't go on
33:47
youtube and watch weird things and ken had a library full of weird things and he had videos
33:53
of these old ventriloquists that you just could not see anywhere and like um terry rogers was one
34:01
of them and and she had a puppet terry had been born a man i think and and had undergone the first
34:08
sex change on the nhs apparently and terry had a male puppet that had incredibly deep male voice
34:15
and she was just like pearls around her neck and like butter wouldn't melt and there was a very old
34:22
athena documentary that ken had somehow got a video of and she's putting her puppet away in the
34:28
box and he's saying you'll never get away with this you will never get and it was like so exciting
34:33
it was really goose bumpy and it was like oh there is something going on here
34:38
there's something really interesting going on here and for the first time in your life
34:44
you thought I can do I can actually do this I can do this real
34:48
I can authentically do this I won't be an actor acting I will be me and I will be good
34:55
finally I found something where I'm able to find things to say because i don't have to just be me saying all these things i can have something
35:10
demand them i can have something ask me questions and demand my opinion so i don't i'm not arrogantly
35:18
just going and spouting um and and also i have something to fight against you know and
35:24
And so it was just like, oh, I could write actually with this pen
35:29
I could. Oh, it was a really nice unlocking moment. That's a good word, isn't it
35:35
Unlocking. Because it's something that's been there all along, but now got out
35:40
And I didn't know it was there all along either until I started to have a puppet
35:44
And I started to think, oh, he could say this. And then I could say this. And yeah. You described it as being like a secret passage, I think
35:50
Right. Because it's sort of a combination of armour and liberation. it's a freeing, it's a process of freeing
35:56
It was, yeah I'm very grateful for it And then how quickly did
36:01
things develop? I mean when did you first do it in front of an audience
36:09
Well I mean it was baby steps initially because I thought okay I'm good at ventriloquism
36:14
but I need somebody to write me something, which Ken did he wrote me a play and
36:22
he wrote me like a half hour play about an actress becoming a
36:29
ventriloquist and Ken was in the play, he was the director off stage in the
36:35
toilet throughout so I go around to his house and I'm like Ken and he's like oh in the lab and
36:42
so I have a conversation with him off stage and then he goes go and get
36:48
you know open that box or whatever and I start oh yeah, that was it
36:53
I said, I've got an audition and I need to take a puppet. He's like, well, go and get that one
36:57
And so then I unfold all these boxes and talk to all these puppets
37:01
And by the end, I decide not to go to the audition because I'm not an actress
37:04
I'm a ventriloquist. Gosh. Yeah, that was the play. Where did you put that on
37:10
I did that at the Gate Theatre. And that felt like a seminal moment
37:15
Big moment. Yeah. My mum cried. Because you were not an actress, you were a ventriloquist
37:20
really my mom cried because she thought she's gonna be okay oh wow because she'd
37:24
seen you do something special yeah stage yeah lovely thing that must have been yeah and and but have been Yeah But again however good you are at it it quite an odd sell isn it
37:36
To then, I don't know, what do you do? Put your CV through letterbox
37:41
I mean, you develop another show and you take it. I made videos. Yes, of course
37:45
I started to make videos. And I gave them to people. I mean, they must have thought I was mad
37:51
I gave one to Paul Andrew Williams, who's the director now, because I knew him as a mate
37:56
I gave one to, I've forgotten his name right now, Bill Bailey
38:02
Yes. Dylan Moran. You know, that's so embarrassing. Why is that embarrassing
38:07
Well, these videos are just like me talking to a monkey in my flat
38:13
It's madness. It's not madness because you were obviously very good. But it's not the act of a shy young woman, is it
38:22
Is this or I suppose that is that bit is but handing them a video and then running away
38:27
It is and it isn't. I mean, the shy part is watch this because I can be good if no one's looking
38:32
You know, I'm not going to dazzle you in person. So watch my video, please
38:36
And did they lead anywhere? Did the videos did anything sprout? I'm not sure. No, not. Well, maybe. I don't know. Ken loved the videos I made
38:45
I mean, I made him lots and he used to get all his friends around and watch them together
38:51
you know it was yeah so what's next edinburgh the fringe is yeah where that's the next big
38:57
breakthrough the next big moment yeah next big moment was i'm in edinburgh doing that play that
39:01
ken wrote and i go on nicholas parson's show that he does where he would he would
39:08
yeah and um and i took the monkey on with me and so then the monkey was the smallest puppet in that
39:17
play that I'd done with Ken. And in an interview situation, there was no fourth wall. The monkeys
39:24
started getting lots of laughs from the audience. And then I thought, okay, this is definitely
39:27
something to do without a fourth wall. This is a standup. So again, it was quite coincidental
39:32
It was quite lucky that you were in that space at that time with that reaction
39:37
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, it was another accident. Is that so it just occurs to me that what you're doing at Edinburgh this year is a bit like what
39:44
Nicholas Parsons was doing back then? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, yes
39:48
sort of Edinburgh veterans progression. Nina's Conti Cabaret will include other acts coming to spend time with you
39:58
Yeah. And is it Monkey, just Monkey? No, I'll be doing my mask stuff
40:02
with the audience. With them as well, with the audience as well. To be really honest
40:06
there's sometimes... You don't know yet what you're going to be doing. Well, sometimes there's a little bit in my show
40:11
which is a bit boring, where I try to have a rest. Go on
40:16
It's very true, you know. It feels a terrible thing to admit. It's very taxing
40:21
But sometimes there's a bit like where I'll hide behind a chair and monkey will meet people on his own for a bit
40:26
Oh, I see. Okay. And it's like just one less thing to think about
40:29
because it's so plate spinning what I do that I do get a sort of fatigue
40:35
And I thought, well, why don't you get someone else great to do something great for 10 minutes during that bit
40:40
instead of doing your boring bit? Okay. So that's what this show's about. That's what hopefully is going to happen
40:45
Yeah. But again, as with almost everything you do, well, not actually, but as with an awful lot of what you do
40:50
it's in the lap of the gods. Yeah. Much of it. Yes
40:54
I mean, it'll be like one of my shows. It'll be like all the fun bits of my show, plus two guests
40:59
What then is the point at which you think, I'm sort of, in the way that a parent would
41:04
this is why your mum cried, because she thought you were going to be okay. When did you think you were okay
41:10
When did you think, oh gosh, this is it now. I'm up and running. I'm off and running
41:15
It was at the Banana Cabaret at the Bedford in Ballam. Yeah
41:20
There was a New Act night which ran like a competition and it was really, really scary
41:27
I mean, I was really, really shaking. I had the monkey in my bag and I had about a few minutes of material
41:32
where the monkey was going to hump a pint glass and I was on with lots of stand-ups
41:38
and it was very scary taking the monkey out the bag because the audience really were worried
41:44
And then I won it. I won the night, and I got 25 quid or something
41:49
But more than that, I just got a direction. And this is it
41:54
This is it. This is what I do. Well, that worked. This is who I am. And so you do various shows
42:00
I mean, you're not complacent, are you? You're never thinking, right, that's it now
42:07
Because I suppose the ventriloquists from my childhood were doing the same act for 30 or 40 years with the same puppet
42:13
and not really extending themselves at all. But probably because of that background in subversiveness
42:19
and the influence of Ken Campbell, you're constantly trying to find new frontiers
42:25
which takes you both into the world of filmmaking and into the world of putting masks on members of the audience
42:33
Which way around should we talk about those? Let's talk first about the film
42:37
which people can watch now on Prime Video, but which, apart from the fact that it features a suicidal radio host
42:44
which is a bit close to home, it would be impossible for me to explain to people what the film is about
42:52
in a way that won't make Jaws... I mean, it's about what
42:57
I mean, it's an... When did that idea occur to you? It's a love affair
43:01
It's a road trip between a man and a woman who doesn't want to come out of a monkey suit
43:05
Yeah. Set in New Mexico. But he's going to dig up his dead dad to get the watch
43:09
I mean, every line of this is extraordinary. Yeah, it's very unlike any other film I've seen, I think
43:18
It's the same. But I mean, I guess there's some notes of, I don't know, other road trip movies
43:25
But that was another signpost, really. I met Shanoa Allen. Who plays the radio
43:34
Yeah. and I loved his work so much immediately and he was so natural and he was doing crazy improv stuff
43:43
but he was selling it with such like such dignity was such was so well played and I thought this is
43:49
very different from the kind of improv games that you see where people see this guy's a real guy and
43:56
he's doing and I just really wanted to work with him so and then monkey that I was I had made my
44:03
monkey puppet into a full-sized guy and that's where I was with my act at the
44:08
time I was thinking monkey is the fun one Nina now feels like a bit of a
44:13
chaperone and what about if I just was monkey and this was having had a small
44:20
part in a Star Wars movie in Solo which I was cut from in the end anyway but for
44:27
the day that I was on set I was watching these huge incredible creatures
44:31
Chewbacca-like creatures walking around and thinking, I want that. I want that
44:37
I want a monkey to be able to be that. And I just got the phone numbers of all the creature department
44:43
and asked them to make me a big monkey. And then did stand-up as him at Soho Theatre without any script
44:51
I just got crowd work as monkey. So that was another big day And Chanoa I had invited him to see that And then we started doing an act called Monkey and Roy and that was the basis of the film and it was two people that were sort of
45:06
trying to help people with their problems called Let's Get Personal we would help the audience with their problems
45:12
Monkey and Roy so then from that I thought I was probably slightly falling in love with him then already
45:20
but I was thinking this is very much like a love story because I am actually kind of trying to make you love me
45:26
from inside of this ridiculous suit of a monkey. And I can really see how this could be someone's life, you know
45:38
that they can only be themselves under these particular conditions and then be scared to come out in case it's a disappointment
45:47
When did you think it's a film? I always have ideas on planes and I was sitting buckled up before takeoff and thought
45:54
this is a love story, this is a film. And I remember texting him, should we try and make a film, you know, and just before takeoff
46:01
Yeah, I'd love that. Yeah, okay, we'll do it. Well, I mean, that's the easy bit, isn't it
46:06
I mean, how, because for someone who's most alive when you're performing, how hard was
46:11
the sort of schlep of getting things done and raising money and doing all of that
46:15
Yeah, it's a horrible schlep. Yes. It's a really horrible schlep and writing here and there to get money from here and there
46:21
And not from anybody who's saying this is very good, but can Keira Knightley be in the monkey, you know
46:27
So you have to do it low budget if you want to do it your own way
46:31
And you did. And you got it made. And it's done really well. I mean, it's won awards. It's had extraordinary reviews
46:38
But films are weird in this day and age, in the day of streaming, because it's gone up on Prime relatively recently on Prime Video
46:45
and it should and could reach an entirely new audience. It could assume a new life, a new act
46:51
It really depends on whether it's showing on the page when people open Prime
46:56
It's incredible. And it's called Sunlight. It should probably be called Monkey and Roy
47:01
but it's called Sunlight. And so that's the challenge. But I've noticed I got fed up
47:10
You know, we haven't got the budget to be on the side of buses or any of that
47:14
And it's hard to muscle in amongst all the big films that are supported by studios
47:19
And I made a video recently going, have you watched my film yet? Which travels quite far
47:25
The clip went semi-viral, yeah. That's good. And since then, people have been watching it
47:32
And I'm getting, every day I'm getting messages saying it affected people profoundly
47:39
And I'm really glad because it isn't like normal films. And it does speak to people
47:44
So I'm very glad that it's getting some traction now. Well, hopefully we'll get it a bit more
47:48
It's on Prime Video in the UK as we speak, but it may not be on the page that loads on the screen as soon as you..
47:54
And then the sort of second, well, the third or fourth spinning plate
48:00
the idea to stick masks on audience members, which, I mean... Well, no, hang on. I can't take credit for that
48:07
Those masks existed. Right, OK. Yeah. I saw a ventriloquist called Ron Lucas
48:13
early days with Ken Campbell in his kitchen showing me getting an old VHS out this guy look at this guy and
48:22
It was brilliant. I mean, I think Ronald Reagan was in the audience was back in the 80s
48:30
He got someone up and he made them sing when you're smiling The whole world smiles with him and he told him how to sit, you know, he got him down on one knee
48:38
he made him put his arms out and he made him sing this would like joyous song and it was really
48:43
knockout so that was the first time i saw one of those masks but then apparently well there's a bit
48:50
of consternation about who invented them because somebody emitted a paper one before him and who
48:57
knows who invented the first it's not your battle is it because you're not claiming that you did no
49:01
i'm not so so what made you think oh i'll have a bit of that because everything else was going so
49:05
well you had you'd established gran and you'd established monkey and other characters and and
49:09
so now you just thought were you a little bit bored or maybe maybe yeah actually bill dare
49:17
uh who was a radio writer and a producer and so on bill dare got a hold of me so he he actually
49:23
really helped me too he said you should be improvising more you should be doing unscripted
49:30
stuff i don't know why you're not because i was quite tightly scripted until then and and so he
49:35
sort of forced me off script a bit and it was with him yeah it was with him that I decided okay maybe
49:41
I'll do a bit with an audience member and and that involves you you commissioned the the the
49:47
master you yourself and then I bought one off the internet right and uh off the internet yeah who
49:53
would have been um and uh it was a very basic one was just like a chin with a string on it pulled
49:59
that down down down and yeah that was the first one and then the first time as you've told us that
50:04
you tried it the first few times that you tried it you you you had a stooge at a stooge and i was
50:09
encouraged by bill to have a stooge he was like well those people have stooges that's what you do
50:13
if you're you know you don't have to be nervous then it's all done yes um so you'd still be
50:18
improvising a bit would you with a stooge or was it because had it become more or less scripted
50:22
i was trying to be a bit looser yeah in that show generally speaking okay looser and then the first
50:27
time you stuck a mask on a random audience member yes the first time it said my stooge was unavailable
50:35
and i thought in that bit of the show i'll just do it with somebody from the front row
50:40
and it was much more funny ah so it was a part of the show it wasn't as if everything hinged on that
50:46
you would you were still doing your other i was doing other bits granny and monkey okay and then
50:51
there was the mask bit and i thought well i'll risk it with somebody and it worked really really
50:55
It worked really well. Why? It was very alive. It was bristling with, like, unknown
51:03
And it felt far more high stakes. And the audience could tell it was really no one knew what was going to happen
51:12
That's what I meant by jeopardy. It's probably not quite the right word. But there's a tension, a delightful tension watching
51:17
Yeah. What the ? Which you have as well, but times a million on stage
51:21
Well, now it feels quite small, actually. I look at that and think, well, why is there so much, you know, tension
51:28
It's not that big of a deal to get someone up and do that. It felt big to me
51:32
Maybe I brought the tension. No, I don't think so. I think it's an anxiety dream for a lot of people, to be honest
51:38
Some people sit there begging not to be noticed. Yeah, yeah. Sort of pantomime and stuff
51:44
Some people, the idea of hell would be to be dragged up on. Mine included
51:48
Well, that's the ironic thing, isn't it, in a way. But again, there's several moments now
51:55
I haven't kept count of them, but these extraordinary aligning of planet moments in your life
52:00
Meeting Ken Campbell, him deciding that ventriloquism was the thing, you being in the right place at the right time, that thing not happening, not being a quiz show host
52:11
Finding monkey, finding a voice, all of these things. And now there's this, which has sort of propelled you into a into a new space, a slightly bigger space than you were in before
52:21
Because when you have two or four when you have more than one person interacting with you and with each other and you doing all of their voices and watching all of their react i mean that you talked about plinning spate
52:35
plinning spates before um that's that's that's absolutely bonkers yes it's it's it's very
52:44
exciting i really love it so the first time you did it more than one first time i did one one i
52:52
don't really remember okay yeah i don't think that was a like a moment it was it was not so
52:58
different from doing one okay um but then doing a lot and then doing yeah getting like whole families
53:08
up it's really a joy it's really nice i have learned to get people up that know each other
53:14
because they crack each other up yes um if you have lots of individuals who don't quite get that
53:19
element and the ones that really sing I think is when you can see the love between the
53:23
people on stage like sisters and it's so sweet it's really sweet they make each other laugh
53:30
I've always been interested in the talk about stuff being unscripted
53:40
and yet you think deeply about what you do and about performance in general
53:46
what's work? When you're putting something together, you don't just turn up with the..
53:53
Do you see what I mean? What do you do when you're not on stage that makes what you do on stage work
54:03
I don't think anything, really. Really? No, just not panic, trust, you know, the old clown course and stuff like that
54:13
Just not to be frightened and try not to be frightened. and try not to lose faith in people, you know, all that sort of thing
54:23
Do you still get frightened? I do. I'm very nervous before I go on
54:28
I'm not very nervous, maybe, but, yeah, I still feel... I feel frightened before I go on stage
54:34
In a good way, though, not in a kind of throwing-up-in-the-loo way. Yeah, and it's different because it's not like this is going to be awful
54:42
I know it'll be OK, and I know that just fear is what happens
54:46
before I have a show and I can't get away from that. And this is an odd question, but how much of it is on
54:53
because it's not all on you. There'll be good nights and bad nights, right? And you're, I mean, all comedians work with energy
54:58
and work with a room and work with the audience. But how much is on you
55:05
I mean, do you sometimes think, God, I was so blessed tonight
55:08
that they were in the audience and they come up onto the stage? Or is it more the case that if it's not working
55:13
you're not having a good night? How much do they bring to the stage
55:19
The thing is, it always works to an extent because there's a lot of funny ingredients
55:27
So even if somebody is... Someone would have to be really unpleasant for it not to work
55:31
Ah, OK. Somebody who doesn't offer much physically, it can still work really well
55:39
Right. So someone would have to be sort of actively malevolent. Someone would have to be, yeah, like somebody pulled a punch
55:46
like move as if his wife like oh I'm gonna later and the audience
55:52
just suddenly turned off and then it just all went okay that's not funny
55:58
and I don't know how to make that better and make him say that was stupid
56:02
I apologize but you know it's just like oh everyone's just now worried
56:06
for these guys which brings us back to that tension and that audience not knowing
56:12
what on earth is likely to happen next of course you do
56:16
you know in the moment that it's going brilliantly or not so brilliantly I find that I do a sort of
56:22
casting thing where I'm talking with the monkey to people and you go for likeability and capability
56:31
but not eccentricity stage hungry kind of thing just go for someone that you think
56:38
they're nice and you sit next to them on a bus they'll be alright
56:42
And these days, everybody knows what they're signing up for, pretty much. I think so
56:46
Wouldn't have been the case at the outset, would it? No, it wasn't the case at the outset. So that's a different energy
56:51
Oh, God, I really sometimes think, oh, God, it's so high risk what I do
56:55
If someone was unhappy about something and made me say and said, she took my voice, she made me do this, you know, some horrible story
57:02
That would be awful. So I really try to be careful when I get people up that they're willing, you know
57:09
Yes, of course. So how do you pick projects now, then? So, I mean, the film must have taken a huge chunk out of your life
57:15
And so did lockdown, of course, for all performers. It was a really difficult period
57:22
This combination of wanting to push the envelope, wanting to explore what you're doing
57:28
moving from having a puppet to being in the suit yourself. And you mentioned being on flights
57:34
What does it feel like when you start thinking, oh, yes, I think that might be what happens next
57:41
oh I've got it now have you for animation oh and I learnt
57:48
I'm learning Toon Boom on with an online tutor and it's like
57:55
sort of 50 quid a lesson or something right you can watch
57:59
lots of tutorials online to learn Toon Boom but it's it's nice when you
58:03
have problems to have someone there who can tell you what you've done wrong and I have that
58:08
I have it now with that because it's it's also a bit like puppeteering
58:12
Right. Is Toon Boom just a word for a certain type of animation
58:16
It's a software for animation. Okay, got you. And so you're drawing lots of little component parts of a body
58:22
with pivot points to help it move and everything. And you can make, draw a funny little face
58:27
and then you can record your voice and you've learned to animate the math and suddenly you've got something
58:31
It's quite quick return and it's really, really delightful fun. so it's a new software which is exciting to learn
58:41
I like learning things like that I like learning editing software and I've edited a lot of my film
58:47
along with the editor Riazmir but I did a lot of the hands-on stuff you directed it we should say as well
58:51
I didn't mention that before and I like doing the thing I like learning a new thing
58:58
I like doing a new thing so animation is what I'm excited about at the moment
59:02
and I don't know what I'll make yet but you're going to make something Chino and I are working on something
59:08
And it's very quick. You start talking in a funny voice and you say something funny by accident
59:14
We record it and go, well, that can go in, you know. And I love that we don't have to go begging
59:21
Cap'n Han to anyone for that, you know. We could make it. We could make it if we know how to do it
59:26
So that's the kind of stuff that gets me excited. What do all the things that get you excited have in common
59:35
That's a good question. I don't know if I can answer it immediately
59:39
I like it to be doable, I like it to be fun, I like it to be unexpected, I like it to be
59:45
I don't know, sort of juicy in some way, kind of fun. Juicy's a good word
59:50
Yeah, sort of juicy, but it sort of, I don't know, under the
59:57
it's just going in a little bit secret. ...about it, you know, when you can go in to something in a different door
1:00:05
And not something that lots of other, not just becoming the latest person to do something
1:00:10
Yeah. But lots of other people, I sense that regardless of whether you were good or bad at that
1:00:15
it wouldn't have the same sense of fulfilment for you as having a slightly pioneer feel
1:00:22
Yeah, that's a nice word. I'll take that. It would be nice to be a pioneer
1:00:27
Yeah, I would like to, I've always thought I would like to do a bit of each thing rather than
1:00:36
Well, I mean, my genre and in a way, my stage stuff, I think
1:00:40
Sorry, my my stage stuff, I think I'll always do. But it's it's nice to kind of do one of each thing
1:00:46
I would like to write a play, not to be in it, but I'd love to write a good play
1:00:52
But that's very hard. I think I have to be older and wiser still. And these aren't like tick box ambitions
1:01:00
These are actually your sort of artistic growth. That's something I would like to do
1:01:05
I think so, yeah. Have you ever had tick box ambitions? Have you ever thought, I want to win a what's it
1:01:11
or I want to do a thingy or I want to play on that stage? Have you had like status-based achievements on your roadmap
1:01:19
Not really, no. No, I didn't think so. No, not really. it not something that I want my own TV show funnily enough I don know why I don makes me so cross TV yes I can see why but it not yeah that not the one that it really so so I mean it it
1:01:40
great isn't it to use the word luck to describe the consequences of very hard work but you do
1:01:45
at this point you do feel pretty lucky you're getting to make stuff you want to make do stuff
1:01:51
you want to do you've achieved success in a field that you more or less invented and and you're still
1:01:57
hungry for new experiences i am yeah i like it's it's it's a nice it's not like like a mainstream
1:02:05
life but it suits me very well um i think you just always got to keep an eye out for the signposts
1:02:12
you know and long may it continue you've made a sort of mockery of my closing questions about
1:02:17
future plans and ambitions and things like that because you've answered them already which is nice the Edinburgh thing kicks off on the 17th
1:02:23
of August, runs to the 24th people who are up there can enjoy
1:02:27
that, the film is available now sunlight on Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video
1:02:33
is there another tour in the diary yet? I think so but I also am doing a monthly show at Leicester
1:02:39
Square Theatre which is Nina Conti and Friends, it's a little bit like the one I'm doing
1:02:43
in Edinburgh, that seems like a nice sort of residency Nina Conti, thank you
1:02:49
Thank you
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