Future Plans and Final Thoughts

Hello monkey fiddlers, it's me, Richard Herring. Thank you for downloading my podcast. Please keep listening if you can. Uh the big news is uh twentieth of April, Leicester Square Theatre, one of the guests has been announced. It's Natasha Hodgson , one of the geniuses behind and in front of Operation Mince Meat the musical. Sorry, my cat's running around the kitchen making a ringing sound. Hope that's not disturbing you. Once the operation mince meat f ans hear about this it's gonna sell fast so get your tickets now go to richcharing.com slash rahullastapa and you can see all the dates there's a couple in July as well. I'm doing uh which Rick Mail Festival as well, but that is sold out. Um become a badger at GoFoster Stripe.com slash badges if you want to help us continue to make these bloody things. Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy another episode of one of my podcast s, you little fiddly monkey fiddler. Stop ringing those bells . With Nat West Premier, you have financial experts in your corner, as well as everyday support on the phone 247. We could help you grow and protect your family's wealth with tailored advice from our expert financial planners. Plus all investments are managed by Coots . Now for the really important decisions. More slopes or the sauna ? You can with Premier. NatWest Premier. Tomorrow begins today. UK residence 18 plus. Premier Eligibility Criteria apply. Specific eligibility and fees apply for financial planning. Your capital is at risk. I'm BBCI player. There's only one way to get rich around here. Yes, boy, I like it. Become proper gangsters. Why are you just gonna say get jobs? The boys are back. We're uh looking to expand the organ We're forming a bit of a gang. What's going on here? The new series of the young offenders. I'm gonna be a bad pie forever. Watch on BBCI Player Hello welcome to another Rahalista Footbook Club. This week we're doing something very different. We're talking to somebody who's never written a book in his stupid fucking life . But he has published a lot of books. Is Chris Evans, not that one, not that other one you're thinking of, it's Chris Evans off of GoFaster Stripe. Hello, Chris Evans. Hello, Richard Herring. It's obvious been a dream of mine to talk to you. Yeah, well it's very nice. We don't uh we've never recorded a conversation between ourselves before, which is very unusual for me . Most of my record my conversations are recorded. I have to say, um, given that you are the head of uh uh broadcasting and DVD creating and book writing uh company. This was the hardest setup I think we've ever done technically since maybe Jeremy Paxman, which was uh right. The week after I lost my testicle five years ago that was so uh but uh lots of problems with the tech. Hopefully it'll be all right now we've come out. Um look so look, Go Faster Stripe, Chris Evans, not that one, has um has has uh published uh even more books than I thought, and I thought it would be interesting to chat to you about that. But for people who don't know how your strange media empire began. Do you want to tell the story of uh of why you started in Go Faster Stripe and what it is? Well I like the term Empire first, thanks very much. Um I started because um your uh friend of yours, Stuart Lee, oh yeah, recall had made a uh uh made a show that I thought was excellent. Uh and I was um on his mailing list and he said that he couldn't get anyone interested in making a DVD of it, so I wrote to him and said maybe I could make your DVD. I had no experience of doing anything. Although I had some friends that you know actually, Craig and Neil. I had friends that worked in the TV industry. And I was out for a pint with them and I said would it would it be possible to record a stand-up show and they said easiest thing in the world to record a stand-up show. Right. I was working in chapter art centre in Cardiff and they had a lovely theatre and I said, Can I borrow this? they And said yes. So about twenty people all said yes to a like a daft idea. Uh Stu was one of them and we recorded Stu's show and he said that we would just record it for his own benefit. So he had a recording of it. Um but when we watched it back it came out quite well and he said that I should get in touch with you. He did and I said I am too scared to speak to someone like that and he said don't be so ridiculous and he texted you and uh I can't hear you anymore by the I haven't really been saying anything. Can you hear me now? I can't hear you. Oh for you. Technically this is a nightmare isn't Yeah, all right. Well let's get us let's get us back. And you can hear me. I can hear you and everything is moving. But I think you uh you need to probably hear me be to be able to We're gonna have to stop do the podcast. Okay. I can't hear a word. Why has that happened? Oh for fuck's sake. You're gonna text me saying I'm rubbish. Yeah, so you texted me and then we did a few well I had a few shows to I had one show recorder already that you put out that wasn't uh of as good a quality as what you do. And then we recorded a few now, we managed to managed to record a few of my previous ones, didn't we? So we went back and picked up a few. Exactly and I did one with Tony Law and that we did a double bill where Tony Law did uh did one of his shows. And you've ended up sort of on the DVD side, which we're not going to talk about hugely on downlight side, you've ended how many have you done, do you think? How many sho how many shows have you recorded, do you know? It's over a hundred. Um I mean the the catalogue number is up to like hundred and sixty now, which is includes books and records and bits and bobs that we've done as well. But I think the main thrust is uh stand up shows. So yeah, it's got to be over a hundred. So a lot a lot of different uh comedians, you know and most of them are still uh available at least on download, right? So you've there there's a there's some of them are D V DVDs are sold out. It's an unusual business model you have, Chris, and and uh one that I admire in that you don't seem very interested in making money. Uh you seem more interested in just putting stuff out. Yeah. Well it's about recording it's about capturing the butterflies. 'Cause do you know if you've been to Edinburgh I like I love stand up comedy, I like watching stand up comedy. So I used to go to the Edinburgh Festival and you'd see stuff and there was like, oh this is lovely, but I'll never gonna see this again. And it's moving so quickly and I'm laughing and I'm missing stuff because I'm laughing and I would like to see I'd like to see it again because I'd like to have a laugh, but also I enjoy seeing the the brushstrokes, I like seeing the craft of what's being done. So I uh it was it once I've got once I've captured it then if it makes money and some of them do then that's lovely but a lot of them as you say do not. Um but that doesn't matter does it? Because it's the the point of it is to get this beautiful butterfly in a tin. Well, you know, that's the your point of it, but most people write I mean like hey, you've done this is I mean this business has been running for what twenty years a bit not longer than that more longer than that. Twenty years, yeah. Um and so like it's been sustainable for very you know, some things have been you know, I guess the podcasts that we've done together have uh in the end, although again we did those for for love rather than money. So it's for for fifteen years or ten years. Uh but they did become sort of profitable a few years ago and may not be profitable again for much longer. But uh but yeah, so you know it's sort of an it's a lovely thing where you as a fan have managed to cre ate a business that is really about just you know still being a fan of the the stuff that's going on and rather than I mean it's stupid of me to go into business with you. You're a terrible businessman. You can't even make a podcast work when it's the two of us talking. But um but yes, I mean that's you know it's it's it's an interesting thing to to have someone and uh maybe this used to happen more in the old days, I don't know, but to have someone at the at the top of a of a business who is really just interested in going, Oh, I think this thing's good, so let's put it out and see what happens.. Yeah Well that's that's why podcasts have taken off really, isn't it? Because people started doing those for a laugh and and just to see what would happen. Now of course they're a massive business. And well the important thing day to day is to be happy, isn't it? And to enjoy yourself. No, it's make money. Make money and be unhappy. I disagree completely as I know you do as well. Um my view, as you know, is uh there's no point putting out things just to try and make money. It's almost the point of art to do stuff for love. And if you're running a business, you might get it wrong. You're gonna not guess correctly what people want to see. And then so you're in business and you're having a bad time. So if I'm uh I'm not making money so, I'd rather not make money, at least I know I'm always having fun. That's good. And so with the with the DVDs, so like the DVDs obviously it was again it went through a for me at least it went through a good few years where they were a lovely thing to have. I mean we sold them online and they were a great thing to have at gigs because I could obviously sit meet people after and sell them. Obviously DVDs are no longer uh the a very effective way to sell shows. So you've so you've moved into downloads. So just explain while we've got you what how the there's a club you've got the GoFast so you I we should say it's called GoFaster Stripe.com if you want to go and have a look at the catalogue of books and uh and uh DVDs and uh downloads. So what's what is the how does the club with the Go Faster Stripe club work? To support GoFaster Stripe and for that you get certain benefits. So that money goes in to help record stand up shows. That's what I use it for. Um and the benefit is that you get everything that we put out. So you get you get a uh a free download of everything that arrives when you log into your private part of the website. You also, if I could do an advert, get three free shows as a as a sign-up bonus. Do you remember those uh CDs you could send on records you could send off for in the nineteen seventies? Yes. Record clubs, very much like that. Yep. You also get free entry to any recordings that we do, and once you're a member for a year, you get a uh a t-shirt That's amazing. Isn't it Netflix don't give you a t shirt with Netflix on it, do they? It don't. And is that working? Is that is that sustainable? Is that working or is that just a is that is that just helping out of a thing. It's helping out, yeah. It's nice. Yeah, sustainable. There's people there who've been members since the get go. Uh during lockdown it was bigger because you also got free uh free tickets to any live streams that we're doing. Yeah. Uh which we still do, but we don't do as many live streams as we used to. Well, again, it seems like a great way to support a noble enterprise if you're a company fan. And you you know, again, I mean there's no point in listening, but you can go, you know, there's there's so many um I I guess what you aimed for really. I mean, weirdly you got Stuart Lee as your first comic who was even at that point was was a a well established and a very well regarded stand-up uh and but he went on to probably not having to bother to do stuff through Go Faster Strife anymore, though he did a couple, didn't he? That's true. Um uh but you know it's it's really aimed at the people who uh the comedians who are good and doing fantastic stuff but who are not gonna get a big business coming in and saying, I'm I'm going to film this so I can sell it to a hundred comedy nerds. But if you are a comedy nerd, I mean there's people like you know, Sean Hughes, God bless him, is you've got a couple of shows with Sean. So there are some big names, there's people like uh Robin Ince and uh I mean everyone really, isn't it? I mean i i have you got any favourites uh out of all the people that you've got on there? Apart from present company accepted present company accepted. Uh I love Robin Int. Robin Ince was the first comedian that bought a D VD from us, though I had his email address to ask him if he wanted to do something. It was a magical moment when I uh filmed people that were not well known. We did a double bill of Paul Sinner and Will Hodgson in chapter and they were not well known at all uh uh at at the time. Um uh and and that was wonderful to see this m just as funny as you and Stu, but uh like an unknown face, people who haven't haven't made it famous. So it's it is people who can't uh who uh I don't know if it's people who uh without any better um offers on the table it probably is, isn't it? I mean I don't you know I think it's a nice way of doing for for that level of comedian the you know it is a certain type of comedian I think would be attracted to go faster stripe anyway, and it's probably not your uh Rama Shranga Nathans and people listening say let's do this in Japan . It's people that I love. And and I think once so once you start, you know, if you come in because of you or because of Stu or or Robin or something, if you like you, Robin, or Stu, then probably you're gonna like Will Hodgson even if you haven't heard of it. Yeah, for example. So it's it's quite a nice body of work 'cause it's just people that I like. It's not people to make money, it's just people that I would go and see if they came to Cardiff. Yes. Well and you know, similarly with the podcast, I guess, you know, we're introducing through the podcast lots of acts as well as some big names in the podcast. There's lots of acts who you might n not necessarily have heard of uh that hopefully you will get into . So, you know, it is it's a it's a if you're a comedy fan, which I think most of the people who listen to this podcast are, uh it is something you should try and support if you can afford to. But I think also, you know, there is you can you can just go and buy the the download of the the person you like or or or whatever. And you know, you've branched out and I guess through the Kickstarters that we did, you started branching out into merch with those a little bit, but you've also um you know over the years have created quite a lot of different so like you say like LPs and two LP we did when we mark Thomas band darts. Yes, we 're in nineteen seventy-eight. If you remember nineteen seventy-eight, they were very big then. I do remember when they came to most of Darts came to see one of the recent Rahalas , which was very very nice and very exciting. And so obviously books is a is a good area to to move into . Uh so what was the first was was it one of mine? Was that one of the first books you did? It was a a blog book. Yes, that's right. one of of uh which I imagined going on for fifty sixty volumes of uh your warming up blog. Yes. Which well we did block we did something like a thousand copies of it, did we? And then three thousand was three thousand was okay wow well that's very good. That's extremely good. So yeah, so that idea was just to take my blog and uh and it was it wasn't l a long time after I started writing it, but it was long enough to uh to think oh I'll look back and I'll fill in the details of the other stuff that was happening and you know Yeah. I think that's the magical stuff and what makes that a book rather than a a a printout of your website is that you uh added I reckon it doubled in in length. Yes. Because of the sort of person that you are, you know, trying to give value for peop for people. And you wrote a little bit as you know, underneath each blog entry saying what was actually going on in your life. Which was a really interesting and funny read. And I thought this is it. This is the gravy trade for all Chris Evans . But yeah, I mean it proved uh I mean it was it was it would have been a uh bigger it would probably wouldn't be anything else if we started doing those forever. Maybe I don't know. But uh eventually the blog would have been about writing blogs. Yes, it would have been. We did um we did two uh in the in the end of those and one of them uh you re just reprinted the second one, have you? So there are some Yes, that's right. And this shows that you can't trust people because I put on Twitter when it was Twitter. I said if a hundred of you want this to be reprinted and will buy it, I will get a hundred made and I got a hundred made and we sold I think six. So you can't trust Twitter . And I think that's Twitter's problem. And uh what was the I mean there are there's there's way more books on there than I than I imagined actually because you've there's there's a lot of um comedians' books and uh there's I think nearly all of them the books that are published by you. I think there's a couple of books that aren't that one of the emergency questions books is up there that we didn't publish. And maybe the is the Simon Donald book was not published by you that's up there? It it wasn't originally published by me, but I did a reprint of it. It's got an extra page in it. Oh that's good. So you know, so who was who was the next one after it was probably was it me again after that or was did you did you go into I think it was the Club Zara Thrichtschwen actually. Oh yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah. Uh when I read it I thought, well, this is really interesting and something I just missed out on seeing. And that's not available anymore though, is that so some things come you do basically you do Well here's also something to do with my business practices. I just look as you were down fiddling with that wire, I had a look on my website to see uh to get the name of Robert Ringham whose name I've forgotten the author. Well wow. I noticed it wasn't for sale anymore. So that's uh it is. I've got a garage full of them. So I will change that in a moment so that you can buy it. Oh we you sh you should buy that that's you know that Rob Robert's d done a lot of interesting books, but that was that was a fantastic um book about Club Zarathustra and Club Zarathustra again, it's one of those uh those things in comedy. I suppose like a little bit like when we when we look back at uh someone like John Dowie or something in the podcast, you know. It's it's one of those things that not necessarily uh you know, if you go and talk to the man in the street it w he won't necessarily know what you're talking about. But that was such an influential and important club I think you know with Simon and Stuart and uh Richard Thomas of course and the sort of it led to it basically led on to uh Jerry Spring of the Opera also had a they had a TV pilot of that which um which uh you know but they did about fifteen or twenty minutes and it was just astonishing I thought I thought it was one of the most amazing uh things they'd done and uh unfortunately uh the BBC, I think it was the BBC, didn't uh take it up. But so you know, it's really the those little histories. Yeah. Which uh well, you've got another one coming up. I think we'll who will be a guest is uh Jonathan Grant's written a book called Reading the Room. Yeah. Which is um it is sort of ch seeing the state of modern stand-up comedy structure by interviewing comedians. Interview comedians and also industry people and put it all together in a cohesive story. Yeah. I'm very proud to be I'm I'm actually delighted that people present these to me uh and say would you like to put this out and and generally speaking I go no I can't I don't want to do that thank you. But then once you start reading them you think well this is great. I would like to read this. The point of what I do is if it's something that I would have liked to have read, then uh uh someone else will probably want to want to read it too. So that's how I that's how I judge these things I'm the King of Cox City! I'm BBCI player. There's only one way to get rich around here. Yes, boy, I like it. Become proper gangsters. Why is gonna say get jobs? The boys are back. We're uh looking to expand the organization. We are we're forming a bit of a gang. What's going on here? The new series of the young offenders. I'm gonna be a bad boy forever. Watch on BBCI Player . With Nat West Premier, you have financial experts in your corner, as well as everyday support on the phone 24-7. We could help you grow and protect your family's wealth with tailored advice from our expert financial planners. Plus, all investments are managed by Coots . Now for the really important decisions: more slopes or the sauna . You can with Premier. NatWest Premier. Tomorrow begins today. UK Residents 18 plus. Premier eligibility criteria apply. Specific eligibility and fees apply for financial planning. Your capital is at risk. It's the most wonderful time booking heroes. On the beach does way more than beach holidays. We now offer millions of combinations of beach holidays, city breaks, and cruises. So whether you fancy swimming, sightseeing, or sitting on the top deck of a ship, we've got your cover ed. So stop booking around and whatever your next holiday looks like, get searching at on the beach.co.uk. Abturn at all protected. On the beach But so it look it's sort of so interesting that you know you've come in the you were working at Chapter Arts Centre. What were you doing at Chapter Arts when you were working at Chapter Arts? I was fixing the computers, believe it or not. Okay, so you're just a a nerd who's just this a gn uh nerd who can't get a girlfriend. No I've a cool nerd. Hey, you work cool. You've got a lot of art sense. You've got a huge amount of children, you've got a about a thousand children and um lovers all over Wales it's a lit thorough he's the coolest uh nerd you've ever seen. Uh and uh but you know and then you just sort of overcome you know go, how do we make a D VV DD? Because some most people would think printing a book, you know, how do I do that? How do I how do I get that together? How do I sell it? Well I see, yes. So like it's a big thing just decide, oh yeah, let's have a crack at this and see how we how we do it. Yeah. Well I was very lucky to be around when the internet was was coming into its own. So the fact that Stuart Lee had a newsletter that went to he kind of pre gathered all the comedy nerds, if you will, so that we could just tell them that this DVD is now available and there was a method to buy it and to set I could post it to them. Yes. In the post. And we made them very small so they would go as um first class normal letters. So it's cheap to make. We didn't have big covers back then, we just had small sleeves. So we looked at um getting things out to people in the cheapest, most efficient way possible, which was only possible because I could write 'cause I was a nerd and I could write a website that you could buy things from, which was early days of that happening. Yeah. Did you find it no, so look when moving specifically to books, yeah. So did you find uh what was that journey like of going, okay, so uh all the things I have to do for a book presumably you had to copy edit stuff and uh proofread stuff, you've got to get it typeset. My friend Chris Brown, who used to take uh the still pictures at stand-up shows, said that he was working he was an artist uh too, and he said that he was looking at how to publish books and how to get things typeset. And we were just having a pint and I said, Could you do a full book? And he said, Yeah I think I probably could and so it's just conversations like that with with people who know what they're doing, which I was lucky enough to know. Um so he did the type Yeah. Maybe it is a sort of naughty s thing that could, you know, that might not happen in exactly the same way now, just partly because uh there are other ways of doing things. But uh you know, it just shows if you if you get out there what I you know, what I've liked about doing the podcast is that uh people I mean and and all the work I've done with you is people appreciate what we're doing, appreciate that we're not really whereas we're both happy to make money, it that's just an extra little bonus thing on the top of it. So you know, people like Richard Is on getting in touch with me going, here's a load of puppets I've made for you. It's it that would cost thousands and thousands of pounds to make, you know, and it's just someone who's a fan of something and saying, Oh yeah, I'll help you with that. And everyone, you know, we we have managed to pay people for the work they've done and we've had to pay ourselves for the work the work we've done. But it's but you know, it a lot of it's done on um just going, yeah, this I like the fact that uh this is going to exist. So you f you find like minded people and people who are keen and and yeah, see where it goes. Um Richard Ison certainly come on, stop Richard Ison certainly has the same work ethic to us, I think. I do. And he does stuff that he likes and occasionally do something that'll pay him a fortune, I think. Yeah. So that he can afford the time. So he is spends the time doing things that he likes. Yeah. And also I think this is important that I do pay everyone. If if I have a whimsy, whimsical view of let's go and record this or let's try and make this or see what happens, everyone else that's involved will get paid, except for for Stu, the very first one for Stu. I s I didn't have any money uh and it was all friends pulling in favours. Right. And by the time we paid for everything for the equipment hire and travel and all the food and all the rest of it, we had something like seventy quid each left for everyone that was there, which I s gave to everyone. So well there's seventy quid and let's see where we go for the next. Yeah. And because that worked and then by the time I was filming you we had a bit of money from Stu's D V D uh which meant I could pay everyone proper BBC rates. So I suppose what I'm saying is uh people working on these don't have to do it for free, just mean you have to do it for free. Sometimes. Sometimes but um yeah, it's uh Um and oh well again one of the early things he did was uh the Andrew Collins audiobook of uh how what how did how did that how that was so that was an interesting departure. Well, uh that was the fifteenth thing that we did. And the first should we call it a failure? Uh let's call it a failure because that's what it was. It was an absolute failure. Uh I felt that downloading the internet was still in its infancy with regarding uh speed. So I met Andrew Collins through uh your podcast, the Collins and Harry and Podcast. Met him through there, and he's a lovely man and he said that the rights to his book Where Did It All Go Right had just folded back to him. I wonder if it was his suggestion to make an audio book. I think it was. a pint after recording one of the live podcast shows that we did in Cardiff. Yeah. We talked about it and I thought uh this will be a bit of fun. Andrew said he'd make himself available for three days to record the book. I found a beautiful um little studio in the Millennium Centre in Cardiff. The editing of it cost a fortune, uh which you don't realise I suppose, but it just takes ages listening to someone going, I'll just retake that line, getting rid of the ums and the R's. Um that that took weeks to get a uh uh an edited show together, uh an edited book together. And um because the bandwidth wasn't really there on the internet, uh it wasn't feasible to make it a download, so we made it into four CDs, which uh a beautiful thing, beautiful package, opened up like a book, each CD on a different plastic page inside. There was extras where if you looked inside, there was like a code you could type in to get um Andrew's diaries online, like short plays of short bits of his diary. And we sold none, no one bought it at all. You had to buy a thousand of these things then, which pretty much was all the money go fastest tripe had, gave it all over, and uh ended up with um well, ballast is what I use them for. As you know, I use them for packing. Uh I can't hear you anymore, Richard, I'm afraid. Underneath the table seems to have notch on my cap. I'm not taking the blame for all of this. I think a lot of it's happening at your end. I don't think it's happening between us and the uh only has twenty minutes to spend. Um , stop it and start again. Stop it and start again, yeah. Uh right, so I was telling you about Andrew Collins. I was telling you about how uh how that be came our first our first disaster and how lucky uh it's very lucky that was the fifteenth thing that we did because that if that was the first thing we did that would have been the end of that. Well w in chapter fixing computers. I didn't realise how close he'd come to destroying everything. It's interesting. You were doing an audio book on CD seems insane now. Exactly. Yeah. Um, but uh they are available on the website if people want to buy one for Are they still there? I think so. So I mean you should sell them. It'd be nice if people bought them. I think they're a collector's item, 'cause there's not many of them . No . But there you go, you know, like I think again it's taking the risks and you know uh and and finding your way through and finding a way back and it's you know the the the the successful ones pay for the unsuccessful ones. Um and look, I think also you put a lot of what what I like about what you do with the books is you really think about making them nice items as well. So even like when we just did the uh the Wright Bollock pamphlet as a Kickstarter award. You sort of you made sure it looked like a nice, you know, it's a it's a slight piece of work. It's available for five pounds from GoFastAstripe dot com. Uh and the money for that will go into making more more stuff rather than into our pockets. But um you know, it's it's some people would have gone, okay, let's just do that on some a bit of paper and and print it up uh, you know, with a photocopier and see how it goes. Uh but it's a you know, even that's a nice little bit of work. But I think all those like the Simon Munray books and uh the the Ben Moore put the Ben Moore selections. I've got these things. Yeah. Look at this book of poetry that we did. Right. Which is beautiful. John Osborne's poetry. He sent a poem in and he said, Will you publish my book of poetry? And I thought there's no way I'm gonna publ publish a book of poetry and I was in tears by the end of the first one. So we did those, but we've also got like lovely pictures in the middle there. We've got yeah. So we do our best with these things is what we do. Yeah, it's nice. And I mean there's so many things there that again I wasn't there's a lot of Phil K books that you've got. That's right. These are st I would suggest if there's a genre of stream of consciousness writing, right? That's what we've chosen. Joycean Joycean books is what these are. So there's four of these. Wow. Uh from Phil K. Yeah. Um which uh that that would be some bedtime reading. So they're beautiful works, I think. And there's a book of porn from Will Hodgson. Have you seen that? Uh well I did see that up there, yeah. I'm no I'm aware of his cartoons and stuff he does. Is that what so this is a collection of all his It's like a best of of polyamory on there. Well, it's mostly it's an audio thing. It's a sort of polyamory and uh all that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, he's a he's a he's a lovely d man. He is a lovely man, explores sexuality in different ways. You know, which is you know I'm very jealous of his uh ex his ability to be not vanilla like me. Um yeah, and the Ben Moore stuff's lovely, you know, again it's lovely with Ben Moore, who I think again is one of those really unappreci ated um or underappreciated I should say, uh Edinburgh acts who's been going up for years. Well, you know, he first went up with me in nineteen did the Oxford View with me in nineteen eighty eight eight, maybe, nineteen eighty seven, um maybe nineteen eighty eight actually. And yeah, and he's uh brilliantly funny actor, but uh also does these sort of whimsical, delightful plays. And so you've just you've just done sort of which are full of fantastic wordplay and well exactly. He's one of those guys that you you when when you're seeing the show, you think this is incredible work and la and then by the time you're app reciating one, the next three have come and gone. Yeah. To have a book version of the show is superb and then you can I can read it at my own pace. Yeah, slow pace. It is a he's sort of like he's sort of like Daniel Kitzen before So it it's one of those there's the the you know the nice thing I think about Go Faster Stripe and everything you're doing is that you know even Phil K who Phil K was you know was I think uh he was one of those actss who thought, oh, he' gonna be huge, he's gonna be like stellar and like mainstream. Uh and it didn't that didn't happen. But you know, he's still creating you know, he's he's one of those acts who's creating fantastic and interesting work still. Um, and it's just great that that's that that all that stuff exists. So I think uh you know future comedy historians will certainly uh thank you for you know just have preserved because it is it is true what you're saying about the Edinburgh shows just disappearing. All of my uh one man shows would have basically maybe up before you know, I guess Hitler Mustache was the first order anyone else was interested in in making, then that might have that might have become a DVD without you, but I d I don't think we'd have been able to afford to film it without you. Um so uh you know, all those shows would just uh go and then there's yeah, th there's a lot to be said for comedy just being existing in the moment and disappearing. That's true. I meant to say something about that and it is it's nice to see a live it's better to see a live show, isn't it, than to see a D V D of a show. It is but it is better. You're in a group of people, plus you're seeing a thing that can only happen at that point in that room. Even if it's something that's that's scripted and well rehearsed, there'll be bits and bobs that will only happen in that room. Yeah, so I absolutely appreciate that. But what we try and do is add things that can only happen on on a on a DVD . So there's certain things that you can only get in a room when you're in your room watching it on TV that you can't get in a i i in a venue. Like we can choose who you see in the audience. You know, we can show the reaction, which we we tend to not do, um but sometimes we will if it if it uh raises a chuckle. We'll cut things out um if there's no chuckle involved, but if there's not, we'll leave it in because that's part of the live show experience. So we edit things in a w slightly different way, I think, to uh mainstream uh DVD editors. Not that you don't get DVD editors anymore. It's a lost art. Yes. And uh and so uh there's other just to I mean I'll run through a few more of the stuff the that things that are there. All of these things are worth getting, especially my books. Uh you've got my emergency questions books on there, which we have a few cop we have a few copies of those left. There's a few if you ever run out, Chris do get do get in touch. You should see my carriage you should they're all under under the stairs there it's absolutely and that's not even all of them by any sense but we're getting through they're good they're selling this we sell them at gigs and again they're very good don't they they're very good. The'yre beautiful again be,autifully bound, lovely illustrations. There's two of them that you've done, which is emergency questions of Christmas emergency questions. And I sell them at gigs and uh I'm gonna take them did it last year in Edinburgh. It was the only thing I took to Edinburghh. U and it just you know, again it we just put plow that money back now into Well, 'cause it was it was intro that was I mean, that was a like a huge success really, wasn't the first Emergency Questions book. And it was and it prompted like a us uh uh ha having it pro you know a proper publisher getting involved. But we must have sold like ten thousand of those, didn't we? We sold . We had a few that we sold from the Kickstarter, they were Kickstarter rewards. Yeah. Uh and and so they went out and then we had some over because sometimes things get lost in the post and people move and what have you. So we had an extra few hundred that we put for sale and they just zoomed out. So then we thought we had a chat. I thought should we take the risk of getting some more made? And we got a thousand, another thousand made. And I couldn't believe when they left and then they got another thousand and they went as well. Uh and in the end, this what bit us on the ass, as we thought let's let's miss the next four turns and just get a massive load. Because it's much cheaper to get books printed in in bulk, of course. Yeah. Um and so that's what we did. So that's why we have garages full of them. I think we could get ten thous I think we got ten thousand of the original one. And then I think also then I got the publishing deal with the thousand the thousand emergency questions, which I don't know if you can get that still anywhere. I would just buy the two little ones. Uh and uh it meant that that part of the condition was for a while we couldn't sell ours oh right now. That that was that was so that's part of the reason with so man Um but uh yeah, I don't think I think my our children and grandchildren may still be selling those. Timeless they're mainly mainly timeless classics. So that's very nice. Um I I the there's uh the book you did w th with another previous guest, uh The Iceman. You did a book about the Oh yeah. Is it written by written by or written with the Iceman? I think it was an interview that got that got typed in, I think. That was um I mean there's a bit of it again, it's um look I've got it here, it's mostly um photographs that the Iceman took of his work. He part of I mean, everyone knows who the Iceman is now, right? There's a film coming out , a film documentary coming out, where he was part of that 80s um stand-up uh uh in rooms above pubs, that wave of of uh of stand-up. As well as stand-up, you've got uh what we say novel And one of those was the Iceman who'd arrive with a big block of ice and try and melt it while using ice based puns. Which incidentally he does when he emails you, na ice to see you, he says at the start of his emails. Um but he also took a Polaroid picture of every um partial obviously none of them would melt, uh every partially melted ice block and those have been collated in here uh illustrating the um uh the story of his life. Uh and he's and he's a painter as well, so there's paintings of his in this book which is Melted called Melt It. Melt it, yes. Um and yeah, I mean you know, again, it's it's uh nobody else would have uh would have uh taken that one on. So it's great that that exists. He's a legendary guy, isn't he? He's legendary, but like I think mainly because Stuart talks about him so much, I think, you know. So like he's he was I think I mean people do remember if there are a few acts from that time and he is one of the memorable what the hell is going on act and it's great that he's, you know, and he's a proper artist and he's a very interesting man. We we correspond by uh email since he's been on the on my podcast, so that's nice. Even if saying Michael Legg, there's a Michael Leg book, you've got to Yeah, that's really good. Michael Legg, strawberries to pigs. There's not many of these left actually. Uh this is the same format as the um uh Club Zarathustra one. It's like a nice little Here's a thing that's important, and no one said this on your podcast yet on the book based podcast, is books paperbacks should be small enough to fit in your pocket. Yes, that's good. They're not anymore, are they? No, generally speaking they're not, no. So that is good. I mean most of mine aren't, but this one is . So yeah, so it's you know, there is there is it something you're planning uh certainly as a uh as a comedian, I think, you know, in terms of meeting people afterwards and trying to sell things, books is definitely the way to go now. Simon Munray said this about his How to Live book, which actually we have run out of now. Um so it's a very small book and it's just one joke per page and it's amazing and it's so small that ri uh sorry, Simon can read it out at the end of his show uh and then he'll sell it for I think he was only selling them for a fiver after the shows and he said it's perfect because everyone knows what they're getting, you can flick through them. Whereas with a D V D you can maybe it'll be good and maybe it won't be, you know, you wanna s you can't see it because it's just a you know, it's a disc that you need some defunct technology to play now. But books seem to be the ones that are kept going. So is that g is is are there more plans in the pipeline or is do you just do it on an ad hoc basis where I don't want to end up in the position of Chris where people just sending you loads of books 'cause they think you'll be stupid enough to publish them. But uh what what's the criteria that uh that you take to to publish something? I wish I could tell you I don't have that. I was crying at the end of a poem and I thought that is good enough. Uh and I was interested to read more of Reading the Room. Uh Club Zarathustra, I think I I think that was finished when he sent it to me. I couldn't stop reading it and I thought this is great. Uh so it's something that I like . That's no good, is it? Don't send things. Don't send don't send things. Don't send things. Well I think you know if you feel like you fit into that niche if you're writing about comedy or if you're writing about um you know, th th that more obscure thing that that's more obscure area of comedy, there's a chance Chris Evans might publish a book. He's a big media mogul. I mean, don't go with him. He doesn't know what he's doing. His audio book was a terrible disaster. He can't run a make a podcast work without it going wrong all the time. And that's his that is his main job . I thought when we did this podcast, I thought, oh at least this one will be easy to do and everything will But it's uh look, it's such an incredible um achievement and I just love the fact what what what it's come out of and how dedicated to you have been and like what you know for me it's somebody who I go, Do shall we do this stupid idea? And you go, Yes. Yeah we got some pants printed the other day. got pa We we got pants prin ted, I'm doing it I'm doing a daily puppet show that you kind ly put up for me on online . So any stupid idea I have, you'll you'll take on some. Yeah, but I feel I'm very lucky to be in this position. I know I'm very lucky to be in this position. I mean I got I I was I had the idea at the exact right time when it would work and it wouldn't work now I don't think and it wouldn't have worked five years before that. So it's very lucky to have had the idea at the right time and then to have talked to Stu who said y eventually said yes and then to put me in touch with you. And then straight once once you and Stu were on board, that was pretty much Simon Munray was my next act who was and and then flipping eck, it was amazing. Yeah. Well that's nice. And you know, but it also it's good, you know, and I'm very glad that all the work we've done on stupid podcasts and stuff has ended up being you know, actually being a place where we can where you can make some money and all that crew. I mean the crew we had filming those and and and George recording it. It's nice to go, we can pay you and here's some money and thank you for being part of this. And so like it is it's a little cottage industry which is done, you know, sort of stupidly well. So uh well done on that. So go to gofasterstripe.com to buy any of these books you've heard, go and buy them all, I would. And that make get and then Chris has to pack them up himself as well. So it makes a lot of work for him. So that if you don't like him, do go and buy all of his stuff 'cause it'll be annoying for him. Uh join the Go Faster Strike Club or become a monthly badger. Go faster strike dot com slash badges, but uh depending on who who and what you want to support. Um but I think uh I think it's you know it's sort of a job for life, isn't it? And your son will take over when you cr inevitably die at at the age of fifty eight. Well it's when you people start dying, is that's that's for that's the problem, isn't it? Yeah. No but that's all right. If we die, you're still selling Sean Cheese's stuff aren't you? So there you go. Oh, actually that's true. Yeah, so you know, you want us to die really. If we die, more people will buy our stuff. In i if it's in your interest. I've not noticed this. It's in your interest to try and do us in. And certainly when it gets to the point where you think oh they're not making any money for me in life new material yes but there's you know there's people come through the all the time and I think it's so you know it's so established that I think uh you're still filming like shows, aren't you regularly and there's there's always new comics coming through and there's and all you need as well is just one person to just go ballistic after you've filmed them, which will happen eventually. One of the one day you'll back someone who's good good enough to do with you, it happened with it it happens. You know, p things have things yeah, some things are popular. Ostentatious are are are very popular. Yes, that's true. Very lucky to be able to spend on ostentatious. But I I'm glad you know'm glad that uh you've you that the podcasts especially have kind of helped uh make everything work on a a better basis. And I'm I'm also glad that we are just ridiculous men who think let's put some money into this and see what happens. And usually we don't get our money back is what happens, isn't it? That's what I think. Yeah, but we sometimes do. And even if we weren't, we'd be doing other jobs and doing this in the evening, I think. Yes. I think that''ss true. So yeah, it it'd become you don't work at chapter anymore. You managed you gave up chapter quite early on, really, didn't you? Uh but not because of this. Not because of this, okay. Just for fired . Um Chris, I ask everyone who's an author if they're reading any books that they don't produce that they'd like to recommend. Have you been reading anything r lately? Do you read I've just started listening to Paul Sinners autobiography? Oh great, yes, yeah. I didn't know that that was a thing. Is that the new one or is that is that a new one or is that the No it's it's it's called Once Once in a Life Time. Yeah, so it's fairly new, isn't it 'cause it's based on his uh Edinburgh. And his second one's called Twice in a Life Time. Yes. I think that's yeah.