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Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Alistair McGowan: My friends laughed when I said I was doing comedy

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.63.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alistair McGowan is a man of many talents, as well as being one of the UKs most beloved impressionists. From award winning performances on the West End Stage, sell-out pianist shows and dominating the 90s and 00s sketch TV scene, he is a man that never disappoints to entertain.

In this episode, James O'Brien goes back in time to Alistair's school days, his warm upbringing in Evesham and to the moment where he got his big break at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The pair discuss the nuance of a great impression, why Gen-Z may struggle to understand the humour and what 2025 and beyond has in store for Alistair too. We will give you a hint, it's busy, very busy.

You can book tickets for on of Alistair's many ventures here

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:24.5

That's all protected.

0:32.1

This is a Global Player Original podcast.

0:53.0

Hello and welcome to full disclosure, a podcast project designed to let me spend more time with interesting people than I would ever get on the radio.

0:54.7

And not for the first time,

1:01.6

but with perhaps more, um, strengthen is normal. I can't believe Alistair McGoan that we've not done this before. Well, you didn't ask. But I can't believe it hasn't, it hasn't happened. Um,

1:07.8

neither did I realize that we grew up very near each other. You were in Evesham in Worcestershire and I was in Kidderminster, also in Worcester. You come from the

1:15.7

Asparagus capital of England. Yeah. And you're from the home of the seven Trent Barrett.

1:20.6

Seventh Valley Railway. Carpet, the carpet capital. The erstwhile carpet capital of the free world.

1:27.3

Did you know there's still a piano group that meet in the old carpet warehouse?

1:30.4

No, I didn't know that.

1:31.2

They've got a grand piano up there.

1:32.2

I went to see them.

1:32.7

The wire forest piano group they're called.

1:34.2

And they meet in the old kid amidst the carpet factory.

1:36.2

And that would be in what was then the social.

1:38.5

Oh, really?

1:39.1

Yeah.

1:39.3

Because that's where the piano has somehow survived. Yeah, they've got an office in there, and I went one Friday, and you walked down this old carpet, you know, where all the offices were.

1:46.7

Yeah.

1:47.1

And then suddenly there's this one room with a grand piano in it.

1:49.9

I can't believe you've out Kidaminsted me in the first two minutes of this.

...

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