The Sunday Late Night Project
Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are back this week with The Sunday Late Night Project DVD, which lets fans of the show take a look at some of the clips and action that didn't make the show.
I caught up with the comedy pair to talk about the success of the shows, working together and what lies ahead.
- The Sunday Late Night Project is about to be released on DVD which sounds pretty exciting so can you tell me a little bit about it?
Justin Lee Collins: Well it's me an Al in bed together for the first time; the public have been demanding this since 2006, so we are providing that for them. So you do get to see men and Al consummate our relationship.
Alan Carr: Yeah it's a bit of full frontal, it's worth it.
JLC: Although my penis is pixilated isn't it Al?
AC: Yeah. Mine isn't but it doesn’t need to be because it's concave, it looks like a vagina.
JLC: Yeah you have got that, that's the main thing.
AC: There are bloopers and stuff like that.
JLC: Some of the funnier stuff that was cut from the original transmissions sometime the funnier stuff does end up on the floor, for one reason or another, so we have put a lot of that stuff back in.
- Ok so there DVD is packed full of things that we didn't see on TV so how much of a say did you have over what goes on the DVD?
JLC: Oh absolutely no say whatsoever, we do have a say when it comes to what happens in the bedroom so that was down to us. Basically they put a camera on us and left the room and they said 'Give us magic, give us gold' and I think we have Al haven't we?
AC: Oh yeah yeah.
- Is there anything that you are disappointed had was left off?
AC: To be honest we haven't actually seen it yet.
- I saw it this morning and it's very funny.
AC: We are 100% behind it but we have just been so bloody busy but we are definitely going have a night aren't we Justin? We are going to sit in and watch it.
JLC: We are going to get a pizza aren't we?
AC: We are so proud of it and we are just over the moon at this DVD coming out really.
- Like I say I was watching it this morning and it's amazing what you get the guest hosts to do so when they come on how game are they?
JLC: Well some are more game than other but we always say that the best hosts that we have had on the show are the ones that really threw themselves into it and committed to it. Al and I act as their safety net and if you are confident in us and know that we have got you and you are prepared to give then it always works.
But it's funny some of the biggest stars, who you might have thought were less keen to show themselves up or run the risk of making themselves look silly, could be the best and most giving guests. Take for example Martin Sheen, who is one of the biggest stars that we had on the show...
AC: He came out dressed as a man in a leather cap and wiggled around Obummer.
JLC: And he was one of the few people that we had to rein him in, he wanted to take it further and we had to pull him back.
- And do you have a favourite guest?
JLC: Martin Sheen would be up there for me he would definitely be one of my favourites.
AC: I loved Kim Cattrall she was just so sexy and one of those Americans, like Martin Sheen, who got it she was like 'I get this I'm going to send myself up'. In the early days people would come on and you could almost see them looking over at their agents saying' Now are you sure that the money has gone into the account for this?'
But by the end of it, the third of fourth series, they were coming on going 'Right I want to dress up as this, this and this' they really want to get the stilettos on and look like a woman; it's just one of those shows that grew and grew and grew.
JLC: And that was just Rupert Everett.
AC: Oh yeah he loved it.
- Have you been surprised by the reactions of the guests that they were much more up for it than you expected? Or the other way around?
JLC: Some people come on and they are nervous, and that surprises you, David Walliams was nervous...
AC: Noel Edmonds dressing up as a giant arse who would have thought he would do that he was a massive arse hole?
JLC: It's crinkly bottom.
AC: No he wasn't a massive arse hole he was dressed up as an arse hole and he was amazing.
JLC: He was a brilliant man but he did dress up as a massive arse, but he threw himself into it. We wanted Noel for a long time and he didn't disappoint he was great.
George Galloway I attempted to try to, was it the Italian Chandelier with George Galloway?
AC: Yeah
JLC: Which is a position, if you are familiar with the Karma Sutra, it's a sexual position and I attempted that with George Galloway and he wasn't too keen was he Al?
AC: No, no
JLC: Which surprised me because I thought that he was up for it. So yeah some guests are more up for it than others.
AC: I had to do sex positions with Amy Winehouse; I had to take Amy Winehouse from behind. It was good; I can see why Blake misses her.
- My personal favourite is David Tennant and I love John Barrowman.
JLC: Yeah Barrowman is great he is just a wonderful guest. He is brilliant on any chat show he just gives, he knows why it's there and what you expect from him and he gives it to you.
AC: And he is just so multi talented he did everything he was one that we were saying earlier was like 'Right I want to dress up in the most extravagant and highest heels and the tightest mini skirt. And that was just on the way to the studio. (laughs)
JLC: And we are both with you on David Tennant, he is one of the few guests to do the show for a second time because he was so good the first time round. Brilliant.
- You go out and about with your guests on Albert Square with Barbara Windsor, shopping and carol singing with Girls Aloud it looks like loads of fun?
AC: Oh it is a load of fun. One of the things that I was disappointed never made it was when we went to the aquarium and we swam with sharks and jellyfish. Of course I had no glasses because I had to wear these goggles, so I had taken my glasses off and I couldn't really see. Justin was just as scared as me because we could see this stingrays just whizzing past out heads and I'm just screaming.
But them I could see the back of Justin's head so I thought I would just swim over to him and he will help me and then I could see that the back of his head was moving and a stingray had attached itself to the back of Justin's head. We couldn't use it because there wasn't enough footage of us where we weren't going fuck, fuck, fuck.
JLC: That was David Hasselhoff's idea by the way.
AC: But the funny thing is while we were doing that he was doing synchronised swimming and waving at all the tourists. (laughs)
JLC: And we were screaming for our lives.
- In one of the clips on the DVD you talk to Kirsty Hislop and Phil Spencer about arguing so I was wondering when was the last time that you two fell out?
JLC: Never.
AC: We have never had a row yet.
JLC: It never happens and we have never had a cross word to say about each other, even though he didn't buy me a birthday present this year but we haven't had a cross word over that.
AC: Yeah but what did he get me? Flowers.
JLC: Yeah I bought him flowers.
AC: A week late.
JLC: Yeah to be honest they were a week late but it was a lovely bouquet, I arranged them myself.
AC: He has Hightower in there. (laughs) Looking at him you wouldn't think that he could do it.
- It's your partnership that really makes the show work so how do you find working together?
JLC: Oh it's joy. I get to work with one of my best friends I get to sit on a sofa with one of my best friends, the most naturally funny man that I have ever met, and it's a complete joy. I shall miss that we will not be doing it anymore but it's finishing at the right time isn't it Al?
AC: Oh it so has.
JLC: We have done seventy three shows so we have had a good run and some other people are going to take over from us, we don't know who.
- You both have careers away from the show but you are seen as a bit of a double act so how does that feel.
JLC: Well I don’t think that we are and I don’t think that we have ever been seen as a double act…
AC: All through The Friday Night Project I was doing Ding Dong and you were doing Bring Back so I think that people have a lot of affection for us as a double act, and when we go on holiday together.
Individually we attract a lot of attention with Justin’s hair and his bad breath and me with my mince.
JLC: Mince (laughs)
AC: So you can imagine together you can’t…
JLC: Electric.
AC: If you could bottle when he and I have when we are on holiday then you would be a very rich lady.
So I think people have a lot of affection for us but I don’t think we are seen as a double act.
- The show wouldn’t be the same without the array of costumes and dressing up so have you ever been brought a costume and you have just thought oh my god - there’s a lot of semi-nakedness going on?
JLC: Yeah there was an awful lot and I exposed a little too much when we had was it Girls Aloud on?
AC: Yeah we he had this g-string on and his ball bag dropped out.
JLC: It was unpleasant and our assistant floor manager saw it and he has since retired from showbusiness.
AC: Sadly his balls went through to boo camp, Justin didn’t.
JLC: What was the thing that you had in the Frankenstein ad what was that?
AC: You know that they are always cutting budgets and everything? Well some of the costumes weren’t always the best fit and I had to do this sketch were I was Frankenstein and literally there were no air holes in it and I was slowly suffocating.
And when you get some fucking director going ’Just one more time ok luvvies’ and I’m like this is killing me I’m dying. I don’t think people realised that I couldn’t breathe and I was going red.
- Justin you released your autobiography back in September so what made you put pen to paper?
I don’t really know, Al had done his the year before and that was brilliant and sold really well, and they approached me and asked me if the time was right for me to do one. And it was as simple as that.
- Hand in hand with the show between you have done stand up, chat shows is there anything that the pair of you cannot do?
JLC: Oh well stand-up is the one thing that I cannot do, I gave it up in 2002 and I will never do it again, Al on the other hand is one of the very best at it.
AC: Well!
JLC: You are. You are talking about a new tour aren’t you?
AC: I’m a very slow writer so don’t old your breath love. But yeah I’m hoping to go on tour next year. What can’t we do?
AC: You can sing. I can’t sing.
JLC: He says he can’t sing but he can sing. You can go high and when you go high it really works. He does a very good Shirley Bassey.
- Justin you do a very good Tom Jones
JLC: Well thank you very much.
- Finally what’s next for the both of you?
AC: Chatty Man, I’m also in a film called Nativity.
JLC: With Martin Freeman.
AC: Yeah. I’m in it for five minutes, blink and you will miss it love, but it was my first ever film and I’m really proud of it, I saw it and it’s very funny.
- And what about you Justin?
JLC: I have a game show called Heads or Tails which is coming up for channel five, you can win a million pounds on the flip of a coin. All you have got to say is heads or tails and I do the rest.
The Sunday Late Night Project is released on DVD 16th November.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are back this week with The Sunday Late Night Project DVD, which lets fans of the show take a look at some of the clips and action that didn't make the show.
I caught up with the comedy pair to talk about the success of the shows, working together and what lies ahead.
- The Sunday Late Night Project is about to be released on DVD which sounds pretty exciting so can you tell me a little bit about it?
Justin Lee Collins: Well it's me an Al in bed together for the first time; the public have been demanding this since 2006, so we are providing that for them. So you do get to see men and Al consummate our relationship.
Alan Carr: Yeah it's a bit of full frontal, it's worth it.
JLC: Although my penis is pixilated isn't it Al?
AC: Yeah. Mine isn't but it doesn’t need to be because it's concave, it looks like a vagina.
JLC: Yeah you have got that, that's the main thing.
AC: There are bloopers and stuff like that.
JLC: Some of the funnier stuff that was cut from the original transmissions sometime the funnier stuff does end up on the floor, for one reason or another, so we have put a lot of that stuff back in.
- Ok so there DVD is packed full of things that we didn't see on TV so how much of a say did you have over what goes on the DVD?
JLC: Oh absolutely no say whatsoever, we do have a say when it comes to what happens in the bedroom so that was down to us. Basically they put a camera on us and left the room and they said 'Give us magic, give us gold' and I think we have Al haven't we?
AC: Oh yeah yeah.
- Is there anything that you are disappointed had was left off?
AC: To be honest we haven't actually seen it yet.
- I saw it this morning and it's very funny.
AC: We are 100% behind it but we have just been so bloody busy but we are definitely going have a night aren't we Justin? We are going to sit in and watch it.
JLC: We are going to get a pizza aren't we?
AC: We are so proud of it and we are just over the moon at this DVD coming out really.
- Like I say I was watching it this morning and it's amazing what you get the guest hosts to do so when they come on how game are they?
JLC: Well some are more game than other but we always say that the best hosts that we have had on the show are the ones that really threw themselves into it and committed to it. Al and I act as their safety net and if you are confident in us and know that we have got you and you are prepared to give then it always works.
But it's funny some of the biggest stars, who you might have thought were less keen to show themselves up or run the risk of making themselves look silly, could be the best and most giving guests. Take for example Martin Sheen, who is one of the biggest stars that we had on the show...
AC: He came out dressed as a man in a leather cap and wiggled around Obummer.
JLC: And he was one of the few people that we had to rein him in, he wanted to take it further and we had to pull him back.
- And do you have a favourite guest?
JLC: Martin Sheen would be up there for me he would definitely be one of my favourites.
AC: I loved Kim Cattrall she was just so sexy and one of those Americans, like Martin Sheen, who got it she was like 'I get this I'm going to send myself up'. In the early days people would come on and you could almost see them looking over at their agents saying' Now are you sure that the money has gone into the account for this?'
But by the end of it, the third of fourth series, they were coming on going 'Right I want to dress up as this, this and this' they really want to get the stilettos on and look like a woman; it's just one of those shows that grew and grew and grew.
JLC: And that was just Rupert Everett.
AC: Oh yeah he loved it.
- Have you been surprised by the reactions of the guests that they were much more up for it than you expected? Or the other way around?
JLC: Some people come on and they are nervous, and that surprises you, David Walliams was nervous...
AC: Noel Edmonds dressing up as a giant arse who would have thought he would do that he was a massive arse hole?
JLC: It's crinkly bottom.
AC: No he wasn't a massive arse hole he was dressed up as an arse hole and he was amazing.
JLC: He was a brilliant man but he did dress up as a massive arse, but he threw himself into it. We wanted Noel for a long time and he didn't disappoint he was great.
George Galloway I attempted to try to, was it the Italian Chandelier with George Galloway?
Tagged in Alan Carr