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The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy with Richard Sparks
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Hi!
Hi!
Hi there!
Wow.
Wow.
Wow!
This is beautiful.
This is so beautiful.... I might just buy it.
Dan and Brian are joined by - DON'T PANIC - the comedy writer Richard Sparks about Douglas Adams' seminal SF comic masterpiece, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Hitchhiker's Guide has influenced the culture in innumerable ways, but no one really knew it was going to be such a smash hit.
Neither Adams nor Sparks, contemporaries in the late 1970s/early 1980s comedy scene in London, predicted how big the book would be. Richard talks to us about his experiences of working with Adams, how the book was born of the early alternative comedy scene, and why it still resonates today.
Richard Sparks is a comedy writer who cut his teeth on various TV shows, working for HTV (Wales) ITV (Southern and Central) and the BBC . He's written for the stage, both original plays and adaptations of Goldoni comedies), and done a lot of freelance script editing. He now lives in Los Angeles, and has recently turned his hand to MMORPGS and writing comic fantasy novels, beginning with his gaming-based series, New Rock, New Role.
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Transcript
Introduction to Crohn's Cast
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Crohn's cast again, the fantasy science fiction and horror podcast. I'm Dan Jones. And I'm Brian Sexton. Today we will be talking about a novel that is arguably the greatest science fiction comedy ever written.
Exploring 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
00:00:30
Speaker
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hitchhiker's Guide was the first in a trilogy of five books. The book follows the bizarre adventures of Arthur Dent, the only man to survive the destruction of Earth, which is bulldozed to make way for an intergalactic freeway. Arthur, with the assistance of his friend, Ford Prefect, and the Trumpian presidential figure, safe-hot Betelbrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android, embark on a journey that is in turns wildly funny and absurdly existential, and which eventually leads to the answers to humanity's deepest questions about the universe.
00:01:03
Speaker
The book was based upon the original radio series and spawned a film adaptation featuring Martin Freeman. It was the 24th in Channel 4's poll to find the greatest books of the century. It was back in 1996 and was ranked 4th in the BBC's Big Read to find the nation's favourite books in 2003.
00:01:20
Speaker
It has influenced a huge number of writers, comedians, and public figures, including Monty Python, Radiohead, Neil Gaiman, Elon Musk, and even Broadcasting Spectrum.
Guest Richard Sparks' Career and Writing Journey
00:01:37
Speaker
And it's also influenced our esteemed special guest for today, Richard Sparks. Richard got his big break at almost the exact same time as the great British comic actor Rowan Atkinson, as Richard wrote his breakthrough sketch, The Schoolmaster.
00:01:53
Speaker
The sketch was debuted at the Secret Policeman's Ball in 1979, with Atkinson playing a stiff teacher who's going through the register and taking a class with an increasingly surreal and obscenely named bunch of pupils. Richard cut his teeth on various TV shows, writing and editing editing scripts for HTV ITV and the BBC.
00:02:16
Speaker
And in 1992, he was hired by Columbia Pictures TV to work with Blake Hunter and Marty Cohen, the creators of Who's the Boss? And he then moved to Los Angeles, where he's remained ever since. Richard has written three published nonfiction books and a number of libretti for operas, almost all for the LA opera. Some are original pieces and others he's translated from German or Italian into English.
00:02:40
Speaker
His new novel, New Rock, New Role, represents a new adventure, a somewhat change of direction later in life, and that's moving into the world of fantasy fiction. So welcome along, Richard. Thank you for having me, Dan and Brian.
00:02:57
Speaker
Well, we are very, very lucky to have you. So how are you? I'm very well. and I can actually put some some corrections to your thing your very kind introduction there. The the show the sketch, the school master was...
00:03:11
Speaker
It debuted in 1978 at a very small theatre, the Hampstead Theatre. It was a three-person show with Peter Wilson, Elspeth Walker, Peter's then wife, and Rowan. And it was designed to showcase Rowan. It wasn't a particularly good show. The only other two writers on it were me and Richard Curtis. And Richard Curtis and Rowan were a writing team.
The Making of 'The Schoolmaster' Sketch
00:03:32
Speaker
And I used to write with Peter Wilson, who I did sketches with. um i'm I'm no kind of an actor, but Peter was very funny. And so we had gone on our summer holidays to Edinburgh, that sort of thing. i And yeah a year later in 17, I saw Rowan do it. yeah I wrote it for him one morning with a hangover and thought, I've got to write something for the new guy. I can't just write for my friend and his wife. We got to sort of cross-fertilize. And um we'd seen each other's shows in Edinburgh.
00:04:01
Speaker
So I just woke up and thought, I'd started writing a list of silly names. And when I got to the end of it, realized that it needed a sketch, typed it up. The the the top of the typescript said, enter one dressed as a schoolmaster, which the manuscript doesn't. I've still got the manuscript. I gave the typescript a row in that morning. And he looked at it and sort of grunted and said, oh, and walked off. And I felt very just relieved that he hadn't said, oh, this is this isn't the sort of thing I do or this is no good or whatever.
00:04:27
Speaker
And then he first did it in rehearsal, I think a couple of days later, just one one morning. There's nobody in the theatre, the director, Michael Rudman and myself. I don't think the other cast members might not even have been in that. And he just came on, did it very slowly, which surprised me.
00:04:45
Speaker
And after about three or four names, I thought, oh, I think he's onto something here. And he filled the room with invisible schoolboys. It was just extraordinary. And so John Cleese and his producer, Martin Lewis, came to see the show. And a year later, I got a call from Rowan saying, John Cleese just rang. i He's doing another charity show. And can I do the schoolmaster?
00:05:10
Speaker
So I said, yeah, absolutely. And congratulations, you know because he's he's a complete unknown. And so um we met at the captain's cabin in the Haymarket and walked down to the afternoon rehearsal into the stage door entrance, which is very grand.
00:05:26
Speaker
because they normally don't allow people like us in through the stage door. The first thing I saw was Pete Townsend wandering past with an acoustic guitar. and and All my heroes like various Pythons, Peter Kirk, I could go on but but you know Billy Connolly was there.
00:05:42
Speaker
and ah Rowan introduced me to John and he he went on stage and unknown and came off a star. It was extraordinary. I mean, I'd seen him do it 20 times, and enhanced it. So I knew it worked and I knew how good he was.
00:05:57
Speaker
um and And by the end of that sketch, so did the audience. And that performance is is available to watch on YouTube, isn't it? It is. And years later, the funny thing is you said you mentioned these obscene names. Well, there was a later version of the Schoolmaster, which I didn't write, well which is kind of fun because you know it's my copyright. Rowan obviously got fed up with doing the same old names. It was his party piece. He had to finish every show with that. You know, he'd come in in the gar and the audience would scream and cheer and hoot. and Yeah, that became the staple. of his set yeah And people were singing along with it you know because they knew it from the records. And he obviously got bored of doing that. And so either with Richard or by himself, I don't know, wrote a rude version, as I call it. And I didn't write that, but Rowan very kindly gave me half the royalties, as it was my copyright. But so so ah but just you know he didn't have to do that. He's a good guy.
00:06:55
Speaker
um and um You can certainly see early flashes of things like Blackadder in that performance. The later iterations of Blackadder, the sarcastic, straight-faced, straight man surrounded by morons sort of character. Yeah, he really does play the straight man so funny. That was brilliant writing, especially when they brought Ben Elton on to co-write with Richard Curtis.
00:07:26
Speaker
the second, third and fourth. It's interesting, John Lloyd always said that the first season he did of anything was useless. I mean, not knowing what useless was, just kind of learning, like the first season of Not the Nine O'Clock News ah was just getting into gear. And then, well, actually there's some very good stuff in it. But the first season of Blackadder was slightly off one direction. less less celebrated Let's Yeah, exactly. When he found his groove, um yeah then it became a real high standard of script writing. And of course he cast a die for. I mean, look at the Stephen Fry's and Miranda Richardson and Hugh Laurie. and hugh laurie yeah Did you see Hugh Laurie in the Night Manager?
00:08:08
Speaker
Yes, yeah very sinister, wasn't he? Terrifying. I mean, the source material is great because it's Lakare. But I mean, I would never have thought of him. He was very, very nasty character. So good. I mean, give that man a knighthood. Both of you, Grant and Laurie. I mean, I was just watching him. You scared me from behind the... The sofa was crashing with the dialect is great great like writing from the car in the car in one of ah our other co-hosts p is great at writing about people but men in particular men who are violent to to one another on opposite sides of the desk.
00:08:48
Speaker
I thought that was a great description. great description Anyway, um Hitchhiker's Guide.
Richard Sparks on Choosing 'Hitchhiker's Guide'
00:08:53
Speaker
ah we can go track as that yeah wherey why talkingggy adams so yeah Why did you pick Hitchhiker's Guide?
00:09:00
Speaker
Well, I mean, well, why did I pick it? as as well Yeah, why did you choose Hitchhiker's Guide to talk about? Well, Douglas and I were exact contemporaries. um He died, as you know, much too young, 48, I think. um He was at Cambridge. I was at Oxford. So he met at the um ah Edinburgh festivals doing separate reviews. He was in the review with people like Simon Jones from Hitchhiker and Griff Rhys Jones, Mary Allen.
00:09:24
Speaker
um Who else? Oh, Jeff McGiven. And I come to Jeff in a minute. And I was in the show with Peter Wilson, my who became my partner for a couple of student shows, and Mel Smith. And Mel was always, you know, brilliant. I mean, just amazing. The first time I saw him on stage, I couldn't believe this guy. um And so it's great fun to work with him, and he became a very good friend. And ah John Lloyd was the first reserve for Cambridge. Cambridge was very, very efficient.
00:09:54
Speaker
And we we were just sort of, oh, they've got to do a show in a few weeks. does anyone know any Has anyone got any sketches? And at Cambridge, they plan all year and they cast people and whittle it down to six for the Edinburgh show. And John was first reserve um for Cambridge Footlights. And so we met met him up there as well. And he and Douglas were roommates and best friends. And going back to Hitchhiker, the original,
00:10:21
Speaker
um was a radio series, as you know, with great actors like Peter Jones, Simon Jones, of course, and ah Stephen Moore. And I had a date with a young lady I was interested in, first date, and I was going to a local pub near her house, so I'd gone to pick her up and went to the bar to get the drinks, and there was Geoff McGibbon.
00:10:43
Speaker
Hi Jeff, how are you? I'm very well. Really, what are you up to? Well Douglas has written a radio show in iMinute. Oh, great, what's it called? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
00:10:55
Speaker
And I said, oh oh, great title. Good luck. It's scuttled off. I didn't want a handsome young actor interrupting my ah evening with ah my by date. And I was telling the story actually to um my ex-writing partner for the famous five, Gayle Renard, who was head of the British Writers Guild twice. I think she's now treasurer. And she was Douglas' sketch partner. They did sketches together.
00:11:20
Speaker
And she said, oh, I can beat that story. I said, what? Well, Douglas went away for a couple of weeks or a month or something. Then he came back and we had ah we had a ah show we were doing, a sketch show. And he came round to the flat and said, I've just been hitchhiking around Greece. I wonder what it would be like to hitchhike around the galaxy. And Gayle said, oh, come on, Douglas. You've got a sketch to write.
00:11:43
Speaker
so So that's as far back as I can go with that. And Douglas moved out here to California. He married Jane Belson, who was a contemporary of mine at university and did English like I did. So she was a great friend. And when Douglas was out here trying to get the film off the ground, i we got got to hang out.
00:12:01
Speaker
Well, anyway, Douglas was sitting in the house and ah I sort of teased him because I said, Douglas, if I'd written something as brilliant as Hitchhiker, you wouldn't see me for dust. I'd keep churning them out because we all kind of knew that Douglas would rather do anything but write. He was brilliant at it, but he was quite good at you know rearranging the furniture instead. And he sort of looked at me and said, oh oh, it's not as easy as that.
00:12:22
Speaker
and i i am oh good and and i'm I'm now the fourth fifth book in my series. It's actually the first book of the follow-up series. but um and I know what he means because it does get it doesn't get easier. You'd think you'd be on rails by now, but no, everyone is everyone's taken longer than the one before it.
00:12:43
Speaker
so so that's what What is it about Hitchhiker's Guide do think that has made it become part of the staple? of not just well it's It's one of those rare pieces of work that is kind of a genre piece of work. it's kind of um absorb Ostensibly. Ostensibly it's science fiction, but it's actually far broader than that. And it's just a big slice. Isn't that one of his quotes? um I love the sound of deadlines pinging by. yeah I love the sound they make as they get whoosh past or something.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. I love the sound of deadlines. It's it's uniquely British. ah It's gone past science fiction.
Comedy and Adventure in Sci-Fi
00:13:23
Speaker
It goes far beyond that. but It's become part of the landscape. So i what what is it about it that sort of busts out of those science fiction parameters and becomes part of the broader national, because it came forth in that big read poll. So of to find the nation's favourite books and to do that, you can't stay itop you stay stuck in science whole Well, it tickles the nation's funny boat and worldwide. um
00:13:48
Speaker
It goes back to Douglas's start as ah as a comedy writer. A lot of science fiction takes itself too serious, or very seriously, not too seriously. ah Nothing against serious fantasy and serious science fiction. But sometimes it can get a bit po-faced, especially fantasy, when they're trying to make you believe in something, you know, pushing it rather too hard. And ah comedy and adventures belong together as as well when we talk about new rock, new role.
00:14:17
Speaker
yeah we'll We'll talk about that later, but um Douglas and I first bonded over at Robert Sheckley, and he was interviewed years later, you know and someone said, I gather you're an admirer of Robert Sheckley, the American short story, fantasy writer of science fiction writer of the 50s and 60s. And what's the difference between you and Sheckley? And and Douglas said, Sheckley writes better, which is so i was such a great reply. um And Sheckley is funny.
00:14:46
Speaker
ah So he's got that lovely American wit in space, which is refreshing. And Hitchhiker is funny. And and that is just so charming in the story. it's also you know It's lightweight, and it's very hard to do lightweight if you if you don't have the gift for it. If you think lightweight is P.G. Woodhouse and Dorothy Parker, and you go, ah, those people are masters. And Douglas has the lightweight, which is really, um yeah you can't teach that.
00:15:15
Speaker
It's it's it does feel but very uniquely British as well. But a lot of the cultural background of the novel and the cultural touch points like dressing gowns and front lawns and warm beer and South End on Sea and gosh, everything else really. And four prefects for heaven's sake. Exactly, four prefects. Exactly. It feels uniquely
00:15:46
Speaker
British and I was thinking about why is it so? Because you can make jokes about the warm beer and the dressing gowns and such and such but it almost feels like this surreal... It is uniquely British and that really appeals to overseas English speakers because the Americans love it. And the Americans do love it. Just like they love Brideshead and upstairs, downstairs and stuff. As they do with Monty Python as well.
00:16:16
Speaker
yeah And it feels like surreal comedy with its sort of absurd beats and non-secateurs and the appearance of of things that don't mix together. I always love the line about the passing maniac who's got a single line in the book. ah Prefect and Arthur Dent are having a conversation as they're whizzing through interstellar space. And then ah a passing maniac has a single line and then you never see him again. And that's great. It's almost
Douglas Adams' Creative Process
00:16:42
Speaker
like... and yeah It feels like this is strangely British in the same way that magical realism is sort of uniquely Latin American. Does that make sense? It does make sense. It very much makes sense. ah You've got to look at its genesis. and Honestly, the person you should be talking to is Gail Renard because she's got plenty of stories of Python. Anyway, we'll get on to Gail in a minute. but
00:17:05
Speaker
um yeah so douglas was having a lot of difficulty writing the the first season of this tv show of the radio show, excuse me the radio which is the original thing that I heard, and I loved it when I heard it.
00:17:17
Speaker
um And so he called John Lloyd and to to to to write the last two episodes with him. And they got the two episodes done in two weeks, because John is very good, A, a good writer, and B, very good at organizing and getting things done and and editing. I mean, you know, his career is not that he created on the 9 o'clock news, Spitting Image, QI, the Museum of Curiosity, Blackadder. He's the leading comedy producer of our generation. And then, of course, Douglas goes and fires him when he writes the books.
00:17:51
Speaker
They're all on holiday in Corfu. It's not going too well. I mean, Douglas wanted to write the book himself. It was his idea. So he wrote it himself. And John was actually just happy. Last time I saw him, he said, actually, that's probably really a good thing because I got so irritated. I left radio, went off to the BBC and did not the 9 o'clock news. And he had his great TV career, although he's now back in radio presenting the Museum of Curiosity, which is delightful. I don't know if you've heard it.
00:18:23
Speaker
um
00:18:26
Speaker
No, that one's passed me by, actually. What's it called? The Museum of Curiosity. It's on BBC. You can get it on iPlayer. I think he's on the 17th season now. um What's nice about it is the guests are not all the clever English comedians. There are all sorts of people from all walks of life who donate something to this virtual museum. you know One person gave a space station.
00:18:51
Speaker
and the other one gave a pubic louse. and And there's a whole story about why and what and where and when and how things are interesting. And they're fascinating people from you know all all so all disciplines. And John is the um it' the master of ceremonies. It's it's just really great, we love it.
00:19:08
Speaker
so what what was do you know What the process Adam's... I'm not like I was on first name terms with him, but I'll call him Douglas for the purposes of the conversation. The the approach he took to novelising the original scripts from the radio play. What was the approach he used? I don't know. I know he found it, ah you know, he found it quite hard work. Mary Allen, who was in the show with them, Edinburgh that we first saw,
00:19:38
Speaker
um She was on holiday with them in Corfu at the time, and she said, I must have heard the first 20 pages of Hitchhiker 30 times. so but This was last year when she was sitting with us in London. So ah he obviously got feedback from from her and from others. And my agent, Jill Foster, was also his agent, and Gail Renard's agent, and Michael Palin and Terry Joneses, and Graham Chapman's, Timbrough Taylor, various people like that.
00:20:05
Speaker
um She said, you know, that as soon as she got it, she just loved it. She says, every time I get depressed, I read a bit of Hitchhiker, you know, which for a literary agent, the last thing they usually want to do is read stuff. It certainly is charming. And Gayle, I mean, if I look, Gayle Renard was a 17 year old school girl in Montreal when John and Yoko came to do the loving. Couldn't get into America, so they stayed in a hotel in Montreal and Gail went there with, you know, and and the whole, the front of the hotel was covered in in school children. So she went round the back, climbed in through the kitchen window, got the service elevator, got up to the door, waited till the security guard went off for a pee, went knocked on the sweet door and John opened and let her in. And so she became great friends with John. She was actually holding up the,
00:20:56
Speaker
the the words to give peace a chance during the recording. And then um he he was a lifelong friend and and supporter. And then that was the time why I mentioned this because you mentioned pythons in America. This is exactly when pythons hit America. They'd finished in England.
00:21:13
Speaker
ah it It's an amazing that the pythons even survived. It's an extraordinary story, but they were sold to American 74 and Gail decided, look, I want to be a comedy writer. Do I go to Hollywood? Do I go to London? So she called up the local paper and and in Montreal and said, I'm going to interview all the pythons. Give me 500 bucks for an air ticket.
00:21:37
Speaker
So she got their numbers, she's a very resourceful lady, and got their phone numbers, interviewed them, then told John on the phone that she was flying to London, and he said, no, where are you staying? And she said, well, I don't know yet. He said, no, you come and stay with me and Connie. So she lived with John and Connie as they were writing um Faulty Towers, which is a pretty good apprenticeship for a comedy writer.
British Comedy Scene of the 70s and 80s
00:22:01
Speaker
yes It's not bad. It all seems incredibly... ah What's the word? Incestuous is not quite the right word, but this sort of tapestry of British comedy weaving itself across 1970s and 80s. I mean, that's probably like not the right word.
00:22:19
Speaker
It looks like that from the outside now, looking backwards. But at the time, i mean we were all thinking, where do I fit in? ah you know It's not like that. i mean i and i did ah years but i mean i Someone me, of of steal of excuse Rowan, of stealing my idea for a silent comedy show.
00:22:36
Speaker
with Mr Bean, because i'd done I created a show called The Optimist on Channel 4, which was nowhere near as good as Mr Bean. It was just heartbreaking for me. And Rowan came along a few years later and did it right. But actually, what i I'd seen how good Rowan was with physical comedy and I thought, who needs words?
00:22:53
Speaker
who needs you know, like Bloody Upstairs, Downstairs, which now has, of course, I mean, no, sorry, Are You Being Served? and things like that. George and Mildred, all those weary sitcoms, which now have a period charm about them. But at the time, we youngsters thought, this is really weary. Let's do something else. So take it to the streets, do outside comedy. Now, ours, The Optimist, got two series on Channel 4 shot all in the States. No, the second series was in England.
00:23:19
Speaker
and I didn't have anything to do with that one. um but Years later, Rowan did. As soon as I saw Mr Bean, I thought, yeah you know you got it right. um so It always looks like you're part of the same thing, but everyone's looking to try and find where they fit in and who's doing what. and you know well i but it sounds like i mean our another Our other co-host, Christopher, he's a horror writer and he's always saying similar things that the horror community, it's it's niche. And I guess this sort of the emerging alternative comedy scene in the 70s again was pretty niche.
00:23:54
Speaker
And the horror community these days is very tight knit. They're very supportive of each other. There are constantly ideas bouncing off each other, but there's a lot of support there as well. And a lot of people tend to know each other and there's there's there's this mutual camaraderie that's going around. and And therefore there's quite a lot of innovation around at the moment in the horror scene, even though it's right it doesn't usually break through into the mainstream. But so sometimes it does.
00:24:19
Speaker
I can imagine. There are kind of similarities there with this sort of 1970s comedy scene. There are similarities with the fantasy world for certain. i you know The first book was only published a few months ago, but I've done several fantasy conventions and the community is so welcoming. They're all so enthusiastic, happy to dress up and parade around and go to panels and ask and talk and chat about everything from Aklobester's axon. That's why we take we take this show seriously. We're in the connection issues. at less so such a nice community i
00:24:59
Speaker
um ah In the comedy in the old days, you sort of keep an ear out for what's new and read time out. But it wasn't really a sense of everybody getting together. You're all trying to find something to do or sit down and write a play. Can I afford to support myself to write a play for a fringe theatre? I was lucky in that I got some well-paying TV jobs. And those are the jobs that buy you the time to write your own stuff.
00:25:32
Speaker
um ah And then the the comic strip people came along. ah I mean, they were a you know few years younger than us. I remember going to, actually, Alexei Sayles was at art school with my wife, and they were they painted next to each other. ah My wife is American. She was at Chelsea.
00:25:49
Speaker
um And Alexei was brilliant the first time he went to see him, introducing you know the likes of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French and Rick Mail and Adrian Edmondson at that little strip club above Raymond's Refubar. You know, it's just, we say, oh, this is new.
00:26:07
Speaker
but It's great. well I mean, the comedy is all about new things. Laughter is a reaction of surprise, isn't it? And I guess that's where, you know, going back to Hitchhiker's Guide, that's it's so different to the other comedy that was floating around at the time, but also the other science fiction that was floating around at the time. And it is this sort of strength mad mashup of... It is, but I don't think it its strength isn't in its difference.
The Enduring Appeal of Douglas Adams
00:26:32
Speaker
I think its strength is in its blending of the two.
00:26:34
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. It doesn't set out to be, it's just Douglas' voice. and And he found it, you talked about finding a niche, he absolutely found his niche. Yeah, and it's funny how it happens. My wife had an opening of an exhibition yesterday, ah there's an old friend there who's a professor, a teacher, very eminent photographer. And he said something, I actually recorded it on my phone, he said, yeah, there's comes a time and there cuts of time in your work when you know what you're doing.
00:27:01
Speaker
Douglas knew what he was doing then. I only know what I'm doing. Well, I've had a long writing career, but it's mainly been writing with other people in terms of... Writing for TV, right. Well, the only part of a team, which I love, but TV and film is a director's medium, and stage is an actor's medium, and opera is a conductor's, composer's, singer's medium. Your words are essential, but you're part of a team.
00:27:25
Speaker
you know if you don't If you don't learn how to get edited and how to rewrite and how to contribute to the teamwork, you don't you don't work. Writing narrative is just you and the reader. And to find my voice at last at at my great age is is just such a relief. It's bliss.
00:27:43
Speaker
and and yeah to to to know what you're doing at last, which is which what Douglas did very early. No, it was he certainly knew what he was doing. In fact, when I was rereading the book for for this show, it struck me that it's one of those There are certain things that date it, like the constant references to digital watches and the like. But generally, it's a package or something. Yeah, exactly. And the price of beer and stuff like that. So there's stuff that dates it. But generally speaking, it's pretty ageless.
00:28:18
Speaker
yeah And some of the character, some of the the the satire in it, such as the the forging of the the computer, deep thought and the questions around AI, they will continue to... I mean, that's rich that's a rich vein for satire now. So it's it's it's doing the right job 40 years ago. And the stuff around Zaphod Beebelbrox as well. And I was reading Zaphod, he's the yeah president of the galaxy. Largely a ceremonial position and I was reading through it and thinking Gosh, it's Trump. It's actually Donald Trump and here's and here's the demonstration. I've got the first few lines of Zafod The first line is hi Second line hi Hi, honey hi and then Wow
00:29:12
Speaker
Wow. And then, and and as I was reading it, Trump's voice just leapt from the page. That is really amazing, he said. That really is truly amazing. That is so amazingly amazing. I think I'd like to steal it. I thought, wow, that's actually Trump.
00:29:34
Speaker
yeah Well, that's, you know, this is the joy. You see, you can't do this in real fiction, reality fiction. In speculative fiction, you could go off and have wheeled ideas. And some of them, some of them were low and behold.
00:29:47
Speaker
come to pass and looking back, you think, that's kind of obvious, isn't it? Well, it might not have been at the time, but. I think it's a great comfort actually that you can, people like Adams and Python actually had this conversation with John Langan when he was a guest on a little while ago, we were talking about the Simpsons and Python. yeah And if you rewatch Python, all the people they're taking the piss out of 650, 60 years ago, the sort of officious bureaucrats, the but venal politicians,
00:30:17
Speaker
It's exactly the same as it is today. And there's something quite comforting about that, actually, because we always think we're on the edge of the precipice. But actually, it's not that different to it was 50, 60 years ago, and probably another 50, 60 years before that. So when you go back to volunteer and the
Humor in Adams vs. Monty Python
00:30:33
Speaker
satires. of Well, exactly. Yeah. And Voltaire and people like that. Is that what the one I mean? so Yes. Some French chat.
00:30:40
Speaker
yeah but Yeah, all of them. yeah Molly, yeah, he he wrote a good tune, didn't he? That's what Rigney all said in Boston, yeah. Anyway, and gosh, well, we we we find that we did get around to talking a bit about Hitchhiker's Guide, but i I kind of think that that's probably the way that Douglas Adams would have wanted it. Well, and I'll leave you a quote. sort of When I was back in London recently, I had a beer with John Lloyd, um and ah we were chatting about all sorts of stuff and he said,
00:31:09
Speaker
Douglass was hopeless at everything except having brilliant ideas. I thought I was just such, I wish someone, you know, if if that's on my Gregstone, I'll be happy. But it's just. And and it is just a cornucopia of great ideas. Yeah. And the fact is, because he was so good at things like the non sequitur, he doesn't even have to worry that much about how he's going to stitch the great ideas together. And so they just they just they just.
00:31:37
Speaker
Well, they're just sort of splatted down on the page and it works. It's just brilliant. And so you get things like the babblefish and don't panic. Yeah. And Deep Thought and 42 and yeah. And Google. And Marvin the Paranoid Android who caused the spaceship to death. Googleplex, yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the great thing about popular fiction. It goes straight over into the culture and people adapt the words from it like they do from pop songs. Adopt, rather than adapt.
00:32:08
Speaker
and we We take those ideas. and that' you know There's a time when you couldn't move in London for people going around talking in Monty Python voices. and Python quotes would be zinging around every corner of the pub. so i'm sure this is ah This is a funny one. this is a funny one um I was sitting, the very same pub, I just had a beer with John Lloyd and back in back in the 90s, 80s, 90s, ah, still living in London. I went to that very same pub with, you know, after a day's, oh no, we had a hard child, so after a hard day's wrangling, and Times Crossword, a pint of beer, sitting in the corner and quietly, and three people came in and said, can we sit here? And I said, yeah, of course. And it was a table, there's two guys, one opposite me, one next to me, and a girl,
00:32:58
Speaker
diagonally, and one of them quoted a line from the Schoolmaster sketch. as they chalk I was just doing the Times Cross, and one of them said, oh, put it away, plectrum. And I looked up and laughed. and they threw I said, oh, I'm sorry. I've never heard myself quoted in public before. that I wrote that. And the woman the girl said, no, you didn't. I said, what? i Yes, I did. i wrote No, Richard Curtis wrote it. He's a friend of mine.
00:33:27
Speaker
Now, there's your small word. There is your small word. And ah nowadays you could have said, well, look, call him up and ask him. um But we didn't have mobile phones in those days. But that was really an awkward, what am I chopped liver moment? And I say, i say well, look, I've got the manuscript, you know, in in my drawer around the corner. and ah But then she went very frosty, were very quiet.
Richard Sparks' Humorous Anecdote
00:33:47
Speaker
And they just, you know, after they finished their drinks, and mapped up and they got up and left.
00:33:51
Speaker
Obviously, they thought I was, I mean, why would anyone during the time of Crossword want to impress people with a random eye? There are some odd people who sit in the corners in pubs sometimes, Richard. But anyway, I walked home feeling kind of, well, bloody hell, that's a bit cheeky. And then when I was having the drink with John a year ago, or within less than a year ago, in that same pub, I so told him this, I said, this is a very tableware, blah, blah, blah. And John said, I can do better than that.
00:34:18
Speaker
And I said, okay, go on then. He said, well, he was on a date with a young lady. It always starts with dates with young ladies. um And they were ah well outside like him. Like I said, incestuous. No, it sounds it, but looking back, you know.
00:34:34
Speaker
That's looking forward. at that Anyway, so he was off on a date with this young lady. He was interested outside London, miles from anywhere. They didn't want anyone to notice them. And they were in a pub and sitting there. And one of the guys at the next table was with his friends, including women. And um he kept dropping the name John Lloyd and say, oh, well, I know John Lloyd very well. And this John Lloyd, that and John Lloyd, this. ah ah John had never met the guy.
00:35:01
Speaker
So at the end, he just you know when they and he and his date were leaving, he just stood up and said, ah excuse me, I'd just like to say, um I'm John Lloyd, and you're you've been talking absolute bollocks. Which beats my story, but well it's it's still and that guy must have felt a bit silly. Well, they we'll leave it there, folks.
00:35:22
Speaker
We'll take a break. Brian, I don't know what's happened to Brian. Can I just ah let the cat come in? Can you give a second? to The cat's coming. I've got to get rid of it. You deal with the cat. And turn the fire. You let the cat in. I'll try and let Brian in. He joined us from Mars for about five minutes and he's wished some sort of wormhole to the other side of the galaxy. Richard Sparks has disappeared. It's all gone a little bit chaotic here at Cron's cast today. But, you know, maybe that's Maybe that's just what Adams would have wanted as we're discussing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And now I'm just sitting on my own talking to everybody listening at home. So we'll leave it there, folks.
00:36:07
Speaker
You're welcome to Mars Radio 13, the third best radio station in the Martian Space Force Broadcasting spectrum. My name is Captain Half Milk Carton, and And in today's show, we're going to be talking about Flongorial Wasp and how to avoid it. Isn't that right, Bungalow? It is Half Milk Carton.
00:36:30
Speaker
Captain Half-Milkotten say Captain Half-Milkotten when you're speaking to me. There's a reason I have that title and you don't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Space Marshal Full-Milkotten. Hang on, hang on. He's no relation. That name is pure coincidence. I resent the insinuation that I did not achieve this exalted rank entirely on my own merits. You are here to discuss Trongorial Rot, not members of my immediate family.
00:36:58
Speaker
Well, when I don't know of a flungorial rotten, but it isn't worth knowing, cappy-can, I have, indeed, no less than eleven flumes of them sprouting from my interior tendril, which is believed to be a Mars record, although it has yet to be officially verified. Hang on, hang on, Bumbo. We have a caller on the phone. but Whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:37:21
Speaker
We have a phone. Yes, we do, but you would know if you were a captain in the Martian Space Force, which you're not. Now, quish. Hello. Is that Mars Radio 13? The third best radio station in the best space force in the solar system, the Martian Space Force. Yes, yes it is. My name is Captain half milk carton. I know who you are.
00:37:45
Speaker
Why did you ask? Manners. Good, basic, formal manners. Something you pair would know nothing about. It's a disgrace, an absolute disgrace. I'm beyond disgusted at the use of that language on air. Beyond disgusted. What language? Oh, so you'd have me repeated. Is that what you want? Well, Hablonneka, Gomgolaga, Fluntricle, Orthnostitude, Balcag, Melondricle Flump, Oost, Lompadonk, Slandlaw, Fanoncheocht, Theorible, and Vlerbe. Yeah, it's not so nice having to listen to that filth, eh? Well, look, look, we're sorry if we, uh... Sorry? Sorry? Do you know how many people could have heard those words? Half milk cotton. Quiet, bungalow. ah Look, I'm sorry. I didn't get your name. Richard. Richard Sparks. Not that you need to know that. Any human alive would be disgusted by your language. Richard Richard Spart! That's a strange name. That's like the kind of name you'd give to a cantabular glimp. Hey, you're not a cantabular glimp, are you? I do not appreciate impersonate personal questions. My private life is my own. Now, I will not stand for any more of this grubby nonsense on the airwaves. Why on earth do you think anyone could take pleasure from listening to it? Uh, Captain Half Milk Cotton. I'm not on earth. I want you off the air immediately. This mucky drivel ends now.
00:39:02
Speaker
Oh, hold on, hold on! We can use other words! There's lots of words in the solar system, especially Mars! Now, hold on! How about ah said shine a lot of our face, Dean, instead of a long, little flaunt? Happy dance, sir! What? Didn't you hear him? He's only a human! The dial code is 0-0-0-3. I mean, he's called from frickin' earth! Oh, well, thank the bungalow. Only a human. Ha ha!
00:39:29
Speaker
Well, Richard, Richard sparks from earth. You know what you can do with your complaint? You can take it, you can cover it in verb, you can add some hallelujah berries, and you can stick it on your... Right, that's it. I'm coming over there immediately, and I shall unplug you myself. Oh, no! What's that? We beswept only effort for it!
00:39:50
Speaker
Doesn't he know we're entirely composed of gunk? Oh, I know, alright. And I shall enjoy watching you two miserable specimens swirl away to your agonizing but richly deserved and appallingly sticky end. Sexy!
00:40:04
Speaker
Oh, where to, sir? Mars, and step on it. Ah, sorry. Garve city license only. I can take you as far as King's Cross. You can get the overnight from there to Inverness. Verry to Orkney, take the Mars Catapult. Sortie. Fine. I have that Barzordian at the back of the cab once. Verry getting his tipper. On his way to Thunder Moon Landing at Pinewood Studios. This will be to secrecy.
00:40:29
Speaker
Uh, how long do we have? I mean, before it gets here? Fifteen months in theory, but they usually miss. You try firing a cannonball at a moving target 140 million miles away. No, I think that's the last we'll ever hear of Richard Richard Sparks.
00:40:48
Speaker
I apologize for the interruption, folks. We'll be back to continue our in-depth discussion of Flungorial Rot after the break.
00:41:16
Speaker
This episode of Crohn's Cast was brought to you by Dan Jones and Brian Sexton and our special guest Richard Sparks. Additional content was provided by Brian Sexton and Jay Staliper. Special thanks to Brian