Chain Reaction

A brief mention of the finest put-down of the week. In Chain Reaction (Radio 4, Wednesdays, 6.30pm), Eddie Izzard interviewed Alastair Campbell: a knockabout surreal comic going up against Eddie Izzard. How could it work?

At first, Izzard seemed to have decided that if this wasn't going to get bogged down in talk of bagpipes, writing soft-porn for Forum magazine, alcoholism and nervous breakdowns, then he would have to talk about cats taking over the world. Campbell was limited to the occasional dry interjection. Then Izzard went too far: learning that Campbell spoke French, and being known for having done stand-up shows in French, he began to ask him a question in that language. And Campbell corrected his grammar. Just like that. One sentence in. One felt as bad for the Izzster as one did for those poor political hacks who came up against Campbell during the No 10 glory days. Izzard floundered. He attempted to keep going in French, then collapsed. "This question might be better asked in English," he muttered, a broken man.

On Chain Reaction (Radio 4), Alastair Campbell was also recalling recent history. He was very comfortable discussing his soft-porn writings ("a mixture of stuff you'd done and stuff you wished you'd done), his drinking, his "crack-up" and his depression. When he was appointed as Tony Blair's press spokesman in 1994, he said, they had a bet as to which paper would dredge up which bit of his past first. "It was the News of the World, on the porn, eight minutes after the press release went out."

Eddie Izzard is never off the wireless lately. Last week he was interviewed by Frank Skinner, now he's quizzing Alistair Campbell, once chief spin doctor to Tony Blair and terror of the BBC, now more of a wandering minstrel. Izzard starts off with how the Clan Campbell got its appalling reputation, what it was like for a Campbell to grow upin Keighley, what differentiates a busker from a street entertainer, being a swot, going to Cambridge, trying his hand at pornography, having a nervous breakdown. I think I've heard most of this before. Too often.