Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable

Lou Sanders interview

Written by: Jay Richardson
Published: Monday 10th October 2022

Lou Sanders is currently co-hosting Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable on Dave, in which celebrity guests share tales of their worst behaviour. British Comedy Guide caught up with her to chat about owning your shame, sado-masochistic sex dungeons and not mentioning the Queen when you're performing on top of the O2.

How much did you enjoy making this series of Unforgivable? It's often said that it takes three series for a show to properly find its feet.

It's got better and better. With the first series we didn't have much rehearsal time because of Covid. And then every show gets easier the more you do it. You find out what works and what doesn't. [Production company] Expectation are so good. There's a producer in the writing room with us and she suggested we get a miniature horse. We just wrote it into the script and it was the best day of my life. Because I met a miniature horse. We ran out of time a bit but I still got to bond with the horse.

And the props, we're just trying to find more and more needless ways to bring them on. That prop making team are amazing, building sushi conveyor belts and the like. I love the editing too, they keep doing weird stuff. Like keeping in mistakes. I don't like TV when it's so orchestrated. I like seeing things go wrong a bit.

That almost seems like a defining characteristic of Dave shows, giving your generation of comics screen breaks and retaining those bits that don't quite go to plan.

Yeah, it feels like you're seeing a bit more, I don't know, reality? I don't want shows to be formulaic. I want them a bit rough around the edges. Like me!

So after three series, have you settled on what your role on the show actually is?

Just popping in, as and when. It's quite an easy role actually. Mel's doing the heavy lifting. I think they know ... actually, I was going to put myself down there. But I'm not going to. I was going to say that they know my limitations. Let's just say we're playing to my strengths.

How did you land Unforgivable? Was it off the back of [her acclaimed 2018 stand-up show] Shame Pig?

I think that was maybe a factor. I'm a good fit because I've made a lot of mistakes. But nowadays I don't tend to, I've cleaned up my act quite a lot. In the first series, I was giving the guests examples of my behaviour, horrible things I'd done. And I just thought God, I can't keep continuing at this rate. Because I don't cause that much chaos anymore.

You're burning material to an extent too...

Yeah, I hate overlaps. But these days, comedians appear on so much stuff, not everyone's really precious about it. I've learned not to be. You'll see someone tell a story a couple of times. But everyone at home's busy, they're not watching you religiously. There are so many podcasts, so much content. I've got a terrible memory for what I have and haven't said. Nowadays, I just think if they've heard it, they've heard it. And move on.

I'd rather have a good life and not create chaos than have funny stand-up while my life is absolute mania.

Without wishing to be insensitive, from a storytelling point of view, you've benefited from those chaotic years. But as you've said yourself, you wouldn't be getting on television if you hadn't quit drinking. That was the big change right?

Yeah. And I still don't think my brain's quite right. I think there's some damage still there. This is a crap example by the way, it doesn't exactly scream life in the fast lane. Last night I was out at this restaurant with my two friends and they had completely different desserts. But I couldn't work out what was different about them, my mind was registering them as the same. That's more day-to-day functioning than anything that's going to come up on Unforgivable ... I honestly think I'm a bit thick.

No, surely you ...

There's something slightly broken in there. But it doesn't really matter.

But you can put a positive spin on it, that the way your brain works is likely a big part of what makes you a comic.

Yeah, but I think anyone could do stand-up really.

Does anyone ever say anything on Unforgivable that's completely beyond the pale? That gets cut out?

No, I don't think so. I wish.

Do you know the guests' stories before filming? Are you ever genuinely surprised or shocked?

I do know the stories they focus on usually. But often I forget them. Or, we don't know the details of them. We know the general area of what they're talking about, they've told a researcher on the phone and they've given us the bullet points. So sometimes, you're hearing the details and you're like 'bloody hell, I would have thought that would have made the notes!'. And it hasn't. Sometimes they veer off into a totally different story. There's been quite a lot of that. At least five or six examples where someone's been reminded of a story by another guest's story.

Particularly with comedians, do you think the competitive element makes the guests open up more?

Yeah, I think so. But we've had some real sweethearts and their stories can be quite mild. But because they're telling it and they're quite shocked, that's quite sweet. Watching someone who hasn't done much collateral damage in their life, aaaaw! But then you get people who you're like, "I can't believe they're admitting this!" I think it's quite cathartic for them. I don't think anyone minds.

As someone who's often bared their own soul in their stand-up, do you think people respond in kind towards you?

If they can get a word in edgeways, yeah. But I'm quite discreet now. Apart from, obviously, if it's on TV. But privately, if you tell me something, I'm really good at keeping secrets.

I was pleasantly surprised at how indiscreet and risqué the show is. Do you think it's good to have a primetime series where no-one's that worried about causing offence?

I hate when things are whitewashed and we're pretending we're not human. We pretend we don't make mistakes and it's really damaging for society. And of course, we've all done heinous things, that's how we learn. It's really dangerous for society if everyone's pretending otherwise.

That thing of the media taking a line out of a thing, out of context. Trying to blow it up and heap shame on someone, that's such a dangerous element of culture. Everyone's scared to admit what they've done. That doesn't help anyone.

A few stories on Unforgivable have been picked up by the press. Have there been discussions about something potentially getting blown up into a scandal?

I don't think so. If you refuse to take on the shame of something, then people can't shame you for it. Do you remember that guy that dressed in the Nazi uniform, which was obviously a bit dubious?

Er...

Very dubious.

Prince Harry?

The main thing was the S & M bondage. He was going into a dungeon.

Max Mosley?

Yeah. Forget the Nazi uniforms, put that to the side. Everyone was like, "Max Mosley in dungeon shame!" And he was like, "yeah, that's what I like". He sort of refused to take it on and everyone was like "oh, ok". The British media love trying to shame people and will heap loads of shame on, I don't know, marginalised people and whatnot.

These journalists reporting these stories probably love cocaine and all the other stuff they try to shame people for. So that's horrible. But our show is joyful, saying hey, we're all human, we all do silly things. It's not who you are. I's just a thing you've done in the past.

I guess the media were always going to go big on the Mosley story because his father was an actual fascist. But I think Joel Dommett, as covered in a recent episode of Unforgivable, is a good example of someone who's 'owned' his embarrassing experience of being catfished, turning it into stand-up and an anecdote.

Like you say, he owned it and was very funny about it. He was like, people have sexual relationships with people. This outrage culture is so dangerous, the people pushing it aren't so clean and it doesn't get us anywhere really.

Are you content being Mel's second banana? Or would you like to be presenting your own show?

The dynamic's perfect, I'm learning every day. She's just absolutely phenomenal on-screen and off. And I feel so lucky to learn from her, she's so good at what she does. I can just pop in and do what I do.

One day I'd like to host a dating show.

Would you adapt your Cuddle Club podcast for television?

Yeah, I guess that would be a chatshow and I'd love to do that.

You've acted in sitcoms like This Way Up and Lazy Susan's sketch show recently. Can you see yourself doing more of that?

Yeah, I especially like improvised acting where you don't have to learn the lines as much.

And you've just finished your biggest ever tour with One Word: Wow. Have you thought about what your next stand-up show will be about?

No, I've got to write a book. But that's basically just a work-in-progress. I've just started doing new material nights and I'm trying to enjoy it again. I'm not in any rush to get the show together.

What was it like performing shows on top of the O2's roof last month?

Weird. Because I did the first one 40 minutes after the Queen had died and I wasn't allowed to mention that the Queen had died. That was a challenge. But fun.

And finally, what's it like living with Luke McQueen?

Oh my God, he's an absolute dream. It's so fun. He's a right laugh, goes and gets you falafel. It's a lovely time.