Ryan Sampson interview
Ryan Sampson talks about having to get naked on set, the dangers of an after-shoot massage and meeting Grumio's dad...
How does it feel to be back?
Great! It's fun. As jobs go, this is about as fun as it gets really. Every year has got bigger and bigger. There's a bit where we're thrown to the lions. They filmed a real lion in England and we used an animatronic head here, and used CGI to put it together. It's proper Hollywood stuff!
You all do your own projects in between filming Plebs. Is there any diva attitude when you come back?
I'd love any opportunity to call Tom Rosenthal a diva, but if I'm honest, no - not really. It's quite good how we can go off and make our own programmes in between. But when you get back to Plebs there's no chance of being a diva!
This series I've got this scene where I'm completely naked in the town square and there's all these people around me, and there's a camera crew and everything, and I've got this bit of fabric covering my bits. The director's like, "Okay, so you're going to hold the helmet over it, but the helmet has gaps at the side and we're going to be able to see the material, so you're going to have to take it off." I'm like, "But everyone will see my knob." And he goes, "Pfft. Diva." And in that moment, it's kind of half a joke, but it's like, "Okay, you know about Plebs, you're doing it."
So how did you deal with it?
You just have to get over it. It's like the other day, there's a scene where I'm eating caviar and in the scene he's scooping and gobbling it up, so during this scene I must have eaten several pounds of fish eggs and they were fucking rank. Anyone else would be like, "Obviously, you don't really need to do that," but it's what you have to do to get it done on Plebs.
Why do you think the show is such a success?
I think it's because it's warm. My favourite comedy ever is Spaced, which has a warmth to it, you want to be around these people. And that's what I like, I want to feel like I want to be in that world. And everyone loves a bit of smut.
Do you base Grumio on anyone?
Yes, quite a bit. It's a bit of my nan, weirdly, my late nan. There was a scene where Marcus goes, "I'll buy you a hat," and I go, "What kind of hat," and he goes, "A pointy hat.", and my nan's trademark was this disgusted noise that she used to make, and a dry, slightly pissed off sense of humour where she'd be like... if you wore ripped jeans she'd be like, "Get those shitty jeans out of my house". It's a bit like that.
And the physicality of it. Is that quite hard?
Yes, it's really painful. I did the pilot and it was like, "Oh, great, it's five days, I can do this." Eight weeks! I'm slowly crippling myself. I'll never be a leading man at this rate!
Do you see a chiropractor afterwards to straighten yourself out?
Yes, you have a choice of Bulgarian masseurs. You either go down the dubious, potentially 'happy ending' kind of route, where you're like, "If this is a massage, I'd rather end this now." And it always looks like your friend's mum. There's also one down in the city and she's punishing. She's got so much anger inside her, she just wants to kick the shit out of you. It's actually not that enjoyable an experience.
How do you feel about the smutty jokes on the show?
I'm not bothered. I don't so much get the smutty stuff, I get the embarrassing, harrowing stuff to do. All this naked stuff, you feel a bit like, "What have I done for the sake of comedy?!" There's a lot of naked stuff in this series. I think I'm completely naked in three episodes. It's quite a big chunk.
So when you got the scripts, were you like... "I'd better hit the gym."
I cut the carbs, did a bit of that. I'm like, "I'm not going to be no porker, even for Grumio." But they sort of take the piss out of me a bit because they're like, "Come on, you should really be a bit chubbier around the edges."
Do you mind getting naked?
The worst thing is I had to jump on the centurion's back while I was naked, he's a really nice guy, this actor, and he's like, "I can feel your genitals in my back but it's fine." And I had this dressing gown on, and I jumped on his back, and I had to sort of stay there while the camera was coming. But I rehearsed it with the dressing gown, I was like, "Sam, I'm just a bit nervous that as I do this I will expose my bum hole." And quick as a flash, he just ducked his head under my robe, had a look and goes, "No, you're fine." I thought... "I'm not asking you to do that, I don't know you well enough." Even my best friend, I wouldn't ask him to do that. You know, "Hey, would you just check my bum hole?" Apparently that's normal round here.
That's most people's worst nightmare...
Town square, holding a goat, completely naked - yes, everyone's worst nightmare! And there are guest actors there, eminent actors who you respect. And you're like, "This is a real low point. If no-one finds it funny, I'm buggered!"
We meet Grumio's dad this series, what's he like?
They were like, "So we meet your dad in it," and you're like, "Oh, that ruins it a bit." Because he's an enigma, you don't know where he comes from or anything. But they've made him cuddly so he's got this sort of non-committal, slightly shit dad. He's like the ultimate slightly shit dad. It's really sweet actually, there's a heartfelt storyline. That's my one for this series.
And what was it like having Steve Edge as your dad?
He's really great - he was really brilliant. I was going to say he reminds me of my own dad, not that he's a shit dad, but just that he's got the same sort of vibe. My dad's a working men's club singer, so he's got this sort of shtick, you know what I mean? He's a charmer. And the character is quite flash and has this razzle-dazzle sort of thing going on, so he's got a bit of that going on.
And Grumio gets a girlfriend!
He meets this girl and he gets hooked on her cakes that she cooks. There's a scene where I'm licking icing off her face, which is basically the closest I'm ever going to get to a sex scene. That's like a 1% sex scene, but that's it for me. Even though I'm not naked, I've literally just watched a version of it, all put together, and there's a lot of licking in it! Hopefully there will be a few good memes floating around, maybe an offer might come in for a topless shoot, so if there's anyone out there who's interested...
She turns out to be a feeder. Is it just cake?
No, food in general - she likes a big lad and she's determined to get me that way. I had to wear a fat suit. I really feel for Eddie Murphy now when he was in Big Momma's House. It took like five hours one day and it's really uncomfortable, and you end up being really miserable, which everyone finds even funnier because you're stuck there going, "I want to go home".
Also, it exaggerates everything that you do, so sometimes you're really uncomfortable but it makes you do this, like, cutesy face that everyone finds really amusing, and they're like, "You're not happy actually, are you?"
How big was the fat suit?
I'm not a big person, so they couldn't make it too big - it was more like rolls of fat, but there was a definite difference from the previous scene, where I'm topless. There's quite a lot of chin action, which is bizarre.
What was it like when you looked in the mirror for the first time in the suit?
I showed it to my family and they absolutely loved it! It just made me look a lot older and sort of, I don't know why, really camp. I had these big cheeks and this coy smile, it made me look quite cheeky and flirty!
They gave me a set of tits and I cut out the nipples from it because they said I could keep it - perfect replicas of my nipples. So a) if I ever lose a nipple in an accident I've got spares, but also I'm going to frame them or something, maybe run a competition to win a signed nipple and a photo of me wearing it underneath, that would be good.
What kind of response do you get from people on the street?
A lot of people just shout 'Grumio'. People shout "Top lad!" at me from across the street... it's funny, playing a character that's not very like you, because people treat you completely like that's how they expect you to be, sort of thing. This girl at a bus stop the other day lost her shit completely. She was like, "Oh, my fucking God! Mum!" I've no idea what kind of family setup this is but she's going, "Mum! It's that cunt from Plebs!" I'm like... I don't know what kind of dynamic your family have but this is not appropriate. It's astonishing.
But also, when people realise, it's not like they've just seen someone who looks like their character, it's like they're also really pleased with themselves that they wouldn't realise it's me because I don't look as similar, sort of thing. So sometimes they have this double thing of like, "I've got you!" like I'm trying to get away with it. But I'm getting recognised more and more. I'm editing a sketch show at the moment and I did a sketch where I was in disguise and I was recognised straight away! She was like, "I recognise your chin!" So it's happening more and more.
Describe Series 3 of Plebs in three words.
Bigger, weirder, nakeder.
Plebs Series 3 is on ITV2 on Mondays at 10pm.