Keith and Paddy interview
Keith Lemon and Paddy McGuinness are back for a second series of their show spoofing films...
How did you find the reaction to the first series?
Keith: It's the best thing that I have ever done.
Paddy: It was amazing. The whole run did really well and got great feedback so we were delighted. When ITV said they wanted us to do another one, we were chuffed because we feel like we know what we're doing with it now.
What do you enjoy about working with each other?
Paddy: Well, I certainly don't think of it as work.
Keith: No, you think of it as the holiday of two puddings!
Paddy: Yeah, I do. I had two puddings every day and two breakfasts! It is nice in that respect. I do love it, the caterers aren't so keen on me, but they deal with it!
Keith: I like it because I get to mess around with a very good friend. It's exciting because this is an idea we had eight years ago and now we're here doing it. It's exactly how I hoped it would be.
How did you decide the films you did this time around?
Paddy: ITV kind of just left us to it, it's been really good.
Keith: Last year they played the real Jaws after our episode and it worked really well, almost like it was a Jaws themed night.
Was it easier to get the actors and celebrities on board for this series now they know what to expect?
Paddy: Everyone in this series is really great. Philip Glenister is in Pretty Woman, he is so good. Everyone totally got into the roles they were playing. It's easier after seeing the first series, as they know what the show is and what we're about.
Keith: It's brilliant when we get such great actors in, they act for real and we mess about.
Paddy: They anchor the scenes and we just mess about!
Is there anyone you wanted to get but didn't quite make it?
Keith: The reaction I got from being at award do's and showbiz parties is that everyone was really complimentary about the show and wanted to be in it, but ultimately, it always comes down to their schedules.
Paddy: Ed Sheeran was lined up to be in this series, but his tour in Australia got pulled forward a week so it didn't work out. We'd already filmed some stuff relating to Ed in other episodes so we had to re-jig a few bits.
Keith: It's such a shame because he's a great sport. We were going to get him in just to sing. So he thought he was going to come in and be in Grease but when he got here we were going to be like, 'Have you brought your guitar with you because the lads in the crew want a bit of a sing song!'
So have people been coming up to you saying they want to be in the show?
Keith: Yeah they do! I saw Cara Delevingne at the Valerian premiere and asked her if she would be in anything. We have Jaime Winstone in Terminator 2 and she said she told Cara all about it so maybe she'll be in the next series?!
What would you have wanted her to do?
Paddy: She would have been good in Pretty Woman. As we know, Julia Roberts had a body double all the way through the film, so we should have got Cara in just for that!
How did filming go for the second series?
Paddy: It was brilliant - except for the weather! 'The Beast from the East' caused us big problems. We were doing the balcony scene in Pretty Woman and half way through it started snowing! We're supposed to be in the middle of summer! And we did the volleyball scene from Top Gun on the beach, everyone's topless, covered in olive oil and it was minus three. It was freezing!
Keith: When you watch it on telly you'll think, 'what's wrong with them'? It might look nice because the sun was out but it was so cold.
Paddy: We had to stick tissue up our noses because they were running so much because of the cold. We really suffered!
Keith: If you had a moment by yourself when you're not talking, that's when you'd feel the cold. So we were talking rubbish constantly to keep warm. We ended up having to do these mad dance routines just to keep ourselves from freezing!
It sounds like it wasn't all fun and games then?
Keith: Oh no, it's the best job in the world because we really feel like we're making Top Gun or Jurassic Park. I'd love to do this series twice a year.
Paddy: But it would be nice to be able to do one in the summer!
Keith: Yeah, summer would be nice... on location!
So Paddy, you're Goose and Keith's Maverick in Top Gun, did you argue over who got which role?
Keith: Yeah we did! It's physicality which decided it in the end.
Paddy: Originally, it was always on paper that I was Maverick. Then we discussed it and realised because of our sizes we needed to swap round. It was the best decision we made because when you see him as Tom Cruise, it's hilarious! I was like, 'Wow!' It's brilliant.
Keith: I didn't know what to do as Tom Cruise so I focused on Tom rather than Maverick. Also Jerry Maguire comes in now and again!
The volleyball scene in Top Gun is a little homoerotic, what's your version like?
Keith: In our Top Gun it's very homoerotic! It's a thread running all the way through and by the end we all do come rather close, don't we?
Paddy: Yes!
Keith: There's tongues... Marc Warren, who plays Iceman, likes to use tongues!
Paddy: That was a sight to behold! It really is one of the funniest episodes we've ever done because of the jokes and also the people we had in it, like Marc, Keith Allen, Sarah Parish and Paul Chuckle...
Keith: I was just excited to be acting and getting paid for it, so I was like, 'If you want to use tongues then I'm not bothered!'.
You're taking on Grease this series. Have you got the T Birds and the Pink Ladies?
Paddy: Oh yeah, the T Birds and the Pink Ladies are great.
Keith: Stacey Solomon is Frenchy, she really looks like her! Emma Willis is Rizzo, she's ace too. Me hanging around with the ladies all day and Paddy was with the T Birds, I sometimes felt like I was hanging around with the wrong gang! I was sitting around with Emma, Stacey, Fearne Cotton and Emily Atack, it was like being on Loose Women. I got loads of gossip from them, but I can't tell you what.
Paddy: Marvin Humes is Kenickie and when we were talking to him about the role he was like, 'I don't have to sing and dance do I?'. No, but that's what he does anyway! That's his career, it's what he's known for! He did it once he was here, he was alright.
There are quite a lot of raunchy scenes in Pretty Woman, do you two get up close and personal?
Keith: We take on all of them! When we were watching the actual films, it's always a good sign when we cringe over a scene, we know then that that is the one we have to do because it'll be funny. We were cringing so much watching Pretty Woman.
Paddy: I was saying to Marc Warren when he was doing a kissing scene with Keith, 'I've kissed him so many times'. When the second series was commissioned, I said, 'So what love making scenes are we doing this time?'
Is he a good kisser?
Paddy: He's wonderful, he just needs to trim the beard down. We always end up in some sort of sex scene!
Keith: It was funny when we were doing Grease. I've got fake teeth in and sometimes a bit of dinner got stuck in there, my breath stunk and I'd been snogging him all day!
Paddy: Urgh, gross! You just have to put up with it. Top Gun was the worst episode for kissing.
So you don't mind the steamy scenes?
Paddy: I get more stressed about having to put all the prosthetics on. I hate all of that. Keith loves it, he likes the uncomfortableness of it. Honestly, sex scenes are funny, we have a laugh with them. But when you're in some weird, uncomfortable costume all day and you can't take it off, it's horrendous.
Did you film any of Pretty Woman in Beverly Hills?
Keith: We all know that Paddy doesn't like flying but it worked out well for me because I was already out there filming Through The Keyhole. So we managed to film a lot of the Rodeo Drive scenes at the same time. We weren't allowed to film in the shops though, just on the streets, so when I go into a shop and we cut to the interior I'm actually in a butchers shop in England.
Paddy: It's a bit like Coronation Street in the sense where the actual frontage is not what you go into.
Keith: So there's a scene in a butchers shop. We also go into a charity shop and that's where Amanda Holden and Tracy-Ann Oberman are the snotty sales assistants.
Paddy: They were really good.
Keith: Yeah, really good. They should do a television show just the two of them. The chemistry was really good between them. They are like Laurel and Hardy - but sexy!
What was Gremlins like?
Keith: That was amazing! We filmed it all in one week and we actually had Zach Galligan, who's Billy in the movie, so that was exciting. Kara Tointon's in that one too, she's well fit.
Paddy: The Gremlins show doesn't air until Christmas, which is mad.
How about Terminator 2?
Paddy: It's so good! I was doing a scene with Rick Astley, he's T1000, and I was like, 'I can't believe it's him, I used to listen to him when I was a kid!'. He plays it dead straight so when he comes round the corner staring right at you, it gives you chills!
Keith: Jamie Winstone is in that episode too. I didn't see her until right at the end, she's playing John Connor, but I didn't realise it was her, I just thought she was a boy.
Jurassic Park must have been quite physical as it's an action film, did you get injured?
Keith: I'm covered in bruises because Paddy threw me around. I slapped on the floor like a bag of lamb. We were being chased by a T-Rex. I'm always suffering on this show, either being thrown around or hurt by what I have to wear.
Paddy: Keith really looks like the actual Richard Attenborough. It's insane.
Keith: I saw some old black and white pictures from behind the scenes and I really do look like Richard, it's weird. Paddy: He's a real doppelganger!
Do you think you might be back for a third series?
Paddy:. We did really well with the first series, so hopefully we can do the same with this and then who knows from there? We've got enough films for another six series!
If you do come back again, is there anyone on your hit list?
Paddy: I'd really like to get Tom Hardy on the show or Idris. Someone who's out there making these big films. We were trying to get Jamie Winstone to get her dad [Ray Winstone] involved but it didn't wash. I did FaceTime him when I was dressed as Sarah Connor and he said I looked stunning! I'll take that one, thanks Ray!