Ep 280: Robert De Niro

Summary

Podcast Summary: Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
Episode 280: Robert De Niro
Release Date: February 26, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 280 of Off Menu, hosts Ed Gamble and James Acaster welcome legendary actor Robert De Niro to their unique culinary podcast. Recorded at the Langham Hotel in London, where De Niro was promoting his new Netflix limited series, Zero Day, the episode blends humor, insightful discussions about acting, and explorations of De Niro's culinary preferences.

Guest Introduction and Setting

Ed Gamble opens the episode with characteristic wit, setting the stage for an engaging conversation. James Acaster swiftly introduces Robert De Niro, emphasizing the honor of having such a distinguished guest:
“It's Robert. We're being slightly quieter because we're in a room at the Langham Hotel in London where Robert De Niro is doing press for his new show, Zero Day.” [01:05]

Despite playful banter between the hosts about the exclusivity of De Niro's presence, the tone remains respectful and enthusiastic.

Discussion on Zero Day and Acting

The conversation delves into De Niro's latest project, Zero Day, highlighting his role as ex-US President George Mullen. De Niro shares his preparation process for the role:
"I had a great team around me... I just ate, like, pancakes in the morning. I loaded it up." [09:20]

He reflects on the challenges of portraying a former president, discussing the nuances of maintaining presidential demeanor:
"I don't know why yet, but I was." [07:00]
"They still get called Mr. President. Some of them, yes." [10:27]

Behind-the-Scenes Stories and Filmmaking Insights

De Niro recounts intense experiences from filming The Deer Hunter and Goodfellas, providing listeners with behind-the-scenes anecdotes:
"We had to come down the river on the log, get onto the thing... I fell in." [36:38]
"That's when we did the first part going down, climbing up onto the footbridge..." [36:55]

He elaborates on the physical demands and dangers of filmmaking, emphasizing the meticulous planning required for complex scenes.

Culinary Conversations: Dream Menu Segment

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the Off Menu format, where guests describe their dream meals. The hosts attempt to curate De Niro's ideal dining experience, blending both high-end and adventurous choices.

Starter Selection

Ed Gamble proposes the renowned miso black cod from Nobu as De Niro's starter:
"That's good." [18:54]

De Niro appreciates the selection, indicating his preference for quality and reputation in culinary choices.

Main Course Selection

The main course discussion becomes humorous as the hosts suggest exotic and unconventional dishes:
"So, for your main course you'd like a mixture of the duck brains, the ants, and the crickets." [31:36]

De Niro responds with good-natured acceptance, participating in the playful banter about the unusual meal components.

Side Dishes and Desserts

The side dishes include sustainable options like crickets and ants, reflecting a forward-thinking approach to food:
"They were great. A very Moorish crickets." [29:03]

Desserts feature pistachio ice cream and the famous lemon tart from The River Café, catering to De Niro's sweet tooth:
"Pistachio ice cream, River Café lemon tart, and a cheese board." [50:44]
"Sounds good." [51:36]

Dream Drink

De Niro selects a dry gin martini without vermouth, showcasing his refined taste:
"Just one and then boom." [40:54]

Humorous Interludes and Host Banter

Throughout the episode, Ed and James engage in light-hearted exchanges, sharing personal anecdotes and humorous observations. For instance, James reminisces about watching Meet the Parents at a lonely birthday party:
"So like I'm 40 now and I'm saying this kind of stuff..." [49:06]

They also joke about De Niro potentially being confused by their antics, adding a layer of comedy to the conversation.

Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the enjoyable interaction with De Niro, expressing gratitude and humorously contemplating the logistics of having such a high-profile guest:
"He let us pick for him." [52:24]
"I want to say this. I want to say this. Go and watch Zero Day on Netflix, but only after you've listened to the Off Menu podcast." [03:11]

Ed and James thank Robert De Niro for joining the Dream Restaurant and hint at future episodes, maintaining the show's signature blend of comedy and heartfelt conversation.

Notable Quotes

• “It was pretty good. I gave it some extra for you because, like, I wanted you to, like, believe I was a genie.” — James Acaster [07:05]
• “Have you ever been gassy during a scene to the extent you needed to stop?” — Ed Gamble [11:30]
• “Just act well. Whatever your technique is.” — Robert De Niro [42:00]
• “He wasn’t.” — Robert De Niro, responding to humorous comments [57:57]

Final Thoughts

Episode 280 successfully marries the allure of a Hollywood icon with the hosts' inventive culinary themes. Robert De Niro's participation not only brings star power but also enriches the conversation with his vast acting experience and genuine personality. The blend of humor, insightful dialogue, and unique dream menu selections makes this episode a standout in the Off Menu series.

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Note: This summary omits non-content sections such as advertisements and introductory banter not related to the main discussion, ensuring focus on the episode's core content.

Transcript

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[Ed Gamble]

Welcome to the Off Menu podcast. Taking the garlic of conversation, the razor blade of friendship, and slicing it into thin slices of humor. James.

[James Acaster]

What a reference that is. Ed Gamble. My name is James Acaster. Together we own a dream restaurant. Every single week, we invite the guests, we ask in their faces.

[Ed Gamble]

Just laugh. Just laughing already. Yeah, Just laughing already.

[James Acaster]

It's funny.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, it is funny.

[James Acaster]

And this week our guest is Robert De Niro.

[Ed Gamble]

It's Robert. We're being slightly quieter because we're in a room at the Langham Hotel in London where Robert De Niro is doing press for his new show, Zero Day.

[James Acaster]

Out now on Netflix, a limited series.

[Ed Gamble]

And yes, it's not a joke, actually, that we. We have Robert De Niro on the podcast.

[James Acaster]

No, we're not joking. But just because things aren't a joke doesn't mean they're not funny.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

So that's important. It's very funny that this podcast.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Has Robert De Niro on it.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes. It's mind blowing.

[James Acaster]

And that's no shade to all the guests we've had in the past who have all been phenomenal. It is, yes. Full shade.

[Ed Gamble]

I hate all the guests we've had in the past. We've got Robert De Niro today. So from now on, I only want Robert De Niro level people, which means this is the last episode.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Because there's absolutely no one on the level of Robert De Niro.

[James Acaster]

Al Pacino, maybe. And then we.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, and then we're done, aren't we?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we want to get them both on, like, heat.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

And to speak to each other across the table.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

That's in a diner.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, yeah.

[James Acaster]

Food related.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. Maybe we'll ask him about that.

[James Acaster]

Maybe, maybe. But, like, I mean, we'll definitely ask him about Zero Day, which is out now on Netflix.

[Ed Gamble]

Zero Day is a new limited series starring Robert De Niro, of course, who is on the podcast this week playing ex US President George Mullen. It's the first time I've done any research in advance of an interview. Often people will send links and stuff, and you're like, well, I know the vibe. We'll just have a chat. I was like, I'm gonna watch this.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

And it's six episodes, and I watched the whole thing in two days. It's fantastic. It's proper gripping, interesting, like, asks a lot of. A lot of questions about unchecked power. But there's some. There's some crazy stuff going on in the show, man. It's such a good cast. Plemons is in it as well.

[James Acaster]

Jesse Plemons?

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

Lizzy Kaplan.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

Angela Bassett. I can't believe these names.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. It's a big show.

[James Acaster]

Dan Stevens is in it as well. I really enjoy watching Dan Stevens and stuff.

[Ed Gamble]

Dan Stevens is so good in the show. So go and watch that on Netflix now. I promise you, you will like. It sort of reminded me of the excitement I used to get when I was watching, like, 24 in that first time. The golden age of TV, where you're, like, completely gripped, so.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, but now we're in the golden age of podcasts.

[Ed Gamble]

We're in the golden age of podcasts because. Well, I mean, I want to say this. Bumped into Rob Bryden on the way here.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

He was like, what are you up to? And I'm going to interview Robert De Niro. That guy was jealous, man.

[James Acaster]

Great. I hope he was jealous. I hope you're listening to this, Bryden, and you know how much we love that you were jealous.

[Ed Gamble]

He said you've won the podcast wars.

[James Acaster]

The podcast wars. I didn't know there was podcast wars, but it feels great to win.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. The winners of the wars are the ones you don't know about the wars.

[James Acaster]

But listen, even though we love Robert De Niro, we're very excited that Robert, obviously. Come on, mate.

[Ed Gamble]

We're not. We can't do this for De Niro.

[James Acaster]

We need to have a secret ingredient, and if he says it, it gets kicked out. What?

[Ed Gamble]

We can. We're gonna. He's not. Right. He's not gonna know what the podcast is for a start. So we're not gonna be able to kick him out of something he doesn't understand what's going on in.

[James Acaster]

Well, that's. I mean, that's exactly. Look, we've only ever kicked one person out this. He's ripe for the kicking out. If he doesn't even understand that we can get him.

[Ed Gamble]

I don't think I can kick Robert De Niro out, man. Well, especially as we've come to him where he's doing press.

[James Acaster]

The Langham Hotel.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, the Langham Hotel where you lived.

[James Acaster]

Yes.

[Ed Gamble]

So I don't think we can kick him out. I think we'd just have to leave.

[James Acaster]

Okay.

[Ed Gamble]

Which is going to be baffling for us.

[James Acaster]

That's the rule. That's the rule for this episode. If he chooses the secret ingredient, we leave. That's fair.

[Ed Gamble]

Okay.

[James Acaster]

And today the secret ingredient is cheese and Bickle sandwich.

[Ed Gamble]

So he's not going to pick it. It's a cheese and Bickle sandwich.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. We deliberately made it something you won't pick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Travis Bickle, obviously the character that he played in Taxi Driver.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

Pickle. Sounds like pickle.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

And the cheese and pickle sandwich is a thing. So that's what we've done there.

[Ed Gamble]

Cheese and pickle sandwich.

[James Acaster]

Cheese and pickle sandwich. So, like, we're safe. If he does say it.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

That's gonna be bigger news than if he did his whole menu, I think.

[Ed Gamble]

Well, if he does say it and then we leave. Baffling.

[James Acaster]

Baffling for him. But I don't think he'll care.

[Ed Gamble]

No.

[James Acaster]

I think he'll be like, well, that's me off the hook.

[Ed Gamble]

I'd imagine it'd be like, yeah, I've got a bit of free time now. Yeah, he's a busy man. Just to remind you, it's Robert. Daniel.

[James Acaster]

Robert De Niro. We've not even, you know, bothered to list his credentials. Not usually at the start of an episode we'll be like, this is who this person is.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

You obviously, you all know Robert De Niro.

[Ed Gamble]

A, you know them and B, we don't have time to list all his credentials.

[James Acaster]

If anything, I think we should probably list our credentials at the start. Most people listening are gonna be like, don't know who these two are. Host of the Traitors.

[Ed Gamble]

Uncloked, uncloaked, please.

[James Acaster]

Over there. One of the judges on Great British Menu.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

A very successful stand up comedian. Sell out tours around the world.

[Ed Gamble]

Did you start on you there?

[James Acaster]

That's you.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. Right, okay.

[James Acaster]

That's still you. Does the taskmaster podcast. He won series nine, a task off many podcast. He does the off menu podcast. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

James A. Lars Penfield. I'm Lars Penfield. John the Mouse also do stand up comedy.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Did hypothetical or Dave for a few series.

[Ed Gamble]

It's going to be awkward. If Robert auditioned for Lars Penfield, that.

[James Acaster]

Would be so awkward. Or if he was like one of the people who nearly got John the Mouse replacement and he couldn't make it work. I bet if Robert De Niro had done it, they wouldn't have called it John the Mouse. They would have said oh, we'll change it to Robert De Niro the Mouse.

[Ed Gamble]

I wonder what we call him. My instinct is to go sir or Mr. De Niro. Yes, but is that the relaxing people.

[James Acaster]

Be familiar with him and call him Bob. We mustn't do that.

[Ed Gamble]

Okay, that's a deal. Go and watch Zero Day on Netflix, but only after you've listened to the off menu podcast. Insane. The off menu podcast. The off menu menu of Robert De Niro.

[James Acaster]

De Niro.

[Ed Gamble]

Welcome, Bob, to the Dream Restaurant.

[James Acaster]

Welcome, Robert De Niro, to the Dream Restaurant. We've been expecting you for some time.

[Ed Gamble]

Were you impressed by the genie there?

[Robert De Niro]

Yes. I don't know why yet, but I was.

[James Acaster]

It was pretty good. I gave it some extra for you because, like, I wanted. I wanted you to, like, believe I was a genie.

[Robert De Niro]

I believe it.

[James Acaster]

And, like, your whole career is making people believe you're other people. So I was like, if I can. If I can get this guy to believe I'm a genie. Yeah, Then everyone has to admit I'm the best.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. I mean, I thought maybe you'd be dressed differently, but, you know, the way we always imagine a genie with us.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

You know, it's quite a modern. Quite a modern genie. Like, he just wears his own clothes, really.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, it's a nice modern twist, actually.

[Robert De Niro]

It is, yeah.

[James Acaster]

But I should have gone more method and, like, dressed as the genie.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, yeah, I guess either way, it's okay if. I guess you're. This is. This is on film.

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah. They're filming it as well. So I kind of. That is an oversight on my part.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, yeah.

[James Acaster]

That I'm now not gonna at all look like a genie on camera. So the people who see it. Actually, I don't think people have normally seen me do that bit at the beginning. Now you pointed that out. I am mortified. Normally this is audio and people can just imagine it through the magic of audio. And I make that sound effect and people always believe that it's me bursting out of a lamp. They don't think it's me doing it in my mouth.

[Ed Gamble]

If James was auditioning to be a genie in a film, would you suggest he put on a genie outfit? Or do you not agree with people dressing up for auditions?

[Robert De Niro]

Well, it depends on what you know, what the character is, aside from being a genie, what the story is and everything else. And what's demanded could be a modern today story where the genie is dressed the way he is. Or you might have a little touch here and there, a little earring, something you Know, pierced earring, God knows, a little goatee, whatever. Whatever the director would want to. Would suggest or work with or the wardrobe people, everything. So you.

[Ed Gamble]

If it was a Scorsese genie flick, which, you know, might. Might come up in the future.

[James Acaster]

Might come up in the future.

[Ed Gamble]

Do you think James would. Would get in?

[Robert De Niro]

I don't know. Depends. Depends on the story.

[James Acaster]

No, I think if I, If I do get the audition for Scorsese genie flick, I am going to wear the earring and grow a goatee. And then maybe you, you will say to him, you know, I told him to do that.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, that's a start. That shows that you're thinking and that you're trying to, you know, that you, you're being proactive about trying to get the part. So that would make a difference. Could make a difference.

[James Acaster]

So what for. For zero day, this new series? What prep did you go in for that? When you think I'm playing the president and ex president in this, what are you thinking about him and that character?

[Robert De Niro]

Well, I had, I had a. A great team around me. Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim and. No, Oppenheim is the head of NBC News at one point, I think. And Michael Spitz, Pulitzer Prize author, writes for the New York Times. I mean, Eric and I met. I. I was talking to my, my age about what could I do in New York for five or six months without having to go, you know, go somewhere else to shoot. Maybe we should talk about a limited series. And he introduced me to Eric Newman and we talked. And then he came up with this idea and he wrote me what you call a treatment, which is maybe 20 or so pages, give or take, whatever. And then what the story is, it sounded good. Then he started sending me installments every few weeks, and it was good. So that was a big help. So it wasn't like I did preparation other than even seeing presidents and, and political figures on television and press conferences and interviews and stuff like that. You get a lot from. From that.

[Ed Gamble]

Is this your first presidential role?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. Well, I'm not a president. I'm an ex president.

[Ed Gamble]

Ex president. Yeah. But you've. You've got to still have that. I guess they all still have that presidential vibe to them, don't they?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

They still get called Mr. President. Some of them, yes.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, they do. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

That's pretty sweet.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, that's, you know, it's nice.

[James Acaster]

We always start with still or sparkling water. Do you have a preference for your dream meal?

[Robert De Niro]

What was that?

[Ed Gamble]

James is from Kettering. So a lot of People don't understand.

[James Acaster]

Do you know where Kettering is? In Northamptonshire?

[Robert De Niro]

No.

[James Acaster]

It's in the middle of the country. It's a small town. Used to make shoes and doesn't anymore. One of those places.

[Robert De Niro]

Okay.

[James Acaster]

That's where I'm from. So often whenever we speak to people who aren't from the uk, I'm the issue.

[Ed Gamble]

So there'll be a few things coming up where you'll have to double check what James has said, but I'm happy to translate.

[Robert De Niro]

Okay, good.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Would you like still or sparkling water?

[Robert De Niro]

Still.

[James Acaster]

Have you always been a still water guy?

[Robert De Niro]

Pretty much. Sparkling is good too, but I sort of been more still guy these days.

[James Acaster]

I mean, especially, I guess, if you're going to, you know, step into a scene or something. You don't want to glug some sparkling water and be going in there. A little gassy, you know.

[Robert De Niro]

True, true. Yeah. So another reason to have still water.

[Ed Gamble]

Have you ever been gassy during a scene to the extent you needed to stop?

[Robert De Niro]

No. But what I have had is my stomach rumbling and growling and I'm trying to stop it and it's so annoying. You're in the middle of a scene and it just won't stop it as a life of its own. So that's. That can be annoying.

[James Acaster]

Surprisingly, that'd be good if, like, the scene was before a scene where you're eating. So if it was like in Goodfellas and you're all in the car and then you decide to stop at the mom's house and then you're eating that big meal. If before you're in the car, your stomach's rumbling. Yeah. In the next scene, when you eat the meal, everyone's going to be like, well, good for him. Yeah, he was.

[Robert De Niro]

That's.

[James Acaster]

He was hungry earlier.

[Robert De Niro]

That's a good point. And what could have been done, though, wasn't done. Marty could have put like laid in a soundtrack with grumbling stomach, you know, can't think of everything.

[James Acaster]

Maybe in the future.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. Some people say that film's perfect, but they forget there were no stomach rumbles.

[Robert De Niro]

There's always something you can do better.

[James Acaster]

Pop dubs or bread. Pop dubs or bread? Robert De Niro. Pop dubs or bread?

[Robert De Niro]

What?

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

Poppadoms or bread.

[Ed Gamble]

So this is one of these moments I knew was going to come up.

[Robert De Niro]

Yes. I need interpretation.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes. James shouted, poppadoms or bread. This is the next option within the dream meal.

[Robert De Niro]

What is that?

[Ed Gamble]

Poppadoms. Crispy Indian snack that you might get before you have a Curry, like a.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Ed Gamble]

And you get those with all the Indian dips or bread. I'm assuming you're a crossbread.

[James Acaster]

I'm a what?

[Ed Gamble]

You're a cross bread, you know. Oh, no. Now we need another person.

[James Acaster]

You know what bread is?

[Robert De Niro]

I like all kinds of bread. That's Indian bread.

[Ed Gamble]

It's sort of a crispy, chickpea based thing. So that would come at the start of an Indian meal. So what James is shouting is poppadoms. Or are you going to go with bread at this point in the dream meal?

[James Acaster]

Oh, it can be just whatever you like to have before a meal. When you sit down at a restaurant, sometimes there's prawn crackers, sometimes there's chips and dips, olives.

[Robert De Niro]

You know, I'm easy. I like whatever they put in front of me, as long as it's good.

[Ed Gamble]

Are you a foodie? Do you. Do you like going out to eat?

[James Acaster]

Come on. This guy owns a chain of restaurants. Try back and grill this guy. He's a foodie. Ed. Sorry. Sorry, Bob.

[Robert De Niro]

I do like. Good.

[James Acaster]

That was embarrassing. That was frankly embarrassing what he did just then.

[Robert De Niro]

That's okay.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

You might just be a good businessman.

[James Acaster]

Oh, this guy. Look, I mean, how did I actually know the Nobu story and how you came to like be involved in it, but like, I think it's amazing. But how did you get involved?

[Robert De Niro]

I was at. I was with Roland Joffe, who's British director, and Rollins took me to this restaurant called Matsuhisa. It was Nobu's last name. And I said to him, as this is great. I thought this could work so well in New York. And then I used. I think it worked well here in London. But first, you know, in New York it's easy to see. And so I said, if you ever want to open a restaurant. It was a long couple of years. We finally opened it, man.

[James Acaster]

I had a similar thing with a juice guy, but he went quiet on me.

[Ed Gamble]

James is trying to set up a juice business.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, it's gone bad. It's dead now. It's dead in the water. The guy, he made these amazing juices at this restaurant in Copenhagen. And I was like, I want to start a juice business with this guy. And he was on board for a bit, but he's been ghosting me. He's not replying to my emails anymore. I don't know, you probably didn't have that problem with Nobu, but like, the guy just stopped. I suggested that we call it Juice Almighty. The thing I Think that turned him off?

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, it would do. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, it was a turn off. I think it wasn't taking it seriously enough.

[Robert De Niro]

It's not a bad name.

[James Acaster]

Thank you.

[Robert De Niro]

Bad title or whatever.

[Ed Gamble]

You'd pick up a bottle of Juice Almighty if you saw it on the shelf.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, the juice has to be good.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

That's the bottom line, you know, this was. Juice is good. It all works.

[James Acaster]

It was stellar juice. Okay, well, it doesn't take.

[Robert De Niro]

That's what you say. I have to taste it.

[James Acaster]

Absolutely. And I wish I could give you some now, but the guy's gone quiet.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, well, that's. Now you have.

[James Acaster]

It's gone fully quiet on me, on the emails.

[Robert De Niro]

What can you. What can you do?

[James Acaster]

So I imagine you don't have that. Imagine no one goes quiet.

[Robert De Niro]

Can chase him down.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, maybe. Look, I'm actually going to Denmark this week if you want to come with me.

[Robert De Niro]

Bob, I can.

[James Acaster]

I think it would help other things to do. Imagine if you were on the email chain. I'll add you to the email chain.

[Ed Gamble]

I'm not sure if you heard. You're not a fan of being on an email chain?

[Robert De Niro]

No, no.

[James Acaster]

That's not fun, actually, is it? Let's get into your dream meal. Proper, your dream starter.

[Robert De Niro]

I don't, I don't know, I just like. I say I like good food, I like to go to a good restaurant that I've heard about in, say, London or wherever, and I, I can't give you that answer, really. I'm like, if it's good and it's known to be good. Known to be good. First step, second step is to eat it, see for yourself whether it's good. Yeah, that could be anything.

[Ed Gamble]

We're gonna narrow you down, Bob. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna pluck this answer out.

[Robert De Niro]

And, you know, I wish I had an answer like, yes, I like this pasta and that and this and all that. Yes. But I, I don't know why. It's.

[Ed Gamble]

Where, where do you, where do you like to eat in London when, When you're here?

[Robert De Niro]

I like where I'm staying. I eat there. It's. I like the food there. It's simple. But I'm. Because I'm here for such a short time. It's like, I just, I'm doing press all day. I go home, I. The hotel, eat, go to sleep, get up. So that's what I do.

[Ed Gamble]

So we're stopping you eating the good meals, really?

[Robert De Niro]

No, no, the meals are good. Where I'm staying.

[Ed Gamble]

Where? Whereabouts are you staying?

[Robert De Niro]

Chilton.

[Ed Gamble]

Oh, okay. Chilton Firehouse.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

So what. What do they have on the menu there that. Do you have, like, a go to on that menu?

[Robert De Niro]

Just whatever they have is all good. I don't. You know, even at Nobu, I. I like. They bring me stuff and I. Anything that Nobu has is always great.

[Ed Gamble]

That's when you know. That's when you know you've got it. When you just walk in and they bring you stuff.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Do they let you come in through the kitchen?

[Robert De Niro]

I go through a lot of kitchens because I sometimes go just. It's easy to go in wherever, whatever place.

[James Acaster]

Do they always.

[Robert De Niro]

That's so glamorous.

[James Acaster]

But, you know, every time you do it, does someone go, oh, this is like Goodfellas? And then you're like, yeah, yeah, I know.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, I didn't think of it that way, but that's true. That there's that. That scene. Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

When you're walking through the kitchen, do the chefs notice what's going on and sort of stop working, maybe?

[Robert De Niro]

No, no.

[Ed Gamble]

You're sneaking through, just walking through quick. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

I'd be awful. If I was a chef in that kitchen. You'd never go through that kitchen again.

[Robert De Niro]

Because I. I must be, then, to taste something.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

I don't want to offend you, so, of course I say, okay, let me see what this tastes like.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

And I'm going to say it's good, even though I wouldn't be sure.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Chasing you through the restaurant going, try my juice, Bob.

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah. I'll be chasing with a glass of juice.

[Robert De Niro]

Or maybe a captive audience.

[James Acaster]

Well, I quite like the idea. We never had a menu before. That is, if it's good, I'll eat it and they can bring it over. Like, if it's good, you'll have it whatever they like. You know, that means it almost puts it in our hands to just bring you good stuff.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Well, do we have to. Are we going to do that then? Are we going to decide what we're bringing Bob in the dream restaurant?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, we should do that. Do you want to take the starter, Ed?

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, sure. I mean, if we're. If we're talking Nobu, obviously, famously. The dish that everyone loves there is the miso black cod, which is fantastic. Are you a fan of that particular dish?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

So if we brought that over to you in the dream restaurant as your starter, how would you feel about that?

[Robert De Niro]

That's good.

[James Acaster]

You'd say you're Doing your job well, guys, I'm happy.

[Robert De Niro]

Good. It's all good.

[James Acaster]

Now, just full disclosure now, Bob. The rest of the format of the podcast is me asking your dream main course, your dream side dish, your dream drink, and your dream dessert. Now, I think I know the answer to all of those.

[Robert De Niro]

Why don't you tell me? I'll tell you whether you're right or wrong.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, that works for us. We could do that for the whole pod. Yeah. Also this. It's worth noting for the listener we've not recorded here before in the Langham Hotel in London. Did you know, Bob, I lived here for a week. This was my home.

[Robert De Niro]

The hotel.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. I was meant to go to America and my visa got messed up and I had builders at my flat, so that, like, my agent put me up here for a week, and this was where I lived. So it's nice to be back in my house.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, nice home for you.

[James Acaster]

They're all very familiar with me.

[Ed Gamble]

I don't think they are.

[Robert De Niro]

No, it's a nice hotel. I've stayed here over the years, and I was just saying that I. I saw that it was remodeled, renovated, and I. I hadn't been here, I guess, in eight or 10 years. I mean, I used to come here the old days.

[James Acaster]

It's my favorite place when I'm in town and I need a Wii. I just come here and I use the ones downstairs because they don't think anyone would be as bold as to go into a posh hotel like this just to go to the toilet.

[Robert De Niro]

What do you mean? The public toilet?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't got the keys to my room still.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, that's.

[James Acaster]

But I go to. I go to the public one downstairs.

[Robert De Niro]

Then how do you get into your room?

[James Acaster]

I'm not even staying here when I do that.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, now, you mean now.

[James Acaster]

Now I'm just. I'm just in town. I've misjudged it. I've had. I've had a few juices, and now I've got. I'm like, I can't make it home. That's an hour on the tube.

[Robert De Niro]

So you live where you're from?

[James Acaster]

Oh, no, I don't live in Ketman. I live in. In East London.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, okay.

[James Acaster]

But even then, that's taken me. That's taken me too long to get home. I mean, I. I wish. I wish I had a better control of my bladder, but I just know that I don't. Yeah, the tube. I'm. I'm. I'm.

[Robert De Niro]

Everybody's got a story, and it's a valid one.

[Ed Gamble]

I think it's important, though, in a city to have somewhere that you know you can get to quickly to.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, I wouldn't. You're right.

[James Acaster]

This is my place. Yeah, I recommend it to anyone.

[Ed Gamble]

Are there any hot spots in New York that we should be checking out to use the toilet of if we're there next?

[Robert De Niro]

Well, that's. God, I don't know. A place known for its toilet. Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. And you guys probably know places better than I do in New York.

[Ed Gamble]

I guess you can just walk into any kitchen and use the toilet in a restaurant, right?

[Robert De Niro]

I suppose. I don't know. I. I manage. As we all do. We time ourselves, so we make sure, well, you do find the bathroom of choice.

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[James Acaster]

Your dream main course, Robert De Niro. Now, obviously, we're gonna recommend something to you. We're gonna bring it over. You can. You can tell us if we got it right, if it's good. My, my. We've done our own dream menus on this podcast, and twice in a row I have said that my dream main course is the beef Wellington from Ron Gastrabar in Amsterdam. It's a perfectly cooked beef, not too much of that mushroom sauce that you get in the beef Wellington. Very little amount of duxelle. Huh?

[Ed Gamble]

Duxelle. The duxelle. That's what. That's what the chopped mushroom around the edge is called, a mushroom duxelle. I just need to pick him up because otherwise. Yeah. People will write in, you know, I.

[James Acaster]

Mean, sometimes I don't understand him. And what he said then seemed offensive.

[Robert De Niro]

What he said?

[James Acaster]

Yeah. Not you. Listen, I would never say that what you're saying is offensive, but this guy. This guy, I frankly try my best. Frankly. Had enough of this fella. And then the pastry is golden brown, crisp pastry, perfect. With this lovely but still quite subtle meat gravy on it. And that twice. Twice in a row has been my dream main course.

[Robert De Niro]

It's good.

[James Acaster]

If I bought it over, would you be. You'd be.

[Robert De Niro]

Sounds good.

[Ed Gamble]

You enjoy a bit of beef, beef Wellington.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

In terms of the meats, where would you put beef into? Which is your favorite meat? Can you, can you do a little ranking for us?

[Robert De Niro]

Well, I, I, you know, I. Can you make beef Wellington with wagyu?

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

Surely I can imagine that would be good.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, we're going fancy. That's great.

[James Acaster]

We could do a. What we do, upgrade the beef Wellington dish to a wagyu beef. A wagyu Wellington.

[Ed Gamble]

A waguillington Sounds good too.

[Robert De Niro]

Wagyu Wellington.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, it just sounds nice to say.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

I, I recommended it to a friend, the Ron Gastrobar beef Wellington. And they went last week and they said it was delicious. But they changed the presentation since I was there and they sent me a photo and thought that I'd been pranking them because it did look pretty bad what they've done to it. Now what they do, they've kind of put. They grate a truffle on the top, but to the point where you can't really see the nicely cooked meat. So it just looks very dark brown. And then they've, instead of pouring the sauce or leaving it in a jug, they've just put a line of the sauce along the bottom of it. So it's like there's two eyes and a mouth. But it all looks, it looks like the plate is haunted by the ghost of diarrhea.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, yeah. Which is not a good name in this restaurant.

[James Acaster]

It's called Rong Gastroban. And I must say the dish is absolutely del. The way that they've changed the presentation, I think is not for the better.

[Ed Gamble]

I'm not sure that's a quote they're going to put up in the window.

[James Acaster]

No, I don't think.

[Ed Gamble]

Haunted by the ghost of diarrhea.

[James Acaster]

I don't think they will put that. But I will say that he still was like. That tasted amazing. But to begin with, I thought you'd played a prank on me and sent me to somewhere that wasn't good.

[Robert De Niro]

Is this, is this a. It's a well known restaurant.

[James Acaster]

I think so. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's doing well.

[Robert De Niro]

What's the name?

[James Acaster]

Ron Gastrobar.

[Robert De Niro]

Ron Gastrobau. There was. This is in Denmark.

[James Acaster]

Amsterdam.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, Amsterdam. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. In Holland. Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

There was another restaurant in. Maybe it was in Denmark. It's a gnome or something or neuma. Is that still around?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, that's still going. I think they're, I think they're closing. I think closing and reopening and doing a noma point 2.0. So they're getting ready to like revamp it all and.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, I see. For renovation.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. And like changing the Way they're doing things with the dishes, I think a little bit they're doing a whole makeover.

[Ed Gamble]

Have you been there?

[Robert De Niro]

I haven't, no. I, I, I was curious to go there, but I haven't been there.

[Ed Gamble]

It's, it's quite an experience. When, when I went there, I ended up eating duck's brain. They had ducks brain on the menu. And bear it was bare meat. How do you feel about things like that when they're quite challenging?

[Robert De Niro]

I don't, I don't know if they're, if it's good. Okay. Depends if it's good and how it's prepared.

[Ed Gamble]

Well, the duck's brain was served in the duck's skull.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. It looked insane. He sent me the photo of it.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. Wow. And what'd you think?

[Ed Gamble]

Well, I mean, they couldn't get much flavoring into it because it was still in the head, but it felt weird.

[Robert De Niro]

So they didn't take it out to cook it, then put it back in.

[Ed Gamble]

I think they cooked it in the head.

[Robert De Niro]

They just cooked it like. You sure about that?

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Are you sure about that?

[Ed Gamble]

That's what it felt like.

[James Acaster]

Like, like at the end of Hannibal, the duck's just sitting there glazed over, talking to Julianne Moore.

[Ed Gamble]

Now, now you say it like that. Bob it. I think they might have taken it out the head.

[Robert De Niro]

I'd imagine that. Took it out, then prepared it, then placed it back in the skull. That would make more sense.

[Ed Gamble]

I don't know. The duck looked pretty shocked.

[Robert De Niro]

Take, chop the head off, cook it and then serve it. Yeah, it's kind of.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, I think that could have happened. I think what they do, I go even further. I think they get all the ducks that they're doing that with and they saw the top of the head off, they take the brains out and they cut the brains and they don't even remember which brain was in which duck. And then they're putting them back in all in different ways. So it's like they're like Freaky Friday in them in a way. They got, they got each other's memories.

[Robert De Niro]

Kind of assembly line thing that kind of takes the personal touch out of it.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

Because, you know, they should put the brain back in the skull that it originally came from.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, that would make more sense, Be more respectful.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Otherwise it's like sort of Frankenstein stuff, isn't it?

[James Acaster]

Fully Frankenstein, yeah. Franklin duck, Franken duck. Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

So you, you're happy to try things like that if say.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, I, I, you know, I, I, I was in a In a restaurant in Thailand about eight months ago. And they showed us. It was a good restaurant. They had showed us pictures of the things that we had eaten. You know, kind of little like they do in. In Japan. Like they have the. The pictures made out of wax, whatever.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

And stuff like that. And they. This was something like that. And they had like a big water bug on this thing and that was one of the things we ate.

[Ed Gamble]

Oh, wow.

[Robert De Niro]

Inside of it or something or whatever. You know, I wasn't that excited to know that I was. But at the same time it didn't taste bad. But I'm glad they showed it to me after I ate it. I think that's.

[Ed Gamble]

Oh, they brought the pictures out after you.

[Robert De Niro]

They brought this kind of presentation. It was like it was a live thing. It wasn't like a picture. It was like they had little, you.

[Ed Gamble]

Know, like model, like models of the stuff.

[James Acaster]

A couple of days ago, I like a shit ton of crickets. I ate so many crickets at this meal where like, they were all about sustainability and like the future of food. And it was. It was a pilot for a TV show, so food cooking competition. And I was a judge on it, which. I'm not stepping on your turf, Ed.

[Ed Gamble]

Please step on my turf.

[James Acaster]

But one of the things they had to use, the ingredients they had to use was crickets. And I was starving and I ate so many crickets, like, I couldn't stop eating them.

[Robert De Niro]

Do they eat crickets really? I don't big time.

[James Acaster]

It's like a little source of protein.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, of course.

[James Acaster]

And like I had it in a kofta. Had a cricket kofta.

[Robert De Niro]

What's that?

[James Acaster]

Like kebab?

[Ed Gamble]

Like a mince?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, like a mince kebab. Like a sausage looking kebab kind of thing. I had a cricket kofta. I had cricket in ice cream, like, so cricket that was dipped in like salted caramel and then put an ice cream for a bit of crunch. That was very nice, like a rum and raisin ice cream. And I was just, if I'm honest, I was just hoofing them out of the. The glass. I was given a bowl of them and I was just eating those as they. As they were. Because when I arrived, I'd not eaten and was unaware of how long you have to wait for the food on a food cooking show. So I was. Ate crickets for ages.

[Robert De Niro]

I would imagine that crickets could be kind of dry roasted or something, like potato chips or something. That would be another way exactly to have them with whatever they put in to give it a little extra flavor. I don't know what, what they taste.

[James Acaster]

Like just plain, but you're exactly right. That's what they did to begin with. When I was having them out the bowl, they were dry roasted.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

So, yeah, you're spot on. And they were. They were great. A very Moorish crickets.

[Ed Gamble]

We've had ants before, haven't we?

[James Acaster]

We've had ants. We ate some ants once, sure.

[Ed Gamble]

And this is the future of food, apparently, Bob.

[Robert De Niro]

So I could see that. Where did you have the ants?

[Ed Gamble]

This was a test kitchen of a brilliant Mexican chef. He's got a restaurant in London, he's called Santiago Lustra. And he turned his house into a test kitchen and invited us and gave us some ants. That was the opening snack.

[Robert De Niro]

How big were the ants?

[Ed Gamble]

They were pretty small. They weren't like big. They weren't like big scary ants. I'd say they were the sort of ants, if you saw them running around in your house, you'd be like, oh, no.

[Robert De Niro]

So he had a bunch of dry roasted ants.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, they were sort of dry roasted.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. It's a little mouth something.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting.

[James Acaster]

They were small enough that you're like. How did you even go about cooking these?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

How did you gather them together?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, right.

[James Acaster]

Knock them all out at the same time or whatever you did. And then cook them all individually and get them to us. Like, I'm sure that's harder than for a big ant.

[Robert De Niro]

How did they do that?

[James Acaster]

Absolutely no idea how we did it. I mean, I, I personally would probably.

[Ed Gamble]

You don't want an idea, huh? You don't want to know.

[James Acaster]

Oh, I'd love to know. I'd love to do it.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, they must go to a place where there are a lot of ants.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[Robert De Niro]

Gather them all up, put them in something and just dump them in the deep fryer, I guess.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Deep fry the ants.

[Robert De Niro]

I, I'm surmising. I don't know.

[Ed Gamble]

There's sort of no humane way of doing it really, is there, with ants?

[Robert De Niro]

I guess if you're. Yeah. For ants rights, you know.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure it's quite important now, actually. I would maybe just make like a. Build an ant hill around or nothing.

[Robert De Niro]

Another way to do it.

[James Acaster]

Trick them.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, trick them.

[James Acaster]

I reckon they're pretty easy.

[Robert De Niro]

You know, you, you should just. Yeah, well, okay.

[James Acaster]

That's a bit wily.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, that's what a wiley.

[James Acaster]

So maybe for your main course you'd like a mixture of the. The duck brains the ants and the crickets.

[Ed Gamble]

Okay, well, that's with the. We're definitely doing the Wellington, I think, because you.

[Robert De Niro]

That's a good. That's a good start.

[Ed Gamble]

The Wagyu Wellington.

[Robert De Niro]

And then. Yeah, things that.

[James Acaster]

The Wagyu Wellington.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, yeah, that and the other things. The ants, the crickets, the. What's the other one?

[James Acaster]

The duck brain. Yeah, in the duck skull.

[Ed Gamble]

But what we'll do, because this is the dream restaurant, we can make sure that the brain that's in the duck is its original brain.

[Robert De Niro]

That. Yeah, that's. That's just a nice touch.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Or if you like, we can put it in the head of anyone. We can take a duck brain and like, a person who maybe you're not a fan of and Real insult to injuries that they got duck brains.

[Robert De Niro]

No, that's. This is food we're trying to enjoy. It's one neutral thing we all can enjoy.

[Ed Gamble]

That's such a good point. Bob's not out for revenge.

[James Acaster]

Some people.

[Robert De Niro]

You know, I. I was gonna tell you once years ago when I was. I was in Thailand shooting the Deer Hunter, and we were shooting at the River Kwai, and they. Somebody said, you want to have some cobra meat? So I. They. I ate cobra.

[James Acaster]

Wow. And what was it like?

[Robert De Niro]

It was. Okay. It wasn't great, but it wasn't. It was, like, cooked on a. Literally over a fire. They're just like. Like marshmallows. And I ate it. So it had no. Nothing on it to kind of give it a different flavor or enhance the flavor or whatever.

[James Acaster]

So the whole making of that film sounds like it was. It was pretty uphill, from what I understand. It was hard to get it, like, you know, made the way you wanted to. And then, like. And it was such a huge success, and now it's a classic. But it's pretty hard making it, right?

[Robert De Niro]

It was the toughest thing making it was the. Well, was. It was. It was hard. But the. The helicopter stuff we did because it was very complicated on the river, quiet, to shoot the chopper coming down to pick us up and take us off the bridge. Because when we were on a log, which was. You just think, it's a log, but the log in reality would. Would roll. It wouldn't. So they put a big thing below to give it ballast, like a boat, so it would stay that way. So we had to come down the river on the log, get onto the thing. But the chopper couldn't land because the bridge was too low, and it was between two rock faces, and it was a Narrower part of the river so that the water ran faster. So we had to raise the footbridge higher so that the chopper could get down. So we couldn't, as I remember, we couldn't go get on the thing. The chopper come down, take us away, one, one shot or whatever. So we did the first part going down, climbing up onto the footbridge, did that. Then the next thing we would do, the chopper would come down. It was able to come down because the bridge was higher. So it came down. And in the meantime they have these boats called long tails. And they had them there, which is a car engine up here and a long sort of pole that, and then the propeller at the end and they, they steer the boat. And it had fallen down. It had sunk right on the other side of the bridge. One had. And it had these pointers. I don't know what they were sticking up. So we did the one shot with the chopper came down and Chris Walken got on. John Savage got on. I sort of got on, but I couldn't hold the runners because the runner was too thick to really grasp the way I should have and get my legs up. So I was just hanging from it and chopper went down, turned around and flew back up. And then I just dropped into the water as we got close to the, to the edge of the river and I fell in. Then we did it again, but this time I said, let's make the chopper back in so we're not turning around, wasting a lot of time. It backs in, Chris gets in, John gets in. I, that's fine. It backed in, came back. The chopper for some reason started rising before it should have and the runners were under the cable. So there's two walk cable. You put your arms as you're walking. It lifted the cable. So we were all of a sudden hanging below the chopper above the water. And I, I said, john, let's, let's drop, drop in the water and we do it. I thought it was going to fall on top of us and so we went under the water. What they do sometimes what in my experience at another movie too, they have like in a river or something, they have a, like two outbo rope across. They go at the speed of the river. So if you, you grab onto the rope and you're okay. So that's what happened downstream. We came up, since we came up, grabbed the rope and as we were up, I see the, the. The co pilot of the chopper stepping down and lifting the cable over the rudder because they realized what they had done and then they Got lifted and they flew away. And that's where we, we said, all right, that's it. We've done, we've got it. That's in those days they had six cameras.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

Shooting, and that was it.

[Ed Gamble]

Is it phenomenally dangerous? I mean, filmmaking must have changed quite a lot since then in terms of what the actors can and can't do.

[Robert De Niro]

I don't know. I don't know who does what with studs and stuff. Some actors, I hear, like to do, so I don't know, it depends. So it's tough to think about food when you're in that situation.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. So you'll take a bit of cobra. That's.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah, you'll have some cobra. It normally now would be dream side dish, but maybe your dream side dish is the. We've already kind of added the duck brains and the, the ants and the crickets to the wagu Wellington.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

So are those the sides?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, those are okay.

[Ed Gamble]

But what about, what about fries? Are you a man who enjoys fries, Bob?

[Robert De Niro]

Sometimes, but maybe it should be something a little more exotic.

[Ed Gamble]

It'd be good to get something exotic.

[Robert De Niro]

In this fries, you know, even, even sweet potato fries.

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah, they're good.

[Ed Gamble]

Are they the more exotic option, do you think?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, well, in some ways, different.

[James Acaster]

Yo, for Raging Bull, when you put the weight on and what did you eat for that? Because I know that you ate brown rice and vegetables when you were getting in shape, but I don't know what you ate when you, for the end.

[Robert De Niro]

In those days, I didn't even know what brown rice was. Yeah, no, of course. But, no, but I know I just ate, like, didn' you know, it stayed light. But, but when I was gaining the weight, I ate pancakes in the morning. I, I had to eat in the morning three full meals, which was hard to do, and then digest the food to eat lunch and then dinner. And then I thought, well, I'm doing this food binge. You know, it's kind of fun for the first 10, 12, 15 pounds. Then it's drudgery. I, I was going to go to, to France to have great meals. Great. And which I did. And that was good. The, the food in France is great at that time, but it was a little rich, so you couldn't eat as much as you thought you could. I should have probably gone to Italy.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

So I, I, I ate all the time, but it was really, really. I gave myself a time limit, like two months or a month and a half before we. Where I gained about 15 pounds to do it and interim shot where he's out of shape, overweight, seen in Florida, that we shot in la. Then we waited another two months or something. I gained more weight to get. Or a little more than two months. I forget. I think it was about four, four or five maximum or whatever I could gain by that point would be it. So I gained 60 pounds.

[Ed Gamble]

Wow.

[Robert De Niro]

From. I was 152, I went to. To 12.

[Ed Gamble]

Now you're asking. We're not. We're not mathematicians.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes, that sounds right. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

When you've done that, how long did it take you to get rid of.

[Robert De Niro]

That £60 it always take, you know, the first £40, you go right back to your old eating. You have to be careful not to eat too slowly and eat. You let yourself down easily. But then, of course, the last £15 were the hardest to lose. And then I had a doctor watching, you know, cholesterol and all that stuff.

[James Acaster]

And did you have anything on the pancakes when you were eating those pancakes, what did you put on the pancakes? Or was it just as they were, you know?

[Robert De Niro]

Sausage.

[James Acaster]

Yes.

[Robert De Niro]

Even some sour cream or whipped cream, syrup and, you know. Yeah, I loaded it up.

[James Acaster]

And you had a lot of people telling you not to do it, is that right?

[Robert De Niro]

No, nobody was saying, don't do it. That's what the deal was. We were going to do it. I was going to do it. But everybody's hoping work.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. There's people letting him hang out the bottom of a helicopter.

[James Acaster]

Sure.

[Ed Gamble]

Don't put sausage on your pancakes.

[James Acaster]

Could have done. I mean, don't combine the two. Your dream drink?

[Robert De Niro]

I. I like good wine. Red, white martini from time to time.

[Ed Gamble]

We can definitely do. We'll do your martinis. Do you like that to start a meal or do you have it, like to have it during beginning. And then that's vodka martini, gin martini. Gin. That's your preference?

[Robert De Niro]

Dry, dry cucumber. That's it. No vermouth?

[Ed Gamble]

No vermouth at all. Not even the suggestion of vermouth. Straight gin. I respect it so much.

[Robert De Niro]

Just one and then boom.

[James Acaster]

One thing actors always get asked about and debate about is how best to play drunk. And there's loads of different answers to it. And like, I think a lot of people would look to you for the definitive answer. Bob, how would you say was the best way to go about it?

[Robert De Niro]

Well, I think it's. It makes more sense to not be actually drunk. You could do that too, but it's probably better not to, so. Because there are other things that you have to Be aware of and do. That's what I would say.

[Ed Gamble]

Don't. Don't actually get drunk is the top tip. Yeah, I guess with multiple takes as well. If you're steadily getting drunk, that's another thing.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

You can't replicate it.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, that's another thing too.

[James Acaster]

But there's some actors who have a sniff of it first. They don't drink it, but they'll sniff it.

[Robert De Niro]

That's interesting. Yeah, that's. That's okay.

[James Acaster]

Or somebody said the key is to try and act as sober as possible because that's what a drunk person's doing.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. Yeah, that could work.

[James Acaster]

Not gonna give away your secret. Tell us how to. How to act drunk is the.

[Ed Gamble]

Is the secret. Mainly. Just do it well. Just act well.

[Robert De Niro]

Well, that. Yeah. To do it well. Whatever your. Whatever your technique is.

[James Acaster]

Do you ever find that on films now that maybe people who are in scenes of you and whatever are looking to you a lot? And are you a bit conscious of that sometimes that, like, people are trying to learn as. From you as well as acting alongside you, or is that not really the case?

[Robert De Niro]

No, I don't. I don't. I mean, I'm not. Not aware of that.

[Ed Gamble]

People must ask you for advice a lot. They're like new actors.

[Robert De Niro]

Not too much. I don't mind giving advice. Not. Not too much.

[James Acaster]

New comedians always ask you for. Yeah, yeah. Like, where's the best hotel to go for a piss? Yeah, stuff like that.

[Ed Gamble]

We just tell them to stay off our patch and then tell them to not do it because we're the rulers of the roost. Really? Yeah.

[James Acaster]

With the rulers of the roost, you guys.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

Okay.

[Ed Gamble]

You might not know that because you're not plugged into the UK comedy scene, Bob, where the rulers of the rooster.

[James Acaster]

Although you have. And actually, I can't believe we've not mentioned this. King of comedies. One of my favorite films. I think it's incredible. And it's one of the few times where someone does a comedy monologue in a film and it's actually funny and works.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Which is so rare as a comedian. We watch a lot of, like, films and TV shows where people might be playing a comedian in a comedy club or doing a monologue and you're kind of like, yeah, this wouldn't really work in the room. Or this wouldn't land. Yours really genuinely does. And the whole film hinges on it as well. I don't know what was the secret to that? Because, like, it's such a hard thing to do.

[Robert De Niro]

No, that the Person who wrote the script was a film critic, a very well known film critic for Newsweek named Paul Zimmerman. He passed away years ago and he gave me and Marty Scorsese the script and I thought it was great. And the monologue is great. And in fact when we shot the monologue, we did it once and I, I said, Marty, I think we got to do it again because it's not, I'm not, I don't have it right. We got to do it again. So we did, we shot it again as I remember. But I, I thought it was a terrific script.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

And he, he, you know, Paul wrote it.

[James Acaster]

I've seen outtakes of it where a lot of the, some improvised moments are making you laugh a lot when Scorsese's mum is shouting down to you. You're in the basement and she's playing your mum.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. I said to Marty, what about your mother playing? And she's yelling down to me. And we, and he's got all these, these sort of cutouts of famous people. And, and I took Marty to a couple of, I got to know some of the, these autograph seekers and I'd say these guys in years to, to come will, will become the paparazzi of the future for the, for the tabloids. And some of them did, or the writers, one or two. And, but they were nice kids. And one kid took me down into a cellar and it was all, you know, it wasn't what I, what we had was the cutouts and stuff. But the idea of it made sense. So, and so Marty's mother was great.

[Ed Gamble]

So is that. Do you do quite a lot of research before you take on a role? Like meeting people who are similar to the character?

[Robert De Niro]

Try to, try to. And I took Marty to meet some of the kids. I drag him along. I love ravioli.

[James Acaster]

Since when do you speak Italian? Since we partnered with SAP Concur. They're integrated travel and expense platform and breakthrough solutions with AI gave me time back to dive into our financial future. We expand into Europe in 2027. So I'm getting ready.

[Acast Ad]

Well, you can predict the future.

[James Acaster]

I can predict you'll like that message. What message?

[Acast Ad]

Oh, hey, we all got bonuses.

[James Acaster]

You can save for college now.

[Acast Ad]

I don't have kids.

[James Acaster]

You don't say SAP Concur helps your.

[Acast Ad]

Business move forward faster.

[Ed Gamble]

Learn [e-mail] Applebee's has a brand new Big Easy menu.

[James Acaster]

It features all your Bourbon street favorites and what in one new menu.

[Ed Gamble]

Plus a new Bourbon street chicken and chicken and andouille. Sausage penny starting at just $11.99.

[James Acaster]

Limited time, price participation and selection may vary. Well, we arrive at your dream dessert before we make recommendations to you. Do you have much of a sweet tooth? Do you like desserts?

[Robert De Niro]

I do, but lately I don't have dessert. But sometimes. But I don't, you know, after the meal. That's enough.

[Ed Gamble]

Well, we could always bring you some cheese instead of the dessert.

[Robert De Niro]

Cheese. Okay. Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Well, it would be nice to have a sweet dessert.

[Ed Gamble]

You know, James is obsessed with desserts, and I'm more of a. I'm more of a cheese board guy.

[Robert De Niro]

I like cheese, too. I had cheese last night.

[Ed Gamble]

What cheese did you have last night?

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, I forget. You know, Camembert, the usual cheese plate.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. Besides, that's the thing, isn't. It's not very memorable. Like cheeses and stuff. But whereas a good dessert, a nice ice cream, or like I remembered that cricket ice cream earlier, for example, you know, not that we're going to feed you more crickets.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. You know, there's a limit.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

But some restaurants are known for their great desserts. Sometimes what I do with friends is if we're arrest. We. We ask them just to pick out the three best of the. Let us. We'll share it.

[Ed Gamble]

That's good.

[James Acaster]

Well, that's nice.

[Ed Gamble]

Are you. Are you good at sharing?

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. I usually eat off other people's plates because I don't want to have too much. So I nibble here. I nibbled it. And plus, you save one full meal that you have to buy, so it's very, you know, it's also economic.

[Ed Gamble]

So you'll go with friends, won't order anything, and they'll be like, I know what you're saying.

[Robert De Niro]

Kids are. My kids are complaining to me that I take from their place.

[Ed Gamble]

Will you. Will you ask or will you just reach across and go.

[Robert De Niro]

At this point, I just do it. You know, ask. Sometimes it'll be polite because the kids might be annoyed with me.

[Ed Gamble]

That's a power play.

[James Acaster]

You could do that for your dream meal. We could invite your kids to dessert. They all have a different dessert and you can pick up all their plates.

[Robert De Niro]

Could do that.

[Ed Gamble]

But now you're gonna have to choose three desserts for Bob's kids.

[James Acaster]

Yes. Well, gotta have some ice cream in there.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. What flower, what flavors, though?

[Robert De Niro]

What I like pistachio. There are some forgetting what place I've been to that great ice cream. Whatever the flavors were, I can't even remember, but they were terrific.

[James Acaster]

And sometimes you get obviously cow's milk ice cream. But also like they do goats milk ice cream, sheep's milk. You can milk anything with nipples, right?

[Ed Gamble]

He always says that.

[Robert De Niro]

That's a stick.

[Ed Gamble]

He's the nipple guy. So which nipple are you going to pick for Bob?

[James Acaster]

Cat. Cat. Cat nipple.

[Robert De Niro]

We've got down to this.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Don't meet the parents.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, I know.

[James Acaster]

I do. Meet the parents. Huge film for me. Huge film for me growing up also. That was one of my first introductions to you because I was a certain age. I'm 40.

[Robert De Niro]

Okay.

[James Acaster]

So like when Meet the Parents came out, it's probably teenager. I was like, this guy's one of the funniest guys ever. I was saying to my dad, like, look at this. He went, that's what that guy ripped your head off, that guy. Don't be laughing at that guy. He's a tough guy. And I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. This is really funny, man. And then I watched all the other films. I was like, oh, yeah, I see what my dad was talking about. Now, you've played a variety of characters over the years, but yeah, I was first introduced to you as just like a straight up comedian. But that was like the start of you doing a lot of comedic roles in a row. There's a whole.

[Robert De Niro]

What do you mean? Teen comedy or.

[James Acaster]

Oh, no, for like meet the pair and choose parents.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah. Analyze this. Analysis that. Meet the parents. I think we did between Analyze this and that.

[James Acaster]

When I watched Analyze this for the first time, it was probably under some of the saddest circumstances I've ever watched a film. I turned up at a kid's birthday party and no one else had showed up.

[Robert De Niro]

Oh, boy.

[James Acaster]

And it was just me and this other kid.

[Robert De Niro]

Really?

[Ed Gamble]

Was it your birthday party?

[James Acaster]

It wasn't my birthday party. It's a different kid. And we sat there and just watched Analyze this while eating cubed up watermelon.

[Robert De Niro]

How old, how old was the kid? How old were you?

[James Acaster]

Teenage. We're in school. Like he had 14, 15 came to his birthday. But you, no one showed up.

[Ed Gamble]

Imagine me imagine if it's your birthday and no one shows up apart from this guy.

[James Acaster]

Just me. It is very sad.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Me asking them, you know, it's stupider questions than this. Imagine like I'm 40 now and I'm saying this kind of stuff. Imagine what I was. My conversation was like, when I was.

[Robert De Niro]

A teenager, I. I don't want to imagine.

[James Acaster]

So, yeah, I think some ice cream.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Maybe a lemon tart.

[Robert De Niro]

Yeah, it's okay. Okay. No, no, I, I don't dislike lemon tart. Depends again if it's done a certain way. This is like special way that it's known for. The restaurant is known for this lemon tart. Okay.

[James Acaster]

River Cafe. Lemon tart.

[Ed Gamble]

The River Cafe.

[Robert De Niro]

Okay.

[Ed Gamble]

Fantastic.

[Robert De Niro]

I've not been to the River. I don't think I've ever been. I might have.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

Here.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, it's in Hammersmith. It's right by the river.

[Robert De Niro]

I wanted to say I have not been there. I don't think maybe I was, but I don't think so.

[Ed Gamble]

Very, very nice. So we've got some pistachio ice cream.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, Pistachio ice cream, lemon top from the River Cafe. And then maybe the cheese board. Maybe the cheese get your way as well.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, yeah. Feeling good about that. This is a good meal and I think you should order like this in all restaurants from now on, Bob. Just let them say things to you and then. And you go, yeah.

[Robert De Niro]

It's easier, though, in a restaurant that is well known and well known for food. It's food. Whatever specialties they have. What I asked him, the waiters, what's. What does everybody like you? What's the best thing that you. You would consider? That's here. And I start with that.

[James Acaster]

Well, I'm going to read your menu back to you now and see how you feel about it. You would like.

[Ed Gamble]

It's ended up as quite a mad menu, I think.

[James Acaster]

No, it's good. Still water. You would like some bread starter. You would like the miso black cod from Nobu. Main course, the wagyu Wellington. A side dish, duck brains. Crickets and ants.

[Robert De Niro]

Duck brains in the original duck skull.

[James Acaster]

In the original drink. A gin martini, dry Nova mousse with cucumber.

[Ed Gamble]

Nice wine as well.

[James Acaster]

And some nice wine. We'll throw some nice wine in the dessert. Pistachio ice cream, river cafe, lemon tart and a cheese board.

[Robert De Niro]

Sounds good.

[Ed Gamble]

You feeling good about that?

[James Acaster]

Yep, I feel pretty good about that. And like, you know, we. We made a lot of those suggestions and I think we did well.

[Ed Gamble]

I think we did really well. Thank you so much for coming to the dream restaurant, Bob. You've been fantastic.

[Robert De Niro]

Thank you. You guys have been good too.

[Ed Gamble]

Thank you.

[Robert De Niro]

Thank God.

[Ed Gamble]

There we go.

[James Acaster]

Well, we did it.

[Ed Gamble]

What a nice man.

[James Acaster]

A lovely man. He let us pick for him.

[Ed Gamble]

He let us get away with a lot of shit, man.

[James Acaster]

I think some of the fans of Dan Aykroyd's episode will appreciate elements of that episode.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes, I think so.

[James Acaster]

But also what an honor to hear some of those stories about films that I absolutely love.

[Ed Gamble]

I'm really glad you had some film questions in the back, POC man, because, you know, otherwise, you know, I asked him where in New York he knows to go for a way if he needs a way.

[James Acaster]

That was. That was appalling.

[Ed Gamble]

No, I like. You got it. You got to take those big swings sometimes when you're. When you're a broadcaster, because that's where you get the. That's where you get the exclusives. Right. I asked them about being gassy for a scene. He talked about having a gurgly tummy as well.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

During Goodfellas.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah. The goy tubby was fine.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, yeah. But then how do we know, you know, you got to ask the questions to get the gold, right?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, personally, I think I went. I went a bit too far down the Meet the Parents corridor. Had to reverse out of that. Everyone heard it. But, you know, look. Yeah. Full disclosure for the listener.

[Ed Gamble]

Was that a quote from Meet the Parents that you tried with them?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, yeah. Ben Stiller says you can milk anything with nipples.

[Ed Gamble]

Right. Okay. And do you think he realized then what you.

[James Acaster]

He knows what it is because. Because his. His response to that in the film, and it's. What I was hoping for is, I have nipples, Greg, can you milk me?

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. So you were hoping for that.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, you.

[Ed Gamble]

So we. I mean, I still don't know how it happened, how we got Robert De Niro. Yes, but your plan for the episode with Robert De Niro was to reenact a bit of Meet the Parents with him.

[James Acaster]

Well, it would have been brilliant. And I would have been on cloud nine if it had happened.

[Ed Gamble]

I wouldn't have known what had gone. And as I would have thought, he'd called you Greg by accident.

[James Acaster]

Yes. Well, as it was. It was. It was the only point in the podcast. I thought he might go now. He was looking around the room for the exits, going, this guy's quoting Meet the Parents.

[Ed Gamble]

His PR passed him a small bit of paper. He read it and then he said, cheese and pickle sandwich.

[James Acaster]

Cheese and pickle sandwich, please. Goodbye. Get out of the. Get out my hotel.

[Ed Gamble]

No, I thought he was delightful. We got some amazing stories from him. The Deer Hunter stories.

[James Acaster]

Come on. Deer Hunter, Raging Bull. Look like king of comedy. All that. Amazing to hear it all week on the off the menu. WhatsApp group. Ed, Benito and I have been just going, has Robert De Niro canceled yet?

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Because surely.

[Ed Gamble]

Surely someone's worked out what this is.

[James Acaster]

Surely it's not going to happen.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

So obviously now we're just very giddy.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

Sitting in a hotel. Can't believe that it actually happened.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

And I guess waiting for the PR to come back in and go, delete that. You can't use that. I can't believe you asked him where he goes for a way in New York.

[Ed Gamble]

He didn't say cheese and pickle sandwich.

[James Acaster]

He didn't say it. I mean, couldn't really. We were picking them for him. It would be very cool of us to just pick a cheese and pickle sandwich for him.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

And then gone. There you go. You can have it.

[Ed Gamble]

See you later.

[James Acaster]

It's good. And then kick him out. Or kick ourselves out, I guess.

[Ed Gamble]

I'm knackered.

[James Acaster]

It's been a time and day. We've been on edge. I think I'm gonna go home and unwind. Watch Zero Day on Netflix, which is out now.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes. I'm not going to because I've literally watched the full series already.

[James Acaster]

I wasn't able to watch anything that lead up to this. Are you kidding me?

[Ed Gamble]

But it is. It is a fantastic show. It's very exciting.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. An exciting show starring Robert De Niro, who has been on the Off Menu podcast.

[Ed Gamble]

Star of the Off Menu podcast. Robert De Niro.

[James Acaster]

Robert De Niro. Been on this. Just to list some past guests. Huge. Davis, maybe just leave the list there. This is the podcast. That's how huge Davis had. Robert. That is no shade to huge. I have no problem doing that to you. You came on and told an aw sex story about me and ruined my life for a good month. So. Yeah. Well, we've. We've got a meal booked now because Ed very wisely said, look, this Elvis isn't going to happen. We'll get to the hotel and be told it's canceled. So I book us a nice meal and we'll all do that.

[Ed Gamble]

It was actually Ben's idea to have a nice meal afterwards.

[James Acaster]

As if. And. And so.

[Ed Gamble]

I booked it. Your suggestion. It's in keeping with Benito's dietary requirements.

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah. It's veggie. It's veggie.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Oh, no, no. Good. That's great to hear. Well, that's good. Yeah. So we're gonna go now for a meal and probably just keep laughing about this every now and again.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Remember bits of it.

[Ed Gamble]

I think the moment you should listen back to it. Maybe we can get a clip of it and zoom in on our faces is when a starter. He said, I Just like good food.

[James Acaster]

Yeah.

[Ed Gamble]

And then from that point where you were the one brave enough to do it was to say, just to let you know, the upcoming format.

[James Acaster]

Had to. I had no choice, cuz otherwise you'd think we're just annoying him.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

Otherwise it's just like every time we brought it up, it would be like, you guys off. I've told you. I've told you. It would just be whatever. I just like good food and whatever they bring. So don't. Why do you keep saying courses to me? I had to say to him, we're locked into this format.

[Ed Gamble]

We are going to have to ask you every time.

[James Acaster]

We can't fully help this. We have to go down this route. But how about. Yeah, we do what you like, which is bring food and say it's good and then you'll have it. And then that's how we got Robert De Niro, 12 duck brains and crickets on his. And ants on his dream menu. Yeah, we should plug stuff because this will probably have like loads of listeners. Probably not. Not at this point. No.

[Ed Gamble]

They've turned off.

[James Acaster]

They've turned off. Now it's just me and you.

[Ed Gamble]

They tuned in to hear Bob.

[James Acaster]

Yeah. Yeah, I called him Bob. You did call him Bob. Yeah, I couldn't believe it.

[Ed Gamble]

Then you joined in.

[James Acaster]

I had to. Yeah. Otherwise I seem like I'm standing on ceremony while you're all pally with him. But yeah, we called him Bob. We met Robert De Niro today.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes.

[James Acaster]

And we called him Bob all the time. Yeah. And we talked to him about pissing and like we do with everything.

[Ed Gamble]

We didn't go, did we?

[James Acaster]

Yeah, I said a plate looked like it was haunted by the ghost of Diary.

[Ed Gamble]

Yes, you did say that. Actually.

[James Acaster]

I said to Robert and he wasn't.

[Ed Gamble]

Quite sure what to make of that, I don't think.

[James Acaster]

No, he wasn't.

[Ed Gamble]

I was. I loved it.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, I knew you would like you on it. And Joe. What? The PR team liked it. Oh, yeah, they were laughing over there in the corner. It was a team at the ghost diarrhea.

[Ed Gamble]

Once the show got going, it was very clear as to how this happened.

[James Acaster]

If you were wondering who's laughing in the room. Yeah, it is the pr. Yeah, the PR team.

[Ed Gamble]

It's like the big breakfast.

[James Acaster]

It was like the big breakfast and we're in a hotel. We could have done it on a bed.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah.

[James Acaster]

I mean, basically.

[Ed Gamble]

But it'll have to end up your juice company.

[James Acaster]

What we.

[Ed Gamble]

What was that all about?

[James Acaster]

Holy. Holy hell.

[Ed Gamble]

You just remembered that as well.

[James Acaster]

Oh, yeah, I forgot. I told him about Juice Almighty.

[Ed Gamble]

He loved that.

[James Acaster]

He liked them. He liked the name.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, he did. And I said, would that make you pick it up off the shelf? And he said, no, no, it depends on how good the juice is.

[James Acaster]

Yeah, it's just like, that's his thing, I guess. He has to be told it's good. Yeah, yeah, it would be brilliant. But like I said, the guy's gone quiet on me. Yeah. Don't forget, come across very well to like food people.

[Ed Gamble]

But you came across well to Robert De Niro, who was just on the podcast.

[James Acaster]

He was just on the pod, who did our podcast. Robert De Niro just podcast.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah. Shout out to Huge Davis.

[James Acaster]

Charge. A huge Davis. Thank you for coming on. Huge in the past. We appreciate when you came on.

[Ed Gamble]

Thank you very much for listening. We'll be back next week. Somehow it's not the last one in the series.

[James Acaster]

It's not the last one in the series. We'll carry this on for a while. Yeah. And hello, Bob, if you. If you're listening back to this, hello. Thanks for coming on. Cheers, Bob. And thanks to Huge.

[Ed Gamble]

Yeah, thank you. Thanks so much to you for listening. Goodbye.

[James Acaster]

Goodbye. Sa.