Hitler vs Hitchcock

Summary

The Rest Is Entertainment – "Hitler vs Hitchcock" Episode

Date: April 22, 2026
Hosts: Richard Osman & Marina Hyde

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Episode Overview

This lively Q&A episode sees Richard Osman and Marina Hyde fielding listener questions on a variety of pop culture topics—from the eternal struggle to distinguish similarly named celebrities, to deep-dive industry questions about music licensing, Hollywood mergers, and behind-the-scenes panel show mechanics. Infused with the hosts’ signature wit and warmth, the conversation veers from laugh-out-loud anecdotes to sharp insider analysis, all while maintaining an irreverent but insightful tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrities and Actors People Always Mix Up

(Starts ~02:25)

• Massive listener response to last week’s discussion about commonly confused actors, particularly Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman.
• Listener Heather Wolford writes in about confusing Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, Sherlock Holmes) and Daniel Mays (Line of Duty, Ashes to Ashes).
  • Marina: "Vera Drake was very confusing." (03:02)
• Common combinations submitted by listeners:
  • Gene Hackman / Gene Wilder
  • Ryan Gosling / Ryan Reynolds ("They've also got a similar cut... similar vibe." – Marina, 03:53)
  • Barbra Streisand / Bette Midler
  • Glenn Close / Meryl Streep
  • Callum Turner / Josh O'Connor
  • Bradley Walsh / Brian Connelly
  • Susan Sarandon / Sigourney Weaver
  • Matt Damon / Mark Wahlberg ("I've watched an entire Mark Wahlberg movie and at the end realized it wasn't Matt Damon." – Marina, 04:58)
  • Bryce Dallas Howard / Jessica Chastain
  • Emily Blunt / Emma Stone ("When I see them individually, I know they're nothing like each other, but I get a mix-up when I look at them." – Marina, 05:13)
  • Steve Buscemi / Billy Bob Thornton
  • Brian Cox / Brendan Gleeson
  • Michael Cera / Jesse Eisenberg ("That's a look." – Richard, 06:46)
  • "The Gabby's": Gabby Roslin and Gabby Logan ("All day, every day, they are constantly mixed up with each other." – Marina, 07:29)
  • Stacey Solomon / Stacey Dooley
  • Jimmy Fallon / Jimmy Kimmel ("I would not at gunpoint be able to tell you which one is which." – Marina, 08:05)
• Name-based confusions:
  • Rick Wakeman / Alan Rickman
  • Willie Russell / Willy Russian
  • Tim Curry / Tim Rice
• Absolute stand-out moment:
  • A listener admits she used to confuse Alfred Hitchcock and Adolf Hitler as a child.
    "Until I was about 14, I thought there's a single man who had committed absolute atrocities but had made some insightful psychological thrillers along the way." – Listener Jennifer, (06:28), leaves Richard "speechless."
• The hosts note actor-name confusion is worse when there’s overlap in look, name, AND career.

Notable Quotes

• Marina (on Jimmy Fallon & Kimmel, 08:05):
  “I would not at gunpoint be able to tell you which one is which if you showed me Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.”
• Richard (on the ‘Chrises’, 09:07):
  “Keeping your Chrises straight has been, you know, so we've got Pratt and Hemsworth and League Two Chris Pine... Suddenly, I get them all mixed up because that’s too much Chris.”

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2. Song Licensing in Adverts: Jet2holidays & Jess Glynne's "Hold My Hand"

(Starts ~10:35)

• A listener asks how licensing works for a song used for years by Jet2holidays.
• Richard explains: The arrangement would have started as an upfront sync deal plus royalties for each ad usage. The contract would have to be repeatedly renegotiated for so many years and platforms.
  • "She will have earned millions off it by now, because it's gone on for... 11 years." – Richard, 12:19
  • The song is now a huge meme on TikTok (over 80 billion hashtag views): "Not only is Jess Glynne making money from the repeatedly renegotiated deal with Jet2, she is also getting all the halo effect from streaming, download, all the other stuff." – Richard, 13:57
  • Marina notes: "Even if occasionally it is lightly poking fun at you, that’s an incredible bit of marketing." (14:09)
• Cultural point: The perception of "selling out" among musicians is gone with younger generations; now partnerships and meme-ification are celebrated.
  • "Everyone was like, 'Oh my God, this is awesome.' ...I just thought, OK, it’s–" – Marina, 13:14

Notable Quotes

• Richard: "You honestly can’t buy what has happened with this particular song. It couldn’t have worked out better for both parties involved." (15:45)

Timestamps

• Licensing Detail: 11:56–12:19
• Cultural Shifts & TikTok: 12:46–13:57

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3. Do Open Letters From Celebrities Ever Work?

(Starts ~18:30)

• Listener asks if the recent open letter, signed by Mark Ruffalo, Emma Thompson, and others to block a media merger will have any effect.
  • Richard: "It will not make the blindest bit of difference at all." (20:56)
• History of open letters: Generally, performative, rarely successful except in a handful of historic cases (Marina cites Emile Zola’s "J’accuse").
• Celebrities’ involvement often makes things worse; the public dislikes “performative” action.
  • "Open letters that have actually worked in the whole of human history are pretty... short.” – Richard, 21:00
• Marina: "Not signing a letter doesn’t mean you disagree with the letter, it just means you disagree with having your opinion put with 500 other people’s opinion." (25:34)
• Consensus: If you want to make a point, better to write an article or speak as an individual.

Notable Quotes

• Richard: “I can’t tell performers not to be performative... open letters are all performative nonsense.” (20:56)
• Marina: “Not signing a letter doesn’t mean you disagree with the letter... Which is a different matter.” (25:34)
• Richard on scientific consensus: “The kind of letters that went on and on from climate scientists, there was a point to that: to say there are many of us and there is a consensus here.” (21:00)

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4. Why Are Panelists Writing Notes on Panel Shows?

(Starts ~25:45)

• A listener asks why comedians are seen writing notes during shows like "Would I Lie To You?" and "QI".
  • Richard explains: It differs by show. On quiz/panel shows, comedians jot notes for:
    • Key names or details (to aid ‘callbacks’ later in the show—turning someone mentioned earlier into a running joke).
    • Reminders of moments to potentially reference later.
    • Occasionally, pre-written jokes, though pros rarely have to glance at these.
    • Doodling during downtime.
  • Example: “If there’s Councillor Stephen Anderson who’s a comic character in round two, you just write down the name so you can callback later during the missing words round.” – Richard, 28:12
  • Marina: It’s “just a little aid-memoir or comic mechanics or doodling. And those are the only things that can be.”

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5. Why Was Baywatch’s Venice Beach Shoot Almost Blocked?

(Starts ~29:31)

• Viewer heard a rumour LA County revoked filming permissions for a Baywatch reboot at Venice Beach.
  • Richard clarifies: The issue was blown out of proportion; permits needed additional requirements (night shoots, bigger area), causing a temporary hiccup, but permission was revised—filming continued.
• Industry impact:
  • California is eager to bring more filming back with big tax credits; bureaucracy and high costs due to unionized labor remain big hurdles.
  • Shooting in LA is expensive and highly regulated compared to filming in places like the UK or South Africa ("...in South Africa, the red carpet would be out for you." – Marina, 34:02).
  • Describes the complex permit process and why these things matter for Hollywood as an economic hub, not just a filming location.

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Memorable Moments and Quotes

• Listener Jennifer’s confusion of Hitler & Hitchcock:
  "Until I was about 14, I thought there was a single man who had committed absolute atrocities but had made some insightful psychological thrillers along the way." (06:28)
• Marina on open letters:
  “Not signing a letter doesn’t mean you disagree with the letter, it just means you disagree with having your opinion put with 500 other people’s opinion.” (25:34)
• Richard on licensing:
  “Jess Glynne had a hit 11 years ago and has discovered it is quite enough to get her paid throughout the whole of the next decade.” (11:50)
• Richard, on celebrity confusion:
  "Keeping your Chrises straight has been, you know... It's too much. The equation's too complicated to consider." (09:10, 09:22)
• Marina on comedians’ panel notes:
  “It is literally just for the kind of comic conceit of what might be useful later on in the show. You're not writing down someone else's joke or anything like that.” (28:12)
• Marina, closing joke:
  “Put it this way, it's so hard to film Baywatch, that before it started, David Hasselhoff was called David Hoffman. He was hustled. He was beyond hassle.” (34:22–34:30)

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Timestamps for Key Sections

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Actor confusion and listener responses | 02:25–10:16 | | Song Licensing: Jet2 & Jess Glynne | 10:35–16:14 | | Open Letters & Celebrity Petitions | 18:30–25:45 | | Panel Show Note-Taking Explained | 25:45–29:30 | | Baywatch Filming Permit Rumours and LA Industry | 29:31–34:30 |

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Conclusion

With humor, depth, and candid industry perspective, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde cover a wide swath of entertainment trivia and business. Whether you struggle to keep your Chrises or Jimmies straight, want the inside scoop on pop song licensing windfalls, or are mystified by the hidden strategies of panel show comedians, this episode has something for every keen observer of pop culture.

Transcript

[Richard Osman]

The rest is entertainment is presented by Octopus Energy. Now they've looked at admin and decided it should behave much more like a game show.

[Marina Hyde]

When you provide your meter readings, they will give you a spin of a wheel which allows you to win prizes, allows you to win octopoints which you can spend in the Shoptopus. Yeah, it's the gamifying of the boring bits of your admin. Now listen, you know how much I love Octopus Energy. The prizes I'm going to say are not quite up to the standard of the Wheel of Fortune, the biggest ever prize on the Wheel of fortune. So over 1 million. What feels more similar is some of the random prizes they'll get on the Wheel of Fortune. They've had ceramic Dalmatians. I saw one where you could win a Gucci calculator. You think, okay, that's two of my favorite things. There was an onyx bin.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, I'm not. Again, I'm not dissing the prizes, but I would have probably gone for the Dalmatian.

[Marina Hyde]

None of these things you have to worry about with Octopus Energy. It is simply octa points to spend in the shop to.

[Richard Osman]

Well, you have to submit your meter reading to Luna and then you get prizes. You don't actually have to persuade yourself. You want like money off your next bill.

[Marina Hyde]

You can get a thousand pound off your bill if you get the top prize, which is 800,000 octopoints. Thousand pound off your bill just on the spin of a wheel.

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[Richard Osman]

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Rest is Entertainment Questions and Answers Edition.

[Marina Hyde]

I'm Marina Hyde And I'm Richard Osman. Welcome one, welcome all. Hey, Marina.

[Richard Osman]

Hello, Richard. How are you?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, I'm okay. Are you? Well, I am.

[Richard Osman]

There has been a significant response to your appeal for a question about actors and celebrities that people mix up.

[Marina Hyde]

Yes, because we were talking about Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman and they both became famous at roughly the same time. And even now I couldn't pick the two of them out of a lineup.

[Richard Osman]

And when I say significant, I mean it is the biggest response I think we've ever had. Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

It's gone absolutely nuts.

[Richard Osman]

It's gone post bookshelves. It is huge. Purely on the basis that she sent the first question. I am going to ask Heather Wolford's question on behalf of Heather. In my house says Heather, there are two actors. Eddie Marsan, Ray Donovan, Sherlock Holmes and not Eddie Marsan. Line of Duty, Ashes to Ashes, the Thursday Murder Club. Recently we have realized that not Eddie Marsan is actually Daniel Mays. The film Vera Drake was very confusing. Do you have any actors or musicians that you constantly mix up?

[Marina Hyde]

Thank you, Heather. That's a good question as well. If you're gonna be the first one in. That's a good one. That's a good one to do. I've got. I mean so many.

[Richard Osman]

Can I say I'm so scared of doing this because the ones that I don't already have.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

Some synaptic malfunction will now happen and I will forever think that, you know, which I will never get my Chris's in the right order again.

[Marina Hyde]

Well, shall I go through some of the ones that our listeners have sent in? People that get mixed up. Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder. Okay. The one that most people have. The one that you can you guess the one that most people have had that they get mixed up.

[Richard Osman]

These are the similar name ones. Right. So I feel like you're going to. Yeah. The Ryans. We know the Ryan's are.

[Marina Hyde]

Gosling and Reynolds are very, very hard to. And you know, they also have a similar level of fame. I mean they. Yeah. And they're a similar age. They've got a similar cut.

[Richard Osman]

American. Yeah, I mean that's. You're in the danger area.

[Marina Hyde]

There a similar vibe. Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler. People mixing up. Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. I don't know about that. Well, I know Meryl Streep. When I see Meryl Streep I'm sure she's like sacrilege. Callum Turner and Josh o'. Connor.

[Richard Osman]

Surely Callum Turner and Like Harris Dickinson. Yeah. I mean, don't get into. Don't get into that particular age of

[Marina Hyde]

a lot of Bradley Walsh and Brian Connelly.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, that's huge.

[Marina Hyde]

That's huge. Although they recently went on tour with each other. That would have blown people's minds. Susan Sarandon and Sigourney Weaver.

[Richard Osman]

Yes.

[Marina Hyde]

This is one I have absolutely nonstop. I've seen the whole film by the second actor and thought it was the first actor. Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg.

[Richard Osman]

Oh, really?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. Is that not a blindness you have?

[Richard Osman]

Well, I was going to say Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain. I thought that was the one that you were going to say.

[Marina Hyde]

No, no, no.

[Richard Osman]

Okay. No, I don't. I don't have a Matt Damon blindness. But there are. There are men. There are others that I just have to remind myself each time I've definitively

[Marina Hyde]

watched an entire Mark Wahlberg movie and at the end realized it wasn't Matt Damon. And you see, I mean, that's. I mean, but it's weird given how much hard work they put into those things and they don't use it. Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

It's great for Mark Wahlberg because Nolan's never giving him a call, let me tell you.

[Marina Hyde]

That's true. Yeah, he does. He does get elevated in my brain. I'm quite bad on Emily Blunt and Emma Stone. When I see them individually, I know nothing like each other that's definitively not. I get a mix up when I look at them. There's something about their careers. If I see one of them is casting a movie.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

I'm like, oh, is which one? Which one is that? I can't immediately picture which one is which. So, you know. Yeah. I don't get them mixed up when. When I look at them for sure. Steve Buscemi and Billy Bob Thornton, we have from a lot of people.

[Richard Osman]

Really?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

That's so distinctive.

[Marina Hyde]

Brian Cox and Brendan Gleason.

[Richard Osman]

Yes. Fair enough.

[Marina Hyde]

You could sort of, you know, you could sort of imagine they. They might be the certain same person. Brian Cox and Brian Cox. Nobody said that. Somebody here says Wes Craven and John Craven. That I'm afraid is. Yeah, come on. I have to give special mention to Jennifer. Jennifer Amel, Duke Devine. Not only for the name, because Jennifer says, though they are not both in entertainment. When I read out the rest of this, that. That is a real understatement.

[Richard Osman]

Okay, carry on.

[Marina Hyde]

Though they are not both in entertainment. Though they are not both in entertainment, says Jennifer. I used to confuse Alfred Hitchcock and Adolf Hitler and use the Names interchangeably.

[Richard Osman]

I just want to say I'm not speaking because I am speechless.

[Marina Hyde]

Until I was about 14, I thought, there's a single man who had committed absolute atrocities, but had made some insightful psychological thrillers along the way.

[Richard Osman]

Well, I hope this podcast is expanding your mind, Jennifer.

[Marina Hyde]

A few more. Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg. Oh, yes, A lot of people think they are.

[Richard Osman]

That's a look.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, that's really, really. And also the types of movies they're in. That's the thing is when people have either a similar name or a similar look and are in the same sort of movies, like Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman could sort of interchangeably be in each other's films, and so could Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg. Very different human beings, but they, they look very, very similar. The one that, that I was talking, talking this week to somebody who I'm very, very aware gets called the wrong name, has been called the wrong name her entire life. Her entire life. And you can guess the name that she gets called because that person gets called her name, and that's Gabby Roslin, who is constantly called Gabby Logan. And Gabby Logan is constantly called Gabby Roslin.

[Richard Osman]

Really?

[Marina Hyde]

All day, every day. They are constantly mixed up with each other. Again, people know they're different people, but that's a name one. They get their names mixed up. Can I say the one to this day that I never, ever, ever. Or Stacy Solomon and Stacey Dooley, by the way, we had lots of people talking about that as well, which they think they're the same person. But here's the one that I will never, ever, ever get right. And there are people in a certain country to whom this would be insane, but it just happens to be the case. And that is. I would not at gunpoint be able to tell you which one is which if you showed me Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.

[Richard Osman]

Yes. Well, I, I think that's. That's a lot of.

[Marina Hyde]

I like which one is which. Right. And I can sort of. I can get it in my head for a bit if I see Jimmy Fallon.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

And people say that's Jimmy Fallon. And I like. Yep. Yeah, okay, I've got it. Absolutely.

[Richard Osman]

Don't suggest gun point in that great nation, of course, because it's.

[Marina Hyde]

No, that's too easy to arrange. Somebody will. And then the other one. Who have I said? Fallon. The other one. Kimmel. But that's because I know they're both called Jimmy. I get that.

[Richard Osman]

But we don't have their late night shows. Yeah, exactly.

[Marina Hyde]

They're not, they're not in our lives constantly. But Kimmel and Fallon. I know they're completely different names but there's something about them that are also the same, which is this sort of. They sort of sound a bit familiar.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, they're in a seat mindedness and

[Marina Hyde]

they got two syllables in the surname.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

I don't know, there's something about it. So that's my, that's my. Number one is Fallon and Kimmel. The, the Gabby's are the ones I think most constantly get called each other's names. But yeah, the, the, the Ryan's is.

[Richard Osman]

The Ryan's is big.

[Marina Hyde]

That's the big one.

[Richard Osman]

I have to say. The Chrises. Keeping your Chris's straight has been, you

[Marina Hyde]

know, so we've got. We've got Pratt

[Richard Osman]

and Hemsworth and League two Chris Pine.

[Marina Hyde]

See, I think it's because I can just about deal with Evans, Pratt and Hemsworth. It's when you throw Pine in it as well that I suddenly get them all mixed up. Because that's too much, Chris.

[Richard Osman]

It's too much. The equation's too complicated to consider.

[Marina Hyde]

Exactly. Royals. The other three together as well.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

You know, in, in a way they weren't previously roiled.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

You know, as soon. As soon as Pine comes in, there's some other funny name ones. Rick Wakeman and Alan Rickman.

[Richard Osman]

I can see it though.

[Marina Hyde]

I mean, yeah, that's funny. Willie Russell and Willie Russian. That's for people of a certain age, very similar names. And then Tim Curry and Tim Rice, which I, which I, I think it's just a.

[Richard Osman]

It's just the same.

[Marina Hyde]

I know it's the surnames. I like Curry, but. But you know, I can sort of see it.

[Richard Osman]

I've got the feeling this will just jump off in some different area next week. But yes, we hope we've covered some of your.

[Marina Hyde]

All of that stuff, especially like British actors, people you see on TV who you think are the same person do. I mean, we've had so many emails. But I'm. I know for a fact that there are other great ones.

[Richard Osman]

Oh yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

Out there. I know. But the, but the two Jimmies. Absolutely clueless. Absolutely clueless. But if you've got better ones or people you spent your whole life thinking were somebody else, then absolutely do let us know there's some poor person at Goal Hanger having to spend their entire time going through your emails on this. A question for you, Marina, from Roger Lever. That's a good name.

[Richard Osman]

Very good name.

[Marina Hyde]

That's a strong name. Yeah, Roger Lever. Yeah. He says. I've always wondered about Jess Glynn's song Hold My Hand which seems to have been used by Jet2holidays for years now in adverts and even on planes. How does that actually work financially? Is it typically a one off licensing fee, an annual deal or anything tied to usage? Because it definitely feel like they've had incredible value out of it over time.

[Richard Osman]

This is a very good question. There's a line in the first Bridget Jones movie about her friend Tom says, 80s pop icon who only wrote one hit record and retired because he found that one record was quite enough to get him laid for the whole of the 90s. Jess Glynn had a hit 11 years ago and has discovered it is quite enough to get her paid throughout the whole of the next decade. She had other hits as well. I'm not suggesting she only had one. Yeah, she. But however Jet2 first used hold my hand in late 2015, which was the year it actually came out. And typically when you're doing a deal like that you. It's for multiple TV and social ads, by the way. Now you, you still hear it on that, all their TV and social ads on their booking videos and when you get on the plane, I know someone said that they were on a plane, someone told me they were on their plane and they had to change the crew for some reason. And it just continued, it just continued to play. And people who work on Jet2 cruise say they just totally screen it out. They don't hear it anymore.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, it must be like torture. Yeah. And that's nothing against the song, but to hear it all day, every day.

[Richard Osman]

It is amazing though that it's endured so long and originally it would have been a licensing and royalties deal and it's a sort of upfront sync deal as they would call it. And you get royalties every time the ads broadcast or whatever and it's a licensing agreement but it would certainly not have been for 11 years. So they will have renewed and renegotiated it several times and she will have earned millions off it by now.

[Marina Hyde]

Millions, yeah.

[Richard Osman]

Because it's gone on for think and not just far this way in a way that I'm about to talk about because remember giving in the old days, you know, people used to be think that advertising music was sort of in for a dig and that sell it. You were kind of selling out if you're allowing you a band to allow their music to be used in advertising. But I do think, as we've said before, that Gen Z, Gen A they're so selling everything, is so enmeshed in all of the content they watch that there isn't that stigma whatsoever anymore about giving your song.

[Marina Hyde]

I saw someone doing. We talked briefly on. Well, we talked on Monday show about influencers. I saw someone on Instagram saying, amazing news, amazing news. I've just signed a deal with X Car Co. And you know, so. And all the replies were, oh my God, this is incredible. Congratulations. Rather than, sorry, sorry, okay, you total sellout.

[Richard Osman]

It's just completely.

[Marina Hyde]

You got a free car and you want what? You want us to be happy. But. But everyone was like, oh my God, everyone was happy. This is awesome. I just thought, okay, it's.

[Richard Osman]

It's become. Which is very interesting, which is a definite shift for kind of creative artists involved in this kind of stuff. And as we've said before, those generations are kind of time blind. They don't mind when they discover. When a song that they discover via TikTok or via advertising is from. If they like it, they like it. And last year, I think it was the song of the year on TikTok.

[Marina Hyde]

Really?

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, it's become. But it's become a trend in the meme. It's used on TikTok for people to soundtrack their sort of holiday mishaps or travel chaos or anything. You know, if you've got a massively long queue and you've got nothing to do in the queue other than post a TikTok saying nothing beats the Jet2 holiday, posts using that song have been viewed more than 80 billion times on TikTok. I mean, it's.

[Marina Hyde]

Whoa.

[Richard Osman]

So not only is Jess Flynn making money from the repeatedly renegotiated deal with Jet2, she is also getting all the Halo effect from streaming download all the other stuff.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. And also an Amazing. For Jet2 as well. If you've suddenly got something that constantly goes viral on TikTok, even if occasionally it is lightly poking fun at you, that's an incredible bit of marketing.

[Richard Osman]

You cannot, you literally cann. This engagement that they've had from this song, it's just all come together in a way that it doesn't often, which is why they're keeping using it. And in the old days, you're right, by the way, when people use it as a soundtrack to their meme, they're not necessarily. In fact, probably more times than not are not on a Jet2 holiday. Now, in the old days, any firm involved in that sort of thing would have. If you open your window and you've got a terrible view of A building site. And is that you say, nothing beats a Jet to Holiday. The firm would have said, hang on, this isn't even a Jet. You're not even on a Jet2 holiday. But what they've decided to do, clearly, I don't know this, I haven't spoken to Jet2 about it, but you can see, because it would be. You couldn't police it. They've just decided to roll with it. Which is actually pretty modern. And to think you can't police this. It's beyond. When you. Something's had 80 billion, whatever, you can't get in touch with every single one. But actually what's happening is that your name is being mentioned all the time, to the point where Jet2 has almost become, in our national brain, synonymous with the phrase holiday. So you honestly can't buy what has happened with particular song. And you can absolutely see why they continue to use it for Jess Glynn, who's done brilliantly out of this and fair play to her. Nothing else can obviously be done with this song at all now, because apart from Bitby sung in concert because of this. And it's a sort of earworm. It's a national earworm, it's an across Internet earworm. But it couldn't have worked out better, I would say, for both parties involved.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. And at a time where it's harder and harder to make money out of

[Richard Osman]

recorded music, it's not totally unique, but it's. It's the kind of leading example of something unusual. And I do think it's interesting that they don't bother to take anything down. Because even. Because you're not saying Jet to holidays are rubbish, because almost no one is on a Jet to holiday when they post. You know, the passport queue isn't Jet's fault, but it's. It's just become something that people constantly say your brand name and constantly.

[Marina Hyde]

And also that has the word holidays in it. Yeah, yeah, it's perfect.

[Richard Osman]

Right, shall we now go to a break?

[Marina Hyde]

Yes. Wouldn't it be amazing if Jet2 were advertising here?

[Richard Osman]

Sadly, I don't think they are.

[Marina Hyde]

But if they were. But can you imagine? And everyone go, oh, that song.

[Richard Osman]

Oh, that's why they did the question. This is not a sponsored.

[Marina Hyde]

This is not paid. This episode is brought to you by Tesco Mobile. Now, we're no strangers to the magic of mobile phones. They've now become these sort of omni tools for entertainment, photography, abstract computation and everything in between.

[Richard Osman]

But they are actually really good at their base function communication. I still. I mean, I personally still like to talk on the phone, which is an act of lunacy.

[Marina Hyde]

It really is.

[Richard Osman]

And not to send a text message first saying, would it be possible for me to call you now? I like to just ring. I love it when my phone rings.

[Marina Hyde]

That's the thing. If you like talking to people, a phone is perfect. If you don't like talking to people, a phone is weirdly even more perfect. But the common denominator really, in all of those examples, me liking to text you, liking to speak to people, is people. It's all about your network of family and friends that matter most.

[Richard Osman]

Which is why Tesco Mobile is happy to be your second most important network. Tesco Mobile, it pays to be connected.

[Marina Hyde]

Search Whytesco Mobile to find out more.

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[Marina Hyde]

Welcome back, everybody. Marina, a question for you from Ava McKay or Ava McKay. I just read that a bunch of Hollywood celebs, including Mark Ruffalo and Emma Thompson have signed an open letter in opposition to Paramount buying out Warner Brothers. Would it make any difference?

[Richard Osman]

Yes, this is the not. Yes, it will make a difference. This. This is the Block the merger.

[Marina Hyde]

No, it won't make a difference.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, well, I think we know where this is going. This is the Block the merger campaign. And thousands of Hollywood creatives have signed it against the David Ellison bid for Paramount. Skydance bid for Warner Brothers.

[Marina Hyde]

A lot of the same celebrities who were saying, whatever you do, don't let Netflix buy it.

[Richard Osman]

Yes.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, careful what you wish for.

[Richard Osman]

And they have got lots and lots of big people. They got, you know, directors. They've got Denis Villeneuve, Celine Song Lots of actors. Mark Ruffalo, I mean, what hasn't he signed? Bryan Cranston, Tiffany Hadish. So they've got lots of those. They've got some showrunners, but not all of them have shows going at the moment. They've got David chase, Damon Lindelof, J.J. abrams. And what they want is the California Attorney General and various other states Attorneys general to block it.

[Marina Hyde]

By the way, absolutely beautiful plural there. Your pluralization. Attorney general.

[Richard Osman]

Did I do it right? I'm just quite surprised.

[Marina Hyde]

Attorney's general.

[Richard Osman]

Definitely 50, 50 on that one. And I think they think that showrunners are sort of key shows runner. Shows runner. Now, I'm not gonna be able to do a plural for the rest of. I think showrunners are key because lots of people depend on them. But as a result, because lots of people depend on them, you may not get people. I don't. I personally don't think someone like Taylor Sheridan would sign it anyway. But when lots and lots of a huge ecosystem of people depend on them for income and mortgage and everything, I read it was tearing apart agencies and both companies involved as well. I mean, don't bother. All I would say is, please don't bother tearing yourself apart because it will not make the blindest bit of difference at all. You can. I mean, I can't tell performers not to be performative because you may never argue against gravity, but in my view, open letters are all performative nonsense. And I'll talk a bit slight about them in general and then probably my own experience with them, but there are so many of these in an era of click, far more than there ever were when it's so easy to circulate them digitally. And in the old days, you had to make a call and say, I'm getting this letter together. Would you be on board? You know, and there was a whole thing.

[Marina Hyde]

And you would have had to actually sign your name as opposed to just saying, would you have your name on this list? Yeah.

[Richard Osman]

And it's. I think it's so sort of infantile, you know, the idea as that this is tearing people apart because you haven't signed it. It's like people saying, you know, oh, if you won't sign this letter, or you sort of pro the killing of people in Gaza. I mean, don't be ridiculous. This is. It's so infantile. And I'm sort of pro being a realist and not sort of performative self importance. The open letters that have actually worked in the whole of human history are pretty. I think they're pretty short. The one Emile Zola, the no wrote during the Dreyfus affair. Someone who was wrongly accused by the French government that that work. That's a signatory of one though it was open. The problem with open letters, also with many, many signatories, is that they're sort of watered down and they're in this kind of deniable, wishy washy language that every single. Because you want the most possible for people to get on board with them. I would say that I do think that the kind of letters that went on and on from climate scientists for. For a very long time, what there was a point to that to say there are many of us and there is a consensus here, moved the debate.

[Marina Hyde]

Also they're climate scientists and they're answering her question about climate science. I mean, it's exactly.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, yeah, me too. That. I mean even now when we look at the backlash against it, you have to say it's difficult. I would definitely say to you that celebrities make things worse. We know this overall that they don't actually. People want celebrities not to do these performative things in general politics and in business and maybe even in something like Me too, where they were talking advisedly about their own industry. So I think that's on the fence. But in general they don't work. I remember during a huge strategy during the Remain campaign, which famously didn't do very well, was to get like open letters from 100 big business leaders, 100 small medium business leaders to the Times. It's like I'm starting to feel that maybe this isn't the format you think it is. There was famously one against Einstein. He'd.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, I signed that.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

Well, I thought finally something.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, finally something I can get behind. He published his theory of relativity and then this pamphlet, pamphlet came out which was 100 authors against Einstein.

[Marina Hyde]

Wow.

[Richard Osman]

And he said the thing which I've just said, which is why. Why a hundred, if they were right, one would have been enough. And you know, he understood maths and he understood which is relevant to open letters. And he understood, as his theory proved, that frames of reference are subjective. I'm trying to think if I've signed any open letters. I really try not to. I signed one letter to the Guardian's letters page from other Guardian writers about not selling the observer because I thought there would be different ways if it were me, which it wasn't of getting down headcount if you were willing to have a confrontation with the union as an example. And I signed that. So that was But I, but that's not even.

[Marina Hyde]

That's not really an open letter, is it? A letter to management from.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, I've signed internal things at places and I've signed. But even not very many of those. But I have signed things. But I. And I would always think it would be more effective to write alone.

[Marina Hyde]

Yes.

[Richard Osman]

About something then. But I really think it's a way so often of people in the public eye kind of ticking off like I. Look, I've said I'm against this or that. I'm said I'm against this war crime I'm witnessing. I've said I'm against whatever it is. It's just a way of saying of sort of addressing responsibilities and I really think they do not make any difference and I absolutely don't think they're going to make any difference in this whatsoever.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, you do get asked to sign a lot. I tend to. The only thing I was asked if I put my name in that blank book, which was, which is Authors against AI. And I thought, well, I am an author and it's a, it's a, it's a publicity stunt, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not trying to.

[Richard Osman]

But it's about your industry and it's about. I think there's something slightly different. I mean, again, you'll say, well, this is about their industry. I think it was something so specific. And you have been a victim of an alleged crime.

[Marina Hyde]

Yes.

[Richard Osman]

And why shouldn't you?

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, yeah, but it's. Yeah, they very, very rarely do anything and I, I, I am with you. I think that it tends to turn people off things rather than the other way around. I think, you know, it's one of those things that it's very, very easy to use its weight against it.

[Richard Osman]

They're very welcome individually to say in all their interviews and all their. Whatever. Even people with access to public platforms, I think we've established, so they're welcome to do that all. But I think in the general sort of, please don't tear yourself apart on it. It's a complete waste of time doing that. You wouldn't be in even worse trouble are already.

[Marina Hyde]

But also not signing a letter doesn't mean you disagree with the letter, it just means you disagree with having your, your opinion put with 500 other people's opinion. And yeah, that's. Which is a different matter.

[Richard Osman]

Agree. Here's a good one about panelists writing notes from Kat. No surname, which I know you'll disapprove of.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah, maybe it's cat from 8 out of 10 cats.

[Richard Osman]

Maybe it is. Maybe it's Kat from the New Power Generation and Prince.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, do you think?

[Richard Osman]

Yeah, I think so.

[Home Depot Advertiser]

Wow.

[Marina Hyde]

She would say, wouldn't she?

[Richard Osman]

Well, she says she loves watching panel shows, so case closed, as far as I'm sure.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, may well be okay.

[Richard Osman]

I love watching panel shows. My favorites are Would I Lie to you? And qi. I often see the comedian panelists writing down what seem to be notes when something funny is said, what are they writing down? I doubt I could use. They could use the same exact joke again. So what will they do with those notes? It's been bugging me for years.

[Marina Hyde]

Wow. Well, it's been bugging you for years. Well, let me debug you if you. If you know what I mean. It's different on different shows. Really. On Would I Lie to youo'd never really take on notes. I mean, you might have a pen and obviously you've got bits of. Of paper you can. You can write on there. But with a show like qi.

[Richard Osman]

Why? Because it's happening so quickly that.

[Marina Hyde]

Well, because. What are you writing? I mean, it is the question, what are you writing?

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

Notes about occasion, what you might do. And it's what I'll talk about now because I think. I think there's only one reason you write things down on a panel show so often. You'll take on notes. So if you're doing have I Got News for you, for example, you roughly know what some of the stories might be, and so you noted down a line or something. You will see people very rarely look at their notes because, you know, if you're a new comedian on that show, sometimes you would have written jokes just to make sure you get off to a good start. And occasionally you'll see someone just sort of glancing down at a. At a written joke. But usually you wouldn't. Usually you would. You know, if I'm on, I'll just write 1, 2, 3, 4, and I just go, you know, budget Trump, just to know roughly, you know, what. What we might be talking about. The only time I take notes, I think it's the same as other people. It's a real comedians thing. And it. And it's callbacks. And that's the only reason you would. You would write something down. So say I'm doing have I Got News for you? And on round two, which is, you know, where they kind of look at the silly little stories of the week, there's a question about, you know, say there's counselor Stephen Anderson from, you know, so. And so and so where who's the crime commissioner of a certain council has been arrested for, you know, stealing stuff or you know, fiddling's expenses or something like that. And that's the story now, if that comes up. So that's a story no one knows as a story we haven't heard, of course. But I know now in the show there's a story about a guy whose thing is that he's. That he's a thief.

[Richard Osman]

Yeah.

[Marina Hyde]

And his name is Counselor Stephen Anderson. So I will write down the name Counselor Stephen Anderson because later on in the missing words round, you know, might be something like experts say what can be seen from space? And you can just go, is it Councillor Stephen Anderson's expense account? You know, it's stuff like that or anything that comes up that is an interesting person or an interesting concept or idea during that show, you might just write down just to A, remind yourself that it came up or B, as I say, if it's someone's name, just remind yourself who that person's name is. Just because it helps you later on when you're doing a callback. Because what you want to do is make the show feel like it's of one piece and that you're not just going in with pre prepared jokes about something that you know, you are aware that the show is its own thing and that Councillor Stephen Anderson can become a comic character in the rest of that show. But if you've forgotten his name then he's not going to become a comic character at all. So it's just that really there's no other reason to write stuff down. People sometimes will doodle. That's definitely the case because there'll be moments, you know, little recording break or something or don't forget when, when you're recording it, it you record it for much, much, much longer. So you know, if you're on what I lied to you and you've just said I once stole an Easter egg from Jeremy Clarkson. I'd be like, okay, so we're questioning you for 10 minutes and very early on you say this is, you know, 1997. So I'll just write down 1997 just so you know, like a police officer would do in an interrogation. So that's very specific, very specific to that. But other than that it is, yeah, it is literally just for the kind of cont. Comic conceit of what might be useful later on in the show. You're not writing down what someone said or someone else's joke or anything like that. You're literally going, oh, this is one of the characters of this show. I'm going to write that down. But it is literally just a little aid. Memoir or comic mechanics or doodling. Yep. And those are the only things that can be, I'm afraid, or very, very occasionally, if you're asked to do a pickup, you will write down what that pickup is, but that you'd never see that in the. In the final version of the show anyway. So, Cat, I hope that is helpful. Last but not least, Andrew. No surname. Andrew says, I am baffled, baffled by the recent decision, Andrew, this is by Los Angeles county to revoke permission to film the reshoot of the iconic 90s show Baywatch at Venice beach after only two days of filming. I note that Karen Blass Lodge, Angeli's mayor, has tried to row back. But nevertheless, what signal does this give producers who are deciding on which city to base their shoots? I'm sure that having to relocate must have cost the production a fortune. Who complained? And why was the complaint upheld?

[Richard Osman]

Okay, this. I. By the way, I think this story is based on a false report from Crew Stories, which is a online forum where people sort of anonymize their experience of working on various shows, almost always to say, we're being taken advantage of. Or look at this scandalous thing.

[Marina Hyde]

Oh, cruise like CIA.

[Richard Osman]

But in Los Angeles, in California, State of California, you do, by the way, need a permit for absolutely everything. Every single tiny thing in life you need a permit for. And in this case, you needed one from the California Coastal Commission, and they were given it. And actually, I think they were. It has been updated because they needed more space. They need a larger footprint on the beach. They need to be able to do night shoots. Okay, so it's. Don't worry, it's still going ahead and it's still on the iconic Venice Beach. They've got a tiny bit of the beach shut off. I mean, it's an extraordinary small piece. I read somewhere that it was something like 300 square foot of beach. Beach that they can shut off at any more time, which when you know that beach is very, very big. And also I'm amazed how happy I was to make it look like lots of different bits of beach, because that's a very small footprint. But it's interesting, the question simply because they are, as you've probably read, they're trying to bring as much filming back to California and to Los Angeles in particular. And there's always been a sense that Los Angeles could end up like Detroit, you know, a place that was once, yeah. A thriving center of an industry and then. But falls into decline in this kind of baroque and awful way really. And Baywatch is a keystone of this because you think of how many productions are filmed all around the world and so many now in the uk. But say what you like about our weather, the one thing you're not going to be doing on just outside of the M25 is Baywatch.

[Marina Hyde]

It's not going to be Crema.

[Richard Osman]

I'm sorry to hear the they Leaveston hasn't got it, I'm afraid. But they've given them $20 million in tax. $21 million in tax credits for 12 episodes, which is a lot. One of the reasons they want to build it back is if you think of that particular city and particularly around Hollywood, is that it's a whole ecosystem and there are lots of little small businesses like drivers and florists and all the things that kind of make up a whole economy and. And outside places none of that happens. And there really are so many stories of unemployment in the business. But the reason it may be difficult to do it is because once again I have to say that the reason LA is very expensive is unless they do huge tax incentives. And we do in this country, by the way, which is why so much is now here is because of their labor laws, they are so unionized, it's so much more expensive to make something there. And that's one of the big stumbling blocks. But the other thing is, yes, you are right, it is massively bureaucratic and it is a lot easier to. To get permits here than it is there. But you know, the sunshine, the weather very much. But yes, that is one of the big stumbling blocks to it getting back. And they've had to have a lot of meetings and go back and forth to expand those permits, but they have got them. The two stumbling blocks do remain their labor laws and the sheer amount of bureaucracy to get something done. If you're filming in a studio lot, of course that's fine.

[Marina Hyde]

Yeah. But imagine how easy it would be to shoot that in South Africa. Save which. Which often, you know, stands in for outside outdoors America. Yes, it would be, you know, they'd throw out the red carpet would be out for you. The tax dollars would be there or

[Richard Osman]

the tax rands and unpicking it all, given it's on the statue, but is actually quite difficult. So I mean I do think that they are going to have to. Apart from offering the big incentives, I would not suggest that they went into battles with the unions But I would say that unpicking some of the bureaucracy is a big part of how they're going to. If they are going to bring more production back to la, they'll have to unpick some of the bureaucracy.

[Marina Hyde]

Put it this way, it's so hard to film Baywatch that before it started, David Hasselhoff was called David Hoffman.

[Richard Osman]

He was hustled. He was beyond hassle. Yeah, you see, that winds us up for today, other than to say that tomorrow we have the final installment in our epic Spice Girl series for members. If you would like to join for ad free listening and bonus episodes, it's theresticentertainment.com otherwise, we'll see you on Tuesday.

[Marina Hyde]

See you next Tuesday, Sam.