Trending With Dr. Pam Spurr – Gary Hollywood, Rick Live

Hello and welcome. I'm Dr. Pam Spurr here with you on the men's radio station and of course on the women's radio station every Thursday on a fortnight for The trending with Dr. Pam Spur show. Now, every week, as you know, I always have fantastic guests who talk about things that matter to your life. It's all about well being and good mental health. Don't forget, you can follow both stations, the men's and the women's radio stations, on Twitter and on Instagram, Facebook, all the usual places and of course at their websites. So check out the other shows too. Now this show we stream on a Thursday and then it's repeated as an audio radio show on Fridays at 4pm Now I wanted to say that I'm really, really excited about my first guest. It was very kind of him to stand in when the lovely Ben Ofudu had to stand down today due to something with his bench band, Boys on Block. So Ben will be back soon, hopefully the next show. He's always back by popular demand. So he recommended his friend, the international dj, producer and artist who has worked with some big names. His name is DJ Rick Live. You can find him on social media at iamricklive and his website is rickliveofficial.com I'm planning a big party there this autumn, so I may just find out if Rick can do the DJing for me. But he should be joining us any moment now and I'm really looking forward to that. What an amazing backdrop. Oh yeah, I'm at Golden Square in Central. So yeah, I thought the park would be a great place to do it. Oh, I know Golden Square, that's, you know, right in the heart of Soho. That's right. Yeah, it is. So I'm so glad when, when Ben called me yesterday saying that, you know, there was no way he could do today, he was really sorry. He had this, has this big gig coming up with, you know, Boys on Block and he said if I could, you know, get his. If he could get his friend Rick live, that would be great. And so you're here with me now. First off, what I wanted to ask you about before we get into confidence from the eyes of a performer like yourself, is what was it like when the pandemic struck for you as a dj? I mean, that must have been crisis time. Yeah, I mean as a, the DJ part of me. Yeah, it was, it was terrible. It was very much like, yes, you know, your bookings are on. No, they're not. It was just, it Was absolute chaos, to say the least. But luckily enough for me personally, because I'm a producer as well, that was kind of my saving grace. So it was very much like, head down, get the projects done. And, yeah, it opened a lot of doors for me, which was fantastic. So I worked with some. Some really huge international artists, so really honored and blessed that they kind of jumped on the bandwagon. And, yeah, it kind of saved me, you could say, because it just kept my mind focused and just put all my energy into that, really. And when you were working with these artists, was it like remotely like, like we are now, or was it getting together in the studio with COVID measures or whatever? A bit of both, really. Right at the beginning, it was very much, how are we going to do it over the Internet? No one kind of knew what and how we could do it. But luckily, again, because I. I do my own radio show on a Thursday, I. I'm kind of a bit of a techie, you could say. I kind of know, you know, you could go onto teams and you could take over someone's computer from a private location and as soon as someone's in a studio, luckily again, because I have my own studio and all the people I was working with have their own studio, it was very much like, switch it on, let me connect to you, and then I can control it from here. And it was just. It was just remote. So, yeah, it was, like I said, a blessing again. It was just like all the sort of coins sort of, you know, fell into place and it was just perfect. But I didn't look very, very difficult. I didn't know you wanted to do a radio show. I didn't add that in your. When I was saying about you. Yeah. Is that a music show or what? What is it? It is, yeah. It's predominantly just more about, like, the dance music and what's current right now. But from time to time, I do a lot of flashbacks, probably once a month or once every other month where I bring an artist on from back in the day, from, like, the Night of the Noughties. I've had, like, Errol Reid from China Black, I've had Michelle Heaton, Katie Price, some of those names. So just bringing them back onto radio and just saying, what's going on with you? What's changed? And just catching up, really. So, yeah, it's really. It's cool. I love Michelle. I've had her on other radio shows too. She's always a great guest. I know Katie, but I've never had her on my show. So lucky you getting her on your show. She's a difficult one, let me tell you. She's a difficult one, but she's been on a couple of times, so, yeah, very, very blessed and honored. And what about with. Now that the pandemic, you know, everything's loosened, we can kind of get about our lives. Does that mean it's all change again for you, or are you kind of keeping with some of the new ways of working? It's kind of like. I wouldn't say it's gone completely back to the way it was. It's difficult. It's like the weekends have. I'd say the weekends have definitely kind of gone back to the way they were, if that makes sense. But when it comes down to the weekends are. Sorry, the weekdays, it's very difficult. Not a lot of people are coming out. I don't know if it's because they've just got themselves into new routines where they're at home or doing other things or, again, people are just too scared to come out still. So it's difficult. But, yeah, I wouldn't say we're, as you know, from the performance side of things, we are back where we left off. I'd like to probably think. I'd say we're probably about 11, 12 months away from there. I'd like to think so. Anyway, wow. Urban Angels just joined us. She says Rick's job sounds great and really interesting. Kudos for adapting in Covid. It's great to see you thrive. I love Urban Angel. She's great. She's always a fab contributor. So tell me about how you got into DJing. Because my children all wanted to be DJs when they were like 13, 14, got decks. They never then went that far, obviously, as I tell you, their DJ names. But what drove you? Because it seems like every teenager I've ever met wanted to be a dj. Yeah, I think it was like the cool thing to do. But for me, when I was really, really young, I've always been a worker. You know, my mom's a hard worker, my nan, my gran. And so my granddad was a milkman. And believe it or not, me on the weekend, I wanted to earn money. So when I was eight, nine years of age, I used to go out on the milk brands with him. So we'd be driving around London listening to Capital Gold and we'd listen to all of the classics. You know, at that time, back in, you know, the early 80s, you know your Michael Jackson's Whitney Houston, right? Across the board to the drifters that were on. So my ear was very much to the ground of what was current then. And at the same time, in my youth, when I'm at school, we was listening to a lot of the dance music and some stuff that was coming out, and I really had an ear for it. And my granddad said to me, you know. You know, if you want to do it for, you know, do some parties and stuff, we could probably get something together, but you're going to need equipment and obviously we don't really have the money. So I was like, don't worry, I'm gonna go. So I went and got a paper round. I started bottling up in my local pub to earn some extra money. And then I just like buying bits, one, one piece after another until I had everything. And then I think just before my 10th birthday, I did my first booking in a Royal British Legion in Enfield in a little club. And it was very. It was very surreal. I was very nervous. And when I got there, everyone had kind of. Because I had. My granddad dropped me off, obviously, and when he had left, everyone was coming up to me going, you know, where's the DJ gone? When is he on? And I'm like, no, I'm here, guys, I'm. It's me. And the first look was like, oh, my God, what have we got ourselves into? But by the end of the night, it was like, I couldn't have any more business cards, they'd all gone. And then it just. It just kind of went from there, really. That is incredible. Sorry, I've got to hear more about this. So you were 10 years old? Yeah, my 10. My. Just. I think it was three days before my 10th birthday, I had my first booking in a Royal British Legion where I was playing a lot of rock and roll. George Benson, again, I go back to the. The obvious is like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston and stuff like that and just absolutely rocked the place. So, yeah, it was. It was surreal. And like I said from there, giving out a lot of my business cards. So then led me on to having my first nightclub residency when I was 11 years old in a nightclub. And at that time, yeah, night club rules. I just think it was just the. The rules were different back then. There was a lot more leeway, you know, it was like, yes, you're 18, you've got the 18 to serve drinks in a. In a nightclub you kind of can be in, but you can't because you're in a DJ booth. So there was. I don't really know how they, they played it. Looking back at it now, it probably wasn't allowed, but I did really well and, and again, you know, when I was 11, 12 years old at that time, you know, your DJ like an MC Neets and Michelle Heaton and Liberty X and everyone was kind of starting to sort of come through around the 90s and the noughties and my career just kept going up and up and up. So. Yeah. Is this unusual with DJs? I mean, I hope anybody listening who has a child wants to be a dj. It's all about the hard work and getting yourself out there. But. Yeah. Do you know any DJs who were doing things like you did at very young age? No, it was, it's very difficult. I mean, in, in this industry, whether, I think, whether you're a dj, a singer, any sort of performer, anything in the entertainment industry, there's a lot of highs and lows and there's a lot of times where you think, you know, you're sort of banging your head against the wall and you, you don't know how to move forward or keep going and it's really difficult. But you, you just have sort of patches where you just have to get your head down, do what makes you feel happy and then just keep going with that. And then you'll come through the other side and you, you'll see the staircase again and then, and then away you go. It's very much like that. And I feel if you make it to your 30s and you're still DJing at a good level, you'll probably do it for the rest of your life. Wow. I'd like to think so. Anyway. Yeah, if you make it to your 30s because of the, the lifestyle, you know, I've known DJs and that, you know, the all night raves they might do. I mean, it can be, it can be just crippling and to relationships. Yeah. You know, I know DJs who, you know, one of my DJ friends who has been DJing for quite a long time will call me up and say I've lost another relationship, you know, because of the hours, because I'm just, I'm like a night person. It's really hard. It is really hard. I mean, again, I think it comes down to the blessings that I've got is where I've kind of got an understanding. My. Yeah, sorry, your sound is just gone. I can't hear you. Can you hear me now? I can. Sorry about that. Yeah, I think that one of the blessings I'VE got is when I. I got with my wife right from the very beginning, you know, I said to her, you know, this is my lifestyle, this. I've laid all the cards on the table right at the beginning and, you know, if you're with me, let's do it. If not, I need to know now. And luckily she came in with both feet and yeah, we all the kind of European bookings that I get. Anything abroad, I tend to take her with me as much as I can. That really that you were saying that. What? The sound's gone again. There you go, it's back. Yeah, I think I've got way too many pigeons flying around me. Get back. I won't want to land on your shoulder as long as you don't have a phobia of birds. So I think we might have lost the sound again, sadly. Not quite sure why. You've got a good picture, but the sound is a bit. No, I still can't hear you. So if you keep talking, I'll also keep talking and, and we'll see what happens. Still can't hear you. No. Oh, this is so frustrating. You've got so many good things to say. Do you. Do you know why the sound might cut out. No, can't hear you. Can't. Can't hear you. No, can't. Can't hear you at all. I can see you. Okay, so I'm going to keep talking because Rick is in central London doing this spontaneous interview and we are going to be talking about confidence from a performer's eyes, at least I hope we're going to be because that obviously he's a performer since age 11. And I always think I love getting my psychologist friends on the show, but I also like getting people with. From a different perspective with different occupations on the show to talk about things like confidence boosting and how they get it and what we can learn from someone else who does a different occupation to us. But how they actually face things like what performers have to face, you know, getting on stage, talking in front of people, performing, entertaining and how they can actually do that and what do they do? How do they find that inside themselves? How do they get the confidence? Because if there's one thing I get a lot of in my mailbag, it is questions about confidence and self esteem. So people will say things like, I always thought I was quite confident, but when I was asked to do a presentation at work, I just literally had a heart attack. I was panic stricken. I thought, how am I going to do this? I'm Used to relating to colleagues, but I cannot actually do what I'm worried about doing, what I've been asked to do. So something like a presentation, so I really understand it. I, I, I constantly get questions about confidence with facing a partner with a difficult question, those kinds of things. I'm just going to check my mobile. This, this is an interesting show because I'm wondering if Rick has messaged me or something and is going to let me know what's going on. No, no, we had him just fine until just those few minutes ago when we lost the sound. So while we're waiting for him to reconnect, I thought I would go through a couple things about confidence that I talk about with clients. And the very first thing I always talk about is ask them to think about a time when their confidence was high. What made that time like that? Were they on an even keel in their main relationship? Was work going really well and there weren't kind of stresses and strains, you know, had they just achieved a goal, you know, what was it that gave them that confidence? So that's a really good starting point to think about, to just take the time to think about when your confidence has been high or higher. Because a lot of people say to me, well, it's never really been high, but I'll say, but when was it better than this? What was going on? Very often people will then say, well, actually this was happening. That made me feel good about myself and so I could crack on. I could face things that were being thrown at me. I could face challenges like talking to people at work, you know, talking maybe to my manager about issues. I had the confidence to raise that. So we always look at, break it down to what was going on that made things go well for them. And so that, that is always a good, a good starting point. Just looking at some messages to see what's happening with Rick. He's trying to get his sound sorted out. So that's the starting point. Looking at when you did feel confident in life, what was going on, breaking it down, what made you feel confident? And then we look at the opposite. What you think is wrong in your life in a way that you feel you can't manage it, that you feel it's beyond your control, that it's really sapping your confidence. And that way when we start looking at the sort of what you see as the negatives in your life, we can start tackling those. So I say, okay, so negative in your life is your manager at work totally doesn't get that you are Picking up the slack for another colleague, it's really running you down. You're tired, you're not sleeping because you're working at it, you know, at all the time, because you're picking up the slack of a colleague who's not doing their job. Let's take that scenario. And so then I say, okay, so how can you set a goal to overcome that difficulty? And that's when we start thinking, well, actually, this is. You see it as a negative, but actually it's really just a challenge. And it's a challenge you can set goals for, to actually manage and rise to. So that's the sort of second step that I use with clients who are struggling with confidence. And then we move on to actually their own messaging. What messaging are you giving yourself? What is your brain telling you that inner monologue? Is it something like, oh, you can't possibly do that talk at work? You know, John, my colleague, did an amazing talk recently. I'll never live up to that. Everybody laughed at his jokes. Everybody came out saying what a great presentation that was. I just cannot live up to that. So you look at that messaging and you go, that's all about a little devil on your shoulder telling you just, you cannot be as good as John. So instead of allowing that little devil on your shoulder to say that, you then look at, okay, I'm going to change that inner monologue. And I'm going to say to myself, this is manageable. John did his presentation, and he did it very well. I'm going to do my presentation, and I aim to do this that well. And so that takes you away from comparing yourself to someone. You can never do a presentation like John. You're not John. You have to do a presentation like, I don't know, your name is Chloe. You have to do Chloe's presentation. So that is really, really crucial to. To managing what you can do with that image inner monologue. And. And if you can actually start talking yourself up. And that way, I'm just messaging back to my producer. This is hysterical because we've totally lost Rick now. Gosh. And it was good. It was going so well, that interview. So that inner monologue that you need to become aware of. You want to change that little devil to that little angel on your shoulder who's saying, no, no, it's okay. You're not John. You're not going to do the same presentation. You can do your thing, and let's look at the goals to get there. And that would be really critical to helping your confidence by learning to listen to that inner monologue and learning to check it and say, no, I'm not listening to that negativity. I'm actually going to start messaging myself in a positive way. And that brings you to the point where you can start feeling that that new voice is telling you a problem is just a challenge. You can set goals to reach that challenge, and that starts building your confidence. And it's really crucial when you're doing this process to just give yourself the time and the space. And we all live such busy lives that it can be really hard covering at that time. But if you just spend five minutes a day working on that inner monologue and telling yourself to challenge it, allowing yourself to tell yourself good things and nice things and calming things, that research shows that after three weeks of challenging that inner monologue, you can really start to change it. Now, three weeks sounds like a long time. I know, but trust me, if your inner monologue has been negative for 20 years, three weeks is nothing. Or if your inner monologue has only been negative for a year since your partner cheated on you and your confidence hit rock bottom, it's still a very short time. And it's a one day at a time thing. It's really important to one day at a time tell yourself those positive things. Spend five minutes a day doing it, and then you can start feeling the difference. A week, two weeks, three weeks down the line. It's almost like a little bit of meditation. I had that fantastic guest on again, Taryn Kalmeier, recently, who's so good with the kind of meditation and mindfulness stuff, and she and I were talking about similar sort of things with how we can change that inner monologue. We can become more mindful of the good things in our lives. We can start focusing where we want to focus and not focus so much on the negative. So let me just recap on confidence building, since it looks like we're. We've totally lost Rick, which is a real shame because he and I had planned a really lovely interview when Ben recommended him. So it's first off, start thinking about your positives that you've had in the past with your confidence. Remember what was going on to make you feel that way that gave you that confidence. Now look at what you see as the negatives, which are the challenges in your life, which are sapping your confidence, and look at goals to sort those out. Then the next step is thinking about that inner monologue and changing it up. I've met a lot of people in my work. Obviously it's totally people centered and the people who are most confident are the best at making it a habit to focus on their positives, to look at their negatives realistically and not overdramatically, not changing everything into a drama. And that way they become engaged in a good quality focus of where they can take their life and how they can manage that. And so that is my sort of rundown on, on, on how we can manage our confidence. Again, I'm so sorry we lost Rick because that was going to be one fantastic interview. It started so fantastically now. But I'm delighted to say that my next guest is ready to join me. He is an actor, a presenter, he also has a radio show and now running his own gin company. I'm waiting for my free sample actually. Okay, let me tell you about him. You might have seen him in anything from Taggart to the Scott high Road and Mrs. Brown's Boys. He's worked with some of the top names in the acting world like the late Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Philadel on social media. You can find him at mrgarry Hollywood and I'm delighted that he should be joining me now. Hi. Hello Gary. Thank you for joining me. Not at all. This is a bit unusual because at the moment I'm at London Stansted and I was hoping to get through to the lounge and find a quiet space for this but of course the baggage drop hasn't opened yet so I do apologize. Well listen, we've got you, you sound good, you look good. And after my last wonderful guest we were in the middle of a wonderful interview and his sound just went and then his vision just went oh no. So I gave a little bit of a chat on confidence boosting which I due to do with Rick but I had to just give a little lecture on my own here. So I'm so glad you're with me now Gary. Now first off, you know I want to talk about the, the acting and you got into it really early so can you tell me about that please? Yeah. I had never done any drama before and I had just started high school and in the first year and the drama teachers had approached and said that they've had a call from Scottish television and through various schools in Glasgow. They were on the hunt for new talent to star in a three episode of Taggart and so they were looking for a blonde headed boy to begin with and my drama teacher said well we don't have a blonde headed boy but we've got a ginger. And so there was 50 odd children in Glasgow to go for this edition and so I turned up with my mum and being the only ginger in the room, you know. Yeah, you stood out. I stood out for sure and felt so uncomfortable. But yeah, glad to see that I got it. It gave me the bug and as they say, I've never looked back since. That is fantastic. And was it? Although you were obviously doing drama, so you're interested in it and your drama teacher kind of spotted you and said, you know, you should go, even if you're ginger, you need to go to this. Yeah, she saw something there and as I said, I hadn't long started high school and hadn't long started drama classes, but yeah, she thought that I should go for it and I'm glad I did. And thankfully I still have my drama teachers in my life that became great friends and I'm very thankful to them. Now we've got lovely Urban Angel. She said, hi, Gary, My daughter Natalie is off with COVID Could you please say hi as she loves Mrs. Brown boys and adores you. Oh, hi, Natalie. Please get well soon. I'm sending you lots of love. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, I know Urban angel and yeah, Tally's been very unwell but she's doing better so that's great. But I didn't realize that they were Mrs. Brown's voice fans. That's fantastic. And thank you, Urban angel or for saying I was giving good advice when I was doing my monologue on my own. Gary, if you want confidence boosting advice, I've just given 10 minutes of it. Keep it coming, keep it coming now. So, yeah, you started young, tell me what for you. And they may not be obvious looking at your cv, but what for you have been personal acting highlights so far. I think that the soap opera in Scotland certainly taught me a lot about acting. Regards discipline and learning. You know, when we were doing the soap opera, we were doing three episodes a week, so we had to be, you know, full of discipline and quick learning, quick remembering your lines. So I enjoyed that very much. And then I loved. We touched on the Winter Guest which was written by Sharma McDonald, who's Keira Knightley's mother. And Alan Rickman, God rest him, had asked me to be part of his directorial debut movie the Winter Guest with Emma Thompson and Philadello and Sandra Vo, Sheila Reid and so that was, you know, Britain's final Alan. Yeah, I learned a lot from. From Alan. He became a mentor. I'm very, very grateful to him. And then of course Mrs. Brown's boys, which then you know, made me a household name, certainly in the UK and further afield. And, yeah, you know, needless to say, we had, you know, 20 years of doing the show and thoroughly enjoyed it. That is incredible. And you know, what I like about what you've said is it seems like what the highlights for you were kind of the learning process. And from the actors that I've known. And funny enough, I did a year of acting classes about eight years ago. I've never used them. But one thing I like about what you said is that you just see it as a learning process. It's like. It's very definitely like any art, the learning process never stops. I don't. Never stops. Never stops. And I was so lucky that I worked with fantastic talent. So, of course you want to be that sponge, don't you, in any walk of life, of any career, but. And learn and listen. So I was very, very lucky and loved the process along the way and looking forward to what the future holds regards to the acting world. And I was going to say, with things like drawing deep to find a character and drawing from real life and drawing from other things you've seen, how does that process work for you when you try to shape a character? Yeah, with the characters. Yes. It's also, you know, depending on the script and like Dino, I based Dino and Mrs. Brown's Boys from a friend of mine from high school. Do they know that? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I thought this was a revelation. I'm gonna go find that high school friend of yours and tell them. And I'm very thankful to. His name is Thomas. I'm very thankful to Thomas. But yeah, so it is also pulling characters that you've met along the way, and that helps. And as you go along, finding these characters, trying to remember these characters and tapping into them as you go. Now, have you ever had, like, one thing I was going to ask Rick about performing as a DJ was about stage fright. So whether you're. It's a filmed production or if you're on a stage, have you ever encountered that? Oh, yeah. You know, people would often ask, do you still, you know, are you still nervous before you go on stage when you're doing Mrs. Brown? And yes, is the answer. I think. I think if you don't have that, I would be worried. But there's. You always have that. I always had that nervous tummy before you go on stage or before you start recording, TV or a movie. And then once you start and once you're running with it and then it slightly. You know, goes through. Through the show. But you certainly have that. And I would be worried. I'd be frightened if I never have that frightened stage fright. I can see from a psychological perspective that, yes, some anxiety or some stage fright, let's call it, heightens our performance. It actually lifts it. It does. When you tip over into extreme anxiety, then of course, then it diminishes your performance, of course. And I think, you know, with the stage fright is. It is the adrenaline rush. And once you're out there, then, okay, you can relax and especially working with other actors and you know that they've got you covered and therefore you work together. But yes, it does. As long as you say when it goes to that level, then it's a different. It's a different thing that we're looking at. I'll never forget one time, I'm not going to say who it was. I was watching a London theatre production and an actor got stuck. But obviously the person who feeds lines, or however it works hadn't realized. And then suddenly the actor said, line, please. Like in the middle of the performance, because everything had just kind of stopped. And I guess either the person who's supposed to somehow feed lines, I don't know how they do it, but you know, had just momentarily not been paying attention, or they assumed the actor was doing some sort of dramatic pause when actually the actor can remember their line. And I thought, how often does that happen? I'd only ever seen that once. Of all the times within the theater, that actor actually said, line, please. Oh, my goodness. I think how. You know, in the times of Mrs. Brown on stage, we were very lucky because you had the character of Mrs. Brown and so you always knew that if. And Brendan would always know. And because we worked with each other for so long, so the choreography was there that we would sense if anyone was in trouble. And of course, because of the character of Agnes, you know, you would cover no problem. And most, most of the time, if you did run into problems, Brendan would certainly, if he knew about it, would certainly let the audience know also. And we could get away with it because of the comedy. Yes. Create your own comic moment. Forget your line. Now, talking about developing a character and having to dig into your own personal life. I know you very kindly said you would share about losing your elder brother Gerard, and how that the grief process has been for you. Can you please tell me how that happened and how it's still how you're feeling now and how you've dealt with grief in a country that does not do Grief very well. We are told to hide and man up. But yeah, again, it's day by day. It's a year on now and it doesn't get any easier. But I do find that, you know, it comes in waves. You know, he'll never be forgotten. Of course, none of our loss is ever forgotten. So it's just we know that we have to go on with life and of course, because with Gerard it was sudden, so there was no preparation for this. But we get there and with the help of family and friends and mum and dad, we all try and be strong. And of course, at the time Jared passed, we just had a little baby. So that was sort of a little angel left and it gave us something to focus on. We also would like, you know, we'd like to think that that was Jared leaving us a little gift to cope with it all. And so, yeah, it does come and go, you know, like a song or the smell of food that Jared would like or a song that Jared would like. So, yeah, it's just day by day that we. That we have to deal with and again, remember the memories and yeah, I find if you want to cry in the car, then do it because, you know, then you get your strength again. It's just day by day. Well, I like what you say day by day because a lot of people I've spoken to who are going through bereavement often feel it's such a huge thing, it's such a traumatic loss. Is it always going to feel this bad? And I always recommend just take it one day at a time. Today might be a horrible day where you can't get out of bed because you're missing your partner or your brother or anybody that you've lost your child, whatever, might not be so bad and roll with it. You have to embrace the bad days and just do what you can and on your good days, do what you can and almost celebrate that person's memory. Do you have any. Absolutely. The way that you have celebrated Gerard? Because I've talked on this program before about how my late mother loved travel. And after she passed, I kept a number of her socks. And every time I travel, I wear her socks. So I tell her, mom, you're going with me. And so we all find little ways. It gives me comfort. Is there any particular way that you have? I love that. Yeah, I carry a little picture of him. We all do. The family. We all printed this little picture. Jerry didn't smile very much in pictures. He was quite shy when it came to that. And so this particular picture, he was smiling so we all carry that with us. And recently the, the island of Arran, which is in Scotland, which was a favorite place of Gerard's and my mum and dad had never been in all the years that they've lived in Scotland, we were all been, we've all been brought up there, they had never visited. So quite recently, only two weeks ago, I said let's off, you know, let's pack up and we'll go for a week and we'll live in Ireland and visit the places that Jared went to. That's so cool. So that was nice. And we did that in his memory and that helped us too. Yeah. Urban angel says she's sending lots of love to you, Gary, for your loss and thank you. Thank you. Had you started Hollywood ginge, I want to say, or Hollywood gin, I'm not quite sure if you call it Hollywood ginge. Had you, had you started it when Jared was still alive? Yeah, well, we appreciated it. Yeah, yeah, yes. Yeah, I had. We had started it and, but it was a slow process at that point but by the time everything was all launched, etc and how it's going now, then, then Jared didn't see, see it through but he would have enjoyed it. And his tipple is, is vodka which we're working on just now. We're hoping to launch the vodka and, and Hollywood Rum by, by Christmas. So again, you know, that's gave us something else to focus on and, and do and do it in his memory and his. I can't say too much until the launch, but we're going to incorporate his, his name into the Hollywood Vodka. Oh wow. Oh my gosh, that is, that's incredible. That's the way to keep his name alive. And what about starting this whole process? Because I remember being really surprised when I started seeing on social media you mentioning this gin company was starting and whatever. So what gave you the idea? How did you begin this? I'd been thinking about it for years. It was something that I wanted. It was on the bucket list. I would like to do my own gin because that's my favorite tipple and a friend of mine, Libby, and my wife and various friends had said, you know, do it, don't wait till it's too late or don't just have it sitting there and one day you'll regret not doing it. So through various friends that I met, I was then put in the direction of the distillery and had a chat with them and they said, let's do it and we'll help you and we'll guide you. And again, I'm learning and I take their advice and I go with it. And it's been fantastic. I've met some lovely, lovely people along the way. I never knew there were so many gin lovers out there. I didn't realize there were so many gins. There are lots. I'm not even a ginger. I'm a tequila girl. I'm sorry, I'm really basic. Give me a margarita any day. I don't have very refined tastes. It's been so exciting. I was looking at, like, the ingredients in your gin. I was, like, spellbound. I didn't realize there were such ingredients, like herbs and things that you've been using. I mean. And do you actually have ginger in it? Yeah, we do. I wanted to just do also tongue in cheek with having the ginger hair and I wanted to do tongue in cheek and put some ginger in there. And of course then came up with, you know, let's just tongue in cheek again. Hollywood ginge, you know, London Dry gin. So just having a bit of fun with it as well, but as well as creating a good product. And I'm very thankful to the team around me who guided us. And we had two days in gin school, which was fantastic. Changing and tasting all the different botanicals. And of course, my wife was pregnant at the time with Ollie, so she couldn't touch any of it. But her sense of smell, her sense of smell was so strong. So that came in helpful. And so she's looking forward to. Just smell this, darling. You can't drink any air. You won't be able to taste. You won't be able to taste the finished product. But I need your nose, your pregnancy nose. Yeah, yeah. So she. She's looking forward to just, you know, going when we start the. The vodka and the rum, because she's looking forward to trying it all out then. But, yeah, it was a great process. Again, a complete different learning curve for us and I'm glad it's out there and I'm very thankful to everybody that was. That's been involved. But, yeah, so, as I say, there's a lot of hard work still involved. We're still to push it, we're still to get out there. It's all online at the moment and we're all in talks with stores and other shops. But, yeah, really enjoying it, really enjoying the process. And I don't know how many other people with lovely ginger hair that you have enlisted. I remember once on Twitter seeing someone who's quite famous who has ginger hair? I can't remember who it was. Was it there after Jake Wood or was it someone else? And they were, like, thanking you for making the ginge, you know, the Hollywood ginge, you know? Yes. Yeah, it was. Jake woods had certainly retweeted something from Hollywood Gin and they said, you know, we have to support the gingers out there. So I was very grateful to him for that. I'm partly ginger. I've got ginger underlay. Oh, okay. Okay. Because I. I put highlights in my hair. Blonde highlights. But I do have ginger, like, streaks. Yeah, yeah. That are my own ginger color. They're not highlights. Except when I accidentally tried to dye my hair during the pandemic and did dye the top ginger. Totally. I mean, bright. Okay. I slowly faded out, but, yeah. So I. I'm almost an honor agent ginger. That's fine. Do you find that people still make fun of people with ginger hair? Is that still an issue? I mean, do people do this nowadays? No. I think certainly when I was growing up, there was very little gingers. There was only myself and a girl, Lynn Thompson, in our school. That was ginger. There was nobody else with ginger hair. But there's. I find that there's more of us now. So it's sort of the light's, you know, been taken off it. But you couldn't get away with murder when we were growing up because if anything went wrong, it would be you with the ginger hair did it. So we had to behave. But the teacher couldn't do that nowadays. And I remember. No, no, I remember when. That. When I went for Taggart and the director, Sarah Hellings, had said, you know, be proud of your ginger hair because it's unique and it'll make you stand out. And of course, at the time, at 12, you're thinking, I don't see that. But. Yeah, I'm very proud of it now. Yes. Good. As you should be. Yeah. One of my children is quite ginger, and I've always said to them, you just love that ginger. Yeah, yeah, that's it. But it does take me back, like, school days. The kind of teasing that people had, which now, you know, you. You would be in trouble at school. What about with you getting a part so early on, did you get, like, envy? Did people envy you at school? Did you have to put up with stuff because of that? No, actually, the opposite. When. When we were at school and I got the part, it was the. The area of Pollock where I. Where I grew up and the school and the staff and the pupils and the Bullies all turned around and was very, very proud that I was one of them and I was representing them. So it went for the complete opposite where the bullies turned. So instead of, you know, the ginger nuts or whatever other derogatory term of ginger hair, they then became very proud that I was out there supporting the area and the schools. So it sort of, it changed for me. It was just bizarre how it all worked. So that, that, that. Yeah, no, it certainly worked in my favor. They were very supportive, very supportive. And even now when I, when I go back to mum and dad and I go back to the area, everyone's, you know, always behind you and wishing you well and it's as if you know, you're one of them and they're proud, they're proud of you. And when your little chap gets bigger, if, how will you teach him about standing up to bullies if, if he got bullied? Let's say. Oh, I've lost you. Oh. Oh no. Can you hear me now? Can, oh no. And you're frozen this. Can you hear me now? No, I can't hear you now. What's going on with our show today? Oh, I can hear you. Yay. Can you hear me? Yeah, I'm back. Yes, no problem. I was just saying, when your little chap grows up and goes to school, what will you teach him about handling bullies? What would be your. Yeah, I think, you know, certainly to alert the teacher, alert us with it. It's quite a difficult one. I remember when one of my boys was at school and he was going through a situation and. I sort of said, you know, don't rise to it when it becomes physical, you know, speak to the teacher about it, let us know if you can't handle it. And I said sort of what was the issue? And to be honest with you, his bullying was because I was on the telly. That's, that's how he's been singled out and, and sadly it was coming from his household because his parents didn't like Mrs. Brown's boys and therefore this was now knock on effect to him and then him repeating what mum and dad were saying about the show and, and my character and, etc, so. Oh my goodness, it was, it was quite sad. Yeah, that is. But he handled it himself and the derogatory things that the child was saying to my son and Jack had said, you know, it is only acting and you can turn onto a different channel. So that sort of confused this individual. And I said let's, we'll see how this you know, sleep on this. And I'm sure this individual take it back to his household and we'll see how it works out tomorrow before we approach the school. But it turned out that it was that they've slept on it and thought about whatever and it very quickly stopped. Thank goodness. That is an incredibly mature response from your son, you know, saying, oh, it was. Yeah. You could turn on another channel. Of course, I often say that to people. I mean. Or actually, I don't say it, I think it. When I see someone on Twitter just totally slagging off a TV show, I'm going, why are you watching it if you hate it that much? Yeah, don't bother with it. Yeah, I know, I know. I just. And I'm so. I'm very envious that they have the energy to do these things because it wouldn't be me. Life's too short, as I say, and no negativity, please. Thank you. And move on. Is there something with acting that you would like to do a type of role that you haven't had the opportunity? Yeah, it's funny, I was asked this yesterday when I was attending the Trick Awards in London, which was fabulous and so lovely to see. Yeah, it's so lovely to see everyone all back together and socializing. But, yeah, I think because I've spent so many years with comedy and the character of the Dino that I think I would like to go back to drama and go back to a character that just that people wouldn't see me or wouldn't think of me as playing. Yeah. Have you ever maybe a really dark character? Yeah, Yeah, I didn't notice. Yeah. In the high road, it wasn't so much a baddie, but I was. The character was 16 at the time and he was a solvent abuser and he. He was, you know, there was a lot of problems going on in that individual's head. So I think that's probably the. The meanest character I've got to. But yeah, I think. I think I'd like to go back to drama and play something completely different that people have, you know, got to know me as, would see me in complete different light. So we'll see what happens. That would be wonderful. You'll have to get your agent to cast you out there, you know, as. As that's it. I could see that. I could see that. Definitely. You just seem like a multi talented person who could switch on the side. Bless. Thank you. When you told me you're going to the Trick Awards, I don't know whether to take that as a. No, no, take it as a compliment. I think you. You just strike me as a very creative person. I would love to play a baddie. If I ever resurrect my. My acting lessons. I would love to play about. Yes. Oh, my God, how fun. Yeah, but I know, I know. I wanted to ask about the Trick Awards because I haven't been for about eight years and it used to be. And I'm sure it still is a real, you know, people really hit the gin. I hope they're on the Hollywood ginge. So was it very much of a party atmosphere with, you know, people being back together and all that? Yeah, I had. I had never been to the Trick Awards and so it was lovely to attend, it was lovely to be out socializing and, yeah, it was a great energy because everybody was so chuffed and people were seeing friends that they hadn't seen for a while and, yes, there was a few glasses of wine raised and it was just. It was just great. It was a great atmosphere. It was great to see everybody out again and dressed up and an occasion to dress up and occasion to get out and celebrate and of course, you know, the awards ceremony and seeing all the faces and seeing people win their awards and the nominees, it was just fantastic. So thoroughly enjoyed that. It was great to be back. It was great to be back in London and, yeah, now I'll head home to Glasgow, because we're in Glasgow at the moment and head back to Glasgow and get back to the day job and see Ollie. And of course, I've had two nights off, so I'll be on the night, feeds the nappy, changing. How exciting. Showbiz for you. I'm glad you know how to change a nappy. Too many. I get too many. Yes, yes, I do, trust me. I get loads of emails still in 2021 on my website from new, new mothers who say I can't even get them to change a nappy, let alone mop up the baby sick. It's like. I take my turn and if I didn't, then Sherlock would certainly tell me where to go. Actually, thinking of the wards, I'm sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house when Kate Garraway won her award. Did you see that part? Yeah. And she deserves that so much. Oh, yes, I was there to the end and, oh, it was just lovely to see her. And there was a lovely montage of VTs and Derek, of course, and, yeah, the nation. Derek and her family have certainly taken the nation to the heart. And, yeah, I certainly had something in my eye when I was watching her pick up her award for the floor for it all, and quite rightly so, we all got behind her and it was lovely, lovely to see a lovely, lovely woman. And did Piers Morgan's head explode when he won Best News presenter of the Year? Oh, no. I can't believe it. Come back the last couple minutes. I can hear you. You can't hear me. Come back. Well, I, I was just had a couple more questions. If you do. Can you hear me now? I guess you can't hear me. I can't. Are you back? No. Okay, well, listen, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back. You're back. Okay. I was asking you if when Piers Morgan won his award for best news presenter, did his head explode with ego? Oh, that was too funny. But, yes, he certainly, you know, Piers Morgan, he certainly made a few jokes and a few digs, but yes, there we go. We all applauded and let him go on with it and enjoy. Well, listen, I want to round off our chat now with just a couple last questions. First off, do you have any upcoming projects we should know about or are you auditioning for things? There's a couple of projects in line, but nothing that I can say because nothing's guaranteed at the moment. So you'll have to look out for that on social media. And again, I'm just concentrating on getting this vodka and the rum sorted and try and get out for Christmas time and. Yeah, and being a dad. So it's all good. It's all good. Well, I'm so delighted you had time. You're there at Stansted Airport. We made it through. We only lost each other for a short while. We got there, we got there. I wanted to give out your social media. It's rgaryhollywood. Do you have a website for the. The gin or anything? Yeah, you can find Hollywood gin on Twitter, it's Gin Hollywood. And on Instagram, it's Hollywood gin. Yeah. Well, it's been amazing talking to you. You go get your baggage dropped off now. Thank you so much, Gary. I will really appreciate it, Tom. Thank you and God bless. Thank you and God bless you. Lots of love, darling. Oh, I'm so, so glad we got to catch Gary, what a fantastic man, and sharing about his grief. We do not grieve well in this country and we need to do better. We need to feel able to ask each other for help, to talk when you want to talk and to make sure that you get some support, even one trusted family or friend that you can count on if you have been bereaved. Thank you again for joining me. I'll be back in a fortnight and let's hope the guests manage to stay on. So, sorry about losing Rick. It was a fantastic interview. But in the meantime, until a fortnight, take care of yourself. And of course, tomorrow the show is repeated as a radio show at 4pm on both of the stations you take care of.