Trending With Dr. Pam Spurr. Luke Kempner, Rahsaan Jas, Maureen Nolan

Are you feeling anxious? Online therapy 24. 7 is here to help. We offer confidential support from the comfort of your own sofa. Our highly qualified therapists are experienced in a full range of daily challenges. You'll be in safe and trusted hands. Don't suffer alone. Change your life by calling us on 020-755-350 and check out our website onlinetherapy247.com hello and welcome. I'm Dr. Pam Spurr and I'm here with you every fortnight on a Thursday to talk about what's trending. So we're called. The show's called trending with Dr. Pam. Now you can comment and get involved and follow the men's radio station and the women's radio station where this is repeated on Fridays on all the usual social media platforms. Just check out men's radio station, women's radio station and also their.com websites. Now as always, we look at the trends that the politicians and celebrities may be setting but actually have implications for our lives as always. I've got three amazing guests today. Let me tell you about my first guest. Now he is an actor, a comic, an impressionist and I have to say he is my all time favorite impressionist because he's absolutely spot on. He's also a singer. Maybe we can get him to sing us something today. You can find him on social media ukkempner.com and his website is Luke Kempner. Sorry, on social media is at lukekempner and of course his website is lukekempner.com and I'm delighted he should be joining me any second now. Hello. Hello darling. It's so good to see you, darling, how are you? It's good to see you. Well, this is lovely. This is the only way you can meet up with people these days. Anyway, very nice to see you my dear. Dr. Pam, how are you? Well, I've been, I've had a raging cold all week, all the way through your impressions. One thing I just spotted about you is you've got one of those really sleek like racer chairs. Yes. That I've always wanted. This is because I, I now stream on Twitch as sort of a lockdown thing I started last April where I play games and chat to people and yes, my wife got me this for Christmas and it's actually because you can see this here for anyone who is watching the stream, they say it says twit. Luke Kempner's Twitch Match Special. Fantastic. Which is the name of my, my Twitch channel. So. Yeah, yeah, it's all right. Look I know. I want those because they just are so comfortable, but they cost a fortune. So. You've got a very generous wife. Yes, I know. Yeah. She's obviously done something and feels guilty or something. Now, of course, we've all been on lockdown. Obviously, you have your wife to be on lockdown with. Tell me how you personally have found it. Well, I found the second one a bit easier, you know, because the first one, it was sort of getting used to it all. And. What is this? And I ate way too much and I drank way too much. Where. You know, when this one kicked in, it was a bit annoying when it kicked in. I had a holiday booked over New Year, and, you know, it was like, right, I've got to cancel that. And. But I feel very fortunate. You know, I'm on a show called Steph's Packs lunch on Channel 4, which I do twice a week. So I'm up in Leeds twice a week. I get to see people, I get to leave my house. So I'm very fortunate. Dr. Pam, you know, I know a lot of people aren't as fortunate as I am, so I've just tried to keep it as normal as possible and eating healthy and. But, you know, not giving yourself a hard time and practicing your impressions on your wife. Well, yeah. Do you know what? Yeah, not. Not so much. I mean, but definitely doing loads of impressions. You know, like, it's been so interesting seeing the voices that come in and out. You know, it. You know, obviously, I know you've heard me do my Trump many, many times, but, you know, him getting. Him not getting, you know, in for another four years, even though some say I'm still the president. You know, that was a weird one for me because I was like, okay, I gotta say goodbye to that character. And then people were like, oh, you know, are you sad? You know, he's gonna be gone? Are you? I'm like, I'm not sa. That. You know, I've milked that enough. Yeah, but you've milked it to perfection. And you remember when you once talked dirty to me as Trump, which actually made my skin crawl because it was so realistic. Hilarious. Yeah. I think that when. You know what's funny about that? I remember you got me to talk dirty to you, and I know you enjoyed it. Don't pretend you didn't. But I was actually. I was up in Edinburgh at the time doing my tour show, doing my, you know, my. My live show, and I was actually in a corner of a bar doing this live call with you talking Dirty to you as Donald Trump. I mean, you know, when it comes to putting yourself in weird situations, that's got to be the weirdest. Dr. Pam. That has got to be. We've just had the Waffle Shop podcast. Fantastic podcast. Say Legend. Haha. Thank you very much, Waffle Show. How you doing now? Okay, so talking about Trump is obviously still claiming the election's been stolen, so I would have thought you could get mileage out of that. But are you really putting him to one side? I am. You know, because the thing is, is as well, like, there's so many people that think they can do a Trump, but it's not even that the impressions are good or not. It's just the gags are being used and it's sort of like, I feel ready for something new. But then the trouble is, is, you know, obviously Boris has been around for so long, and I know, you know, having him, you know, forefront of the pandemic, it is important, it is important to remember that he is the Prime Minister, you know, which. Which does mean that you are going to have to do, you know, jigs about him. So, you know, you have to remember who's in the limelight. But my favorite one to do at the moment really is Piers Morgan, because he's somebody who's had a complete, you know, change. I remember when everybody used to hate Piers Morgan. Now suddenly he's the one that's holding this government to account. And that's something that I've, you know, I got to. I've been playing him on Spitting Image, and I think he enjoyed it a little bit too much. You know, it served his ego. But he's somebody that's. That's. He's sort of replaced for me, Jeremy Kyle, you know, who's now not on tv, because I absolutely love doing Jeremy Cardi was one of my favorites because you could be so obnoxious, shout at people. And now I get to do that with Piers Morgan. I found my new character. I love it. I love it. And Helen's joined us. Helen. Thank you, Helen. She says, hey, Pam, Luke, good afternoon. And she's laughing. Good afternoon. Yes, good afternoon. Back to you, Helen. Okay. Yeah. So you're Boris again. I remember quite early on. Maybe it was in the middle of the first lockdown. Maybe I've got my. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but maybe it was the summer. But you did that amazing, you know, Boris, which got so many retweets and so much love. Yeah, well, it was just because when he started doing his Press conferences. I just feel like I can, I, I can say what he really means, you know. You know, he often says all these things and it's just, you know, I just feel like it was a chance to say what he really means. And the thing is, you know, when I'm writing stuff, it's always my opinion coming through my characters. You know, like, I love doing Christopher Biggins as well. You know, he's one of my favorites. You know, I, I, I, I don't get to do him enough really. Usually just around Christmas time and panto. I know, yes, well, I know I was stuck at home, darling, but I, you know, but then I, I find gags that I might not want to say myself. But you know, I can, I can often, you know, I could put it through Biggins, you know, or, you know, or, you know, it could be for Andy Murray if it wanted to be, it could be for Alan Carr, you know, if I wanted to put it through him and Homes, I could do that as well. So it just depends, you know, what the gags I want to, I want to say. And it's often not even about them, you know, obviously, you know, Boris stuff, we're, we're doing it, you know, often, you know, he's very much at the forefront. So we are, I am, you know, I, I, I'm extracting the Michael out of, out of him. But you know, with someone like Biggins, he might not be topical, but it, you're talking about something that is topical and then you've got, you're using his voice. Now. One thing that might, I, I would have thought might be hard, maybe, maybe not for you, obviously. What do you think of Biden's voice and mannerisms? Because he is so low key. Yeah, that's hard. Come on, man. I mean, it's, it's one of those things. It's not, you know, a lot of people have said to me, they're like, oh, have you got your Biden yet? And actually I, I should have worked on it already. But I think it's funny actually because it's that thing of sometimes I might be able to do the perfect Biden right now, but you've got to wait for his jokes to come because at the moment Biden is so, it's such a relief, isn't it? You know, it feels like you just feel like, oh gosh, we've got a grown up. Yeah, exactly. The grown ups are here. So I think, you know, there's gonna be times when we can take the mickey out of Joe Biden. And they're coming, you know, because before it was just lots of him being very old and you know, and sort of very slow and all that sort of stuff. So. But I think the jokes will change in the next sort of six months and it'll be interesting to see what there is that we take the mickey out of him for. But it'll come. Do you have a personal favorite? You know that. Well, you just, you are so happy when you do it, even if you don't like the character, like, say Trump. You know, I hate Trump, but I love it when you do it. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It really varies, you know, like, you know, I, I've been quite enjoying doing a little bit more Prince Philippine, Prince Charles, you know, like that because of just watching the Crown recently. So that's been enjoyable to do. You know, often it's when I'm watching something, you know, when I was watching, I watched the Fall. Did you see the fool that they put recently back with the Northern Irish and Jamie Dornan? And it was just. I was doing an impression of his white girl daddy, like. And I enjoyed doing that. But I think my all time favorite is because how I got started is a show called the Only Way is Downton, which was the first. What I did was a parody of, of Downton Abbey and I was doing lots of parodies at times in parodies of X Factor, parodies of the voice, parodies of Andy Murray. And I did one of Downton Abbey and I played all the characters and you know, being Maggie Smith there. Well, I have to say it's a shame that she's not that the show's not on because, you know, it's such an enjoyable impression to do and when. There must come a time when they do a second film and perhaps she'll make another appearance, but until then she'll remain in the canon. So that's your favorite to do? I reckon so. I love it, I love it. But you did do. You did something special last summer. We had the big rock glam wig on. Oh, yeah. What was that about? Do you remember? And you had a photograph on on Twitter of you with this huge summer. Yeah. Was this. Yeah, this would be celebrity karaoke club. So I was getting to. Oh, do you mean that one or do you mean when I was being Joe Wicks? Was it that? No, but can you do Joe Wicks? Oh, my God. Welcome. Amazing. We got Dr. Pam here. We got about a million of you tuning in. Amazing. I'm making this look really hard. It's not amazing. So I. Yeah, like, he's been a joy to do. But no, I mean, is back saying, this is brilliant. This is. It's true. You are brilliant. How do you keep your head from not exploding? Yeah, my wife, she keeps me on my feet. I'm more intrigued as well, why you've not eaten your limp bunnies that are on your. On your bookcase behind you. I've been slowly picking them off, trust me. Oh, my God. They're, like the most tastiest thing ever. How have you. I mean, you've kept them since Easter. No, no, no. I've been buying them and then people give them to me. I am. I am a chocoholic. That is my one vice. I eat well, I exercise. Except for my chocolate. Oh, I'm so jealous of those. I want one now. I'll send you one. Okay. Okay, That's a problem. Come on the show now with, you know, you're in lockdown. You're with your. Your wife in lockdown, and, you know, people get stressed. And when I look at the relationship research over the last year, there's been kind of surveys that go up and down with couples finding their feet, and then really, the stress gets to them. And then the most recent research in January that a lot of couples were saying their friendship was good between them, but there wasn't a lot of romance at this point because the third lockdown, everybody's getting a bit, you know, lockdown fatigue. Yeah. So do you use your comedy to keep things sweet with your better half or. Or what? Yeah, I mean, you know, my wife's really funny as well. Like, so we do have a real laugh at home. And the sort of weird we feel. We just bought this pla. You know, this house back in just before the first lockdown. So, you know, we're coming up. Well, we moved in November 2019. So, you know, but we did it up and it. It just finished February 2020. And then we have the lockdown. Oh, my God. So we'd finished the work and. And all by coincidence, really. And then. So then we were just. We love this house so much. So we get to be in this house together and, you know, we have a big laugh. We play a game called Settlers of Catan that we play most nights. Just we. Which we really enjoy watching. Game. Game. Like a computer game. It's like a board game, but you. You can't. You play it online, and it's just brilliant. We play it my two mates. So we do that that keeps us entertained quite a lot and just watching box sets and. And making dinners and generally, like. Yeah, like, it's. I feel very, very lucky. I know not everyone has been as lucky, but we. We do feel very fortunate. She's very. My wife is incredibly tolerant of me and doesn't. She just doesn't get wound up by stuff. And it's amazing because I do. I get wound up by, you know, dishes not being put in the dishwasher and just left on the top or ocd, are we? You know what? Like, it's just. It's the littlest things. I'm just like, oh, why'd you just do that? You know, like, where I think it works that my wife's not like that, because it just keeps. It. Keeps it as a balance. And also, like, I never, like, I think using the right language, you know, not saying to her, why don't you do this? Yeah, you know, saying, listen, when I come in from being in Leeds for two days and the place is a tip, it makes me feel fatigued and sad and. And upset, like, so is there a way that we could sort of work together to make that not happen? And then, you know, then she punches me. So I think I'd punch you too, if I've been home. Yeah. Yeah. You come in and say, oh, it's just not tidy enough, darling. Yeah, exactly. What impression would you do that in? I would do an impression of me when I'm in a mood, and it's. And it's my best impression now. A lot of entertainment, of course, has been canceled. I mean, I. I know a lot about the comedy world. Family members involved, highly involved in the comedy world. I used to see a lot of comedy before lockdown and a lot of music. I've seen you. Oh, my God, I just love it so much. Thank you. So what happened? Did you have any tours that went by the wayside or. Or were you lucky that there hadn't been anything scheduled that you didn't. That you had to try and reschedule hundreds of gigs, you know, and. And even the ones that weren't scheduled, you know, they would have been booked in. So. You know, it's funny how I still look at my phone and it, like, even, like yesterday, it was like, Worthing 40 minutes set headlining, and I'm like, oh, I forgot that, you know, we've not even had an email from them saying that won't be happening, because we know it won't be happening. So, you know, there's been lots and lots of Kids and lots of corporate gigs, which can be a big earner for you over Christmas and stuff. Doing, as I'm sure you know. So, you know, yeah, it's been a huge. And. And just the getting out there and performing and building your material. You know, you can do as many online gigs as you want, but. And I. I think part of it is, is a confidence thing or a laziness thing of sort of going, oh, I don't want to do online gigs. And I have done some and I'm booked. I'm doing one this weekend with Russell Kane and I'm doing well next week. Where can people get info about that on your website or. Actually, it's already sold out that one, so. Because isn't it. Because it's sort of like, surely it's zoom so anyone can be on it, but we're keeping it just to 100 people. But. But it's not the same, you know, Like, I. I know some comedians have done really well and pivoted and transitioned into online gigs and. And I probably could have done that more, perhaps. I feel very fortunate. I've been doing the Steph's Pat lunch on. On. So I've been busy. But there's nothing like live comedy, as you well know. Energy. The energy and especially if there's a heckler or something. And you just watch the dynamic too, you know, as a. As a bystander, what happens when someone gets heckled? And yeah, when I've seen you, you haven't been heckled. So maybe you're. You have a really lovely audiences. Okay. There's some. Definitely some war wounds from hecklers down the years. That's, of course, I don't miss. I was going to say this is trending with Dr. Pam, and I wanted to run a couple trends that, you know, things have been trending on Twitter in the last 24 hours. Of course, the nation lost our hero and inspiration, Captain Sir Tom Moore. And, you know, I think they're such heartfelt sort of, you know, sort of responses and people talking about what he meant to them. Like, he was like the grandfather they always wanted or he inspired them to do something. So I wanted to look at our lives. Like, what has inspired you in your life? And I'm talking anytime because of the person I'm thinking of from my life was when I was 15. So has anyone ever inspired you in any particular way? Well, I feel like there's been. I feel like I'm inspired every day, and I have been inspired every day throughout my entire life. You know, and. And it can be the smallest things that people say. You know, I'm. I've been learning Italian during. Since. Oh, wow. Last year. See, can you say anything sexy in Italian? But whatever. All that meant. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That meant, I have a horse and he's great. But I remember I was. I got a lovely message on Twitter from my old German teacher, and I've not spoken to her since I was 15. Yeah, she just sent me a lovely message. And she. She's really young. Like, she would have only been sort of 21 when she was teaching me, so she's. She's really young. You had a crush. Oh, definitely. I didn't say that to her in our correspondence. I definitely had a crush, but she messaged me and said, oh, you know, it's great to see us doing so well. And I said, oh, well, I hope you kept up with your languages. And I said, well, interesting. I have started learning Italian since last April, and. And she said to me, oh, she's like, you were so great. And I'm not saying this is a thing to show off, but she was like, you were so great. You always struggled with your writing, and that was the only reason that you weren't in the top set for everything. But you're always very good with your performing and your speaking. And it's interesting that that speaker. That's been exactly the same. Now with learning Italian, I'm rubbish with the writing side of it and the. The homework and things like that, because my brain doesn't really work like that. It just wants to perform all the time, or as they say in Italian. And I just. I want to be performing, and it inspired me to God, you know what? Like, maybe that's just the way you are, you know, that's not a bad thing. You're good at this bit, you're not good at that bit. And just. Even the slight little sentence just goes. Made me feel really good, you know, and so that's fantastic. It's all the time. You get inspired. My wife inspires me every day. She's such a. You know, she works so hard. She's so ambitious. She's so beautiful, so funny, so amazing. So, like, she inspires me a lot. So, you know. Well, that is nice to hear. It is those little things. And for me, I was going to say, When I was 15, it was my art teacher who made us believe as a class that we could. We could create anything. There were no bounds. You know, he let us try every media that there was to try And I will just never forget that, you know, that, that. And because I've gone back to painting in the last like 18 months. Oh, great. In a, in a big way. But, but, but, you know, having left it for so, so long, always did arts and crafts with my children. Always have done as a, you know, that sort of thing. But yeah, I think it's at sometimes that critical age, around 15, 16, where someone can have such an impact on you, a really good teacher or something who inspires you. But I think in the opposite I had. I really enjoyed art and, and did quite well at art when I was sort of six or seven and. And you mean your parents have your paintings on the wall? Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, sorry. Year six. Year six. I'm more like 11. But I remember, and I remember we had like art competitions where like, you'd have like, you could get your picture in the local paper and stuff and, and that adult and you know, it was. I used to really enjoy it and then I had a teacher who just didn't really take a liking to me in about year nine. So I'd have been sort of 13, 14, like you say that sort of even unlikable, like, you know, Harry Enfield, Kevin. No, I was very much doing impressions of the teachers. So, you know, and they didn't all take it like into it, but the other kids did. But she just. He was quite disparaging in front of people and sort of said, oh, you know, was like, look at this, it's awful. And laughing at this thing I'd made and I, I took it really badly and it really put me off art probably forever, really. You know, so I think you. How these things can work both ways. Yeah, absolutely. Now, moving on to the, the next sort of trend that's been trending for the last, you know, day or so was Russell Crowe. Yes. There was this guy named Steven Harris who reached out on Twitter saying, does anyone know how to contact Russell? He wanted to get Russell to do a video or his friend, I guess, named Pip who's sailing around the world or something. And Russell Crow just tweeted back and said, hey mate, what do you want? Or something, and then created the video for him that he wanted. And I just wondered if you've done a kind of random act of kindness recently or someone done one for you. Well, I'm ties inspiration, doesn't it? Yeah, it does, yeah. I mean, I love that video that he did and I think that's so great that it doesn't matter how big a movie star, celebrity you are. It doesn't take much to do something like that. And it can mean an awful lot. You know, even just like, I know, and this is not on the level, but, you know, like, a friend of mine messaged me 10 minutes before I came on here, just saying, oh, my daughter's got to do a project about David Attenborough. Can you do a little voice note for her? So I quickly sent this. Hello, and whatever you do, don't use plastic, you know, and, like. And she's like. And then her mom just sent me a message going, oh, she's gonna get a gold commendation from the headmistress now. But, you know, so little things like that absolutely don't mind. And when people are, oh, you know, people have offered, you know, I'll give you 50 quid for doing this. I'm like, listen, that takes me two seconds. Have it. If you're a friend, that is. Any employees looking at that, I will charge. But, but, but as far as, like, the other way around, you know, like, I. I met. I'm a massive Arsenal football fan and, like, you know, one of the directors at the club who I. I did some work for, like, has been amazing and just, like, invited me to the. This is pre lockdown, obviously, but, you know, invited me to the club. I've met the players, I've been to the director's lounge and those little things, and I got some signed boots. And, like, they just meant the absolute world to me. Things I treasure forever. So, yeah, I think if you can do it. I've got a happy birthday message from the Foo Fighters. Like, three years ago, someone I know was working with them and she asked if they would sign a birthday message. So I thought, oh, that's great. I've got it here. Let me see if. Oh, wow. It says. Hang on, let me get it right. Happy birthday, Dr. Pam. Oh, that's fantastic. I love that. I know. So that was an act of kindness that. That was part of at the time that. I know Pam is a massive foods fan and, you know, I've seen them up six, six times live. Oh, brilliant. So, yeah, that's. That was the most recent sort of. You know, there's been tons of little kindnesses that people do. Yeah. But that kind of stands out. But. Oh, my gosh, we're kind of out of time. There are other things. But what I wanted to ask you before we go is so people can see you on Steph's packed lunch. Which days a week? Or is it just Tuesday and Wednesday? Tuesday and Wednesday. Are my days. But then it's sometimes other days happen. But yeah, Tuesday and Wednesdays are the main days and then I'm on stand up sketch show which is coming to ITV2 on Monday. So Mondays at 10pm I'm doing, I'm filming something for the Gadget show on Channel 5. And amongst all socially distance these, the new films. Yes. So all sorts of things are happening which is, you know, very fortunate. And just, just come follow me on Instagram and Twitter and I'll be informed. And on your website do you post these things? Because I looked at the website post on my website, Pam. I haven't looked at that for years. I was gonna say I couldn't join. Like when's your next tour or something? You know, online gigs, you know. Yeah, I mean definitely on social media. I think social media is the best one. When I do have a tour it does go on the website and stuff. But my tour now is like, well, I mean we're looking at October through to the end of the year but we shall see, we shall see everything cross. Gosh. I will definitely be coming along, especially if you do the London area. Definitely. Yeah. Oh well, definitely do some London days. Yeah. And just to sign out on a last note, can you please do a Trump goodbye for me to make me at the same time? Let's hope it's the last time we ever hear from him. Thank you so much, Pam, you've been fantastic. I love your show. It's probably the greatest men's radio station there is because I'm on it. Great. Thank you so much, ma'. Am. Bye bye. Oh, I love it. I love you Luke. Thank you so much for coming on people that Your website is LukeKempner.com but don't go there, go to social media. He's at. Luke Kempner, lots of love, darling. Thank you so much. You really made me laugh. Oh my gosh. I now I'm going to move on to my next guest and I'm absolutely delighted to welcome now him. He's an all round creative of both music and photography. You can find him@rahsanjasphotography.com and on social media he's @rasdmg, so as in Ras dmg, meaning short for damage. And I'm delighted that Russ Jass joins me now. Hello Russ, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm really well. So good to see you because it's been a couple years since we spoke last time that you know, you did a show with me already. Yeah, yeah. I think it was like two years ago. It's been a while. And so I was so pleased that you could come on today and you're such a talented person. We've got so much to talk about. But first off, Luke is talented. Wow. Well, on the funny side, he is mega talented. I'm glad you. He seriously is. You see, I. I should have went first. He should have come after me. Now I gotta follow that. I ain't got no jokes. Follow it. Going down a different line of creativity. Absolutely. But first, I want to know with you and lockdown, what's it been like for you? Because for everybody, it's a different experience. Yeah, lockdown. It's been hard. It's been real hard, you know, for, for us creatives. There's just been, you know, it was. Everything came to a complete halt very quickly. We was on tour, you know. Yeah, yeah, we was on tour last year. And funny enough, it was actually us that said, all right, we need to stop because this thing seems like it's getting out of control. But we. We was on tour and we had approximately 10 or 12 dates left to complete the tour. And we just said, look, this is getting out of hand. We need to stop. We need to stop. And we stopped in March, knowing that we still had another two weeks to go. And then from there on, it was little to no work. It's been crazy. It's been really. I know what you're talking about. A lot of my work that I do, consulting, involves just going into to someone's company and consulting about the well being of the staff. And, you know, it's. It. Yeah, that work dries up. It's not that easy to do over Skype. But I remember asking you to my art exhibition. I had my first exhibition last March, early March, March 2nd. And you messaged back saying, that's my one night off the tour. I have to be at home. And I was like, okay, you're, You're. You can get out of it, you know. And our mutual pal Ricky Nord was due to come and then he. Something happened to him and he messaged me. He wasn't able to come that night, but. But I remember thinking, wow, it's so great, you know, Damage was such a massive R B boy band sort of hit of the. The 90s. And there you had all these fans wanting you, you know, to see you on your tour. We've got Natasha who says Boys are Back was fantastic and loved it. Oh, bless her. Thank you. She saw you on your tour. I Guess so. I guess so. Natasha follows me and tweets me quite a lot. In fact, she tweeted me yesterday because I tweet a lot about food. I'm always hungry, particularly in lockdown. Everyone just eats. Yeah. So now I just eat. I. And, you know, I just eat a lot. And every. Every morning I go on Twitter and I ask, you know, who's having what for breakfast? And she said that she's having McDonald's. She just ordered McDonald's breakfast. And I was livid. I mean, I don't know where Natasha lives, but I was upset. I was. You could have ordered me some and sent it to my house. I was really upset. I love it. I. I know. I. I've eaten too much chocolate during lockdown. I'm much more of a chocolate person than a. Than. Than a Mackie D person. Yeah, I've done that as well. Natasha's just said she's in Nottingham, so I think that's quite. Quite a ways from where you are. It is, but, you know, Uber Eats is everywhere. Deliveroo is everywhere. You just need to change your location. Just put it into London and it will get to me. So what was it like when you were doing the tour before lockdown? Was it. Was it just great to be back with the boys, back with Damage? I mean, you guys had big hits, you know. Yeah, I mean, we. We was very fortunate and we, you know, again, very fortunate also to, you know, to go on a 30, 35, 36 state tour as well. You know, very, very fortunate. And, you know, the tour was fantastic. We went on tour with a 1:5, you know, and it was just amazing. It was absolutely amazing just to be on the road again. You know, it was busy. It was hard work, but it was absolutely fun. You know, it was absolute fun. We. We really enjoyed it, and we can't wait to get back out and. And finish. Will you. Will you do those dates that got canceled? Will you. Are you. Will you do them in maybe 22 or at the end of 20? I mean. Yeah, we're. We're trying. We're trying. We tried to. We tried to get some dates in for February this month, and obviously we've. We've had to move those again. Yeah, you know what? We're looking at. We're looking at September now. Yeah, we're looking at September. So, you know, fingers crossed. We can get September happening. Absolutely. Now, of course, you also. We're going to talk about your photography, especially the wedding photography. You know, I just. I just love that. And you've had some fun stories to share about, you know, romance and weddings and proposals in the. In the past. But first I want to get to your new music. Now what? You sent me a couple clips. We're going to hear a clip now of Love and Lo Fi, which my producer, my loving producer has ready for us. And it'll be super chill. It's very chilled. It's very chilled. La. It is. I could listen to this and just drift off. That's the aim. I love this. It's so. I would say seductive. And we've had another message from Amira, says, that's my husband. Hello to your lovely wife. So do you. With your lovely. The clips. I've heard of your new music. Is that how you seduce her? You say, charlotte, I'm gonna put something on. Oh, dear. No, no, I don't actually. You should try it. I know I should. Maybe I should. I can't think of anything more cringy than trying to seduce someone to my own music, you know, because you've got to understand the process is. Is not a. Is not a process of, you know, we. We sit in the studio and we. We do it, you know, for a couple of hours and then, you know, it gets released. It takes a long time to, you know, to get the tracks ready and, you know, mixed mastered and. And stuff like that. So you hear it a lot. And the last thing you want to do is hear it all over again when you're trying to get busy. She's just commented that you should. There's some hints for you. Well, I love that. Now I remember when we spoke once, I'm sure you were planning. Were you planning your proposal or you were just telling me about how you did your proposal? I was telling you about our proposal, yes, because it was. I loved it. Can you tell everyone listening that story again? Yeah, absolutely. So what happened was, is we. I knew that I wanted to propose whilst we was on holiday. We went to. My God, where did we go to? Go to so many places that I just completely forgot and she's going to probably murder me. Now that I remember, this was definitely pre lockdown and, you know, I just wanted to propose in the. The early part of the holiday. So we went away and I am looking desperately for the place that I want to propose. Now I've got in my head what I want it to look like. And I was looking for a place that was very scenic and that looked great when the sun was setting. Now Portugal. There you go. Portugal. Yeah. Yeah. See, and Natasha wanted to know something to her. But we'll get back to that later. Yeah, Portugal on Patatas beach and the, the, all of the beaches and stuff. When the sun sets, it sets behind the, the, the mountains and the, and the buildings and stuff. So that just wasn't working. So I had to rethink my plan and say, all right, babe, look, I want to go and capture some sunset, get some sunrise shots. Do you want to come and do that with me? And she said, yeah, yeah. So I said, but you realize we've got to be up at like 5 in the morning to do that, right? She said, oh, oh, no, no, it's fine. I'll, I'll join you. I'll join you. So the next day, 4:00 in the morning, I'm nudging her, I'm waking her up. Come and look. It's like, now get off me. Like, no, babe, I don't want anything. I just want to go. And, you know, and she gets up reluctantly and all the way down to Potatoes beach, she is literally just cursing me, saying, I can't believe that you brought me up so early. And in my head I'm like, that would be me, you know, and then we get to the beach and then what I've done is me being a photographer and, and, and everything's visual. I've set up the GoPro, I've set up my camera on, on some form of time lapse, you know, say, intermittent shooting, and that's to going, that's on a go. So I just go in front of the camera, you know, with a mirror, and literally we sit, we stand there for about five, ten minutes just talking and just appreciating the, the sunrise coming up and the, you know, she had chilled out a lot. And then, and then I turned around and, you know, popped the question on one knee with, with, you know, the, the ring and everything and the, the picture and the video is just absolutely fantastic, you know, it's absolutely fantastic. So I, I think I did a good job there. I think you did too, even though you dragged her out of bed. But tell me, did, did she feel surprised or did she kind of expect it? No, she was 100. 100 surprised because she, the first thing she said after she said yes or obviously was look at what I'm wearing. Because, because obviously you're not going to get out of bed at that time in the morning and put on, you know, your fanciest clothes to go to the beach, get your makeup, do your hair and all of that. So, you know, so the first thing she said was sunset, when she might have thought then you're gonna go out for drinks and she would have been all dolled up. You know, I tried, I tried, I really tried, but. But you know, unfortunately the destination that we chose just wasn't the right destination in terms of, you know, yeah, getting the right place for sunsets. But, yeah, it was, it was, it was epic. It was epic to, you know, to say the least. Now Natasha's commented that, that, that's so sweet. And she did ask, you know, do you sing to Amira? Do you? No. No. Really? I'm surprised. You'd love to sing to her and she'll probably comment on that in a bit. You know what it is? I, I tell you exactly what it is, right. Number one. Firstly, number one is when you, when you sing for so many years, right? And then I, like, literally I fell out of love with music, you know, when the band disbanded, I fell out of love this music. And when we, when we went back on tour, that's when I, I kind of like started to feel music all over again. And that's the reason why I did, you know, the eps, because I was just, I was just so passionate about music again. But, you know, but singing wise, I was just like, I just really can't be bothered, you know, I literally can't, cannot be bothered. And because of that, I just, I just never sung to anyone, to be fair. I think it's kind of like, you know, when people ask me if gone pre lockdown, you go to a birthday party, someone's throwing their 40th birthday party and you're having lots of fun. And then someone pulls someone like me aside, a psychologist, and goes, can I ask you about my brother? I'm a bit worried that he's depressed and I'm thinking, no, no, I don't want to talk psychology. So I guess it's like you, it's like, you know, you don't want to be singing, you know, ready to sing any moment, you know, it's, you know, there's the time in the place. I can understand. Actually, I better do it soon or outside, you know, I might, I might not be living anywhere soon enough. I better do it soon for your anniversary or for Valentine's Day, which is coming up. Of course. Yeah, Valentine, yeah, yeah, we was actually talking about that, what we're going to do, because it's, it's a completely different Valentine's this year. In it, everything is different and I meant to ask you of course you used. We're doing a lot of wedding photography and the last time you told me about different funny stories or things that went wrong or whatever. So what's happened with COVID I mean, people are still getting married, but because they're only limited to like 30 people, does that mean they're doing their own photography or have you actually got involved in some weddings over the last year? Yeah, it does vary and you know, the last year I've, you know, I've, I've taken a hit. You know, there was a lot of cancellations, a lot of big weddings, a lot of destination weddings as well. And you know, I've either, you know, I've given a lot of money back and you know, I'm just fingers crossed that you get that, that, that rebooking for, you know, when they, when they rebook. But the ones that I have done, very, very small and it's, it's a completely different vibe. But like you said, because it's a lot smaller, what they're doing is they're just relying on friends and families to do a lot of, you know, camera phones and stuff like that. And with the camera phone technology that we've got today, you can actually get some pretty decent images. Yeah, yeah, of course. So how do you feel about moving forward then over that? You know, when things come out of lockdown, are you going to be more. Because you've got the multi talented thing, are you going to be more interested in getting your music out there, maybe getting damaged that the tour finished or would it still be photography or just a bit of both? I mean, how do you see the future? Yeah, it's going to be a mixture of, of everything because as I said, the, the music, my love for music has, has been reignited. You know, so I'm making music more or less on a daily basis and this is just the lo fi thing. I'm, I'm really passionate about lo fi and it's, you know, it's taken off and it's, it's very chilled. I listen to it when I'm working, I listen to it when I'm editing pictures and it helps my workflow. So it's, it's really cool. Damage will talk towards the end of this year, fingers crossed. And hopefully the middle part, towards the end of this year I will, you know, start doing weddings again and, and, and more, you know, corporate headshots and stuff like that. So, you know, everything is towards the middle of this year. You know, I've got things lined up and Ready to go. It's just we need to get this, you know, this Covid thing under, under control and then we can move forward. Yeah, well, I just have time for one last thing and that is sharing with people because you know, ultimately the show touches on well, being in so many ways. So how with, with the struggles you've had with lockdown, you know, losing work and that kind of thing. What advice or tip? Maybe one tip you would give to anyone listening who is struggling, what has helped you? Maybe it's listening to music brings you up or whatever you're tip. Yeah, definitely listening to music. I'll tell you one thing that helped me and that was helping others. And what I mean by that is I the, the first lockdown I did a free online photography workshop every week. Anyone could join. Yeah, whatever level it, you know, it, it doesn't matter. And you know that, that did really good things for, for people that were struggling mentally. Because what we would do is we would come together, we would all come together, like minded people, creative people. We would do a bunch of tasks and then I would set them some homework and then they've actually got something to focus on throughout the week, you know, and then what they would do is. Yeah and then they would send me all of their work throughout the week and stuff. And then that gave me something to do in terms of critique this, that and the other and what's putting together the next, next, you know, week of, of challenges for them. So it's about finding things that, that, you know, that, that encourage you to, to, you know, take, take a leap of faith and do something different. And I love that. More importantly. Yeah, more importantly it's about talking as well. You know, if you've got someone that you can talk to, go ahead and talk to someone. You know. At the moment I'm doing, I'm doing free online quizzes every first tonight in fact, online quizzes where anybody could join and it's just absolute fun and laughter and this is. Can people find that, that on Twitter then? So let me just your. Your social media Twitter and instagram @russ dmg. But it's ras dmg and let me flag up your website rasanjasphotography.com One last comment. Zara says yes, more touring please. I want to thank you so much for joining me. I absolutely loved our chat and we'll talk again soon. Lots of love to you indeed. Take care. Lovely to see you. Bye bye. And your lovely wife. Thank you for your time. Bye bye. Now I've got one More incredible guest and she is a star of showbiz. She's from the mega talented family, the Nolan's. The Nolans have sold over 30 million records. So she is a Nolan sister. She is an actress and she is a Sunday Times best selling author. You can find her on Twitter, Oren Nolan underscore. And I'm hoping that Maureen is here with me now. And there she is. Hello. Good to see you again. You know, when I was looking at, you know, a bit about your life and I was just. I didn't realize you were the longest serving Nolan sister. Yes, I am. You know, some of my sisters left. Denise, I think Denise left first and then Linda left and then Ann left and came back. So it was very confusing for everybody. But through it all, I've been there the whole time. So whatever photos of the Nolans there are out there, you're in there. That's incredible. As I say, Philippa says, hi, Maureen. So someone who's a big fan, obviously. Now, I don't know if you can turn the volume up on your microphone, on your or without. Without switching yourself off. Don't worry about if you can't. But you're a little, you're a little bit quiet. I'm technically challenged, I have to say. Oh, I'm the same. I'm the same. Don't worry about it. It's just a little bit quiet and I want to hear what you have to say. Now we're looking at sort of lockdown and. Oops, you've just turned yourself off. I can't see you any longer. You. I. If you. There you go. Let's just leave it at that. So you, you know, we're talking about lockdown and everybody's had a different experience with lockdown. And I was wondering for you, what, what have been kind of the highs and the lows for you? Have there been any positives that have come out of it? Well, I, I think family time, obviously you spend more time with your family. I think, well, if you can. I mean, even if it's on zoom. Yeah, positive. Well, I've been going running every other day. I, I think people, if, you know, they're allowed that hour or whatever, exercise out, they should really, really do that no matter how they feel. I think, you know, I think it's. This clears your brain and clears your head. And I'm taking a course, a teaching assistant course. Oh, wow. Well, it's something that I kind of wanted to do. Early on. I was learning Spanish and I was, I got, I Got a calligraphy set and. Because I want to write nicer and stuff, but. Yeah. Take up little hobbies and that. That you probably wouldn't have had time to do before, you know. That's amazing. I've got. I'm just teacher's assistant and the calligraphy and things, because I love hearing what people are doing and that, you know, then people listening might think I should try calligraphy. I mean, it's those little things that actually make a difference to people's lives. I think so. I mean, I think it's beautiful, isn't it? When you get a card and somebody's. And I've always. Writing was awful, so I thought this might be an opportunity to improve it. And it. And it has, you know, it helped. You know, I sent a message. I did my. It took me ages, mind you, but I sent it to all the girls, took a photo of it, and I said, this is me writing with my new calligraphy set. And they were all going, oh, I love it. I could do with that. My writing is terrible. Much better with a paintbrush. Now, I. I wanted to know about this cruising with the Nolans, because I guess most of it was shot during. When we all came out of lockdown. Was that right? So it was like in the summer or late spring. The. The. At home with the Nolans, you mean? Yeah, okay, sorry. At home. And also that wasn't there. The cruising with the Nolans. One was shot in February. Last February last year. Okay. Before the first lockdown. Yeah. When we got on the ship, there was nothing. Nothing was happening. And as we were. And Italy, actually Italy and Spain. And we kept hearing reports of this virus that was hitting. And I remember at one point saying, you know, that 50 people have died in Great Britain with this virus. You know, that was, you know, to think now how many have. But. Yeah, and so we got off on the 12th of March. We got two days early because of the virus. We were literally following it around the Mediterranean. Wow. Got off two days early in Barcelona, came home, we isolated, obviously, for a week, and. And then on the 24th of March, of course, we were in lockdown. And next series started when we were in Tier two, I think. Yeah. So we managed to record most of that, although towards the end of it, we did get locked down, but we were allowed to finish the recording because it was cast as work or something. We had tests and masks and whatever, you know. So, yeah, we were very lucky, actually. I can't quite. I was gonna say financially, because everybody's struggling, aren't they really with losing work, especially in our business. Came at the right time, really, you know, so get ourselves very lucky, you know. That's fantastic. Now I know a big part of your life has been caring and I wanted to hear more about that because I think a lot of people who have been carers in say in recent years have found it a very different experience in lockdown because at least as a carer, when you're not in lockdown, you can get out and do things. And I think it's been very hard. I've had some people contact me like say through my website saying, you know, they're really struggling, they're a carer, they feel like they have no break from it now. What, what, Tell me about the caring role you have. Well, my caring role really, except for my, my mom actually died from Alzheimer's, so we kind of all cared for her towards the end. Yeah, my caring really started in lockdown, the first lockdown because early April my sister Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer again. Yeah. And Anne actually looks after my 86 year old auntie who's got skin cancer and, you know, very bad arthritis and stuff. So Anne cares for her. So I moved with Anne to care for Anne and my auntie. Yeah. So. Wow, that's big. Well, responsibility, you know, I think it's family, isn't it? And, and any one of my sisters would have, would have done the same thing. You know, if it's, it's, it was challenging, I suppose. I mean I, I was kind of lucky because I'm not, you know, neither of them need, you know, hoisting or. Yeah. Showering. They, they both could manage to do those things on their own. It was mainly cooking and, and with my cooking, that's, that's a challenge. It would be with my cooking too and you know, just generally doing breakfast and dinner and lunch and just looking after them. And Anne suffered greatly with anxiety, which she never has before. And why did they think that was part just, you know, having cancer sort of brought out this anxiety or maybe any medication she was on. I know medications can sometimes affect those sort of feelings. I don't really know because she had cancer 20 years ago and didn't suffer from anxiety. Yeah. Because she's 20 years older. It might, it was cancer during a lockdown with a killer sort of virus going around as well. None of that helped. But it really, for her and for me, really, you know, I had such empathy and empathy for people who suffer with anxiety because I've never quite understood it Before, Yeah. My attitude was, well, stop it. Get out of bed, stop worrying or whatever. Yeah, don't worry. Why are you worrying? Just something that she just couldn't control and it was really frustrating for her as well. So I think of all the things that happened during lockdown, that anxiety was probably one of the worst, you know, because deal with and understand, you know, this is really important for people listening and who, you know, the show's repeated as a radio show, you know, tomorrow, and I think it. And, and, you know, we get a lot of listeners and I think it's really important when people see someone from the public eye and think they. They've dealt with that too. They've had to go through this. Life isn't a bed of roses just because you're famous. You know, I mean, we've been very. We've had challenging times lately because obviously at the same time as I'm getting cancer, Linda got cancer for the third time. I know. So a lot of my caring again was I did go drove Anne for her appointments and drove Linda as well for her appointments with her oncologist and stuff. So it's just been a really challenging, worrying time. But. But I think their attitude, certainly, and therefore our attitude was as well, there are only two choices. You can pull the covers over your head, never get out of bed, or just get on with it and try find joy in little things. You know, Anne's got three grandchildren, so have I, and, you know, we're FaceTiming them and getting all the enjoyment put out of them. Children are amazing, aren't they? Because, oh, my gosh, they take you out of your worries, don't they? Absolutely. And luckily, we're TV addicts anyway, so was to watch, we. We, you know, we got closer out of that. And as I say, I used to try and get Ann out, even if it was in a wheelchair, you know, just to get some fresh air and, you know, good for you. It sounds like you've taken a really. It's obviously been tough, but you've taken an attitude that, like, when I am. I'm at work and talking to people about these things that I would be recommending, you know, the ad, you know, that you have to embrace it and to get through it. You can't hide from whatever you're going through, you know, not going away anytime soon and either just lie down and put covers over your head or really just try and get on and. And. And there probably is a light at the end of the tunnel and things will be better and look up, which they are, of course, you know. Yeah. Now he's got through her cancer a certain extent and she's much, much better. You know, her hair is growing back and. Fantastic. That's wonderful to hear. And just briefly, is there anything coming up on TV on a happy note that we can see in the near future for the Nolans? I've only got a few seconds. Unfortunately not at the moment. We're hoping maybe for another series. You know anything about that yet? Well, thank you for in May and June, but of course I can't. We don't, we don't know, do we, what be happening then. But. Well, thank you so much for joining me and I wanted to say that people can find you on Twitter at Maureen Nolan. Underscore. Please give my, my love to your, your, all your sisters. And I want to thank everybody who has listened in today and commented. Sorry, I didn't get to every comment that came through. Back in a fortnight with another set of guests. And of course, the show's repeated as a radio show tomorrow. That's Friday, February 5th, and a week Friday, so you'll get the chance to hear it. Thank you. Take care of yourself. Until next time. Lots of love. Are you feeling anxious? Online therapy 247 is here to help. We offer confidential support from the comfort of your own sofa. Our highly qualified therapists are experienced in a full range of daily challenges. You'll be in safe and trusted hands. Don't suffer alone. Change your life by calling us on 0207-553-5080 and check out our website, onlinetherapy247.