One of the most polarising characters in the UK is Jeremy Clarkson. He has been cancelled (more than once), voted sexiest man and in recent times lauded, deservedly so, for giving a much-needed voice to farmers through his current show Clarkson’s Farm.
When he was part of Top Gear, with James May and Richard Hammond, the trio could make or break the success of a vehicle brand. Their unsuccessful attempts to destroy a Hilux did wonders for Toyota sales. Because their opinions could not be bought, people trusted them.
I listened to the David Walliams interview with Kyle and Jackie O this week and wondered what all the hullaballoo was about. Headlines read that Walliams and Sandilands ‘clashed’, in a ‘brutal exchange’ and that Walliams would ‘never return’.
The video I watched had both Walliams and Sandilands, for my mind, enjoying the joust. I laughed several times. It was great radio and felt like the kind of shit stirring chat two mates might have privately.
Both addressed the interview afterwards saying much the same thing. Walliams said on Will and Woody’s show a few days later:
“I’d have a drink with him. He’s an interesting guy. Some of the best celebrities you kind of love to hate them. I don’t mean that as an insult, but you know people like Jeremy Clarkson and Simon Cowell. He kind of annoys you, but at the same time you go back for more and more and more.”
In the last fortnight I’ve heard Walliams, Keith Urban and Elle Macpherson do the radio rounds ahead of shows, a new album and a new book respectively. Every station sought to get a scoop on something that hasn’t been said ten times already.
B105’s breakfast team got the most unexpected response from Elle when she hung up on them after Matty Acton asked her, totally innocuously, if she still had to vote as an Australian citizen living abroad. That ‘incident’ made news in the US.
I was astonished today when I woke up to the top headline on news.com.au being Kyle and Jackie O’s disrespectful behaviour to publicists and A-list talent. The article referenced an anonymous email read out on the Game Changers Radio: Melbourne Radio Wars podcast.
I think I can speak for every single radio presenter, talk, music and sport, that at some point, and for some, many, many times, a person who is scheduled to appear is pushed back for 45 minutes, or ends up being rescheduled or cancelled.
Sometimes that guest was a ‘filler’ in the hope that better content would present itself. Sometimes something major takes precedence. And sometimes everything has run longer than anticipated and that person’s interview has to go.
For this anonymous publicist, and their A list guest, they’re not doing Kyle and Jackie O a ‘favour’ by appearing on the show. It is quite the opposite.
What I respect about Jeremy Clarkson, Kyle and Jackie O, and talk presenters like Neil Mitchell who refused to talk with then Victorian premier Dan Andrews (and visa versa), is that they don’t do an interview just because it is presented to them. Their enduring ratings success is that they choose to speak with who and what they feel resonates most with their listeners, as well as providing content that is memorable, like David Walliams.
A publicist told Andrew Bucklow in the news.com.au story:
“I find the interviews often run better if you don’t set parameters, because if you tell Kyle that certain topics are off limits, you can be guaranteed he will ask about them on air.”
Well of course. Honestly I wouldn’t expect any less of the top rating breakfast show in the country. But with the understanding that if that off-limits topic is in any way damaging to the guest’s mental health, then you absolutely steer clear, as asked.
Because none of us are perfect human beings we don’t want to be questioned on the uncomfortable parts, or mistakes that we’ve made. Yet that is why we listen to such interviews, because we hope to hear an honest answer to that uncomfortable question.
Michael Parkinson in his autobiography Parky said that on principle he would never interview a guest if they came with a list of off-limits questions. That was why he refused to speak with Madonna for a long time.
Eventually she appeared on the show and was up for everything. Even what was supposedly off-limits.
It was one of both of their favourite all time interviews (and for many viewers too if you read the comments) plus an example of what you get when two professionals trust each other enough to give their best.
Possibly unpopular opinion but Kyle and Jackie O have earned a similar right to ask the uncomfortable question, make you wait, turn your ‘opportunity’ down and not make small talk afterwards. Their time is very valuable.
They are also humans, with empathy, that can read the room, either face to face, or, in this instance, over the phone:
Kyle would be the first to say that he’s not a perfect person. Love him or hate him, he, Simon Cowell and Jeremy Clarkson are a dying breed who still says what they think, knowing full well that it might get them in trouble, but also never sleeping next to a lie. Disrespectful and frustrating that might sometimes be, but that still is he and Jackie’s point of difference from any other commercial music show in Australia.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.