Olga Koch: From Russia With Laughs - Coming From Money and Hating Pranks

Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, screen rats.

Welcome to another episode of Television Times Podcast.

And today we have a great guest.

We've got the amazing Olga Koch.

Now, I saw Olga last year at Edinburgh Fringe performing her show Prawn Cocktail, which was absolutely brilliant.

Her presence on stage, the sort of slickness of her delivery, I just loved it.

It was great.

She put the audience at ease.

Just felt sort of like a camaraderie with her.

It was just really good.

I mean, I've been a fan of Olga's for a little while, and I was thrilled to get her on this podcast.

It's taken a little while, but it was definitely worth it.

I think you'll agree.

The weight was worthwhile.

Olga is just like an important voice.

I keep saying that line, and I think she's got something that British comedians, obviously Olga's from Russia originally, just don't have.

She's got a slickness that really reminds me of sort of the old style American comedians like Seinfeld.

She'll remind me saying that.

But anyway, she's a great comedian, and I think you'll really enjoy this podcast episode.

Two other matters.

Beep, beep.

So I would say, I think what's happening with me lately is I am really struggling with procrastination.

I have a million things to do, which is usually when I really, really excel, but it's hard to get started with things.

And I'm bouncing around trying to kind of work out this other thing that I can't talk about yet and a load of other things and podcast episodes and running the house and looking after the kids.

And they're all full-time jobs in themselves.

And I do find that if I let my mind wander or I get stuck on social media for a little while, not on there just fun looking at shit.

It's to do with the pod and booking guests and all of that.

I can spend three days just like looking into something and then it's gone.

The admin sort of takes up all the time and you know, you lose your way.

And suddenly it's Wednesday and I've done nothing.

It's happening quite a lot.

So I'm going to have to kickstart myself somehow.

I'm looking forward to doing that because it is long overdue.

I wouldn't say I'm lazy because I'm always doing something.

I very rarely sit still, but it's always, you know, the other thing.

I'll be tinkering around with an amplifier last week, cleaning it all out, dusting it down.

When I should have been like editing a podcast, you know, I just wanted to do that.

I just wanted to put someone else's voice on in the room while I tinkered about.

And I like that.

I like those things.

I've done that with a rotary phone.

I did it with a couple of things recently where I built an avometer into a lamp.

So yeah, obviously, again, this just reminds me of being at college and needing to do your dissertation, doing everything else instead.

Hoover in the house, baking a cake, all the things you can do except the thing you should be doing.

But I'm doing it.

It just is in small increments.

And I'll top and tail things.

I'll do the end of something.

I'll do the beginning of something.

I'll fill out the middle later.

It's like I'm doing an episode of Curb.

Anyway, so yeah, let's get into this podcast, shall we?

I just got to get this one out because it's so fucking fun.

And I love talking to Olga.

She's great crack.

There's a weird one in that she could see me, but I couldn't see her, but that's fine.

It's an audio recording.

There's no video.

There's no video on this part anyway, so it doesn't matter.

So maybe I felt, I don't know, maybe I felt a bit self-conscious, but who knows?

Who cares?

Doesn't matter.

So here we are.

This is me talking to the amazing, hilarious and brilliant Olga Koch.

Welcome to Television Times, a weekly podcast with your host, me, Steve Otis Gunn.

We'll be discussing television in all its glorious forms.

From my childhood, your childhood, the last 10 years, even what's on right now.

So join me as I talk to people you do know and people you don't about what scared them, what inspired them, and what made them laugh and cry.

Here on Television Times.

I didn't know you were in the film The Courier.

I was in the film The Courier, yes.

Yeah, I loved that movie.

That was a movie where I sort of, I have to admit, when I went to watch it, I was like, oh, it's going to be boring, isn't it?

It's going to be one of those Cold War things.

And then I watched it and I was blown away by it.

I'm really sorry I can't remember you in it.

Oh my God.

I had like one line and I think they never, they never even shot me head on.

I think I'm only ever in profile, but I got to be flown out to Prague.

It was fucking cool.

Yeah, obviously with lots of these things, like they did that film Tetris, obviously can't go to Russia and film.

So you have to come up with the alternatives.

Like Budapest is quite big, isn't it as well?

My favorite thing was like basically because we were filming a big scene in what was meant to be the Communist Party headquarters.

They had all these and I genuinely, I apologize because I don't remember which like era it was, but I distinctly remember, I think like the guy who was playing the general secretary, I'm gonna say it was Khrushchev at the time, but I may have been another guy.

I just remember distinctly that the actor who was playing him, he wasn't like a main character.

He was just like there to set the scene.

And then he gave me his card because we were all hanging out backstage.

And he was a professional Khrushchev impersonator or whoever the general secretary at the time was.

And he was like, yeah, whenever they need one in the background, that's me.

Oh, that's great.

And I think that's an incredible iconic job to have, to be flown around the world, to be sort of scene setting.

That's amazing.

I guess in back in the day, he might've been actually used for real.

Dream gig, dream gig.

I'm lucky enough to have been there, which is quite nice.

I guess people can't really go to Russia anymore, but I was lucky enough to do the Trans-Siberian about 20 years ago.

Oh wow.

How'd you like it?

I liked it.

It was long.

I mean, it's a lot of trains, it's a lot of trees.

It's a lot of nothing happening.

It's just a train, isn't it?

Essentially.

Yeah.

I feel like it's something that is so sort of romantic in theory, but then just the reality of is that you see a very homogenous landscape for an incredibly long period of time.

I just remember being in and out of consciousness and sort of waking up.

I had a top bunk in a, I think it was six berth and I kept waking up and there were different people in the cabin and you go for so many hours without stopping.

And because the train was on Moscow time, it gets very confusing about meals.

So that you'll wake up at sort of three in the morning and someone's having breakfast.

It's like, I don't really understand what's going on.

I didn't even realize that that is nuts.

Oh my God.

Yeah, you get to Vladivostok and they tell you what time you're there and you're actually like, I don't know, was it nine hours ahead or something?

Have you ever done any of that?

You've been on any of the big train journeys?

I have, no, I've done, obviously done train journeys in Russia, but I haven't done the Trans-Siberian, no.

I've done like in between some major cities, mostly on the Western side of Russia, but I've like flown to Vladivostok.

Oh yeah.

But I guess it's not as, it doesn't feel as earned.

Yeah, well, I used to spend quite a lot of time in Japan.

So I thought that I wanted to go, my plan was London to Tokyo by land, but I had to jump over North Korea, unfortunately.

So I flew from Vladivostok to Seoul, but that's the only flight I took.

But when you've done it and then you look down, you think, oh, man, I should have done this by land.

And then you do it by land and you go, oh no, I should have done this by plane.

Yeah, but now you're, you get that memory forever.

And this anecdote forever.

So there you go.

That's true.

Do you want to take a number from 1 to 22, see what happens?

17.

17, this will be interesting.

What was the biggest change you witnessed TV-wise?

Oh, I mean, I'm assuming that this is quite a popular answer, but I guess like prestige TV becoming a thing and sort of the public consciousness shifting from TV being sort of the trashy cousin of feature films to essentially being an incredibly powerful and almost intellectual tool for storytelling.

And huge budgets as well, like the budgets of movies.

Yeah, I think like Mad Men was a huge turn, right?

I think it was AMC and everybody couldn't handle it because they were like, what is AMC?

AMC is just that one channel that like has reruns of really old, like sort of old golden age of Hollywood films.

Why are they making a TV show and why is it so good?

Yeah, and now that wouldn't even be a question, would it?

Yeah.

It was all those shows, because I always think of like, it's sort of back now with shows like Mr.

and Mrs.

Smith, but episodic TV, like House, things like that, you know, it was just a sort of, there's a narrative, but generally it's just a single story episode, like Law and Order, those kinds of shows.

And Mad Men, I think, and also We're Breaking Bad, they were around at-

Same TV channel, right?

Yes, yeah, you're right, yeah.

So around that time, that was when it happened, wasn't it?

It was just sort of those other shows were sort of ending and it was going into this sort of like arc of storytelling, which is like, you know, what we're in now, out the back of with Succession, I guess.

Yeah, and I think that sort of maybe soft-launched mini-series as a storytelling tool.

And to this day, I think that mini-series might be just like the best way to tell a story.

I love a mini-series.

Yeah, and when we're thinking about something like The Queen's Gambit or Mrs.

America, which are like both shows I adored, I think you see how much time you have in order to like really let the characters develop.

And when then you see like a 90-minute film after that, you're like, I need more time, I want no more.

But then again, mini-series is also a great way to tell a story with an ending because the amount of times I will watch a show, and again, this is absolutely no hate to Yellow Jackets, but like, I just distinctly remember Yellow Jackets being so good.

And then you could see the writers being like, uh-oh, we just got green-lit for season two, we need to create another story.

And so I think the fact that mini-series are limited, it's just like, we know we have an ending and we have enough time and space to tell the story.

And I think that's fantastic.

I think it's the best way.

And also, as just a viewer, when you're watching that, you just think, well, I know this is definitely gonna end.

The tourists, the BBC show, they bought that back when it shouldn't have.

Not that it was anything wrong with season two, but it was definitely finished.

No, yeah.

And I gave up on Yellow Jackets, I have to say.

I don't know why I gave up on it.

I sort of didn't watch the next episode for like three weeks and I just never went back to it.

Well, the Yellow Jackets.

Yeah, I didn't get to see the...

Yeah, I adored season one, but I never watched season two.

I adored season one, I thought it was fantastic.

But I was like, I don't know if I can do this.

Yeah, end the show, end it.

I love the mini series.

They're the best.

Have you seen Mr.

and Mrs.

Smith?

No, but people are saying it's good.

It is very good.

It's surprisingly good.

And obviously, it's got the shadow of the terrible Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie movie from whenever.

But it's done in such a way that I watched it with my wife and at the end of it, I was like, is that over?

Are they finished?

And she said something, I don't want to give it away.

And she said, well, obviously, that's that.

I was like, oh, I didn't see it that way.

Oh, is it a miniseries?

It is.

I believe it's a miniseries.

But it could be open to interpretation because you know how they like to do these things where maybe the thing you think happened didn't happen and they'll come back and say it was something else.

I don't know why we've started doing it, but a few days ago, we decided, let's re-watch Friends.

Let's actually start re-watching it to see if it is as troublesome as people say.

And oh my God, it looks so dated.

The amount of episodes just looks so daunting.

I know they're short, like that's back in the day where there was 26 episodes a season.

Can you imagine?

Okay, I understand what you're saying.

That being said, I think with the rise of like limited prestige TV, which I literally just sung praises to.

So I acknowledge that.

I think we are losing the art of a 24, 26 episode season.

And I'm currently watching a TV show called, so I mean, like many people, I will always have like a background comfort show.

That's sort of the backdrop.

And it's your usual rotation of, I don't know, the office, parks and rec, super store.

What else is in there?

And all the usual suspects, New Girl.

I've heard good things about New Girl.

Oh, it's fantastic.

But so they're like the tried and true.

And you know that there's hours and hours and hours of them.

So like whenever they'll always be enough for the background.

Yeah.

And then every now and then I will drop in a teen hour long drama there.

So it will be like The Office.

It will be like Parks and Rec.

And then it will be like, boom, the OC again for the nostalgia.

Boom, One Tree Hill.

And now I'm rewatching a show called Veronica Mars, which I have not watched since high school.

And the fact that they maintain individual episodic mysteries that all tie in together.

And then one big mystery that lasts 26 episodes over a teen drama that also manages to be like, sexy and deal with puberty and coming of age and sneaking out on your parents.

It is such a feat when it comes to writing.

I simply don't know how they did it.

It's incredible to watch.

And like, I'm sorry, it makes like a seven episode miniseries look easy, because it's like, they need to create an hour of television every week for teenagers that plays into like one big mystery, one mini mystery, and then work as a sort of like OC.

Riverdale, One Tree Hill show as well.

It's incredible.

I'm just in awe of it.

Am I right in thinking there was only one season of that?

Or something?

It got canceled early, didn't it?

There have been three seasons, and then it was the first ever show, or like the first ever like movie Kickstarter, major studio movie Kickstarter, that like they raised enough money for, I think like Warner Brothers to match it and make a movie, and then Hulu made a series after that.

And I've never seen that.

So I'm going to watch into that.

That is amazing.

So you actually like the long 26 episode.

You don't find that.

It doesn't.

It's not like, I'm not going to doubt.

I don't want to question the art of Veronica Mars, but like I like long shows because I need background and comfort.

So like when I'm on tour and I'm constantly in like random, I don't know, travel lodges across the country, like there's a comfort in coming back to something consistent.

I mean, I used to work backstage, so I was on tour all the time as well in different hotels.

I'd literally podcast from the venue to the hotel and then put something on the TV immediately.

And then when I go out, put the headphones in, podcast back on, it's like there's no silence.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It's almost like a way to ground yourself because you're like, everything around me is changing.

This is the only thing that stays the same.

True, true.

I've even have been known to make a little a list of things I might watch, say, on a certain day off.

And I'll put in, I'll make a little folder of like, and I'll time it.

I'm a bit nuts.

And I'll put in like bath comedy.

So I know that's something I can have a bath, have a bath in the Premier and watch like a half hour episode or whatever it is.

Okay, I love that.

I've not reached that point yet, but 100%, 100% stealing that from me.

Yeah, it's a bit fun.

And also when I check into a hotel, you might not like this, you might, I watch stand up, because I can watch it, but also hear it and still put my toothbrush out and not miss too much.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I totally get that.

I totally get that.

But yeah, I do that.

I'll put on a Korean action movie for dinner and order some noodles.

I'll do the whole thing, you know, immersive.

Oh, I love that.

But then I think, again, as I said, like with TV shows, there'll be like ones I'm enjoying for the sort of art of it and ones I'm enjoying for comfort.

And I think there are so many specials now that for me are pure comfort.

Not because they're bad or not artful.

It's because I've listened to them like a million times and I could just quote them.

And they will just be like, it's a switch off for my brain.

There's also like a couple of individual podcast episodes that I also feel that way about.

So you've got favorite episodes of podcasts that you'll re-listen.

Yeah.

There is the, I mean, sadly, absolutely tragic episode of the second time Harris Wattels goes on to Pete Holmes' podcast right before he passes away.

And that is like, I mean, it's like a hall of famer.

It is an incredible interview.

It's heartbreaking.

It's heart-wrenching, but it's also just like, it's almost a beautiful tribute to him.

And I've listened to it at least once a year.

Really?

I love Pete Holmes.

That show of his crashing, I thought was phenomenal.

It was a couple of seasons.

That was really, really good.

I never watched it.

I'm sorry.

I think I have a complicated relationship with, A, watching TV shows about standups.

Right.

Which are many?

Not the way that I don't like them.

It's that I know that they will never be an accurate representation because they can't be.

Because they need to be sort of palatable to a broad audience.

I get you.

Same way I'm sure that some doctors can't watch Grey's Anatomy or whatever.

Don't be wrong.

And I'm like, I understand that we need to do this for dramatic effect or to oversimplify, but it's like, I still, I don't know why I can't do it.

Does that make sense?

I understand that.

I used to do sound for theatre.

So like, if ever I see, you know how they show theatre on television, it's always terrible.

And the guy doing the lighting is also impressive.

They're doing everything.

What's he doing with that knob?

That doesn't do anything.

I totally get that.

Gunterhead, not a nice term.

Which reality TV show could you bear to go on?

Oh my God, I would love to be The Bachelorette.

It's my lifelong dream.

I've even done stand-up about this.

I feel like I would be amazing at being The Bachelorette.

First of all, they always look absolutely beautiful.

There's 20 guys constantly competing for their attention.

I love that.

I love that so much.

And also, I think it's the sort of...

This is something that I don't hear being talked about, but it's like the whole premise of the show is that no matter who she is, it is axiomatic that she's a catch.

No one is ever like, do I want to be with her?

No, all 20 of us would be lucky to marry this woman.

There's no doubt about it.

And I just think that's wonderful.

Because in all other dating shows, I feel like both parties kind of need to prove themselves, whereas the whole premise of The Bachelorette is that you should be so lucky to even be competing with 19 other guys to have sex with this woman.

And I just think that's wonderful.

We watch Maths Australia, which we shouldn't do because it's awful trash.

I love Maths.

What are you talking about?

It's rubbish though.

You know it's a waste of your time, don't you, when you're watching it?

I think it's actually a microcosm of psychological, for psychological research.

So it's like a Petri dish.

Yeah, it can be uncomfortable at times when, you know, it gets a little bit close to home.

I mean, we do need to also keep in mind that reality TV shows as productions are oftentimes extremely unethical.

And what we see is the result of like forced sleep deprivation and forced alcohol, alcohol, sort of forced alcoholism.

And a lot of times, because it's like, I think there's been like tell all books about the productions of so many shows, like the early season of Love Island, where it's like, yeah, we were blackout drunk the entire time because the producers kept forcing us to drink wine.

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, they definitely, you know, they stoked that fire, don't they?

And the editing is clear.

So it's always funny when you hear like someone say something like, and he said to me that he was, okay, and it will just cut off like the edge of the sentence.

It's like, well, someone said something else there, and they just sort of shopped it to make that person look bad or whatever.

Or someone is unusually silent at a dinner party or whatever, and they don't speak and you just get funny side eye.

You think, she must have said something there.

So you go on The Bachelorette.

I didn't even know that was still on.

Is there a UK version?

I don't know if there is.

I don't think it never really took off here, I don't think.

What about something like Strictly or those sort of late night shows?

Again, never seen it, but would you go on there?

Do a bit of dancing?

Yeah, I wouldn't say no.

I'd love to be on The Masked Singer.

Yeah, you can go on there.

What would you go on as?

I guess you can't tell, can you?

No, God no.

This is how you get me.

What's the scariest thing you ever saw on television as a child?

What is the scariest thing I ever saw on television as a child?

Um, I mean, I know that you want me to say something Russian, and I want me to say something Russian.

I'm just, I'm always intrigued if something will come up, but usually it isn't.

It's just like something American.

Yeah, probably X-Files.

And probably not because it was that scary.

It was probably because I was that young.

I would probably be like four or five years old.

So obviously like, and I think what, what X-Files, again, I have not rewatched it since being four or five, so I might be wrong, but I think what they did well, and I think what a lot of sort of mystery horror shows with low budgets do well is make you do the work in your head.

Yes, it's what you imagine, not what you see.

And I think as a kid, there's such, there's so much, everything is the unknown.

So the stuff that you can imagine in your head is so absolutely horrifying.

That they just did it really well.

They'd be like, imagine the worst thing ever.

And you're like, this is such a scary show.

And they haven't really shown you anything.

I don't think the exiles were suitable for four year olds, as far as I remember.

I think, yeah, I guess it's like, I think it's really funny that like, I guess parents would draw the line at like sexy stuff or drug use.

And you're like, well, if there's no drug use or no sex, it's fine.

And it's like, well, it's a goopy alien and there's murder, you know what I mean?

That doesn't occur to ban for parents, because they're like, well, as long as they're not doing drugs or having sex, you can watch it.

You know, I have kids and I have a son who's recently turned 10 and we let him watch a Jason Statham movie just because we thought he wanted to watch something a bit more sort of adult and a bit more action.

This one had no sex, no drugs, but he had a lot of violence and we like throwing the cushion up, but he loves swearing.

And I just figure, I'm not worried about swearing.

They all do it in play.

So swearing, who gives a shit?

But like, you know, yeah, it's more to do with...

There's so much knives in things these days.

You know, when they pull...

This is really a bug, bear of mind.

You know, when someone pulls a knife out of a leather sort of holder on the belt, if you haven't noticed it, it will bug you now.

There's always a sound of metal on metal.

Or when they go to stab someone...

Oh, that makes so much sense.

Metal on metal.

Their face is not made of metal.

Why does it sound like metal?

That makes a lot of sense.

Because they want to make it sound like something, but in reality, it probably doesn't really sound like anything.

Yeah.

And no microphone is ever not fed back in a movie.

Have you seen that?

Must drive you mad.

You're right, you're right.

Always feed back.

No matter what.

Yeah.

It's just.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What was a late night TV show that you were allowed to see that you probably shouldn't have?

I wasn't allowed to see it, but I did watch like all of Sex and the City, because there was a TV in my room and my mom would put me to sleep, leave.

And I know precisely, I think 11 p.m.

Sex and the City would come on.

But also, so I would obviously watch it and I didn't understand most of it.

Yeah.

And also, because it was like terrestrial Russian television, it was so heavily edited.

I want to say the episodes were 15 minutes long.

And so I went back later, obviously, when I wasn't like 11 or 12 watching this.

And I was like, oh my God, there's so much plot I missed because like they cut out all the sex scenes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And for a show like Sex and the City, it's mostly just women having brunch then.

And, yeah, I just remember it was thrilling, it was absolutely thrilling.

It's like, imagine watching Sex and the City, but it's dubbed into Russian.

I would say a lot of the innuendo in wordplay because of the translation is completely lost.

So it's either translated literally if it's wordplay and then it doesn't make any sense or translated to be the thing that it's trying to say, in which case it's so jarringly explicit.

And then it's edited down to 10 to 15 minutes.

It was just like a fever dream, but I think it shaped who I am.

Weirdly, I can't imagine that.

That's amazing.

Because I saw Love Actually, I saw it in Singapore, in the hotel.

And then about a year later, somebody mentioned to me, she goes, what do you think about that Martin Freeman character?

I thought, Martin Freeman?

Oh, obviously, not enough to be seen.

He wasn't in that Love Actually.

What are you talking about?

Because no, he plays the porn star.

What?

Didn't have that whole storyline was cut from it.

So it wasn't in it at all.

That is very funny.

Well, with a movie like Love Actually, because there's so many parallel storylines, you can just like cut one out and it will be quite painless, wouldn't it?

And I do remember also seeing on Russian TV, that terribly sort of, I don't know if it's racist or not now, but the White Chicks, a Wayans Brothers movie where they, where they white up and it was in Russian.

I watched it in a Vladivostok hotel and you could just about make out the English, but there was a guy, just one guy speaking over it in Russian, speaking the entire thing.

Yeah, that's how they would dub it.

Yeah.

I was just like, I can just about make it out.

Yeah.

So I can weirdly imagine that.

Yeah.

It's interesting because like, I guess dubbing had like two philosophies.

I don't know how it works in other countries, but I know that in Russia, like there were two schools.

There was one where it's like we completely mute the original.

We cast various actors and have them do all the dialogue, which is like the equivalent of watching it here.

Or exactly as you said, there would be one voice translating everything, but you could hear the backing track.

And I always prefer the first one, but everyone I know preferred the second one, because they're like, we kind of get the vibe better.

And when you can hear the voice of the original actor, it's like more authentic to see how they're acting, I guess.

I knew a German girl once who didn't know what Sean Connery sounded like, because, you know...

Yeah, exactly.

That's the kind of thing that you completely miss out on.

And then like when Family Guy does a fricking, I don't know, impression of Christopher Walken, how do you translate that into Russian?

That's true.

But like you said with the Khrushchev guy, people, they have people in different countries, don't they, for everything?

I worked on a live extravaganza of House of Trane and Your Dragon, that animation film.

We had the original cast of the film come and do the dubbing for the arena thing that we were doing.

And they all had that part.

So when the third one came out, they go back in the studio, they do that.

So they have these actors, don't they, all around the world, ready to take those places again.

So there's a familiarity to it.

At least they do a proper job of it.

Yeah, I think they're more committed to it in animation than elsewhere.

Definitely.

And you can do what you want with animation, to a point, although the mouth movements are getting really good, so it might start to look funny.

That's also an interesting challenge to translation, right?

When you're translating, are you translating literally or are you translating to something that will flood them out?

So you'll be saying something that's not a direct translation, but if it fits the mouth better, then you would rather use that to preserve the movie experience.

Just something to think about.

Yeah, that's true.

And one of my jobs once was to actually get Mandarin to come out of Australian actors' mouths, which was very difficult.

So I'd sit there with them and they would be speaking in English, but I would dub Mandarin over the top, but they were on stage, so I had to get them to elongate their words.

You know what I mean?

So they'd be on stage speaking in slow motion, so I could get the Mandarin out, so it didn't look weird.

Yeah, it's a whole skill.

That is fascinating.

What a world.

What a world.

Nobody came to see it, so it's fine.

What's the funniest thing you ever saw on TV?

What is the funniest thing I ever saw on TV?

Oh my God, honestly, I'm preparing for a marathon right now, which is something that I needed to pepper into this interview, but there was a, I want to say a local news segment about there being a snowstorm in New York.

There was a reporter on the street.

I think about it all the time.

There was a reporter on the street being like, there's a snowstorm in New York, and there were two joggers behind her, and she was like, hey guys, is this really the time to jog?

And this very smug woman goes, this is actually the perfect weather to run because the snow isn't sticky or something like that.

And then the camera follows them, and obviously the woman falls on her ass.

And it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my entire life.

It's so good.

So she was just being really pedantic.

Yeah, she's like, actually the texture of the snow, she was like going all out on it.

And it was just, oh God, it was just gorgeous.

I love that.

Karma in action.

One I was thinking of today myself, it was on the BBC on Dragon's Den, which I think is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

And it's not funny.

Do you watch Dragon's Den at all?

Yeah.

So there's one last year, this couple came on and they asked for some money for these parties for dogs.

And they got right down to the money and they were getting like deals from three of them or something.

And then they said, you know, would you do it for 1% or something stupid like that?

And then the guy, I think they were married, said to his wife, he goes, no, no, no, don't do it.

And then she went, I'm out.

Another person came out.

And then they lost the whole thing.

And they're in the lift.

And there's just this wonderful moment.

I swear this is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

And she's going, I'm really, really sorry.

I'm really sorry.

He goes, not a problem, darling, not a problem.

And he's just moving ever so slightly further away from her.

And then she's going, I'm really sorry I did that.

I go, not a problem, darling, not a problem.

He's trying to get out of the lift.

You can see the divorce papers.

It's just so fucking funny.

I've never seen anything so harsh.

I play that moment over and over.

It's just so good.

Oh, God, that just broke my heart.

That just absolutely broke my heart.

Oh, no.

What is a TV show that you would erase from history?

You'd press the men in black button and everybody would forget it.

And what's the TV show you'd bring back from the dead after that, if you don't mind?

Oh my Lord.

Okay, just on the top of my head, I would bring back Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23.

Yes, 23, yeah.

That was so good.

So good.

It's an incredible show.

I remember that because they put a few episodes out and then they waited and then they put some more out and they never did a full series properly and they didn't give it the promotion.

It was brilliant, that show.

I haven't revisited it, so I'm sure that there's like a ton wrong with it.

Just I remember that it was groundbreaking that, is it James Vanderbeek who was playing himself?

And I thought that was so fun.

I thought Kristen Ritter was phenomenal.

I thought her outfits were great.

I thought it had like really fun storylines.

I don't know.

I just remember really, really enjoying it and being sad that it got canceled.

Should have been massive.

Yeah, I just, there was a sort of like, it's very difficult to do a show that's knowing and sort of like meta and winky and it's about a bitch without making the audience feel stupid or condescended to.

And they managed to do that.

And I really, really enjoyed that because a lot of the time when people do meta stuff like that, it feels like we have an inside joke and you're not allowed in, which I don't enjoy.

Whereas there, I felt like it was, and yeah, it was never treating the audience like it was stupid or pandering to it.

Anyways, I enjoyed it.

And I'll ask you, just because you've watched New Girl, do you think it's like a piss take of that sort of show, like sending up the tropes, like The Neighbor, you know, Bitch in Apartment 20, whatever, seemed a bit like that, you know what I mean?

Maybe.

I don't know if I ever thought of it that way, but maybe it was.

I thought it was like an antithesis to that in some way.

Yeah, probably, because she was like very, very unapologetically a bitch.

And like all these shows, like Friends, are all about how happy, like, yeah, some of the things that irk me in a lot of these shows, which I do love and watch all the time, is like how sort of like lovey-dovey and happy and peppy everyone is, do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean, because I'm rewatching Friends, I definitely know what you mean because it's just like, everyone's just so happy, clappy, happy and, you know, drinking coffee with loads of time off in the daytime.

In terms of what would I erase?

Okay, I know what I would erase from History Punk'd.

I absolutely hate pranks.

I think pranks are horrific.

I hate them.

They make me feel so sad and it's just, it's cruel.

It's not funny.

I hate it.

It's lying.

Pranking is not playing a joke.

Pranking is lying.

It's the same as like, huh?

It's like, what's your name?

Steve.

It's actually Jeremy.

Ha ha ha.

You believe that my name was Steve.

And it's like, okay, well, you just lied, didn't you?

And you induced like horror or distress on someone.

Congratulations.

How was that funny to you?

That's true, isn't it?

Like when TikTok started, after dancing, there was lots of like people jumping out on people, on escalators and stuff like that.

They were pranking their dogs and it's like, how's the dog supposed to know?

Yeah.

A dog is literally a prisoner in your house and not only is no prisoner in your house, you're playing cruel games with a prisoner in your house.

I hate it.

I hate pranks.

I hate pranks.

I thought about it the other day, because we were watching Michael McIntyre's big shows on our house and that midnight game show, where he goes in and jumps into people's, like into their bedrooms and wakes them up at midnight.

And the cameras come on and...

I hate it.

And it's like they're meant to be the idiots who are like, ha ha, you look like so stupid.

And it's like, what do you mean look stupid for sleeping in the middle of the night in my own bed?

I hate it.

I hate pranks.

And I hate Ashton Kutcher being all smug about it because he was like, hail the funny guy.

I just hate the fact that that is considered comedy.

It makes me so upset.

It's so cruel.

So you don't like the Eric Andre model in America right now.

He does that, doesn't he?

I love Eric Andre.

Don't you dare.

Oh, okay.

But he himself is just such an agent of chaos.

And he himself is so willing to make himself look awful or like stupid in a way that I don't think Ashton Kutcher ever would.

To me, Eric Andre is like avant-garde and sort of surreal.

He is the protector.

I guess like he's not the good guy.

No.

Where do you stand on things like Jackass?

Jackass.

I'm trying to say Jackass and I'm saying it wrong.

Jackass.

So where do you stand on that?

Is that pranking or is that just...

Most of the time, they're just being terrible to themselves, no?

Yeah.

I think so.

There are some pranking with the Steve O character, isn't there?

At times, I think.

Although he's always sticking.

Yeah.

I don't like pranks, but I remember enjoying the last Jackass film.

Right.

So that's a separate thing.

I contain multitudes.

Yeah.

These would be all those kind of like Russia would have had its own version of those kind of candy camera shows.

Oh, yeah.

For sure.

For sure.

They were massive or Trigger Happy TV was my favorite one over here in the 90s.

So if you've ever seen any sketches from that.

No.

Oh my God.

I think they've aged quite well.

He did a thing, Dom Jolie, where it's wild.

It's so hard to explain if you've ever seen it, but like this guy will go for a job interview, right?

So he's sitting there in the foyer and they're telling him to just wait five minutes.

And then person walks by completely dressed as like a rabbit or something in a full animal suit.

And then he'll wait a bit longer and go, okay, you can go in now.

And he goes in and there's just like 20 people sitting around a ballroom all dressed as animals.

And they will just stop talking and look at him.

And then he just leaves.

It's just, it's like a very proto Nathan for you.

Yes, yes, yes.

I do wonder why I'm so not okay with Punk'd and yet I am okay with Nathan for you.

And a lot of the time I do feel like, oh my God, is Nathan exploiting these people.

But then again, I think the major difference is Ashton Kutcher was high status, whereas Nathan Fielder is always low status.

Nathan Fielder is always like, oh, I'm a dumbass.

So I think, I think I don't like pranks.

I don't know if I would enjoy them regardless, but I do think you have more ground to stand on where you're low status.

That's true.

Have you seen the rehearsal Nathan Fielder show?

No, but I've seen people keep saying that it's like super uncomfortable to watch and like genius in how purposefully uncomfortable it is.

But controversial opinion, I don't like being uncomfortable.

If you could embody a character from television, can be animation, can be real, for 24 hours, who would that be?

I'd be Lola from Big Mouth.

I adore Lola from Big Mouth.

I think I'm fundamentally am Lola from Big Mouth.

And so I just like to be animated.

Can you tell us a bit more about that character?

Oh my God, she's incredible.

She is the, from what I remember, daughter of a single mother.

The mother is not really particularly interested in her because the mother is like off sort of having sex with her personal trainer.

And so Lola is this like, she has like a lot of bravado and a lot of confidence, but really she's like quiet, quite insecure and lonely.

And I don't know.

I just think that she is, she's all of us, really.

We're all, we're all putting on a brave face when in reality we're sort of sad.

And on that note.

No, but she's very, very funny.

That reminds me of the really good advertising campaign they did for Kirby Enthusiasm once, where they pictured Larry David and said, deep down, you know, you're him.

That's exactly how I feel about Lola from Big Mouth.

Yes.

That's exactly how I feel about Larry David.

Well, Olga, thank you for coming on Television Times.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate you having me.

Thank you.

And I'll come, are you going to be in Edinburgh this year?

Yes.

Definitely come and see your show.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Have a wonderful day.

That was Olga Koch talking to me about TV and comedy and stuff.

Real good fun, enjoyed that chat a lot.

Really loved her show last year at Edinburgh.

Can't wait to see the next one, she's brilliant.

She really is a unique talent and a really important voice, I think.

You should check her out online if you can.

There's clips everywhere, she's been on all the shows.

You know what to do.

And now to today's outro track.

Now, because Olga is Russian, I'm not saying this is a link, but I look for tenuous links musically when I'm putting a song at the end.

I put a song out in 2010, years ago, called The New Cold War, when Russia was still friendly, weirdly.

And it was kind of, I don't know what it was about.

It was because there was that weird spying scandal in America that led to the TV show The Americans, I believe.

And I loved the name of the main drag in St.

Petersburg called Nevsky Prospect.

Just love that sound of those two words together.

And having been to Russia, like I mentioned, in 2003, you know, it left a big mark on me.

And I sort of always wanted to do something musically that sounded, I don't know, like a nod to it.

So I guess that's what this tune, I wouldn't call it a song, became.

So here we go.

This is it.

The New Cold War in brackets, Nevsky Prospect.

That was the new Cold War, a tune, OK, you can only call it a tune, from 2010.

I hope you enjoyed that and I hope you enjoyed my interview with Olga Koch.

It was a lot of fun.

Come back next week for another episode, or maybe it will be sooner.

Maybe it will be later.

You'll find out soon enough.

OK, thanks for listening.

Bye for now.