Yuriko Kotani: Culture Shock, Stand-Up in a Second Language & Channel 4 Fame

Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, Screen Rats, and welcome to another episode of Television Times Podcast.

Now today, I've got a great guest for you.

She's from Japan, she's a comedian, Yuriko Kotani.

Now she's been in loads of stuff.

You'll know her from TV, her TV work for sure.

She's in a show called Please Like with Tim Key and Liam Williams, which I absolutely loved.

Really, really funny.

I think it was a BBC Three thing.

She's been in loads of stuff.

You'll definitely recognize her, but she's very, very funny.

And I went to see her show.

That was the first thing I saw at Edinburgh this year.

And it was also the first interview that I arranged before I went up.

So she was someone I wanted to talk to for a while now.

So it was really, really great to sort of sort that out.

And when I went up, that was the only one I knew.

That was the only person I knew I was talking to.

So I had no idea I was going to do all these other episodes up there.

So that's great.

So what's going on in my life?

Well, kids are at school, probably about halfway or more through the first half of half term.

So that's coming up.

My wife is going to wait for a bit to do some work in another town.

And for some reason, that week has become the busiest week in the world.

And I've got loads of upcoming recordings to do as well, believe it or not.

And a lot of those are in that week, including one with Australia that I have to get out for like three in the morning to do.

So I'm looking forward to it, but also not in that way.

But it's someone I really, really, really want to talk to.

So it's worth the effort.

I've also been talking to, I don't know if I should say this.

Can I say this?

I've been talking to a podcaster network that is not far from where I live about possibly using their facilities and working with them in some way in the future.

I'm not quite sure how that's going to pan out.

So that could be exciting.

Yeah, going forward, funny time of year, funny time of year.

Kids are back.

Christmas seems imminent.

My birthday is around the corner.

I go for my usual yearly or sometimes more than that trip to a premiere in, where I like to stay for one night.

I used to do two, but I get bored and I get a sore back because I'm watching too many films.

So I'm just having a one day, a week before my birthday, I have one day where I go and I'm in a premiere classroom.

Ooh, classy, classic stuff.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

Apart from that, it's just like, you know, getting back to normal life after Edinburgh, wondering what to do with that show, possibly trying to put that on next year here before I do anything else.

And, you know, thinking heavily about what to do about next year's Edinburgh, which I may have to miss because of the oasis malarkey that's going on for a start.

But also, you know, I don't know if I can do to back to back.

Don't know if I can afford it, simple as that.

But for now, let's get to our guest.

Now, she's been on telly.

She's a great comedian.

You should go and see her.

She's very funny.

And it's great to talk to someone from Japan, a country that I often profess is my favorite place on earth.

And it really is one of them for sure, if not the.

And you know, obviously, I didn't want to just talk to her about such things.

But of course, it starts that way.

I cannot help it.

I love that place.

And it very well will be banging on about food and silly stuff too.

So anyway, this is my conversation recorded up in Edinburgh, I believe on the 7th of August.

This is me talking to the brilliant Yuriko Kotani.

Here we go with Yuriko, Yuriko Kotani.

Roll up, roll up and welcome to another edition of Television Times with your host me, Steve Otis Gunn, where I'll be talking to someone you do know or someone you don't.

It might be funny, but it might not be, but it's always worth tuning in for.

So here we go with another episode of Television Times.

Yeah, which one are you listening to?

I'm just going to hold this.

Whoa, whoa.

I'm just going to hold that like, hey, so...

Check, check, one, two, one, two.

One, two, two, two, one, two.

Yes, so...

Thank you for the water.

Thank you.

So Yuriko, when I asked you to come to this podcast, I forgot that I'd actually watched you because I'd seen that show, Please Like.

Could you say it, Please Like?

Yes, Please Like, yes.

I love that show.

I forgot because I watched it in lockdown, I think, maybe or just after.

Yeah.

I love it because I watched Liam Williams' Loudhood and then I wanted to watch something else and then I watched his other show and then you played Nozomi.

Yes, that's right.

Yes, I was so grateful.

Yeah, and Liam, he's writing amazing and the performance was brilliant.

Yeah, and it was fantastic.

So I was so grateful to be a part.

You were a really good ensemble cast, all of you.

It was just so funny.

It was just such a funny show and I don't know how I missed it.

I must have been on tour or something.

I don't remember, but this podcast is about TV.

So I usually start by just chatting about your experience in TV.

And we should talk about Japan a lot because that's all I ever want to talk about.

Yeah.

It's my favorite country in the world.

I talk about it all the time.

And I mean, when I get to Japan, the first thing I do is just go by like two onigiris from Lawson.

And I just get so excited at the idea of getting off the plane and just going and getting like, I don't know, like kakanotani and going to Tenya and getting tempura.

For me, it's all about food.

And one question I had for you was because I watched the show, you said, are you vegetarian or vegan?

Vegetarian.

I was a vegan during the lockdown.

Yeah.

Vegetarian.

Because I was normal vegetarian for years and years and years.

And then I had a Japanese girlfriend and I spent a lot of time in Japan.

I went backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards for seven years.

And I had to eat fish because for me, I couldn't imagine being in Japan and being vegetarian.

So I became a pescatarian, what they call it.

So is it difficult being completely veg in Japan?

So I tried, I tried it and not really anymore because some of them are now vegans.

And also, yes, it is hard because there are a lot of fish stocks.

Yeah, yeah, fishes and everything.

They put the flakes on top.

Yes, that's right.

The eggs or because I don't think vegetarianism is a big thing in Japan.

Maybe some monks.

Yeah, that's right.

Yes, monks have like a Taishokushigi and yes, the vegetarians.

But I did it and vegetarians, please go to Japan.

Yeah.

And yes, there is so many information there.

Lots of, yes, you know, lots of tofu.

Yeah, of course, of course.

And what did I eat?

Agadashi tofu is one of my favourite things.

So good.

You can't get it here.

You can't get it.

And one of my favourite things as well.

I don't know.

Of course, you can get a vegetarian one, can't you?

Is okonomiyaki, but Hiroshima style.

Yes, egg on it.

Yeah.

The noodles.

Yeah.

It has to have the noodles.

It has to have the noodles.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just delicious.

The best food in the world.

I really do believe that.

So good.

Yes.

Did you have it in Hiroshima or?

I had it in Hiroshima.

Okay.

I realize this is not a podcast about food, but if I get someone off from Japan, we're going to talk about two things, Japan and Japanese food.

It's just going to happen.

Don't worry.

We'll get around to TV at some point.

So I did the Trans-Siberian once and then I took the boat from Busan to Hakata and then worked my way to Tokyo on my own by train.

Hakata.

Oh, yes, yes.

And then?

And then I went to Hiroshima.

Hiroshima.

Yeah.

Kyoto, Osaka, Nara.

Kyoto, Osaka, Nara.

Yeah, yeah, I did the whole thing.

So you come from, what town do you come from?

I'm from Aichi Prefecture.

So it's in between, I guess, Tokyo.

So Tokyo is in Eastern Kyoto or Osaka in West.

And it's in between.

So if you take a bullet train, you go through like a Nagoya.

So, yes.

I love that whole area.

I like going to Nara, especially.

It's one of my favorite.

Or there's an island, isn't there, off the south.

I can't remember where there's lots of deer.

And you can go for a walk up a hill.

And I got lost up there.

It was absolutely stunning, but beautiful.

But everyone's feeding like these deer ice cream.

You know, you have the vending machines that have the ice cream, like the long ice cream.

They're like, oh, deers.

They should have deer ice cream.

I don't think deers should eat ice cream.

But the humans are giving the deer the ice cream and they're sucking the thing.

Oh, okay.

Do they get like a stomach ache later?

I would imagine they have some kind of deer stomach ache, yeah, because I don't think deers can have lactose.

We'll look into that.

Yeah, yes.

Did you start comedy in Japan, then?

No, it started here in the UK, yes.

So what made you do that?

Because I really love British humor so much.

Yes, like very like a sarcastic or like a dark sense of humor as well, like, yeah, something.

Yes, in Japan, like in Japan, we don't really have that.

Yes, more slapstick in Japan, isn't it?

Yeah, when I watched British comedy and I just fell in love.

Oh, really?

Well, the one thing I was very surprised at is a lot of Japanese actors start as comedians, like Takeshi and people like that.

They all started as comedians, like an American.

So who was the first person you saw here?

What TV show that influenced you, do you think?

The first one I watched was The League of Gentlemen.

The League of Gentlemen is so strange and it's so British.

That's a hard way to start.

Yes, I couldn't believe it, but I loved it so much.

They've all gone on to do other things, like Inside Number 9.

Have you watched those?

Yes, Inside Number 9, which I also love.

Yeah.

I'm going to look at what I wrote down because there are some things I want to talk to you about.

So one thing I noticed, you talked a little bit about earthquakes in your show.

We'll talk a little bit about earthquakes.

Some of the ones I've experienced.

See, that's a funny thing.

I think in England or Britain, people think that an earthquake is an earthquake.

What I've experienced is I've had the shaky, shaky earthquake where people in Starbucks go and start putting down their laptops, but they're not sure and then it stops and they just carry on.

That's right.

Yes.

Then there's the big move, the one that just moves once.

You've been in one of those, the really big, shocking one.

Yes.

Where you just get thrown in your room.

And that's really weird.

Yes.

I don't like that one.

And there's a circular one as well, which I've been in.

Circular?

I feel like it's moving like that and it goes on for a long time and that one is scary.

I remember the first one I was ever in.

I woke up to it.

I was asleep and I woke up and all the books were falling off the shelves.

Yeah.

And everything was just falling and all the lights were shaking.

And I was like, shit.

And they would go, you're okay.

And I was like, yeah.

But never been in one.

It's quite different if you haven't experienced it.

Yes.

If audience come to see my show, I'll explain probably how I experienced this year, like first of January.

But yes, I was like really scared.

It can be.

But it's amazing how it all just gets back to normal.

Like a train happens and then they just clear the line and you must get very frustrated here.

Do you miss the efficiency of Japan?

The way things just work in Japan and here, they don't quite work as well.

I miss that.

And so I talk about the train.

The train is on stage, but yes, efficiency.

But at the same time, I got used to it.

Okay, let's say if the train gets cancelled and if you've been waiting for a long time and they'll be like, oh no, but there I can just switch off the oh no feeling.

It's strange.

I learned how to deal with...

Yeah, there are levels, aren't there?

There's Japan, which is like, it leaves on the minute.

Then you've got London, which is like, there's a bus every five minutes.

And then where I live, I live in Newcastle.

Sometimes it will say 40 minutes and you're like, for me from London, that is...

I can't, I can't.

That's too long to wait for anything.

Oh no.

But in London, people go, oh, six minutes to a train.

And you're like, that's good.

In Japan, it's like two minutes, two minutes, two minutes.

It's amazing.

No, I miss a lot of it.

I really, really do.

It's strange to me because I find Japan beautiful in a way that I don't think I'm supposed to find it beautiful.

If you go to somewhere like Tokyo or Osaka, the buildings are all kind of concrete.

Some of them are very ugly, let's be honest.

But there's beauty in it.

There's kind of urban, industrial, and it doesn't really ever end.

The way it just continues sometimes, you know what I mean?

Like that train you mentioned from Tokyo to going past Nagoya.

There's just buildings all the way.

There's very little where there's just like fields or land.

You know, like in England, you leave London and then it's a field.

20 minutes.

Tokyo, I mean, it's an hour and there's still buildings.

You know what I mean?

It just never sort of finishes.

I sort of miss seeing that urban landscape, if you know what I mean.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

Have you ever been to Kyoto?

Yeah.

Two times.

Three times maybe.

What did you think about Kyoto?

Well, the first time I went to Kyoto, I rented a bicycle and I cycled around and I didn't know anything.

And I went to 7-Eleven and I bought this really nice grapefruit drink.

And I was drinking it and it was very hot.

It was August, it was boiling.

And I just had one of the nicest days.

And I just remember feeling really, really happy.

And when I got to Tokyo, I said, you know, I just had the most happy day there.

It was, I've never been so happy as that day.

The next day, I went out into Tokyo and I walked into a 7-Eleven at like a half eight in the morning.

And I picked up the same drink.

And my girlfriend said, that's alcohol.

It was Chuhai.

Oh, Chuhai, yes.

So I was drinking it thinking it was like lemonade.

Yeah, kind of just normal like a soft drink.

So I was drunk basically.

Was it strong?

I had the big tall cans.

I had about three of them, I think.

Wow, that's pretty...

But when you don't know that you're drinking alcohol, you don't know it.

So you just think you're happy.

Yeah, so I'm just like, oh, I'm in Kyoto and having a great time.

Look at all the temples.

How can I get to all of them?

It's impossible.

Yeah, so many.

And then later you realize, oh, I was just drunk.

Or I wasn't in Kyoto with the beautiful city.

Oh, maybe both.

I know.

And it has...

Yeah, I mean, for me, again, I'll go to food because one of my favorite...

I don't eat fast food, but in Japan, I eat fast food because I love freshness burger and moss burger.

Moss burger.

Moss burger, fish burger is the best.

Not vegetarian, but it's unbelievably good because, you know, like McDonald's where they show you the picture and then they hand you this thing that looks like someone stood on it.

Oh, like a squash looking...

Yeah, yeah, piece of shit.

In moss burger, it looks like the photo.

You know what I mean?

Because in Japan, the presentation is like, there you go.

It's just, I miss it so much.

Yes.

Yes.

I don't know if you like soba noodles.

Yeah, of course.

Yes.

So I went to lunch and then for the soba noodles, it was a lunch.

Yeah, they presented beautifully.

Yeah.

I love the look and yeah, I just pick photos and...

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But for now, let's get back to the current episode of Television Times Podcast.

So we haven't got very long, so we have to pile through these.

So the other thing is I'm always amazed.

And I'm sure many people have told you this and it's not to you.

It probably seems like nothing, but I'm always blown away that someone can do comedy in not their native tongue.

Like the idea that you would do comedy in English as a Japanese person, that blows my mind.

You know, are you translating or are you just thinking English now?

Uh, oh, that's a good question because I'm now, how am I doing?

How are you doing it?

Yeah, how am I doing it?

How does anyone do it?

I guess I'm just doing as I just say.

You must just be thinking, yeah, because we all when we're on stage, you saying stuff and you know you're speaking and you're also going, have I said this before?

I think I've done this bit.

But you're also thinking, no, I haven't.

And then you're thinking about what's coming up, but your mouth is going.

It's strange.

So maybe also-

Especially at the Edmmer Friendship Festival.

Yeah.

It's just, yeah, it's like a very interesting experience.

It's like having constant deja vu because you're so tired.

And you're saying the same thing kind of every day, every day at the same time.

I'm loving it.

But I find that I had one last night where I was like, I completely fucked up.

I jumped over a section and then I had to go back.

But then I just made it part of the show because it was like, do you remember this bit?

You know, you do that sometimes, right?

It's just because it's just the nature of the show.

It's very, very difficult.

But I just thought maybe with you, there's even another layer.

So you're speaking, telling you jokes, you're thinking about what's coming up.

You're probably thinking, did I say this?

Am I doing this right?

Is that person laughing?

And you're probably thinking in Japanese as well as English.

So when I'm writing, like I use like a notebook.

And so when I'm writing, sometimes in Japanese and sometimes in English.

So probably I'm thinking in sometimes, yeah, in Japanese English and English.

But on stage, yeah, like as you just said, it's just, yeah, just words come out.

They come out.

Yeah.

Oh, no, no, no, but coming out.

The words are English.

So yeah, how am I thinking?

That's a very good question.

Have a little think tonight.

I don't think about it because it will put you off, but maybe I think you must be thinking in English.

You probably are.

Yeah, must be.

You must be.

Must be.

Yeah.

It's wild, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Very wild.

I think that's incredible.

I really, really do.

So I'm going to ask you some format questions now.

Okay.

What's a TV show that you saw as a child, so it would have been in Japan, that you probably shouldn't have seen?

I watched a lot of horror films.

Oh, really?

Japanese horror films are the worst.

Because they make this scary.

They make daytime scary.

Yeah.

Like a spooky, like a, yeah.

Like those toilets.

Yeah.

Scary.

So I watched Japanese films or like Hollywood, the scary films or any kind of horror films with my family.

And probably, hmm.

Now I think back and is it suitable for kids?

No.

Depends on how old you are.

I mean, some of them are suitable for adults.

When I saw Juon, the original Juon, when I saw that kid in the lift Juon 2 with the knocking on the wall.

That for me, scariest film I've ever seen in my life.

And then they made American ones and they made it shit.

But yeah, the original Juon, I think they're more scary than well, anything.

Yes, very scary.

And then I now remember like when I was a kid, I just scared to go to the toilet or like, yeah, like on your own, right?

Like, yeah, so I really, really do.

I was on tour in Taiwan about five years ago and they had Japanese toilets, which are great.

But when you went in there on your own, the lights would go off after a while.

And yes, the lighting, yes, I was watching loads of Japanese and Korean horrors and it just made it.

I couldn't go to work.

I was like, I got to stop watching these things.

Because every time I go to work, I'm getting really, really actually quite scared.

Like I'm washing my hands expecting to see someone with very long hair.

Oh yeah, on the mirror and then look back and then nobody's behind you.

Yes, classic Japanese schoolgirl outside my window or something.

I know, it's scary stuff, I know, I know.

You have jingles in Japan, you got a lot of mascots in Japan for products.

They come with songs, right?

Yes.

That's the one thing I found, there were screens everywhere.

Like I would go to get the milk and there'd be a screen and a little dancing thing.

And I'd be like, wow, screens are really cheap in Japan because they're just everywhere singing or when you go near something, it will sing a thing to you or something will dance and they've all got a jingle.

Yes.

Once you enter the supermarket, there's songs or the shop.

It's kind of weird.

If I went to Fainthebys and I went to go to get milk and the milk sang to me, that would be weird now.

That would be fun, like singing milk.

That's a very cute idea.

Yeah.

We should bring it.

We should have it here.

I think we should have it here.

Okay.

So you're a comedian.

You're in the UK.

If you offered a reality TV show to go on to, which one would you go on?

I used to watch, yes, Big Brother.

I don't think I want to be filmed 24 hours a day.

Yeah, that's hard.

What about a dancing show or cooking show?

Oh, is it a reality TV show?

We can go on one SAS, where someone shouts at you to jump in the river and do bush ups.

The reboot of Takeshi's Castle, that's back.

Oh, okay.

I'll be on that.

You're going to go on that?

Yes.

You should be on that.

You should be one of the hosts.

You should do the voiceover.

Not Ramesh and Tom.

That's who's doing it now.

He's doing that as well.

Yeah, I'd love to.

I'd love to.

Which TV character do you have a connection to?

Any.

I connect to any characters who live there on their journey.

And when I feel emotional or relatable, yeah, I'm easy to be on board.

And even like anime.

Yeah.

Do you feel an affinity with a certain character?

Like it's a bit like you?

Do you have any relatable anime character?

For me?

Yeah, for you.

For me, I used to watch something very old as a kid that I loved.

It was here.

It was called Battle of the planets.

But I think it's called Gatchaman.

I think it's really old.

Gatchaman!

It was called G-Force or something.

Okay.

Yeah.

And we have that.

But it had American voices.

So I didn't know it was Japanese until I grew up.

Really?

Yeah, it was.

How did you feel when you watched?

I felt like I was lied to.

I hated it.

I didn't like that.

Did you enjoy without doubt or?

Yeah.

I mean, I never watched out.

I will never watch out.

I'm not German.

No, that was one thing.

Yeah, it was a bit of a shock.

But obviously, now I look back, of course, that's Japanese.

It looks Japanese.

It's interesting, isn't it?

Like, yeah, like, for example, any Hollywood films on TV that was dubbed and the voice of actors in Japan are like celebrities.

Yeah, yeah.

And so it's like Studio Ghibli films, right?

They are.

Yeah.

You know, when they go abroad, they have famous American actors on.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

They do a lot of that.

Yeah.

So now if there is a, like, for example, Terminator, that character got their own voice over actor in Japanese.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know that.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So they would do all of Arnold Schwarzenegger's films.

I think so.

I think so.

I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but-

No, no, I think you're right.

Because I also worked on How to Train Your Dragon Talk.

And we did that in China.

And my job was to be the live dubber.

So in every country, I did it in Japan as well.

I did it in Yokohama.

And basically I would press the button of every line that came out of their mouth.

So they would speak in Australian accent, American accent, whatever.

And then I would press the button in the local language.

Wow!

For every single line of the show for two hours.

And that was my job.

That's amazing!

Wow!

I know.

And when we got to China, they had got some dubbing wrong.

Some of it was rude and they'd recorded the wrong words.

So I got flown to Shanghai and I met the cast of actors who do the voices for the cartoon films.

And we wanted the same people to do it for our show.

So they had this group of actors who played those parts for all of the How to Train Your Dragon movies.

These were the people with each role.

So they definitely have that.

Specific.

Yeah.

And there was a guy in Russia who had a thing.

Anyway, yeah, they've all got these people standing by.

Wow.

It's amazing, really.

No, I'm thinking like, so like one day I want to do my own show in Japanese language.

But maybe if you, if I pre-record my show in Japanese language, and then maybe if you press every line, and then the people, Japanese people will hear, can hear in Japanese language.

Because what you would do, wherever you are, if you're in England, you can have headsets for Japanese people.

And if you're in Japan, you can have headsets for English people.

You can do both.

And then just someone has to just cue all your lines.

It's just a space bar.

Bang, bang, bang.

It's all it was.

Wow.

Yeah, it's amazing.

But that's incredible because...

You have to talk to me if you ever do that, I'll do it for you.

Oh, thank you very much.

Thank you.

But that's incredible because sometimes in language, there's like a timing, so that I'll have the proper time.

So I would get the English people to speak like this and do it because that was how much time I needed for the Chinese or whatever.

So I had to sit with everyone and get them to say every line a certain length or how they do it on movements.

So yeah, it was really complicated, really complicated.

Every day, it was like a test for me to get it right.

And if someone went and it came out, I was like, yes.

Hats off to you.

Wow.

But you know what used to really amaze me about Japan was the dual language television.

Like in your normal TV, you have NHK and stuff.

You could pick the language on normal TV.

You know that on the remote, you could pick English or Japanese.

Is it?

Oh.

Yeah, they have both.

All that has been on for years.

You just press a button and it's in English.

And there's a guy talking.

Yeah, I know.

It's incredible.

Wow.

I always thought that was amazing.

Because like they'd have the, you know, the earthquake thing, for instance, would come on TV.

And I'd just hit the dual language button.

It would all come up in English and it would tell me whether it was dangerous or not.

That's good to know so that they can still get the information right.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Oh, it's amazing.

You've always been so far ahead.

I mean, I remember being on the train in like 2004, maybe, and someone was on their phone and they were online.

I was like, huh?

How are they doing that?

Yeah.

When I moved to here, I saw that time I already had the phone that I could get emails, I guess.

Yeah, you were way ahead of us.

Way ahead, I think.

And then, but everybody in the UK got a Nokia phone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, you had the flip phone with the internet.

And we had Snake.

Exactly.

That was the time when everyone had lots of things hanging off their phone, all the girls.

Yeah.

Their phone was so heavy.

Yes.

I had a few.

Yes.

I used to go.

So when I travel around Japan, you buy as Omiya get like a souvenir.

Yeah.

Just attach them all to your phone.

It was fun time.

I know.

We're talking about Japan a lot.

I'll ask you one more question.

Yes.

Let's see.

What invention from television would you bring to life?

Do you know Doraemon?

Of course.

So Doraemon got a pocket.

The Doraemon can have lots of items.

So yeah, maybe Doraemon's pocket, maybe.

Doraemon's pocket?

Yes.

And do you just wish for them and they come?

Is it like, I want a hundred pounds and it comes out of Doraemon's pocket?

So I don't think Doraemon has money, unfortunately.

But Doraemon has a lot of items.

And he just say, Doko demo door means like the door that you can go to anywhere.

And he just get the door from his pocket.

Yeah.

Then door shows up.

And then you open the door and you can go anywhere.

Oh, that's amazing.

I definitely want that too.

Yes.

Save you getting on the train.

Absolutely.

Yes.

So that's one of his item.

And there another item is a helicopter means like, there's like a helicopter, the propeller.

Oh, right.

On the head.

On his head.

And if you put down on the head.

Yeah.

And the propeller starts to spin.

Yes, spin.

And then you can fly.

Really?

So you can take his weight because he's quite big, isn't he?

Quite heavy.

And not just him, everybody.

Oh, everybody.

Yeah, with the item.

And then, yeah, fly.

So and he's got so many items.

I like that.

Yeah.

I know the character.

I didn't know he had a door in his pocket.

It's amazing.

Yeah, not just like door, like so many items.

That is definitely the best answer we've ever had to that question.

Thank you.

I thought maybe just one item, but let's just have the pocket with all the items.

Yeah, it's amazing that has to be done.

Right.

Well, thank you very much for coming on to Television Times.

Thank you very much.

Sorry, it was so brief.

We're here at the Fringe, but it's not a Fringe episode.

We'll release it in September, October.

Something says thank you so much for coming on.

That was me talking to Yuriko Kotani at the Edinburgh Fringe.

There were a lot of episodes I recorded up there.

That was one of my favorites.

It was the first one in a nice, clean, quiet space upstairs at Space UK.

I was very happy that they gave me that space to talk to Yuriko.

It was great chat, so be sure to check her out online, both her stand-up and her TV shows.

Now to our outro track.

Right, for keen listeners of The Pod, you'd have heard this song before at the end of an episode I did with James Friedman last year.

But I felt with Yuriko, there's only one song I ever want to put on a podcast when I'm talking to someone Japanese, and it's my song How Lucky We Are.

This song was written in 2006, so quite a long time ago, but I think it's the most, I don't know, personal song I ever wrote in Japan about how I felt about the structure of society there and the things that were going on at the time, you know?

I think it's a bit of a sad song, but it's also, you know, quite a positive song in a way, if you can just realize how lucky you are to have the things you have and the amazing life that we all live.

And that's quite weird to say something positive from someone like me, I guess.

But there we are.

So this is the song.

I love this song.

I really love this song.

This is my song, How Lucky We Are.

That was How Lucky We Are from the album We Are Animals, which I released in 2006.

Recorded in...

In Japan, all songs are written by me.

Okay, that's it for this week.

I hope you liked my chat with Yuriko.

Come back next week or sooner, or whenever the next one comes out, for another episode of Television Times Podcast.

Thank you for listening.

See you next time.