Sunday 3 July 2022

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Clue At 50 - Jack Dee


DESERT ISLAND DISCS REVISITED: CLUE AT 50 -
JACK DEE (320kbs-m4a/96mb/42mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 24th April 2022

From Bob Dylan to Petula Clark.

Comedian, actor and writer Jack Dee shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Jack's persona is that of the laconic miserabilist - his hit sit-com was called "Lead Balloon" and his autobiography entitled "Thanks For Nothing".

That is only part of the picture: even though show business was in the family – Jack's great grandparents were in music hall – his early working life ranged all over the place. From grafting in the kitchens of The Ritz to working in an artificial leg factory - at one point he even seriously considered the priesthood.

He says his caustic, ironic, sarcastic comedy comes from "a sort of realism. You can't escape the dark stuff in life ... and my way of dealing with that is to absorb it into my life so that it's no longer worrying for me."

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2014.

Bob Dylan & Roger McGuinn & George Harrison & Tom Petty & Eric Clapton & Neil Young - My Back Pages [Columbia]
Bob Newhart - Introducing Tobacco To Civilisation [Pickwick]
Petula Clark - Downtown [See For Miles]
Highly Likely - Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? (Theme) [Play It Again]
John Hegley - Eddie Don't Like Furniture [Rykodisc/Hannibal]
Bob Dylan - Maggie's Farm [Columbia]
Mandia Basic School Choir - The Welcome Song [Children In Need - BBC]
Neil Young - Good To See You [Reprise]

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