Where did the idea for the show come from?

David

I really like looking at my favourite scenes from my favourite movies or TV shows and imagining where they filmed them - and so I started looking for them myself in my spare time with my son, and then we talked about it on the podcast, and it went from there, starting with filming locations. 

Joe

It reminded me a bit of when you were a kid talking about Henry VIII and walking around where he once lived and suddenly stopping and thinking – Henry VIII actually stood here – and that’s what all of the series felt like for me, thinking wow, Ronnie Barker would have stood here.

David

I don’t know what it is, but I've always tricked myself into thinking all these worlds exist somewhere and I’ve always wanted to go and imagine I was there and immerse myself in it.

For anyone tuning in, how would you describe the show to them?

David

It’s like Time Team and sitcom archaeology - finding treasures from our favourite shows.

Joe

It did feel like a treasure hunt as well. What was a bit different about it is that I was creating a tour of Fawlty Towers and The Office for David - he had no idea where I would take him, what would happen, and then vice versa with Porridge. So it was a surprise for the other person – a magical mystery tour.

David

It then became quite stressful, because we would get worried that maybe the other person wouldn't like it.

Joe  

Its funny because I think we’ve both now discovered that we're not great at having surprises dropped on us. I would start worrying that my reaction was going to be weird, but then when you’re the person doing the surprising its easier as you know what's coming up.

David

There were certain things that I arranged for Joe that I remember I could see he was quite underwhelmed by…

Joe

But we agreed that throughout all of this, we had to be truthful about how we were feeling. So being in that cell for the Porridge episode, first of all I was like, well this isn’t the actual cell, so being truthful, I wasn't really feeling it, but then a couple of things happened, that changed my mind and it was incredible.

What were your highlights from the series?

David

There were loads, but I think the main one for me was seeing Basil’s red car. I sort of knew it was coming, but when I saw it parked in exactly the right position, it was the exact model - oh, wow, it really felt like a moment where I walked inside the TV screen.

Joe

I'm a bit torn, because my favourite bits in retrospect were some of the most stressful for me in the moment. I met Dick Clement, the creator and writer of Porridge, and then Ian La Frenais appeared on Zoom, and it was like an out-of-body experience - I wasn't really in the moment. It was probably the most stressful bit for me, but the bit I'm like, wow, I’m so pleased I got to do that - but in the moment I just wanted to say, ‘can I go’? I can only compare it to meeting your hero – its overwhelming, but you don’t not want to be there, but all you’re thinking is how do I make them think I’m great and not weird.

David

And Joe knowing I’m sat there watching this all happen! 

Were there any moments that you were particularly proud of?

Joe

I really enjoyed trying to think of places to go and different ways of presenting them for David. Because we’ve worked together and known each other quite a long time it would have been impossible to do this series with anyone else. I know what won't bother him, but also what will. So Basil’s car for instance, there was a chance that we weren't going to be able to park the car in that exact spot, and I just knew that wouldn’t work – it had to be in that exact place to have that impact. It’s a really nice feeling making someone's dream come true, so that's quite cool.

David

I was a bit nervous about getting Joe’s parents involved, because that idea came up midway through filming – worlds colliding which I really liked. Also taking him to Ronnie Barker’s house – it was really exciting coming up with these ideas and having a great team around you who made them happen. 

Why are these sitcoms in particular so important to you both?

Joe

There was an underlying connection to where we were in our life at that time, there was always something in each of them that was really important to us. For me and Porridge it still means a lot to me because it was something I watched with my mum and dad when I was a kid, and we still talk and laugh about it even now. It’s a really lovely thing that I share with my family.

David

For me and The Office, it's sort of being lost in my 20s and loving comedy, and its the thing that gave me the kick up the ass to go and try and do comedy myself, and then Fawlty Towers like Joe it was remembering my dad laughing at the show, and getting really into it myself. 

Looking back now, it's why we wanted to make this show so much, because unknowingly it meant so much to us.

Joe

I remember going to the pub after we’d been to Ealing Studios, where the cast used to go, and David said something like, what are you thinking after all that, and I just said, I want to phone my dad, and I hadn't planned that, but we phoned my dad.

David

That was the moment when I thought I’d really like to get Joe’s parents involved. 

Joe

It's funny, do you remember you used to say the only time we're together is when we're watching television, and that was almost said as a negative. Now, its rare anyone wants to watch the same thing, unless it’s the Traitors or Sport - it's like me with my other half, we try and find stuff we want to watch together, but there's this ridiculous amount of choice. Back in the day, we'd all sit down and probably fell in love with the show just because it was on, and it was what mum and dad were watching, not realising how lucky we were.

Were there any other sitcoms that you would have liked to have explored or created episodes around?

David

There's probably another five or six. I would love to do Ever Decreasing Circles, Blackadder and The Royle Family.

Joe

Mine would be Only Fools and Horses. David makes fun of me for watching it a lot, but I think its incredible. I’d also do Father Ted and Early Doors. God there's loads, we were obviously both utterly obsessed, weren't we.

What were the biggest challenges you faced during the series?

David

I haven't been myself on camera before, so I obviously found that quite weird. How do you walk? But I think I nailed it. I remember the first morning when Joe appeared. I thought, God, I normally have to put on a voice on be someone different, what do I do, but Joe helped me through it.

Joe

I did no such thing!

I haven't done anything like this really, basically us larkhing about, but also its something really serious and meaningful as well. It was like a documentary, it's finding out loads of stuff that we really care about, and trusting that if we find this exciting, hopefully other people will. 

Were there any instances where the people you met, the locations you went to, forced a change in direction.

Joe

It was a bit of a juggle to try and get John Cleese, it was rumbling along for months.

David

Every morning we were filming, I thought this would be the John Cleese day, but then Joe would take me to see a road sign.

Joe

David had a tendency to guess ahead, which drove me up the bloody wall – ‘were seeing the red car later’, like it was a little game he played with himself out loud. Every time he guessed it right, we just didn’t come up with anything imaginative enough that it surprised David.

Were there any funny moments behind the scenes that didn't make the cut?

Joe

There was one bit that I loved, when David set me up with the Mastermind.

David

I arranged for the winner of Mastermind for Porridge to take Joe on, head-to-head.

Joe

I was really nervous because I didn’t want to do badly and all the jeopardy go because it'd be like this guy's not really into Porridge, but actually I did really well, but then David ruined it by telling me he’d made the questions really easy.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the series?

David

I hope they get a little percentage of that feeling we got when we experienced all those things.

Joe

I think if you're a fan of the shows, there's loads in it for you. Its as David said during filming, ‘this is the show I'd watch if I was at home’ and I thought that that was enough for me. We've made a show that we'd watch.

Why do you think that shows like Porridge, The Office, and Fawlty Towers still resonate with people now?

David

The writing's amazing, for one. I'm showing my young boys Fawlty Towers at the moment, and they absolutely love it. The writing's so sharp, and the pace, and the punchlines are genuinely funny. I’m not sure we make sitcoms that are funny anymore, like out and out funny. 

Joe

I fell in love with these characters, so you just want to keep going back and watching them. I find them really comforting - sometimes I put them on and I half watch it because I know that I'm word perfect on them.

Do you think there’s life left in sitcoms?

Joe

The landscape is a bit different now. There isn’t that water cooler moment about sitcoms that there used to be, because we consume stuff differently now. The sitcom was really special, it’d be Thursday at eight, you wouldn’t go anywhere, you had to be in.

David

That's what we thought whilst we were filming. It was like, God, this feels like the death of the sitcom, were sort of putting it to rest. We feel lucky that we had that time where there’d be hundreds of shows each week where you’d come together, but nowadays there’s one, two, or three a year, and that's it.

How has making the show changed how you view those three sitcoms and your relationship to them? 

David

I think I always felt like people like John Cleese had some magic keys for making an amazing show, but they're just people that made something, and it caught a light, and I always felt like there was a magic ingredient, but they’re just getting on with stuff, and some things hit and some things don't. I didn't realise how much these shows had shaped me as a little boy and in my early 20s.

Joe

I just think it was a really exciting show to make - I'd struggle to love them anymore.

Do you have any funny memories of each other that you can share?

David

Joe investigated some farms, as he thought they were run by criminals. That made me laugh and it only happened 3 days ago.

Joe

The thing that I'm enjoying at the moment, but David probably doesn’t want to talk about…

David

I’m trying to lose weight.

Joe

He’s doing a weigh in once a week, David’s quite chippy around that time. Its my favourite part of the week, David walks me through how he's weighed himself, that's my particular highlight. He gets his family involved, and it's just really funny. He likes to weigh himself eight times for some reason every time, in case the scales are lying.

If you could step into any classic sitcom world, where would you go and why?

Joe

I want to meet Ronnie Barker in any situation. We didn't put it in the show, but I found out years ago when I was in the BBC that the person who was taking me to my meeting had said that he'd once opened the door and Ronnie Barker had been in the lift.

David

That anecdote really annoys me as I literally put you in Ronnie Barker’s living room.

I emailed Ash Atalla to work as a runner on the second series of The Office, because I wanted to be involved so much, but there were no spaces. I would have loved to have been in The Office. 

Joe and David’s Magical Sitcom Tour which starts next Tuesday at 9pm on U&Gold

Interview/picture supplied by publicists