Paul Sneddon Tribute - A great comic and even greater human being

[00:00:32] Hello and welcome to the latest episode of You Should Have Been Here Last Week, the comedy podcast hosted by myself Steve Gribbin and fellow comedian Paul Ricketts. Hello. You Should Have Been Here Last Week is the podcast that looks at all aspects of the comedy business from comedians, agents, promoters, critics and cheerleaders. But today we're going to be talking about one of the best loved comedians on the UK comedy circuit who sadly left us two weeks ago.

[00:00:57] A man who, judging from the outpouring of love and amazing stories, has truly left his mark on the comedy world. We'll be talking about Paul Sneddon. Yeah, and I suppose this is a tribute to him. Yeah. It's a slightly sombre episode, but you can't really stay sombre when discussing Paul Sneddon, a.k.a. Vladimir McTavish, a.k.a. Bob Dulally.

[00:01:27] Bob Dulally. Yeah, amazing comic creation. He was an amalgamation of Jock Steen, Bill Shankly and Alex Ferguson, wasn't he? Yeah. I mean, many people who are watching and listening will probably be familiar with that character and his catchphrase, you know, close personal friend of mine. Every single person was a close personal friend of mine.

[00:01:55] I once actually saw Paul do a 2012 show down at the Edinburgh stand. Still remains one of the best sort of hours of comedy I've ever seen. You know, just in front of about 150 people. And he is. Yeah, it was magnificent. Because he was quite a well-known character, wasn't he, Bob Dulally, in Scotland? Yes, world famous in Scotland.

[00:02:22] I did a gig where not only him was on the bill, but Arnold Brown was on the bill. Yeah. That's two legends of Scottish comedy. Yeah. And I was emceeing them in Greenock and also in Salt Coats. Yeah. And I suddenly realised I was in the presence of greatness. Scottish comedy royalty, you know. Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:51] And I had a really tremendous gig, really, I've got to be honest. Sorry to bring it back to me. But the point is that Paul was so supportive. Yeah. And because I was starting to shit myself before I went on. And, you know, 200 people in Greenock. Yeah. But yeah, I had a fantastic time because he just gave me that little pep talk that you need sometimes. Yeah. I mean, lots of people have been coming on saying how supportive he was.

[00:03:18] And a lot of people started, you know, brand new acts and he would give them a pep talk. And he was incredibly, you know, he loved comedy. And, you know, he's just one of the good guys, really. You know. Well, I think you love people. Yeah. Which is an even bigger thing. Because a lot of comedians don't. Can you blame them? No, but that's why they do comedy.

[00:03:48] So they can have a sort of discourse with 100 watts per channel of power, a microphone and light. So no one else really gets the chance to talk back. To interrupt them. Yeah. Paul was just, I mean, the first time I met him, downstairs at King's Head, I was doing a Sunday gig there and he got pulled. And we all stayed in the pub. And had a fantastic time. A much better time than if we actually had done the gig. Done the gig.

[00:04:19] Yeah. And he was just, I just said to him afterwards, you know, we had a really, really good time, you know, chatting about all sorts of things, politics and sport, you name it. And I said, aren't you worried? You haven't seen me perform yet. I might be a bit shit. No, no, no, no. I'm not worried about that. You'll be great when I see you. I know you're going to be great. Wow. That's a fantastic thing to say. Yes, it is. He had that knack, didn't he? That you wouldn't see him for, you know, a number of years.

[00:04:47] But then the next time you saw him, it was almost, you'd just be shaking up the conversation as if you'd never, you'd just been five minutes. He was brilliant at that. And he was one of the few people when you did bump into him, he'd go, well, let's just nip into the pub and have a pint and a chat. And most comics are not like that. He's got, I mean, there's so many sort of brilliant stories about him, you know, of his exploits, as it were.

[00:05:16] I mean, I remember one that he used big friends with Parrot. Parrot was a comedian that was, you know, really, really big in the 90s. And they turned up once at Heckler's Comedy Club, run by Nobby Cash in Oldershot. And they were both, this is when, because I think he did live in London for a bit. Yeah. But they turned up and they were both absolutely pissed.

[00:05:41] And we couldn't get Parrot stood in the toilet, facing the wall, just going, like humming or something. And we couldn't, we couldn't get him out of the toilet. So I'm glad, you know, Paul wasn't even supposed to be on and he had to go on. And he was, you know, really pissed, but he did a brilliant job. You'd never have known he was drunk. Yeah. I've never forgotten that. It's fantastic performance. Yeah. I mean, he was a good, he was a good drunk.

[00:06:06] He was, you know, some people aren't, some people should never drink because it turns them into a monster. And you could argue as well, I mean, obviously this is influence on the generations of Scottish comedians, but also for the fact that he's one of the founding directors of Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh. So from that point of view as well, I mean, they're still going strong and they've had a profound effect on Scottish comedy, haven't they? Yeah.

[00:06:33] To everybody from Kevin Bridges, you name it, they've all come through there. And I think he's also, yeah, he got me in there. He got me into the stand and put a, put a word in for me. And he also, I think he was involved in the Scottish Edinburgh Festival. They were just Scottish comedians for Angel. It's based in Grassmarket.

[00:06:57] He also helped Laughing Horse was a stalwart there for a bit, as well as the stand. Yeah. Yeah. An important figure in Scottish comedy and comedy full stop. Comedy full stop. We can't sort of talk about it without talking about the, the suits, which he was famous for. Yeah. They were incredible, weren't they? I don't know how many he had. I mean, he had the red one and the blue one. Yeah. There was more colours than that, I don't know.

[00:07:25] And you also had the silver one, which I was a fan of. That's right. Yeah. And then I got myself a similar one, which he really liked. Yeah. He wasn't afraid to, you know, it's that very old fashioned way of saying, if I'm going to be on stage, I'm going to dress up, you know. Yeah. Use very much of that ethos.

[00:07:46] But also the traditional sort of, that Scottish spiky haircut as worn by Dennis Law and Rod Stewart. Yeah. I remember somebody described in this like a very, um, the porched version of Ool Woolly. You know, the character, the character for the Sunday post. Well, he does, he does look a bit like him, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah. I think you've got a funny story about something.

[00:08:13] Well, we have, before I go into it, before I go into it, we do have a series of, uh, I asked some comedians if they'd like to, uh, share a few stories, uh, and which you're going to see them, uh, after we finished, uh, you know, sort of wrapping on. And one of them is, is Nick Wilty. He was got a particularly touching tribute, but I did ask him if I could tell this particular story, which he didn't mention.

[00:08:41] So Nick, there's something that was a 2023. And Nick Wilty was doing the Edinburgh Fringe and he has a camper van and he decided to save money and sleep in the camper van for the whole duration of the Edinburgh Fringe. And he needed somewhere to park it. And so he parked outside, um, Paul's house in Edinburgh. Yeah.

[00:09:07] And every morning he'd knock on the door and say, can I use your toilet for his morning turnout? And after a week of this, uh, Paul's wife, Christine, apparently said, I've had enough of this. He's stinking hot toilet out every morning. Yeah. You have a word with him and say, look, you know, he's, I think he's got a chemical toilet in his camper van.

[00:09:37] Just, just let me use that. Cause I can't, I can't bear this anymore. So for the second two weeks, he used the chemical toilet. And then I suppose in the last week, chemical toilet was full and he didn't know what to do with it. So he knocked on the door again and said, look, can I just empty my chemical toilet in your toilet? And, uh, yeah. Okay. And the wife wasn't in at this particular point.

[00:10:04] So, uh, Paul told me, cause so I saw him staggering up the stairs, okay? With this full toilet. And of course disaster happened. He tripped up on the final step. Oh God, no. He had emptied the chemical toilet all on the top of the landing. And despite, you know, Paul, he said, I've got all the brushes out. I've got everything out. I've got to try to clean it all up.

[00:10:33] You can't get rid of the smell. Can you? Oh, I know. And then when his wife got home, Christine got home and instantly realized something was wrong as she came through the door. Well, you would, wouldn't you? And, uh, Paul said, well, look, I've done my best to clean it up. I think, I think it's, it's going to be all right. She goes, no, it's not. We're buying a new carpet straight away from the landing. You'd have to, wouldn't you? Yeah. You'd have to.

[00:11:02] And of course, you know, Paul just then said to her, he said, well, you know, wouldn't it have been easier if we just kept on letting him use it in the morning? Oh God. Then this would never have happened. Oh my God. Oh, that I can't get that image out of my mind. Yeah. Nick said I could only tell that story if I stressed that, uh, the chemical toilet was in his camper van and it's not something that he needs to have on a daily basis.

[00:11:35] Well, yeah. So we've got some comics, um, who are going to say a few things and tell a few stories. And, uh, the first one is a good friend of Paul's Alan Francis. What can I say about Paul Sneddon? He was, um, an absolute legend of the comedy circuit. Um, he was a very easy man to love was Paul Sneddon. I always thought, I remember when I first met him, I, um,

[00:12:05] instantly liked him. It was at a gig in the early nineties at the Edinburgh festival. Um, and there he was with his tartan suit on. Vladimir McTavish, his shock of yellow hair and, uh, very, very funny. Um, fantastic sort of observational comedy just about the world.

[00:12:33] And the way, you know, Scotland, you know, you know, always, always kind of, you know, he, he obviously loved Scotland dearly, but was never afraid to take the piss out of Scotland, which was, uh, I think that's the mark of many, many Scottish comedians actually.

[00:12:54] Um, but he was, um, his characters as well, you know, Bob Dulali, a wonderful sort of observation of that kind of Dennis Law style football pundit who was, um, soaked in booze and nostalgia. Um, and, um, he, he seemed to get that absolutely perfectly. But yeah, I, I, I, I miss him hugely.

[00:13:23] I miss him enormously. I was quite shocked to hear about him passing on. And I, I know he'd gigged not that long ago, just in London. I was at the same gig actually about two weeks after he'd been there. And the woman who ran the gig, Georgie, who's, uh, is the King's head in Crouch End was devastated by it. I mean, she was telling me that he'd only been there the previous Saturday or the, or the Saturday before, and that he stormed the gig and the audience loved him.

[00:13:52] And he was full of, um, mischief and fun and, and, uh, and life. And it's just such a terrible tragedy the way that, um, happened. But I, um, I can remember having some good, I mean, I had so many good times with him. We did Burns Night, uh, stuff together and, um, gigged in Scotland and in England.

[00:14:20] And, um, um, I met him many times, of course, at the Edinburgh Festival, the stand comedy club in Glasgow and in Edinburgh. I'd gigged with him and he was often in the audience at the stand. Um, if he wasn't gigging, I mean, I know a couple of times I played the stand, he, he was there and we'd, um, have a chat. And he always, always, it was always such a pleasure to go and work up in Scotland again, you know, cause I don't live there anymore.

[00:14:47] And he really made it feel like coming home, you know, um, such a tragedy. Although I remember gigging once with him in London and somewhere near St. Paul's, uh, cathedral. And, um, the, it was, um, we were walking along the street towards St. Paul's tube station after the gig. And we were just talking, we were talking about stuff. And then I suddenly noticed that his voice was coming from somewhere down on the floor.

[00:15:16] And I looked down and he was crawling along the floor, but carrying on speaking to me. Uh, just not, not sort of missing a beat at all, but, uh, he'd had, you know, just that extra pint of lager. It just meant that it was easier for him to use all four limbs to try to get to the tube station than just the two. But, um, it was the way that that, he just, it wasn't like it was a bad thing. I mean, he was a really, you know, he, he was a good drunk.

[00:15:45] He was one of these guys who, when he'd had a drink, he was just full of love and, and full of happiness. There was not, I never have known Paul not to be full of love and full of happiness. I shall miss him dearly. Um, Vladimir McTavish, Bob Dullaby. Yeah. It's a, it's a terrible loss to the world of comedy.

[00:16:14] And I know all of us who knew him are deeply saddened by it. RIP Paul Sneddon. May you make him laugh wherever you are. And, uh, next up we have a great friend of his as well. Uh, Neil McFarlane. Oh, I'm going to miss Paul so much. He was brilliant, uh, Vlad, Bob, but Paul. Um, but my abiding memory, I think of the one of these, the weirdest gig we ever did.

[00:16:41] Uh, we've met all kinds of places, Brighton where I live now, um, London, Southwest. But I think we went to Orkney once, uh, which was a very mad gig, uh, with the great John Scott and a very, very strange man, a terrifying driver called Max Starr. And, um, he drove us terrifyingly all the way up from Glasgow to wherever you get the ferry to, uh, Kirkwall, St. Marks, I think it is.

[00:17:10] And, um, thankfully he didn't drive us any further. Uh, so we got the ferry, which had a, um, uh, which took cars, but we didn't have a car. But there's no passenger exit from the ferry. We got the other end to get our lift to the gig in the hotel. And the ramp went down. There's these four random guys. I was in my matrix stage. I had a long black coat and was wearing shades. Uh, and, uh, John was fairly tart and Matt, uh, can't remember.

[00:17:39] But, um, Vlad was wearing his trademark silver suit with the spiky hair. And just, we must've looked like an absolute weird assortment coming off this boat. And, um, the gig was brilliant, but, uh, the previous time they'd had a second impromptu gig, um, uh, downstairs in the pub for the folks who couldn't make it into the big gig. The thing is this time around, it wasn't sold out and everyone had seen the gig,

[00:18:04] but the man insisted on making us do a second little gig in the, uh, in the pub, uh, uh, downstairs. And, uh, I immediately volunteered to open because I knew that would be the sweet spot. And that's the only time I've ever seen, I hope only time I've ever seen Paul a bit pissed off because that was obviously what he wanted to do. Because, uh, we basically were just getting paid a whiskey at that point. And we always just wanted to get rat arsed and not have to do any more comedy.

[00:18:31] Uh, but just, you know, just great travels, lovely man. Um, he gave me lifts. I gave him gigs, vice versa. And, uh, I can't believe he's gone. But the important thing was when you were up and coming comic, he was never anything less than the kindest and the most. Everyone's been saying the same exact words, but the only reason that everyone's been saying it is the truth, um, about Paul.

[00:18:59] So yeah, kind, encouraging, taken far too soon. I miss him very much. Cheers, Paul. And the next person who's going to speak, uh, works, I think a lot with, uh, Paul internationally. Uh, and that's, uh, Charmian Hughes. Vladimir McTavish. Scary name.

[00:19:22] Such a fabulous, funny, mischievous, puck-like pan type figure of comedy. Um, and it was when I shared a venue with him in New Zealand, in Dunedin, that I realised what a total star he was there and how audiences adored him. Um, they flocked to see his shows and his compilation shows.

[00:19:50] Um, and he, he embodied Scotland for them. And all my correspondence with him over Facebook messages is all me asking for advice, tips, who books this, who did your posters. Uh, and he would answer all those. And he took the time and the details. And because of him, I did the New Zealand fringes. Because of him, I got to do an Edinburgh fringe at the stand.

[00:20:16] Um, he was just so kind and helpful, but also brilliant. And we're really gonna miss him. The next person, um, yeah, once again, a good friend and colleague of his, uh, Pam Ford. Hiya, Pam Ford here. I didn't know his name was Paul. I've always known him as Vladimir McTavish and his ridiculous suits. I gigged with him in London, in Edinburgh, and in Adelaide.

[00:20:41] And he always gave me a warm welcome, always had me on his shows. What a great guy. Sadly missed. I was blessed to have known you, Paul, from Pam. And the next comic who's worked with Paul over many, many years, decades, is, uh, Nick Revel. He was a great man on and off stage.

[00:21:06] His company was always entertaining, uh, wide ranging and funny. Whether you were talking about art or comedy or drinking experiences or cunts or art galleries, having a cup of tea in the modern art gallery, uh, or football or whatever the hell it was.

[00:21:34] It was an entertaining and enthralling and fulfilling experience. And, uh, the measure of the man as well is how, what a wonderful wifey, uh, now widow has, uh, how her girls, Christine's girls both adored Paul and him them. Uh, I don't know.

[00:21:59] If we all aspire to get the kind of tributes that are coming in for him, then, uh, we could probably say we'd, we'd lived a good life. Uh, I'm just shocked. One of the things I'm really going to miss specifically is for about the last five years or more,

[00:22:21] we've been pinging McGonagall-like, uh, poems to each other to discuss football tournaments or whatever particular issues seemed important to us at the time. Uh, which actually leads me on to say he did a great, uh, narration of a documentary on, uh, I think on Radio 4, uh, about William McGonagall. And it was just a brilliant delivery.

[00:22:50] He had such sensitivity in his, uh, in his comic timing. Uh, I mean, uh, his standup was always great fun to watch. Um, and he was one of those comics who had the great strength to not really worry, uh, about if he was having a tough time, which didn't happen that often, but it always happens from time to time.

[00:23:19] And there's something wonderful about somebody who's just in the right zone for doing the comedy and can handle any kind of turbulence. And of course he's Bob do Lally character. I miss him so much. And the next one is, uh, one of his closest friends, uh, on the comedy circuit and, uh, fantastic comedian in his own right, uh, John Scott.

[00:23:45] So here I am, I'm want to say some words about Paul Sneddon, Bob do Lally, Vladimir McTavish. Now I've been taking notes, uh, on what I want to talk about and I'm, you know, I'm tearing up already. So this video might stop and start a bit. But so my first encounter with, with Paul Sneddon was I was actually the stand comedy club used to take place in a couple of basements and bars where all great comedy always starts.

[00:24:11] And I used to go to it regularly cause I probably cause I, you know, I was, I was thinking about, I wanted to have a go at comedy, but comedians seem like magicians to me or, you know, I just, how do you do it? Uh, and so that night, uh, it was the second time we'd done it. I found out later, uh, Paul came on a headline in the show as Bob do Lally.

[00:24:30] And me and my mate, Roger, that was there where we were sitting right in front of the mic and we're just in bits and I'm not a football person, but I found the character instantly recognizable. That these, you know, a certain generation of Scottish players with that play hours with that strange Scottish accent. It's slightly posh, but you know, and, um, anyway, but the funny bit of it was Paul had also opened the show that night as himself or as Vladimir McTavish.

[00:25:00] And I only realized 15 minutes into the, into Bob do Lally. I went, I nudge my mates and I went, it's the same guy. And which he saw. And he went, and he was using a catchphrase at the time going, these laddies are daft. They're daft, these laddies. And, uh, anyway, I asked two young men a bit pitched down the front here who have just recognized that the man headlining the show is indeed actually the same man that opened the show. But they didn't realize that because they're daft. These laddies are daft.

[00:25:31] So that was my first encounter with Paul. Uh, then I started comedy in 99 myself and I got to know him quite quickly. He did me the great favor. He, uh, I think I had a slight interest in what I do topical comedy, which is what I do a lot these days. But he put me on a panel show when I was a brand new open spot, way out my depth alongside Frankie Boyle, him, uh, Susan Morrison, and a great political comedian who doesn't do it any more called John Flint. And I was atrocious on that show, but he just did nothing but encourage me.

[00:26:00] And, uh, and, and yeah, and let me, let me learn how to maybe do it. And interesting. That was interesting development in my career because I didn't immediately go into topical comedy. I was different, more mainstreamy stuff I used to do, but I'm there now and I do it a lot now. And I think we've got Paul to thank for that. Um, I went to Australia with Paul. Uh, we, um, we, that was the first time, first time when British comedians started, were starting to head over to do the festivals in Australia.

[00:26:28] We had a great time when we were staying in this, uh, really dodgy apartment that had an air conditioning or if you switch the air conditioning on, it only came on as really hot, which we never knew. We left the house one day, switched on the air conditioning, came back to this infernal, but we shared the large room together, him at one end, me at the other. And I've got a terrible phobia of insects and being in Australia, I'm always, I was waiting for some dreadful insect to emerge. And I woke up one morning and there was this rattling noise underneath Paul's bed on the head.

[00:26:57] It was a wooden floor and I'm going, that, that's a, that's a giant hissing cockroach. So I went and got a brush, right? Before I went near the bed, right? Um, creep into the bed when Paul wakes up with me standing over him like this. And he's like, ah, and I'm like, sorry, I think there's a, there's a giant hissing cockroach under your bed. Obviously he leapt out the bed and, uh, it was, it was, it was, it was phone. Christine was, was texting him for Britain. It was driven. It was just going now and then, uh, under the bed.

[00:27:25] So one of the daft stories, um, uh, a more personal story. Um, so, I mean, I speak about openly, you know, I've got bipolar disorder, you know, but when I first met my partner, Leslie, I amassed it. I had it, I wasn't even sure maybe of my diagnosis in those early days, but then when I first felt really ill with it and I'll not go into details, but it can be very, very frightening for me. Very frightening for anybody around me, but particularly Leslie.

[00:27:51] And, uh, so I had to go in the hospital, but, um, Leslie went to Paul and Christine's. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's a, it's a sad, sad thing. Uh, when a great comic like Paul dies, it would be a miss of me also not to mention that Kevin McCarron, uh, also died.

[00:28:21] Another great comic, uh, MC and co-founder of laughing horse. And, uh, who, um, Paul went to visit last, last May, actually he's been in a nursing home for the last year. Uh, and his funeral is going to be on the same day as Paul's. And I think also he deserves a mention because he did help many, many comics on their way.

[00:28:47] He did comedy courses, uh, great MC for laughing horse. He also helped me, uh, and yeah, I think he should be remembered as well. Uh, but the final word about Paul, I think I'm going to give that to Nick Wilty. So I just want to say a few words about my friend, Paul, Paul Sneddon.

[00:29:13] Uh, I knew him from 1990 onwards and he's one of the nicest people I've ever met. And one of my favorite people of all time. And we certainly had some adventures together, not just with Dura. There were other things. The memories I'll have with Paul always be, he was just a naturally funny man. And he could speak really well on any occasion.

[00:29:41] Um, I sometimes had to use Google translate to find out what he said, but it always sounded right. And the other thing about Paul, and I'm sure other people notice this, he didn't play the bagpipes as such. But the moment you put a microphone in his hand, he would start to play the invisible bagpipes. It was just the nature of the man and one of his many endearing features.

[00:30:10] He was just a superb person. I would say I've been to Edinburgh, maybe, uh, 31 times, something like that. And when Paul moved back from London to be with his beautiful Christine and the kids, the two girls, he lived in Edinburgh. And there was always a welcome at his house. In fact, I took advantage of it.

[00:30:37] And sometimes I'd spend the entire festival at his house. And the lot, most recently in 2023, uh, I had my camper van pocks in his driveway and I was doing shows up there. And at night we would sit there and talk till the early hours of the morning, drinking whiskey. And he was just a fantastic person. So I'm going to miss him tremendously.

[00:31:04] I just want to tell you two little stories about him. Um, we all know he liked to drink and I certainly do. I'm stood here in the English countryside in the Highlands of Lincolnshire. Mm hmm. And I'm having a quick beer because I, I drove one mile up the side of a canal. I'm staying with my friends up there. So I was fortunate enough to do quite a few overseas tours. I was just a few gigs with Paul.

[00:31:35] And one particular one, I couldn't make it. I'd been booked in to do a little tour of Southeast Asia, including Thailand. And I rang Paul up and said, look, I just can't do it. I've forgotten why it was now. It's not like me to turn down an overseas trip. So it must've been important. But I rang Paul up and said, can you go out to Thailand and do these shows?

[00:32:00] And one of them in particular in who a hin, which is the, uh, probably the best of a bunch. They had these hotels where your garden was the grass that ran down to the water. So each of these, uh, pavilions, they were staying in individual pavilions. They had the grass going right down to the waterfront and they had a big grand foyer. And of course I checked it out before, but I hadn't actually played there myself.

[00:32:30] But I said to Paul, here's the gigs. And we did have a little chat about the drinking. And I just said, look, the, the guy out there, he's never met you before. He doesn't like people drinking before the show, but you can do what the hell he like afterwards. So Paul took my word and he did exactly that. I got a phone call the day after Paul had been in Hoohin from the booker. Uh, I won't mention his name, but the booker of at the time out there.

[00:33:00] And he said last night was quite extraordinary. Paul as Vladivir McTavish went out there and had an absolutely blinding gig. And he had a few drinks and he wandered back to the hotel. And in the foyer of the hotel was a huge water feature. I think it was animals and, uh, lights and what have you.

[00:33:26] And somehow Paul completely dressed up as Vladivir McTavish, fell into this, uh, water feature. The ornaments dropped down, smashed the pool, and the entire foyer was full of water. And Paul just took it in his stride. Ho ho ho ho ho. Went up to his room and carried on drinking and wasn't aware of it till the morning. Uh, unfortunately it was quite an expensive bit of artwork.

[00:33:56] So I believe that the whole fee he had went to pay for the water feature in the hotel. But Paul had no regrets. He had a brilliant time out there, enjoyed the company of the other comedians and did what he's paid for. Very talented man. And the last thing I'd like to say, I know how much Christine and the girls meant to him. He absolutely loved them. They were his life. And there's a very sweet thing happened. We were doing a show in Cyprus,

[00:34:25] in the Turkish part of Cyprus, in a place called Quirinha, right up the top. And I'd been going out there for maybe three or four months, every month to do a show. And I had no say in who was going to be on, but I had a little leap of joy when, I think it was on the third or fourth month out there, they said, Oh, Paul Sneddon's coming out. And I thought, Oh, that is more than I could wish for. So hang out with one of my favorite people in a nice part of the world in the sun.

[00:34:53] And this included decent wage and free drinks, of course. So me and him were well up for it. Anyway, cut long story short. We did the show. And, you know, chatted to a few members of the audience and then people started drifting off. And it was an outdoor stage overlooking the sea. So it was a rather marvelous place. And when everybody left, there was just a few crates of beer and some whiskeys left. And I think there was four of us there.

[00:35:21] Three acts of my wife. And they had a karaoke all set up there. So you could effectively be talking face in the sea, stood on a proper stage. And I've got a dreadful voice. I can't sing to save my life. But I tried to do a song by squeeze because I at least I knew some of the lyrics and it was pretty bloody awful. My wife's got a sweet voice. She sang something very nice. And then Paul eventually got up.

[00:35:50] And sat on a bar stool. I think he'd had maybe a bottle and a half of something at that point. But he sang the sweetest version of She by Charles Aznavour. The original version, not the one that was covered by Elvis Costello. It was extremely beautiful and sincere. And he sang it and dedicated it to his beautiful wife, Christine.

[00:36:18] I mean, somewhere in my archives of video. I must have it because I was knocked out by his voice. I thought he, I didn't understand a word he said. I think he did it in French. But anyway, he sang this beautiful, soulful, heartbreaking version of She and dedicated it to Christine. If I can find it, I'll bring it up to Edinburgh when I come up there. But other than that, what can I say?

[00:36:45] He was part of my life for 37 years. And I miss that man already. What a wonderful human being he was. And hopefully I'll see some of you, his friends, at one of the memorials. I'm not sure I'll be able to get to Edinburgh. But if they have one in London or if they have a video link, I would like to pay my regards to him. So love to Christine and the girls. And so much love to my dear old friend,

[00:37:15] Bob Duladdy, Vladimir McTavish, Paul Sneddon. Drink to you, mate.

[00:38:04] This podcast is part of Podomity, the UK's podcast comedy network. Why not laugh at what else we've got? Visit Podomity.com.