A Cock and Bull Story

A Cock and Bull Story

 Sidey: cock and bull story.

Dan: Indeed.

Don't believe it.

Sidey: Had you this is your non-res, right? Yes. I had not seen this before, but I was aware of it. I knew what the, what the kind of vibe was.

Dan: I'd started watching this before because I really like the trip which lent itself into this.

Reegs: Mm-hmm.

Sidey: Did you bail out 'cause dinner was ready or you just didn't, you

Dan: don't know.

I don't remember, but I think watching the start of it, I probably bailed out because I thought this isn't my thing. And then

Reegs: first half an hour, it can be kind of hard going in a way, can't

Dan: Well, I didn't know which way it was going. Yeah. I, I.

You know, certainly it surprised me after half an hour I was like, oh, wait a minute.

I can probably kind of get into this.

Sidey: So the, the premise, I guess, is that it's an adaptation of the book,

Reegs: the book, the Life and Opinions of Tristan

Sidey: considered

to be Unfilmable. Yes. And the book itself. Kind of unfinished. Doesn't end.

Reegs: Yeah. It doesn't, it sort of ends [00:01:00] in the middle of stuff.

Yeah. And it's like this, it was,

Sidey: it's meta itself the book, isn't

Reegs: It's meta fiction. Yeah. So it was one of the earliest examples of sort of breaking the fourth wall, talking directly to the, you know, the audience or. Being like characters that are aware, they're in a story, that sort of thing. So one of the earliest examples of that and kind of postmodern before there was anything to even be like modern or post about it either.

So

Dan: what year are we going back into, is it period year? Yeah.

Reegs: That is a good question, Dan,

Dan: I, I'm assuming it's all like, looks very Victorian,

Sidey: Yeah. Like, like a pride and prejudice vibe. Yeah. In the

Dan: And, and so was I, I was just wondering whether the book was written around that time. Yeah, so I was just a, I was just a youngster back in those days.

Sidey: But we start off.

correct

me if I'm wrong 'cause I usually am with Coogan and Bryden in the makeup chair

Coogan's having his nose done. And they're kind of having their [00:02:00] thing, which we've seen, like you mentioned a lot of times in the

Reegs: their dynamic of bride and sort of chipping away.

Yeah. And Coogan is more aloof and reserved. Yeah. And he's talking about the color of his teeth. He calls it was he say they're like Tuscan sunset. He describes it as a Juul luck color jar and the makeup girls in the scene laughing. And it's all very natural, isn't

Sidey: it? Mm-hmm.

Reegs: There's sort of those hints at the petty jealousies already in their relationships and that like the constant debate, the one upmanship who's the star and who isn't.

Sidey: I'm a, I'm a co. I'm the co-star. Yeah. Is that what you're just in it, but you're not a star, you know, that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Reegs: I'm the lead. You are the support. Yeah. Yeah,

Dan: And yeah, constantly through the film, also battling each other's impersonations and who's got the best one and, and telling they haven't got, I mean, it goes right to the credit sys as

Sidey: Steve.

Cogan just comes across as very, very insecure about it. You know, someone

Reegs: big chip on his shoulder

Sidey: just say, well, yeah, whatever. But he can't let anything go. Like as soon as Brian does something, it is like [00:03:00] chipping away him.

He is just like, ah. But then we're gonna get like, chucked into the story of.

Reegs: Tristan

Sidey: Tristan's conception, his birth, his, all that.

Reegs: And Cogan all. So we go right back to 1759, I guess, and he's like in his period, appropriate clothing, talking directly, narrating the story, talking and walking directly to us introducing himself as Tristan. And like you say, we do get that potted history and we understand.

Yeah. He talks about, there's a bull, isn't it? He says, this is the bull. And then he talks about the, the cock of the story. And yet it turns out through a really bad child actor, which coogan himself also calls out as being

Sidey: bad.

Reegs: That he got his cock jammed in a window sill

Sidey: the window falls down on his dick.

Reegs: His Uncle Toby has been reenacting the battle of Namur in the, in the grounds of their sort of stately home. And he's taken their weights from the window.

Sidey: The Sash. yeah,

Reegs: Yeah. So that's why the thing has fallen on his thing. And we've also learned about Uncle Toby who had an [00:04:00] injury at the Battle of Namur.

It's not exactly mentioned where, but it's suggested, it's something delicate.

It

Dan: starts whistling each time, doesn't he? It's, it is brought up and yeah, he's, he's so much of a gentleman, he can't possibly talk about his nether

Sidey: but then

Reegs: even though everybody is obsessed with finding out what it is and what happened to him.

It's like a long joke throughout.

Sidey: We'll sort of then come out of the story maybe a little bit later on, but because there's now an action sequence or a, a battle, you know Yeah. Coogan's not involved in that and he gets the ars and then because his part is being diminished by not being part of this big,

Reegs: Yeah, it's about half an hour before that comes in, that sort of breakaway.

'cause we do get like a full story of his birth. He had his nose mangled by a drunk forceps?

Yeah. They show it, they demonstrate it. Squeezing a melon, I think

Sidey: Well, his father won't allow the midwife to do it. It has to be the doctor with his new fangled.

Dan: Dylan Moran. Yeah. Outta black books.

[00:05:00] And he's got forceps, isn't he?

Sidey: But he doesn't seem to know

Reegs: how to

Dan: really know how to use them. At one point he attempts to use him on, on Rod Bride's hands, and he scrapes his skin off him, and then he goes, no, get a melon. A melon would be much more, you know, realistic. The Melan gets absolutely destroyed. And next thing you know, they're heading upstairs to the wife

Reegs: she's g getting on with it in the next room,

Dan: absolutely screaming her head off.

Reegs: off. And there's a, there's time for a quick digression about how he came by the name Tristan. He, his father wanted to call him Tris. Magistas named after Hermes's Trismus, a philosopher which Uncle Toby and some serving girl

Sidey: He imparts this information to the serving guy, says, well, don't forget, and she's just saying it. It's like Hodo

Reegs: Yeah,

Sidey: hold the door.

Reegs: exactly. Exactly.

Sidey: like running down the corridor trying to remember this enormous like ridiculously complicated word and just says Tri Truman.

They get there.

Reegs: And a little digression as well about his conception, which was his father essentially Pavlov his mother [00:06:00] into getting horny when he wound the clocks. And one evening he, he was so horny, came home and he forgot to wind the clocks and she doesn't get like, lubricated.

Dan: that. That's right. Yeah. There's quite a,

Sidey: there hasn't been any foreplay, let's put it that way.

Reegs: So that's, it is after that, the suddenly there's like cut and we come out of the story and suddenly it's, you know,

Sidey: start to see the crew in the shot, don't we? Yeah. And we're like, oh yeah, we are actually in a thing behind the scenes. And then we're gonna get more stuff about. Coogan's insecurity about stuff.

He starts to fixate on the wardrobe and the shoes are too high.

Reegs: Yeah. He wants to be taller than brien in the scene.

Sidey: He's like, it's not an ego thing, they're just not right for like, nah dunno.

Reegs: Yeah.

And also we're introduced to his fiance or girlfriend who's called Jenny and their kids, their recently born kids. She's just come up from London, like all the way up to this film set to be with him. Yeah.

Dan: that, yeah, but that's Kelly McDonald, isn't it?

Sidey: Just to [00:07:00] have

Reegs: Yeah. Basically. And Coogan has also been lusting after an assistant is also named Jenny.

Yeah. And

Sidey: money Penny, isn't it? Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah. She's like a real twat. Like she's real artsy fary. She can describe everything beautifully, but she just

Sidey: just wants to fuck.

Reegs: she just won't like Coogan's enraptured by the way. She talks about the book and how much she loves it, and she like, can dissect the themes really eloquently.

But she's also really annoying.

Dan: And, and this

Sidey: pretentious with it. And he, he, because later on, I think because the film kind of jumps around, so I think we can kind of jump around a little bit.

But he does have an opportunity. She says, she's describing how, the people would put onto this woman so much toxicity that in the end she just wanted to fuck. Mm-hmm. And she says that to him over and over again. And then they kiss. Yeah. And you get the impression he says no. He says, I can't. I love your the way you talk about German cinema.

Reegs: Yeah,

Sidey: But I can't, I got the impression that it, within the film context of the film, that he just didn't want to because his, his misses was there. I think he probably would've

Reegs: it. Yeah. Well, and, but later he is weak. And I think it's only, I mean, if [00:08:00] we talk about how that. Storyline plays out. 'cause she tries to kiss him right at the end and she says, I want to have your

Sidey: baby. Yeah. He is like,

Reegs: then he's like, woo. Hey. Whoa, I've already got a kid. I think. So it is that, that scares him.

'cause they, he's really not afraid to show himself as a kind of petty insecure,

Sidey: Yeah. Massively.

Reegs: like,

Sidey: I

Dan: all that. And it's, it is quite a, a cast as well is littered throughout the, the film. I really like to see Mark Williams in there. He played in Goldsby yeah, the Mark Williams

Reegs: Wait, who was,

Dan: Mark

Sidey: from the Far Show? Or, or Harry

Reegs: oh yeah. He talks. Did you like Cold Mountain? Yeah, it was all right. Shit. He's the civil War Reenactor, like,

Dan: Yeah. I, I, I don't see him in enough things, actually. And it, so it was nice to see him in this. And I mean, Stephen Fry was in it as well, David

Reegs: he comes up about halfway through to just kind of describe the central theme of the book, which is apparently that you know, life is kind of too chaotic and full to be described [00:09:00] within a work of art, which is why it's this sort of long rambling slice of life thing.

Dan: Isn't that right?

Sidey: Yeah. And then we get, we, we get sort of back into the film and more into Coogan just sort of freaking out about his role within it and that it's a kind of small production.

Reegs: He's got some dramas going on, hasn't he? The Dr he's got the thing going on with the assistant. He's got a tv, a story that's gonna be coming out about a stripper and something that he did with her that we don't know, but maybe have been a bit weird.

And he's got bury that story. And also they've got problems on the film, which is they've filmed the battle scene and it's like, looks really ropey.

Dan: oh, it's really bad isn't.

It? Is. Instead of a battle scene, there's about 12 of them in a field looking completely lost.

Sidey: And his misses has come up and every time they catch a moment together, someone needs him, someone's dragging him away and he is caught this constant pull, you know, away. And he's struggling with that. But.

More into the making of the film. They're like, oh, we [00:10:00] maybe need something else. And that they, they reach out, they, they sort of get word that maybe Jillian Anderson might be someone they can, they can get

Reegs: She's known to be a fan of the book, I

Sidey: think. Yeah. And they, they sort of mention it offhand. It comes back to it a little bit later and the guy said, yeah, she's in

Reegs: And it all happens really

Sidey: Yeah. We phoned her agent, she was there with the agent at the time, is the fan of the book and just said yes straight away. Yeah. Didn't, you know, it was, wasn't, was interested in the art, not the, the

Dan: which helped them get a load more money to do the

Sidey: Cogan out joint because she's gonna have the scene with Steve Cogan No, with the, with

Reegs: bride. And who bride then confesses that Gillian Anderson is his like crush of

Sidey: says. He says, but it's Julian Anderson. I can't act. And he leaves too long a pause. He goes, yeah, well we fucking know that. He goes, no, I mean, I can't act. I'll get all stru and,

Reegs: Just before actually, when they are talking about the money ways, there's that brilliant scene where they they'd done a production pitch, which had involved him describing a scene from the book where he dropped hot conquers down his trousers and you see him like over the top trying to [00:11:00] act it out.

And then it does happen. It is so

Dan: but I

mean, it doesn't happen. No. Which just goes to show what a

Reegs: a, how brilliant it

Dan: method kind, you know, actor he is.

And co comedic actor because,

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: He's, he's,

acting like it would happen if he did this, and then as you say, they actually do it. It's just fucking,

Reegs: it's very funny. Yeah.

Sidey: They have this prop womb, giant womb contraption where they're going to literally show you his birth.

Yeah. Which they have to lower him into because it's fucking, all of sudden it holds Steve Coen in it. And they're all watching him. It's totally ludicrous, but it comes back later in tiny form when he is having a, a bad dream. It's brilliant. He has a dream about Gillian Anderson and Rob Bryden, and then they look at him and it's.

Miniaturized then, and they're like, God, you're so small.

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: And he wakes up in a cold cell. Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, as it, you know, it's not really very much about stuff. It just, it doesn't really wrap up in as much as it just moves [00:12:00] on.

But I mean, he does after the, the. Battle scene is filmed at the end. Like she tries to kiss him. We already talked about that stuff. He gets up the next morning, he does the interview with the journalist who's like a sun type, right? Just to get rid of the story. And then we just move to people actually watching the

Sidey: It just cuts to a, a screening, doesn't it? It comes up the end or Finn or something.

Reegs: Sort of lukewarm applause. And,

Sidey: a couple of people looking around.

Dan: and that's it. And if,

Reegs: and then there's, one of the guys says, oh, how does the book end? And then it cuts to the end of the book, which is they're having some massive philosophical debate

Sidey: It's Stephen Fry giving a little Yeah. Monologue, isn't it?

Dan: it's a

Reegs: the middle of dinner and yeah. And he just says, it's a cock and bull story. And if.

Dan: If like me, you watch on BBCI player and you just let it roll. It does then roll into the trip. Yeah. Which is

Reegs: well there's a lot of stuff in the outro anyway of, of bride and

And Jillian

Dan: It's worth, it's worth watching on [00:13:00] the credits to, to check out

Sidey: it's Michael Winterbottom as well.

Just

Dan: is my Al Pacino No ours does it. No, no, you've got it.

Sidey: got?

Reegs: Yeah,

Dan: Brilliant. That was a good one. Yeah, it was. Much more enjoyable as it went on this

Sidey: I, I must admit, I found it not difficult, but I just thought, God, this is quite high, Brad, for me, to be honest. The dipping in and out. I guess if I'd known the book more maybe, but it was more fun to talk about than, than I had watching

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: And I just kept thinking of the trip. Like I said, you just port these two characters out, which is obviously what they have done, literally what they've done. Yeah. That is a lot more entertaining and fun. This is great. I mean, as an, as a technical exercise and all the stuff that goes into make a film.

Brilliant. I didn't probably have that much fun watching

Dan: I, I remember thinking, I bet they had fun making it, you know, because there's so many different members of [00:14:00]

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah.

Loads of like guys from Brass Eye and Benedict Wong was in it as

Sidey: He looked like he, he would, he'd put a lot of weight since then.

Yeah. Not that that's important, but and thick of it. He built from the thick of it as well.

Reegs: Yeah. Big cast of all like British talents. David Williams

Dan: like that sort. And so I, I was kind of smiling in and thinking I bet they had a, a lot of fun because

Sidey: I do think that that's probably what Steve Cook and is actually like.

He probably isn't, but that when I watch him, maybe that's 'cause it's a good performance.

Reegs: I think he picks and chooses what he Right.

Dan: He leans into it, you know,

Reegs: But he obviously is self-aware, I guess, like you know, of

Sidey: He wouldn't keep doing it if it wasn't like a

Dan: Rob Bride is fantastic though. I mean, it just about all the things

Sidey: I couldn't really watch him in anything else. I don't really like him, his style of comedy. Yeah. But he, he's brilliant in this dynamic with,

Dan: It, well that's it. Just playing off Cogan. I I think he's

Reegs: I,

do like him in Gavin and Stacey. I know

Dan: about say in that as well. And Brynn. In Gavin and Stacey a fantastic [00:15:00] character. Yeah, it was.

It started different. Difficultly, like that word for me. It was not anything that really, until they broke about half an hour

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: that I was, then I started thinking You know, behind the scenes there was a lot more of the bride and Coogan characters talking together. Which was the best part of it for me, as I say,

Sidey: I guess for me, I, don't like period drama stuff. don't. So, so that bit of the story, I

Dan: I,

Sidey: care.

Reegs: but then just to, just to know that it was a faithful adaptation and for the tone to be so much like what we experienced as culture in 20th Century, you know, in the 20 whatever century we're in right now. Yeah.

Dan: Buck Rogers. Yeah.

Reegs: Do you know what I mean? For, for that book to have been written so long and for that guy to have thought so similarly to how we think

Sidey: Deadpool

Reegs: that is connecting through art.

That's, that's something that is like

Dan: well. There

you go. Then it's

Reegs: And I'm always interested in films that are about films, making [00:16:00] of films and all that meta stuff is always

Dan: interested Well, there's plenty of that in this. It, it is a great cast. It does have some laughs. I say for me, more loaded towards the back end of the film.

Sidey: There is also another series of the trip coming as there? Yeah.

Dan: which is fun.

Sidey: Yeah. Strong. Recommend

Reegs: Strong

Dan: Go for it.