ONLY AN ECKSCUSE
Footie comedy show star Jonathan reveals how Eck defection turned him to politics
ONLY an Excuse star Jonathan Watson has revealed that Alex Salmond’s Russian defection left him no choice but to get political in tomorrow night’s show. The annual instalment of the football-themed sketch show returns with the former first minister playing a starring role after his decision to appear on the Kremlin-backed RT network. Watson also steps off the football field to impersonate MMA fighter Conor McGregor in the Hogmanay special. The Irish fighter is one of several new faces to feature, along with Concert in the Gardens headliner Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.
Jonathan said: “We had to do Alex Salmond because of all the publicity about him making this leap into the unknown with Russian Today. I play Conor McGregor but I opted for one of his flash suits rather than his chest tattoo.
“The Floyd Mayweather fight was such a big deal we thought Conor would be a good one to do and he does comment on Scottish football at some point.
“Doing something with music helps the structure of the programme and we looked to see who was headlining at Hogmanay and of course, it is Rag ‘n’ Bone man.
“He’s got a very distinctive look and sound.
“I think what we shot worked pretty well although I don’t know if my wife would be too keen on me dressing up like that every night.” The 25th anniversary edition of the show, which is on BBC1 at 11pm, will include plenty of the usual famous faces from football with Celtic manager Brendan Rogers, ex-Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha and longtime favourite, Frank MacAvennie all starring.
Only An Excuse started on Radio Scotland in 1986 before moving to TV in 1993.
Jonathan added: “I’m amazed it has reached 25 shows to be absolutely honest with you.
“The thing that has helped us enormously is it’s once a year. It’s never been a series and that’s one of the reasons it has been so long-running.”