A quickie with... Mo Gilligan
What kind of show is this going to be?
I want it to be fun, and to have great guests and games and stuff. And I want it to be different to anything else around on television on a Friday night at the moment. It’s been about two years in the making, so we’ve worked hard on making trying to make sure it’s special. The big challenge is making it different.
Were you surprised by the success of The Big Narstie Show?
Yeah. We got Bafta-nominated and got an RTS award, so that was pretty amazing, and it wasn’t a traditional show. Narstie is a grime MC who’d never done TV presenting before. This show will be very different, though I’ll still be doing Narstie’s show. Some people have assumed this means the end for that show, but I think two black guys can still have separate shows on Channel 4!
Will we see any of the characters you used to do on Instagram?
Yeah, for sure. But remember – I was actually filming [the Instagram sketches] in my bedroom with my phone, and now we’re doing them with more than one camera and proper lighting, so it’ll be a whole new experience. And they’ll be new characters to a lot of people watching the show, who’ve never seen me on Instagram or anything.
Did you get star-struck when you had people like David Schwimmer on Narstie’s show?
It was exciting, but I tried to be professional. But he was the only guest I got a selfie with. We also went for lunch in New York. I swapped numbers with him and told him I was going to be in New York soon, and he was like, “Great – hit me up, let’s have lunch!” So, then I’m in New York with my girlfriend, and it was a bit awkward, with me thinking, “Does he really want to go for lunch?” But I got in touch, and me and my girlfriend did have lunch with him, and he was really nice.
Amazing. Who are your dream guests?
I’ve always loved Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – I love WWF wrestling, and he seems like a great guy. And Adele – she seems a lot of fun. And I’d love to sit down with Shirley Bassey and Tina Turner, too. But I’m not sure they’d work as guests on my show… Don’t get me wrong – if they’re up for it, I’d love it!