On the road with… JAMES ACASTER
The comedian Talks To Polly HumPHris abouT weird Twin Towns, progressive new Zealand and sleeping in a bush in basingsToke
What is your favourite onthe-road moment?
I’m very nostalgic and sentimental and I still like the same things I did when I was a kid, namely driving past Eddie Stobart lorries and reading the two ladies’ names written on the front. I don’t even know why they’re named after ladies and it’s not like I remember them either. I don’t see one called Jemima Penelope that I then pass again five years later and think, ‘Oh, there’s Jemima Penelope again on the A60.’ I’d respect an enthusiast more who did take it to that level because at least then there’s a purpose behind it, whereas I’m just reading a couple of names and then instantly forgetting them. Why I bother at all, actually, I’m not sure but it’s what I enjoy doing.
When have you been most frightened while travelling?
My first tour was supporting Josie Long on her 2010 Be Honourable tour, during which we had a very big car crash. It was in Wales, travelling from Brecon to Machynlleth, which is a very long, narrow, winding, hilly route, and we were trying to overtake a log lorry on a corner but it all went wrong and we ended up crashing into the lorry. The logs started flying off and the lorry drove over our car but no one was hurt barring a few little scratches.
What has been your most life-changing experience while travelling?
When you physically go to another country for the first time, you do feel as though you understand that culture just a little bit more. It’s the whole ‘travel broadens the mind’ thing and I’ve had that the most with New Zealand, where I’ve been every year since 2013 to perform at the International Comedy Festival (comedyfestival. co.nz). It’s such a beautiful country, the people are lovely and the food is fantastic but they haven’t had the best history with their treatment of indigenous people. However, more recent generations have shown a lot more respect and solidarity with the indigenous people. The festival itself has also done a lot more in recent years to recognise the heritage of New Zealand and hearing about that a lot more, and seeing a country that is really making the effort, with a lot of people trying to do the right thing, is great.
What’s the worst meal you’ve had abroad?
I’m from Kettering and in 2014, a group of friends and I went to Lahnstein in Germany, which is
Kettering’s twin town, to film an online web series called Sweet Home Lahnsteineringa. The stupidest decision I’ve ever made is that for five straight days we had lunch at the same place. It was a café where for something ridiculous like
£4.50 you’d get bruschetta, soup, salad, a main course, dessert, a drink and a shot. We couldn’t work out how it made any financial sense to them and it wasn’t dreadful but it was instantly forgettable – and yet we ate there every day.
Where’s the strangest place you’ve spent the night?
I had a gig in Andover once and was offered a late-night lift to Basingstoke
by a comic who told me there was a midnight train back from Basingstoke to London, which there wasn’t. Because my phone was dead and I had no money, I ended up sleeping in a bush outside the station. I didn’t even sleep because it was Friday night and there were drunk people around so it was scary.
And the best place you’ve spent the night?
It’s not the best but the place that has stayed with me to the point where I’d like to go back is the Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers (short breaks from £284, altontowers.com). I went for two days and it’s not that great at all but there’s something exciting and childish about staying in a themed hotel with floating hot-air balloons, illustrated maps on the wall, random characters roaming about and a massive ship in the middle of it.
Where are you hoping to go next?
I’d actually earmarked this year for more holidays and less touring, which started with New York for New Year’s Eve and was supposed to be followed by Tokyo, where I’ve never been, and Mexico, where I want to eat proper, authentic Mexican food. I’d also love to go to Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. Because of the twin town show I’ve only ever been to weird little German towns and none of the big cities. This year’s made me reflect on the places I really want to get to and realise that it would be a real shame if I didn’t.
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster is part of the Unmute Podcast Festival, from October 20 to 24. Tickets from unmutepodcastfestival.com
Looking for new ideas for where to take the dog? Visit Heritage has plenty of historic houses, gardens, castles and more across the UK that welcome four-legged friends into their grounds. Fido could be wandering around the baroque Blenheim Palace near Oxford – birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill – while Snoopy might like to explore the breathtaking St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall (left). You’ll find details of all Visit Heritage’s poochfriendly properties in Hudson’s Guide 2020.
The author of The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher examines the darker ghosts plaguing the victim of a poltergeist in this brightly readable portrait of a war-terrorised England in 1938