N.p.r. And w. One p.r. 81 merit in at 90.5 w p k t. H d one Norwich at 89 point one. F.m. Stamford at 88.5 w.r.i. Southampton at 91.3 and w. When p.r. Dot org. It's been a very good day for the b.b.c. World Service. To present transports months of the White House has been published by threats it's called it's full of lies but other questions to be answered It's almost as if the president throw gasoline on the fire rather than just ignore it or say you know what they're talking about disease because to refute it also in sold off the North and South Korea agreed to talks for the 1st time in 2 years. On an Islamic school around 100 children were taken into protective custody and just what does it take to reshoot a film with a new actor when the original one is accused of sexual abuse we hear from Hollywood director Ridley Scott. 22 scenes that we had to read do people say What did you take. Prove it and say I don't remember without being can seem to know what the hell I'm doing after all these years. Hello I'm Gerri Smith with the baby say news President Trump has dismissed a newly published book on his administration as full of lawyers after unsuccessfully attempting to blockade Philly's foreign Fieri inside the truck White House has been released 4 days ahead of shadow after White House lawyers tried to stop its publication it contains damaging allegations about the Trump presidency Peter Bergen's reports fire and fury inside the Trump White House was written by Michael Wolff who says he was given wide ranging access to the workings of the West Wing Mr Trump's lawyers had demanded that the author and the publisher immediately cease and desist from any further publication and threatened to sue for libel over night Mr Trump tweeted that he authorized 0 access to the White House for the author of the phony book and actually turned him down many times he says he never spoke to Mr Wolf and that the book is full of lies misrepresentations and sources that don't exist the South Korea North orators saying North Korea has accepted their offer to attend high level talks next week the 1st in 2 years the acceptance came through a cross border hotline that was reactivated 2 days ago from Seoul has so few long the 2 sides are expected to discuss key issues including the possibility of p.r. Yang sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics which get underway in South Korea next month it comes hours after South Korea in the United States agreed to suspend their joint military drills which the North Korean leaders these rehearsals friend they Zhen the duration of the games the South Korean president mean j.n. He said he believes the Winter Games could mark a turning point and reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula which have reached their highest point in decades giant waves and flooding have added to the serious disruption in the eastern United States caused by a huge winter storm in Boston far fighters had to rescue motorists from flooded. Streets 30 centimeters of snow have fallen in the area with more on the way the National Guard has been deployed in parts of New York State Glenn Schwartz a weatherman in Pennsylvania told the b.b.c. Wide so cold at the moment we happen to be stuck in a very unfortunate pattern in this part of the world what has happened is that a giant chunk of the coldest air on earth in the Arctic has come down and visit it . Is going to stay for a little while in a major step ahead of floating shares in his national oil Saudi Arabia says it has changed the status of the Remco to a joint stock company an official bulletins said around Co had a fully paid capital of $16000000000.00 divided into $200000000000.00 ordinary shares it said the company's board would have 11 members and the power to list the firm in domestic and international markets b.b.c. News. The former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori has been released from hospital 2 weeks after he was controversially pardoned by the current president Petro public who changed Mr Fujimori had been serving a 25 year prison sentence for authorizing killings by death squads when he was president in the 1990 s. The decision to pardon him on grounds of ill health provoked widespread protests. The Turkish president Reggie of type added one is visiting Paris today for talks with his French counterpart in moma Kong they're expected to discuss the conflict in Syria and Turkey strained relations with the European Union President Barack or has stressed the need to maintain dialogue with Ankara despite concerns about the purges that followed the failed coup against President at one in 2016. The head and co-founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg says his goal for 2018 will be to fix important issues related to the platform and social media in. And will he said he would be looking to protect users from abuse and hate as well as defending the platform from government interference Jonathan servage reports Facebook along with its rivals in the social media industry has faced similarly relentless criticism in recent times a haven for abusers and spreaders of hate a font of misinformation and fake news an aggravator of mental ill health Mark Zuckerberg in his New Year Facebook post seems to recognise this he says the world feels anxious and divided and Facebook has a lot of work to do he promises to bring together groups of experts to tackle the issues a new study of tropical coral reefs suggests they'll find it increasingly difficult to cope if global warming progresses as expected assessing a 100 reefs the scientists found that the coral bleaching events caused by unusually warm weather are becoming increasingly frequent baby say news. Good morning thanks for that welcome it is news day from the b.b.c. World Service and it is a jam and with you coming up from war games 20 games North Korea has accepted South offer of talks on how significant this is for the region plus confirms your i Phone i Pod. Is vulnerable to a bug which means that it could be talked. The details about the business news there's a text line it's what's going on to what saving possible 477-862-0508 extension 5 . Stars in the u.s. Where the book claims to lift the lid off the American presidency is out now it's a publication brought forward as Donald Trump's was tried to stop its release and in the last few hours President Trump has treated that fire and fury is full of lies misrepresentations and sources that don't exist and he denied the book's author Michael Wolff was given unfettered access to the White House yet about damning damaging allegations in this book such as the president's wife Melania crying when she realized her husband had won the presidency there was sleeping with friends why allegations that the president likes eating cheeseburgers in bed and of course those Russian allegations are perhaps more damaging for the claims of who had contributed friends and allies of the president among them close Paul aides to Larry guest and is an American political analyst in California he's been Tell me what he thinks about this latest crisis to engulf the presidency American very big when it comes to allowing free speech publications and things like books are certainly part of free speech so so all that was was much ado about nothing once the genie is out of the bottle it's not about to go back a lot of people making the point that this is being handled quite badly by Donald Trump and the White House because it's just basically giving the book more publicist see than he could have ever. Have a page full It's almost as if the president stroke gasoline on the fire I mean rather than just ignore it or say us know what they're talking about he's begun to refute it basically saying it's full of lies and it's misleading in that he did nothing about Mr well being involved in all the White House and it really I mean if you take a step step back that there are 2 categories the fluff stuff if you will that cheeseburgers are bad at and Malani of crying on that but but but certainly more important is all the allegations regarding the Russian collusion and they were the relationship between Donald Trump Jr Jarrett questioner oh man a Ford and and a Russian operative of course a Trump Tower this is the kind of stuff I think that at the end of the day people will be wondering about much more than President Trump's hair do you think Steve Benen will could be cool then to give evidence to the rebel militia Mr geisha most political observer here believe that special counsel lower already knew most of what was at that book from his own independent investigation so whether he call Steve banner remains to be seen but but the allegations the serious ones have already been out there for some time and Mr Miller has a run down them and either decided they have civility or not but but what's intriguing here is the way Steve ban it of course the president's partner certainly for many many months. The chief strategy officer in the administration has really taken on the president's family and that's cause it goes all out of consternation with the president yet that I mean politically they didn't really get on did I He kind of say well he kind of still read it long and and and Donald Trump and her husband is kind of political enemies if you will from day one there was a power struggle be. Steve Vanna White haired and shared Kush there particularly well along with Channel Joe Jr in a bunker on the other and that power struggle ultimately ended with the president siding with his family I don't know if he's seen as a bit and we've got this 1st review that's been posted on Amazon this is by Harry buckle you gotta go in early but online in Asia it says a sleepless night reading Michael Wolff fire and fury sadly as I say woman said the world to have more facts to help save us from an ounce of control Leda fire and fury by Michael Wolff should be retouched bottled fury in fantasy so don't waste your money what you make of that well of course I have not read the whole book I have read excerpts there is there's so those are without discussion largely by the way about the president's mental status now presumption people in the United States political experts reporters have had really tiptoed around this issue not taking it on head on but after this book it is now become the discussion of all the television news stations in this country what about it is there anything to it and even the last 2 days the president's press secretary has spent her time refuting it saying it's preposterous but the very fact that they're discussing Dao The president's mental state takes the entire issue to a new level certainly does Larry guess and then American political analyst in California the book is out now and it'll be interesting to see the reaction from Washington the reaction from the White House more reaction I should say when they wake up around about lunchtime London time to potentially some good news next because South Korea is an official ministry says North Korea has accepted an offer to hold talks the meeting on Tuesday is expected to focus on improving relations and the possibility of Pyongyang sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month the b.b.c. Social Long is in the South Korean capital Seoul facts was sent by North Korea to the South Korean. Cation ministry this morning we believe down a direct line that was reestablished 2 days ago rather and been out of action for 2 years saying that they accepted the South Korean government's offer of high level talks we know that they will take place in a place called Peace House which is in a village called Pan one John which straddles the border and the Demilitarized Zone that separates the 2 countries and we know that at that meeting we don't know who will be attending yet but they will discuss the possibility of sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics that are due to get underway here in South Korea on the 9th of February Now this comes hours after the South Korean president and the president the United States of America agreed to suspend joint military exercises in South Korea for the course of the Olympics now these military drills take place on a regular basis the United States and South Korea say they are defensive but the North Korean leader sees them as rehearsals for invasion and uses them as an excuse for some of his provocations So a number of developments over the past 24 hours which are all moving in the right direction for these talks to take place for a long. Good morning Andrea said teachers are saying irritated the news days now comparing temperatures with Mars these are American temperatures in cities on the East Coast at the moment stupid comparison she says should be comparing with the Arctic to provide serious context we were merely reporting what some American media outlets were reporting but just for context in the north pole at the moment Alan minus 27 is in the Arctic feels one minus 39 apparently temperatures overnight in New York with the wind chill will fall will feel like minus 25 that's interesting and. It was actually called of them North Pauls protocol it's a very cold survey you go everything into context now putting something else into context is excellent business presenter Philip Philip. I I do not have anything Apple related which means at the moment I feel like I'm off the hook because they're saying this is right all i Phones i Pads Macs anything that runs their system do you really off the hook Oh no it's the is the honest answer that because P.C.'s were affected as well that is that's why it was a surprise that Apple has come out and said that i Phones i Pads computers are also affected by 2 major security flaws in computer chips these chips that produced by Intel and arm. Which effectively there's a bug they're called to melt down and another one called Specter that is so. Good I don't know nothing about computers or anything called meltdown doesn't sound good then doesn't sound good Spector vaguely James Bond. Yeah yeah the computer is a child to take over the world but Apple had said that it's never least some patches that said that there are there is no evidence that vulnerability which was a theoretical vulnerability had actually been exploited by anyone but it doesn't buy that until all the patches are fully sorted out and they've worked out exactly how to stop it entirely with these software downloads that you don't go around downloading from unusual websites which I'm sure is something that everybody goes out there and does as you like to download from this rather spurious link however the issue that is out there wasn't just affecting them Google has already said that it's Android phones which make up more than 80 percent of the global market are protected if you download the latest security features Amazon has also been affected because I was an operator one of the biggest set of cloud servers in the world they've had to download a bunch of batches as well they say that their system is now completely secure too there are a lot of concerns about just how big this thing could have been and whether anyone did actually exploited so the. Gen up some if you have. If anything really is download any patches that are available don't go on the Web sites yes very very very much so there's a good deal of concern out there about just how widespread this issue is going to be now Apple said its mitigations against meltdown. Will be through in its latest I.O.'s is curiously enough in the case of Microsoft and they've said that the downloads that they have could slow down some of the P.C.'s Now that's left less relevant for general users to extremely important if you're a very large organization for example the b.b.c. But one of the people they particularly highlight is the National Health Service in the u.k. Which is the world's 5th largest employer and obviously league implication it's big for their nations and all of the security at all of the hospitals and all of the G.P.'s across the country many thanks Phil that's our business center Philip share Now you may recall last month pollution can your rate of the Islamic school in the port city of more bus are around $100.00 children are taken into protective custody after police alleged that they were being indoctrinated with militant ideology Well the case has reached the courts in Kenya but now the talk has changed to allegations of the children being molested not too long ago I got an update on the keys from Africa Security Correspondent Tommy a lot people well the 1st hearing happened yesterday the prosecution brought this accusation that the children were being abused in this in this school so the case was brought against the administration if you remember when when the raid happened more than 100 students who were seized and then handed over to their parents the ones whose parents could have done if I had them and this is a wide range the sort of children between the age of 5 and about 17. The magistrate agreed with the prosecution that the school should be. Down for now as investigations continue and that the children should be taken to other schools where they can carry on with with their education but the whole case has you know caused a lot of uproar among the families and local Muslim clerics in Mombasa and so presumably the children result told in those other schools and able to continue their education isn't what's been going on of them. Not not entirely because there's still that confusion this is only the 1st time the case has been heard in court so there's confusion with the parents as to what to do going forward so I guess now is probably when they're going to be taken to other schools if the parents are keen to do that but this is a school that has attracted children from across the country and other countries as well and so the administration of the school is saying you know if they have such a reputation then I mean they using that as their defense that if they have such a reputation then it's unlikely that children would be would be abused there but you know this this is a case that you know hit the headlines especially because it's believed that it was a multi agency security operation into what happened so going forward you know the clerics and the parents are saying there should be higher intervention into this because they don't believe that there was any thing going on any wrongdoing going on at the school I know that canoe is mostly a Christian country there is a huge Islamic population especially around the coast I wonder if they're getting any support from the Christian community at all. There hasn't been anything out right at the moment most of what we've heard has been from the Muslim community in particular the Council of the mountains and preachers who said that this. You know could be used against other Islamic institutions where people come up with false charges try and get them shut down so that's been the major concern coming from in particular and from the Muslim clerics but there's still a lot of confusion about the details of the story so there isn't too much comment outside the people directly affected by the b.b.c. Africa is a critical responder Tommy all of people Matthew Kenyon Mahmoud Zahar is good at football shock yes we've been talking all morning about his success in being named African player of the year at the Confederation of African football's Awards last night haven't we it follows a brilliant 2017 for him Liverpool in the 1st half of the season for Roma and the 2nd half of last season and of course the whole year for Egypt Nations Cup finalists and qualified for the World Cup that is the past where in 2018 now and amidst all the celebrations in Egypt this morning and it is big news there there is still a weight of expectation on the young man's shoulders as Adam a stuff out from the Egyptian football website King fought has been telling me in the main thing right now is literally the only Egyptian that has scored at the World Cup who was grossly alive right now as make the gurney he scored a penalty of the 1990 World Cup and he's you know made sure the Egyptians don't forget that. Moment time again so we're now we're just ecstatic that we were heading to the World Cup in 20 team we have a bit of form going into it not the best product what we can see from the national team but definitely we're going win high hopes and we're just moments or can break this record and be the next the gypsum to score World Cup. We're going to join the Nations Cup back in 2006 and. Indeed rightly he is proud of his achievements with the Gyptian national team obviously getting more proud as time goes by but Mahmoud Salem might be the man to take that crown from him and he himself the winner is sounding confident and ambitious I was just looking for the future in a positive way and I know what they want and i'm sure how it can get it so I'm not pushing myself that target both I think this one is helping me a lot but I want to win it for 2nd time for a 3rd time for failure if you can only 20 planeload that's what the fuck you may think you deserve for the challenge isn't a at what he won't be doing is playing for Liverpool tonight against Everton in the English f.a. Cup because he's injured but said Your money was also in a car last night and finished 2nd behind Salah in the award listings might play this evening we'll look ahead to that and bring you more reaction to the caf wards in focus on Africa and sport today later here on the b.b.c. Could not for Egypt last night had to Cooper one coach of the year the pharaohs took the crown of Men's National Team of the year as of Nigeria's the woman's player of the year I also recommend a listen to World Football on your radio today here on the babysits already available online they have got amongst others Cameron's former Arsenal star lair an audio of Gallo of Nigeria and the man who was given a platinum award at the caf ceremony last night in Accra the president elect of Liberia George where of whole you cannot go platinum award. Now what would you do for a famous film director and film director your latest cinematic creation is in the can edited dissatisfaction and your lead actor makes headlines for sexual impropriety that's exactly what happens a release Scott with his latest creation surveyed Scott we should say all the money in the world which recounts the kidnapping of the 16 year old grandson of the world's richest man John Paul Getty that Kevin Spacey had been cast as good to see Mia and within days of the allegations being made Mr specie was the golden boy of stage and screen. Came up Brian the question was what to do about the film there could only be one solution Mr species needed to be edited out and replaced Well it's caught up with the director Ridley Scott to find out how he did it. The security we have your thinking. During clearly to do that was very uncomfortable I was completely taken by surprise honestly within about an hour on my commercial head start to click and I realized I had to do something about it immediately Christopher Plummer had always been almost alongside Kevin from the start as a possibility of getting I went straight to Christopher and Richard and you are just. A few secure. More Was it therefore a commercial not a moral decision that's tricky I think it's a little bit of both but you know you. Moral is is what we can talk about for the next 2 hours Ok but a side like to say initially it was a commercial decision which would be maybe a little hand in hand with a moral decision but you know you can take the artist and actually whatever a person decides to do in their private life it doesn't have a mother as a Yukon you've got to separate them from what they do as an artist or as a person type of person but you didn't separate them because you made this decision the film would have gone out the film would not have gone out of had done it that simple How complicated was it reached you to get remaking those scenes and did you have to drop any of your previous scenes with space in this movie is in its final cut everything of Kevin Spacey is removed there are 22 scenes that we have to redo I'm very specific how to make movies and so people say well did you take them to reign prove it and say No really without being conceited I know what the hell I'm doing after all these years so I was you know slotting stuff into it and that of course protecting my new mistake Geddy. Because he must own the party can't be just following in Kevin Spacey footsteps I did a much different movie with prominent Spacey Kevin Spacey did a fantastically good job it was cool and chilly Christopher comes with this inordinate charm smile and his twinkle when in fact he's doing the same words the same taxed as Kevin the 20 and smile somehow make him that much more effective Christopher Plummer and Michelle Williams that both being nominated for the Golden Globes what we're hearing about the Globes from the time's up campaign which is the lot of actresses and people in the movie industry who are supporting a change in culture would. And Holywood will be wearing black dresses in support of the notion do you do you think will we're looking at a moment in Hollywood where things actually are going to change where the sexism will subside and women will get a fair crack of the whip or do you think it's window dressing I think bit of h I think there will be an immediate change because there should be that's a long way way overdue You know I never experienced any of those things that you described in my life and my companies I've Frango women running my companies I've always been a great supporter of strong women without actually ever thinking about it which is I think the best way I've just got great respect for women in generally you talk about the problem being some sort of solution to the problem being something you've witnessed a lot and it's on Hollywood that the women are never mistreated never never never never. Very interesting interview there were just caught speaking to our colleague will competence Dan Damon we'll be updating you on the world in 90 minutes than one of you got for us well we're talking to North Korea Fiji's about the past week of potentially positive signs coming from relations with the North and South Korea they are as you might imagine a bit cynical also being a Friday it was our feature and Rico is what we're focusing on nearly 4 months after her and Maria devastated that u.s. Territory just how far have reconstruction efforts gone only 58 percent of the island have power right now it's January obviously this happened on September the 20 s. So basically it's been like a long time without power or a lot of communities even have a lot of people already ordered generator you know you care right in Iran or it's all over you know and it's been too long as a journalist and a Gomez in San Juan the capital of rhetoric also we're going to hear from I think your frequent contributor the mayor of San Juan the manual in crews and the guard for the N.B.A.'s Dallas Mavericks j.j. Barea He's been with other celebrities raising money to get more aid to fly people who need to get better hospital treatment over to the States so how the disaster and the response calls into question the relationship of Puerto Rico to the United States just part of world looking forward to that Dan Happy New Year by the way and Happy New Year to you too Al never said Oh happy new year Paul Harvey is off a lovely day thank you for joining us here on News Day news continues on the b.b.c. . Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the u.s. Is made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor award winning public radio concert a.p.m. American Public Media with support from the Gooch online test prep for the s a t g r e l sat and m.k. Preps Mark go far and enjoy the ride at Dakar. Coming up on the b.b.c. World Service the food chain how do you make an editor laugh tell it. We're trying to establish the comedy potential of fate and asking whether modern diets provide an ever rich us of humor has the way we eat becomes so complicated that it has quite literally become a laughing stock find out if food is getting funnier after the news the b.b.c. News for Jerry Smit President Trump has dismissed a newly published book on his administration as full of lies after unsuccessfully attempting to block his release it contains damaging allegations about the presidency excess released to the media portray the president as mentally unstable and out of his depth. South Korea's unification ministry says North Korea has accepted its offer to attend high level talks next week the 1st in 2 years the 2 sides are expected to discuss key issues including North Korea's possible participation in the punk Chung Winter Olympics. In a major step ahead of floating shares an international oil firm Saudi Arabia says it has changed the status of Iran Co to a joint stock company the sale of around 5 percent of a Remco is expected to go ahead this year. Giant waves and flooding have added to the serious disruption in the eastern United States caused by a huge winter storm after 17 people are believed to have died as a result of the severe weather the former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori has been released from hospital 2 weeks after he was pardoned by President Pedro public. It being jailed for authorizing killings by death squads the pardon provoked widespread protests an Argentine trade union leader accused of money laundering as being arrested as an exclusive beach resort a number of powerful union bosses have been detained on corruption charges since the election of the conservative president. A hot air balloon caring about 20 tourists has crashed near the Egyptian city of Luxor or one person is said to have been killed and many others injured the Turkish president Bedouin is visiting purse today for talks with his French counterpart a memo McCrone they're expected to discuss the conflict in Syria and Turkey strained relations with the e.u. B.b.c. News. What you call a fake noodle. An impasse is. Ok. What you call a militant vegan. That's a good question lactose intolerant. Ok enough thank you for not switching off I'm Emily Thomas and this is the thing change your weekly program about the economics culture and science of things clearly I'm not a comedian and after what we've just heard it's probably best I don't try to be but I have noticed that food can be a rich source source of comedy and what we find funny about it seems to be changing. Comedy about food has moved on from oddly shaped vegetables and Charlie Chaplin slipping on a banana skin to something more new won't now we're laughing at the way we eat with ever more comedy acts t.v. Programmes and you cheap videos poking fun at diet trends restaurant customs and cookery shies our food habits seem to have become a laughing stock. So what better time than the beginning of a brand new year to lighten things up a little and try to stand up the hypothesis that food is funny and becoming funnier. Let's start by speaking to someone who makes people laugh for a living my name is Ted and I am a comedian living in South Africa perfect sight does he talk about food in his comedy. I do know that maybe he just needs a bit of warming up what do you call a calf with a twitch. Oh no are you going to do this that really a cow with a twitch Ok I don't know it's a big Jackie beef jerky It's Ok I can still rescue this tat is open minded when I got this call I was so curious It literally made me start thinking about food in ways that I would have never thought about food before a few days of passed since we were in contact with you asking me about fate and comedy in that time did you have a chance to think about it did anything come up in your mind I should eat better. But it's just doing it is such a mission you know like a streetwise to from Cave see is brutal and full of done I'm dying but I'm full as opposed to like. The green stuff I know the body is a temple they say but mine is one of a nightclub it's very sad but true it's just a party it really is. Going to be better I promise after this interview I'm trying I'm really. Trying for Jerry just it's hard. As well tat I mean you haven't included much faith in your stand ups life up I wonder if you wish to try and help you out except. You know I've never worked alongside a stand up comedian before but how is Rico about getting some food in show comedy acts as a starting point what is the most loved food where you come from food where you live right now. No let's not let's start with the the typical What's a typical food where you come from now. Meat so I'm course I for example and the stereotype there is some men eat meat in this age of organic foods and free range chickens. It sounds savage but we slaughter we don't put down we slaughter cows and slaughter sheep now I eat sheep's head like literally a sheep's head so if we talking about meat I would start at the point where it's ridiculous that need is our be all and end all when it comes to food right that's a dangerous thing and then I would go to how we sow hard headed like as a as a close up people that's the tribe of that tradition trumps health so I would kind of try to think of how someone would be trying to save it say someone with gout or whatever meat related illness or make up an illness mate and me try to says it's killing the tribe and someone comes his guys have you have you tried carrots and the chief would be like carrots for what. And then I would kind of try and build this story about how hard headed and how tradition will be the death of us and that's the joke there would be the jerk I don't tell people how to live I tell them how they already live and then I make them make a decision on whether they want to stay like that or go oh this is actually right I must change and I enjoy going up on stage and going you know what I thought I was like this and come to find I'll give you an example of a joke I did when I was in London in October and I was that. It was a coffee shop and I had some standing in a coffee shop and I'm looking at the menu and I'm looking at all these things that I don't know and this lady comes next to me and she's on her phone and she was reading an article about world wide unemployment at number one was sad Africa and the joke was about how nobody really cares as much as they pretend to care so go out I go on stage I say I'm looking at this menu this lady comes to the phone I see that what she's reading at the top of this list is 53 percent youth unemployment my country where I'm from I'm looking at it and my 1st thought as I was looking at their number was. What the heck is a spicy child like today. And in my head I was like I realized like I like guys I'm not pointing a finger at you I'm on the say there was some faith in your comedy that after all some food there was spicy child yeah. Look at that look at that chair because you. Having had the opportunity to develop some of your stand up comedy on the radio with the feet change will fear to be in your act now absolutely I'm coming to London in March and they will be 10 minutes on food. We're going to hold him to that. Tab putting food in comedy together was a novel concept but humans have been laughing I think for millennia. Is a professor of English linguistics and translation at the University of belong here in Italy and she's also a president of the International Society for Human studies if we go back to Petronius and the satiric and for example and that's not that far back a very famous part of the book in Latin he was a Roman writer one of the slaves called tremelo. Describes very lavish Roman banquet you know the kind of up paste stuff where slaves and their master. Down and eating grapes and drinking lots and lots of wine and sooner or later the whole thing gets out of hand and people start being sick and farting it turns into a an orgy basically the way I've told it doesn't sound funny but it is it's very funny and even if food is not talked about to written about in comic terms I think of Alice in wonder. And the Tea Party that is also a funny scene had opened his eyes very wide on hearing this day of the month is it you take his watch out of his pocket and was looking at it on easily shaking it every now and then and holding it to his ear and it's considered a little and then said the 4th. 2 days wrong so they had to I 2 or 2 but it wouldn't suit the works yet it looking angrily at the March Hare It was the biggest Bhatta March had meekly replied Yes but some crumbs must have got in as we'll have to grumbled shouldn't to put it in with the bread knife and extracts from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland that read by Alan Bennett. So where else have we seen food and funny combined in art actually bald or the Italian artist who makes faces out a different piece of fruit and vegetables you wouldn't burst out laughing looking at Archibald the painting but you would recognize it as humorous in intent and a bit like your impasse the joke right at the beginning I can recognise that as being extremely clever what's the scene for comedy about food Well 1st of all I'd like to talk about food programs it was funny Craddick in the fifty's who 1st introduced comedy to cookery programmes so she was a television cook in Britain at the time but she wasn't a comedian now she wasn't but she was really funny now the. Christmas book. Because somebody did not really like Churchill read several of them saying figured out a little bit steadily. For the record I mean think Jamie Oliver he's very very funny he uses humor a lot and Gordon Ramsay's another example that was Ramsay's a great example because on Twitter he wrote people so people from the public will tweet him a rubbish email they've just they just cooked and they say hey go and Ramsey How would you rate my meal and he'll respond in humor it'll be put down the humor but it's hilarious. It's called In Ramsay on a scale from one to 10 how good is my sandwich one out of 10 for the table Matt idiot sandwich. Golden Ramsay What do you think of my 1st attempt of cooking to store your Speratus tips lost for words. Gordon Ramsay I made this cake today what do you think the tablecloth was more decoration on it. Could you explain what. Is funny was humor Well I'm sorry but just about every single philosopher since forever has tried to define humor so I'm certainly got not going to go give it. I mean there are the 3 big theories of course of humor are in congruity theory so if something is in Congress it's the opposite of what you would expect but in congruity has to be positive in congruity So if I walk into a war and then I laugh you would laugh too because nothing's happened to me but if I walk into the war and then really hurt myself that would not be positing congruity and hopefully you wouldn't laugh hops in superiority theory we laugh at people because we feel superior to them and the other theory it's really fear theory oh thank god it's not me do you think that food has got funnier Yes I do and that's because all of a sudden we've become a world of foodies. The way it's being presented is verging on the ridiculous you can now go into some restaurants and they don't even give you a plate the food is served on a piece of wood. I think that's funny in itself nothing just itself or even here where I live they'll give you an orange juice in a jam jar will be coming poncy about food we're taking it a step too far and as we do that's why I'm easy to laugh at as this becomes easy to offer. A quick reminder you're listening to the thing change on the b.b.c. World Service with me and in Thomas and this week we're trying to establish the comedy potential of the subjects we talk about every week say. One of the 3 theories of t.v. a Chiari just mentioned superiority very well we laugh at those we deem as inferior in some way is a key part of our next comics record. Time though they do lose it already had with blue eyes and Sears and in what I do made column many videos as a way of expressing her specter for people to consider all while doing my best to amuse myself this is j.p. Seems speaking to us from his home in California the videos he puts on social media are watched by millions of the most popular by far are about diet one of them is cold if meat eaters acted like. This sausage is a meat based vegetable substitute for cucumber it's got the taste and the texture of an actual cucumber with not a cucumber it's not a vegetable eaters are bad people it's just that they're terrible people plants give off oxygen why would you eat the broccoli that's not my food eats that's my food food and I don't appreciate you reading that I could never eat plants that are raised in crowded farms and inhumane living conditions with was in one square inch of space per Stark. Stuck in the so against their will how many people have watched that they think. Their video alone has well over 200000000 views and why is it been such a hit Steve thank you I think the video says something that many people are thinking but nobody's really saying that video pointed out behaviors and judgments and self-righteousness that you know are common to human beings but we can recognize at times in vague and we can recognize them and heaters in Yogi's as well but it helped point out some little bit abrasive behaviors that I think all of us to a degree think about from time to time t.t. Have any negative reaction that I think the vast majority of the feedback that I got from the very good community was this is hilarious and I love that I love being able to laugh at myself and I love it when other people can laugh at what's most important to them and I think at times when we can laugh at what's most important to us it might be because we feel insecure we're trying to hide something about ourselves behind their community behind the title of Deacon ism So I think it can be scary and therefore feeling secure and therefore feel angry enough fence of when we have a hiding spot of ours with a light shined on that so getting quite dark for someone makes comedy for d.s. . Oh and I think darkness is always in the eye of the beholder so I think you're beautiful the 1st thing to say yeah you know in my opinion the type of comedy that appeals to me to not only create but also to watch is comedy that conveys. Something deeper that actually gets us to look in the mirror and say like wow is that me as nurse thought about that I What about myself can I discover more through this comedy because it's sure we need something deeper than the obvious So where does 15 to earn if this because if you feed his pain every. Day I don't think food inherently is funny at all but I think how people behave around food and the meaning they give to food in the tribal association they get by being part of the vegan culture the gluten free color of the Paleo culture I think that's hilarious I think when people stop treating food like food and they start treating it like a religion they become very dogmatic about their eating practices and I think that the more dogmatic they become about their eating practices the more division they create in their lives between then and other people who do things differently than them and I don't think that given eating practice itself is to blame I think just the weird human behaviors judgments and delusional need for certainty is what gets Mr directed and expressed as the eating practice was about puton phrase Let's just listen to a little bit of that go to regular restaurants in order after they've brought you exactly what you've ordered you discover there's gluten this is the exact time you'll want to profess your gluten free morals to the waiter give expert medical advice depression it's always caused by gluten obesity that's 100 percent gluten when you learn of a new food that has trace amounts of gluten and enjoy the renewed sense of purpose that floods and tear of life while you sit on top of your moral high ground made out of rice flour did you get any negative reactions to that I mean. That must have wound some people up yes there certainly were some negative reactions to that which which I'm Ok with and a lot of the reactions were you know j.p. You're a jerk you have no idea gluten intolerance is a real condition and you know what I didn't say in the video because I want to kill the comedy is like yeah I know I'm gluten intolerant have been gluten free for 16 years the video is really pre-training my controlling behavior that I was expressing in my early days of being gluten intolerant where I started to realize like wow I'm actually being a jerk here I have all these expectations all these control dramas that I'm bringing in to any food gathering that I met any family get together and being a jerk that's not being gluten intolerant That's called being a jerk so this video is a way for me to it is kind of like self there was a way for me to separate my jerk behavior from actually being gluten intolerant Ysaye that feat in itself isn't inherently funny but most about strangely shaped fence to pose for example sipping on banana skins on of this is being in a rich fodder for comedy in the past yeah and I think that's why I don't find it funny in an exciting way because it's like old comedy around food it which is great it's just I don't think I have anything new to add to like looking at Q Cumbers as a phallic symbol or slipping on banana peel as I get that song has been sang so we see what's funny about 50 change at the time then yeah and I think it's because how people behave around food changes you know I know elitist in the us 3040 years ago way more people were religious. I know a lot of people think they're free from the religious dogma that if they don't recognize how they bring the same religious dogma just not to church anymore they might bring it to food I think that's per picture really funny. J.p. Seems. We've spoken to a couple of comedians now and they think fate and comedy can work together j.p. Even agrees that fate is getting funnier but what about people who work with fate so they get the Jag restaurant kitchens always seem like quite intense places to me my name is Alex the mop less and I am the head chef at great white down in Venice California but before that at Aix was a stand up comedian I realize that food and laughter kind of a vote the same emotions it's that overwhelming sense of joy and and happiness that both of those 2 things create in the human spirit that I was so attracted to and I loved cooking and I found myself starting to cook more than I I was spending time on stage and so I went to college school while I was still doing stand up and then from there I started working for directors and comedians and then you know the Hollywood actor circuit and so I was working on comedy sets learning from these comedy greats but also I was feeding them and I realize you were cooking for them as a private chef I was yes and so I got to see firsthand these you know comedy greats do what they do best and learn from them but also get to cook for them did you ever do anything comedic with the fate. I think they just laughed at my personality just because I'm so so I was so silly they just said who's this weird tall gangly chef that just keeps trying to crack all these jokes on my very 1st job was with Judd Apatow and his wife Leslie Mann Judd Apatow is one of the greatest comedy directors . And writers of our generation he wrote Friesen geeks a 40 year old virgin and this is 40 and his wife Leslie she's an American actress was trying to have her family have healthier eating habits and you know Judge stressed and he's making this giant movie and he's a man who doesn't want a green smoothie every morning so it was just funny because I would bring him these really beautiful spreads of just healthy food and I would see him kind of sneak away and eat candy bars and you know he would be like Don't tell my wife I got an a don't worry I won't say a word after I started this private chef company and I was doing really well I was approached to do my own cooking show and I used my comedy to kind of narrate the story lines of each recipe happy birthday to. Me is the word day it is today right when you're watching this every single time you watch it it's my birthday so today I am making a peanut butter cake with her Marlo jam filling because there's nothing worse than going to a birthday party and not being able to eat cake do you think generally people take food too seriously these days a 1000 percent I think the food entertainment space is so serious why is there a competition show about cupcakes their cupcakes to the most joyful for the world you know food is supposed to bring people happiness and a smile to their face and it's casual but you know food also is an art and so artists take their craft very seriously so there is you know but I just feel like overall it's gotten too serious and I would really love to see a shift in the food space of being a little bit more playful do you think that's because chefs on funny any defected lots of care is the atmosphere field the chefs tend to have a good sense. What's it like oh so in the kitchen chefs are very very serious and that's what I had a puja problem with opening this restaurant I'm such a goofball and we hired this executive chef she is a ballbuster I don't know if I can say that but she she busts a lot of things you know she was really upset at me she goes you're not taking the serious enough I go which is just how fun and whatever but you have to realize that you're running a machine when you're in the kitchen and so when you're getting those tickets and there's really no room to joke around but outside of the kitchen I have never met a group of more. Degenerates good chefs they are lovers of life they love food they definitely love their wine they love to party and you know I think it's a release to get out of that rigid militant kitchen and they all just let loose and they all you know every chef that I've met has had one of the best sense of humor is their dirty sense of humor but they they have a sense of humor what when a comedy retain full fat or when someone sends back your dash to the kitchen it's the same feeling it's this feeling of just it fell on deaf ears and when when some reason to laugh at your joke in years struggling to pick it back up it's a lot worse because all eyes are on you if somebody sends my food back I just can kind of hide in the kitchen and you know cry in the bathroom but it's still that same gut wrenching feeling of rejection and you know it's the it's lit I'm talking about it my palms are sweating. Makes them up in this bringing us to the end of this week's episode I don't want to you think when was the last time. I'm posting my favorite funny food image on Twitter I so it's a vegetable shy and it made me to. Laugh Out Loud find us using the hash tag b.b.c. . For now from am the Thomas producer and she send and editor Simon thanks for listening and join us again for the feed chain next story. Powerful stories define who we are as human beings and connect us to each other our imagination is bigger than our identity it was incredible I used the term miracle that was the driving force behind just to keep going and I arise join me each week for stories that will change your view of the world Ted Radio Hour. Sunday afternoon at 4 this is w. When p.r. Connecticut's public media source for news and ideas w when p.r. And w. One p.r. 81 merit in 90.5.