The Dave Weekly podcast

Continuing in the grandiose vein of the previous two Red Dwarf Specials blogs, I thought I might begin this week with the words of acclaimed novelist William S. Burroughs who, when considering the cosmos, mused, “Man is an artefact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.” However, he later also claimed, “After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.’” Which I think together must mean that as soon as humans stop being all spermy and tadpole-like, our one true vocation has to be extraterrestrial exploration due to the overwhelming naffness of Earth. Sounds about right to me.

One man who would surely agree, and thrive on the mind numbing bureaucracy involved in processing an alien’s interplanetary complaint, is Arnold J. Rimmer, the petty pedant brought so wonderfully to life by Chris Barrie (and if not strictly to life, then at least a close holographic approximation). He joined us to talk all things Dwarf, and even had time to drop a HUGE name in the shape of everyone’s favourite pillow-lipped A-lister, Angelina Jolie. The gossip sizzled alright!

Another chap fond of dissecting his relationships with unobtainable women is Tim Key, poet extraordinaire. I say ‘extraordinaire’ in that he’s entirely at odds with every other poet you’ll ever see, and in the best possible way too. He’s also following in the hallowed comedy tradition of being another funny man called Tim. It’s obviously just an inherently hilarious name, as proven by Tim’s Vine, Minchin, and Henman. I mean let’s face it; half his matches were a joke.

And with that long-dated stab at tennis satire, I’m out of here for another week.

‘Til then, toodles doodles x

We've also got some exclusive images of Chris Barrie in Red Dwarf X for your optical pleasure.