The Daily Tonic: Sneezing In The Cabbage

The government’s latest scheme to stoke the coals of the hospitality industry has been given the unfortunate title “Eat Out To Help Out”.

It’s always tempting to assume the government approves innuendo-laden slogans like this unwittingly, but it’s hard to imagine any government formed by Boris Johnson not clocking the obvious double meaning.

We guess we’ll know for certain that they’re wise to it if/when the Belgravia restaurant Olivocarne decides to avail itself of the new programme. We’re told the Prime Minister is rather partial to eating out there…

Thanks for all your stories of clumsy celebs. Now we want to turn our attention to one of the more fruitful topics for battle-hardened hacks: awkward celebrity interviews.

Today’s Question: Who is the worst, weirdest or most peculiar celebrity you’ve ever interviewed – and what happened?

Send your stories of interviews from hell to us at hello@popbitch.com and we’ll fling some digital goodies at the best ones as a thank you.

TC writes:
“I interviewed Steve Martin in the dressing room of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, prior to performing his banjo music. We were sitting together, chatting on a sofa, when he decided to get up and grab something to eat from the table nearby.

“As he came back with a plate of food, he sat back down but missed the seat and sat painfully on the arm, losing his balance and letting out a yelp. I chuckled sympathetically at his slapstick gag… until he turned to me with a wounded look, rubbing his coccyx as he snapped angrily: ‘That really hurt.'”

MN writes:
“Some years ago I was at Gatwick with the family and we found ourselves in a lift with Vic Reeves, Nancy Sorrell and two kids.

“The kids were sitting on their trunkies and, as the lift doors opened, Nancy yanked on the ‘leash’ to pull them along. It turns out it was too much and too high and both of her kids ended up tipping backwards and onto the floor.”

HB writes:
“I read the latest question as ‘Who is the clammiest celebrity you’ve ever met?’ The answer to that is Scarlett Johansson, who has extraordinarily wet (and cold) hands. A deeply unpleasant handshake. Warm in person, mind.”

Know a clammier celeb? hello@popbitch.com

Here’s another ten tracks for you, all musically minced together. The common theme that unites them? They’ve all been named the worst/most annoying song in various polls, lists or awards.

Mercifully, you only have to listen to a few seconds of each – so it shouldn’t ruin your day too much…

You get a point for each artist, a point for each title.

[Play it here]

Kanye’s first interview of his presidential campaign
[Read on Forbes]

Toto’s Zoom version of Africa
[Hear on YouTube]

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