Comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster invite special guests into their magical restaurant to each choose their favourite starter, main course, side dish, dessert and drink. Ever wanted to eat your dream meal? It’s time to order Off Menu.
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Well I enjoyed it! Not sure why some people seemed so upset at the time lol
Maybe those not familiar with Amelia beforehand?
They also didn’t seem happy about Frankie Boyle but I thought his episode was great. Maybe there’s something about lower expectations.
I think the edit REALLY helped the Frankie Boyle episode.
I was there, loved the start, loved the ice cream story, but the whole middle section was like pulling teeth. They cut a huge chunk out of it too.
The actual podcast was brilliant, totally seamless between the 3 of them.
What was the chunk they cut out of it about?
When he mentioned his Wonton Soup he spoke about a restaurant named "Loon Fung" which was a secret police station that got shut down. Sounds mental, but its true, article here;
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/china-shuts-secret-police-station-30167744
It’s possible that Amelia just populates a certain part of pop culture that maybe a contingent of Off Menu fans don’t like. I’m not a fan of typical Hollywood red carpet stuff, but Amelia is a delight.
Agree, I wouldn't usually watch a red carpet interview but Amelia's while schtick is sending the pomposity up while not ruining anyone's night.
Schmeer
This means the chaos of Lucy Beaumont will be next week!
Edit: Autocorrect -.-
I was there but I’ve been waiting for it to be released just to make sure it wasn’t all a fever dream
I was there aswell, I took a mate as someone dropped out, he’d never heard the podcast before so it was interesting for him!
I'm more hyped for this episode than the Taskmaster premiere. Can't wait for next Saturday
I was there, and honestly straight up my top episodes. Cannot wait.
Look. It's a fine episode and there seem to be a lot of people here who enjoyed it more than that.
But the bit about going to Japan and not eating the food because "my mum and I are quite picky eaters" is just... I don't know.
It's very "Brits on Holiday."
I wouldn't expect someone on holiday in Britain to live solely on fish and chips, pasties, and jellied eels.
Food isn't why everyone travels. There is plenty more to see or do in Tokyo without getting into the food.
I'd love to go to Japan, but I know that sushi and Japanese food generally is not my scene. Should I be forced to eat it or something? Or am I morally not allowed to go there unless I eat Japanese food?
It’s worse than Brits on holiday. It’s entitled Brits on holiday.
It would be entitled if they expected local restaurants to go out of their way to accommodate them. If they just quietly avoided Japanese food then I don't see anything wrong with it, notwithstanding that they missed out on a huge part of what overseas travel is about.
I was shocked when walking out of the theatre by how many people were saying they didn't enjoy it. I thought her awkwardness was great and took Ed and especially James out of their comfort zone. It was great fun!
yay i love amelia, can’t wait to listen
I found this episode a real slog to get through. If it had been a podcast other than Off Menu I'd have given up well before the halfway mark.
I don't think being a fan or not makes a difference to whether an episode works - I don't watch Strictly and had never even heard of Johannes, but his episode was an absolute delight.
To me it felt more like an interview than a real conversation. The chemistry wasn't really there. In fairness to Amelia the live format probably played a part in that as well.
I'm interested to listen to this. Been following Amelia for a few years and defo think she should just be herself on this rather than her alter-ego. But I do think she does have a natural awkwardness to her - her Hot Ones episodes had some awkward bits that weren't obviously her character and just seemed a bit off
So, my synopsis is that Amelia was mainly just feeling really awkward and anxious and that's why she defaulted a little to her character but I think she was generally being herself, and seemed to settle a bit come about two thirds of the way through. But this episode did make me realise just how talented James and Ed are at keeping the conversation going
okay this episode was worth it for james saying “thank you sisters 😁✌🏻”
For those who were at the show and disappointed - how does this compare?
The Frankie Boyle episode was like a different podcast tbh - in a good way
The people who were at the show and were disappointed were, if you ask me, just oblivious to her act. I can see how if you wasn't familiar, she'd come across as a little disengaged, but she didn't spend the whole night blocking them. The one word answers got big laughs, it wasn't an awkward crowd. As someone else mentioned, I think there's a lot of people on this sub who aren't into/familiar with that part of pop culture.
Every week there is always one gormless fleck of shite that will say "who?". Every fanbase has idiots.
Shoutout to gormless fleck of shite, you’re a wordsmith. I’m going to use that!
I don’t know what gormless means, but I’m darn sure that flecks of shite shouldn’t be. If i know anything, it’s that a fleck of shite must have gorms
Its such a weird criticism that people were oblivious to her act... I'm familiar, just not a huge fan but since I didn't get to choose the guest when I bought tickets I was lumped with it. The crowd were definitely fine but I do not think it was as well received as you're painting here, certainly around us there was lots of awkward laughter and polite laughs at stuff constantly being shut down. Something can be not people's thing without it being their fault and them being wrong.
My experience too. I guess the fact she was basically in character the whole time was the problem.
I second this! Benito really earned his keep with this edit.
My takeaway from listening was that Amelia, by her own admission, doesn't have that compelling a relationship with food, which is absolutely fine, it just didn't make for a particularly entertaining discussion on the subject. Don't know if it's to do with this being a live show, but I was surprised at the lack of incredulity from the hosts compared with say, Victoria Coren, over her menu choices.
I prefer listening to the podcast then when I saw it in Manchester. It feels better but at the time it felt really awkward.
Exact same as me and Frankie Boyle - Good to hear!
Anyone who was there willing to share what the carrot cake on the bus stop floor was about?
The first half of the show involved them reading out a select few menus that had been submitted by the audience and this is the dessert someone had asked for. There was a back and forth between then and the person in the audience, was a great moment
Edit: spelling
Impressive ha. And very weirdly specific that this was how they wanted their portion to be served
I swear Ed’s brought up the toaster thing before and been told he was wrong on the episode?
A guest I didn't know I wanted! It's too bad it was a live event instead of a regular episode, but I'll definitely give it a listen.
This was the show I went to, and whoever edited this did an amazing job. Disagree with the comments saying the people who were disappointed with the show were "oblivious" to her act. I'm a huge of fan of hers, and imo her act didn't lend well to the format at all. If you watch anything she does, there are constant hard edits after she says something playfully mean or funny. The problem if you can't do that live, so her attempting this on a show that plays on long stories and jokes means that she just kept on shutting everything down. I would go as far to say that if you did enjoy this live, you're probably oblivious to how humans interact. Having said that, the recorded episode moves along nicely and is a lot of fun.
lmao. what a pompous thing to say
for a comedy podcast, its fans really take things literally. it was clearly a not very serious line clearly directed to another comment who called people oblivious
Weird comment. I enjoyed it live (haven't listened to the episode yet).
anyone know what night of the tour/live episode this image came from?https://i.pinimg.com/originals/20/c0/d4/20c0d421ecf72158dd2e532aaeee21c9.jpg
I'm trying to find that GIF of Dean Pelton from Community doing push ups and saying "you're welcome" but I might have to just make it myself.
This better not awaken anything in me
Im halfway through and this is totally enjoyable! I dont get what the fuss is about? Although im biased bc I really like Amelia and Chicken Shop Date and also because she really looks like the girl I spend most of my time during lockdown with but thats besides the point.
One thing I dont get is the "in character" bit. Whats the character even supposed to be? Someone who is willing to make things a bit awkward? I like her comedy a lot and obv idk what shes like offscreen but I just dont really get what the characters supposed to be
I just have to point out that the Lurpak man is actually named 'Douglas'.
First 20-25 mins were quite painful but I think it found its way in the end. Probably my least favourite live one though
The first proper Marmite guest?