How Hugh Dennis tricked David Baddiel into a 500km bike ride
David Baddiel explains why he agreed to cross France on two wheels with Hugh Dennis in More4's Two Men on a Bike – he got to go electric...
You’re doing an epic bike trip, David? Why?
It’s a good question. Hugh Dennis is a very old friend of mine. For about two years he’s been trying to get me to go on this cycle ride in France with him, and I’ve been saying “Yeah, yeah, sure.” Then suddenly he announces it’s getting commissioned as a TV show, and I wake up and ask, “Sorry, how long is the journey?” He says, “Oh, just 500km,” and I say, “No.” Then I ask if I can do it on my electric bike…
So you cheated…
I was, basically, on a moped. My e-bike has a “turbo” button, and if you use that, you’re expending no effort at all – you’re essentially on a two-wheeled Tesla. Hugh’s incredibly fit, and has actually ridden the open stage of the Tour de France, so if I’d used a normal bike, it would have been just him talking and me panting. Which would be a shame, because the show is partly about us having a lovely chat, and friendship, and men finding a way to talk to each other. It’s funny but also affectionate, and not horribly blokey.
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Weren’t you and Hugh deadly rivals in your respective comedy duos, though?
There definitely was some tension across the divide on The Mary Whitehouse Experience [the '90s BBC comedy show that paired Baddiel with Rob Newman, and Dennis with Steve Punt], but that was because of Rob always wanting the show to be just the Newman and Baddiel show. After a while it did get tense, because Rob was not an easy person, but I always got on really well with Hugh.
It’s like Celebrity Double-Act Wife Swap!
That’s a good idea for a show. Who’s my dream comedy partner? Well, Eric Morecambe is the funniest man who’s ever lived, but I’d be putting myself very much in the straight-man role there. Bob Mortimer would be great, and he’s already done one “wife swap”, switching from Vic Reeves to Paul Whitehouse. Or maybe “The One Ronnie” – me and Ronnie Corbett would be fun. We’d look like a shortish version of the Proclaimers.
Would you take Ronnie cycling in France? Did this show convert you?
I wasn’t a big Francophile – I always preferred Spain or Italy – but now I think I was wrong. The part we were cycling [largely the route of the Canal des Deux Mers, between Arcachon on the Atlantic and Sète on the Mediterranean] is so beautiful. The food’s lovely, the small towns are amazing, and it’s very zen, because the canal creates this sense of endlessly flowing water. It’s wonderful to cycle along it, and probably the same – times ten – if you’re on a boat.
The only bad bit was that cycling really does make your bum hurt, and I was wanting to soak myself in a bath or bidet at the end of the day, but the hotels only had showers. And I can’t do a headstand. Next time I’ll take a bucket in which to bathe my aching undercarriage.
Two Men on a Bike airs Mondays at 9pm on More4.
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