The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

'Legacy: Life Reflections': A Tribute to Laurel and Hardy's Enduring Comedy Legacy. Laughing Through the Ages with Life-Long Super-Fan & Presenter of The Laurel & Hardy Podcast, Patrick Vasey

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

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Delighted to welcome Patrick Vasey, Laurel & Hardy life-long Super-Fan & Presenter of The Laurel & Hardy Podcast, for a special 'Legacy: Life Reflections' episode in which we preserve the legacy & hare our mutual love and admiration for all things Stan & Ollie.

Stan Laurel is my all time comic hero. I first encountered Stan on a Black & White TV set that hummed into action in Uganda at the age of 7.   And to this day he still inspires me in all the work that I do through his innocence, kindness, warmth & humanity.

Growing up, the antics of Laurel and Hardy were a comforting family presence, sparking laughter that echoed throughout my childhood.

Patrick Vasey is a remarkable, passionate & dedicated aficionado of this legendary duo, here to share his insights into their Silent Film era and with news of his forthcoming book that collates their early masterpieces.

Our heartfelt conversation traverses the duo's magnetic charisma and Patrick's unwavering mission to enshrine their legacy for future admirers, underscoring the challenge of keeping their century-old wit relevant today.

The humor of Laurel and Hardy transcends time, connecting not only to chuckles but to life's deeper rhythms.  Patrick recounts his personal parallels of sibling jests and workplace woes as seen through the lens of their comedy, showing how laughter can be a guiding light through life's maze. His own journey, entwined with the duo's hijinks, from childhood memories to adult connections, paints a picture of how shared joy can lead to unexpected friendships and personal evolution, even without the formality of fan clubs or conventions.

This episode is a tapestry woven with threads of inspiration from the world of arts to the calm of nature, and the peculiar pastime of archery. Our conversation delves into the potent mix of nostalgia and innovation that influences a passion for storytelling. From the iconic flair of Hollywood's yesteryears to the soothing escapism of birdwatching and the unique bond with a beloved pet, the episode reveals the diverse breadth of experiences that shape our lives. And as a bow on this diverse package, we touch upon the sheer delight of podcasting about Laurel and Hardy, highlighting the vital role of preserving the voices of the past to enlighten and entertain generations to come.

You can also Watch/Listen to Patrick's wonderful episode here:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/924964455

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Chris Grimes:

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5-4-3-2-1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes. Are you sitting comfortably here? Then we shall begin. So there we have it an effortless count of four, so I don't have to edit this afterwards.

Chris Grimes:

A welcome to a very special Legacy Life Reflections episode of the Good Listening To Show Stories of Distinction and Genius. Legacy Life Reflections is normally about gifting an episode of the show to someone near, dear or close to you in order to record their story for posterity. But what's really lovely about today's context? We are here to record the story of a wonderful double act for posterity. This is the wonderful world of Laurel and Hardy, and Laurel is my all-time comic hero, and when I met Patrick Vasey recently at the Slapstick Festival here in Bristol, where also the Good Listening To Show has been part of that too, I couldn't believe my luck, because Patrick Vasey, laurel and Hardy magazine author, the Laurel and Hardy podcast creator and curator, with your double act partner, russ Babbage, you're extremely welcome to the Good Listening To Show.

Patrick Vasey:

Thank you, Chris. It's lovely to be here on the other end of the meeting.

Chris Grimes:

For a change For a change. Yes, it feels very strange, lovely so you're a super fan of your own volition, as am I, stan Laurel. I first came across him when I was seven years old, living in Uganda. For so many people, there's sort of a DNA in their childhood that then almost defines it.

Patrick Vasey:

I didn't know Stan Laurel lived in Uganda. That's incredible. That's something I'll make their note of that.

Chris Grimes:

See what you did there. It was a black and white TV set that hummed into action Circa probably about 1960, 1965. If only I'd known that would have been before his death. But you know, there we were. So, patrick Vasey, how's morale? What's your story of the day, please?

Patrick Vasey:

Well, my story of the day is I'm sitting here with you, chris, so this is it's a real treat, yes, a real treat, and I love the opportunity to talk about Laurel and Hardy any time of the day. So, yeah, this is the story of the day for me, without question. So morale is good, we're in a good spirit.

Chris Grimes:

And the story behind your story of how you got into the world of Laurel and Hardy. That's one of your publications as well. You've got a book called Laurel and Hardy Silence, I believe, is the title coming up soon as well.

Patrick Vasey:

It's forthcoming. It's been forthcoming for about two years, so it seems to be inevitably always forthcoming. But yeah, we are pushing for this year. It has to be this year. I've got to get this monkey off my back.

Chris Grimes:

Yes.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a wonderful book. What I'm trying to achieve is to bring together as much of the magic of Laurel and Hardy's silent shorts as possible. There's not a lot of people don't realize that Laurel and Hardy made silent films because we know them all from the, the talkies and the. That's another nice mess. You know all these little catchphrases, but they made about 34 silent shorts and I'm trying to bring together all of the information and really narrate their careers, from the first meeting, 1921, right through to where they make the transition to talking pictures. And I want to bring together all the, the lobby cards and all the stills that are available, because we see one or two in books but we don't see them all and I want to have everything all under one roof, as it were.

Chris Grimes:

So and your cut, your cut and thrust. Which is really lovely is you're doing it all chronologically, so it's lovely. You've got the perfect construct because you've got a story arc good to go in your podcast structure.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, and it's been. It just seemed the obvious way to do it for me because there is a story there. The Laurel and Hardy story is fascinating, the way that they were sort of thrown together and they developed. It needs to be told chronologically because it makes sense and you can actually see. I think the beauty of Laurel and Hardy with, you know, compared to other comedy teams, is that you can see the birth of that comedy team, you can see the development and it moves through. You can see them grow right the way from cradle to grave. Actually, because they stayed together after films, right, you know, right up until their death. And even after Oliver Hardy died, stan Laurel was still writing sketches for them, even though it was never going to happen, which is just a beautiful thing.

Chris Grimes:

And what really caught my heart at the age of seven was the kindness, the humility, the innocence and just the haplessness. And you know it still informs all the work that I do, because those are qualities that I like to transmit and connect to. So I'm right there with you. It's wonderful to meet another super fan and in fact you're trailing a blaze of glory in what you're doing, which is great, oh, well, let's hope so.

Patrick Vasey:

I hope so. I'm trying to do my bit If I can just contribute even a little bit to continuing their legacy in some way, just keeping them in the public eye, because it's harder and harder to do that nowadays. I mean the films are coming to 100 years old and they're not on television anymore. I mean television itself is kind of dying anyway. That's sort of how we knew television. So it's hard and harder. So I'm trying my best to keep them up there, because they mean so much to me and to a lot of us, I know.

Chris Grimes:

And I'm a lovely friend of Chris Daniels who runs the Slapstick Festival in Bristol and of course he's on a similar mission to keep the legacy of all Slapstick, all silence and talking, in just an era that's precious to us all. The hospital, I remember, was the first film I ever saw. Then I got incredibly enamoured by Brats where they're playing their own children and in fact that's an informed other work even in my company, which is a comedy improvisation company called Instant Wit. Anyway, I'm very excited, and it's not about me, it's about you. So it's my great pleasure to curate you through the narrative storytelling journey of the Good Listening 2 show. There's going to be a clearing a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called 54321. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden baton and a cake. So it's absolutely all to play for. So let's get you on the open road. So where is what is a clearing for Patrick Vasey? Where do you go to get clutter-free, inspiration or unable to think?

Patrick Vasey:

Well, the open road is a good start actually, because driving usually is where I get a lot of my ideas from. I don't get a lot of quiet time. To be honest, I don't tend to sit still very much. Whether I want to or not is beside the point. So usually I do quite a bit of commuting from a day job. So I listen to podcasts and audiobooks and I get quite a bit of inspiration from that. Walking the dog is always a big one as well. When it's just me and the dog and the sound of the birds and just a bit of peace and quiet and things just sort of come to you, and when you're in that space to hear it, it comes, I think.

Chris Grimes:

And what is your day job, if I may ask?

Patrick Vasey:

I work for a local animal rescue charity so it's kind of my job to make sure that charity is financially sustainable and we rescue animals from cruelty and abuse and neglect and then we find them new homes.

Chris Grimes:

And what's the name of the charity?

Patrick Vasey:

It's the RSPCA you may have heard of it.

Chris Grimes:

It's the.

Patrick Vasey:

RSPCA but in North Staffordshire the little local branch.

Chris Grimes:

Sure, and I know that obviously Stan Law was born in Alverston in Lancashire. What's your geography attached to that?

Patrick Vasey:

I live in the Midlands, I live in Shropshire, so I'm probably a couple of hours away from Alverston. I have been a few times, quite a few times, but yeah.

Chris Grimes:

So we're in your clearing then, which you can choose. Do you see that I like driving in my car? It could be a Jaguar, but I'm enamoured by walking the dog too. What's your dog's name as well?

Patrick Vasey:

My dog's name is Jigsaw and we call her Jiggy for short. She's 14, she's stone deaf. You probably hear her shortly because she just announced herself, because she doesn't know who's around her. So I'll just bark at any given moment so you may make an appearance. But yeah, I think we'll go for walking in North Davon by the sea. That's been usually the place of biggest creative inspiration. Lovely, and when you're on holiday you just forget everything else and you were able to just. It just flows from there. It's great.

Chris Grimes:

And it's obviously a profound passion project for you the Lauren Hardy thing it's where your soul obviously chimes and I sincerely hope and this helps too in helping you to monetise it even more through the wonderful work that you're doing.

Patrick Vasey:

Well, thank you, thank you, and it's always been. I mean, you know, when I started working with Russell, we've always said it's not about trying to make money from it Although that's always diced, you know, because equipment is not free and time is money, etc. But it's about that legacy of Lauren Hardy is the key thing for us. If we feel that we are spreading the word, we are doing something valuable, that's payments, that's what it's all about. It's just wonderful.

Chris Grimes:

And I love the resonance of connecting to purpose, because you know what I'm on the open road doing here as well is I'm a real advocate of the idea. If you tell your story out loud, you're much more likely to live it out loud, and so there's something about the preciousness of preserving story and you know, for future generations too, which is why I'm contextualising and wrapping this in legacy, life reflections. But what better legacy that, lauren Hardy, that we're here to discuss? Okay, so we're walking your dog then on the Devon Seascape. Do you want to be specific about the? You don't literally have to put a pony tail in the map, but whereabouts on the Devon Coast are we?

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, anywhere, don't mind. Don't mind, I'm easy.

Chris Grimes:

I've gone feral with jigsaw on the Devon Coast, lovely, okay. I'm now going to arrive with a tree in the clearing which, because of my acting background, is a bit waiting for Godo-esque and deliberately existential. And now I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. I've got a comedy apple somewhere. How'd you like these apples? And this is where you've been kind enough to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, and then two things that never fail to grab your attention and, borrowed from the film Up, that's a bit more squirrels, you know where the dog just can't fail but to dash after the squirrels. And then the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you, patrick. At Faze we couldn't know until you tell us. So over to you to interpret the shaking of the canopy of your tree as you see fit.

Patrick Vasey:

Okay, so four things that have shaped me. I think the first thing, the obvious thing and these are in no order of importance, I have to say and the first thing is obviously family. I mean, from a child, I've realized, and I probably hadn't realized it until very recently, especially since being asked the question my father has been a huge influence on shaping me, not even intentionally, I think it's just that sort of just that influential figure. My sense of humour comes from my father and that's a huge part of my life. My love of classic comedy of Laurent Hardy came from my father. I used to sit watching him laughing at the screen and then eventually I'd laugh along when I finally realized what it was that was going on.

Patrick Vasey:

I love drawing cartoons. I've always wanted to be a cartoonist since I was a kid, and that came from watching my dad copying Disney cartoons from books, and even to the point of mannerisms. Now I catch myself at times sitting in ways that I know my father sits, walking and the way that I talk. Yeah, so my father has been a huge.

Chris Grimes:

He's still with us.

Patrick Vasey:

If I may read between the lines, but you're talking about him in the present tense. Yes, yes, yes, he's still with us.

Chris Grimes:

And how old is your dad?

Patrick Vasey:

70, I'm not good with ages.

Chris Grimes:

I can never remember how old I am.

Patrick Vasey:

So, yeah, 1940, 80 was born, I know that. So that's pretty good, but yeah, so my father definitely is one and another one is my wife has been a huge influence on me, and in a very good way, because when I mean, I went to school with my wife, we were in high school together and we started dating when we were sort of 17, 18. And I'm now 48. So you know, we've been together a long time and but she, when we first started going out, she found me sort of I'd left school at 16. I just wanted to be a cartoonist. So I didn't need maths, didn't need science, didn't need geography, didn't need anything like that.

Chris Grimes:

Just needed a pencil.

Patrick Vasey:

And they needed to be good at drawing, you know. So I really didn't concentrate at school, which I should have done, and I regret it. So I just got a job. I just worked in retail, found a job in a shop, I finished school on the Friday, went to work on the Monday, had no time off in between, and she made me realise that actually I had potential, I'd got, I'd got intelligence, I'd got, you know, skills that I could use. And she really made me believe in myself and she changed my life direction completely from a professional point of view and obviously, from a personal point of view, she's changed my life because, you know, we're married, we have two children and she's, you know, my best friend. She's, she's so, so, so much a part of me is down to her. So I have to, I have to give that to her.

Chris Grimes:

Almost perfectly, you've got two kids as well. That's another double act right there.

Patrick Vasey:

I have my own. Laurel and Hardy. Yes, without a doubt, they either love each other or hate each other in equal measure. So yeah, it's.

Chris Grimes:

And they're both boys.

Patrick Vasey:

They're both boys. Yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

I doubt they're called Stan and Ollie, but they might be.

Patrick Vasey:

I'm and Tady, no close.

Chris Grimes:

I've got a son called Stan, because I've always wanted a son called Stan, because of my love of Stan Laurel, and he's going to be 17 in about three weeks time.

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, fantastic, yeah, fantastic. Now, they always make life interesting and, yeah, it's never dull. The third apple I will choose is and they? To be honest, they don't deserve to be on this podcast, but I'm going to give it to them anyway. And so to me. Is former managers horrible bosses? Having worked in private industry and had, you know, a number of different managers, some of them were so vile and horrible it really impacted on being. I thought I'm never, ever going to be like that. If I ever have to manage staff which I have done and they still do I will never do that, and that really did shake me in it. So it was a negative thing for me at the time, but it was a positive thing and it is an outcome.

Chris Grimes:

And isn't that the wonderful thing in the leadership work that I do as well? We've learned so many powerful lessons from good instances of leadership, but how delicious that we learn even more seismic ones from instances of. Oh, don't do that.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, without a doubt, yeah, without a doubt. So I will, yes, I'll give them a mention. Um the names, I've had some good. I've had some very good managers as well, I have to say, but there are some appalling ones.

Chris Grimes:

And I like your instinct not to name them and shame them, but they're out there, yeah.

Patrick Vasey:

Well, you never know, do you? You never know? Um, and the final one? Well, the final one has to be Laurel and Hardy. I mean that, but my love for Laurel and Hardy has shaped me tremendously. Um, funnily enough, I did a podcast just a few days ago and one of my guests, richard Ban um. He said that Laurel and Hardy script our lives. When things go wrong, you find yourself looking up at this invisible camera as if to say oh, can you believe what I've just done? You know there's nobody there, but you just, I don't know. There's so much of Laurel and Hardy's characters that this thing there's inside you because they are part of us.

Chris Grimes:

That's the babe. Look to camera.

Patrick Vasey:

Oliver Hardy breaking the fourth wall to go wha, wha, wha.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, that's it.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, can you believe what I'm having to go through? Yeah, it's so. Yeah, laurel and Hardy have really shaped my sense of humour, my comedy passions, and also have introduced me to people like Russell. I mean, we're really good friends now. We did not know each other at all until about three, three, four years ago or something like that. And you know, as you've mentioned before, prior to that we'd grown up huge Laurel and Hardy super fans, but with nobody to share it with, yes, and nobody to talk to, and nobody would get those little comments that we make you know twice ever. Thus, think what are you talking about? Well, yeah.

Patrick Vasey:

So it's been. We talk on a pretty much daily basis. Now you know we work very closely together. I mean, he lives down in Dorset and I'm in the middle of the country, so we rarely see each other.

Chris Grimes:

And of course there's the most famous of all Laurel and Hardy fan clubs, which is Sons of the Desert. So I'm wondering if you flirted with them too.

Patrick Vasey:

Do you know I didn't. No, I mean I've never. There's a strange thing when I, before I started doing the podcast, wasn't connected to anybody at all to do with Laurel and Hardy World where the Sons of the Desert. I've been to a couple of conventions but I was never really part of an actual local tent, which I kind of I'm a little bit sad about. But actually there's a lot of frivolity that happens, I think, at tent meetings and certainly at the conventions. And I mean I don't drink and I don't kind of do the conga and I'm not a big social kind of I'm a social misfit to a large extent.

Chris Grimes:

The cut of your gym is lovely because you're a superfan, but you don't seem geeky, which is lovely as well.

Patrick Vasey:

Well, yeah, I don't know. I probably am geeky in my own way. I don't know who knows.

Chris Grimes:

Someone's the best people are.

Patrick Vasey:

Just look at these geeks here. Look at these geeks. And my wife says to me so you're saying you're not a geek. I'm not a geek, I'm just a person with an interest.

Chris Grimes:

That's the great way to calibrate that love that.

Patrick Vasey:

Lovely. There's anything wrong with geeks. I do like you've got to be a bit geeky at times.

Chris Grimes:

Some of my best friends are geeks. I see what you're doing there.

Patrick Vasey:

Absolutely right. Yes, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely sheepages.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, Laurel and Hardy definitely have shaped me without a question.

Chris Grimes:

What's the first memory you have? When did you, what was the first film you saw that made you double take with your dad?

Patrick Vasey:

That's one of my questions, I asked my guests. I dodged all those kinds of questions. I can't remember the first film. My earliest memory is just sitting on the living room carpet with my dad and my sister just laughing hilariously at a black on my television. That's my earliest memories BBC Two, probably after school or something. There is a moment where I was sitting in high school, probably 14 years of age, in French class, thinking about Laurel and Hardy, because obviously I didn't need French, because there was going to be a cartoonist. Just a realization that I bloody love Laurel and Hardy, and I don't know why. From that point I then had to find out more about them as actors, as people and how these beautiful films were made.

Patrick Vasey:

That was the launchpad to all of what's come since.

Chris Grimes:

I was always very enamoured similarly as a child, but also growing up I got very enamoured in subsequent actor training that I did at the Bristol Orvic Theatre School that Babe Ruth grew up in a Texas hotel and used to people watch as a way of banking characters.

Patrick Vasey:

Oh Babe, hardy you mean.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, sorry, not Babe Ruth, sorry, I mean Oliver Hardy, babe Sorry, I went down the different, I went down the rabbit hole. There I've got a bell for rabbit holes. Cascio, number three, please. Yes, but the idea of people watching and as an actor should never be bored, because there's also always people to watch, that's right, that's right.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, I mean he's a fascinating character. I mean Babe Hardy was probably a better actor than Stan Laurel. I think it's quite widely acknowledged. And I kind of feel like when you're young you really are drawn to Stan Laurel because he is so childlike and can't help but fall in love with Stan, and Ollie is the sort of pompous, overbearing one that pushes him around. But as you get older you then start to get drawn to Ollie because he is the world weary?

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, my goodness me. What have I got to put up with now? And you just? Every time I watch him, I'm just amazed at how good Oliver Hardy was Just so, so good.

Chris Grimes:

He's the big bear protecting Stan in all of it as well.

Patrick Vasey:

He is, he's the parental figure. He is, yeah, that's absolutely right, stan is very naive, childlike or the worldly, and you have these little bits of white magic that happen at times, you know the ice cubes in the pockets and the salt salads and things like that. And the Thumon fire.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, Thumon fire like the pipe yeah.

Patrick Vasey:

But Ollie is that sort of parental figure and as much as Stan is a frustration to him, he can't help but look after him and yeah, it's just a beautiful thing it just keeps on giving, because also there's the likes of James Finlayson with the extraordinary which informs so much modern comedy as well.

Chris Grimes:

That's right, the art of the double take, and anyway.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, yeah, no, the extended world of the love on Hardy films is just fabulous. The music, the supporting actors, the hellroach backlight, you could just go on and on and on. It's just yeah, it's amazing.

Chris Grimes:

Now we're onto three things that inspire you, and if there's any overlap, that's okay, undoubtedly will be three things that inspire me.

Patrick Vasey:

Other people inspire me, which is a very broad comment, I'm aware, but other creative people certainly inspire me. In terms of the podcast especially, I stumbled across podcasts, started listening to a few, but thought I need to find something that tells me that are really interesting. And I just happened across the Mark's Brothers Council podcast and I just thought this is fantastic. This is exactly my people. This is what I did. It's people having a deep dive into classic films that I love, very knowledgeable people talking about it who have a great camaraderie. And then, once I'd listened to them, I thought, right, I need to listen to the Laurel and Hardy one. Looked for it and it wasn't there. It wasn't and I thought, well, that's not fair. What happens now? Who's going to do this? And I thought, well, I'll have to do it. If no one else is going to do it, I'll have to do it myself.

Patrick Vasey:

I mean, I'd started writing a Laurel and Hardy blog in 2018, which was reasonably successful, so I had a little bit of a following. I thought, well, I could build on that. So I started with the Laurel and Hardy blogcast, which subsequently I've changed just to Laurel and Hardy podcast because it was quite confusing to a lot of people and it just yeah, it just kind of went from there. It was that inspiration from listening to the Marx Brothers one. There wasn't one for Laurel and Hardy, so just do it yourself. And I had to go from a point of knowing nothing about podcasts. I had no idea how to put a podcast together and it's amazing how you can teach yourself through the internet. Like I listen to podcasts about podcasting YouTube videos. I bought a second hand bit of equipment this microphone, you know from somebody locally who was just selling it on Facebook and just learned as I went along and it's just been a great, great ride.

Chris Grimes:

That's classically pioneering, of finding your niche and finding the gap and then just thinking, oh blind me, I've got to do it myself. And then you swim into the clearing yourself and get it done.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, I don't swim into the clearing, plunge in, just leave it. There comes a point when you think, right, I'm inspired to do this, but it's very public, can I actually do this? Yes, and a lot of the advice is at some point you are just going to have to take the plunge, you're just going to have to jump in. Yes, I did it and I've never looked back, actually, and it's been, it's been wonderful. I was very lucky. The first guest that I had on the show, on episode one, I was a guy named Rob Stone and he wrote a book about Laurel and Hardy before Laurel and Hardy. So the silent sorry, the solo films before they were a team and the first film they were in together was a Stan Laurel solo comedy. Babe Hardy just happened to be, you know, a supporting player in that and I thought, well, I'm not an expert in Laurel and Hardy, was that putting pants on Philip?

Chris Grimes:

I'm just sorry, I'm just no the Lucky.

Patrick Vasey:

Dog. It was a Lucky Dog, yeah, 1921. And I thought I'd love to speak to somebody who knows a lot about the solo films and very little work had been done about the solo films. So I just reached out to Rob Stone on Facebook and said would you come on this podcast I'm doing? And he said yes. Amazingly Little did I realize just how well connected Rob Stone is in the film history world, because he works for the Library of Congress and his job is to look after and preserve old films and sort of conserve them and what have you. So everybody who's anybody knows Rob Stone and he respect him. So because he was the first guest on the show, I think after that everybody thought, well, rob's done it, that's fine. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, broke of luck in that respect. And what's been lovely is the Laurel and Hardy fandom world. The experts film historians are so friendly.

Patrick Vasey:

Yes sharing, giving, and it's just been an absolute blast to get to know these people, people that I just read their work when I was a kid and now I'm sort of speaking to them on a monthly basis and just having a great time. So I'm going on. I'm going on a lens. You should think your bell, whatever you're ready.

Chris Grimes:

What's meant for you won't pass you by. This is glorious, wonderful Second shape.

Patrick Vasey:

Sorry.

Chris Grimes:

I mean sorry, wibble, it's my. Oh, yes yes, yes. It's the second inspiration, inspiration.

Patrick Vasey:

Inspiration Sort of researching cartoonists and animators has been a huge inspiration. I'm always I have I'm a very frustrated cartoonist inside because I haven't done it now for ages and I know when I die I will probably have the head on the headstone a frustrated cartoonist. It's because it's one of those things that you know it's part of you but you just are not letting it out and I haven't got time at the minute to let it out really, other than I doodle, you know, when I'm in a meeting or something.

Patrick Vasey:

I was going to ask if you're a doodler, because that's always doodle, so but yeah, when when we're at the slapstick festival, I popped along to the odd man animation studio and couldn't get in. I thought it might be some kind of visitor attraction and I was gutted that I couldn't get in.

Chris Grimes:

Peter Lord has been a previous guest.

Patrick Vasey:

I know I listened. It was a great show, I really enjoyed that show and I just so wanted to be in there and have a job in there and it's just. It makes it makes me very sad inside. I'm like a clown face crying inside. I can't be this. And I've never done animation, I've never even, you know but but anything like that, you know, researching about Charles Schultz, creator of Snoopy and Peanuts and Garfield, and all of this kind of stuff. Disney, I just love it and it really I was going to mention.

Chris Grimes:

You've got a bit of a Walt Disney lock of hair, if I may say so. There is something, or a sort of a man born out of your time. There's sort of a clock gable. Definitely, definitely, somebody made a comment once on on Facebook.

Patrick Vasey:

I was at an event somewhere and a comment was who's this? Errol Flynn.

Chris Grimes:

Good old swashbuckling, yes.

Patrick Vasey:

Definitely born out of time, though, without a question. And a third, third thing that inspires me is, I think, just the nature being in the outdoors. I always get a lot of inspiration and and soccer from being in the outdoors. I used to do a lot of birdwatching at one time, not twitching, nothing nerdy and geeky like that I'll step away from it but just enjoying garden birds and going to the odd reserve and things and just learning bird calls and all kind of things.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, and it's quite heart rendering the idea that Jigsaw is 14. So that's very precious.

Patrick Vasey:

Yes, very much so. Yeah, very much so. She's. She has a lot, of, a lot of things going wrong with her at the moment, but she still keeps on kicking and she's. She's been with us a long time now. So, very, very precious, don't get me going, because I'll start crying. I've gone. I've turned into a huge mosh. As I get older, I can be brought to tears very easily.

Chris Grimes:

Bless you, bless you. So now, two things that never fail to squirrels grab your attention irrespective of anything else and I'm inspired by that being about a dog too, so you can say it's what, what never fails to grab Jigsaw's attention? Yes, squirrels treats.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, cats, squirrels, Squirrels definitely catch your attention. Yeah, For me I've got to say historic buildings. I love historic buildings. I used to work for the National Trust at one time. That's kind of my hobby of exploring downtown W ducks, natural going to New York. This is the Bossard designs and it's all straight outつ. It's a process of creativity. How I kind of changed my career begin from private industry to work in an narrative.

Patrick Vasey:

So yeah, whenever I go to see an old building especially in old cinema, because wife but two loves an old Art Deco cinema. But rubbing my hands together, you've got a very nice art deco and there's a couple of about two or three, and it's very, very Laurel, and hardy Russell had a collection of them and he said to me one day. He said "'My wife doesn't want me to have these in the house anymore and I can't get rid of them. But could you look after them". So now I've taken them on.

Chris Grimes:

You're the curator.

Patrick Vasey:

Now my wife's thinking there's a lot of these things hanging around. So yeah, but it's a pleasure to have them around Because I love them. Anything from the period is just yeah, it's exquisite.

Chris Grimes:

A man still born out of your time, but we like you for that Wonderful, absolutely Okay, second squirrel.

Patrick Vasey:

Second squirrel is a bookshop. Oh, I can't get past a bookshop and which is odd, I have to go in a bookshop. I can seem to be able to sniff them out wherever I go Second time, especially because you never know what you'll find in a second-hand bookshop. But I've got very niche interests, so I rarely come out with a book, which is annoying because my wife always does. I'm the one dragging us in and she always comes out with books. I'm always looking for books on Laurel and Hardy or the Marx Brothers, harold Lloyd, the English Civil War or Charles Dickens, something like that I love. Those are my big passions. And, yeah, I rarely come out with one. But I just can't walk past one without going in. So a bookshop is a definite one and it's got stationery in. Oh, stationery, a love of it is stationery. Stan Laurel was a big fan of stationery shops.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, that's music to my soul, because I love stationery too, and so does my son Stan. What are you going to do? There we go, and now a quote Must be the potential in stationery.

Patrick Vasey:

It's dormant, but what can we make with it? It's great.

Chris Grimes:

An empty space, a page rather brimming in charge with potential, where anything is possible. Love that. And now a quirky, unusual fact about you, Patrick Basie. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us.

Patrick Vasey:

I'm going to go with that. I I'm not anymore, but I was an archer. I was one of the bowmen of Karadok for a short while, until.

Chris Grimes:

Errol Flynn. Please, that's very touching. Yes, exactly.

Patrick Vasey:

Yeah, so many types.

Chris Grimes:

I was a big Robin.

Patrick Vasey:

Hood fan in the day Robin of Sheerwood on television. I don't know if you remember the series with Robin of Sheerwood. I love Robin of Sheerwood and I had to eventually scratch that itch of having giving archery a good go. But when you first start learning archery you have to train with these horrible sort of compound bows with these little sights on them that you have to twiddle, and it's just cheating. It's just cheating as far as I can tell. So I had to do the English longbow and I found this club not far from me that just did traditional English longbow archery and I just loved it, absolutely loved it. So I managed to get myself a bow and yeah, You're a frustrated man in tights as well because you won't be Errol Flynn with an English longbow, but you can't see me the way he's down.

Patrick Vasey:

So I mean I might be sitting here in my tights, but I won't divulge that.

Chris Grimes:

That's a great, great fact. So we've shaken your tree, hurrah. Now we stay in the clearing, move away from the tree. Next we talk about alchemy and gold. So when you're at purpose and in flow, patrick Vasey, what are you absolutely happiest doing in what you're here to reveal to the world?

Patrick Vasey:

Oh well, I'm doing it now, talking about Laurel and Hardy. It has to be up there and it's funny because that's not, you know, prior to podcasting. It would be that feeling that, when you talk about being in flow, is when I've been drawing cartoons and you're getting it right and you think, ah, this is just the best and it's the best feeling in the world when your creative juices are going and it's. You know you can't match that, but yeah, nowadays it is when I'm talking to somebody like Randy Scratvett or Richard Bann or Glenn Mitchell.

Chris Grimes:

These are still- what are named Scratvett? We talked about that before we started. Yeah, yeah, randy Scratvett.

Patrick Vasey:

And just yeah, just talking to them about Laurel and Hardy and listening to them. Quite often I'll forget that I'm supposed to be an interviewer and I'm just absorbed as a listener, loving the storage, because a lot of these guys met Stan and Babes contemporaries and people they worked with so getting these sort of first-hand accounts of what it was like to work, Would that be the likes of people like Jerry Lewis, who obviously held Stan Laurel in very high?

Patrick Vasey:

Not so much Jerry Lewis. I mean, I'm not a Jerry Lewis fan. Actually he was on a documentary once talking about them and he talked to an absolute load of Codswallow. But I know people who do like Jerry Lewis, so I won't run him down too much. But no, just people like the editors and the cameraman and just the people and some of the co-stars, like Anita Garvin. They met a lot of people like that back in the sort of 60s, 70s and they interviewed them, which was so important. There is so much that we know today about the world of Laurel and Hardy. That is thanks to the work of Randy and Richard and a number of others who actually took the time to seek out these people who are still surviving and get them to talk and record them, often on audio tape, which is nice so we can still hear their voices, and I try to use those in the podcast as much as I can do. But yeah, I forgot where we're going on this one now.

Chris Grimes:

I've got something to just listening You've made me think about. There's a story that I heard that you may be able to qualify for me, that Laurel and Hardy met about 12 years before they eventually became a double act and there was some accident to do with. There was some sort of burning that happened with an oven. That meant yes, yes.

Patrick Vasey:

So then where are you going with this? Yeah, so basically the first meeting was on the set of the Lucky Dog in 1921. And then eventually circumstances happened that they both found themselves at the Hal Roach Studio, who's working for the same studio, but just as kind of stock actors. Stan was under contract to Joe Rock, another film producer. He'd made all the films in his contract but he was still under contract and wasn't allowed to appear in front of the cameras. So he was at Hal Roach Studios but he was behind the camera directing and writing and making up gangs and stuff.

Patrick Vasey:

Oliver Hardy was supposed to be in a particular film and on the Friday night before they were supposed to start filming on the Monday, he was cooking a leg of lamb he loved to cook apparently and he took this leg of lamb out and the hot fat spilled all over his arm and causing quite severe burns. So he wasn't able to be in the film. So Hal Roach told Stan right, you go in and you take the place of Oliver Hardy. So that's kind of it's in Laurel Hardy. Lore now that that is one of the first kind of comings together of them where Stan took over from Babe. So yeah, Wonderful story.

Chris Grimes:

Thank you so much for sharing that too. Okay, now I'm gonna award you with a cake Hurrah. So do you like cake, Patrick?

Patrick Vasey:

I'm not a huge fan of cake.

Chris Grimes:

Tough crowd pastry.

Patrick Vasey:

But I'll take it, I'll take it.

Chris Grimes:

So you get to put a cherry on the cake now. It's the final suffused with storytelling metaphor thing. So you get to put a cherry on the cake now. What's a favorite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and always pulled you towards your future.

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, there's a lot of quotes, but the one that really drives me now, because I'm so busy, is Get your Ass in the Chair. It's as simple as that. It's Love that. I think it's a self publishing podcast. I think, yeah, by Joanna Penn. I think that's where I heard it, and she just says you know, she has just Get your Ass in the Chair. You know, I'm trying because I'm trying to write three books Laurel Hardy, Silence, Shorts and Features, have the podcast to do, the magazine to edit, and that's on top of a full time job and a family. So when all the family is in bed and finally settled and I think right now is my time to work.

Patrick Vasey:

I might sit down with a cup of tea and think, oh, I'll just watch Match of the Day or something like that. And then I think, no, get your Ass in the Chair. And you know, because it's not gonna happen. If you don't get your ass in the chair and do the work, it's not gonna happen.

Chris Grimes:

And I commend you to the house for that. I'm about 200 episodes in and nobody has given me that mantra. Get your ass in the chair. Wonderful. Now, with the gift of hindsight, what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Patrick Vasey:

The best piece of advice and I can't remember where it came from is there are no have-to's in the world, there are only choose-to's. So if you, for instance and I say this to the kids you don't have to go to school, but you've gotta be happy with the consequences if you don't, so you know I don't have to go to work, but if I don't I don't get any money. So therefore I have to live on the street, and if I'm happy with that, that's fine. I don't go to work, but I don't wanna live like that, so I choose to go to work. And once you take that stance, that you choose to do this thing that you've not really fond of, it becomes a lot easier to do. Lovely, I don't know if that makes sense.

Patrick Vasey:

No, absolutely categorically does Love, that it's like taking ownership, I suppose, of it, and it's a choose-to. You do things on a choose-to, have-to, love-to basis.

Chris Grimes:

That resonates really well with the. It's always the action towards that bring about progress and change. You know the difference in life in what you want and what you get is what you do. It's the action and the choice.

Patrick Vasey:

That's right. And you're only gonna make yourself miserable if you think, well, I've gotta do, I have to do this. This is just awful, I'll begrudgingly do it. Well, don't do it, but face the consequences and shut up.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, and what notes, help or advice might you profit a younger version of yourself? Again, this is the second question about the gift of hindsight.

Patrick Vasey:

I think, just be brave and do it. Just be brave and do it. You know you can do it. I think the confidence is such a huge thing when you're growing up and it stops you from doing so much that you could possibly do. And you know if anything this podcast, this whole sort of Laurel and Hardy journey to use that horrible phrase has taught me is that you can do anything. It doesn't matter if you're not connected with the right people. Yet the internet is a wonderful thing, yes, and you can get in touch with people so easily nowadays.

Chris Grimes:

Yes.

Patrick Vasey:

And the answer is no until you ask the question.

Chris Grimes:

I absolutely swear by that. Yes, until you ask the question, the answer is always gonna be no.

Patrick Vasey:

Absolutely so just be brave and do it. Just get on with it and do it.

Chris Grimes:

And now we're ramping up, finally, to a bit of Shakespeare in a moment, but just before we get there. Penultimately, this is the pass the golden baton moment, please. So who would you most like to pass the golden baton along to Now, you've experienced this from within in order to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going.

Patrick Vasey:

Right, do you go international with this?

Chris Grimes:

I absolutely do. Strangely, available for international.

Patrick Vasey:

Good, ok, because I'm going to pass the golden baton on and I have checked with this person that they're happy to do it. I mentioned the Marx Brothers Council podcast previously, which was a huge inspiration, and one of the guys on the podcast is named Noah Diamond Great name. He is a great name, but he's a great guy. You know, he is a really really. I don't know him personally. I've messaged him backwards and forwards. He listens to my podcast and we have a sort of a mutual appreciation for what we do, but Noah just speaks to me. He's a very creative guy, he's a hugely intelligent guy and I think he would be a great guest for this and I'd love to listen to that episode as well because I'd just, you know, I'd like to know what makes him tick. So I messaged him to say would you be happy to have a baton passed to you on this one? And he said, yeah, we're great, so he would be a great guest.

Chris Grimes:

And that's a wonderful gift which I thank you sincerely for. So that's Noah Diamond, and now, inspired by Shakespeare and all the world's astiged and all the bettered, we've been really players. We're going to talk about legacy now. We've been deliciously talking about the legacy to be preserved forever of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, but now this is your moment in the sunshine. How, when all is said and done, patrick Vasey, would you most like to be red?

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, that reminds me of Upstart Crow. I love Upstart Crow. Let me think Well, I think it's a very boring answer, but and I know a lot of your, your, your guests probably say the same is just to be remembered as a good person, a decent person, somebody who cared, somebody who loved, and a good father and a good husband, I think, is. I can't ask them more than that. Really, I think my job has been done. If I, if I managed to be remembered that way, if I can be associated with the legacy of Laurel and Hardy in some small, tiny way, then my job has been done and I will have a smile on my face in my grave. But yeah, just to be a good, decent person who cared.

Chris Grimes:

Where can we find out all about Patrick Vasey and all the wonderful stuff that you're up to with the Laurel and Hardy podcast on the old hint of web please?

Patrick Vasey:

The easiest place to find everything that I'm doing on Laurel and Hardy is my website, which is Laurel and Hardy Filmscom, that's. The podcast is on there, the magazine is on there, and the books will be on there as soon as they're done. So yeah, laurel and Hardy Filmscom. You can find the podcast on any podcast provider. It's also on YouTube as well, so, but you can listen very easily from the Laurel and Hardy Filmscom website.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely and my sincere hope to you as well, because I also we're doing it as a LinkedIn live, but I also pull you into the UK Health Radio show that this also goes into. It's a global audience reach across 54 countries of 1.4 million people and growing, and so I sincerely hope that gives you lots of decent traction as well.

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, I hope so, I hope so. Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Chris Grimes:

And I looked for you when I was at the Slapstick Festival and my big regret is I haven't yet met you in person, but I would sincerely like to do that someday.

Patrick Vasey:

Oh, indeed, indeed. Well, I'll be down at Slapstick again, I'm sure. So, yeah, fingers crossed I'd like to do. I was chatting, actually, with the producer of Slapstick about doing a live podcast from there, which I think you've done yourself which would be great. So maybe one of these days we could do that.

Chris Grimes:

Wonderful. I'll do a post script film with you. Just about something else. I want to ask you about Laurel and Hardy in a second. But, ladies and gentlemen, you've been listening to Patrick Vasey from the Laurel and Hardy podcast. As this has been your moment in the sunshine, patrick Vasey in the Good, listening To Show Stories of Distinction and Genius. Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Patrick Vasey:

Be the change you wish to see in the world. That's about it. That was one of my other quotes, but that was too obvious. But no, just keep laughing, just keep laughing. That is the best, it is the best medicine. And if you're not sure what to laugh to, just put some Laurel and Hardy on. You can't fail, you cannot fail.

Chris Grimes:

And a lovely bit of Mahatma Gandhi in there as well. Lovely jubbly. So thank you so much. If you too would like to be on the show, check out thegoodlisteningtoshowcom. And I've been Chris Grimes. This has been Patrick Vasey. Thank you very much indeed also for watching on LinkedIn and goodnight. So, Patrick Vasey, you've just been given a damn good listening to. Could I get your immediate feedback on what that was like for you to be in this curated structure?

Patrick Vasey:

It was lovely. Actually I was hesitant at first because it's unusual for me to talk about myself in that way, especially on a kind of a public platform, but it was nice. It's nice to reflect sometimes. It's a very busy world at times and it's sometimes difficult to stop and reflect, so to have a point where someone has made you do that has been quite refreshing. So it's been lovely. And just to talk about Laurel and Hardy is always a treat. Yes, thank you for that.

Chris Grimes:

And I just wanted to riff with you a little bit about Laurel and Hardy's Brats, because what I got so enamoured by that film, which I discovered many, many years later after seeing County Hospital and just on the path when I formed my comedy improvisation company, which I co-run in Bristol and have done for the last 30 years with a wonderful woman called Stephanie Weston.

Chris Grimes:

She's my sort of comic foil on stage in this company called Instant Whip. Instant Whip has a bit of a pun but we originally, our first photographs, were to be transposed into a bowl of blamange in miniature and I know that I was inspired onto a sort of gingham tablecloth, our first photograph. I was inspired by Laurel and Hardy's Brats because of being transposed miniature and of course back in their day they would have made huge props. Of course we had the gift of modern technology and we just had to just get somebody to be able to just Photoshop it. But I just was so struck with. You know, laurel and Hardy's Brats is brilliant because it's they've got this. It's just such a beautiful Minesgate playground of big huge props.

Patrick Vasey:

The set design is true, in fact the HowlRooge Studios. The set designs are phenomenal for a small studio on very little money, especially in the days before they were with MGM as their distributor. When they were with Pathé they had very little money but the set designers were phenomenally gifted. So they look like real expensive feature films some of them. But yeah, the Brats set is just phenomenal and the oversized furniture. It's kind of comic in its own way, because the scale is totally wrong when you see these tiny little thin boys sitting on this massive chair. But it's such fun, it's really really good. It's an excellent. My favorite bit in that film it's one of my favorite bits of all the films is when Ollie steps on the roller skate at the top of the stairs and slides down them with his legs sticking up by his head. So good, so, so good.

Chris Grimes:

I'm completely there. And there's another favorite favorite moment in a quite a random snippet, where they're having an argument with a neighbor several flights up and then Oliver Hardy kicks the ball downstairs and then it's just a bloke on reception who says 830. And just at that moment Tunk, the rugby ball or the go long American football, slaps him in the face and he's got this extraordinary lock of hair, but sort of. Anyway, we could talk for hours, I know that, so I'd love to meet you someday because I often do, as you can see from my podcast.

Chris Grimes:

But thank you so much for saying yes, as you did as well, and this is just fantastic, and thank you for being here.

Patrick Vasey:

It's been an absolute pleasure and a pleasure, thank you.

Chris Grimes:

And I'll let you know when it all goes live. And, as I say it'll come in, I'm going to bring you into the UK Health Radio Show space as well and it's been my great delight to sort of well the legacy life reflection seemed like a really good fit, because your whole endeavor is to preserve the legacy.

Patrick Vasey:

Definitely, definitely. That's been great. Thank you for the opportunity.