What’s the verdict on meal deals, mullets, and Weetabix? We put comedian Ed Night in the hot seat for a game of Overrated or Underrated, as he gives his takes on British essentials, unhinged customs, and how much truth really lies in astrology. From Lucozade to small plates, mullets and the etiquette of clapping when the plane lands – Ed gives his scolding hot take on the UK’s most beloved (and bizarre) customs.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This coffee is perfect, by the way.
00:01Thank the machine.
00:03Thank you, machine.
00:04Hi, my name is Ed Knight.
00:05I'm a stand-up comedian,
00:06and I'm here at the Independent HQ
00:08to play overrated or underrated.
00:11We're going to kick things off with astrology.
00:14What type of astrology?
00:16I think the Chinese Ardeac is amazing.
00:18I was born in the ear of the pig.
00:19I do feel strongly that being born in the ear of the pig
00:23has greatly influenced my life.
00:25But, like, the ones that scare you in the newspaper,
00:28and it's like, your life sucks, you're poor.
00:30Did you check your horoscope for today?
00:35That doesn't seem like there is a horoscope in here.
00:38Do you want to hear it?
00:39Yeah, I'd love to hear my horoscope.
00:40Your horoscope is,
00:41today you can be powerfully persuasive.
00:43You're likely to resent anyone who blocks your plans.
00:46This is a lucky time to make a break from the usual routines.
00:48Accept last-minute invitations.
00:50I love routines, and I don't like accepting invitations,
00:53so that makes me feel conflicted.
00:56But if the newspaper's telling me to do it,
00:58I guess I will.
00:59Overrated or underrated?
01:01I'll say overrated.
01:02So next up, we have meal deals.
01:05I'm going to say they're appropriately rated.
01:08I've been told that I have a very strange meal deal.
01:10I did a tour show in Bristol a couple of years ago last year,
01:14and, like, I mentioned what it was offhand,
01:16and it started, like, a 45-minute-long argument.
01:19What is the meal deal that was so divisive?
01:21Um, uh, egg and crust sandwich.
01:25Right.
01:26Water.
01:27Oh.
01:27And then, I can't remember what my snack was.
01:30It was, like, a Grey's bar or something.
01:32A meal deal would never be my first choice of budget meal
01:35when I'm out and about.
01:37Like, wasabi do, like, really cheap.
01:38Like, sushi and, like, hot bits of chicken and stuff.
01:40I will eat mercury if a push comes to shove.
01:43If there are no Tesco's nearby but there is, like, a Hatter's shop,
01:47I will go in and ask if I can have some, uh, some...
01:50A glass of tap water and a big bowl of mercury.
01:53Mullets on men.
01:55Mullets on men.
01:58I think I'm going to have to go with underrated for this one
02:00because they get...
02:01They're getting a bit of a hard time at the moment.
02:05I remember when I was a kid, it was, like,
02:07you know, the mullet had an extremely bad reputation.
02:10Um, uh, uh, but now it's everywhere
02:14and I think that's quite cool.
02:16It's a good haircut but with bad PR.
02:18Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
02:20Someone needs to get on the...
02:21It needs to be someone's job to get out there
02:24and start, like, pressing for mullets.
02:27I just think all haircuts are quite brilliant, really.
02:29We've got this, like, stuff that grows out of our head
02:32and we use it for, like, expression.
02:34I think that's pretty...
02:36That's pretty nice.
02:37It's like birds with, like, cool plumage and stuff.
02:39Ikea?
02:40Oh, f***, actually.
02:41I might have to go with underrated because...
02:43Okay.
02:43I've got all my lamps from there
02:44and I can only get my light bulbs from there now.
02:47So I'm kind of in...
02:47I'm kind of in Ikea's pocket here.
02:49If I slagged them off too much on the independent website,
02:52they might discontinue the light bulbs I need for all my lamps.
02:54They do watch all our content.
02:56Do they really?
02:56Yeah, they do.
02:57F***ing sake.
02:57Yeah.
02:58No, actually, f*** them.
02:59I hate it in there.
03:00It's too big.
03:01It's really confusing.
03:03And, like, the allure exists entirely in the promise realm.
03:07The promise of...
03:08The good thing about going to Ikea
03:09is you go into the showroom, the fake rooms,
03:11and you go,
03:12wouldn't it be brilliant if I had a different life,
03:14if I was a completely different man?
03:16And then you buy the desk and you put it in your room.
03:19That lamp in my sort of dingy, horrible room
03:22doesn't have the same effect as when it's in Ikea, you know?
03:24Wow, what if I had a million pounds and really good taste?
03:27Well, I don't, so...
03:28LukaZade Sport.
03:32Overrated because normal LukaZade is better.
03:34What is the difference?
03:36I don't know if one's got more, like, electricity in it or something.
03:39Orange LukaZade is the best drink.
03:40Like, it is an amazing drink.
03:42Playing with Lego as an adult?
03:44I'd say that Lego is underrated.
03:47My grandparents, when I was a kid,
03:48had, like, some Lego from, like, the 70s.
03:51Like, original Lego that was my mum's or something.
03:54And that was great because it was purely kind of, like,
03:58uh, just-gone-mid-century functional Lego.
04:04Sort of, like, f***ed-up 70s Danish Lego.
04:06There's nothing special about it.
04:08No Anakin Skywalker or Spider-Man.
04:10It's not up to the Lego company to decide who this little person is.
04:14I'll decide if it's f***ing Spider-Man.
04:16You can do anything with it.
04:17You can make, like, a car out of it.
04:19You can swallow it for attention.
04:22I used to do that.
04:23What was the brick size of choice for you?
04:25Um, for eating?
04:26Yes.
04:27Um, gosh, it's hard to say.
04:31So many options.
04:32Um, yeah, there's so many, so many options.
04:34Um, so many different shapes, uh, and, uh, and things to choose from.
04:39Um, but, yeah, I just, I just couldn't get half of this stuff.
04:42I'm getting antsy because I haven't eaten any Lego for about 15 minutes.
04:45Velvet.
04:48Underrated.
04:48Okay.
04:49It's sick.
04:49It feels amazing.
04:50And it's always, it feels really, um, really, uh, uh, special and kind of, uh, and, and interesting
04:58when you have, like, a piece of velvet.
05:00Velvet does good.
05:01And I like it when you get, what's that, like, special?
05:04You know, it's not velvet, but it's sort of like velvet.
05:06But when you, when you, like, rub it one way, it goes a different color.
05:09That's brilliant.
05:09Like, the pillows were, like, you know, you rub it one way and it's, like, sequels.
05:13I don't like that.
05:14You don't like that?
05:14I don't, I don't like that.
05:15There's too much engineering for a pillow.
05:17Clapping when the plane lands.
05:19Underrated.
05:20It's cool to clap for things.
05:21I like to, when people clap for me, uh, and it's, like, a big part of my job is at the
05:28end, if I've done a good job, people will clap for me.
05:30How could I begrudge a pilot or the cabin crew the experience that I love so much and hoard
05:37it all for myself?
05:38Do you know what I mean?
05:39It should be impressive that this massive, this massive machine has taken us from one
05:44country to another.
05:45You know, what's wrong with showing a little bit of appreciation?
05:48People are clapping for my stand-up comedy, but people can, are far more justified in
05:53clapping for being alive.
05:55So I'd say underrated.
05:57Weetabix.
05:58Oh, massively underrated.
06:00I remember, like, my granddad having Weetabix all the time and being, like, this stupid
06:05****, you can, you can just have Coco Pops.
06:07What's wrong with you?
06:07And now I'm like, he was right the whole time.
06:10Weetabix is absolutely amazing.
06:11I can't remember the last time I had it, but now that you've said that, it's like, I'm
06:15definitely going to have to have a, I'm going to have to get a box and have some for my
06:18breakfast.
06:18Small plates.
06:21Massively, massively, massively underrated.
06:22I've had a few small plates dinners recently.
06:25All I can think of is, man, I wish this plate was bigger.
06:30I like to have a big plate of big dinner in front of me.
06:32And, um, so you get, like, not enough of loads of different stuff and you don't, like, three
06:39quarters of them.
06:40Small plates can get ****ed as far as I'm concerned.
06:42Thank you very much to The Independent for having me and letting me play overrated and
06:46underrated.
06:47I'm going on a tour of the UK, so you can come and watch me on my stand-up tour.
06:51And I'm also doing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so you can come and watch me there.
06:55Thank you very much.
06:56We should give all men a pair of small flags to express themselves with.
07:01Because this is really, I'm really, I'm really liking it.
07:03This is the best conversation I've had in many years.