Rudi Lickwood TO.P Interview

(Interview Series Part 1 of 4~ Comedy & Jest Page ~ April 2021)

(Interview Series Part 2 of 4 ~ Comedy & Jest Page ~ May 2021)

(Interview Series Part 3 of 4 ~ Business & Leadership Interview ~ May 2021)

(Interview Series Part 4 of 4 ~ School, Education, Uni, Language & Leadership Interview ~ May 2021 )

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In The Second of Our Unique Four Part Special Interview Series Featuring @RudiLickwood For This Month’s Comedy Page (May 2021) Rudi Continues His Powerful, Poignant & Topical Interview. Last Month, In The First Section (April 2021 ~ TheOrator.Press ‘Comedy & Jest’ Page) He Shared That As A Father of Three Girls, And Grand Father To One Grandson, Why He’s All Loved Up, Pumped Up, Pivoted And Pullin In New Audiences Across Social Media. Here We Pick Up Where We Left Off And Now Carry On With This Month’s Comedy Page For May 2021. (Click The Links Above To See The Two Other Seperate Different Pages In This Month’s Edition And One In Last Month’s Edition Too.)

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During Lockdown @RudiLickwood (Centre) Developed A Number of Podcasts

Rudi’s Comedy Style Is Observational. He’s Funny And He’s Got Great Intellectual Depth. So We Dive In And Flesh Out Some Cultural Things, Includin’ The Black Community Increasingly ‘Doin’ It For Themselves’.

Lickwood’s Demeanour Is Friendly, Self-Assured, Savvy & Content. He’s Very Savvy About The Comedy Circuit, Current Affairs & Taking Care of His Family And Domestic Duties As A Proud Dedicated Family Man. Previously A Comedy School Teacher & Mentor, He Possesses Another Layer of Maturity Confidence. And Yet He Remains Youthful. He’s Well Travelled Havin’ Journeyed Abroad Professionally To Entertain The Troops A Number of Times. And Also Havin Retained His Personal Love of Sunny, Clear Blue Water Holidays Abroad. All His Attributes Help Make Him Very Interestin To Talk To And Very Interested In Talkin’ To Others. This Winnin’ Combination Has Helped Make Him A Very Successful Podcast Host @rudilickwood. So We Were Thrilled To Have A Chat And Take A Deep Dive Into His Mind.

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What Has Been The Biggest Impact of Covid On You And Your Comedy?

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“I Understand What It Is To Put A Script Together. To Produce. To Direct. And To Cast People. And I Can Edit Audio & Video. So I Decided To Produce A Set of Podcasts”

Comedian, Social Observer & Commentator Rudi Lickwood Talkin’ To TheOrator.Press Magazine About His “Professional Pivot” Durin’ Lockdown 2020 And How It Helped Him Bring Something New To The Table,
Includin’ Four New Podcasts.

The Anything Goes Podcast! The Rantz & Bantz Podcast! And The 15 Min Podcast!

The Biggest Impact On My Comedy Has Been The Move Away From Social Observation To Social Commentary. Because I Have More Freedom To Express Myself And Can Say What I Genuinely Think. Or So I Thought. Because If You Mention Bill Gates Name In The Same Sentence As Covid You Can Get Cut Off.”

He Explains Performin’ Comedy On Digital Platforms Such As Zoom or In Formats Such As ‘Comedy In Cars’ Where People Honk Horns & Flash Lights In Response To Material They Like, Threw His Rhythm & Comedy Timin’ Off Because He Could Not Read The Room In The Same Way A Comic Can In Person And Sense What Material People Were Respondin’ To The Most. The Same Live Energy Was Not There On The Digital Platforms And The Honkin’ of Car Horns & Flashin’ of Car Lights Would Go On So Long It Was Impossible To Keep Track of What They Were Honkin’ or Flashin Lights At. This Was Critical Because And As All Good Comics Know, Timin’ Is Everythin‘ In Comedy. So he Found Himself Movin’ Away From Observational Stand Up And More Into Social Commentary. And He Takes His New Podcasts Very Seriously. Here’s Our Summary:

Monday’s Keepin’ It Real Does What It Say On The Tin. It Features Real Discussions About Real Issues Impactin’ Members of The Global Majority Community (Forget BAME). It Has The Unique Combination of Hostin’ A Well Known Guest And A Regular Member of The Public Too (As Requested By The People Durin’ The Pandemic Who Were Hungry For A Platform To Air Their Views). Rudi Came Through.

Wednesday’s Anything Goes Is A Post Watershed, Mixed Panel Podcast, Featurin’ News Reviews And Discussion of Consequences & Dilemas Presented To The Panel By The Public. Rudi Summons Up The Comedy News Review Show Blouse & Skirts For Comparison.

Friday’s Rantz & Bantz Which Was Originally About People Havin’ A Rant And A Laugh About Issues of The Day Developed Into A Wealth, Investment & Business Discussion Programme After The Pandemic Highlighted The Fact That A Significant Portion of The African Caribbean Community Works In The Public Sector And Has No Investment Protection Nor Strategy For Wealth Creation For The Next Generation. The Show Honed In On The Fact That This Needs To Change And The Next Generation Needs To Be More Entreprenurial. It Remained But Also Led To A Special Section Called The Weekly Round Up.

Saturday’s 15 Minute Podcast With DJ Countryman Rudi Says “It’s Like A Black Tiswas For Black Adults”. It’s Basically A Career & Culture Show For Up & Comin’ Young People In Business or Interested In The Entertainment Industry. And It Includes A Quiz Show For Adults (Tiswas Was A Popular 80s Saturday Mornin’ Entertainment Show Starrin Lenny Henry & Chris Tarrant Which Featured Kids & Silly Games).

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Is There Anything You’ve Started Doin’ In Lockdown That You Will Stick To Post Lockdown & Anything You Used To Do Pre Lockdown That You Now Realise You Need To Stop Doin‘?

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There’s Nothing I’ll Stop Doin’. I Will Always Be A Stand Up Comedian. That’s My First Love. That’s What I’m About. Once The Gates Open Up It Just Means I’ve Got Access To The Theatres & The Clubs Again. That’s The Only Difference It Means To Me Because I Always Come Home To My Family. I Love My Family.

“In Terms of What I’ve Started Doin’, I Think The Podcasts & Social Media Platforms Are Here To Stay. That’s Why I Say I’ve Pivoted, In The Sense That When I Was Out There As A Stand Up Comedian On The UK Circuit I Hit A Glass Ceilin’. When We Had Little or No Representation On Television That Was My Biggest My Schtick When It Came To Talkin’ In Front of White Audiences. What It Has Allowed Me To Do Is Create Platforms Specific To The Culture of Black British Audiences. So We Can Talk About Is It “Platain” or “Platin”. That’s The Sort of Thing We Would Find Funny. “

“I Will Continue To Develop The Platforms I Have Globally. That’s My Push Now. To Get People To Understand There’s A Black British Culture They Know Nothing About. Americans Used To Say I Didn’t Know There Were Black People In The UK And They Used To Think We All Spoke Like Those People From The Days of Mary Poppins. Whereas Now I Have Keep It Real, Anything Goes, The Weekly Round Up, And I Have 15 Minutes With DJ Country Man & Rudi Lickwood [Which Look At Various Black British Cultural Issues].”

“Last year Has Been A Learnin’ Process. One How To Put A Platform Together. Two How To Structure A Programme That Works Within A Given Period of Time. And This Year Is About Learnin’ How To Monetize That. Before I Was Just Talkin’. Now It’s About Talkin’ About What, In What Structure And In What Way. And How Is This A Solution To The Community? What Am I Offerin’ To Them? “

Now I Have Various Platforms That Answer Those Questions Which Are Programmes Within Themselves And Which Could Be Bought By Production Companies (He Lists A Number of UK & USA Possibilites). Or I Can Take Them Myself And Broadcast Them Globally Via Social Media. I Come From The Days When You Had To Go To Record Shop And Hand Out Leaflets To Get People To Come To The Theatre. Now I Can Send Out A Link, That Introduces People To My Platform And I Can Now Create A Studio Background. I’ve Got Six People on A Panel, Everybody With The Same Backdrop, So It Looks Like You’re In A Studio.

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The Difference Between The Powerful People Who Built The Powerful System & The Average Everyday People Tryin’ To Survive It

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The Biggest Transformation We’ve Had When It Comes To Communication Is The Mobile Phone. Takeaway The Mobile Phone And We Would Never Have Known About George Floyd. And If It Wasn’t For White Females Findin’ Out About What Was Goin On In The Caribbean We Would Never Have Had The Suffragette Movement In The First Place Because They The Ones Who Wanted To Boycott Sugar. They Glorify The Likes of Sir Frances Drake, Christopher Columbus, Etc Etc, But Once You Go Into The History of These People You Realise These People Are Just Murderers. They Are Outright Barbaric. That Is What Financed The Industrial Revolution In The First Place. But If You’re Not Taught That Then You Don’t Know. Because History Is Written By Those Who Won And Not By Those Who Appear To Have Lost.”

“The Youth Today Are Turnin’ Around And They’re Talkin’ About Ethical Food And They’re Talkin’ About Ethical Behaviour.”

[For Illustration Purposes He Gives The Example of Mcdonalds Havin’ To Add Salads To Their Menus After Health Campaigners Demanded Healthier Options. He Says These Corporations Are Not Necessarily Makin’ A Switch Because They Care About The Cause But Because Want To Remain Where They Are. And The Only Way They Are Goin’ To Remain Where They Are Is If They Listen To What The People Are Willin’ To Buy or To Consume.]

“The System Is Set Up Against Black People. It Is Set up So They Cannot Compete. It Is Not The People Who Live & Reside Here It’s The People Who Govern And Run The System. Most of The People Are Involved In Corporate Business. They Get Lobbied So That Contracts Go A Certain Way. They Have Stocks & Shares In These Businesses. Alot of Them Have Been Caught. But The Attitude Is If You Get Caught You Get Caught. Politics Is Such A Dirty World That’s Why Black People Call It Politricks.”

[For Illustration Purposes Consider The Recent Scandal of Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s Sister Gettin’ A PPE Contract And The Historical Case of Mark Thatcher Son of Former UK Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher, Dealin’ In The Arms Trade, Provide Perfect Examples.]

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I Know You’ve Performed For The Troops; How Did That Come About?

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As Well As Bein’ Dedicated To His Family Rudi Is Deeply Dedicated To His Work & Approaches It With Great Commitment. He Began Workin’ For Combined Services Entertainment Corp As A Result of His Own Dedicated Research Project, Which He Explains Here.

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“When The War In Iraq Started We Had Alot of Comedians Demonizing Iraqis. I know It Was The Same Method Used To Demonize The Africans And Enslave Them. I Used To Call it The Invasion Occupation And Piligin’ of Other People’s Wealth Because That’s What I Thought They Were Doin’. But Rather Than Sit On The Sidelines & Mock It I Said I Need To Go & See It For Myself. So I Went In Search of The Combined Services Entertainment.

When You Can Sit Down With A Solider And He Turns Round & Tells You “I Don’t Know Why We’re Here. We Shouldn’t Really Be Here But My Job Says I Have To Be Here.” He’s Fighting For Flag & Country. But His Internal Beliefs Are “I Know We’re Fightin’ For The Oil”. It Gives You Great Insight.

“So I Can Come Back Now To England And Talk About it On Any Stage From That Perspective.”

Can Humour Help Heal The Hurt of Racist Police?

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The “Guilty” “Guilty” “Guilty” Verdict In The George Floyd Case Was Recently Returned, Just Last Month, And Yet Already The Wickedness Continues (With Other Cases Occurin’ Before, Durin & After The Trial). President Biden In His First Speech To A Joint Congress Assembly This Month Said He Wants The George Floyd Police Reform Bill On His Desk In Time For The Anniversary of Mr Floyd’s Murder (Next Month).  So What Is The Solution To Police Brutality? Can Humour Help Heal Here? Is Laughter Really Always The Best Medicine? And How Do You Manage To Stay Positive Through All The Relentless Police Thuggery?

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The Real Mckoy

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TO.P: In Lockdown The Real Mckoy Suddenly Resurfaced. Did You Get Any Royalties?

RL: I Don’t Know About Anybody Else But I Never Got Any Royalties.

When We Went Lookin’ For The Right’s About Twelve Years Ago (And Delirious As Well) We Were Told That The Masters Had Got Caught Up In A Fire. And The When The Plan-Demic Happened And It Came Up On All The Platforms, Like No Joke, Which Had Eddie Nestor, Curtis Walker, Angie Le Mar, Bearin’ In Mind That Eddie Nestor Works With The BBC, It Was Highlighted And People Started Moanin’ And Complainin’. Next Thing You ‘The Real Mckoy’.

TO.P: Were You Consulted?

RL: Nobody To My Knowledge Was Consulted. But I Don’t Know How Long It Was In The Pipeline For It To Come Back.

TO.P: It’s Interestin’ That They Said It Was Damaged In A Fire And Next Thing You Know It’s Come Back Again, Don’t You Think?

RL: Yeah. Yeah We Do. It’s Something They Didn’t Want To Have On. It Poked Fun At The Truth. And It Reached A Point That There Was Just Too Much Truth In The Real Mckoy. For Them It Became Too Close To The Bone.

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The Evolvement of Black Comedy On British TV

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Mo Gilligan’s Documentary ‘Black British & Funny’ Aired Durin’ Channel 4’s Black History Month Programming Last Year, And If You Consider It Is Actually Called “Mo Gilligan’s” Black British & Funny, And He Starred In A Prime Time Saturday Night Family Entertainment Show Earlier This Year (The Masked Singer 2021), How Do You Think We’re Doin Now Compared To Days When You Would Phone Up Friends & Family And Tell Them To Watch The Telly If There Was A Black Person On TV?

My Schtick Used To Be There’s Not Enough Black People On Telly. Now My Schtick Is There’s Just Too Many.

“We’ve Actually Gone Backwards. We Haven’t Gone Forwards. Mo Gilligan Is One Name You Can Call. Mo Gilligan, Judi Love And Also Dane Baptiste. Yeah You’ve Got More Black People Who Are Seen In Advertisments And That, But If You Look At The 70s & 80s You’ll Find That We Had More Black Programmes In Mainstream TV. We Haven’t Really Gone Forward As Such. On The Surface It Looks Like Things Are Better But That’s Because of George Floyd And What’s Happened.”

“When We Look Behind The Scenes We Have To Ask Ourselves Where Are The Writers? We Have To Ask Ourselves Where Are The Directors? We Have To Ask Ourselves Where Are The Floor Managers? We Have To Ask Ourselves Where Are The People of Colour In The Decision Makin’ Process Throughout The Whole of The Broadcastin’ Industry? So That There’s A True Reflection of Who We Are. We May Only Represent 3% of The Population, But Our Culture Represents A Hell of Alot More Than That.” It May Appear Things Have Improved But It’s Superficial.

My Schtick Used To Be There’s Not Enough Black People On Telly. Now My Schtick Is There’s Just Too Many.

Rudi Lickwood Talkin’ To TheOrator.Press ‘Comedy & Jest’ Page About The State of Comedy On Black British TV Today. May 2021

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The Development of Black Wealth

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Please Tell Us About Your Monthly Show On The BBR Platform  &  The Black Million London Campaign.

And He Does. And Also About His Adaptability Which Helped Him Survive Two Major National Economic Crisis In Two Totally Different Decades. And Why He Thinks It’s Important To Set A Good Example To His Family.

So For The Second Part And Third Part of This Month’s Three Part Special (Comedy Page May 2021) (Business Page May 2021) (Education Page May 2021) Please Click Those Links Accordigngly. Thank You.

We Hoped You Enjoyed The Interviews Which We Believe Were Very Important, Insightful & Powerful. Thank You For Readin’ TheOrator.Press (TO.P) “A Positive Magazine, For Positive People, By Positive People.”

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