Sit down in Glasgow’s The Drake with Sanjeev Kohli of Still Game

National World - LocalTV

We ask Sanjeev Kohli how Still Game came about.

Transcript

00:00Much like other people in Glasgow, in Scotland,

00:03you've been a big part of me growing up,

00:05and I feel as if I know you well.

00:07Talk to me about the first time you came across

00:09Ford Kiernan and Greg Hempel.

00:11I was a radio presenter, and I was in Radio Scotland,

00:15and the old BBC used to be Queen Margaret Drive,

00:18and I used to see this kind of handsome dude

00:20with a Canadian accent, and it was Greg Hempel,

00:22and we'd say hello to each other.

00:23And then we ended up sort of working on projects together,

00:25and I got into comedy writing.

00:27And then I became part of the writing team

00:29for Chewing the Fat.

00:30No, tell a lie, actually.

00:32I was the original producer of Chewing the Fat on the radio.

00:36So not everyone knows this, but Chewing the Fat

00:38was a radio show before it was ever a tele-show.

00:40And the reason the show was called Chewing the Fat

00:42is that Ford and Greg would actually, as themselves,

00:46chew the fat.

00:47They would just chat about stuff.

00:49And then they would play a sketch,

00:51and in those days, it was an hour-long show.

00:53They'd play a sketch they'd recorded,

00:55and then they'd play some music,

00:56and then back to them, Chewing the Fat,

00:58and then they'd play a sketch that's the music.

00:59It was an hour-long.

01:00And I was brought in to produce the show,

01:02because at that point, I had a bit of production experience.

01:04So that was really when I first started working

01:07with Ford and Greg.

01:08But we'd be in the same meetings.

01:10I remember there being a meeting

01:13for what might have been a sketch show,

01:15and I was there with Donnie McCleary,

01:17who's my writing partner now,

01:19and Ford and Greg were in the same meeting

01:21and were chatting about The Simpsons.

01:22We all love The Simpsons.

01:24And then laterally, people like Robert O'Neill

01:27and Robert Florence and Ian Connell

01:28would come to these meetings.

01:29So we all sort of knew each other

01:31through this sort of writing, comedy writing circuit.

01:34And then just through Chewing the Fat,

01:36I then started writing for Chewing the Fat,

01:38and then Still Game came around,

01:41and then they approached me

01:42to play this shopkeeper character,

01:43and I said, I'll go on then.

01:45Still Game was really my big breakout acting job,

01:48so that was the first time I'd acted with any of them,

01:51which was scary, but...

01:53I mean, you know, I didn't know

01:55the impact the show was gonna make.

01:56I certainly didn't know the impact

01:57the movie was gonna make.

01:58What I did know was, was that it was a joy to play.

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