Starr-Struck With Adam Starr
Hey Dolls, talking all things theatre from opening nights to preshow rituals! a relaxed chat and look back on theatre Folks carriers!
Starr-Struck With Adam Starr
Gok is Starr-Struck
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One of the funniest and chaotic chats i'v ever had!
Gok is always ready to Chat and never lets you down.
His constant tenacity and ambition is catching!
The way he talks about learning everything about life from working at his dads restaurant.
listen and laugh along
Enjoy Dolls!!
Hey dolls, welcome to Star with Adam Star. Oh no. This is because I'm already at the top. My guest is nice and calm. Hey dolls, welcome to this episode of Star with Adam Star. My guest today is the multi-talented MBE. He can do it all. He taught us how to look at the naked, how to cook beautiful food, and how to say yes to the dress. He's a gift to any show. He's a Panto pro and knows how to get the audience going. From his gorgeous drawings to his DJ Empire. He is a hard-working beast and he's incredibly generous. He loves his family and is so gracious and makes me want to be a better son. Please welcome Goku one. I mean, I will sleep with me. I mean, what an intro.
SPEAKER_02Hello. Hello, Chris. Nice to be here. Thank you very much. You look a bit nervous. I am after that intro stress. Where are we, Gaki baby? We're in my dressing room in Birmingham. We are uh we've got four more days until we close Panto. We've been here for what feels like since the dinosaurs roamed the land. It's been the longest run, and and we're in my very barren dressing room because all the decks have gone down, all the Christmas cards have been taken down. The only thing that's left in this room is the joy of the show. Oh come on! Come on, put that in a Christmas cracker.
SPEAKER_01Gark, there's so much we could talk about because I just think it's incredible the the life and work that you've done. But I want to ask you, can you remember your audition piece for your drama school?
SPEAKER_02Can I remember? No, I can't. It was such a uh a hazy blur. I think I guess when I when I got the uh invitation to audition for Central, so for Central School of Speech and Drama, for any of you out there, I'm obviously you're listening to this podcast, so you're obviously theatre lovers, you will know the school. But for those of you who don't, there's a couple of schools in the world that are really primary. One's Rada, and one's the Central School of Speech and Drama, with alumni such as um Judy Dench, uh French and Saunders, Graham Norton, you know, Vanessa Redbre, the most incredible people. So I'm this kind of overweight, mixed race, uh fat gay boy from Leicester, um, which I now know all of those things are my positive, but at the time it was all very much my negative. Um I suddenly got an audition for this school, and so it all it happened. They said, yeah, come and audition. And I went over there and I got a place, and it was like, what the fuck? This is just crazy. And I think what I've done over the years is I've I've taken out those moments of my life that I have no recollection of what I was wearing, of who I spoke to, what I did, because I guess I never believed that I deserved the place there. And so, as a way of self-pre uh preservation, was just to get rid of those memories completely, even though there is evidence that I went there, but not much.
SPEAKER_01And being, as you said, how you felt and in your head space at that time, what was the biggest thing you learned about yourself at drama school?
SPEAKER_02That I uh I was way weaker and way more vulnerable than I thought I was. I but prior to going to Central, I lived in Leicester, I'd lived away from home a long time, I'd gone off to college and done really well doing a performing arts course, I'd found my people, um, and and I was confident and I was strong and I knew this was the world I thought that was the world I wanted to work in and be in and survive in. And I got there and I couldn't have been more wrong. And I was was way too weak and way too vulnerable to be on that course and ended up leaving 12 months later because I just couldn't cope with number one being away from my family, but number two being around people who were just so much better at performing and singing and dancing and acting and all the other stuff than than I was, and I did I wasn't prepared for that because I was at the top of my I was the big duck in the little pond at college, and I got to drama school, and all of a sudden I wasn't even in the fucking pond. I wasn't even I wasn't I didn't have my armbands on, I wasn't gonna swim, I sank. The minute I put a foot into that pond, I sank, and and so I that was my biggest lesson was that okay, you're not ready for this.
SPEAKER_01And how did you go from a boy who had so much self-doubt and to having that experience at the drama school and then to leave and then just suddenly be this huge personality on TV that is so positive about other people's bodies? Where did that come from?
SPEAKER_02Do you know what? I I uh I couldn't tell you, I've always trusted what's been in my head. I've I've I've never trusted my physicality, and that's still to now, to to to um to this moment, and actually making House Look Good Naked that was the strength of making that show because it was about supporting other people and ask anybody who struggles with their reflection, they are gonna be the biggest cheerleader for anybody else, they're not gonna let anybody feel bad about themselves because they know how it feels. So that level of empathy was there already. Um so physically I wasn't a hundred percent. I would say probably even at times maybe as low as five percent uh with self-esteem, but I've always trusted my brain, I've always trusted how I communicate with people, I've always had the ability of being the virtual door open. You can come and talk to me about anything, and we can cry, we can laugh, uh, you know, I'll look after you. Um, and in fact, over the years, many journalists have asked me what do you actually do for a living? Because you do so many different things. You know, are you a stylist? Are you a designer? Are you a presenter, are you a radio host, are you an actor, what do you do? And I've always said the same thing to them, which is I am a waiter. And working in my parents' restaurant as a kid, which which uh developed all of my communication skills, um, I am still that waiter. It's just that every single day I carry a train, it has a different item on it. So for the last seven weeks it's had a panto on it, and then when I leave this, it'll have a radio show and a DJ deck on there, and so it doesn't matter what I'm doing, essentially, all of my jobs is all about service, it's always about entertaining or looking after or providing for other people, and that's why I'm most confident. And that's how I went from being so insecure and hating the way that I looked and having an eating disorder at drama school all the way through to being brave enough to put myself in the public eye ten years later and becoming a TV presenter. It was that trust of my brain.
SPEAKER_01That's such an honest thing for you to say, and that the how to look with naked was such a huge thing. It hit the zeitgeist, it was channel four, it was in the newspapers, you were everywhere. What was another thing that you no, I'm not gonna chat to you is when was the first time you were recognised as Gok? As me?
SPEAKER_02Uh oh, that's a you know what? I could be really clever and say, Well, are we ever recognised and be a total wanker about it? And and that would be one answer. Uh the second answer would be there was one moment, okay. So I was I was booked to be the All Saints stylist, and this was just after the first series of How's Look Good Naked to Gone Out. The girls had seen the programme, they really enjoyed it. They asked me in for a casting, like everyone else gets a casting to go meet them. They booked me, I was now part of the team. I took the girls out shopping, and I think I was with uh Nicole Appleton, Mel, and Shaznay, I think. I don't remember Natalie being there. Anyway, she might have been. We were all in a shop in uh off of Carnaby Street, and I was choosing clothes for them for the tour, and there was these people knocking on the window, and uh obviously looking for an autograph or for a picture or whatever, and I kind of step to one side and go back into the rails and I pull out some more clothes, and the girls come in, it was me that they wanted the picture with, and I just remember the All Saints pissing themselves laughing, like absolutely like wetting themselves laughing. So it wasn't there wasn't a con there wasn't a conflict there at all, but it was the first time I suddenly went, Oh, because I've dressed celebrities and singers and you know famous people for so many years, I was so used to watching you know the the chaos and the commotion around them, yeah. Um but I never imagined that it would happen to me. So you were used to taking the photo. Exactly. You know, I I was the one carrying the watermelon, I was the watermelon carrier for many years, and I was very happy to do that, and it but that dawned on me then, and then all of a sudden the the fame of House Look Good Naked was so um so momentous, it was so big so quickly. Um it was almost like you know, I'm very lucky, I I had the power of high um of hindsight, but when I look back now, it it felt like it happened overnight, and I looked out the window and all of a sudden the world knew who I was, and that took a lot of adjusting. I didn't enjoy it, it wasn't something that I was really looking for. I never actually really wanted to be famous. I think I always wanted to be recognised for what I did, but it wasn't famous, we know it. Yeah, and I think House Look Good Naked, you said it's interesting because you used the word zeigeist, which is such a powerful word, and uh it was part of the zeitgeist, but it was right at the incarnation of celebrities we know it as well. So reality shows had just really taken off, and people, you know, everyday people were becoming famous. Big brother was a big thing, you know, all of those things, and so I guess I was part of that that machinery as well, and I was stripped bare in front of the world, and it was a lot for me and my family to deal with.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's so funny that we're talking about this washing in Birmingham because you used to do your what um designer versus fashion fix. And you should do it in the book.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for doing the research on that. That's brilliant, thank you, Adam.
SPEAKER_01I'm joking! I'm forgetting now. I'm talking now, I love you, I'm joking. It was fashion, yeah, fashion fixed. What was it? It was fashion fixed, but it was it was hard streak versus hard fashion. Hard string versus designer. I'm sure it was hard strict versus hard fashion.
SPEAKER_02Oh well you I mean you can rewrite my history if you love it. I mean it's plumbing. I love it, it's so funny. Just to give you all some uh perspective on this, I know Adam already. I've known Adam for many years, and Adam is so fucking bothing, he minces around backstage with his nails on and his makeup on and his cap on, and he's and it's all part of the room and he just leaves a little bitchy comment like a drag queen without a microphone and without a exactly without a microphone and a wig. And you do all of that, and then you put you into this situation, and you're like, oh you look at you! You're honorable!
SPEAKER_01Oh shut up. Um when you be when you started working and you uh were earning a lot of money, what was the first thing that you treated yourself to as a fashion item?
SPEAKER_02First thing I was okay, so I went to Paris with uh a couple of friends who jumped on the Eurostar, and I I wasn't used to having money. I don't come from money. My parents worked very hard, but we never had money. They had their own business, a restaurant, which I spoke about earlier. Um, so so money was a new concept for me, but actually, spending money, I was very used to it. I'm a I was a fashion stylist for many years, and I used to get budgets where I'd be able to, I mean no, I was dressing tours, you know, I was I was spending money, but never really on myself. And once I bought my first home, which was a flat that I still own now, I um I went to Paris and I walked into Chanel, and there was runway had just happened, and um menswear runway is very, very different to women's wear runway. But there was a jacket that had been on the runway, and it was a silver sequined long line jacket with the most beautiful button I've ever seen. I bought it for the button, it was the most gorgeous button, and I bought it and it cost a vast amount of money. I don't know how many were made, maybe it might have been one off for the runway, but anyway, I bought it and I wore it once for a game show that I made on channel 4 called Baggage, and uh it's the only time I've ever worn it, but I've still got it in my attic, and I'm hoping at some point it will get sold, and it's gonna go. There's a lot of my stuff which is gonna get sold and given to charity when I go my day, and it's in that pile. So I'm hoping it sells for a lot of money one day, and it can then go and help somebody else because it I guess it helped me in a weird way. If I'm really honest, once I'd bought it and I had the bag, that feeling of euphoria went, and it's a real shame because the amount of money, pence per wear, I wish there are things that I've got in my wardrobe. The sweatshirt I'm wearing right now is from Sainsbury's. I bought it, I bought it when I'd run out of uh bum wipes, and so when we just got to Birmingham, I needed some bum wipes because I don't like to dry wipe, and so I went to Sainsbury's to go and get some bum wipes, and I bought this. I I think I've had more joy out of this hoodie than I've had I ever got out of that Couturio Chanel piece. That is the honest truth.
SPEAKER_01Well, if if well I'll take it off your hands for the time. God, you speak so much about you know um bringing people together with the other your music, because you obviously will go on and talk about your DJ, but you also have got um a book out which has got recipes and you do be that's right, isn't it? Yeah. Well you're looking at I'm wrong. No, I'm not I'm listening, I'm listening to you. I switched off actually. And of course, knowing about your parents and the restaurant they had, why is food so important to you and bringing people together?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so so food is massively important because when we were growing up and my parents, as I've said, had restaurants and takeaways and stuff the whole of my life until they retired. And so food wasn't just what we needed um to survive just every day, it was also what we needed to survive financially, and and and the art of sharing food, the art of sharing culture as well is massively important because you know I'm 51 now, so back when I was a kid, Chinese food wasn't like we know it now, which is you know, there's so many takeaways and variations, and the whole of Southeast Asia is on the map in most cities. Um, so that was really important because it allowed the world to see the world that I came from. Um but also as well it was a gift from my dad, it was how he communicated his culture. My mum's English, my dad's Chinese, and I don't know for many years had never been to Asia, and so my dad was able to tell us stories about his childhood through the food that he ate. So they became the most incredible vehicles for us to understand what it's like to be mixed race and to to not also have lived in the world that we belong to. Um so that's really important, but also the idea of sharing food is the is the most incredible gift that you know you can invite friends over to your house and cook for them, and it's it's better than any other present you can give them. Is you're making their tummy full, making them feel wanted, listening to what they like or guessing what they like, and and it's not just about buying dinner for people, it's about sharing that love.
SPEAKER_01And and I love food, I really, really do love food. And so you are famous for your Sunday brunches that you have. If our student has a Sunday brunch, what would we eat?
SPEAKER_02What would you what would you eat? What do I know about you? Okay, then so I'm not gonna serve you up anything spicy because you are one of the loudest people I know, and so I've got neighbours, and if I give you something spicy, you start screaming and shouting in my house, I'm kicking you out. So you're not getting spicy, and I know you also wouldn't take it. I also I'm gonna assume that your taste with food, how you dress and how you present yourself, I'm gonna assume you aren't a massive eater, like in one go. I don't think you do. I think you like I think you like picking because you like the art of all the stuff, and I think you probably want lots of choice, and because you talk so much. I don't know, that's a lot coming. I talk a lot. God doesn't like talk too much. I didn't say too much. Okay. I said because you talk a lot. A lot. Because you talk a lot, I know that after every bite, you're gonna want to fit in a story or a question. And so I'm gonna do it's basically a birthday party. I'm doing I'm doing the cheesy footballs and some finger sandwiches.
SPEAKER_01In 2013, you did a map this massive thing happened called Gokdus Panto, and it was again perfect because you it was um it was on channel 4 and it was off the back of How to Look Good Nike, you have such a fan base, and you did it here in Birmingham, and that was that show in itself made my parents bring me to come and see that pantomime. Great, it was brilliant. The cast was incredible, Stephanie Beacham, you flying in on the mirror, Johnny Partridge, Johnny Part Johnny Partridge, Danielle Hope, Daniel Hope, Gary Wilmot, Paul Zurden, Matt Slack Slack, that was his first panto he didn't.
SPEAKER_02Was it his first panto ever or first? It was it was such a weird one. I had done a I had done a show at the palladium where I was giving him something, I was bringing an act on, it was a charity thing. You know, they do those kind of charity moments where they have loads of different faces, loads of different performers, and we raise money as a garner. I was doing that, and there was Lionel Blair and I want to say Louis Spence. See, this is a problem with my brain, I can't remember all the details. Anyway, I was there and I sat I was sandwiched in between two people that do Panzer, and I sat so we had this whole dock going, and it was me, I know I can't sing, and so that was a big jeopardy thing, which they gave me Fabulous Baby, one of the hardest West End songs ever. From Sister Act from Sister Act, and I I just remember when we were filming it, I I had a little um Theatre 500 at the time, and I was sat driving around Hampstead in North London going, Look, get my stand up if you want, ma'am! Look, get my look, can you say hot damn? And literally, I did this for about three months. It was awful, it was excruciating. Um but we did it, and the dock's really good, and people loved it. And it was a really nice moment because I got to know Matt really well, who I'm now in Panto with 13 years later. I got to know Michael Harrison, who owns uh the production company that makes the pantos really intimately because they kind of came on my journey with me, and I don't know whether if I'd not made the dock, whether I would have continued to do panto. Really? Because every year it's like coming back and seeing my mates, which is why I do it. And amongst other reasons, a handful, and so it's really nice. And yeah, so I I think life would have been very different without that dog.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And considering that you know you wanted to be an actor, you've recently did a little cameo in Back to the Future. Oh god, it was awful. Was it really?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it was awful, it was so scary because I'm not an actor. I mean, you know what? Yes, I wanted to be an actor, but it was it was very clear very early on in my career as an actor that I'm shit, that I'm really bad. She's got no range! I've got no range, I can basically be me. I can be me and I can be a polarised version of that if you ever want to see it, it's it's a car crash. But anyway, um, and and so yeah, so I did it. But Brian Connolly, who I also know from doing many pantos with him, was playing Doc in the West End, and they were coming up to their anniversary, 30th year or 40th or 50th, whatever it was. Um, and he said, Would you come on and play the principal? And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. No problem. And we get to the day, and I only had that morning, but in my mind I thought I'm gonna have nine, ten hours to rehearse. I didn't know that I didn't need to be there until one o'clock in the afternoon. The show starts at 7:30. I had to be there at one o'clock in the afternoon. When I got there, it was yeah, that you've got a changing room up there. Wait, the director and the people are coming in at 2:30. I'm like, yeah, yeah. I don't mind about waiting, but the thing is that we've got no time, and I don't even know my lines here, I don't know what I'm doing. And I had about 25 seconds to do all of my scenes and just to be able to nail, but you actually, in all fairness, I had the time of my life, and they were so generous and so lovely, they really looked after me, and the audience went wild. And I basically, if I'm honest, oh the other thing is, is that morning, can I tell a story? Yeah, yeah, good. That morning, um the uh producers said to me, not that morning, but when they'd asked me to do it, um okay, I said to them start this again because you had to you edit all that out. Yeah. So when they first asked me to to play the principal, um I said to the producers, but you know, is the character American? They said, Yeah, just generic American. And there's me thinking, generic American, didn't give it any more thought. It got to the morning of the rehearsal, and I suddenly went, I was in my kitchen, and I said to my housekeeper, I can't do an American accent. And I said, Well, I can do an American accent, but I can only do one type. And it turns out the only American accent I can do is a mob wife. And so I literally, Marty, you're a loser, Marty! And so I stuck talking like this in like a the free way. And I'm like, this was the morning, I mean, in that evening. I'm going on stage to a full Western audience, my Western debut, and I am literally got cappuccino in Back to the Future. It was mortifying. And I got on stage, I did the accent, and all the cast went, We're here for it. We're here for it, we're here for it. So there you go. So for one night only, uh, the principal was a mob wife.
SPEAKER_01Of course it was. Perfect. Makes sense, makes sense. Take a card and take a walk. It's the only American accent I can do. Again, speaking about you cooking and bringing people together, DJing, you loved it, which you've spoken pretty much. It's such a passion of yours. What is it about that moment and being in it and in creating this moment for other people?
SPEAKER_02Um there's several different things. We talked about the waiter earlier on, and so servicing people is a big passion of mine, looking after people, and you know, dressing people I love, and and and and I've you know, I've said every aspect of my life, but there's something about DJing that I love because I'm sharing something like food or fashion or or tips or confidence or whatever, but I'm not using words, and it's the only job that I do where I don't have to rely on my voice, everything else is my voice, and so for me it brings out another part of my personality which is just as caring, I hope, which is just as sympathetic and uh uh empathetic, but it also slightly tougher because I don't have all the words around it, and and so it's a it's a very different relationship that I have with an audience when they're dancing, and I love it equally, it's like everything else, but for me, I get a real sense of buzz out of it because I don't have my arsenal of words that I can back myself up. I've got to trust my skill.
SPEAKER_01I mean, there's so much that you do, Gok. I mean, honestly, the dr the beautiful drawings that you do, the fact you cook and you write and you design and you make, it's just it's just wonderful, and I think it's such a testament to you as a person of how much you are loved. You are so loved in this company. Oh shut everyone made everyone speaks of you so highly, and I just want to say thank you for being a part of this company and bringing such joy to it. The quiz nights, the casinos, the joy, the happiness, the parties, the the massive DJs set on New Year's Eve, you're just a wonder. Are you ready for your quick five questions? Yeah, go on. Go on, go. Not a cold. Uh a cold. Day or night? Night. Coffee or tea? Tea. Dog or cat? Dog. Give or receive. None of your fucking business. Heels or flats? Heels. Uh Broadway West End. West End. Too little or too much? Too much. Sometime or Webber? Sometime. Favourite cast album. Evan Hansen. What's your favourite movie? Beautiful thing. Favourite book? Beautiful thing. Favourite drink? Volcadike ho. Uh what was the first Broadway show you saw? I think it was Rent. Your first time on stage?
SPEAKER_02When I was at school, uh primary school playing uh one of the one of the three white men.
SPEAKER_01What's the m your most important theatre viewing? What have you seen that has really changed the way you look at the world? Beautiful thing. Uh the best performance that you've seen live from a singular person can be an artist, can be a musician. Er I'm gonna say Amelda Stornson in Gypsy. What's your favourite interval snack? Spring rolls. Me and you in a time machine we can go and see any musical play ever made of what we're watching and why. Uh first night of company. Er with Elaine Stritch. What's your favourite quote? My favourite quote. Uh uh.
SPEAKER_02Man with hole in finger have no man with hole in pocket have very smelly finger.
SPEAKER_00Gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01And Gakwan, my final question to you. When was the last time you were starstruck? Right now, bad. Stop it! Right now. Okay, when was the first time you were starstruck?
SPEAKER_02First time I was starstruck. Properly starstruck, interviewing SJP at the Sets in the City premiere. Absolutely. Gakwan, you're a delight, thank you so much. Thank you, you're better delight. Love you bye! Love you bye.
SPEAKER_00Hey dolls, thank you for listening to this episode of the start of the start. I would like to have my starting.