| Lunch With Bob and Paul Illustration: Lyndon Hayes |
Interview
Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer: ‘There was the chance one of us might drop dead on the riverbank’
Over suet pudding at London’s oldest restaurant, the comedians discuss fishing, heart surgery, and staying in touch with their inner child
Sunday 15 July 2018
When Bob Mortimer recovered from the triple coronary bypass operation that had saved his life, he found he’d also had a change of heart about the way he worked. His habit had been to say no to new projects – he stayed faithful to his double act with Vic Reeves – but after the operation, in October 2015, he just started to say yes. “I wouldn’t wish it on people but there is a positive side to a near-death experience,” he says. “People used to ask me do you fancy doing this or that – and it was like I had a file of reasons in my head for not doing things. I would riffle through it until I found one. But I’ve dropped that. Now when someone says do you fancy doing this? I’ll be like, yeah, why not? I’ll have a go.”