LO: To Know Parents Evening Is Not A Boxing Ring

Two Mr Ps in a Pod(Cast)

Lee and Adam return for episode 262, recording virtually from a Premier Inn in Grimsby as they prepare for their upcoming October live tour. The hosts dive into heavy nostalgia,

Key takeaways

• Lee is recording the podcast virtually from a Premier Inn in Grimsby due to his live tour schedule, joking about booking hotels near Gym Group locations for convenience.
• The hosts discuss ticket sales for their October half-term live shows, noting that Norwich and Colchester are selling out quickly while other dates like Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne still have availability.

Main topics

• Podcast recording logistics & virtual setup
• October live tour ticket updates

Notable quotes

"Ofsted is a risk. We're talking anxiety, stress, unsustainable workload..."

Conclusion

Listeners get a mix of practical tour updates, highly relatable comedic storytelling about

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Some would say it's ridiculous that we even need to be talking about this, but this just goes to show where we are in education when dealing with the inspectorate that seems only bothered about the inspectorate. So now you're back at school, don't let your turn be dominated by worrying about Ofsted. Protect yourself with the Ofsted risk assessment. Kick off the year in a proactive way. Fight against the pressure of being in the Ofsted window. God, I hate that phrase. and say no to doing extra work just to be Ofsted ready which is another phrase I cannot stand. The NEU has put Speaker 2 (0:37) together an Ofsted risk assessment guide and yes, risk assessment and Ofsted in the same sentence is very much on purpose. That's because Ofsted is a risk. We're talking anxiety, stress, unsustainable workload, the coroner investigating the death of Ruth Perry said that without action, future deaths could occur. That's how serious Speaker 1 (1:02) this is. I just remind you that Ofsted, with their reforms, actually did their own independent wellbeing review and it came out that this inspection or this new inspection framework is going to be more stressful. And from what I'm hearing and the messages I get every week, that's certainly the case. So the NEU has created a proper five step framework based on health and safety executive guidelines to help schools identify the hazards, assess the harm and put protections in place before, during and after an inspection. Speaker 2 (1:35) Things like banning fake off-stead inspections, you know, mock steds, no after-school meetings while inspectors are in and actual recovery Speaker 1 (1:44) time afterwards. Your employer has a legal duty to do this and the NEU has made it as easy as possible. There's a guide, a form, everything you need. So what are you waiting for? Head to neu.org Speaker 2 (1:57) .uk forward slash abolish dash Ofsted to find the risk assessment guide, share it with your rep and get it on the agenda. Speaker 1 (2:22) Hello and welcome to episode 262. Season 10, episode 5. I have two Mr. P's in the podcast with me, Mr. P. And the other Mr. P. Welcome back, guys, for what is, I think, our first virtual episode of the year. I am currently in a Premier Inn in Grimsby. Premier Inn? Premier Inn, yeah. Well, I've sort of changed my approach a little bit on the old hotel front. Oh, yeah. So for years, I've always been booking a hotel with a gym, right? And even if, you know, back when I wasn't really taking it seriously, they tended to be nicer hotels if they've got a gym. I've been stung a couple of times. I've been catfished by a couple of hotels that we've talked about on here. Speaker 1 (3:18) Sometimes hotel gyms are so hit and miss. Like they're so like, honestly, some hotels are taking the absolute Michael with what they constitute as a gym. And any gym bros listening. Speaker 2 (3:32) You Speaker 1 (3:32) didn't call them gym bros. I'm not adding that. There was one, this was a while ago, but I stayed in a hotel once. I think it was like Mansfield Way, I think. And honestly, it was... the gym didn't even have any weights it was like uh a bike and and a mat with like uh uh yeah that was the gym and i was like i'm not having this so uh because i'm a member of the gym group Uh, Speaker 1 (4:06) that, you know, the new one near us that I've joined. Speaker 1 (4:11) So I've got the membership that allows you to then just go to any other gym group around the country. And what I've noticed is there's a lot of gym groups that are very close to Premier Inn hotels. So I've just started booking in the Premier Inns. This is a really boring story, isn't it? But this is how I live my life, guys. This is the rock and roll lifestyle of Mr. PMB. I Speaker 2 (4:32) think people are still recovering from any fellow gym bros. No, to be fair, you know, after listening to it, when you're all about those gains, it doesn't sound ideal. Speaker 1 (4:47) Yeah, so it's basically premiering and then just get up in the morning, go to whichever gym group's close by. So, yeah, this is where I am. So, Lenny Henry, you're promising me a good night's sleep. Speaker 1 (5:01) I didn't have the best night's sleep last night, to be fair. So it was two days I'm doing in the school. So, yeah, so I got here last night and then I'm here again tonight. But on the plus side, we have secured next week's episode in the live pod studio again. Speaker 1 (5:21) Teach me a very kindly sponsoring the episodes once a month, hopefully. We're going to be in a little studio because I felt like it just gives a different vibe, doesn't it? It just gives a bit more of a professional vibe. Yeah, it feels like when Speaker 2 (5:38) we do it virtually like this, I mean, it's still great and we still have a laugh, but it feels COVID-y, doesn't it? It feels... Feels like we're back in lockdown, whereas in the studio... Speaker 1 (5:50) Well, not for us. Not for us, because if you remember, I don't know if there's anyone listening that stuck through us right the way through COVID, but we used to record it in the garden. Speaker 2 (6:00) No, we Speaker 1 (6:00) did, but there was a point where, Speaker 2 (6:02) I don't know whether it was when the weather got bad, we did used to do it virtually, because I remember being in my room. Or it might have been when you were away. It might have just been virtual. Yeah, but the garden... Do you know what it might have been? Speaker 1 (6:13) No, no, no. I'll tell you what it was. It was those really early days of COVID when it was like, you cannot get out of your house. And then it was, we started doing it out in the garden when it was summer, when the weather got really nice. And it was like, yeah, you can, you know, groups of six or whatever. So, um, Oh Speaker 2 (6:29) yeah. We'd be socially distanced and we'd be cracking tinnies, wouldn't we? Speaker 1 (6:34) Yeah. There was a couple of those episodes where me and you were very, very, uh, tipsy. Speaker 2 (6:39) Go back and listen to it. One of the greatest eps of 2 Mr. P's history is episode 49. You Speaker 1 (6:46) mention it frequently. Is that the one that went on for like two and a half hours? Speaker 2 (6:50) Yeah, it was like a Lord of the Rings film, but well funny. That was like Speaker 1 (6:54) peak lockdown and we had nothing better to do. It was either go home and homeschool your kids or sorry, Claire, I've got to record this episode. Why is it going on for three hours? Speaker 2 (7:05) You knew it was desperate times when you actually wanted to spend time with me. Speaker 1 (7:11) And who'd Speaker 2 (7:11) have Speaker 1 (7:11) thought six years later we're on the cusp of another run of live shows, guys. Yes. Tickets are available for our runner shows October half term. Some of them are doing really, really well. I'll get the latest stats up. I know Norwich, very, very close to selling out. We're on the cusp of selling out Norwich. So if you've not yet got your tickets for that, make sure you just don't want to miss out, do you? 23rd and 9th would they have been the latest sales? I think so. So yeah, 96%. There's literally, I think, like 10 tickets left for Norwich. Fair few for London. So by all means, get involved. Come and see us at the Soho Walthamstow. Tickets for that. Tunbridge Wells selling very well. In fact, the second best sold show of... Oh no, no. No, I'm wrong. I am wrong. So, well, percentage-wise, it's the best, second best, but numbers-wise. Eastbourne, guys, come on, come along to Eastbourne. Colchester's selling, sold the most amount of tickets of our October run. And that's doing all right. Southampton's okay. High Wycombe, yeah. But there's still plenty of tickets left. And then obviously we've got the runner shows in February, but we are literally weeks away from October. So we need as many of you to come and join. Adam, you've got 20 seconds. Plug it. Go. Speaker 2 (8:44) It's a night you will not forget. There are treats, there are surprises, there are unbelievable laughs to be had. The vibe in the theatres that we have performed in, in the places, have been off the charts. We know how tough times are at the minute, but we are there to give you two and a half hours of pure comedy gold. And you're in amongst your peers. everyone there for the same reason to get drunk, to watch two guys give you a night. You'll never forget. Speaker 1 (9:17) Yeah. And obviously, uh, Speaker 1 (9:21) You know, when the Oasis announced the reunion, the first one, when they came back after however many years, we sort of piggybacked that. We were like, oh, you've been to see, you've been to see the, or if you didn't get tickets for the Oasis reunion, come and see the next best thing, two brothers from Manchester. And obviously we've extended our tour. And then they've only gone and copied us, haven't they? It's classic, isn't it? Speaker 1 (9:48) I feel like Noel and Liam have seen the scenes of our tour and gone, yeah, we want a bit more. We want a bit more, so they've done it as well. And I hope everyone who wanted to get tickets for the Oasis reunion got tickets. I, this time, got them first time round. So, yeah, very much looking forward to that. But, yeah, it was a bit touch and go, though. So we went down to Twickenham on Saturday to watch Red Roses against New Zealand. But that was the same time as our code, our codes. So I spent the whole bus journey, the coach journey, just trying to get codes, trying to get tickets. But then I've upgraded my phone. And since I've upgraded my phone, changed my SIM plan, my signal's been awful. So it was all very stressful, but we got there in the end. It's happy days. And yeah, very much looking forward to it, which is going to bring me on to... the first little thread, because I think this is a bit of a throwback, right? Because obviously getting very nostalgic with the Oasis reunion, that sort of thing. Speaker 2 (10:53) Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:54) And there's one other aspect of the 90s that is very much on its way out because of the modern world we live in today. And that is the nightclub scene. Now, I feel like we... I feel like we missed the height of nightclubs when we talk about the Hacienda. We were never around for that. We missed out on the Hacienda. However, we did have our good... We had our experiences of... Speaker 1 (11:20) The small town nightclub. Of Speaker 2 (11:23) being up in the clubs. Speaker 1 (11:25) So this was a thread on Reddit. And it's like, as the news is constantly reminding us, the UK's nighttime economy is on its knees. Clubs and pubs are shutting down in droves. Gen Z aren't drinking as much. Terrible shame it is. As anyone who had fond memories of a cramped, sticky floor, an absolute banging local night spot will continue. Speaker 1 (11:48) The thread started of, in the 90s, every small town had a nightclub that was simultaneously glorious yet awful. What was yours? So I feel with some people listening to this dotted all around the country, we are going to bring up some absolute throwbacks. And I thought we could do it where I'm going to name it, name the club, and you could just throw a random town out to see if you can get it right. Speaker 2 (12:13) And Speaker 1 (12:14) I feel like if you get any of these right, I will be seriously impressed. It's purely going to be luck because your geography is awful anyway. Oh yeah, all UK. Yeah. So there was, believe it or not, a nightclub called Oasis. Do you want to guess where in the UK? Speaker 1 (12:32) And I've got a feeling we might have done a show here. Speaker 1 (12:37) Leeds. Wrong. Crawley. Oasis in Crawley. But get this. When Peter Andre was big, Oasis advertised Peter Andre X appearing. A lot of people turned up to only find it was Peter Andrex, a rather portly chap who sang Peter Andre songs with a six pack of Andrex toilet rolls taped to his belly. Speaker 2 (13:06) EHHHHHH That's what the world's missing. So instead Speaker 1 (13:11) of Peter Speaker 2 (13:12) Andre's, you know, classic six pack, you've got Peter Andre X. That's brilliant. Speaker 1 (13:21) I don't think this says where it was, but ours was called Reflex. So everyone over there. Speaker 2 (13:28) Reflex. I know that. Oh, it's a reflex. Speaker 1 (13:33) Anyway, everyone over 30 still called it the ritzy. The carpet was so thick with dried castaway and cheap alco pops that if you stood still during Mr. Brightside, your trainers genuinely stuck to the floor. You had to peel your soles off the lino with an audible tearing sound. The men's bogs were basically an indoor water feature. Two inches of murky standing water, doors kicked off the hinges since 94, and a bloke called Trevor selling squirts of fake dupe and lollipops off an ironing board. This is some serious throwback. Birmingham. Birmingham. I Speaker 2 (14:10) think it was a chain. I think there was a chain of reflexes, but I knew I'd heard of it, and it's definitely Birmingham that I've heard of. Is it Speaker 1 (14:21) still Speaker 2 (14:21) open? Speaker 1 (14:24) I think we've driven past a couple on our tour. I Speaker 2 (14:28) think, I've just got to check it, sorry. But I've got a feeling that I went to Green Flats. Speaker 1 (14:36) Thursday night was Pound a Pint, Carlsberg before 11. You would see a sixth form history teacher doing tequila shots by the cigarette machine while a resident DJ, a 40-year-old scaffolder named Gaz, dropped Sandstorm on two battered CDJs. It got knocked down in 2016 to build retirement flats. Absolute Seth pit, but modern students drinking six pound craft cans in a polite cocktail lounge will never know the sheer feral joy of a three floor meat market with phone parties on bank holiday Sundays. Speaker 2 (15:10) It's funny that though, isn't it? That the, you know, imagine you're a clubber that went late in life. You just loved the club scene. Then the club shuts down and suddenly you're moving into a retirement home. Speaker 1 (15:23) It's throwing back so many memories, but the thought of doing it now, because here's the thing, right? When, when you would like young, when you were 18 or whatever, those, those nights were what it was all about. Right. And, and I do feel sorry that the younger generation aren't getting to experience because it was, it was a rite of passage. It was. Yeah. Do you remember you used to, you used to go to those clubs? Speaker 1 (15:47) I don't know whether it's because they're not around anymore or it is my age, but at the time when we went there early 2000s, there was always like old men in there. You know what I mean? There was always like old men sort of just being old men. And you're like, mate, what are you? Go home to your wife and kids. What's Speaker 2 (16:05) the word? Sleazeballs. Speaker 1 (16:08) Yeah. But I just think like if it was still as popular as it was then, would we find ourselves? Still in the club at like 40. Speaker 2 (16:19) Do you know, I went to a club. I can't remember when it was, but I went to a club and it was just like, I mean, I felt like the oldest there. I feel like the greatest thing about the clubs when we were younger was you'd either get a ticket or whatever, but they'd be. They'd be like offers on and it'd be cheap and it'd be cheerful. And then the music would be mint. Whereas now if you go, the drinks aren't cheap. Everyone's looking a little bit too good. So it's like when we used to go, like we, you'd go, do you not remember? I've got a picture in Jabez Clegg, an absolute classic place. And I've got a picture of when I was there and our other brother, Ryan, was there. And he was in a school rugby top. No, that was