S6 EP4: Lara Ricote

What Did You Do Yesterday? with Max Rushden & David O'Doherty

Comedian Lara Ricote joins hosts Max Rushden and David O'Doherty to recount her highly structured yet whimsical day leading up to a double-header at London's Park Theatre. The conversation traces her late

Key takeaways

• Lara Ricote wakes up at 10:30 AM after sleeping until 11:40, noting she normally gets ten hours of sleep.
• Her fiancé left a handwritten poem shaped like a butterfly for her to find upon waking.

Main topics

• Daily routines and sleep habits
• Pre-show rituals and vocal warm-ups

Notable quotes

"You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk 200 miles on your knees repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."

Conclusion

Listeners gain an intimate, humorous look into a comedian's daily rhyt

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:06) Podcasts, there are millions of them. Some might say too many. I have one already. I don't have any because there are enough. Speaker 3 (0:13) Politics, business, sport, you name it, there's a podcast about it and they all ask the big questions and cover the hot topics of the day. But nobody is covering the most important Speaker 2 (0:22) topic of all. Speaker 3 (0:23) Why is that? Speaker 2 (0:24) Are Speaker 3 (0:25) they scared? Speaker 2 (0:26) Too afraid of being censored by the man? Speaker 3 (0:29) Possibly, but not us. We're here to ask the only question that matters. We try and say it at the same Speaker 2 (0:36) time, Speaker 3 (0:36) Max. What did you do yesterday? What did you do yesterday? That's it. All we're interested in is what the guests got up to yesterday. Nothing more. Day Speaker 2 (0:45) before yesterday, Max? Nope. The greatest and most interesting day of your life? Unless it Speaker 3 (0:50) was yesterday, we don't Speaker 2 (0:51) want to know about it. I'm Max Rushton. And I'm David O'Doherty. Speaker 3 (0:55) Welcome to What Did You Do Yesterday? Speaker 2 (1:01) Hello and welcome to What Did You Do Yesterday? My name is... Hang Speaker 3 (1:03) on, sorry, Speaker 2 (1:04) I'm not recording. I've just put this cake. I wish you were ready for these things. This is only new. Speaker 3 (1:10) Never, ever ready. And he doesn't realize the stresses and strains that I have in my life. Okay, here we go. But still... All right. Hello and welcome to What Did You Do Yesterday? My name is Max Rush. Alongside me, David Speaker 2 (1:22) O'Doherty. Speaker 3 (1:23) Welcome, David. Speaker 2 (1:24) To the listeners, just the moment before we started recording this, Max was complaining about the stresses and strains of his life. And this is an episode. I think that if you do have stresses and strains in your life, it's a very good one to listen to. I hope they were keeping in that sort of fake rant I did right on the tape. Who knows? Who Speaker 3 (1:43) knows what the man does? Yeah, what a great, we've just recorded it. One of my oldest friends in comedy, Lara Ocote. It's great. Speaker 2 (1:50) Today's episode is with Laura Cotte, who is a Mexican-American comedian actor who was nominated for the big award in Edinburgh this year. You may know her from, she was in Sam Campbell's Make My Movie. Is that what that show was called? I love that show. You were in it, David. You should know what it's called. She's in Break Claws, a new series on Channel 4. But really go and see her stand-up comedy. She is wonderful. Check her Instagram for details. She's around Britain and Europe for the next while. Her sister Maya gets a mention in this. Maya's doing some gigs in London as well. She exists in a realm that is this world, but is the most beautiful part of this world. There's a beautiful bit about rice in this episode. It's Speaker 3 (2:47) a Speaker 2 (2:47) great episode. Listen, I think you'll all fall in love with her. There's a less beautiful bit about Arulengi, but Speaker 3 (2:53) there's a really not beautiful bit right at the end. But listen, it all happened in the yesterday. So, you know, there's beautiful and not beautiful, but I said it was my older friends in comedy. I think for the tape, to be honest, I never met her until an hour and a half ago. And I think it's a really lovely episode of this podcast. Speaker 2 (3:11) This is what Delara Ricote did yesterday. Speaker 3 (3:25) Laura Coté, welcome to What Did You Do Yesterday? Speaker 1 (3:27) Thank you very much for having me on What Did You Do Yesterday? Speaker 2 (3:33) I am so intrigued to find out. Like with some people, I would have an idea what they probably did yesterday. But with you, I mean, it could have been anything. You could have been on a horse. You know what I mean? You could have been getting a new hat. Let's find out. Speaker 1 (3:52) Honestly, last week I did get a new hat, but yesterday I did not get a new hat. Speaker 3 (3:59) That's a shame because we have, we are thinking about like a bonus podcast called Hats You Bought Last Week. And had we known, you would have been an amazing guest for that. But Speaker 2 (4:11) we haven't launched it yet. Just very briefly, can you take us through the hat? Speaker 1 (4:16) Yeah, I got a fascinator like you cannot believe. So Speaker 2 (4:20) one of the... It goes on the side. It Speaker 1 (4:22) goes on the side. It is massive. Speaker 3 (4:25) Question. Is it for everyday use or a wedding? Speaker 1 (4:30) It's a just-in-case fascinator. Speaker 3 (4:33) It's Speaker 1 (4:34) sort of like something that will up any outfit 100 points. Speaker 3 (4:39) It is like if an emergency break glass. You would never plan to wear it. It is just there in an emergency in a sort of glass case. It's a huge glass case. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Speaker 1 (4:51) No, it's not in a glass cage. Speaker 3 (4:53) I'm not experienced with fascinators and maybe I've exposed myself. Yeah, I Speaker 1 (4:56) can tell you're not experienced because of the questions you're asking. Yeah, Speaker 3 (5:00) my apologies. Speaker 1 (5:01) No, no worries. I forgave you already. But I do think that you don't understand what I mean by emergency, which is just in the case of an outfit going not enough. You know, when an outfit's going not enough. You might find yourself going, hmm, what about a massive fascinator? Just having that around. And then I do think I can plan with it as well. It belongs to me now. It was 35 pounds. That's much more than I thought it was going to be. Speaker 3 (5:29) That's the thing for me is I basically just wear the same pair of brown shorts, which I don't like. And they're a bit baggy. And one of two sweatshirts that I just think adding a fascinator to either combo. Would be spectacular. It could be, but I just don't, I don't think I'm making enough effort below the side of the head. Yeah. Are Speaker 1 (5:53) you talking to me that you are going to be ruled by the law of consistency? Speaker 3 (5:59) Yes, I am. Yeah. I'm very much Speaker 1 (6:01) a Speaker 3 (6:02) conformist. Speaker 1 (6:03) No way. I can't even believe one person would even say something like that. You have no, you don't owe anything to the you that you were yesterday. Speaker 3 (6:11) That's a t-shirt for this podcast. Speaker 2 (6:13) There's one person in Guess Who with a fascinator and I was trying to remember who they are. No, there isn't someone in Guess Who with a fascinator. Speaker 3 (6:20) There Speaker 2 (6:20) is. I think it's Claire. Speaker 3 (6:21) Is Speaker 2 (6:21) it Speaker 3 (6:21) Fred the bald guy with the beard? It could be Claire. It's Speaker 2 (6:24) so interesting. Speaker 1 (6:24) Last night I was told that I looked like Miss Susan. Speaker 2 (6:28) Is she Speaker 3 (6:29) in Guess Who? Speaker 1 (6:29) I Speaker 2 (6:30) don't know if Claire has a fascinator or just a hat with a lot of flowers on it. And I don't really know. What's Speaker 1 (6:35) the difference? Speaker 2 (6:36) Here's a Speaker 3 (6:37) TV show, right? Here's a TV show, which is guess who? But you get literally the 20 most famous people on earth standing perhaps over gunk tanks. Yeah. So, you know, Obama. Gunk. And Taylor Swift. I Speaker 1 (6:51) heard gun tanks. Speaker 3 (6:52) No, not a gun tank. It's a different show. Obviously the budget's big for the show, but. And they can't say anything. Obama can't say anything. He's just got to stand there and they say, does he have gray hair? And they go, yes. And Speaker 1 (7:04) why wouldn't you just use a picture? Speaker 2 (7:06) Not as fun. Speaker 1 (7:07) But hang on, in this Speaker 2 (7:09) version, and I know we need to press on, you need Obama. We need to press on. This is not admissible. Speaker 1 (7:13) Is it not? Speaker 2 (7:14) Yes, it is. Don't mind it. We need Obama and then someone who looks like Obama for the two. You know what I mean? Like that's how it works. Speaker 1 (7:23) Oh. You Speaker 2 (7:24) would need. clones of the various famous people. There's Speaker 1 (7:28) probably people who look like Obama. You don't need a clone. Speaker 2 (7:31) Well, me, Chris O'Dowd, you know what I mean? Max, the guy who reviews washing machines on This Morning, the TV show, the guy who looks really like Max on that. And sometimes... When that guy's talking about washing machines, Max gets messages afterwards. How Speaker 1 (7:47) often is he talking about washing machines? Speaker 3 (7:50) Frequently. And it is quite interesting. And it has, I have since changed my habits of spin speed and temperature. Wait, what this guy's job? Professional washing machine. Do you know, it's up in the air really, because sometimes he pontificates on other sort of household things. And sometimes he's Speaker 1 (8:06) a bit... He pontificate? Speaker 3 (8:07) Yeah. Speaker 1 (8:08) Yeah, I think he Speaker 3 (8:09) does. He does. Listen, Speaker 1 (8:10) Laura, Speaker 3 (8:11) I hate to be rude and get this, but I hate it also. What time did you wake up yesterday? Speaker 1 (8:17) Yesterday I woke up at like 1030. Wow. Wait a minute. I snoozed up until 1140 Speaker 3 (8:25) yesterday. Okay. Speaker 2 (8:27) What Speaker 1 (8:27) you're not considering is the time I went to bed. Speaker 2 (8:30) No, we're not. That's not relevant. We actually can't even ask you about that. We can't and I'm judging you as... quite a lazy person at this stage. You Speaker 1 (8:40) have no idea what my life is like. Speaker 2 (8:45) Lara was up all night in RNLI boats saving people from the coast of Britain. And I'm not allowed Speaker 1 (8:52) to say. Speaker 2 (8:53) No, you're not allowed to say at all. Speaker 3 (8:55) I'll tell you what you can do. At 10.30 to 11.40, how many hours sleep have you had? Speaker 2 (9:01) Small. Whoa. Oh, okay. Was it daylight when you went to bed? No. Okay. Speaker 1 (9:08) But small for a lady like me who would usually be sleeping 10 hours. Wow, Speaker 3 (9:12) 10 hours. Speaker 2 (9:13) That's amazing. Speaker 1 (9:13) 10 hours is the right amount of time for a lady to sleep. Speaker 3 (9:18) I've been saying that online. People get annoyed with me when I say that. I don't understand why. How a lady must behave is my Insta reels. They don't do good. They Speaker 2 (9:29) do Speaker 3 (9:29) good numbers, but with the wrong people. Speaker 2 (9:30) Look, there could be an opportunity to work out what happened the night before over the course of the day. Who knows if that comes up? So you snooze. Does an alarm clock wake you at 1030? Or does just the baby Jesus just kissing you in the forehead? My Speaker 1 (9:49) lover is near me in the bed. Speaker 2 (9:51) Okay. Interruption. Speaker 1 (9:52) Okay. Interruption. This early on. Speaker 3 (9:55) Lover is a great choice of word, but it perhaps indicates that this is a secret relationship. Speaker 1 (10:01) So Speaker 3 (10:01) I was obviously interested. Well, Speaker 1 (10:03) it hasn't been screamed from the rooftops per se. Right, Speaker 3 (10:07) I Speaker 1 (10:07) see. Speaker 3 (10:07) Okay. But Speaker 1 (10:08) he's definitely who I think will be my husband. Whoa! Okay, well, many congratulations. Speaker 3 (10:14) This could be our second What Did You Do Yesterday wedding. We recently had a proposal. So we have Speaker 2 (10:20) to read the proposal out. How Speaker 1 (10:22) special. I Speaker 3 (10:23) know. And there you go, Speaker 1 (10:24) David O'Doherty coughing during us talking about Speaker 2 (10:27) the Speaker 3 (10:27) proposal. Speaker 2 (10:28) I'm allergic to love. Well, congratulations. Speaker 3 (10:31) So Speaker 2 (10:31) your future husband is... Speaker 3 (10:33) Max, Speaker 2 (10:34) that's too much. Don't go with that. Why Speaker 3 (10:36) not? Speaker 2 (10:37) I don't Speaker 3 (10:37) want Speaker 2 (10:37) to pressurize the whole thing. You don't have to get married if Speaker 3 (10:40) you Speaker 2 (10:40) don't want to. It's like a Speaker 1 (10:41) lady must sleep Speaker 2 (10:42) for 10 hours and be married by 27. Lara's been married 14 times already. I Speaker 1 (10:48) don't find that an issue. I think it's beautiful to have that amount of hope. Speaker 2 (10:55) Thank you for the visa, Lara. No Speaker 1 (10:58) problem. And I'm offering it to anybody who's listening to any episode of this podcast. Speaker 3 (11:04) Okay, so it's 1140. My Speaker 1 (11:07) lover's gone. Speaker 3 (11:09) Oh, no, it's ended already. Is there a note? Is there a letter? Speaker 1 (11:14) Yes, there is. And it's kind of beautiful what he wrote. Does he Speaker 3 (11:18) say, could you get some more Cheerios and some milk? Speaker 1 (11:22) I'm not even. Oh, Speaker 3 (11:23) he's written a poem in a butterfly. Speaker 2 (11:25) He's written a poem in the shape of a butterfly. Oh, my goodness. We hate this guy. He's too good for us. Speaker 1 (11:32) We're in love. Is Speaker 3 (11:33) the first thing you do at 11.40, see the butterfly and read the butterfly? Speaker 1 (11:37) Yes. Can Speaker 3 (11:38) you read the butterfly to us or is it too personal? Speaker 1 (11:40) Oh, not the whole thing because I definitely have not asked him if I could show you the butterfly. Got it. But he is a wonderful loving man. Speaker 2 (11:50) Great. And Speaker 1 (11:51) maybe the end of it is, hey, by the way, it's your guy writing this to you. Your British guy who's been staying over a lot recently. Oh, nice. Speaker 2 (12:00) I'm going to say my co-worker on this podcast, Max, has never written a poem in the shape of a butterfly. I know you have written a poem because I've read a poem you wrote when you were eight. It was about dinosaurs that we once read. It was romantic Speaker 3 (12:16) in a way, yeah. Speaker 2 (12:17) Have you ever written a poem in the shape of a butterfly, Max? No. Are Speaker 3 (12:22) you accusing me of having no romance? That's the question. Speaker 2 (12:25) No. No. That's how I inferred it. I see the beautiful glue that holds you and Mrs. Rushton together through thick and thin. There being a lot of both of those things at the moment because your children sleep on average for 35 minutes a night. Speaker 1 (12:47) I Speaker 2 (12:48) know the stuff is strong. My question was, have you written poetry? Speaker 3 (12:56) I don't think I've ever written poetry and I don't know how it would be received, if I'm honest. But look, there are thousands of emails from when we were 10,000 miles apart. Say Speaker 1 (13:07) more about how it would be received. What do you mean by that? You don't know how it would be received? Speaker 3 (13:11) She'd be Speaker 1 (13:11) like, why have Speaker 3 (13:11) you written a poem, Max? Speaker 1 (13:13) Because I loved you last night. Speaker 3 (13:16) Yeah, that's possible. Could you Speaker 1 (13:17) try, Max, tonight? I'll Speaker 3 (13:19) try tonight. I'll write a poem in a buzzer play. Speaker 2 (13:22) You know the way you can just clomp out 900 words about football in about 45 minutes and it appears in The Guardian. If you could bring that work ethic to a poem and just leave it there. Lara, she's a beautiful woman who paints and is so Speaker 1 (13:40) - Speaker 2 (13:40) Is that painting Speaker 1 (13:41) by her? Speaker 2 (13:41) Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (13:42) That's very nice. She would probably love a poem. Speaker 2 (13:45) Yeah, Speaker 3 (13:46) she'd love a poem. It's Speaker 2 (13:47) not Speaker 3 (13:47) about me. My question is, does he write- that sweet stuff, it's the British guy you've been dating because he's sweet and romantic? Or is he just trying to differentiate from the other people? Wow, that's an excellent sort of Speaker 1 (13:59) question, though. Speaker 3 (14:01) He's just trying to say, just for clarification, this poem isn't from, like, I don't know, the American guy or the Irish guy or the Polish guy that you're also dating at the same time. Very Speaker 1 (14:10) good question. I think that it is definitely... that he does do these type of things but also it's good to differentiate yourself absolutely Speaker 3 (14:22) i Speaker 1 (14:22) think wonderful to stick out i think wonderful early on also in a relationship you can do whatever and then you're the type of person who does that type of stuff there's no record to be what we keep talking about i guess consistency is the theme so far in the last 15 or so minutes Speaker 3 (14:40) But can you look ahead to 15 years time when you say you used to write me poems in butterflies? You bastards. I Speaker 1 (14:48) hope that never happened because if I keep doing it, it's a dance, guys. Speaker 2 (14:54) Yeah, it's a dance. This is good. I mean, the closest I have to what we're talking about, Laura, is that in my early days with the helicopter, I told her that I loved swimming in the sea. And I don't. I hate it. And I haven't really told her that. Well, she would know now from me talking about it on this podcast, maybe. But I just for the first two years, I came up with excuses as to why I couldn't go swimming in the sea with her. What did you Speaker 1 (15:25) think it made you look like that you wanted to look like swimming in the sea? Speaker 2 (15:29) No, it's not a physical appearance thing. No, Speaker 1 (15:31) no, I know. The Speaker 3 (15:32) sea is so cold off Dublin. It's a rugged, tough guy. Speaker 1 (15:37) Right, rugged, tough guy. You're out for Speaker 3 (15:38) enough, David, Speaker 1 (15:39) I think. Speaker 2 (15:39) Oh, yeah, Speaker 1 (15:40) yeah. Right, look like in terms of not physical, but vibe. Look, at Speaker 2 (15:46) the start of a relationship, especially if you really like this person, maybe I was too eager to make connection where she would be like, I love. making soup and I'd be like oh my god what are the chances I too love making soup and so swimming came in under that this is Speaker 1 (16:06) classic mistake I'm trying to backtrack still oh my yes but now I bet she can see all of you she can see you she'll Speaker 2 (16:14) hear this because she loves you so yeah Helen Speaker 1 (16:17) and I do as well to her right back oh Speaker 2 (16:20) my god you read the poem you read Speaker 3 (16:22) the butterfly I Speaker 1 (16:23) read the poem I read the butterfly and Speaker 3 (16:25) what do we do now Speaker 1 (16:26) I run up there. I have a meeting at 12, but I've woken up 11. Honestly, 47. Okay, Speaker 3 (16:34) fine. Speaker 1 (16:34) I got 13 minutes to go to the toilet. Listen to me. I must be pooping already. Speaker 2 (16:41) Yes, understood. It happens after whenever Lara reads a love poem of any kind. She's got to go. I must Speaker 1 (16:48) be pooping already. Speaker 2 (16:49) It's terrible when she reads like an anthology of poems. Speaker 1 (16:53) Terrible. Speaker 2 (16:54) Pablo Neruda. Speaker 1 (16:56) May I say a thing that I found out the day before that I tried that morning, which is actually quite funny that I get to say this because it's true, that I have been doing my show at the Park Theatre. And so I do a vocal warm up like whatever, because I talk a lot. And boy, is it fast. Speaker 2 (17:16) And then I Speaker 1 (17:17) was in the toilet just before going to my show because I have a couple of little rituals that I do. And one of them is that I wash my hands and I say, wash away all the stuff I don't need, please, to the water. And then I go to that sort of feel the power hand dryer and I let it sort of fill me up. And Speaker 2 (17:33) then I'm Speaker 1 (17:34) on the toilet and I'm doing my vocal exercises. And all of a sudden I can poop in a way so easy. Sorry about the way I'm being, guys. Speaker 3 (17:41) No, this is... The Speaker 1 (17:42) humming... That Speaker 3 (17:43) brings it on, does it? Speaker 1 (17:44) It makes me, all of a sudden, I don't have to push. Speaker 3 (17:49) Wow. Speaker 1 (17:49) That could Speaker 3 (17:50) work for everyone. Speaker 1 (17:51) Yes, this is what I'm saying. This is why I'm sort of casting a wide net in this podcast. What did you do yesterday? Speaker 2 (17:57) So if I could just come in here, there's a fear always with, in particular, dub reggae music with very large sound systems, that if you play a really low note that, I mean. Everybody poop. Yeah, it's known as the brown note, but there's reckoned to be a note with such low resonance that everyone shits their pants. I don't exactly know if this is true. It's why Speaker 3 (18:21) bassoon players are covered in feces. Speaker 2 (18:24) Well, my fear is that Lara's sitting on the loo doing the warm up and like goes and then hits a note solo. The poop shoot just opens up beneath you. Speaker 1 (18:39) Possibly. I'm thinking what I'm not thinking. I actually know what I did. I went like this. Speaker 1 (18:46) This is sort of low-ish calm. Okay. And I tried it again this morning and it worked again. Wow. Speaker 3 (18:53) The other thing I like is you use the Dyson Airblade as a kind of hype man. Yeah, I do. That's a really good use of that. I close my Speaker 1 (19:00) eyes and it literally says, feel the power on it. And I fucking do. Speaker 3 (19:07) The increase of power of hand dryers in the last sort of 30 years is probably... Speak Speaker 1 (19:13) on it, Max. Speak on it. Speaker 3 (19:15) If you think about, you know, cars probably go the same speed, airplanes, whatever. But the difference in power between 30 years ago, Speaker 2 (19:22) when Speaker 3 (19:22) it was literally like a weak kitten, like a kitten with typhoid sort of blowing on you, to now is sort of mesmerizing when you actually take a step back. It Speaker 2 (19:31) is. It's a wonder that they didn't work out earlier that... what it needed was to be made more powerful. Like you would think that's a sort of obvious thing. Like how can we make the computer run faster, more computer brain, more power? How can we make the hand dryer work quicker? And it was Dyson that figured that out. Well, Speaker 1 (19:53) I do think because they're like trying to figure out how to not make it nasty as well. Speaker 2 (19:58) What do you mean nasty? I Speaker 1 (20:00) mean, sometimes when a lot of stuff is coming out, some nasty stuff is coming out too. Speaker 2 (20:05) Of your, oh, of your butt. Speaker 1 (20:06) No, of the hand dryer. Speaker 2 (20:11) Of your Speaker 1