Transformative Taskmaster | Ep 12 | Mark Brown | That’s the Power of TV

Lewis V/O: Hello and welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, the podcast by fans, for fans, and about fans. This week, TK has Horne Section saxophonist Mark Brown in the virtual studio. He’s here to set the record straight and talk about music, The Horne Section TV Show, and appearing on Taskmaster.

TK: We’ll just cut all of this out I guess. Welcome, Mark Brown to the Transformative-

Mark: You can leave it, I don’t mind.

TK: Okay! Well, welcome to the Transformative Taskmaster Podcast, Mark Brown of The Horne Section.

Mark: Hello!

TK: Hello! So we already recorded with Joe a while ago, and then we got a message from you. Basically saying, “Hey, I’ve watched the first ten minutes of Joe’s episode, and there’s already several things wrong with this.”

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

TK: So we’re here to set the record straight.

Mark: I can’t remember what it was now.

TK: I think it was the, “How did The Horne Section come to be?” question. Because from from what I understand-

Mark: What did he say?

TK: He said something like, him and Ben and you had been gigging together, and him and Ben and Alex obviously had kind of grown up together. And so they always kind of had this-

Mark: Yes, so the way I remember it, Joe and I were living together then nearly, I think, and Ben was in our little… we’d just graduated college and we were doing post-grad jazz studies, and all playing together in different little jazz bands. And then we all got a gig up at the Edinburgh Festival playing jazz in a big band. And we went up and played. And then Alex was doing stand up, one of his first stand up shows, and we all went to see that, because they knew him, obviously. And yeah, then that kind of went on for a couple of years, 3 or 4 years where we were all there at the same time. Alex would come and see our gig, we would go and see him do stand up, usually with Tim Key. And then we met Watson and all those other people at the same time. And basically post all the shows in Edinburgh there’s this amazing hang for all the comedians and all the musicians, and it’s really fun. And you stay up all night and you get drunk in Scotland and it’s brilliant. And then you all have to go and do your show with a massive hangover, and it becomes just a relentless thing. But yeah, it’s brilliant, it’s the best time you can have, especially – we were all in our early 20s. So it was magic, and that’s how we all met. And then, after like ten years of that, we kept saying we should do something. I got Alex a gig at Ronnie Scott’s, because I ran a residency at Ronnie Scott’s, which is the leading jazz club in the UK, in London. And Alex came down and did like a ten minute slot there, and he did beatbox through the amazing house PA at Ronnie’s. And playing in a music venue, it’s so different from playing in a comedy venue. At that time for Alex, he was like upstairs in a pub or you know, there’s people going to the bar and there’s noise, and Alex’s humor doesn’t cut through like a lairy comedian. Do you know what I mean?

TK: Yeah, yeah.

Mark: He was still really good and doing his thing, but he’s doing it in a listening crowd with the detail of the perfect PA, he really loved that. So that’s when we really got going and made it happen. Then after that, he went away and he just booked the Edinburgh run. So that must have been the end of 2009, I think? And then he booked an Edinburgh run for 2010. And then we did maybe six months of warm up shows, not many. But over those six months we maybe did 1 or 2 a month to get stuff together. A lot of it was improvised. Gradually we chipped away at it and got a few songs together. Oh that’s right, he said the ending song was Sidemen, which is not true. The end song was Friends Forever, which was a song where we found two randoms in the stage, sorry, in the crowd, and made them out to be best friends. And we wrote that song as we went through that show. So when Alex was doing a bit, someone would have five minutes to throw some rhymes together. We had a basic structure, and by the end of the show, we had that song written about these two people in the crowd, and it was a really good ending to the show. So we had a solid start to the show, a good end to the show. In the middle it was varying success of improvisation stuff with comedians.

TK: That sounds really fun.

Mark: It was brilliant fun. And it was at midnight. After all the comedians had done their solo shows, which were already stressful things for them, and then everyone would come. And it was an outlet of just a joyous thing where people had something new to do. And it was great, there were queues around the block, we could have done double shows every day. It just really hit the ground running, and by that time Alex had been doing it for almost ten years I think, on his own. So he had a little residual following, because Tim was always going to be there. I mean Tim did nearly every night, and then that cachet of them two doing it brought bigger names down basically. Yeah, it was brilliant.

TK: What month does the Edinburgh Comedy Festival happen?

Mark: August. It’s three weeks.

TK: I studied in Edinburgh for a semester in college, but it was in the Spring semester, so January through May, so I would have missed it anyway.

Mark: Yeah, I mean, it’s so good. Edinburgh obviously is beautiful. They don’t get great summers by any means, but if the sun comes out in Edinburgh everyone’s like, “Oh my God, the sun’s out!” It’s like, whoa! So then it has this magical thing of people really wanting to make the most of it and get out and about. And there’s something like, I think it’s like 25,000 different shows around during those three weeks?

TK: That’s nuts.

Mark: Because the shows start at 9am and they finish at 4am, and every hour there’s something amazing to see, and people come from all over the world. It’s got slightly bad press at the moment cause it’s so expensive now to go and do it. It’s difficult to go and make any money from it. It’s difficult to not make a massive loss at the moment, to be honest. Because there’s a finite amount of places to stay, so they can charge whatever they want. Right. And that means acts can’t afford to do it at the moment.

TK: Yeah, that’s fair.

Mark: Yeah, but it is a brilliant thing.

TK: Do you remember – because I asked Joe this, and he didn’t really seem to remember. Did the name for The Horne Section… do you remember who came up with that? Because it’s very funny. And it works really well that Alex’s last name is Horne. And obviously, horn section in a jazz band.

Mark: I think it’s an Alex thing where we sort of went around a few more abstract… It was so obvious. Because Joe and I were playing in a horn section all the time anyway, doing an Elvis show and a Blues guy show we used to do. So we were in a horne section all the time, and then Alex Horne. Basically Alex was like, “Well it’s the Alex Horne Section, isn’t it?” And we sort of thought, it can’t be that easy. And we went around a few other bits and bobs trying to be clever and funnier, but realistically it just makes sense. It was kind of a no brainer to just go along with it.

TK: Yeah, very funny. Now, you are known in The Horne Section as the saxophone player, but you actually started on clarinet early on, and then you switched to sax to get more into jazz. And you’ve pretty much been gigging since your teens, and then you went to uni for sax and clarinet and also composition. So it’s pretty cool that you’ve been able to just play your instruments for a living, because normally as a woodwind player, you have to learn how to play a ton of instruments for a pit orchestra? So did you also have to do that, or did you basically get to choose what instruments you wanted to learn?

Mark: So I think the courses I did and stuff… I did a straight degree, a classical degree first. I started that on clarinet, and then switched to saxophone halfway through. Purely because I realized while I was studying this classical, what I was actually doing was playing jazz all the time at night. So I was like, “It’s kind of stupid of me practicing eight hours a day on clarinet, and then going to play the saxophone the whole time, because it spoils your classical embouchure.”
So I was like, “Okay, I can finish this degree by being a bit more jazzy and doing some classical sax repertoire.” The classical sax repertoire isn’t as expansive and as amazing as the clarinet repertoire, but I knew I didn’t want to do that anyway, so it was just a means to an end.
So I did that, and then I did postgrad study, and I was just studying jazz then. And at that point they were like, “Look, if you want to be a pit player, you do need to learn to play the flute.” And I tried, and I just can’t do it! I mean, I have one, I have a flute and I can get a note out of it. But yeah, it’s so difficult. And I just haven’t needed to do it, so I haven’t done it. I think if I had to, I would.

TK: It’s funny because as a trumpet player, the flute was the easiest wind instrument for me to learn. I don’t know why that is.

Mark: I think that’s something to do with the way the diaphragm is used for the flute and the trumpet is the same? Because I’ve got really good flute playing friends who can play really killing high trumpet. I don’t know why that is, it’s something to do also with the embouchure size, the aperture of your embouchure is something the same. But a jazzy sax thing, it’s quite loose embouchure but a strong diaphragm, it’s the opposite to what you need on a flute. And I’ve just always found… I think if you start on flute and then move to sax, it’s fine. But because I started on the clarinet and moved to sax, it’s difficult to do it that way. And you have to set aside a whole year to get it together, and I just haven’t needed to do it, so I haven’t.

TK: Yep.

Mark: Plus, I can’t really bear being in a pit in a musical.

TK: Do you just not like musicals?

Mark: I’ve done it a few times. I don’t really like musicals. Yeah, but I’d love to write a Horne Section musical. That’s my main ambition.

TK: Oh, that’s exciting!

Mark: But to actually sit in a pit and just play the same music over and over again without anything different is a little bit like purgatory to me.

TK: Yeah, as a jazz player, I can definitely see how you would hate that. Meanwhile, I am not a jazz player and I love playing in pit orchestras!

Mark: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I haven’t done it for so long, I’d probably quite enjoy it now. Yeah, but I did it maybe 15 years ago where I was step-in on a show. And they’re all outstanding players. But they would be, you know, they’re reading a book and then they play their bit. And then they’re off doing their accounts, and then they play their bit, and it’s like – this isn’t very musical. It’s called a musical, but it’s the least musical thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s like doing data entry or something.

TH: Yeah. Now, in Drum and Bass, there’s a little tiny flute part. So did you get somebody else to do that, or was that you?

Mark: No, I play that.

TK: It’s just like a little trill, but it sounds good.

Mark: Many, many takes!

TK: Oh, no.

Mark: I think there’s another one with flute on… Oh, I’ll tell you what it is. It’s in series two of the sitcom. I play flute on that, and I was surprised by how good it sounded. I’m doing this album, releasing this album for series two, which will come out at the end of series. So, one of the tunes has flute on that, and it sounds like a professional flute player, I was amazed.

TK: Nice, that’s good. Now, when you when you were recording the TV show, and obviously it’s been a couple of years. And this is another thing that I mentioned to Joe was that as a musician, you can tell whether somebody on the screen is actually playing their instrument or not. Because you get actors all the time that are clearly not playing the guitar or the violin or whatever. Now, obviously you guys know how to play your instruments. So when you were recording the TV show, were you actually playing in those scenes, or did you just kind of have to fake it and then record later?

Mark: So it’s a combination of both, and we went back and forth with this so many times. So all the rehearsal room stuff is played live. But basically that was making it really difficult for the director and producer to edit it. So they really wanted the bits that are filmed on the fake TV set to be mimes. So then they can chop it to cut to funnier takes or whatever. So in the first series, there’s quite a lot of playing live in that setting, which was such a nightmare to edit that for the second series we’ve simplified it a bit. So we mime most of the stuff in the- I mean it depends on what scene you’re looking at. But if it’s in the Alex’s house TV studios set, that thing, we’re miming those, and the rehearsal room is all played live. If we’re playing on our own, it’s generally played live. So if Joe is playing the banjo, there’s a bit where Joe and I play, if there’s just two of us, maybe we’d do that live. So it’s a combination basically. And ultimately it was done on budget, and it’s about saving time in the edit as much as anything. So yeah, it’s hard. And then some of them are live vocals and some of them aren’t. But the beauty of recording it in Imogen Heap’s house is she has a recording studio in the basement. So when we weren’t on set, we were able to record in a really grade A studio. That’s why that place was so incredible. And then when the special guests came in, Kiell and Stevie who had to sing, we could just take them downstairs and record their vocal on site, which was amazing.

TK: So did you do those before the scene that they were in? So that you could just press play on the recording and they could just kind of mime along?

Mark: Largely, yeah. But that often depended on their schedule. We generally got those guys maybe 2 or 3 days, that’s it. So we would try and put in a half day to record that at the start of the day, and then they would go off and film. But also they were being pulled into makeup right at the same time and costume and all that. It was crazy. But it would have been impossible to do it if we weren’t at that site, because you’d have to take them to an actual studio and book out a whole other day with them, and that would make scheduling it even more difficult. Yeah, it was brilliant. Imogen’s got this amazing studio which has loads of great gear. She’s got her Grammys from Taylor Swift albums on the shelf and stuff, it’s amazing. It’s a really inspiring place.

TK: That’s cool. Yeah, that’s really convenient that there was just a recording studio.

Mark: Yeah, it was just magical.

TK: That’s awesome.

Mark: Yeah, and not just any, not just like a laptop, it’s a proper brilliant studio with an amazing desk and everything. It was amazing.

TK: So obviously the proper actors, you said were being pulled away for makeup and costumes and stuff. How much of that did you guys have to do? Because I know you had a brief acting tutorial lesson or whatever, but other than that, you pretty much just got to wear your Horne Section outfits and..?

Mark: Yeah, I mean there’s hair and makeup every day, but we really, it was like 10 or 15 minutes because we were there most days, we just had to be there early and get it done. But it’s really fun being there anyway. And we wanted to be there to answer any questions. Alex was so busy because he’s rewriting it, he’s in most scenes. It was useful for the rest of the crew to have all the people on hand that we could. So we could be recording music for instance, or setting up other scenes or whatever at the same time. So we were there most days anyway, and our costumes and makeup happened, but it happened within 20 minutes at the beginning of the day. That was it.

TK: Right. Well, there is a promo image, I think, for series two that has all of you in makeup and painted nails and big flowery like [TK mimes a headdress thing] so obviously that would have taken a little bit longer. But whose idea was that for that scene?

Mark: So I think that came from Babs, the director, Barbara Wiltshire, because we sent them the songs. And that song is Shit Show which is the closer of the first episode, I think? And yeah, she wanted it to be over the top, and it’s like in Alex’s fantasy mind. And actually that’s one of the only days we did away from Imogen’s house. So that’s in a theater in Stratford.

TK: Oh, cool.

Mark: And so that day was different because it was the whole… maybe it was half a day? No, that was the whole day that we did that. So they had to take everything down in caravans and stuff and winnebagos and everything to do a proper mobile shoot. So it was a really fun day.

TK: Nice.

Mark: And I got two of my mates, dancer mates, to choreograph it. [crosstalk] and Josie, I’ll give a shout out to, they were brilliant.

TK: Sweet, that’s fun. So on the TV show, what’s it like being a fictionalized version of yourself?

Mark: I mean, I’m so close to the fictionalized version.

TK: You’re like, there’s no difference!

Mark: I can’t really see the difference. It’s just me on a bad day.

TK: Right, so it’s Grumpy Mark.

Mark: Yeah, basically, and I’m like, yeah, fine, I can do that. [both laugh] I think the only ones that had to really go away… And Joe’s kind of similar on screen really. I think Ed has to be a little bit different on screen. And Ben’s kind of so overenthusiastic on screen. He’s maybe acting a bit more, but I felt it was not much acting for me really.

TK: Right, well that’s convenient.

Mark: It was kind of just indulging what I think. You’re like: oh my God, if I could be like this all the time, it’d be amazing. But obviously then you’ve actually got to be in real life and not be horrible to people the whole time.

TK: Man! What a bummer.

Mark: I know, yeah, it’s terrible.

TK: Oh, that’s funny. I guess I shouldn’t say bummer. That’s an American thing, isn’t it?

Mark: Well, no.

TK: You know what I mean.

Mark: Bummer!

TK: Bummer. So I know that recently, I think a couple of weeks ago or something, The Horne Section released more songs on Spotify, coming soon to Bandcamp. Because of the upcoming season of The Horne Section TV show. And I know that there’s going to be another album coming out also because of the second season of The Horne Section TV Show.

Mark: Yeah, so essentially it’s a soundtrack album. It’s kind of just a way to- it’s a promotional tool, but also it’s to collect all the songs from series one into one thing so they’re not dotted on different albums. There’s a couple of new versions on there. Chinese Five Spice I think is live from the TV show. There’s some slightly different versions, there’s some where Alex is singing and he doesn’t sing on the original song. There’s versions where Alex sings it in the TV show, it’s actually Will or whoever sings it on the actual thing. And I just don’t think they’ve been collect- Also, I’ll tell you what, in a more musical way, they all were mixed again. So it’s like a remix of everything, because they were mixed for TV, and slightly better versions, I think, of some of them. And then series two is just… so for instance, Seasons is on there, but it’s Kiell singing that. And then If I Were is on there, and that’s me singing that with Stevie. So they’re all very slightly different versions of what people have heard before.

TK: That’s cool.

Mark: And yeah, then we’ll get them up on Bandcamp probably the end of next week?

TK: Okay.

Mark: That’s Joe’s job, technically. But he went to America with Madness, as you can testify to.

TK; Okay, that was my next question, is it you that is in charge of the Bandcamp? But that’s good to know that Joe is the one in charge.

Mark: It’s Joe, Joe is the upload guy.

TK: Okay, because I was going to ask-

Mark: I don’t know why.

TK: There’s a lot of songs that aren’t on Spotify or Bandcamp. I think most of them are probably from the podcast. Decisions is one of my favorites. Are those ever going to go up at some point?

Mark: Yeah they will. I mean, to be honest, we will get round… I’m a believer in putting everything. Everything that’s good enough to get on the podcast should be good enough to be on Spotify. But they sometimes need to be rerecorded and produced again, because the podcast is done in such a way where people write it, demo it themselves, and everyone else hasn’t had the chance to play in it yet. And it just gets thrown out on the podcast because we need to get it out that week. So ideally, it’s better to set a deadline and we’ll spend a few weeks getting it together and playing it properly. And there’s loads of really good tunes on that last podcast series, but I think they deserve to be recorded properly.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: Also, there’s quite a lot of ones where Alex has just written the lyrics, and then we have to make up music on the spot on it. We can’t really release this as music, but it’s a funny concept. And if you’d sent us this maybe two days ago, we could make it into something a bit more listenable. So there’s that as well. Those ones I’m going to go through when I’ve got some time after the TV series has gone out. I want to go through and find those ones that Alex has written where we’ve just had to busk chords and actually make them into proper songs. Because there’s stuff in there, and it’s pointless to waste it.

TK: Yeah, no, please do. Because every time I’m like, oh I really want to listen to Henry Hoover. And I just can’t because it’s not up anywhere. And I’ll just be going around-

Mark: Henry Hoover?!

TK: Yeah!

Mark: What? There must be a version of Henry Hoover?

TK: No, I’ve looked for it.

Mark: You’ll definitely know better than me. There’s a YouTube version, isn’t there?

TK: I’m sure most of the songs are on YouTube, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do my cover album. Because that’s what I had to do for-

Mark: That’s weird that we haven’t got Henry Hoover up there. Maybe it’s just fallen through the net.

TK: Yeah, because I’m just going around work, going [sings the Doodle-oodle-duh-duh Henry Hoover bit] and people are like, what are you doing? [both laugh] And I can just say I’m listening to a song.

Mark: I think initially with that, we were scared we were going to get sued by the Hoover company. Whatever they’re called, Newman, I think they’re called. [It’s Numatic, FYI, guys] But whoever, it’s not Hoover, because that’s a different company. That was the problem. Because everyone calls that little Henry a Hoover, but Hoover is a different manufacturer. So we were in a tizz, for ages we were worried about being sued. But we then went ahead and put it on series one as Henry Mankini. And then that company loved it. So now they’ve invited us to go round the factory! So when we go to Yeovil in a couple of weeks, we’re meant to be going down early, so we [laughing] can tour the factory!

TK: Oh my gosh! That’s amazing.

Mark: [still laughing] It’s so ridiculous.

TK: So basically what I’m hearing-

Mark: That’s the power of TV!

TK: What I’m hearing is that you will need to film you guys going through the factory, and then superimpose the Henry Hoover song over the top of it.

Mark: Or put the heads on, because we’ve got loads of heads.

TK: Oh my gosh.

Mark: You won’t know this, but one of our last Edinburgh shows where we did the whole month, we did a Henry medley, where we all had a different Hoover. Because there’s Henry, James, Henrietta, they’ve all got different names. And we did a whole medley with all of us with the heads on, where we did Henry Eyes… oh, I can’t remember now. There was loads, anyway, it’s really good. It must be on YouTube somewhere.

TK: That’s so funny to me because in the States, we don’t have that at all. We don’t know what a Hoover is or anything.

Mark: No, well, Hoover’s a brand name for a completely different vacuum cleaner.

TK: Right, but if you’re saying like, oh, I’ve got to hoover the floors, that just means you’ve got to vacuum the floors.

Mark: Yeah, but because that Hoover brand was so famous at one point, that was the only one that anyone had, in like the 50s and 60s.

TK: It’s kind of like Band-Aid or Kleenex, you know?

Mark: Yeah, yeah, like Band-Aid for you, exactly that. And there’s a Hoover building on the outskirts of London, which is a really famous old factory, a beautiful Art Deco factory, so Hoover’s a thing. But the Henrys have nothing to do with Hoover. That’s why it’s so ridiculous. That company’s called, like, Noymans… Oh, Numatic is what it’s called, it’s a Numatic Henry. But everyone in the UK calls it Henry Hoover, because that’s just how it is.

TK: Oh my gosh, that’s so funny.

Mark: Because it’s alliteration, yeah.

TK: Yeah, well, I love the heads, especially because you can chuck your mouthpiece through the hole and [laughing] play your instrument.

Mark: When we made that discovery, that we could play with them on, oh my God, this is something.

TK: Game changer.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, and then Alex was like, right, I’ve got to buy all these Hoovers. He was driving around the country, and he had this tiny little van. This is ten years ago probably. And then every old broken Henry or James, because they’ve all got different names. The green one is called a James and Henrietta’s pink, and there’s all these… it’s hilarious.

TK: It’s like the M&Ms.

Mark: And he would just go and buy all these broken ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then we had 12 of them.

TK: Oh my gosh.

Mark: Because we had spares and stuff. And they’re all disgusting inside because obviously they’ve been used! They’ve been sucking up dirt from your carpet.

TK: Right, gross. It’s like the marching band uniform nightmare.

Mark: Yeah, yeah.

Mark: And we had to walk around with them. Like we’d have to walk to the front to play this medley, and we would all have the Hoovers on and we’d all fall over like –

TK: Right. Yeah, because you can’t see shit out of those.

Mark: No, you can’t see anything.

TK: That’s amazing. Okay, well, that’s good to know that I can just bug Joe to put stuff up on Bandcamp or whatever.

Mark: I think, what I would say is that we did throw up a load of stuff onto Bandcamp and Spotify after lockdown, and it all sounds a bit crap – as in the production isn’t great. I think we’ve got so much better at production since we’ve been doing the TV show. But we’re all, we’re conscious of trying to make it sound as good as possible now, whereas at that point we were just happy to throw something – any old crap up.

TK: Do you have a list of songs that – I mean I guess you – well you don’t. Because you sounded surprised that Henry Hoover isn’t up anywhere, but presumably –

Mark: Yeah, we don’t have any list anywhere.

TK: Well, I guess I’m going to be making a spreadsheet now!

Mark: I think Jo Walker has a spreadsheet of stuff we’ve played live and anything he’s mixed.

TK: Okay.

Mark: So anything that’s been in the podcast, he does have a list of.

TK: Okay. Yeah. Maybe I’ll chuck together a list of stuff that’s not up.

Mark: Yeah, there’s some that, you know, have only been played once and then consigned to the bin.

TK: Right. But to be fair, some of those we really like to listen to a lot. And we’re always disappointed that they’re not up on streaming services or anything that we can listen to them.

Mark: Yeah, I think the mad thing that’s happening in the world is now, you’re better off to just put everything up.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: Because people are just used to being able to access everything all the time. Whereas we’re probably a bit older and the thing was you’d, you know, work towards getting ten excellent tunes for an album and bin everything else.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: But first of all it doesn’t work financially. You’re better off just having people being able to listen to stuff for 24 hours a day really. I’m sort of finally learning that. The whole reason we’ve got this constant social media presence at the moment is because it’s working. You just put something up every day, and people want more of it. It’s like an insatiable appetite.

TK: Right, yeah. Now we will talk about the social media stuff later because you run… all of it?

Mark: Yes, but now I have a helper.

TK: Okay. It’s not one of the other guys, is it? Just some other…

Mark: Hell no! [TK laughs uproariously]

TK: I can’t trust those guys–

Mark: I don’t know what I’m doing, but they know so much less than me with social media.

TK: Yeah, that’s very funny. All right, now I have a few more questions before we get to the games section. And they’re not really connected to anything. So this is technically a Taskmaster fan podcast, so I guess we should talk about Taskmaster a little bit!

Mark: Yeah, yeah.

TK: So you have been on specifically, I think twice, way earlier in series four, you played Midnight with Joe for a live task.

Mark: Best day of my life.

TK: Yeah, Joe was saying that you kind of practiced a little bit and then had a few hours break and you just drank a lot and then came back on and were like, “Alright, let’s do this!”

Mark: Right. So… we basically didn’t have anything to play. So we wrote some music on the way, got there, did a run through, it was all fine. Then we were like, right, we’ve got six hours to kill or something ridiculous. So then we wandered out of Pinewood where it’s filmed, and had to walk for a really long way through a wood and a forest to this pub, which we eventually found. It was a brilliant pub, so we had a few beers there and didn’t really eat, and then all of a sudden it was like, right, we have to be back. And then we got lost on the way back.

TK: Oh no!

Mark: And then still didn’t eat, we were really drunk and it was, then we couldn’t remember the music. And then we had to write down who’d written the music, and we just wrote Ed for a joke, and he gets all the money for it!

TK: That’s amazing. I mean, it sounded fine, I watched it back-

Mark: Watch it back, watch it back. It does not sound fine.

TK: I think it sounds fine to people that aren’t musicians.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s fine. It’s what it is.

TK: You got away with it. And then you were also paired up with Ivo Graham in series 15 for the “make an instrument” task, and he made a bari sax. I don’t think you had your bari on you. I think you just probably had your tenor?

Mark: I think I did have my bari, actually.

TK: Oh, okay. But anyway. So yeah, he made a bari out of a cactus that he had painted gold or something?

Mark: Yeah, he sort of wrapped it in foil.

TK: Yeah, now, according to Joe, he was pretty much in and out in, like, 20 minutes for that. Was that the same with you, or did you get to work with Ivo a little bit more?

Mark: No, so that’s the weird thing. So I know Ivo. Ivo’s done the show many times live and he’s really sound. We’ve always hung out in Edinburgh. But the way they do it is I arrived, got taken through it by Andy and Andy and Alex. So I was there for maybe an hour, two hours? Actually not even two hours, an hour and a half, maybe. But I literally saw Ivo just for the task, and there was no hanging out afterwards or anything. And he didn’t know, so he walked out and he’s like, “Oh, you!” I was like, “Yeah, hi.” And it’s like, not even time to even socialize and be normal. It was really odd, that one. I have noticed that the tasks, they’re much more efficient at the Taskmaster house than they were at the start. They just know how to get through so much now in a day.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: The other one I did was with Jo Brand, I think. There’s one other episode where I’m playing the saxophone- And I’m sort of stood against the wall. And that was fun. That was a whole afternoon of just hanging out and chilling, but that was a few series before, and it was much more relaxed. The Ivo one was like right, we run it like the army now, okay! So yeah, it was quick, it was quick. There was no hanging really. Which is a shame because, you know, that’s how they do it, they’re so efficient now.

TK: Yeah, I think they record something like ten tasks a day now or something like that, at the house.

Mark: Yeah, it’s crazy. And it was never, it was always more like four or five before. Because they would – they now try everything before Alex even gets there. The first ones were all being workshopped as they went and stuff. But it’s like a well-oiled machine now.

TK: Yeah. Okay, so you recently did a little portfolio interview thing with one of my friends, Tasha. And one of the things you said was singing is out of your comfort zone – and I have just written down: false. Because I think you’re such a great singer and you have such a great voice. And when I first was getting into The Horne Section, I knew that there were six of you. And I was like, okay, I just need to figure out who is who, so that when I listen I can tell who’s singing. And you were the first person that I was able to recognize based on their singing voice.

Mark: I mean, I’m not going to deny that I’m the best singer in The Horne Section, that is correct. But what I mean by that is, I’ve worked with so many unbelievable singers.

TK: Right, yeah.

Mark: Like in my other band, Soul Family, it’s literally, they’re world class. And I’ve grown up with those guys. Vula, who’s worked with The Horne Section a lot before, and Natalie and Charlene are on Live at the Palladium, they come and do Less is More at the end in the little choir? Those guys. So I consider them singers.

TK: Right.

Mark: I’m absolutely fine. In musical comedy terms, I’m definitely a good singer. But in session singers in London, I’m not that great. I mean, I think I have got a naturally good voice and it’s just that my parents sing. And I never really realised that people couldn’t sing, really, for ages. And then I just have – I’ve definitely got so much better while doing The Horne Section. I think if you listen back to the first album, all of us sound like such beginners, singing on that album. It’s amazing to me, and I think everyone’s got so much better. Will’s voice is totally different, especially. I think Will’s a really good singer. He can really find a harmony and stick to it. I think I’ve got a naturally good technique, which I just didn’t know I had. I just had Natalie once said to me, you just seem like you’ve had lessons and I haven’t, I just know how to do it for whatever reason. You know, saxophone isn’t far away from singing. In terms of physically what you’re doing, it’s very similar.

TK: Yeah. But I think also, growing up with a musical family probably helps.

Mark: Yeah, they just sang all the time. And I was just sitting on the floor when they were at band practice in their little band. My parents sang in a three part harmony 60s band.

TK: That’s cool.

Mark: So I just had it around me all the time. But it did push me out of my comfort zone at first. And that Less Is More thing for instance, at the Palladium, I had to redo that a few times for different angles or whatever, that was genuinely terrifying. I was, like, shaking.

TK: Right, yeah, pretty stressful.

Mark: Yeah, having to keep a lid on the adrenaline, basically, so you’ve got the right level of adrenaline, because it was just terrifying. It was like two and a half thousand people, it was like, “how did I end up here?!” It was like waking up in a mad dream.

TK: Right, yeah. I mean, it turned out great. So, you know.

Mark: Yeah. It’s brilliant, I love it. The whole thing was just as I sort of, as I was putting it together in the weeks leading up to it, it happened and it was just exactly how we wanted it. It’s pretty good.

TK: Yeah, nice. Do you have a favorite memory from any tour that you’ve done with The Horne Section or otherwise?

Mark: Yeah. I mean, I loved being at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We had some really great times there. It was really exciting at that point, because we were on a really stratospheric journey at that point where we’d done the little Edinburgh shows. The following year we did a much bigger Edinburgh show and got invited immediately to Melbourne, which was the following February. And then we went to Melbourne Comedy, and then we did Edinburgh again, it was a much bigger venue, and then we went back to Melbourne. So the second time we went to Melbourne Comedy Festival, I mean, there’s people queuing to see us outside, so mad to think about that in Melbourne, you know, on the other side of the world. It’s great. So that I really loved, yeah, Melbourne Comedy Festival was brilliant. Basically the last tour we just finished has all been amazing, really, they’re all in beautiful old UK theaters were all fantastic. But they all merge into one, because essentially they’re all just these lovely old Victorian theaters. And they’re all fantastic to play in and it’s been brill.

TK: Awesome.

Mark: I think the ones that stand out are usually a bit more odd. So all the ones that you know, when you’re traveling somewhere. But yeah, we need to get over to the States basically.

TK: Yes please!

Mark: That would be my preferred plan.

TK: Yeah, come to the West Coast first!

Mark: Okay, yeah. I think it’d be West Coast, East Coast, then home to be honest with you.

TK: Yeah, yeah. That’s fair.

Mark: You know what, I did see the, I think, the Montreal Comedy Festival is happening again because it hasn’t happened for a few years.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: And we were asked to do that about four years ago or five years ago, and then it went bankrupt.

TK: Awww.

Mark: Which is classic Horne Section luck. Because that would have been a way to get over there, because they would have paid visas and then we could have worked it out. Or, they would have paid part of the travel or whatever.

TK: Right. Yeah, well that’s too bad.

Mark: Yeah, we need to sit down and work it out.

TK: Yes. Now this podcast, it’s a Taskmaster fan podcast, but we also do a lot of stuff with transformative works like fanart and fanfics, and just any kind of creative thing. Obviously I have my albums and stuff. So do you have a favorite fan work or a gift that a fan has given you? Joe mentioned the huge quilt blanket.

Mark: Oh my god, yeah. That was incredible, that thing. I can’t remember the name of that person, but, yeah, that was because Joe and I who saw that –

TK: Jo, I think Jo, is that right?

Mark: Yes, Jo I think. And we were selling merch, and they’d waited until the end of the night, and then got a bag and they just kept pulling out this like reams and reams – it’s amazing. Yeah.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: There’s a few, a few little knitted Henry Hoovers turned up.

TK: Oh, that’s cute.

Mark: That’s nice.

TK: Yeah.

Mark: There was some jewelry the other week, which was nice. Yeah, there’s loads of bits in the TV series, all of that stuff, all of our memorabilia we had, and we just all piled into the studio, and it’s all in the background.

TK: Nice.

Mark: There’s loads of little pieces of stuff like that.

TK: That’s cute.

Mark: So, yeah. It’s cool.

TK: Yeah. I sent Joe home with, I made all of you little Horne Section colored keychains. So make sure he gives those to you guys.

Mark: Okay.

TK: And also, my friend who lives in New York did this really cool piece of art. And – what’s it called? It’s like that old-timey cartoon – rubber hose, I think the style is called? And it’s of all of you as the band. And it’s really gorgeous. So they sent me a print of it to give to Joe to give to the whole band. So hopefully you get to see that at some point, it’s really cool. So be on the lookout for that.

Mark: So yeah, so when Nic Greyson came in Oxford and brought the tea towel out, the NATO tea towel – I think this is the original one I’ve got here.

TK: Yes, yeah.

Mark: I think that’s the original because it’s got more colors on it. And now we’ve commissioned her to do the actual merch for it. But, yeah, that was a great surprise because she came when we were selling a really crap t-shirt – plain tea towels, that just had our names on. And then she presented this and I was like, oh, well, this is much better. And then it was like, “I want to buy that!”

TK: Yeah.

Mark: This is the only one!

TK: Okay, we’re gonna move on to our games section, and the game is Quickfire Questions. So I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions, and you can only use one word answers. Joe I think got one in, and then immediately forgot that he was only allowed to use one word and just kept going on.

Mark: Yeah, pans out.

TK: Yep. All right. So here we go. You’re at a Horne Section rehearsal and the group needs to split off into pairs. Who are you taking as your partner?

Mark: Joe.

TK: What’s your favorite sound?

Mark: [thinks for a bit] Water.

TK:. If you could get a tattoo, what would it be?

Mark: Horne Section.

TK: Soprano, alto, tenor or bari?

Mark: Ohhh what? Alto, I think.

TK: Do you have a least favorite sound?

Mark: That’s a good question. [thinks] Like a rumble in the middle of the night.

TK: It’s terrifying.

Mark: Yeah, I’m a terrible insomniac.

TK: Oh, yeah.

Mark: So… like, an electrical buzz, is what I mean. An unidentified electrical buzz.

TK: Right, that makes sense. Go to reed for tenor sax?

Mark: I use the D’Addario jazz, unfiled.

TK: The worst thing you’ve ever put in your mouth?

Mark: Poppers.

TK: Best saxophone player in the world?

Mark: Chris Potter.

TK: Nice, good job, you’ve done the games section.

Mark: Okay, cool.

TK: Tell me about this Horne Section tattoo, because now I’m interested.

Mark: Well, because when we were in Melbourne, we were all going to go and get it done. And for us, for the Melbourne Comedy Festival, they designed a fresh poster for us. And they got some Melbourne designer in, and it’s amazing. The image of that, and they had done posters all around Melbourne, and we kept seeing it. We were like, this is way better than what we had in the UK. And then we all decided to get that done, and we were basically all booked in to get tattoos as far as I remember it. And then Ben bottled out, because his then-wife didn’t want him to do it or something? I don’t remember the details. Well, then we didn’t do it and I kind of wish we had.

TK: Oh, that’s too bad.

Mark: Yeah. Because it was going to be you know, The Horne Section, just a really cool swirly design. It shows up in things occasionally, that design. It’s on the TV show, there’s a poster in the background of it.

TK: Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Mark: And we’ve tried to find it, we tried to find the designer and no one could remember who it was. It was with a different promoter so we haven’t been able to chase that person back. It’s really annoying because it was so great.

Mark: Did Joe tell you about his tattoo?

TK: Yes, yes, the three ducks?

Mark: With the three ducks, [laughing] I love that so much.

TK: Yes, and then he said, three ducks or three dicks. Yeah, that was funny. Because he, I don’t remember if he said who made the joke that you should just get three dicks and make the joke that you asked for three ducks. I was like, well, maybe you should get three dicks, but with wings.

Mark: Yeah, I think that was also said at the same time. I do remember it being discussed at length, it was the classic post-show drunk conversation, that.

TK: Excellent. So continuing the conversation, we know that The Horne Section has so many songs. And Joe has said that he probably writes the most songs. Would you say that that’s correct?

Mark: Yep, probably.

TK: And then I assume you maybe write the second most amount of songs? Or maybe Will?

Mark: No, I’d say Will would be next… Joe and Will are really good at keeping creating stuff. I find myself doing admin in the main, and tax returns and practical stuff like that, and fielding emails from people. Joe’s really good at keeping himself inspired and writing new stuff. I’ve got a notes thing in my phone of ideas to do. The other thing is, I much prefer writing with someone else, so I love it if someone sends me a lyric and I write music. Whereas Joe likes working on his own. But some of my favorite ones are when we’ve all been together and written together, like Chris Hoy is one of my favorites.

TK: That is my all time favorite.

Mark: That’s a Joe concept, which we then all fleshed out because we were on a writing retreat.
And I think that it shows in that song that it got better than it was originally, and it became much better. Also to be fair, Teasmade and Less is More is the same music. We wrote Teasmade all together, and then Ben and I sort of did new lyrics for that.

TK: Yeah, do you remember-

Mark: I need a deadline. If we haven’t anything to get down to do it, because there’s always other stuff to be doing, especially in The Horne Section.

TK: Right. Did you write Time V Persons or was that Joe?

Mark: Yes.

TK: You wrote it?

Mark: Yes, it was me.

TK: Nice, that’s one of my favorites.

Mark: That’s one I did on my own.

TK: Nice.

Mark: Yeah, I like that one. We tried to do it live, it just didn’t… it’s hard to get it to work.

TK: Do you have a favorite song that you’ve written for The Horne Section?

Mark: I think Less Is More is the best song. Also, musically I like Manifesto, which is an Alex lyric but I wrote the music for. Friends Forever, which is from the first show and the first album. I wrote the music for that one, I really like that music. So yeah, I think what we’re most proud of is, I think the music is really strong in lots of the songs. It’s not just throwaway comedy songs. Quite often in reviews you’ll get things like “they’re almost as good as the Flight of the Conchords.” I mean, I think we’re way better than Flight of the Conchords, musically. They might be funnier, write funnier songs, but just judged on the music, what we’re doing is really good.
One of my favorite ones is Sensible Guy, which Ed wrote, which sounds like Steely Dan! It’s like… there’s no need for it to be that good musically. But it is. And that’s what I like about it, because it’s interesting musically. There’s a place for a quickfire man with a guitar doing jokes. That’s musical comedy, but that’s not what we do. And sometimes it’s missed slightly, especially by journalists, basically, that just listen to comedy.

TK: I play in a community band with my partner. And I got sick and so I had to miss the dress rehearsal, which stressed me out. So I dropped my partner off, because he was playing bari, and I’m like, I’m not going to let you walk up the hill with your bari, that sounds awful. So I dropped him off with his bari, went back home, went back to pick him back up after the rehearsal. And I was playing Fiddly Christmas in my car because it was December. And one of the trombone players was walking out, and he kind of looked at me weird. Because I didn’t have my windows down, but I think he was trying to figure out what I was playing, because I guess it was loud enough to be coming through the car. So he told me to roll my window down, and so I rolled my window down and he was listening. And he’s like, “What the fuck are you listening to?” And I was like, I can’t explain this right now because one, I don’t have a voice. But two, how do I even explain what The Horne Section is?

Mark: Yeah, where do you start?

TK: But yeah, I definitely agree that the musical quality of the songs are just very, very good no matter what. Like, Being With You, it’s just so over the top good. And then you listen to the lyrics and you’re like, oh, okay…

Mark: Then it’s stupid.

TK: Now between the-

Mark: I mean, obviously we’re all just actually in a frustrated band, that just happens to hang some comedy on it, really. But also the beautiful thing is we can play in any style. It’s harder being in a band because you’re limited to indie rock or whatever you’ve chosen to do. Whereas we can just play anything, it’s great.

TK: Yeah, it’s really impressive, especially on the podcast, because whenever Alex is like, okay, give me a jingle for whatever, and you guys just come up with something on the spot. And it’s like, yeah, no, that actually sounds really good. It’s definitely impressive, which is really funny. But between the TV show, podcast, live shows, touring with other bands, all of the stuff that you do, what is your favorite and your least favorite thing between all of those things?

Mark: Horne Section Live I’d say is the most fun. And actually I loved making the TV show because I like having a project and putting it all together and trying to get through to the end of the project. It’s nice to have a sign off on it. Whereas the live thing is a little bit throw away. And then live’s just really fun, basically. If you haven’t done it for a while, live’s brilliant. And then I’m missing making the TV show at the moment because that was so all encompassing and time consuming. But we haven’t done it for so long, I’d love to be able to do another series because it was really fun. And then, least favorite, it’s never that bad. I don’t particularly enjoy doing weddings, but when I do do wedding gigs, I do it with such an amazing band, Soul Family, which is the band I was talking about before. And we all went to college together 20 years ago when I was still playing in that band. What I really hate is when I have to do weddings with a different band, with any old band, a pickup band, and that’s just not fun at all. They take it really seriously and I don’t understand because it’s just, you’re playing a fucking wedding, it doesn’t matter. No one’s listening really.

TK: Yeah, for sure.

Mark: I mean, I’m very lucky to be able to do this for a living, that’s great. I don’t have any negative thing to say about it, really, I love it.

TK: So you mentioned earlier that you get to play in a lot of different genres because you can all just kind of whip that out, which is really cool and impressive. And obviously you’ve played with big names like Robbie Williams, but also in other genres with artists like Bonobo and Disclosure. So is there any genre of music that you’d consider your favorite, or maybe a genre that you’d like to get into playing that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

Mark: Yeah, actually, I would like to be able to play Irish folk. I’d love to be able to be in Ireland and get my guitar out and play all those reels and stuff. Because I love that form of socializing and I love being in Ireland. My wife’s Irish. So if you’re in a pub in Belfast and people get out their instruments and they’ll all just play and they know what to do. And they’re all like, oh, he’s a musician. So it’s like, oh God, I am a musician, but I don’t know these reels and I don’t know what to play. So I can jam along in the key, but it’s rubbish. So I wouldn’t mind actually setting aside some time and being able to do that. I love playing guitar more than anything really now, because guitar is the one thing I haven’t had any lessons on really, and I think that’s why I like it. Because I’m completely self-taught on guitar. And it’s a more sociable thing, you can sing and play, and someone else can sing while you’re playing and stuff. Yeah, I think I’d like to knuckle down and do some actual practice on Irish folk music.

TK: Yeah, I love a reel. Before Covid I used to do a lot of, I don’t know if it’s called something different in the UK, but a lot of square dancing and contra dancing, I think over there it’s a cèilidh, maybe? I think I went to one cèilidh. And we had a musicians’ session on how to play along with some of the reels. And so they had sheet music and stuff. And I brought my trumpet and I was like, this is way too hard for me to play this. But also, you don’t really hear a lot of wind instruments.

Mark: That’s why I think I’d like to go away for a week. No, that’s the thing. But I have got one mate actually who’s a sax player, Graeme Blevins, he’s an amazing saxophone player. And he met a load of traditional Irish musicians in Mark Knopfler’s band, who then taught him. While they were on tour, they taught him the reels, and he’s learned them on his soprano, and now he goes to play with them. It’s brilliant. So I’d just spend a week, it would only take me a week, I think? Go away on a course, like an intense course, and do eight or ten hours a day and just do it. Because that’s how Joe got his banjo playing together, which is bluegrass stuff. He just went away and did the courses and just practiced and practiced and practiced. Once you’ve done the one course you can then go home and practice, and it’s just about learning the reels. But yeah, I do need a little bit of guidance in it I think. And I’ve got a really good mate of mine, and Irish violinist, Nikki. And she’s a classical violinist in London, but because she grew up in Ireland, she can take her own violin out in an Irish pub in London and play along. And it’s like, so cool to be able to do that. I just want to be able to do that.

TK: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Okay, so moving on to running the social medias. So according to you, you’re the only one that is able to do this because everybody else is kind of clueless. So how do you find running the socials? Do you ever get overwhelmed with all the different platforms and everything that you have to do?

Mark: Yes, I don’t understand TikTok at all. Yeah, so we’ve now got a new person, Bernie, who’s running a lot of it at the moment, and she’s brilliant and she’s taken off. I don’t mind doing it every day if it was just on Instagram, if I just have to post one thing that would be fine.
But the problem is you have to do it over everything, otherwise it doesn’t get the proper reach.
So we’ve employed… it was part of the PR for the TV show basically, and from Horndle, she set that up and helped us through that. So I’m now on the phone to her every day. And she’s absolutely amazing, and she runs everything by me, and I’ll maybe write the text. But then she just gets it out there for me. So it’s worth every penny, it’s good. And it’s worked, she’s taken the reach from, I don’t know, we had 80,000 views or whatever to like 3 million.

TK: Wow!

Mark: It’s crazy, in only like six weeks or whatever she’s been doing it.

TK: That’s awesome.

Mark: It’s made such a difference, it’s great.

TK: So the Horndle, did you all just record that in 1 or 2 days, or did it take longer?

Mark: No, just one evening.

TK: Gosh.

Mark: Yeay, they were all bits that were going to be in the podcast, and Alex – you know what he’s like – coming up with games, it’s weirdly genius. And he’s gone, “Right, I’ve done this, I’ve done this now, I think I’ve got 100 of them.” And we’re like, “100?! What do you mean?!” He’s like, “Yeah!” So then we just record it, and we just did it as quickly as possible. And that’s why it’s so stupid. But it’s a great thing, it’s a good bit.

TK: Yeah, we all really liked it. And I bet the engagement was off the charts.

Mark: Yeah, that’s what’s triggered this great engagement was that, basically. So yeah, we’ll do some more of those when we get a minute.

TK: Yeah. So now that-

Mark: I have to go soon, TK, I have to make dinner.

TK: I only have this one question left, so that’s perfect timing. So do you no longer really do the socials anymore now that Bernie’s on the team? Or do you go through… because one thing we notice a lot is that The Horne Section account will like all of our replies, no matter how unhinged they are.

Mark: Yeah, I think she’s just like, reply to everything, because that just keeps the algorithm going. I’ll go through most of it and read most of it. And if someone’s writing me a message, Bernie will send it to me and I’ll reply. I’m still seeing it all. She’s just, because she’s clipping up the TV show to publicize that. And then she sends me the clip and I’m like, yes that’s great, or isn’t there a punch line, or I think there’s another bit that’s better than that. It’s just more collaborative now rather than me just doing it all on my own.

TK: Right.

Mark: Because it was taking me two hours every day, every morning, to do just social media.

TK: It’s a lot.

Mark: It’s crazy. [laughs and mimes clicking away on computer]

TK: Were you the one that asked for the PLUP memes, or was that Bernie? Because that was really funny.

Mark: No that was Bernie. I woke up to all of that, I was like, what the hell’s going on now? But that’s why I’m enjoying it so much more.

TK: Because we didn’t realize that it was Bernie. And so we’re all thinking, Mark is out here asking for PLUP memes like, what is happening?

Mark: Yeah I know, and Izzy, who works for Avalon, was like, how do you know about all these memes? Well, obviously I don’t!

TK: That’s really funny. Okay, that’s good to know because she’s now posting like thirst traps of you guys. And I’m like, how does Mark know what thirst traps are?

Mark: No, I did know that, and I did post the thirst trap.

TK: Oh, well you’ll learn something new every day I guess.

Mark: Yeah, she would never do that without my go ahead. And I was like, this is definitely a hilarious thing to do.

TK: Yeah, well keep posting them, because we love them. But anyway-

Mark: [laughing] There’s only 6 photos.

TK: Well take more, Mark! [both laugh] Tell the lads we need more thirst traps.

Mark: Actually, I’ve got a really good one that’s just popped into my head, which I’ll post later.

TK: Perfect, okay, well, I’m glad that I brought it up then. All right, The Horne Section is on tour through June, coming back in September through November. The Horne Section TV Show, series two is coming out on May 22nd. The Horne Section podcast part one is done and out now, go listen to that. Are you planning on doing part two later this year, the summer or something?

Mark: That was the plan, yeah.

TK: Okay, so keep an eye out for that.

Mark: None of that is finalized yet. And then any other news..? We hope to record the current live show on video, on film at some point, and then put that out hopefully this year.

TK: Cool, that’ll be great.

Mark: We need to get together and get new plans, because we haven’t got any plans at the moment. Work out how to come to the States.

TK: Yes!

Mark: And do a festival or whatever.

TK: And I know that you tour with other bands. So are you touring with anyone that’s coming to the States anytime soon?

Mark: No, I’m not actually, I’m doing the Matt Goss tour, who’s the guy from Bros. And I’m doing a bit of Madness, but that’s just in Ireland. And they’ve just been to the States obviously. It’s really hard at the moment because bands aren’t keen on going to the States because Trump’s mental.

TK: Yep. How do you think I feel?

Mark: Well, quite. You know what I mean, if a band comes to the border and they have to go home, that ruins the whole tour. So it’s so risky at the moment. If you just said ‘Trump’s a prick’ on your social media or whatever, it’s like, what the hell is happening here? All the musicians I know that would be touring the States have been told this might not happen. So yeah, great. Yay! [gives a sarcastic thumbs up]

TK: Man, I hate it here.

Mark: God, I can only imagine.

TK: Well, anyway, please come to the States if you can, because we’d love to have you over here. And, thank you for your time-

Mark: I would love to.

TK: And thanks for coming on the pod.

Mark: No worries, thanks for having me.

TK: And go yell at the other guys to also come on, because-

Mark: Yeah, I’ll text them right now in fact, say they don’t bite. Bye, okay, cool! [waves goodbye] Nice to meet you.

TK: Thank you, all right, bye.

Mark: Bye.

Lewis V/O: Once again, that was Mark Brown chatting with TK about telly, touring and the other things he gets up to as a musician. The Horne Section TV Show is currently airing Thursdays after Taskmaster, on Channel 4. And they’ll be back on tour next month. If you liked this episode, and would like to see more, don’t forget to subscribe on your platform of choice.