C2: Elis James with Daniel Glyn

Those amongst my readership lucky enough to know me in the real world will be fully aware I have been dysgu Cymraeg for, ooh… around six months or so… therefore my grasp is not brilliant. To practice, though, I watch a lot of S4C and occasionally listen to BBC Radio Cymru … and for the most part can just about tread water – so only an idiot would attempt to translate two hours of radio under those circumstances, eh? Ummm… yea!

But bear with me, because I know some of my regular readers in particular will appreciate my efforts here.


One of the shows I love to listen to is that of Daniel Glyn, part of the C2 programming aimed at the younger listeners – because of my youthfulness, I guess…

And this week his guest was the absolutely fantastic (and this is where it starts to get relevant to you people!): Elis James.



And since I know some of you will be interested in what he had to say, I figured I’d try somehow to make it available to you all.


The sound files are here for you to listen to – and to be honest, if you find yourself with some time to spare, you may want to listen even if you don’t speak Welsh, just for the little English moments within – and for Elis’ brilliant David Bowie impersonation! I haven’t joined the files together, because I figure it will be easier to digest in smaller pieces – and it makes the upload faster, too, so it’s better all round!


I will paraphrase rather than a direct transcript… no surprise there, as my Welsh is obviously poor… but hopefully it should give enough for those of you with no knowledge of the language to catch on to the little snips of English scattered throughout.

If there are any proper Welsh speakers looking in and I have made huge, glaring mistakes (which I possibly will!) please get in touch and let me know!

In the interest of getting this posted for you to listen to the files and given that this is a huge task, I will be posting outlines for now and filling in details as I complete. Updates will be announced as and when!





Part one (18mins):

The discussion started, rather predictably with Elis’ current tour “Do You Remember the First Time?” which leads into a conversation about the Glee Club in Cardiff, as Elis remembers struggling to get a gig there early on in his career.

Daniel suggests that Facebook/Twitter make it easier to get instant feedback on new material rather than waiting until you have an audience for it and there is a little chatter about people complaining that material used in live shows is often the same as that on TV appearances. (as an aside, I never understand this complaint as it is impossible to expect new stuff absolutely every time we see someone on the television – in fact, I have seen many different versions of the Rhod Gilbert luggage sketch and every one makes me laugh as though I am hearing it for the first time! Some people expect too much!)

With some discussion as to whether Elis always wanted to be a comedian, which leads to discussion over how Elis got started in the industry, having thought there were only seven other comedians so it would be easy for him…

The conversation moves onto other jobs – Elis has a History degree and talks a little about other jobs he had before he started to get paid properly for gigs.




Part two (7 mins):

The pair chat about the music played and recording tunes off the radio as a youngster.

A listener messages via FB telling Elis he’s ‘fab’ (a little Cymraeg joke here, as she says “Mae’n fab” – which in literal translation means ‘there is the son’ hence you will hear a rather cute little “Hi mam!” from Elis! – I did tell you it was worth listening for the English moments!)

Elis talks about how his management company set up corporate gigs for him. There was a recent one for the Growers’ Association which went really badly – only ten minutes to talk so there isn’t a lot of time to get in the flow and it’s poorly paid.

A discussion on Elis’ time as a warm-up for Deal or No Deal and Buzzcocks which is quite easy to follow to be honest!




Part three (10 mins):

The pair chat about Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, first kisses and a little about Isy (of course!) and Elis reveals how incredibly busy he is right now having been preparing his Edinburgh show and recording for radio alongside his current standup commitments both within his tour and other gigs.





Part four (8 mins):

A little discussion on panel show appearances: 8 Out of 10 Cats, Chris Addison’s Show and Tell, a chat about why he hasn’t been on Mock the Week, his first experience at Up the Creek and the Montreal and Melbourne festivals.




Part five (10 mins):

A little about the comedians Elis likes to watch, how dysfunctional comedians can be and stealing other people’s jokes with a little about his brilliant sketches with Isy on Hwb.




Part six (4 mins):

A discussion about this years’ Edinburgh Festival at which Elis is doing some Committee meetings with the incredibly sexy Chris Corcoran* (His words, not mine... possibly!) and some solo shows. They also had a quick chat about Elis’ appearance on the Rob Brydon show…


And there you are:

Check back for updates when I get around to a more complete write-up – but to be honest, there is enough English scattered within that you should be able to get the gist from what I have provided…


Since it was mentioned early on in the interview, here is a snip of Elis' fantastic ‘Paintballio’ routine:




And because it was played on the show and it’s a tune I really like: