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At The Captain's Table Captain Hollister was killed off in Red Dwarf's first episode - but that didn't stop him making a comeback in season VIII. Mr Flibble stops for coffee with the man who threw the Dwarfers into the brig - Mac McDonald... |
Andrew Ellard
One day we were doing it [in] Covent Garden. All the other street performers and I were down there, and the GLC people came up to us and said, "Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but you can't perform between 1 and 2 today because Dolly Parton's coming down to do a press conference. A big photo call." And we were like, "Oh shit," because that was our bread and butter, and to lose an hour out of a summer's day was a real drag.
So she came down, and there were maybe 75 or 100 photographers all around. I thought, "I've got to find a way to turn this to my advantage." And then I got the idea. So I waited until there was a break - she was on her own, virtually, and I went up to her and I said "Er... Hi Dolly, I'm Mac McDonald, I'm an American actor living here in London. I do a thing called The Singing Jukebox, and I was thinking what a great photo opportunity it would make for you to do a song in the jukebox with me." And so she looked over and saw the jukebox and she said "Why Mac, that sounds like a great idea."
So I brought the Jukebox out - all these people were clicking away - and she got inside with me. I mean she's not even 5 feet tall I don't think, so she's coming right up to the lip of the speaker. She goes "What do we sing?" And I said, "I don't know, you pick what you want to sing, I'll sing whatever you want." So she goes "How about Great Balls of Fire?" So I went "You got it babe."
So we just traded off verses on it, and it was really good, everybody really loved it. But the stupidist thing I ever did in my life, was to not go up to somebody and give them like a fiver and say, "When you've developed this photo, send me one," because I never got a picture of it.
Then another day I was doing the Jukebox in the middle of winter, and it was snowing, freezing, on a Sunday morning. And these American businessmen were practically my only audience. And as they were leaving, one of them came round the back of the Jukebox and gave me a fiver or something and said, "Gee that was great, could I sing a song in your jukebox?"
He had a New York accent that was a lot like my own, but he was just about my father's age and I was thinking "I know this guy, I know him. Could he be a friend of my dad's...?" I couldn't place him. And then all of a sudden I went "Oh Wow! Yeah! You can sing a song in my jukebox any time you want!" It was Mel Brooks!
