June 1st, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
Having a relaxed few days at a literary festival? Not when you're David Walliams!! The multitalented Britain's Got Talent judge turned up at the festival for a talk at Hay on Wye with Chris Evans. The talk had sold out in just hours, kids were queing up in droves to see him and arriving there he received an incredible reception from excited fans, even more so when he finally took the stage.
So popular was his talk that people stood outside just to listen. This probably puts him in the Bieber category of kids authors.
His talk was obviously littered with naughty jokes. When asked "were you the class clown at school?" He replied: "Yes. I'd arrive in clown shoes and a clown car."
Naughtier even was his reply on whether life with supermodel wife Lara Stone was like an episode of BGT. The witty comic came quick as a flash laughing:
"Well, she pushes my buzzer…"
He then read a bit of his book Gangsta Granny, loosely based on his own grandmother. First saying "old people smell of cabbage" … Looking at Chris Evans … "in fact you're smelling cabagy."
There were a few revelations and David confirmed that he is writing a book about an evil villain who wants to turn a girls pet rat into a burger. Naturally the villain is based on… Simon Cowell!!
David also explained that while the BBC has lined up many actors to play Mr Stink, he wants Michael Gambon to play the lead as he had him in his mind when writing the book (as he was starring in a Pinter play with him at the time.) The Little Britain star gave signed books to the children that asked the best questions, but also sat to give autographs afterwards.
Now, one question for Chris Evans was: "should you have left your wife at home so close to having a baby?" Turns out he shouldn't have!
David later took to his Twitter writing:
"I had the funniest Q&A session at the Hay Literary Festival with Chris Evans. One little girl asked why he wasn't with his pregnant wife! And now his wife is about to have the baby! He has flown home. It looks like I am going to have more to do on Chris's Radio 2 show tomorrow! Good luck Chris and Tash. Don't forget to name him or her 'David'!"
Then a little later an amazed David returned saying:
"Now I am co-presenting Chris's Radio 2 show tomorrow morning with Alex Jones. God help us all!"
A few hours later, a still surprised Walliams sat in for Chris. It was clear that the early start and the responsibility of being both co-host and 500-words head judge threw him a bit, especially as he hadn't even had his breakfast yet. Still he graduataly eased into it, especially with friends Catherine Tate, Will Young and John Barrowman ball taking part in the show.
After the show David tweeted:
"Congratulations to Chis Evans and his wife Tash for the birth of their new baby this morning. And I am pleased I didn't ruin his show!"
You can listen back to the impromptu radio show here.
This post was written by guest blogger and reality TV showbiz observer Daniel Cohen. Catch up with him on Twitter here.
