INTERVIEW: TALKING TO RUBY WAX
The Queen of the candid interview, Ruby Wax, arrives in Surrey this spring as part of her national tour, Absolutely Famous. We caught up with the lady in question, to ask some questions…
YOU’RE TRAVELLING THE COUNTRY WITH YOUR NEW SHOW, ‘ABSOLUTELY FAMOUS’, ACCOMPANIED BY YOUR GOOD FRIEND, CLIVE TULLOH – COMING TO GUILDFORD THIS SPRING. CHARTING YOUR CAREER TO DATE, WHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT FROM A NIGHT WITH YOU?
Expect to be sitting in the same direction with their eyes open. We have so much footage from when I was doing my shows and stuff that we didn’t show before as well as stories behind the clips. So that’s what Clivey and I are doing.
Clive is very funny and he was with me for all those 25 years and I tortured him throughout. So, you’ll hear stories and you’ll see sights, and you know, it’s me.
HAVE YOU SPENT MUCH TIME IN SURREY IN THE PAST? ANY ANECDOTES YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?
Yes, I’ve been to the Marks and Spencer’s and it’s fabulous. I knew Surrey when it was all the little villages and towns. They’re cute. I know Shere.
in YOUR 90s SHOW RUBY WAX MEETS… YOU MET SOME PRETTY DIVISIVE FIGURES, NAMELY THE ONE THEY CALL DONALD TRUMP – NOTORIOUSLY AWKWARD. YOU TOUCH ON HIS AMBITION FOR THE PRESIDENCY – DID YOU THINK AT THE TIME THAT WE WOULD BE WITNESSES TO THAT AMBITION BECOMING A REALITY?
Well, no. When I got on his plane, his private jet with a gold bidet, which was charming. He said to me he wanted to be the next President of the Unities States and I started laughing because I thought this guy’s a comedian. I thought he’d like that I laughed and he didn’t like that at all.
“Land the Plane”. So, we had just gotten in the air and now we’re going back down. Then the whole show is that I’m looking for Donald, but I went through these bizarre places in America that made Dollywood look like the White House. Wherever I went, it was strange.
And then I finally found him again and he liked me the second time around because he knew I was crude as he was – or I could be.
FROM SPICE GIRLS TO SARAH FERGUSON – IS THERE A PARTICULAR INTERVIEW FROM YOUR TIME ON THE CULTURAL FRONTLINES THAT STANDS OUT AS A FAVOURITE?
No, I know which ones I felt good doing. I fell in love with Carrie Fisher and I think she did with me, so you’re sort of watching a love match. And then we went away and we were best friends for 35 years. So I was using my show as a form of seduction.
IF YOU COULD RE-INTERVIEW SOMEONE FROM YOUR PAST, WHO WOULD THAT BE?
Trump. I’d never do it again but I’d play a different card if I did. I wouldn’t go back as me because if he saw me, he’d arrest me. He told John Maciroe (who was my next interviewee) that if he ever saw me again, he’d kill me.
So I wouldn’t be me, but if I had done it over again, I wouldn’t have played scared. I wasn’t playing scared; I was scared. And when a man like that sees someone frightened, he kicks them. He doesn’t help them; he kicks them harder.
He wasn’t nice about it; he knew he was terrifying.
AND THOSE WHO YOU’VE NOT INTERVIEWED, WHO STAND OUT AS SOMEONE YOU’D LOVE TO GIVE A ‘FULL WAX’?
I was thinking about it, someone who’s a legend… Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Matthew McConaughey. I want to see what’s under the hood. Like a young actor who’s just starting won’t have much of a story, but somebody who’s a legend, you want to scoop under there and see what they’re really like. Probably Tom Cruise.
YOUR MOST RECENT WORK HAS BEEN FOCUSED ON MENTAL HEALTH AND WAYS TO UNDERSTAND OUR OWN COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS – FROM A REASONABLY CHAOTIC PAST, TO A CALMER PRESENT – WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER ONE TIP TO IMPROVE ONE’S WELLBEING?
Go learn to meditate. And to do that, you better get somebody really good at it, like me. They can come to my website.
COMEDIAN, JOURNALIST, OCCASIONAL ACTRESS, ACADEMIC, MINDFULNESS EXPERT – YOU’VE ENJOYED AN ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER INFORMING AND ENTERTAINING – ARE THERE ANY OTHER VOCATIONS OUT THERE THAT TICKLE YOUR FANCY?
Oh god, what could I be? I’d like to learn trapeze.
Ultimately I want to end up a waitress. You know how people start as waitresses – I want to end up as a waitress. Seriously, I’d have my customers; i’d pour the coffee and they’d all give me their stories. And we’d have a television crew filming it.
