-Welcome to the show. -Thank you very much.
-I'm so happy to have you. Been a fan of yours
for a very long time. -Thank you.
-And I want to ask about "The Crown,"
because I think there's probably this unfair perception
that most Americans have that all British people
are obsessed with the crown and the monarchy.
Not the case. -No.
I sort of barely thought about them for most of my life.
-Yeah. -And, yeah, then I --
Yeah, then I had to actually be one of them.
So I thought I better read about it a bit.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
I mean, my background was sort of small-R republican.
My mum would actively not watch the Queen's speech
on a Christmas morning.
So, yeah, I had no idea about them at all.
So, yeah, what could possibly go wrong?
[ Laughter ] -I always wonder,
because, you know, it's very strange.
This is both a historical drama, but a lot of the key players
are, you know, they're still alive.
-Yeah. -Do you think to yourself,
"Are they watching?"
And, also, do you want them to watch?
-It's a very mixed thing.
Part of you wants them to watch,
but also part of you is terrified.
I mean, I sort of can't imagine
the Queen and Prince Philip
sort of, you know, Netflix and chilling.
-Yeah. -I don't...
-Yeah. -I don't know.
-I didn't think about that. Even if it was on BBC,
I would think they're probably not watching.
But the fact that it's like, "What's our log-in?"
-Yes. -"Where..."
"I forgot the log--" -It's a generational thing.
-Yeah. -Yeah, yeah.
-So I think you're probably -- you might be in the clear.
-In the clear. -Both you and Olivia Colman,
and Helena Bonham Carter, you all also have
this interesting job ahead of you,
where you're taking over parts from other actors.
Matt Smith, who was wonderful in the first two seasons --
did you spend a lot of time watching him?
-I've never heard of him. -No. I think that's best.
Yeah. [ Laughter ]
Do you try to watch what he did?
Or do you think to yourself, like, "Oh, that'll only
get in the way of what I choose to do?"
-No, like you, I really loved the first two seasons.
I loved what Matt did. So, yeah, it was actually
kind of an amazing resource to go back
to those first two seasons and watch,
and then sort of combine that with, you know, the real person.
It was like 80/20. -Yeah, that's pretty good.
I think 80/20's good.
That's what I got from your performance.
-Okay, thanks, buddy. -I was like, "That's
about 80/20 right there." -Okay.
-A lot of corgis. -Yes.
-So, there's a lot of on-set corgis.
-Well, there are two on-set corgis.
-Just only two? -Yeah.
And there's a boy corgi and a girl corgi.
-Gotcha. -The girl corgi
is quite mischievous. -Uh-huh.
-Yeah, she very rarely sort of stays where she's meant to stay.
-Yeah. -And when the girl corgi
is there, the boy gets quite mischievous, too.
So, often, you have to, like, remove the girl corgi.
And the boy corgi then is quite well-behaved.
-Gotcha. [ Laughter ]
-Was there any part of playing this role
make you long for a life where you could live as a royal?
-No. No part of me would want to be a -- absolutely none, yeah.
-It does seem pretty just depressing.
-Well, just, I mean, obviously, hugely privileged.
But I just -- You go into a lot of rooms,
people are kind of tongue-tied I imagine.
So just this sort of sheer weight of quantity of chat...
-Yeah. -...is heavy, I think.
Small talk. -Right, yeah.
Everybody is going to leave
and talk about how they met you.
-Yes. -And you're never going to
go home and tell anybody who you met.
-No. I imagine they sort of look at you, like, sort of this.
-Yeah. -And I imagine that's sort of,
yeah, an odd way to spend your day.
-I also think giant rooms sound really cool
until the minute you're sitting in one.
And then you're like, "This is really cold."
-Yeah, "Can we bring everything in a bit?"
-I'd love to just get it in? Also, I feel like you --
if you were in, like, Buckingham Palace,
you're like, "Oh, my God, I need way more pictures
to put up on the wall and stuff."
-I mean, I hear anecdotally,
they kind of hate Buckingham Palace.
-Yeah. -That's why they sort of
constantly go out to sort of Scotland and all the other ones.
-Yeah. I mean, I guess that's the thing.
I've always said, if you have a Buckingham Palace,
make sure you have other places. -Yeah, exactly.
How other palaces? -You got to have
a few other palaces when you get tired of your palace.
That is just -- -That's a good rule.
-That's one of the hard, fast rules.
[ Laughter ] You stayed with one of your --
I heard you were getting work done on your place.
You were staying with one of your costars --
Helena Bonham Carter. How was that?
Did you know each other well? You must have.
-Well, we've gotten to know each other on the show.
Yeah, she's a wonderful woman.
And she very kindly took me in, in my hour of need.
I sort of had a shortfall for a few weeks.
Yeah, we've been doing a sort of deep meta kind of "Crown,"
where I sort of live with Princess Margaret.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Sort of like an alternate reality.
-We stayed in the accents and everything.
-Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-It was bizarre. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But as actors, you have to, yeah.
-I mean, it's very important to do this sort of work.
-[ Laughs ]
-I mean, I hope you can see the results in the show.
-Absolutely. I think we all did.
The Queen texted me. She loved it.
[ Laughter ]
So, you know, I first -- I think I first saw you in "Rome."
-Oh, wow, yeah. -I loved you in "The Terror."
-And very serious stuff. and then you turned up
in "Catastrophe," which is a wonderful show,
created by Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan.
And another great show, called "This Way Up."
These are comedies. which I hadn't seen you in.
And yet, even in the comedies, it seems like
you play it very serious. -Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I'm essentially not a very funny person.
[ Laughter ] So the only way I can be funny
is if someone brilliant like Sharon Horgan
or Aisling Bea write me funny things to say.
And then I keep my face quite still.
And I say the line. And apparently it's funny.
-That's great. -That's how it works.
-And when they first came to you,
I mean, I think sometimes there are dramatic actors
who, when they get a chance at comedy,
they think, "Oh, my God, great.
Now I can do all these funny voices I have."
Did they come to you and specifically say,
"Just do exactly what you do in the serious things?"
-No, no, I mean, I have my faults,
but I have a very clear sense of how funny I am.
[ Laughter ] So I know --
I know that I need their help. and I'm very grateful to them
for, yeah, making me occasionally funny.
-Oh, great. It pays off great. You're wonderful in both.
And thanks so much for being here.
It's really great to meet you. -Thank you.
-Thank you so much. Tobias Menzies, everybody.