It is time to find out
who is going to be our Unexpected Star Of The Show!
CHEERING
So, just a reminder,
this is where somebody comes to the theatre
and they think they're coming here for work
but really they have a secret desire to perform
and we give them that opportunity on this very stage.
So here is our Unexpected Star tonight, he is called Andy Quinn.
Come on, let's hear it for Andy!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
He is 36 years old, he's from Nottingham
and he is a firefighter.
And doesn't he look like...? CHEERING
Apart from the fact his cardigan looks incredibly flammable,
he looks like he can deal with fire and fight it at any moment.
So that's Andy. And he is coming to this office next door
to give a fire safety talk, so that is right next door,
and let me show you what it looks like now.
Yes, there it is.
It's the MMBS Training Centre Ltd,
not a real company.
Of course, that is in reference to the name of our television show,
Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
But he would have to have incredible intuition to see that and go,
"Hang on a minute,
"that's the abbreviation for Michael McIntyre's Big Show!"
This is the fake room where Andy will be giving a talk,
so we'll have six actors sitting down in these seats,
but, of course, the real reason Andy is here is that
he has a burning desire to perform on the West End stage
and we're going to make his dream come true.
Yes!
All right.
we can now, I believe, go live to that very room and there he is.
And he's in his uniform,
the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Can you confirm that is your husband and son?
Yes?
None of this is real!
How exciting.
OK. So, what's going to happen is someone's going to come upstairs
when I call them up
and say they need help getting the fire extinguishers
and they're going to come down in through a corridor here
and then on this stage there'll be a store room
with the fire extinguishers in them. As soon as he gets in there,
then a fire alarm is going to go off
and the fire extinguishers are also going to go off
and put foam all over him,
then water is going to come out of the ceiling.
And the lights will be flashing and then the walls will collapse
And then, with a bit of luck,
he will agree to perform at the end of this show.
So, we're about to bring him up to the stage
to give him this massive surprise, but first,
we're going to have a little bit of fun,
because two of those actors actually have microphones in their ear
and we can communicate with them. So...
let's see if we can talk to Richard.
Where's Richard? Richard, if you can hear me, scratch your nose.
Gemma, Gemma?
If you can hear me, sneeze quite violently.
Oh, so sorry!
He is very unimpressed by that.
Richard, can you have your hand up, please?
Can you just raise your hand with a question?
OK, Richard, your question is going to be, "I've heard the phrase,
"there's no smoke without fire, but is that actually true?"
I just want to ask, sorry, I've heard the phrase,
"There's no smoke without fire." Yeah.
But, like, is that actually true?
APPLAUSE
You can have smoke without fire.
You can have fires that smoulder away
without any fire for hours and hours on end.
Can you follow this up with, "What about smoke machines in discos?"
If you haven't got enough oxygen, it...
Yeah, but what about smoke machines in discos?
What about them?
OK, Gemma, when you can, can you just say, "Coral,"
that's the person sitting in front of you,
"Coral's too embarrassed to ask,
"but can you do a fireman's lift on her?"
Once it gets the right mixture of heat, oxygen...
Sorry, Coral, this is my friend, Coral.
Hello. She's too embarrassed to ask,
but she really wants you to do a fireman's lift on her.
APPLAUSE
I'm here to talk to you...
Just do it. ALL: Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
CORAL: I'm heavier than I look. No.
You're not heavy! Oh, my God. Do you just want me to do it?
Yeah! "Agh, fire! Fire! Help me!" Right, it's just a case of that.
Whoa! Oh, my God! Yay!
Woo!
Gemma, can you say that Coral also wants to know
if you have any photos of you in uniform?
Any more questions? Coral also wants to know...
Blooming 'eck!
Coral wants to know if you've got any photos of you in uniform?
She said that.
Probably not. LAUGHTER DROWNS SPEECH
Funnily enough, I have one photo I keep on my... Are you serious?
Come on! No, it's of me and my dad.
My dad was a firefighter. Or out of your uniform.
All right, normal questions now, normal questions.
Anyway... Yeah, shall we...? Any more questions?
Erm, you mentioned... Is it about Coral? It's not about Coral. OK!
Right. Can we bring Andy up with our little ruse?
Hey, guys. I'm just being aware of time.
We haven't got much longer. Have you got everything you need up here?
Extinguishers? I couldn't ask one of you to just give me a hand? Yeah!
Is that all right? Yeah, no worries. Yeah, I'll carry on.
General safety, mate. If you're happy to. Yeah.
I'm just aware of time. Absolutely fine.
So...
It's a bit of a walk, sorry. It's just next door in our next office.
Yeah, we keep all our stuff down this end.
My kids are off...
Where are they, did you say?
INDISTINCT
Sorry? Where are the girls?
Where are your girls, yeah? Are they back home, in bed? Yeah.
Yeah, it's probably late, isn't it, actually?
If you can do me a favour. Just grab,
there's a water one in there.
Yeah. There's another one upstairs that I'll just grab.
You'll see it as you go in. If you just grab that for me.
Yeah, no problem.
ALARM BLARES
CHEERING
Andy!
MICHAEL LAUGHS
It's Andy, ladies and gentlemen. Andy Quinn.
CHEERING There's your wife over there.
There's your dad. Oh, good lord, Andy!
You are such a good firefighter
that you have managed to avoid everything...
Andy, this was supposed to douse you in foam and water
and you've walked straight out.
You're as clean as a whistle!
Andy, don't panic. Yes. Don't panic. This is my television show.
As you can see, your wife is over there and your father
and family and friends.
And we are here, of course, to surprise you.
We were hoping there was going to be a little bit more of a surprise
at the end. I always mess things up. Oh, no, you haven't at all.
Come over here and have a chat.
So I'm going to go with what was supposed to happen.
I've got a towel here... Dry me. ..to dry you off
because I know you're covered in...
APPLAUSE ..in all the foam and the water.
Right. And, of course, here is a carpet.
Careful not to slip because I know,
I know your feet are supposed to be very wet.
Now, Andy, everything you've been doing here tonight isn't real.
That fire safety course wasn't happening.
Those people in the course are actors.
So I don't know if we can see... They're all in on this. Yeah.
They're all waving.
APPLAUSE
Did you have any sense today that something was up?
I don't have any sense at all, have I?
You haven't got any sense at all?
You had the sense to avoid everything we set up for you...
Yeah! ..in the room.
Well done for that. So... They're still waving.
They're still waving. That might be on a loop.
I don't know what's wrong with those people.
So, tell me how you're feeling right now.
No idea. Yeah, it's confusing. Yeah.
You don't know what's happening, do you? No.
Well, you are going to be, hopefully,
something that we call the Unexpected Star Of The Show
which is where we bring you to this theatre,
you're in the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane,
and, hopefully, if you'll agree, you will be performing...
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
..in front of over 2,000 people here.
Now, you like performing, you like singing,
you like musical theatre. I did. You did?
Could be the end of it tonight.
We have a whole production lined up.
I can't imagine more people rooting for you than we have here tonight.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
We're all on your side, Andy.
So all that remains for me to do is to ask you, Andy,
if you will be our Unexpected Star Of The Show tonight?
Yeah, yeah. All right, he's going to do it!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Ladies and gentlemen,
it's our firefighting Unexpected Star Of The Show, Andy!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the wonderful,
our unexpected star of tonight's show, it's firefighter Andy.
CHEERING
MUSIC: Bring Him Home from Les Miserables
# God on high... #
APPLAUSE
# Hear my prayer
# In my need
# You have always been there
# He is young
# He's afraid
# Let him rest
# Heaven blessed
# Bring him home
# Bring him home... # APPLAUSE
# Bring him home
# He's like the son I might have known
# If God had granted me a son
# The summers die
# One by one
# How soon they fly
# On and on
# And I am old
# And will be gone
# Bring him peace
# Bring him joy
# He is young
# He is only a boy
# You can take... # APPLAUSE
# You can give
# Let him be
# Let him live
# If I die
# Let me die
# Let him live
# Bring him home
# Bring him
# Home! #
CHEERING
Come on, let's go and see him.
CHEERING
CHEERING CONTINUES
Ladies and gentlemen, what about that?
Our unexpected Star Of The Show. Fireman Andy!
Incredible!
That was truly remarkable.
How did that feel?
It felt all right, yeah. Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, I enjoy it now.
Now it's done.
Dad, how did you feel watching that?
I'm blown away, mate, blown away.
Yeah.
Very, very talented.
Is this Mum? It's Mum.
How did you enjoy that? It was just amazing.
I've never, ever heard him sing that song and I've always wanted to hear
him sing it. Yeah. It's beautiful.
Well, let's talk to the lady who does get to bring him home.
LAUGHTER
How did you enjoy that, Emma? Oh, I'm just so proud of you.
I hope it was all that you wanted it to be, was it?
Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, one more time, absolutely fantastic,
our Unexpected Star Of The Show.
It's fireman Andy and his family, wonderful!
Go and enjoy the moment.
Ladies and gentlemen,
please give it up for everybody we've had on tonight.
We will see you again next week for another Big Show!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Until then, thank you very much.