I Am Rick Edwards...
Rick Edwards is the self appointed ‘man mountain’ of the T4 team, presenting the classic and popular Sunday morning ‘hangover TV’. His TV career took off, thanks to a helping hand from Ruby Wax, after studying natural sciences at Cambridge University. A staunch Liverpool supporter and keen film buff Rick is due to take T4 back to the beach this summer as the wise-cracking man mountain’s TV career goes from strength to strength.
h: Who have been the most important people in your life?
R: My mum and dad obviously, and my girlfriend who I’ve been with for quite a long time. And also my best friend, Lenny.
h: What characteristics have you got from your mum and dad?
R: I’m an only child so a lot of my interaction as a kid was with them. I got used to talking to adults quite early on because it seemed normal. I suppose if I’m a nice, good, kind person – which I am a bit - then it’s down to my mum. My mum’s one of those people who you think must be too good to be true, you think she must have a dark side, but she hasn’t; she’s just lovely. Though she does have a sulk sometimes…
h: Well that’s allowed!
R: I definitely inherited that from her; I do sulk sometimes, in a good way. And my dad, we always got on. You hear about fathers and sons having difficult periods, but we didn’t. We watched comedy a lot, and so my dad’s sense of humour is similar to mine.
h: You moved away from London to Portsmouth quite young. How did this move affect your childhood?
R: It wasn’t awful but at the same time I didn’t speak like everyone else. People in Portsmouth have a specific accent and I didn’t have it; that’s always something to deal with as a child. I did miss London; London was cooler so I wanted to get back as quickly as I could. As I went off to university, I would always spend most of my holidays in London rather than coming back to Portsmouth.
h: Did you ever get into trouble as a child?
R: I was a bit of a troublemaker at school. Not through being a bad kid though, but because I wanted to stand up and be funny, which wasn’t appropriate in a maths lesson. So I had to leave a school, by mutual consent…
h: You mean by expulsion?
R: Well, that’s the conventional word, but I wasn’t technically expelled. They let me do my GCSEs; well they didn’t want to, they wanted to kick me out before that, but my Dad said ‘Well, how about you don’t [kick him out]?’ So they let me stay but they said I couldn’t stay on to do my A-Levels, but then I wasn’t going to go back for my A-Levels anyway, so it was by mutual consent and all worked out fine. I said it doesn’t count on my record as an expulsion!
h: What kind of music did you listen to when growing up?
R: My first real musical memory is quite a clear one, and it’s of watching Back To The Future, which is one of my favourite films. It’s Michael J Fox playing Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode and just thinking ‘I can’t believe how good this song is,’ and that’s what triggered my interest in rock n roll. I still listen to Johnny B Goode and it always makes me really happy.
h: What other music were you into as a teenager?
R: I think it was obligatory – or at least it was at my school anyway – of going through a stage of loving Guns N Roses, even Sepultura, which I definitely didn’t like but I probably pretended to. I remember getting my first Guns N Roses t-shirt, I went to Guilford and spent 9 pounds which seemed a lot. They were the first band I can remember specifically trying to learn the words. I have great memories of trying to learn the lyrics to Civil War for example – which isn’t even their best song, but I studied it for some time. I’m not one of those people who can pick up lyrics easily; I have friends where you can name any song and they can sing it, or at least part of it, whereas I’m a really hummer!
h: Do you think the words are completely different to what they actually are?
R: Yes! Like ‘Poppadom Preach.’
h: Did you have a first love you can remember?
R: I remember my first love – a girl called Jenny. She was at swimming club and moved away for secondary school at a boarding school. We were pen pals for a bit and I used to get so excited every time her letters came through. But over time, her letters talked more and more about the older boys that she was hanging out with. So I got the message.
h: Did you ever used to listen to any slushy songs?
R: This isn’t even when I was that young unfortunately. When I was 19, I broke up with my first serious girlfriend. And just because it was out at the time – that’s my excuse – I listened to Eagle Eyed Cherry’s Save Tonight constantly for about two weeks. So I do know most of the words to that, mostly by repetition! I don’t even think the words were particularly relevant to the situation I was in, but they felt like it at the time.
h: You studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University - did you ever think you would do a job using that?
R: No I never thought that. I wanted to go university because it seemed like a fun thing to do, and also because no-one in my family had really gone to university because so I knew my parents would be really chuffed. They’re probably happier about that than anything I’ve done since! I always wanted to do something like I am doing now – some sort of performancy thing. Cambridge is a strange place but it’s got a really good comedy club. So I did a lot of stand up there and comedy sketch shows – that was really fun.
h: What was it like doing stand up?
R: It is scary, but when you’re 18, you’re quite fearless and it felt like I wanted to do it for a few years and I’d not had an outlet to do it legitimately which is why I got into so much trouble at school.
h: Any songs which remind you of your time at university?
R: My friends and I had Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn – about six of us all with the single! But the thing that we really got into was Hip-Hop. I had a brief flirtation with Drum and Bass, but then got into Hip-Hop. I have quite an eclectic mix!
h: What Hip-Hop track would you like to play?
R: The album which defines my university [life] is Dr Dre’s 2001, even though it only came out in my final year. As soon as you hear it now, it changes the mood of all my friends and we know we’re going to have a good time. It’s amazing that it still has that power on us now, 9 years later. The first few bars, and you’re in – you know it’s going to be a good night.
h: Have you always been scientifically and mathematically skewed?
R: No, actually. It’s one of those things where having a good teacher or bad teacher can really influence your decisions. When I was at school my favourite subject was History thanks to my teacher Mr. Scott. He was amazing and a brilliant teacher. I loved History and it was probably the subject I was best at. I really liked English too, and conversely had another teacher who I didn’t get on with. And it meant I didn’t do well in my English exams when I really should have done. That influenced my decision to do Maths and Science A-Levels.
h: You tutored Ruby Wax’s kids?
R: Yes I tutored her son Max, Maths and Science.
h: Did you know that it was going to be her house you were going to?
R: No, I got recommended by another family I was tutoring for. Because he’s disappointingly not called Max Wax, but Ruby was there. We got on, and it was her who said she was doing this show with a production company and that I should go in and meet them. So I did and got my first job. Well I left university, did some tutoring and a bit of modelling which was the worst thing in the world and then got on this graduate trainee scheme.
h: You’re pulling such a face at the thought of the modelling – did you hate modelling or the pictures?
R: I’d say both. I wore some crotch-enhancing jeans which is a real black mark in my career! [laughs] I ended up doing audience warm-up for one of Ruby’s day-time chat shows. It was quite funny; they didn’t have any money for a warm-up so they asked us if anyone wanted to do it. So I put my hand up and said, ‘Yeah, ok.’
h: Did you use your stand up?
R: Well the first time I tried to. But then I realised that didn’t really work for warm-up. Warm-up is just meant to be warming them up so they’re ready to respond. Then they auditioned me for RI:SE; they got me to do the paper review with Iain Lee, which was amazing. It was hard work and getting up at 3am is not the dream, but writing jokes for Iain was an honour, as he’s the one who made me want to go into presenting.
h: Have there been any famous musicians who you’ve got really nervous interviewing?
R: The most excited I got was when I met Alex James. I loved Blur and I couldn’t quite believe that I was sitting, having a chat to Alex James. He was lovely.
h: So, a lot of people know you for being on T4, and is it true that you went to, before you got the gig this time; did you lose out to Vernon or something?
R: Yes, that’s absolutely right! When I was 20 I went to an open audition for T4. They were looking for a replacement for Dermot, and it was this big search that they’d televised as well. I got down to the last two.
h: And what did you think at the time?
R: At the time it was quite devastating not to get it, but what it meant was that I could finish university and also that it hadn’t just fallen into my lap really easily. My dad always says, “it felt bad but it’s good that you failed at something, that it didn’t work out.” I suppose up until that point everything had gone pretty to plan for me really. I think having that knock back; it is in retrospect a good thing. I was down to the last two, it was me and Colin Murray. And then in the end they didn’t go for either of us, they got Vernon in, and so to this day my dad hates Vernon!
h: Does he?
R: Yeah, he doesn’t like him! It’s unfair but he does.
h: So then how did it happen that you did get the job on T4?
R: I got the job on E4 Music, I don’t know if it was designed to be, but was a bit of a feeder for T4, and so I just started to do odd bits and pieces and then they got me and Alexa on board permanently about two years ago.
h: And do you love it?
R: I do, I really love it. It’s the show that if you’d asked me 10 years ago what show do you want to do? I would have said T4. So it’s quite incredible to actually be doing the job that you wanted, and I just feel massively lucky. I just spend most of my time laughing.
h: How did your friends and family react when they first saw you on television?
R: My mum doesn’t really watch me on television at all because she’s just not that interested. She’s proud, but not so proud that she actually wants to watch. Whereas my dad will watch when he can.
h: Does he comment on anything that you’ve said?
R: Sometimes. I found out the other day that he follows me on Twitter. That’s not okay!
h: And what about your mates? What was their reaction?
R: I think they felt that sort of thing I’d end up doing, and quite a few of my friends are in the media as well. They’re writers, journalists or comedians, so it doesn’t feel like that big a deal.
h: So your friend Lenny that you mentioned before, is he a friend that you’ve had for years and years?
R: Yes. I guess we’ve been friends for 10 years. He’s a maths teacher, in fact he’s probably the only one of our friends that doesn’t work in some form of media, but he’s the one who does a good, worthy job! Although I went in and taught his kids, I went in and did three maths lessons with his kids.
h: Have you ever made a mixtape for anyone?
R: This is really embarrassing, it was CD era and it was again, not that long ago. My girlfriend went away to Argentina for a year out, she’s doing languages. She was in Buenos Aires in Argentina working in film and so I made her a CD. I put a song on there that wasn’t a song that we’d ever talked about. This song came out and the first time I heard it I had no idea who it was by then it transpired that it was by Snow Patrol and I though, argh! I still put it on there; I really thought the quality of the song will carry this through, and actually she was like, “well, I’m not sure about the Snow Patrol opener.”
h: Now Rick it’s been mentioned in some articles about you that you haven’t got a sense of smell, is that true?
R: Yes, that is true. Imagine if that was a lie! I thought how can I make myself more mysterious and interesting? Well, I’ll just lose one of the senses I guess!
h: Have you never had a sense of smell then?
R: No, I did have a sense of smell up until I was about 14 and then I was in a science lesson and I sniffed pure ammonia which is really, don’t do it kids! Really don’t do it. It burnt the sensory cells out of my nose. For a while I couldn’t smell…
h: You’re a keen Liverpool supported, is that correct?
R: Yes it is, yes it is.
h: What made you support them not Portsmouth or North London?
R: Tottenham is my family team. My dad is mad on football and was very keen on me being mad on it too, so from an early age we’d play football together. I loved playing football going to games. He’d take me to little grounds with fourth division games on, I’d sit on his shoulders and we’d be in the terraces. As a kid it was the most exciting thing in the world. But I found watching it on TV really boring; we were watching the 1986 FA Cup final, and he said, “just pick one of the teams and support them, it’ll be better.” And I just picked the red team.
h: Do you get upset when your team loses?
R: It’s really hard to explain to someone who’s not a football fan, how you can be crippled and just feel sick and it can ruin your day, your week. It does my blood pressure no good; I just get so worked up. It’s horrible in a way but you can’t do anything about it.
h: Have you got any exciting interviews or any projects coming up?
R: Well, I’m doing this track and field show which is great for me because I was really in to athletics when I was a kid. My hero was Daley Thompson, I’ve got his autograph, Linford, got his autograph. Sally Gunnell, autograph, John Regis, autograph.
h: What do you do with all these autographs?
R: It doesn’t matter what you do with them, it’s the fact that I’ve got them! So Channel 4 are doing this track and field show, it’s like a magazine format. It’s really fun actually, and I’m getting to try and learn new disciplines, for example, hurdles, not that difficult, pole vault, absolutely impossible!
Hear 'This Is Who I Am' with Rick Edwards on Tuesday 21st July at 8pm on Heat Radio
