Looks Unfamiliar: Jem Roberts – ET Is A Definite Thing

Doop by Doop (Clubstitute, 1993) - listen to Jem Roberts and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast in which writer and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington talks to a guest about some of the things that they remember that nobody else ever seems to.

Joining Tim this time is comedy historian Jem Roberts, who’s sharing his widely-challenged recollections of an advert reuniting Neil and Vyvyan from The Young Ones, ZX Spectrum game Dizzy and its many suspiciously close relatives, short-lived rave-goes-Charleston sensation Doop by Doop, budget maize snack Wheelz, powdered drink from outer space Alien Blood and the dim and distant days of Wet Wet Wet Actually Being Any Good. Along the way we’ll be finding out the best techniques for constructing a ‘sandwich car’, learning how not to confuse ET with a gardener, and wondering who smoked ‘Rococan’ and if they were able to still form actual sentences afterwards.

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The Memphis Sessions by Wet Wet Wet (Phonogram, 1988) - listen to Jem Roberts and Tim Worthington talking about it in Looks Unfamiliar.

About Jem

Jem Roberts is a historian, comedian and musician; you can find Jem’s website here and follow him on Twitter at @JemRoberts. You can get Soupy Twists!, Jem’s biography of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, from Unbound here and Amazon here. Fab Fools, Jem’s book about The Beatles and comedy, is available here.

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If you’ve enjoyed this, you’ll enjoy Tim’s book Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a collection of columns and features with a personal twist. Can’t Help Thinking About Me is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. Don’t get any wild ideas about dunking Wheelz into it.

Further Listening

Deborah Tracey joined us for a chat about Dizzy spinoff Kwik Snax – and the time she played it for eight hours straight – on Looks Unfamiliar here.

Jem also appears in The Best Of Looks Unfamiliar alongside Steve O’Brien on High Times and Ice Cold Cube by The Stone Roses, Ben Baker on Mysteries Of Old Peking, Lisa Parker and Andrew Trowbridge on The Jaws Game, Martin Ruddock on Doomlord, Mark Griffiths on The Bloke Who Pulled His Pants Down On Kilroy and Tim on the radio talking about the long-forgotten reboot of The Prisoner; you can find it here.