Joe Lycett's new Friday night series, Live from the Lycett Arms, will be broadcast live from a working pub, with his aunties working the bar and celebrities doing shifts as managers – if he can secure his licence. The comedian, who admits he failed the mandatory exam for a personal licence, is set to host the show while operating the pub.
A Pub Under Construction and a Failed Exam
Lycett, who now goes to bed at about seven o'clock to match his almost-two-year-old son's schedule, is preparing for the show, which airs live three hours after his new bedtime. The pub, located in fashionable east London, is not yet fully constructed. "It's not fully constructed yet, so I've been to where it will be," he explains. "It's going to be in fashionable east London, and that's everything I can say about it, because I don't actually know the full address."
He promises the finished building will be "identifiably a pub. There'll be an outdoor area and a cellar. There's a bar. There's a kind of back room. There's a saloon bar. There's a pool table. There's darts. There's karaoke. It should be really fun. That's the goal. If it isn't fun, there's no point in doing it."
A bigger issue is that, as the pub's licensed operator, Lycett must pass a Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders. "I took the exam but I failed," he says. "I didn't do any work, so that is a problem. I needed about 70% to pass, and I got something like 38%. I tried to use common sense, and I don't have a lot of it apparently."
Asked about the four licensing objectives from the Licensing Act 2003, Lycett fumbled: "Safe … safety … safe drinking environment to create … happy places, for people … to dwell?" The correct answer is: prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, protection of children from harm, and prevention of public nuisance. "Yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?" he responded, before adding, "Well, I think I paraphrased that. And I think that's their problem that I didn't get the licence because I did essentially paraphrase it right."
Celebrity Managers and a Return to Standup
Despite the setback, Lycett assures the show will go on, with a stand-in licensee if needed. "So, it's my pub," he says. "But from week one, there will be a celebrity manager who's doing a trial shift. My aunties are going to be working the bar. There will be a weekly quiz and rotating regulars. I'm well up for weird and wonderful celebrities to just turn up, drink a pint and leave. I just want it to be constantly surprising and silly."
He also expressed amazement that the show was commissioned, noting, "I'm kind of amazed they've commissioned it, because nobody's commissioning anything at the moment. TV is in freefall – I don't know if you've heard." He joked about hospitality also being in freefall, asking, "Should I join the Guardian? Is that doing well?"
Lycett is also returning to standup after a couple of years away. "I'm touring next year, but since last October I've been trying to do one gig a week," he says. "It took me a good few months to feel even close to like I knew what I was doing. I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing. But I'm really enjoying being on stage, and I'm not panicked about it in the way I was when I had just come back from paternity leave."
He disputed being called a national treasure, but eventually conceded, "Fine, OK, I'm a national treasure, yes." On whether he feels a greater responsibility, he said, "No. If I started to change who I am on stage to fit what I think people want of me, I'd go mad." He added, "I think the thing that has changed what I do most is being a father. I feel more risk averse, but I also want to stand up for things more than I used to. It's like this weird tussle between not wanting to annoy the wrong people because I just want a calmer life, and also really wanting to annoy those people a lot more."
Celebrity Traitors and the Lycett Arms
Lycett will also appear on The Celebrity Traitors later this year. He remained tight-lipped: "The production team were very nice, as was Claudia Winkleman. I can't say anything about the other players, so I can't say whether they're nice or not."
Before that, he has six episodes of Live from the Lycett Arms to deliver. As he left the interview, he was taking notes on the pub's decor, particularly the bar. "Apparently it's been treated with Danish oil," he said approvingly. "That might be a future requirement for any pub I go into. The bar must have been treated with Danish oil."
