When Demetris Demetriou and his son Lagi Demetriou shuffled onto the Britain's Got Talent stage performing their Stavros Flately gig, little did they know they'd tap-dance right into our hearts and become a symbol of joy and family. Their act, Stavros Flatley, wasn't just a dance; it became a phenomenon that spoke to the soul of fun, laughter, and the unbreakable bond between father and son.
On our latest episode, Demetris Demetriou shares the unexpected twists of fame and how he balances the limelight with the grounding force of Cypriot culture and close-knit family values. His story isn't just one of entertainment; it's about finding beauty in life's simple pleasures and the importance of protecting it with a fierce yet loving embrace.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to pair Greek charm with Irish dance, and then serve it up at your wedding? Demetris takes us behind the scenes of turning that very concoction into a sought-after act that gets the whole wedding party on their feet. From the initial spark of an idea in a Greek restaurant to navigating stage fright, the story of this dynamic duo dance act teaches us that the magic of entertainment lies just as much in authenticity as it does in the act itself. As Demetris recounts, there's an art to keeping the act fresh and engaging, proving that humour and a good-hearted tease are timeless.
Finally, dreams do come true, but sometimes they're dressed in simplicity rather than stardom. As Demetris muses over the notion of a beach bar—a sanctuary of relaxation plucked from the dreamscape of "Shirley Valentine"—we're reminded that fulfillment can come from the most modest of aspirations! Through laughter, shared experiences, and the wisdom of a life well-lived, Demetris' example encourages us all to embrace our dreams, no matter how quaint, and to treasure the journey towards them as much as the destination itself.
Join us as we get carried away in the heartwarming tales of a man who danced his way into a life where every step is a note in the melody of joy.
To book Stavros Flatley for your special event or function reach out to: Karen@stavrosflatley.co
The information provided in Midweek Insights is for general informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Listeners should seek professional advice relevant to their specific circumstances before making any decisions.
While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the dynamic nature of certain topics may result in changes or updates. Midweek Insights does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of information discussed in the episodes.
Guests on Midweek Insights express their own opinions, which may not necessarily align with the views of the host. We encourage listeners to form their own opinions based on additional research and diverse perspectives.
When Demetris Demetriou and his son Lagi Demetriou shuffled onto the Britain's Got Talent stage performing their Stavros Flately gig, little did they know they'd tap-dance right into our hearts and become a symbol of joy and family. Their act, Stavros Flatley, wasn't just a dance; it became a phenomenon that spoke to the soul of fun, laughter, and the unbreakable bond between father and son.
On our latest episode, Demetris Demetriou shares the unexpected twists of fame and how he balances the limelight with the grounding force of Cypriot culture and close-knit family values. His story isn't just one of entertainment; it's about finding beauty in life's simple pleasures and the importance of protecting it with a fierce yet loving embrace.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to pair Greek charm with Irish dance, and then serve it up at your wedding? Demetris takes us behind the scenes of turning that very concoction into a sought-after act that gets the whole wedding party on their feet. From the initial spark of an idea in a Greek restaurant to navigating stage fright, the story of this dynamic duo dance act teaches us that the magic of entertainment lies just as much in authenticity as it does in the act itself. As Demetris recounts, there's an art to keeping the act fresh and engaging, proving that humour and a good-hearted tease are timeless.
Finally, dreams do come true, but sometimes they're dressed in simplicity rather than stardom. As Demetris muses over the notion of a beach bar—a sanctuary of relaxation plucked from the dreamscape of "Shirley Valentine"—we're reminded that fulfillment can come from the most modest of aspirations! Through laughter, shared experiences, and the wisdom of a life well-lived, Demetris' example encourages us all to embrace our dreams, no matter how quaint, and to treasure the journey towards them as much as the destination itself.
Join us as we get carried away in the heartwarming tales of a man who danced his way into a life where every step is a note in the melody of joy.
To book Stavros Flatley for your special event or function reach out to: Karen@stavrosflatley.co
The information provided in Midweek Insights is for general informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Listeners should seek professional advice relevant to their specific circumstances before making any decisions.
While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the dynamic nature of certain topics may result in changes or updates. Midweek Insights does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of information discussed in the episodes.
Guests on Midweek Insights express their own opinions, which may not necessarily align with the views of the host. We encourage listeners to form their own opinions based on additional research and diverse perspectives.
Speaker 1:
Welcome, lovely listeners, to another episode of Midweek Insights. Today's guest needs absolutely no introduction in the realm of entertainment. His charm, humor and larger-than-life personality precede him. I'm so happy to extend a warm welcome to the one and only Dimitris Dimitril, who won us over as Stavros Flatley in his incredible dance act. Along with his son Laiki, they're not only captured our hearts, but their infectious energy and humor and unbeatable dance moves on Britain's Got Talent, but they also shone a light on their beautiful bond between father and son. Additionally, they showcase their love and devotion and pride for their homeland, cyprus, through their unmistakable tattoos displayed on their chests for the world to see, leaving no doubt about their love and their hearts and their spirit. Beyond his performance, he embodies the spirit of joy, authenticity that resonates deeply with audiences around the world. Thank you so much for being here and coming along to tell us about your incredible journey so far.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that was an interesting. Maybe you should be my manager. No, I'd love to. That's probably the best introduction I've ever had.
Speaker 1:
I'll take it. I'll take it. Thank you so much. I must say I am a little bit starstruck, because I was one of your biggest fans when I first saw the video. It brought so much joy and laughter and then I shared it with my children again. And every now and then, whenever I want to go back and have that dose of just like forgetting about the world and just seeing the joy and the humor that exists, I'll watch it again and again, and it still brings joy. So I just wanted to start by thanking you for that moment and making us so proud to have you as part of our separate culture.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, it was. I mean, if you knew the real story behind it, maybe most of the stuff I've done and most of the things that have happened to us is a lot of luck. I believe I don't think. I mean, if I'd have planned it out, then people would say I was a genius. But it wasn't. It was just a lot of luck. Certainly there was some element I knew it was gonna be funny.
Speaker 2:
I didn't realize that once you hit people with one moment when it makes them belly laugh that it would last for however many years I mean it's 15 years and still doesn't like continues to shock me all the time how we're still going off of one gag and the things that we do now. When we go off and perform, nobody knows that we're gonna do it. When they hire us, they don't realize. They just think, oh, we want them to do that first one that they. They did all them years ago. But so that that continues to surprise me.
Speaker 2:
If you were comedian and you were telling the same joke for 15 years, you'd be billed off stage. So having that really really makes me wonder how long this is gonna go on for, because this is. It's insane. We always think every year oh, this will be, it be finished, and this year we have 30 bookings. The first year, first two years, was crazy, but even as long as it's been going and I do enjoy doing the things that we do and there's never I don't think there's been anything bad come of it, but it doesn't it never ceases to amaze me how long. And and if you make somebody laugh that much, then they'll never forget you yeah, and that's it exactly.
Speaker 1:
People remember how you make them feel and that's exactly what I remember having watched your video. And I want to go back to a little bit of life before Britain's Got Talent. So what was that like? And I think you've also answered you didn't imagine that this would happen as a result of it. But take me back to life before Britain's Got Talent. What was life like for you?
Speaker 2:
I mean typically a separate family living in London, a lot of family, you know, family-orientated, hard-working, it's the same. We always say that the Cypriots living away from Cyprus tend to be more, more embedded in their culture because that they live far away. So you know, obviously coming back for holidays and spending time here, because my grandparents every holiday was Cyprus, obviously. So you tend to try and keep your traditions going. You want your kids to learn the language, to learn the culture like it, like it was so into it. I mean Ellie, my daughter. It was a little bit more different because she she was into horses and horse riding, whereas like he I mean, if it was anybody that I ever thought was gonna go in into entertainment, it was always Ellie was never lagging like. He wasn't one of these kids that I would have said, oh, he's got this thing where he wants to, to be in in front of people doing stuff. I did.
Speaker 2:
I, most of my life I've spent even having a. I had a restaurant for 10 years before that. I was always in in hotels and, you know, even I ran a night, a jazz nightclub, for a few years. So it was, I was always in that, that pub. I never saw lagging there. So when we, when I opened the restaurant, I had these big ideas of having a great Greek restaurant with, with fantastic food and and I always thought that it would be a good idea to start doing Greek entertainment and and putting a bit of a twist on it, I didn't realize that. Well, not having not having run a restaurant before, my food was awful, so when I opened it, it tend it sort of relied on the entertainment so we would be packed. I mean, sometimes you couldn't get a table for three months on a weekend, but that wasn't because of the food, it was just purely the entertainment that you came and you had a really good time and and I had a knack of knowing how to make people have a good time. That was my, my lucky thing, because if you, if you can, you know if you open the restaurant and your food was that bad, you would never survive and we did, and that's why I think a lot of it was luck.
Speaker 2:
So it was a come from a hard-working family. My granddad, my, my grandma, always installed that in us and I lost my dad at an early age, so my mom was working a lot, so I spent a lot of time. My grandparents and and they, you know, I wasn't, you know, she, she, she installed I think my grandparents installed in me that the work ethic, the, the family thing which I'm, I'm really happy about. So having all that, I think, made me more like, concentrated on trying to balance it out. It was hard because you have a restaurant and everything and working all these hours, but I wanted to make sure, and losing my dad as well made me so focused on the kids, maybe a little bit too much. I'm very protected for my children and.
Speaker 2:
I know that could be bad, especially and now my grandchildren. So so that that's probably me in a nutshell, really.
Speaker 1:
That's an amazing story, and not many would admit to their food not being good.
Speaker 2:
They were just like you know, I used to get told so many times it came a running joke after a while. You just said that you end up agreeing with people.
Speaker 1:
There's no point arguing because it was true. Yeah, you couldn't argue that. So then what? How did you come up with the actual act of Stavros? Flatly, tell us a little bit about the origins of that.
Speaker 2:
So when having the restaurant it turned from being we had a Greek dancers, then we would have a belly dancer, then we would get everybody up dancing. Then it slowly, slowly progressed into making the customer the star of the show. So we would have the Greek dancers, the belly dancer, then we would get the customer up, we dress them up, we do stars in their eyes, a silly version of stars in their eyes, so they would dress up as Michael Jackson, gloria Gaynor, all these things come out. And because that's what was the big hit that if it was your birthday you wanted to come to restaurant to stitch up, to get you know, or stitch up the person whose birthday it was, or hen night, or whatever, and I always felt that I never had an ending for the show that I could get because we wanted to turn it from a restaurant to entertainment and then everybody dancing.
Speaker 2:
So I remember seeing Michael flatly and my grandma used to love watching stuff like that, I'm telling you used to love watching the Greek dancers, then she would love watching the Irish dancing. And I remember thinking, obviously I was a little bit overweight and I thought, wouldn't it be funny if a little fat guy had the attitude of Michael flatly the bravado. When you go out on stage and I know when I watch him I see him do these things, pointing to women in the crowd and just winking, and I said, wouldn't it be funny if a little fat guy had that bravado the Cypriot look at me or the Greek thing where you know that's what we're like Him doing. That is what I felt people see Greeks as, especially coming from. I don't know if you ever seen Zorba the Greek. You must have seen.
Speaker 1:
Zorba the Greek.
Speaker 2:
That final scene when he tells the guy, the teacher, the English guy, to just let go and just, you know, be free and dance, and that was all rolled into one. So I thought to myself, if I can portray that and have a little bit of fun on stage, I can do it. So what I did was I went and took my wife's jogging aerobics trousers. I took one of her belts and I called in.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was an. After that I'll never forget and I called, there was a hairdresser's next door to my restaurant. So I called one of the hairdressers in I can't remember her name. I said, well, do you mind just coming in? Just have a look at this. If you think it's funny, then I'll do it. There's no point doing it to show my wife or anybody else because family will just go. Oh yeah, it's good, it's good, but they won't tell you the truth. I said I want you to see. So I came running out and did it just for one person to see if it would work, and she fell off her chair laughing and I said, right, that's it.
Speaker 2:
So I started to do this, but like it was, I think like it was four years old, so I don't really remember them taking much notice when they used to come to the restaurant. They wouldn't really come at night too much. I mean, we would have them there, but I don't really remember him seeing it. So I would do this act. I would do Michael, I would call it Stavros Fladi Lobbados at the time instead of Stavros Flatley, and then at the end I would get everybody up. We would do a conga outside the restaurant, bring them back in and the whole place would be dancing and I would just leave it at that. And then, I think it was eight years later I sold the restaurant and had enough. I said I can't keep doing this, working all these hours. I've got to have a family life. I opened an electrical business with my brother and I just forgot about Stavros Fladi Lobbados as I would call it.
Speaker 2:
And then one day we were sitting watching Britain's Got Talent and Advert comes on the telly before the show starts. He said if you want to be in Britain's Got Talent, sign up. And I remember looking at my wife and I said I wouldn't it be funny if I did Stavros Fladi Lobbados again? And she said yeah, as if you're going to do that, I'm telling her. I said I'll do it. I said, but I said, and my son was sitting there, I was 12 years old. He said Dad, if you do it, I'll do it with you. I said legs, it's not that simple. I said the gag is you have to believe in your head that you're that good. I said you know that we look like how we look like Poggey fellas. But in your brain you have to believe that, otherwise they'll, you will come across as oh, I know I'm short of that, but it all you know all this has to believe that you think you're that good.
Speaker 2:
And I said forget the dance moves. The dance moves are easy because you just tap in your feet. They won't be looking at your feet, they'll be looking at your face. That you believe? He said I can do it. I can do it, dad. I said listen, ok, we'll go in.
Speaker 2:
We went in the other room in front of the computer. I showed him Michael Flatley and I said listen, do try and do that and bless him. When he started I thought, oh my God, he really can do these moves, I said. And he came up with a couple of moves of his own and I was like Jesus, maybe we could do this. And so we signed up. I remember we filled out the form and they asked what was the description of what you're going to do? So I put well, it's a Greek version of Michael Flatley. That's all I could think of without trying to go into it. So we practiced and practiced and practiced in front of Karen Ellie, my daughter and my friend, my best friend, mick. And when it came to they came back and they said we can do you, we can let you audition, but it won't be in London, it will be in Birmingham and I went on. I just went. I'm not bothered, I can't do that.
Speaker 2:
I got in a car for more than half an hour I'm finished, yeah, too far away. And my friend Mick said listen, we'll make a day of it, we'll go up there If I'm more feeling too much. You've got to stop, no no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:
I just want to hear this.
Speaker 2:
I love it.
Speaker 1:
When do you get to hear the background of what happened with Stubbler's Flatley? Come on, keep waffling, I'm here, I'm just going to listen.
Speaker 2:
So we went, we drove to Birmingham and it was. I've never seen so many people in my life. They were queuing up. You get your number, then you go into this, you queue up outside this room and then you go into this room and there's two people in the room and one of them was a producer, one was a cameraman. And I remember going in handing over my CD and I said look, I'm really sorry but I've got to go, we've got to get changed and then come back in. And he looked all confused and I remember I gave him the CD.
Speaker 2:
The intro started. It said what it said, and we came running and I saw him. He was laughing, he was. It was really awkward because there was just three. There was four people in the room me, laggy and the cameraman and him and then it finished and he said who are you to him? And I go well, I go, this is my son. And he goes. Oh, he goes. It's fantastic. They started filming us from that point, because what happens is they merge to when you go for your real audition in front of the judges and that audition they merge the two things. So they tell you to wear the same clothes as the same date so they can put that one. And they kept pushing and pushing about look, how much do you love your son. And I thought I don't want to be one of these things. Listen, he's my son. I love my son, but you're not going to. They want a story. Yeah, yeah, I wanted to be real.
Speaker 2:
I was a bit reluctant, I said listen, I'm not going down that road. He's my son. I love my son. I'm not going to keep professing how much I love my son to the world. That's, that's. I love my son, that's it.
Speaker 2:
So we were very accommodating, we were very honest with him, but when it came to the show I always thought there's a fix, this is fixed. It's not right. You know, when I watched the show I kept thinking they must know, they must realise. And I was proved wrong, because when we were about to go on stage, they one of the producers which I still see. Every time we go back to the show we get invited back a lot. I still see him and I always. He always comes up to me, shakes my hand and we always laugh about that moment. Because he came over and he said right, stavros, and he had an earpiece. And he said Stavros, are you ready? I said yeah, yeah, we're ready. He goes right, get changed. And I went what? And he said get changed, you're going on, you're going on now. In front of the judges I said no, no, no, no, no, no, wait one sec. If I get changed, put my wig on, our wig on. That's the game over the joke's over. I said the whole thing is a surprise.
Speaker 2:
No, no, no no, no, no, get changed, get changed. And I thought but don't you understand that if I walk on stage bare chest, we go on with my son? Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. So he was on his earpiece and I, like he always says, I threw a diva straw. I don't remember throwing a diva straw, that's your children to tell you yeah. So, like he says, and I'll never forget, like he was 12 and he went calm down, mate.
Speaker 1:
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, he goes. I tell you what he goes it takes us five seconds to get changed. We'll keep our trousers on, we'll take our tops off and put the wigs on. And the bloke went they're going to get changed in five seconds, talking to his earpiece. And they went okay. And so we went out and say, and that's when I knew maybe this isn't you know, you think that it's all rigged. And it was their faces, their faces. They didn't know what was going to happen. And after that it was just a whirlwind. We were on the same show as Susan Boyle and they couldn't use Susan Boyle for a lot of the stuff they wanted to, for the promos, so they used us. I don't mean that in a bad way. They used us on every newspaper, in every interview. We were plastered all over. You know, even the Sun newspaper had us on the front page. It was just. It was crazy, crazy, but all in a good way. It wasn't never anything bad. It was that thing after that first audition got shown. Then it just went unbelievable.
Speaker 1:
Well was anything frightening about that experience, like going from not being recognized to everybody knowing who you are and calling your name?
Speaker 2:
No, no, but I will tell you that. I mean we can talk about things later on in this where you realize that fame has two sides and I don't mean I have to say to you that I think there's different levels of fame. I think there's well known. I think there's Brad Pitt fame. Yeah, I think that there's famous for, like, where people go crazy. Yeah, I think there's different levels. I think we went through all three levels.
Speaker 2:
But I also think that fame is a roller coaster for the person that's going through it and, lucky for us, we always took it with a picture. Saw, there's certain times you'll be in a room and I mean this, like, I mean this in the nicest possible way, no, don't blame anyone for this but you'll be in a room and you will have people like 20 or 30 people queuing for pictures with you, right, and you're doing this and just having a picture, having a picture somebody else, more famous, walks in that room and the 20 people will just stand. Yeah, yeah, you have to be able to cope with that and I don't care, we really don't care, it's very funny, we'll look back.
Speaker 2:
we'll laugh about it, We'll think, but for some people that's really distressing. For them that fame is not the next person, there's always somebody more. So that will bring you back down really quick.
Speaker 1:
That's good, I guess. Right, you need a little bit.
Speaker 2:
And I think what's probably.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I'm surprised with how a 12 year old like your son was 12 when this happened and how to keep him grounded and how to keep him like. Balancing all this attention at that age, that must have been a little hard, was it not?
Speaker 2:
I wish I could tell you that I did all that, but I have to say a lot of it was laggy. I can't take credit for that. I'll tell you what I can take credit for and I don't wanna be bigheaded, but I can tell you what I can take credit for. I can take credit for telling laggy that he should talk to everybody else. Don't ever be scared to ask people questions. I can take credit for that. I can take credit for telling laggy that if you have an issue or a problem, if you tell 10 different people and take all their opinions and then decide for yourself, I can take all the credit for that. What I can't take credit for is I don't know how laggy kept it, because some of it was insane and some of it when we were on tour.
Speaker 2:
We all thought it would be a fun idea to go to Primoth when we were on the tour and it got really scary because there was all of a sudden crowds built and you were doing one after the picture, one after the picture, one after the picture, and people were getting closer and closer and closer and I got really scared. There we were on tour and there was gates where people would queue up screaming your name. I said what? So there's, it was all of that. So I don't know how laggy kept that grounded thing where you know. He knew that this will be over soon. Okay, we'll be happy to meet you, but they won't be screaming and wanting to touch you.
Speaker 1:
Which is good, right. You probably relieved that this part came.
Speaker 2:
Some people never lose that part. Yeah, it's a weird feeling, but to have that for all your life must change you. To have it for a couple, I mean really a year tops, where it was crazy, and then the rest of it was just people are happy to meet us now.
Speaker 2:
And very, very nice and never a bad word, always, and I wanted to keep it that way all the way through, whatever we did. I made a few mistakes where we chose to do something where we shouldn't have done it, but the stuff we've turned down. You wouldn't believe in the money on some of the stuff we turned down Life changing money because I said, legs, I'd rather not do this. And he always trusted me on that and some of the things he said, like dad, I don't want to do this, and I said, fine, let's not do it, but you have to be careful what you want from this industry, this industry. You have to be careful where you want to go and what you want to achieve, because I don't envy the people that wherever they go. If you do something bad on television or you do, you split people, love you and hate you. With us, we're just okay with us and everyone's happy. So no, we've never had a bad thing.
Speaker 1:
No, that's amazing. Do you have a criteria for what you shut out as a no option or yeah, let me go for it? Is there some way of you testing?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, what works for you. I've watched. I'll be honest with you. I've watched from growing up.
Speaker 2:
I was always a teleaniq. I was a complete and utter television freak. So I always knew. I always knew, but I didn't realize that sometimes television programs want you to do bad so that they can get rated. That I didn't realize, but I always knew that kind of program. We should stay away from this kind of program. And I only got fooled.
Speaker 2:
I got fooled once which was a program called Sugar Free Farm and although we enjoyed it and loved all the concept of it, it's still got your television. At the end of it it's still if you're doing, you're not doing well, or one person. They put one person in there to aggregate the rest of you. It's better television and it nearly got to that point. You might not see it on the program if you watch all the six episodes, but there was a couple of times where we thought why you brought one person in to annoy everyone else, to make them fall into the trap where they have arguments and everything. And that was the only time.
Speaker 2:
The rest of the like I said, some of the programs I turned down. I turned down because I knew it would affect. It would affect public's perception, whoever you are and whatever you do. If you put someone in a house or like, for example, say Big Bravo, or you put them in a situation where you're making them get along with other people, you wouldn't really associate them. It's like I've always said to legs on television if I don't like you and we're being filmed, I can't tell you. But I see you, I'm off. I don't need you making me in my life with this or I don't need you. I don't need your attitude. It's just not the person I get on with, so I'll go somewhere else In television. You have to sit there and put up with you and that's what they want to do. So I'm not a bad person to anyone, but everyone has their off days and everyone has their big and television programs. Certain television programs want that because it's what people want to see.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, people like to see drama, of course, yeah, otherwise it would be boring to watch, right? Yeah, sometimes, yeah, unless it's your act. So what's the most memorable moment from being on the show that might stand?
Speaker 2:
out. There's a few that I have to pinch myself sometimes. I'll give you three or four. Where one of them is. I mean we met the Queen, yeah, and that was a real shock moment for us, where they said we just thought we'd do the raw right performance, go home, and they asked us to be in the lineups. That was a real special moment. Another one was being backstage and I'm just walking through backstage and someone's like I'm not gonna do that. I'm just walking through backstage and someone shouts out to me Stab Ross, and I turn around and it's Rod Stewart and I'm thinking how do you know who I am? You're calling my name.
Speaker 1:
Love it.
Speaker 2:
Rod Stewart, I've grown up listening to your music and everything like that. Another one we got invited to do Glastonbury one of the stages at Glastonbury and we got there and I've never seen that many people me or like he we had a and like he had a bit of a panic attack and.
Speaker 2:
I always tell I always he laughs at it now, but he at the time he I think he got a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people. Plus, he turned around to me right the last minute before we're gonna go on stage and said that I can't do this. I said what you mean? He said, like these people, you're not gonna want to see us. We're always a surprise. Wherever we go, wherever we do, people always put us on as a surprise. So we're always hiding somewhere. And he said I can't do it. And I said okay. I said we'll just say sorry, we'll give them, like, obviously hate for it. We'd have to give them money, but the money's not a problem. We'll just say we can't go on.
Speaker 2:
And I remember there was this, this great guy, you know, obviously he was a bit of a hippie, and we were just about to. He came over and he said right, you ready boys? And I said no, I'm really sorry, I can't do it if my son says no, I'm good. And he got. He he looked at lagging. He said what are you worried about? He said these people don't want to see us. He said are you?
Speaker 2:
And it was a lot of swearing and he went are you mad? And like you? And what do you mean? He said are you crazy? He went your stepbros every minute. He said these people absolutely love you. And like he was, like he just took that guy to say if I just said it he wouldn't have worked. And he got get out on that stage and he says they're gonna absolutely adore you. And sure enough, the music, the specials of madness era and all that they were on before. So it was all like weird music. And then all of a sudden our music kicks in and you can see people's faces when you're peeking behind that girl and they're thinking, no, they have no way. And then we ran on stage and it just. It was insane how, all in the middle of something that you would think you would never see us, so people going absolutely like mad, shat and screaming and everything was. And we came off stage and like it was a different person yeah that was you're all cocky.
Speaker 2:
Now, ten minutes ago he goes yeah, yeah, it was good, it was good and we've learned from that. Things like that that never you should, never I know when, when gigs are good and gigs are bad, but well, I think I do and then people's reaction is is just, is brilliant. So those kind of moments. There was another one where we did a guy won the lottery, and there's always this thing you, if you win the lottery, you get a phone call from the lottery and they say what do you want? Like we'll do, we can get you anything we can get you into. Like it depended on the money you've won, but we get you anything you want. We can go to Haraj. We get your helicopter now take you to a thingy, blah, blah, blah, you can go, you know, any way you want. And the guy, when I want service, flatly on my house because you can get anything.
Speaker 2:
He's our own service. Back in my ass. Sure enough, we get picked up. Go to his house dance. No way, people that guy because he won the lottery he probably said it as a joke and so mad, mad things and dancing in places you know we dance to. We dance to the Colostomy Bag Convention once and I said to the guy why, where, where? I just thought we'd have a bit of fun. What a Colostomy Bag Convention, like all these new styles of Colostomy Bags, and bless them, they're really lovely it's the humor and the joy you bring.
Speaker 2:
People need to laugh, people need to feel joy it's a weird thing there's, there's magicians, there's singers, there's dancers, there's all these people. People can choose from, but there is only one stuff.
Speaker 2:
I'm sorry, get it yeah and even one of my favorites was dancing on a. The original Onassis is your. That was crazy. The Christina, oh, the one where we went into. We had the tour of boat as well amazing. So all of these memories that we've had and and things and places that we've done, some memories of the show just being a whirlwind, it is really good and trying to try to explain to people, and especially Lady. Being 12 years old, he doesn't know some of the history of the stuff. Like it, like we were on on the essence is your and I'm saying, my god, you know, frank Sinatra, dean Martin sat there while Onassis is, is entertaining them and and like he's going, yeah, but he's he's probably just looking at the good food and all the sweets you know, like normal 12 year olds would.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so you still perform, you say so, you get invited and you go to different shows, what inspires you for your new performances. So where do you draw your ideas from?
Speaker 2:
I think where we developed and progressed it was that we knew that the kind of shows that we would be doing, after a while we learn that we would be doing majority would be weddings. Yeah, and, believe it or not, it's, the majority is English weddings. There's there's a few Greek ones, but it's mainly English and Irish weddings. Yeah, festivals, big festivals. We did like we did Trafalgar Square once. We did a lot holiday parks, but we've sort of stopped the holiday parks because they want you to be away from home for a long time, and now Laggies got kids of his own, so we stopped that. Where our act is a bit different is number one. We're always a surprise for the bride and groom, or one of the bride and groomers has booked us for the surprise for the guests. Number two is the we're on just before. People want to get everybody up dancing. Yeah, because we can get the whole place up dancing if a fat guy, no, half naked on stage, tells you everybody up, you're doing.
Speaker 2:
Zorba the Greek, because they look at you and they think, well, kind of much worse. You know what you're looking like on stage now. You're half naked, just a blonde wig. So our act has progressed to 20 minutes. The first bit of it is the original act that we did. The last 17 20 minutes of it is the whole place is up dancing and it's funny because we get away with stuff that normal people wouldn't get away with it. If I put songs on and we sing along with those songs and I don't want to give the game away because, yeah, well, yeah, we'll watch, and then we've booked out for a lot of weddings this year. But it's basically it's easy for me to do that where and the hard work is all done by lagging, whereas I'm just sitting back and watching the crowd and on the microphone and the whole place is doing Zorba the Greek and they go into doing a Konga and it and the place erupts because they want to have a good time, so, as long as the music's loud enough and the thing. But all this came from the second we finished the show.
Speaker 2:
The very second a guy comes up to you and goes right, stavros, you're now going to do your show. We've got a tour lined up and you've got all these gigs. And I went what do you mean gigs? And he said we want you to do the show. And I said what show? I said it's a three-minute dance. And he went yeah, that's what they want. And I think, but but what are we gonna do? And he said just do what you did on the show. And I remember looking at like in and I said to you know, how are we gonna do this? And the guy church in, he goes well, it's three thousand a gig. And I went what for three minutes? And he went yeah, I went we'll do it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So we always in the scheme of things I know it's a lot of money, people, you know I don't like saying it's not getting embarrassed, but in the scheme of things, where people are with their acts and how much things cost, we are quite reasonable. I know it sounds like a lot of money. We went from being between three to five thousand and then always. But if you, if you knew, and you look at the industry and you see how many people are out there doing things for weddings and doing entertainment, if you've been on television, it's, it's, it is pretty reasonable, but that we have an advantage. When you've been on television, you just have an advantage. So if I'm up against and they believe me, there's some entertainers out there I've seen and I'm just thinking you're, that's crazy, that's brilliant. But you have an advantage because I stabbled splattery on television and so you, you know you have that so a couple more questions before we end off.
Speaker 1:
I'm loving this, by the way. I could have you here all day.
Speaker 2:
I tell you, I can talk. That's I love it.
Speaker 1:
This is sorry. So how do you keep the fun and the joy alive, offstage, on and offstage, because sometimes does it get a bit familiar and you still have to like find that joy in what?
Speaker 1:
way we're doing the act, so to bring the joy like, because maybe sometimes you don't always feel like showing up and being humorous, because now people look at stuff it was flatly, and they expect humor and we'll have our day. We don't feel like showing up, or we? So how do you bring that joy that's a to the okay, so maybe you're not gonna.
Speaker 2:
So that's me. If you tell me we've got a gig tomorrow, if you tell me that, then I'm not a very happy person. Till I finished, it's not sorry, not no, that's wrong, not not happy. I'm nervous from now till I make sense. Now I'm stage fright is my is the worst for me. Laggy couldn't care less. Laggy goes through life, or even if he knows he's going to dance tomorrow, happy is Larry, me, I'm happy as Larry. Till you find out that it's tomorrow, probably 24 hours before, and then the stress kicks in and I start worrying. I'll people gonna like us, he's gonna go well, like you couldn't care less with the.
Speaker 2:
Everything you see about us, the one, the one thing about us is everything you see. We laugh and joke all the time and I'm really probably that Probably that's my doing. A lot of laggy sense of humor is mine and and that's from being on the road, for you know for how many years we were in a car together. So everything laggy listen to and heard, as in Comedic wise, was always my stuff. So I'm Pretty lucky like that that we have exactly the same sense of humor, so that that is probably not so much a Bad thing will, because we were stuck so much together we was laughed at the same thing. But laggy has this knack of not Never worrying about going on stage. It was only that ever, that one time at Clastonbury, and after that he's an old MV for that. I really envy laggy not worrying about. Let's just get on with it. They do it me. I'm a constant warrior.
Speaker 1:
Maybe it comes from being the parent as well. And what surprises people about you?
Speaker 2:
oh, oh, oh, that one's an easy. That's to believe or not, that's really easy. How shy I am a lot of Actually yeah, yeah, people, people honestly think, and you know, in a bad way it's. They'll say to me I thought you're gonna be this, it takes a while and I'm very, very, very shy. Yeah very shy.
Speaker 1:
Yep, I think a lot of performers have that right. It's yeah, yeah, I and it brings out this, this persona, and then that way you connect with people, right you?
Speaker 1:
create and then that allows you to be approachable and then brings you out of your shelf. So, looking back, if you could go back to yourself before starting Britain's Got Talent to you and laggy, what advice would you give yourself at that moment, before you started on this journey, to handle the situation better or to just what to expect like what would you tell yourself? Now? You know that it would have been helpful for you back then to know.
Speaker 2:
Not to stress so much I mean my Probably one of my things that I don't like about myself is I Don't know how to explain it to you. I'll try my best. If, if you're walking down the street, if, say you're walking down the street, oh, I say, say, oh, I'll try to give you a better example. When, like he was young, if I have laggy and I say to him, right, put him down and he'll walk off, I always see 15 steps ahead in my brain and Him falling off the edge of a cliff. Right, these are my, these are my bad issues that I I have to be following him, thinking he's gonna fall off the edge of a cliff and I see that in my brain.
Speaker 2:
I wish I was less Like that. I wish I could calm that part of me down and where I said to you I've probably not, molly, coddled them a bit always been. Please be careful, please be careful. Is that part of me I wish? Other than that, everything we've done, which I said to you, was a lot of luck. Everything has been good for us. There's never been anything bad and I, as far as changing things, I wouldn't have changed anything. There wasn't something where I mean I used to, I used to Used to dream about before Stan Ross used to dream I wouldn't be nice.
Speaker 2:
I love airports. I love, you know, that feeling when you go on a holiday and you get to the airport yeah, man, we've been on more flights than I've had on dinners and and even that hasn't lost its little spark where you get to the airport and thing and enjoyment of Getting in a car with laggy, knowing that we're gonna go. We never had any drivers, we was always just us to Stop off. He knows me inside out and I know him inside out and that's, that's a good thing that I can. If he's having a bad day, I can say right legs. Well, you know, tell me what the problem is, and if I'm having a bad day, he'll always stay. Daddy, you're right, laggies, fear is if I'm, if I mean, and I start to cough or have a little cough, he thinks I'm gonna choke. So he's always Right, I'm ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:
Like I'm. So all these yeah, I think that's what shines through. I you know, like you said, it's all luck. But I also think that this is the part that people resonate. But they love to see that you have such a beautiful bond. They love to be like that.
Speaker 2:
But I wish I could tell you it was all me. He's a good kid, he really is. And and what the word and the one thing with like, he he'll listen, he'll say, okay, I understand. And if you do have a bad thing, I've always taught him step away for one second, because your initial reaction is never the best reaction. It's always when you step away and look and think, and always your, your gut feeling is what you should always go for. Don't let. If you, if you're asking 10 different people, you're gonna get 10 different answers. Then it's down to you to make the decision and think okay, I like that, I listen to. That is where I go back. You know, if we have a discussion, we'll always ring my best friend, me. We look at him like the wise one and we always laugh and joke about let's read me, see what he's.
Speaker 1:
And so what would Nick say what? What's the greatest lesson Nick has ever given you?
Speaker 2:
Oh, big mix always right, is the one he says is the best one. He he if we've like. We got a phone call To do the champions. Yeah, to go back and do the champion show. And for three months we had every single producer ringing us and and we always said look, we're happy where we are, we would rather not go on another competition because of what people say. And then the producer was on the phone and I've been saying to leggy and it was laggy. It was laggy that said that I don't want to do it and I said fine, then we won't do it. I've always said I'm never gonna brush you doing anything. He said you think we should do it? I said I'm to be fair legs, I'm not bothered. If we do it, we don't do it. And then he was on. The producer rang again and I'll never forget, and Mick rang at the same time. For some unknown reason, mick rang and like he was on the phone and to Mick and I turn around to produce. I said look, I'm really sorry. I said thank you so much. It's really an honor that you're asking us, but it's not something we want to do. What if we get buzzed out? We've ruined everything we've done and Like he got off the phone, he went I'll do it and I went. What? Anyway, I've just spoken to Mick and Mick Mick put it in a way.
Speaker 2:
He said people love you. Why would they? Why would you detriment? You're not gonna detriment anything you've done. It's such an opportunity people would kill for this opportunity and like you win, I'll do it. I'll do it, dad. I mean, are you sure? And the producer was like who's that guy? He has this little knack of putting a different perspective on something and that's where one of the biggest lessons I've learned, and like he's learned, is always think there's always a different perspective to something To sit back, and and that's what gives you that chance, if you sit back and think about it, because you'll always think of your own perspective first, exactly and so is Mick on hire.
Speaker 1:
If anybody needs him, put him on speed dial for us as well. Yes, so to end off as well, I just want to ask you what you're excited about moving forward in your life and some parting thoughts that you have for the listener.
Speaker 2:
What I'm excited is there is just this. The grandkids now yes, they see it's, I want my. My first grandchild is is saying that is laggies little girl and I Really really proud I got her into Listening to bonia. It was bonia and my baker first, so I actually went back. Then it was Bruce Springsteen. She loves Bruce Springsteen now and now it's ever and game between the average, yeah, in between the average.
Speaker 2:
So she, just, she's fixated on ever, all the all the average songs. In between the average songs are through in the Blues Brothers. Everybody needs somebody and we do that as part of our act on one of them on, sometimes when we're going out with different places, in Festivals especially you can see it on YouTube we do the Blues Brothers. Everybody needs somebody and I wanted to be old enough to To watch us and know, oh, my god, there's my granddad and my dad. You know, I just think that'd be amazing.
Speaker 2:
I have one, one thing where I, my granddad, was one of these guys that if you said, oh, bapu, I love football, he'd go. I used to play football for the, you know, the Gondair Society football team and then, yeah, bapu, I would love to be in the theater. Oh, we did a theater production once and I was the star of that. It was one of these guys. He was, if you wanted to do it, he'd done it and he was the best that he in the village right, brilliant. My one regret that they never saw it wasn't the stuff, it wasn't so much watching me on telly, it was the fact that if people were coming up to us asking for our picture. That first year was insane. He would have loved that he would have been there and he would have been by the side and he would have been looking at me thinking, oh yeah, yeah, they probably want a picture of me because I'm your granddad too.
Speaker 1:
And they probably would actually.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was that that. I regret that they weren't around for that part of it. Not so much to telly more. The people coming up and going step right in and he'll go I'm his granddad, it's really, I'm his Bapu. That is interesting. That always brings a little, you know.
Speaker 1:
He's probably watching and enjoying you from up there. Amazing, wow, thank you so much. This was incredible. No, thank you Incredible. And thank you so much Just showing up so easily, like I didn't think it would be so easy to reach out to get a response.
Speaker 2:
Oh, because I've got this superstar lifestyle that I'm getting around.
Speaker 1:
You're the superstar, you just came on midweek in.
Speaker 2:
If I take my time out of my busy schedule when I got my job.
Speaker 1:
How many superstars can say they show up for just any of the people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean, if you saw me, my love. I had this dream that one day I was gonna own a little beach bar with two chairs. Do you remember what Shirley Valentine?
Speaker 1:
I didn't actually.
Speaker 2:
Oh, you need to watch that film. That's one of the best films ever and she had. The last scene was just a table and chairs by the beach, and that was my dream Always. I just wanted a couple of chairs wiped down there. When somebody's wiped the table down, someone else comes and now I've got the next best thing a little beach bar with sunbeds and everything. And it is so if, going from all this sometimes that we laugh about that, I'm there in my shorts and running a little beach bar down at the beach. But it's my dream and you're living it right, that's what you're living right now.
Speaker 1:
So, wow, that's a credit to you and everything you've done and what you've experienced. Well done, thank you.
Speaker 2:
John. So thank you, it's an honor to be asked. Thank you very much for asking me.
Speaker 1:
It's a real pleasure.
Speaker 2:
Honestly, I'm not that big a student. I'm just a little.
Speaker 1:
Well, it feels very down to earth and very natural, so it was amazing. Thank you for being here today.