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Snooker Commentators: Lawrence Caswell and Mike Sylvester: Part III
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.
The setup
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The premise
Here’s the bit.
Two snooker commentators, Ted and Peter, let their coverage of a match between Lawrence Caswell and Mike Sylvester wander into personal territory. Ted brings up Peter's decision to come out and asks how it felt; Peter answers with a cynical, business-minded explanation. Ted then reflects on his own past discomfort around gay friends, his anxiety about sharing their small booth, and a conversation over a drink that left him deciding that a longtime colleague's announcement is no reason to turn his back on him. The clip ends on one last booth-related remark from Ted.
The funny people
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Say it with us
Highly quotable.
I might as well cash in on the exclusive before she does.
I have in my own way loved this man, that's not a word I'm afraid of.
This is no time for me to turn me back on him.
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
Third of three Snooker Commentators installments in Series 1 Episode 5, after the opening discussion of two gay snooker players and Peter's wasted-years installment.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:01
Peter DeCoursey
Oh, Oh,
- 00:11
Peter DeCoursey
and that's a bad miss. Well, Lawrence Caswell has left a massive opening there for such a potent cumin as Mike Sylvester.
- 00:21
Ted Wilkes
And while we're on the subject of gay sex... I've never discussed on air with you before, Peter, the reasons behind your own decision to come out as a gaybo and how that's made you feel.
- 00:35
Peter DeCoursey
Well, Ted, it's as simple as this. you get to a certain stage in your life when you realise that your wife's about to go public and so you think to yourself I might as well cash in on the exclusive before she does.
- 00:48
Ted Wilkes
That's very moving because of course it caused a crisis in my own life. I was not for many years a friend of the gays. I didn't perhaps understand it as well as I do now.
- 01:01
Peter DeCoursey
You were worried about the booth, weren't you, Ted?
- 01:03
Ted Wilkes
If I'm honest, Peter, that was the nub of it. It's not a big booth, this our booth, but as you pointed out to me over that drink that I finally allowed you to buy me, if you'd managed to keep your hands off me for 18 years, why on earth would you jump me now, particularly when I'd be on me guard?
- 01:25
Peter DeCoursey
And we laughed, didn't we, Ted?
- 01:27
Ted Wilkes
We laughed, and I think that was the turning point. I thought, that man, Peter, has been to three out of my four weddings. best man at the last two, I've been to his wedding, albeit we now know that was a lie I have in my own way loved this man, that's not a word I'm afraid of we talked about what I was afraid of and established that you wouldn't do it to me so I realise that just because my friend and long-standing professional colleague has
- 02:03
Ted Wilkes
announced that he's gay. This is no time for me to turn me back on him.
- 02:09
Peter DeCoursey
Thank you, Ted.
- 02:12
Ted Wilkes
Particularly in the booth.
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
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