SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Bill Nighy has played an aging rock star in "Love Actually."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LOVE ACTUALLY")
BILL NIGHY: (As Billy Mack, singing) I feel it in my fingers.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) In my fingers.
NIGHY: (As Billy Mack, singing) I feel it in my toes.
SIMON: He's been Davy Jones, tentacles and all, in "Pirates Of The Caribbean."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END")
NIGHY: (As Davy Jones) I cannot be summoned like some mongrel pup.
SIMON: And he's even been an overprotective father in "Emma."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EMMA")
NIGHY: (As Mr. Woodhouse) You must have had a shocking walk.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Not at all, sir. It's a beautiful evening.
NIGHY: (As Mr. Woodhouse) You must have found it very damp and dirty.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Dirty?
SIMON: And like so many public figures these days, Bill Nighy is now also a podcast host.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "ILL-ADVISED")
NIGHY: And I'm going to take the opportunity to use this introduction to make an announcement, and the announcement is that I've retired from a few things. I've retired - don't panic - from Zoom. I don't care who you are. We're never going to meet on Zoom again.
SIMON: "Ill-Advised" is billed as a podcast for people who don't get out much and can't handle it when they do. It begins its third season this week, and Bill Nighy joins us, definitely not on Zoom. Thanks so much for being with us.
NIGHY: My pleasure.
SIMON: We should explain the premise. You take questions from listeners, many of them about awkward social situations. Well, let me give you an example. If someone says, do you remember me? And you don't.
NIGHY: Yeah. That's a tough one. I spend half my life standing in front of people waiting for clues. I would never go up to somebody and say, do you remember me? It's an aggressive question. You should be gracious about it and just come up and say, you may remember my name is so and so, and we met at so and so. That's called civilized behavior. But when that happens, I just stand there and wait for clues. No one forgives you for forgetting their name or their existence.
SIMON: Is it satisfying to have reached a certain stage in your life where people turn to you for advice?
NIGHY: Well, the thing about it is - yeah. I mean, it happens to people after 50. The idea is that you've been around and you might have picked up some useful information, which is possible, but whether or not you can apply it or interpret it in a valuable way is another thing. You only have to look around the world to see how old men taking care of everything is going. You don't need me to tell you that it's not going well.
SIMON: I have to ask you, as the masterful actor and entertainer that you are, when somebody asks you a question, do you go for the joke, or do you go for the entertaining answer?
NIGHY: We will always go for the joke. That's why I put in so many disclaimers at the beginning. I mean, a man from Mongolia was concerned because he thought that his horse had gone off him, and he called me (laughter), like I'm going to know what to do. I sat on a horse once up a mountain in full armor above the snow line, but the horse did not move. Anyway, I know nothing about horses. I think in the end, I suggested a box of chocolates.
SIMON: (Laughter).
NIGHY: But I mean, the joke is - if there is a joke, I hope there's a joke - which is that I have no better idea about what people should do about anything than they do.
SIMON: May I ask you a couple of questions?
NIGHY: Yeah.
SIMON: It's been a terrifically hot summer. You are known for your sartorial sagacity. What do you think about men not wearing socks with shoes?
NIGHY: Oh, socks with shoes. The thing is, I will fight to defend a man's right to go out sockless, but I just don't want to be like him. And I also - to be perfectly frank, I don't want to stand too close to a man who's wearing trousers, shoes and no socks. It just makes me uneasy, and it does offend me from an aesthetic point of view.
SIMON: It's a great responsibility, even if you're just joking, to give advice to people.
NIGHY: Yeah. But I don't answer anything important. I answer on the spot. There's no preparation. I try and make it as inconsequential as is humanly possible. That's what we're shooting for. It's a cup of tea with me. I really do only answer questions on things like marmite or trouser length or socks. If you hear me at any point giving advice about your romantic life or your sexual situation, call a cab.
SIMON: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "ILL-ADVISED")
NIGHY: This episode's playlist is called Dance Tunes for Snake Hips. You know who you are. And the first track is by Prince. Finally, we're getting around to it. It's called "It's About That Walk." And I really, really like it. And there's a lyric...
SIMON: You have a playlist with each episode.
NIGHY: Yeah. You get a playlist and you get a recommendation of a book, and I read a little bit of the book. I do quite a lot of radio, and people have started coming up to me, and this is quite a frequent thing. People come up and they say, I love - for instance, I do a radio serial called Charles Paris Mysteries. And they come up, and they say, I love Charles Paris, and I say, well, that's great. Thank you. And they say, because I have trouble sleeping.
SIMON: (Laughter) I get that, and our show is on in the morning.
NIGHY: Oh, really? Well, there you go. You know what I'm talking about. And they say, you know, I put you on, and I'm out like a light. I try and take it as a compliment. But it's a tough one.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN MAYALL & THE BLUESBREAKERS' "GREENY")
SIMON: Bill Nighy. His podcast, "Ill-Advised," is rolling out its third season this week. Bill Nighy, thanks so much for joining us today.
NIGHY: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN MAYALL & THE BLUESBREAKERS' "GREENY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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