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Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster

Phil Wang (Tasting Menu)

13 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

2.933 - 16.285 James Acaster

and there are still tickets available at jamesacaster.com. I'm looking at you, Glasgow, Belfast. Oh, there was somewhere else. Just please go on the website and buy tickets, please, jamesacaster.com.

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30.372 - 59.905 Ed Gamble

Welcome to the off-menu tasting menu. La-dee-da. A new concept from the off-menu industries. Our minds are an endless well of ideas. Yes, this is our second one. In six years. This is basically our way of getting in some great guests that we've had in the past. Yep. Fan favourites. We always worried we put too solid a line under guests and said, you've done it once, you're not coming back in.

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60.186 - 61.389 Ed Gamble

So many podcasts.

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61.649 - 62.792 James Acaster

Oh, sad idea.

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62.772 - 88.493 James Acaster

redemption dinner party we did a redemption dinner party so you so so just so you know we've had three ideas yes in six years uh and one of them was during covid just doing it on streaming yes redemption dinner party then we did it sort of live we kind of did it live yes but now this is the third idea yes is that we get a a menu a dream menu from one of the guests that we've had on before and we present it to a different guest who we've had on before yes as a tasting menu

88.473 - 90.696 Ed Gamble

And get their thoughts on it and whether they'd like it.

90.856 - 91.337 James Acaster

Yeah.

91.357 - 95.262 Ed Gamble

And, you know, you know us. It'll spin off into some wacky chats.

96.563 - 105.895 James Acaster

We probably won't stay on topic. We'll probably go all over the place in crazy ways. It's like we're on drugs. Yeah, bad ones.

Chapter 2: What is the concept of the off-menu tasting menu?

116.148 - 119.613 Ed Gamble

Do we even need to introduce Phil Wang as a concept to people?

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119.893 - 138.678 James Acaster

No, everyone knows he's a fantastic comedian. He's an actor as well. He's done some great acting and stuff. Since we had him on the podcast, which was the first series, he's been in Wonka. Wonka? He did a dance in Wonka. That's my guy.

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138.918 - 140.84 Ed Gamble

Three body problem? Was Wang in that?

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141.161 - 142.763 James Acaster

Yeah. I haven't watched it yet.

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142.895 - 145.74 Ed Gamble

He's in it very, you know, he's got one scene in it, but it's a very good scene.

145.861 - 150.77 James Acaster

I'd love to see that. He's worked with Amy Schumer and Amy Schumer's sketches.

151.231 - 156.28 Ed Gamble

Look, the guy's doing well. What can I say? But we've managed to get him back into the Dream restaurant for a tasting menu.

156.428 - 161.434 James Acaster

Yes, so we're going to present him the tasting menu of Jay Rayner.

161.514 - 168.041 Ed Gamble

Jay Rayner, notorious and brilliant food critic Jay Rayner, who also came on very early in the life of the podcast.

Chapter 3: Who is the guest featured in this episode?

287.53 - 291.276 Phil Wang

My heel just kicked the lowering mechanism on this chair.

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291.296 - 296.544 James Acaster

I actually made the sound of the genie. Phil's gone back into the lamp. We swapped places.

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296.884 - 305.117 Ed Gamble

That would be a cheap trick on a genie, wouldn't it? Rub him to get him out of the lamp and then sneak in there when he's not looking. Sneak in there, bad luck. Like a hermit crab, just stealing a shell.

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305.249 - 328.59 Phil Wang

Yeah, last time I was here, there was no office. There was no cameras. There was no mics. We were just shouting from a roof. And wow, this is, yeah, I mean, this is amazing. It's pretty fancy. Look how far young Benito has come. Incredible. He's a man now. He's a man. He's built an empire. Tony Soprano of podcasts.

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330.241 - 337.328 James Acaster

Because that was the first series I think you did. Maybe even like... Episode like 16 or 12 or something? Earlier. 13.

337.968 - 341.071 Ed Gamble

Episode 13. Unlucky for some, lucky for us.

341.091 - 342.673 James Acaster

Lucky for us because we got Phil Wang.

342.693 - 358.688 Phil Wang

Well, lucky in Chinese numbers. Is it? Yeah. One and three is like life, basically. Because three sounds like life. Whereas four sounds like death. So four is the... Four is the bad one. Four is a bad one. So one and three together. So lucky. Double lucky. One life. One life.

359.088 - 359.168

Ugh.

Chapter 4: What is Phil Wang's connection to the Dream Restaurant?

379.863 - 409.171 Phil Wang

And I'm a massive guy, you know. guy, boy. And I had a one, I took it out as an opportunity to look really cool for non-uniform day. And I had on my left hand, a fingerless leather glove. I had the small sunglasses from the matrix and, I had shorts because it's hot. Yeah. T-shirt. And then this Nike sort of fleece vest. Fleece? Yeah, I remember now. It was a fleece vest.

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409.612 - 424.859 Phil Wang

And on the back it said, One life, live it. I was so excited about debuting my true self at school. The One Life Live It guy. The One Life Live It. So One Life is something I've always lived by.

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424.9 - 429.485 James Acaster

Did it go well? Do you remember the reception for the outfit?

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429.505 - 442.532 Phil Wang

I arrived at school and the first kid that saw me had to collapse to his knees from laughing so much. He just thrust his finger out at me and collapsed to his knees.

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442.872 - 449.542 Ed Gamble

Oh my God. Poor little Phil. He remembers that still. He's still laughing.

449.602 - 450.944 James Acaster

Yeah, he's still laughing.

450.964 - 452.166 Ed Gamble

He's still on his knees at the school.

452.867 - 460.458 James Acaster

Grows up. Just sweeping up random and stuff. Gets into watching Taskmaster as an adult. Yeah. Episode one, season seven, he's on his knees again. Yeah.

460.498 - 468.609 Phil Wang

He's just recovering. He's finally stopping laughing and he turns on season seven. He's just got out of hospital. Yeah. Yeah. This guy.

Chapter 5: What surprising ingredient is mentioned in the discussion?

2506.829 - 2511.595 James Acaster

Like a tin of spaghetti hoops. Yeah. Which, by the way, are sparrow anuses.

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2513.117 - 2513.297 Phil Wang

They are.

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2513.317 - 2515.119 Ed Gamble

Little birdie anuses that they put in.

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2515.359 - 2523.85 Phil Wang

It's just cheaper. In blood. It's just cheaper. Not all of them. Not all of them. That would be nuts. That would be beyond the pale. But some of them are.

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2524.23 - 2527.654 Ed Gamble

I feel like I'd notice if there was a pig anus in my calamari.

2527.834 - 2528.736 Phil Wang

I would have thought so, yeah.

2528.756 - 2538.908 Ed Gamble

Surely it would look different to the rest of them. None of us are saying we know what pig anuses look like. No. Hi. I'm not saying that. No. But calamari are like, you can see through the middle of it, right?

2539.208 - 2539.749 Unknown

Yeah.

2539.769 - 2544.735 Ed Gamble

Surely the pig anus, to act as an anus, has to be quite puckered.

Chapter 6: How does Phil describe his experience with calamari?

2545.255 - 2554.366 Phil Wang

Right, right. But sort of liberated from the sphincter. No, the sphincter's the inside. Liberated from the anal muscles, does it loosen?

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2554.386 - 2565.273 Ed Gamble

Maybe that. Maybe when it's heated. Ah, it expands. It expands. It could expand. Maybe they give the, let the pig sniff some poppers before they... Sniff these.

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2565.613 - 2570.4 Phil Wang

Kill it, kill it. Even with a popper budget, it's still cheaper. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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2571.562 - 2583.158 James Acaster

And then people get suspicious at that point, surely. Yeah. Why are you going to sniff these poppers? Yeah. You're not going to pour a tree on me, are you? I'll sniff it, but stay away from my anus.

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Chapter 7: What are Phil's thoughts on ribs and their accompaniments?

2584.876 - 2588.041 Phil Wang

Ribs, yeah. I like a rib.

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2588.942 - 2592.307 Ed Gamble

When someone says ribs, I assume they're going to be spare ribs.

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2592.888 - 2601.1 Phil Wang

That's always what they call the Chinese takeaway ribs. It's always called spare ribs. I guess that's what spare ribs are. But then a rack of ribs, it's never called a rack of spare ribs. It's just a rack of ribs.

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2601.341 - 2612.858 Ed Gamble

Some places it is, I think, but they are the spare ribs. They're the long ones, right? Compared to baby back ribs. And what are baby back ribs? The smaller ones.

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2612.838 - 2625.628 Phil Wang

Oh, so the spare ones are the long ones at the end? Yeah, I think so, yeah. Okay, well that might be it then. Yeah, I love ribs. I love all the sauces that come with the ribs. The barbecue, the Sichuan, and any others?

2626.53 - 2628.214 James Acaster

That was Phil making that noise with his mouth.

2628.194 - 2635.685 Ed Gamble

I can't remember what Jade Rayner wanted, but I guess they're more in the sort of American style of barbecue. Barbecue sauce smothered ribs.

2635.845 - 2639.991 Phil Wang

I love pulling meat off a bone. It makes me feel like God.

2640.631 - 2643.956 James Acaster

That's the second time you said that. I just like food that makes me feel like God.

Chapter 8: What dessert does Phil express a dislike for and why?

2692.437 - 2709.143 Phil Wang

My father is a Chinese guy, and they all have this skill of just shoving a piece of animal in their mouth. And then they go, and the mouth just moves around. And then he'll lean over and he'll spit out, perfect, shining little bones. Wow. It's awesome.

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2709.163 - 2711.807 James Acaster

Like God. Like, yeah. Exactly like God.

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2711.847 - 2733.62 Phil Wang

You know how, like, on the TV show sometimes, a sexy lady will flirt with a man by putting a cherry stem in her mouth, and then she puts it out, and it's tied in a knot? I eat a little bird. And I say, madam, and I... Not a little napkin.

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2733.941 - 2739.086 James Acaster

Madam. Spit a beacon into a napkin. Just the big, it's the whole skeleton, I guess.

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2739.607 - 2740.868 Phil Wang

Yeah, yeah, the whole skeleton.

2741.269 - 2744.492 James Acaster

All of it. And then you say, Phil Wang, pleased to meet you.

2744.513 - 2746.875 Phil Wang

It spells out, Phil Wang, pleased to meet you.

2746.895 - 2765.398 Ed Gamble

The bones. Sometimes if, like, chicken's, like, char-grilled or anything like that, the small bones, if they've been, like, char-grilled and they're, like, a bit carbonated, I'm crunching those down. Yeah, don't you? Yeah. This guy. I learn something new about him every episode. I love it. I love being able to crack through a crunchy bone.

2765.799 - 2773.432 Phil Wang

Cartilage, love cartilage. What would you say it makes you feel like when you do that? It makes me feel like a god. Ah, I think I know this feeling.

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