English comedian Harry Hill recently shared a throwback video of the late Shane MacGowan making an appearance on the program TV Burp in 2010, where he sang a hilarious duet of “Fairytale of New York” with someone dressed as a beluga whale.
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MacGowan appeared on the program to perform The Pogues’ biggest Christmas hit, and it eventually turned into a duet with a huge beluga whale squeaking along with Kristy McColl’s part of the song. MacGowan continues the duet even with the audience laughing hysterically, playing it straight all the way to the end.
The performance was part of an Instagram post Hill shared this month as part of a series he called “Mattvent.” He posted photos of old mattresses in strange places accompanied by old clips of TV Burp every day of December. The MacGowan clip was part of Hill’s Christmas Eve post, the last slide in the photo carousel. He also shared excerpts of his memoir Fight!, where he recounted the experience of having MacGowan on the show.
Harry Hill Shares the Experience of Having Shane MacGowan on His Show in 2010
According to Hill, he pitched the idea of someone dressing up as a beluga whale and accompanying MacGowan on “Fairytale of New York,” but allegedly his producer said he was “having a laugh” and MacGowan would never agree to the gag.
“[MacGowan’s] agent explained to Spencer [Hill’s producer] that Shane got a huge number of requests every Christmas to sing his Christmas hit and that he always turned them down. But he knew he was a fan of TV Burp — so he’d ask him,” Hill explained in the memoir. “Much to everyone’s surprise, he said yes. His fee was five hundred quid cash to the bloke who was with him and a bottle of vodka for Shane.”
Hill goes on to explain that the show was nearly a bust. “Shane was due at about half past two and we were all very excited to meet him,” he wrote, going on to say that his producer came onto the stage to share the bad news: “‘Shane MacGowan’s agent just called,’ he said, ‘Shane is unconscious in his hotel room — so we need to revert to plan B — you’ll need to sing the song.’ Bugger! I thought, bitterly disappointed,” Hill wrote.
Then, MacGowan’s agent called again to say he had woken up and they were bringing him to the studio. Allegedly, MacGowan arrived with a liter of White Lightning cider in each hand but still went on to perform. “He looked like a ghost — the Ghost of Christmas 1988, in fact,” Hill wrote. But, as Hill described, MacGowan changed when he began to sing.
“The intro to the song started up, and when Shane sang, something happened to him — he was transformed. He sounded exactly the same as the record,” wrote Hill.
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