Comedian Joe Lycett speaks to Richard Gullick about his journey connecting 19 Birminghams across North America, civic pride, and the surprising places that share our city’s name.
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00:00We've had decades of identity crisis in Birmingham. Overlooked, mocked, underfunded.
00:07But Joe likes it's gone global with a different idea.
00:10What if we embraced our name and found out who else had borrowed it?
00:15The show came out of, I was talking with the producers of Channel Falls Travelmen
00:22and we were talking about maybe doing an episode in Birmingham, Alabama.
00:26And we discovered through looking for Birmingham, Alabama that there were 19 Birminghams in the world.
00:34And it became clear that we had to go to as many of them as possible.
00:40And yeah, it's really got out of hand.
00:44But it's been an amazing experience and a really lovely thing.
00:49Personally, I've really enjoyed it and found each one to be fascinating and so welcoming.
00:55And weirdly quite similar to us in lots of different ways.
01:00But also I think for Birmingham as a city, hopefully it's a little something that we can be proud of
01:05and give a bit of civic pride in these trying times.
01:10So what starts the travel show becomes something else.
01:13A diplomatic mission with handshakes and scrolls.
01:16Joe Lycett managed to get official friendship agreements signed with cities across the pond.
01:22Now the lasting legacy, who knows?
01:25It is now an official document, an internationally recognized document.
01:28But there's bits in it about, you know, we could be an alternative to NATO.
01:34Will that be required?
01:37Only time will tell.
01:39So it's a proper thing.
01:42And it's, you know, it's, it's not just a, you know, a silly kind of, I mean, it is, it is, the whole thing's ridiculous.
01:52Actually, I scrapped that.
01:53It's a ridiculous thing that should never have happened, but Sky have indulged me.
01:57You can call it daft, surreal or totally unnecessary, but the turnout on International Day of Birmingham told a different story.
02:06Musicians, artists and everyday people showed up from across the world for a one off celebration of everything Birmingham.
02:14We had all the members of Black Sabbath bar Aussie who wanted to be there, but was, I think, trapped in the States and Joan Armour Trading and UB40 and all these incredibly talented and, you know, accomplished people.
02:33And then the fact that we could share that with people from Birmingham around America and, you know, having Randall from Pennsylvania and Randy who drove us around America as well.
02:45And Harry and oh yeah, all the gang.
02:48So, yes, it was, it was a really lovely day.
02:50It's, it's one of those that sort of will be with me forever.
02:55It was a very happy day.