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The actor Bill Nighy has a new advice podcast, lll-Advised. We called him up to chat about his secret to looking good in suits, the best advice he’s ever received, and his recent knitwear collab with John Smedley. —Yang-Yi Goh, senior style editor |
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Bill Nighy Is Officially the Best-Dressed Man in Podcasting |
Bill Nighy was once invited to meet Bob Dylan backstage at a concert. He said no. “I never want to meet anyone because I don’t know what to do,” says the 75-year-old Oscar nominee and lifelong Dylan fan. “I don’t know what to say, and I’d feel like a lemon.” This is one of many things you’ll learn on Ill-Advised, a new podcast in which the nattily-dressed actor—a.k.a. Bill Nighy the Menswear Guy—offers advice on, among other things, how to avoid a plethora of potentially awkward social situations.
On its surface, Ill-Advised is a show in which Nighy does his best to answer questions ranging from “How do you overcome procrastination?” to “What’s the age limit for getting a tattoo?” What makes Nighy different from most people who offer advice on podcasts (or anywhere else, for that matter) is that by his own admission, he’s the last person anyone should ask for advice on anything. “My credentials are that I’m someone who got almost everything almost precisely wrong,” he explains in the introduction to the first episode. “In fact, [Ill-Advised] is simply an invitation to squander time.”
Fortunately, squandering time is one thing Nighy is unusually good at. When he’s not opining on his unabiding dislike of men wearing linen or the proper pronunciation of the word scone, Nighy turns out to be an extremely good source of advice on how to tastefully fritter away your time. Whether it’s novel recommendations (Estelle Castillo’s Moderation, William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition), themed playlists (he creates a new one for every episode), or how to play air guitar correctly, Ill-Advised lives up to Nighy’s disclaimer in the best possible way. When we called Nighy, he was at the supermarket buying milk. Nonetheless, he managed to offer his accrued wisdom on suits, John Smedley polos, and the importance of paying your taxes.
You’re obviously a quite well-known actor, but I have to ask: How often are you mistaken for Bill Nye the Science Guy?
It’s happened many, many times. In fact, I quite not infrequently have my picture taken as Bill Nye in the street. People tell me that they learnt a great deal from me when they were growing up. Given that I don’t resemble Bill Nye very much, it’s quite a disconnect on their part, but I never disabuse them.
Why did you decide to get into podcasting?
I tried really hard not to get into podcasting. I withdrew several times at the very last minute just to irritate everybody because I didn’t really feel I had much to offer. And I still don’t feel I have much to offer. But that’s the sort of tendency that I’ve been dealing with all my life. So, I don’t quite know how it was managed in the end, but it’s now happened, and people seem to not hate it. So I feel a little bit better about that.
Have you been surprised at the response so far?
Very surprised. I’m not on social media and, apart from doing press for movies and things, the podcast is the first time I’ve done anything other than act. So I think I’ve made it absolutely plain that I don’t know what to do about anything, and I’m not to be mistaken for anyone who is an expert on how to carry on or anything like that. So, it’s just an invitation to squander time, which I think is my superpower. I’m an expert at loafing, and I get to loaf quite a lot.
Click here to read the full interview. |
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