PLUME: How much of it, when you talk about - obviously, the San Francisco bit, that sort of exposure to culture - how much of that exposure was increased just by the fact of all the world press you had to do for Shaun of the Dead?

FROST: What do you mean? Sorry, mate…

PLUME: I mean, prior to having to go out and do that press tour for Shaun of the Dead, how much of the world had you seen outside of that trip to Israel?

FROST: Well, quite a bit… I’m a - what’s it called - I’m a subscriber to National Geographic and have been for many years, you know. So I mean, it wasn’t that thing like, “Yo, fucking hell, Britain’s the best and I hate everywhere else,” you know, I was always open to new cultures… but I was also aware that… unfortunately there’s a kind of movement in Britain - it’s not a movement as much as a kind of… it’s just a part of our culture, unfortunately… and there’s that kind of thing, you know, “We f***ing hate every other country: French c**ts, German c**ts…” you know, I’ve never…

PLUME: You mean the football mentality.

FROST: Yeah, exactly. And the same blokes that beat me up were that kind of mentality, where “You have a moustache, you must be a f***ing poof - get ‘im!” You know, but I’ve never been, “Love English people, hate the French!” I just I can’t see it. I just think that they’re the coolest nation around.

FROST: Yeah, yeah, I think you have.

PLUME: It took us a while.

FROST: Thanks, George Bush!

PLUME: Yes, yes, the only one who could so completely destroy so much goodwill so quickly.

FROST: Yeah, exactly, and then to lay there weeping next to the Pope’s coffin, saying, “Oh my god, I miss you so much.” You think, well, concentrate on what you’re doing.

PLUME: I love the fact that he managed to get booed at a funeral.

FROST: I know… amazing. Maybe it was God that was booing him.

PLUME: Yes, yes, the sky went dark and cloudy and…

FROST: …a big finger came out.

PLUME: Yes, and said, “You, you’re the one.”

FROST: “You idiot, stop it.”

PLUME: Yeah, well, it’s a shame the finger didn’t go a little lower and maybe press him out a bit.

FROST: (makes squishing noise) Flatten him out.

PLUME: Yeah, well, we’re hoping for 2008.

FROST: I know, well, that’s the thing, I was saying - cause when we were doing the press - I was saying to some of the people, you know, I was talking to them about who, you know, who they wanted and I said, “Look, you know what? Even if Bush does come in, you’ve only got four more years.”

PLUME: Yeah, we keep telling ourselves that.

FROST: Unless he’s going to do that thing where he’s gonna make an amendment to the Constitution whereupon you can run as many times as you can get elected.

PLUME: Yeah, then we learn he’s a Dark Lord of the Sith.

FROST: Oh god, no.

PLUME: I can see it. I can see just about anything happening at this point.

FROST: I know. What were we saying before we got sidetracked?

PLUME: Ah, we were talking about the transition period as far as the second series…

FROST: Oh no no, about… um, about… no, you know I’d seen quite a bit of the world…

PLUME: As far as being a world traveler.

FROST: Yeah, you know I’d never been miles and miles…

PLUME: Can you envision yourself living outside the UK again?

FROST: Can I? Yeah. Very easily. Very easily. I mean, as I said, that kinda football mob mentality of the moment is… I just… I find it disgusting. It disgusts me. I just think… you know, I mean… you could go and live in Greece, you could go and live on Sardinia and pay… you could even go and live in Amsterdam and, you know, it’s an amazing city and you pay less tax. The sun shines all the time and, you know? That’s my dream, just to make enough money in these next kinda ten, twenty years to be able to kind of live in a villa in Greece and wear kind of white billowing smocks and just paint. That would be great, I’d f***in’ love it.

PLUME: (Laughs) You working towards that actively?

FROST: Well, yeah. I’m working a lot. But the taxman takes all my money. So maybe the taxman’s living in a nice, big villa.

PLUME: Yes… painting, I hear.

FROST: Yeah, exactly. “Nick Frost is a knob” on a big canvas.

PLUME: In fact, I think he just dedicated his latest painting to you.

FROST: Yes, at the Guggenheim.

PLUME: Yes, yes.

FROST: Yeah, I mean, I did a series called Danger! 50,000 Volts which has been released on DVD in America. But I’d never actually really wanted to go to America at all. I mean, I thought about it, and just kinda thought, well… I didn’t fancy America. But then after doing Danger! - and we did two series of that, so I was in America for, you know, three or four weeks overall for the first kind of time - and I just, I just loved it. It’s amazing. It’s such an amazing country. And, you know, being from Britain, the scale of America is just f***ing freaky. In Britain, you can go from London to Edinburgh, which is, you know, it’s a long way as far as our country’s concerned. And it’s forty minutes. And that’s it. But, you know, you go from New York to LA or Washington… or, you know, from Chicago to Miami - it’s six hours. It’s just amazing, you know?

PLUME: Actually more than that.

FROST: Yeah, it’s… well, you know, when we did the tour, that was… we were doing a flight a day, you know. And that was a… we felt like a big proper band. We felt like the Beatles.

PLUME: Just running from press gig to press gig?

FROST: Yeah, “Mr. Frost, this way! This way!” Yeah, it was great.

PLUME: And you did all the major shows as well.

FROST: Yeah, we got round and… you know, we really did it.

Continued below…