GRADO didn’t need an excuse to work with impressionist Jonathan Watson again — as he used to beg the mimic to do his famous voices while filming Two Doors Down.
The telly wrestler starred as rough and ready Alan alongside Jonathan’s party-loving hubby Colin in the hit BBC One sitcom.
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But now the pair have been reunited for a one-off Only An Excuse? special for the All Star Euros Sketch Show.
Jonathan, 66, said: “I would be sitting there on set, with all the responsibility of doing this scene and ten pages of dialogue to remember and he’s sitting beside me going, ‘Do Graeme Souness’.”
Grado, real name Graeme Stevely, added: “I grew up watching Only An Excuse?, I had them all on video tape.
“So when I’m sitting in a chair next to Johnny I am not going to miss out on the opportunity to hear him do Souness or Frank McAvennie’s ‘Where’s the burds?’.”
“Remember, Johnny might have had screeds of dialogue, but all I had to remember was things like ‘Alright Eric?’, ‘Can of Fanta’. So I had plenty of time on my hands.”
Jonathan will play out all the old favourites including Sir Alex Ferguson, Stevie Clarke, Frank McAvennie, Jim White and Kenny Dalglish.
Meanwhile, Grado will unleash his uncanny impression of Ally McCoist along with former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou and former player Kris Boyd.
Jonathan admits he thought he was done with impressions when he and creator Philip Differ chose to bring the curtain down on the Hogmanay favourite in 2020 after 27 years on the box.
He says: “I was finished with it, but BBC Scotland contacted the Comedy Unit saying they wanted to do this sketch show and asked Phil and me to bring back some of the Only An Excuse? characters.
“But I said to Phil, ‘If we’re going to bring them back we need to breathe new life into them’ and because I had worked with Graeme on Two Doors Down I knew what a good actor he is but he’s also a talented mimic.
“So that was one of the attractions of doing it again. We had two days filming, one day in Hampden, one day in Firhill and had a fantastic time.”
Dad-of-two Grado, from Stevenston, Ayrshire, first unleashed his Super Ally impression on the nation during a skit on the TV comedy Scot Squad, where he played PC Hugh McKirdy.
The Rangers fan says: “When BBC Scotland Tweeted that clip my initial reaction was ‘I hope I’ve not given Ally a complex’ with his wee phrases like, ‘Make no mistake about it,’ and ‘I’ll tell you for one’. I was really worried he may take it the wrong way as he is my absolute hero.
“But I literally timed it from when that Tweet was posted, it took only nine minutes until Ally sent me a DM saying, ‘Absolutely superb — love it’.
“He told me he was getting roasted in all the group chats but still said, ‘Keep up the good work son’.
“I was jumping about my living room, phoning my missus Stephanie going ‘Ally saw it’. It was amazing.”
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Jonathan has also had the seal of approval from almost every sporting figure he has lampooned over the years.
He says: “I was at the Sports Writer annual do a few Sundays ago where Graeme Souness was giving a toast.
“Chick Young was interviewing him and said to Graeme how I was sitting in the front and asked if he was all right with that.
“Well, did he not say, ‘I think it’s brilliant — it’s better than I first thought’ which is what we had him saying on the show. So he’s always been great about it.”
Grado adds: “I also do big Ange and Kris Boyd. Ange came about when me and Boab (Stephen Purdon who plays River City’s Shell Suit Bob) were sitting in our dressing room during panto at the Pavilion.
“Wee Boab tweeted it and it went viral too. Then Philip Differ wrote a sketch for me doing Ange which was hilarious. I also had a wee bash at doing Kris as well because of my Ayrshire accent, so I hope people love it.”
Fellow Rangers supporter Jonathan recalls how he once had to ask Celtic boss Neil Lennon to help out with a sketch.
He explains: “Celtic had Nike as their supplier and there was a special tracksuit made for Lenny that the BBC costume department couldn’t get hold of. I got Chick to ask him and he ended up giving us his tracksuit to use. I sent it back to Lenny wrapped around a bottle of Blue Nun wine.”
However, Jonathan and Grado will both go head-to-head in the talkSPORT studio in a skit that is sure to hit the back of the net with viewers.
Grado says: “For me to get a chance to do Ally, sitting in talkSPORT with Johnny as Jim White, was just amazing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun at work.”
Last month The Scottish Sun revealed how Two Doors Down had come to an end after seven seasons following the tragic death of co-creator Simon Carlyle in 2023, as his fellow writer Gregor Sharp felt he “could not carry on” without his pal.
FRANK IN FOR BLAME
JONATHAN Watson’s “Macca” met the real Frank McAvennie – when the pair recorded a new show hosted by the footie legend.
The impressionist will appear on the Let Me Be Frank podcast alongside Frank’s co-presenter, former Scottish Sun journalist Simon Houston.
But both Macca’s were in agreement about their favourite Only An Excuse? sketch of all time.
That was the classic where “Frank McAvennie” is in a petrol station, eyeing up two attractive girls when the attendant asks, “Pump two?” and he replies, “With a bit of luck”.
Jonathan says: “The ‘pump two’ sketch is definitely our favourite, but Frank told me during the podcast how he actually got into bother over it. On the day I filmed it there were two really attractive looking supporting artists at the petrol station, but the father-of-one of them confronted the real Frank about the sketch.
“He said to him, ‘You do know that was my daughter in that sketch?’. And Frank’s like, ‘You do know that wasn’t me – that was Jonathan Watson’.
But the guy wasn’t giving up, ‘That was my daughter though’. So Frank got the blame.”
He adds: “But it was great meeting him. Frank’s a smashing bloke.”
Let Me Be Frank will be available on all platforms, including Spotify and YouTube, from Thursday.
Jonathan admits: “We miss doing it, but it’s not happening again.
Obviously Gregor doesn’t feel he can continue at this moment without Simon and you have to respect that. It’s as simple as that.”
But the pair do want to work together after having a blast with their impressions. Grado says: “When that Ally and Ange tweet went out I had all these people posting, ‘Grado you need to do an Only An Excuse? with Johnny Watson’. People were desperate to see it happen so I would love to do more of that.”
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Jonathan adds: “I will do more with Graeme in future, I have no doubt about that as we really work well together.”
- The All Star Euros Sketch Show special will be shown tomorrow on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer at 9.30pm