June 25, 2025 • 11 mins
When you hear the name ‘James May’, it’s likely you think of cars, Top Gear, and The Grand Tour, but much like his co-stars, May has plenty of other projects.
He owns his own pub and gin line, and has done countless shows visiting other countries, rebuilding toys and machines, and exploring life’s questions.
May’s now onto his next journey – a live theatre performance that brings the stories of explorers to the stage.
It’s called ‘Explorers: The Age of Discovery’, and May’s bringing it to Kiwi audiences in August.
It’s been quite a busy year for May – something he told Mike Hosking was quite unintentional.
“This year was going to be my, what I called a ‘dry run at retirement’, to see how much I liked it,” he revealed.
“But I’ve ended up doing a live tour, a couple of TV shows, various other odds and ends – it's actually the busiest year I’ve had for probably a decade, in terms of demands on my time.”
“But maybe that’s a good thing,” he said. “Maybe if I was left to my own devices, I’d sit in the garden and rot.”
Despite his vast experience in the entertainment industry, May isn’t terribly experienced with live performances.
“We used to do Top Gear Live and then Clarkson, Hammond & May Live, but there were three of us doing it, plus our stunt driving team and various other circus performers,” he explained.
“This one is quite intimidating because it just me."
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, James May not only back, but he's heading our way.
If you haven't seen as our Man in series, it's
well worth watching Japan, India and Italy. He also has
the pub, He's got his own gin, but it's the
theater that brings him here explorers the Age of Discovery.
It will be arriving in August. James May is with
this good morning, Good morning sir. We last had you
on the program in twenty nineteen, and that was just
(00:23):
ahead of season three of the Grand Tour. This will
be the only Grand Tour question, I ask, But given
it's been six years, has that contribution to your side
of television, both Top Gear and Grand Tour settled in
your mind? Are you at peace with yourself and life
moves on.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's very nice of you to put it that way,
because I think, yes, you are right. I am largely
at peace with myself. I'm very happy with what happened,
and I am ready to move on to a broad
Sunday's Upland.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You seem very busy. Are you deliberately busy?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No? Quite the opposite. This year was going to be
what I called a dry run, a retirement to see
how much I liked it that I've ended up doing
a live talk, a couple of TV shows, various other
odds and sods. It's actually the busiest year I've had
for probably a decade in terms of demands on my time.
(01:19):
But maybe that's a good thing. You know, maybe if
I was left on my own devices, i'd sit in
the garden and rot.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Because what I wanted to know is is post you
ground to a top gear thing? Was the work you
wanted to do, ideas you wanted to explore and you're
now doing that or has it just happened.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's a boringly predictable answer, but it's a bit of both.
There were some things I wanted to do, none of
those have come to fruition. And there were things that
other people wanted me to do that I've agreed to.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And have you enjoyed them and enriched yourself through the process.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, actually yes, I think. I mean I tried to
deny it, as I'm sure a lot of us do,
But I quite like being busy and I like having
I like having things to do and an objective and
I mean, let's be honest, a sense of purpose and
self worth. We're all needy underneath, especially people in TV,
(02:17):
in the media, we're all just crying for help.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Our Man in. I enjoyed them all, but I particularly
like Japan. It struck me that that could go for river,
couldn't it. There's one hundred and ninety six countries you
could be our Man in.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yes, I think you're right. Amazon didn't think so, though,
so they binned it. I was quite cooking to do
Our Man in the UK because I thought the one
thing none of us ever does is explore our own countries.
We always think I must go if you've been written
for example, I must go to New Zealand, or I
must go to the Maldives, or I must go and
explore India. But why not go and explore ten miles
(02:55):
down the road exactly?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And so well, why not make it an independent production
as may incorporate it brings you our Man.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh Man at home?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yes, precisely. We might have just whiteboarded a half decent
idea other things submitted exactly. The show you're bringing to
the country is that fraught given its live and from
what I can understand ab it, it's scripted but technically
involved as well, So the potential for chaos is there
(03:26):
is it not.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
That's a very polite way of putting out. I think
the potential for cocking it up is enormous. I'm not
really very experienced at live things. We used to do
top Gear Live and then Clarkson Hammond and May Live.
But there were three of us doing it, plus our
stunt driving team and various other circus performers, and it
(03:49):
was I mean, it wasn't. It was quite it was
quite nerve wracking at times, but it wasn't really technically
very different. This one is quite intimidating because it's just me.
If it goes wrong, I can't just turn to Richard
Hammond and go, so, Richard, what do you think you know?
And completely throw it to him and watch him the squirm.
I don't have that option. I've I have to I
(04:12):
have to keep going, which on the whole I don't
have a problem with. I mean, I'm quite good at
keeping going. But yes, it's I'm slightly nervous about it,
if I'm honest, But that's also quite a good thing
because it's it's stimulating. You know, it's exciting. You have
a live audience. You can't you can't rewind, you can't edit.
(04:32):
You just have to go out there and feel either
the love or the hate, depending on which comes out
of the audience.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Is this entirely your show? You wrote it, Therefore you
put the parameters around it. Who's the discoverer? What you
say about them? Or is they more to it than that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's a bit, it's a it's a slightly more complicated
process than that. The organizers came up with the bare
bones of the show, and then I've added a few bits,
and we've taken a few bits out, and then I've
turned it into my own words, and I have written
the entire script. But I mean, it's two hours long.
I don't think since I'm not part of the Royal
Shakespeare Company or anything like that, I don't think I
(05:08):
can actually remember it word for word. I've got to.
I have to remember the gist of it, what is
often referred to as the narrative arc. There's a terrible
expression that we all hate it. But I have to
essentially remember that and just stand there and tell the stories.
There are there special effects. We've got an artist on
(05:28):
the stage, We've got lights and projections of pictures, and
dry eyes and fog and the power of the ship
and all these things, so it'll be you know, it'll
be good to look at, but ultimately I have to
stand there and tell stories.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Have you actually done it yet in terms of it's
coming to Australia in New Zealand. Have you run it
through Britain as a bit of a taste trial to
warm it up for us? Or is this are we
the guinea pigs.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
We're actually running it through Australia in New Zealand and
then Singapore before doing it in Britain. I don't think
it's because we're regarding the endtivities as a guinea pig.
I think it's more because the way that the timing
of the thing is such that we come to you
in your winter in Sentity and by the time we
bring the show back to Britain, it will be winter
(06:11):
here and people will be you know, depressed, drunk, no
money or whatever. So I'll consider going to watch me
in a theater show.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
All right, now, listen, James, we're going to talk about cars.
I watched you the other day. I saw your think
with Jay Lino. Now I'm assuming he's on a zimpigre.
He's on a diet because he's literally vanished.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He's a lot thinner than he used to be. I mean,
I didn't ask him about it because that would be
terribly indiscreet and rather rather unmanly. Let to be honest,
I thought. I mean, some people have commented saying, oh,
Jay looks so thin, but I actually thought he looked
quite healthy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
But it's just I was just concerned. But he wasn't
done well the Triumph though, the tr This is what
I got out of your video with Jay, and people
should watch it. Your relationship with the Triumph TR six
Is it about the car or is it about your
time and place in life and therefore your relationship with
with what happened to be there at the time.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, what you see, that's the That's the sort of
question that owns you the big bucks, because I think
it is quite a complicated thing. There are there are
aspects of the of the TR six that connect with
my teenage years, well even with my childhood. I suppose
it was the first It was the first car I
(07:28):
drove that wasn't my own car. As a solo review
on top Gear, I've always admired I always wanted one,
So is it I mean, I do like them as well.
Even though I'm not a massive fan of classic cars,
I tend to think that you know, you're better offer
the model. But I do really like the TR six.
Is it about the car? Is it about my yearning
(07:49):
for the past? Is it about some unresolved personal trauma
or crisis. I don't really know. I think that's for
someone else to decide. Yeah, there that you're mad?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Are you riveling as much as I am? In the
I mean, I don't say this in a nasty way.
In the back down of the motor industry on internal
combustion engines and what we have seen, what we thought
was going to happen and what is happening are two
completely different things. And I reference to your review the
other day with the Ferrari, the chill Andre twelve cylinders.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Who would have thought, Yeah, I know it was. It
was surprisingly delicious. It shouldn't have been surprising. I know,
I know what that sort of thing is like, and
I know I still have a soft spot for it.
You're meaning that the electric car revolution hasn't quite no
one we thought it well. I mean, I don't rejoice
(08:47):
in it. I'm open minded about it. I have I
have a Tesla. I've been driving electrically for over a
decade because I sort of, I mean, the way I've
always put it is, I feel I should take part
in the experiment car enthusiast. I'm in the fortunate position
of being able to so I ought to be interested
in where the cars going or not going, So I
(09:10):
should I should join in. There's no point in sort of,
you know, digging a trench and sticking your head over
in a tin hat and going bar electric cars. Bugger off,
I'm going to have this flat six until I die.
You've got to You've got to look at a bit
of both and and sort of. You don't have to
make a decision so much, but you have to. You
have to be the way I always put it is
(09:33):
absorbent to possibilities.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But you would be. It would be fair to suggest,
would it not, that the Ferrari does more for you
emotionally than an electric car?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
IBL will uh mechanically? Yes, I think I believe in
I don't really believe the argument that cars or any
machines have sold I think that's a that's a slight
cop out for people who can't articulate what it is
they like about something, But I do leaven machine character,
and the character of electric motors everywhere, not just in cars,
(10:08):
is fairly uniform because they simply spin round around and whine.
The thing that makes internal combustion engines interesting and full
of character is ultimately because they are flawed. But of
course so are we, so therefore maybe we can relate
to them better and explore their their foibles and their
their strengths and their weaknesses, and either sympathize with them
(10:30):
or exploit them.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Listen, I tell you what we're looking forward to having
you in the country. It's turning a month or so away,
and the show.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I've been terribly pompoused. Then I should apologize.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
No, you're never miror you're not not pompoused, and there's
no need to apologize. It's always a joy. And I
just hope it's not another six years before we get
you back on the program.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, well, I'll gladly come on. It was you know
when I'm there, which is only let me work out
how many weeks away it is, six, five, six or seven. Well,
I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Calculation's waste of Lovely, James, my lovely to see you again.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Nice to talk and you sir, very nice as ever,
see you again soon.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
There we go, and we'll get him in the studio
when he turns up in August. James may always a pleasure.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Well, James May not only back, but he's heading our way.
If you haven't seen as our Man in series, it's
well worth watching Japan, India and Italy. He also has
the pub, He's got his own gin, but it's the
theater that brings him here explorers the Age of Discovery.
It will be arriving in August. James May is with
this good morning, Good morning sir. We last had you
on the program in twenty nineteen, and that was just
(00:23):
ahead of season three of the Grand Tour. This will
be the only Grand Tour question, I ask, But given
it's been six years, has that contribution to your side
of television, both Top Gear and Grand Tour settled in
your mind? Are you at peace with yourself and life
moves on.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's very nice of you to put it that way,
because I think, yes, you are right. I am largely
at peace with myself. I'm very happy with what happened,
and I am ready to move on to a broad
Sunday's Upland.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You seem very busy. Are you deliberately busy?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No? Quite the opposite. This year was going to be
what I called a dry run, a retirement to see
how much I liked it that I've ended up doing
a live talk, a couple of TV shows, various other
odds and sods. It's actually the busiest year I've had
for probably a decade in terms of demands on my time.
(01:19):
But maybe that's a good thing. You know, maybe if
I was left on my own devices, i'd sit in
the garden and rot.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Because what I wanted to know is is post you
ground to a top gear thing? Was the work you
wanted to do, ideas you wanted to explore and you're
now doing that or has it just happened.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's a boringly predictable answer, but it's a bit of both.
There were some things I wanted to do, none of
those have come to fruition. And there were things that
other people wanted me to do that I've agreed to.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And have you enjoyed them and enriched yourself through the process.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, actually yes, I think. I mean I tried to
deny it, as I'm sure a lot of us do,
But I quite like being busy and I like having
I like having things to do and an objective and
I mean, let's be honest, a sense of purpose and
self worth. We're all needy underneath, especially people in TV,
(02:17):
in the media, we're all just crying for help.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Our Man in. I enjoyed them all, but I particularly
like Japan. It struck me that that could go for river,
couldn't it. There's one hundred and ninety six countries you
could be our Man in.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yes, I think you're right. Amazon didn't think so, though,
so they binned it. I was quite cooking to do
Our Man in the UK because I thought the one
thing none of us ever does is explore our own countries.
We always think I must go if you've been written
for example, I must go to New Zealand, or I
must go to the Maldives, or I must go and
explore India. But why not go and explore ten miles
(02:55):
down the road exactly?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And so well, why not make it an independent production
as may incorporate it brings you our Man.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh Man at home?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yes, precisely. We might have just whiteboarded a half decent
idea other things submitted exactly. The show you're bringing to
the country is that fraught given its live and from
what I can understand ab it, it's scripted but technically
involved as well, So the potential for chaos is there
(03:26):
is it not.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
That's a very polite way of putting out. I think
the potential for cocking it up is enormous. I'm not
really very experienced at live things. We used to do
top Gear Live and then Clarkson Hammond and May Live.
But there were three of us doing it, plus our
stunt driving team and various other circus performers, and it
(03:49):
was I mean, it wasn't. It was quite it was
quite nerve wracking at times, but it wasn't really technically
very different. This one is quite intimidating because it's just me.
If it goes wrong, I can't just turn to Richard
Hammond and go, so, Richard, what do you think you know?
And completely throw it to him and watch him the squirm.
I don't have that option. I've I have to I
(04:12):
have to keep going, which on the whole I don't
have a problem with. I mean, I'm quite good at
keeping going. But yes, it's I'm slightly nervous about it,
if I'm honest, But that's also quite a good thing
because it's it's stimulating. You know, it's exciting. You have
a live audience. You can't you can't rewind, you can't edit.
(04:32):
You just have to go out there and feel either
the love or the hate, depending on which comes out
of the audience.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Is this entirely your show? You wrote it, Therefore you
put the parameters around it. Who's the discoverer? What you
say about them? Or is they more to it than that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's a bit, it's a it's a slightly more complicated
process than that. The organizers came up with the bare
bones of the show, and then I've added a few bits,
and we've taken a few bits out, and then I've
turned it into my own words, and I have written
the entire script. But I mean, it's two hours long.
I don't think since I'm not part of the Royal
Shakespeare Company or anything like that, I don't think I
(05:08):
can actually remember it word for word. I've got to.
I have to remember the gist of it, what is
often referred to as the narrative arc. There's a terrible
expression that we all hate it. But I have to
essentially remember that and just stand there and tell the stories.
There are there special effects. We've got an artist on
(05:28):
the stage, We've got lights and projections of pictures, and
dry eyes and fog and the power of the ship
and all these things, so it'll be you know, it'll
be good to look at, but ultimately I have to
stand there and tell stories.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Have you actually done it yet in terms of it's
coming to Australia in New Zealand. Have you run it
through Britain as a bit of a taste trial to
warm it up for us? Or is this are we
the guinea pigs.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
We're actually running it through Australia in New Zealand and
then Singapore before doing it in Britain. I don't think
it's because we're regarding the endtivities as a guinea pig.
I think it's more because the way that the timing
of the thing is such that we come to you
in your winter in Sentity and by the time we
bring the show back to Britain, it will be winter
(06:11):
here and people will be you know, depressed, drunk, no
money or whatever. So I'll consider going to watch me
in a theater show.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
All right, now, listen, James, we're going to talk about cars.
I watched you the other day. I saw your think
with Jay Lino. Now I'm assuming he's on a zimpigre.
He's on a diet because he's literally vanished.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He's a lot thinner than he used to be. I mean,
I didn't ask him about it because that would be
terribly indiscreet and rather rather unmanly. Let to be honest,
I thought. I mean, some people have commented saying, oh,
Jay looks so thin, but I actually thought he looked
quite healthy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
But it's just I was just concerned. But he wasn't
done well the Triumph though, the tr This is what
I got out of your video with Jay, and people
should watch it. Your relationship with the Triumph TR six
Is it about the car or is it about your
time and place in life and therefore your relationship with
with what happened to be there at the time.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, what you see, that's the That's the sort of
question that owns you the big bucks, because I think
it is quite a complicated thing. There are there are
aspects of the of the TR six that connect with
my teenage years, well even with my childhood. I suppose
it was the first It was the first car I
(07:28):
drove that wasn't my own car. As a solo review
on top Gear, I've always admired I always wanted one,
So is it I mean, I do like them as well.
Even though I'm not a massive fan of classic cars,
I tend to think that you know, you're better offer
the model. But I do really like the TR six.
Is it about the car? Is it about my yearning
(07:49):
for the past? Is it about some unresolved personal trauma
or crisis. I don't really know. I think that's for
someone else to decide. Yeah, there that you're mad?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Are you riveling as much as I am? In the
I mean, I don't say this in a nasty way.
In the back down of the motor industry on internal
combustion engines and what we have seen, what we thought
was going to happen and what is happening are two
completely different things. And I reference to your review the
other day with the Ferrari, the chill Andre twelve cylinders.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Who would have thought, Yeah, I know it was. It
was surprisingly delicious. It shouldn't have been surprising. I know,
I know what that sort of thing is like, and
I know I still have a soft spot for it.
You're meaning that the electric car revolution hasn't quite no
one we thought it well. I mean, I don't rejoice
(08:47):
in it. I'm open minded about it. I have I
have a Tesla. I've been driving electrically for over a
decade because I sort of, I mean, the way I've
always put it is, I feel I should take part
in the experiment car enthusiast. I'm in the fortunate position
of being able to so I ought to be interested
in where the cars going or not going, So I
(09:10):
should I should join in. There's no point in sort of,
you know, digging a trench and sticking your head over
in a tin hat and going bar electric cars. Bugger off,
I'm going to have this flat six until I die.
You've got to You've got to look at a bit
of both and and sort of. You don't have to
make a decision so much, but you have to. You
have to be the way I always put it is
(09:33):
absorbent to possibilities.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But you would be. It would be fair to suggest,
would it not, that the Ferrari does more for you
emotionally than an electric car?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
IBL will uh mechanically? Yes, I think I believe in
I don't really believe the argument that cars or any
machines have sold I think that's a that's a slight
cop out for people who can't articulate what it is
they like about something, But I do leaven machine character,
and the character of electric motors everywhere, not just in cars,
(10:08):
is fairly uniform because they simply spin round around and whine.
The thing that makes internal combustion engines interesting and full
of character is ultimately because they are flawed. But of
course so are we, so therefore maybe we can relate
to them better and explore their their foibles and their
their strengths and their weaknesses, and either sympathize with them
(10:30):
or exploit them.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Listen, I tell you what we're looking forward to having
you in the country. It's turning a month or so away,
and the show.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I've been terribly pompoused. Then I should apologize.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
No, you're never miror you're not not pompoused, and there's
no need to apologize. It's always a joy. And I
just hope it's not another six years before we get
you back on the program.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, well, I'll gladly come on. It was you know
when I'm there, which is only let me work out
how many weeks away it is, six, five, six or seven. Well,
I can't do that.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Calculation's waste of Lovely, James, my lovely to see you again.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Nice to talk and you sir, very nice as ever,
see you again soon.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
There we go, and we'll get him in the studio
when he turns up in August. James may always a pleasure.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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