Bob Mortimer found fame in the 90s as part of the comedy duo Reeves and Mortimer alongside fellow Yorkshireman Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves. In a case of right place, right time, Mortimer just happened to be invited by a friend to watch one of Vic’s performances above a pub, which ended up being the start of a life-changing event for Bob Mortimer. He’s found a new audience thanks to the hilarious BBC panel show Would I Lie To You, with his incredible fantastical stories that, whether truth or lie, have the audience and the panel in stitches.
For those living under a rock that might not know the show, Would I Lie To You is a popular BBC panel show fronted by Welsh comedian Rob Brydon, alongside team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack, who are joined by four celebs each week. The aim of the game is for each team to decide whether a story told by one of the celebs is true or a lie. And Bob Mortimer, who first appeared on the show back in 2013, is one of the show’s most popular guests due to many reasons.
Bob is officially a national treasure, with his popularity spanning generations. Proven by the fact he is repeatedly asked back on the BBC show each so many times. Seemingly having an endless supply of crazy stories, the most crackers of which all seem to be true. From burning his house down with fireworks to dog massages, Bob Mortimer’s Would I Lie To You stories are some of the most popular. All you have to do is scroll through social media for a while, and one of his clips will appear with huge views.
5 Of Bob Mortimer’s Would I Lie To You Funniest Stories
Bob performs his own dentistry
We’d never heard of the magical substance Fuji 9 until Bob Mortimer famously claimed to do his own dentistry. The clip went viral with classic moments such as his love of a kitchen island and the interesting details the Middlesbrough-born comedian weaves into his tale, such as the use of his son’s gaming chair and a curved Indian wind instrument, which make this moment one of Bob’s funniest stories on Would I Lie To You.
Chris Rea cracked an egg in Bob’s bath
Fellow Middlesbrough lad, rock star Chris Rea, featured in one of Mortimer’s stories in which he claims that after recording a single for Middlesbrough Football Club, the singer ran him a bath and cracked a raw egg into it. The incident was said to have occurred after the recording of Let’s Dance back in 1997 and is all the more poignant after the passing of the singer over the festive period. Mortimer insists that he was so invigorated by the ritual that he has continued it every day for more than 20 years, letting the egg white dissolve in the water.
Theft and Shrubbery
The story goes that, as a teenager, Bob and his friends would play a game called ‘Theft and Shrubbery’, and it’s another one of his Would I Lie To You? stories that is pure gold. He tells the tale of how he and his friends would creep into people’s gardens in the evening after getting bored of trying to land fruit on their heads. They would then find a window with the curtains open and observe the family inside, backlit by their domestic lighting, slowly walking towards the window while repeating the phrase, getting gradually louder each time. The phrase ‘sniper’s dream’ always cracks me up and is regularly quoted by us.
Bob can break an apple in half with his bare hands
Famously proved he really can snap an apple clean in half using only his bare hands — a seemingly impossible skill he first revealed on Would I Lie to You? and later demonstrated again on Taskmaster. Mortimer explained that the trick relies on technique rather than brute strength, using friction and firm downward pressure from the thumbs on the small raised bumps at the top of the apple, before pulling the hands apart without twisting.
The moment quickly became one of his most talked-about television anecdotes, leaving fellow comedians and viewers equally stunned. Since then, countless fans have attempted to recreate the feat themselves, with videos circulating online of people proudly cracking apples in tribute to Mortimer’s unexpectedly practical party trick.
Police ordered Bob out of town
Bob Mortimer police story on Would I Lie to You? is one of his best for sure. He discusses how he and a group of friends were actually ordered out of Castle Douglas in south-west Scotland after frightening locals during a trip. He said he visited the town to see the Gulf Stream, describing it as an “appealing and miraculous hot stream of water” that teenagers are fascinated by, leading him and friends to travel to Scotland to get close to it, even trying to see its effects at Logan Botanical Gardens.
The group had been sleeping in their car to keep warm and wore old latex “old man” masks at night, which they then continued to wear during the day. Unsurprisingly, the masks caused alarm among residents, and the group were stopped by police and taken to the station, where Mortimer explained they were simply for sleeping. Despite this, officers asked them to leave the town due to concerns from locals, with a sergeant even escorting them until they were safely beyond the town limits.
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Feature Image Credit: BBC
