Just think. In a parallel universe Richard Herring could have been asking the Prime Minister if he had ever tried to suck his own cock. Except if Ed Miliband had not eaten that bacon sandwich or put up that stone in the garden and become Prime Minister he might not have been appearing on Richard Herring's podcast with DJ Geoff Lloyd. Together they make the Reasons To Be Cheerful podcast and I suspect if Ed Miliband was in Downing Street he might not have time to make podcasts or appear on them.
In the event Richard Herring didn't ask his seminal question, although he did ask Ed Miliband what other politicians he would choose to be linked to if he was part of a Human Centipede. Before the ex-Labour leader had time to dodge to question – or find out what a human centipede was – Lloyd stepped in to suggest sharply that maybe it should be a Milipede.
For once Richard Herring largely dispensed with frivolity and attempted to talk politics, asking about losing the election in 2015 and what he thought of the state of politics today. Miliband recalled Hillary Benn's theory that elections are either "time for a change or steady as she goes." In 2015 it looked like time for a change but at the last minute changed to steady as she goes.
This was definitely a more relaxed Miliband than we saw when he was Labour leader (see also his witty, outspoken Twitter feed). In fact had he been like this back then maybe he would have been PM. As he said himself there is a tendency for politicians to be less authentic and come up with stock, robotic answers, when the public maybe prefers more humanity and empathy.
On that subject Herring asked: "do you feel sorry for Theresa May or do you find it funny like everybody else?" Milband smiled and said "The fundamentalal problem is she doesn't know what she wants to do with the job...she doesn't really know why she's there."
Elsewhere he didn't mince his words on Trump, calling him "an absolute moron" and calling David Cameron "arrogant." He discounted the possibility of appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. "It would make the bacon sandwich look positively elegant."
And while Herring might not have asked him about sucking his own cock he did ask him which muppet he would choose if he had to have sex with one of Jim's Henson's creations to stop a nuclear war. You'll have to listen/watch to find out the answer.
