Asim Chaudhry on David Attenborough, defending the world, and his new film Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die

Asim Chaudhry is modern British comedy – it’s a phrase that won’t surprise any of you who have seen something from the actor/ director/ writer/ creator/ musician having starred in the likes of People Just Do Nothing (as well as co-creating the whole hit series), Click and Collect, What’s Love Got to Do With It and countless others rib-ticklers.

But as well as keep the nation laughing, he’s no stranger to a more serious turn, with roles in Black Mirror (yes roles plural), and his latest film, Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die only adding to his increasingly-enviable CV.

Marking Gore Verbinski’s return to the director’s seat, Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die is a mad, sci-fi-esque adventure romp into a dystopian-ish world facing an AI uprising. Sam Rockwell arrives at a standard present-day Norm's Diner having travelled from the future – a bleak future with everyone tied to VR headsets, barely engaged in the real world. He's out to enlists a ragtag bunch of fellow diners to help him save the world. Joining Chaudhry and Rockwell is a cracking cast (Hayley Lu Richardson, Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz, and Michael Pena) — but it's Chaudhry in scene-stealing mode as everyman Scott who is more concerned with winning at survival than actually surviving.

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE | Teaser Trailer | Only in Cinemas February 2026 - YouTube

Watch On

We thought we’d be getting a mix of wisdom, laughs, and movie magic insights from Chaudhry as he joined us for a pint in The Lucky Saint pub. And whilst we definitely did get a good dose of all of the above, somehow the chat mainly centred around David Attenborough. Like, a lot of David Attenborough. To the point where this may just read as a David Attenborough appreciation society post, with a couple of BTS set secrets and a sprinkle of celebrity gossip thrown in.

1. Comedy is essential – and the more new faces the better

If it feels like all that’s around at the moment are throwbacks, revivals, and sequels, you’re not going crazy (or are stuck in Nostalgia Central via Denial Junction). Across the board in media, there has been significantly less investment in new voices and faces, with commissioning green lights going to less risky projects – e.g ones backed by a big name. That’s why when the cast of the new UK SNL was announced, there was a lot of excitement as it was a group of (fairly) fresh faces making their major TV debuts. If you’re a fan of the UK comedy circuit, you’ll know some of the crew but for most, it will be a whole host of new talent.

“A lot of faces [in the comedy scene] you know from TikTok now,” Asim agrees.

“And even though you get tired of the same old faces, there’s no risk with it. It’s brilliant to invest in new faces – these days, the funniest people I see are on TikTok. Back in the day when we started People Just Do Nothing it was on my YouTube channel, and that was really niche. But now it’s the other way round and people are looking out for talent on social media," he says.

“My boy Al [Nash] is a naturally funny man,” Asim adds, thinking about who he finds the most exciting talent in the UK right now.

“We’ve done a sketch together and he is just great.”

2. Faced with a real life apocalypse, he has a sure-fire crew he’d call

It’s inevitable to think about who would be manning your spaceship / bunker / patch o’land if you were faced with an apocalypse, whether it’s facing off against the tech-fuelled end times of Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die, or something a little more undead.

Although we would definitely bet money on the People Just Do Nothing boys at Kurupt FM to basically breeze through an apocalypse (probably accidentally), Asim has some pretty epic team players in mind he would call on to be his A-team.

“If the world was ending I’d team with someone like David Attenborough – D Bro as I call him,” says Asim.

“I actually met him once, I was sh*tting myself, and I went to ask him a question. I went, 'Sorry sir, do you mind if I call you D-Bro?' and he went 'oh, I quite like that actually' and I was like 'Ahh adopt me!'

“He’s the brains, I wouldn't have him involved in the physical stuff. I would have him just narrate everything.”

For the rough and tumble though, Asim has an altogether more capable person in mind.

“Next I’d probably have John Jones, the UFC fighter. If you put him in a room with anyone else – the best boxer, best fighter, he’s the one coming out of the room alive. He’s a master of like all the martial arts.”

And anyone to lighten the mood?

“Then I might get Stephen Merchant – I’d use him as a meeting point cause he’s nice and tall,” Asim jokes, referring to Merchant’s own anecdote about being used as a landmark by a group of girls at a festival.

“Although he’d probably get taken out first… He’s a funny guy too, so that would be good.

“Then I’d probably have Barry [Shaun Williamson] from Eastenders. He’d go well with D-Bro. Did you know once he was doing a gig and his mic stopped working, so he just belted it out,” he concludes, having rounded up the brains, the muscle, the meeting point, and the foghorn.

3. His perception of manliness has changed as he’s got older

Actor, tick. Director, tick. Writer, tick. Musician, tick. It’s hard to imagine a world where the BAFTA-winner is doing anything else other than making us laugh with his characters and performances. But there are still some jobs which were on Asim's bucket list as a kid.

“I think every little boy dreams of being a footballer – I did SoccerAid but I had an injury at the time so I was rubbish,” he recalls.

“I think rapping too – it’s a cool thing, rapper, boxer, football player – the holy trinity of cool. As a young man you think that’s what manliness is, but you realise that it’s not, manliness is being sensitive and in touch with your feelings, and not toxic.”

4. As a born and bred Londoner, he has some nostalgic spots and controversial favourites

Whenever you get a proper London boy like Chaudhry, you’re always going to get a good dose of homegrown bias towards their local borough. And with Asim’s alter ego Chabuddy G being the self-proclaimed Mayor of Hounslow, we anticipated him to reinforce the age-old debate that West really is Best – but there were a couple of surprises.

“I never go south of the river,” Asim jokes on learning half the Shortlist crew live in that direction.

“I studied in East London and lived there for a long time, but I’ve moved back West now,” he says.

“I love it; I did the whole hackney hipster lifestyle but it became too gentrified. I felt like I was living in a dystopian bubble where a flat white is £42 and you have these 'daddy bought me a flat in Shoreditch but oh no there’s a gang over there' types! I grew up and matured a bit and moved back to West London."

“I loved East London though,” Asim continues.

“I lived just off Brick Lane above a pub where the Kray Twins murdered someone. There was a spot I loved called Noodle King, the plate you got was huge, and it was about £4. It was such a staple in Bethnal Green. All I’ll say is if you know, you know.”

5. The cast faced some IRL challenges whilst filming

Sometimes you want the onscreen drama to reflect stuff happening off screen – rom-coms mirroring real life where the actors fall in love, that sort of thing. When you’re filming a sci-fi apocalyptic adventure, you hope and pray that any bizarre or unsavoury goings on stay firmly on the big screen. No such luck for the Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die cast…

“We actually shot in Cape Town to make it look like LA. It’s incredible but it was a very interesting place, because apartheid ended in 1993, and even though there have been huge changes, you can feel the hierarchy a little. It’s a very complicated place but so beautiful,” Asim explains.

“The cast was amazing – we’re all really good mates in real life, you know we’ve still got the group chat going, we were all reunited in Berlin for the film festival.

"I think it was partly trauma bonding though because we were [filming] out in South Africa so we were eating all kinds of food. We all got stomach bugs, and at one point we nicknamed the film Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Diarrhoea. We connected through that – trauma bonding.”

6. Despite his star-studded collaborator CV, he still has a list of people he’d love to work with

It’s always fun to see who your favourite actors would get a little giddy over, especially when they’ve worked with a whole host of big names — it feels like a pizza with Danny DeVito or a pint with Paul Rudd is just their average Friday. For Asim when it comes to cameos – both for Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die and for himself to be in – he knows exactly what he’d be choosing.

“I would love to have had a cameo in Scarface,” he admits.

“I know that’s a basic roadman answer, but I’d love to be in it but as Chabuddy G. I think he’d kind of fit in the world quite well, as a shit hustler.”

In the crazy (but also incredibly believable) Verbinski-esque world of Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die, there is no actor, comedian, artist, hell – national treasure, who would be out of place. If David Attenborough or Louis Theroux popped in for a quick cameo, you wouldn’t even bat an eyelid. Despite the Attenborough love throughout, there’s another legend Chaudhry would have tapped for a cameo:

“My favourite actor of all time is Robert DeNiro, so I’d probably have to say him.”

7. As much as Chabuddy G would get our vote for the next face on a banknote, he’s got another hero in mind

Royals aside, we have a pretty good lineup of famous faces smiling out from our banknotes – if you carry cash anymore that is. Austen, Turing, Turner. But if we’re thinking ahead, Chaudhry would definitely get our vote. Ever humble, his vote goes to another (slightly familiar, at this point) legend.

“David Attenborough – he needs to go straight onto the £50 note, and just have him on every note and coin,” Asim suggests.

According to Asim, if he had to give the advice Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die to anyone, it would be Attenborough.

“I think he needs it the most – apart from all women. Please don’t die,” he adds quickly, closing his eyes and crossing his fingers.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way – but if he does go, I think it will bring everyone together in a very divided time. It will unite us,” he darkly jokes.

“Don’t you think if we did have an apocalypse and everything except a boxset of David Attenborough’s work was destroyed, like... we would be okay. That’s all we need,” he laughs.

8. Speaking of David Attenborough, he has plenty of celebrity anecdotes

“I was at a David Attenborough screening for his new Netflix show, and Prince Harry was there. He was chatting to us and went 'Don’t you just love David Attenborough?'”, recalls Asim.

"I said, 'Yeah, David Attenborough’s one of those typical shows you watch when you’re at uni and stoned out of your mind, watching the birds and thinking “but how do they know where to go though?” And Prince Harry was laughing saying 'oh yes I know what you mean', and his security guard was behind him giving me daggers. If you Google 'Asim Chaudhry Prince Harry' that picture comes up.”

“You know what, at the same event, David Attenborough was giving a speech before the screening. David Beckham was front row with Brooklyn, and obviously everyone was listening to Attenborough, you know we were feeling very lucky and privileged to be there and Brooklyn was on his phone. And Becks gave him a little clip behind his ear, and I thought, you know what, I’m team David. That’s David Attenborough, that’s the best man on the planet!”

You’d think Brooklyn would be more interested, seeing as he is a keen wildlife photographer, we pointed out.

“Exactly!” laughs Asim.

“Maybe that’s what inspired his wildlife book. What was it he said? Elephants, so beautiful to see but so hard to capture. Yeah, if you don’t know how to use a f*cking camera…”

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is out in UK cinemas on Friday 20th February.

• Art After Dark is back: London's West End set to light up with a free public art show

Skip the search — follow Shortlist on Google News to get our best lists, news, features and reviews at the top of your feeds!