Almodóvar sings 'Suck it to me' live on TV for the first time in 30 years

Pedro Almodóvar came to talk about his first novel. He left having sung live on Spanish TV for the first time in over three decades.

The director appeared on Thursday on La revuelta, David Broncano's late-night show on TVE's La 1 (Spain's public broadcaster).

What happened?

Almodóvar was there to present El hombre que solo escribía en los aviones ("The Man Who Only Wrote on Planes"), his first novel. He opened with a joke: he had come "to celebrate the Democrats' victory in the United States".

Then he started talking about the Teatro Albéniz, the Madrid theatre where the show is recorded. He recalled accompanying Chavela Vargas there ("It was her theatre in Madrid") and the fight to save the building when it was close to disappearing.

That led him to his days as a singer with Fabio McNamara. "If you know it, we'll sing it and dance it," he told the audience. With percussion from Grison and the crowd clapping along, he sang Suck it to me, the song written for his 1982 film Laberinto de pasiones. "Fabio and I did a parody of punk," he said afterwards. He added that he had improvised a song that was a regular at Rock-Ola, the club that was a temple of Madrid's Movida scene.

Advice for Broncano before Abascal

Most of the interview was about politics. Almodóvar said he was "petrified" to learn that Santiago Abascal, Vox's candidate in the elections, will be Broncano's guest on Monday 9 November. He even offered to sit in the audience.

His advice: don't be neutral. Broncano replied that he can't treat guests differently, because the Junta Electoral Central (Spain's electoral commission) has said all candidates must be invited. "Everyone should come. That's democracy," Almodóvar answered. "But your attitude towards each of them isn't the same."

He also criticised the decision by Vox and Abascal's party in Castilla y León to deny grants to "ideologised works" or those with "propaganda". In his view that is a euphemism for censorship. He suggested Broncano let Abascal speak about migrants and society, and keep the classic question: is he more sexist or more racist?

Broncano said Abascal is already part of the conversation "whether you like it or not". He added that, even if he is more restrained at RTVE, he will give his opinion on some issues.

What's next?

The episode drew a 13.1% share. That was below El hormiguero (14.5%), but La revuelta led among the commercial target, the audience advertisers value most.

Ada Colau visits on Tuesday, and Abascal follows on Monday 9 November.