Welcome to Nothing is Real, a podcast about the Beatles.

Everybody thinks they know the Beatles, but how much do we really know? My name's Jason Carty.

My name's Stephen Corkcroft.

And we're live on tape from Dublin and Belfast.

Last week, we did part one on the Ed Sullivan shows and the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

And it was a

quite meandering path to get us to the day itself when the band were due to appear on the show,

which went out on the 9th of February, 1964. So today, we're going to start from their arrival

in New York and trace their relationship with Ed Sullivan over the subsequent years. As we said last

week, they land on the 7th of February and something we kind of glossed over was the JFK press

conference, which is something that, you know, when you think of the Beatles getting to America

is a really, you know, really pertinent moment. It's really iconic.

Yes. I mean, this is, I suppose, their first live appearance on American television.

That is the true live appearance. You know, that's the true live appearance. And, you know,

even given the fact that they've been used to this kind of press conference or this

kind of interview in the UK, you imagine they must have been petrified, but they don't look

petrified. They don't look nervous. They look incredibly relaxed. I mean, they know they're performing,

and it's quite a performance. It is, and it was colourized for the Ron Howard film, colourised quite badly, I thought. But yeah, it's quite a performance. It is and it was colourised for the Ron Howard film,

colourised quite badly, I thought, but it's, it's, you know, they are supremely confident. And as you

say, if they're nervous, they don't show it. But it's, it's the press conference where, you know,

you know, the press is just clamouring over them. And they're not singing, you know, but they are

doing a performance. And it's all part of priming the pump for Sullivan. So it's all like, will you sing a

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