"If you knew Chris, it's just so Chris"
By Emma Wilkes 22nd December 2025
Bob Mortimer and Chris Rea. Credit: John Philips/Frank Hoesnch/Getty
Chris Rea fans are remembering the late musician by re-sharing the legendary ‘egg in a bath’ story Bob Mortimer told about him on Would I Lie To You? in 2018.
Mortimer claimed on the comedy panel show that he follows his friend Rea’s advice to him to crack an egg into his baths – and he’d been doing it for 22 years. Naturally, host Rob Brydon asked how he came to give this advice and in what context.
Advertisement“I was making a single for Middlesborough Football Club’s FA Cup appearance called ‘Let’s Dance’ [in 1997], which I did with Chris Rea,” Mortimer said. “And after we completed the recording, he popped me into the bath and there was an egg in it.”
After the panel got to grips with the unusual idea of being put in a bath right after a recording session, Mortimer continued: “[He said] ‘That’s it Bob, I think we’ve got that leg, that’s your bedroom, that’s the bath, I’ll pop an egg in there for you.
“He’s where I’m from, Middlesborough, but he’s much more Middlesborough than me.”
Asked what the thinking was behind putting an egg in the bath, Mortimer said: “I’ve never found out. All I know is that I woke up the next morning and I have never felt so alive.” He added that the egg white had dissipated. “It’s non-greasy, which is a bonus.”
RecommendedVery sad news on the passing of #ChrisRea who left a musical legacy but will forever be remembered in my mind for popping an egg into Bob Mortimer’s bath pic.twitter.com/wEX6dXWDPf
— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) December 22, 2025
Responding more questions about what the strange ritual involved, Mortimer said: “You really don’t want to bust the yolk. The white goes but the yolk’s there and you move like that and you try and get it to come towards you.”
“If you knew Chris, it’s just so Chris.”
Rea made his last TV appearance on the 2020 Christmas special of Mortimer’s show with Paul Whitehouse, Gone Fishing, which shares its name with the title of one of Rea’s songs.
AdvertisementDuring his appearance on the show, Rea explained that he was “on the dole” when he wrote his legendary festive hit ‘Driving Home For Christmas’ and ironically, he was banned from driving at the time.
Speaking about it earlier this month with the Daily Express, Rea – who originally wrote the tune for Van Morrison – said: “It’s a frustrating song, but it’s also hopeful and comforting.
“It’s funny, because I’d just been banned from driving when I wrote it. But I was feeling good at the time too, and people say they can hear that infectious feel-good mood when they hear it.”
Rea explained: “I still sing it at other drivers when I’m stuck on the motorway.”