‘People think fame is a magic wand’: Jarvis Cocker on old songs, young fans and his granny’s verdict on Pulp

It was bonfire night, and Cocker had taken some welcoming fireworks over to Jennings’ place. “It turned out Garth’s apartment was quite near to the – not an army base, but what’s it called?” “The École Militaire,” says Jennings. “So obviously they didn’t like explosives,” says Cocker. “We got told off for that. The best welcome to Paris.” “It was lovely,” adds Jennings, fondly. “I remember it very well.” The men had first met in the late 1990s, when Jennings directed two gorgeous music videos for Pulp, for the singles Help the Aged and A Little Soul. Now, almost 30 years later, they are working together again, on Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? This joyful, funny, celebratory film is a hybrid beast: part concert movie and part documentary on the long history of the band. The live show was filmed at London’s O2 Arena in the summer of 2025, on the night that Pulp were told that More, their eighth studio album and first album in 24 years, had gone to No 1 in the British album charts. You can see Cocker waving around the trophy on stage. Jennings, director of Son of Rambow and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, has lived in Paris for the past 13 years, where the animation for Sing, his wildly successful kids’ musical film franchise, is made. He is working on a short Christmas special, and the third and final film in the series. “It’s a slow process,” he says, from the studio, “but we’re getting there.” Cocker moved back to London a few years ago, and today he is at home, getting ready to headline the End of the Road festival. It will be Pulp’s last show for a while. You can blame Instagram and Abba Voyage for the existence of What Do You Do for an Encore? Pulp, formed 1978, split up in 2002. They got back together for a reunion tour between 2011 and 2013, the final date of which was captured for another idiosyncratic documentary, Florian Habicht’s Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets. I’m an old bloke’ ... You know, I don’t go to shows any more. I’m an old bloke.” (Cocker is about to turn 63.) “I just said: ‘All right, I hope you’re right, let’s do it.’ But I wanted to make sure that it would be a good thing for us to do as well.” Cocker teased the news of a second Pulp reunion on Instagram in 2022.