Press Interview questions. Leeds Guide 2007
It’s difficult to get people to describe their own comedy, so presume you are your own biographer. Ideally, what would you want written on the inside flap of the jacket cover about yourself?
I’m wouldn’t be that bothered what it said on the jacket cover just so long as the sticker on the front didn’t say “reduced to clear”.
Your 2006 show the Butterfly Effect was about the Chaos Theory. What is it about it that fascinates you?
The theory of the Butterfly Effect states that seemingly trivial events can have huge consequences, and it explains how one ninny’s inability to text message the word spaghetti can lead to a 15 mile tailback on the motorway. I felt that was an interesting idea to explore. Good comedy is about ideas, creating pictures in people’s minds that make them laugh.
What’s your new show about?
It’s a one man detective story about the world’s least respected detective. It’s more story telling than straight stand up. I’ve always loved the crime and detective genre and I wanted to put something together that made the writing process a bit more fun for me. I spent a year writing “The Butterfly Effect”, I did a lot of research reading through some really complex subject matter, and quite often ended up having to go for a lie down with a wet towel on my forehead. This time I’m reading Raymond Chandler novels and watching Sherlock Holmes films.
Why/how did you get into comedy?
I was never what you would call a model student or employee so I pretty much reached a point where by the only thing I could do was stand up on stage and start telling jokes about wombles.
What’s been your proudest achievement in comedy to date?
Being offered a commission from the BBC to turn a story about a narcoleptic chimpanzee that falls unconscious every time he
masturbates into a pilot for Radio 4.
Have you had/heard any good heckles?
Not strictly speaking a heckle but during my show last year some nutter wandered in part way through and starting throwing a pair of
his wet underpants around. There’s not really a lot you can say about that. It fit in nicely with the theme of the show “unpredictability”.
Any hot tips for the comedy circuit at the minute?
The “Mighty Swob”. It’s difficult act to describe, at one point he’s playing the theme from pulp fiction on an electric guitar using an
electric fan, the next he’s doing the rabbit from the hat trick, with an extremely reluctant rabbit, a Mexican stand off ensues, there’s
fighting, gun play and then brains and blood are going everywhere.
I believe he also holds a patent for a coconut bong.