The Edinburgh Interviews: Seven Questions With… Stephen Bailey
© Steve Ullathorne
Seven Questions With…
The Edinburgh Interviews 2016
The Edinburgh Festival is nearly upon us once again. Thousands of punters and performers are heading their way up to Scotland for anything from a couple of days to a whole month of arts, comedy and entertainment. And once again, MoodyComedy is there in spirit, singing the praises of projects that look particularly innovative and interesting.
But this year is a little different; in order to celebrate the diversity of artists and performers attending the Edinburgh Fringe throughout August, MoodyComedy will be bringing you countless interviews with those risking their emotional, financial and social wellbeing in putting together shows for your entertainment. The Seven Questions With feature is going strong, having already given around sixty comics a platform to share their comedy secrets, darkest confessions and silly musings, and soon we are to see this interview feature at its absolute best, as a means of bringing to your attention acts you may have never heard of before, as well as others who you may already be familiar with.
Over the next two weeks, MoodyComedy will be speaking to performers who are making their Edinburgh debuts and those who have been bringing shows to the festival since before I was born, with at least one interview every single day for you to enjoy. There are double acts, character comics, musicians, sketch actors, magicians, television panel show regulars, radio royalty and even the occasional past CBBC presenter. You will experience the flamboyant, the odd, the surprising and the controversial. We have political comedians, absurdist comedians, bilingual comedians. From Glasgow to Dublin, Manchester to Birmingham, France to Canada to Kenya. It’s fair to say that a lot of bases have been covered, with each of these comedians being able to shed insight into the lives of working stand ups, as well as provide many laughs along the way.
Stay tuned over the next two weeks to find out which comic practises driving in his mum’s Ford Focus; who has recently taken up cross stitch; who is desperate to be friends with Barack Obama and who has decided he just doesn’t care about anything. Here’s to another fantastic festival of creativity, community and laughter.
Seven Questions With… Damian Clark
Damian Clark is an Australian stand up comedian with an astoundingly energetic stage presence. Having lived in the UK for four years now, Clark has perfected a skill for dissecting elements of British culture and pointing out their absurdities. This comedian is certainly one to experience in a live comedy setting.
To find out more about Damian, I asked him these seven questions…
1) Where does your passion for comedy come from?
My passion for comedy started with watching The Muppets, Looney Tunes & Tex Avery Cartoons. A mouse hitting a cat in the butt with a plank of wood will always be funny to me.
2) What did you most enjoy about living in Australia?
Meat pies, choc milk, iced coffee, Cherry Ripes & Cheese Twisties.
3) Is there such thing as wasted time?
Probably but it’s one of my favourite things to do. All the best paintings start with a blank canvas… just dunno where to find a brush.
4) Do you have any tricks for maintaining energy on stage?
Keep talking about stuff that makes you excited or angry and the energy will be there. Delusion is also a great tool.
5) What is your worst character trait?
Being a drunk is probably my best and worst trait at the same time. Waiting outside an early house pub to open at 6:30am is both legendary and sad.
6) What do you miss about your life as it was ten years ago?
My life 10 years ago seems exactly the same as it is now, I ate a LOT more McDonald’s then though. Miss all those burgers.
7) Are you in control?
Naaaaaaaa.
Seven Questions With… Ben Norris
Ben Norris has been on the stand up comedy circuit since the early 1990’s and has compiled an impressive back-catalogue of writing and television credits over the years. With a somewhat more light-hearted style of comedy than his stern demeanour may suggest this comedian is effortlessly able to incorporate sinister elements into more topical and accessible material.
To learn more about Ben, I asked him these seven questions…
1) What is the weirdest thing about your life?
It might be that I have three children who were all born on the same day 10 years ago.
2) Do you like to plan ahead?
Planning ahead is part and parcel of being a comedian. We are booking gigs into our diaries 8, 9, 10 months ahead of time. I’m always booking cheaper train tickets in the same manner. Having said that I often don’t think beyond the next few days or even look at the following weekend in my diary until it comes up.
3) What is your least favourite kind of audience?
Judgemental, entitled, drunk and stupid… that was a tough night.
4) Is everyone a conformist?
I think most people are. Sadly conformity is hugely popular. I, on the other hand, am a free thinking radical… with a wife, three kids and a mortgage.
5) Do you have many unpopular opinions?
I think animals have rights and ought not to be factory farmed and eaten. It appears that’s an opinion not shared by the majority. (Of people that is, I reckon animals would be in total agreement.)
6) Is the comedy industry over-populated?
It’s a meritocracy so it’s hugely over-populated at the bottom end but that only serves to keep the quality up further up the pecking order I guess.
7) Are you young or old at heart?
I’m 48.
Seven Questions With… John Dredge
John Dredge is a comedy writer and podcaster best known for his absurd sketch show, The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show. This podcast serves as a deliberate move away from long-form narrative, incorporating surreal storytelling with plenty of musical interludes and sounds effects.
I asked John these seven questions to learn more about him…
1) Is podcasting a liberating art form?
Yes, it is for me, because it’s a medium which allows me to give free reign to my peculiar imagination in a ‘safe’ context. Nobody’s going to say ‘You can’t do that!’. The audio environment is ideal because I can create the strangest of situations and make them sound real with a few voices, sound effects and pieces of music.
2) Do you have much spatial awareness?
No, but I do have a piece of knotted string. I was thinking of exhibiting it in the Hayward Gallery but they don’t seem very enthusiastic, even though I wouldn’t need much space. On reflection I do have some awareness of how much space my display would take up. I am also very much aware of the space-time continuum, although I have never invited it to the Hayward Gallery.
3) What do you do when you’re angry?
My anger usually turns into fairly savage comedy. I tweet a lot to get it out of my system. I’m fairly obsessed with the media so it’s usually something to do with that. You can follow me @johndredge for an alarming insight into the myriad problems with my brain.
4) Who are your comedic influences?
My favourite double acts would have to be either Orm and Cheep or Sarah and Duck. I’m also greatly influenced by Bernard Tharggg who had the largest collection of cagoules in Europe.
I’ve always loved anyone who seemed comedically insane. I wouldn’t be doing this had I not heard The Goon Show at an early age – that did my head in. The inventiveness of the language, the use of sound, the creation of an imaginary world, it all had a big effect on me. I still listen to that show now. I’ve always liked Vic Reeves, who amongst other things had the confidence to present a really weird comic vision to the world. Tiswas was a big one for me. It was so joyously chaotic and off-the-wall. I want to get some of that spirit into my work if I can. Noel Fielding has similar influences to me, although he kind of puts them together in a different way, so I’ve always followed his work. I’m also influenced by the magazines and comic books of my youth like Look-in and Krazy, which nobody has ever heard of, including me.
5) Who is your favourite artist?
My favourite artist of all time is Kenny Everett, and to me his greatest achievement was the series of Video Shows he did in the late seventies. Those shows were so innovative in their use of sound and vision, and were completely unique to him. He was such a charismatic performer, and completely round the bend. I’ve always been drawn to artists who create their own world. Escapism is necessary for me on a daily basis. Make of that what you will – a large paper hat, for example.
6) What is your ultimate career aim?
To boldly go where no man has gone before – or Lewisham if it’s raining.
I’ve always wanted to make a TV version of my podcast series, a mad, fast-moving, frenetic sketch show. I thought Noel Fielding’s sketch series was fascinating, so maybe something in that area. Or in the Lewisham area. I do a lot of YouTube videos that seem to do quite well, so I don’t think it would be a problem to translate my humour to a visual medium. I would also like to make a sitcom about a family of talking pipes.
7) What aspect of your life bores you?
Having to get up at 5am to deliver pinecones to Buckingham Palace. I’ve been doing that for ten years now and it is extremely boring. How many pinecones do they need? There’s got to be a better job out there. I’m open to offers.
LISTEN TO ‘THE JOHN DREDGE NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING SHOW’ HERE
Seven Questions With… Gráinne Maguire
Irish stand up comedian Gráinne Maguire has recently been extending her comedic influence to the world of politics, with her appearance on BBC Question Time back in January being the catalyst for her being named MoodyComedy’s Comedian of the Month. Gráinne’s approach to political debate is particularly refreshing due to her positive can-do attitude and this outlook is also reflected in her stand up, with audiences being left with a constructive message, rather than a defeatist one.
To learn a little more about her, I asked Gráinne these seven questions…
1) Is it intimidating as a comedian to sit on the panel of a show such as Question Time?
It was a bit tricky. I was obviously there as a comedian rather than a political hack so I didn’t want to try to present myself as an expert next to people whose job it is to really know what they’re talking about. But I didn’t want to come across as a total moon calf either. So, I tried to split the difference and find a way to express what I thought, in as funny and honest a way as possible. To be honest, by the time the programme started recording, I had tipped over from nervous to hyper, so I was quite relaxed by the time the cameras started rolling.
2) When was the last time you wasted a sum of money?
I bought a wool hat in an Accessorise sale for £6 and lost it literally about three hours later. I was so annoyed I went back to the shop the next day and bought the exact same one again so it wasn’t quite the bargain I had hoped in the end.
Gráinne Maguire
3) What smell reminds you of your childhood?
I lived in the country in the middle of nowhere so rain and freshly cut grass reminds me of summer mornings going for adventures down the fields. I was very adventurous as a child, so I loved anything involving trees, heights and imminent injury in general.
4) Did you anticipate becoming a comedian?
I always had an awful gut feeling that I’d have to give it a go at some stage, but it was more a dull dread than a bursting feeling of excitement. I always assumed you’d have to be genius to be a stand up comedian, the performers I admired, Tommy Tiernan, Billy Connelly, Dylan Moran, seemed like actual gods so I never thought it was something normal people could do. I thought it was like dropping into conversation that you thought you could make it as a supermodel, like, look at me guys, guess who’s so funny I should actually be paid for it! But then I realised it was the one thing I wanted so badly I wouldn’t mind being rubbish at it for ages first. And I saw all the other male comedians at my level, so confident and certain of themselves, so I thought, sod it, if they can give it a go, I can too.
5) Where would you most like to live?
I have this day dream where I live in New York. I eat bagels in delis, walk down the street drinking coffee and am best friends with Alec Baldwin.
6) How would you define success?
Success to me is not wanting to swap your life with anyone else, being entirely contented with your lot, being at peace with your flaws and failures, having only regrets that can be ruefully shrugged away, being creatively fulfilled and having people in your life that you love and love you back.
7) What advice would you give to a teenager?
Be really kind to yourself, don’t take yourself too seriously, be nicer to your sister.
Seven Questions With… John Robertson
© Mark Dawson
Australian comedian and writer John Robertson also has an interesting background as the creator of live-action video game, The Dark Room, where audiences are in control of the show’s outcome. Most of his time, however, is spent performing his peculiar brand of energetic, bordering on sadistic, stand up comedy. Robertson has recently announced new dates for The Dark Room as well as new international stand up dates.
To learn more about this unusual performer, I asked John these seven questions…
1) What was the inspiration behind The Dark Room?
Well, when I was 10, some pals and I found a computer in the storage area behind our classroom. There was a broken old text adventure on it – a game so horribly made that, whatever you did, it just killed you. It was the first time I’d ever seen a machine be nakedly hostile – and it stayed with me!
Also, given how much that sounds like the start of a young adult horror novel, the machine was cursed and now all my friends are dead.
2) Who is your favourite artist of any kind?
I’ve got an incredible love for folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, whose finest songs are war reports from a scarred family life, except for the really good one that’s just about swimming.
3) Who means the most to you?
The following cluster of outstanding people: Mum, Jo, Jude, Wendy + Anthony, Mel, Tom, Nan Carol + David, all of whom will be pleased to be on this list and very surprised I didn’t just answer with, “Me”.
4) What are you currently looking forward to?
Lunch!
5) Do you find humour in inappropriate situations?
I find everything in inappropriate situations.
6) What is holding humanity back?
Lazy thinking, folks who are more interested in a fight than a solution, cocksuckers with bombs, anybody who uses religion to harm anyone else, state systems that reduce individuals to statistics, the Internet’s ability to allow angry shut-ins to gather and rub one another in their sticky opinons, a deliberate lack of education and the idea that millionaires know something because they’ve got a lot of money. They knew how to get that money, that doesn’t mean they know a damn thing about you.
And all sport.
7) What impression would you like your audience to have of you?
That I’m having a great time – and they can come along, too. Bring earplugs.
PURCHASE TICKETS TO SEE JOHN ROBERTSON AND FOR HIS LIVE-ACTION VIDEO GAME, THE DARK ROOM
Seven Questions With… Stuart Goldsmith
© Andre Pattenden
Stand up comedian Stuart Goldsmith is also the brains behind every comedy nerd’s favourite podcast, The Comedian’s Comedian, a series of interviews where Stu gets to the heart of the creative processes and, invariably, the psychological issues of many a comic. The endlessly charismatic Goldsmith is rapidly cultivating a very interesting crowd of followers, with most audience members being as passionate about the craft of stand up as he is.
To find out more about Stu, I asked him these seven questions…
1) What is your best character trait?
My incredible world-class humility. But seriously folks…
I think I’m probably quite good with kids. That’s being tested recently with the birth of my new son; I was trying to be a fun uncle for the first week and ran myself into the ground over-delivering. I need to remember that he loves me anyway so I don’t need to throw a whirlwind of funny songs and kisses at him. Good advice for life generally…
2) How has your life changed in the past year?
Ha, I should have read through these first. Having a baby (and I know no-one without a baby cares about this) is the single most challenging thing I‘ve ever done. It’s impossible to explain to child-free people the extent to which it changes your life; it’s like suddenly becoming a religious fundamentalist overnight; you’ve got something incredible to live for but now you need to do all these insane rituals every 40mins and talk to something that isn’t listening.
3) What is the most challenging aspect of your podcasting work?
Ooh, nice question. It’s either: the fact that the job has an infinite brief, so I’m never finished; the fact that now watching comedy feels like “work I should have to do” rather than “a fun thing to relax with”; or it’s the amount of admin that has suddenly blossomed into my life. I want to answer every email and watch every video I’m sent, but I’ve also got to write a new show! But it’s enormously fulfilling and I arrogantly think it’s a legacy that will outlast however many DVDs I eventually sell. We’re changing lives here, people!
4) What makes you feel trapped?
Being buried alive in a coffin made of lolly sticks for a crime I didn’t commit.
5) Who would you be afraid to meet?
Gosh, everyone, I’m a terribly scared person. Lots of surface confidence and very little actual belief in myself. Probably an angry Scottish woman. For some reason they absolutely will not be charmed by me.
6) What was the last surprise you had?
My little bloke making a sort of pre-voice sound like “cah!” It was the absolute TITS.
7) What will make your first UK tour a success in your eyes?
If I walk away feeling like it’s the start of something. I had that feeling at Ed Fringe last year, and Brighton Festival later on. I’ve put a lot of work into my career and writing and performing and specifically this show, a lot of that part of the work was “working out what the work is”, coz comedy can be a rabbit hole made of sexy smoke. So the sensation that I’m starting to find and cultivate an audience is very satisfying. But – stay focused Goldsmith – my goal was to tour my own show, and actually getting to do the tour is a victory lap with which I’m rewarding myself for achieving that goal! So the shows themselves will be awesome whether there’s 100 people in the crowd or 2. DO YOU HEAR ME WOLVERHAMPTON?! I WILL NOT BE BEATEN!!
STUART GOLDSMITH IS CURRENTLY TOURING HIS LATEST SHOW ‘AN HOUR’ ACROSS THE UK
Seven Questions With… Lloyd Langford
© Andy Hollingworth
Lloyd Langford is a Welsh stand up comedian and writer who has worked with some of the of the biggest names in the business, as well as being a fantastic talent in his own right. Langford is a regular presenter on The Rhod Gilbert Show on BBC Radio Wales and frequently appears as a panellist on shows including QI and the late Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Lloyd will be performing his latest show at Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival in February.
To find out more about Lloyd, I asked him these seven questions…
1) Are you a fickle person?
I don’t know. I do get passionate about things for an intense period, and then move on to a new obsession, but I still enjoy the original thing. I guess it’s a combination of curiosity and also something which seems like a very male trait, and that is collecting. So I’ll buy a bunch of golden age hip-hop albums, rinse them, and then a month later I’m scouring eBay for Hwang Jang Lee Kung Fu DVDs. I need more shelves. (If you don’t know Hwang Jang Lee, he’s known as the “king of the leg fighters”. He’s basically the best at kicking the shit out of people.)
2) What was the last exciting thing you did?
I went cycling in Bruges. I’d never been to Bruges before, I hadn’t been on a bike in years, and those Belgian beers are pretty strong. Triple excitement. I was giddy from the new environment, the ever-present possibility of death and a particularly fruity Lambic.
3) Where do you most enjoy performing?
I enjoy performing to intelligent audiences. I feel like I can take more risks and that ultimately ends up being more fun. I did some gigs in The Classic, in Auckland this year, they were a lot of fun. It was a new club for me, I was a new comic for them, and so I think we were both testing each other’s boundaries a bit. That sounds really wanky. Sorry.
4) How did you choose your degree?
I had very little idea about what I wanted to do. I choose Film with Television Studies at Warwick because film interested me, I wanted to live somewhere new, and I didn’t want to lock myself into something vocational like veterinary school and then realise two years into the course that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life shoving my finger into dogs. Not my professional life, anyway.
5) Who is your favourite comedian to support at gigs?
I’ve been lucky to support some good un’s. Tommy Tiernan, Greg Davies, Alan Carr. I just did a couple of dates in Amsterdam and Brussels with Jon Richardson and that was fun. I think Rhod Gilbert is the big one though. I’ve spent more time with him on the road than anyone else.
6) Are you scared of any animals?
I once went to Marlborough Sounds with a girlfriend in New Zealand, which is incredibly beautiful. We essentially had a bay to ourselves. But one time, just before I dived off the jetty, I noticed a massive stingray, directly beneath where I would have landed. It kind of ruined the rest of my swimming. The placed was riddled with stingrays. I’m not a fan of the stingray. It’s essentially a camouflaged underwater doormat with a poison dart for an arse.
7) Are you afraid of growing old?
No. Young people are dickheads. I know, I was one. Depending on your age, I still am one.
PURCHASE TICKETS FOR LLOYD LANGFORD AT DAVE’S LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL HERE
Seven Questions With… Gavin Webster
As the proud owner of the title of Comedian’s Comedian 2014, an award voted for by comedians themselves, Gavin Webster has had a busy year. And rightly so; this comic is a true grafter with a genuine warmth to his performances. Gavin is currently working on series three of the popular Radio 4 sketch show, The Show What You Wrote, where material is written by the public and performed by comedians. He is also currently gigging across the country with his latest material.
To find out more about Gavin’s comedy, I asked him these seven questions…
1) What is your favourite kind of audience?
The best audiences are the ones that go with all the oohs and aahs along the way, the ones who like all the asides, all the attitude and all the exaggerated mimes and caricatured voices. They realise stand up for the pantomime that it is. The pay off isn’t too important to them. it’s the whole thing, the whole aesthetic, the being in the moment. Does that all sound a bit ponsey? It’s not meant to!
2) Do you consider yourself to be a writer or a performer first?
That’s a difficult one. I’d say writer because if I didn’t think of it and then write it down, how could I possibly talk about it with passion and enthusiasm?!! There are people who can do that on the comedy circuit but they’re not comedians in my view, they’re actors. They’re actors getting into the role of being comedians. It’s like ‘and here’s another thing that pisses off my team of writers!’.
© Alan Harrison
3) Which nation has the best food?
It’s got to be Lebanon.
4) What kind of people do you avoid?
I’m getting worse mixing with people as I get older, it’s like I’ve lost my patience and tolerance glands. There’s a lot of silly billies at the Edinburgh fringe who seem to just surface once a year and talk confidently about what comedy is all about and then you never see them again. They’re probably boring some poor bastard to death as we speak. I don’t like it when people find out what I do and start ‘interviewing’ me. It’s like I’m stuck in some sort of local radio groundhog vortex at times. I always tell barbers that I’ve got a day off today from work.
5) Is there anything that makes you feel hopeless?
Well I suppose there’s the obvious, famine and flood and the fact that people earn shitloads of money in an afternoon in the city yet apparently we, the public, you know the people that get up 5 days a week and work our tits off, should feel responsible when we watch the comic relief programmes like it was mine and your fault that we live in a greedy heartless world. Having said that after the school run I tend to come home, sit down, have a glass of pop and watch Heir Hunters. That doesn’t make me feel hopeless, it makes me feel blessed.
6) What is your best trait?
It’s not modesty and it’s certainly not tidiness or cleanliness. It’s definitely not a penchant for hard work or patience. I’m not very empathetic and I can’t chill out like a Buddhist. I suppose I can keep things light and make jokes and stuff when things are pretty grim. At my mam’s funeral I think I was quite a good host afterwards in the pub. I told a great anecdote (it wasn’t even mine, it was about someone else) and it was very funny but no one laughed. Maybe it was a funny comics story, every comedian including some very well known ones really liked the story, no one in the pub laughed. They weren’t even sure if it was supposed to be funny. They were all my sister’s mates and they must have thought ‘my god and he’s supposed to be a stand up comedian’. Anyway the short answer is I don’t think I have any good traits!
7) What boosts your confidence as a performer?
When I do a theatre show in Newcastle (it’s the only place where I’ve got a proper following) and new people come and think it’s a terrific show and they then instantly become fans and at the same time other people come and don’t like it at all and never want to see my act again. For good measure they tend to reserve some personal abuse on social media. It means that I’m not all things to all men (and women) and that slowly but surely (very slowly, I’ll admit) I’m finding my crowd. Now when I perform at one of my shows on Tyneside, 300 people instantly get into it and another 100 tend to look at them curiously like they’ve stepped into an underground political movement.