Matt Winning is a very interesting Scottish stand up comic who incorporates one-liner jokes with surreal concepts and witty observations. He is a co-creator of the Bearpit Podcast Podcast and also regularly performs character-improvisations at shows in London and Glasgow. Matt brings his debut solo hour Mugabe and Me (3D) to the Edinburgh Festival next month.
To find out more about Matt, I asked him these seven questions…
1) Do you like Winning?
I once read about a father who, as an experiment, named his two sons Winner and Loser. Winner ended up being a criminal and a waste of space while Lou (Loser) rose to a prominent position in the New York police force and everybody liked him. Therefore I am destined to be a failure.
Also, I do not like Charlie Sheen. He has ruined my good name. I did in Hot Shots but not anymore.
2) What is the value of one-liner jokes to you?
I like one-liners. I try to expand on the concept of them a bit further and write set-pieces and routines based around their concept. On their own they can sometimes be quite concisely beautiful but most people just leave it there. I drag their premise out until people beg me to stop.
3) How long would it take for you to go crazy if you were alone on a desert island?
Well I am quite good friends with the son of the guy who played Wilson in Castaway. He is half-volleyball, half-Welsh. Don’t see him so much anymore as we fell out over a girl. Anyway, I think I’d be well equipped as I spent the majority of my childhood being friends with sports equipment.
4) What makes time pass more quickly for you?
Daylight savings time.
5) What is your pre-show routine?
I like to tie my shoe-laces as many times as possible. I may start just wearing socks on stage to change it up. I’ll do a couple of stretches and lunges if nobody is watching. Probably go to the toilet about 8 times. And 9 holes of crazy golf.
6) Should humans be the dominant species?
It is a shame that we are. I’m not sure though that it would be a much better world if we weren’t. I guess tigers or something would probably be the dominant species, and while there would be considerably less pollution there would be a lot more deer killings and no courts or doughnuts. I’d personally enjoy living in a world where the olden day horses are the dominant species. You know, the ones that are still in black and white. Zebras. I like those guys.
7) Whose approval do you seek?
My father’s.
