Blending absurdist comedy with reflections of ambition, creativity and what comes next after a goal has finally been achieved, the show has been described as “demented, meticulous, oddly moving” and a comedy that feels like “a genuine work of art.”

Anastasia Tirca meets him to find out more about the origins of the show, the strange journey behind it and what audiences can expect when the curtain rises.

What is the main message you want audiences to take from the show?

Joz: “It’s such a stupid show. I’m a character comedian and the things that I most like are just really stupid.

“One of the big things we were trying to do was just make something that people would find very silly. But it’s also kind of about wishing your life away, I guess. Like the idea of it is that I play a character who has been working on his life’s work and throughout the show, it’s sort of vague, but he is promising to unveil it for the first time during this show. As it goes on, it becomes clear how much that’s cost him and how much he’s driven himself insane with the idea of doing this amazing thing.

“It is sort of talking about the way in which we put so much of our lives off into the future – once I finish doing this thing or once I’ve got that ready, then I’ll finally be able to do everything else. So it’s sort of about that state – what will it take for us to actually start living our lives kind of thing?

“The show does all that under the surface of something that is just very, very much about chaos and about nonsense”.

Does the comedy reflect the reality of the story the way it should?

Joz: “I mean, for me, my favourite comedies are the ones that while laughing at it and while being in hysterics at something, it also managed to make you actually think about something in a new way. And I think comedy can make you do that in ways better than drama can.

“I really love making stuff that sits in that middle ground where you’re watching something very stupid and for some reason you’re being made to think about this bigger picture as well. I really like exploring those crossovers. When an audience is laughing, then I think in a way they are more receptive to the idea that when it turns out to be about something meaningful, it sneaks up on us more”.

What can you share about the process of writing and creating the show?

Joz: “It is a solo fringe show and the myth of those things is always that they’re very driven by one person. When you go to the Fringe, it’s all posters with one person’s face and one person’s name on it. So the show is like, Joz Norris. I did write and perform it, but this gets in the way of the fact that it’s still a product of such a collaborative process, because I had a director, and I had a consultant on it, who did a lot of story input and design input. So, I did write the material, but even then, that becomes part of a conversation with the team where we talk about other people chucking ideas for jokes or they’ll go, this bit should be streamlined or it would be funny if this bit went more in this direction.

“It’s technically written by me, but I always think the fringe in particular is quite bad at reminding people that there’s a whole team of people around things”.

Do you think taking it to the fringe has altered the show in any way, and did you modify it for the tour and the Lowry performance?

Joz: “It’s the model that I know, I started doing the Fringe years ago, I’m most comfortable with making shows that fit that format and I’m most comfortable knowing how to position something with that audience. But I think the more you do it, the better you get at learning how to make something that could speak outside of that as well, because the Fringe is amazing, but it’s a bit of a weird bubble. It has so much importance for the comedy industry.  So with this show, I think the fact that we’re now touring theatres with it and it had a nice enough run in Edinburgh to kind of to create that momentum to take it on tour. In Edinburgh, everyone’s already primed for something very chaotic and absurdist and stupid. The way in which it unfolds sort of plays out differently with different audiences. You can give a show a whole other life after the Fringe, because normally I do the Fringe and then I chuck the show in the bin and then that’s it. So taking it out to other cities around the place has been really cool, really fun.

“It wasn’t its first ever performance at the Fringe, but it was its first kind of launch.
It is my 1st time performing at the Lowry. I directed a show that launched there a couple of years ago. Eddie Hearst, who is an amazing comedian based in Manchester did a show, which was developed with the Lowry and premiered there at the end of 2024. I’ve worked with the Lowry before and was up there quite a lot helping develop that. But I’ve never actually performed there. So I’m really looking forward to it”.

What inspired you to write this?

Joz: “All of my shows end up being character comedy shows where I play a character with my name who is quite similar to me and in some ways it could be a stand-up show. The stuff that’s happening in the show is so stupid that it’s obviously fictional. So the things that happen to my character in this show are very much imaginative, absurdist, stupid things. But it was based on the feeling of once I’ve managed to complete this thing, then my life will carry on.

“I made a show in a literalising way, to try and tell myself to stop having that feeling. It is sort of a way of reminding myself how pointless it is to get stuck in thinking that way. Any stand-up is basically comics playing a version of themselves, so the character also has my name.

“It’s a one-man show, although there’s sort of offstage voices and things that we don’t see. It’s more of a narrative than a stand-up show.

“My background is mostly stand-up. I started doing it in University and then it just became what I did. I was like: I’m going to London and work it all out. I hopped from temp job to temp job for a while, until I had enough of a stable career in comedy that was what I did”.

How do you find doing this show with no ensemble? How is that different?

Joz: “It takes a while getting used to it because particularly the stuff I grew up with loving the most was TV comedies, which obviously are lots of characters interacting with each other. So the way my brain automatically goes towards finding things funny is that I very often make characters have phone calls in shows or talk to somebody off stage or trying to put them into dialogue with things. I think I’ve also got better in the last few years with having a team around a show, so it feels a bit less isolated. I’ve got an amazing tech and a tour manager who goes around with me and it’s so good on the timings of everything. So it’s nice when there’s a family of people around a show in a way, and it slightly insulates against the fact of it’s just you on stage for an hour.  Part of the team was John Britton who was the director. Miranda Holms was the creative consultant and script consultant. James Hingley was the technician. Grace Gibson did movement direction on it, because there’s a little bit of dancing in it, she taught me just how to dance well enough to get away with it”.

What goal do you want to reach with the show?

Joz: “I think with this particular show, it already surpassed so many goals for it because it had such a lovely run in Edinburgh and this thing of being able to take it on the road and meet more audiences. I think that’s always the hope with a show is you just keep finding new ways to reach more people with it, which this one is in the process of doing.

“We would like to film it because once you’ve taken it to all the venues that want it, then comes the thing of how do you preserve it so that it’s not just something everyone remembers? So I think we might try and film one of the performances. There is also a bit of me that wants to try and explore the idea of it as a feature film as well. But obviously making a film is another mountain to climb. So I think it’s nice that there’s a blueprint for something.

“I think this is my best show yet. I always hope that every show I do feels like it’s an evolution from the last one. I think by the time you finish a show, you can always see what you couldn’t see while you were inside it, which then means the next one, you’re sort of deliberately going in the right direction. We’re doing about 12 dates in 12 places around the UK.  Which is great and I feel very happy with that and it’s my 1st tour around the UK. This is show number 7 that I have done overall, but 3 of them are probably in the comedy theatre space”.

Do you think the comedy  aspect of the show transmits the message that you want to the audience to gain in the correct way?

Joz: “I’m never precious about exactly how I want audiences to leave and it tends to be either because of the way in which the show is structured and because of what happens towards the end. People either leave at the end just very hysterical and giggly, because the ending is very stupid and dumb. Or it becomes so stupid by the end that there’s almost a glimmer of pathos in it or actually meaning something. So sometimes people leave, weirdly moved by it and they come up to me and say: thank you so much. I really don’t have a preference on those 2 things. I think both are really valid responses. When I see people just leaving very giggly and trying to calm down after losing it for a bit, then I find that really lovely. And when I see audience members who took something away from it I am a bit touched”.

Joz Norris: You Wait. Time Passes is at Lowry, Salford on 24 Aril 2026.

The post Joz Norris on getting silly and serious in You Wait. Time Passes appeared first on Quays Life.

How did the idea for Totally Trucked come about?

Katie: “I studied drama at the University of Chichester, and it was very focused on making your own work. You know the story – I was hit by a truck and I was told I’m going to walk again. It’s quite therapeutic to sit and write about these things”.

What is your creative process?

Katie: “I think I’ve got a weird creative process. I don’t think of myself as a writer, I just take inspiration from strange little things and strange little looks and moments. I’m really fascinated by life and humans, and connection, and all those things. When I was writing Totally Trucked, every time I saw something, and it would be the tiniest thing like two strangers doing something that made me go – oh what’s going on there? A little moment of connection. Then, all of a sudden, I’d written half a page or whatever, and obviously everything eventually stemmed back to my life. But those things made me connect stuff in a different way and I’d go – oh wow, I never realised I thought that, and all of a sudden I’ve found something out, and then in stages I assembled it into a show”.

Your show is a comedy, how did you get to see light out of what happened?

Katie: “I always say that I think being hit by that truck saved my life, which is the silliest thing because it was possibly one of the worst things I’ve ever went through and ever will go through. But I genuinely think that that accident saved my life because at that point I was I was a hormonal teenager, I was horrible to be around. I hated my life. I hated school. I couldn’t be bothered with any of it. And that moment when I got hit by that truck – you know when people say their life flashes before their eyes and you can think, ah that’s such a film moment. Well it’s so true. The moment I got hit by that truck, my entire life slowed down and that moment of going – I’m never going to see the people I love again, I’m not going to have chance to say goodbye. All of that is something I’ve never forgotten, and it always carries me through. Even though it was the worst moment of my life and one I’d never want to relive, it gave me it gave me an attitude to live my life and make the most of every moment, because you never know when you’re going to lose everything”.

Where do you think your sense of humour comes from?

Katie: “Probably my sister, who is a nurse. She works with young people who have got cancer, which obviously is a really difficult job. Nurses have often got the darkest sense of humour – I think to cope with what they go through. I think I adopted that a little bit. I very much, I use humour as a coping mechanism so much of the time. I like the fact that I can laugh about the accident. I think these kind of things you’ve got to laugh at sometimes just to get through. And I also think it makes it more impactful. There’s a rule that if you want to make people cry, you have to make them laugh first. You have to make people like you before you can make them feel sorry for you or feel affected by anything that you’re saying. I think you have to have that personable kind of comedic thing. So, you’ve got to find the light and the dark in these things in life, I guess”.

So, do you think your sense of humour changed after the accident?

Katie: “Probably, a little bit, yeah. I think before the accident I was quite a troubled kid. I was very angry little thing. After the accident I lightened up a little bit, which is strange to say, but yeah, I think it probably did make me see the light in things.

“I think that came with just appreciating everything around me and having value for life. It made me want to find things funny. Everyone always says I’m a really good audience. I laugh at everything because I don’t see the point of not doing. Why would I not take those moments to smile and have a little laugh?

“I appreciate my family, my friends and every silly little good thing that happens. I can say ok it’s been a really bad day, but this one good thing happened and it gives me a little boost.

“When you go running sometimes people cheer you on in the street and it’s one of my favourite things in the world. There’s a little running community that. Or when you run past other runners there’s a little wave and a little nod. Those tiny things that just give you that boost to keep going, they are the little things that I appreciate more now that I possibly would have overlooked before.”

Why do you think people should come and see the show?

Katie: “I hope and pray people come to see it for my sanity and for my bank account.

“But seriously, when I did Totally Trucked so many people who watched it came up to me afterwards and said they understood and related to every moment. Which for me was a massive thing of importance that everybody felt seen and heard. I don’t think any of them has been hit by a truck but everybody is going through something, whether people admit it, whether people don’t admit it, whether people are open about it or not, everybody is going through something. If someone comes to watch that show and leaves and thinks I can talk to someone about what I’m going through. My job is done.

“This world is really difficult to live in sometimes, but there are things that can make it a bit easier. And I think that speaking to people is one of them. And I think that’s why the show is important”.

What would you say to anyone who is going through a tough situation right now?

Katie: “There are bad days in life that happen. And there are days where you think that everything feels worthless and useless and it’s no good carrying on. And you want to give up on everything. And I think the important thing to do is just wait a bit. Because those things will always get better, those things will always improve. There will always be something around the corner that’s going to make those things a little bit easier. That’s going to make your life a little bit easier. There’s going to be someone you love waiting there to tell you a silly joke. And if you just wait a bit for those little moments, everything in life just feels a little bit smoother, little bit easier to cope with.

“So that’s what I’d say – wait a bit. I’m going to get that on a little sticker, just gonna walk around with wait a bit written on my head”.

Totally Trucked is at The Kings Arms, Salford on 20 November 2022.

The post ‘Being hit by that truck saved my life’ – Katie Damer appeared first on Quays Life.

How are you finding being a new mum?

Amy: “Hard, incredible, overwhelming, life changing. I love being a mum, but my goodness it’s knackering!”

What made you want to write a show about motherhood?

Amy: “During pregnancy I suffered with prenatal anxiety. I never knew it was a thing until I was diagnosed. I started to blog about my experience and was amazed at all the responses from women who’d also suffered but felt alone with it. That’s when I thought – these things need to be talked about more – So, Glowing was born.”

What is Glowing about?

Amy: “Glowing is about the time you cried in the soft play area and another mum offered you a brew, it’s about when someone rolled their eyes at you because you were taking too long to get the pram on the bus, it’s about the overwhelming joy, boredom, anger and delight that comes with being a mum. It’s about maternal mental health”.

Why do you think comedy allows people to discuss taboo topics?

Amy: “Comedy puts people at ease. It creates an environment where you can talk about the hardest subject but in an accessible way. Comedy makes everything feel a bit lighter”.

Are there any out of bounds topics for you?

Amy: “It’s a tough one. I think the topics that are good to keep away from in a show are the ones that maybe haven’t been processed yet. But I am really lucky that I’m surrounded by a great team that make me feel comfortable exploring the really hard stuff. And the hardest stuff is usually the most important to share. I don’t really talk about my relationship with my husband much – unless I have his permission”.

How do you decide which stories to tell about your child and what to keep private?

Amy: “Most of the stories are more about my journey through motherhood than directly about my child. He’s involved in that journey but the show isn’t really about him. I think this’ll change as he gets older, but to be honest, he just does normal generic toddler things at the moment so it feels OK to share them”.

You previously wrote a show about endometriosis. Is it important to you to have a campaigning/awareness raising angle to your comedy?

Amy: “I start the process of a show by writing about something I feel passionate about. Those things so far have been things that need awareness raising around. Advocating for something gives me drive to write the best show possible, to do justice to the subject matter and to use my platform for change. I love that my job allows me to do that. Having said that, I also really enjoy writing silly sketches and jokes that are purely for fun. I think both things are important.”

How do you manage to juggle childcare with a stand-up career? What is the hardest part?

Amy: “As I will explain in the show, I have had to completely change the way I work. I actually no longer work on the stand up circuit. I create my own projects, like Glowing, and look for more writing/facilitation work where I can be more in control of when and where I work. I only work part time and I try and set really strong boundaries between days with my child and work days – saying that I am doing this interview during nap time! At first I found the hardest thing just simply trying to do anything on top of the already 24/7 job that is motherhood. And guilt. Either guilty for not being with them or guilty for not working enough. I try work through that, but it’s not easy.”

What would it mean to you to see more comedians who are mums on the circuit?

Amy: “There are already lots of great mums on the circuit. It would be great to feel like the circuit was a viable option for more mums, most of us are really funny and I think the world deserves to experience us”.

Glowing runs at Contact, Manchester from 18- 22 October 2022. There will be a post show discussion with Amy Vreeke on Friday 21 and at the Saturday Matinee on 22 at 2.30pm the venue is offering a free crèche facility for pre school aged children but booking is required at time of purchasing tickets.

The post Comedian Amy Vreeke debunks the myths of glowing new mums appeared first on Quays Life.

How have you been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic?
Lee: “Obviously, it’s affected me quite a lot, both personally and professionally. From a professional point of view, it wiped out nearly all of my work for most of 2020, so that was pretty devastating because I was looking forward to a lot of it. Thankfully, I still had some writing projects that I could work on at home. Although, even then, it was very hard to get motivated and inspired to write anything. So I can’t wait to be let back out on the road again!”

Are you doing any online gigs?
Lee: “I’ve done quite a few but it just isn’t the same as performing in front of an audience. You don’t get the same interaction and feedback when you’re sitting there telling jokes in your living room. On the bright side, I did get to perform in my pyjamas on a couple of occasions. I might keep on doing that during my next tour”.

Can you tell us about your new show, Cerebral LOL-sy?
Lee: “My new tour show will mostly just be me celebrating being let out of the house again. But it’ll also be a funny and cheeky look about how I’ve coped since winning Britain’s Got Talent. From the highs of meeting 50% of The Chuckle Brothers to the lows of being called ‘him off The X Factor’, and everything in between. I’ve had a lot of time to write it, so hopefully people will enjoy me poking fun at my life living as a disabled person in a post-apocalyptic world”.

What will you most enjoy about being in front of a live audience again?
Lee: “I think the thing that I’ve missed the most is the interaction with my fans. Not only hearing them laughing during a show, but also chatting to them afterwards and stuff. I used to really enjoy the meet and greets after my shows because I got to meet all sorts of people. So I can’t wait to do that again”.

What or who makes you laugh?
Lee: “I’m a huge fan of Ross Noble. I just love how quick witted and random he can be. And he has been a massive help to me. Not only did he invite me to warm up for him at one of his Newcastle gigs, he has also been very helpful with advice and things like that. So I owe him a lot, both as a fan and as a performer. I first met Ross outside one of his gigs, at the Newcastle City Hall. He had done an impression of Stephen Hawking on stage during his show, so afterwards I challenged him to a competition, to see who could do the best Stephen Hawking impression. He found it so funny that he actually told the story in his next show”.

When did you first realise you were funny?
Lee: “I don’t think there was a moment when I realised I was funny. I think it just developed over time. I’ve always enjoyed watching comedy shows on television and grew up watching the likes of Jack Dee and Lee Evans doing stand up. I’m also a huge fan of the League of Gentlemen, which explains my twisted sense of humour! So I guess it just grew out of all of that really. I do remember always enjoying making other people laugh though, it made me feel good. So it’s nice to now be able to do that for a living”.

I used to really enjoy the meet and greets after my shows because I got to meet all sorts of people. So I can’t wait to do that again

Lee Ridley

How did you go from making people you know laugh, to trying out stand-up in front of a crowd?
Lee: “My career in stand up comedy came about because my mate thought it would work well. Of course, I thought he was crazy but the idea stuck in the back of my head. Eventually, a few months later, I decided to give it a try because I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t. It turns out my mate was right! It’s just grown from there really. My first gig was in Sunderland, which was an experience in itself. To be honest, I was very nervous beforehand because I just didn’t know how it would go. I was worried that people wouldn’t be able to understand me, and that I’d just be standing there telling jokes to myself. But, once my first few jokes were out of the way, I began to relax and enjoy myself a bit more. It just felt so great to be standing up on that stage and having people laugh at stuff that I’d written myself. By the time I walked off stage, I didn’t want it to end at all. I was on a massive high for the rest of that night. In fact, I didn’t get any sleep that night because I was still so excited about what had just happened. In that moment, I knew that I wanted to be a stand up comedian, and I couldn’t wait to get up on that stage again”.

How did you know it was time to give up the day job?
Lee: “I think winning the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014 was the turning point in my career. At that point, I still had a full time job as well as doing comedy as a hobby, so it was getting difficult to juggle the two. But after winning the award, I just started to believe in myself a bit more and told myself that I could have a career as a comedian. A few months later I had quit my day job……and the rest is history”.

One of the best things to happen since I won is that people are engaging with me a lot more than they would have in the past.

Lee Ridley

After winning BGT you became a household face overnight. What are the best things about fame?
Lee: “One of my favourite things has to be that the general public have been so supportive. I’m always getting stopped for selfies and having people congratulate me. It has been really nice. I’m very grateful for all the kind words I have received. One of the best things to happen since I won is that people are engaging with me a lot more than they would have in the past. For the first time they seem comfortable talking to a disabled person. I’m used to being stared at for negative reasons so it’s nice to be stared at for positive reasons for a change”.

Your Radio 4 sitcom Ability is now in its third series. Are there any plans to bring it to TV and is this something you would like to do?
Lee: “Ability is a sitcom about a disabled bloke who can’t speak, who sometimes uses his disability to his advantage and can be a bit of a dick at times. So obviously it’s purely fictional! But I’ve really enjoyed doing it. It was much different to writing a stand up set, but in a good way. For a start, it meant that I could bounce the characters off each other. When I’m on stage, I can’t really do that because it’s just me talking directly to the audience. The magic of radio also meant that I was able to put the characters into any situation that I could think of because I didn’t have to worry about the visual element. I really enjoyed having that freedom to allow my imagination to run wild. So I’d love to bring it to television one day to see how it develops on screen”.

If you could have a cameo in any TV show, what would it be and why?
Lee: “It’d have to be The League Of Gentlemen. I still think it’s a masterpiece of comedy and definitely helps explain my twisted sense of humour. I think I liked the fact that they were making jokes out of stuff that was a bit weird and left-field. That was probably my introduction to the darker side of comedy”.

Lee Ridley, Lost Voice Guy, is touring his new show Cerebral LOL-sy from 8 March 2021 and comes to The Lowry, Salford Quays on 21 May 2021. See website for full tour details.

Kojo Anim: ‘I’ve been doing comedy 20 years, and now I’m the newcomer – thanks to BGT’

The post Lee Ridley aka Lost Voice Guy – on the bright side, I did get to perform in my pyjamas appeared first on Quays Life.

Paul McCaffrey can still remember the first successful comedy routine he wrote, even though it was over a decade ago. “It was about cash machines and how frustrating it was when you were queuing to use one.”

It went down so well at his early gigs he ended up doing it a few years later on television on Russell Howard’s Good News.

The routine is typical of McCaffrey’s instantly accessible approach to comedy. He is a classic observational storyteller talking about the irritations in his life in a way that everyone can relate to. He is not a “high status” comedian. In fact, he is more of a “lemon”, which also happens to be the title of his latest show.

“It’s what I’ve been called quite a few times in my life. I’m just a bit of a lemon, an idiot,” chuckles the cheerful 45-year-old. He gives me recent example of why he might have earnt this nickname. “I was sat down eating beans on toast and I could see flames. I thought that one of my neighbours were having a bonfire, so I watched it for three minutes and then realised I’d left the hob on and put the oven glove on it. I’d just spent the last three minutes watching the reflection of my burning oven glove in the kitchen window!”

McCaffrey is on a roll. In December 2019 he appeared on BBC2’s Live at the Apollo, a show he’s always wanted to do. “I got a phone call out of the blue. It was surreal. I’ve had so much time to imagine doing it and then the next thing you’re at the Apollo, standing at the back of the stage, you hear your name, the screen goes up and this is it.”

It was not his first time at the Apollo. “Fortunately for me, I had already played that room. I did it about seven times supporting Kevin Bridges and twice with Sean Lock. I was still nervous, I was really worried my hand was going to shake, and then as soon as I got out there, a sudden calmness just came over me.”

It might have taken a while to get his big break but looking back maybe he was destined for a comedy career. He grew up in Winchester and confesses that at Kings’ School – also Jack Dee’s old comprehensive – he was the class clown. “My mum threw all my school reports away. I think she was ashamed of them! I can remember my head of year’s comments at the bottom of one of them. He just wrote in capital letters. I DESPAIR. I was a very naughty kid.”

After leaving school he had various jobs, running a bar in north London, working in call centres and selling clothes in Next, but he tended to get the sack for mucking about. Eventually he decided to do a drama course and then at the age of 31 decided to try stand-up.

McCaffrey had always been a huge comedy fan. “I remember my dad letting me stay up to watch The Young Ones. And then there was The Office. I think Ricky Gervais inspired a generation of comedians. He’s like the Oasis of comedy.”

He cites Jill Edwards, who runs a famous comedy course in Brighton and taught greats including Romesh Ranganathan as his biggest influence. But supporting major acts such as Bridges and Lock has also been essential.

“It’s like training with the national team. To watch Kevin or Sean up close, and see the work ethic, stagecraft. I learnt a lot by osmosis. I’d just watch them every night on tour.”

When he toured with Kevin Bridges there was one particular occasion when he really realised how big some venues are. “I think I did five nights at the 3Arena in Dublin with Kevin and then afterwards we had the day off and went to watch U2 there. And I’m like, ‘I’m glad we’ve done it this way round. I don’t want to watch U2, and then think I’ve got to go up there tomorrow’.”

It is no surprise that McCaffrey went to a rock gig on a rare night off. He is massive music fan and on tour he spends his days, when not playing golf, rummaging through the racks in second-hand record stores. “I do stuff onstage about being in my 40s but feeling like I’m 18. I’m the oldest raver in town, but I think people of a certain age can relate to that.”

Life on the road has helped him to master the skills to conquer any crowd. “I’m there to entertain and provide a bit of escapism. It’s a sales job, ultimately. Comedy is the most results-driven thing I’ve ever done. You can’t coast. I gig five or six nights a week and you can’t just turn up and phone it in.” Forget queuing at that cash machine, comedy fans should be queuing for Paul McCaffrey.

Paul McCaffrey’s tour ‘Lemon’ starts in Aldershot on February 6 and finishes in Newcastle on June 9. It arrives at the Lowry, Salford Quays on 9 May 2020. Visit website for full tour details.

The post “I’m just a bit of a lemon, an idiot” Paul McCaffrey appeared first on Quays Life.

Tell us a bit about your new show, Toddlergeddon. What’s it about and how did you go about writing it?
Sam: “It’s 90 mins of the best stand up I’ve written and with this show, I’m focusing on the transition from nurturing a baby to trying to set your toddler off on the right course for the rest of their life. Which is a pretty hefty job we all have to take on! Oh, and there’s poo jokes too. I’m always noting down ideas and thoughts about the way we all act in certain situations, so I just went back to that”.

How do you decide which stories about your sons to tell and which not to?
Sam: “I didn’t want the show to just be a stand-up version of ‘Kids Say the Funniest Things’ so I’ve only included a few stories about them. A lot of the show is exploring how we deal with the situations that toddlers put us in and why they might act like that”.

You are well-known for being the The Learner Parent. Do others now come to you for sage-like wisdom?
Sam: “Anyone who comes to me for advice needs their kids taking off them”.

What did your wife think when you said you wanted to do comedy about the boys?
Sam: “I’m not even sure we discussed it as it was just a given that I’d talk about it. I’ve always tended to cover the things that are happening in my life at that point”.

What advice would you give to other comedy dads?
Sam: “Give up. This turf is mine”.

Would you like your sons to follow in their dad’s footsteps and become comedians too?
Sam: “I just want them to be happy and find something they love doing. If that’s comedy, then good luck to them. And maybe they can get their own back on me at some point in the future”.

What’s the hardest part of raising twins and raising the twins plus doing comedy?
Sam: “Logistics. Just planning the week and who is doing what is really tricky sometimes. My wife has a very demanding job so we have to juggle a lot of stuff but we make it work”.

Between parenting and touring, do you ever find time to relax?
Sam: “Touring is so relaxing for me. Loads of time on trains and in hotels. Bliss! Although I tend to spend most of the time writing or making videos anyway”.

What do you want to tell your sons who are most likely reading this on the internet in 2030?
Sam: “Daddy is sorry but without me, you wouldn’t have gone to University”.

What’s your favourite dad joke?
Sam: “What bee produces milk?
“BOOBEES!”

Sam Avery: Toddlergeddon is at The Lowry on 22 February 2020. For full tour details visit www.thelearnerparent.com

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Ivo Graham disarmingly describes himself as a “young posh comedian whose shows are plummy-voiced navel-gazing”, but is too modest to mention that he recently made an impressive debut on Have I Got News For You, was the youngest ever winner of the So You Think You’re Funny competition in 2009, and that his latest show The Game of Life was nominated for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2019.

But he says there has been no grand plan for his career – “I take it as it comes” – but given his past shows’ content, it was perhaps inevitable that the new one would be about becoming a father for the first time. As the 28-year-old wryly points out: “My previous shows have had a trajectory of how my domestic and romantic life have evolved: not having a girlfriend/having a girlfriend/we’ve moved in together/we’re thinking about having a baby. Thankfully we were lucky enough to have a baby [his daughter was born in early 2019] and this show followed.

“I was lucky that early on I tapped into a style of comedy describing what was going on in my life, and was able to find funny things to say about it. The Game of Life is about new parenthood and the life changes associated with it – a little bit of the mental process, the admin, and quite a lot of tangents.”

With typical self-deprecation, he explains: “My comedy comes from real life – with some exaggerated or conflated stories, admittedly – because I don’t have the imagination to write fictional characters, as I have found in my pretty disastrous ventures into scriptwriting.”

He says his comedy has been “finding a way to talk about the more relatable stuff as a way to offset the more privileged aspects of my life, which I took a little longer to work out how to do.” By privileged, he means that he was educated at Eton and Oxford. He weighs up the pros and cons of having gone to the school that has, with the election of Boris Johnson, provided 20 UK prime ministers.

“It’s given me a USP to play with and develop,” Graham says. “It was something I relished early on [he started performing stand-up aged 18] because it was a caricature that I could play with, with jokes about bullying, sexual tension or funny uniforms.

“Now that’s expanded to talking about the wider emotional and societal ramifications of going to that school. You know that you are operating in every sphere on a bedrock of good fortune – the education you have had, the contacts you have made, the inbuilt confidence. That’s why I find people complaining about privilege being a hindrance so distasteful because of course it helps.”

Does he feel he is expected to apologise for where he was educated? “It’s a bad time because the political situation is toxic, and a lot of the hot topics over the past few years have been to do with elites and the widening gaps in society.

“So yes, I feel a certain pressure to show at the very least I am aware of the negative feeling towards Eton and those who represent it.”

He doesn’t think he would ever become a political comic, though. “I’m a coward and a compromiser so I’ve never set out to write a political show because it would have to have a political conclusion. I’d much rather have a political tangent in the show.”

And there’s a delicious political tangent in The Game of Life, as Graham describes a bizarre meeting with the Prime Minister’s brother Jo, at – of all places – a boules tournament. A gift to a comic, surely?

“Well you say that, but it was quite late in the process of writing the show that I realised that this story would be in it. Then it occurred to me that it would fit into my awkward Eton shtick, and now it’s a bit of the show I love performing.”

While Graham has a loyal audience from his 10 years at the Edinburgh Fringe, he has also gained fans from the regular appearances he made on fellow comic Josh Widdicombe’s podcast and more latterly on Fighting Talk on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I love sport and I think I talk a good game [on Fighting Talk],” he says, “and some fans come to the show on the back of that. I’ve recently started doing more Radio 4 stuff, too; I don’t know what the metrics are of who is in my audiences, but I’d love to see them.”

Graham is a Swindon Town supporter and he plans to see his team play if he can while on the road. “But it’s not always possible because of the tour schedule and baby-minding duties,” he says. Although if Swindon aren’t playing anywhere near a tour date, he would be quite happy to turn up to what he calls “random outings to watch a match, as I’m slowly working my way through the 92 clubs in the English Football and Premier Leagues. New grounds always feel like an adventure”.

His family – Graham is the eldest of three – appear quite a lot in his shows, albeit “in slightly blurred versions” of themselves. But, ever the polite young man, he says: “I wouldn’t want to reveal confidences. I suppose as one digs deeper into family life and relationships and how parenthood may put strain them, you have to be careful.

“My dad was a little bit disconcerted by my using his name in one routine. It’s stayed with me and if I’ve been tempted to do it again in a whimsical moment on stage, then I’m aware it can be a slippery slope.”

Mention of his dad prompts the question of why Graham was born in Tokyo, and he explains his father was working there in insurance, in risk assessment. He says drily: “My career is a risk he is still assessing.” One assumes not for much longer.

Ivo Graham: The Game of Life is at The Lowry, Salford Quays on 27 May 2020. See website for full tour details.

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This tour has Janey wielding a variety of talents, as she delivers the kind of forthright stand-up which has earned her a strong reputation on the comedy circuit and a loyal band of followers. But she will also be displaying her skills at improv, as she stands by a screen and narrates ad-libbed voice-overs of people (many of whom are today’s crop of politicians), giving them a heavy Scottish accent and inventing a story, many of which involve making soup for the community.

“The soup pot is very universal: if you’re in Australia, America, Brazil, France Germany or Alaska, and someone dies or gets married, people will make soup. The soup pot is the hub of the community. When somebody died near us when I was a kid, somebody would make the big soup pot so all the visitors had something warm to drink and eat. It’s part of us all being in it together. Of course, that was before people discovered they were gluten free and worried about being allergic to lentils.”

Janey first discovered that she could develop this new strand of her career on the night of the Scottish Independence vote in 2014. “I first did the voice-overs live at the Wild Cabaret club in Glasgow where the big screens were up. When the news came through and it was all looking a bit bleak, we turned the volume down and I started talking over the top of people. The audience loved it and I realised this was something I could do really well.”

She then poked fun online at the likes of Theresa May, Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon, replacing their talk of policy and elections with chat about big Isa and her soup pots. A recent piece she did on Kim Kardashian (largely mocking her for walking backwards) also went down spectacularly well, while clips of supermodels, Pathé newsreels and Fanny Craddock (the original celebrity chef) are given the Godley treatment. “I started off doing it for me, really. I liked the fact that I could give those politicians a whole new background persona and the idea that they might have these ordinary conversations; I love the idea of that normalcy which cuts through all that bulls**t. The ones that are the hardest to do are of Katie Hopkins, because the audience just boo like they’re at a pantomime.”

Since the voice-overs took off, an unusual trend started which reminded Janey of the halcyon days of Spitting Image when politicians would tune in avidly on a Sunday night, desperate to see if they had been captured in wax and caricatured in song. “MPs will say, ‘Are you going to do me?’ I’d like to do some international ones; I do Trump but I want to do Australian and Canadian politicians. There’s a lot of fodder to go on.”

When she started performing comedy in the mid-90s, there were very few female acts kicking about, but Janey Godley has now become a standard bearer in Scotland for young women who might fancy a career in stand-up. “I did Have I Got News For You and I was the first working-class Scottish female comic to do that: the first and last. There are girls from Glasgow who saw comedy and it would be Kevin Bridges and Frankie Boyle, so they all thought – that’s not our job, that’s for Scottish men. But when they see me and they see someone like Fern Brady, they think – yeah, that’s also a woman’s job.”

Recently, Janey has ramped up her acting CV, appearing in Wild Rose (staring Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo) about a young woman trying to make her way in the world of Country music, and has written and directed a short film entitled The Last Mermaid. She’s also had a one-woman play run off-Broadway, and will be on TV screens soon playing the lawyer of Martin Compston’s character in Traces, a crime drama from an original idea by Val McDermid.

But for now, she’s enjoying making people laugh all over the country with both her no-holds barred stand-up and the unique nature of these new voice-overs. “The most important thing is that this has never been done before, no other comic in the world is doing this. I’ve been doing stand-up for over 20 years but it took a Tory called Theresa to make me famous.” Mrs May might now be virtually out of the public eye, but the moment has surely arrived for Janey Godley to take centre stage.

Janey Godley brings her Soup Pot Tour to Manchester Comedy Store on 26 February 2020. See website for full details.

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How has life been since the final of Britain’s Got Talent back in June?

Kojo: “Life is great – it’s all kicking off since the show, I mean… I’m going on a UK tour! I went up to the last week of the Edinburgh Festival, to do some shows, spread the word and mingle, which was brilliant, and I’ve had a sold-out try-out show in London too. So it’s all coming together ready for the tour.”

You grew up in foster care – how was that?
Kojo: “I was raised in Hackney, East London. My parents are from Ghana, and they got into a bit of trouble, so, from the age of five I was in foster care until about 16.
“I had an amazing experience of foster care. My foster family were from Guyana and Grenada, and I was with them the whole time. I was never moved around, which is brilliant, and a big part of what I want to share about having been a foster child – it’s important for both foster carers and the children to hear that message; foster care is not always a temporary thing.
“Some children don’t need to be in care forever, some do need long term. But consistency is what’s important, if that’s possible. And if they can get an injection of their culture, then it’s also OK for them to be with foster parents of another race, if they’re getting that background and input too. It helps ground you.”

It’s great to hear a positive experience of foster care. Are you still close to your foster family?

Kojo: “My foster mother, Aunty Sandra, she’s the main person in my life that I had a strong relationship with, and I still see her regularly now. She’s the first person I tell anything. My parents are in and out; we have good times and bad, but that’s all in a good place at the moment too. We’re all happy.
“With being a dad now, it’s important for me that those things are ironed out, for Roman’s sake. I’m big on energy, and I don’t want negative energy in his life. He is my priority, for him to be a happy boy – and he is.”

When did you realise you were funny?
Kojo: “I’d always been entertaining my family and friends. I was witty and quick with a response; in school, if I got in trouble, it was what I said not what I had done. I had an answer for everything.
“Comedy happened almost by accident. My first love was always football, but I had terrible discipline as a footballer. I was selected for a school of excellence with some of the best young players in England, on a course to study and play football. I was selected, but I had a terrible attitude about being on time, etc., and relied on being very talented. But it didn’t work out.
“I learned a big lesson in hindsight, and it turned out to be a blessing. Missing that opportunity to change my life, the pain I felt when it ended, that kept me disciplined when I found comedy. I would never let an opportunity ever slip through my hands again. I have so much respect for every opportunity that comes my way now.
“I realised I was a natural with comedy, but that I was going to work hard, find solutions and make no excuses.”

You were ‘discovered’ on BGT but you’d already been working on the comedy circuit for 20 years. How did you turn that natural ability into a career?
Kojo: “So, yes, I’ve been doing comedy 20 years, and now I’m the newcomer – thanks to BGT. 20 years in a nutshell…
“I was doing talent shows at university, and had the chance to go to comedy school, so borrowed £150 from my Aunty Sandra – I’ve more than paid her back now. After that I did a lot of university comedy gigs and built up a fan base.
“From that, I was able to set up Kojo’s Comedy Fun House, which ran every Sunday for eight years, with 300 people queuing up outside each week, packing it to the rafters and coming along week after week. I came from a partying background, so would invite celebrities to the comedy shows, as well as hosting exciting new comedians and DJs, so it became somewhere people wanted to be.
“What really made it big though was when David Chapelle was in town and heard about the club. I called someone who had seen him and got them to put him on the phone. He just came down and performed. ‘Going viral’ wasn’t even a thing at the time, but that’s kind of what happened. It was the first show he’d done after going away following his big success so everyone was talking about it, it was huge on YouTube and was a real international moment to see him back on stage.
“People started talking about the Fun House and I was hearing from American comedians over in the UK who wanted to come down. I was just a young comedian wanting to express myself there, and all this came from that small place.”

Alongside stand-up you’ve worked in TV, made a film and done radio. Tell us about that…
Kojo: “On the back of the Fun House, MTV Base got in touch, wanting to film the Fresh Prince Of Hackney, a take on the Will Smith show – when he was kind of fostered by his relatives in the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. That was my first national exposure, and led to radio bookings – I did the Choice FM Breakfast Show, which is now Capital Xtra.
“I started writing too, I just didn’t know which was comedy was going to take me, so wanted to cover all the bases.
“I made a film called The Weekend on an absolute shoe-string budget and with a lot of new talents involved. And it got picked up by Netflix.”

And before BGT you were almost better known in America than here in the UK. How was that?
Kojo: “I’d met Nick Cannon through friends, who at the time was still married to Mariah Carey – how crazy is that?, and he was bringing a big improv[isation] show Wild N Out back to American TV and wanted to include some UK talent. I leapt at the chance; I’d watched the show as a kid, and it was a ridiculous opportunity to go and work with all these famous and amazingly funny people in America. Everyone I grew up with used to watch it, and there I was being invited to be the first British comedian on it.”

So, what made you audition for BGT?
Kojo: “I had been going through a bad period financially and in opportunities. I’d had my son, and that made it so much more pressurised to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my life… I was feeling like I’d been placed in the ‘has-been’ box so far as a comedy career was concerned.
“I was approached by BGT, they’d seen some videos online – although I didn’t actually know it was BGT at the time. I was told the producers had loved the videos and they were dying to get me on the show, so I decided ‘Why not?’
“I’d always said it wasn’t for me, I didn’t think it was credible. But, when I discussed it with my fiancée, she said the fact they’d had to find me as an ‘unknown’ meant they didn’t know me – so I had nothing to lose.”

What was it like, preparing for that first audition?

Kojo: “I didn’t just plan for the first audition, I planned my acts for every round from the first audition to the final. I had 20 years of material, so why not? I just had to decide which way round to use it, and to get my head straight about what was to come.
“As I gradually went through each phase, I realised what the opportunity was actually going to mean to me. OK, it’s ‘Britain’s’ Got Talent – but I didn’t realise the world would be watching online, ‘Got Talent’ is a global thing. “I know people in the comedy industry were saying ‘Why is he doing it?’, but people across the country didn’t know me. I had to be able to look at my son and know I had taken the chance, taken that massive leap of faith.”

Simon Cowell famously hates comedians on BGT, but he gave you his golden buzzer. How did that feel?

Kojo: “I was so nervous. The judges genuinely do not know what’s coming next as you walk out; it’s a conveyor belt of talent.
“Simon had given two comedians on before me absolute hell that day. My plan was that I wanted Amanda Holden and David Walliams’ approval. Alesha Dixon had seen me at gigs, so I hoped she’d be on side. I’d actually written Simon Cowell off, as I knew I only needed three of them to back me.
“It was the very first day of filming, and – to add to the madness – Simon had never pressed his golden buzzer on day one. So when it happened, everyone was so shocked; day one and a comedian! “The reaction was so gratifying. It told me ‘I can do this’. I had proven myself and removed the doubt about myself. After that, I knew I was good enough.”

How has it been since the show?
Kojo: “Absolutely life-changing. My dad was in Ghana and it came up on the news. I didn’t leave the house for four days after the golden buzzer audition was on TV; I had so many messages on my phone and everywhere I went, people we giving me their love and support. All the work during those 20 years had been gearing up to it, and that’s made it all a bit easier to cope with.
“It’s crazy, and has all been at the same time as adjusting to life as a first time dad. Roman’s oblivious to it, but we’re capturing it all on our phones and it’s amazing that he’s been on the journey with us.
“Roman’s also been life changing. He’s allowed me to be selfish, and people told me how much harder I’d want to work after becoming a parent… You’re making decisions for your child and not just for you.”

What was your aim with BGT and how do you feel ahead of the tour?
Kojo: “It wasn’t ever to win, it was to be in a better position – to hopefully get a call, to get management and to progress. I had opened for Kevin Hart and Chris Rock, I knew what you need to have around you with a good team. The older you get with comedy, the more experience you have to draw on.
“Touring nationally is a dream come true and the hard work is happening. We are working on the material, there’s definitely going to be a look at fatherhood – looking at what goes through a man’s mind as a new dad, as well as asking some kind of serious questions, like ‘Will I end up looking like my parents, will my child end up in the same situation as me?’
“I’m looking forward to touring, going to places I’ve never been to – like Swindon, Malvern, New Brighton, places in Wales I can’t even spell…
“In January, I was 40. I told my fiancée Tiff, I believe the best years of my life will be my 40s – and it’s definitely looking that way. Let’s have it!”

Kojo Anim Presents The Taxi Tour will take in 26 towns and cities across the country stopping at The Lowry, Salford Quays on 20 February 2020. Visit website for full tour details.

The post Kojo Anim: ‘I’ve been doing comedy 20 years, and now I’m the newcomer – thanks to BGT’ appeared first on Quays Life.

Can you tell us a bit about your play?

Jimmy: “’No More Fiffing and Faffing’ tells the story of comedy double act Joe Fiffen and Jerry Faffen on their last night in summer season at an end of pier show. Things haven’t gone well so they decide to jack it all in and make it their last night in showbusiness. They perform their favourite sketches to their loyal fans, then we follow the boys back to the dressing room where they settle old scores.

“The dramatic narrative of the play is the fact it’s a stormy night and the Health and safety man wants to close the show and their agent rings them in the dressing room and offers them a reality TV show if they change their minds about retiring, which Jerry wants to do but Joe has his heart set on a new career as an Entertainment’s Manager in a seaside holiday Hotel.

“I play Jerry the comical one. A singer friend of mine Jonathan Young, also from Belfast, plays Joe the straight man, so it gives the play an extra Irish dimension. The third member of the cast-Archie the stage manager is Colin Meredith, an actor from Rochdale whose been in all the leading soap dramas on television”.

How different did you find the process of writing a play to writing sketches?

Jimmy: “I’ve written a few plays over the years, but this is the first one that’s got anywhere. You can type out a sketch in 20 minutes once you’ve got the initial idea for it, however a play takes six-months because you’re doing a wee bit every day while you’re doing other things. In my case that means taking my live solo act around the country. The Godsend for me was, my eldest boy, Dale and my wife, May. They’re computer friendly so they can take my very rough drafts and turn them into a presentable script”.

What inspired you to write ‘No More Fiffing and Faffing’?

Jimmy: “I’ve worked with lots of comedy double acts over the years especially in pantomime and they’ve always held a fascination for me”.

How much, if any, is autobiographical?

Jimmy: “In the mid-sixties I worked as a Butlin Redcoat in a camp in Clacton. I teamed up with a fellow redcoat called Chas Elliot and we did a comedy double act when the season finished. We played up on the fact that Chas was Jewish and I was Irish. Even calling ourselves wait for this- ‘Cohen and Kelly’. Although it was short-lived we had a lot of fun. I’ve drawn on that for this production”.

Who was your favourite ever double act?

Jimmy: “I suppose like most people Laurel and Hardy and Morecambe and Wise. You didn’t just laugh at them, you developed a deep affection for them”.

You’ve seen many changes in comedy over the years. What for you is the biggest change?

Jimmy: “I’ve seen enormous changes in comedy over the years. Some of it has been good, but, and here’s where I get on my soapbox, I’ve also seen standards slip and a coarser type of comedy come into prominence which unfortunately has been embraced by television Chiefs with the result that most older people have lost their respect for television and rarely watch comedy on the tele these days for fear of getting upset”.

Why do you think your style of comedy has managed to survive so many years?
Jimmy: “I’ve always tried to keep my act fresh. Even routines like the letter from my Mammy which I’ve doing for yonks can be pepped up with subjects like Brexit, iPhone, and flat screen teles”.

Your daughter, Katie is now following in your footsteps. How does it feel to have another comedian in the family?

Jimmy: “Katie is carving out a career in writing and stand-up but with a four-year-old, Jim and another on the way it can be tough. I’m quite sure she’ll make that breakthrough in the next few years. Needless to say, her Mum and I are in the wings cheering her on”.

What has been the best thing for you about a life in comedy?
Jimmy: “Comedy has given me a chance to earn a living doing something that I love. I enjoy cheering people up and helping them forget their troubles. This play is a new challenge for me and trying to make it work is enormously exciting for me”.

‘Jimmy Cricket – No More Fiffing and Faffing’, comes to the Plaza, Stockport on Sunday 19 January 2020 at 2.30pm. Tickets are priced at £10.00 with tickets for children (Under 16) at £5.00. Visit stockportplaza.co.uk for details.

The post C’mere No More Fiffing and Faffing from Comedian Jimmy Cricket appeared first on Quays Life.