Andrew O'Neill - You Should've Been Here Last Week

[00:00:00] [Music]

[00:00:04] You can count the punctures on one hand

[00:00:08] But on the street they were completely wrapped

[00:00:12] They were filled up to the gunnold

[00:00:14] They were spewing down the street

[00:00:16] They said you should have been here last week

[00:00:19] I swear

[00:00:20] You should have been here last week

[00:00:23] Oh yeah

[00:00:24] You should have been here last week

[00:00:27] [Music]

[00:00:31] Hello and welcome to the new edition of

[00:00:35] The Podcast

[00:00:37] You should have been here last week in which myself

[00:00:39] Steve Grubbing, fellow comedian Paul Ricketts

[00:00:42] Interview, the movers and the shakers

[00:00:44] The people behind the scenes and people in front of the scenes

[00:00:47] On the comedy industry

[00:00:49] And this week's guest is a wonderful guest

[00:00:53] They are lovely and fantastic performer

[00:00:57] Andrew O'Neil

[00:00:59] They've been in the business now

[00:01:01] I think for well over 20 years

[00:01:03] I think they have two comedy clubs

[00:01:06] One in Camden

[00:01:08] Which is called the Troy Club

[00:01:10] Which has been running for well over a decade

[00:01:13] I think it might be nearly two decades

[00:01:15] And a relatively new one in Oxford

[00:01:18] Called the Dead Leg Club

[00:01:20] Which is full of the weird, the wonderful

[00:01:22] And the very underused work nowadays

[00:01:25] Alternative comedy acts

[00:01:27] So sit back and enjoy the wonderful stylings of Andrew O'Neil

[00:01:33] Yes, Andrew O'Neil, I just want to say something

[00:01:35] Before he comes on

[00:01:37] [Laughs]

[00:01:40] Our guest today is Andrew O'Neil

[00:01:44] And we could talk about your fantastic comedy career

[00:01:48] You are Princess and TV, but no

[00:01:50] Not even the music

[00:01:52] And your steampunk desires

[00:01:55] But what we are going to talk about is your promoting today

[00:01:58] Which is, of course, the Troy Club

[00:02:01] And I just found out about Dead Leg in Oxford

[00:02:06] I've done over the years

[00:02:09] I've run a few different bits and pieces

[00:02:11] The one I'm currently running is the Troy Club

[00:02:15] Which is London's longest running dedicated alternative comedy night

[00:02:20] Isn't it?

[00:02:22] Wow!

[00:02:23] Beating who?

[00:02:24] [Laughs]

[00:02:25] There aren't many other ones

[00:02:28] There's us and there's ACMS and there's

[00:02:30] Alternatively experimental

[00:02:36] Because the alternative in the late 70s

[00:02:39] Alternative cabaret was an alternative to the sort of

[00:02:41] Burn of Manning comedians thing

[00:02:43] And there was a huge amount of experimentation

[00:02:46] And then, I think Frank Skinner was the game-changer

[00:02:49] And Frank Skinner came along

[00:02:51] He kind of blokeified, stand up

[00:02:53] And also, Jeff Green

[00:02:54] I think Jeff Green deserves

[00:02:56] Huge, kind of an unsung, hero and influence

[00:02:59] That kind of relationship based observational comedy

[00:03:03] Jeff Green was, I think he was the first person to do that

[00:03:06] And now that's like the template for what nearly everybody does

[00:03:10] He's also one of the best people to do as well

[00:03:12] I mean, he's a fantastic comic

[00:03:15] Absolutely with your Andrew, he doesn't get enough credit at all

[00:03:19] Absolutely, he's astonishingly good

[00:03:23] So yeah, with the Troy

[00:03:26] I started comedy in January 2002

[00:03:31] And at my third gig

[00:03:34] An incredibly charming black cabaret to him

[00:03:37] He went "You're really funny, come and do my gig"

[00:03:39] First was Mike Belgrave

[00:03:42] I don't even know if Mike's Mike still gigging

[00:03:44] No, I think he went into teaching

[00:03:47] Okay, he got the opposite way from what normally happens

[00:03:53] He became a doctor

[00:03:57] So Mike, my first gig was laughing horse

[00:04:02] That was then the Liberty's bar

[00:04:05] Well it's the Camden Head now

[00:04:11] The Camden Head and Camden

[00:04:13] Not to speak a few of the Camden Head and Angel

[00:04:15] It also has a gig which is just stupid

[00:04:18] So yeah, my first gig was laughing horse

[00:04:23] Second gig was downstairs at the Kings Head, a week later

[00:04:25] My third was in the Purple Turtle in history

[00:04:30] Yeah, I remember the Purple Turtle

[00:04:33] That gig that had like

[00:04:35] You were just next to the door

[00:04:37] And people would just come in

[00:04:40] And the kids from the estates would

[00:04:41] You know, bang on the window and stuff

[00:04:44] All these formative gigs

[00:04:46] And then I think my fourth gig was

[00:04:48] Possibly the Troy Club with Mike Belgrave

[00:04:50] So the Troy was

[00:04:52] It was a proper

[00:04:55] Old school Soho drinking den

[00:04:58] And you'd go up two flights of stairs

[00:05:00] I think the most we could get in that room

[00:05:02] Was about 25 people

[00:05:04] At the height we'd have people

[00:05:05] Literally on the stairs watching

[00:05:07] And it was just sort of magical

[00:05:09] There was no microphone, I think

[00:05:11] To start with there wasn't even a light

[00:05:13] And there'd be about four people in there

[00:05:16] Because they'd open early for comedy

[00:05:18] And there's one of these things where

[00:05:19] It was the owner's idea, Mike used to drink there

[00:05:20] It was the owner's idea

[00:05:21] And so you guys know this

[00:05:24] The owner was really enthusiastic

[00:05:26] Oh yeah

[00:05:27] For a month

[00:05:30] That has never happened before

[00:05:32] Unprecedented right?

[00:05:34] And, you know, all of the open spots

[00:05:38] Around that sort of thing

[00:05:40] Did this gig and it was

[00:05:42] And then Mike

[00:05:44] Got quickly disillusioned with it

[00:05:46] Within, I think about six months

[00:05:48] And he offered it to me

[00:05:50] So at this point

[00:05:52] I was working at UCL

[00:05:56] But I had a mate, Dicky, who I knew

[00:05:58] From the Harkle Punk scene

[00:06:00] And he ran the shops at UCL

[00:06:02] There's one underneath Bloomsbury Theatre

[00:06:04] And there's one just up the road

[00:06:06] And so I was

[00:06:08] Jobless, so I rang him up and said

[00:06:10] Your shop's being renovated, do you need any help with that?

[00:06:14] So I ended up doing that job for four years

[00:06:16] And it's changed my life in several different ways

[00:06:18] Which we'll get into

[00:06:19] Because the connections are made there

[00:06:21] And so

[00:06:22] I took the Troy Club over and I did two things

[00:06:24] The first thing I did was I decided to make it

[00:06:26] An alternative comedy only

[00:06:28] So basically kind of weird comedy only

[00:06:30] Which was the first thing I did

[00:06:32] Pissed any comedians off

[00:06:34] (laughter)

[00:06:36] There's that thing as soon as you put in a distinction

[00:06:38] I want this sort of thing

[00:06:40] People go, "But, I thought I was alternative

[00:06:42] You're all over"

[00:06:43] Yeah, yeah

[00:06:44] So, but the other thing I did

[00:06:46] Was I, so it was a free gig

[00:06:48] And I flired the students

[00:06:50] So I had this incredible resource

[00:06:52] People would come in the shop

[00:06:53] I'd have a flyer on the counter

[00:06:55] Hand-drawn and photocopied

[00:06:57] Bit by bit by bit

[00:06:58] We started selling out

[00:06:59] And we started filling this room

[00:07:01] And it was glorious

[00:07:02] And we'd have all of the weirdest, madest acts

[00:07:05] And then people like Paul Foot

[00:07:08] Yeah

[00:07:09] And

[00:07:10] I like the fact that Paul Foot

[00:07:12] Is the least madest at the acts

[00:07:14] That you're going to put on

[00:07:15] The -

[00:07:16] (laughter)

[00:07:17] That there is method in Paul's madness

[00:07:19] Yes, there is

[00:07:20] Yes, there is

[00:07:21] And there were, I would book people who would just get on

[00:07:23] And be extremely strange

[00:07:26] (laughter)

[00:07:27] There was a madness

[00:07:29] To that

[00:07:31] Kind of early 2000s open white circuit

[00:07:33] Because the top end of comedy now

[00:07:35] Is so lucrative

[00:07:36] And there are so many models

[00:07:37] For making money from comedy

[00:07:39] Back then, I had no idea

[00:07:41] I'd be able to make a living off comedy

[00:07:43] It wasn't my attention

[00:07:44] I just wanted to do comedy

[00:07:45] There seems to be such a gulf between

[00:07:47] What I was doing

[00:07:48] And kind of, you know

[00:07:50] I don't know, like Eddie is

[00:07:51] Or whatever

[00:07:52] I used to get 25 pounds from the bar

[00:07:54] Per week

[00:07:55] That was my income from that

[00:07:57] I used to say there were two reasons why people would

[00:08:00] Overcome the social

[00:08:03] Anxiety of performing comedy

[00:08:05] And so for some it's just the love of it

[00:08:08] And for some

[00:08:09] They don't have the social anxiety

[00:08:11] (laughter)

[00:08:13] And so you get all of these

[00:08:15] Wonderful, neuro-diverse

[00:08:17] Weirdos

[00:08:19] Doing stuff that

[00:08:21] Surely they didn't even think was funny

[00:08:23] Hey, Andrew, can you name some of the

[00:08:25] Because I'm really into that stuff

[00:08:28] You know like the Iceman

[00:08:30] And the Iceman, I actually saw him

[00:08:32] At the tunnel

[00:08:33] And people sat there and watched him

[00:08:36] Sit on a chair

[00:08:37] (laughter)

[00:08:39] Watching a block of ice

[00:08:41] Melt!

[00:08:42] And it took 15 minutes

[00:08:44] And people, actually it's really weird

[00:08:46] Because now, of course

[00:08:47] There would be a riot and people go

[00:08:49] Boo!

[00:08:50] Except it was in the right space

[00:08:51] But people just took it because

[00:08:53] Oh yeah this is great

[00:08:54] So who's your name?

[00:08:57] What sort of people did you have there?

[00:09:00] Can you remember any of them?

[00:09:02] Who was Joel Elnor?

[00:09:04] Oh my God!

[00:09:06] Yeah, brilliant!

[00:09:08] (laughter)

[00:09:09] Now Joel Elnor,

[00:09:11] I don't know who he is

[00:09:13] He is the brother

[00:09:15] Of a woman who used to be on

[00:09:17] Dragon's Den

[00:09:19] She was the woman who came up with

[00:09:21] Red Letterdays

[00:09:23] Yeah, so she was an entrepreneur

[00:09:25] And this, like there's

[00:09:27] There's a watershed in comedy

[00:09:29] There's pre-autism awareness

[00:09:32] And there's post-autism awareness, right?

[00:09:34] Joel must be autistic

[00:09:36] But he...

[00:09:38] And I booked him and I sort of said

[00:09:40] "I'm going to be honest with you

[00:09:42] I think people laugh at you

[00:09:44] Oh, okay, and I said

[00:09:46] If you're happy being booked on the basis

[00:09:48] I think you're funny

[00:09:49] But I don't think you know why

[00:09:51] (laughter)

[00:09:53] Because I thought he was really funny

[00:09:55] Yeah

[00:09:56] A typical Joel Elnor joke would be

[00:09:58] Celebrity get me out of here

[00:10:01] Or more like

[00:10:03] Celebrity get me in here

[00:10:05] (laughter)

[00:10:07] And then you get this like, like a pause

[00:10:09] And then a massive laugh

[00:10:11] And he would do sort of topical stuff

[00:10:13] It was kind of hilarious

[00:10:15] He did a show

[00:10:16] He did an hour-long show at The Fringe

[00:10:18] And it kind of became a sort of

[00:10:21] A bit of a cult classic

[00:10:23] I think there may have been some bullying

[00:10:25] Involved if people go back

[00:10:27] (laughter)

[00:10:28] But then he sort of

[00:10:30] He adopted like a female persona

[00:10:32] There's a big link between autism

[00:10:34] And gender dysphoria

[00:10:36] And so he sort of

[00:10:39] He would turn up in a sort of female persona

[00:10:42] And yeah he was sort of

[00:10:44] Kind of what was magically strange

[00:10:47] And I think he, you know, I think he's sort of

[00:10:50] Rich Sister kind of looked after him

[00:10:52] Yeah

[00:10:53] And what's happened to him?

[00:10:55] He stopped doing it

[00:10:56] I don't know why

[00:10:58] I ran a club

[00:10:59] With a little bit after you started

[00:11:01] Booking the same sort of acts

[00:11:03] Yeah, right

[00:11:04] For exactly the same sort of reason

[00:11:06] (laughter)

[00:11:07] Just the madness, bringing in the madness

[00:11:09] Yeah

[00:11:10] So I was going to run a few past here

[00:11:12] Which are eye books and you might have books

[00:11:14] Yes, please

[00:11:15] There was a bloke called

[00:11:16] "Prime Island"

[00:11:17] (laughter)

[00:11:19] This is like, do you know what this is like?

[00:11:23] This is the equivalent for us

[00:11:24] Of those like "I love the '70s show"

[00:11:27] (laughter)

[00:11:29] There are neural networks

[00:11:31] in the back of our brains

[00:11:32] That have been gathering dust

[00:11:33] Lighting up for the first time since 2004

[00:11:36] (laughter)

[00:11:37] Right nylon, yes, absolutely

[00:11:40] Right, yeah

[00:11:41] What was his act?

[00:11:42] His act was

[00:11:43] He'd come on, he was from Manchester

[00:11:45] And he'd have tights on his legs

[00:11:47] And he had the really, really bad

[00:11:50] Barrackus veins in one leg

[00:11:52] So the leg was misshapen

[00:11:54] But he'd also come on with

[00:11:55] The pair of tights over his head

[00:11:58] And he'd come on stage

[00:12:00] And he'd open this little briefcase

[00:12:02] Take out his shrunken head

[00:12:04] Hold it up

[00:12:07] Hold it up to the all-girls and go

[00:12:08] I never did it

[00:12:10] I never did it

[00:12:12] (laughter)

[00:12:15] Absolutely, yeah

[00:12:17] He was stunning

[00:12:18] I'm so, so terrible in names

[00:12:20] There was another, there was an act from Manchester

[00:12:22] There was a double act

[00:12:24] I can't remember what they were fucking called

[00:12:25] Should have written something down before I started

[00:12:27] And they, the 'Mike Oldfield' song "Port Smith'

[00:12:30] They would play that

[00:12:32] While playing a

[00:12:34] While blowing through a glittery, a glittery paper tube

[00:12:39] And it was absolutely hilarious

[00:12:43] And I've since asked, can I use that song

[00:12:45] Because it's a perfect song for this and all that

[00:12:48] One of them was Richard Swan

[00:12:50] Richard Swan would, he'd do a joke

[00:12:54] So his whole, it was really deadpan

[00:12:57] And really monotone

[00:12:59] Some of the best jokes I've ever heard

[00:13:01] I used to work in a car park

[00:13:04] When there was a fire drill

[00:13:06] We had to assemble where we already were

[00:13:10] (laughter)

[00:13:13] And then he'd raise his arm and go

[00:13:15] (laughter)

[00:13:16] In between each joke, right?

[00:13:18] And it's just this sort of

[00:13:20] Absolute wonderful, wonderful

[00:13:22] I mean Anthony Miller

[00:13:23] who, you know, again

[00:13:26] Autism Awareness

[00:13:28] makes the world kind of place

[00:13:31] And he used to do kind of poems and stuff

[00:13:34] There was Sean Ridgeway

[00:13:36] He would do, he was a sort of poet

[00:13:40] Just basically anyone who kind of

[00:13:43] Alexis Jubus, this was interesting

[00:13:45] 'Cause Alexis was early on, Alexis hadn't found his voice

[00:13:48] And he would try all these different sorts of things

[00:13:50] He came in as a Mexican once

[00:13:52] And it's really interesting watching him try

[00:13:54] these different things, he did

[00:13:56] And he had jokes that just never really worked

[00:13:59] So he'd say the name 'retown'

[00:14:01] And so I came to London where the streets are paved

[00:14:04] And it wouldn't get a laugh

[00:14:06] (laughter)

[00:14:07] But when he does Marcel LeCant

[00:14:09] Where the streets are paved

[00:14:12] It's suddenly that thing of like

[00:14:14] The punchline is that he hasn't finished the sentence

[00:14:17] That elevates it

[00:14:19] To me there's something really punk

[00:14:21] And I talk about this as a dead leg actually

[00:14:23] There's something really, really punk

[00:14:25] That's talking about

[00:14:27] Anyone can get up

[00:14:28] And try something

[00:14:29] They've got this space, they've got this five minutes

[00:14:31] You can get up and you can try something

[00:14:33] If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter

[00:14:34] But they're expressing something of themselves

[00:14:37] And that playground and that sand pit

[00:14:42] And that kind of room for experimentation

[00:14:45] I think has largely lost

[00:14:48] It's largely moved away from the open white circuit

[00:14:52] Because people have their eye on the prize

[00:14:54] And this is classic veteran comic moaning

[00:14:56] But open spot comics don't stay and watch the headline anymore

[00:15:00] Because they've got access to so much comedy online

[00:15:03] They don't think they need to

[00:15:05] Which perhaps they don't

[00:15:07] But also there are people who headline club gigs

[00:15:09] That you don't get to see on TV or on Netflix specials

[00:15:12] So yeah, it was absolutely gorgeous

[00:15:15] But then we started hitting issues where

[00:15:18] The grumpy Polish guy who

[00:15:20] Would open up for us

[00:15:22] Would get there later and later

[00:15:24] Later and later and later and later

[00:15:26] And so we would end up with a queue of 30 people

[00:15:30] Outside the door

[00:15:32] And sometimes he just wouldn't turn up

[00:15:34] Every now and then

[00:15:36] And I didn't have a mobile phone at the time

[00:15:38] I was against mobile phones

[00:15:40] I didn't have a mobile

[00:15:41] I ended up having to get one

[00:15:42] To run this gig properly

[00:15:43] But at this point, so he couldn't call me and tell me he was late

[00:15:46] We Were Just There Waiting and We Ended Up Sometimes We'd Have to Do It Down so There Was There Was A Spanish Restaurant Like A Tap Our Sushdown Downstairs Yeah Occasionally We Go Can We Just Come in and Do It Here so We do that in fact the first ever one Was There I?

[00:15:59] Try to remember Who was on it was um who was that Canadian Guy Alex Alex Nazarene? I used to play poker with him because right? For a comedian he had absolutely no sense of humor and

[00:16:16] Oh, absolutely and I wait until I got a hand and then I'd say things to him like had it go tonight then Alex

[00:16:23] You know he'd be paying anything to see my hand

[00:16:32] Right right right right right perfect he had yet no

[00:16:37] No sort of sense he did he had this really mad thing

[00:16:41] Where he go oh the thing is you English people you say thing you say things like

[00:16:48] It's people like you what caused unrest? And I was like no that's a character in a Monty Python sketch

[00:16:54] That's where he's got it from from the from the you know from the the B license the fish license sketch. Yeah

[00:17:02] fish license, you know

[00:17:05] It's people like you what cause and rest

[00:17:09] Same character. Listen the parrot shop sketch. It's that that that John please character and I was like

[00:17:13] You've what you've done is you've taken something from my life and sketch and you've used that as observational comedy

[00:17:19] No British people what they're like so his parents were millionaires

[00:17:27] and they both I think they both died like a plane crash or something and then he

[00:17:32] Spuncted inheritance on you know like fast cars and Coke and girls

[00:17:37] And then he came he wanted to be a comic so we would come over but without a visa

[00:17:42] So then he'd come so they get deported then he come back through Ireland

[00:17:46] He was an intense guy and then he

[00:17:49] Haven't got nowhere in comedy

[00:17:52] He then yeah, he he he became

[00:17:55] like one of those

[00:17:58] Like dating gurus that the proposed also you know

[00:18:03] Encourage things like nagging. So you tell a beautiful woman that she's an idiot and she's got shit shoes

[00:18:10] And she falls in love with you. Yeah, gurus. Yeah, and he's like yeah

[00:18:15] He's he so he does all these YouTube videos, and he's got

[00:18:20] Yeah, he's what he's you kind of go. Yeah, that suits you better

[00:18:25] So you know like a guru of misogyny

[00:18:29] And because I actually he was the first person I said I'm not gonna book you again because I think your stuffs

[00:18:34] I think it's sexist and he's yet you know stuff about lesbians and stuff. I thought it was sexist. I thought it was

[00:18:39] There's a lot of comedy that kind of diminishes

[00:18:42] lesbian identity

[00:18:45] You know why why wasn't I there cuz they're lesbians, you know

[00:18:48] And so I was like yeah, I don't and he you know you got them really there you go people get that with me quite a bit

[00:18:54] and so then we so then so I got to the point where basically this guy was turning up later and we ended up doing the show outside we

[00:18:59] And and and I thought we need to move on from this

[00:19:02] So this this would have been a couple of years

[00:19:03] And we had a you know an awful lot of people came through that door and it was it was really magical and it's a really

[00:19:09] You know like my my probably the happiest I've ever been was when I quit my my next day job

[00:19:14] So the last day job I had was working at the cabinet warms in church and museum

[00:19:17] and I quit that job and I didn't really have anywhere to live and I didn't really have a

[00:19:23] Thinning I wasn't making money off comedy, but I didn't want to sell the hours of my day

[00:19:27] That was this thing. There was this kind of anarchist situation

[00:19:30] I'd situationist notion that that my life is finite and I had I had so little money

[00:19:36] It'd be like can I at the end of you know after we can I afford

[00:19:39] some instant noodles and a can of beer and

[00:19:42] That's like a good night and and I don't think I've been as happy since of just doing as many gigs

[00:19:48] I can do like completely dedicate myself to comedy and then we moved to

[00:19:53] Turn Mills the super Club in Clark Oh my God

[00:19:57] I never knew you would there turn Mills

[00:20:00] I once did one of the worst gigs of my life there not not during that club

[00:20:04] But it was a it was one of those classic

[00:20:07] Comedy should never be in a nightclub gigs, you know, and everybody died the sound was terrible

[00:20:13] The audience was just chucking Oh, I'm getting PTSD just thinking

[00:20:17] Well I get it something came out the toy club

[00:20:22] So there were these two these two women that so most more idiots were students at UCL

[00:20:27] and

[00:20:29] so yes a smart audience and

[00:20:31] These two women used to come they've come every week to the to the Troy and

[00:20:36] They said we really we really love what you do. We're having a party for the Slovakia in society

[00:20:43] It was a LSE and you remember the chuckle club at the LSE, right? Yeah, I do. Yeah

[00:20:49] Right, so I'm thinking oh it'd be like that. Oh

[00:20:52] No

[00:20:55] So this the fee was a hundred pounds, and this was that was 70-pound more than I could imagine being you know

[00:21:03] I think I used to get 30 quid occasionally from Rodi Fraser. We'll talk about Rodie in a bit and

[00:21:08] And so I did this gig now bear in mind with inflation. That's that's that's actually probably what I'm getting paid now

[00:21:16] Yeah

[00:21:19] We really like you commonly come and do this this so we're having like you know a party for the Slovakian society

[00:21:24] We love you to come do comedy. It'll be 100 pounds super so I get to this room in LSE and

[00:21:28] So the lighting is

[00:21:32] Just you know kind of like a dim green flashy lights right so no so you can't see anyone's facial expression

[00:21:37] The room is just the bar in the student union. It's

[00:21:41] Vast I mean I'll probably go back in it was probably the size of this room

[00:21:45] But it seemed like a bar. It's a bomb will never fill it right it was not

[00:21:50] Exclusively the Slovakian society by any means that was about 10 people on one table

[00:21:55] So it would have been about a hundred people and it was a pound a pint night. Oh my god, so

[00:22:02] so

[00:22:04] They've just hijacked you know the classic thing

[00:22:06] You know you hate when you go for a night out and someone builds a comedy club around you

[00:22:09] you know that sort of that's what had happened and

[00:22:11] This bloke went up and said

[00:22:14] Right, okay. So it's the Slovakian society

[00:22:17] Some Christmas do whatever it was I'm gonna do the raffle now

[00:22:21] Hello, and just like he's getting nowhere with the right so number those green 33 green. Hello. Anyone green

[00:22:28] Right. We'll come back to that one so that like so the raffle is dying

[00:22:38] The raffle the raffle got its first short review that day as well

[00:22:40] The raffle finally got its fucking adjective in timeout, right?

[00:22:45] So so the raffle dies on its ass

[00:22:50] He then goes and now it's comedy andro nio

[00:22:53] So I walk on this stage and I went right and I've I'm surprised this early on a micro ad the presence of mine to do

[00:23:01] This but I said hello

[00:23:01] I'm about to do 20 minutes of standard comedy if you do not if you're not interested

[00:23:06] Please turn your back on me now

[00:23:08] so some people turn their back on me I

[00:23:11] Start doing my my skits and my routines and to just nothing to just nothing like nothing a couple of people over here

[00:23:19] Are laughing right but it's or it's horrible, and I just kept going I'm gonna do 20 minutes

[00:23:24] People started heckling me and then a guy got a chair

[00:23:27] He pulled it up in front of the stage and he had a sleeve of plastic pint pots and he started throwing it at me

[00:23:34] one boy

[00:23:36] And I went I've still got five minutes

[00:23:41] Why end up doing my set?

[00:23:44] kicking the pint pots

[00:23:47] like back into the crowd and

[00:23:50] Just kind of going you know these guys I've got five and I did my 20 minutes

[00:23:53] And it was just and I was like well that was you know that one as well as it could have done

[00:23:58] and then

[00:24:00] Like you know when things if you wrote this it would be unrealistic you go. That's a step too far

[00:24:06] He was at the bar drinking a pint and I went up to him and he's wearing a beanie, and I just pulled his hat off

[00:24:13] And he turned around and threw his point

[00:24:16] Yeah, so I went home with a hundred quid

[00:24:28] The one at Turmills it was exactly that same situation where they said great. We'll give you a budget

[00:24:33] and we'll put posters everywhere and we'll promote it we get thousands of people through the door and then you know

[00:24:40] We did it. I maybe did it for a few months and it just

[00:24:44] It was just one of those things where you just go right. There's no there's no it's a shit location

[00:24:49] There's no passing trade. It's the wrong time of day. It's the wrong day of the week

[00:24:53] We're not getting anything from these clubs the few people who are in there aren't really interested

[00:24:58] Um, so then we needed a new home. So the first ever toy club that I ran was on the 10th of September

[00:25:03] 2002 Mike Mike bale grave

[00:25:06] Stephen Carlin. I mean this is before my weirdos only policy and I think this might be after because

[00:25:15] Anthony Miller Phil Klein Phil Zimmerman

[00:25:19] For listeners at home Phil would he cut he Phil looked like a bird and he would come and go

[00:25:27] Mmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm any any any other

[00:25:34] He funny

[00:25:37] He's you know, you know, you know, they don't even notice

[00:25:39] That's that like

[00:25:45] But absolute like

[00:25:48] Like that's that's like a roar he hasn't sat down. I thought if I do that it'll be funny

[00:25:54] That's just emerged from him yeah, um, didn't he high?

[00:25:57] yeah, that's I think and and look all all all hail and all bow down to the absolute legend that is Jim Oh

[00:26:06] Yes, I'll get a mention Jim oh, yes has to be in there

[00:26:10] again, I

[00:26:13] mean, you know

[00:26:15] Do you remember that point where when Jim Bo's wife died and they look like he regenerated

[00:26:23] She's got two yeah, no, because he like literally because his wife died and

[00:26:28] For somehow he came into money

[00:26:30] I don't know if she had life insurance or something and he died his hair silver

[00:26:34] Yeah flashy suit and kind of pointy shiny shoes and he used to wear just like a jumper. Didn't he yeah?

[00:26:40] you know again Jimbo

[00:26:43] had like that sort of like a

[00:26:45] verbal tick of kind of

[00:26:46] shout laughing at his own jokes and

[00:26:50] And and he would I don't think I ever saw him do the same thing twice. No, I never have I've given him recently

[00:26:56] right

[00:26:58] from look I'll say this to the listeners so we're talking about a

[00:27:01] Legend of the comedy circuit because he's never you never would have heard of him because he's never made it

[00:27:08] He's been an open spot for something like 40 40 of could even be 50 years

[00:27:13] Yeah, he was definitely going in the mid 80s. I remember him from then. Yeah

[00:27:19] Paul if you got that major story about it when he he cycled to the gig and there's no. Oh, he hits yeah

[00:27:25] You tell this story. It's great. Go. I tried to check with Jimbo that this was true and it turns out it's absolutely true

[00:27:31] right, so there's a comedy competition in Manchester and

[00:27:36] He thinks oh god for that and he hitchhikes all the way he took Manchester in a snowstorm in a snowstorm

[00:27:46] so

[00:27:48] Unbeknownst to him the gig gets canceled because all the acts from the north west said we can't travel

[00:27:54] And the promoter is trying to phone him but he hasn't gone home

[00:28:01] And so he's going oh my god. I'll have to go I'll have to go to the venue and wait to turn up

[00:28:07] Jimbo turns up at the venue he makes it and

[00:28:10] The blog goes I can't believe you've made it you've come all the way through London go out of hitchhikes

[00:28:17] Well, I'll he said look there's a hundred pound prize and the little trophy. I'm just gonna give it to you

[00:28:25] Just for just doing what you've done and local accident made it you've made it

[00:28:32] And Jimbo goes well, can I just do me set him

[00:28:36] Does he set does this set the blog goes give me that money in a trophy bag

[00:28:44] Is absolutely

[00:28:56] You're not having that give it come here get off and that and that is who I book for the Troy

[00:29:04] Paul Shuff, remember him no

[00:29:10] Material about being bitten by a radioactive cathedral

[00:29:14] He was wonderful Jim Brooks

[00:29:20] Good stuff

[00:29:24] Jim Brooks he gave up being a vet to do stand up and occasionally while having a very hard gig which

[00:29:32] Happened a lot there was a look in his eyes of I gave up

[00:29:39] Being Stephen Carlin doing impression because

[00:29:42] God stuff. He's got sort of like this tragic figure with this kind of chirpy

[00:29:47] Extiat like this false chirpy exterior. He was quite and a very red face

[00:29:52] Well, that's due to the drinking before I even did comedy because I used to drink in certain places

[00:29:58] Yeah, I'd meet comics and he was the first one I met and I thought my god. You're the saddest person in here

[00:30:03] I said what do you do? I'm a comedian

[00:30:06] It goes to Christmas future was

[00:30:10] Did you did you tell him that he looks out he should go and see the comedian Jim Brooks

[00:30:16] Roddy Fraser now yeah, we're gonna talk about it

[00:30:25] Roddy Fraser used to run comedy upstairs at the bath house

[00:30:29] The bathhouse was the next location for the Troy Club

[00:30:34] So it's this on Dean Street

[00:30:36] It was knocked down for Crossrail

[00:30:39] Roddy Fraser was a very angry

[00:30:43] Scotsman

[00:30:46] Canadian Canadian Scotsman was he Canadian Scottish? Yeah

[00:30:50] Talk to the Canadian comments. He was doing comedy. He started in Canada first

[00:30:55] I didn't know that Wow and it you know occasionally he would have some really good gigs and occasionally

[00:31:00] He wouldn't and then he would shout at the audience to tell them they're wrong

[00:31:03] haha

[00:31:05] There was a guy that used to come down to the tunnel all the time

[00:31:08] I think I've told Paul about this and he was a black guy and he used to a bit

[00:31:12] He was like a Jamaican guy and he said these poems

[00:31:15] And one of the poems that used to but he used to come on and all he was wearing was like a lorrying cloth

[00:31:21] and he'd be carrying a spear

[00:31:24] And he had a poem called there's an uprising down below

[00:31:29] - No. (laughing)

[00:31:32] Ahh! As he said it, he started to get an erection. Oh my God, it's just... it's one of the weirdest.

[00:31:40] But he never... he was down there nearly every week and he used to get booed off every single week.

[00:31:45] As soon as he said, there's an uprising down below. And then looked at his lying cloth, and it's just... just doing this?

[00:31:51] Ha ha ha ha. Just on a demand. Just... I don't know how the hell he did it. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:31:59] Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. But it's... we could talk about this as one of the things. I mean, you did mention it, the marginalisation of comedy because in the early days, a lot of the circuit was like this. Like in the early 80s when I started. It was all a complete mixture of poets. It was a little bit... I mean, cast new varieties to have some weird people on. And it was all mixed together, you know, special acts as they used to call them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:32:29] And I mean, Mark Steel's got a brilliant book, and he said, to add to your thing of why people do comedy. He said that people do it because they love it.

[00:32:37] But also, there's some people who do it because they have to do it. There's no other outlet for what's inside their heads. And it has to, you know, it has to be on the stage.

[00:32:48] And where I think you're dead right, it started to change when it became... when money got involved, basically as well.

[00:32:56] So people would lose patience if you had like three acts on the compur. And if they didn't like one act, then they'd start to get a bit pissy because they spent too quick.

[00:33:08] And so those acts got filtered out. But it seems to me that what you're doing with the Troi Club is trying to recapture that spirit and doing it really successfully.

[00:33:18] And also, I mean, you know, I've gigged a lot with Norman Lovett. I toured with him. And Norman talks about how the comedy store moved twice, basically.

[00:33:27] And with each move, they got rid of the weirdest acts. And you could just see, you know, and the way their booking policy just doesn't fucking relate to what they bang on about when they talk about the legacy of the Comedy Store.

[00:33:44] Like it was really interesting. And that thing of people, what people are doing on stage is an expression of something that's directly part of them.

[00:33:52] So we moved to the bathhouse and we had some really good gigs. And then I started booking people like Simon Munnery and Russell Brown started doing that one.

[00:34:02] And I got Stuart Lee because that was when Stuart started coming back. And so this wonderful, wonderful thing where I went from booking, you know, but also booking all these other people.

[00:34:14] And I started being able to do previous lineups include. Then we moved to the crowbar.

[00:34:21] So the owners of the crowbar said, "Yeah, we hear you do comedy. We don't normally open on a Sunday. Do you want to come and do Sundays with us?"

[00:34:31] It was a really nice period where there were a load of people that we could get for the money and metalheads.

[00:34:38] And we could do some really dark material because the metalheads enjoyed that. And then occasionally a metal band who'd done a show around the corner would come in.

[00:34:45] So at one point, "Neurosis walked in." I was like, "Fuck! Neurosis are all the back of my gig. That's incredible."

[00:34:50] But again, the annoying thing with the crowbar was there's two owners. One's into the idea, one isn't into the idea.

[00:34:59] And the one who wasn't into the idea was the one who was running it on that day. So it's Steven Rich, right?

[00:35:04] And Rich was really friendly and Steve, he was one of those people because he ran a really cool bar that all touring bands would come and drink in.

[00:35:13] He was like the centre of attention and he had that kind of social credit. So this is really frustrating thing where the other thing with the crowbar.

[00:35:21] Late night bar, if you're a regular, you get in for free. They just nod you in.

[00:35:26] And they formalized it eventually because I've still got my crowbar card. But you just get the nod from the security guy because he knows who you are, right?

[00:35:35] Then the security guys would change and it would take a few weeks for you to be nodding there again.

[00:35:39] I said to Steve, so we're going to charge - it's like a fiver - we're going to charge on the door.

[00:35:44] "Can you give me a list of people who get in for free?" And he said, "Just the people who work here, you know all them and my girlfriend."

[00:35:52] And I said, "Are you sure?" Because people are going to expect to get in for free because they're not going to honestly.

[00:35:57] So, day one, Steve is on the door. Someone comes in and goes, "Oh, we're just here for a drink. Oh, it's comedy tonight. No, I'm just here for a drink. Yeah, but it's £5 in."

[00:36:07] Steve, I see you guys, oh yeah, they can come in. And so how undermining is that, right?

[00:36:14] And the crowbar was a really long, thin bar and then an opened up room at the end and we were at the end.

[00:36:22] What ended up happening is you'd have about 10, 15, 20 people out the bar who weren't there for the comedy who'd got in because they know Steve talking really, really loudly, would not be shushed and then trying to do comedy at the front.

[00:36:36] So, you know, unless it was really packed at the front, it just stopped working and you just go right. So, yeah, so that was the crowbar.

[00:36:43] And then, you know, we had some really, really good nights, you know, we had some names in and that sort of thing.

[00:36:48] And then we moved to Ace's Nate's in Tough

[00:37:02] like a spiritual home at the Blackheart in Camden. We've actually just moved. We've done one. We did one last year, last month, sorry.

[00:37:09] And we're doing one again this week. And the Blackheart is a metal bar in Camden. It's got a perfect performance space, you know, it's a band room.

[00:37:18] We have a proper tech and, you know, and yeah, and I'm still booking.

[00:37:23] So Samiabu Warder is headlining, and he's beadowin. He's a clown. And he's incredibly funny, like proper, you know, proper gut-busting, funny.

[00:37:39] And I'll now run it with my friend Leslie Ewing Burgess, who's a Canadian comic, another kind of weird outside artist.

[00:37:45] So, yeah, for the last few years, we've been running it together.

[00:37:47] I mean, how do you how do you find the, I mean, do you go out and seek the acts or do you let people come to you?

[00:37:53] How you sort of, you know, like a football scout, as it were, do you see people think, wow, they'd be absolutely perfect for the club?

[00:38:00] If I see anyone, I mean, partly because I also run this dead, I run Dead Leg in Oxford.

[00:38:05] Oh, yeah.

[00:38:06] So, so for a while I was running, I ran that in Camden for a bit, and the idea what I wanted, actually, what I've completely failed to get is I wanted a rowdy gig.

[00:38:14] So I tell the audience, if you don't like it, you can heckle, and they just don't.

[00:38:17] You know, and I tell them that amazing, that amazing heckle from the tunnel club, which is, you know, bloke goes up and goes, is for open line is I'm schizophrenic and a bloke chats out, you can both fuck off.

[00:38:27] But so so basically, if anyone, if anyone is is weird enough to do the Troy, I just go, right, you know, and, you know, and good enough as well.

[00:38:40] Then, yeah, so, I mean, we book between six and ten acts a week at Dead Leg.

[00:38:48] And so, yeah, so I just do it like that, and then, you know, and, you know, Stuart Lee's going to do it in September, so I'm still trying to still kind of getting some of those names.

[00:38:58] And yeah, just anyone who, for me, anyone who has that alternative spirit, you know, and sometimes there are people who are stylistically quite straightforward, but they're weird.

[00:39:08] And yeah, just anyone who, you know, I'm sure you guys are the same. We've been doing this a long time. It's not easy to make a comedian laugh.

[00:39:19] And I can be watching it out and I can think they're great, and I just going, yep, have done that.

[00:39:26] And, you know, that's, there's a thing. And then also, you know, people can be storming with material, you kind of go, surely, you know, my dad can come up with that joke.

[00:39:35] But it's when people, it's when people do something unexpected, or you know, it's that thing that kind of comes from the heart, like with these acts who they could not do it and they couldn't express themselves in any other way.

[00:39:48] Yeah.

[00:39:49] So, yeah, so it's, yeah, we've been running since 2002.

[00:39:53] So I do a weekly gig now here called Dead Leg Comedy.

[00:39:56] And it's, it's my favorite part of the week, so we are a house band. So me on guitar, Nate Kitch, on drums, Jamie McKay on bass, and the guy called Vincent nice who also plays bass for songs that Jamie can't play because she's just learning.

[00:40:10] And we do a few songs at the top.

[00:40:12] We've now got a repertoire of 30 songs. We do a few songs at the top, cover and then I am see a couple of acts, and then we have the open spot section.

[00:40:19] Everyone does five minutes, and we stay on stage.

[00:40:23] And we will interject, and we will add jokes. And sometimes we, if someone's doing something rhythmic, we'll just start playing quietly underneath.

[00:40:32] But so we play them on, and we play them off, and sometimes we use a rumble by Link Ray, sometimes he's shaking all over, joining Kid in the Pirates.

[00:40:39] So, you know, so please watch the stage, and then after the show, after the comedy's finished, so then we have like a headline, that's whatever else.

[00:40:51] And then we just have a jam. It's just incredibly good fun. And, and actually was our last week was just like, if there's a heaven, it's this gig.

[00:40:59] Like, fuck, okay, we didn't know it was that good. And, and it's free. It's free, and then we do a collection. So it's in a brewery.

[00:41:09] It's called the Tap Social, and it's in West Oxford. And so it's a brewery bar, they put a curtain in the middle, and there's a decent, there's a good stage.

[00:41:18] And, and yeah, we're, we're, we're slowly building it. I reckon, I reckon it takes two years to build a comedy club.

[00:41:25] So what's the, what's the audience like? Is there a difference between your audience in Camden and the one in Oxford?

[00:41:31] Yeah, the Troy, the Troy Club is a dedicated comedy audience, and they're like, you know, a lot of them are sort of people who've been fans of mine, and then they find the gig.

[00:41:38] And then they, you know, it's a proper whereas it's, I mean, you know, we had about 30 in last night, I think, students, there was a couple of mums, you know, just on there like

[00:41:50] there was a mum who it was her first night out after after, you know, giving birth, so six months old kid and that's her first proper night out.

[00:41:56] They loved it. And they were like, we didn't think it would be this good. And the idea, the thing is the kind of production values of having a band on stage, and particularly having a drum kit.

[00:42:04] Yeah.

[00:42:05] So you're like, just, you know, you're watching so many times, you're like, you're like, you're like, you're like, you're like, are you going to play?

[00:42:19] And, and we've got like, good support from the, finally really good support from the venue, which we also have her black heart, you know, black heart, black heart were trying to get the Troy club for ages.

[00:42:34] So yeah, so I feel, you know, we're in a good place and then, yeah, and then that gig feeds into into the Troy Club. So, yeah.

[00:42:41] It's a nice little ecosystem. So the policy with with the Troy Club is we aim for diversity, we aims to have at least one non my act and at least at least one woman, in addition to Leslie and me being on binary.

[00:42:54] And there's an interesting thing, I think, with people of color, and experimental comedy, and I've just bought into a bunch of acts about this over the years, and there were very few people ethnic minority acts, who do experimental comedy and a few people have sort of said to me, well,

[00:43:17] you know that there can be an element of, well, but you know, if you if you're anticipating people being against you because people are fucking racist, right? And it's, you know, and we live in quite a racist fucking country.

[00:43:31] If you're also then stylistically weird, you've got two things to kind of overcome. And when I like when I am my gender stuff was something I kept, I didn't consider it cross dressing.

[00:43:42] I didn't cross dress on stage for a couple of years, because I didn't want that to be something I had to kind of get past. I mean, no one gives a shit about gender anymore. I could do a set with a certain address and not even mention it and it doesn't matter anymore.

[00:43:54] But it's quite difficult programming the Troy with people, particularly headliners, partly because anyone like anyone who's who's good enough and is a person of color and is weird tend to launch into, you know, beyond our budget.

[00:44:12] You know, it's an interesting thing, but with with with dead leg. My policy is I book everyone in the order in which they email me.

[00:44:22] And then divers diversities takes care of itself. I do comedy for a living, that's an absolute privilege. What an incredible life.

[00:44:31] And then there's a nice upbeat for this. I'm going to just take the end on and say thank you for speaking to us. And thank you very much for having me. What a delight.

[00:44:38] Thank you. So that was Andrew Neil, who was discussing some very weird and much missed weirdo acts that used to grace the circuit, which none of you will probably have any memory of.

[00:44:51] And I hope people are intrigued to look up. People like the Brixton Bank Manager. Although I don't know if there'll be any record of him anywhere. Don't like me. I don't know.

[00:45:03] I'll explain why there's been such a gap between this. And the last podcast stroke video YouTube offering. And that's because illness. I think you were ill to begin with. And then I talked to her I've been illa.

[00:45:19] Yeah, I only had I only had the commoner garden flu for about a week, but you you had a severe chest infection.

[00:45:26] Let's talk a bit of time out and soon as that happens, of course, you get behind. But we'll be back to our fortnightly schedule in future. So, as we always say, if you've enjoyed this particular offering, please tell all your friends like subscribe or all the stuff you're supposed to do.

[00:45:45] Share anything else. I always say this every time, because I can't remember things I'm supposed to say. Subscribe like, they're the three the three ones that go share subscribe like, what's it into a little wrap, I can't think of your thumbs up.

[00:46:00] Yeah, thumbs up. Yeah. And also, you know, that, think about telling your friends, and spreading it by word of mouth is a good one as well. You know, if you like.

[00:46:06] I don't even think you have to stick to word of mouth, you could send an email, you could even use semaphore. I don't particularly care. Yeah, what about scrolling it on the outside of somebody's house.

[00:46:17] Well, to twos, that's, I'm one, it's a good one. Yeah, on the face.

[00:46:22] How about one of those planes that flies over football grass? What would do a little sign behind? Well, I love you, Terry. Don't forget to listen to the podcast you should have been here last week.

[00:46:32] So we'll be back in two weeks time. And so whatever you're doing in the next fortnight, enjoy it. And then we'll see you later on at the next one.

[00:46:41] Goodbye. Bye.

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