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[00:00:31] So, welcome to this week's brand new episode of You Shouldve Been Here Last Week, the podcast that takes a peek behind the comedy curtain to give us an insight into the world of the comedy business. It's hosted by myself Steve Gribbin and fellow comedian Mr Paul Ricketts. Hello. Here he is over there eating chicken pate for his breakfast. No, not pate, a patty. Oh, wow. A Jamaican patty. Oh, okay. I thought that was very sophisticated.
[00:01:00] Actually, chicken patty. Anyway, today's guest is the wonderful, wonderful comedian and promoter in her own right as well, the wonderful Susan Murray. Welcome to the show, Susan.
[00:01:10] Morning, everybody. Good morning. When did you first start? When was your first ever gig? Can you remember it?
[00:01:17] I can distinctly remember it. I did a comedy course at Jackson's Lane Community Centre, which is no longer there.
[00:01:23] And I was taught by, initially by Dave Thompson, who was Tinky Winky and best friends with Ben Elton.
[00:01:28] And then I was subsequently taught by Rob Hitchmo and it was the course graduate showcase.
[00:01:35] And it was the 18th of May, 1996. And I actually remember the date. It's one of the few dates I can remember.
[00:01:42] And I played guitar at my first ever gig. I did a song called Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls, which was a mistake of Ian Jury's Sex and Drugs and Rock and Rolls.
[00:01:55] You could have been number one.
[00:01:57] And I realised, and anyway, I wasn't even going to do it right. But the only reason I did it is because there was a guy on the course who went,
[00:02:03] well, I'm doing the showcase. And I thought, well, you're rubbish. So if you're doing it, I'm going to do it.
[00:02:08] And it's only because he said that I even did it. And I'll tell you who was on my course was Daryl Martin, who runs Just the Tonic.
[00:02:13] So I've known Daryl longer than anyone else in comedy. And I'll tell you who I was there the first week was Paul Foot.
[00:02:20] Wow.
[00:02:21] And he only came for one week because he was already doing gigs. So literally saw him for two hours and then never saw him again, obviously, until we were all on the circuit.
[00:02:32] So, yeah, that was my first gig. And that's how I got into comedy, like a lot of people.
[00:02:36] And now, ironically, who was my teacher, when he goes snowboarding in the winter, I stand in for him.
[00:02:45] I'm his standing stand-up teacher. And I always do the class, like, tell me something interesting about yourself.
[00:02:51] And I always start off with that, right? And then I go, I was taught by your teacher 28 years ago.
[00:02:57] And they all go, oh, really? We break the ice, you know what I mean?
[00:03:02] Do you remember, so the actual first, the venue for your first gig, was that Jackson's Lane as well? Where was that?
[00:03:07] Yeah, it was in, there was like raked seating. And a friend of mine, Jez, who was a musician, he'd come to tune the guitar for me because I was so nervous.
[00:03:14] You know, when you can barely breathe, you're so nervous and your arse is just doing that, twitching away.
[00:03:19] And he was so drunk. He'd been, I think he'd been on a weekend sesh. So I think he'd been up all night.
[00:03:25] So he was absolutely, he was fatted when he got to the gig, right? And he fell over the chairs during the show.
[00:03:32] I was like, oh, God, it's just so difficult on my mates.
[00:03:37] But I remember thinking at the gig, I was third best. That's all right, isn't it?
[00:03:42] And I should have put that on my poster, third best in the Jackson's Lane class of like February, no, May, May 1996.
[00:03:50] So why did you do the calls then? What made you, I mean, what were you doing before that?
[00:03:54] I was a trainee camera assistant working in 3D stop frame animation. And I'd worked at a company called Three Peach Animation down in Borough.
[00:04:03] And then I ended up working on a contract for a show called Craps and Villas, which was on Channel 4.
[00:04:10] It was kind of an after pub show. It was on at quarter past 11. And it was a comedy.
[00:04:14] And the girl, a girl called Sarah Kennedy, who I'm still friends with now, who's just hysterical. She's so funny.
[00:04:21] And I confessed to her that I really wanted to do standoff.
[00:04:24] And her sister had done a course at Jackson's Lane with Hattie Hayridge.
[00:04:31] She went, oh, my sister's done this course. You should do this course.
[00:04:33] So when I finished that contract, just towards the end of like working on that first series, I went and signed up for the course.
[00:04:39] And then about five years ago, there was a woman in animation, like a kind of all day, I think, at the BFI.
[00:04:48] And Sarah was on that. So me and a few of the old crew went along to see it and support Sarah.
[00:04:54] And Sarah was there with her sister and Hattie Hayridge.
[00:04:56] So it was like the three women that had led me into doing comedy were all together.
[00:05:01] I had to get a photograph of that, obviously.
[00:05:03] And I really liked the fact that it was all women that led to that path.
[00:05:09] When you first started, did you have a... You didn't call yourself Susan Murray, did you?
[00:05:14] No, I didn't.
[00:05:15] What was your name?
[00:05:17] It was the Harpy. Not even Harpy, it was the Harpy, which was a nickname.
[00:05:22] Because basically where I'm from in Wolverhampton, like everybody just gets a nickname.
[00:05:27] There's like Shag the Druid, Nick the Frog.
[00:05:31] Everyone's got like a ridiculous nickname.
[00:05:32] Nobody goes by their actual name.
[00:05:34] And I was christened the Harpy.
[00:05:36] I used to work at a petrol station.
[00:05:37] I had bright red hair working in this shell garage on the technical road.
[00:05:42] And all the punks used to come in to fill up their parapher tokens for their like shared house, student houses that they were living in because they didn't have E.T.
[00:05:49] It sounds so antiquated all back in the day.
[00:05:51] And so because I have red hair, they're like, oh, she's got red hair.
[00:05:55] So she must kind of like be in our sort of tribe.
[00:05:57] And they were all older than me.
[00:05:58] They were all the older punks.
[00:05:59] And they sort of like took me under their wing.
[00:06:01] And like they've been like mates of mine, like, you know, ever since really.
[00:06:04] So I was only like, how old was I?
[00:06:06] 17?
[00:06:07] I wasn't even older than to work in them.
[00:06:08] You've got to be 18 to work in a petrol station because of fire regulations.
[00:06:11] And I was like 17 and still at school and doing my A-level.
[00:06:16] One of the best jobs I ever had, actually.
[00:06:18] How long did you continue to use that name, though?
[00:06:21] You dropped it only after a couple of years, wasn't it?
[00:06:24] Good to Phil Harris, who runs Screamingly Murder.
[00:06:26] Because I said, I'm not sure about this.
[00:06:29] Because it is just my nickname.
[00:06:31] And then Phil Harris rightfully said to me, I think when you come on as a woman, because
[00:06:37] this is like so long ago, this is like, you know, nearly 30 years ago.
[00:06:39] When you come on as a woman, there's already a barrier there because people don't trust
[00:06:42] women.
[00:06:43] And then you've got a kind of slightly odd name.
[00:06:46] And that creates another barrier.
[00:06:49] And I just thought, oh, he's probably got a really good point there.
[00:06:51] So then I dropped it.
[00:06:52] And then the first week I dropped it, I did a gig for Screamingly Murder down in Wimbledon.
[00:06:57] And Andrew Pipe was on.
[00:06:58] And Andrew Pipe went on as the harpy.
[00:07:00] I'm not accusing it anymore.
[00:07:06] You stole your material.
[00:07:08] That's funny.
[00:07:09] That's weird.
[00:07:09] I think he even did a couple of my jokes.
[00:07:11] I think he tried to do a Wolverhampton accent and did my accent joke at the top as well.
[00:07:17] And then he lost his mind.
[00:07:19] So, you know, it's calmer, isn't it?
[00:07:21] Oh, my God.
[00:07:21] Yeah.
[00:07:23] Indeed.
[00:07:24] It's one of the lost comedians.
[00:07:27] Yes.
[00:07:28] We should have a roll call of all the ones.
[00:07:30] That's another thing.
[00:07:31] There's a very high rate of attrition in this job.
[00:07:33] There's a low roll call.
[00:07:39] Funerals that we've been to for comics is just, like, outrageous.
[00:07:42] Like, we've had so many, you know.
[00:07:44] And you think, like, if you were in a squadron in the army, you'd probably have less dead mates.
[00:07:49] Yeah.
[00:07:51] Comedy world.
[00:07:51] Like, we've been to, like, dozens and dozens of funerals.
[00:07:54] I mean, the amount of people I've had to cross off my list for my gig that I can't book anymore.
[00:07:58] Oh, well, he's dead.
[00:07:58] She's dead.
[00:07:59] He's dead.
[00:08:00] Like, what, ridiculous?
[00:08:04] Sometimes you get to show in one week, don't you?
[00:08:06] Yeah.
[00:08:06] You have to have a seance.
[00:08:08] Are you available?
[00:08:09] I mean, if I was a younger comic, I'd be going, well, thank God for that.
[00:08:13] I mean.
[00:08:13] Oh, yeah.
[00:08:14] Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:15] Bed blocking.
[00:08:16] Is that why car insurance is higher?
[00:08:19] Because we're just seeing it as, like, a bad risk.
[00:08:22] Yeah, because the car insurance for comedians is so phenomenally high.
[00:08:26] And no one's ever, I mean, the reason given, which no one's ever really actually verified,
[00:08:33] is, oh, you might have a famous person in your car, and then if you're in an accident,
[00:08:36] they can sue us.
[00:08:37] But I don't know where this has come from.
[00:08:39] No one's ever sort of said, oh, no one's ever showed me that actual truth.
[00:08:43] It might just be, I don't know.
[00:08:44] Is it a myth?
[00:08:45] I've no idea.
[00:08:46] Well, I think surely it's based on the amount of miles that we do.
[00:08:50] It gives us more chance to be in a car accident, because we're in our cars more often.
[00:08:54] We get a lot of practice.
[00:08:56] We're really good drivers.
[00:08:57] Really, really good drivers.
[00:08:59] We are really good drivers.
[00:09:00] Very seldom do comets get involved in accidents.
[00:09:03] I know Howard Reed had a minor one.
[00:09:07] And then that guy, he had a really bad one, didn't he?
[00:09:10] Oh, and then there was a guy that died.
[00:09:11] So that's four.
[00:09:12] But that's over nearly 30 years.
[00:09:14] So that's nothing, really.
[00:09:15] If you think about the amount of hours that we all spend on the road,
[00:09:17] like navigating the highways agencies, late night road diversions,
[00:09:22] which I love so much.
[00:09:24] I love the highways agency.
[00:09:26] I want to marry them.
[00:09:30] That also implies the life insurance, by the way.
[00:09:33] The premiums are higher if you are in the entertainment industry,
[00:09:36] supposedly because of stress.
[00:09:38] Yeah, another possible myth.
[00:09:40] I mean, there's loads of jobs that are way more stressful than ours.
[00:09:42] Can you imagine being a pilot?
[00:09:43] What?
[00:09:44] A brain surgeon?
[00:09:45] What?
[00:09:47] I think you're really brave to do your job.
[00:09:48] And you go, what do you do?
[00:09:49] You go, I'm a brain surgeon.
[00:09:50] You're like, oh, right, okay.
[00:09:51] And I'm the brave one.
[00:09:53] He's fat.
[00:09:54] You get squatty saying, oh, I could never do what you do.
[00:09:57] And you're like, what are you talking about?
[00:09:59] Exactly.
[00:10:01] Hardest job in the world.
[00:10:03] It's not really.
[00:10:05] It really isn't, actually.
[00:10:07] Once you get a handle on it, you're fine.
[00:10:09] I guess you could say that for most jobs, though.
[00:10:11] You know what I mean?
[00:10:12] So when did you start the Red Imp?
[00:10:14] What year was that?
[00:10:16] Started that about 2010.
[00:10:19] And it was one of ex-comedian, Marion Pashley.
[00:10:23] She was doing a play at a theatre hub near me.
[00:10:29] She said, oh, you should start a gig here.
[00:10:31] And then I went in to meet the owners.
[00:10:32] And I did, basically.
[00:10:34] And I've sort of been there ever since.
[00:10:36] At the Rose and Crown in Walthamstow.
[00:10:38] So there's like a big theatre upstairs.
[00:10:40] It holds about 100.
[00:10:40] It's just like a black box space, which is exactly what you want for a comedy gig.
[00:10:46] And it's a little bit spit and sawdust, but it kind of adds to the atmosphere.
[00:10:49] Not round tables where your heart sinks and you walk into a room.
[00:10:52] Oh, God, round tables are all going to die.
[00:10:55] Mainly, it's not like a normal circuit gig.
[00:10:58] It's not like three acts and two intervals.
[00:11:01] It's like extended sets for bigger acts doing tour warm-ups.
[00:11:07] So I've got Stuart Lee on this one.
[00:11:08] No, you can't have a ticket.
[00:11:10] That went out to the mailing list.
[00:11:11] And it sold out quicker than I was.
[00:11:13] It sold out in nine minutes.
[00:11:15] You had so many people emailing me crying because they hadn't managed to get a ticket.
[00:11:18] I was like, I told you when it was being released.
[00:11:21] Oh, I didn't see the email.
[00:11:23] Can't help what you do in the day.
[00:11:25] Like, it's not my fault.
[00:11:26] Mark Steele on in November.
[00:11:28] I've got nothing in December.
[00:11:29] And then I've got Zoe Lyons in January.
[00:11:32] Possibly, I'm just about to book Rosie Jones.
[00:11:34] And Greg Davies keeps threatening to come, but he doesn't give me any dates.
[00:11:37] So, yeah.
[00:11:38] So, yeah, it acts like that, really.
[00:11:41] That's brilliant.
[00:11:42] I mean, does it make a difference, you being a comic as well,
[00:11:46] to the booking policy or the way the gig is run?
[00:11:49] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:11:50] And you must know this yourselves because when a gig is run by a comic
[00:11:53] and you're just more relaxed about it.
[00:11:56] Like, I got an email.
[00:11:57] Whose agent was it?
[00:11:58] I think it was off the curb and they were, it was, yeah, it was Sean Walsh.
[00:12:01] And the agent was really, I'm going, I just, to let you know,
[00:12:03] Sean won't be doing it now.
[00:12:04] He'll be doing 50 minutes.
[00:12:05] I'm like, I don't care.
[00:12:07] Why do you honestly think you needed to email me to tell me that?
[00:12:10] I really, really couldn't.
[00:12:12] Don't give a toss.
[00:12:13] As long as it's here.
[00:12:15] Funny.
[00:12:15] I don't mind.
[00:12:17] I'm just, I'm really, really laid back about my gig
[00:12:19] and like what the acts want to do.
[00:12:20] And I'm like, come and do whatever you want to do.
[00:12:22] I don't mind.
[00:12:23] As long as you come, I'm cool with anything.
[00:12:25] Do you need a support actor?
[00:12:26] Do you need an MC?
[00:12:27] Do you want to MC yourself?
[00:12:28] Do you not?
[00:12:29] I mean, cause I, I'm the resident MC, but frequently if it's someone like,
[00:12:33] I mean, I had Andy Parsons on my scene and I said, do you want to,
[00:12:35] do you want me to MC?
[00:12:36] He went, no, I'll just do it how I would actually do it on tour.
[00:12:38] So they want a complete rehearsal.
[00:12:40] I'm like, it's absolutely fine with me.
[00:12:42] So yeah, I don't mind.
[00:12:44] I don't have a massive ego.
[00:12:45] I must MC my gig.
[00:12:46] I'm like, I haven't written any new jokes.
[00:12:48] They've heard all my old stuff.
[00:12:50] I'm more than happy to take a back seat.
[00:12:52] When you started, how many women were on the scene?
[00:12:56] And do you think there's been an increase?
[00:12:58] I can actually name the women on the scene.
[00:13:00] Sally Hayward started a little bit afterwards.
[00:13:02] Joe Caulfield.
[00:13:05] Joe Romero.
[00:13:08] Who else was there?
[00:13:09] Sheila Hyde.
[00:13:10] Do you remember her?
[00:13:11] Yeah.
[00:13:12] And who was the girl who did really, really surreal stuff?
[00:13:16] Oh, Sheila Martin.
[00:13:17] Yeah.
[00:13:17] Sheila Martin.
[00:13:18] Oh, she was absolutely.
[00:13:20] Oh, so fucking funny.
[00:13:21] She was fantastic.
[00:13:23] Do you know what?
[00:13:23] She's the only person I ever walked up to and gone, are you a Pisces?
[00:13:26] And she went, yes, I am actually.
[00:13:27] She was like, slap bang in the middle.
[00:13:28] Never done that before or since.
[00:13:31] It was so weird.
[00:13:32] And that's, that's what, about 15 of us?
[00:13:36] Juliet Myers started a little bit after.
[00:13:38] I remember like getting an email off Jeremy Hardy.
[00:13:41] And he was complaining because Juliet Myers and Shazia Merza had been talking all the way through a benefit he was doing.
[00:13:51] And I said, I know exactly what's happened there.
[00:13:54] Women never get to work with each other because there aren't enough of us.
[00:13:57] So we get spread around.
[00:13:58] So you hardly ever work with any other women.
[00:13:59] And then I'd just been going, oh my God, another woman at the gig.
[00:14:02] And just yacking away without even thinking.
[00:14:04] And yeah.
[00:14:06] How do you think it's changed for women then since, since you started?
[00:14:10] Promoters are aware of the fact that they need to represent society.
[00:14:15] So they're now actively looking for females on the bills because there's a lot of them booking things on Facebook, as you know.
[00:14:21] Because I started the pro gigs page.
[00:14:25] 2016, I think I started that.
[00:14:27] And frequently, you now get posts saying female required or female identifying required.
[00:14:33] And that never used to happen.
[00:14:35] That absolutely just didn't happen before.
[00:14:36] And when I book my gig, I try and have 50-50, like, you know, 50% men.
[00:14:40] And when I do my preview season, I try and have, you know, boy, girl, boy, girl.
[00:14:45] It doesn't always work out that way.
[00:14:46] Just purely because of, like, dates and logistics and stuff.
[00:14:49] But it's not difficult to do.
[00:14:51] It really isn't.
[00:14:51] Do you think audiences expect it as well?
[00:14:55] I had a year of all-female headliners.
[00:14:57] I think I tried to do a year and I managed about nine months.
[00:15:00] And when I said on stage, I'm going to have all-female headliners, like, for the next year, there was an audible gasp from the younger girls.
[00:15:08] They were like, oh, that's amazing.
[00:15:11] And I did kind of manage it, really, for quite a while.
[00:15:14] There's a few all-female gigs.
[00:15:16] I mean, my first gig gig was at a gig called Hysterics, which was run by, what's her name?
[00:15:23] Laura Shaven.
[00:15:24] Laura Shaven?
[00:15:24] Yeah, Laura.
[00:15:25] Yeah, she was another act on the circuit.
[00:15:27] Yeah, it was her gig that I did.
[00:15:29] And it was upstairs at the Tutton Shive in Islington.
[00:15:32] And I think, I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life at that gig.
[00:15:39] Absolutely petrified.
[00:15:39] And it's just like, I don't know, 25 people in a room of a pub.
[00:15:44] Like, when I think back on it now, like, at the time, I was just like, oh, my God, I was so scared.
[00:15:49] What do you think is, where is comedy going?
[00:15:55] Where do you see it going in, like, the next 10, 15 years?
[00:15:57] As regards the online stuff and live stuff, where's the future of comedy?
[00:16:03] Yeah, we could already see that when you've got, like, I mean, Jack Skipper's a really good example.
[00:16:07] But he's a really good example of someone who wants to learn it really well.
[00:16:12] He started making online stuff during the pandemic because he wanted to start them.
[00:16:15] But obviously, there were no gigs and there were no courses, blah, blah, blah.
[00:16:19] That's when he started his stuff.
[00:16:22] And you can become, you don't need the big agents anymore.
[00:16:26] You know, like the big four.
[00:16:27] You don't need those big four in order to become big.
[00:16:29] You can do it.
[00:16:30] There's another route, basically.
[00:16:33] And that's for the, you know, the youngsters that can be bothered to make videos all the time.
[00:16:37] It's not really.
[00:16:38] When they really want to learn it.
[00:16:40] Because I had Jack Skipper on at my gig in the summer.
[00:16:43] And for a first hour, it was fantastic.
[00:16:46] He was really good.
[00:16:47] He was really, you know, learning his craft.
[00:16:49] He's not trying to skip over getting big by using the socials.
[00:16:54] He actually wants to, you know, knuckle down and do the graft.
[00:16:57] And that's the only way you can do it, really.
[00:17:00] I do see a lot of gigs and you just go, it's all four blokes' faces.
[00:17:03] And I just, I always think, really?
[00:17:06] You couldn't manage to get one woman.
[00:17:07] But sometimes I understand that, like, the dates don't work out or women don't apply.
[00:17:11] And, like, for those kind of, like, weekend club gigs, they've got a smaller pool to choose from.
[00:17:18] Because it does take years to get to that level.
[00:17:20] So how do you find it with the male to female ratio at the gigs that you're doing?
[00:17:25] I think there's a lot of good comics, female comics, in London that, for whatever reason, don't gig outside of London.
[00:17:33] It is hard being a road comic.
[00:17:35] Like, the late night driving.
[00:17:37] You've got to be really robust to be a comic in this country.
[00:17:41] Like, you know, travelling around late at night on public transport is not fun as a woman.
[00:17:45] And you've got to have some, I mean, you've got to have balls to go on stage anyway.
[00:17:48] And then you've got to have, like, lustre and strength to just, like, cope with, like, all the drunks on a Saturday night.
[00:17:55] You're coming around, you know, all that grief that you might get.
[00:17:58] But I think if you can't, if you don't have those two, if you don't have that strength, then it's not the work for you.
[00:18:04] Because I remember at one point it was, like, the illness was on promoters to get women home safe at night.
[00:18:10] And I just think, be a grown-up.
[00:18:12] You know, if you don't want to go home late at night from that particular gig, don't take the gig.
[00:18:17] You know, maybe that's what they're doing.
[00:18:19] I just, yeah, I'm not really sure.
[00:18:23] I mean, you hit on a good point there because it's not, I think people think, oh, yeah, it takes a lot to actually get up on stage.
[00:18:29] But everything else is like the travel, the chasing up payments, the getting gigs.
[00:18:37] And also, by the way, no, you could be heckled on social media, can't you, after the gig.
[00:18:41] You'd be going home and you'd get a message, bing, saw you last night, you're shit.
[00:18:46] I thought, oh, thanks very much.
[00:18:50] I mean, conversely, you could get nice things as well.
[00:18:53] But it's like, so I think you've touched on a really interesting thing about the modern way of going.
[00:18:57] It's a tough, like, being self-employed is really hard, isn't it?
[00:19:00] Because you, you know, it's a really insecure life.
[00:19:03] If you've got, your mortgage and your bills stay the same, but your income might not.
[00:19:08] So you've got to, it's like, I always say keep the faith because you just never know where you next gig.
[00:19:12] And if you're looking at a diet, because we always book like four to six months ahead, don't we?
[00:19:17] There's a lot of gigs flying around.
[00:19:18] I actually think it's a bit easier than it used to be.
[00:19:20] I mean, the money hasn't gone up.
[00:19:21] But some promoters, I put my money up.
[00:19:23] Some promoters have put their money up.
[00:19:25] I think maybe that's another reason why people aren't traveling because trains are so expensive.
[00:19:28] Like, I always think to just, if anyone from Just Stop Oil is listening, stop targeting the motorists.
[00:19:36] The only reason we're on the road is because the train company are charging a million pounds for a ticket.
[00:19:41] Well, you've hit the nail on the head, haven't you?
[00:19:43] Should be cheaper rail travel.
[00:19:45] Anywhere in this country, £10 flat fee, right?
[00:19:47] And then, like, Edward will be out of their cars and on the trains.
[00:19:50] And it would make just, you know, it would just be better for everybody.
[00:19:52] But, like, because petrol is so expensive these days and gig money has,
[00:19:57] I mean, that's probably why women aren't traveling out of London.
[00:19:59] I've got to come back late at night.
[00:20:00] But, I mean, the staff's doing it, so why aren't the women doing it?
[00:20:03] You want stage time.
[00:20:05] You've got to put the graft in.
[00:20:06] I remember, like, buying a train ticket up to Nottingham to do Daryl's gig for no money.
[00:20:11] I just forked out the train fare.
[00:20:13] But then again, it wasn't, like, you know, a £70 day return at that point.
[00:20:16] I mean, I recently did a gig with a guy.
[00:20:18] It was in Newton-Acliffe, which is in the northeast of England.
[00:20:21] And the guy had driven nearly seven hours from Cardiff to do the opening.
[00:20:27] I mean, that's just insane.
[00:20:30] Insane.
[00:20:31] He won't have made any money out of the gig because he was driving back the same night.
[00:20:36] Wow.
[00:20:36] Oh, that's just painful, isn't it?
[00:20:39] I haven't done his gig all right.
[00:20:41] Yeah, he had a stormer, actually.
[00:20:43] It was just good.
[00:20:43] Oh, that's good.
[00:20:45] I don't need to make it worthwhile.
[00:20:46] But he's like that all the way back.
[00:20:49] And then you drive, just drive in your own head for seven hours.
[00:20:52] Like, oh, God.
[00:20:53] I just can't go just to drive into the Central Reservation.
[00:20:57] Oh, God.
[00:21:01] I suppose you've had one of the biggest changes in the industry by setting up the Facebook,
[00:21:06] the Facebook forum.
[00:21:08] I can't remember.
[00:21:08] It was a chat on Facebook, obviously, because I live on Facebook.
[00:21:11] It was a chat with somebody.
[00:21:14] It was an anti-agent group initially, wasn't it?
[00:21:18] Because I was like, I haven't got an agent, all these agents, blah, blah, blah.
[00:21:20] And then because it's so convenient and everybody's on there, agents started using it.
[00:21:27] And independent promoters like me, because you were booking a gig as well for a while,
[00:21:30] weren't you, Paul?
[00:21:31] And it just, because it's like a cottage industry, isn't it?
[00:21:36] Because there's a lot of independent gigs out there, not run by big agencies or big chains.
[00:21:41] Like, you know, a decent chunk of our income comes from those kind of gigs.
[00:21:46] And I just, I think somebody did, someone else suggested it.
[00:21:50] It's so long ago now, I literally can't remember.
[00:21:53] And I just set it up.
[00:21:54] And do you know what?
[00:21:55] I was trying to find a post in there recently, and it brought up the initial, and it was 2016.
[00:22:01] And it was like, oh, thanks, I've joined this group, blah, blah, blah.
[00:22:03] And it was like the first, Jojo Smith was one of the first people.
[00:22:06] She was another one who started out.
[00:22:07] It was on the circuit when I started out.
[00:22:09] And Mandy Knight.
[00:22:11] And then it just grew and grew and grew and grew.
[00:22:15] And then we have to have admins on there.
[00:22:16] And, you know, I resigned from admins in the end.
[00:22:19] And then we've had democratic votes about, you know, what the criteria is to get it in and stuff like that.
[00:22:24] And now agents use it.
[00:22:25] Like the comic store use it for booking acts because it's so popular.
[00:22:30] And Murph Control had a similar diary thing years and years ago.
[00:22:33] But because social media is just so prevalent and everybody uses it, it's like you can book a gig up literally in a nanosecond using that page.
[00:22:42] Yeah.
[00:22:43] I mean, we were literally talking about this yesterday, weren't we, Paul?
[00:22:46] About when you go on there and you go on there, you leave it, you look away for a second like this.
[00:22:50] Then you come back and go, sorted now, thanks.
[00:22:54] It's like...
[00:22:58] Faster than the speed of light.
[00:23:00] It really is, isn't it?
[00:23:01] But then you look away and there's another four gigs being offered.
[00:23:04] Yeah.
[00:23:05] Yeah.
[00:23:05] I mean, it is...
[00:23:06] I think the actual scene is booming.
[00:23:09] There's so many promoters on there.
[00:23:10] Because we used to know all of the promoters.
[00:23:12] And now you just go, I've never heard of this person.
[00:23:15] And they're, you know, they're digging down in, you know, down in Devon for like 200 quid.
[00:23:19] And you go, bang on, that's great.
[00:23:20] I mean, it's fantastic that we are creating work for ourselves.
[00:23:25] And like, we are, you know, it is such a community.
[00:23:28] And when, like when Gareth died and we all put money in for his family or when, you know,
[00:23:34] we've had friends of ours that have gone off the rails and they're really struggling financially.
[00:23:37] I mean, I raised 11 grand for a mutual friend of ours recently.
[00:23:40] And it really raises spirits and it's really heartwarming because we do quite a lot of stuff like that
[00:23:46] on a sort of semi-regular basis, really.
[00:23:48] We are a supportive community because it's so difficult doing what we do.
[00:23:53] And it's like being in a regiment because nobody else understands what we go through.
[00:23:57] Okay.
[00:23:58] Well, no, I was just going to ask you about the most important function that you perform.
[00:24:01] You are also the organiser of the annual Comets Christmas Party, aren't you?
[00:24:05] Oh, God, yes, of course.
[00:24:07] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:09] It's her.
[00:24:10] It's her.
[00:24:12] It was me and Michael Legg initially.
[00:24:14] Michael, should we have a Christmas party?
[00:24:15] We can't have it in December because everyone's too busy in December.
[00:24:18] Everyone's gigging so much.
[00:24:20] Let's do it in January because January is really quiet for comedians.
[00:24:22] And obviously, midweek is quiet for comedians as well.
[00:24:25] So it's always the first or second Tuesday in January.
[00:24:27] And Michael stopped doing it, wasn't into it.
[00:24:32] And then, you know, he'll never come.
[00:24:34] He's still on this protest that he never comes to the party.
[00:24:38] And nobody likes to party more than Michael is the irony.
[00:24:41] And everybody loves Michael.
[00:24:42] I adore Michael.
[00:24:45] I sort of took up the reins.
[00:24:46] And we've moved venues, like, over the years, haven't we?
[00:24:49] And now we've found our sort of spiritual home, which I'm not going to put on this podcast because we don't want any gate crashing.
[00:24:54] And where we have it, it just fits, doesn't it?
[00:24:58] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:24:59] It's a bit – not a dive, I wouldn't say.
[00:25:01] But it's very, very well suited.
[00:25:03] You go down the stairs.
[00:25:05] Yeah.
[00:25:05] We can't say anything.
[00:25:07] Well, it's been my spiritual home for a long time before you got there.
[00:25:13] Yeah, you know them all by name, don't you, Paul?
[00:25:19] I always get quite overwhelmed when I walk in because it's a little bit – I think everybody feels this – because it's a little bit daunting.
[00:25:25] It's me at first.
[00:25:27] But then you walk in and you see someone that you know and love and then someone else you know and love.
[00:25:30] And then it just never stops, right?
[00:25:32] And I remember the first time we had it at that venue, the guys had got there first.
[00:25:40] And there was like Peter Graham, Man with a Beard, Nick Rebel, Arthur Smith.
[00:25:47] And me.
[00:25:48] I was there.
[00:25:49] I was in that corner, the old bogey's corner.
[00:25:52] You were in the geriatric ward.
[00:25:54] We were.
[00:25:55] I remember coming up to you.
[00:25:57] I was the youngest.
[00:25:59] And I remember going, Arthur, are you allowed to have that wine?
[00:26:01] Peter, have you got to get home early?
[00:26:03] And I felt like a nurse.
[00:26:04] I was just checking on everybody.
[00:26:06] That was the first thing I did when I got there.
[00:26:10] Checking on everybody's status.
[00:26:12] Oh, man.
[00:26:13] That's good.
[00:26:14] It's a brilliant party.
[00:26:17] Sorry for people that don't go, that can't go.
[00:26:19] Sorry about that.
[00:26:20] And I'm always like, no partners allowed.
[00:26:22] And I think it kind of gets a lot of people out of jail free.
[00:26:27] Susan won't have been in your partner.
[00:26:28] Because you don't want to be there with someone that needs to be babysat.
[00:26:31] Do you know what I mean?
[00:26:32] Like, oh, this is something.
[00:26:33] Because you just want to run off and see all your mates, don't you?
[00:26:35] You don't want to.
[00:26:36] You know, you're like, oh, stop that.
[00:26:38] Just be with your workmates.
[00:26:39] Have a good laugh.
[00:26:41] It's like when you take, you know, you have guests that come to see you live.
[00:26:45] They show your family come.
[00:26:46] They go, where should I sit?
[00:26:47] Can I sit here?
[00:26:48] I don't give a fuck.
[00:26:51] Sit where you want.
[00:26:52] Can I sit at the front?
[00:26:54] No.
[00:26:55] Oh, that's the only rule.
[00:26:56] Don't sit at the front.
[00:26:57] Yeah, don't sit at the front.
[00:26:59] Okay.
[00:27:00] Well, I'll have to say, Susan, you have had an oversized effect on the comedy industry.
[00:27:06] I don't feel like I have.
[00:27:08] I mean, the forum and the party.
[00:27:11] So get people work and then also give them a party to lose the money that they just earned.
[00:27:18] Or lose people when they insult a promoter when they're hammered at the party.
[00:27:23] Honestly, I get so drunk, I'm still pissed for most of the next day.
[00:27:28] It's literally a two-day hangover for me without exception.
[00:27:31] Because a lot of us, we all go for meals beforehand with our little group of mates.
[00:27:35] And then you start drinking.
[00:27:36] And then you get a bit of Dutch coat and you walk into the room and it's like...
[00:27:40] Well, I lost all my bank cards at the last one.
[00:27:44] And my travel card and my oyster card.
[00:27:47] God.
[00:27:48] I mean, that's standard, isn't it, really?
[00:27:50] That's so standard.
[00:27:53] Oh, my God.
[00:27:55] How the fuck did you do that?
[00:27:57] You don't want to know.
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