Interview: Jason Manford

Jason Manford’s career started as a teenager and has hit the stratosphere. Taking a season in the West End’s Sweeney Todd to great acclaim, team captain on Channel 4’s 8 Out 10 Cats, TV presenter, writer and now back to his first love of stand up, Jason took time out to chat with Victoria Nangle about comedy apprenticeships, Tom Jones and Hollywood

You’ve started the tour already, haven’t you?
“Yeah, started it this summer.”

How’d it go?
“Great! I’m in full flow now, so it’s nice. It’s nice to be in a position where you’re not clock-watching and you’re… I just like it.”

It’s called First World Problems. Do you find you pick up more first world problems as you tour?
“Yes, that is almost a first world problem in itself. Yes you do. Each night people add their own The show is getting longer, which is hard because my tour manager’s like: ‘You did two and a half hours tonight!’, and I’m like: ‘I know, I’m trying to cut it down, but I just…’ It’s hard when you’re having fun.”

Are you gonna be like the new Ken Dodd [who reputedly still runs shows for up to five hours]?
“I am, yeah. I think, I think so [chuckles]. Yeah… I mean, all my shows have been long, and it was only when my agent went: ‘Look, if you keep doing this you’re gonna burn yourself out'(that I tried to cut back). So, I need to try and do what everyone else does, which is do forty-five minutes. But invariably the first half takes 55 minutes, and the second half is an hour. I can’t help it! And then they want an encore. I’m like: ‘How can you want more? I’ve done two hours!'”

It’s very flattering. It’s nice that people have that attention span, for that amount of time as well.
“Oh, it’s lovely! Yes, of course it is, absolutely. I would never complain. It’s a bit… it’s all relative of course, I mean it’s not digging roads, but it can be gruelling sometimes. Especially when you’ve driven a long time to get there. Because I’ve got kids now and I end up getting home to make sure I can get up to get them into school… and that can be pretty hard work as well.”

Stand-up isn’t built for family life…
“It’s not for dads, no. My first tour, I was, you know… you’ve got no kids, you’re with your mates, all the other comedians, you’re staying out till three o’clock in the morning. And then sleep till three o’clock in the afternoon. You’re like: ‘This is brilliant’. Now you’re like: ‘Riiiight. If I leave now I reckon I can get four hours’ sleep… and get the kids to school, then head over to Blackburn…’ It’s pretty intense like that.”

Do you think you’d ever do an Edinburgh show again for the whole month?
“I don’t know if I’d do an hour’s stand-up. I think I’d do a play or a musical or a chat show. Something a bit different. My problem would be doing the same thing every night for a month. My boredom threshold would kick in.”

What about some kind of improv?
“Yeah, absolutely. Something like that, something a bit fun. Something where the audience were a little bit involved would be quite fun.”

I read somewhere that after this tour you’re gonna give it a break for five years…
“This quote keeps rearing up! Someone else said that this morning.”

It was from The Daily Record…
“Maybe. I don’t know, maybe. It’s one of those things you say flippantly.”

I just wondered if you had things in mind you were going to slot in there…
“I’m doing a bit of theatre next year. I’m doing a play next year.”

Which play?
“I’ve not signed up for it yet so I can’t actually say.”

Is it going to be in London or is it going to be further north?
“It’s gonna be… touring. A little bit. I’ve not actually signed on the dotted line yet. I’m still in talks about it. Might not happen, but I’d like to do that. That would be good.”

Would that have you singing again?
“No, that’s just a straight play, like a comedy play. And then I’ve got some other bits and bobs; musicals and stuff. Again, I’m at the phase where everything’s just chatting: ‘Shall we do this? Shall we do that?’ I’m writing as well, I’m doing a couple of sitcoms, one for the BBC and one for ITV, and then a quiz show for Sky. So, I’m busy… but it’s just finding the time.”

You started stand-up at a very young age –
“I did!”

…And now you’re mentoring Jack Carroll [from Britain’s Got Talent].
“That’s right.”

Do you think that maybe the government should run comedy apprenticeships?
“[chuckles] Well there’s quite a few universities now running it as a course. As an actual degree, a stand-up comedy degree!”

Would you take someone around though, as your apprentice, going: ‘Right, what you’ve got to do is, you give me a punchline here, I’ve got the set-up…’
“[laughs] That’d be nice, that’s a nice idea. The thing with stand-up is, the only way of doing it is by doing it. There’ll never be a Susan Boyle of comedy. You won’t just discover some guy who’s been doing jokes in his cellar, and then suddenly he’s brilliant and can do an hour on tour. It’s always gonna be; you’ve just gotta be there at the coalface, slogging it out in the clubs and the pubs around the country and hoping for the best and hoping it goes well, and getting better at it. That’s all you can do now, so that’s all you can do. Even the comics who’ve made it on telly. You look at them and think: ‘They’re not my cup of tea, that’s not the sort of act I would enjoy’, you’ve still got to respect them because of the work they’ve put in to get to this stage.”

Absolutely. It’s always impressive when someone is a success at whatever it is they’ve chosen to do.
“Yeah. And that’s it exactly. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of comics getting it a lot quicker than they used to. You know, if you look right and you’ve got the right delivery. There’s a lot of TV guys picking them up early. Almost before they’re ready, I’d say. But still, you’ve still got to a decent level, to even get that.”

You wouldn’t like to mention any names, would you?
“Ha. No. They know who they are. [chuckles]”

You do keep touring, and you seem like that’s where your heart is; going back to comedy. Could you see yourself ending up in thirty years’ time being that era’s Jethro, where you add on some songs at the end?
“[laughs] Well, I’ve started adding a couple of songs. Not every night, but occasionally at the weekend when everyone’s up for it, I’ll finish with a little Tom Jones number.”

Awesome!
“Occasionally people heckle me with it: ‘Sing a song!’ I’ll go: ‘No, I don’t wanna do one!’ And then I’m like [sings]: ‘Fly me to the moon…’ I’ve got the backing track cued up. Don’t you worry about that!”

Would Hollywood tempt you? Sasha Baron Cohen did the role that you did in Sweeney Todd? Eddie Izzard is acting over there. Is there anything you’re in talks with anyone about?
“Well, I’ve had a few… I’ve had auditions, of course, when things come up. Every so often you just go for whatever you can go for. You never know when that break’ll come. You never know if you’re the right-looking person, or the right sounding person at the right time. Russell Brand and James Corden… there’re so many people that are your mates that, like, suddenly you watch them in a Hollywood film and you go: ‘Hang on! What’s going on here?’ But to be honest, I’ve always got ambition. There’s things I wanna do and I hope I can do, get a chance to do, of course. I’m definitely at a point where I think: ‘Well, I remember at one point looking at this, what I’m doing now, and thinking: ‘This would be the best thing in the world; touring and doing bits of telly and going on This Morning and Loose Women, and Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton and all those things… how amazing would that be?’ And now I’m doing those things and thinking: ‘Wow, this is great!’ But your horizons become your middle distance, don’t they? You’ve always gotta keep your eye out on what else you wanna do.”

You caused a stir last week by commenting on Facebook about the booking fee on some of your tickets, and you’re very active on Twitter. How important do you think social media is when you’ve got such a high profile?
“I think it’s important because you can interact with people and they can know you personally. Even in, no disrespect but, even in this, what we’re doing now, you’ll add your own way of writing it and so any interviews you do are always gonna be through someone else’s writing and though someone else’s filter, as good a lot of journalists are. So in that respect, sometimes you read an interview and you think: ‘My God, that doesn’t sound anything like me! That doesn’t sound like the sort of bloke I am at all!’ Or they’ll pick something out that you said flippantly and make it a bigger deal than it was. The Daily Mail do it quite a lot; you’re having a chat with them and suddenly one little thing you said becomes the big story. And you think: ‘I was only joking!’ You know what I mean? And so that can be hard work. So at least when you’re direct, talking to your fans you can go… I’ve done it before. There’ll be, like, a hundred tickets left and I’ll just go ‘Hey look, there’s a hundred tickets left for the gig, so why don’t you come down?’ And it’ll sell out. Just ’cause you’ve done that. And I think people appreciate it, if anything it’s the norm. Much more famous and much bigger people than me are interacting and doing things on Facebook and such. And you just think: ‘Who am I not to do those things?’ And I enjoy it; I like people! I like my audience, we have the same sense of humour. I’m not one of those people who’re like: ‘Eugh. God, here they are.’ They make me laugh as well, and long journeys, when you’re on tour, in the back of a car or on a train for three hours, four hours, it’s a Godsend.”

Jason Manford: First World Problems, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, Friday 11 October & Saturday 12 October 2013, 8pm, £22.50, 01273 709709, www.brightoncomedyfestival.com