Joel Dommett interview
Joel Dommett jumps off of our small screens and onto the road with his debut tour. Victoria Nangle finds out more
Hello. How are you doing this fine day?
“I’m good, thank you. Maybe people are reading this on a not so fine day, in which case I sincerely hope it improves.”
Are you looking forward to your debut UK tour?
“Yes! I cannot wait to be alone in places I have never been before. Bordon? Where is that?
I have no idea but I’m going there.”
What’s your ‘process’ when you write stand-up?
“I tend to gig at little venues in London and build a bit line by line… I try to add or take away a bit each day…”
One of my guilty pleasures is How To Survive A Disaster Movie, which you did for Ch5 with Eric Lampaert. It didn’t look as if you always would manage to survive! Any particularly hairy moments making that?
“I like to be a pleasurable guilt.
I’m currently watching the One Direction movie. This feels like it’s in the same category. There was many hairy moments… I sat in a bush covered in mud for two hours and got bitten by ticks. One of the crew got some disease because of the bites. I haven’t heard from him; he’s probably dead.”
You were on our screens with E4’s Live In Chelsea. If you made a million from DVD sales of this tour would you buy yourself a bijoux pad in Chelsea and hang out with all the beautiful people of the cast?
“I have no idea what bijoux means… I live in a semi-detached in south London. Maybe in Chelsea it’s called a semé d’toochéd.”
What was your favourite part of the Live In Chelsea job?
“It was fun… they are all very well educated people and when you ask them a question they give you nice eloquent answers. I did the same thing with the Geordie Shore cast and when you ask them a question someone usually shits on the curtains.”
Your [future] DVD is simply unstoppable and you net another million squiddoodles. What is the biggest indulgence you’d love to spend heaps of dosh on?
“I am not very good at spending money. My biggest indulgence of recent times is a cleaner. I feel horrendous about it. It feels weird to sit there and watch her clean so we silently do it together.”
You’ve appeared in both Skins and Teenage Kicks – clearly a thespian. What would be your dream acting role?
“I like playing me. No need for extreme weightloss or muscles – I just wake up and talk.”
Your show you’re bringing to town is called Practical Joker. This, combined with the BBC3 series Impractical Joker, implies you may be an enthusiastic mischief-maker. False advertising or should we keep an eye on you at all times?
“I am the least Practical Joker-y person ever… I am part of impractical jokers because I am bad at it… its’ apparently entertaining to see me squirm like a little girl when I have to talk to strangers.”
What’s the best prank that’s ever been pulled on you?
“It’s not a prank as such but the best part of the new Impractical Jokers series is when we had to see how many pencils we could fit onto a stranger without them noticing. I managed to get 20 into a lady’s bag. It was my most incredible achievement of my life so far.”
Where do you get all your energy from?
“Mainly questionnaires… but I also just love comedy so I get excited when I’m doing it. I’m quite downbeat for the rest of the day…”
Joel Dommet: Practical Joker, Komedia, Friday 14 March 2014, 8pm, £10, 0845 293 8480, www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
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