Alex Zane talks comedy (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Alex Zane talks comedy

12:00pm Friday 5th November 2010 in Comedy By Graham Moody

Former T4 and now Rude Tube presenter Alex Zane brings his stand-up show to Kingston on Monday and GRAHAM MOODY caught up with him to talk about everything from comedy and a career in the states to talking dogs and weirder ideas for Rude Tube

Graham Moody. Are you looking forward to the gig at Outside the Box in Kingston and have you been there before?

Alex Zane: Yes, I’ve been there a few times, it’s without doubt one of the best Comedy Clubs in London. Maff Brown is an excellent MC and it’s a really comedy savvy audience, who give you an honest read on your material, even if you win them at the start they’ll still let you know if a later joke is rubbish. Also, the bar itself is my kind of place, they were playing little seen 80’s horror on the TV last time I was there.

GM: You started out in stand-up comedy, is it still your first love?

AZ: Yeah I stated doing stand up in 1998 in Leeds. There was pretty much only one comedy club in the city at that time, it was at a pub called the Dry Dock, completely ill designed for comedy as it was inside a converted narrow boat with the bar running down the middle. Meaning you were staring down one long half of the room and the other half had no idea comedy was even on and got quite annoyed when someone started talking loudly in a corner of the room. Suffice to say I did not do well. I got one laugh, for an appalling Michael Caine impression that wasn’t actually meant to be funny. Still, there’s nothing comparable to stand up in terms of hearing laughter from people at something you’ve said. It’s intimate, it’s raw, it’s honest. TV and Radio are both hugely enjoyable but neither are as dangerous and compelling as being alone on stage with a mic.

GM: How was Edinburgh Festival this year? Was it your first time performing there?

AZ: I first went to Edinburgh in 1998 when I was in the final of the competition So You Think You’re funny? I didn’t win, or come second or even third. And that's where the rating system ended. I was pretty rubbish and it was a huge education for me because up until that point I’d figured I was amazing. Aside from my very first gig, that final was my first big death. I’ve been up to the festival four times since then, but this year just gone was the first time I’d done my own solo show, Just One More Thing. Named after the catchphrase of TV’s greatest detective: Columbo. A man who aged seven I spent everyday dressed as, in the long mac, although while I thought I looked like him, I’ve since seen photos and I actually looked like a tiny flasher. The show went well, it’s a tough old run though, every night for 26 nights, especially as the city feels like The Wild West for comics over that month, you really have to not lose sight of why you’re there. It’s all very well calling stand up the new rock and roll but it’s very difficult to live like a rock star and still get on stage and be funny. The room I was in also meant latecomers had to walk past me to get to the seats, which had to be dealt with otherwise it was just weird, hence the latecomer hug initiative.

GM: Will the show in Kingston be formed from bits of that?

AZ: There’ll be the best bits of the Edinburgh show, those that have survived the joke cull which happened immediately after the festival. But there’ll be some new stuff too, like Director M Night Shyalaman’s guide to bad movie making. It has only been tried twice on stage, once to gales of laughter the other to abject silence. It’s a 50/50 hit ratio that I’m looking to increase. I won’t be doing the latecomer hug initiative though as people don’t have to walk past me to get in, so leaping off the stage to hug someone would just be weird. Actually I might try that.

GM: Do you think people maybe forget you're a comedian given how much other stuff you have done?

AZ: There are always plenty of people at my show who go ‘I had no idea you were a stand up’, so maybe. The strangest experience was walking out on stage in Edinburgh most nights to a sold out room full of people, and sensing a collective realisation that although they’d bought a ticket as they’d seen me on TV, they’d never actually seen me do stand up, it gave me around a 90 second goodwill period to prove I knew what I was doing.

GM: You've presented Rude Tube - what's the strangest video you have come across?

AZ: I love Flip Flop guy at the moment. A truly wasted man attempting to get his flip flop on for more than five minutes. Then there’s the “I love you” dog that actually talks. And the literal video for Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, that is just genius. So, no I can’t just pick one, I spend hours trawling through Youtube when researching the show, but it’s always good when someone messages me with one I haven’t seen. Although I do get some inappropriate suggestions for what we should include. This one guy sent me a video he thought should make the list that was entitled ‘Disney Porn’. It contained a pornographic re-working of the little mermaid. I mean, the animation was top quality but there are certain things you never want to see Ariel do.

GM: You're former Popworld co-presenter Alexa has tried her hand at presenting in America, is that something you would like to do?

AZ: I’ve just made a pilot of a comedy show over there, so we’ll see what happens. I actually just got back from San Francisco yesterday, I was there completely by chance, for the San Francisco Giants beating the Texas Rangers and winning the World Series of Baseball. The place went crazy. I found out they’d won when I was walking down the street and this woman just opened the front door of her house in a daze, her eyes glazed over, like a zombie, TV remote still in hand, she looked at me, seemed to register that she had some big news that she had to pass on to another human and just screamed “THE GIANTS JUST WON THE WORLD SERIES!!” before collapsing in tears of joy. At least I presumed they were joy, she might have been a Rangers fan.

GM: Another former Popworld presenter Simon Amstell wrote and starred in his own sitcom, is that something you would do?

AZ: I really enjoyed ‘Grandma’s House’, but as for doing one myself, if I have a good idea for one and someone creates an extra two hours everyday where I’m not so busy I can actually put pen to paper then yes I probably would.

Alex Zane, Joe Rowntree, Romesh Ranganathan and Maff Brown, Outside The Box, Old London Road, November 8, 8pm. Call 07791 439363 or visit outsidetheboxcomedy.co.uk.