Documentary-maker, London Underground maven and Edinburgh geek. There's a lot more to Jay Foreman than musical comedy, as Emma McAlpine finds out...
Jay Foreman is exceedingly sharp. So sharp he's answered most of my questions before I've even asked them and when I eventually run out, he does my job for me and asks himself some more. (“Who am I looking forward to seeing this year? Hmmm...”). A gifted musician and a witty, inventive songwriter, his debut solo show last year won him a heap of new fans and some glowing reviews. Bursting with knowledge about everything from the best viewpoints in Edinburgh to the London tube network (he actually gets a call from a friend asking him for the best underground routes during the interview); Foreman is clearly a useful man to know...
You had a successful debut show last year. Is the pressure off a bit now?
I've got more confidence but this is the ‘difficult second show’. Last year was all my favourite songs I've ever written, so I've been furiously writing new stuff and tweaking songs that weren’t quite good enough for 2010. I've also tried writing proper jokes that go between the songs because I didn’t start out as a comedian. I started doing funny songs on the folk circuit at open mic nights. I used to make myself giggle by singing nonsense words to check that people were listening. What I noticed after a while was that my act was slowly evolving into what's closer to stand-up comedy, so I took the plunge.
What’s the new show about?
It's all about how scary it is that the '90s are now as long ago as the '70s were in the '90s. The world of Back to the Future II is supposed to take place in four years time! I thought it would make a great topic for an Edinburgh show because this idea of living in the future seems to resonate with a lot of people.
Definitely. I loved reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Even though it was written in 1931, his vision of a world of promiscuity, consumption and drug-taking has come true in many ways.
Predictions like that are scary, but I also love the wildly inaccurate ones. Like in the 1860s they had such trouble with traffic in London that they said that “By the year 1900, London is going to be 6ft deep in horse manure”. It tells you a lot about statistics and how useless they are.
You’ve had a lot of success with your songs on YouTube. Do you think that’s been instrumental in helping your career?
Absolutely. YouTube has been amazingly useful because it's so democratic. Anyone can upload a video and then the view count is usually quite a good judge of quality. No one is capable of leaving a lukewarm comment either. It could be "OMG wow this is the best thing ever !” or “I hate you and I want your children to die."
It also seems to attract a few girls who want you to hook them up with your brother Darren (Beardyman).
It's useful having a Beardyman for a brother as he has a lot of traffic on his YouTube site and he tweets a lot of my videos.
You’re quite a prolific tweeter as well.
It's good for advice. I asked my followers a while ago "If the piece of meat you are going to use is brown and past its sell-by date is it still ok to use?" and about ten people replied and said it was fine.
And was it?
No.
I enjoyed your tweet about a comment your mother made to you: "I went on Twitter and apparently Darren smashed it and was sick last night, is that good?"
The only thing more fun than having Beardyman for a brother is having Beardyman's parents for parents, they don't get his music at all.
Your documentary series about London’s town planning was another big YouTube hit. How did that come about?
Me and my friend Paul came up with the idea to make a documentary about the tube because we're tube geeks. We know a quirky fact about pretty much every tube station.
I know that Angel has the most escalators.
It doesn't, it has Europe's longest escalator. The one with the most is King's Cross.
Wow. I thought my fact was good.
I did comedy mastermind for The Noise Next Door in Brighton recently and I found out I know more about the London Underground than Nathan Caton knows about chicken.
That's quite impressive. Nathon Caton has a lot of routines about chicken.
He does and his friends have told me that he loves chicken even more than his routines suggest.
I want to know more tube facts. Why can't we get air conditioning on it?
Because when they built it in the early 20th century the reason they made the tunnels so small was because ironically, they were trying to make it cooler, so they could push the air through and make it windy. But now the tunnels are so small there's not enough space to put air conditioning units in.
What other topics haven’t we discussed?
How many times have you been to Edinburgh?
It’s only my second solo show but it’s my sixth consecutive visit.
Are you something of a pro, should I be asking you for tips?
When there are people like Lee and Herring who’ve been going up there since 1906, I don’t think I could own that I’m a pro! Edinburgh is very intense so I think it’s good to sit on your own for a while. My favourite place to relax is Calton Hill. If you want to an amazing view of the city and can’t be arsed with Arthur’s Seat, it’s only a four minute walk from Princes Street and there’s only 50 steps to the top.
The strangest thing about Edinburgh is seeing it after the Fringe has finished. The weirdest places are Bristow Square, when the cow starts to disappear and the Pleasance Dome when they take all the decorations down and it feels like a uni building again. It’s one of the saddest sights, like seeing a close friend in hospital covered in tubes. It’s not your friend anymore.
How come you stayed up there after the festival?
I was curious.
Jay Foreman: We're Living in the Future is at the Underbelly Cowgate from 4th-28th August at 2:30pm.
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