Doughnuts, jazz pop and grasshoppers: an interview with James Acaster

Doughnuts, jazz pop and grasshoppers: an interview with James Acaster

16 August, 2011
by: Emma

Fancy an insect impression or a hilarious anecdote about circular baked goods?  James Acaster is your man. Emma McAlpine talks to the talented stand-up ahead of his Edinburgh debut.

The first time I saw James Acaster was at a 'Comedy Club for Kids' gig that I took my nieces and nephews to. They were dubious in the way kids can be when they first start developing a sense of cynicism and petulant humour. “This is going to be sooooo lame Auntie Ems.”  It was far from being lame, I laughed harder than I had in ages and so did they. It was mostly down to Acaster who pulled off possibly the funniest grasshopper impression I’ll ever see and had every kid in the audience eating out of his hand. Every time I’ve seen him since he’s had the same winning blend of charm, wit and silliness.

Meeting up with him to discuss his first solo Edinburgh show Amongst Other Things on a doughnut-themed photoshoot; we also chatted about his former days as a musician and his most disastrous Edinburgh to date…

So tell me about your show this year and why we are taking pictures of doughnuts.

It’s not about anything really, it’s a stand-up comedy show with all my favourite routines in it. I've really enjoyed putting them together as a whole and doughnuts are a big part of it. After people have seen my show they'll never look at doughnuts in the same way again.

This isn’t your first Fringe show though is it?

No, I did the Free Fringe in 2009 with Nick Helm and Josh Widdicombe. We thought we were going to have an amazing month and then on the second night hardly anyone showed up and we got a one star review which said “Avoid this show at all costs”. The whole month was horrendous, there were no audiences, tacky balloons, a specials board in the bar that said 'spiels' and on the last day we found a bucket of sick in the corner of the room. Josh got swine flu at the end and I had 2 breakdowns on stage.

You often do kids shows - are they a tough crowd?

They're actually easier audiences. Kids are really eager to get involved as well. I did a kids’ show at Mac comedy fest and it was just awesome. A kid said he could beatbox and then just got on stage and snorted like a pig. We were all crying with laughter and he just carried on with a straight face.

You were a musician before you got into stand-up – Have you ever been tempted to be incorporate music into your act?

No, because I don't think I have any material that would work better as songs. Plus I was a drummer.

Right - that might have been rather difficult then…

I can play the keyboard quite badly so I’d probably end up sounding like a poor man’s David O'Doherty, it would be horrendous!

Why did you decide to move into comedy?

I really wanted to be a musician when I was younger. I formed a band with my friend Graham (we were called the Wow Scenario - it was tongue in cheek) and played jazz pop and fusion. We wanted to be the most original inspiring band ever. It sounds naive now but I think it did me a lot of good to jump into something with a massive goal behind it and have that much belief that no one could persuade me to do anything otherwise.

Graham and I thought everyone's minds would be blown but we'd get there and then it wouldn't work live or it we wouldn't have had a proper sound tech warm-up and it would sound awful. In 2007, he decided to go travelling and quit the band. It was like a proper relationship I had to let him go! So I went to London to do stand-up for two weeks.

Had you done it before?

I'd done a few gigs when I was with the band because I like comedy and I wanted to try it out. I didn't want to be a comedian so I didn't give a shit. I did about 10 gigs over three years and had no routines. Because I didn't care, I’d have a really good gig. I used to laugh at the losers who were trying hard at comedy and couldn't do it. Then when the band split up I thought I'd work on the comedy properly. I went on stage and died badly. It was a wake-up call.

What compelled you to keep going?

I had two weeks of gigs booked so I had to do them. Eventually I did well and I thought I’d carry on doing it until I found something better. The more I've learned and the more I've got a grip on what I'm doing, I haven’t wanted to do anything else. I forgot when I started music I didn't know anything about that either, I was fucking up every beat. I think it should be made clearer to comics when they start out that you don’t have to be successful all the time, you just have to figure out what to do.

James Acaster: Amongst Other Things is at the Pleasance Courtyard at 9:45pm until the Monday 29th August

Photo credit: Alex Brenner

Emma