Emma McAlpine speaks to the popular Geordie comic about her incredible year, from taking over the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh to meeting Puff Daddy.
I am meeting Sarah Millican in the private dining room of smart Soho hotel Dean Street Townhouse. I have been given 15 minutes to speak to her to publicise a new DVD she has coming out this week. The interview is slightly delayed as a previous photoshoot with Fabulous Magazine has overrun, but once ushered in, I’m met with a very jolly sight indeed: a beaming Millican and a table heaving with afternoon tea; cakes, scones, sandwiches...the works.
It strikes me how different an interview with the comedian might have been three years ago when – still relatively unknown outside the club circuit – she scooped the Edinburgh ‘Best Newcomer’ award for her debut solo show. Since then, she’s joined a handful of standups, including John Bishop and Kevin Bridges, whose comedy careers have skyrocketed since appearing on mainstream TV shows like Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Live at the Apollo. Pulling in viewing figures well into the millions per episode, when it comes to building up a fanbase, this kind of showcase is the equivalent to years of touring for a comedian.
Millican agrees: “It's a quicker way of doing it than working your way round every comedy club where most people there are already fans. Some people think that comedy on telly kills the live scene but I disagree – I think it feeds into it. A lot of my audience say that my show was their first live comedy experience. People will watch something on TV and then they'll try and get tickets to see that comic next time they're in their town.”
The TV effect is perhaps most obvious when you compare her Edinburgh Festival stints from 2010-2011. Since appearing on Michael McIntyre and Live at the Apollo towards the end of 2010, she’s moved from the 150-seater Stand to the considerably more massive 850-capacity Assembly Hall (the run sold out).
For Millican however, one of the biggest differences to her professional life this year has been gaining a tour manager. “Last year it was just me driving everywhere so it’s been really nice to have some company. He makes sure all the lighting's right so I can concentrate on the show. I would say it's a bit like having me Dad there but he's the same age as me!”
Currently a fifth of the way through a massive 100 gig tour of her fourth solo show Thoroughly Modern Millican, her dates had all sold until May 2012, although a few more have since been added to cope with demand. It amuses me that she’s still worried about these extra dates. “I'm only happy when every last one has gone! There are a handful of tickets left here and there but not everyone wants to book to see something in May 2012...”
For all her new found fame however, she is every bit as unaffected and down to earth as she is on stage, which anyone who has seen her talking about foreplay farting on The Graham Norton Show will have noticed. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking out the clip just to see the look on fellow guest Puff Daddy’s face. She laughs off the suggestion she’s practically a household name “That makes me sound like Jif, or is it Cif?!” and when telling me how much she enjoyed recording Never Mind The Buzzcocks earlier in the week she comes out with this gem: “Usually you get to the end of those long-record panel shows and you're thinking ‘Thank God I can take my massive knickers off!’”
It is this self-deprecating, unreservedly candid sense of humour, delivered in her warm Geordie tones, that has made Millican so popular. TV may have been the catalyst but her wicked sense of humour, charm and hard work have been the key factors to her success.
Next year she plans to take a well-earned break from touring: “I might grow some tomatoes and paint a wall. I'm calling it nesting. Even though I won't be having any kids, I'll be building a nest.” She will however still go up to the Edinburgh Festival to support all her comedy friends. “I'll still go and take people out for lunch who are crying because there's a lot of upset. A lot of people on the brink of...something. If you can just run in with your arms and a hug you might save their show that night. Or their sanity!”
With more touring planned for 2013 and her own comedy chat show coming out on BBC2 next spring, I’m interested to know if she’ll keep doing Edinburgh. “I will keep doing it because I love it and it's not about selling tickets, I just want to be involved because I love it so much.”
At this point, I’ve run out of time and am permitted one last question. No doubt there are countless other journalists waiting to speak to her (and get some free cake). I panic, skim-reading some thoughtful questions before settling on: “Um, what was Puff Daddy like?”
“He was lovely”, she answers. “He definitely warmed to me. But we haven’t kept in touch.”
Sarah Millican Chatterbox Live is out on DVD on 21st November.
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