Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | November 13, 2014 | 31
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COMEDY
ROUND UP
Jason Byrne ELLA WALKER catches up with Irish comedian Jason Byrne to find out more about his new TV show and what makes him laugh. (A clue: ducks.) JasonTICKETS Byrne: You Name The ON HOT WHAT’S Show, Cambridge Junction, Friday, WHAT’S TICKETS NovemberON 14, atHOT 8pm. Tickets HOT TICKETS WHAT’S £18.50 from (01223) 511511 orON junction.co.uk. WHAT’S ON HOT TICKETS
ɀ WHAT an incredible name for a show: Hovercraft Symphony in Gammon # Major. Who comes up with something like that? Only Paul Foot. Who else? The madcap comedian is visiting Cambridge Junction with said show on Saturday aturday at 8pm. Something of a maverick, Noel Fielding said of him: “It’s baffling to me that Paul is not a household name in this country. His routines are like jazz clusters, loose hammocks, choked to the brim with jokes and ideas”. He’s right too. Tickets are £13.50 from (01223) 511511. LOVE a good old musical? Sure you do. Amdram group the Cambridge Operatic Society are staging Oklahoma! at Cambridge Arts Theatre. Sing along to some absolute classics, such as Oh What a Beautiful Morning, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top and, um, Oklahoma! Tickets cost between £15 and £25 from (01223) 503333, and the show kicks off at 7.30pm. It’s on from Tuesday, November 25, until Saturday, November 29. INDIE kids The Courteeners are visiting Cambridge Junction on Tuesday on their latest – mostly sold out – tour, celebrating the release of their fourth album Concrete Love. The Manchester four-piece met as children and made a name for themselves in 2007 with debut album St Jude. They’ll be on stage at 7pm and tickets are £20.50 from (01223) 511511. The support act will be Blossoms.
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N Jason Byrne’s latest routine, it’s up to the audience to come up with the name for the show. It’s typical of the stand-up and radio host who loves audience interaction, particularly if he can use it to humiliate people for the sake of laughs. If you’re going to his Cambridge Junction show, best not sit on the front row, unless you’re unusually confident . . . l Can you tell us a bit about your new show? What should people expect? They can expect to laugh a lot; there has been a health warning from the Government on the show. It has already hospitalised 10 punters and a barn owl that lived in the roof of one venue from overlaughing. So go at your own risk, your giggle bag may burst during performance. l What’s been your favourite audience-picked name for the show so far? Leeds’: “Share the Maltesers you Fat F*** Aunty May Wants One.” l Why did you get into comedy in the first place? I got into comedy years ago because I was the eldest in my family, my dad worked in the mines in Dublin, the pit closed, so we
needed money. Being the eldest and my mum being too ill to work (she had bad knees but good elbows), I set out around the comedy clubs bringing in money for the family. We ate like kings but my dad lost his pride. l How did your first ever gig go? My first ever gig was at the local pit in Dublin. It was full of hard men and one woman they called Roger. I died on my bum the first time, as I had props and did a bit of satire. They wanted pit jokes and how funny canaries were. I had nothing on that and was booed out of the venue through a dust cloud of coal. l Do you ever get nervous before going on stage? I’m always nervous before gigs, but I do yoga before I go on to calm down, but just to feel at home the mat I roll out is actually a roll of grass cut out from my garden in Ireland so I don’t feel homesick. l What always makes you laugh? What makes me laugh? I once saw three ducks balanced on top of each other floating by me at a lake, no camera and no one around, so no one believed me. l Which comedians do you particularly admire?
I admire all comedians. What they do is just amazing, amazing. I don’t know how they get up on stage in front of all those people, I couldn’t do it . . . oh, wait a minute. l You do a lot of audience participation. Can you give us an example of when audience interaction has gone horribly wrong for you? The worst audience interaction ever, was when I used doves in a stunt in Australia. They flew into the audience and stayed in the venue all night. Disaster. l Can you tell us about the new TV show you’re making in Dublin? Jason Byrne’s Snaptastic Show for TV3; it’s a photograph-based show – celebs bring in their photos and we interview them through their childhood photos. Audience members bring theirs in; people send them in through the net; there’s sketches, stand-up and games. It’s Graham Norton meets Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, meets The Generation Game meets Bullseye and Fraggle Rock. l What would you love to achieve that you haven’t gotten around to doing just yet? I’d love to swim with dolphins – in a bath, as I’m not a good swimmer, and I don’t like dolphins.
A RARE screening of Swedish film director Victor Sjöström’s 1919 classic, Ingmarssönerna (Sons of Ingmar) is being screened at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse tonight at 7.30pm, and on Sunday at 1pm. It will be streamed alongside live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney. The film can only be seen at the Picturehouse because it requires specialised projection capabilities, and isn’t available on DVD. Basically, be there, or you’ll be seriously missing out. Call 08719025720 to find out more.
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