MIKE KELSON
VEGAN ACTOR & COMEDIAN Vegan Comedians haven’t had much of a laugh recently – its been tough work during Lockdown. But its not all been doom and gloom. Mike Kelson talks us through the last year and looks to the future when live comedy can return again. Plus a joke or two…
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’VE MET A VEGAN?
Because they look fit, healthy and usually about ten years younger than they actually are (unless they’re small children of course, and that might look a little odd), oh, and they’ll tell you. It’s a funny thing, but I’m guilty there - I do tend to bring it into the conversation with people I’ve just been introduced to without even meaning to. It’s like a badge of honour for me I suppose, and I need to share that positive information. My dog Harry, a gorgeous red staffie cross, has been fully vegan for around a year now, and he can’t wait to get to the park these days to tell the other dogs either. I love it that after years of him sharing my
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FORCA VEGAN
meals, I can share his too now, although I don’t go as far as eating from the same bowl. Not at the same time at least.
YOU MUST BE FED UP WITH HEARING THAT ONE! WHEN DID YOU GO VEGAN, AND WHY?
I don’t mind all the vegan windups to be fair. It shows that we make people feel guilty enough to wind us up in the first place. I’ve been vegan for about nine years now, but vegetarian since leaving school. I was always a big animal lover and as a child it may sound ridiculous, but it never connected with me that I was eating them too, because I was unfortunately brought up in an environment where meat-eating is perfectly normal, although saying that, my Mum went vegetarian around the same time, which made things easier. I finally went vegan after years of being oblivious to the horror of the dairy industry, thanks to farmers and advertising tell-
ing us how wonderful their cows are treated, and how you always see smiling cows on milk and cheese products. Becoming vegan was a real spiritual awakening for me and I wish it had all happened far sooner than it did.
WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING A VEGAN COMEDIAN GENERALLY? I consider myself a serious actor first and foremost these days, but comedy is still a big part of my life. As a comedian, it’s important to be able to laugh at yourself, so having a social stigma seemed to make things easier. Things have changed a lot in the last ten years, so it’s not so much of a big deal being vegan these days, but it’s good to show people you can be vegan and have a sense of humour, particularly if they connect with vegans being serious, miserable, complaining or protesting all the time. For some reason, people would never believe I was vegetarian, let alone vegan, possibly because I played sport, wasn’t pale or malnourished, again great misconceptions that needed to be trashed.
