Basingstoke ObserverDUE to phenomenal demand, multi-award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and writer Paul Chowdhry has doubled the size of his new stand-up tour, Family-Friendly Comedian (No Children). We caught up with Paul before he performs at The Anvil on 4 March.
What can the audience in Basingstoke expect if they are coming to your show?
Hopefully a full night of laughter. It is a full touring show. It was touring the UK to 50,000 people a night last year and it was a sell out. So this is the extended leg and as tight as it can be. I am looking forward to Basingstoke as the audience there love comedy and always get a good response.
Do you have any connection to Basingstoke?
I know the local kebab shop and the local Woolworths.
How did you first get into stand-up comedy?
I grew up in the 70s and 80s watching it on TV. Morecambe and Wise, Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, I watched them all. I was also inspired by American comics: Richard Pryor; Eddie Murphy; George Carlin and Sam Kinnison.
I was interested in comedy as an art form. What makes a sentence funny? What makes one person a comic and another ordinary? Essentially you are just talking, not even singing. Comedy is the purest entertainment art form as you are giving an element of yourself, it is almost a presentation.
After Uni, I thought, can I do this? I wanted to try to see for myself if I could be any good at it. When I asked myself what I wanted to do with my life, stand-up was the answer so I thought I would give it a go.
I wrote five minutes of material and it was OK, not great but not bad, good enough for me to want to do it again, so I wrote another five minutes of brand new material but no one laughed. It was then I realised that I had to be very good to succeed. So, I looked at how jokes were written, and spent a lot of time watching live gigs.
When I first started out in the entertainment industry, I didn’t have any connections so I didn’t know how to do it. I was self-taught, watching videos. Now there are courses teaching you how to be a comic, how to write a joke, use a microphone. That is the route several household names took to get into comedy but that was not available to me.
What were you doing before you were a stand-up comedian?
I did a degree in Computer Science and another in Film and Media to work behind the scenes and that was a tough industry to break into too. Tough but nowhere near as tough as stand up, that is as tough as it is, but the buzz that you get…….
I love that my fans are interested to hear my viewpoint on life and that everyone finds it funny.
This show is autobiographical with some political views. I believe as long as you are alive you have something to say about yourself. I am not really a political comic but it is hard not to be at the moment with everything that has gone on.
How much of your show is scripted and how much do you ad lib?
Yes, this is a written show but with elements of improv that make it into the show. What you see in Basingstoke you won’t see anywhere else. I will learn the name of the local chippy and will read the local newspaper which was traditionally where comics found their local material for a show.
Can audience reaction change the route a performance takes?
If the audience reacts differently, it can yes. If there is a heckler then that tends to make its way into the show as I don’t tend to ignore them.
Who is your favourite comedian that you interviewed for your “Pud” cast?
Hard to narrow it down to one….maybe Stuart Lee, I have known him for about 20 years and he is one of the best comics in England. I talked to him about: comedy; life; the artform as comedy. We also explored how you can pass off material if you are yourself and how you can pass off different material if you are a character. It was a very interesting chat, we went into the depths of the comedy psyche.
Who is on your wish list to interview?
I was in The Cleaner with Helena Bonham Carter so I want her to come on as I really enjoyed working with her and she has done so much, she would have a lot to say.
You have appeared on several TV shows as a panelist or contestant, which was your favourite?
Taskmaster was a great show and people got to know me outside of comedy. Russell Howard is a mate of mine so always a good laugh when I am on his show too. Not so much panel shows as not so many around anymore as the expensive ones were decommissioned and replaced with the cheapest form of entertainment; filming people talking on a panel.
You have done a bit of acting, is that something you would like to do more of?
I like acting. Stand-up is first and foremost, I do like to act but there is nothing like stand up. What happens that night will never happen again. The atmosphere is unique and something that just cannot be captured on a screen. Like live music, you can feel it in your veins.
What did you get up to during lockdown when you were not able to do your day job? Did you learn any new skills?
I created more online content, made videos and tried to stay active and keep fit.
What is next for you?
I have a couple of projects that I can’t talk about but the second season of Devils that I worked on with Patrick Dempsey comes out at Easter with ten new episodes. I will probably release the tour online too.
Finally, do you have a message for the people of Basingstoke?
Yes, get your tickets now before they sell out!
