| Description | Adam Bloom interviewed by Oliver Double by telephone, 29th June 2004 This interview was conducted by Double for his book 'Getting the Joke: The Inner Workings of Stand-Up Comedy' (2005)
Summary: [00:04] Recording starts [00:28] Oliver Double asks Adam Bloom [AB] how he got into stand-up. [02:23] OD asks who AB was influenced by. AB was influenced by Harry Hill’s stage presence.
[03:06] OD asks AB about superstitions and rituals. AB mentions prayer despite not being overly religious. [04:56] He also brings up using a stopwatch. [05:18] OD says Milton Jones prays.
[05:50] OD asks AB how he generates material and his writing process. AB goes on stage with a rough idea of what he’s going to say and it evolves on stage, he never writes his material down, he talks about working on his Radio 4 series. He describes it as a honing process, trial and error.
[07:30] Oliver Double asks if he rehearses to himself. [09:00] OD asks what observations he’s made from the process of doing stand-up that are key to him. AB says he was a close-up magician before he was a stand-up comedian. He describes it a good training ground for being meticulous.
[10:18] OD asks about the performer and audience relationship. [11:05] There isn’t a formula, comedy is hard to analyse. He mentions Peter Kay likability. [12:00] OD asks AB for his observations of stand-up from a technical point of view. [12:44] AB talks about his analytical approach to comedy.
[13:20] AB talks about Jeff Green. [14:13] [[Phone briefly cuts off]]
[14:30] OD asks AB about an interview he did where he said everything’s funny for a reason. [14:59] Eddie Izzard still hasn’t worked out why some of his material is funny.
[17:15] Oliver Double asks about prepared vs spontaneous improvised moment. AB says the biggest laugh of the tonight is always an ad lib. [19:00] OD asks about the difference between onstage persona and offstage persona. Being genuine vs desperation, [20:53] Peter Kay never looked desperate in any situation.
[21:10] OD asks AB about the choice of clothes. [21:56] AB says if a standup comedian is wearing a creased t-shirt on stage, they’re saying that they didn’t care enough about this gig, unless it’s a persona like Milton Jones who is deliberately scruffy.
[22:23] Ardal O’Hanlan wears a shirt because his onstage persona is trying to impress the audience, AB wouldn’t because that’s not the impression he’s trying to get across.
[23:00] OD says there is a lot of truth in what AB is saying. [24:01] AB talks about Ricky Gervais sipping a beer at a podium not adding up, Bill Hicks smoked because he was casual, but Ricky Gervais was giving a lecture whilst drinking beer.
[27:16] OD says Frankie Howerd had all the cuffs shortened on his suits.
[27:40] OD talks about Tom O’Connor, having experience in common. Adam Bloom says Arnold Brown told him that rather than “have you ever noticed” or “here’s something you can’t relate to at all”, Adam Bloom says “you haven’t noticed”, observing things people haven’t noticed but do when he points them out.
[28:58] Sean Lock is in his own world, Ben Elton is one of you, Adam Bloom is somewhere in the middle, is one of you but sees things differently.
[30:20] AB explains to OD how he’s influenced his next Edinburgh show, [30:27] Alistair McGowan has done voice overs for his Edinburgh show.
[31:25] At the beginning of the show he comes on as Harpo Marx, who AB is the doppelganger of.
[33:45] OD asks “Are you doing any previews?” AB has done one in Bristol, the rest are in London. “Whereabouts in London?” The Chuckle Club.
[34:00] Interview wraps up. General chat about OD’s book and its release date.
[34:48] OD talks about reading a book about the Marx Brothers by Simon Louvish, who writes very well-researched biographies, he’s also done WC Fields, Laurel & Hardy. AB admits is not a good reader. [35:58] AB recommends Harpo Speaks autobiography. [36:13] OD says Harpo and Chico look identical without make-up, AB says all three of them look identical with glasses on.
[37:08] Interview ends |