Kevin Bridges Interview

Scotland’s very own funnyman, Kevin Bridges, is coming to Australia for his first ever Australian tour, including 22 dates at Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival. Before his arrival, we had a chat with the extremely likeable storyteller to find out more about his emergence onto the comedy circuit, Scottish independence and his unique rider request.

Hi Kevin, how are you?
I’m good! I’m just in London, doing some warm up shows, just trying out some new material.

How’s that going?
Good. I’ve done two so far and both went well. We had a drunk guy in who got chucked out after about a minute, shouting that he’d been abused as a child… Isn’t that great – I’m getting on with a show and someone has a fucking meltdown! Other than that, they’ve been going well.

Haha! It’s to be expected really, isn’t it?
Aye, it gets you sharp and ready for it. It’s been a while since I’ve done stand up because I took 2013 away from live stand up and just doing a book and some TV stuff so it’s just trying to get match fit for Australia again. So, it’s going well.

You’re the funniest Scotsman around, have you always been a natural comedian?
[Laughs] Thank you! I don’t know; I’ve actually been writing a book about my life story and people have always said I’m funny. At primary school I was really shy and quite nervous and I never really spoke much, but it’s always kind of difficult to comment on whether I’m funny or not. At school the teachers would definitely mention that I was a bit disruptive! But they’d also say that I got the work done and I enjoyed English and I’d always write funny stories, so I landed on stand up and everything made sense, like, this is what I should have been doing the whole time.

Are there still nerves when you get on stage?
You always get nerves; once or twice I’ve done gigs and not had any nerves, but the gigs are never that great. I think it’s excitement and adrenaline that you feel like you’re about to go on stage and speak to people. The day you forget that that’s what’s happening, speaking to a bunch of strangers, you would just be going through the motions. I would call it excitement rather than nerves.

Scotland, its people and its culture come up a lot in your stand up; how do you decide what’s worth remembering or making a note of?
It’s stuff that makes me laugh. You don’t wanna know what makes an audience laugh, you wanna know what makes yourself laugh. If I’m walking down the street and something funny happens I just write it and then go and talk about it. That’s why you do these small shows and go on stage with a notepad full of stupid notes that don’t make any sense to anybody expect me and you just start talking and you stumble upon some funny stuff and that becomes a stand up. You start adding bits onto it and it becomes a whole big routine.

Is there anything that you’ve told that perhaps didn’t go down so well?
Loads of stuff! That always happens. Sometimes you think it’s funny, but you say it in the wrong way.

Has the matter of Scottish independence inspired any new material?
Yeah, I’ll be doing a bit on that. It’s such a big talking point and sometimes you find material that’s really big in the news and obviously you need to mention it.

What do you think about it personally?
I need to do a bit more reading on it. I’ve got the paper book at home so I’ll be reading that. I’d probably vote yes if it was tomorrow.

So, you’re touring Australia for the very first time; what can ticket-holders expect?
A guy on stage! [Laughs] Hopefully it will be a good laugh and just the usual stuff.

You’re here for a considerably long time, as you’re doing 22 shows for Melbourne International Comedy Festival; has your experience with Glasgow’s own comedy festival prepared you for consecutive dates?
I’m used to always gigging and I think last year was the longest I’ve ever went without gigs. I’ve always gigged five or six times a week so that’s normal. It only looks busy if you’re not a stand up. It’s a long time but it’s pretty straight forward. It’s better than working nine ‘til five – it’s only an hour every night!

So, what will you be getting up to when you’re not on stage?
I’ll probably go out and see the sights. Normally I never make breakfast, I’m not a morning person, but there are loads of other comedians there so I’ll probably get a few mates over. I’d like to see the place, see the tourist stuff.

Is it your first time in Australia personally?
First time ever.

And what are you expecting yourself from the experience?
Nice crowds and I think the sense of humour over there is quite similar, quite sarcastic and I find a lot of Australian comedians funny, so I’m pretty sure there will be a common bond there and good shows.

You sold out Glasgow’s own International Comedy Festival four years running and your 2012 tour selling a staggering 45,000 tickets in just one day; are you like, the Beyoncé of comedy?
Yes! I would definitely refer to myself as that! The ticket sales stuff is nothing that I really think about. It’s nice that people wanna come and see you but if I was to go back to playing 100 seats in ten years time, I’m still gonna be working as hard. It’s nice, but I don’t get too attached to it. Obviously financially it’s nice, but…

Well, yeah! It’s a bonus… When you’re touring, what things do you like to take with you? Any diva-ish requests you can amuse us with?
The only thing I ask for backstage is a local newspaper, I like to know what’s going on and if you’ve got a joke about a certain subject and something horrific’s happened that week, then obviously you need to know. And it’s good to know about local essences because it makes it more unique. If I do a joke about Swindon, it can only be done in Swindon, so it makes it live and let’s the audience see that they’re getting something different. I don’t have any yoga mats or scented candles – just the Swindon Gazette! I actually hate being backstage, that’s the bit I hate, doing the sound check. I like to show up like 10 minutes before and then just go on stage or just stand at the side of the stage and watch the audience.

And what do you like to do after a gig? Do you go out in the city you’re in?
Sometimes; I’ll probably go out in Australia to see the place, but usually I’m a bit knackered! I’ll probably only have a few beers because you’re travelling the next day. With the young comics at the end of Edinburgh festival, it’s like you’re on holiday, but after two weeks you’re just ready to collapse and you learn that with experience.

So, when you do go out, do you get recognised?
Yeah, you get a bit of that. They’re always pretty nice and it’s not like paparazzi. It’s just people that have seen your stuff and that’s nice because if you’re a comedian you’re just yourself on stage so you don’t tend to be a guy that’s hated by people in public. I’m pretty approachable, so I don’t mind it, it’s just people that come up to you with camera phones that are pretty annoying because you’re smiling and then you realise it’s a video being a recorded, so you end up forcing a grin for 20 seconds!

You mentioned a drunk guy earlier that was removed from the crowd; what’s the most memorable experience you’ve had from a member of the crowd?
A woman went into labour at one of my shows.

Wow! So, you could say that you laughed her into labour?
I never actually knew it was happening! That’s how bad the sound is in these big venues, that I never even heard her screaming.

Haha! Thanks for talking to us, Kevin, and have an amazing time in Oz.