Now I only read about Set List just before it was announced, so I was pretty excited when I got handed the interview, tell me a little bit about it? Where was the initial idea conceived?
The idea is the product of evil genius Troy Conrad, who created Set List. He invited me to come and do it once in its early incarnation and I absolutely fell in love with it, so we partnered together and here we are. We’re pretty much taking it to festivals around the world and runs at the Soho Theatre in London, and running it at UCB, and a place called NerdMelt in Los Angeles. It’s just been great, wherever we go comedians seem to be just falling in love with it.
For me this idea seems to be like a cross between Whose Line is it Anyway, and a segment on UK television show Mock The Week.
Yes except there’s a big difference actually. We do describe it as Whose Line for stand ups but you know Mock the Week is actually all… we’re very diligent about making sure that it’s not set up ahead of time, with us, the comedians and the audience see the setlist for the first time together so the audience is very deep inside it. With shows like Mock the Week, they’re actually prepared, they’re not really truly spontaneous.
What are some of the guests you have lined up already?
Pretty much everybody who’s around [laughs] tonight is Greg Fleet and Simon Munnery, we’ve got David O’Doherty coming, Stephen K Amos, Glenn Wool, Paul Foot is coming, Steve Hughes – we haven locked him in yet but we’re real anxious for him to do the show. Sam Simmons, Mike Wilmont, Ian Bagg, Simon Amstell, John Conway, Dave Goreman , Mark Watson… who else? [Laughs] it’s hard to do the line up because there are so many great comedians who want to do it and to balance them out and work out the schedules, it end up being the day of where we actually lock it in.
It’s an embarrassment of riches that so many great comedians love this show so much, they’re so trusting of us and what we’re doing with it. I always maintain that if the comedians are really enjoying the show then the audience is enjoying the show that much more, and that’s what happens every night pretty much. Ian Bagg is so brilliant and confident, and last night he was actually quivering, I’ve never seen him so nervous [laughs] it was beautiful. Comics come off and go ‘that was the most terrifying thing’, Drew Carey just did it in LA and he tweeted that’s it’s on of the scariest things he’s done in his life, but that he can’t wait to do it again.
Robin Williams has been raving about it, he did it when we were at Sketch Fest. The show is always funny, no matter what any person ends up doing with it, it’s funny, but there’s also real suspense involved and drama. When I was doing it for the first time I was like I’m having an experience I’ve never had as a comedian, and the audience was having an experience they’ve never had as an audience, it was just so interesting!
Now it’s completely on the spot, have you ever had any comedian’s freeze up and just been an absolute shambles on stage?
Shockingly few actually, shockingly few. There’s some comedians that come off stage and go ‘I was so off my game tonight, when can I do this again? I’ve gotta do this again as soon as possible’. Phil Jupitus calls it catnip for comedians.
Do you get involved yourself?
Yeah I mean I haven’t because we’re on the inside, and quite diligently the comedians have no idea what they’re gonna get. I’m on the inside at the moment, so I’m not getting much of a chance but Troy and I are talking about doing each others setlist and keeping them from each other so we can go out and do it more [laughs].
What are some of the topics that have really thrown off comedians?
[Asks Troy Conrad in the background] well they’re not just random words thrown together, they’re actually crafted, we have a sort of intuitive sense about things with comedic possibilities, we try and find things that don’t have immediate entry points. Um, so; Mindkemph… that was a good one. Chlamydiyeah, Tim Minchin turned that into a pop song. Benny Hillocaust, Condom Limbo, Genocide Note, and Upside of Paranoia. The idea of a comedian’s Set List isn’t like a song title, it’s just a series of reminders to material, like keywords, so it doesn’t always make sense, but there’s something in between those words or around those words that you can tell is there.
Is this a show for all comedians?
Yeah it’s for all comedians, that’s what’s really great about this for me is, the solid pros that have been doing this forever, it’s a reminder to have fun. When you go up there and you don’t have all the answers there’s a little level of excitement and energy, it’s different and it sort of reawakens that in people. There have been a lot of comedians who have said their lives have been changed by it – Gregg Proops is a fascinating example. Gregg Proops said that he found Set List at the perfect time in his life, he was just about to start doing his podcast and he said Set List awakened him to this whole new creative halfway. Things like that happen a lot, there’s this big Zen thing about it all. It’s just one of those things that keeps you creatively sharp.
You’re a very collaborative comedian; most of your projects involve you working with a large group of comics across different formats. What is that attracts you to these sorts of group-based things?
It’s about finding a different expression of comedy. When I started out professionally as a comedian, I found out the world of comedy is a lot like music, like if you were to talk to a musician it would be obvious that you were immersed in music and you’d want to go jam with other musicians and play shows and all the other sort of stuff, and all that stuff is true with comedians which I don’t think a lot of people realize. One thing that I’ve always found interesting is that in most expressions of comedy it’s all so formalized and people don’t get to see the meta aspect of what it’s like to have this completely skewed view of the world. Collecting all those different voices across the spectrum is kind of a different way at looking at life. When you get a group of comedians together who see the world in different way to other people, that gets a very emotionally charged, and that is very exciting.
Do you ever get any sort of issue with a large group of comics, I’m never sure what comedians are like behind the curtain, are there a lot of egos involved in projects like this? And are they helpful or hurtful?
It’s interesting because there are egos involved as there are in all of showbiz, but the great thing about Set List is that the ego falls away immediately; you can’t agree to do this without having your ego in check. It’s really been an eye opening thing to see so many people ready to do that, and craving to do that. There are very few people who have turned down doing, I mean I can count them on one hand and we’ve been in six counties.
Do you find comedians tend to thrive around others, or do they get a bit nervy?
In my experience with most comedians working in groups the egos just fall away. When comedians get together it’s not like when actors get together, or singers get together, because comedians call each other on their bullshit. Actors get together and they have their ego trips or whatever and everyone else just kind of accommodates it but comedians don’t. If you start pulling shit in front of other comedians then you will get busted, all other comedians will say to you ‘hey you’re not opening a room here, this is us hanging out’. But also when a comedian decides to perform and make it their space, if they’re funny, every other comedian decides to go along with it and have a great time.
And finally since you’ve worked with some many comedians, is there a particular one that leaves you in awe every time you seem them performs?
[Pretty much cutting me off before the end of the question] Doug Stanhope. Notice that lag time there? I knew that answer instantly; he’s head and shoulders above everybody. He is the kind of comedy that really speaks to me, it’s a good substance of comedy, I enjoy great escapist comedy. The thing I really connect with is when someone speaks the truth and hard truth, and really commits to it, and that’s what Doug does. There are a million people who have done bits on the same topics that Doug Stanhope has done, but Doug’s are always unique. He’s challenging and provocative, even to his audience.
