Alastair Clark never seems to sit still. Even if you have known him for quite a while or five minutes, what impresses you is his constant searching, questioning of the norm and deep down the stark truth that he is an exceptionally funny man. Having graduated from the University of Liverpool, he has become an ambassador on the comedy circuit, highlighting the excellent name of the city he lived in throughout his time doing his degree but also the great county of Lincolnshire from which he hails.
Now Alastair Clark is returning to The Lantern Theatre this July for two nights before making his way back to the Edinburgh Fringe. If keeping up with man’s truthful approach but with just that wonderful hint of elemental danger attached, then imagine being him, to do what he does in the name of his craft, it is quite a spectacle, as many who saw him perform in Edinburgh will understand.
One morning in October 2013 Alastair Clark woke up, logged on to facebook and found that a lot of his friends had a new favourite politician… Russell Brand… The comedian.
The evening prior, Russell Brand had been on Newsnight encouraging people to stop participating in democracy. This made Alastair angry… So angry he wrote an Edinburgh show about how angry it made him.
Famous comedian Russell Brand thinks you shouldn’t vote. Far less successful comedian Alastair Clark thinks he’s wrong. Who’s right? A show about political apathy, come… or don’t… Whatever.’
As he was making his way back to Lincolnshire for a couple of days before doing a gig in London, I was able to catch up with Alastair at F.A.C.T. to remember days at University, to have a Ginger Beer and to revel in the force and anger to come.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, what’s been happening, how has life been treating you in that year?
Alastair: “I went the Edinburgh Fringe last year, finished at university and got a B.A. Honours, that went really well, it was really good. Did my own writing and gig reviews, so that was nice. I’ve basically been doing more stand-up and I’m getting another show ready. I did a second show in December – Opinionated which was alright but it didn’t have the theatrical element that I was looking for so I’ve decided do so something like that at the Fringe this year.”
Obviously you are going up to the Edinburgh Fringe again, so congratulations on that but you’re also going to be playing at the Lantern Theatre once more.
Alastair: “We’re starting a new festival, from the 14th-20th July, there’s lots of good shows on there that you’ll get to see before they go to other places, theatre, comedy – everything! So it’s great to be part of that really. It’s a really good little festival, especially with the splits that you get, they are much better than at some other festivals. I’m also doing Buxton this year as well! It’s the third biggest Fringe outside of Edinburgh and Brighton and so it’s not that far away and I thought if they’ll have me, I’ll do it! So, there I am, off there as well!”
You’ve played down in London, you’ve got Buxton and Edinburgh to come and you’ve played a lot in Liverpool but you’ve not played Brighton yet?
Alastair: “I’m not playing the Brighton Fringe this year because I won’t have an idea ready in enough time for the programme and also it’s a bit far away so maybe next year I’ll do Brighton, Buxton and Edinburgh. This year I thought I’d just do Buxton and Edinburgh, next year I’ll just do them all!”
Do you think that your comedy has changed?
Alastair: “I think I’ve got better, writing is easier; I’m able to do what I want to do. Edinburgh last year was 53 gigs in 22 days, so you’re obviously going to get a lot better in that time. So instead of taking hours and hours to try and cram something together, I had to think so what’s the best way to do this? Basically with that you can also take more risks and experiment more and having said that, it’s probably got a lot more gag-heavy and it’s got a lot more laughs in it, which is o.k.!”
So do you see your show now being less of a reflection of your time university, to something with more gags?
Alastair: “The thing with this show, which is called Vote Russell Brand and it’s all about political apathy, so it’s about contemporary politics and my relationship with politics as I’ve grown up. With my degree, everything was very honest, this is my life and that’s what’s happened, it was easy, I knew where it started and I knew where it ended and all you had to do was fill in the bit in the middle and keep the narrative going. Whereas, this is more like – I’ve got nothing! It’s like what do you think about politics Al? For a long time, that was changing as I was writing the show. I’d be doing a bit of research and I’d go that’s a good idea but that really contradicts this, so the philosophy degree came back into force then and it helped out.
It has been a lot harder this one I think but it’s got something else, it’s got a lot of stuff that means something and it’s got a nice storytelling style running through it where I talk about a dream where Russell Brand is trying to leave my husband who is Nick Clegg so that’s all fun. It’s a very different show and I quite like that to be honest and it’s a new challenge. If I did write a show that was sort of autobiographical again, I wouldn’t really have anything new to talk about since the past two years and if I did another one it would be in comparison. At least in this one, it’s different, is it better or worse? It’s just different, it probably will be better as I’m much further on. I just think it’s harder to tell, whether it is good or bad if it’s different.”
It surprises me in some ways that one of your contemporaries at university was Liam Hale?
Alastair: “He was my protégé – he’ll hate me saying that!” (laughs)
It’s funny how the two of you complement each other in a way as his comedy is more visual, you’re doing the stuff that’s more intellectual. Did university help both of you do you think?
Alastair: “I don’t know about Liam but having an outlet for his form of creativity and I was running Scribble at the time so I think that helped his sort of giving him a stage. I did all that stuff without that, I was already doing sketches and shows before university and I took that on without being at university and then I took that there when I studied. I just thought I could it properly and I mean Liam is taking his own show up to The Fringe this year and which is like really impressive and the thing about university is that it gives you the opportunity that you wouldn’t always have.
I did an arts degree with eight hours of contact time a week if I was lucky. You’ve got so much time to do what you want to do and I think that’s a reasonably liberating thing. I’m not sure I’d be doing this full time if I hadn’t been to university. It gave me enough opportunity to become good and to think at the end, just to go ahead and do it.
I live with Pete Mitchelson and at the end of the Festival, I compared a comedy show just after the last gig and there was a 20 minute break and we did a comedy show until Midnight and that was really fun. Basically Pete said do you want to do that full time and compare a new show every month and so we’re running a show called shiny new comedy lab and it’s like a new material night. I’ll go around places where I’m gigging and see people and ask them do you want and come and do my night, it’ll be really nice!
They come and they do it and it’s lovely and we’ve got a regular audience who keep coming back and people really enjoy it. You always see people you don’t normally see in Liverpool, that’s the thing. There’s a lot of alternative stand-up out there and you just have to come and have a look at it. I don’t always book stand-up, I book sketches, clowns, improvisation as well, no holds barred. I have enjoyed all that and the Festival’s great, I’m looking forward to it again but I’m not going to be around for all of it as it clashes with Buxton so it’s going to be fun though!”
Which do you prefer- 53 performances in 22 days in Edinburgh or a couple of nights in a town where you haven’t spent so much time in?
Alastair: “Edinburgh every time! The thing is with Edinburgh, it’s like nothing else, there is huge audience there if you can get them in and it’s not an audience that knows you, that necessarily likes you, it’s an audience you can win. It’s at the point now that if someone says they are short on the night; I’ll come down and perform. There are a lot of people who see me a lot of time, you might have seen me three times in the last month. You need regular gigs but sometimes the familiarity doesn’t help. In Edinburgh you’ve got everything and you can go and see different stuff as well which as amazing. I can see my heroes at The Fringe and it’s just brilliant, it’s the best time of the year.”
I obviously wish you all the best at Buxton and Edinburgh and at The Lantern Theatre!
Alastair: “Thanks for having me!”
Ian D. Hall
Tickets for Vote Russell Brand are priced at £8.50 for both nights with concessions available at £6.50. Alastair Clark is on stage at The Lantern Theatre at 8.15 on Friday 18th July and 9.30 on Saturday 19th July. Tickets can be purchased from the Lantern Theatre Box office.