Interview with Chris Joyce

CB: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

CJ: I did my first stand-up gig in July last year, to a packed room at the Bedford in Balham (any regular of that night will find the fact it was packed astounding but it was). I did a few predictable jokes about being tall then had a bad taste sing along about Ann Frank (it’s what she would’ve wanted), it went incredibly well considering! There are nights out there that I’ve been to since where that set would have been crucified and I wouldn’t have done it again, so I got a bit lucky! I started gigging regularly in January and now it’s like an addiction.

CB: How would you describe your comedy?

CJ: Musical comedy is my niche. A bit of spoken word, word play and some tongue-in-cheek one liners. If you like that sort of thing then I’m right up your street. I also have one proper joke……..so something for everybody!

CB: Which comedians influence your comedy?

CJ: I have always been very into comedy from a young age and its hard to tell what you pick up from who. Growing up I was a massive fan of Paul Merton, Chris Morris, Whose Line is it Anyway, and I can recite verbatum from every episode of Peep Show, Extras and Father Ted. Like most people in comedy I am a huge fan of Louis CK and Stewart Lee.

Because of the music side Flight of the Concords are a big influence, in my opinion they are the best musical-comedy act there has ever been. Bill Bailey is great and I saw Bo Burnham recently – he is absolutely incredible. I also watch quite a lot of battle rap which I think you could tell if you saw me perform. It’s a great scene to learn about flow, word-play, a lot of it is very funny too.

CB: Did you always want to go into comedy?

CJ: I always loved the idea but never thought I would give it a go. I think until you force yourself over the edge through sheer will there seems to be this great barrier between you and those who do stand-up. Having done it for a while now I think pretty much anyone could get up for 5-10 minutes and make people laugh. Most people have got a few funny stories!

CB: How do you go about writing your material?

CJ: It’s actually quite an arduous process. I’m working on a song at the moment that was composed in May, so it’s still not finished after 4 months – depending on how long the song is I can listen to the piece 100’s of times over before all the lyrics fall into place. I’ve been performing a song recently about dancing that I originally came up with in February 2012 but sat on as a half finished idea until June this year. It’s important that you go over and over the idea though because something funny can just strike you on the 205th listen that you haven’t thought of before! You just need to be patient.

CB: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

CJ: At the moment stand-up is a hardcore hobby! I am a full time technology consultant, therefore this is a good opportunity to plug the fact that I sell phone systems…. so if anyone needs a phone system?… I sell those…

I think that it’s hard to find too much humour in the world of business as business is fundamentally quite humourless. I once got into trouble because I lightheartedly suggested in a meeting with the Office Manager of a fairly large client that he was the reason everything was kicking off in the Middle East. – He sent a letter to my MD…

CB: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the open mic comedy circuit?

CJ: Overall I think it’s great, from the adrenaline buzz on a packed house to the empty rooms with strange comperes I think the whole experience is fantastic. I did a gig at a venue I won’t name in the last few weeks where there were no audience members, the night clearly had no promotion and the compere saw it as an opportunity to try their (terrible) material out on a room full of acts That was a waste of time for everyone.

CB: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

CJ: Occasionally you just get those crowds that are buzzing, not laughing generously necessarily, just in good spirits and up for a good chuckle. You can tell when it’s that sort of crowd and it’s a massive buzz. I do also like the challenge of doing a room with 4 people in and thinking “I’m going to make you laugh” too!

CB: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

CJ: Someone shouted “are you an estate agent” when I was doing an event called ‘Fight for the Funny’ earlier this year in front of 400 people. in fairness to him I had just come from work and did look the part. I came up with a really witty response about letting lots of people round his mum’s bedroom… unfortunately it was about 4 months too late…and not that funny anyway…

You don’t get heckled too much in London – heckles in themselves aren’t so bad, it is more when you get a rough crowd that is talking amongst themselves and not paying attention to what you’re saying. in those circumstances you can tell who the pro’s are by how they deal with that.

CB: What advice would you give to new acts thinking of starting out in comedy?

CJ: Book a slot, until you book it you’ll just keep putting it back. If you’re like me you need something to work towards.