LaughRiot.co.uk

Alun Cochrane Interview

LaughRiot caught up with storytelling funny man Alun Cochrane for a quick introduction, life on tour and the death of Jeremy Beadle (in a small way).

LaughRiot: Let’s start with an easy one. Do you consider yourself to be famous?

Alun Cochrane: No, not at all.

LR: What’s the best conversation you’ve had with a taxi driver?

AC: I’ve had loads of good chats with taxi drivers and quite a few that have been dull, but I’m not one of those comics to lie about it. Quite a few comics can just say “No, no, I’m an accountant” but I have to confess because I’ve always wanted to be a comedian so if people ask what I do I have to tell them. Though I can occasionally say I’m a performer, but then I nearly always have to blurt out what I do just through pride. Some comedians can lie about not being a comic because taxi drivers are wankers but I have to confess.

LR: Did you start off as a stand-up or move in to it from something else?

AC: I studied acting and fairly slowly realized that saying words that you’ve written is more fun and more gratifying… and more employable.

LR: Are there any jokes, anecdotes or stories you wish you’d never told?

AC: Yeah, I think if you look back at what you used to do and don’t shudder a little bit you’ve probably not improved very much. There are all sorts of stuff where you think ‘that bit wasn’t very good. I can’t believe I depended on it’ but that’s just because you hope you’re getting better. I think any comic should have some stuff they look back on and go ‘ERRRGH!’

LR: Ever think of writing a book or a sitcom?

AC: I would quite like to write something just because it’s nice to have an end point but at the moment all the ideas that I have I just pour in to stand-up because it’s the easiest place to put them.

LR: How long have you been touring this show?

AC: Two weeks. Just done my third show on it.

LR: Do you write a different set per tour then write another set for the next one or does it change a lot on the road?

AC: This is actually my first tour so in many ways this is me plundering my back catalogue of previous material. but not too much. I haven’t got a show as such, I just put together the stuff I like at the moment for the tour.

LR: So your make changes between shows while on tour?

AC: It always changes a wee bit. Anything that occurs to me gets put in and hopefully some bits will get dropped along the way too. That’s the plan, that’s how it should work I think.

LR: You’ve got your own catchphrase (sort of). What’s your general opinion on comic catchphrases?

AC: I think most of the time they’re a bit boring. I think That possibly my joke about them is that it’s a way of not writing a joke in a space. But it’s all about taste. I don’t watch a lot of sketch comedy because I find a lot of it is very repetitive and a bit impersonal but there’s a place for it. I’m not slagging it off.

LR: Do you think there’s much difference between American and British humor?

AC: The American stuff tends to be done by American people and the British stuff tends to be done by British people… I suppose the American stuff is team written isn’t it, and the UK less so just because they can’t afford it as much. But then again the better American things are solo written like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld that have pretty much got an independent voice behind them. Whether or not they write every word I don’t know but they tend to have more of a driving force behind them as a lot of the HBO things do I suppose.

LR: Just how devastated were you to find out about Jeremy Beadle?

AC: Umm… A little bit?

LR: A little bit.

AC: Can you be a little bit devastated?

LR: …probably

AC: It truly made very little impact on me. But many celebrity deaths make very little impact on me.

Alun is at the early stages of his UK tour Things that have happened to me in life, or in cafes. Check out his website for more details.