Jokes with Jasper

Jasper Carrott is one of Britain’s most established stand-up comedians and has five gold albums under his belt so it was no surprise that this was an incredibly entertaining event.

During his one-hour conversation with Geoff Rowe, director of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival, he joked about the success of Funky Moped’s B-side; car insurance claim forms and stealing jokes.

I wasn’t aware of quite how much he'd influenced British stand-up. He was at the forefront along with Billy Connolly who used language too offensive for television, giving Jasper the spotlight.

As well as British folk clubs, he circuited well known American comedy clubs such as The Comedy Store alongside such icons as Jay Leno and Richard Pryor. This lead to his ‘big break’ in the states; a recommendation from actor, Robin Williams, to a journalist for the LA times sparked a review which caused tickets to his five shows to sell out in just an hour!

Unfortunately, he feels too old to carry on with stand-up. He worries that there would be no surprise left and he lacks the “enthusiasm, vibrancy and hunger” necessary. He did go on to detail some ideas for an interesting new outlook on comedy he hadn’t quite figured out, perhaps hoping an up-and-coming comedian could make it work. The unassuming Brummie did say, however, that he’d be honoured if his material was recycled by a ‘counterfeit Carrott’ - but he'd definitely show up and heckle. 

 

Hannah Maggs

Not sure about the dark, but Jasper will certainly enlighten you about comedy

Yes, that's right. Illustrious comedian Jasper Carrott is coming to Cultural Exchanges, and he's talking about British stand-up and his career.  The interviewer is the one and only Geoff Rowe, director of Dave's Comedy festival.

Surprisingly, there are a few tickets left, for a steal of £5 (£3 if you're a DMU Student!).

 

But an hour doesn't seem long enough. With a career in comedy beginning in 1975, Jasper has amassed a large number of tours, television shows, and television appearances throughout the years, not to mention the 288 episodes of Golden Balls he presented.

 

Jasper's appearance, at 7pm on Tuesday 26th February, should be in the timetable of anyone who appreciates classic British stand-up.

 

Caution: Be prepared to laugh.

 

Corey Bedford

After the laughs

This weekend Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival comes to an end and Cultural Exchanges week begins. Cultural Exchanges will be great and I urge anyone and everyone to go.

However, I'm sceptical that this week of events can possibly live up to the 16 days before it. Can it possibly be as interesting as seeing stars such as Russell Howard, Jon Richardson, Gary Delaney, Johnny Vegas etc. at Marc Oliver's comedy chat show Dancing About Architecture? Can it be as touchingly insightful yet hilarious as Francesca Martinez's touring show WTF Is Normal? Can it be as charmingly surreal as Joey Page at The Exchange? - incidentally he is an absolutely lovely man who put me on the guest-list for his show because I gave him directions.  Can it be as outrageous and spontaneous as An Ideal Night Out? And who can forget last night's Gagging For Attention? (Admittedly that one is more memorable for me Because I happened to be in it.) 
 
And, although Cultural Exchanges is just around the corner, we mustn't forget that the comedy festival is still in full swing. Tonight sees legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke take to the stage, there are still two more Dancing About Architecture shows to go and the last show I'm going to see is Sean Walsh in Sean To Be Wild on Sunday night. My account of all the above events will be in the next issue of The Demon.

I'm particularly interested in seeing the interview with Geoff Rowe at Cultural Exchanges. He is the director and founder of the comedy festival and will be talking to the big man, VC Dominic Shellard. 
 
I am also reliably informed by DMU's Rob Brannen that Daniel Bye's show is well worth watching.
 
Hope to see you there.

Matt Watts