The Friday Night Dinner star on returning to standup, being inspired by Arctic Monkeys and his bugbears with the comedy industry
How did you get into comedy?
I was in a public speaking club at school and competed internationally. I am greatly indebted to Reading Blue Coat school for giving me the confidence to express myself from a young age, particularly Mr Holleley. When I left, I had incredible confidence that I had something to offer the world, neatly wrapped in a deep ignorance of what the world actually was.
I was handed a flyer for a comedy competition outside a charity fundraiser gig my dad took to me at the Royal Albert Hall. It was called comedystars.tv, where you uploaded a video to get voted into a final at the Edinburgh festival. It was brilliantly hosted by Simon Amstell, who eviscerated the entire endeavour on the basis it contained no stars or comedy.
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