Just like I am Welsh, comedian Alan Anderson is Scottish. And just like I am a comedian and promoter, so is Alan Anderson! We got on like a house on fir!!!
You and comedy, what and why?
I’m an attention seeking, loud mouthed, former heckler who is inherently lazy and thought that making money in comedy would be less hard work than being an architect.
In the early – mid 90’s I used to be a back room DJ in big clubs across the UK. In the late 90’s with the advent of CD decks so did every student wannabe, undercutting us vinyl junkies. With no gigs on a Tuesday night, a group of us started going to the comedy night at our local pub – Scruffy Murphy’s Manchester. It charged £1 per couple and we got to see awesome comics we’d never heard of before… Martin Bigpig, Stan Vernon, Stewart Francis and Peter Kay! During autumn 1998 I became the resident loud drunken Scottish heckler. One Tuesday in January 1999 compere Toby told me that next week I was to do 10 minutes on stage or I wouldn’t be allowed back in.
“Peter Kay!” – Alan Anderson
I did the gig and after a couple months performing one of venues where I djed (O’neill’s, Didsbury) asked me if I would start putting on comedy nights. It all grew from there.
What was your first gig like?
The tiny pub was crammed with about 120 people, I was more nervous than djing in front of 1000 people. That week I had split up from my long term girlfriend, many of her pals were my pals and most were at the gig. I was full of gusto and alcohol, but short on punchlines. I died on my arse but had the biggest adrenaline rush of my life. Like a junkie after their first hit I had to experience that high again.
What influences you to do comedy?
I’ve a mortgage to pay, a family to feed and I’m not very good at having a boss tell me what to do.
You’re known for doing comedy in all kind of strange places. When are you next on stage?
Rather boringly it’ll be the function room of a Scottish Border’s pub for a stag night. Recently we’ve done gigs on a beach at Loch Lomond, on a remote Scottish mountain and on an open top bus.
Who are your favourite comics?
Bob Monkhouse, Billy Connolly and Terry Alderton.
What do you think of Bill Hicks?
He never featured on my radar as I was growing up. By the time I got around to watching youtubes of him I was of the opinion that he was of his time but now he is less relevant and sadly too many new comedians attempt to be him or Noel Fielding.
What do you think of female comedians?
Some are funny, some are awful. Some are useless with a ukelele, some are useless without a ukelele. If you’re funny the audience will think you are funny whether you have one type of genitals or another.
The circuit comic I admire most for their ability to connect with any audience and storm any gig is female, but she does not bang on about it. The circuit act I feel makes the least effort to connect with an audience that is not of their sex, sexuality or social class or status is female and onstage bangs on and on about being a female comedian. That type of comedy alienates audiences no matter what their sex. There is a massive difference between being a female comedian and a comedian with a feminist agenda. Thankfully those types of “female comedians” are becoming a smaller minority as most successful female comedians concentrate your thoughts more on the word “comedian” and less on the word “female”.
A recent debate started over female comedians doing special competitions. How would you deal with the problems arising from women in comedy?
The recent Funny Women debate / witch hunt was not over whether there should be female only comedy competitions. The debate was about whether you should charge people to enter comedy competitions and as an end result charge people to perform comedy. I think you should not do either.
There was a huge furore about pay to play in comedy, however much of it was hypocritical because many of those acts who were manning the comedy barricades against pay to play have just spent thousands of pounds on room hire, PRs, marketing, etc etc etc to enable them to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe every night for a month.
With regards your question, what problems have arisen from women in comedy?
Could you ever be a female comic?
No, I’m a man. Similarly I could never be an African American comedian or a French comedian.
Do you think it’s harder to be a female comic compared to any other job?
No. Is it harder to be a female comic than a female brain surgeon? Having no need for qualifications or membership of an professional/industry/trade body it is too easy for anyone to become a comedian. Or at least to call themselves a comedian.
Is comedy better or worse than other things like that?
Do too many females with not enough skill / talent become brain surgeons? No idea, but I doubt it. Do too many females with not enough skill / talent become comedians? Yes. Do too many males with not enough skill / talent become comedians?… Hell yes and sadly there are far more twenty something, skinny jeans wearing, untalented, male, T4 presenter wannabes in comedy than female comedians.
Do you agree that there should be segregation in comedy competitions? i.e. one for men, black men, students, women, children etc?
Every industry has its awards and they almost all segregate. Take the BAFTA’s, they segregate on sex – Best Actor, Best Actress. The Scottish BAFTA’s segregate nationality, the MOBO’s segregate along racial lines. So should comedy be any different? No. In the end it is all about the marketing and promotion either of the performers or the sponsoring brands.
You run the Scottish Comedian of the Year competition. What do you look for in a winner?
I take no part in the judging of the competition. Hopefully the team of industry experts that I assemble for the judging panel will chose a comedian who is capable of entertaining all sorts of comedy crowds from middle aged American tourists at the Edinburgh Fringe to a bunch of rowdy Friday night drunks and submariners in the back room of the Clyde Bar in Helensburgh to a 5 star hotel banquet suite full of marketing executives at a corporate. Over the past 5 years they have a good strike rate.
Do you think there is something inherently funny about a Scottish person?
Yes. The Scots tongue is very lyrical and like our celtic cousins the Irish we have a folk story telling culture… oh and we like to take the piss out of The Big Man.
Scotland recently beat Ireland in one of my favourite sports – cricket. Do you have a message for the team?!
I’m that strange breed of Scotsman who likes cricket and avidly follows the England & Wales Test team. At the Adelaide Fringe I even played for the England side in the Comedians Ashes match… we were humped, although I proudly took the wickets of Ian Coppinger and Lyndsey Webb. So my message to the Scotland Cricket team is… Since Ireland beat England in the recent world cup and you beat Ireland… congratulations on becoming the best cricketing nation in the British Isles.
On your website, you list one of your specialities as architecture! How come?
I studied architecture at university.
You are also into sports commentating and DJing. Could the two ever be done together? :)
They do. I regularly do the race announcing at triathlons, in a field, by a loch at 7 in the morning talking over music for the best part of 4 hours. In the few days prior to a race I like to put together a playlist of funky singalong tunes for the pre race period. For during the race the playlist will feature some up beat tunes and for near the finish. Where possible I like to play snippets of song relevant to specific athletes as they cross the line.
Lastly, would you like to plug your plans for Edinburgh this year?
Alan Anderson: Whisky Fir Dummies. Just The Tonic at the Tron 9pm
After twelve years of performing this is my debut solo run at the Edinburgh Fringe which is all about Scotland’s greatest export, whisky. I trialled the show at this year’s Adelaide Fringe. It got rave reviews and sell out audiences, probably something to do with the fact that during the show I give out FREE WHISKY. I love whisky and I want you to love whisky too.
“I could never be an African American comedian or a French comedian.” – Alan Anderson
