Chris gets back in the thick of it

Feb 8 2010 The Journal

Recently better known for his on-screen, on-air and on-paper prowess, Chris Addison is returning to his stand-up day job. He chats to Sam Wonfor ahead of a North East treble.

CHRIS Addison sounds relaxed, but is professing an underlying sense of apprehension.

“Panic is pretty standard comedian procedure,” says the 38-year-old, who is speaking 24 hours before the start of his first stand-up tour proper for five years.

“I don’t think I’ve ever written a show where there wasn’t that element of panic... but it usually seems to turn out all right.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to do as many previews this time around as I normally would,” he continues.

“So my shed is having to act as my sounding board.”

Well, he says ‘unfortunately’, but the reality is that Chris has been unable to tout his new material around the as many new comedy nights as he might, due to his big fat successes in other areas.

Fans of acclaimed BBC political satire The Thick Of It, in which he plays sarcastic and baby-faced adviser Olly and movie spin-off In The Loop won’t need any telling of this.

Nor will those who have given a resounding thumbs-up to his combined catalogue of publishing efforts and radio shows.

The latest of these – 7Day Sunday – is a topical weekly talk show on 5Live.

“I’ve written lots of columns for the Evening Standard and Guardian and stuff, so the idea of doing topical stuff isn’t new for me. Doing it live on radio is, though.

“It’s really good fun and it’s nice to be working with Sarah (Millican, the North-East-bred stand-up who Chris reliably informs me is a ‘sand dancer and not a Geordie because she’s from South Shields’).

“When I was younger – around 15 or 16 – I really wanted to do radio. I was quite obsessed by it actually... but never did it.

“To find myself doing a radio show all this time later is quite amazing.”

Finding himself acting was also initially a surprise to Chris, who had harboured ambitions to be a theatre director during his university days (he studied English in Birmingham).

“In all honesty, having the chance to do the acting been useful for me. It happened at a time in my life where I was having children (Chris has two children), so not being away from home too much was a good thing.

“I’ve had enough of them now, so I’m off again,” he laughs. “Although I am quite obsessive about my own bed, so I’ll be getting back as much as I can.

“At my lowest point of stand-up activity, I think I did around seven shows in one year, which was not enough. It’s been very odd,” he adds.

“But a stand-up comedian is very much what I consider myself to be.”

Lucky for him, then that he seems to pretty much excel at it.

Since he started out as a stand-up 15-or-so years ago, he has clocked up glowing reviews aplenty as well as a clutch of Perrier-style (depending on that year’s sponsor) nominations at Edinburgh and associated festivals.

Known for his smart, whimsical, sometimes daft and almost always self-analysing comedy lectures, Chris says audiences, which will include those at Whitley Bay Playhouse and Durham Gala this week and Newcastle Theatre Royal next month, can expect more of the same.

“They can expect to see a man criticising himself on stage.

“A man running through a selection of his own failings – obviously not all of them because we don’t have that kind of time,” he adds.

“The BNP also turn up… as does the Pope, and the fact that we seem to be entirely incapable of coping with any kind of change to the schedule. I also talk about joining a gym… lots of stuff.

“It’s kind of about how I’m not really made for this world… as most of us aren’t, as it turns out.”

However, it does seem that Chris was made for a career in making others laugh. And as someone who laughs in big portions during the very brilliant The Thick of It, I have to ask whether the series will return.

“I don’t know,” he says, frustratingly for me.

“That’s not really anything to do with me as an actor… but I hope so. It would be interesting to see what happens, now that the dark blue sun is rising.

“How would it work if there was a different government? Who knows what will be in store.”

It turns out that Chris’ lack of concrete knowledge about his future in that particular arena runs parallel to the rest of his career plans.

“I got into stand up by mistake. I’ve never had a grand plan or big ambition to achieve,” he says.

“I’m kind of used to the fact that in my job, you often jump six months ahead in your diary and it looks completely baron. You have to trust that something will come up.”

“So far it always has…”

:: Chris Addison plays The Playhouse Whitley Bay on Thursday and the Gala Theatre, Durham on Friday. He’ll return to the region for a date at Newcastle Theatre Royal on March 21. Call 0844 277 2771; 0191 332 4041 and 0844 811 2121 respectively, for tickets.