Interview with comedian Patrick Spicer

"When I started doing stand-up, I did a sort of character and used that to hide how I felt and what I actually thought about things, but as I’ve gotten more comfortable on stage I now use stand-up to shamelessly over-share all my deepest fears and humiliations, which is allowed because I’m an important artist."

Interview with comedian Patrick Spicer

Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello reader, I’m Patrick Spicer. The next big thing in comedy and a hideous snivelling worm. I’m a comedian who’s been on the telly but you haven’t heard of me and I’m sorry about that. I’m doing my debut hour at the Edinburgh fringe this year to finally set that right for you and for my parents.
 How would you describe your show?

A lighthearted, silly show about confronting crippling fear and shame. It’s the sort of thing that you’ll like if you’ve ever felt there’s something sort of wrong with you and right with everybody else. If you think there’s something sort of right with you and wrong with everybody else then this show is also for you. Because it will confirm all of your suspicions.
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

It’s like summer camp for comedians. Most of the other 11 months of the year we have to balance doing comedy against life admin (e.g., family members.) Then in August we get to self-centredly spend a whole month telling jokes and watching other people tell jokes and it’s great. Also because of the guaranteed global fame.  
What differentiates it from other festivals?

It’s massive. Just head-splittingly massive. There are something like 3,500 shows throughout the month and every single square inch of the city gets turned into a performance space, or a non-performance space (i.e. a drinking space.) If you like watching or doing comedy, there’s no better place to be in the world. 

What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?

I was a really unhappy person, working in a job I hated mid-breakdown, and it was something I’d always sort of wanted to try but was too terrified. I think the motivation was that not doing it and carrying on as I was seemed somehow more scary. My inspirations were absolutely anyone who had any experience showing up at any of my early open mics and being good, because almost all of us were terrible. Just showing you could actually get better at being funny was both surprising and very encouraging.
How has your background, upbringing and education had an impact on your artistic career?
I grew up in a typical South-East London suburban home and went to a typical British all boys state school. So, I have absolutely no natural capacity for expressing myself or my feelings. When I started doing stand-up, I did a sort of character and used that to hide how I felt and what I actually thought about things, but as I’ve gotten more comfortable on stage I now use stand-up to shamelessly over-share all my deepest fears and humiliations, which is allowed because I’m an important artist.
What is your earliest childhood art memory?

I have absolutely no skill or capacity for doing art, so generally it has always made me tense and confused. Why doesn’t my painting look like their painting? Why is my clay pot a plate? Why is my teacher crying?
If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?

Given that I left my old career to start doing comedy mid-breakdown I imagine I would settle comfortably back into my breakdown and pick up where I left off. Either that or scuba diving instructor. I think I’d hate it but imagine the business card! It would be soaked!

Did Covid-19 change the way you create work? Do you approach shows with a different mentality now?

I was supposed to do my first Edinburgh hour in 2020 before El Pandemo struck, so my mentality with Edinburgh now is “god I hope it happens” and “god I hope there isn’t another global pandemic.” It was semi-good in that I started making more online stuff and not focusing so much just on stand-up, but there isn’t really any substitute for actually hearing people laugh.
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?

Very stressful and very blessful.
Do you subscribe to the idea that art should be exempt from ‘cancel culture’?

Nope.  
If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?

One of the pharaohs. I mean who gets a bunch of giant pyramids built in your honour just because you want to be sure that everyone likes you? That’s super needy behaviour and exactly the sort of thing a comedian would do.  
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?

Make sure you actually want to do it first. It’s a pretty full-on month and it’s also unbelievably costly (accommodation being the biggest thing.) If you just want to get experience being on a stage for an hour there’s lots of other smaller festivals you can try out before you jump on the big kahuna. But if you do want to do it just remember that it’s supposed to be fun and try not to get sucked into all the nonsense.
When and where can people see your show?

6.20pm at The Gilded Balloon on Chambers Street. 

And where can people find, follow and like you online?

@patrickspicers on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.


Patrick Spicer: Who’s This All Of A Sudden?, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Coorie), 6.20pm, 3-28 August (not 16). For tickets, visit: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:4169/ 

Header Image Credit: James Deacon

Author

Tom Inniss

Tom Inniss Voice Team

Tom is the Editor of Voice. He is a politics graduate and holds a masters in journalism, with particular interest in youth political engagement and technology. He is also a mentor to our Voice Contributors, and champions our festivals programme, including the reporter team at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Recent posts by this author

View more posts by Tom Inniss

0 Comments

Post A Comment

You must be signed in to post a comment. Click here to sign in now

You might also like

West End Actor Interrogates Stereotyping Faced by Latinx People in Soho Theatre Solo Show

West End Actor Interrogates Stereotyping Faced by Latinx People in Soho Theatre Solo Show

by Daniel Miller

Read now