Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello my name is Jacob Hawley.
Tell us about your show?
Howl is an hour (definitely slightly less actually, for everyone’s sake) of stand-up comedy largely about me. It covers my story of moving from my small provincial town to London, it talks about class in relation to politics and there’s a bit about death and then birth. It’s good.
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and is it different from other festivals?
It’s definitely different to other festivals. That number of people wandering about, happy to take a punt on something they haven’t heard of before, it’s pretty good isn’t it. And the bars stay open really late. And it lasts ages. Whole month. I really like the format of hour long comedy shows, it’s my favourite thing to watch and it’s what I always wanted to do. I wanna keep doing Edinburgh for years. Even though it does mean throwing away a month of summer to go and shiver up in Scotland.
What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?
I wanted to be a stand up since I was quite young which is pretty sad isn’t it. For a lot of people this is a last resort, actors do stand-up cos their career is stalling or whatever, for me it was my dream. When I was about 8 I saw an Ant and Dec tribute act who did some jokes and songs about being geordies and I felt very inspired.
Do you ever feel any pressure to be a social commentator, or constantly update material to respond to events?
I don’t necessarily feel pressure to do that but it is probably what I try to do. To be honest though I often worry I’m two steps behind. Things move too quickly nowadays. By the time you’ve written about anything, everyone’s perception of that thing has changed. I’ve got a bit in my show about the bloke who fought back against the terrorists on London Bridge last summer whilst shouting ‘Fuck Off, I’m Milwall’. I thought he was a hero. I loved him. Two weeks later he was arrested for attacking innocent Muslims whilst shouting the same thing. Can’t keep up.
Equally, do you feel there has been a shift in public sentiment that has affected your work?
There’s constantly a shift in public sentiment and I think it would be mad if it didn’t affect people’s work. I’d love to be imaginative enough that I could write stuff that isn’t just observations on what’s happened around me but that’s all I’ve got. The world’s moving towards populism and I find it really interesting who gets the blame for that.
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?
Long winter but nice summer.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?
Do your first one in an environment that has as little pressure as possible. I tried to do that last year and it helped a lot, did a free show, deliberately avoided reviewers or ‘industry’ (one TV producer came and fell asleep). I still went a bit mad but I can’t imagine doing my debut this year having not done a full run last year with a shorter show. And get some parents with nice big wallets.
And what advice do you wish you’d been given when entering the industry?
Get rid of the debt first boy. I was in loads of debt and had to work long retail hours to pay it off which stopped my gigging as much as I’d have liked and probably slowed me down a lot.
When and where can people see your show?
People can see my show in The Attic of The Mash House, on Guthrie Street, every day at 3:40pm EXCEPT THE 13TH
And where can people find, follow and like you online?
I’ve got a really good instagram I’m really good at that, @jacobhawley, a mediocre twitter, @hawleyjacob and a fucking god awful website, www.jacobhawley.co.uk
Jacob Hawley performs his debut show Howl at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Just The Tonic, Mash House from 2nd – 26th August at 3:40pm. More info and ticket are available at www.jacobhawley.co.uk/
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