(This mini-interview dates back from 1999 - I have disguised certain names to
avoid libel - and I have been unable to get explicit permission to publish this
- so if you're reading this, Al, and you don't want it here, just say!)
Q1. Do you get to perform the material you *really* want to do?
3 interesting questions from Marek. They rather boil things down but that
what's interesting about them.
1. Yes. Though the stuff that tends to get characterised as the stuff you
really want to do is stuff the audience doesn't get [or doesn't get the
reaction you'd hoped for]. The solution to this is to find a way for them to
get it. There are people who think oh I'm in this situation I'd better do
this gag, and I am one of them. But it's a fine line here, as doing comedy
is what I *really* want to do.
Q2. Do you enjoy performing comedy for its own sake?
2. Which is answered by the answer to the first question.
Q3. Do you regard audiences as generally intelligent?
3. Tricky. What do you mean? All too often an audience that knows what to
expect of an act behaves more "intelligently" than it might for an act
they've never heard of. This is something I'm experiencing now folks are
starting to have heard of me. Though it also tosses into the salad not being
as good I'm supposed to be.
Now, satire, the Eleven O'clock Show etc. The thing about this, and the
received wisdom of the Ali G best thing on it angle is that the two are
closely related. For I would argue that Ali G is the only piece of actual
"satire" on the show. The rest is as Dave said "topical" and thus suffers
under the weight of expectation that it's a satire show.
However, Ali G sends up the people he's interviewing, yes - which is clearly
where the (DD) says "did you come on Mrs Thatcher's coat-tails"
jokes drew their inspiration - though in both cases many of the guests
emerge with a fair chunk of dignity intact, but he also sends up "himself",
so I'd really say that his proper target is the sort of television that
dumbs down issues to make them "relevant to young people". And because he's
from that generation he can satirise it with the kind of understanding that,
say, (RB) would never ever have.
Of course, this doesn't actually give us a useful definition of satire
[something I think we could do with] but does send us somewhere in that
direction.
Cheers!
Al