Geoff Norcott is back on tour, and will be coming to Warwick for the first time when he visits the Bridge House Theatre on the 18th October at 8pm (tickets still available by the way!). 'Taking Liberties' covers whatever contentious subjects are current in Geoff's blunt but honest way. As you may have seen in his recent BBC2 documentary 'How the Middle Class Ruined Britain' - nothing is off bounds in Geoff's comedy. We were lucky enough to have a chat with him about his upcoming tour:
I’ve realised that – above party politics and even Brexit – is an intense dislike of being told what to do. Remember that feeling of when your mates Mum would tell you off? I get that every single time someone tries to interfere in my life.
I think the private things are the worst. What we eat, the language we use. These are intimate things that an increasing amount of do-gooders feel at liberty to instruct us on. They need to get to grips with the fact that sometimes humans want to do bad stuff. And salt is great. If it was socially acceptable to drink soy sauce in public I would.
Don’t eat avocados. Not only are they a hideous symbol of the middle-classes they’re also gross. How are they ‘fruit’? Nothing with a texture so meaty and oily should be called a fruit. Just stop showing off and eat a pear.
The problem with comedy is when these furores erupt, people are often reading the jokes in print. One-liners aside, stand-up is not meant to be consumed this way. When people read they apply their own levels of anger and indignation. A certain section of the public have become incredibly sensitive. I got pulled up for joking about my dad’s disability. I had to grow up with a dad with a dodgy looking Captain Hook prosthetic. No-one is gonna tell me I can’t make light of that.
The BBC came to me and said ‘It seems like you have a big chip on your shoulder’. I said I did, though my mine was a proper chip and theirs was probably triple-cooked or something. They asked if I’d like to explore my hunch that large sections of the middle-class are engaged in sophisticated chicanery. I did, so we made the show.
I won’t lie, my life is better economically now than it was growing up. But maybe that’s what drives it: self-loathing because I have known the taste of brioche.
Well, if I was one of these TV types I’d say something about ‘irons in the fire’ and ‘exciting projects’ but what that really means is ‘nothing definite yet’. I’m mainly focused on making the tour show good. All the TV work in the world won’t matter when you’re staring down paying punters!
This is my first time gigging in Warwick. I just googled 'Interesting facts about Warwick' and google offered me Warwick Davis, the actor. So here goes: when appearing on Desert Island Discs Warwick Davis picked 'Groovy kind of love' by Phil Collins
