Rising standup star Ed Gamble is a good bet if you’re on the lookout for laughs...
After crashing into Warwick Arts Centre with debut solo tour Stampede last year, rising standup star Ed Gamble is back on the road with a Mammoth new creation that promises to be even bigger and better than his last. Ahead of its arrival in Coventry this month, we spoke to Ed to find out more about this ‘lumbering beast’ of a show, and what exactly the deal is with massive animals.
“It does sound like I’m building up to some kind of Lion King-type trilogy, doesn’t it?” he laughs. “But in truth I think it’s just down to the fact that you have to come up with a title very early in the life of a show. When you’re booking something in at the Fringe, you have to submit a title and a summary in February, even though you’re not performing until August. I think for most comedians it means that the thrust and thread of the show isn’t necessarily in place yet, so I generally just come up with a word I think will stand out on the programme.
“That said, with Mammoth, I do actually have an explanation for the title, which I talk about during the show. Also, I think I tried a bit to capture something of the energy of each tour. So Stampede was quite a fast-paced onslaught of stuff, whereas Mammoth, as ridiculous as it sounds, I like to imagine as being full of slower, high-impact jokes, a bit like a mammoth walking.”
Though Mammoth is actually his fourth standup show performed without his podcasting partner Ray Peacock, it’s the first one to tour the UK with 100% new material, Stampede having opened with what he describes as a kind of “greatest hits” of the previous two offerings. Since going solo, Ed’s raised his profile with numerous TV gigs, appearing on panel shows like Mock The Week, as well as starring in Almost Royal and writing for Greg Davies’ Man Down.
“It’s really nice because it feels like this time there are people who are actually coming to see me and half-knowing what to expect. I think with the last tour, a lot of the audience were there to support the venues - people coming for a night of comedy at their local arts centre rather than for a night of me.
“And I’m proud of this show. I think it’s by far the best one I’ve written so far - as it should be. I also really like the touring format of doing it in two halves. Edinburgh is great for developing shows, but when you’ve only got 75 minutes because of time constraints, it can be overly tight, and that’s not how I work best as a comedian. I think it’s fun to loosen it up, so the material’s really growing on the tour and I’m finding new avenues and more room for chatting with the audience.”
Asking questions and interacting with audiences has been a feature of Ed’s live work since his days as a comedy compère, during which time he developed a knack for improvisation. Reviews have described him as being at his best ‘off-book’, but as he explains, in a full standup show, there’s a fine balance to be struck between rehearsed material and spontaneous responses.
“I could go on and do a show without talking to the audience at all quite easily, so it’s only a big part of my show if the audience are up for it. But I think it makes it feel more live and ‘in the moment’ if you make it a unique evening - otherwise people might as well be watching a video.
“It’s interesting. I think once you hone your skills at improvising it doesn’t feel like you’re going ‘off-book’, because you know you can do it and produce something good out of it. But I do like to have everything planned out in advance - and to be honest, sometimes you write stuff where you can sell it better if you make it look more improvised than it actually is. So I would say there’s probably some tricksy stuff going on as well!”
As with previous work, Ed’s latest show draws heavily on personal experience and observations on everyday life. In particular, this time he’s discussing the crisis of identity provoked by attempting to reconcile his “Coldplay face” with his passion for heavy metal.
“This year the show is sort of about my perception of myself versus other people’s perceptions of me, and there’s a lot about how I’ve attempted to recreate myself and how it doesn’t really work. As for looking like a metal fan, the truth is, my face won’t physically allow me to grow a big beard, and having long hair is just unmanageable. I’m too fussy to be able to deal with the middle stage!”
Some of his audience might well identify with his difficulties. Back before he was touring independently, he spoke about having discovered that his Edinburgh audiences were generally “clean-shaven and punctual”. Recently, though, he seems to have attracted slightly more varied crowds, including some “tatted up” alternative types. In the West Midlands at least, it’s likely he’ll encounter a fair few serious metal fans, who can look forward to hearing some of his personal favourites in the show.
“I think if I didn’t include Sabbath as one of my favourites in the West Midlands I’d get absolutely vilified, wouldn’t I? I’m a big Iron Maiden fan as well. But I also go slightly deeper into stoner and doom stuff - High On Fire and Kyuss and Every Time I Die. But then Clutch are my favourite band and they’re more rock’n’roll.
“We could talk about this for hours, though I think it might actually put some people off coming! But I have hand-selected quite an impressive audience walk-in playlist, so if you do just want to come and hear some absolutely slamming stuff, you can come and listen to the music and then leave before I come on.”
Ed Gamble plays Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Sunday 26 November.
Rising standup star Ed Gamble is a good bet if you’re on the lookout for laughs...
After crashing into Warwick Arts Centre with debut solo tour Stampede last year, rising standup star Ed Gamble is back on the road with a Mammoth new creation that promises to be even bigger and better than his last. Ahead of its arrival in Coventry this month, we spoke to Ed to find out more about this ‘lumbering beast’ of a show, and what exactly the deal is with massive animals.
“It does sound like I’m building up to some kind of Lion King-type trilogy, doesn’t it?” he laughs. “But in truth I think it’s just down to the fact that you have to come up with a title very early in the life of a show. When you’re booking something in at the Fringe, you have to submit a title and a summary in February, even though you’re not performing until August. I think for most comedians it means that the thrust and thread of the show isn’t necessarily in place yet, so I generally just come up with a word I think will stand out on the programme.
“That said, with Mammoth, I do actually have an explanation for the title, which I talk about during the show. Also, I think I tried a bit to capture something of the energy of each tour. So Stampede was quite a fast-paced onslaught of stuff, whereas Mammoth, as ridiculous as it sounds, I like to imagine as being full of slower, high-impact jokes, a bit like a mammoth walking.”
Though Mammoth is actually his fourth standup show performed without his podcasting partner Ray Peacock, it’s the first one to tour the UK with 100% new material, Stampede having opened with what he describes as a kind of “greatest hits” of the previous two offerings. Since going solo, Ed’s raised his profile with numerous TV gigs, appearing on panel shows like Mock The Week, as well as starring in Almost Royal and writing for Greg Davies’ Man Down.
“It’s really nice because it feels like this time there are people who are actually coming to see me and half-knowing what to expect. I think with the last tour, a lot of the audience were there to support the venues - people coming for a night of comedy at their local arts centre rather than for a night of me.
“And I’m proud of this show. I think it’s by far the best one I’ve written so far - as it should be. I also really like the touring format of doing it in two halves. Edinburgh is great for developing shows, but when you’ve only got 75 minutes because of time constraints, it can be overly tight, and that’s not how I work best as a comedian. I think it’s fun to loosen it up, so the material’s really growing on the tour and I’m finding new avenues and more room for chatting with the audience.”
Asking questions and interacting with audiences has been a feature of Ed’s live work since his days as a comedy compère, during which time he developed a knack for improvisation. Reviews have described him as being at his best ‘off-book’, but as he explains, in a full standup show, there’s a fine balance to be struck between rehearsed material and spontaneous responses.
“I could go on and do a show without talking to the audience at all quite easily, so it’s only a big part of my show if the audience are up for it. But I think it makes it feel more live and ‘in the moment’ if you make it a unique evening - otherwise people might as well be watching a video.
“It’s interesting. I think once you hone your skills at improvising it doesn’t feel like you’re going ‘off-book’, because you know you can do it and produce something good out of it. But I do like to have everything planned out in advance - and to be honest, sometimes you write stuff where you can sell it better if you make it look more improvised than it actually is. So I would say there’s probably some tricksy stuff going on as well!”
As with previous work, Ed’s latest show draws heavily on personal experience and observations on everyday life. In particular, this time he’s discussing the crisis of identity provoked by attempting to reconcile his “Coldplay face” with his passion for heavy metal.
“This year the show is sort of about my perception of myself versus other people’s perceptions of me, and there’s a lot about how I’ve attempted to recreate myself and how it doesn’t really work. As for looking like a metal fan, the truth is, my face won’t physically allow me to grow a big beard, and having long hair is just unmanageable. I’m too fussy to be able to deal with the middle stage!”
Some of his audience might well identify with his difficulties. Back before he was touring independently, he spoke about having discovered that his Edinburgh audiences were generally “clean-shaven and punctual”. Recently, though, he seems to have attracted slightly more varied crowds, including some “tatted up” alternative types. In the West Midlands at least, it’s likely he’ll encounter a fair few serious metal fans, who can look forward to hearing some of his personal favourites in the show.
“I think if I didn’t include Sabbath as one of my favourites in the West Midlands I’d get absolutely vilified, wouldn’t I? I’m a big Iron Maiden fan as well. But I also go slightly deeper into stoner and doom stuff - High On Fire and Kyuss and Every Time I Die. But then Clutch are my favourite band and they’re more rock’n’roll.
“We could talk about this for hours, though I think it might actually put some people off coming! But I have hand-selected quite an impressive audience walk-in playlist, so if you do just want to come and hear some absolutely slamming stuff, you can come and listen to the music and then leave before I come on.”
Ed Gamble plays Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Sunday 26 November.
Interview by Heather Kincaid