CityLife

James Sherwood - keyboard comic

HAS KEYS TO COMEDY: James Sherwood

IF you happened to see James Sherwood on the comedy circuit a few years back you’d definitely have him pigeon-holed as a topical comedian.

These days however he’s more likely to be sighted peeping out from behind a keyboard.

“Even when I’m not playing it, inevitably the keyboard is a big presence so I still come across as a bloke sitting at the piano talking to the audience, which I think sets a slightly different mood.

''Most of the jokes are kind of about music, about songs that people know. Just silly musical things really.”
 

Enjoyed the show

The change came about following his inclusion of some songs in his 2006 Edinburgh fringe show, so in 2007 he popped some more in.

“After the 2007 show the feed back I got from practically everyone was we enjoyed the show, we really like the songs and I thought I should get on and do them as a whole act.

''I delved into my memory to try and find some jokes that I’d mainly written a while ago and never performed because they required a piano on stage to do them.

''The last show (in 2008) ‘Songs of Music’ was entirely at the piano, in doing that show it’s where I got the model from which I now use for everything.”
 

Choral singer

Given Sherwood’s background, the change in direction is less surprising than the fact that he didn’t start off doing musical comedy in the first place.

As featured in that first, 2006, solo show I Know What You Did Last Sunday, Sherwood grew up surrounded by music, “that (the show) was all about religion part of which was religion as a non-believing professional choral singer.

''Music was always around the place and church music was one part of that. So yeah, I did have piano lessons and singing lessons from the age of six or something, joined the choir at seven or eight. Then just carried on with it.

''There was plenty of other music around the house. The Flanders and Swann book was probably open more than the hymn book on our piano.”
 

Hideous office job

His decision to try out the comedy circuit was prompted by distinct lack of enthusiasm for his then day job.

“I was doing a hideous office job and I eventually reached the point where I genuinely couldn’t stand it and gave it up.

''So I’m quite unusual in that I gave up the day job before I started stand up and did various things like writing and music and after a few months someone sent me the details of a competition.

''I had this Pop Idol view of a comedy career that if I do this competition I might win it and if I win it then I’ll have a stand up a career; rather than thinking this is the first of a few thousand gigs on the way to being half decent which is the reality.”

Knuckle down

Luckily he had a pair of old hands at the comedy game to seek advice from.

“Straight after the (competition) gig I was sharing a car with (comedians) Silky and Dan Antopolski on the way back into London and they told me how it really is and how you’ve got to knuckle down for a few years.

''So with the gig having gone well I thought why not let’s crack on with it.”
 

He plumped for performing topical material; despite the constant need to keep reworking the material when you’re doing news inspired stuff, for Sherwood it seemed like an easier, more natural option.
 

Topical stuff

“Quite often when you start talking about some things in a comedy routine to my mind you have to establish the relevance of it and I think that was what drew me to topical stuff.

''You don’t need to establish the relevance, to say why you are talking about this thing that’s on the front of all the papers that everyone knows about.

''I used to quite envy the people that could just start talking about their dad or something, I’d think why should people care about that?

''But, of course, people do, once you’re standing there talking to them people listen and will take whatever it is you want to talk to them about.”
 

The News Quiz

It may be that he doesn’t perform the topical material in his stand up set anymore but he still writes it, you can still catch his stuff on BBC radio on BBC7’s Newsjack, Radio 4’s The News Quiz and The Now Show.

In fact, he’s at the Beeb as we speak, writing gags for Look Away Now, the topical sport’s show on Radio 4.

“It’s ‘write a joke about this now please.’ That kind of stuff.” He laughs.

“In a way it’s easier, if I’m told write a joke about this now I actually find that easier than if I’m told write a joke now because if you’ve got something it needs to be about you’ve got a frame of reference. You know exactly what it is you’re meant to be talking about.”

James Sherwood is at the Frog and Bucket on Friday, July 17 and Saturday 18 and is at the Buxton Fringe on Friday 24 and Saturday 15.