CityLife

Interview: Michael McIntyre

McIntyre's success wasn't immediate

YOU might think that it was all glamour, greasepaint and groupies for a comedian when he hits the big time. But for many it still involves time spent in anonymous accommodation in less than inspiring autumn weather.

Michael McIntyre is no exception. “I’m in my hotel room in a very depressing-looking Birmingham on the 13th floor – and the view is not great. It’s just a lot of grey. Grey and miserable. And there’s just miles of it.”

Still, it seems that in the loneliness of a West Midlands hotel room McIntyre is pleased to have someone to speak to, even a journalist. We spent nearly an hour on the phone – ‘it’s probably cost me 12 grand’ he exclaims, laughing – and he’s chatty, friendly and engaging throughout.

Don’t get him wrong, though. Certainly McIntyre’s not complaining about his lot (or Birmingham, for that matter). He’s one of those comedians who spent years on the circuit – in and out of the CityLife listings and the Manchester clubs – ?only to suddenly find himself flavour of the month.

Effort

Was it is his appearances on Live At The Apollo? Maybe. Was it The Royal Variety Performance? Possibly. But you can’t deny that he’s one of the most popular and sought-out comedians around at the minute – fronting his own Comedy Roadshow and currently on a tour of the country’s arenas.

But McIntyre’s only too aware of how much effort he had to put in before he made it, particularly here in Birmingham. “I came here for so many years doing Jongleurs comedy club and going on first.

“Once I went with my wife and I did so badly she didn’t want to walk out of the building with me. We had to leave separately!

“We stayed in this horrible hotel that’s just next door to here and then you go and struggle in front of stags and hens. Going on first as well – so in that particular empire I was at the bottom of it. I never headlined Jongleurs.

Bigger scale

“And here I am in this hotel and half of the hotel I used to stay in has a billboard of my face. I’m just really enjoying that!”And he’s helping to break other acts too. His Comedy Roadshow TV project has raised the profile of many of the acts who have appeared in its first series. It’s helped Rhod Gilbert’s current rise and Kevin Bridges sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe thanks to the exposure.

“It wasn’t born out of my desperate need to break other people,” he says, but admits that it’s a great format to showcase stand up. “If you’re going to be on TV, and people want you to be on TV just try and do what you know and do best. There were various other suggestions and ideas, game shows and things, but I just thought ‘can I just do some stand up’ and then obviously the show writes itself.

“Live At The Apollo works, it looks great, let’s make it look like that and let’s take it on the road.”

But for the time being, it’s back to the live work but on a much bigger scale than the circuit clubs or even the theatres that he played on the last tour. So how are those big arena gigs going?

Comedy connections

“It’s amazing and exciting, but it’s also weird. I’m very intent and obsessed with making everyone enjoy themselves because there’s so many of them. I just want them to have a really good night and come back and see me in a couple of years.

“What I’ve tried to do is just to hit them with routine after routine; and as many punch lines as I can, and try and fill the stage. I ran around it too much in the first gig and got myself completely out of breath. I’m not that fit!”

When you read of McIntyre’s family comedy connections – his dad Ray Cameron co-wrote The Kenny Everett Television show and Everett himself was a familiar figure in the household as McIntyre was growing up – it’s unsurprising that he made a career out of comedy. 

But he says: “I wouldn’t go into comedy because my dad was in it. He died when I was 17 and was living away so I wasn’t really involved in his life and career, he was just my dad. When I was growing up, I remember just enjoying making people laugh and making myself laugh, I just liked being funny.”

Humble outlook

McIntyre’s comedic philosophy is quite simple and goes some way to explaining why he appeals to such a wide-ranging audience.

He says: “I just live my life and tell people the funniest bits and then next year I live more life and tell them the funniest bits of that. That’s all I’m doing.”

McIntyre’s simple observations have been honed into sharp routines and tap neatly into what people identify with.

But despite his fame his outlook is a humble one. “I’m a simple man lying in his hotel room in Birmingham who thought he was funny and trying desperately to carry on being funny so people will come back and see me in two years time,” he says.

And you can’t argue with that.

Michael McIntyre is at the MEN Arena on Tuesday, October 20 and Wednesday, October 21, then returns on November 11 and 26. His DVD Hello Wembley is released on November 16 (2009).