CityLife

Interview: Danny Deegan

Danny Deegan

SOME derive inspiration from an early exposure to a great comedian or perhaps an epiphany experienced watching stand up at a comedy club. 

For Bury comedian Danny Deegan the idea that led to him to try comedy came to him in a more earthy manner.

“I got drunk one night and thought sod it, I can walk from Manchester to Bury.

“It was further than I thought and I stopped for a rest outside the Frog and Bucket and threw up.

“I was steadying myself when I saw the posters for the Raw Night. It took me four-and-a-half hours to walk home after that.”

Having eventually got home and sobered up, the notion stayed with him and he paid the Frog and Bucket a visit.

After playing several of the amateur Raw nights at the club it became apparent that he had picked up the performing skill pretty quickly. The Frog went on to champion him.

“Dave (Perkin the club’s owner) asked me to work for them.

Confident

“It was good because I was on first name terms with all these comedians who otherwise I wouldn’t have been, Toby Hadoke and Des Sharples, Mick Ferry, Tony Burgess, Alex Boardman.

“One of my jobs was to make sure they were all here and talk to them a bit before the show.

“For the first six or seven months I watched all the shows at the Frog.”

Deegan continued to do well in his first couple of years, venturing out further than the Frog.

In 2003 he came third in the City Life Comedian of the Year competition, yet somehow he was dissatisfied with his stand up set.

So in 2004, taking a break from comedy when he travelled to Australia – a 21st birthday present from his mum and dad – he used the opportunity to re-think his material and returned increasingly confident about what it was he wanted to do and achieve.

“I started again because I hated what I was doing, people were laughing but I didn’t find it funny.

“When I came back I started telling the longer stories which people can go for or not, but it made me happier. It was much more to my liking.”

Contented

Indeed at first his new style didn’t always sit well with some of his audiences but since then it’s had time to bed in.

“I found that in the earlier days, I wasn’t getting as big a reaction as I got in the past but I was getting more people coming up to me telling me that they loved it rather than everyone walking past and going, oh that was all right.

“But I was getting a minority of people saying how much they had enjoyed it.

“As it’s gone on and I’ve got better I’ve worked out how to make it appeal to more people and make it more palatable. To be honest I suppose I’ve just found the common ground.

“I’ve found what the audience like and what I like and I can meet us both half way.”

Consequently these days Deegan’s a pretty contented man. Not bad considering he hasn’t even reached 30 yet.

“I think maybe I was a bit limited in ambitions because I’ve achieved them all.

“It’s got me nowhere but I never wanted to be famous or anything like that.

'Cult fame'

“All my ambitions or dreams and stuff that I had when I started I’ve achieved.

“I make a decent living from doing stand up and I can do the places that I enjoy doing.”

He pauses to consider: “I suppose there is a part of me that would quite like cult fame or something like that but I bumped into Jason Manford about six or seven weeks ago in a shop.

“I couldn’t talk to him for two or three minutes without someone coming up and asking for his autograph or someone saying they liked his DVD or something.

“I thought if this was me in his position and I was talking to an old school friend or something like that this could actually get on my nerves.”

Besides he doesn’t feel like he deserves it, though we would beg to differ.

“To be honest with you I haven’t really worked hard enough for fame. I haven’t earned it.

“I see what people like Jason, and Jason Cook as well, have done to get themselves a bit of a name and think do you know what? I can’t be bothered with that.

“I’d rather sit in my underpants and play on me Xbox during the day rather than sit there and write for hours and hours.”

Well it doesn’t seem to be doing him any harm…

Danny Deegan is at the Frog & Bucket, Oldham Street (0161 236 9805). January 8, 2010. £14.