The comedian and author on studying laughter theory, industry frustrations and the perils of gigging at a racecourse
How did you get into comedy?
I studied the history of variety and vaudeville under Oliver Double at university and then did a master’s in standup comedy. I was really interested in laughter theory: what laughter is, why humans do it, how making people laugh works theoretically. It had a certain amount of practical work where you had to do 10 gigs and document them. I did 40 and then never stopped.
Who did you look up to when you were starting out?
Eddie Izzard is the first comedian I became aware of – I remember finding the shows and the vibe so funny. My parents had a cassette of the show Glorious and my sister and I listened to it endlessly. For my 17th birthday my sister took me to see Sexie and that was my first live comedy show.
Listen to Lexx Education.
