Preview: Q&A with Alun Cochrane

Daydreams and whimsy: Alun Cochrane

According to the title of one of his previous shows, Alun Cochrane “thinks the world is wonky”. It’s his own off-kilter outlook which has seen him become a hugely acclaimed stand-up, and a series of TV appearances have only helped his stock to rise.

Ahead of a string of Midlands dates on his current tour – with a show entitled Alun Cochrane is a Daydreamer (At Night) – Who’s Laughing Now spoke to Alun to find out more about the man beind the gags.

WLN: What’s your latest show all about? How would you describe it to someone who’s not familiar with your comedy?

Alun Cochrane: The show is ostensibly about me being a daydreamer but I’m afraid at various points I end up talking about real life. If I was to describe it I’d say “It is a funny bloke being funny, about life.” It isn’t the sort of thing where you feel like you are missing the joke whilst others are enjoying it around you – in that regard I’m a straight-forward stand-up.

WLN: You appeared in the TV series from We Are Klang. How did that part come about?

AC: I know them all well from the circuit, during the Edinburgh Festival I usually share a flat with Steve Hall (the creepy little Jewish one who says he is actually the brains behind the whole operation). Really he is just doing what I tell him to do, so in a way they are all my puppets and I am the Svengali figure in the background. And somewhat modestly i gave myself about three lines in one episode.

WLN: What often inspires you when you’re writing new material? Are there certain themes or ideas that you tend to revisit, from different perspectives?

AC: I love stand-up because I believe you can get material from anywhere – this show has stuff about driving, Barack Obama, the economy, crisps, babies, doing it, and walking past people in the street. Theme-wise, I’ve always been interested in the concept of growing up and the motifs that we attach to that, like driving, marriage, parenthood and house-buying, I have now done all those things but still struggle to feel fully like a ‘grown-up’ and I believe other people often feel the same way.

WLN: What else are you working on at the moment? Can you tell me about it?

AC: I read a comedian in an interview saying he was working on a massive TV project that he couldn’t talk about, and I thought it sounded like great PR with no comeback if the project failed to materialise. So, I too am working on a massive TV project that I am really not allowed to talk about, but it is going to be amazing.

WLN: What are your other interests outside of comedy?

AC: Tragedy.

WLN: What’s your favourite lie/inaccuracy that’s ever been said or written about you?

AC: That I turned down the Martin Freeman role in The Office. That I have a massive TV project that I can’t talk about.

WLN: What’s your favourite place that you’ve ever visited, whether professionally or as a tourist, and why?

AC: I did stand-up shows in Iceland years ago when it was just a wonderful, different, strange, slightly otherworldly country; rather than a yardstick for global financial meltdown.

WLN: What’s the first thing you do after getting up in the morning?

AC: Usually wish I’d slept a bit longer, then stifle a urine-inflated erection, have a pee, brush teeth, go downstairs and pop the kettle on. Pretty normal stuff I’d expect. Is this ‘keeping it real’?

WLN: What’s the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?

AC: Years ago I was backstage at the Empire in Belfast worrying about the show I suppose, and Jackie Hamilton who runs the gig told me,  ‘Ah, just be good company.’ I think that is basically it. Be properly funny and you’ll be good company.

WLN: What’s your most treasured possession?

AC: I read an interview with a very pompous rap star and they were asked this question and replied, ‘my children’. And I thought, they’re people not possessions… My wife?

WLN: Who during your childhood most influenced where you are today?

AC: Probably my Dad by dying when I was four. He was apparently a really funny man, as a consequence I think I grew up prizing humour more than other children might have.

WLN: What effect has fatherhood had on your outlook, and how has that impacted on your comedy, if at all?

AC: It has impacted my comedy in several ways, the most obvious one is I can now talk about being a dad.  More subtly though I think it has made me more determined to do well. When I was younger I think I used to worry that selling myself could be over-selling myself. But now that my career buys my son’s shoes I don’t think it is fair to do that, so I have to grow up and let people know I have been working hard at comedy and that I’ve got pretty good. Even saying pretty good when I mean very good feels like I may have just done him out of his first bike.

WLN: What do you think has been your biggest achievement so far?

AC: I have a massive TV project i can’t talk about, it will be an amazing acheivement if it ever gets made. And this week at my tour show in Norwich I made a man puke with laughter, and Guinness. That is hard to do.

WLN: Is there anything you regret or wish you’d done differently?

AC: I’m not sure I should’ve turned down the Martin Freeman role in The Office.

WLN: What’s in store for the future? What are your hopes and ambitions?

AC: I want people to realise I have been quietly going about getting really good at this. Other than that my ambitions are modest. I’d like to be tidier, and I’d like to do the Heimlich Maneuver. I am trying to spread a few rumours.

See Alun Cochrane is a Daydreamer (At Night) live at Warwick Arts Centre on 11th October, Coventry Showcase Cinema on 29th October and Birmingham’s Glee Club on 7th November. For tickets visit Alun’s website.