Comedy's brutal... and bitchy

Michael McIntyre recalls his circuit days

Michael McIntyre has spoken of how he hated his time on the comedy club circuit, because of the bitchiness of other stand-ups.

He said he felt a ‘terrible vibe’ around the circuit, fuelled by more established comedians who couldn’t cope with the fact newer names were overtaking them.

But he also suggested: ‘Maybe people just can’t cope with how jovial I am.’

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he said: 'When I was knocking around on the circuit I could just feel it in the room. There was one time when I was actually in the loo in the dressing-room, and they all started bitching about me. I had to open the door and say, “Hello!”

‘It got so bad that I started bitching about myself just so people would talk to me.’

McIntyre, who spent several years on the circuit before his rapid rise in TV, said comedy was ‘a brutal profession’ because of the constant competition for the audience’s affection.

‘When you are doing the clubs... You all have to go up individually and get judged by the audience, knowing that at the end of the night they are going to go home and say, “So, which one was your favourite?” It’s a bit grim. It lends itself to bitchiness. It helps them to feel better about what is a very brutal profession.’

And he said the older hands were the most unwelcoming. 'They have been doing the job for 10 years and they have done thousands of gigs, and then I will come along, or Peter Kay, or some kid who shows up and gets a bigger laugh and connects in a way that you don’t even understand. How do you take that if you have been knocking around for 10 years? From the very early days of my career, I had this real sense of “this is nothing to do with you”.’

In the interview to promote his new Showtime DVD, McIntyre added that he doesn’t watch other comedians too often, as he doesn’t want to be infleunced and because ‘I don’t study stand-up as an art.’

Click here for the full interview.

Published: 11 Nov 2012

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