The comic behind Boris

Johnson recruits stand-up as scriptwriter

Boris Johnson has hired an open-spot stand-up to help write his speeches during his bid to become London major.

The Henley-on-Thames MP has recruited Oxford-based Tom Greeves, who describes himself as a ‘lifter of weights, a Conservative and a British Americanophile’, to work on his lines.

Greeves, who took part in the Free Fringe show If Not COMedians at Edinburgh last year, has been described as having ‘a scarily convincing ability to impersonate a nutter’ and an ‘in-yer-face PC-bashing style’.

Coincidentally his stand-up set contains a routine about how much he hates cyclists – even though Johnson famous travels by bicycle when he can.

Greeves, who has long worked in Conservative politics s as a researcher and writer, said his role on Johnson’s team was ‘very exciting’.

‘Any lingering desire to become an MP has been replaced by a determination to pursue stand-up comedy,’ he added. ‘I started just over two years ago, and it’s the great love of my life.’

The 32-year-old runs the Ministry Of Mirth comedy club in Oxford and following his Edinburgh run last August wrote on his blog: ‘The comedy has gone jolly well… from an artistic standpoint I'm pleased and confident that there HAS been substantial progress. I need to build on this next year. I'm good enough, and I don't want to screw around.’

And of his politics he wrote that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was ‘an inspiration’ and that ‘I am fed up to fury of being told that I should care about “the vulnerable”… [and] I don't want my own kids to be schooled amongst the thick and idle.’

Here is Greeves in action: