What is it about the Apollo that makes it such a common venue for stand-up comedy DVDs?
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There are two reasons.
One, the West End is a pain in the arse.
Its all owned by Westminster Council, and logistically its a nightmare to organise.
And its a big public space it looks impressive, but its expensive to play in.
Its a good venue.How does your material evolve over the course of a tour?
Does it change very much from how you initially wrote it?
I spent most of last year writing it I probably started writing in February 2009, I think.
I started working on stuff, worked on it all year.
And that winter I did a few small arts centres, small theatres, almost like a work-in-progress.
And its just constant polishing.
I did my first show in Leicester, and its so different now from what it was back then.
You slowly restructure the show, taking out bits of material that dont work, and expanding other bits.
[Laughs] Its an organic process.
Is that something you become conscious of as youre touring around?
I wouldnt say material works better.
The big thing I have identified, now Ive done a few big tours, is the venue.
Theyre designed for performance.
Theyre designed to make people feel like theyve had a proper night out.
When you sit down in them, theyre nice places to be.
Theres not that sense of occasion, and theyre not designed for performance.
So I often find its the venue that decides how hard or easy the gigs going to be.
The time of the week and the time of the month there are lots of other variable factors.
It can expand and it can contract.
Its not a set in stone joke, and some nights I wont even do it.
Ill make a judgement based on the audience.
Some nights Ill think, this bits not going to go that well.
One of the skills of being a comedian is making something look fresh and alive like its just happened.
That bit had been honed and shaped by the time it got there.
But thats all down to my skill.
Ill take the credit for it, even though it sounds shallow.
And its all been done before.
[Laughs]
One thing that is new, though, is your idea of audience Battleships.
How did that come about?
I like there to be some kind of purpose.
So I had this idea of getting the audience involved in a way that they would request stuff.
Thats where it came from.
But then I realised that I cant control what people shout out.
If they shout out Titanium, Im fucked!
I realised what was good about it was the element of How does he get out of this?
You put yourself in these ridiculous situations.
Its good to change the pace and tone of the show, and its good fun.
I think people to get that.
It almost becomes like escapology, really…
Yes, thats what it is.
Its a bit of fun, and it gets people involved in the show in a new way.
But you couldnt do it without the stand-up.
You need the solid base of a stand-up show.
Is that quite hard to control?
Has there ever been a time on tour where youve become completely stuck on an audience members suggestion?
Oh yeah, loads of times.
But I dont really mind that.
They didnt enjoy having something they liked being ridiculed in front of them.
It was like I was ridiculing them.
Like I was performing to the dressing room rather than to the audience.
Theres that saying about playing to the gallery I was playing to the dressing room.
I was amusing myself.
I was saying Comedians this is what theyre doing.
I stopped doing it, and concentrated on telling funny jokes.
Im glad I did that.
I enjoy it a lot more, and theres a more sincere relationship between me and my audience.
But Im still quite fascinated by the idea of finding out how funny people think I am.
Im quite fascinated by that.
I can come up with something quite funny sometimes, but Im not always going to do that.
Im just like, Im going to mess up.
Audiences generally like that you show that you are capable of being crap in places.
Some nights it works, some nights it doesnt work.
Thats another thing that attracted me to doing it.
Theres an element of that fallibility elsewhere, I thought.
As you say, thats not something that comedians necessarily do all that often.
Yeah most of the time, you think of the funny stuff much later.
Nearly always.Without getting too personal, how much of your set is as autobiographical as it sounds?
But he really did spit at me and drive off.
I think he was angry with himself because Id kind of trumped him!
Sadly, not often enough.
I wish it happened a lot more, because then my job would be so easy.
Youre recognised, you dont go to pubs.
You dont do things where randomness occurs.
So your source of material diminishes, definitely.
You stop being the observer, and become the observed.
If I may say so, your on-stage persona can appear quite bitter at times.
The audience knows that hes the depressive comedian, hes the up-beat, crazy comic.
Hes the one that talks about real life.
And its all pretty basic material thats knocking around on there.
I think Im actually quite mild about Twitter.
I used to go on about it for about ten minutes.
Im quite pleased by that.
Im glad youve noticed.
Its nice to talk to somebody whos actually bothered to watch it!
I say, Irritable Bowel Syndrome weightlifting!
like its a good idea.
But IBS isnt that bad, is it?
Ive got a sister-in-law who has it.
She probably wont be very happy about it, but I dont think Im going to get attacked!
Do you think thats a balancing act on stage, though?
The thing about stand-up is the amount of assumptions you make about whats going on in the audiences mind.
Its a constant commentary of paranoia from the stand-up.
All youre doing is measuring all the time.
Youre guessing how its going down.
Often youre wrong, you misjudge it.
As a comedian, youre making so many observations, so many measurements.
you’re able to misinterpret the sense of the room.
Then you speak to someone afterwards, and theyll say, No, it was great.
So its all how youre measuring it in your head.
Its a very strange experience.
It can take a while to talk yourself round.
Comedys the only artform where the appreciation can be measured.
You cant measure whether people are enjoying a song or a play, or darts, or film.
You cant measure it while its happening.
I realise Im giving quite long answers, Ryan, sorry about that!
So whats next for you, once these last few dates are finished?
Ive got nothing in the diary, so I dont know.
Usually something comes about.
And I said to my wife, Ive only got one days work!
and I had a kid on the way.
But then work started to come in, and Im sure it will this time, too.
Is there any more TV work in the pipeline?
I dont know.Eight Out Of Ten Catsmight come back.
I need to sit down and decide whether Im going to do another stand-up show or another TV show.
Ill take a few weeks off and make a decision about that.
I really like doing stand-up, because it gives you an immense amount of freedom.
You havent got anyone telling you what to do.
Its great to have that much power over what you do.
You dont have that in television.
So Ill make that decision in January, and decide what Im going to do in the year.
[Coughs] Im also hoping Ive gotten rid of this cold by then!
Sean Lock, thank you very much.
Sean Locks new stand-up DVD,Lockipedia, is available now.
