17 Jan 2015

Jasper still has crowds rocking with laughter

Jasper Carrott warms up the crowd at Birmingham Symphony Hall
After the success of last year’s Made in Brum tour, Jasper Carrott is back on the road again with his musical mates: ELO’s Bev Bevan, Trevor Burton from The Move, Geoff Turton of Rockin Berries and Joy Strachan-Brain (Quill), to Stand Up And Rock!
“We did get standing ovations at each show and we would have had 100 per cent standing ovations if everyone could stand,” joked the comedian and folk singer whose career spans an incredible five decades.
During that time he’s seen a lot of changes on the comedy circuit.
“One of the big changes is the use of expletives. I remember in 1977 I did a series and I had a big battle to try and get the word b******* into the routine.
“Eventually I got it, I think for the first time on TV, but I had to leave out ‘foaming jar of urine’. It’s just the morals of the day.
“I really do dislike expletives in comedy routines. The vast amount of time it’s used to shore up very weak material. I think come on, you’re better than this.
“I used to allow myself one ‘s***’ a night because it was so effective when I used it, in context. “That was my indulgence.”
But the Solihull stand-up, who still lives just 12 miles from where he was born in Acocks Green, said comedians’ material hasn’t really changed since he first started out in the 1970s.
“I’ve spent the last two weeks just watching stand-up on YouTube.
“I’m thinking ‘I did that in 1976’ but the comics who are doing it don’t know that, they’re naive, they don’t know it’s all been done before.
“When I broke through, stand-up was blokes in bow ties telling jokes about mother-in-laws and Irish people.
“So when I came through, I had the whole of stand-up to myself, apart from (Billy) Connolly and a couple of others, but I could talk about anything because it was original. If I started now, I don’t know if I’d do it.”
Known for his anecdotal story-telling, Carrott said at the age of 69, he was debating a radical shake-up of his stand-up style.
“I’d love to go back to social commentating really because there’s so much wrong with the world; fluoride in the water, mercury in your teeth, mobile phone masts, GM food, global warming, chemicals and preservatives in food.
“But it’s very difficult to do, to harangue people and be funny. And whether the public would accept it I don’t know.”
Jasper’s Stand Up And Rock! tour will be at Solihull Arts Complex on September 23, 24 and 26.

No comments: