We caught up with The People’s Comedy co-founder Jon Matthews to talk about lockdown, TPC and getting started in comedy.
Hi Jon. So, how has lockdown been treating you?
Well, to be honest it has got me down more this time around. The first lockdown had this sort of novelty value to it, the weather was good, I was furloughed and going down the allotment or for a walk or something most days. I suffer a bit from seasonal-affective disorder, so I’m always a bit less cheery in the winter and this time round has been tougher. I feel a bit more trapped in the house and you catch up with the news every few days and see the latest figures and the latest proof of how the government did x, y and z wrong or late and it just doesn’t feel very good.
What has helped you to get through?
My wife and I have been having a lot of fun together. I taught her how to make flatbread and we’ve been playing games and watching films and shows together. She’s busy with her studies and that motivates me to get on with stuff too. I’ve been doing a lot of writing, which has been nice. I try to touch base regularly with friends and family, which is harder now we’ve moved up-country but is still really important.
How did you get started doing comedy?
I stumbled into it really. I had been writing poetry for years but doing nothing with it, these silly little poems about pubic lice and toilet graffiti and things. Someone pushed me into performing them and I started going to the odd poetry night in Southampton with a mate. It wasn’t great though; we weren’t made to feel very welcome and there was definitely an air of snobbery to it all. I was doing these poems and telling jokes I’d written in between and it would get laughs and things but no one was talking to us, it was a very closed off group. One night I was on after this American student who did a really long poem about how his best friend tried to kill himself when he was seventeen and it was terrible, it just droned on and on and I had to follow that with my silly little bits. After that I gave up for a while until I saw a flier for an open mic near where I was living that said ‘comedy’ on it, as well as music and other things, so I thought I’d give it a go.
How did it go?
It went alright. I think beginners’ luck is really important in comedy. You need one of those early gigs to get better than you deserve to give you the motivation to push through all the tough gigs you’re going to get. I was the only comedian, the rest of the acts were all musicians, and it was like that lot for the first year or so. There weren’t any comedy nights where I was living, so I wasn’t learning from watching other comedians, which is really important, but I was having a lot of fun. I made a lot of friends at those early gigs, people I’m still in touch with and hang out with now. They were good people and really encouraged me with their enthusiasm.
And then you went to China?
Yes, and then I went to China. That was really good, there was a thriving English-language comedy scene in Beijing. I got stuck in and learnt a lot quickly from performing with other comedians week-in-week-out and sort of analysing things together. I made friends and had a lot of fun and got to perform to some great crowds. It’s an interesting place, comedy wise, Beijing has about 300,000 foreigners living there, a good chunk of them are in that core comedy demographic of 20-40 and have the disposable income to go out to those nights. That’s like having a town the size of Swindon full of live comedy fans. Okay, so Beijing has about 23 million people, but a lot of the foreigners gravitate towards certain areas, so you end up bumping into people in bars or on the street that come to comedy nights and recognise you – which is weird. I imagine it can go to your head if you don’t have enough of a self-deprecating streak to see it for what it is. I used to call myself a ‘minor expat celebrity’ on stage as a bit of a joke about it. Loaded with irony, obviously.
Tell us about The People’s Comedy, what does that mean to you?
I love it. It’s a great gig and we’re always getting feedback from acts about how much they love it – as well as audiences telling us how much fun they have. It’s such a great venue as well, PRSC, and it’s good to be helping to promote them and what they do in the community. I think the theme captures people’s imagination a bit, it makes them interested and curious and presents a bit of a different challenge to comedians. I have a lot of fun MCing, it’s nice to see so many familiar faces and I have definitely missed it during lockdown. The couple we did during the gap were good, small audience and well spread out, but it’s not the same as a packed house. When the atmosphere gets going at PRSC, I don’t think there are many better gigs at this level. We were nominated for ‘best themed comedy night’ in the Chortle awards too, which was a nice bonus.
At The People’s Comedy you talk about paying acts as being really important, tell us more about that.
It’s one of the founding principles really, we take money at the door that we then use to pay comedians. We decided at the beginning we would pay all of our acts the same and that is something we’ve stuck to. One of the joys is that we’ve been in the privileged position of newer comedians telling us that it’s the first time they’ve got paid. It’s not a lot but comedy can be an expensive pursuit, travelling from here to there, and it’s nice to be able to take the sting out of it a bit – especially for working class comics, which there are so few of now. I also think that there’s a difference, when you’re being paid to do something you subconsciously up the stakes and that brings out the best in you.
What’s next for The People’s Comedy?
Well, we’re having to wait and see. We’ve got a date pencilled in for a return but that depends on the pandemic and government restrictions - we don’t want to rush anything. When that does happen and we’re convinced it’s safe we’ll be back at PRSC and The Lion, with limited numbers at first and then gradually raise that as things progress. We’re due to be doing another comedy night at Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival this year, if that goes ahead. I also have dreams of taking TPC to Edinburgh Fringe Festival and maybe setting up TPC nights in other places but we will have to see.
Cheers Jon.
No problem. Stay safe.