Jeremy Hardy's new show: this time it's (a bit more) personal
After 34 years as a stand up comedian, you can forgive Jeremy Hardy for feeling a little bit reflective.
His latest tour – coming to the Highlands and Islands next week – offers a more personal look at Jeremy, whose wry observations and political comedy have made him a mainstay of the BBC’s radio and television programmes over the years.
“I’ve kind of reached the stage where I feel like I’ve sort of shied away from talking about myself quite a lot over the years,” he explained. “And I feel like letting the audience know who I am a bit more, instead of just what I think about things.
“I suppose it’s like, I can’t be bothered to write an autobiography, y’know, so I thought I’d talk about some of those things on stage!
Not that the comedian is about to reveal some salacious gossip as yet unheard of from the annals of his personal history. “I mean, it’s not that I’ve had the most eventful life, other than doing what I do, but I feel like these things connect up.
“Rather than your ideas or what you’re saying appearing like just some ideas you’ve picked off the shelf or at university you’ve just decided to be this, people realise that they’re an outgrowth of who you are as a person.
“Your politics and beliefs and values are sort of intrinsic to you, y’know, it’s not just a pick-‘n-mix of sort of stuff culled from political manifestos or books, it’s your identity.”
Those political beliefs are intrinsic to Jeremy’s comedy. A passionate and outspoken socialist, he has been a long-time friend of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – the two men who may be moving in next to each other at Downing Street as of today.
And, while this interview was conducted before the outcome of the election was known, Jeremy spoke about how he found the idea that his friends may run the country incredible – and weird.
“It’s quite strange to be in that position to see somebody who’s a friend suddenly becoming very high profile and kind of seeing the image that they have and seeing how that conflicts with the reality, or how people’s perceptions might be wrong,” he said.
“I mean, I suppose there’s lot of people who, probably lots of comedians who have been close to sort of big high-profile figures, but because I’ve sort of always been quite on the fringes of everything, I wasn’t somebody who was going to get invited to Downing Street at any point.
“But if the miracle happens and Corbyn’s in Downing Street then maybe I will get invited to Downing Street.
He pauses, then adds wryly, “I might get a seat in the House of Lords – that’s £300 a day, that’s not to be sniffed at!
“It is ridiculous in there – it’s like a big panto. You get these ridiculous sort of threadbare Victorian costumes and stuff, and all the security men are wearing doublets, and they look like they’re doing an amateur production of the Pirates of Penzance or something.
“But £300 expenses, and all you’ve got to do is clock in, it’s very tempting. You can see why people go, you can see why they’ve got their snouts in the trough when they lose their seat.”
Plenty of material to draw upon then for his Highlands and Islands shows – a five-date tour that will see Jeremy (Hardy, that is) take in dates in Stromness, Wick, Inverness, Skye, and Mull.
He’s a huge fan of the north of Scotland – Jeremy was only up here touring in 2015. “I suppose it’s because everywhere just seems to have its own character – and things are quite far apart,” he said.
“Like, the north of England is quite sort of busy, y’know, you don’t drive far before you hit another town and then towns sort of merge into each other, you get these big conurbations where one town merges into the next.
“And then, even when you get into the Lowlands of Scotland it starts to change and then once you get into the Highlands you just feel like there’s so much space and so many different places with really different characters and stories and histories.”
Describing the area as “beautiful”, Jeremy’s looking forward to fully exploring the region this time. “Yeah. It’s slightly annoying I’ve got to do these gigs!
“Nah, that’s part of it – it’s quite nice to have a reason to go somewhere, so you don’t feel the pressure to...I mean, when you go on holiday somewhere and you go ‘oh god, I better get the guide book and we better see what are the most important things you’ve got to do in the day.
“But then, the nice thing about doing this is that the one thing I’ve got to do is remember to do the gig, and then everything else is just a plus, really.
However, the emphasis is still very much on the “working” part of “working holiday”. “I should emphasise that the gigs are fun as well, they’re not purely to cover my expenses!” Jeremy laughs.
“In a way, the further away you go the more interesting gigs are, because you realise that stuff you’re talking about is of no relevance and you’ve got to suddenly explain it or you’ve got to change tact because of things that don’t apply at all, and there are so many local things that you DO pick up on.
“It’s not like going 100 miles to do a gig, you realise you’re in a very different place, so it’s more of a challenge, it’s more exciting.”
Jeremy Hardy comes to the Highlands over the next week, playing Stromness Town Hall on Friday, June 9, Mackay’s Hotel in Wick on Sunday, June 11, Eden Court on Tuesday, June 13, SEALL at An Crubh in Skye on Thursday, June 15, and Mull Theatre on Saturday, June 17. For more info or to book tickets, go to www.beyondhighlands.com
