Stand up Simon Day

Published on Friday 17 October 2008 10:33

TOMMY COCKLES, legendary music hall performer, and Dave Angel, Eco Warrior, are two of the comic creations that have brought Simon Day into homes across the land.

But now, the man best known for his characters in The Fast Show is putting his sketch-show personas aside to embark upon his first ever solo stand-up tour, What A Fool Believes.

It rolls into Edinburgh next month when the 46-year-old stops off at The Stand on York Place for one-night only.

"I've always done different characters, right from the start, that is what set me apart from other stand-ups," he says. "What's different this time, is that I'm doing straight stand-up, and the majority of the show will just be me talking about how I grew up, why I became a comedian . . . talking about the whole business really."

For the 46-year-old, who has been a comedian for 17 years, the new approach has proved a challenge. "I've never really performed as myself. Even when I first started I was constantly putting wigs on and doing American accents, so it's kind of weird coming out and saying, 'Hello, my name is Simon Day'," he admits.

"It certainly makes me feel more exposed, which is what the show is about: Why I wanted to be characters and not myself in the first place."

As you will have worked out, Day came to comedy late in life.

"I used to watch all the alternative comics on Saturday Night Live and people like Harry Enfield, and think I'd like to do that," he recalls.

"One of the reasons I think it worked for me was that I'd been working with a mate for years in a gardening business – which I really did not want to do. I was 29.

"Anyway, we fell out over a girl so I left that job. I didn't really have any other choice because I had no qualifications and there wasn't anything else I wanted to do. It was either comedy or go travelling – and I didn't have the money for that. So I threw everything into the comedy and luckily it paid off."

Day has Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer to thank for his early success – the pair took him under their wing after seeing him in a talent contest.

"It was only my second gig and I won," explains Day. "They took me onboard – much as they did later with Matt Lucas – saying, 'You're brilliant, come on tour with us'. That changed everything. It all happened so quickly, but they gave me the confidence to continue because, like every comic when they start out, I was dying a lot."

Despite his work with Reeves and Mortimer and appearances on shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Celebrity Driving School and Swiss Toni, not forgetting cameos as the taxi driver in the 2004 Christmas episode of EastEnders and as the wicked man in the card playing scene in the movie Simon Pegg movie Run Fatboy Run, Day's two biggest claims to fame are The Fast Show and 'those' Powergen adverts.

Created by Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, The Fast Show ran from 1994 to 1997. Over the years Day's characters included Antonios Gubba from Channel 9, Carl Hooper, Competitive Dad and John Actor, who plays Inspector Monkfish.

"Although I did characters when I worked with Vic and Bob it was weird because they don't really know how to use people. They will say, 'We think you are really funny. Why don't you dress up as a bishop and stand in a barrel and say 'Boiled onions.'

"That's great for their show, but you can't really move on from that," says Day. "So I was very lucky when Paul and Charlie, who used to come and see me, said they were doing a show and asked me to be part of it."

In 2003 Day became Bob, the face of Powergen, a series of comic adverts that ran for three years and for which he is now equally well known.

"They finished two years ago and were great because they introduced me to a lot of people who just watch ITV, they'd never seen The Fast Show on BBC2. Now I get recognised for those adverts just as much as anything else."

So what can his BBC2 and ITV audiences expect at The Stand on November 2? Well, Day has a challenge for them: "Bring all your unanswered questions along, like: Why does the Sunday Times weigh more that a six-year-old? Or how does Richard Hammond become a national hero by crashing a car? Or even, why the hell do we go to Ibiza twice?" he says, guaranteeing an 'hilarious' answer for each.

&#149 Simon Day: What A Fool Believes, The Stand, York Place, November 2, 8.30pm, 10, 0131-558 7272