The Comedy Club

MACK is back – and audiences around the country couldn’t be more delighted about it. The comedian Lee Mack is embarking on a huge nationwide tour. Due to phenomenal demand, extra dates have just been announced for the autumn, taking the tour up to a massive 97 dates And it would certainly be a grave disappointment to miss Lee. He is one of the most compelling live performers in the country. But don’t just take my word for it. The critics have been queuing up to heap praise on Lee’s coruscating new show.

When we chat in the run-up to the tour, Lee is on sparkling form. He is a comedian – and this is not always the case, I can tell you – who is just as funny off stage as on it. Lee, who also writes and stars in the immensely popular BBC1 sitcom, Not Going Out says that, “the best comedy you can ever have is when you’re in the pub with your mates. You can never beat that! That’s what I try to recreate in stand-up.” And he succeeds magnificently.

The other great thing about Lee’s comedy is that he doesn’t set out to lecture, merely to entertain. Nor does he have set subjects that he has to tick off during his act – he is such a talented stand-up, he is able simply to go with the flow.

“I never have fixed subjects that I discuss on stage,” Lee observes. “I never go on with any particular subjects in mind. If I spend ten minutes talking about my wife, it’s because I have ten loosely connected, wife-related jokes! It’s very flexible. If I’ve got a joke about size ten shoes, I’ll make sure that for the sake of the act my wife wears them! My show is not about anything. It’s not meant to be thought-provoking. It’s just meant to be a laugh.” And it is certainly that.

Because he enjoys such a tremendous connection with his audience, Lee is reluctant to follow the current trend for comedians to play arenas. “It’s the latest vogue. I could have done a night at the O2 in London, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’m not being big-headed, but for my act I can’t be talking to an audience of 12,000 people. There’s no intimacy.

“I don‘t think it’s good to have people watching you on a giant TV screen when they’ve paid to see you live. They’ve come to a live and they want to experience that. I was on the bill at the Christmas show at the NEC in Birmingham, which holds 12,000 people. It was great for fifteen minutes, but I couldn’t chat to the audience. You can’t ask someone in the front row, ‘what do you do for a living?’ and then shout out to everyone, ’he’s a butcher’. For me, it’s just the wrong vibe for comedy.”

Lee, who is also a resident team captain on the highly enjoyable BBC1 panel game, Would I Lie to You?, continues that, “the bigger the venue gets, the more you get away from what’s intrinsically best about comedy. If you can do one night at a 12,000-seater, why not do four nights at a 3,000-seater? It’s still pretty well paid!”

One of Lee’s most appealing traits is that he is resolutely un-fussed about being trendy. His comedy is not tied to any particular vogue – it’s timeless. “I’ve never been able to keep my finger on the pulse of fashion,” he reflects. “Unfortunately, comedy is increasingly becoming more like pop. It’s all about brands and competition, regardless of whether or not it’s good for comedy.”

Messenger 11:30am Friday 5th February 2010