Comedy interview: Stephen K Amos at the Colston Hall

Thursday 28th January 2010

Natalie Hale talks to Stephen K Amos - stand-up’s 10-year “overnight sensation”

Most of you will recognise his face. If you don’t, you soon will. Stephen K Amos is the hottest ticket in comedy today, with live audiences, comedy promoters and even the BBC all jostling for a piece of him.

The Edinburgh Festival favourite is currently on the road for his third, solo UK tour, proving just what all the fuss is about.

Amos’s critically acclaimed show is simply called The Feelgood Factor. There’s no political slant or message, and there is much less of the autobiographical theme that featured in his last two shows.

“I decided to just remember and write down things that made me feel good and made me laugh,” smiles Amos. “The idea came to me when I saw my four-year-old nephew really laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he said he didn’t know! How great’s that?

“It just so coincided with a time when the recession was being talked about non-stop, there was a financial crisis all over the world, the expenses scandal had come out, the weather was terrible... it just seemed like the right antidote to all this negativity that was going on.

“Lots of comics went out and said ‘isn’t it terrible what these MPs have been doing’ and the audience would just sigh and think ‘Yes, but we know that, now move on and entertain us’.

“I go on stage and tell the audience that I’m not there to preach to them and I haven’t got an axe to grind. I’m just there to have a good time and they are eager to leave their baggage at the front door and have a laugh.”

I first interviewed the genial comic in 2006, when he was slowly making headway on the overloaded comedy circuit. Witty, honest and warmhearted, Amos’ career has always been gently on the ascendant, but it was a string of high-profile TV appearances in 2007 that really got him noticed.

“In that one year, I did the Royal Variety Performance, Have I Got News For You and Live At The Apollo – all this great, high-profile stuff. Suddenly people were taking notice and saying ‘who is this great new guy? In reality, by that point I had been working in comedy for nearly 10 years. It wasn’t the overnight success that people seemed to think it was. Saying that, I’m not knocking it – I’m having a great time and I enjoyed my journey here.

“The rise of stand-up on TV is a bit of a mixed blessing really,” he continues. “When I started out, the way to make it was to go out to clubs and pubs and do your stuff. That’s how things happened for you. Now, it doesn’t matter how long you have been in the business or how good you are, if you can’t get on a television show then forget it. Someone who has never put the graft in or – dare I say it – isn’t all that funny – can be plucked from obscurity and made famous.

“On the flipside, it’s great to see stand-up getting so much exposure on TV – you’ve got Live At The Apollo, all the panel shows, The Comedy Roadshow. British stand-up is the best in the world and it’s great that we’re showing that.”

Of course, Amos’ recent prime-time exposure gave him some much-needed and well-deserved attention, but it was someone else’s ‘witty’ aside that propelled the comic into the headlines.

Amos had joked that television executives used a quota system for employing black comedians and that he wouldn’t get a look-in until Lenny Henry died.

In the line-up after the Royal Variety Performance, the Duke of Edinburgh was introduced to Amos and quipped: “You’re the chap that wants Lenny Henry dead. That can be arranged.”

Following in his grandfather’s blundering footsteps, Prince Harry met Amos the following year and, according to the comic, congratulated him on his set before adding: “You don’t sound like a black chap.”

With or without the bloopers of Royalty, Amos has earned his current success and his first DVD, which was released last November, is selling like hot cakes.

“I’m very proud of it,” he tells me. “I spent a lot of time editing it because we were joining two shows together. It was quite an arduous task sitting there everyday, going through everything, studying every line... By the end of day seven, you start to question if this is even funny anymore! But you just have to take a step back. It was more than worth it for the end result.

“I’m not a household name, I haven’t got my own show, I’m not a regular panellist on any of the comedy quizzes, so to have my own DVD out is amazing. I’m bowled over and very humbled by it.”

Amos may say that he hasn’t got his own show – but that’s all about to change. He appears to be the BBC’s new golden boy, and is currently working on two new series with them – sitcom In My Country and his very own series, The Stephen K Amos Show.

“We’ve recorded the sitcom, which is written by Simon Nye who wrote Men Behaving Badly. That is very, very exciting.

“Then there’s my very own brand new series. How cool is that? If you had said to me when we chatted back in 2006 that I’d get my own series on BBC, I’d have said you were being ridiculous.

“But now it’s happened and all I can say is HA HA HA HA! Bring it on! I’m a busy boy and I’m loving it.”

Stephen K Amos plays the Colston Hall on Monday, February 15. Tickets cost £16.50 – call 0117 922 3686.