BY BEN WEST
Note: this article was first published in 2017
A regular on tv shows such as Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You and Live at the Apollo, Stephen K Amos is one of the country’s most recognisable stand-ups. And not only a regular on the international comedy circuit, and a prolific writer – he writes a new show each year – his long and impressive CV also includes stints as an actor, including the West End stage, tv and film.
Somehow he found time in his hectic schedule to talk to Black + Green Magazine about his forthcoming appearance at the Greenwich Comedy Festival.
Does he know Greenwich well?
“I only know the area from performing at the Up the Creek comedy club and playing the O2 – and also a schoolboy visit to the Cutty Sark,” he says.
“I’ve watched the regeneration of Greenwich over the years. In terms of an aesthetic it looks incredible. Probably some locals think there are too many high rise buildings and some historic architecture has disappeared, but for the economy of the area it’s a good thing.”
Although Amos may not know this corner of south London so well, other parts are certainly very familiar. Amos’s parents came to the UK from Nigeria in the 1960s and he grew up in Brixton and Tooting with seven siblings. I ask whether he started performing comedy as a child, as he was competing with so many brothers and sisters.
“Anyone coming from a big family is competing for attention, from both siblings and parents,” he says. “So quickly I found my defence mechanism was to be loud and funny.”
Amos grew up in 1970s Britain, when shows like Love Thy Neighbour (featuring a white man ridiculing his black neighbour and vice-versa, which would now be considered racist name-calling) were on peak-time TV. It is not surprising, in that climate, that the name-calling transferred to the playground, as Amos has discussed in the past. Did he use comedy to diffuse the situation?
“It was not a conscious thing,” he says. “I was not bullied at school in a traditional sense but you knew you were different. A kid comes to a brand new school, you’ve got to do something to fit in. I moved towards humour as it tends to unite all of us.
“Nothing drew me to comedy, it happened by chance. My original intention was to join something like Citizens’ Advice to help people who could not afford legal representation. But I found that making people laugh and changing perceptions was also quite effective.
“When I started it was not to be a star, it was a calling, a hobby. There wasn’t that career projectory, to work towards Live at the Apollo and stadium tours. There were no courses teaching you to be a stand-up comedian. Now there are, which I find quite extraordinary.”
Live comedy audiences have been declining in recent years, for a variety of reasons including austerity, so much comedy around, whether live, on social media, television and radio. However, Amos hasn’t written it off yet.
“People who like comedy will always go and see a comedy show,” he says. “Nothing beats a live comedy night. There are so many styles of comedy, it’s a great thing the UK has to offer. But social media sites mean that you can watch a whole plethora of things. And maybe people who were coming twice a week before to shows are now perhaps coming twice a month.”
Does he agree with the widely held belief that many comedians tend to be prone to depression?
“I think that idea is largely born out of myth. In the old days there were only three tv channels and the only point of reference was being funny. If a comedian was then seen in the street and not being funny, if they saw you in the street and you weren’t looking happy, they jumped to the conclusion you’re not happy, that you’re depressed. So people assume you’ll be funny all the time. However, there is a vulnerability: it’s very exposing inviting people you don’t know to judge you.”
So does he get nervous before going on stage?
“I probably get most stressed before a performance if I have to do a live tv set, as in those situations you’ve got to get people on your side in a set time, keep in mind what you can and can’t say. You can’t go over time or under.”
Amos tours the world regularly, and audiences can be very diverse.
“I just did a festival in South Africa,” he says. “I had my reservations about what to expect, but the fact that it is an amazing multicultural, multiracial, multireligious country blew my mind. I had based my expectations on my perception of the country. I would have hated to see that the audience was not ethnic because they were priced out.
“After I came back from South Africa it was a complete contrast. I did the Henley Festival, and there was a very different energy, with all the dinner suits and dresses.
“In the UK the cities are very different to the home counties, where there’s a bit of the ‘bring the jesters to us’. And the northerners have a long tradition of working mens’ clubs so there’s a ‘make us laugh then’ attitude. Audiences are all very different. And comedians also these days: we have lots of comedic voices out there. We can hear female, Asian, a nice mix of voices, it’s amazing.”
Amos has often used his comedy to influence, educate and encourage, and that has especially been so since he came out publicly in 2006, inspired to speak out after a friend was killed because of his sexuality. In 2007 he made ‘Batty Man’, a documentary about homophobia in the black community, that has had a lasting impact and has since been used in schools and prisons. Since coming out, some sections of the media have described him as a ‘gay, black comic’, although first and foremost he sees himself as trying to tell jokes that make people laugh and make them think.
With comedians routinely sailing close to the wind for some years now (think the likes of Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat and Bruno, Ricky Gervais’s treatment of subjects like disability, much of Jimmy Carr’s live set or perhaps Little Britain’s Thai bride Ting Tong) I ask Amos whether there are limits to comedy.
“I think any subject is worth tackling in a comedic fashion if it is presented in the right fashion and done well,” he says. “Whatever any comic says will offend someone somewhere. In my circle there are people affected by death, loss, financial ruin. Someone in the audience could be offended, so it’s not what you say but how you present your material.
“In my routine I use the word ‘golliwogs’ and when I say it I can hear the audience clamming up. Words are very emotive.”
Before his Greenwich gig, Amos will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as he has every year since 2003, after debuting in 2001.
“I love Edinburgh,” he says. “People don’t realise that if you do the comedy circuit you do a 20-minute set. Before I was doing my own shows, Edinburgh was literally the only place you could do a full show, a longer show, where you could make a point, have a narrative. It’s a very great educational tool. You can’t help but feed off the energy and buzz of the audience. They come from all over the world, so it’s not just London- or Liverpool-centric, but a great mix of backgrounds.”
What has been the best moment in his career?
“There are two,” he says. “People coming out and seeing you, sitting in your company for a couple of hours. Also the first time I was ever asked to go to Australia to do a show, in 1998 I think. It blew my mind that someone was going to pay for me to go to another country and pay for me to perform. The follow up was when my parents stopped handing me cuttings for jobs at the council that were jobs for life.”
And the worst moment?
“I received some very bad news at the end of last year. I had only a week to process it. I’ve only cancelled about five shows ever and four of them was at that time. It was so difficult to get back on the bus and perform, to put on this front and do these shows and be happy. You can’t go on stage and be in bits.
“In the early days you do gigs where no-one laughs but that’s part of the experience, it’s part of the learning curve. you get knockbacks from TV companies and things, but nothing compares to heartache in your life, and having to go on stage and perform.”
What would his advice be for an aspiring comedian?
“Don’t think you’re going to be an overnight star, don’t copy anyone else’s style. If you think of a joke and think it’s original, it’s probably not.”
Although Amos travels the world performing his shows, he has a special fondness for the Greenwich Comedy Festival, which he has headlined several times in the past.
“It’s one of the best-organised festivals out there,” he says. “And the site of the festival, the National Maritime Museum, is just breathtaking. Can’t wait to be there again.”
