Affable Sheffield-born stand-up Tom Wrigglesworth made the headlines for an act of generosity which got him into trouble. Having turned this story of goodwill into an acclaimed one-hour show – which was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award at last year’s Fringe – Tom now brings it to the West Midlands, with a dates at Warwick Arts Centre on 28 February.
Simon Harper spoke to Tom about the resulting show, Tom Wrigglesworth’s Open Letter to Richard Branson, and found out what’s in store next for the genial Yorkshireman.
Who’s Laughing Now: What can you tell us about your current show, Tom? How would you describe it to people who have never seen you perform stand-up before?Tom Wrigglesworth: Well, it’s funny! It touches a nerve, a lot of people say, because it’s all about a story that happened to me on the train. An old woman had to buy a new ticket, which was a bit unfair, and due to the extortionate costs when you have to buy a ticket on the train, she had to hand over all the money she had. Over a hundred quid, it was. I tried to intervene – I helped out, and had a whip-round to get the money back, and then I got arrested for begging.People get outraged actually when they come to watch it, because I think people really care about the trains. People really grumble about their privatised status, and it’s so expensive and unreasonable sometimes if you get the wrong train that it’s quite a treacherous pastime, rail travel.WLN: So is a lot of your comedy inspired by everyday things that happened to you, like with this show?TW: Yeah, this one was. Most things are, to be honest. A seed or spark of imagination will come from something real, and then it gets you thinking about it, doesn’t it? Most of my stuff is true, or 99% true and I’ve just flowered it up a bit. That’s how I usually operate.WLN: Are there certain themes that you find yourself revisiting, to look for new angles or new ideas for jokes?TW: No, I wish I was that clinical about it actually! I normally like the underdog to win in a situation, and I think that’s quite a British trait isn’t it? I normally like the little man to win in the end, but I’ve never gone over stuff with a certain paradigm in mind. I might start doing that, it’s a good idea.WLN: I believe you’ve set up a petition inspired by the subject of the show. When people talk about your comedy as politicised or, in this case, having a sense of social justice, is that the way you see it too?TW: Not really, I try to shy away from it. It just happened to me, I didn’t go out and ask for it. I started telling a story, and it is something I’m passionate about so I set up a petition because that was what I wanted to happen – I wanted everyone to change the rules, like Virgin did. Virgin changed the rules in the end, I should point out.WLN: So it was a success, then?TW: Yeah, and now I’m trying to get the other train operators to change the rules too. That’s what the petition’s all about, but I’m not really a social campaigning comedian. I wasn’t ever intending that to happen – it’s just panned out that way, really.WLN: The press picked up on the story as well. Did that have much of an impact on the attention you were getting as a performer, or the size of your audiences?TW: That’s hard to judge. Possibly. There’s every chance that might have happened. It did get in the papers. But I never wanted it to go in any newspapers, it all just got out of hand very quickly. And then when I did a show about it, it was free PR I suppose.The only thing I can think about that I know for sure, is that when I was in Edinburgh I occasionally do these daytime shows. Showcase shows, where you get several comedians who just give a 10-minute sample of their show. Not always, but because they’re in the day they tend to be frequented by more mature members of the Edinburgh Fringe audience. I remember doing those gigs and then that night, sure enough, there would be a lot of over-50s in. There will be some people who came just because they heard the story, without a doubt, but I think a lot of people will have just seen me do stand-up and this just seemed to help me propel a little bit further.WLN: You mentioned there about the Edinburgh Festival, and you were nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award at last year’s festival. What kind of impact do you think that nomination has had on the kind of opportunities and exposure you’ve received since?TW: It helped enormously. I wanted to do a tour. I wanted this show to be a show that gets me out on tour. That was always the idea, and it has so that was the main thrust of doing Edinburgh. It’s really weird because one thing just kicks another thing back into peoples’ attention. The story happened and then went away, obviously. I didn’t talk about it. Then I wrote a show about it, which dragged up the whole story again, then you get nominated and so the nomination drags up the story. Then you do a tour about the story so the nomination gets dragged up again! Just when one thing is about to lay permanently at rest, something else kicks it back out of the water. So it’s difficult to know what spurs what on.That’s where we are, anyway. Sorry, to answer the question…! All I wanted to do was the tour. I’ve been asked to do Watchdog-style consumer rights things, and I’ve just turned them down because like I mentioned, I never wanted to do that. I’d just be shit at it. At the time of this happening I was so angry, I was spurred on to do something. But I’d be rubbish at campaigning in real life; I’d be terrible.WLN: I suppose it must be quite frustrating that this kind act has almost led to you being pigeonholed.TW: It’s really hard because I don’t want to be pigeonholed but you do want to sell tickets to do a successful tour. People have got to remember you for something, and it’s not a bad thing for the strapline to your name to be ‘that guy who helped someone on the train’. I’m think that my next tour is going to be about all the bad things I’ve done! In a bid to balance the books, really, so people don’t just think of me as this self-promoting saint that does stuff to get free PR. It’s not the case; it was out of my hands!WLN: You’ve recently been guesting as the host of BBC Radio 7’s Comedy Club. How did that come about?TW: The usual sort of…what’s the word…’old school tie’…nepotism, is it? I happen to be friends with the producer because I’ve done his gig a lot. The producer of the show runs a stand-up gig that I’ve worked at loads of times, and the main presenter was moving house, I think. I was also friends with him, so it was just a phone call out of the blue. It was good fun.WLN: And do you hope to work in radio or even TV more in the future, or do you prefer to concentrate on your stand-up?TW: I think I’ve still got a long way to go in the stand-up world, I think, so I want to concentrate on that, certainly. But I do fancy…I’ve done little sitcom pilot things, and I like the idea of doing a bit more acting or more radio work. I wouldn’t want to do the TV presenting that I’ve been asked. That’s what I want to do: a bit of radio, acting, and live stand-up is what I love at the moment. That’s where I’m taking up my time.WLN: Which other comedians do you like or feel an affinity with, in terms of their approach to comedy? Anyone you’re a fan of at the moment?TW: Roger Monkhouse is one of my favourite comedians. He’s a really solid circuit comedian, and he simply should be bigger than he is. He’s got everything right about him. As soon as you meet him, you know where he’s coming from and it’s such a strong recognisable character – sort of grumpy old man, but he’s still got a streak of rebellious teen in him. So he’s really identifiable even when you’re not in his age group. And he’s got such a wonderful way with words and natural timing, he’s an absolute joy to watch. So I’d like to be as comfortable as he is on stage.WLN: What people or things have influenced your comedy? Do you have any heroes, within the comedy world or otherwise?TW: When I was little, Dave Allen…I used to really like watching him. I remember supporting Russell Howard on a tour and he was just starting out, so this was before he got massive. I went along and we’d not seen each other for ages. He came and watched me at the beginning and then disappeared. And afterwards he said, ‘Yeah, you were a bit too good – it scared me into going over my notes!’ He was brilliant by then, and I was nowhere near as funny as he was going to be, but just to have that ethic of, ‘Christ, I need to get better’…anyone who constantly self-improves is an inspiration.WLN: You’ve already mentioned about possible ideas for the future. What are you working on at the moment?TW: I’m working loosely on the next show. It’s very early days for it. I’m doing this show on Radio 4 – it’s taking a bit of time to condense it down to half an hour. So this tour show is going to go on Radio 4 at some point, by the end of the tour, so that’s nice. And then next, in a bid to shake off this Good Samaritan tag, my next show is my apology to someone. I’ve not really written it yet, but it’s about the bad deeds I’ve done.WLN: A few quick-fire questions now. What’s your favourite method of transport?TW: Without a doubt, the trains. The Eurostar is actually my favourite. The type of train that goes 200mph and they’re fucking amazing.WLN: What are your interests outside of comedy?TW: Films and cooking.WLN: What’s your favourite place you’ve ever visited?TW: My favourite place is the roof of the cathedral in Milan. It’s amazing.WLN: What was the last book you read?TW: The last book I read was called They Fuck You Up, which is like armchair psychology. Well, it wasn’t really armchair psychology, that’s doing it a massive disservice. It’s all about how your place in your birth ranking – as in, where you are regarding brothers and sisters…oldest and youngest – totally shapes your personality and everything else. It shapes the way you were dealt with as a child, which in turn shapes the way you deal with the world. It’s fascinating. And you’ll find that a lot of comedians are in fact youngest siblings.WLN: And is that the case with you?TW: It’s totally the case with myself, yeah. Loads of comics I know have got older brothers or older sisters. They’re always the youngest one, and because they were teased a lot when they were little they have to be funny because that’s the only way they’ll be heard in all the din, being the youngest, weakest one. They have to be something a bit different. It sounds extraordinary but it rings true time after time. And you’ll find that the oldest child will often go into some traditional role, like an architect or something traditional and serious, and then the younger down the line you get, it’s the more wacky, out there jobs that people go for.WLN: What was your dream job when you were growing up as the youngest in the family?TW: Probably footballer. I used to go and watch football a lot.WLN: Which team did you support?TW: Sheffield Wednesday. I could probably get a game there now, to be honest. I’d probably have to bring my own shirt.WLN: What are the most and least enjoyable things about life as a stand-up?TW: The most enjoyable is a pretty easy question. When everything’s going well…you are doing what you love doing, and you’re getting immediate gratification for it. It’s not like you have to wait for a sense of whether what you’re doing is good or not. You get an immediate hit. I’ve been all over the world doing this, and it’s been really kind to me so far. Hopefully it’s just going to get better, but I’ve seen some amazing things and I’ve met some amazing people.The other day I did a gig for Radio 2 with Florence & the Machine in a room where there were five of us crammed in. So I did two minutes of stand-up to Jo Whiley and Florence and her two band members that she had with her, and the producer. So there were four of them and me. I did stand-up for two minutes, which was just weird. It went all right, thank god, but it was extremely bizarre, and then Florence & the Machine played an unplugged song with guitar, harp and her singing, in a room where everyone could touch each other, and it was unbelievable.The worst part…the travelling sucks. It drags a bit. Sometimes it is disheartening when you turn up and you’ve got to say the same thing as you did last night, so it’s easy to get bitter. You’ve got to reinvent yourself to stop going mad, and you can easily miss your family.WLN: What’s been your proudest moment so far?TW: Probably when Virgin changed the law, to be honest, although that wasn’t comedy. That was me just banging on at them. I got married in Las Vegas, I was proud of that. Or maybe I wasn’t proud of that, I just enjoyed it. I got pissed and liked it. What a proud moment! But Virgin changing the law…I’ve still got the letter from them saying, ‘You’re right.’ It’s a nice feeling, I suppose.WLN: Have you got any ambitions for the future?TW: I haven’t really had time to think. This tour’s all I’ve been working on for ages; it’s taken loads of preparation. And it’s been all I’ve wanted to do for ages anyway, so I need a bit of time to think about the next level of ambition, I think. Ask me in a few months and I’ll tell you! I just want to be the best comic I can.
Simon Harper regularly reviews comedy events in the Midlands –
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