Frank Skinner ponders 30 Years of Dirt - dates in Guildford, Southampton, Eastbourne and Brighton - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Frank Skinner looks back over three decades of stand-up with 30 Years of Dirt as he tours the country.

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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex News Papers. Fantastic

00:06pleasure this morning to speak to Frank Skinner, no less. Now, Frank, you are on the road,

00:10you're playing Guildford, Southampton, Eastbourne and Brighton in our area, with 30 Years of

00:16Dirt, and you're celebrating basically...

00:17Can I stay at your place?

00:18You can! Yeah, I'm probably in the middle of all of it, yes.

00:24Perfect!

00:26There's plenty to read, yeah. You wouldn't have to go out in the evening. But you're

00:31on the road with 30 Years of Dirt, and that's celebrating 30 years of stand-up. Now, how

00:36much has that changed in those years? Are you still talking about much the same thing?

00:40And now I'm talking about quite different things, because then I was a young, sort of

00:45wild, overexcited 30-year-old when I kicked off, and now I'm talking more about my joints.

00:55That wasn't a drug reference.

00:58Skeletal joints, that is, yeah.

01:01Exactly. Yeah, no, I mean, the one thing that hasn't changed is that I have lost no enthusiasm

01:10for it at all. I love the whole process of touring, I love playing different gigs every

01:17night, you know. I like the sort of arriving at the theatre, sitting in the dressing room,

01:24the whole thing. Still, I keep saying to myself, I can't believe I'm doing this.

01:30Doesn't that ever seem like a bit of a slog?

01:32Never.

01:33Or a pleasure?

01:34Never. It's like an adventure, you know. Always. I love hotels, I love motorway services,

01:43I love late night driving, listening to the radio. The whole… I think I could happily

01:49tour without any shows.

01:51What would you do all evening?

01:54Well, I don't know, you know, sit around and tour. I mean, that's it, you've got your

01:58tour manager and your support act, so it's a nice little group as well.

02:03And presumably it's an absolute truism that every show is different, isn't it? You were

02:07saying, you were speaking just now, that people laughed at different things in your early

02:11days in London to what they laughed at in West Midlands.

02:15Yeah, and also, you know, I talk to the audience a lot. I don't see any point in doing a live

02:22show if you're going to do it like, you know, you're in your bedroom doing it in the mirror.

02:26So, every place has got different things to talk about and, you know, every front row

02:33is liable to throw up an exciting story. You know, there was a couple in the front row

02:38and I asked how they met and they both looked a bit sheepish.

02:42And she said, I was working for him and we met and I said, oh, God, was he the boss,

02:50you know, head of the office? And she said, no, no, not exactly.

02:55And I said, well, what was it? And after a bit she said, well, I was the babysitter.

03:00And the audience, there was an enormous whoop. And of course, you know, as long as it's treated,

03:06let's say, sensitively, there's a lot of juice in that particular fruit.

03:11Absolutely. And sensitivity is key, but this is 30 years of dirt.

03:15That's the other continuity then, dirt. And you were happy to use the word dirt, clearly.

03:20I saw a review you were talked about as offering gentlemanly smut. Is that?

03:25There you go. I'm happy.

03:27Is that how you would see that?

03:28Well, there is a long tradition, you know, of rude comedy in this country.

03:34Way, way back into medieval times is what people laugh at.

03:39A lot of people and people who don't laugh at it, they tend to have a problem.

03:50But why do we laugh at rude jokes then?

03:52I don't know. It's partly all the fear and anxiety, I guess, around the physical activities of adults.

04:03But, you know, it's good to be able to laugh at that stuff as well.

04:07Absolutely. And the other thing is that you're saying it so that we don't have to.

04:12Well, exactly. But also, you know, you see people doing dirty jokes and there's nothing more to it other than the fact that it's dirty.

04:21But I like them to be clever, sophisticated, finely crafted dirty jokes.

04:28That's the secret.

04:29So you're packing a lot into your filth then?

04:32Yes, it's filth of the deluxe variety.

04:36Fantastic. Well, long may that continue.

04:39Frank, really, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed.

04:42Cheers. See you soon.

Frank Skinner ponders 30 Years of Dirt - dates in Guildford, Southampton, Eastbourne and Brighton

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