Marcus Brigstocke is back on the road with his latest show, Absolute Shower. Brigstocke is one of our most talented, versatile comedians, mixing satirical state-of-the-nation gags with top rate observational humour, killer impressions and important content about about dairy produce.
He has become a familiar face on television through shows including Live at the Apollo and Have I Got News for You and a familiar voice on the radio through I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, The Unbelievable Truth and Just A Minute. He can currently be seen on Steph's Packed Lunch on C4 delivering a topical routine each Friday.
Brigstocke, 49, lives in Balham, South London. He has a son and daughter from his first marriage and a third child with his second wife, comedian Rachel Parris.
Marcus Brigstocke is touring in 2023. Dates here.
Your latest show is called Absolute Shower. The title rings a bell...
It's what the character actor Terry-Thomas used to say. I've always liked the phrase. It makes me laugh and it's one of those ones you don't quite know what it means. But it seemed to sum up the last few years. Most of what has happened since 2016 has been an absolute shower of…
Although your #LockdownLipsync rap battles with Rachel Parris covering DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's Boom! Shake The Room and other classics did entertain the housebound nation.
Rachel and I got married in 2019. That was a wonderful. I felt so happy. But then the pandemic came along and we were just two comics stuck in the house twiddling our thumbs and looking for stuff to do!
You premiered Absolute Shower at the Edinburgh Festival last summer. Has it changed much?
Yes! Every time I do it someone’s been sacked from the government. Because the tour has been extended I’ve rewritten a chunk of it every time I do it. But I love doing that. And I feel like audiences like the really reactive stuff. That something really important to me. To keep working on it. It’s never finished.
Do you talk about the pandemic in your show?
Yes. That time changed a lot of us. I ask the audience what they did during lockdown. One woman told me ‘I knitted jumpers for chickens'! This was for rescued battery hens who don't have any feathers. You'd think it would be simple to knit a jumper for a chicken. Essentially a woolly cone; but no - you have to make sure the wing holes are in the right place. I have this delightful image of a chicken in a double breasted cardigan.
The last time I saw you onstage was when you did the show Devil May Care and you played Lucifer, sporting a red face and horns. Is it a relief not to have to wear make-up like that this time?
It is and it's also a relief for the pillowcases that don't get stained. But it was interesting as a transformative thing, painting my face and glueing on horns then washing it all off again. It was thrilling to still be a stand up but not have to be me.
Do you still enjoy touring?
After 25, 26 years of being a stand up I still love it. Though I am a bit more sensible about how I do the dates and spread them out more. Make time for family. Gone are the days when I could drive from Plymouth to Norwich then on to Aberdeen and then get home and still be of any use to anybody. I also have to fit in my show on Jazz FM and all the other stuff I do.
The pandemic really made me realise that you have to make time for the things you are passionate about.
How do you decide on the theme of your shows?
It's always been the case for me that I can't really do stand up if I don't care about what I'm talking about. Sometimes I just find something so funny it has to go in. I've got a bit that I love doing about wellness and Gwyneth Paltrow. This show is it's a joyful mix of fury, optimism and silliness.
I ask myself ‘what do I want people to take away from a show like this?’.
With stand up if they are not laughing you're not doing your job. I like that. You can be political, you can be clever or silly but if the audience aren’t laughing you're doing it wrong.
Do you talk much about your family life onstage?
Yes. During the pandemic we had a late stage pregnancy loss. While members of the government were having parties in Downing St Rachel was hospitalised and I was not allowed to visit. They told her that we'd lost our daughter and she would have to go through the birth anyway and at that time there was no certainty that I would be allowed to be there. In the end I was there, the NHS staff were so kind and brilliant and we got through it. It was the most painful thing you can imagine.
Happily we got pregnant again and have the most wonderful baby boy in 2021. So I now have a 20 year old, a 17 year old, a one year old and a new marriage.
Too much has happened to not talk about some of that on stage.
What is it like having another child when you are, erm, not in the first flush of youth. Is it significantly more exhausting?
It's easier because a lot of energy that you use when you first have children is expended on worrying. This time round it's amazing. Obviously I care a huge amount what happens, but I don't spend all of my time preventing him from touching stuff or climbing stuff or lifting stuff. He’s on the go all the time. Learning and exploring. It’s beautiful and exhausting but I don't wake up with a blind panic that he has stopped breathing. My base level assumption is that he's okay. Also having a new baby has coincided with me being an older man who wakes up a bit earlier every day.
You've officially become a cheese expert in recent years.
I qualified as a Level One Cheese Master. Before the pandemic I judged the World Cheese Awards in Bergamo. I had an absolute determination that British cheese producers should be supported during Covid as it was a very difficult time. I did my bit and as a result I put on a fair bit of weight. I've already got the title for my next show – Cheese And Whine.
You've certainly had a pretty varied career from stand-up to cheese-judging to musicals.
Any chance I get to do different things I just kind of say yes. When I played Barnum onstage I said yes even though I knew I'd have to do a 10 metre tightrope walk. I had the time of my life. The same with starring in Spamalot and Oklahoma.
You are in the new Magic Mike film Magic Mike 3: Magic Mike's Last Dance
I hope I'm in it! I was in the last series of The Crown and when it went out you could only see the back of my head so with Magic Mike they could have cut around me, who knows? But I was filmed dancing. In fact i was filmed twice. Once with Thandiwe Newton and then again when it was re-filmed with Salma Hayek. I would like to reassure readers that I keep almost all of my clothes on.
So you've had a taste of Hollywood?
It was actually filmed in the Clapham Grand in south London a few miles from home. I used to be a podium dancer but I kept that a secret and limited my moves to jigging about. I didn't want to upstage Channing Tatum.
Marcus Brigstocke Picture © Andy Hollingworth Archive
