After lockdown, Spencer Jones moved with his young family from London to Devon - nearer to the beach, closer to his mum, and more chilled than the city. Was it an easy move? No. But was it the right choice? Also no.
Double Edinburgh Comedy Award and double BAFTA-nominated professional idiot, Spencer Jones, is back with a very silly story about the wrong kind of quiet, how to tell if you've become a lonely monster, and a vicious, vicious feud... with a chicken.
Making Friends, Spencer’s new show, delves into his move and its reverberations, and explores what happens when we lose our connection to our social supports. He takes us on a trip through the humour/agony of the neighbourly relationship, his worries about being a decent dad, and how not to scare off potential new Devon-based mates like an overeager teenager on a first date.
The show mixes Spencer’s trademark surrealism and absurdity with his most personal and relatable storytelling yet. Alongside his thoughtful meditations on isolation, family, and mental health, there will be songs about eggs and aggressive chickens, feet (that speak), and the story of a man slowly crumbling.
Spencer is the star of Mr Winner (BBC One) and The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk (BBC Two), the creator of Deep Fake Neighbours (ITV), and can been seen in Ted Lasso, Upstart Crow, and Live at the Apollo (BBC).
Making Friends, Soho Theatre: Wed 10 – Sat 20 April, 7.30pm
Buy tickets here.
Read a review of the show here - contains small spoilers.
What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and check for spinach between your teeth)
I slap both cheeks, five times hard. (my face cheeks) and then realise I’ve done it too hard (again) and walk onstage feeling like Mum has just told me off in the year 1982.
What irritates you?
The amount of time it’s taking me to adjust to the slightly larger turning circle on my Honda Civic, compared to that of the VW Golf I owned for ten years. I used to be a legend in the car park. I drove like an otter in a river. Now I’m just another bloke clogging up the arteries of traffic flow. It’s just hideous.
What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
Robbed a pub.
Set fire to a hornet’s nest.
Chucked bog roll water bombs at a gang of bikers.
Impregnated a human woman.
What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
1992-2008 is a decent wedge of time to choose from. So, I’ll go for putting a dress on and electrocuting myself whilst perched on a mantelpiece on purpose to freak out some heroin addict gatecrashers so they would leave a house party. It worked. I was such a legend that night. But all the lightbulbs and bog roll got stolen.
What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
How long I have been doing it. And getting away with it.
Interview continues here.
