I'm going to keep this short because Steve Hall, the zany arse, has provided Beyond The Joke with its longest-ever answer (on the thorny subject of laughter on TV). That's not the only record he holds. Hall's acclaimed shows with madcap trio We Are Klang were surely the filthiest, most lunatic sketch shows ever staged at the Edinburgh Fringe. Hall's bum-based humour was a particular high water mark. He also writes for Russell Howard's Good News and was the first guest comedian on the show. He returns to the Fringe this year with a solo stand-up show entitled Zebra. He has become a father since the Klang days. Has parenthood matured him? I doubt it, but you'll have to see the show to find out. I'd wager it'll be a hoot either way.
Steve Hall is at The Stand from Aug 6 - 30, tickets here.
1. What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from
check your flies, check for spinach between teeth and check your
knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt)?
Press record on my phone, swear at myself into the mic. Gently cradle my balls. Then a last slosh of water as I’m quite the mouth breather.
2. What irritates you?
Of late, when people rail against those who incorrectly assert that a show uses a laugh track. It strikes me as the wrong debate to be having. The use of the phrase ‘laugh track’ when ‘laugh mix’ would be correct is a semantic quibble that belies a bigger problem: Rather than being annoyed at the misidentification of a laugh track, people should be asking - why is the laugh mix on some shows quite so shit?
(To be clear here - the specific thing that irritates me is that it feels like we’re having the wrong discussion: Yes, incorrectly labelling it a laugh track can be intensely irritating, but that shouldn’t distract from the too often ignored problem that an irresponsibly handled laugh mix can really hurt a show).
3. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
As a drunk teenager I jumped naked from a bridge into a river infamous for having all manner of submerged metallic dangers in it. Miraculously the only significant pain I had to endure was my penis bellendy-flopping against the surface of the water.
4. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
Choosing a subject I fundamentally wasn’t interested in to study at university, and then drinking my way through the next few years instead of changing course or university.
