“SOMETIMES I APOLOGISE FOR MY INTELLIGENCE”
DM He’s brilliant, no question. And yet, like Jimi Hendrix or synchronised swimming, he can leave me feeling more impressed than engaged. He is articulate and angry. He writes good jokes. His history of civilisation — an excuse to let off some steam about our society’s rampant half-wittedness — is filled with sharp observations. But the rapid-fire delivery that keeps this self-consciously smart comic alive on the circuit can become deadening in an hour-long show.
KB He’s the most erudite man on the circuit and he’s not afraid to show it. He says what I want to hear — people standing up for good language, for not jumping on bandwagons, for not letting the things we have previously held dear disappear, in subtle, understated ways. I’d been aware of him for years, without getting to see him. He was well worth the wait.
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CHRIS ADDISON I took a year off last year, to go and sit at Lords and the Oval. It was incredible to see Freddy Flintoff bashing out a ton. It was only when I went to see a preview show this year that I felt the adrenalin stirring again. Sometimes I apologise for my intelligence, it’s a very middle-class thing. I’m delighted to be nominated, I think the last four shows have been gearing up to this. I’ve been polishing it since it started. I’ve given myself a scare every year. I work right up to the deadline. When I come on stage every night I always make myself pause. I’m very enthusiastic about the subject, in fact I’m wholly over-enthusiastic, so I just want to run on and get down to it.