Frank Skinner, in his distinguishably dry voice, responded to my question “Is it okay if I record our interview”, with “I have been okay with it since 1987″– the year he started his stand-up career. His tone resembled less of an ‘I was born ready’ John Wayne vigour, and more of a ‘let’s get on with it’ readiness to answer the same questions he’s answered many times before.
He needn’t have worried, however, as I asked him about starting stand-up, bad gigs, working-class confidence, and if he’d rather stand up or sit down at the toilet (as an established master of standing up).
The title of Skinner’s current stand-up show summarises his career as 30 Years of Dirt, echoing the lyrics ’30 years of hurt’, from his legendary football anthem Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home).
Skinner mentioned the tune to me as “a football song I did”, assuming I hadn’t heard it. A humble assumption, considering the “football song” in question topped UK singles charts repeatedly, broke records, and hasn’t left the mouths of optimistically hopeful England football fans since its release.
30 Years of Dirt is “about a man trying to clean up his act who can’t clean up his act”. As a comedian known for being partial to a knob joke, Skinner told me that “Modern comedy is becoming a bit more sophisticated, and people are having themes and stuff in their shows, whereas I’ve always just done jokes”.
With sold-out shows in Manchester and an extra date added on November 29th, it seems that the people of Manchester love a knob joke, too. Skinner unfalteringly declared “Manchester has a special place in my heart”, reflecting on the countless gigs he did in the city during his early years as a comic.
“When I first started doing comedy, I did more work in Manchester than I did in London. I always went down really well in Manchester while I was still struggling in London. I thought that they were more in tune. London can be a bit over-sophisticated at times”.
This over-sophistication was somewhat juxtaposed by a recurrent Manchester gig run by an act he fondly recalled as being “Agraman the Human Anagram”. “It was fabulous times and I knew a lot of Manchester comics and hung out there a lot”.
From the days of Agraman to the current era of comedy that critics often describe as ‘woke’, I asked Skinner how much he’s had to adapt his comedy since the start, or if knob jokes (to summarise his comedic material in his own words) have proven themselves to be timeless.
“When I first started, I did a sort of working man’s club, and I went on and did some stuff about various sexual activities. The compere came on, apologised that I had talked about masturbation, and said ‘I will never book him at this club again’. Then he did about three racist jokes in succession and got massive laughs”.
“I’m not in the dressing room thinking ‘oh god I can’t do my racist stuff’. I think [‘woke’ politics] has improved the world and will hopefully improve comedy after that. I do believe comedy can change the world…I might look at stuff I did 20 years ago and think well I wouldn’t do that now because I’m a slightly different person… I mean, there is no point in woke politics if it doesn’t educate people”.
The success of his stand-up shows now is a far cry away from the beginning of his career. When I asked Skinner if he had any memories of bad gigs, he responded: “There’s so many” with a laugh.
“I can’t pretend it doesn’t hurt, because it still does after all these years. I think it was Yoda who said, ‘Failure the best teacher is’”.
Yoda, as Skinner highlights, must be onto something, with his career having spanned from crowds of zero, to being a legendary name in the history of stand-up.
“If you stand back and actually think about what you’re going to do – i.e. stand in front of an audience for an hour and a half and make them laugh – that sounds impossible in the abstract. You really have to go out there believing that you are a mighty comedy god or goddess”.
“I did The Isle of Man recently and… that felt like a wall of silence, but when I started out, I’d have probably regarded that as a storming gig”.
It’s this mindset that turns any situation into a comedy show for Skinner. “If I get in a lift and there’s three people, that’s an audience for me. I think if I’ve got two floors, I should be able to get a laugh for each floor out of them. But yeah, I like doing it and I believe that I’m the funniest person on the planet”.
Before he tested his material on people in lifts, however, Skinner would perform to the A-level English classes that he taught, remarking that the process of “stand-up comedy is not very far away from teaching”.
Teaching was somewhat of a foundation for Skinner’s Poetry Podcast, which he described as “A bit of teaching English through the back door… and the discipline is a lot easier because you can’t see the audience”.
Skinner noted that the most common question about his poetry podcast is ‘Why you?’. On a recent TV show, he couldn’t help but notice that while his passion for the arts was questioned, as a comedian who grew up working-class, the Made in Chelsea reality TV stars attending prestigious art openings weren’t doubted: “You know, the accent makes a difference, I think”.
His love for poetry isn’t just questioned by people in show business, however. It has also been a cause of suspicion from his family at home, too. Having “only read comic books till [he] was 21”, Skinner recalled, “My nephew one day said to me we’re a bit worried about you with your Shakespeare badge – because I used to wear a Shakespeare badge”.
“Some people, certainly my friends, were a bit threatened by it [his education, not his Shakespeare badge]. They thought I was being superior, and looking down on them, because of getting this education. I think other people – my family and that – thought it was just weird”.
“I remember being on the bus with another student and they started talking to me about Shakespeare and I was so anxious. I thought people would think ‘Oh god, people on the bus earlier were talking about Shakespeare, what a couple of knobheads’, but I think that is what holds a lot of working-class people back”.
The first collection of poetry he owned was The Mersey Sound – a collection by three poets from Liverpool who wrote about their working-class experience alongside making literary references.
“They weren’t ashamed of it, they weren’t embarrassed about being interested in that, you know…It’s important not to let the middle and upper classes have all the good stuff”.
In his podcast, Skinner intends to “hold up a bright light saying, ‘Come in, have a look at this stuff, I know you’ll love it'”. His goal isn’t just to share his passion, but to make it more accessible – clearing up that poetry is something everyone should have the pleasure of enjoying, no matter their background. Having reached the top podcast charts nationwide, he’s done a good job.
The Quick-Fire Questions
On introducing the quick-fire round, Skinner said “Oh no. Not a quick-fire”. This really filled me with confidence.
If you were to rate your best to worst between radio, TV and stand-up, what would you do?
“I would say… television last, probably stand up first and then radio in the middle”.
What about ventriloquism, slapstick and musical comedy?
“I think ventriloquism first… musical comedy, and then slapstick”. Skinner commented on liking this particular question: “I love ventriloquism. You do wonder with ventriloquists whether they sit at home, talking to the dummy, you know. There are some that are very creepy about it, which I like”.
Who’s a comic that you enjoy at the moment?
“Chloe Petts. She was my support act for some shows and she’s very funny. And she does quite a lot of football material”.
What’s your favourite panel/game show that you’ve been on?
“I think probably Taskmaster”.
Did you have any idea how it was going to turn out, being in the first season?
“‘Original cast’ they call it in the theatrical world. No, and the money was rubbish. And I did it mainly because I believe Alex Horne to have a very unique mind. And I thought, if it’s going to be anything like what’s going on in Alex’s head, it’s going to be good to do…. it was a rare occasion where a comedian on telly was allowed to be himself”.
For my final question, I discovered how much Skinner lets his professional life impact his personal life by seeing just how much he likes to stand up. So, a Mancunion exclusive: when I asked him if he’d rather stand up or sit down in these scenarios, Skinner said he’d sit at a gig, sit on public transport for one-stop, and stand up at the toilet: ‘”If I was going to urinate. I certainly wouldn’t sit down”—a commendable illustration of his commitment to stand-up.
Skinner ejected himself from the conversation soon after informing me in a dreamy manner that his “favourite band in all the world” The Lovely Eggs would be watching his stand-up show at the Manchester Opera on November 29th. If you want to join The Lovely Eggs in watching the funniest man around, you should probably get your tickets soon.
Tickets are available now for Frank Skinner: 30 Years of Dirt.
