James Acaster on Hecklers Welcome and the reason he's now a comedian - from RHLSTP 539

[@tatlockandfriends]

I went to many of the disaster gigs James talks about in 'Heckler's Welcome'. He seemed really angry at the time, like he hated being on stage. The audience was uncomfortable at many of these gigs. I'm surprised to see just how honest with himself he was in his new standup set; he really seems to understand not only how he used to behave but also why. Hopefully that means he's healing a lot.

[@TREVONBACH]

I wish James could read this note. His original 4 part Netflix was great. Pandemic hits I youtube James and it introduces me to taskmaster and my algorithm fell into British panel shows. Understand the giddiness when I met Richard Osman. I just wanted for James to know how much I appreciate him. Without him I don't know sean lock, sarah millican, Dave Gorman, and Richard herring. Thank you all. You have helped me thru DARK times. Much love from pennsylvania. USA Mr herring watching you read a script a few times on taskmaster then perform every part gave me a new admiration to memory skills of actors. Be well. Ps... how she thought that was a hippo... god save the king.

[@Elitist20]

Same in Australia.

[@helenl3193]

But .... The whiskers! (She's 100% right that they have them, it's just unfortunate most of us don't know that, or at least it's not the first thing we notice)

[@sophiusdynami3401]

You can tell Richard really enjoys James...

[@dmontes133]

🤣🤣🤣

[@daudder]

I was at the taping, and James just a superior storyteller. Looking forward to watching the special (on Max here in the US)

[@shantayedincsoy1611]

Thank you! Only reason to keep max!

[@CrashSable]

Watching James Acaster speak without his usual hyperactive persona is about as jarring as finding out your cat can read

[@somecunninglinguist]

I got it on vinyl! It's awesome

[@dianaalkire3257]

that's a different night of the tour, but it is awesome!

[@KenLieck]

Children's urine aside... It seems to me that getting "your" perfect audience every time would be hell for a comic. I mean, I know people like and laugh at the "greatest hits" so this is different, but when I would call Bill Hicks as a journalist and he would work his material into interview replies (as you do) he had no idea that as a fan I had heard the jokes many, many times, and I could sense the complete bafflement from him as my silence seemed to indicate that his best material was all falling completely flat. That couldn't be a good feeling, and I would think that neither could the awareness that nobody in your audience is actually hearing the material for the first time and authentically finding it hilarious. I would imagine that sort of thing would build quickly to internal trauma for someone like Acaster, and could even bring him to a "What's up, Doc?" moment...

[@datgrrl_official]

@Herring1967 Thank you for bringing James to us again. Always delightful. It is so nice to see him happier.

[@barnaclefelching4079]

Jacaster : The Banbury Year

[@garyrigby21]

The first guy who told the audience your not as good as last week probably meant it

[@trishriederer1857]

James is looking very good and healthy these days

[@andrewgoddard6116]

I did a film with James last year and regret so much the fact I kept it work based and never told him how much of a fan I am. We had a couple of scenes together and the fella called me by first name like he meant it. All the Hollywood types were lovely but could not have given a fig. Hope our paths cross again

[@KenLieck]

Aykroyd is the only one in that batch I would possibly expect to be a regular human. I almost met him at a House of Blues thing but didn't so I can't say for sure.

[@andrewgoddard6116]

@@KenLieck He was lovely. I remember explaining the cultural significance to us Brits of a Freddo Frog he was enjoying

[@JayPhonomancer]

​@KenLieck Not sure how normal Ackroyd is. have you heard/seen his episode of Off Menu? He barely let the guys speak, he was so focused on promoting his brand of tequila or something and just kept rattling on ignoring the format completely 😂

[@KenLieck]

@@JayPhonomancer Andrew's the one with firsthand experience; I was just guessing. Most famous people I've had an enjoyable time with would be, let's see... William Shatner, Tommy Chong and Jack Black (not all together, of course).

[@dianaalkire3257]

@@JayPhonomancer non-normal people are some of the best people.

[@Millennial_Mike]

Very much the Stewart Lee approach

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

Acaster is becoming a millennial Stewart Lee as the years go by

[@KenLieck]

@@JoeBleasdaleReal So who should have been his Herring?

[@paulbuntine]

@@KenLieck Gamble

[@LC-le9ew]

I saw Hecklers Welcome yesterday! It was surprising and sweet.

[@kathleenlytle7362]

James is what I need in a comedian since I have to live in USA.

[@tricknfa]

Less and less escapisms are working, gonna be a long rest of the decade.. or longer.

[@MrOtistetrax]

He’s very different from James, but if you haven’t discovered Josh Johnson yet, I encourage you to check out his stuff. Lots of fresh stuff on YT regularly. Best standup to come out of the US in a long time, imho.

[@datgrrl_official]

You don't have to live in the states kathy and you don't have to whinge about it.

[@jackharle1251]

Go back

[@kathleenlytle7362]

@@datgrrl_official … whinge? Is that what you consider a statement to mean? It’s nice that you’ve been afforded the ability to be so mobile. We all aren’t

[@hettispaghetti6061]

I saw Hecklers Welcome in Bristol in April, really enjoyed it. James seemed to enjoy the show too. At the end he had a conciliatory moment with someone in the front row and the group turned out to be one person that had brought a bunch of mates along. None of them except one had any clue who James Acaster was and they were very eccentric, pulling out maps they had made of a hill in the morning and trying to explain it and then attempting to hand one to James. But the rest of the audience was great.

[@wonko_the-_-sane]

Enjoyed the gig... not really much in the way of actual heckling really, but still good

[@KenLieck]

Invited heckling is not the same as regular heckling anyway. Though the most crippling kind is "friendly fire heckling". That's when your drunken buddies in the audience start in on you and you don't want to throw them out or be too harsh because you know they mean well but they're completely wrecking your act in front of everyone...

[@wonko_the-_-sane]

@@KenLieck To clarify i wasn't confused about the lack of insults, let me rephrase it to: "not much in the way of audience participation", hecklers welcome is more of a title for the show, than actually having the audience give James the material to work with.

[@lorigibbs2379]

love u James ..whole family thinks ur great

[@SUPER_WOLFMOON]

...and despite their best efforts to blend into the background with their white tops and black trousers they still stood out. Some advice, next time have make up a-lá Blueman group and turn off the microphones. 😉 Course, I really do love these comedians, even though they clearly called each other the night before and asked, "What are you wearing tomorrow?"!! 💙 Much love from a very amused internet heckler 💙 Thanks for the laughs!

[@alonzowurlitzer5617]

Are you saving money Richard by only having one camera?

[@Herring1967]

Yes. Or rather we can no longer afford the expense of having 3 or 4 and an editor for something that makes no revenue (it costs at least £1500 an ep, whereas a static camera is free).

[@dianaalkire3257]

@@Herring1967 are you also no longer putting the full video behind a paywall? Because I couldn't find it and would love to chuck you some cash for it.

[@Herring1967]

@@dianaalkire3257become a monthly badger at gofasterstripe.com/badges and you will be sent a link to access all the videos!

[@dianaalkire3257]

@@Herring1967 done! Thanks for always answering genuine questions on here, especially ones that in retrospect I could have figured out myself...

[@dmontes133]

It’s so sad that the U.S. has no funny comedians any more. I am American and I humbly acknowledge that British comedians are so much funnier!

[@simonwild428]

You’ve got Trump and whole new cabinet of comedians and clowns

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

Love James’s comedy and its great to hear he’s happier on stage, but I can never respect a man who’s shoe laces are that much too long.

[@KusacUK]

Much easier to get long-laced trainers to catch on the telephone wires, to mark the boundary between SW5 and SW6.

[@meaninglesskibble]

All my shoelaces are like this - guess I'm not respectable😢. These days I mostly wear thongs tho - where does that fall on the respectometer?

[@portaccio]

He's basically done a Stewart Lee tribute act for years. Now he's annoyed at his audience, and his real fans bring friends who don't know who he is which affects the gigs? I wonder where I've heard that before. He is funny but everything he does reminds me of bits SL had already done.

[@raidwipe]

I've read a few years back he would throw hissy fits whenever the audience wouldn't laugh as much as he wanted.

[@JayPhonomancer]

I can definitely see similarities between them but I think "tribute act" is harsh. There is enough of his own persona in there to make it different. The whole "audience bringing their friends" thing though is so Stew it's a bit weird seeing him do it here with Herring!

[@davidb5173]

Acaster is very different to Lee

[@totallybored5526]

@@davidb5173you are correct. Stewart Lee is at least mildly amusing

[@sarahs1405]

Paid a decent chunk of cash to see JA in the Wells Comedy festival few years back..he obviously couldn't be arsed and spent the time reading chunks from his book Used to be a fan but not after that

[@paulrowlston4239]

it's almost like you didn't listen to the interview and hear the man explain exactly how and why he was in that mental space then. I mean, if you had listened you might even consider your opinion based on new evidence. I mean, if you actually watched the video.

[@meu02136]

@@paulrowlston4239it doesn’t really matter to a paying audience member what head space the entertainer is in, because you’re paying for a service. If you went to a restaurant and had shit service, would you care what head space the waitress was in? No, you just wouldn’t go back there.

[@paulrowlston4239]

@@meu02136 Oh, I agree. On the night it makes no difference (except that we should remember that ALL entertainers are HUMAN, and even the very best of them can have a bad show.) But yes, I agree, his headspace on the night was HIS problem, not the audience. Indeed, I can confidently say that because James said that IN THIS VIDEO. However, let's follow your metaphor. If I got bad service from a waitress I might well decide to never go back. BUT, and this is the 'but' my post attempted to make, if I later met that waitress (or clicked on a link to a video specifcally featuring her) and heard her not only explain why she was bad that night, but also own the fault and describe the process she has gone through to BE A BETER WAITRESS, and if that waitress was featured on a video link I clicked on BECAUSE lots of people now think that waitress is one of the best in the world, I might consider treating that waitress like a person, not a commodity and giving them another chance, rather than - you know - recounting a story about that one bad experience and declaring my mind unchangeable. As Ali once said (to paraphrase) if you hold the same opinion (unchangeable) for thirty years you have wasted your life. And when the waitress is honest enough to come and say I was shit once, and I see that now and I have gone to great extremes to change hat, and you say, but you were shit once and that is all that will ever define you, then a person might ask, who is the shit one?

[@raidwipe]

@@meu02136 Spot on. His "mental space" might explain _why_ something is shit, but it doesn't excuse it.

[@mftmss7086]

​@@paulrowlston4239was still happy to take the money

[@wyntingley]

Saw him in Bristol a few years ago, he'd just played at a book festival the night before, there was a heckler somewhere near the front. He ended up sitting on the stage having an increasingly uncomfortable argument. I used to think he was funny. The most annoying thing was he was telling a story about travelling to Cornwall to see the eclipse, and never bothered to finish it. I realise now I don't care about the ending as I felt so ripped off.

[@hairywelder5188]

He's a comedian ?!

[@letranger2000]

He's an undercover cop.

[@vidalovecraft2903]

​@@letranger2000 Great, you just blew his cover and 2 years of work in the field. 😔

[@keithsquawk]

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