James Acaster on Hecklers Welcome and the reason he's now a comedian

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

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Күн бұрын

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@TREVONBACH 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

Same in Australia.

@helenl3193 2 ай бұрын

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)

@viktorragnemar9018 2 ай бұрын

Same!

@Peter-f2m 2 ай бұрын

Wow man awesome. Welcome to great comedy. FAULTY TOWERS is classic. PEEP SHOW is amazing.

@TREVONBACH 2 ай бұрын

PEEP is this with d mitchell? Unknown yet. Not truly acting fan but standups and the education of who everyone is from TM has truly opened my options. Currently digging on millican and need tonsee gormans google show again. That was sick. Thanks. 5 or so years in the making all thanks to james. @Peter-f2m

@tatlockandfriends 2 ай бұрын

I went to many of the disaster gigs James talks about in 'Hecklers Welcome'. He seemed really angry at the time, like he hated being on stage. He would shout at the audience, degrade them, make people feel like they needed to leave. Honestly, a lot of these gigs were really uncomfortable. I'm surprised to see just how honest he is in his new standup set, understanding and even admitting how he behaved; he seems to understand not only how he used to behave but, more importantly, why. Hopefully that means he's healing a lot.

@clivet3252 2 ай бұрын

Maybe he should be refunding the audience while he's doing this healing?

@brookewestonctc 2 ай бұрын

I was at a recent "Hecklers Welcome" gig, and it was fantastic. He genuinely seemed to enjoy himself and interacting with the audience was so much better when he had to follow his own rules. I hope he tours again, and sticks to the new style.

@NotJamesBrown Ай бұрын

I had the exact same thing. I went to Manchester in 2018 to see him. During the set, a man started subtly filming on his mobile from the back few rows - JA literally stoped the show and changed character totally, and threatened to prematurely stop show. We were all so shocked that we spent the rest of the night talking about how awkward it was, rather than how good he is. Anyway 6 years later I read his book and it all made much more sense… the same reason I got into comedy!

@daudder 2 ай бұрын

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

@shantayedincsoy1611 2 ай бұрын

Thank you! Only reason to keep max!

@Crow-Fly Ай бұрын

I just watched Hecklers Welcome 3 times in a row! I don't think Ive ever laugh so thoroughly, loudly and with tears at a comedy special!! James is absolutely incredible :)

@sophiusdynami3401 2 ай бұрын

You can tell Richard really enjoys James...

@dmontes133 2 ай бұрын

🤣🤣🤣

@NessaK1981 2 ай бұрын

They are old friends. James went to Richard's wedding!

@brookewestonctc 2 ай бұрын

When James is interviewed by Richard, its pretty much the only time, he seems relaxed and happy, rather than being "in character"

@datgrrl_official 2 ай бұрын

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

@joe8513 2 ай бұрын

Somewhere there is a woman named Rebeca who, for years, has been bragging that she went to primary school with Richard Herring. Now she has to quit her job, sell her house, change her name, and start a new life in the south of France.

@somecunninglinguist 2 ай бұрын

I got it on vinyl! It's awesome

@dianaalkire3257 2 ай бұрын

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

@CrashSable 2 ай бұрын

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

@synchc 2 ай бұрын

Your cat can read?

@jamiebee1231 Ай бұрын

It’s like watching Fred Armisen do a serious interview

@LC-le9ew 2 ай бұрын

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

@nicmarks1332 Ай бұрын

I watched last night on Sky/Now in the UK and totally agree - its not rapid fire and i think could be edited a bit better but it really got my thinking about my inner boy. I've know about it (him!) intellectually for decades but somehow something about his show got me to emotionally understand how I bring him along with me more than I realise ...

@hettispaghetti6061 2 ай бұрын

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.

@kathleenlytle7362 2 ай бұрын

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

@tricknfa 2 ай бұрын

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

@MrOtistetrax 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@jackharle1251 2 ай бұрын

Go back

@kathleenlytle7362 2 ай бұрын

@@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

@nancyhubbert1401 Ай бұрын

"a whimsically fucked-up life"

@trishriederer1857 2 ай бұрын

James is looking very good and healthy these days

@andrewgoddard6116 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@JayPhonomancer 2 ай бұрын

@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 2 ай бұрын

@@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 2 ай бұрын

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

@Millennial_Mike 2 ай бұрын

Very much the Stewart Lee approach

@JoeBleasdaleReal 2 ай бұрын

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

@KenLieck 2 ай бұрын

@@JoeBleasdaleReal So who should have been his Herring?

@paulbuntine 2 ай бұрын

@@KenLieck Gamble

@barnaclefelching4079 2 ай бұрын

Jacaster : The Banbury Year

@KenLieck 2 ай бұрын

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...

@lorigibbs2379 2 ай бұрын

love u James ..whole family thinks ur great

@wonko_the-_-sane 2 ай бұрын

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

@KenLieck 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

@@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.

@dreads9536 2 ай бұрын

@@wonko_the-_-sane I think that was Ken's point. I also went to one of the Hecklers Welcome show and there wasn't much heckling but if you invite heckling it kinda extinguishes is it. If you're asking people to heckle you're only going to get pretentious people who want attention actually heckling rather than some authentic spur of the moment inappropriateness.

@yesstar6307 2 ай бұрын

👑👑

@garyrigby21 2 ай бұрын

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

@yesstar6307 2 ай бұрын

🏆

@SUPER_WOLFMOON 2 ай бұрын

...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 2 ай бұрын

Are you saving money Richard by only having one camera?

@Herring1967 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

@@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 2 ай бұрын

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

@dianaalkire3257 2 ай бұрын

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

@minixtvbox 2 ай бұрын

@@Herring1967you've charged for content so there's few viewers and a death spiral of revenue. Get good content and ad revenue

@ValuedComment 2 ай бұрын

I remember James having a bit where he really criticised Nick Frost for using the N word in Shaun of the Dead. He said it was even worse because Frost had improvised the word. So it was odd when they had him on Off Menu.

@brookewestonctc 2 ай бұрын

That was the last Herring interview. You can criticise somebody's decision and still respect other aspects of them. I agree with James, that line shouldn't be in the movie, but it doesn't mean I now hate Nick Frost or don't love other things he's done (or, in fact, the rest of that movie)

@GentlemensWatchServices 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@meaninglesskibble 2 ай бұрын

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?

@dmontes133 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@originalbft 2 ай бұрын

Try Josh Johnson

@portaccio 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@JayPhonomancer 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

Acaster is very different to Lee

@ValuedComment 2 ай бұрын

I think, in general, they're quite different comedians, but the part about hating the audience and blaming them for bringing friends who don't 'get him' is 100% a Stewart Lee thing. And I'm sure everyone in that audience knew that too. Hearing James go on to talk about funny things that happened to him as a child was more Rob Beckett/Russell Howard/Greg Davies that Stewart Lee. Stewart's actually mocked comedians for doing that type of material. 'For example, and this is true...'

@sarahs1405 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

@@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 2 ай бұрын

@@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 2 ай бұрын

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

@mftmss7086 2 ай бұрын

@@paulrowlston4239was still happy to take the money

@wyntingley 2 ай бұрын

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.

@bladepanthera Ай бұрын

Listened to this and another recent interview with him and it does sound like his perspective on life and his attitude to performing has changed. I would be curious to see him live now.