Interview: Comedian Mark Thomas

Gaffa Tapes is on its way to Edinburgh and more importantly coming to Nottingham in October.  The promotion tells me that it is anti-Tory stand-up that will be familiar to people who know you. Can you tell me a bit more?

It's anti-Labour stand up now. I’m delighted that the Tories have lost and it’s always worth reminding people how vile they are. The 14 years of wasted opportunity and punishment of people without money. They’re the ones that allowed Reform in. People have got nothing to lose, and they don’t expect Reform to do anything for them really, but it’s rage. It’s like picking a bully who will push back on another bully. You don’t expect to benefit in any way. The left has got to claim the ground. We’ve got a new guy in town and there’s plenty to push them into place for. Unless you aggressively fight poverty and inequality then there’s no point in having a Labour government.  It’s simply not good enough to say well at least they’re not nicking anything.

Your previous show – seriously annoying – was in response to the proposed police crime and sentencing bill. The law under which five people from ‘just stop oil’ recently received lengthy sentences. Where does this take protest in this country?

The ability for working class and the left to organise is what they are attacking, not just in terms of protesting but also anti trade union legislation. These sentences have no attachment to reality. They’ve been sentenced to five years, for going on a zoom meeting. Absolutely draconian and pointless. The prison system is on its knees, and they’re putting more people in jail. Roger Hallam and his cohorts are the latest example of a marked increase in how protestors have been sentenced under anti-protest legislation. It’s there to crush organised dissent and the great irony is that this isn’t a deterrent, it’s a call to arms. If people don’t react to this then you must think what else will happen. We have to fight for the space we use. 

In 2018 you came to Nottingham with Showtime from the Frontline about putting on a comedy night in a refugee camp. This followed your walk along the wall in the West Bank – You must know people who are being unimaginably affected by what is and has happened there. How does political comedy to respond to this tragedy? Can it? 

Of course it can. One of the great things about improvising is that it starts in your head and before it’s even touched the sides of rational thought it’s out. Which means that comedy is the ideal form in many ways. These are my friends, and it would be insane for me not to reference it. You can’t pretend it’s not happening. There is a strand that runs through the pro-bombing supporters which says you dare not attack us, and for me, despite the subject matter, there’s an absolute crucialness to talking about this. It’s important to talk about it.

The last show I saw you in was the play England & Son by Ed Edwards at The Lakeside- which gained many awards and 5-star reviews. Why the return to stand up?

Ed and I take that play into jails and performing it there is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done. Because of our history, the fact that I’m sober and he’s clean, we do workshops with addicts in recovery and people connect to ideas, like toxic masculinity, without ever saying those words. It’s just thrilling. We’ve toured it, the play won six awards, and we’re on the short list to take it out to New York. But theatre is poor and we’re all skint, so I decided to go back on the circuit to get a bit of money. What’s been interesting is starting again with the free gigs where they put a bucket round. When you’ve been away for a while you have to relearn the language to communicate with audiences. I started stand up in the 80’s and 90’s and things have shifted and that’s fascinating. In one gig someone in the audience said they’d never heard of the Tories, so you can’t just preach to the converted. I’ve loved it. 

You talk about the lack of money in theatre, what are your thoughts about arts fundings at the moment?

The Tories and some Labour, see arts funding as the icing on the cake, when we’re the cake. If you look at the gross value added by the arts compared to the City of London, you can see that we generate more. If you look at everything from gamers to tv to theatre we generate more for the economy. But they are wedded to the idea that to be a worker you need a hammer in your hand. Sometimes you do but it’s just reactionary shite. You can’t think a library is an add on, that reading is an add on. This is bread and butter. It’s what people need.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just finished reading an amazing book called The Perfect Golden Circuit by Benjamin Myers, (he did The Gallows Pole). This book is beautiful. Made me cry. I’ve bought four copies for friends now. It’s about the urge to create and what it is to create, the idea of love and beauty and connecting to the earth and nature, and how it’s got a healing ability which is brilliant.  

Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes is playing at Lakeside Arts on Friday 25th Oct 2024.