Alfie Brown talks broken down BMW's and banana bread

So Open Hearted Human Enquiry is the title of the new show, what does it mean?

Alfie: It's something to keep in mind when on stage. My director, who I’ve worked with for a very long time, who does get mentioned in the show as part of its unfolding narrative, he used to rub my shoulders before I went on stage, and would say,’ this is an open-hearted human enquiry.’ That is: you are excited to be telling this story. This was a way to remind me to tell the story and to not be smug, which he, in his role as director, identified as something that I could be if left unchecked.

I heard your work labelled as subversive. Is that a fair comment?

Alfie: I suppose there is an intuitive way in which comedy typically functions, and by subverting that typical way in which things usually work, there is an element of subversive style. I don't know about thematically, like, how subversive it is. I certainly think the way in which I examine the functions and mechanics of comedy, I like to subvert their typical functionality and that, I suppose, is some of the fun. There’s a lot of artifice to a lot of comedy. And as we develop a deeper understanding of what stand-up is because it's a relatively new art form, if indeed you count it as an art form, all of the techniques and mechanics that we've become used to over our lives of watching it become tired. That's why comedy doesn't stay in style for too long. So, finding a way to keep on surprising people, given that surprise is the key element of what makes you laugh, is an important thing. So, all modern comedy, to an extent, should subvert the stand-up that's come before it. I guess.

You describe yourself as a comic who makes, and I quote, ‘woke jokes in a non-woke way’. I’m not quite sure what that means?

Alfie: Making woke jokes in a non-woke way is a joke I make in the show. What I'm driving at is that you can move into difficult areas in which people might feel uncomfortable with you are navigating as a comedian, but with your heart in the right place. So, you can make mentioning these things, whether you're joking about sensitive political issues, social politics or otherwise, the mere mention of which can throw people off. And they go, ‘Well, you shouldn't joke about that.’ But, am I joking about it from a point of view? What's my angle on it is surely the more important thing to examine. I mean, making woke jokes in a non-woke way is something quite specific to what I do in my show, which you'd have to see to fully understand. I can’t explain it in any more detail than that, without giving away a lot.

Okay, we don't want to give away your jokes. Do you ever feel you're misunderstood?

Alfie: I'm sure I am, but I don't feel it. I mean, everybody's misunderstood by some people, but I don't feel I am more misunderstood than anybody else. I think there have been times at which I've been misunderstood. Yeah, there have been times at which I've been misunderstood, but there are times at which other people are misunderstood. So, no, not particularly, I don't feel misunderstood.

I read that a lot of your family are comedians. What are your family get-togethers like, are they a non-stop laugh riot?

Alfie: No, it's all us crying the whole time, the tears of several clowns. Oh, my God, we're all incredibly depressed and curmudgeonly bad company with each other. No, my wife is many things, she's done comedy shows, but she isn't a stand-up comedian. My father was more musician than comedian. My mother’s sort of an impressionist and comic actress, but again, not a stand-up. I mean, I'm the only stand-up comic in the family. But my wife’s incredibly funny, and so is my mum. Everybody's very funny and very lucky to have each other's company. Well, I hope that they'd say the same thing about me.

But, in the same way that a lot of children will adopt the habits and traits of their parents, these are habits and traits that I've adopted from them. And I suppose Jesse and I were drawn to each other because we moved in similar circles. I mean, we met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012. Yeah, a lot of it's just circumstance. But no, we have a wonderful time.

And why did you become a comedian?

Alfie: I left school when I was 16 and went to work in Top Shop in Oxford Circus. And then I fairly quickly realized, when all my friends started going to university, that I couldn't go to university. So, I thought fairly long and hard about what I thought my skill range was, what I was good at, what I was keen on, what I was passionate about, and I pursued that. I'd always found stand-up to be something like magic, something so far beyond what I could conceive to be capable of. And then I went to see a few open mic nights in central London. And I thought, well, if it all goes horribly wrong, I'll at least be as good as this lot so, I went for it when I was 18 and I've done it ever since.

If any of your kids wanted to go into stand-up, what advice would you give them?

Alfie: To enjoy being on stage, to feel it out, to turn over jokes a lot in the first stages. Don't be afraid of killing something just because it's getting a laugh. Just because something's getting a laugh doesn't mean it's good. And speak on stage without material. Try and get a feel for who you are. Find your voice and invite and accept criticism with a smile because it's free money.

How does it feel to be on the road again?

Alfie: Well, I'm sitting outside a lovely cafe in Liverpool called Mother Espresso, I'd recommend it. The best banana bread in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as far as I know. And my BMW that I bought a couple of weeks ago for 1500 pounds is in Rochdale, because it broke down on my way to Bradford last night. Oh, yeah, so I'm learning a few lessons on the road, such as don't buy a car for 1500 pounds from a dealership that exists in a muddy courtyard around the back of an A road in Chelmsford. 

Yeah, I love being on the road. I love the driving. I really miss my family, obviously, but I do also enjoy my solitude and I love going from town to town and discovering each town and finding out where all the good local coffee shops are, everywhere from Loughborough to Peterborough 

to Poole to, you know, Taunton to Exeter to Falmouth. It's fantastic. I love it. I really, really love navigating the country and seeing all the different places and learning the different civic attitudes and slightly different cultural quirks, I suppose. Yeah, it's just so wonderful.

Are you performing tonight?

Alfie: I am. I've got to buzz off to my car in Bradford, see if the AA can fix it, and then I'll drive to Stourbridge. And if I can't drive to Stourbridge, who knows what I'll do.

Oh, dear. Well, quickly, what's next for Alfie Brown?

Alfie: Hopefully a new show next year and a new tour. I want to try working on a few more bits and pieces of a couple of scripted things, but ultimately we're going to film this show in December and put it out. That’s the business model I like. You write a new show from January to August, you do it in August, tour it through to Christmas, film it, then stick it out. Hopefully that show does well enough after you stick it out that it sells a few more tickets, and you keep on growing and moving. That’s how I see my life for the foreseeable albeit with a nicer car or a car that works, right?

Alfie Brown's Open Hearted Human Enquiry plays at The Canalhouse on Thursday 7th November, 2024 as part of the Nottingham Comedy Festival.