Jasper Carrott in conversation

No more Golden Balls?

Fashionably late, Jasper Carrott and his interviewer Geoff Rowe walked into the crowded lecture hall. The audience was silenced by the sight of the recognisable figure and Carrott encouraged the audience to continue chatting but it was obvious that the crowd was perplexed by the bald man in the flesh. The “Funky Moped” singer adjusted his mic, and was welcomed on behalf of DeMontfort University and the director of Dave’s comedy festival who had said that he’d tried relentlessly to get Jasper Carrott here for over ten years.

Rowe started off by asking about the derogatory joke Carrott made about Leicester and Jasper explained the story which surrounded a man named David Ike thinking he was Jesus Christ... Carrott revealed the punch line, “Ike was from Leicester... where are you going to find three wise men and a virgin in Leicester?” He added that people from Leicester quite obviously have a sense of humour and he has always been welcomed with open arms.

Carrott described his early career playing at folk clubs in Solihull and how he used other people’s material he had written down at the comedy performances at the cabaret clubs; He frequently recycled Bob Monkhouse’s jokes which he said always got him a laugh, trialling one out to the audience that proved him right. Later, he said that he is very much for comedic material being recycled as there is no copyright on spoken word. When asked if he would watch a tribute to himself- he laughed at the idea of a “Counterfeit Carrott”.

Carrott then talked about his career at comedy clubs in America and seeing an early performance by Jay Leno, who he recalls driving into his gig on a motorbike and driving out of the comedy store straight out of his set. I was also intrigued by his story of a gig of his in LA becoming a sell out due to a feature in the LA Times, having been recommended by none other than Robin Williams who had seen one of Jasper’s slots. Jasper called himself a “product of American stand-up” and revealed that he was very inspired by the comedy in America, which he described as being ten years ahead of Britain during that time.

Being someone from a younger generation, I hadn’t known Jasper’s career prior to Golden Balls albeit short spurts on TV watched by my dad and it was interesting to hear of the origins of comedy and Jasper’s experience of its succession. He mentioned that stand-up in the seventies wasn’t aired until usually 11.30pm but this was a drive forward in this era and enabled comedy to be “more than just ten minutes on the Cilla Black show”.

During the whole chat, Jasper was very engaging and led his own discussion without a lot of probing from Geoff Rowe. He was very comfortable with flitting through impressions and accents (mentioning that his own Brummie accent has never hindered him) and proved to be a charming down-to-earth character with constant laughs from the audience, old and young.

When it neared the end of the conversation, I felt the tone to be quite melancholy. Carrott said that comedy is a ‘young man’s game’ and he felt that there was a constant pressure to be fresh and have new material; he revealed that for Red Nose Day he was to give advice to aspiring comedians but he himself had lost the hunger to perform. He said that “dying a death on stage is as near as I could get to childbirth” but thinks that it is a good learning experience to “know what comedy is about”. Jasper said that he feels that “comedy is at fault” and bigger issues need to be addressed to push the limits, such as cancer and medical scandals within big brands and if he was in his forties then he would be the right person to do this.

It is no surprise as to why Jasper Carrott has such status in comedy. His career attributes including “ITV personality of the year” and receiving a lifetime achievement award in 2008 haven’t altered a seemingly humble and relatable man. Interesting career facts teamed with Aussie and Scouse accents (“Accents are a great asset in comedy”) and a reinactment of mole hunting made this an unmissable conversation which was ten years in the planning and I’m glad I decided to attend. The biggest shock of all? Golden Balls is never coming back to the screens with Jasper Carrott in tow.