Preparing for my latest interview on BBC Radio Solent

Having agreed to go on Radio Solent, the first thing I did was find out about the presenter who would be interviewing me as I hadn't been a very regular listener to the station recently.

This is so much easier nowadays than when I did my first 'radios' as so many stations have 'Listen Again' facilities on their websites as well as short biographies of their broadcasters.

Alina Jenkins has her own website and I noted from it that she has appeared as an actress in series such as Preston Front and Red Dwarf so she has experience of comedy - the subject of our discussion.

And can you imagine giving presentations using highly sophisticated visual aids to an audience of hundreds of thousands of people five days a week for four years? Alina did this as a weather presenter on BBC TV's South Today so she certainly has wide experience of public speaking!

Public Speaking Tip #129: If you know who will be interviewing you on radio or TV, try and find out a little about them, for example, from a website.

What is their background? Is there any connection with your subject?

Try to get to hear/see what they are like as interviewers so you can get an idea of their style.

Another thing I decided to do was get a haircut! Now you may be thinking 'What, for radio?' Well, yes. I needed one and I wanted to feel comfortable even if Solent's audience couldn't see me. It's a bit like people standing up to make important phone calls; the person on the other end of the line isn't aware of this but it makes the caller feel more at ease.

Public Speaking Tip #130:You need to feel comfortable about how you look for a speaking engagement - even if it's on the radio!

I had agreed to perform a short topical monologue on the show so I researched the news stories as I do every day anyway when I write jokes for commercial radio presenters in other parts of the country. I looked back over the past few days and chose four stories and gags about them which I thought would fit the audience for Alina's Sunday morning show. Nothing political or politically incorrect and nothing too obscure. I was able to tailor the punchline of one gag to be about the M27, a motorway in the local area. I hoped to be able to add something from the Sunday morning's news.

I planned to speak about observational humour as well and I chose examples from my JOCK BOOK collections and some 'works in progress': observations about schooldays, popular TV programmes and the strange things people say or put on labels!

Preparing for a media interview can be like revising for an exam but I don't mean the type that you dreaded at school or college but rather the kind where the subject was one which you were passionate and knowledgeable about. There were certain questions and topics which were bound to come up - your 'bankers' - and you thought you'd be fine with them butyou knew that if you could also handle the less predictable ones, then it could even be an experience to look forward to.

Public Speaking Tip #131: 'Revise' for a radio or TV interview as you would for an exam in a subject which are really keen on.

I have become very used to handling questions at my speaking engagements over 12 years but radio interviewers tend to ask slightly more challenging ones (when I did the Wave 105 interview, the opening question was 'So, Nick, what makes you think you're qualified to help people with their wedding speeches?' I kept calm and briefly replied that my CV included years of radio comedy and speechwriting, teaching adult education classes in public speaking and being a speaker myself and that I didn't know anyone else with a CV combining those three. It actually turned out to be a very good interview).

To prepare myself for technical questions about comedy, I went back over the handouts I have given to students at comedy writing workshops, etc. I also had a brief look at books on the subject by other comedy writers.

Public Speaking Tip #132: Be prepared for media interviewers asking more difficult questions than audiences at presentations. With a good knowledge of your subject, you should be able to give an answer - even if it sometimes means going off at a slight tangent!

The important thing is not to panic but to give a considered response.Then I went off to get at least some sleep as I had an early start the next day (although by now, it was the next day!).It was tight catching the train for Southampton the following morning (I must thank the South West Trains worker who delayed the closing off the automatic doors for a few seconds so I could get on!) I spent the 40-odd minutes of the journey listening on headphones to the first part of Alina's show while making notes. You would not, of course, normally have notes with you for a radio interview (something else comparable to an exam!) but these were for the topical monologue and observational routines and so acceptable.Alina has a very warm, friendly, relaxed style. In the first part of the programme, she interviewed psychologist Ros Taylor by phone and I realised that I could refer to this when I did my observational material about TV programmes which have numbers for counselling services at the end. She played the theme music from Grange Hill and I saw that this could be a link into my observations about schooldays. I also noticed that guests and callers were being asked to choose a record which brought back memories for them and so I had one in mind in case Alina asked me to do the same. It was also apparent that records were played quite regularly so these broke up any interview segments. Listening to that show before I went on it was enormously valuable.

Public Speaking Tip #133: Try to hear the first part of a  show you are appearing on in case there is anything you can bring into your own subject matter.

I got off at Southampton Central Station, still listening to the show, and walked the short distance up to the studios. It was just coming up to 10am and I decided to listen to the news before ringing the buzzer. I was glad I did because it finished with a local item about a Royal Navy ship which had to turn back because of a problem with its refrigeration system. I remembered a story from a couple of days earlier about a woman who was still using a fridge dating back to 1931. Now I could mention this in my topical monologue and add a punchline about her getting an offer for it from HMS Illustrious.

A local gag and so topical that the story about it had just been mentioned on the last news bulletin that morning - just what I had been looking for!

Public Speaking Tip 134: Keep up-to-date with the news before you appear on a programme. Even if you are not there to make topical jokes, there might still be something which you can relate to the subject you are being interviewed about, thus giving it more relevance.

I heard Alina announce that she would shortly be talking to me. I was described as an after dinner speaker and adult education tutor in comedy so this also gave me a further idea of the direction our interview would take.

I rang the buzzer and Lewis, her friendly producer, led me in to the studios.And in the final instalment, I'll tell you how the interview went...