My live interview on BBC Radio Solent

(This is a long posting but it takes you through every stage of a live, 18-minute radio interview).

The BBC building in Southampton is home to both Radio Solent and BBC TV South but it's a bit of a 'ghost town' on Sundays when only one radio studio is working, with a team consisting of the presenter, the production staff and a newsreader and traffic reporter. I had a brief chat with Lewis (the producer) about radio and comedy courses at universities (he had noticed that in the past I have been a guest lecturer on the MA course in Radio Production at Bournemouth Uni). He got me a coffee from the machine and led me in to the studios where Alina Jenkins waved to me from her booth as she introduced Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones. Our interview was due to start after that record finished. I chatted with Alina and she warned me that the plastic headphones were a bit of a loose fit (she wasn't joking!), Lewis adjusted the mic to the right level and I laid out my notes for the topical material.

One thing I made sure I had with me was a bottle of water. I have often watched DJs I write material for on their stations' webcams and they always have a bottle on the desk (well, I assume it's water!) It's the same as making sure you have a glass of water at any other speaking engagement.

Public Speaking Tip #135: Have some water with you if you are giving a radio interview, whether at the radio studio, face to face with a roving reporter or by telephone. You don't want to have voice problems with any audience, let alone one of that size!

The record faded out and Alina introduced the topic: do you have what it takes to become a comedian? She introduced me to her listeners and asked if my work meant I was used to late nights. I told her that I was often on last trains getting at Bournemouth station after 2am if I'd been speaking miles away somewhere and then had to be up to write gags the next morning but I was careful not to mention about writing for radio other than the BBC - no station wants to promote their competition, even if it's in another part of the country!

Public Speaking Tip #136: When giving a media interview, try to use some discretion when it comes to mentioning  competing radio or TV stations you may have had dealings with in the past.

Alina then asked me whether comedy is something that comes naturally and if there is an art to it - questions rather trickier than the ones I usually get at speaking engagements! There was a bit of a pause ('dead air' as it's known in the trade) and I answered by telling her that I believe everyone has a sense of humour and that if someone appears not to have one, it's simply that their idea of what's funny may not tally in with yours. As an example, I told her about the comedy classes I have taught with a mix of people of all ages and how some would be good at all of it, the joke and sketch writing, the observational humour, the articles, etc, while others seemed to have little inclination for these but then when we came to study parody songs, they would reveal themselves to be really talented at comic verse. I rounded off by saying that yes, I believed everyone has some sort of comic talent which can be further developed with guidance.

Alina said she didn't know there were courses in comedy. I replied that they are springing up all over the place! She asked about the sort of people who enrolled. I explained that they ranged from very young students, fans of modern comedy, through to people in their 60s with more traditional tastes and that, as a tutor, I had to find some middle ground where they could all learn something.

She then asked what would be included in Lesson One of a comedy writing course. I told her that this was about defining audiences so I would give students a list of radio stations and TV channels (once again, I was careful not to mention names!) and live performance settings and ask what would make those people laugh and what sort of material should be avoided. (This is certainly a good exercise when considering any material - whether humorous or not - in speech preparation).

Public Speaking Tip #137: If you are preparing material for a speaking engagement - especially humour - ask yourself:
a) What sort of content will this audience expect to hear?
b) (Perhaps even more importantly!) what material should I avoid at all costs?

I then went on to explain that rather than throw comedy writing students in at the deep end by trying to get them to devise original gags straight away, we would go through a logical progression, starting with making use of their own humorous experiences in anecdotes and the unintentionally funny things they have spotted in print ('found humour'). I then included a couple of popular examples of this from my speaking (word perfect, as one would hope after all these years of delivering them!) Then I said how the students would progress to observations and only then to gag-writing.

Alina's next question was about how I got started so I said about how I always enjoyed jokes and comedy programmes as a schoolboy and how in my mock English O-level I had written a humorous essay but been told by the teacher who marked it not to risk writing humour - advice which I have since ignored (just in case you're reading this, Mr Mahoney who taught at Bournemouth School in 1976!) I explained about winning my first Punch caption competition in 1982, how this hobby built up throughout the 80s and how I won nine runner-up prizes of brightly-coloured sweatshirts from a TV station's caption contest before deciding that money might be more useful and starting to write for BBC Radio Light Entertainment!

The next question was about what it's like to do stand-up comedy and what drives anyone to do it. I replied that I thought all comedy writers are frustrated performers - even shy people like myself. I listed the people I met at BBC Radio who were already comedy performers before they started writing for others on radio (Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, Harry Hill, Al Murray, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring) and said how, after going up to the Beeb for a while, I had psyched myself up to do a 10-minute open spot at the Comedy Cafe, had died completely and didn't do it again until five years later, by which time I had been on a public speaking course, and this time got laughs, and how I did it for a year for the experience, parallel with my first speaking engagements, before deciding that I preferred public speaking but that I will still (very occasionally) do stand-up.

I added that people's perception is that heckling is the comic's biggest fear but really 'dying a death' is worse!

This led Alina into mentioning about how quick-witted comics need to be and how they need to have improvisational skills. She mentioned Whose Line is it Anyway? and the intelligence and grasp of current events of performers. I replied that Paul Merton's background in improv is what makes him so sharp on Have I Got News for You? I mentioned that improv performers also have a very wide knowledge of movie genres, etc, to draw on.

The first segment of the interview had been exactly 7 minutes 30 seconds and then there was a break for Trouble by Coldplay. During this record, Lewis said how well he thought it was going. One interesting thing which happened was that Alina asked if I could remove my leather jacket for the rest of the interview as it was creaking a little each time I moved, not loud enough to be broadcast but audible in her earphones! This was something I hadn't even considered when deciding what to wear but it was a useful lesson for future interviews so...

Public Speaking Tip #138: If you are giving a radio interview, consider whether anything you are wearing could add distracting noise, such as creaking leather or perhaps rattling beads!

When the record had finished, Alina recapped about who I was and how we had been talking about taking current events and turning them into jokes. Lewis had told her that I had prepared some topical material so this led her nicely into asking if there were any stories in the news which I had any gags about.

I went into the five one-liners I had prepared. The first was about the record-breaking sum paid for a personalised number plate, a story which Alina recognised so she joined in with the explanation of it, and I delivered the punchline linked to the local motorway, the M27. Then a gag about the title of the next James Bond film, one concerning a survey about mobile phone use (which involved a bit of 'acting' as the punchline had to be shouted), a line about tractor thieves and finally the gag about HMS Illustrious - the story which had been on the news at the beginning of the hour. Almost word-perfect, although there was a bit of 'er'-ing, and Alina was an excellent audience, considering there was only one of her!

I then explained the 'formula' for using associations to devise gags like these. Alina remarked that it was about connecting with the audience to find things they recognise so this led me neatly into the writer Basil Boothroyd's definition of observational humour as 'recognition humour; pointing out a truth that everyone knows but nobody has realised yet'. I said that for this, you have to simplify then exaggerate and then went into the observational items I had prepared. I mentioned the Ros Taylor interview Alina had done earlier on the show and delivered my material about TV shows with helpline numbers at the end. Staying with the topic of TV, I mentioned that Alina had played the Grange Hill theme and I did some observations about those horrible drinking fountains that school playgrounds used to have. Still with television, some material about the incredible mortality rate in such a tiny place in the series Midsomer Murders. Then I talked about unintentionally amusing signs in supermarkets (I mentioned that there was a large store just near the studios but was careful not to mention Asda by name - no advertising on the BBC!) and then the meaningless things people say. Finally, still with language, an observation about changing job titles. With hindsight, I would re-word a couple of these items but overall, it made a nice, chatty piece with Alina's input (and, in one case, an excellent observation from her which I wish I had made myself!)

I had noticed that Alina was getting a message in her headphones whenever a break was coming up and the way these items were broken up made it easy for her to stop me at any point. After the last observation, she linked to Louise with the traffic report which started with, surprise, surprise, the M27, so it was all dovetailing quite nicely.
The length of this section of our interview had been nearly 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Public Speaking Tip #139: If a radio interview is being broadcast live, watch for signals from the interviewer for when a break is coming up - that way you can cut an answer short yourself and avoid being interrupted.

Alina put on Reach Out (I'll Be There) by the Four Tops and, while this was playing, asked me if there was a record I'd like to choose for the end of the interview. I mentioned 10cc and chose Rubber Bullets from the list on the computer. Then it was back to the interview.

Alina asked whether analysing humour took the fun out of it. I replied that really it's more instinct than analysis with me, giving as an example my previous speaking engagement with the lovely audience at Harman's Cross and I said how, a split second before telling a few of the stories I had been using for so many years, I had decided to experiment with some the emphasis/timing and the success of this had given me more options for the future.

This led Alina to ask if comedy is all down to timing as she had a joke about a penguin she was going to tell (Lewis had warned me about this!). I said that it can be about material and timing but some material can be put across in different ways and still be funny.

She then referred to my mentioning being shy and said how a lot of comedians are very different from their on-screen personae, for example, the late Ronnie Barker who came across as very measured in interviews. I replied that some comedians are quiet off-stage and some are the opposite, and gave as an example Roy Hudd who I was lucky enough to write for over twelve years - with Roy, what you see is what you get! I added that all performers and writers seek approval from different groups of strangers over and over again (let's add speakers to that list, shall we?) and that whether extrovert or shy, they get something back from the audience.

Now, when you give a presentation or media interview, you are not there to give a sales pitch but to inform, entertain, motivate or whatever but obviously you hope there will be some point where you can naturally introduce a plug for something you do. This came with the next question. Alina asked whether people who come to me for material want just a little elaboration on ideas they have already written or whether they say 'I need help!' - in other words, they want everything written from scratch by me.

I said that my work varies from writing for radio and cabaret comics on cruise liners to 'people who want a wedding speech written' (ie I am available to write this or any other kind of speech!) and I added that some people just want material edited/gagging up and others want the whole piece written.

Public Speaking Tip #140: As with any other speaking engagement, introduce 'advertising' naturally and sparingly when giving a media interview. Any opportunity to briefly plug something is a bonus by-product - not the sole purpose of the interview! Listeners/viewers, presenters and those who book interviewees on to programmes (and may wish to do so again) will not appreciate a blatant sales pitch!

Then came the question which I had been expecting: what makes me laugh? I listed a few: The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Blaster Bates, Jack Dee... Alina is a fan of his stand-up and I mentioned that he's moved into acting in Lead Balloon. Alina observed that many comedians do this (she mentioned Ronnie Barker again, this time his appearance in the 2002 BBC drama about Churchill, The Gathering Storm) and I explained that few big-name comics can remain on TV nowadays just by doing comedy but have to move into other areas and how many are even reviving their careers by appearing in soaps - although I was careful to point out that Roy Hudd was at the top of his game when he chose to appear in Coronation Street!

This led Alina to mention about performers involved in different areas within comedy, such as Rowan Atkinson whose work has varied from the verbal humour of Blackadder to the dialogue-free physical comedy of Mr Bean. I said that the first time I ever saw Mr Bean, I knew he'd make a fortune from it because that sort of visual comedy with no language barrier could be sold all around the world.

Just before we finished the interview, Alina told her penguin joke. It was a variation on one I'd heard before but I'm a good listener where gags are concerned thanks to many years of practice from people coming up after my talks!

Finally, she asked if there was a record which held memories for me so I explained about seeing 10cc perform Rubber Bullets on Top of the Pops when I was 12 and what a big impression the lyric sheet of their first album had made on me with its wordplay and topical satire. Alina put the record on (the unedited version with the rude last bit left in!), thanked me and said she'd be giving out details of this website afterwards - which she duly did. This third and final segment of our interview had been just over 6 minutes.

I thanked Alina, had a chat with Lewis who arranged to send me a recording of the interview, and stepped out into the sunshine. I made a long phone call to Val, who had been listening at home. I felt that I had been speaking too fast at times but she said it had come across well - authoritatively, in fact!

As I was free for the rest of the day in Southampton, I decided to 'walk the walls' of the Historic Old Town. If you're ever in the area with an hour or two to spare, then I can really recommend this fascinating experience. The high point for me was discovering St Michael's church. Built in 1070, (it is actually the oldest building in Southampton), it was the only place of worship to survive the heavy bombing Southampton city centre suffered during the Second World War. It's in good condition and still very much in use, as Fr Steve's lively newsletter on the wall outside confirms. It was both pleasing and moving to see that public speaking is still taking place in this resilient venue nearly 1,000 years after it was built.

I listened to the interview a couple of times in the days afterwards using the BBC's 'Listen Again' feature and I wasn't speaking too fast after all. At first, I thought I sounded a bit reserved by my standards but this is because I am so used to delivering comedy at speaking engagements as more of an 'act' - doing this on radio would have been totally over the top.

Considering how long it has been since I last gave an interview, I am pleased with it. I am certainly glad that I did so much preparation - my previous interviews have generally been about public speaking but comedy is a much, much broader subject

Public Speaking Tip #141: One of the trickiest questions any subject-specific speaker can be asked is 'Can you give me an example?' Knowledge of your subject and careful preparation can turn this into an opportunity to shine - especially if you can give the examples without having to be asked!

Lewis sent me a CD of the recording but I can't post it here for you to listen to due to the BBC's policy and I have no problem with this; after all, the TV appearance which led to my becoming a speaker was due to my connection with BBC radio comedy and the writing credits I gained at the BBC still lead to me getting booked for speaking engagements - including radio interviews - all these years later so I owe them a great deal!