While most hardened comics are happy to head out on the road for a long slog, Andrew Lawrence prefers a more sporadic approach to his touring.
“I do a staggered tour, so I just do a couple of dates a week whereas most other comedians pack their tour into night after night, over two or three months,” he says. “With me, I like to go back to a normal life. It’s important to have a regular life as a comedian, to do everything that you’d get in a normal life, as opposed to staying up late every night, so all you know is motorways, staying up late … you’re not living in the real world.
“If you limit yourself to a couple of nights a week, it’s easier to connect with the audience … you’re not just talking about motorway service station sandwiches.”
While at home, Lawrence plans his next show, spends time with his young daughter … and gets into the odd headline-grabbing scrape.
“I’ve already had a few things on social media,” he says. “A year-and-a-half ago I put a post on Facebook and that resulted in quite a few articles in the Guardian and Independent. That went on for a little while.”
The Facebook post in question saw Lawrence note ‘… too much moronic, liberal back-slapping on panel shows like Mock The Week where aging, balding, fat men, ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians, sit congratulating themselves on how enlightened they are about the fact that UKIP are ridiculous and pathetic.’
He went on to state he’s not a UKIP supporter, but that he recognises that their message has ‘resonated with voters’ and believes that a lack of border control has led to too many people, damaging transport, health, housing and so forth.
His post concluded: ‘I’m not a political comic, my only ambition for my comedy is to make a room full of people laugh. But there are those that disingenuously market themselves as political comics, not out of any genuine conviction, but in an effort to line their own pockets, and I don’t like their hypocrisy.’
A backlash followed (along with a thumbs-up from UKIP’s Nigel Farage), but Andrew had the last laugh.
“My ticket sales went up … and this tour they’ve gone up slightly again. I think it’s had a good, positive effect,” he says of the result which has led to him redefining his career.
“Three or four years ago I was doing mainstream TV – Live At The Apollo, Stand Up For The Week on Channel 4. Now I’m going in a different direction, I didn’t hold back, I didn’t think in terms of wanting to do things for TV. I just do what I want to do.
“It closes certain avenues for TV work for me, but I never really enjoyed that TV work. I don’t miss it,” he adds.
Lawrence’s new touring show, Uncensored, finds him continuing to ruffle feathers, and find comedy in even in the darkest of subjects.
“Unless you’re desperate for TV work, you’re naturally drawn to crossing those lines, it’s where the biggest laughs are. If you want to do Live At The Palladium, then stick to the safe stuff, cut out the swearing and say the crazy things your dad says,” he comments.
“For me, it’s a natural thing to go into these areas where you shouldn’t tell jokes. I’m naturally drawn too those areas – that’s where I find myself. Why? I’m not sure.”
For perfect examples of the comedian hunting for laughs in ‘unfunny’ places, look no further than his social media channels, as he focuses his attentions on the BBC’s perceived left-wing bias, political correctness, Brexit, Obama, liberalism, equality, and more. Those who are easily offended should probably avoid looking.
As the saying goes, that which doesn’t break you makes you stronger, and in the wake of several backlashes, the softly spoken comedian seems to be fearless. This is especially so in a comedy club setting where he says there’s less chance of his jokes getting taken out of context. It is, after all, just comedy!
“Should you take [the jokes] at face value? If you take them seriously … then you’ve taken them out of context.”
* Andrew Lawrence: Uncensored can be seen at The Glee, Cardiff, on Wednesday 6 July 2016. Tickets £14/ £12. www.glee.co.uk
* For Andrew’s recent posts, see: www.facebook.com/andrewlawrencecomedy/
words DAVE FREAK