Canadian comedy powerhouse Tom Stade speaks with Dave Freak about returning to Cardiff’s Glee with his latest touring show, You’re Welcome.
What topics do you discuss in You’re Welcome?
If you had to put it down, I’d say I roll around with the whole idea of not going back to Canada any more, that’s not my home. Britain’s my home now. I live here. So it’s about how precious people are about nationality as well. I’ve been here about 10 years, permanently. But I don’t look too much into the past, I’m a here-and-now guy. Let’s just say I’ve been here a long time.
How did you find making your own online series, M.U.F.F. Productions?
M.U.F.F. was a nice thing to make, an indie sitcom with purity in it. It’s unspoilt by advertising or the BBC. It has a story you have to watch from the beginning to the end. And you do find out what ‘M.U.F.F.’ means in the end. We made it for the sake of making something really funny. When I watch it now, it still makes me laugh! Watch it! It’ll make you piss yourself!
Some people don’t get past episode one. TV companies raise people on a formula. The first episode is so self-aware of what it’s doing, and it just introduces the characters. And from there, you get the story. It’s about a guy called Lawrence, played by Daniel Sloss, who’s wide-eyed and has integrity, who gets swallowed by the TV industry. It shows you how big the beast is!
Alongside doing You’re Welcome at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, you also did a play with fellow Canadian comedian, Phil Nichol.
Yes I did… and I can’t even remember its name!
It was called Giant Leap.
Giant Leap? Yeah, that sounds about right. We did Giant Leap about the moon landing and how it was fake, and we were the writers. It was fantastic. Me and Phil are very good friends and I don’t get to see guys like him often, so we did it. It was really cool – we found this little bunker space in Edinburgh, as these writers are in this bunker.
Do I want to give the ending away? In the end they find out they’ve been duped! It was an experience. I can add it to my resume. I would do it again, but I wouldn’t search it out. I wait for my goals to come to me. I’m like one of those insects who sits there, hides, and then jumps on their prey.
Do you have any plans to diversify into acting? It seems to be a career path for a lot of comics.
For some, for some, for some, for some. There’s a certain thing going on. I’m from the 80s/90s and don’t live like this generation. Comedy has become a job. You can go to school and learn it and make a wage. I can’t speak for anyone else, I’ll be an armchair judge, but I stick to stand-up. It’s my artform. All I do, when I’m with my mates, is talk about comedy. I don’t think I’d diversify on purpose.
I think if you have the goal of being famous, then you lose the art part. If you’re doing it because you care about fame, you care about the money, that shouldn’t be your goal. Most people do see fame as their goal. Saying ‘if I write this material, and people laugh, someone will see me and I’ll become famous…’. People are scrambling to be on panel shows, scrambling to be in people’s living rooms.
The best way I can sum it up is the difference between a band and a comedian. On a band’s tour poster, you will never see ‘As seen on…’ some TV programme. Bands are known for their music. But comedians are more known for what programmes they’ve appeared on – Mock The Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and so on.
Tom Stade: You’re Welcome, The Glee Club, Cardiff Bay, Wed 9 Mar. Tickets: £17. Info: 0871 4720400 / www.glee.co.uk
words DAVE FREAK
