Frank Skinner ponders 30 Years of Dirt - dates in Guildford, Southampton, Eastbourne and Brighton
Frank Skinner looks back over three decades of stand-up with 30 Years of Dirt as he tours the country.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex News Papers. Fantastic
00:06pleasure this morning to speak to Frank Skinner, no less. Now, Frank, you are on the road,
00:10you're playing Guildford, Southampton, Eastbourne and Brighton in our area, with 30 Years of
00:16Dirt, and you're celebrating basically...
00:17Can I stay at your place?
00:18You can! Yeah, I'm probably in the middle of all of it, yes.
00:24Perfect!
00:26There's plenty to read, yeah. You wouldn't have to go out in the evening. But you're
00:31on the road with 30 Years of Dirt, and that's celebrating 30 years of stand-up. Now, how
00:36much has that changed in those years? Are you still talking about much the same thing?
00:40And now I'm talking about quite different things, because then I was a young, sort of
00:45wild, overexcited 30-year-old when I kicked off, and now I'm talking more about my joints.
00:55That wasn't a drug reference.
00:58Skeletal joints, that is, yeah.
01:01Exactly. Yeah, no, I mean, the one thing that hasn't changed is that I have lost no enthusiasm
01:10for it at all. I love the whole process of touring, I love playing different gigs every
01:17night, you know. I like the sort of arriving at the theatre, sitting in the dressing room,
01:24the whole thing. Still, I keep saying to myself, I can't believe I'm doing this.
01:30Doesn't that ever seem like a bit of a slog?
01:32Never.
01:33Or a pleasure?
01:34Never. It's like an adventure, you know. Always. I love hotels, I love motorway services,
01:43I love late night driving, listening to the radio. The whole… I think I could happily
01:49tour without any shows.
01:51What would you do all evening?
01:54Well, I don't know, you know, sit around and tour. I mean, that's it, you've got your
01:58tour manager and your support act, so it's a nice little group as well.
02:03And presumably it's an absolute truism that every show is different, isn't it? You were
02:07saying, you were speaking just now, that people laughed at different things in your early
02:11days in London to what they laughed at in West Midlands.
02:15Yeah, and also, you know, I talk to the audience a lot. I don't see any point in doing a live
02:22show if you're going to do it like, you know, you're in your bedroom doing it in the mirror.
02:26So, every place has got different things to talk about and, you know, every front row
02:33is liable to throw up an exciting story. You know, there was a couple in the front row
02:38and I asked how they met and they both looked a bit sheepish.
02:42And she said, I was working for him and we met and I said, oh, God, was he the boss,
02:50you know, head of the office? And she said, no, no, not exactly.
02:55And I said, well, what was it? And after a bit she said, well, I was the babysitter.
03:00And the audience, there was an enormous whoop. And of course, you know, as long as it's treated,
03:06let's say, sensitively, there's a lot of juice in that particular fruit.
03:11Absolutely. And sensitivity is key, but this is 30 years of dirt.
03:15That's the other continuity then, dirt. And you were happy to use the word dirt, clearly.
03:20I saw a review you were talked about as offering gentlemanly smut. Is that?
03:25There you go. I'm happy.
03:27Is that how you would see that?
03:28Well, there is a long tradition, you know, of rude comedy in this country.
03:34Way, way back into medieval times is what people laugh at.
03:39A lot of people and people who don't laugh at it, they tend to have a problem.
03:50But why do we laugh at rude jokes then?
03:52I don't know. It's partly all the fear and anxiety, I guess, around the physical activities of adults.
04:03But, you know, it's good to be able to laugh at that stuff as well.
04:07Absolutely. And the other thing is that you're saying it so that we don't have to.
04:12Well, exactly. But also, you know, you see people doing dirty jokes and there's nothing more to it other than the fact that it's dirty.
04:21But I like them to be clever, sophisticated, finely crafted dirty jokes.
04:28That's the secret.
04:29So you're packing a lot into your filth then?
04:32Yes, it's filth of the deluxe variety.
04:36Fantastic. Well, long may that continue.
04:39Frank, really, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed.
04:42Cheers. See you soon.