Alistair Barrie is a brilliant stand up : focused, intelligent, articulate, well paced, disciplined and beautifully funny. What on earth made him think he needed a director?
Why thank you. That gives me a whole new Scotsman quote for the next poster. Although in all seriousness, I think you have reviewed me in Edinburgh four (possibly five?) times. Starting with a three star review for a thoroughly three star show in 2007. It was not until 2018 that I received the hallowed five stars from The Scotsman. Which also happened to be the first show I worked on with John Gordillo. So you have already answered your own question with absolutely no need to interview me whatsoever!
I KNEW I should have got Reg Hunter to do this …
“However, I would also like to point out that as a critic, you must surely think your own opinion is valid (and having given me a five star review I can heartily agree,). So, I see no reason why a director’s opinion cannot be equally valid. It naturally follows that if someone is able to give you worthwhile feedback on your show while it is still a work in progress, they can surely help improve the final product before critics and audiences give their (equally valid) opinions on the finished product.”
But if all they are doing is giving you “worthwhile feedback” on your show as you are putting it together, that is not exactly ‘directing’ – is it ?? Not as we think of ‘directing’
“The performance itself is still ‘directed’ whether I have a ‘director’ or not. Pretty much all stand ups are directed by their audience. By other people throwing them inspiration and by the fact that what they are doing is constantly evolving.”
Even I am getting irritated by my own irritation over what seems now to be mere semantics. But I plough on. According to Al (and I totally agree with what he says above) either everyone who ever sees, comments on or makes a suggestion about a comedy performance is a de facto co-director . (cf the “worthwhile feedback” job description of a director). Or … the latest de rigeur accessory of the successful, full- hour-capable comic is, in truth, nothing more than a smart heckler with privileges.
“Most comics don’t need to be told when something’s shit as one of the great advantages to comedy is you can find that out by yourself remarkably quickly. We are constantly filtering – that is in many ways the process of creating comedy, so the director is collaborating with you in that process, rather than providing the filter themselves. I think a better description is encouragement – pushing you into areas that might be more fertile to explore. ”
So my problem really is just one of semantics. Oh dear. I am a dullard and a pedant.
“I went to drama school and directed plays on the fringe for a while. Many people seem to think a stand up director is much the same as in the theatre. I would say they are poles apart. A theatre director literally tells you where to stand, is dealing with a whole tableau, is (usually) working with a far more rigid script already written by someone else …”
So! I am quite right to be excited about the use of the word ‘director’. Ah ha !!
“I do a bit of stand up ‘directing’ myself, more as a favour for friends. The vast majority of that is spotting gags they may have missed and pointing out what isn’t quite working. However, I have never officially ‘directed a show’. It’s more like gag consultancy, and that is something that is not just massively widespread across the industry. It’s also been going on since the first caveman said to the local shaman “Use the rattle more, it’s very funny.”
Did I mention that I always have been a fan of Alister Barrie? I was having a bit of a go about my belief that stand up of the ‘alternative’ school is the purest, the most direct form of performance.
“To me, performing stand up is always a living thing and you can suddenly find something new in a gag you’ve been doing for ages just because the wind happens to be blowing in a different direction. At the risk of pretension, I think there’s a similarity to jazz – of course you know the melody and the instrument, but a lot of magical stuff can really happen when you fuck about a bit, which you can only do if you try to keep the material alive. Just because someone else might have given you a couple of riffs on the melody doesn’t detract from the ‘purity’ of your performance or make it any less ‘direct’. Of course, this does also mean that while the performer can always improve the performance, there are times when ‘fucking about a bit’ does the exact opposite. And again, that is where it can be quite useful to have someone instill a bit of discipline in how you play.”
And Al Barrie chose to be disciplined by John Gordillo. I am going to shut up now, because this next chunk of thoughts from Al is brilliant.
“Frankly, after over twenty years as a pro, I’m still learning, and anything you can do that might improve the quality of comedy you produce is worth exploring. I was very particular about approaching John as he was already a friend. He is also a figure in the industry that I have a lot of respect for. I also admired the people he chose to work with and who chose to work with him. I didn’t ask anyone else – I was very pleased he said yes and probably wouldn’t have asked anyone else if he had said no. My main impetus in asking him was that I felt my previous show – about my wife’s breast cancer (four stars, Kate Copstick, The Scotsman 2015,) could have done with a little more work structurally.
By its very nature it was obviously a less straightforward ‘stand up’ show than previous ones, but the course of my wife’s treatment understandably defined the narrative. I was very proud of the show, but in retrospect I thought maybe it was a little too linear. John works in a rather more – I hope you’ll excuse the MASSIVE pretension here – holistic way. I tend to sit down with him initially and bat around some of the ideas/routines I’m playing around with. Often it comes down to a discussion of the ills of the world (and Alistair Barrie) as much as anything else. A friend who has also been directed by John said it sometimes feels more like therapy than direction. I don’t think that’s far off the mark. But sitting around waffling about the state of the world and your own inner workings becomes very self-indulgent and pointless if you don’t filter that into the stand up. So, a great deal of being directed is, as you say, having a very intelligent sounding board. It also inspires gags, which is a very important part of the stand up director’s skill set. As is pointing out which gags are really singing. I think it’s safe to say there probably is an element of cheerleading, which our delicate egos do rather enjoy. As a stand up, you should already have a fairly good idea of what’s working. But never underestimate how much a comic enjoys having their gags flattered. As needy as that sounds (and is!) it can also be very helpful in developing them.
It is also very unlike theatre in that you don’t have a concentrated period of rehearsal. Running the script over and over again. The vast majority of the work is done without the director in the room, and that is very different from theatre. I tend to have a couple of sessions with John, then go back every few weeks, or as often as I feel I have something new to show/discuss with him. Basically, there’s only so much coffee you can drink and bollocks you can talk. After the initial chats you have to present the work you’ve been doing (usually a recording of a gig) and go through it together. So homework really. If you are constantly evaluating your stuff, you’re just going to make it better. Having another pair of ears on it can generally only help. There are times when it really helps to have an objective view of what you’re doing. John directed my 2018 show in Melbourne, which went very well. By the time I took it to Edinburgh, the world had moved on and the big opening routine felt misplaced. We shifted the whole structure around literally a week before the Fringe and it was clearly the right decision. One I don’t know if I’d have made on my own. As I said, stand up should always be a living thing, but it’s also handy to have someone else on hand to monitor its vital signs.
In the final analysis, there is such a huge difference between directing stand up and directing theatre. A different term could well be required. But if I started calling John my ‘Dramaturge’, the pretension would be so overwhelming that I think everyone would be well within their rights to refuse to watch me perform anything ever again..”
I know a couple of performers who use a director who is not even anything to do with comedy … who does not have a funny haha bone in their body. I worry that bit by bit, stand up will turn into theatre. The basic honesty will go … thoughts ??
But it is difficult to see how I could take much direction from someone who ‘hasn’t got a funny haha bone in their body’. But to be honest, I think I’d find it pretty hard spending much time with someone like that in any situation. It doesn’t mean someone from a different discipline couldn’t have an interesting perspective on your comedy though.
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