Back in the mid-2000s British comedian Danny Bhoy considered quitting a scene he felt was more about shock for shock’s sake than being funny.
Danny Bhoy is set to return to New Zealand in April, bringing with him his new show, "Age of Fools." Photo: supplied
“I hate using the term, because it’s so over-used at the moment, but it was a time of that toxic masculinity, we had all these magazines Nuts and Zoo and how to get your woman in bed in ten moves and all this kind of stuff.
“I remember comedy was very reflective of that, I used to go to comedy clubs and there was a lot of white thirty-something males doing quite aggressive, and at times very unsavoury, jokes about women and pedophillia and all these things.”
Nevertheless, Bhoy says he decided to stick to his own style of comedy.
“I was never comfortable with it, I never liked it, now I see those same comics, some of them have become very big, I wonder how sustainable their careers are knowing what we’ve decided as a society is not culturally acceptable any more.”
Bhoy, who brings his new show Age of Fools to New Zealand in April as part of the NZ International Comedy Festival, told Jesse Mulligan he is careful about what he includes in a routine.
“There are definitely jokes and subject matters which I think, rightly so, are not allowed anymore, or are just not acceptable anymore,” Bhoy says.
“I always say this about my comedy shows, they’re for everyone. I’m not there to shock or offend people, but at the same time you can have a show which makes people think and can be smart and funny without being too shocking or controversial.”
Bhoy has watched the last two years unfold with dismay, he says, and was in the US when Donald trump was elected president.
“I remember watching the TV and was literally about to pop the champagne cork and then my thumb is slowly moving down the bottle and then me slowly slumping down into the chair, and I think I ended the night on the bathroom floor, sitting there naked drinking the bottle without a glass.”
His new show is about the unpredictability of the world now, he says.
“My whole show this year is about the state of the world, typically I’m quite an anecdotal comic but this show, because I’ve just spent the last two years open-mouthed watching news events I talk about that.
“What I’ve learned from those two years is absolutely nothing is predictable any more so I’ve got no idea what’s going to happen.”
And he’ll be on tour when the Brexit deadline runs out.
“I was going to go down with the ship, but it just so happens I’m touring so I’ve no idea what’s going to happen.
“Is Scotland going to become independent? It’s becoming increasingly more likely as this Brexit mess unfolds.”
Although Bhoy avoids offensive comedy, he says he once inadvertently offended a major Hollywood star when he was booked on the David Letterman show in the US.
"I was going down the stairs and he [Matt Damon] was coming up and he’d just done his interview and I thought well I better just say hello, I said ‘Hi Matt I’m Danny Bhoy I’m on next and he said 'Oh? Are you the comic?’ and I said 'yes I’m the comic' and he said 'what was your name?' And I said 'Danny Bhoy' and he said 'I’m sorry I’ve never seen you'.
"And just because I was nervous, this wasn’t even a conscious thing, I said 'that’s OK Matt I’ve never seen Titanic', in that moment I just got it mixed up and I literally knew seconds after I said it, there was something wrong with what I’d just said, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was that was wrong.”
Slightly knocked off balance, he carried on with the interview.
“So I carried on down the stairs and it was only as David Letterman was introducing me that I went ‘Oh shit’.
"So I had that going on in my head, if you ever watch a clip of me walking on Letterman you can see me looking quite fazed.”
