I think my favourite thing about Justin Moorhouse is how very Northern he is. His Yorkshire accent is broad and loud, his comedy self-depreciating and appealingly simple. “I think we’re a lot quicker to laugh at ourselves in the north” he tells me when I interview him a few days before an appearance at York Opera House.
“In Yorkshire people laugh at adversity. Socially the way we survive is just by ripping the piss out of each other.” Justin has a lot to laugh about right now, although adversity can hardly be said to be the cause. Thanks to a slot on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and 2010’s Edinburgh Comedy Fest on BBC3, as well as a UK tour this autumn, the TV comedian’s career is more high-profile than ever before. He’s appeared on Coronation Street and in the 2009 film Looking for Eric, and is currently in talks negotiating a television version of his Radio 4 sitcom, Everybody Quite Likes Justin. While he jokes about his beginnings in comedy, “I fancied doing something creative, and I wasn’t really good at anything else like drawing or singing” his pride in his work as a stand-up comedian is very clear.
“I’m a stand up comedian, that’s what I am. Making a roomful of people laugh is what I love to do and anything else I’ve done after has been because of that.” When I asked who his influences are in comedy, he mentions Billy Connelly. “That guy’s a millionaire, he doesn’t have to do stand up, but he has to do stand up, do you know what I mean? Comedy isn’t about changing the world or anything, you have to really love it. I couldn’t do this job without loving it.”
Moorhouse’s enthusiasm is infectious, and I can’t help smiling when he starts telling me about some of his favourite gigs. “I’m not just saying this because you’re from York, but I really do like going to York, and around Yorkshire, City Screen is always a really good venue. The best show I’ve ever done was in Hull three year’s ago; the crowd were great, the room was perfect… I was really good!
“It’s been a while since I properly died, but once you’re professional you usually get something out of every gig… It’s hard to know if jokes are funny before you present them to an audience of people.”
Now that the audiences are getting increasingly larger, does he find it strange to meet comedians that he’s watched on TV for years? “There’s that saying, never meet your heroes, but most of the time people are generally nice. I’ve never met anybody and thought “ooh you’re awful”. I met Jack Dee once, early on in my career in the green room at a gig in Birmingham. He said “very funny, very quick, you bastard!” That was lovely.”
Justin’s tour continues until 12 November. After that, he says, comes a lot of writing, both for the next series of his radio show and the television adaption, then a six-week stint in the Jim Cartwright play Two in Manchester, all of which he’s very excited about.
“The thing is, if the career gets better the rooms get bigger, but I’ll still be standing up and telling jokes, whether it’s in a pub or even an arena. The only difference is the awards are bigger and the posters are more expensive, but I’m still doing what I love. This is the dream, I am living the dream. I’ve not had a day where I wake up and think eurgh I’ve got to go to work now. I think, I can’t believe I get away with this!”
Justin Moorhouse will be appearing at York Opera House Wednesday 28th September. Tickets are still available.