Circuit Training 48: Dr Sinha will chase you now

British stand-ups have a pleasingly low-key outlook on the Medusa-like lure of TV, on the whole. Quiz a mid-level comic and they'll invariably insist that telly is a nice bonus, mostly for the boost it gives your live work: more exposure means more opportunities to do your own long-form shows, introduce more cerebral material and - in an ideal world - never play to a drunken Christmas party crowd ever, ever again.

After 17 years on the circuit, Paul Sinha is beginning to enjoy the nascent benefits of a burgeoning profile, despite (a) never really wanting to get on TV, and (b) actually making it via a quiz show. If you're holding down a proper job you may not be aware of The Chase, Bradley Walsh's teatime general knowledge-fest in which contestants go up against one of a quartet of experts. Sinha signed on as chaser number four last year, and it's having an interesting impact on his night job.

TV quiz infamy is the latest curious career move for a chap who initially took to comedy while working as a GP, and combined the two roles for several years. Hence he has a fairly unique perspective on the business; clinical, rather than cynical...

How did your gig on The Chase come about?

It goes back to 2007, when I found out about the Quiz League of London - there's a national circuit, a ranking system and we've won a few tournaments. So I got involved in all that, got to know the various people, to the point that in January last year when the producers of The Chase decided that they needed a fourth chaser I received an email from one of the current chasers saying "there's a vacancy if you're interested." Up until then the comedy and the quizzes were entirely separate, other than the fact that I talked a lot about it on stage.

It's an interesting job for a comic, as you're sort of a villain.

Yes and no. You are for the most part a villain, but by developing your own personality often the audience will take sides depending on how the game goes, if the contestant turns out to be too arrogant or you turn out to be too arrogant. Although we're cast as villains I don't think it always works out like that.

So are you getting much street hassle?

Occasionally, and it's exactly how I'd like it. I've always sort of feared any sort of celebrity, but the recognition factor has been so dramatic and surprising, it's been really nice, not a negative thing at all.

Has it fed into your gigs at all?

I might be wrong but I think there's a status thing that goes on. People always have preconceptions of a comedian when you walk onstage based on their own prejudices and beliefs, and if people recognise you from the telly they expect you to be funny. At the harder end of the spectrum I think my gigs have become better since I started on The Chase.

They cut you a bit of extra slack?

I think there is an element of that. That's not to say that I haven't performed to 300 people who clearly had no idea who I was, but at the worst end of the market - the drunken stags and hens and all that - I think they will give you more of a chance because they're slightly excited to recognise your face.

Isn't it a bit odd being vaguely famous now, though, but not as a comic?

I'm not saying this with false modesty, but I've never really considered myself a television person, I've always considered that what I do works best on the radio rather than TV. So the fact that I've not got a Mock the Week or 8 Out Of 10 Cats, it's never really bothered me at all; well, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't consider them, but I don't necessarily think they'd be a good fit. There's a lot of damage to be done in being bad on telly, people will remember that. So I've never craved television, it's never been part of the big plan, I've never gone to my agent and said 'why aren't I on telly?' once in my life.

You've done some nice radio documentaries over the years - any more on the way?

I did a cricket thing and I'm now doing a follow up, if you like, about the Olympic Games that should be broadcast just before the Olympics. I think it's going to be called The Sinha Games, basically because everything has been disqualified on the basis that the IOC won't let you use the word. They're very protective about intellectual copyright, to an incredible degree. Luckily it's not my job to get involved with the political side of it.

You're a stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe - are you going this year?

No! I'm having a year off - after three consecutive years and five of the last six, cyclically speaking it's time for another rest. If I was doing Edinburgh it would've interfered with writing the Olympics show, and I just felt that I needed a break this year.

So would The Chase have been on your poster, or does it not fit with your comedy style?

To be fair I have two comedy personas. I have the Friday and Saturday night club comic, and the Edinburgh comic - the first one is certainly much cruder, while the Edinburgh comic is more wordy and thoughtful than the ITV persona. I've certainly seen audience members who recognise me from The Chase look shocked by the words coming out of my mouth - not necessarily what they'd expect from an ITV teatime minor celebrity. But the producers have been very supportive. As far as they're concerned I can do whatever I like as a comic as long as I don't bring the show into disrepute.

It would've been interesting to see how The Chase business affected an Edinburgh run: bigger venue maybe?

I am doing a one hour show for the Sheffield Comedy Festival - it's the biggest gig I've ever done with a new show. I do the Sheffield Comedy Festival every year in a 100-seater and always sell out, so they've decided to take a gamble on me this year and see if the publicity from The Chase will help people through the door, and it is a massive gamble. 500 people, if it sells out I'll make more money than I did from a month at the Edinburgh Festival. I think in Edinburgh I'm seen by people who've seen all my other shows - what I've got to try to write for Sheffield is a show for a new audience.

Presumably a lot of TV viewers have no idea you do comedy?

I'd say that 99 percent of people watching The Chase have never heard of me, despite the fact that I've done The News Quiz and The Now Show, this, that and the other. Until you're on telly, nobody really knows who you are.

Do you still do the occasional GP stint?

No, I gave up in 2007. The thing I'd say about the medicine, rather like The Chase actually, at the end of the day stand-up comedy is only the third most stressful job I've ever done. Because trying to answer general knowledge questions at speed when the ITV production budget is at stake - somebody else is at stake, rather than just yourself. But comedy you only perform for yourself. If it all goes wrong you haven't harmed anybody else, you haven't hurt anybody else, you take the blows, you deal with them, no one else is upset on your behalf.

You're probably one of the only people ever to use stand-up as a relaxing hobby.

I do think my confidence on stage - and it's weird to think that after 17 years confidence should be an issue, but I think for even the most experienced comics it's still an issue - I do think my confidence has gone up several notches since I started on The Chase. In a couple of weeks there's an episode where everything went wrong for me, and I felt much worse after that than I've felt after my worst ever comedy gig. Much worse, the producer's saying 'well what happened, what went wrong?' and me not knowing the answer. Whereas my worst ever comedy gig...

... wasn't on TV a month later?

Absolutely. The worst comedy gigs, it's "right, I'm sorry about that, I'll see you guys, bye." And that's that. I talk about the show a little bit in the clubs, the degree to which I masochistically read my Twitter abuse every time I'm on the show. It's always good to embrace the negative in life and turn it into comedy. If you want to achieve anything in life you have to accept that there are people out there not only hating you, but hating you with a real passion.

www.paulsinha.com