Circuit Training 29: Kevin Eldon

An interview from earlier this year...

Is it too early to call Kevin Eldon a comedy legend? Too late. The fiendishly-fizzoged thesp has graced some of the most bewilderingly inspired series in televisual history over the last 15 years, having initially made an impact on Lee and Herring's Fist of Fun.

Well, perhaps 'graced' isn't the word, given the grotesques he often inhabits. There's the racist sniggerer thrown out of Alan Partridge's leaving do at the Travel Tavern, the evil hypnotist in Big Train, the white-gloved cleaner in Black Books, several deeply suspect characters in Brass Eye, and Jam... I could keep this up for hours. If it was any good, he was almost certainly in it somewhere, stealing the show.

Quite possibly at the behest of the many contemporaries he unwittingly outshone along the way, Eldon recently returned to solo live performance, with a debut one-man run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Titting About featured the comic in prime, envelope-pushing form, mixing proper stand-up with character stuff, music with mimicry, and generally impressing with the range and quality of material.

Now that show has re-emerged at London's Soho Theatre, and all right-minded BCG-dwellers really should grasp this rare opportunity to witness this reclusive creature in the flesh. Before that though, let's gently prod him, via the odd, occasionally awkward medium of email...

Which shows originally got you excited by comedy? I can't see much Good Life/Terry & June influence in your work...

Don't knock The Good Life! Everyone loved that. It sort of had mass appeal. I did a radio job with Penelope Keith the other day and I was suitably star struck. She's lovely. Not snooty at all. Turns out that was all acting! I loved Steptoe and Son and Porridge, The Young Ones, Monty Python and also Mash, before it got all gooey.

Your Edinburgh run attracted quite a buzz: was it a bit nerve-wracking doing those first few shows? Any pre-show preparatory techniques?

I was genuinely surprised by the interest. But flattered too of course. Yes, I felt rather terrified that there'd been a bit of a build up and I was going to just go on and everyone was going to just shake their heads and tut. Pre show techniques? Seven double tequilas. Nah - really, two bananas and a lot of pacing.

Are there any major changes for the London run?

Not major changes. I've expanded a few bits. Changed it here and there. I've washed my top. It's largely the sameish.

What made you take on a full Edinburgh run this year? Is the world of stand-up more fun that acting?

It was last year not this year - finger on the pulse eh! I did it as a dare to myself. I committed myself in a rash moment and then there was no way out. Glad I did though. Stand up's a lot of fun. Except twenty minutes before you go on. It's not more fun, it's just different. More immediate.

Am I right in thinking that your career got going more through stand-up than regular acting routes?

Yes, stand-up got things rolling really. I came up with a nerdy anoraky character which would probably cause me enormous embarrassment now. I came runner-up in the Time Out New Act of the Year about 1991 or 2 and then work came in more after that.

Also being on the circuit at that time, all my stand up mates were getting telly and radio series and when they needed an actor they would sometimes think 'oh, might as well have Eldon. He can talk in up to three different accents.' In fact before stand-up I was going precisely nowhere acting-wise, lining up for terrible jobs I had absolutely no chance of getting and didn't want to get anyway. Soaps and rubbish cop series. And awful plays.

Were Lee and Herring hard taskmasters back in the day? Have they matured, like fine cheeses?

I've never told anyone this but they beat me. They enjoyed it too. Sadists they were. They had an oubliette in their castle they'd throw me down when I hadn't said a word in their scripts right. That's right, an oubliette. I used to call them Cruellee and Scaring. I've had to have a lot of therapy. They have matured like evil cheeses.

Can you tell us an interesting fact about Chris Morris' working methods?

He never throws anyone down an oubliette.

I once wooed a girl by introducing her to Big Train. What's your fondest memory of those series?

First series was the most fun. It was the hot, hot summer of '98: brilliant cast who all loved each other, fantastic crew. We knew we were doing something that was good. It was footie at lunch time and every Friday night at the end of the week's shoot we'd end up back at Graham Linehan's for a massive knees up. Most excellent times. I'm filling up here.

Can you tell, during filming, which shows are going to be successful?

I think you know from the script right from the outset. You just know what's got something special, what will just about do and what is rubbish. So a lot of decisions are made at that stage as to whether to do it or not. I don't remember ever being dramatically wrong on that front. At some point during filming a producer will always appear and say that he/she's looked at the rushes and everything is looking 'fantastic' and that everyone is 'very excited'. I live for the day when someone comes up, says they've seen the rushes and then walks away sadly shaking their head.

Which neglected show of yours should we re-investigate?

I Am Not An Animal. That was a great bit of writing from Pete Baynham. And beside that, anyone who hasn't seen Sean Lock's 15 Stories High should treat themselves to the DVDs. It's brilliant.

Any exciting new projects coming up?

Oh, I shall make a little sketch show pilot for Radio 4 and see how that goes. And there's plenty on the boil, but it's boring to talk about them till they get done.