Circuit Training 17: Tiernan Douieb

Tiernan Douieb never really wanted to be a stand-up. The likeable comic with the much-mispronounced name had thespian leanings as a teen but was then brainwashed by a comedy professor, and found himself telling gags for a living instead. He doesn't seem overly traumatised by this turn of events, in truth, with an upbeat, easy-going manner and a play-anywhere ethos. He even does gigs for kids.

The London-based comic will be heading down memory lane in mid July, as the Lounge on the Farm festival takes place just up the road from his old University and features both Douieb and a showcase curated by his old mentor - more of whom later. After that he'll embark on his second solo Edinburgh jaunt, which he's publicising in fine fashion by releasing last year's show as a free podcast, which you can download here But, first, let's find out about clown college...

Tell us about your odd route into comedy...

I slightly cheated in that I did a drama degree at Kent University, and in the fourth year all the clever students would specialise in something like radio production or set design, but there was also a stand-up course that was only seven hours a week. Brilliant. We didn't even have any exams.

Handy. How did it work?

The tough bit was you had to do 10 minutes of new material every week for eight weeks in the student bar, a 20 minute set in a local bar and a 40 minute experimental set that you'd write an essay on. But generally you watched a lot of stand-up, had a lot of fun and slept in quite a bit. It's run by a guy called Dr Oliver Double who's a doctor of comedy, he's got a PHD in it, and he taught me a lot of things that proved very useful when I started doing it properly. Essentially if I hadn't done that course I wouldn't have considered getting into stand-up ever really.

So you emerged as a fully-formed comedy turn?

No, it took a really long time to get where I am now. When I started out all the older acts gave me that really boring thing where I'd say 'can you give me some advice?' and they'd say 'just do it a lot.' Then about four years in I thought 'oh god, they were really right' - you just suddenly learn actually what your voice is. Because I can't do dark material. I'm not allowed. I've tried...

Your autobiography will presumably be called 'His Non-Dark Materials'...

Ha - I'm so stealing that. But, yeah, it took me ages to realise that I come across as quite friendly, and so anytime I do anything nasty people go 'oh no, I cant believe he's said that, that's just ruined everything.' But it took someone to point it out to me.

And now you're a bit of a go-to guy for kids' comedy shows - are they tricky?

You've got to be so careful. You can't pick on kids if they heckle you, you've got to be very diplomatic, because if you make them feel bad they just cry and it makes you feel worse. But kids are a brilliant audience. Initially it's a really scary thought for any stand-up, because you think you're limited. And, ok, you've got to take away sex gags and stuff about drugs and swearing, but you can pretty much do anything else. And the kids go in with this whole 'I'm going to see a show - brilliant!' level of excitement. I've got through loads of kids shows without actually doing any material.

Is kids TV on the cards now?

I very nearly got a CBBC presenters job recently for a new show, but I don't know if I should talk about it really [Tiernan then confides an all-too familiar tale of green lights suddenly turning red due to musical chairs upstairs] so I'm trying to get back into that world. I'm very much at the stage of my career where I'm submitting lots of things, some of which get to a certain level but then don't get anywhere because of money/people. So yeah, it's a bit of nightmare.

Be honest, is that because people can't pronounce the surname?

You know, I do wonder that. I always wonder if I'd have more website hits if people could spell it, or more Twitter followers - it does slightly bother me. But then no-one else will ever have the name, so it's a fine line...

No-one else will ever have it? Did you invent it?

Well they could have it but they'd have to be part of the Douieb family and I doubt they'd call them Tiernan, because there's already one of us. There is Tommy Tiernan, who's got it the wrong way round. I always say to people now, if you type in 'Tiernan, comedy,' I'm the less famous one.

Tiernan Douieb appears at 'Lounge on the Farm' in mid July. Also in the comedy tent are the likes of Howard Marks, Carl Donnelly and Phill Jupitus' Impro Allstars. See www.loungeonthefarm.co.uk for details.