Elis James, on Benefits interview

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Thursday 19th February 2015

Clearly in a good place right now, affable Welshman Elis James is between big sitcoms, having starred in the well-received Crims, and co-starred in the upcoming Josh Widdicombe vehicle, Josh. There's also a radio show, with John Robins on XFM, an acclaimed sketch troupe (Here Be Dragons) and, a particularly big deal, he recently became a father. Those creative juices are flowing nicely.

Meanwhile James is also doing his bit for those who aren't in such good places. This chat was arranged by the good people at Centrepoint, the UK charity that offers housing, health, and educational support to homeless young people. They also stage some high-profile comedy galas, under the Laughing Point banner, at London's famous Palace Theatre, and Elis is compering the next one, on February 23rd. It also features Miles Jupp, Sara Pascoe, Josh Widdecombe, Lou Sanders, Pappy's, Pippa Evans and Joe Lycett. Not too shabby.

Indeed, James had been doing something similar the night before we spoke. Hence we catch him in bed...

You sound a bit weary, Elis - is the baby keeping you up?

I actually organised a charity gig in Swansea last night, and it overran, as these things do, because Rhod Gilbert was in charge of the auction and it took well over 90 minutes. The venue were all backstage having a go at me saying 'we're way past our curfew, you can't keep doing this.' I couldn't get him to stop, and there was still lots to auction, and he manfully carried on. I got home at 5am.

There was a diversion on the M4, and when I did the diversion, because I was so tired, I ended up going to Oxford. And at that stage I thought I was going to kill myself. But still, I'm home now.

The moral of this piece so far then is 'never do charity work'

Ha!

So how do you approach a hosting job like this? Do you talk about the charity much, or treat it like a regular gig?

Well, what I do, I used to work for a homeless charity - my last real job was working with homeless people, about 10 years ago, and if comedy ever goes wrong, that is the thing I'd go back to, I think. Even though comedy is going well, I can't accept that it's going to stay like this for a long time.

So the charity gig I did last night was for a homeless charity in Swansea. But I think personally, at this Centrepoint show, unless there's buckets so people can donate that way, then I'll talk about it at the top, just to let everyone know.

If there are no buckets then I want it to be a normal comedy night, as funny as possible, I'll do my absolute best stuff and I would think all the other acts would do the same... actually I know they will, because I'm looking at the bill right now. If there's a Just Giving page then I'll give that at the end of the show: but I'm compering a comedy night, so I don't want to make it difficult for the acts.

That's true - you need to keep the atmosphere going

For instance, last night, we had this amazing bill, then Rhod was doing the auction, so I thought at that point I'll talk about what the charity means. The director had devoted his life to this charity and was one of the most inspiring people I'd met in a sector of inspiring people.

And I started talking about it and my voice started wobbling and I thought 'I'm going to cry in front of 1,100 people' - my god! And Rhod came on the offstage mic saying 'Er, Elis, can you raise the tone a little bit? It's a comedy night!' And I start getting heckled by the other acts, going 'keep it light El, keep it light - it's an auction, there's 1,100 people, they've all paid 25 pound for a ticket, come on!'

So that's my feeling, that the night's got to be as funny as possible. My main role is to keep it pumping.

You've got to get the balance right when people have shelled out for tickets already

Yeah, whereas last night was slightly different because it was a race against time to keep a drop-in clinic open, it really was a case of Bon Geldoffing it, 'Get your wallets out!'

One thing I do want to say, the Centrepoint stuff is amazing. They work primarily with young people, there are benefit cuts and there will always be people in vulnerable housing, because of violence at home and mental health problems, care leavers. It doesn't get more important than Centrepoint, I don't think. I haven't been able to do their first few gigs because I was filming a sitcom, so I'm really happy to do this one.

You've certainly been busy recently. The sitcom seemed to go well

It did, and I'd love Crims to get a second series. After Crims, I started getting a lot more acting auditions, castings. I think the reason is that people have seen me in it and know that I can act. It's probably as simple as that. It's definitely a step that I'd like my career to go in.

So how about the other one? Josh sounds a big deal

I've seen very, very rough edits and early assemblies, and I think it's going to be absolutely brilliant, I'm so proud of it. Also I think a series is going to be good because we had such a laugh, it's the happiest six weeks of work I've ever done, I think. But it doesn't go out until the autumn.

I'd love it if they just showed the one that's not ready tonight, scrapped Scrapheap Challenge or whatever's supposed to be on. I just can't wait for people to see it.

I've been obsessed by sitcoms since I was 11 or 12, and I did two last year, which is an absolute dream come true. It'll be very difficult to top 2014 to be honest.

Laughing Point is at the Palace Theatre, London, on February 23rd. Details and tickets

For more details on Centrepoint's work, visit centrepoint.org.uk