Phil Kay interview

Phil Kay has written a 'auto-blography' book, which has picked up lots of interest on Kickstarter... so we thought we'd send Phil a few questions. He has just come back from Glastonbury, having clearly enjoyed himself, and submitted his answers to us scribbled on the back of the set list of some band that we've never heard of. This is our edited version of those scribblings...

Hi Phil. You've been doing comedy for a while now. How did you first get started?

Good evening. Now, before I start... I usually pace around the dressing room all nervous.

My first ever gig was in 1989, in August - a So You Think You're Funny? heat. I won it with three minutes of material and got asked to do a TV show by one of the judges. The fastest rise in history...

Could you tell us six highlights from your comedy career...

Malcom Hardee's trousers being pulled down by a policewoman.

Not killing Rich Hall at the Playhouse in Edinburgh in 1996.

Getting my balls out on Australian TV.

Having pancakes in Montreal... as they signed up Norm Macdonald as the host of Saturday Night Live... them tutting at our all-night booze.

Doing a three hour show in Dublin and having a 'Jameson blackout' for the last 22 minutes.

Losing my trousers twice.

There's a hundred more in the book!

The comedy circuit has changed quite a lot since you started - for better or worse would you say?

Wetter and burst.

The internet has changed comedy too - and you're embracing technology by using Kickstarter to help distribute your book. Can people buy a copy any other way though?

There will be books for sale on one very, very high shelf in Bob's Bookshop this Edinburgh Fringe.

If your book is already written, why do you need Kickstarter money?

Money for the actual printing and binding, and a massive celebration... bunting aint cheap, unless you make it out of garage gloves.

You've already hit the Kickstarter target. What do you aim to do with the extra cash?

Plough it into my Dragon's Den idea.

What's the difference between an autobiography and an 'auto-blography'?

'Blog' is more sporadic... jumpy... without definition... able to be shorter... stream of concience (not sic) moderner... and everyone is doing it... and all reveals and chronology is not key.

You've had a rather event-filled life so far - is there any particular story from the book you've particularly enjoyed recounting?

Yes, definitely, without a shadow of a doubt.

Is there anything you've had to leave out, to avoid offending anyone?

Nope. The Caracas Revolutionary Headquarters story; arguing with the police in my bath; ping pong with Gary Lightbody... it's all in there!

In the 90s you had your own TV show and a large profile. How would you describe your following now?

Loyal, fiercely intelligent, great hair... boiled down like a marinade for strength and potency.

Do you think you are different as a comedian from say 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago?

I am more different now than I was then. Then it was all the same kind of differing and now even the same is new (now it's longform, funny facts and real events... when I started it was all one liners).

You're in Edinburgh again this year, with three shows. Can you tell us more about them?

Well they are all a superb, each on a different aspect. All three are something I have never done before and all a culmination of my secret breakthrough into music as my true love...

Here is Phil's book on Kickstarter. It's still going until Sunday.

After that the book will be exclusively available at Heroes @ Bob's Bookshop during Edinburgh Fringe, although you will be able to pre-purchase it on Amazon for its full release in October.

Phil's Edinburgh shows are Verbal Diary (storytelling show), Men Utd (music show) and Bookshop Midnight Mayhem (late night mayhem with Phil's house band).