Zoe Lyons interview

Ryan Duggins meets stand-up comedian Zoe Lyons...

Over the last few years, observational comedy has become tainted somewhat. Yes, the commercial viability is still there, as you can clearly see with a simple browse through the major TV stations on any given night. But within the circuit, the "Don't you hate it when..." gags draw out a snarl, as does promotional material which says the comic will be giving us a 'sideways glance' on the very world on which we walk. Zoe Lyons is one of the only comics currently working that can use this method, but mix it with the surreal, and deliver with a sharpness so cutting that she really should be banned from commercial air travel.

"I always consider my comedy slightly-cartoony. You know, it's of no real importance and it's never going to be 'ground-breaking'. Occasionally I might go off on a passionate rant, but it's not really political. It might be topical from time to time, but my work is a bit of a hotchpotch. It's a tajine; and with it all kicking off in Morocco, that's a topical term in itself."

"I hate this whole snobbery attached to observational comedy, it really makes me angry. Comedy doesn't have to all be ground-breaking. I do love watching a bit of hard-hitting political satire, through people like Lee Camp, but it can't all be like that. There is a long tradition of observational comedy in this country, and I have no time for the people that say 'Oh, it has to be whimsical, or hard-hitting', it's bullshit, there's room for everything."

After taking the stage in 2003, it didn't take long for Lyons to cement a concrete foot in the stand-up doorway, as she won the National Funny Woman Award in what can be described as her rookie-year in comedy. Think of this as the equivalent of picking up a stray dog and training it to win Crufts within 12 months (This is not to suggest that Zoe Lyons is a dog, or homeless for that matter.)

"I always loved stand-up, but obviously I was terrified to give it a go. But people encouraged me and told me that I was actually funny, so I thought 'What's the worst that can happen?' So I booked myself a five-minute slot and that's how it all started. I was really nervous, but I avoided having a drink to calm me down because I knew that if I did, I would just ramble on-and-on and the gig would be horrific."

"I used to wake up in this state of high-alert and high-anxiety, which lead to half of me just praying that the gig had been cancelled because I just thought 'I can't go through with this'. Thankfully that feeling only lasts for the 30-minutes before the gig these days."

Zoe can be applauded as one of the very few women in comedy who hasn't hid underneath her buzzer on the BBC's comedy panel show Mock The Week, a show where contestants pretty much fight and jostle over air time. A show where comedians like Dead Ringers' Jan Ravens and Smack the Pony's Fiona Allen have been completely, and uncharacteristically, reserved and shy.

"Perhaps those two said a lot before it was edited. Trust me, there is a lot of editing that goes on in that show. It's really competitive and it's hard to get a bloody word in edge ways to be honest. But when you do that show, you sort of know already what beast you're playing with."

"It's hard because on Mock The Week everyone's all uptight and tense, which makes it a lot harder to be funny. Your brain kind of shuts down, and you begin to sensor yourself really before you say anything in the fear that your words wouldn't go down well. But if you come across as slightly-quiet, that has no bearings on you as a performer. I have seen loads of great comics on that show say absolutely nothing, but they probably did, but their words didn't make the edit."

"Surprisingly enough I went over to New Zealand to do their version of Mock The Week, and it couldn't have been more different"

Mock The Week has just been one of many TV appearances from Zoe Lyons, with arguably the most important being the Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow gig of September last year. With so many comics all fighting for television space in recent times, TV has changed significantly in its importance over the last decade. Arguably, since Zoe began her professional career.

"The Comedy Roadshow was a beautiful gig, it really was. I didn't expect it to be so much fun, but I really enjoyed it. But again, the way I got that just represents what's happening now in comedy. In the first series of Michael's shows, they just approached the comics that they liked, but in the series I was in, they actually auditioned pretty much every comic worth their salt at The Comedy Store. We are talking almost everybody on the circuit."

"I hate auditioning anyway, and I get flashbacks to school sports days when something like this happens, thinking myself 'Don't pit me against my peers, I don't like it'. But thankfully I got the bloody thing... which was quite nice"

"Our attitudes towards TV have completely changed over the last 6 or 7 years. Back then, there was hardly any stand-up on TV, but it's like anything really, it goes in and out of fashion. Live comedy was on a lot in the late 70's and early 80's, then it totally went away, and now it's just having its time again. Live comedy shows are relatively cheap to put on in times of the recession. TV companies are tightening their belts, so now that there is a lot more going on in TV, and comics are beating each other over the heads with sticks to get on the air."

In 2009, The Independent placed Zoe at number 81 on their annual Pink List, which notes down who they think the most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain are. She is also a patron for Pride, with the likes of Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellen. I began asking Zoe about this with an opening apology that I had, in fact, not heard of the said list before...

"To be honest, I was exactly like you. That was really funny actually, I was sitting in bed with my girlfriend on a Sunday reading the newspaper, and she pointed at the article and went 'oh my god, look at you'. It was nice to be in there, but I think these list articles have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But it gave me an opening for my Edinburgh show so I was delighted."

"I wish I could do more with Pride at times, but I am a jobbing-comic so I am out most nights of the week. I do think there is certain point of being 'put under an umbrella' when you are either a female comic or a gay comic, and often, you don't fit under that umbrella. I much prefer performing in a totally mixed room rather than an audience of 'all-gay' or 'all-women'."

"My material doesn't really cater for any specific sexuality or gender, so when you are squashed into this bracket, I think it's a bit limiting. I do run a gay-friendly club down here in Brighton for the gay community, in which I book comics who aren't going to come and do what I see sometimes on the circuit, which is low-level homophobia. The amount of comics that pick out a bloke from the front-row and say things like 'Nice shirt... bit Brokeback Mountain.'"

As a recognised stand-up, Zoe no longer has to take whatever gigs she can get, which was not a luxury she had. She once performed at a show at an Essex Rugby club, where she shared the bill with 15 strippers, and a show in the West Country performing to two people. But surely, although the current situation is a lot more financially rewarding, the uncertainty and excitement of having no choice but to be a free spirit must be missed?

"I don't think that ever goes to be honest, it just changes. I do this tour and stuff, then I go to Melbourne, then to Edinburgh, but then the diary fizzles out a bit towards the end of the year. Obviously, I know I will be able to get gigs a lot easier, but there is never a certain path when you know where things will go for you."

On the subject of strange gigs, Zoe Lyons has performed on one of the most random places on TV to do stand-up, which was her set on the final series of The Paul O'Grady Show. Live stand-up at teatime surely could only result in an awkward failing of misplaced and misjudged programme planning?

"When I first heard about it, I didn't even think that it would be a little awkward. But then it all started to worry me, with the camera thing, and the little stage that was miles away from the audience, and it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon! But to be fair, they were a pretty good audience, and I didn't see too many blue-rinses."

"Doing television in a studio isn't entirely comfortable. It's a bit like weeing in a well - you're just waiting for it to hit some water; you know, with the time delay and that. I haven't actually watched it back to be honest, but Paul was really supportive."

Zoe is currently touring her rather oddly named Cloud Busting show up-and-down the country, as she delivers through timeless wit and surreal spectacles a set based on our own modern world. "The name comes from a story I have from Glastonbury. I was a teenager, and we encountered the Kate Bush fan club, so the show's name came from that really. But the audience should expect very little material about Kate Bush."

For a list of tour dates, and for all things new with Zoe Lyons see www.zoelyons.co.uk