Sketches, stationery and swears - Q&A with Daniel Foxx
Published: Monday 21st October 2024
Live at Brighton Dome Bleeped, "a new family-friendly twist on Brighton's biggest comedy night", will be performed on 26th October as a part of the Brighton Dome Comedy Festival 2024. The show's lineup includes Finlay Christie, Chantel Nash, Ian Smith and Daniel Foxx. Recently, we had the chance to speak with Foxx about taking on the swear-free event at Brighton Dome.
How did you first get started in the world of comedy?
I fell in love with live comedy when I moved to London for university and saw people like Mae Martin and David Mills performing. My university held a talent show and asked me to host it, and I thought, "Maybe this is my MOMENT!"
It wasn't my moment - I was average - but I did get the bug and started regularly going to open mics from then.
Can you tell us a bit about your creative process for shows and sketches?
I'd love to say something dramatic involving witch hazel and smoky quartz, but I'm very much a "sit down and write" sort of person. I love any excuse to buy nice stationery, so going to a cafe with a nice pen (preferably a Lamy Safari) and a crisp new Moleskine is a real turn-on. I like to just sit, drink a really horrible, sour coffee and free-write whatever thoughts come to mind for an hour or two. There's usually a few minutes of useable material in there.
You're going to be performing in Live at Brighton Dome Bleeped as a part of the Brighton Dome Comedy Festival. What is it like to be performing in a show where you cannot swear?
It's actually deeply terrifying? I genuinely feel more nervous about this than any other gig I've done this year. I don't know why - I'm not even a particularly sweary comedian. But I'm suddenly going through my material and going. "Oh god, is this family-friendly? Am I a potty mouth?"
Anyway, it is good to do gigs that challenge you to perform in new ways, so I think it will be fun. Terrifying but fun!
What has it been like to tour Villain?
A joy! It was my first tour and it was just so gorgeous to meet so many lovely people. It's one thing to know people from engaging on social media, but another level to get to meet them in person in one room where you all share a sense of humour. I felt very lucky.
Do you find your comedy changing when performing for a live audience versus an online audience?
Actually, very much no! Even though my online content is more sketch-based and my live performance is "classic" stand-up, I try to keep a similar tone, similar topics, similar vibe. So it's very much "me" and my sense of humour either way.
You released a book, Bedtime Stories for Privileged Children: Charming Tales of Wealth and Entitlement for Tots Who Were Simply Born Better, earlier this year. Can you tell us a bit about that?
I did! It's very silly. I basically started a series of sketches a few years ago gently mocking the super elite yummy mummies that I know and love - the ones who name their children "Cosmo" and "Cornichon". It got quite a following and the publisher Monoray got behind it, and now there's a beautiful illustrated book of them all. Ridiculous - but I love it!
You've also taken a dive into theatre with Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch. What was it like to move from sketch comedy to a musical?
Well, I actually have been writing musical theatre for about as long as I've been doing stand-up! That's the other side of my career - I've written something like 8 musicals. It's a similar thing to the sketches and the stand-up - there's a through-line tonally. It's a little camp, a little acerbic and I try to pack them with jokes of the same standard that I'd put in a comedy routine. Unfortunate is very much that - a show where we want people to belly laugh (while bopping their heads).
Do you have a favourite joke that you've ever told?
My favourite is a (true) story about the time my grandmother went to Brighton Pride by accident. We met her for coffee after and she was proudly telling us about "LGBT Pride" - "Lesbian, Gay, Black & Transgender." She had the spirit of the thing, at least!
How would you describe your style of comedy in one word?
Conspiratorial.
Live at Brighton Dome Bleeped runs on 26th October as a part of the Brighton Dome Comedy Festival. brightondome.org
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