Jack Barry on Christmas interview

This interview was originally conducted to promote charity gig Oh My Gosh, however that was cancelled and thus this interview has been edited.

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Wednesday 20th December 2017

We ask Jack Barry - one half of the duo Twins, and an increasingly acclaimed and interesting solo act - about Christmas, New Year, and nuclear Armageddon.

Wham's Last Christmas was recently voted the second best Christmas song ever. How was your last Christmas?

Last Christmas I was actually having surgery on my knee. I tore my ACL playing football and had it fixed on December 23rd. There were pros and cons. Cons were that it was agony and I had to wrap my leg in clingfilm like a chicken drumstick whenever I wanted to shower. Pros were I got loads of free drugs and didn't have to help with the washing up.

What's your view on Christmas comedy gigs?

I'd say, by and large, they're horrible. A couple of years ago I did one in Hereford. Half the audience were from a local cider company and had all been drinking since lunch time. During one of my stories one of them farted so loudly that it derailed the whole gig. It was the only time I've been heckled by an anus.

After the gig the other comedians and I all had to leave out the back door because 10 of the audience decided they wanted to fight us. Christmas gigs are the worst.

Are you a lover or a hater of New Year's Eve?

I don't mind New Year's Eve one bit. The secret is not to put pressure on it. Everyone thinks it should be the greatest night of the year, but it's just a crap night out in December. Just gather a group of friends, preferably ones you fancy, into one room and it'll be fine.

Your Edinburgh show this year, High Treason, tackled a serious topic. Any interesting responses?

Yes, my show this year was all about why drugs should be legal.

I'll be honest, at first people obviously, perhaps rightly, all seemed to think I was a raging drug addict and it was tough to get people in. For the first week my audience was almost exclusively made up of stoners in their twenties and ageing hippies who yelled, 'my man' after every point I made.

But then I had some very nice reviews that said I wasn't mad and had actually done my research, and more normal people started to show up. I even had an MP who is campaigning for legalisation turn up, so who's mad now?!

What's your plan for 2018? Is there another Edinburgh show lined up?

I will probably be in Edinburgh once again. All the material I'm writing at the moment seems to be about sex, so it's looking like that's what the show will be about. Everyone likes sex, don't they?

Christmas 2018, Trump's about to launch the nukes - what would you do for your last (ever) Christmas?

I want to ride the bomb down like in Dr Strangelove, but instead of riding it like a cowboy I'm eating Christmas dinner on it with my family. Then the bomb explodes just as we all pull our crackers.

Jack Barry's show High Treason will be at the Soho Theatre from March 22-24. For tickets visit sohotheatre.com