Stuff and Nonsense with Spencer Jones interview

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Monday 18th November 2019

The much-acclaimed absurdist makes a two-pronged return to Soho.

Stuff and Nonsense: that's the Spencer Jones way nowadays. The supremely gifted goofball has always enjoyed pushing the nonsense envelope, and now there's even more stuff involved, too.

Jones might come across as a loon onstage, but if comedy worked like sport, he's the guy you'd be betting on: both of his last two Edinburgh Fringe outings won Best Show nominations. 2017's The Audition eventually spawned a BBC series, The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk, and this year's successful return transfers to London's Soho Theatre from 2nd December.

The Things We Leave Behind takes Jones' stuff in a slightly new direction, though, away from his distinctive character, The Herbert, and into a version of his own workspace at home. But it's still splendidly daft, as he delves into heaps of customised household junk; some pretty interesting music too, as our host lets rip with a loop pedal.

Indeed, next month Soho will also rock to his other recent Fringe show - The Spencer Jones 50 Minute Disco Experiment - more of which below. But first, let's ask a confusing question...

The Things We Leave Behind is a bit of a departure from your previous shows - could you tell us how it works?

I don't know what this question means? What is 'it'? Do you mean the show? I think you mean the show? I'm going to assume you mean the show.

So how does the show work? People come in, sit down and wait. The lights go down and I come on stage, then the lights come on. I then try to be as funny as possible for 51 minutes. At the end I thank everyone for coming. Then three more people follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

Was there an active decision to move away from the previous persona this time?

The line between Herbert and Spencer (third person chat! Get a grip you snazzy twat!) is no longer clear. The straight line is now an erratic zig-zag that looks like member of parliament's lie detector graph. That graph is then scribbled on by a three year-old using Marmite and jam.

Then an angry 43 year-old loser rips it up, and uses the bits to make a paper mache face which he paints yellow ochre (because he has three tubes of it) and wears it on the back of his Gemini head.

He then dances around his silverfish-infested kitchen at 3am listening to Liam Gallagher, stubbing his toe occasionally and eventually wondering why he can never sleep and when he eventually does it's always nightmares and never sexy dreams.

We sense there's an element of truth to this show - do you have a workspace full of old props? What sort of stuff clutters the house?

The show is 98% true. I have a work room full of all sorts of shit. I'm going to walk in there now and write down the first 20 things I see:

Pink children's wellies
Painting of a snail that has accidently taken MDMA
100 pairs of black glasses
Parcel tape
Boss Keyboard
Massive mirror
Three bikes
Skateboard
Nike trainers with eyes on
Scrap wood
My dad's old briefcase
Snake from Big Babies
Electric drum kit
Inspirational Rocky Balboa poster
Dartboard
Hundreds of books about comedy
Uke
Various electric innards
Fake hands
UV body paint
Speak and Spell
Ping balls
Dirty cup

I Just counted and that's 23 things. Always over-deliver in life. People love it. Unless you are a postie. Then just do what's expected.

So you left The Herbert at home this year - what do you reckon he's up to now?

See question two. He's inside me. I think he wants to stop comedy. Genuinely and be a serious actor. He needs a new challenge. He's been on Rightmove looking at Totnes, Bristol, and Somerset.

You also did the 50 Minute Disco Experiment at this year's Fringe - was the experiment successful? Any particular findings?

The 50 Minute Disco Experiment was the most fun I have ever had at the Fringe. The audiences were crazy. I loved them. And I was very lucky to have brilliant people join me on stage: Pat Cahill (drums), Joe Jacobs (rapping), Dominic Coleman (being Jonny Wallop) were regulars.

Then we had Sarah Callaghan, Huge Davies, Grove, PJ, Jarred Christmas, Hobbit, Jayde Adams, Rosco McClelland and others just jump up and make the audience dance and laugh. And Alfie our tech, such a find! Audience members got involved too.

It's good to experiment, make mistakes, that's what I learned. Take risks, drink wine, be a tit, be rubbish.

Music is a big part of those live shows - was that always something you wanted to get into?

I'm obsessed with music and comedy. I'm addicted. I was fucked from the start. I nearly joined the police like my dad, but a youth worker called Sybil told me they would kill my creativity.

What are you up to onscreen at the moment - any news on your new series BBC series Mr Winner?

I think it's going to be screened in the year 2243. The year I die. In the meantime watch The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk on BBC iPlayer. Everyone in it and everyone who made it are brilliant.