Steve Bugeja

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Thursday 27th September 2018

Schooled on the mean streets of leafy Hertfordshire but catapulted into comedy at a camp in the US of A, your boy Bugeja is a man of the world. Now he's touring the UK with the show Almost, which has already done several weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe, and will soon enjoy a six-date run at the Soho Theatre, from 1-6 October. Still, that jet-set lifestyle (probably more train-set these days) has its ups and downs.

"My show is centred on the worst flight I've ever been on," he says. "I got a text from my girlfriend as I boarded saying that when we got back we needed to have a talk, and I was sat next to a loud Australian lady who insisted on talking to me. Awful. Come along to the show to see what happened. And laugh."

Good advice. But first, let's hop on a virtual Virgin (Atlantic) across the pond, and witness the losing of his joke-telling cherry.

First gig?

My first gig was while I was working on a kids' summer camp in America. There was a staff talent contest and I decided to enter doing stand-up. Looking back I'm not really sure why I did it, I think because I was surrounded by new people I was perhaps trying to reinvent myself in some way. I was up against a guy who thought he could juggle (he couldn't), a drummer, a few singers, a poet and I bloody won the contest! Got $20! It was my highest paid gig for a few years after that.

Favourite show, ever?

Two gigs stick out. I recently opened for my pal Iain Stirling at the Hammersmith Apollo, it was a very special night. Just being in that room that I'd watched on TV and stand-up DVDs so many times was incredible.

The second was my own solo show at Leicester Square Theatre on my last tour. My show was all about working on the aforementioned summer camp and the audience was packed with people who had worked at summer camps themselves, it was an incredible atmosphere and just one of those special nights that made me realise how fortunate I am to do this job.

Worst gig?

I once did a gig to a private dinner of music executives. They were the drunkest, loudest and rudest people I've ever encountered. To make things worse, the person bringing me on got halfway through my introduction and then forgot my name, walked off for two minutes to check it and then shouted it from off stage.

They basically talked over me for 20 minutes. Tough night.

Your Edinburgh Fringe shows are usually Pay What You Want, but you also sell advance tickets - do people just pretend they've bought a ticket and sneak out?

Yes, I'm sure people do that, mainly because I've done it myself. It makes it so easy to be a tight prick. I always feel bad for the people who bought tickets ages in advance and then find out that loads of people just turned up on the day and got in for free. I used to start my Edinburgh show by finding out who had bought a ticket and who had got in for free, but I soon realised that all it did was make the ticket people resent that they had paid; now I don't mention it.

What if everyone buys an advance ticket - do you still do the bucket speech?

No, I don't do the bucket it it's sold out, I feel too cheeky, but I know plenty of comedians who do and absolutely rake it in. I wish I had the balls.

The most memorable review, heckle or post-gig reaction?

I once got a review that focused primarily on the length of my fingers. She said that my long fingers were mesmerising and distracting from the jokes. My favourite line was "if he doesn't make it as a comedian then he's got a good chance of being a concert pianist."

Who's the most disagreeable person you've come across in the business?

I've genuinely not met many disagreeable people in comedy. This has just made me panic that maybe I'm the most disagreeable person in the business. Have people been saying my name for this answer? Tell me.

As part of the Hertfordshire massive myself, have the Herts streets informed your stand-up?
Big time. Growing up in the badlands of Bishops Stortford gave me the edge that I needed to become the dangerous comedian that I am now.

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

I wrote a stupid joke about how the idea of the tooth fairy was teaching kids that selling their body is fine. I thought it was funny, but audiences got tense.

How do you feel about where your career is at, right now?

I feel very happy. Doing a run at Soho Theatre is something I've aspired to do since I started comedy so I genuinely feel very fortunate. I think one of the most exciting things about comedy is that you never know what might come up next, I recently got to host an economics series for Radio 4, there's no way I could have predicted that. Can't wait to see what happens next. Hopefully something. Oh god, what if nothing happens next?!