Hi Richard. Who are you and what do you do in comedy?
My name is Richard Wright, I am a 41 year old obese nerd who still lives at home with parents...and I perform comedy. I also sometimes run comedy nights and the Pegasus Comedy Awards.
Tell us about how you first became involved in the comedy world.
My degree was in film and my best friend at University went onto do an MA because he's better then me. He asked me write and direct him MA piece for him so he could focus on other aspects. I wrote short film about stand up comedy, a wildly inaccurate one. When we filming the stand up section some people we had booked to appear didn't show up so played the part of a stand up and told a joke. I really enjoyed it. I then bottled it for a year before making my new years resolution for 2012 to try stand up. Thankfully another friend had made the same resolution so we entered a "suicide pact" to do out first open mic night together and I feel in love with it that first night at the lions den comedy car crash in January 2012.
Tell us about your comedy favourites.
I can break this into before I started doing comedy and after I started doing comedy:
pre performing: I grew up listening to BBC sitcoms on audio tape like dads army and yes minister. I liked people like Bill Bailey and Harry Hill and remember watching things on TV like the Lee & Herring shows, Phil Kay had a channel 4 show I loved. I was very into sketch TV shows like the fast show and goodness gracious me.
Post performing: My favourite stand up comedian ever is Josie Long. When I first started in 2012 I remember I saw a comedian who made me laugh on an episode of never mind the buzzcocks and it was Josie Long. I found a DVD of hers from 2006 called trying is good and I got that and it was everything. It was inspiring and brilliant. That DVD was a big factor in why I kept going throgh the early days of doing stand up. Josie Long is a British comedy legend and for my money doesn't get the credit and recognition she deserves. Also massive fans of people like Stewart Lee, Demi Lardner, Lou Wall, Richard Herring, Ross Noble, Aunty Donna, Randy Feltface, John Mulaney, Colin Quinn, Bec Hill, Tom Walker, Bec Petraitas and so many more amazing stand ups too many to mention them all.
The comedy industry is competitive. Why should people pick you to work with?
I am often described as the nicest guy in comedy. I can't speak to how accurate that is, although the nicest person in comedy is Bec Hill.
Where would you like to be in 10 years' time?
Alive and still performing in some capacity. I'm not that ambitious. Still going to the fringe and doing my dumb shows.
Published: Thursday 25th July 2024