Carl Donnelly: ‘I had to make an executive decision to stop compering’

Audiences in the Cambridge area can look forward to not one but two upcoming appearances by stand-up comedian Carl Donnelly as part of the Anglia Comedy series of comedy nights.

The first of these will be on Saturday, September 16, at Burgess Hall in St Ives, where Carl will perform alongside Chris McCausland, Harriet Kemsley, and Josh Weller – although this line-up is subject to change.

Carl, a two-time nominee for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, says: “It’s a mixed bill show so everyone’s doing slightly shorter [sets], and probably for the best actually, because I’ve just come back from Australia with the show I’m doing in Edinburgh, which is an hour about my dad passing away – so I think I’ll save the people of St Ives having to go through that!

“I think it’s just going to be a fun night of everyone doing different stuff.”

The experienced writer and comic quit his day job in 2007 to focus on comedy full time, after only doing it for less than two years.

On those due to join him on stage in St Ives, he says: “That’s a great line-up. Chris McCausland started out probably a tiny bit before me but he’s really blown up in the last year or two, and he’s just announced he’s doing a tour show at the Apollo so you’re getting him in a ‘hot’ period.

“The rest are quite an eclectic bill, in that they’ve got very different styles, like Harriet’s really silly and funny, and Josh, out of all the newer people coming through in the last few years, is really cool.

“He’s got a music background so a lot of his stuff is about coming from the music industry. He was in quite a successful band – a world-touring band – and then it all sort of fell apart, so he’s got a really interesting backstory.”

Carl, a fan of Vic and Bob and The Fast Show growing up – he also really likes Addy van der Borgh and Phil Kay – is set to take on hosting duties for the evening.

“I’ll just probably be messing around with the audience quite a lot,” he says. “I used to compere a lot; when I started out that’s sort of how I learnt to do comedy really… I’d never done any performing or drama or any of that stuff – some comics have got some acting background.

“But for me I just fell into it and quite early I worked out that I was quite a natural at talking to the audience and feeding off them to make up stuff, and that’s how I started making a living from it really, because I was new and clubs saw me chatting to the audience and it going well and they asked me to then come back and host.

“That meant I was suddenly getting booked on professional bills that I probably had no right to be on really, considering how long I’d been going…

“It was something that I did loads, but then I actually knocked it on the head a bit because I found that I was doing too much of it and it was slightly affecting my writing.

“I knew if I was gigging one month and most of it was compering, I didn’t have to write new material because I’d probably just be making it up with an audience – so I had to make an executive decision to stop compering.

“I stopped for quite a few years, then the last two years I started doing it again a bit, just out of curiosity because I hadn’t done it in so long – I thought I was losing that sort of muscle memory – and just remembered how much I loved it.

“Then I’ve gone back and started compering some of the places, like The Comedy Store, and places that I came up doing – and I just love it again. I love that thing of just seeing where it goes when you start chatting to the audience.”

The second upcoming Anglia Comedy date to feature Carl will be at The Leys in Cambridge on Saturday, October 21. Also on the bill for that gig will be Marcus Brigstocke, Rachel Parris and Tom Ward.

It appears we’re quite lucky to be seeing so much of him... “Obviously it’s quite close, I’m in London, but I don’t really leave London that often nowadays,” he says.

“I tend to leave it for big chunks – like I go to Australia for a few months, or Edinburgh, but I used to be on the road all the time.

“But since the pandemic, and since I had a child, I now am such a home bird. I tend to gig in London the majority of the time so it’s quite rare to be out for one-off gigs that close together.”

Catch Carl Donnelly at Burgess Hall, St Ives, on Saturday, September 16, and/or at the Great Hall at The Leys, Cambridge, on Saturday, October 21.

[Read more: Hal Cruttenden to headline The Best in Comedy at The Maltings in Ely]

Both shows are part of the Anglia Comedy nights, which are put on throughout the region. For tickets, visit angliacomedy.com. For more on Carl, go to carldonnelly.squarespace.com, or check out his Instagram page.