Comic Steve Bugeja prepares for home turf gig
Anglia Comedy, which puts on its ‘Best in Comedy’ nights around the region, is to present another evening of laughs at The Leys School in Cambridge next month – and on the bill with three other stand-ups is comedian, writer and actor Steve Bugeja.
Steve, a regular on the stand-up circuit, also co-created and co-wrote the ITV2 sitcom Buffering with Iain Stirling.
He previously hosted the BBC Radio 4 series Economics with Subtitles and has numerous TV appearances to his credit, including The Russell Howard Hour.
Steve spoke to the Cambridge Independent from a TV studio in West London while taking a break from an all-day writing session for the ITV2 comedy game show, CelebAbility.
He is also in the process of preparing his new Edinburgh show, Self Doubt (I think), to take to this year’s Fringe, which he will then take on tour next year. Before then, he heads to Cambridge on June 3.
Steve says: “It will be a mixture of material from all my tours, really, and then I’m building up the new show slowly over the next few months.”
The South London-based comic will also be trying out some new material at the gig and plans to mix it up every night.
Alongside the jokes, he will tell “some stories about being still single at 32 while all my friends get engaged and have children”.
He continues: “I grew up in Bishop’s Stortford, so not too far from Cambridge, so it’s always nice to go back to my home area.”
Steve, a fan of popular sitcoms Gavin and Stacey and Friends, says that it was always his ambition to feature in a sitcom.
“It was amazing – we got to do two series,” he adds. “The first series was filmed during the pandemic, so it was quite tricky, but the second series we did last year.
“It’s just an absolute dream come true; I’m very, very grateful and people really enjoy it. We got lots of nice messages and I got to act in it quite a lot, which was nice. It’s just great – a very happy experience.”
When it came to stand-up, a certain Lancastrian comedian was an early influence.
“The first DVD I ever got bought was Peter Kay: Live at the Top of the Tower – in ’98, I think it was – and I remember just being mesmerised by the fact that one man could captivate an audience like that,” recalls Steve.
“Then I discovered other comedians and I was hooked on it. I remember watching Kevin Bridges when he just became big.
“I don’t think I’d done a gig yet, I was just starting to get into comedy, and I went and watched him at the Edinburgh Fringe.
“He sold out this massive room and he was just getting famous and it was amazing. I couldn’t believe how funny he was.
“I’ve since met him and played Fifa with him – it was like meeting your hero. He was the person I really looked up to when I started out.”
Joining Steve on Saturday, June 3, at The Best in Comedy line-up at the Great Hall at The Leys School in The Fen Causeway, are Suzi Ruffell, Zoe Lyons and Keith Farnan.
Tickets, priced £17.50, are available at angliacomedy.com. Over-18s only.