Rich Wilson: ‘We’ve all been heroes, we’ve all been villains’

Award-winning comedian Rich Wilson is set to perform at The Maltings in Ely as part of a show titled The Best in Comedy, alongside Lucy Porter, Stephen Bailey, and Josh Pugh.

The seasoned comic’s performances have earned him an award for Best International Guest at the 2016 New Zealand Comedy Awards, followed by a sell-out run in 2017, which saw him nominated for the same award once again.

Speaking to the Cambridge Independent from his home in Brighton after having recently returned from the Edinburgh Fringe, Rich says of his experience at this year’s festival: “It was good and bad – there were fewer numbers this year, audience-wise. Ticket sales were down but there was some good stuff as well so it was the usual emotional rollercoaster, like it always is.”

On what the Ely audience can expect to see and hear, Rich says: “Expect to laugh. It’s all I want to do – I just want to make people laugh. I’m not here to change lives and there’s no agenda, except just to laugh.

“I think at the minute, with everything that’s going on, if you can afford to get to a comedy night with all the prices rising – energy prices and fuel prices going through the roof – the last I thing I want to do is ruin your night.

“I guarantee if you come to that night, I will make you laugh. It’s that simple. I’ve been doing this long enough now to know that I can make you laugh – I’m not being arrogant. Do come, I will make you laugh, that’s it. If you are offended, we’ll have a chat afterwards.”

When it comes to writing his material, Rich, 50, says he always has a notebook and his phone with him in order to jot down ideas. “But because I MC quite a bit, I kind of write on stage some of the time, when I’m chatting to the audience,” he notes.

“I can’t sit down and go, ‘Right, I’m going to write for two hours’, because my brain doesn’t work that way. I have to be doing something else – so I’ll go off and clean the kitchen, or I’ll go for a walk, and then stuff seems to come.

“Everybody’s got a different method; there are people that do sit for hours. But if I sit down with a blank piece of paper and go, ‘Right, I’m going to write’, I just can’t do it. I’m always making notes, I’m always stood somewhere, I’m always off in a corner somewhere going, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea’ and then writing it down.

“My partner now, she’s a comedian and we’re always throwing ideas to each other as well. When we’re just sat watching something we’re just joking and messing around and stuff comes from that as well – that’s always fun. So it comes from everywhere.”

Rich, whose ex-girlfriend, comedian Jayde Adams, is a contestant on this year’s Strictly..., also hosts the popular Insane in the: podcast series, in which he talks to people – mainly fellow comics – about their experiences with mental health.

Guests have included James Acaster, Tom Allen, Dane Baptiste, Romesh Ranganathan, David Baddiel, and Jen Brister. “Al Murray was our guest the other week,” he says, “and Heston Blumenthal, David Baddiel’s been on it... I started it just before the lockdown and it’s about men opening up and talking about their feelings.

“I grew up in the 70s and the 80s and men were very reluctant to talk about things that were going on with them. It’s more about me exploring and finding out about people, like people who are non-binary and trans people, people who are gay and straight and bi – just finding out about people. I’ve learnt so much from doing it. It’s been fascinating.”

Rich has previously addressed some of his past behaviour – both good and bad – in his comedy. “Like everybody we’ve all been heroes, we’ve all been villains,” he explains. “It’s just about being honest with that – I’ve not been the best person ever and I’ve not been the worst...

“It’s just one of those things, and people have taken some sort of solace, some sort of comfort from the fact that they’re not the only ones that are like that. Everybody’s the same. As long as you learn from your mistakes.

“I think that’s what we need to do – we seem to be lacking empathy in the world at the minute. As Michael Smiley, the actor, said to me once: ‘Everybody’s transmitting and no one’s receiving’ and that really hit home. It’s like no one’s really taking any notice about anyone else, they’re only worried about themselves.

“So I think we need to open up a little bit and be a bit more open-minded about other people. That’s why the podcast started. I’d had therapy for the first time and so it was off the back of that.”

Rich, who enjoyed watching Irish comedian Dave Allen – as well as Cannon and Ball, Morecambe and Wise, and Mike Yarwood – as a child, before Eddie Murphy’s Delirious “changed everything” for him, adds: “Now people come on the podcast and when they leave, they message me afterwards and say, ‘I didn’t know I was going to say any of that’.

“It feels like we’re actually doing something helpful, which is good. We’ve had people message saying we’ve saved their marriage, we’ve saved their life. It’s quite the thing.”

[Read more: Comedian Jason Byrne: ‘Let everybody laugh at whatever they think is funny and leave them to it’, Comedian Jordan Brookes: ‘My plants are not a fan of Slipknot’]

At no point growing up did Rich ever think he was going to be a comedian. But as well as sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, he has performed at the Adelaide Fringe, the Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia, and at the New Zealand Comedy Festival. An in-demand writer, Rich has also contributed to programmes for BBC Three, Sky Arts, and Channel 4.

Rich Wilson will be appearing at The Maltings in Ely as part of The Best in Comedy, on Friday, October 7. For tickets, visit themaltingsely.org.uk. Visit richwilsoncomedian.com for more on Rich.