Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:37 pm Post subject: Jason Cook
Geordie comedian Jason Cook on fear ... of seaweed and whales?
thisishullandeastriding.co.uk
June 2nd 2010
Jason Cook's spooked. It's a sense of creeping dread that has followed him around the world. But far from being a personal thing, the Geordie comic suspects you're feeling much the same way. Jason's new show, Fear, has been packing them in on his recent tour of Australia and in performances around Britain.
"It's to show people that they are not alone," he told the Mail. "We've all got fears – I'm scared of heights – although I have come across some really strange ones. There was a bloke at one gig who was terrified of seaweed, even though he lived in the Pennines. It turned out his wife kept a bucket of seaweed in the garage and would chase him round the house with it if he annoyed her." At another gig, Jason met a man who was terrified of whales – specifically the whale skeletons you'll find in museums.
Fear is the latest confessional show from Jason, who bases his material on his own life. My Confessions, his 2007 show, moved audiences to tears when he spoke about his dad's stroke. So, as you might have guessed, he's never been a one-line gag merchant.
"It's about finding things that connect with other people – you're always looking for those universal truths," he said. "I always think that if you're going to take up people's time, you should have some sort of theme running through it – though I am one for getting distracted. There's one story about a ventriloquist that I tell, but I never seem to finish it. After one gig in Leeds, I had some of the audience members follow me into the car park to ask what happened next. At least it shows they're listening."
Jason's stand-up career began after a friend asked him to write a script for a comedy night. "When I saw my words being done on stage, I thought I'd have a go," he said. "So I quit my job in the merchant navy, sold my house and got on with it. I'd spoken to a few comedians, who told me that if I was going to do comedy, I'd have to do it properly."
When the Mail speaks with Jason he's about to jet off to a gig in Amsterdam – every year he travels some 60,000 miles for his stand-up appearances. "It's not a rock'n'roll life though," he said. "You spend a lot of time in towns and cities just waiting to go on stage. In Australia, I was doing 15 minutes every evening. Every day is based around those 15 minutes – and after a while, you run out of things to do. But the pleasure is there every time you get a laugh."
At the moment, he's writing his new show The End (Part One) about the time he thought he was having a heart attack last Christmas. "It's about assessing whether you've had a good life," he said. "There's that list thing which I realised I'd never done – the list of people you're going to kill when the revolution comes. Everyone seems to have one apart from me."
But for the time being though, he's focused on fear – and the way it can curb people's lives. "Fear ultimately leads to regret," he said. "And a life filled with regret is no life at all."
*Jason Cook appears on Sunday, 8.15pm, at The Other Side Comedy Club, Pave, Princes Avenue, Hull.
Tickets, £5-£7, are available from the venue, or call 0845 838 1558.
Jason Cook, comedian How do you make the perfect stand-up show? Take one Jason Cook and blend briskly with an audience desperate to take part
Jay Richardson
06 November 2010
scotsman.com
AT THIS year's Edinburgh Fringe I helped Jason Cook write his 2011 show. Or rather, I was in the crowd as the Geordie performed The End (Part 1). Revealing how a brush with death inspired him to try new experiences, he asked his audience to tell him "the best thing they've ever done". A lad ventured "drink tea through a Kit-Kat!" Voted one of the best suggestions of the night by those assembled, the notion is still amusing Cook on tour, as he compiles further experiences for The End (Part 2). Cook it transpires, is crowdsourcing his laughs. And like many crowdsourcers, he stumbled on the business model accidentally.
"Apparently I'm quite approachable," he says. "People come up and tell me things, so I've always fitted them around my own experiences. When I did my show Joy, it grew by 30 minutes from people telling me stories."
The term "Crowdsourcing" was coined in 2006 by journalist Jeff Howe to describe the emerging, invariably internet-enabled "act of taking a job traditionally performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call".
By delegating aspects of his creativity, hosting what Howe calls an "ideas jam" every night, Jason Cook is harnessing others' wit, producing funnier and better targeted routines for his audience. Anyone who has seen Part 1 and contributes a suggestion, votes or even laughs is invested at some level in Part 2. In market terms, we pay to co-create and focus group his routines before paying to hear them told back to us.
So is Cook the Simon Cowell of comedy? Partly, though he's also the archetypal X-Factor contestant, his need to perform "that constant search for affirmation, love me, please love me". Our most popular TV show relies on similar crowdsourcing principles, yet I would suggest Cook's motivations are nobler. Not for him the musical bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people. X-Factor is about standing out from the crowd. He embraces it.
Like virtually any performer sustaining a UK tour without TV exposure, Cook maintains a dialogue with his audience via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. He hands out socks, Santa hats and free tickets to returning fans. But he also gives himself away and the crowd respond in kind.
"When I spoke about my dad dying, so many people came up and told me about their fathers dying too" he says. "When I did Joy I must have received 100 really personal e-mails."
Interestingly, he says "I can never show those e-mails to anybody." Unlike the government, which tried to ease fear about cuts by insisting "we're all in this together" and asking the public to post ideas for savings online, Cook's community is a real open forum built on trust. Anyone suggesting "send back the immigrants" in a Cook show would be heard, but likely ignored, ridiculed or ejected by their peers. Moreover, the crowd is always right. The sound of a failing comedian is one who berates an audience for not getting the jokes.
So the crowd self-regulates and refines. But isn't such clique-thinking anathema to producing original comedy? Google, the most powerful crowdsourcing tool ever developed, primarily ranks searches by how many other pages link to a page. Type "drink" "tea" "through" and "Kit-Kat" and you'll find the top result is a blogpost on this subject from 2008. Or this article. Nevertheless, before reading this, I suspect you were oblivious to the concept of using porous confectionery as a straw. We tend to think of great inventions as the work of solitary geniuses, rather than a lengthy, incremental process of someone building on their predecessors' publicised breakthroughs. Cook intends to try all different types of Kit-Kat for instance.
So we shouldn't perceive stand-ups as isolated artists delivering finished jokes to a passively receptive, homogenous audience, the Hello Wembley! of Michael McIntyre's bestselling DVD in which he's supposed to be saying "what we're all thinking". Cook is simply foregrounding the countless interactions and negotiations that exist in stand-up. The constant feedback of laughter or indifference, the solitary heckle or isolated yelp of recognition, the weird occupation of the woman in the front row. All of these can alter the course of a night and indeed, a tour. A comedian presents a routine in Aberdeen, then tops it by saying "I did that in Cardiff and a bloke shouted…" What is the Edinburgh Fringe if not crowdsourcing shows for distribution across clubs, theatres and supermarket DVD shelves?
And truly, there's nowt so funny as folk. We're all individuals with a collective hoard of experience that no single comedian, no matter how debauched, can match for richness and diversity. Prior to Edinburgh, Sarah Millican e-mailed acquaintances about how they relaxed, cherrypicking the best anecdotes. When producers sought a primetime BBC vehicle for John Bishop in the vein of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, they tweaked the format to intersperse his stand-up with tales from the public.
Comedy Roadshow reflects and perhaps precipitated a growing sense of regionality in comedy's mainstream boom, scotching, scousing and welshing the notion stand-up is niche entertainment enjoyed by a metropolitan few in purpose-built clubs. Comedy is popular and its practitioners are ubiquitous. Yet if we conveniently overlook The Sun's comedy rich list, the gap between performer and audience has narrowed. Mark Watson launches a Ten Year Self Improvement Challenge on his blog and fans flock to join him.
More importantly, boundaries between professional and amateur comics have blurred beyond the open mic circuit. Take any comic hostage after a show and they'll tell you 97 per cent of jokes told by the public are terrible. Yet consider 3 per cent are brilliant. Last week, professional and amateur gagsmiths collaborated to contrive the funniest joke about Paul the psychic octopus' death in competitions run on Twitter by comedy club chain Highlight and drinks firm Fosters.
Despite judgment ultimately resting with a panel and notwithstanding the problem of plagiarism, the joy of creation and peer acclaim coupled with a tiny chance of winning a small cash prize motivates the crowd to create the best one liners. A meritocracy has emerged where the funniest jokes, regardless of origin, are endlessly retweeted and distributed in e-mails. Someone sees an amusing set-up then tweaks it with a better punchline. Plenty of chaff is generated but the crowd identifies the wheat.
More remarkable is that office workers with a sense of humour will produce a better joke than an equal number of professional comedians, simply because they adopt a more diverse, less formulaic approach. Sooner or later, one of these dilettantes will strike comedy gold. Jimmy Carr is a former marketing man with a nerd's love of comedy. It's worth noting his Comedy Idol competition, an extra on his Stand-Up DVD, unearthed the diamond in the rough that is Edward Aczel. Would this shambling part-time office worker and cult comic have been as successful 15 years ago?
If there's any precedent for Cook's crowdsourcing, it's TV presenter Danny Wallace's Join Me cult encouraging random acts of kindness. Howe points out the Latin root of "amateur" is "love" and Cook is happy to share. "Am I cheating?" he asks. "I still need to experience all this stuff. In my last Edinburgh show, my sister was there and shouted out 'have a baby!' I've been letting the audience decide and, of course, they go mad for it. So I've added a caveat that if next year's show is sh*t, I can blame them. And the baby."
• Jason Cook plays the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, tomorrow; The Stand, Edinburgh, Saturday; and The Stand, Glasgow on Sunday.
Jason Cook as a child with sister Alix Jason Cook, comedian
Dec 4 2010
The Journal
COMEDIAN Jason Cook, 37, is nationally renowned and originally from Newcastle, now living in Manchester, with a wife who hates him. Jason was first bitten by the comedy bug when he became part of Newcastle-based sketch troupe Soup. He now tours his own show the length and breadth of the country and beyond, making a few stops in the North East.
What’s your first memory?
A holiday in Scarborough when a llama spat at me and scared me. Since then I have waged a silent war against the llama.
What childhood games did you play?
Quite epically big games of hide and seek that would often last for hours – or until Mam would shout our names from the front door for tea.
Did you have a family pet?
Yes, we had many. Our first cat was tumble-dried (by accident) to death by my mother. Then we had hamsters, three dogs and a few more cats that managed to somehow survive.
Were your schooldays the best days of your life?
Nah, your 20s are the best days of your life – no responsibilities and the body to enjoy all the excesses in life. At school it’s mainly hissing from bullies and obsessing over girls you’re too scared to talk to.
Were you ever bullied?
Yeah, but I got out of my beatings by making them laugh. The lads who used to do it came to a show I did once. I showed them what bullying actually was. Twenty-year-old payback is quite enjoyable!
What did you want to do when you grew up?
A pathologist, but then realised I didn’t like the sight of blood, then a journalist, but didn’t have the patience. Ultimately though, I always wanted to be a comedian. My dad would watch Billy Connolly all the time and I wanted to be like him.
How did you spend your weekends?
On my computer. I was quite the geek. The commodore 64, then the Atari ST. Blissful, lonely times.
Do you remember your first kiss?
Yes, a girl called Katie. I believed we would get married and that I loved her before it was over. You kind of do at that age, don’t you?
Who was your first love?
A girl I met on holiday called Julia, but she lived down South and we had a long-distance relationship that ended a few months in. I was sure nobody in the world had felt the pain my little 15-year-old heart was feeling at that time. First heartbreak is agony.
What was the most important thing in the world to you?
My wife is pregnant so our unborn baby. I must try to fix the entire world before it is born. So, if you are reading this, could you please make the world around you a little bit better please? Ta.
What did you wear then, that you would never wear now?
A leather Michael Jackson Thriller jacket. It didn’t even look cool then. I just looked like a kid taking the 80s a little too seriously.
How have you changed from your teenage self?
Hopefully I’m wiser, a bit slower to judge, and more aware that actions have consequences, which I don’t really like. I think I preferred being stupidly blind to everything but the now.
Where did you go on holiday?
We didn’t really go on holiday, we’d go and see my dad on whichever oil tanker he was working on – Holland, Singapore, Wales. Very jetset.
Would the young you be pleased with the adult you?
I hope so. I’m a comedian now which I always wanted to be, but I think the young me would be a bit daunted by the journey it took to get here.
If you could go back in time what would tell your 15-year-old self?
Get a lock for your bedroom door. You’ll find out in about a year that your dad doesn’t like knocking before he comes into a room.
--------------------
He had a C64 then Atari ST - exactly the same as my nerdish development...
Interview: Jason Cook
Karen McLauchlan,
Evening Gazette
May 27 2011
JASON COOK is in an excitable mood when I call to catch up on all things comedy and his forthcoming gig at Stockton’s ARC. The North-east comedian has just become a dad - with baby Layla due home at any time. As for his little one’s name, “It’s my dad’s favourite song,” he explains. “And it’s the first song I sang to my wife.”
Parenthood means Jason is now busier than ever. Heading for ARC on Friday, June 10, he’s also working on material for the Edinburgh Festival, planning a new tour and working on TV projects. He’s excited about the Stockton gig, though, as it’s a venue he says is his “favourite in the world”. He adds: “It’s the perfect comedy gig. The audience is always great. I’ve done gigs all over the world, but this venue is my favourite. I shot my DVD here.” Jason is bringing his show, The End - Part One, to Stockton. “I’ll also be trying out new material, stuff I’ll be doing at Edinburgh, so the show will be a mix of old and new,” he says.
Jason is also making a big splash on TV and radio too. He’s made a guest appearance on BBC3’s Russell Howard’s Good News plus his own Radio 4 show in the last few weeks - both wowed a combined audience of more than a million new fans. His Radio 4 show, Jason Cook’s Happiness HQ, was originally earmarked as a low-key pilot, but it turned out so well that it bagged a coveted 11pm slot last week.
Jason is also working on a new sitcom - named after his home town of Hebburn in South Tyneside. “We’re hoping to get a pilot,” he says. Already a firm Teesside favourite as a regular compere at Middlesbrough’s Big Mouth and Stockton’s Catch 22 Comedy Clubs, Jason recently enjoyed a sell-out show at Middlesbrough Town Hall earlier this year.
He says a boom in the comedy circuit in recent years is great news for the industry. “When I left the North-east six years ago there was virtually no comedy scene, but now there’s so much going on. There was also hardly any live comedy on TV - again, today things are very different.”
Jason regularly works with Peter Vincent of promoters Ten Feet Tall on Teesside comedy gigs. “Peter is one of my oldest friends,” he says. “Because I know him so well we both have the same idea of what makes of good comedy club.” While the comedy scene on Teesside is booming, however, Manchester-based Jason doesn’t expect to be making a permanent move back up North. “My mam would love it,” he says. “But there’s a possibility we’ll move to London.”
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