Ealing Summer Festivals
Fame: It’s weird
Five nights of stand-up
comedy will be making
audiences laugh, snigger
and chuckle in Walpole
Park for this year’s
Ealing Comedy Festival
– including David Baddiel.
T
he festival sees the return
of some Ealing Summer
favourites in the shape of
Milton Jones and Stephen K
Amos. As well as these familiar faces,
audiences attending the opening
gala night on Friday, 11
July will get to see a
snippet from David
Baddiel’s brand
new stand-up
tour titled
Fame: Not The
Musical.
26
around ealing
Summer 2014
David Baddiel took time out of his
busy schedule to talk to us about his
part-stand-up, part-autobiographicalmonologue which outlines his daily
experiences of living with fame. When
he takes to the Ealing Comedy stage,
David will be telling tales of trolls and
groupies and how being recognised
can be both a pleasure and a pain.
to comedy. Im really happy to be back
touring with Fame: Not The Musical and
am looking forward to performing at the
Ealing Comedy Festival’s opening gala.”
David will be followed on the stage
this year by performances from other
well-known comedians, including Boy
With Tape On His Face, Paul Chaudhry,
Shappi Khorsandi and Kerry Godliman.
WHAT THE WEIRDNESS DOES
“I wanted to do a comic narrative about
fame and the weirdness of it and what
it does to a person,” he said. “I was
actually surprised by how many laughs
it got. The funniest thing is, I might
start believing I am ‘famous’ and then
someone will mistake me for Alan Yentob
or Ben Elton – brings you back to Earth
pretty fast. I am coming back to stand-up
comedy after a long time away and it’s
interesting how funny people are finding
all the weirdness that goes with being
famous and what it does to a person.
“I don’t look anything like the young,
over-styled hair, skinny-jean-wearing male
comics out there at the moment. None
of that was necessary when I started
performing in the 90s – programmes
like The Mary Whitehouse Experience
with Rob Newman, and Fantasy
Football with Frank Skinner, were
just us being us.
“It’s always fun to come and
perform in a town known for
its comedy heritage and being
at a festival which has been
around more than 20 years is
an honour. I hope the Ealing
audiences are ready for a new
me – with a new approach
WHERE – AND HOW
The comedy takes