Comedian Simon King is headed to a gig in Yorkton.
King, who was born in Sheffield in England moving with his family to the Vancouver area when he was young, will perform at Pockets Billiards and Sports Bar, Thursday, Feb. 9, at 8:30.
King said being on the stage has always been part of who he is.
鈥淚 was an actor from about seven years old so being a performer was very much part of my life from a young age,鈥� he told Yorkton This Week. 鈥淚 spent some time in my mid-to-late teens doing sketch and some improve (isation), but was never a huge stand-up fan.
鈥淗owever, the first time I saw a live stand up show I knew it was something I had to try. I did, and I knew right then I had to be a comic.鈥�
So what was it about it that drew King to it?
鈥淚nteresting question,鈥� said King.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a few things that really appeal to me about stand-up; the loneliness of it I guess.
鈥淭he fact that the failures, when they happen, are all yours but so are the victories.
鈥淭here鈥檚 something very freeing about that solitude. There鈥檚 no one else to depend on but yourself and you live and die by what you do.
King said the connection with an audience is also obvious and immediate.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very direct way of getting humour to people,鈥� said King. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a conversation. You can speak to people without anything between you and them. In my time I鈥檝e done stand up without even a mic or a stage or lights; just talking. There鈥檚 something pure about that.
鈥淗umour is a personal thing and stand up is, in my opinion, the most simple and efficient way to share that humour.鈥�
That does not make being a comedian easy, and there are challenges, and King said the biggest is finding balance.
鈥淚 would have to say overall, for me personally, finding the perfect balance between all the parts of myself,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 like absurd humour and dark humour -- physical humour and word play.
鈥淚 also believe in trying to be as honest as I can with what I say. Being as open about what makes me tick, and trying to find common ground. That process of taking the big idea or concept and making it accessible to as many people as I can is a constant challenge.
鈥淢aking people laugh is easy, making them laugh for the right reasons is a life-long pursuit.鈥�
Interestingly, King said he does not have vivid memories of his first time on stage doing comedy.
鈥淚 remember it was at an old burned out comedy club in Vancouver, a place that had seen much better days鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was up third on a Tuesday and was quite nervous.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really remember the set.
鈥淪uffice it to say that I talk fast on stage now but back then, with youth and inexperience fuelling me, I was a hurricane.
鈥淚 remember it went pretty well, I got laughs and applause and as soon as I left the stage I knew, no matter what, I had to do that again. Long story short, seventeen years later I鈥檓 still absolutely in love with stand up.鈥�
Equally interesting is that King doesn鈥檛 exactly have others in the industry he sees as inspiration.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 really a fan of stand up when I started stand-up,鈥� he said.
鈥淚n fact, for the first few years I did stand-up I hadn鈥檛 really listened to or watched any stand-up specials. So I came to that kind of education later than most.
鈥淚 remember when (George) Carlin died in 2008. I knew of him of course but didn鈥檛 really understand what he meant to comedy. I wasn鈥檛 super familiar with his work. It鈥檚 a shame, I wish I had known of him more, I would have liked to have seen him live.鈥�
Perhaps having been born in England he did gravitate to a notable humour troupe from across the ocean.
鈥淚 was influenced early on by more absurd comedy. Sketches like Monty Python鈥檚 Flying Circus and radio shows like The Goons (a 1950鈥檚 BBC radio comedy program) loomed large in my consciousness,鈥� he offered. 鈥淚 enjoyed the chaos of it all and found the almost uncontrolled and disconnected from reality nature of it all really appealed to me.
鈥淎s for stand up, I鈥檇 say I always found that kind of stuff funny in that genre too.鈥�
King said he uses the stage as the incubator for ideas.
鈥淚 write all my material on stage, take up an idea, a riff from there to build a piece,鈥� he said, adding that too led to him gravitating toward certain comedians.
鈥淭o that end improv heavy comics appealed. Robin Williams was probably the first stand-up I knew of that I really connected with. I loved his speed, how quick his mind was, his characters and his good natured but often sharp and socially aware material. That鈥檚 a connection I still have and likely will forever.
鈥淎s I grew comedically and personally and wanted to say more with what I did I started to be drawn towards the comics that talked about the world, had honesty and openness to them no matter what they wanted to say. George Carlin, Doug Stanhope, those names have significance for me because they took no prisoners and said what they wanted to and needed to say. To this day I鈥檓 trying to reconcile those two very different sides of myself and become a combination of those two pieces.鈥�
In terms of material King said it鈥檚 not a single source for comedians.
鈥淭here isn鈥檛 one source. It鈥檚 kind of observing and reporting the world and people with a humorous bent,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o the news, media, that鈥檚 a big thing for me; taking that stuff and making it make sense and using humour to deal with it.
鈥淭hen there鈥檚 social behaviour. If you鈥檙e out or even online and observing people you see hundreds of different interactions a day. There鈥檚 humour all around you. You just have to figure out how to crack the code and find the silliness of it all.
鈥淔inally, there鈥檚 talking about yourself. I don鈥檛 tend to do that too much because I talk more about the world around me but I have mined that vein occasionally. I talk about how my brain works, what I feel about certain things and sometimes even what made me a comic (in terms of my mentality).
鈥淲e鈥檙e all in an orchard of trees ripe and heavy with comedy. Most people pick up the odd piece here and there. Comedians are just the people who brought a basket so they can grab enough to share.鈥�
And even after you have an idea, it has to stay fresh to audiences, and to the comedian as well.
鈥淔or me that鈥檚 the fun of it,鈥� said King. 鈥淚 turn over material a lot.
鈥淚 love the feeling of a new joke and finding a new premise. That鈥檚 really what I鈥檓 in this for. Given my druthers I鈥檇 write and release an hour special every year. It鈥檚 not always that easy to do business wise but I鈥檓 constantly working.鈥�
And King does work at the craft of comedy. It is his 鈥榡ob鈥�.
鈥淚鈥檝e been a comic for 17-years, a professional comic with no day job for 15, and even now when I鈥檓 in London or Vancouver, four to five times a week I鈥檓 out at open mics or clubs working new material,鈥� he related. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 over and above the shows I do when I鈥檓 on tour. Even then I鈥檒l throw new stuff in, riff on a concept etc.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 hold myself back so if I鈥檓 doing my act I let myself run free. I鈥檝e been known to improvise entire headline sets. I鈥檒l talk to audiences, go off on something I see or something that struck me as funny that day.
鈥淪ure you have an act you have to perfect and has to be funny because that鈥檚 what people paid to see but there鈥檚 so much to play with inside that structure.
鈥淲hen it comes down to it I want to be enjoying myself too. The best times are when everybody in the room, including me, is having fun. As long as you get to that place it always stays fresh.鈥�
