Funnyman lambasts ‘vogue for false cheeriness’ among comics in favour of stoical determination to keep going

JEREMY Hardy has been performing stand-up for the last 31 years and reckons that, without a lottery win, he has a good 31 more ahead of him. Not that he minds.

He doesn’t buy into the whole cult of money or celebrity anyway.

“Sometimes young people come up to me and say: ‘My nan loves you’,” he says. “But what’s annoying is when people ask: ‘Where do I know you from?’ “I think: ‘You don’t know me, but you’re excited because you think I might have been on the telly. It wouldn’t be as exciting if it turned out you’d stood behind me in the queue at Tesco’s last Thursday.

“And it’s obviously not exciting enough for you actually to remember me! Rose West has been on the telly. It doesn’t make you a good person. Why do you care?’”

The comedian, whose show, Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation, has run for 10 series on Radio 4, possesses an appealingly downbeat attitude.

“I find humans endlessly disappointing,” he carries on.

“Audiences don’t have to laugh – they just have to turn up and pay.

“I’m not demanding money from them on Just Giving so I can take a two-week holiday to Barbados in aid of Indigestion Awareness.

“I just want them to come to the show, especially in places like Basingstoke. Let’s face it, what else are they going to do that night?”

Hitting his miserablist stride now, Hardy points out that he has no time “for ‎this awful vogue for false cheeriness in comedians. That’s all a bit CBeebies. I appeal to people’s chipper sense of resignation and stoical determination to keep going. I should have been around in the Second World War. I was born after my time.”

For all his grumbling, though, Hardy still loves stand-up.‎ “I really like the fact that it’s not edited or recorded,” he says. “I don’t want to produce DVDs.

“I like the fact that my live stuff is there and then it’s gone, to be forever misquoted by the people who were there.

“I also love the fact that it ‎can never be repeated. Each night is a unique experience, a complete one-off.”

The regular on The News Quiz and I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue on Radio 4 also relishes the fact that his act is never set in stone.

“The great thing about doing a live show is that it keeps evolving,” he observes.

“Stand-up is not like other art forms. When you’ve done a painting and sold it to someone, you can’t keep going round to their house and adding bits.

“That would be a bit strange. It would also be burglary, not to say criminal damage.”

So what might we expect from Hardy’s new show?

“I talk about class, race, identity, Britishness, food, death, health,” he adds without missing a beat.

“There are only seven or eight things I ever talk about!” One thing you can be absolutely sure of is that Hardy will be discussing politics. The subject is as vital to him as breathing.

“I think it’s weird for comics not to be political. Why are you standing on stage and not talking about what’s happening in the world? When comedians do stuff about their flatmate or football or their mum and dad, it’s fine.

“But I think increasingly audiences think, ‘Why are you talking about that?’ “Of course, I hope the show resonates and that people think about things in the coming days.

“But I don’t want people to bring along a notebook so they can jot down the salient points. I want them to be entertained!”

For all cynicism and scepticism, the curmudgeonly comedian admits his old friend Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader has filled him with unexpected optimism.

“I think we’re in for a jolly time.

“Of course, there will an enormous backlash against him in the media. But I hope people will just accept that he’s leader now and not try to derail him. “This is the first time I’ve felt so positive about anything in a long time.”

Unable to resist one last gag, he concludes that, “It could be a bloody nightmare for satirists, though. I’ll have to re-train.”

So what would he re-train as? “I’ll have to lecture on comedy at the University of Mirth.”

Jeremy Hardy will appear at the Arts Centre on Friday, December 4 at 8pm. To book visit swindontheatres.co.uk or call 01793 524481.