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An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman.
Comedian, actor and 'voiceover artiste' Rhod Gilbert talks to Henry Widdicombe about the Welsh comedy vacuum
When Rhod Gilbert decided to make the last UK performance of his acclaimed 2006 Edinburgh show a homecoming gig, he must have assumed a sell-out was on the cards. In the end, he did slightly better than Mark Steel, who sold 12 tickets at Theatr Brycheiniog (Brecon Theatre). But he still only managed 100 of a possible 400 seats. The rural Welsh town that is well known for its week long international jazz festival apparently spends the other 51 recovering from the over exertion.
The Brecon area does not have a regular comedy scene, which might partly explain the poor ticket sales, but there's a bigger issue facing comedy in Wales: the majority of the population just aren't interested. "I did Newport, Cardiff, [Brecon], Aberystwyth and I don't think I've had a single, solitary hint of press interest, which is mind blowing," recalls Gilbert.
Elsewhere in the UK, Gilbert has enjoyed a meteoric rise - something he is as disbelieving about as anyone else. "It's totally taken me by surprise. Being Welsh you have a natural humility and you just don't think you're going to get anywhere." He freely admits that he never intended to do comedy and that he was coerced into it by a girlfriend.
He's also all too aware of the pitfalls that come from learning this trade in the limelight. "I should still be doing rooms above pubs and little free gigs. I'm still evolving; I still haven't found my voice." Apt, considering he is the official Voice of Wales for the Welsh tourist board.
Here Gilbert performs some of the material that won him a Perrier nomination:
Ask anyone you know to name a Welsh stand-up and after an uncomfortably long silence they will apologetically offer up Gryff Rhys Jones - yet that same person could probably reel off the names of a dozen Irish comedians. There was not a single Welsh comedian in Channel 4's run-down of the top 100 stand-ups this year. (To be fair to Gilbert, he wasn't even on the long-list drawn up by the channel, which you could argue was a staggering oversight considering he made the Times' top 50 only months earlier.)
When asked why he thinks Wales has produced so few comedians Gilbert can only shrug, but he has already alluded to a possible answer. The distinctly Welsh sense of humility he talks about may mean that Welsh comedians just aren't putting themselves out there.
"No established scene"
Gilbert's view is that towns like Brecon are tough to crack because there is no established culture of comedy. Perhaps the same can be said for Wales as a whole.
But if his view that comedy breeds comedy is accurate, then the outlook is not altogether bleak for Wales. The country does not have the population centres outside of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea to support nightly or even weekly comedy, but some pioneering theatres are taking things forward. Gilbert points out how traditional Welsh towns such as Narberth, Pontardawe and Pontypridd have almost force fed the locals stand-up comedy until a scene has established. The University towns attract touring comedians in term time, and the Glee Club opening in Cardiff has given the capital a dedicated comedy club that can pull in the best of new UK talent.
Gilbert himself is doing his bit to ingrain comedy into the Welsh way of life. He's backing efforts to start up a Welsh comedy festival in Cardiff, and when the resumption of a regular comedy night in Brecon is suggested he is only too quick to offer support.
Promisingly, he landed a regular Saturday morning stint on the traditionally risk-averse BBC Radio Wales last year. "The radio show is a real gamble for them. I'm being brought in as a guinea pig," he explains. Although Gilbert is not playing to his typical audience, viewing figures have remained steady, and he has just signed up for a further 12 months.
Is this the beginnings of a shift in policy at BBC Wales, where drama has been the staple for the last decade and Dr Who reportedly costs £1 million per episode? Probably not, but it's a good start.
Read on...
Comic Cymru: video highlights from the Welsh comedy archive
