Frank Skinner tells Chris Evans what he loves about being on tour

Virgin Radio

6 Oct 2023, 11:46

Frank Skinner joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch to talk about his latest stand-up show, 30 Years of Dirt.

Having originally performed the show to sold-out crowds at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Frank is now taking it to Leicester, Halifax, Middlesbrough and Reading, before a seven-night residency at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. 

Explaining 30 Years of Dirt, Frank told Chris: “Well, I'm talking about the fact that, because of the way the world has changed, I've been trying to clean up my act and make it more sophisticated, because I've always been sort of fairly foul-mouthed in the stand up department. And it's about that struggle, that failing struggle to be a modern kind of a cool, intellectual comedian."

He added: “It’s mainly the lack of success of it, and the fact that I just liked those kind of jokes so much, and I've always liked them and I grew up with them. And that was only communicated when we were youths in the West Midlands, and I've stuck with it.”

Regarding the limited number of dates and venues, the comedy legend said: “What management like you to do is commit to a massive tour and a London run, and all that. But I thought, 'What if it's terrible, what if it dies in Edinburgh?' And then when it went really well in Edinburgh, I thought, ‘I wish I had committed to that tour!’, so I've ended up doing four dates outside of London and a week in London to start off with, just to keep it bubbling under, and then more next year.”

On what makes him want to take a show on the road, Frank said: “I don't think it's because I have something to say. I think ‘This is funny, I want as many witnesses to that funniness as I can possibly find’. And also, what usually happens when people stop touring, be they comics musicians or whatever is they say, ‘Oh, I love the shows, but I hate hotels and late night driving’. I love all that. I love walking into a motorway services at 3am and buying a Krispy Kreme from the display case. That's what I don't want to give up more than anything!

“The closest I get to an adventure now is the motorway services.”

Whilst the shows at Edinburgh were an hour long and “went brilliantly,” Frank will be on stage for a little longer at the upcoming events. “I don't know why, when you go on tour, people want, like, an hour-and-a-half,” he said. “I saw Michael McIntyre at Hammersmith Apollo, and in his first show, he was absolutely breathtaking, brilliantly great. And after an hour and 10, I thought ‘I'm loving this. Stop now though. Stop now’. I don't know why people want so long.

“I think it's a sort of 'money's worth' thing.” 

He added: “Chloe Petts is my support act. So she goes on first for like 25, then we allow the theatres to make some money at the bar. And then I go on and do… an-hour-and-20 is what I'm aiming at.”

When talk turned to if he ever has the occasional bad show, Frank said: “I remember having a bad gig and going into the supermarket the next day, and the woman said, ‘Are you a comedian?’ And I said, ‘No’.

“I thought, it is not morally correct for me to say I'm a comedian after what happened last night. And I couldn't say until I had the next good gig.”

Obviously though, the bad gigs have been very few and very far between in Frank’s magnificent comedy career. He told Chris: “A young comic said to me at a party the other week, ‘I think you are the best British comedian of all time’. And I said, ‘Well, I kind of agree with that. I might have dropped the British’, and I think there is part of me that thinks I'm the funniest man on the planet, and I’ve thought that for some years and I can't shrug that off, that feeling.”

Franks also talked to Chris about life at 66-years-old. Read what he had to say.

30 Years Of Dirt runs at The Lyric Theatre In London from Monday 30th October to Sunday 5th November. Tickets on sale from frankskinnerlive.com.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.