In 2009 Joe Lycett won a student comedy competition. Since then he has won a swag of other awards, and is being described as one of the strongest emerging talents on today’s comedy scene. When I asked Lycett if he thought he would have made it big as a comedian without the boost from that early win, he gave an emphatic yes. “At age four I leant over to my mother one afternoon and said to her, ‘Mother, I will perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2014. In 2018 I will take over as prime minister of the United Kingdom. In 2024, I will rule the earth. Mark my words mother.’” So far, one out of three ain’t bad.
Recalling the competition, Lycett tells me that he “felt a range of emotions including lust, hunger, delight and unease. In all honesty I think I was probably just nervous a bit. Comedy competitions are a strange thing – if you do well in them it’s good for your career, but if you do badly in them it’s almost irrelevant. Funny people will generally succeed so it’s a nice thing to have but ultimately means nothing.”
“Most if not all of the other competitors are dead and I can’t remember them or how they died,” says Lycett. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” He believes that, competition or not, there’s always the same pressure exuding from an audience to be funny. “They don’t really care if you’ve won an award. Try getting an award out when you haven’t said anything funny for an hour and telling the audience they’re wrong. It adds pressure from reviewers and industry types as sometimes they come along hoping to disprove the hype. But without the awards they probably wouldn’t show up so I should be grateful.”
Lycett’s show at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival – If Joe Lycett Then You Should Have Put A Ring On It – adheres to the pattern of pun titles littering his stand-up history. “Beyonce is a close personal friend and I won’t speak about our relationship any further,” states Lycett. Going on to add that the title is just a “convenient” pun. “There are other pun titles I like. Such as That’s The Way Uh-Huh Uh-Huh Joe Lycett and Drop It Lycett Hot. My final show will be called I Don’t Lycett Anymore.”
The UK comedian states that although he had “never even heard of Australia until you mentioned it just now”, he’s a fan of what we’ve done with the place. “I think there is some fantastic architecture and I love coffee, which you do well. I have also learnt some of your works like ‘dinking’. It seems ridiculous to have a word for the act of getting a lift on a bicycle as I have literally never seen anyone do that in my life and imagine it would be a niche and ineffective method of transport.”
Local fans of British television may have seen some of Lycett’s many appearances on Celebrity Juice, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, or the ever-popular Never Mind The Buzzcocks, which for the uninitiated is a bit like Australia’s own Spicks And Specks. “I was on it with Nancy Dell’olio who is a ludicrous woman at the best of times,” recounts Lycett. “I really enjoyed myself on it and people were very kind to me about it afterwards, so that’s nice.”
BY JOSH FERGEUS
Venue: Victoria Hotel – Banquet Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD
Dates: Currently playing until April 20 (except Mondays),
Tickets: $27-$35
Times: 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm)
