I am very disillusioned with the business I work in at the moment. There are far too many hacks who are now being elevated to a level way beyond their modest talents merit. It’s very much as a result of the whole Mock The Week/Live At The Apollo/8 Out Of 10 Cats/Argumental/Any other piece of old panel game shite that they can fill the airwaves with, that’s causing this rush of seats being sold in the arenas and tours being scheduled for 2011 already. Some of the comics selling tickets are peddling the tired old clichés of ‘men and women are so different’, ’aren’t women moody on their periods’ and ‘men can’t find the clitoris’. If you’re sitting there thinking ‘Wow they’re funny concepts!’ well there are a bunch of people I suggest you go and see. Perhaps if you just ring your local arena and ask which comics are playing then you can get your ticket 11 months in advance and count the days.

It’s amazing that an art form (narrative observational stand up) that was about as welcome in licensed premises as a dose of clap in the 90s is now an option to try and get people out of the house and turn up to the ailing pub and save the place. Roots comedy (ie the comedy in your local pub, social club art centre or even night club) is where you’ll see the funniest acts and also the most hilariously rubbish comics that look like they need therapy. You’re best off going to an intimate venue to see that than go to an Arena and watch Michael Macintyre for £25 go on about stuff you’ve noticed already. Nowt against Michael personally but to see a bloke sell tickets at a Led Zeppelin rate is a little depressing when Milton Jones, Andy Zaltzman, Barry Murphy, Paul Thorne, Adam Bloom, Jeff Innocent, John Fothergill, Roger Monkhouse, Raymond Mearns and many many more would struggle to sell a phone box out yet are infinitely better than much of these whores that go on the afore mentioned panel shows and also celebrity mastermind, any cookery show, The Wright Stuff and basically anything else that keeps their face on the box.

As a result of this desperation from these publicity seeking Mickey mainstreams, the eternal rebellion has gone from this business that had a tremendously exciting underground feel to it all those years ago when I came into this as a fresh faced 23 year old who was pissed off with the mainstream lifestyle. Nowadays comedy clubs are full of stags and hens that want to hear jokes about Jordan and Jedward, John Terry and Lorraine Kelly. Comedy clubs have become extensions of Loaded magazine and Heat magazine with all the bitching coming from a tit that should be presenting a yoof TV programme which is where they inevitably end up. It’s now just a stepping stone for a bunch of supercilious young pricks rather than the breeding ground of the great comic minds of their generation. I blame a lot of people, I could write for hours who the protagonists are but ironically enough, I’ve got a student gig to drive to. What I will say though is that the great tradition of stand up comedy in this country is properly under threat and the best thing you can do is go and see comics in your local club or go and see someone touring in your local art centre, you might be pleasantly surprised but for god’s sake give the big shows a miss, you’ll get the feeling you’ve been cheated as one spokesperson for his generation once famously said.