Five Things You Didn’t Know About Comedian Paul Foot

You wouldn't think a comedian who bases his act around shire horses, cheese, and the etiquette of eating cake would find a big audience in Australia. But Paul Foot, one of Britain's quirkiest, and most loyally followed comedians, is on his way down to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his fourth consecutive year. With his distinctive haircut, frenetic stage presence and impressive collection of neckties, there's definitely a madness to Foot's style of comedy. We had a chat to him ahead of his MICF show, Words, to see if there's a method to it.

He loves 'the madness'

Anyone who has seen Paul Foot either in his own show or for skits in the Gala knows that things can get weird pretty quickly. And, though it may seem random, Paul's comedy is actually very carefully constructed. "One of the reasons I write 'the madness' — when I say all of these strange phrases that don't make sense but are amusing and no one knows why — is that I think it creates a different quality of laughter," he says. "I find it very interesting when people are laughing, but they're not sure why they're laughing." This 'madness' also ignores the traditional structure used by most comedians. Audience members will often laugh at the same words at the same time, but for totally different reasons. "You see, it's interesting to have different types of laughter, because you have to question why are there comedians in the first place," Foot says. "People laugh all the time in their real lives. If someone trips over a step or something people laugh, so why do we need comedians if we laugh all the time anyway? I think we need comedians because they make people laugh in a different way and think about things differently."

He doesn't watch comedy

Foot spends a significant amount of time performing in festivals all over the world. While he gets along well with other comedians, he's not particularly interested in watching them perform in his time off. "If I wasn't a comedian I don't think I'd go to comedy." Foot says. "There are different types of comedians. There are the ones that watch a lot of comedy and have all of the DVDs and know all of the comedians. Some of whom are very original. Then you have the ones who don't watch any comedy and I'm that type." It's also important for Foot to generate his material without external influence. "On stage I do the type of comedy I would want to hear if I was an audience member, and I'm lucky that I've found people who have the same sense of humour as me."

He loves murder mysteries and politics

So what does he do in his downtime? "I watch murder mysteries and I go swimming and I walk," he says. He recommends Columbo and Inspector Morse if you were wondering. Another thing that intrigues him is politics. "I like watching all the different politicians, I find it like a soap opera, how they all rise and fall." When questioned about Australian politics Paul lights up. "Oh yes I love Australian politics. When I was here before there was all this thing with Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. Now there's all this going on with Tony Abbott, it's all fascinating. I love it."

He's never considered himself fashionable, until now

Paul Foot has been in the comedy game for 17 years now, but he feels he has only recently found his feet. "When I started I was about 14 years ahead of my time. No one was interested, but I just carried on doing it until I became fashionable, until the zeitgeist was in my favour. It's an imperceptible thing, an intangible thing, the zeitgeist. No one can explain it, but suddenly people wanted it." When questioned about what has changed with his comedy over the years he indicated it was more a shift within the audience than his own alteration. "I never changed. Well I changed a little bit. I did get better. I just carried on doing the same thing and I never deviated, and eventually I think people warmed to that."

He doesn't have fans; he has a 'guild of connoisseurs'

There are not too many comedians out there today with such a loyal following as Paul Foot and his Guild of Connoisseurs. Foot has conversations with his connoisseurs via Twitter, and they are invited to attend secret shows. Importantly, the connoisseurs are quite influential in his comedy. "They suggest things through the polls on the website. I like it to be a conversation, but I go into different modes. Sometimes I am very conversational and chatty with all of my connoisseurs, and I combine that with being extremely reclusive." Although Paul Foot is unaware of any stalkers amidst the connoisseurs, he does get a pleasant surprise when fans have seen him before. "I've been to some tiny little town up in the north of England and then someone will come up and say 'Oh yes I've seen you in Adelaide'. There are people who have seen me in all different parts of the world and it's quite nice." Luckily, this top secret society is currently taking members.

Paul Foot will be performing his latest MICF show, Words, at the Hi-Fi from March 27 - April 20. Buy tickets here.