Joe Gardner on Glasgow's new Teenage Comedy Night
Class Clown winner Joe Gardner talks about a new Glasgow comedy night he's starting with Donna Campbell, founder of Cafe GRO.
“Most people talk about their husbands and their wives and their kids and their jobs and paying tax – adult things,” says Joe Gardner about observational comedy. “I just can't relate to that at the moment.”
It's not surprising. At 17, Gardner doesn't have a spouse, children, a job or a tax bill, but he's already been crowned a comedy champion. At the Edinburgh Fringe last year, he became the first winner of the Gilded Balloon's Class Clowns – the stand-up competition to find the funniest high school student. It was something of a double celebration: “I'd just got the results of my Highers and my place at Uni.”
Despite his youth, Gardner's passion for comedy isn't new: “When I was 10 or 11 I developed a really quite huge obsession for 1980s sitcoms. At weekends I'd sit in and watch 'Allo 'Allo, Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Reginald Perrin back-to-back.”
He names Kevin Bridges, Joe Lycett and Aisling Bea as some of his current comedy favourites. Bea, of course, also got her break at the Gilded Balloon, winning So You Think You're Funny? in 2012. Gardner receives automatic entry into that competition this year as part of his prize for Class Clowns.
Class Clowns is a regular and very popular competition at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but had never been tried in Edinburgh. Gardner was encouraged to enter by his drama tutors at school. Once in Edinburgh – as part of the competition – he enjoyed comedy workshops with the other contestants. For the final, comedians Jo Brand and Kevin Day were called in as judges alongside Balloon founder Karen Koren. Gardner could've been forgiven if these comedy dignitaries induced a case of stage fright – Brand is another of his comedy heroes: “I'm a huge fan of Jo Brand, and not just her stand-up but her sitcom Getting On which she wrote with Joanna Scanlan, set in the NHS.”
Instead, he found their presence reassuring and knew he was in good company: “The audience was full of my friends and tutors so I knew I was well supported. I also knew Jo would know how it feels to go on stage.”
Now, Gardner is wants to help other young hopeful comedians in much the same way he has been supported. This week he opens the Teenage Comedy Night in Glasgow with Donna Campbell of Cafe GRO, to encourage teenagers to give stand-up a try. “There are a lot of funny young people out there and a lot of people who want to try stand-up,” he says.
The first night will be a Class Clowns reunion with Gardner joined on-stage by other finalists Judith Scott (15) and Adam Weir (13). Ryan McGuigan – the 13-year-old whose impression of Alex Salmond went viral last year – will also perform.
In Gardner and Campbell, this new night has a determined partnership behind it. By supporting the slightly younger aspiring stand-ups they'll hope it can become an addition to Scotland's thriving scene for new comedians, alongside such established nights as Red Raw, Grassroots and Yes Bar's Best New Comedy Act competition.
Teenage Comedy Night, Cafe GRO, Glasgow, 23 Jan, 18:30, free
Joe Gardner will also play Red Raw on 1 Feb and 2 Mar at The Stand, Glasgow