Sean Hughes: "Comedy should be emotional"

It’s 21 years later and we’re talking to Sean as he’s touring Scotland with his latest show, Ducks and Other Mistakes I’ve Made. “I played in a barn last night,” he tells us. “I’m not sure how the audience took it. They’re used to the comedy roadshows on the BBC and they think it’s going to be like that. They sat there looking at me thinking, ‘why is he talking about his dad dying?’ But comedy should be emotional.”

Over the last twenty years, he’s been seen everywhere from Sean’s Show on Channel 4 to a long stint as team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. He then took a seven year break from comedy, a time he spent novel-writing and acting. So what made him come back to comedy? “There’s an honesty that comes with age,” he says. “I had thought I had done everything, but now there are so few older comedians, I find I can talk about stuff that nobody else does.”

He may have been around a while, but he hates being referred to as a ‘veteran comedian’. “I didn’t fight in any wars, unlike my grandfather who did. Well, we think he did. We have to take his word for it, because he’s wearing a balaclava in all the photos.”

Sean was the guy who made it OK for people to go on stage without a plan, as long as they could be funny and intelligent. He’s not impressed with how comedy has developed over the last few years. “A lot of the new comics have writers, telling them what to say. That’s like having a job.”

Some of Sean’s recent reviews seem to indicate that he’s been grumpy onstage. Does he still enjoy doing comedy? "I love doing comedy and the people who write that don’t seem to realise it’s just part of my schtick. So, you know. Fuck ‘em. Actually, you should finish this piece with those words. Fuck ‘em.”

Sean’s halfway through his current Scottish tour and will be back in Edinburgh for the Fringe (although sadly only for a few days). It’s a chance to see one of the last true comedy legends and if your friends would rather go see Jimmy Carr, then, well, fuck ‘em.