He's a dark tourist, an existential prankster and, for now, a disabled man with lots of holiday snaps. We spoke to Dom Joly about his upcoming tour, Welcome To Wherever I Am.A lot of comedians start by doing live shows then move into telly, but you've done it the other way round. Did you feel touring was something you had to do to be properly allowed in the comedy clubhouse?
No, I always felt I didn't want to do a live show, I was doing my thing on Trigger Happy and on other shows. I never understood why stand ups were always getting dragged onto telly; just because you're a great stand up doesn't mean you'll be great on TV. I just found that over the 10 years I've been doing this I've ended up with a load of clips and photos and so that's how the show came about, it's not stand up, it's more an evening with. In fact I've just broke my foot so it's literally not stand up, it's sit down. It's basically a disabled man showing off his holiday snaps.
You've had lots of alter-egos, from Trigger Happy's costumes to the 'Dom Joly' of the chat show. Will the live show be the real you, or another character?
Yes, and I think that's why I'm so nervous about it. I think I've always deliberately used alter egos and been quite spoofy, so when people asked me how I could have the balls to do some of the things I did I'd say it wasn't really me, it was a character. Now I've got nothing to hide behind so it's the real me on this tour. It could go horribly wrong...
You tried your hand at politics in 1997 with the Teddy Bear Alliance (who are now ironically the country's third biggest party). Would you fancy running the country for real someday?
No, I got into politics for the same reason as I got into other things, I loved being in the thick of it, in this really busy, gossipy world. I'd never want to do it for real, not just because it's a nightmare job but also the whole business of telling people what to do, how to live their lives, who am I to do that?
In Happy Hour you got to drink your way across the globe – where would you say is the worst place to find yourself with a hangover?
On a Russian train. There was a lot of drinking in Russia but the weird thing is that because it's pure alcohol there's much less of a hangover, there's no chemicals in the booze and it's the chemicals that give you a hangover. Actually no, the worst was on an Indian train going from Delhi to Goa. It was so bad it wasn't even in Happy Hour, not only had we drunk an awful lot but we had the worst case of Delhi belly. It was like a dirty protest in prison.
No, I always felt I didn't want to do a live show, I was doing my thing on Trigger Happy and on other shows. I never understood why stand ups were always getting dragged onto telly; just because you're a great stand up doesn't mean you'll be great on TV. I just found that over the 10 years I've been doing this I've ended up with a load of clips and photos and so that's how the show came about, it's not stand up, it's more an evening with. In fact I've just broke my foot so it's literally not stand up, it's sit down. It's basically a disabled man showing off his holiday snaps.
You've had lots of alter-egos, from Trigger Happy's costumes to the 'Dom Joly' of the chat show. Will the live show be the real you, or another character?
Yes, and I think that's why I'm so nervous about it. I think I've always deliberately used alter egos and been quite spoofy, so when people asked me how I could have the balls to do some of the things I did I'd say it wasn't really me, it was a character. Now I've got nothing to hide behind so it's the real me on this tour. It could go horribly wrong...
You tried your hand at politics in 1997 with the Teddy Bear Alliance (who are now ironically the country's third biggest party). Would you fancy running the country for real someday?
No, I got into politics for the same reason as I got into other things, I loved being in the thick of it, in this really busy, gossipy world. I'd never want to do it for real, not just because it's a nightmare job but also the whole business of telling people what to do, how to live their lives, who am I to do that?
In Happy Hour you got to drink your way across the globe – where would you say is the worst place to find yourself with a hangover?
On a Russian train. There was a lot of drinking in Russia but the weird thing is that because it's pure alcohol there's much less of a hangover, there's no chemicals in the booze and it's the chemicals that give you a hangover. Actually no, the worst was on an Indian train going from Delhi to Goa. It was so bad it wasn't even in Happy Hour, not only had we drunk an awful lot but we had the worst case of Delhi belly. It was like a dirty protest in prison.
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