As a comedian you know you’re getting the brutal, unsullied, honest truth from Tom Stade. Effortlessly able to cut through the slogans and samey observations often employed by many of his contemporaries while having you bent over double with laughter, he’s a raffish rogue, a natural wordsmith and an unmerciful shot when he finds his comedic target.
A renowned stalwart of the UK comedy circuit, having played The Comedy Store, Live at The Apollo and Glasgow’s The Stand on many occasions, he was also a writer on Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights and a well-known face at international comedy festivals.
Since he’s about to embark on his new tour for 2017, I Swear, we caught up with the always outspoken but ever inimitable writer and comedian to discuss his love for Scotland, his political thoughts and his television work.
You’ve played Glasgow a good few times now. What’s your experience been of the city?
Glasgow, oh my God, man. I’ll tell you honestly…every time I’ve come to Glasgow it’s been a blur. As soon as Sauchiehall Street turns up at one-thirty in the morning, you find yourself in a pizza joint that, by that time, you can barely pronounce, sitting there hanging out with people that you’ve never met before and all of a sudden they’re giving you booze. Most of my memories come from it being one of those party cities. I could even rank it up with Las Vegas, except what happens in Glasgow, instead of stays in Glasgow, you can barely remember it.
There’s total election madness all over the place right now. How are you finding this snap General Election?
It’s a circus. It doesn’t really matter to us. Any election, you think it matter to you, then all of a sudden it really doesn’t matter unless it’s the SNP, that was a major shift in Scotland.
What do you think of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn?
I think they’re both fools, man. Both these guys are talking out their assholes. The only thing I ever vote on is whichever one is socialist. Whatever they’re yakking, is a lie…IT’S A LIE! What else are you going to tell me to get my vote? More police? Trident? What about schools? Shut the fuck up, man. Any thing that’s socialist and green, there you go.
You lived in Vancouver for a while but now live in Edinburgh. How do Scottish cities compare to the homeland?
I’m originally from Quesnel, British Columbia but you’re right that I lived in Vancouver for a long time too. Vancouver is a different kind of beauty because Vancouver is a relatively new city compared to Edinburgh. So it’s apples and oranges – yes, it is beautiful but Edinburgh has this old charm and beauty to it.
It’s been kept like that because the German’s didn’t bomb Edinburgh. I mean, I’m pretty sure Glasgow was a nice city before the German’s got to it. I like the fact that when I walk over a bridge in Scotland I can see people from 900 years ago walking over the same bridge because it gives you this cool, little nostalgic feeling. Scotland is such a chilled, laid-back country.
What about Scotland inspires your work?
To me, Scotland right now is a hub of stand-up activity. For some reason, whatever is going on, the Scots have become probably the best comedians in the world, and I’ve seen lots of comedians. I don’t know if it’s the way the Scots think, the people themselves, because they’re always embroiled in some conflict with England or the rest of the world. They’ve got the history, like the…I’m trying to think of the word, the religions…
Protestantism? Catholicism? And then there’s the famous Scottish Calvinism of course?
Yeah, all that crap. Thank God I didn’t have to live through that. I could just enjoy watching it from afar.
Is there anything about Scotland that you struggle to make sense of?
Well, I mean, there’s just too much! How did you get to black pudding? What the fuck is that about? Who decided to cut open a sheep and serve it for breakfast? There’s all these wonderful things that Scotland has that other people would probably say ‘gross!’…until you have them and then you’re like: this is delicious.
You’re back with a new show for 2017, what topics are you covering?
With I Swear it’s about looking back at people’s comments of me over the years. Because I’m honest – I’m very honest on stage – I can chuck out a few curse words every now and then. But I don’t really feel like I swear as I throw them out more for punctuation. So what the show is more of a look back on topics and the honest way I’ve approached comedy.
You famously worked with Frankie Boyle on Tramadol Nights. It was pretty dark but very funny.
Yes! It was funny! I don’t understand why people have to put an adjective before different types of humour. To segment it and put it in a little box, y’know what I mean? Humour is humour. It’s whether you’re willing to accept it or not.
Had you worked with him before? And what did you enjoy about it?
When some people get famous they think they’ve been famous their whole lives. And I’ve known Frankie since before he was famous and Jim [Muir] and Kevin [Bridges] and all these guys. When we used to hang out we used to just laugh in green rooms and stuff like that so Frankie got famous and I was very lucky that he even asked me to come on the show. When you work with guys like that it really ups your game. It was exciting just being part of that whole process.
Tom Stade starts his tour with a month at the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh from 2nd – 27th August before reaching Glasgow at The Stand on 12th November. Visit his website for tickets and more details.