The name is made up because, he assures us, Pablo likes to mess with his audience. He is one of the hardest working new stand ups on the Scottish circuit. Pablo reached the final of the Yesbar Virgins new act competition 2014 in his first year of performing. He has had sell out Glasgow Comedy Festival shows including a sold out solo show “Et Tu, Brutal”.
Edinburgh Fringe 2017 will see Pablo performing a full run of his debut solo show “Nothing Is Perfect” which he’ll be previewing it at this year’s Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
Glasgowist had Five Quick Questions.
1. What made you decide to do your first stand up show?
If you’re meaning my first ever stand up spot, I’d have to say it was because I’d written a load of jokes and felt it was time to start telling them.
I had a moderately successful podcast too and stand up just felt like the next logical step to take. With regards to my solo shows, I decided it was time to test myself, to see if I was capable of holding the attention of a paying audience for almost an hour.
I’m thankful that it turned out I could.
2. What was your experience like at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival last year?
Last year was stressful as heck. It was my debut solo show and from December to March I was basically wandering about like someone with locked-in syndrome.
It was pretty much just me and my thoughts for three months. The moment my show was over I just felt sheer joy. Not just because it was over but because it was totally worth all the nerves and fretting over it.
It was a resounding success and ultimately pleasing to fill a decent sized room with people paying money to see me.
3. Where else have you performed to an audience?
Everywhere really. I did a short stint in England in December that took me to Hartlepool, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Luton and Stoke. It was great performing to different audiences, varying demographics and bringing my material to a wider audience is what I’ve been wanting to do for some time.
With regards to Scotland, I’ve been all over and will continue to be all this year and onwards, right up to the Fringe in August where I’ll be doing a full run of the ‘Nothing Is Perfect’ show.
4. What’s the new show about?
Quite simply, it’s in the title. Nothing and nobody is perfect but also, for me, nothing IS perfect and nothing is off limits. I tread a fine line between acceptability and believe it’s important, in this day in age we find humour in things that scare us the most. Things like life, death, terrorism, family holidays to Blackpool and people reading this thinking “what an asshole.”
5. How do Glasgow audiences respond to dark humour?
Generally very well. I think humour is just humour whether it’s dark, observational, pun based or storytelling. I think if something is funny, then it’s funny. I tell jokes about a wide variety of subjects, not all are dark but I’d be lying if I didn’t say everything has that little Pablo twist to it. As long as the people who come to the show have an open mind and aren’t ready to go nuclear at the slightest mention of something mildly contentious, we’ll all be absolutely fine and everyone will leave having been part of a what is going to be a fantastic, hilarious and amazing show, hopefully.
Pablo Serski Nothing is Perfect is at Broadcast on 17th and 24th March as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.