John Fothergill strolls down the hotel lobby in a T-shirt, shorts and green Crocs. "Don't shoot my green Crocs!" he says to our photographer Grace Paras while tucking his feet behind him in a mocking attempt at coyness for the camera.
Then he grins disarmingly and says, "I know you must be thinking, ‘Oh my gosh what a guy!'"
With John, the real and the unreal, the funny and the serious, all come in one unpredictable package. Take it or leave it.
He has legions of fans who roll with laughter at his jokes, while some wonder how far he can go. But what they all can agree on is that he leaves you with a lot to think about long after the laughter or distaste is forgotten. That, say the critics, is the secret of John's success.
His shows sell out in most cities in the UK. He has also performed all over the Far East; the Middle East; in Cape Town, South Africa; Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia; New Zealand and at festivals such as Edinburgh's Fringe and at the Derry Comedy Festival. He's performed acts for Little Britain Live and Ed Byrne Live. His television appearances include Live at the Comedy Store, Live at Jongleurs and Dublin's Laughter Lounge. He's also a long-term member of the Cutting Edge team at London's famous Comedy Store.
Critics too have been kind to him. "Everything he says is funny. He looks like he was born on stage," wrote The Guardian, while The Sun called him "a right funny bloke". So how does he do it? "It's partly about finding out who you really are, and how your audience really sees you, but the main part remains a mystery," he says. Whatever that mystery is, John has cracked it.
Work
I am an accidental comedian. I always wanted to be a musician. I used to play in a band called One Hand One Heart. Our claim to fame was that it was managed by Chas Chandler who had earlier managed Slade, Animals and Jimi Hendrix. We were even signed on by Epic Records, and later by Sony, but nothing ever came out of it.
I must admit that I was never much of a musician. I used to play percussion and sing the high harmonies. I worked for some time in a factory then got a job looking after scenery props in a theatre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The happy accident happened one night at an after-show party where actors get up and do party pieces. A friend urged me to get up and do a party piece. I ad-libbed my way through and surprisingly everybody found it funny. That was my first gig and I even got paid for it.
This was in the early 1990s when comedy was starting to take off in a big way in London. A friend of mine happened to run a comedy club and that's where I started at 26. I've been doing comedy for 18 years now.
According to my friend, I was a natural though I hesitate to say that myself. What I do remember is that I was absolutely terrified doing those first gigs. But he kept boosting me, and it got to a point where I started enjoying it.
Some performers are natural comics - you look at them and you just have to laugh. Of the successful comics, I feel Ricky Gervais is a natural. I liked the early Steve Martin. Before he became a Hollywood star he was a natural.
When I make my jokes, I draw on the audience for the material. Each night is different so you fool around with certain members of the audience. You have to be able to take the audience in at a glance when you walk in and gauge their mood, their expectations and shape your material accordingly so as not to disappoint them. It's not always possible but the closer you get, the more successful you are.
Playing an international audience is always different from playing the home crowd. At home you know your crowd, your surroundings, whereas in a place like Dubai, for instance, I don't know the audience. So what I do is put myself in there as an outsider and direct the jokes at myself.
Play
My comic genes come from my father. A qualified confectioner, he is an absolutely funny guy. It was performance time when he got home from work. He would tell us jokes and make us laugh. My brother David and I grew up in Crawcrook, a small village in the north east of England. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. But then I didn't know that you also needed a degree in mathematics; I thought my natural spirit was enough. I never really wanted to be a performer back then. I left school at 16.
I read a lot, mostly philosophy and theology and am fascinated by cultures. I'd do many things for a lark. Like I appeared in a movie made by a comedian friend called Ricky Grover. The film was Big Fat Gypsy Gangster. It was nice to be there at the premiere.
Many comedians not only draw their comic material from their audience, they also tend to make them the targets of their comic barbs. I think this is in bad taste. I remember the first gigs I played were in really rough clubs in Newcastle. You have to let people know that you can take what they give, as well as dish it out. It can be scary at times. However, I would never comment on their culture or background or anything really personal. I don't believe in the comedy of humiliation. I'd rather find that one person in the audience who's responding to you and take him or her along for the ride.
I collect art and have a decent-sized apartment with space to hang them. I paint too but I'm not interested in exhibiting right now.
Dream
I dream that I'm in a place that's not hot nor too cold. A farm with a lot of animals, like some of those mansions rock stars live in. Seriously, I'd be happy to continue like this, making people laugh, travelling and getting by in life.
It's an amazing feeling when I get the audience laughing at my jokes, even today after all these years. There's no job like it. It's a real high. That's why most comedians still remember the stage successes even after making it big in other mediums. And that's why they want to get back to it at some point in their career. The only problem is it takes hours for that high to come down! You can't sleep after giving a good show. I sometimes stay up beyond 5am after a good show - it takes that long for me to wind down.
My dream is to continue doing what I'm doing - be the guy who makes everyone laugh.
