Canadian comedian Stewart Francis is keen to move on from his hilarious stage show to a TV sitcom but not before his gig in Jersey tonight
WHEN it comes to putting a show such as Pun Gent together, packed as it is with hundreds of one-liners, there’s one faculty that Stewart Francis will be relying on.
‘Remembering them all, and in the right order, is the tricky part of my style of comedy,’ he confessed.
‘I approach it the way I do a script, so there are chunks that lead on to other bits, while one joke will tell me that I’m at the end of a certain chunk. It’s the only way I can do it. But the beauty of being a one-liner guy is that while there’s a flow, I could still pop a joke in from the middle of nowhere that I might have forgotten to do earlier and it won’t be distracting, it’s just another one-liner.’
With a number of sell-out tours under his belt and with the experience of writing and performing jokes for a quarter of a century, one thing the UK-based Canadian knows is how to structure a live comedy show.
‘This one was good to go at the end of last year, but I used the time in between to see if I could come up with a new gag that could bump out one of the ones that might not be quite so strong. But it’s nice to have an arsenal of gags. And I’ve got some technical things that I’ll be doing on this tour which will take up some extra gorgeous moments,’ he said.
In this day and age, when a comedian seems to be just one throwaway comment away from a tabloid storm, Stewart Francis might not be a comedian you’d immediately associate with the offensive branch of contemporary stand-up. But that doesn’t mean he rejects performing a gag he’s come up with just because it might touch a raw nerve.
‘I just want the jokes to be funny. For me, comedy works with the element of surprise, so I like doing a couple of kitten jokes and then something dark, something that catches people off-guard.’
While he has performed extensively in Canada and the United States, the comedian’s big break came when he moved to the UK.
‘I’m living a charmed life,’ he said.
‘Going to the UK eight years ago was the turning point professionally for me. I’d been going over for years as a part-time player, but being there permanently lifted me to the level that I always felt I was destined for.
‘It wasn’t happening in Canada because there’s not really a star system there, so the talented people have to go further afield to ply their trade. But I haven’t plateaued yet, and hopefully I’ll be in control of that and decide when to head off into the sunset.’
When it comes to his stand-up career, Stewart has spoken before of giving it up to pursue other creative avenues.
‘I’m always optimistic that my current tour is my last. But the financial reality of the situation is that I have to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not being maudlin in saying it’ll be my last tour. I’m hopeful that a sitcom will come along and all my creative energy will go into that. And I’m an eternal optimist, so if the sitcom does happen, then in all likelihood this will be my last tour.’
Talk of a sitcom isn’t just wishful thinking, however, as Stewart has already written a half-hour script which is waiting to be picked up by the right people. ‘The first episode has been written and rewritten, it’s bullet-proof, it’s out there, just ready for someone to say, “Let’s get that piloted” – and then cue the Baftas!
‘I loved writing it and it’s amazing how time flies. You start off with a blank screen and you start writing and suddenly it’s four hours later. The frustrating bit are the rewrites and taking bits out which you don’t want to lose.’
Much of the material comes from the writer’s life experience, but with extras which spin it into a crafted sitcom.
‘It’s an exaggerated version of my life, so, in the show, I’ve done everything I possibly can in Canada and I’ve come over here believing that there is some extended family I didn’t know about. And when I come over, I get a huge surprise and then on comes the mayhem.
‘If you like my live work, this TV version will be the best thing I’ve ever done. I love the visual, I love television. I’m a cartoonist. I guess in a way my one-liners are like little cartoons!’
Stewart Francis is at the Jersey Opera House tonight at 8 pm
