Comic vs comic: Phil and Stephen

Stephen Carlin: Phil, tell me about your Edinburgh show this year. 

Phil Nichol: My show is called The Simple Hour. It's a back-to-basics show for me. I'd been doing more complex shows, purposely set up to disturb the audience. This is an attempt to simplify, it is more straightforward, with clean lines and plain simple fun - there's a bit about Katie Price's breasts.

SC: So, this is almost like your punk moment then - very stripped down.
PN: I do think of myself as a punk comic. Punk accidentally stumbled into highbrow – Talking Heads, for example. It is a vast area – very independent, not setting out to match the trends of the day. 

SC: You've done grandiose things in the past; many comics would do a similar show every year, whereas you have quite abrupt changes in approach. 

PN: This is my thirteenth solo Edinburgh show. I developed into storytelling shows – everyone is doing it now. This show is a return to really simple elements of comedy. This show has no real demographic. You don't have to be a super-trendy, super-cool, comedy audience.

SC: So, it is quite a deliberate change of gear?
PN: Yes, a very conscious change. I found myself criticising this move towards middle-of-the-road observational comedy. Instead of saying 'I don't like that kind of comedy', I wanted to achieve it, to better it. I'm not a critic, I'm a comedian. I want to take a concept of something I don't necessarily like, and make something better out of it. It's a bit like taking prog-rock, and saying 'I don't like it, but it would good to make an album that blows Yes out of the water'.

SC: You're from a religious family – did that help you creatively?
PN: Yes, I turned a corner at fourteen. I solidified my free-thinking. Everyone should feel free to think their own thoughts. I'm a fundamentalist hedonist. I'm inclusive.

SC: A lot of people in comedy are from religious backgrounds. I'm from a Catholic background. It's good to have a rigid framework to break free from.
PN: My father wanted me to go to bible college. Ironically, I turned out to be an evangelist, often for the same causes. Pacifism, for example. Nearly Gay [Phil’s 2006 Fringe show] was about the need to understand things that might not be natural to you, but are natural to someone else. The need to be charitable. Faith, hope and charity.

SC: You're going to play Terry Gilliam.
PN: Yes, I have been cast as Terry Gilliam in a BBC 4 film, Holy Flying Circus, about the controversy surrounding Python when Life of Brian came out, leading to the interview of Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark on Friday Night and Saturday Morning.

SC: Have you met him?
PN: I've emailed him. Terry Gilliam is an amazing visionary and a very gentle human being.

SC: The Pythons were a different comedy generation – how important were they to you? i
PN: Python made a huge impact on me. Naughty, daft, silly and well done. They had profound satirical moments, a group of guys just making each other howl with laughter.

SC: Who would play Phil Nichol in a film about your life?
PN: Russell Kane? To have a film about your life is an honour. For the Terry Gilliam film, we want to do him justice. We want to make it a tribute. It is a fantasy re-enactment of what they may have gone through. Tony Roach wrote the script – it's hilarious, as well as tender and loving.
What's your Edinburgh show?
SC: I'm doing Guilty Bystander, about my lack of a criminal life. When I first came to London, and spoke to my Dad, we only communicated through crime. Dad didn't know what to talk about, so he'd talk about high profile cases.
Thank you, Phil.