Spotlight: Simon Lomas

It’s not often that a new act in their first year of performing comedy enjoys the level of success Simon Lomas has. Beating gong shows and new act competitions across the Northwest, he’s been wowing audiences with his sharp and solid joke writing and in July was deservedly garlanded the crown of Yorkshire New Comedian of the Year, as part of the Great Yorkshire Fringe.

This hasn’t gone to his head though. It’s hard to imagine any ego behind the soft-spoken outsider persona you see on stage, channelling his heroes such as Emo Philips and Steven Wright through a droll Ashton accent. In fact, possibly the proudest you’ll find him is when getting free food as part of a gig.

With some free snacks to hand, we quizzed Simon on his first year in comedy and top-choice hauntings.

First gig:

"It was King Gong at the Manchester Comedy Store. It went alright. I managed to clumsily stumble through my five minutes before losing tremendously in the clap-off to someone who was funnier than me, more likeable and actually looked at the audience when he was speaking."

Last gig:

"The Shinnon near Chesterfield supporting Ian Cognito. It was a packed-out room in a pub, really nice and I got free chips. Also, Ian told me he liked my jacket."

Best heckle:

"A man once shouted, 'You created Microsoft' at me. I was so shocked by the injustice of his accusation that I exploded with rage and just yelled, 'No I didn't' at his bewildered face."

Circuit favourites in the Northwest:

"Liam Pickford is my hero."

Favourite joke not written by yourself:

"I love this one by Paul Foot: 'I remember when I was little, my pet budgerigar died and my mother went out and bought another one just the same so that I wouldn't notice. But I knew, and I killed that one too.'"

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing stand-up?

"Well, I work full time as a research analyst doing data entry, so I would be doing that still and not much else."

Best gig:

"New Comedians at the Manchester Comedy Store, which Alex Boardman runs. I did that in April and it was really fun. The audience was great and I even got to be on a podcast and eat free pizza. Almost too much excitement to handle on a Sunday evening."

Worst gig:

"I performed at a 21st birthday party in Liverpool. A band had just finished playing and the buffet opened just as the comedy started so it was a real struggle. Most of the other acts cut their sets short to save face but I soldiered on and saw mine through to the very end, like an honourable captain solemnly going down with his ship."

If you could be haunted by anyone, who would it be and why?

"Probably Mitch Hedberg. I just think he's really cool and funny and it would be great to meet him and listen to what he has to say."

If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? And why are you on death row?

"I think I'd be a bit too worried to eat but if I had to choose it'd be Pizza Hut. I'm not very hardcore, so I'm probably on death row as the result of some kind of admin error."

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve received doing comedy?

"'Please stop, for the sake of our friendship.'"

If you lived in medieval times what would you do for a living?

"Not sure, I'd probably still be doing data entry just with a tunic on or something."

Why did you start doing comedy? What’s wrong?

"I always liked watching it and listening to it, so I just thought I'd like to have a go, really. I also love a good raffle and whenever I'm at a gig that doesn't include a raffle I always ask them if it's okay for me to start one myself."

Question from past Spotlighter Amy Gledhill: When did you last feel like a princess?

"When I did a gig in Oldham and there were Pringles and chocolate fingers in the green room."

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Simon Lomas is at Fred’s Comedy Club, Levenshulme, Manchester on 6 Oct. For news of more gigs, find him on Twitter: @simonlomas