COMEDY
preview
Fan male
A lively interest in rock 'n' roll took Essex boy Phill Jupitus from fanzine- editing obscurity to household-name fame. Here, he reveals his fascination with the music biz, big-screen sci-fi and . . . er . . . ape juice.
Words: Jonathan Trew
is purging that interest. Star Wars raises so many issues and this tOur is a way of purging those issues. It's nice to know that the part of my brain, the hard disk in my head, which has contained all this stuff, is gorng to be freed up ’
Speak to Jupitus for any length of time and it’s obvtous that any spare memory space \NIII remain clear for about 30 seconds After that he \Nl“ start to cram all sorts of completely useless Junk facts about music into any available compartment The man is like a giant groover Hoover if it has melody and a heat then he’ll ingest it At the moment, mambo music is the bee in his bonnet
'There's an album called Make My Mambo. It costs £6.99 and I swear it's the best album you'll buy this year I feel Cuban now, I’m a slave to the Cuban beat,’ says Jupitus, before launching into a worrying bout of hip— shaking and slinky hand-wavrng. 'Badum badum dum dum bad dah Something grabs you straight away.’
Musrc has always played a large part in the life of Jupitus. 'I couldn’t get in a band so I did a fanzrne,‘ explains the Essex comedian. 'Someone said that the stuff l was writing was gurte funny and suggested that I did it on stage. I ended up doing tours With Billy Bragg and the Style Council and then Billy's record company took me on
The last time I saw Phill Jupitus, comedian, radio IOCk and team leader on pop gui/ Never Mind The Bt)//(O(./\’S, he was talking about monkey spunk At length In particular, he was discussing Just how difficult it is to get the stuff off Windscreens Well, we all have a cross to bear and Jupitus's is the not—so-(ommon problem of how to dispose of simian semen When he next ventures north of the border for a couple of stand-up shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh, he’ll be chatting about a Slli)](.’(i dear to the hearts of all the anoraks among us: Star Wars.
'I don't think I’m an obsessrve,’ says a JOVIdI Jupitus of his one-hour show Ready, jedr, Go. ‘I'm more of a fan who
Bruce Morton Sense Of Balance '
“Gesture and Commentary 0/ the highest c/ass" The Observer
Sat 4 April 8.30pm SEE/£3.50
Arches Theatre Company
hf: Dumb
Waiter
by Harold Pinter
“a near perfect play about the testiness of a collapsing partnership, a deeply personal play about
the (les‘truc tiyenss of betrayal" Michael Blllington
Wed IS - Sat |8&
Tue 22 -- Sat 25 April {BBQ/£3.50 7.30pm (Sat 25 April 7.00pm)
Tlcliots avallalo Ill EMIICO from m0 MOMS BOX CHICO 0141 221 4001 0! III norson at 30_Hllllanll Street Glasnow
COMEDY
Ramones of the day: Phill Jupitus brandishes his sign 0' the times
That was in the indie days They rust took on people they liked I never had a Job title though towards the end I suppose I was a regional press officer ' Much as Jupitus loved music, he and the music industry didn’t quite see eye‘to-eye ’I used to detest it,’ he smiles 'I love it now Its an ancillary part of my earnings, taking the piss out of the music biz. | feel it makes up for all those hours of being screamed at Just because the midweeks were low for The Beautiful South or whatever' These days, Jupitus doesn't have to
give a monkey's about The Beautiful South's midweek chart position He gets paid to shoot the shit with his mates (‘H air or, as lie puts it 'l'rn now able to Justin to my mother all those years spent hunched over the inkies and Il‘sif‘llllH; tr) shitty ret’orrls'
Phill Jupitus is at the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh on Wed 15 Apr, and Cottier Theatre, Glasgow, on Fri 17 & Sat 18 Apr. He returns to the King's Theatre, Glasgow with The Comedy Store Fri
starring Stephen Tompkinson, lsla Blair and Simon Williams Tickets £5 - £15
A CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL VENUE
Tues 14 to sat 18 Apri| Mobil Touring Theatre
MoliérC’s Comic Tale of
TARFE
.. at», . ~ -- .- x
15 81 Sat 16 May.
Tues to Sat 7.30pm
Wed & Sat _’ 2.30pm
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0131 220 4349
2—16 Apr 1998 THE UST 65