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 JEFF GREEN takes GEORGE HELIOS down memory lane and points out some fundamentals of comedy along the way.
Today Jeff Green is regarded as one of the best comedians in the UK, but 23 years ago he was a student at the University of Birmingham studying for a degree in Chemical Engineering. Following his graduation Green spent a year as a sabbatical officer, a role that introduced him to the skill of public speaking. “When I was doing speeches in the student union, they were very dry and very political,” he tells me on the phone from Melbourne. “I just found it so much more interesting if I got a reaction through laughter by putting jokes in.”
Soon after that he was employed in the gas company BOC for three long years. “I thought I was probably going to spend the rest of my days working with middle-aged divorced bitter men in the sales business and I got dumped by my long-standing girlfriend.” Those were dark days for the talented young Briton but in hindsight a necessary experience. “I think all of those catalysts presented themselves in a perfect storm and I went ‘I’m gonna try and do something with my life which is different to this.’ I was lucky to hate my job so much that I was prepared to be humiliated on stage as an alternative.”
Humiliation could not deter Jeff Green from the stage once he got on it, as he had found the perfect way of expressing himself. “I think you’re more boisterous when you start out. You don’t mind being booed off. It’s part of the process of getting better and everything’s new, everything’s exciting.” That excitement is still there in his performances but anyone who sees his act will attest to his relaxed and casual demeanor. “The secret is to want to be there,” he explains. “Stay positive and relax. There is no place for nerves. They do not help in any way. You know, there’s a certain feeling you might want to get worked up to do the gig but just to be calm will do your gig a lot more good than being over-excited.”
Green name-checks Billy Connolly, Richard Pryor and Bob Newhart as early influences. “The thing that you will always be told by other comics and by people in the business is ‘Find your own voice. Find what you want to say.’” As he explains, this is easier said than done and two things need to happen for comics to get really good: “They find what they want to say and they find a way of being funny between the jokes. Once you’re funny when you’re not talking it takes a massive pressure off your act.”
To close the interview I ask him if he makes decisions in life based on comedy value for his act. “Yes, who doesn’t? I do. I’ll go bungee jumping or I’ll go parachute jumping hoping that I can get some material out of it. Some say I got married for exactly the same reason, but I dispute that.”
JEFF GREEN performs Life Ache at THE Brisbane Powerhouse from April 29 to May 3. To purchase tickets visit www.brisbanepowerhouse.org
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