Comedy
Interview
Jacob Hawley once made fun of Gary Neville in his own hotel
The comedian chats about his latest tour, his James Acaster impression, and the time he made Gary Neville angry
Being a comedian may be a dream gig for many, but promoting yourself as a comedian is a slightly sobering reality.
“It’s so many podcasts,” says Jacob Hawley. “I’ve done three podcasts today, and a lot of editing clips for Instagram and stuff like that. I feel like that’s most of a comedian’s job nowadays. It’s like, I did this because I didn’t want a real job, and now I feel like I’ve got nine real jobs. I mean, I’m like an interviewer, a journalist, an editor, a social media strategist, a marketer… it’s crazy.”
The admin is worth it, though, to continue touring his show, Space, across the country. Kicking off in March with a successful visit to the Edinburgh Fringe, the tour will carry Hawley across the UK this month and into early 2025. It’s been a joyful experience so far, he says, and his Fringe was a highlight – although there are parts of the festival he’s definitely outgrown.
“I first started going to Edinburgh when I was 26,” he says. “I’m 32 now, and I’ve got two kids. I do feel like a dad up there. When everyone else is going out and getting hammered, I’m like, ‘Drink some water. Make sure you’re fit for your show…’. My partying is so rare nowadays that if I’m gonna go out, I want to do it in London, rather than with colleagues in cold Scotland.”
We caught up with Hawley on his Space tour to talk controversial opinions on roast dinners, his love for Gordon Ramsey, and the brand of TikTokers that he’s particularly afraid of. What else are you going to do when you’re stuck in a lift?
Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
Do you know what? I’d love to be stuck in a lift with Gordon Ramsay. I really like Gordon Ramsay. It’s like I was saying – as comedians, nowadays, we’re all just content creators. I do a podcast about content creators called The Screen Rot Podcast, and we’re doing an episode on him this week. He is the best content creator Britain has ever produced. Because even 20 years ago, when he was just doing The F word, he was the bollocks. Then he went to America and he got a catch phrase. Now he’s, like, the king of TikTok. If I could be stuck in a lift with Gordon, I’d just be like, how have you done it? He’s like Madonna – he just keeps reinventing himself. I just think he’s a legend. I really like Gordon Ramsay.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
On my podcast, we do talk about a lot of young TikTokers. There’s a guy called Beavo. I think he’s a nice guy, but he’s mad. I think any big TikToker I’d hate to be stuck in a lift with. There’s something about that kind of Gen Z energy that I find quite scary.
Yeah, they’d have to make content out of it.
So that’s the problem – you’d be filmed. You’d get filmed. I hate that kind of unconsensual filming. I find it terrifying.
What’s the weirdest interaction you’ve ever had with a famous person?
Gary Neville, the former England captain and footballer, has a chain of football themed hotels. I got a very random booking a few years ago to host a pub quiz at Gary Neville’s hotel. We thought it’d be funny, me and another comedian, to do a round taking the mick out of Gary Neville, not realising he’d be there, sat at the front. We just did it anyway. He really hated it. He left at the interval.
What’s the last live show you went to?
I don’t really go to see much anymore. I know it’s kind of cheating, but I performed at the Paddy Power Festival in Dublin in the summer, and I got to see Dylan Moran. He’s one of my comedy heroes, and he was absolutely unbelievable.
What’s on your rider?
I’m a big Lucozade Sport man. You need sugar, but you don’t want bubbles. I’ve made that mistake so many times in the past – downing a big Diet Coke before a show, or even a beer on stage. It’s a nice idea, and sometimes if I’m feeling relaxed I will have a beer on stage. But it’s the bubbles. You just start burping mid-sentence. It’s so horrible. You’re trying to stop yourself just burping in front of an audience. It has to be flat.
What work of yours didn’t get the attention that it deserved?
I regularly do impressions of other comedians on my podcast, and it’s hard because no comedians are actually famous. Even the really big ones, no one really cares, but I can do such a good James Acaster impression. It’s annoying because he’s obviously incredibly famous, but not, like, famous enough to do an impression.
This isn’t going to read well at all, but I have to hear it.
Poppadoms or bread?
That was very good, to be fair.
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given?
I’ve been fortunate enough that in terms of comedy I’ve only really been given good advice. There are older comedians who did a lot of drink and drugs back in the day whilst they were comics, and it ruined their careers. But they still think it’s a good idea to tell us that we should be doing more of it. You do get that a lot. Older generation comedians will be like, “Oh, you should be drinking. You should be partying”. It’s like, this is why you don’t own a house, despite earning so much money in the North East during the comedy boom!
What did 12-year-old you imagine that you’d be doing now?
12-year-old me wanted to be in a band. I was in bands when I was that age. I mean, I was 12, so, you know, we weren’t great. Then I was in a band when I was 19 or 20 and we went around Greece performing for a summer, which was quite good fun. I nearly pursued that ambition, but I ended up in comedy instead.
Was comedy on the radar back then?
I’d say I was 13 or 14, when I really got into stand-up. Me and my mates were in a little BMX gang, and they’d always listen to metal music, but I would turn the music off to play some Ricky Gervais or something. I was such a little comedy nerd already at that age.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
I reckon I’ve worked in over 30 pubs. I’ve done loads of bar work. I was a cleaner at a school – that was probably one of the worst ones. They gave me too many classrooms to clean, and I just couldn’t do it in the time that they’d given me to do it. So what I started doing to save time is I’d mop the floor, and then I would clean the tables with the same mop and cleaning solution. I’d just go from floor to table and just mop everything. Then there was complaints, because all the kids were getting rashes on their arms from the bleach…
If you had to have a song playing every time you walked into a room, what would it be?
‘Feel’ by Robbie Williams. His Knebworth show, in 2004 – that was one of the biggest cultural moments of my childhood.
Who do you often get told you look like?
Tom Rosenthal, who’s another comedian. I get that quite a lot. Who else do I get sometimes? There’s a an Italian footballer, Chiesa. Me, Tom Rosenthal and a guy called Federico Chiesa. We all look very similar.
Has that ever caused any issues?
So far, I’ve never had to play for Italy.
Oh, good.
Me and Tom went to Ibiza together last year, and we didn’t get anyone being like, “Are you brothers or anything?” So, all good there.
What’s your most controversial food opinion?
I think roast dinners are overrated when eaten outside the house. Going out for a roast dinner is shit. It’s never good, is it? Because it’s not possible. You can’t cook a roast meat that’s good for a pub full of people, and there’s just never enough roast potatoes. It’s so expensive and it’s never as good as if you just did it at home.
What’s a skill that you have that no one else knows you’re good at?
I’m a good cook. I’m an unexpectedly good cook, I’d say.
What film have you most rewatched?
I’ve probably most rewatched Sexy Beast, the Ray Winston film. Ben Kingsley plays a character in that which is f*cking brilliant. He played Gandhi – so you know, leader of India – and then he played this gangster in Sexy Beast. It’s one of my favourite bits of acting ever.
Do you have any superstitions?
In terms of comedy, I very rarely have a drink before going on stage. I’ll only have a drink before going on stage if I’m emceeing, or if I’m really relaxed. If I’m either so confident or care so little about the gig that I don’t worry about it going bad. For tour shows or anything important, I’d never do it.
