Interview: Phil Nichol

Phil Nichol – expat Canadian, theatrical and highly distinctive comic – is back: and he’s wondering why we’re all so busy arguing with each other.

“Trump. Your wrong. Brexit. Your wrong. Facebook. Your wrong. Tinder. Your wrong. Religion. Your wrong. Fashion. Your wrong. Grammar. Your wrong!

“We are being watched. Whether it’s the grammar Nazis on the internet, the court of public opinion in the media, the government through our smartphones, the aliens from deep in the crust of the moons of Jupiter, or by God himself, we are being monitored. The pressure to “get it right” is tremendous! Right?

“Your Wrong questions the nature of understanding and explores our modern day need to be right about everything.

“.. not just comedy but soul-quenching storytelling at its finest.” EdFestMag

“A show that makes you laugh and think while you are watching, and then wakes you up in the night to laugh and think again.” The Scotsman

Here’s Phil to tell us more.

“Your Wrong wants you to gently question your beliefs or at least look at how you came to hold them in the first place. ” Can you remember a time this happened to you recently?
It’s all around us all the time. If you are healthy and lucky enough to have the time to reflect on this crazy anomaly we call ‘life’, have a closer look at the dumbfounding magic of reality – and you won’t be able to help but question everything you know.
From the macro of American politics (Brett Kavaunagh, anyone?) to the micro of looking at my brother Andrew’s newborn great grandchild. I can’t help but wonder at what we don’t know and gently laugh at how amazing life is. What’s it all about, eh? Also, I’ve just woken up and haven’t had a coffee yet. I think great thoughts spring from delirium. When you are tired, up late, meditating or drunk you are in the perfect place to question you beliefs. Now, where’s that coffee?

Tell us what you can (without revealing too much) about your brother’s accident, how the different members of your family responded to it, how it shaped your own worldview…
My brother had a severe car accident when I was 19. He’d borrowed a friend’s jeep with a snow plough on the front, and had been shovelling off the driveways of some of the OAPs who go to the church. Driving back across a bridge during a blizzard he hit some black ice (ice that you can’t see), the Jeep spun and was hit by two Mac trucks that had been following him at speed. The wheels came off the Jeep. It spun in the air and my dear brother ended up flat on his back not breathing for close to seven minutes before the ambulance arrived.
By the time he got to the hospital he was in a coma. It devastated my family. However, my parents’ religious convictions and the support of his fiancée Janet meant there was someone with him every day. It made me look deep into my new-found rationalist ideas – and the show is about what grew from that event. Come and see it.

What’s the essence of the show – that we’re all too busy arguing with each other and should calm down a little and respect our differences?
Well, yes, that is a simple way of looking at it. And true. But to be honest, I’m not sure what the show will say to you and what you will take away from it. If it was just as simple as “we’re all too busy arguing with each other and should calm down a little and respect our differences”, it would be a short show.
The main thing I’d like to happen when you see the show is that we all have a fantastic laugh and a great night out – whilst dissecting my ridiculous life and the nature of forgiveness. It’s a comedy show first and foremost. Come and laugh at me.

How much do you hope to make people think with this show, and how much do you simply want to make them laugh? Are the two intertwined?
Well, laughing is the spontaneous, unconscious reaction to the jokes followed by the with the reflection on the stories and concepts they illustrate. I wanna make you laugh a lot first and foremost. I can’t control what you think after that. The two things intertwine, because life is hysterical in all senses of the word. If you don’t scream with laughter then you’ll just scream.

In cash-strapped, social-services-dismantling, Brexit Britain, do you find yourself longing for liberal, socialist, open-minded Canada?  
I love the UK. It’s been my home for over 22 years. I hope that we can navigate our way around Brexit. However, it’s not looking good if Boris Johnson is going to end up in charge of it.
But Canada is not perfect either. There are some dark corporate forces working there as well. It’s the way of the world at the moment. Trump, anyone? Let’s fight it with laughter, derision, and let’s talk to each other. All the more reason to go out to a comedy night and have a bit of conversation and fun.

Phil Nichol: Your Wrong Nov 2, Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken Studio. For more info, visit www.thecomedybox.co.uk/site/301.asp?catID=1645&ct=date

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