Interview: Vikki Stone

Bristol’s ace comedy promoters Chuckle Busters are up and running for the autumn back at their Wardrobe Theatre home…and their first high-profile gig of the season is a date with acclaimed musical comic Vikki Stone.

As seen and heard on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, BBC One’s John Bishop Show and the BBC Proms podcast, the award-winning comedian and musician is popping a piano in the back of the car and heading out on tour with a mixture of songs and stand-up you have seen her do on the telly, and some brand spanking new ones. “The love child of Victoria Wood and Tim Minchin,” enthused The Scotsman.

We grabbed a quick chat with the queen of musical comedy.

So, Vikki. Unlike your previous shows, your 2018 show doesn’t have a particular theme or title? Tell us the thinking there…
Well, because I do original songs as part of my show, I wanted to approach the tour more like a band or a singer would. When I’ve toured in the past, people have always asked if I was singing a particular song in a particular show, and the answer was normally ‘no’, so I wanted to change that. It’s not a specific title, because I didn’t want to commit to any one topic or theme, and hopefully this way audiences get a bit of everything!

You had a prestigious education and training in the classical music world. What was it that guided you into music and comedy, rather than classical music performance?
I started out as a classical flautist, and I think I would have ended up trying to be funny in the back of orchestras, thus ruining concerts.

Which comes first when you’re writing material – the music or the comedy? Or do they emerge already hand-in-hand?
It depends on the song, really. I don’t write with one particular approach, and sometimes songs will go through several different tunes before I find the right one.
I write for a lot of adverts and telly stuff, and on my computer is a folder of rejected tunes, and sometimes, if I’m struggling, I have a look through there to see if there’s any forgotten gold!

Do you think of what you do as comedy with music, or vice versa? Or is the distinction not helpful?
Nowadays I just do what I want to do. I don’t have to fit in to a particular box or genre – hence not having a title for the tour. I’m writing and performing what I like, which is a mixture of music and comedy, and hopefully audiences enjoy it too!

You’re on a mission to make classical music feel more accessible: how is that going? Is classical music necessarily (because of its length and relative complexity) a harder sell than other musical forms?
I do bits and bobs for BBC Radio 3, one of the UK’s only dedicated classical music radio stations, and trying to persuade them away from their usual mould is very hard. I spent two seasons at the BBC Proms trying to make content that didn’t need a degree in music to digest.
I think we like to put art into little neat boxes: comedy, classical music, cabaret, theatre, musicals, and really what I’m trying to do is blur the edges of all these things.
So, with all that said, I reckon you should just come and see what all the fuss is about.

Vikki Stone plays the Wardrobe Theatre on September 20. For more information, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/vikki-stone