Q&A: David Trent

One for punters wanting something a little different from their evening’s stand-up, David Trent uses projection and a frenetic video-editing style to produce high-energy commentaries on celebrity culture and topical news stories.
He was nominated for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2012 for his debut solo show Spontaneous Comedian, while reviews site Chortle noted that “his use of video, animation and repetition is brilliant and unique.”

What are the blessings of multimedia in stand-up – and what are the potential pitfalls?
The great things about it are that you can talk about things that people don’t know anything about, because you can show it to them right there and then in the room, preventing that moment when you ask a crowd if they know the post-hardcore group At The Drive In and they all look at you and go ‘nope’.
You can show photos and videos, animate stuff, bring a lot of stuff to life. It’s good. The potential pitfall is that halfway through the show the computer will freeze, leaving you absolutely nowhere to go and we all have to go home early.
It’s never happened yet. Oh dear god. It will happen now. THANKS BRISTOL 24/7. I NEVER USED TO WORRY ABOUT THIS.

Does multimedia make for a more relaxing or a more stressful evening for you?
It’s a pain in the butt in terms of setting up – you have to get the projector in and working, do a soundcheck, all stressful stuff. But the gig itself is no more stressful than any other – all the equipment works, I know the timings and it’s fun. I like it. I like it if something little goes wrong because that throws me off the normal routine and introduces elements that make it unique, but don’t you guys get all carried away and start thinking “Oh, because it’s on a computer it’s all more tightly scripted.”
Trust me, you get almost exactly the same level of uniqueness and spontaneity at one of my gigs as with any other comedian – not because I’m some kind of improv genius, but because NO ONE IS.

‘Smart and dumb in equal measure’, wrote one of your reviewers. A fair summation of your comedy style?
Yeah. That’s a really good description of what I do. I take something highfaluting like Human Rights or Fat Shaming and make it funny in loads of stupid and silly ways. I’m a genius. 

How would you describe your stand-up? Ironic, excitable, angry, cynical…? 
Grown-up and really angry. It’s not for kids and doesn’t have much fun-for-all-the-family appeal. My way of writing is to get enraged about something – usually people treating the general public with absolutely no respect or insulting everyone’s intelligence – and then sit down at a computer and pour it all out. Then I go and do jokes until people laugh at the things I hate, and I feel a bit less alone in my opinion. I love lighter stuff like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family, but the stuff that influenced me when I was younger was The Day Today, Brass Eye, Chris Morris. Yeah, I’m just like Chris Morris. Better, probably.

Your material sends up the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of modern life – but you’re steeped in modern culture and technology. Do you have a mixed stance towards modernity?
No. It’s pretty straightforward. For example: if you are a politician, say Gordon Brown, and you wake up in the morning and tell the press that you really like the Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay then you can fuck right off. That’s such a see-through and transparent move, and it’s a massive insult to the intelligence of the whole country. Tokenism. Tokenism and bullshit.
That’s got nothing to do with modern life though, right? That’s just manipulation. I hate it. And yeah, I manipulate the crowd myself in the show with music and video. So yeah. It is a mixed attitude. Leave me alone Bristol 24/7. If I want therapy I’ll pay for it.

David Trent plays the Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken on Saturday, April 18. For more info visit www.thecomedybox.co.uk