Comedy Fest Chat: Milton Jones

It’s not long until the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. With so many shows to choose from, it’s always a good idea to see shows and artists you haven’t seen before.

Anne-Marie Peard suggests seeing a local in a tiny venue and someone who hasn’t been to Melbourne before. Milton Jones is from the UK and, despite winning Best Newcomer at Edinburgh in 1996, he hasn’t been to Melbourne before.

What MICF shows are you most looking forward to seeing?
I haven’t made a plan yet. I will see what the buzz is. I tend to go to art exhibitions and other kinds of performances if can.

What makes MICF different from all the other festivals?
It’s in Melbourne.  (I haven’t been before!)  

What comedians/performers have influenced you the most? I was always more influenced by comic actors like Rowan Atkinson, Ronnie Barker and Leonard Rossiter 

What advice do you wish you’d been given before your first gigs?
Never judge yourself just on your last show.

Do you do still your own flyering? Can you tell us something great or horrific that’s happened to you when flyering?
No thanks. I pay people to do that now. Once one of them flyered me. I did turn up to the show, so I suppose it worked.

What’s the best (or worst) thing a review has said about you or your show?
‘Yes, the audience laughed for an hour, but is that enough?’

What comedian (alive or dead) do you wish you’d seen live?
Steve Martin.

When did you realise that being funny is the career for you?
When I got an essay back at school that said ‘You are a joke!”

What’s the best heckle you’ve received?
‘What is this?’

Is there anything you’re not prepared to joke about?
Not in theory. But in practice even the mention of some subjects upstages what the actual joke is.