Phil Ellis has a ten year old Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize, a 2023 Nomination and a 'stub' on Wiki. He has also done more for the profile of the sad brown leather jacket than anyone since Lewis Collins. He got into comedy, he says, around 2006.
I just deal with real life tragedy and bleak moments in a silly way, which can appear a bit like I’m trivialising pain but so what? It’s my pain and I’ll laugh if I want to!
I was working in an airbags factory doing 12 hour shifts and I wanted to write a sitcom and get it made. Then I realised that most of the best TV comedies were made by comedians (who'd have thought it?) so I applied for my first ten minute unpaid open spot and the rest is history. Im also still in my overdraft.
You are such an incredible live performer, wouldn't putting you on TV be like putting a lion in a petting zoo?
I do still very much want to have a project on TV as I feel its the best place for a lot of my ideas and to reach the audience who would appreciate the kind of show that Id like to make. Just wish I would be given the opportunity to make one of them. I do understand that TV is in turmoil and they cant really afford major flops but it would be nice to feel that they are occasionally taking risks. I mean, The Royle Family was a risk, The Young Ones, The Office and... well, I'm sure theres been one in the past 20 years too.... Erm... Bringing back Neighbours?
The key thing I think is to just keep writing and writing and writing and never giving up... Or set up your own TV station and just make your own sitcom in your shed... not a bad idea that actually. Didn't Frank Sidebottom do that though?
I am just going to pause here while you make some really good points about TV nowadays that I had nothing to do with asking about... you are, it would seem, smarter than you look...
I think TV has changed so much over recent years in an attempt to attract an age range and audience that just don't want to watch or return to TV. The new generations are consuming stuff on their phones through YouTube and TikTok. So perhaps we need to focus on giving the people who actually DO Watch TV what they want to see. Would be nice if less than 80% of the comedians on TV shows were London based Oxbridge types too. Line ups can often look diverse on the surface but more often than not, they mostly went to the same type of schools and all had fridges with ice dispensers in their open plan kitchens. Lucky bastards!
But I wonder why some of the biggest Live comedians are Northern and from working class backgrounds? Makes you think ey? Also, when was the last time you saw a comedian on a major TV show being a comedian? They're all judging flans and borderline unwell people juggling with puppies in talent shows.
So back to comedians being comedians live. You are one of the performers here who 'are' their shows I mean you, Twonkey, Munnery etc, the show is YOU. And words and some hilarious hooha. Most others (and I am not saying this is a bad thing) are separate from their show. The hour is them, 'doing' their show. Yes? No?
Yeah, I can see that. The Phil Ellis in the shows is not that far removed from the Phil Ellis outside of them. I'm not quite as desperate, unsuccessful and depressed as the one on stage but I act very similar in every day life to be honest. I'm always being silly and like joking around, whinging and dressing up as a cat. I talk about and do stuff in my shows that I genuinely find funny. I had someone tell me I laugh too much during my shows but of course I do. It's dead funny and I'm having fun entertaining the people there. That's why people like coming to my shows, they know I'm actually enjoying myself too and that kind of bleeds into the crowds reactions. Why would you not want to smile and giggle throughout your own show? It's not a fucking play... oh wait, a lot are now aren't they? (wink emoji) The few times I've tried to change my tact or style, It hasn't worked. So now I just try and be me and do all the silly, creative and mad stuff I can't do on the comedy circuit at a weekend club.
Most of the stories I tell are true or at least heavily based in truth. Some fizzle out as I think some moments in life do. They don't have a big punchline. They're just very odd and funny thing that can end in an awkward silence and theres a beauty in that. I just deal with real life tragedy and bleak moments in a silly way, which can appear a bit like Im trivialising pain but so what? It's my pain and I'll laugh if I want to!
An ickle bird in a tragic leather jacket tells me that there might be a couple of performances of the AWARD WINNING Funz and Gamez. Do you really think you can still hack it? That was some high energy stuff.
Oh really? I'll have to have a word with that little bird.
I just thought that Funz and Gamez was such a lightning in a bottle moment that people still talk about, recalling their favourite lines and moments. I don't think there had been a show aimed at actual children quite like it before or indeed since. I'd like to introduce it to a new generation whilst reminding the older generation of how unique and genuinely anarchic and funz it wasz.
It will be interesting to see if we can hit the same tone and have the same wide appeal at this age but I actually think it will make it even funnier. You don't see many people over 30 entertaining kids on TV or stage now. Makes it look even bleaker and more desperate. My last show was pretty high energy and back in 2014 I was a chain smoker who never exercised and drank all day so Im actually much healthier now so can probably end the show less tired and sweaty.
Now if all the comedy stuff falls apart and TV rejects you again, your Wiki 'stub' describes you as an actor. Were you any good at that?
Actor? Hahah. Well, in 2015 I was offered a role in Red Dwarf, which was my favourite sitcom growing up (that and Bottom) I had a full on panic attack during the reading and kept telling the casting people I couldn't act, whilst they kept telling me I could and I already had a part, they just wanted to find the right one. I then got on all fours and crawled out of the room and went home. On the video tape they recorded during the reading, you see me disappear under the table, a shuffle and then the door in the background seemingly opening and closing on its own accord.
NOW THAT IS HOW AN ACTOR... ERM... ACTS.
Oh for goodness sake TV Types... give the boy his own sitcom NOW.
