GEORGE Lewis has garnered millions of views on sketches posted to social media exploring life as a dad–but this year he is once again returning to the stage, where his comedy craft began.
After having performed stand-up for well over a decade, and supporting the likes of Tom Allen, Josh Widdecombe, and Romesh Ranganathan, now he’s setting his sights on the subject which has seen him explode in popularity: parenthood.
This month he kicks off his latest solo show, The Best Thing You’ll Ever Do, including a gig at Reading’s Concert Hall in October.
Speaking about the show’s subject matter, George says: “When we were expecting our first kid, the view of the comedy industry as a whole was that you really didn’t want to be a parent.
“You’ve got to be as young and as cool as possible– having kids is not that.
“But the whole landscape changed; now its the best possible thing that I could have done, and the whole system isn’t there any more. People really do wanna hear about it.
“Every day of my life I’m faced with stuff that can be tough in the moment, but you realise something can be made from that.”
Far from being the beginning of the end, as it may previously have been, becoming a parent was something that would not only–as any parent might have guessed–been a rich vein of material at times, but also help him connect with an audience.
“I noticed early on with this show that my parenting stuff is what the audience liked the most, and it is mainly about parenting.
“Generally when I look around, it’s either couples my age, or groups of mums from the Whatsapp circles.
“These days audiences are a lot more siloed, and you do notice the difference.”
George had been working in stand-up for over a decade before he branched out into creating comedy material on social media.
He explains that social media is powerful in its capacity to connect audiences and performers in a way that wasn’t possible previously.
“When people choose to follow you, it shows that they’re into your particular style and humour; when you arrive at a gig, you’ve got all of these people who find the same things funny.
“And that can make the greatest gigs of your life–you’ve got the exact, perfect people in the audience.
“You used to have to go round the circuits, with brand new rooms, constantly winning people over–or you were on TV.
“And then you have to appeal to a broader audience, and you can have a good gig, but it doesn’t feel very fulfilling, doing what you think people want.
“It means you can go out on stage and do the stuff you love, and the audience loves it even more too; I think it’s a great system for people finding their audience, and even more variety.”
He also says it has been something of a renaissance for short-form comedy, such as sketches.
“A lot of TV people are thinking ‘how do we get this on TV?’ with things that don’t need to be–they work perfectly where they are.
“And things can be a few minutes, but well-scripted, thought-out, character-based– it’s a resurgence, but it has to live there.
“Then you can move to live, and it’s not sketches so much, but it’s from the same person; some things are just better suited to specific platforms.
“I can’t remember the last sketch show I watched on telly, but I watch them constantly on social media.”
“Early on, I was conscious about being limited by a niche, and it does happen– sometimes I’ll do a sketch I love, but it won’t do the numbers compared to something which is closer to what people know me for.
“Platforms reward people doing the same things over and over again, and you can lose yourself a little bit.
“So I always try to keep an eye on not chasing the numbers too much, and not questioning too much whether tastes match what you’re doing.
“But as long as you’re doing things that you find funny, it can never really go wrong–You’ll always enjoy what you’re doing, and you’ll find the audience who enjoy it too.”
He explains that being an online presence and a live act can be complimentary, despite popular grumbles to the contrary.
“When I started doing videos, I felt that I enjoyed it more than I’d ever enjoyed stand-up–now that I’m on tour, I’m enjoying that more than I ever thought I could.
“And all of those people who comment and share the videos are put right in front of you; it feels just as nice as getting that feedback, but they’re there, live.
“It’s an incredible mix of two things I enjoy so much.”
As for what audiences can expect in George’s latest stand-up show: “There’s a bit which I could never have predicted the reaction to–my dislike of the [BBC] show Bing.
“I didn’t realise how much of a shared feeling that is; I’m not an angry performer, but it’s the one part of the show where I can really let out some hate.”
George Lewis: The Best Thing You’ll Ever Do is showing at Reading’s Concert Hall on Wednesday, October 22.
Full details available via: georgelewiscomedian.com
Tickets are available via: whatsonreading.com
