On the eve of the DVDs launched, he spared us some time for a chat…
I really enjoyed the DVD…
Really?
I though it wasshit…!
I was pretty impressed by it!
I saw that set two hours before I went on.
We showed up about 4, and I thought wow.
How much say did you have over it?
Well, we sat down here and I said yeah, how about a tractor.
So I started throwing stuff out.
A kind of magnetic release or something.
And the guy said we can get you a tractor.
What about the huge backdrop you did the stand-up in front of?
Was it you who made it lopsided?
No, I dont know what that was…
… you looked as bemused as anyone by it?
We did a show on turf in front of some Irish play.
In front of some kind of little Irish shack.
That gives you your first ten minutes, though?
So it was nice to have all that stuff!
Well, I dont know about that.
I dont think I filled it.
It wasnt my idea to play there, it was my manager.
Im caught up in this sort of ongoing ego trip of comedians playing big places.
I dont understand people wanting to play Wembley, O2, theres nowhere to go.
What are you going to do next?
Fly over a country and perform on the wing of a plane?
Where are you going to go after the O2?
Are you going to fill it again?
But why are you coming back to it now?
Probably the fact that you were looking for one.
There was enough of a market.
Theres been no demand for a Rich Hall DVD as far as I know.
Maybe people will see it and think great, okay.
But I dont know.
And Ive never watched another comedian on DVD for more than a few minutes.
Personally, its not the same as live.
Im glad its there.
Im particularly glad that this stuff is committed to some sort of media.
It seems thats where you have the most fun?
Dont fuck around too much.
Everyone is pulling for you to be funny and its a slightly false atmosphere.
Its a slightly kind of we know its a DVD, so we better laugh a bit louder.
Its helpful, Stockholm Syndrome kind of thing.
But putting people on the spot and improvising in a big place like that would be treacherous.
I need to make up a song.
Youre setting yourself up…
I know, I know!
No, theyre not.
I really relish getting something completely new.
Its hard in London.
Go to Yorkshire and I get farmers and stuff.
Id love to make a compilation of the same song over and over.
Because it isnt the same.
Were going to follow the same musical song every time, because you have to.
But as far as music, yeah, after ten years, music has got a little more sophisticated.
What I love about the Otis material is the songs come from the strangest little details.
Where is the inspiration coming from?
I dont think any comedian can really tell you where their inspiration comes from.
I think if you have an agenda, its easier.
If youre Mark Thomas or Lewis Black, or someone like that.
Maybe if youre political then youve got a constant source of material to choose from.
But I dont really want to be a political comedian.
I dont find myself personally that entertaining or interesting.
So mostly what I do is bitch about other stuff.
But I dont want to be a political comedian because I dont quite trust that anger.
Its like the radio guys in America, the conservative right wing guys.
Every day theyre worked up about something.
You cant be this worked up or youd have had a stroke by now.
Youre just pretending to be angry again and again and again because thats what you do.
And Im more interested in entertaining myself, I suppose.
If it strikes me as funny I share it with the audience.
But it almost feels like a call to comedy to move on…?
But you tied Obama to…
… Denzel Washington movies!
But thats not making fun of Obama, though.
Its making fun of the mindset that America and the world has.
Perhaps the world more than America, because America is scrutinising him every day.
The rest of the world is looking at Obama, at this okay guy.
And he is an okay guy.
But he is a politician.
Hes just another president.
And possibly, hopefully, more effective than the last one.
Who made lots of mistakes.
No one is ever going to think that everything he does is golden, you know?
But there is this messiac aura around him currently.
And it is going to disappear, its disappearing now.
Are you still planning the film of the Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society book?
No, Im not planning anything.
This is it for Otis.
This is the end of the character?
I saw youd brought in a new character at a recent gig, Tex Weatherspoon?
[Laughs] I did, yeah!
Thats just a one off?
Yeah, just a one off.
I want to keep doing music, but Im going to do it as myself.
I dont feel I need to hide behind a country and western character any more.
Not that Im hiding.
Its fun to do but its becoming harder and harder to write songs within that character.
I just feel like theres other stuff.
Does the DVD end the Otis material?
Unless I get offered a lot of money.
At which point itll come back as an Otis tribute band.
Youre finishing off the tour now, where are you going next?
I just sort of never look past the next project.
I dont know what Im going to do next year.
But thats my only gig.
Thats not a bad gig, though!
But I used to live next door to him, about a quarter mile away.
We know each other really well.
I think hes pretty good on piano, too.
Im going to the South to make a documentary for the BBC, but well shoot it before Christmas.
Rich Hall, thank you very much…!
