Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BGT STAR AXEL BLAKE ON RISE TO STARDOM
Comic reveals what serious Covid infection taught him ahead of crunch semi-final
100%, there is room for more diversity, it’s just making it happen AXEL BLAKE ON WANTING TO SEE MORE BLACK STARS
I struggled to breathe and you think, ‘Can my body fight this?’ AXEL BLAKE ON TERROR AFTER COVID INFECTION
As he pressed his golden buzzer sending confetti raining down upon Axel Blake’s astonished face, Simon Cowell remarked the nation needed a funnyman like him after the past miserable couple of years.
But he could not have guessed how much the comedian equally needed that moment after his own terrifying experience during the pandemic.
His appearance in Britain’s Got Talent’s last semi-final tonight comes with a whole new level of appreciation.
While Axel, 34, made gags about Covid during his audition, joking he called his lockdown newborn Pfizer, his experience was far more sobering.
Not only did he lose two grandfathers during the pandemic, but not to due Covid, and then had to attend socially distanced funerals, he was blue-lighted to hospital with the virus.
Recalling the traumatic incident around Christmas 2020, Axel said: “My fiancée called an ambulance, I was almost on all fours struggling to breathe, I couldn’t get back up.
“My oxygen was low, I was in hospital for two nights. That was the first time I’d had Covid and it was before the vaccine.
“It was scary, I’d never felt anything like it. My partner had a bit of a cough, but me… people were losing their lives and you think, ‘What is going to happen? Can my body fight this?’
“It puts things in perspective, you treasure what you have got.
“There is a time limit for everyone and you never know what that is.
“I now have the capacity to appreciate this opportunity even more.”
Thankfully, Axel, from West London, returned to his family, and performing and laughter helped the comic find his confidence again after his illness.
Playing small gigs on and off for 12 years while holding down his job in property maintenance, he describes how vulnerability crept in.
But the first laughs beat it back.
“Do I still have it?”, he remembers thinking as he travelled to that first post-covid gig.
“You question yourself. But after that first laugh the nerves go. I have always enjoyed that reaction. It’s an amazing feeling to see everyone’s teeth in one go, and their tongues going up and down.”
While the dad of two has had overwhelmingly support since his audition, there has been some backlash due to the fact he has been performing for so long.
Playing in clubs from his early 20s with BAFTA winner Mo Gilligan, a friend whose success he describes as “inspiring”, Axel already has a live stand-up show, I’m Not Gonna Lie, on Amazon Prime.
But he explains he put that gig on independently at a small venue at the O2 arena using his own
money in 2018. He sold tickets from his car, travelling round the UK, and paid for it to be recorded.
Only later did Amazon pick it up, and he still has that day job.
Describing the trials of trying to make a career in comedy and dying on stage, Axel says: “It may look like glitz and glamour… you have to keep going, going back and trying again.”
He admits his fiancee Louise asked him to stop because of the strains, adding: “We got into big arguments.”
But ultimately she encouraged him again to pursue his dream.
When BGT approached Axel, his initial reaction was to say no but Louise coaxed him to go for it.
He admits: “It was fear and doubt – of failing. But if there’s something I’m fearful of, that’s the reason to go for it. Thank heavens I did.”
Axel’s passion for comedy and his ambition to become a household name is not something he hides and admits he was “the class clown”.
His mother, a seamstress, and father, a computer analyst, are not performers, although his dad was once a talented hurdler who trained with a young Linford Christie in West London.
Axel was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and struggled with academic work.
He says: “I was not the best behaved, I didn’t have the best grades.” But he believes his dyslexia has not been a bad thing and his difference has helped his comedy.
Axel says: “I feel I’m fortunate to have it. It’s my superpower.”
Comedy has “helped him see the fun side of life” and led him to a better path with like-minded people. His aim is to show his 13-year-old son and, one day, his 20-monthold daughter that it is possible to achieve a dream.
Also, having grown up with comics such as Lee Evans, Michael Mcintyre, and Lee Mack, he wants to add more diversity to the stage. Axel says: “As Mo Gilligan once said, I would love to bring black boy joy to the TV.
“100%, there is room for more diversity, it’s just making it happen.”
He adds: “My son is in awe. My plan has worked – to show him anything you put your mind to is possible.”
What also might be possible is giving Cowell a discount on a new kitchen, as discussed at his audition. Axel has another condition, though. First the golden buzzer, now he’d like an invite to the mogul’s wedding.
He has not had one yet and jokes: “But I haven’t checked my junk mail.”
The Britain’s Got Talent live semifinals continue tonight at 8pm on ITV.