MO GILLIGAN ON THE BLACK COMEDY SCENE
The comedian tells Boyd Hilton about his first documentary, winning a BAFTA and baking biscuits
Mo Gilligan is having quite a moment. In the space of a few months, the 32year-old comedian and presenter made his own lockdown TV series live from his home for Channel 4, played with global superstar footballers for Soccer Aid, was announced as the new panellist on ITV’S smash-hit The Masked Singer, starred in Celebrity Gogglebox, and won a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance – although, of course, the first big award he won was his heat Unmissables Award last December.
Now, he’s also seeing a long-time passion project come to fruition: his own documentary about the Black British live comedy scene.
This revelatory one-off film, Black, British & Funny, airing on C4 as part of their programming for Black History Month, is both a timely celebration of a thriving standup circuit that is rarely seen on television and a personal account of where it all started for Mo.
The oft-quoted Mo Gilligan origin story is that he became famous for his online character comedy videos around 2016, and was “discovered” by Drake, but in fact, he’s been doing stand-up since he was 19. And, while the likes of Drake and Ian Wright did indeed share his videos and help them go viral, the truth is that Mo honed his comedy skills on the demanding live circuit, which perhaps explains his unflappable approach to… well, everything. When his lockdown show All-star Happy Hour hit its second episode back in May of this year, for example, a technical disaster meant the programme couldn’t actually go out on live TV. Mo just accepted the situation and carried on with the show, moving it to Instagram for the evening.
And as he talks to us on the phone from his home about everything from being mistaken for Youtuber KSI when he was on Gogglebox, to speaking out about the TV industry’s response to Black Lives Matter, it’s clear nothing is going to faze this guy…
Have you always wanted to make a programme about the Black comedy scene?
I’ve been wanting to do this documentary for about two years, but first of all, I had so much on, and secondly I just didn’t know how to
go about making it. That was when I was on tour and doing The Big Narstie Show on Channel 4 [which Mo co-hosted], and I hadn’t done my own show yet. Then, this year, the whole Black Lives Matter thing gave me more ambition to get it out there as soon as possible.
We don’t think many people realise you’ve been doing live comedy for so long…
Yeah, I read articles saying, “Drake discovered him…” and I’m like, “No, he didn’t!” Or else they always say, “He started online…” So, for me, it was partly about putting those facts right, and also about letting people understand the comedy circuit that I come from. I wanted to tell the story of how I really did get started as part of the Black comedy scene, which was so important for me. I didn’t go down that route of going to Edinburgh, for example. I was doing shows on the Black comedy circuit instead. That’s what got me to the place where I am today.
Do you think Black Lives Matter is changing things for the better?
I feel like the conversation has just started, really. I’ve seen it start up before and it’s gone away almost as soon as it started. Hopefully, now, this will be different. Like, I’m one of the few Black British comedians to host their own TV show, still.
There’s Lenny Henry and Richard Blackwood before me and that’s about it. I spoke up on Twitter about TV people in the industry not quoting Black Lives Matter unless you’re going to change the landscape of where you work, and some people said, “Oh, wow, you’re gonna get sacked in the morning!” But if now isn’t the time to speak out, then when is? You have to stand up for what you believe in, and some people will always have a problem with that. Now, I see people saying, “I’ve had enough of this Black Lives Matter stuff,” and I’m like, “Cool, man… you do your thing, but it’s not going away.” Congratulations on winning a BAFTA, which in terms of prestige, is second only to a heat Unmissables Award… [Laughs.] Oh man, yeah, you were there from the beginning! I’ve got the heat Award on my TV now, you know.
What was it like winning the BAFTA, though?
It was so weird. I had to prepare something to say, because it was just me and three other people, so I stood a pretty good chance of winning it. If it had been me and ten other people, I might have been more, “Hmm, yeah, relax.” But I was genuinely surprised, because nothing ever prepares you to win something like that. I had my friends and family over and it felt like a really special moment. And winning it did really empower me to do this documentary even more. Because, while I want to continue to tell my story, I also feel like I have a duty to tell other people’s stories who share my background.
What happened with your All-star Happy Hour show when it didn’t go out on TV?
We had technical problems that were out of everybody’s hands, but I was thinking, “It’s OK if it doesn’t air, it’s really OK. There’s more important things happening in the world right now than a TV show not airing.” And, weirdly enough, it helped, because I hadn’t really got an idea of whether people liked the first show we did, so when the second show didn’t air, and people were like, “Where’s this show?” I was like, “Cool, man, you guys like it, then?” If you’d told me at the start of this year that there’d be a global pandemic and yet I’d still be working, I would be so grateful, so I couldn’t really complain about my show not airing for one week. So, we just moved it to Instagram. We did it live from my home, so it would have been much more embarrassing if the electricity at my house suddenly went off, or something.
Did you not panic when you had the technical problems, though?
I deal with that stuff, because of my live shows. Sometimes the mic doesn’t work when I do a show, so I just have to shout! I’ve done shows when the lights have just stopped working, so I just adapted to my surroundings and that’s what I did when the show didn’t go out on TV. We had to keep doing it somehow.
Did you enjoy doing Gogglebox – apart from the fact that one newspaper mistook you for KSI?
Yeah, it was one of those things that happens. I was annoyed
‘I tried making my own biscuits, but I was using the wrong eggs’
because I was doing it with a good friend of mine, Babatunde [Aleshe, a fellow comedian] and it was only show one, so I was worried it would detract from his moment as much as mine. Surely the one thing a journalist has to do is get our names right. Get the facts right. Google is free, man, it’s there to help you! Use it. It’s done and it’s over, but at the same time, I was like, “Just do better, man.”
And how was the experience apart from that?
It was fun doing Gogglebox, because I always watch it and it was fun sitting there watching all these programmes and films, some of which I’d never watch in real life. Like, I’d never seen the film It – I don’t really watch horror films, so that was weird. And it was just really cool being part of a show that people really look forward to watching every week, especially during lockdown, and being on it with people like Zoe Ball and Denise van Outen was amazing for someone like me. It kind of felt like being a key worker – we were bringing people important enjoyment each week.
What did you think when you were asked to join The Masked Singer?
It’s one of the biggest shows on ITV. It’s unfamiliar territory for me, because with the shows I’ve done on TV so far, I’ve always fronted them. So, to be joining a show that already exists and is a big hit, it felt like big boy stuff. But when I saw it and there was a duck singing Stormzy’s Blinded By Your Grace, I thought, “Wow, this is a fun show.” It’s like The X Factor, but wild. I was really excited.
When your Lateish Show returns, who would be your dream guests?
Adele is one of my main dream guests. She would be great, and I’d like to get some more Americans, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart. Maybe we’ll get them on together. The thing about our show is that it allows people to show another side to themselves, especially when we do the “Nursery Grimes” – we just want everyone to have a massively fun time. We celebrate people without really taking the piss.
Who’s been your favourite guest so far?
Steve Coogan was wicked – he performed David Bowie’s Let’s Dance and he was just really good. He was really fun. That was our first show and he entered into the spirit of it so much.
Did you take up any new hobbies during lockdown?
I’ve just started cycling. Me and my mates started a Whatsapp group and we go cycling every weekend, like, from the city of London to Richmond and back. It gets us out of the house and we have a laugh. Plus, I’ve tried to bake my own biscuits. They started out looking like scones, but then I realised I was using the wrong type of sugar – and the wrong eggs.
Have you perfected your recipe now?
No. I’m back to just buying biscuits! It was fun for two months and then I was like, “Yeah, it’s a lot of mess, man.” n
Mo Gilligan: Black, British & Funny is on Channel 4, Thursday 15 October, 10pm