A new direction?
NOT for nothing is Stephen K Amos known as a feelgood comedian. His years of touring the nation with crowd-pleasing shows have helped him build up a loyal fanbase who expect an evening of non-stop laughter.
With his new show Bouquets And Brickbats, Stephen is promising the usual quota of gags and funny stories, but this time around he’s being a little more contemplative about the universe.
“I picked that title because the last 18 months have been awful both personally for me and in the whole world at large.
“Some things are so joyful and joyous on one hand, and on the other, so devastating. So I was trying to find a way of saying that some days are rosy and other days aren’t so much.”
Since last year Stephen has lost both his mother and his twin sister, and working through this sadness has given his comedy a different perspective.
“I never thought I could do something like this, as my whole thing has been to keep them laughing and not to hold the silence. But I’ve now found out that it’s more powerful to hold the silence.
“That whole thing about losing people and death is a bit in the show and there’s a silence in the room where you can hear a penny drop. For me, that is a bit weird.”
As he has shown through shows like his Channel 4 documentary Batty Man and radio series What Does The K Stand For?, Stephen is a potent social commentator.
“I don’t want people to sigh when I mention the likes of Trump and Brexit, but I try to tackle them by using another example of something just as ridiculous. But I don’t mention any names and will try to do it in a subtle way.
“At the start of the tour, I start off with a script but it will undoubtedly change depending on world events and my own mood. Things are constantly happening.”
In this fractured world, how does Stephen stay positive?
“I get my positivity from human beings. Something good happens on a daily basis: a text from someone, a stranger doing something nice for you on the street or someone just saying something positive. We all have a story to tell; you might see a façade but you never know what’s going on inside a person.
“Sometimes people have come up to me after this show with tears in their eyes or wearing a badge for breast cancer or something and it’s about being touched by other people’s stories. At one show, one lad felt confident at being out and proud at the age of 15, something I couldn’t have done. Those moments make it all worthwhile.”
■■ Stephen K Amos is at Just the Tonic at Hansom Hall in Leicester on November 11 and the Belgrave Rooms in Nottingham on November 25. Ticket details for both shows at justthetonic.com.