‘Comedy is an ideal job for worriers’

JON RICHARDSON has said the pressure that comes with being a stand-up comedian means it is an ideal job for worriers like him.

In Ultimate Worrier, his new series for comedy channel Dave, Richardson makes a humorous analysis of thoughts that regularly play on his mind and ranks them in terms of how severe they actually are.

Among the nagging worries he unpicks is the possibility that his wife, fellow comic Lucy Beaumont, may replace him with a robot. The 8 out of 10 Cats panellist told the Press Association that being a stand-up comedian helps with his nervous disposition, which has caused problems for him in his previous jobs.

Speaking about doing live performances, Richardson said: “There’s something about the urgency of it. I think if you are a worrier, like any other job I’ve done, I’ve worried about so much it affects your ability to get certain things done.

“And there is nothing like the pressure of 3,000 people staring at you to make you just do it.

“I think actually it probably is the sort of job that someone who worries this much could do, because you just don’t have a choice. It’s not allowed, so it’s quite therapeutic.

“It’s quite good to just have to do it, because otherwise I wouldn’t.”

The series of eight-hour long episodes Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier starts on Wednesday, May 16 at 10pm on Dave.