Alison’s making a show of herself ... in London
After conquering Ireland with her stand up and sitcom, Alison Spittle decided to leave Dublin for pastures new... leading to chats with celebs in her bedroom...
It’s something most of us couldn’t even contemplate — leaving a great career behind in your home country to start all over again in a place where you are a small fish in a big pond. But that’s exactly what comedian Alison Spittle has just done, having upped sticks and moved to the bright lights of London.
That’s not to say Ireland won’t be seeing a bit of her as she’s currently touring all arts and parts with Alison Spittle Makes A Show Of Herself.
Even so, leaving the comfort of a successful career with a guaranteed audience to go back to basics in a place which doesn’t immediately get your humour and references is no mean feat for anyone.
But it was something Alison says she had to do.
‘I have moved over to London — you know it’s time when it’s time,’ the comedian admits.
‘I was worried about my future and I thought ‘if I don’t go to London now, I never will so I might as well go.’
The very idea of it might strike fear into many hearts and Alison says it wasn’t an easy decision to make.
‘It was totally scary,’ she says. ‘Dublin is my home, I love Dublin but I moved to a city where I don’t know many people.
‘I am surprised by how nice people are over here because I was told it is a cold city.
‘I am very lucky to be doing comedy and I had made friends through that before I moved there so I kind of had a ready-made friendship group.’
And although she has an established comedy career here, Alison is starting from the very beginning in the capital of England.
‘I had to rewrite my material because there are so many references English people wouldn’t get that we have over in Ireland,’ she admits. ‘So there was a lot of changing around to see what fits.
‘It is like starting all over again in so many ways. I’m playing very small venues and I am doing open spot gigs — those are gigs for people who are only doing this a couple of months.
‘So it is as if I have gone back about five years in my career, it is totally different.’
Starting all over again, though, does have its up sides.
‘It is refreshing to do it like this,’ Alison says. ‘It is like starting a new school almost and beginning with a new identity. You can almost decide what you want to be.’
ALTHOUGH she was born in England, Alison moved back to Ireland at the age of five, living in Mullingar then Ballymore. She went to school in Athlone but her dad still lives in England and so it has always felt a bit like a home away from home.
‘I was born in England and I grew up there until the age of five,’ she says. ‘I can remember things but my dad lives in England and it is pure handy. I am very lucky that I have family and friends over here.’
Getting up on stage as a relative unknown, though, can’t be easy, although Alison does have the advantage of having many performances under her belt at this stage.
And she says the audiences in London are less likely to start heckling than they are in Ireland. ‘There’s way less heckle, the British are way more reserved and in London they are so used to watching comedy all the time that they just want to see good quality comedy,’ she adds.
‘There is a system where people try out new stuff all the time too, so you have a balance of doing new stuff and stuff that is good.’
Of course, the likes of Dara O’Briain, Ed Byrne and many more have crossed the water in search of more opportunities. And Alison has her own cohorts on the comedy scene who have welcomed her to the city with open arms.
‘I co-hosted the Guilty Feminist podcast, which is by Deborah Frances White, a couple of times. So she threw me a ‘Welcome to Camden’ dinner party,’ she explains.
‘And Catherine Bohart has been brilliant. She is an Irish comedian based in Britain and she is on The Mash Report and more shows on the BBC. She is going to be really big.
‘She gave me so much advice about where to go for a gig and who to talk to — she has been really great. So it’s nice that people are really looking out for me.’
ALISON, of course, has her own podcast, The Alison Spittle Show which is getting some high-profile guests now she is in London. And they also get a tour of her bedroom as that’s where she is now recording. ‘I am getting Irish people based in London now to come on and anyone who is visiting,’ she says. ‘It’s good because I interviewed Guy Branum, who is an American comedian, as he was over in London for a week. ‘It’s really nice to interview people in my bedroom because in London that’s where the studio is. I have to clean it up before they call round, that’s the only thing.’ Unfortunately, though, it seems that Alison’s lauded sitcom for RTÉ2, Nowhere Fast, has ground to a complete halt. She says she doubts that it will return, although no-one has actually told her that. ‘No news is bad news — that is my take on it,’ she says. ‘I was very proud of it and I worked with the best writer in my head (her boyfriend Simon Mullholland) and the best actors. ‘Some people make ten series of shows they don’t like with people they don’t like that much. So if I get to make only one series of something that I loved, so be it. ‘I mean, I am trying to get work as a writer in England too. I like writing for TV — it is a good job to do and I would love to do it. So I am giving stand-up a go, but also writing for TV as it is something I really love doing.’ But back to the tour, as over the next few weeks Alison will be travelling the country before landing at Dublin’s Vicar Street on March 30. And true to form, she says the show lives up to its title. ‘At the moment the show is a lot of stories about me reminiscing about when I was a teenager,’ she says. ‘That is the time in your life when there are plenty of jokes about making a show of yourself. I just tell some stories about me being embarrassed and people can relate to them I think.
‘It can be so hard to describe a comedy show because it’s funny but you don’t want people to think you’re up yourself either.’
In between times, Alison has also written a play which will be staged in Smock Alley on February 19 and 20.
‘It is called Starlet about an exchange that happens in a Toyota Starlet in Westmeath,’ she explains.
‘Putting on a play is a lot of responsibility. For example, at the minute I am looking up what people wore in 2007 because I want to do the costumes properly. It’s really fun.’
Alison admits there are things about living in Dublin she already misses, but to give herself a proper crack at comedy, the move to London had to be made.
‘I do think it was a big risk but what else was there for me in Dublin?’ she says.
‘The rents are sky high, it is as dear to live in London as it is in Dublin but there are more opportunities in London so I thought I may as well give it a go.
‘I’ve never been rich or anything like that throughout my life. I have always wanted to just do stuff that I like to do, regardless of the financial reward. And there are lots of creative people in London, as there are in Dublin where they are all in a closer vicinity.
‘You kind of don’t know how lucky you are to be surrounded by people who are so talented. That’s the biggest thing I miss about Dublin, that and Boojum,’ Alison says, at once sounding wistful for the old homeland. ‘I miss Boojum a lot.’
Alison Spittle Makes A Show Of Herself is at the Central Arts, Waterford, tonight and the Whale Theatre, Greystones, tomorrow with more Irish dates before Vicar Street on March 30. Tickets are €14 from ticketmaster.ie and the usual outlets. For the full list of dates see alisonspittle.com