What’s On with WalesOnline
Comedian Rod Woodward returns for some homecoming gigs
Q: This is your second UK tour and you’ll be performing other Welsh gigs Neath and Blackwood in the coming weeks, but there must be something extra special performing in your hometown at St David’s Hall?
A: Yes, it’s certainly a buzz. It’s a place I always used to go when I was a kid, and I’ve seen Bob Hope, Norman Wisdom, Frank Skinner and Jack Dee there.
I thought if I’m ever lucky enough to make this a career – which was my childhood ambition – then it would be a place I’d love to play.
It was a thrill to do it last time, and there’s an extra special excitement about playing a hometown gig there.
Q: Will there be a few extra butterflies in your stomach with all your friends and family watching?
A: It’s a weird one because when you know that everyone that you’ve ever met since you’ve been a foetus is going to be there – well, it feels that way anyway – there’s a bit of extra pressure.
Most audiences as a collective you’re never going to see again, which is a bit of a safety blanket. But when you know that you’re Auntie Agnes is going to be there, and she’s a bit of a prude you find yourself rethinking your material sometimes!
Q: The new tour is titled I’m Not Being Funny, But… It strikes me as one of those great contradictory expressions where people do the exact opposite of what they are saying like “No offence, but…”
A: A lot of people in Wales use the expression “I’m not being funny, but…” and when you hear it you should really brace yourself for an insult or an unsavoury comment like “I’m not being funny, but I think you’re putting on some weight!” A few mates of mine use that idiom all the time, and as I was fashioning material on a lot of people I know, that had a special meaning.
Q: Will your Italian alter-ego Mario De Niro be making an appearance this year, or will it just be yourself up there?
A: It will be all me this time. I’ve laid Mario to rest temporarily. I daresay, like a lot of good Italians he’ll be making a Sinatra-esque comeback in time though.
There was an Italian barber and a restauranteur that we know very well that he was based upon.
Those guys still feature in the set in some way, so Mario may be there in spirit!
I think back to gigs with Mario and some of the stuff I used to get away with. I would turn up for gigs and I would go “Mario, do you want to do this?”
And he would be like “I can do this, you have the night off!”
So when you put on a stupid accent and a wig like I used to, it gives you licence to do all sorts of things.
I remember doing one dinner at Manchester City when I was sat with Franny Lee and then I went on wearing this ridiculous wig with a pseudoItalian accent, and he genuinely had no idea it was me.
He turned to me at the end of it and said “I don’t know what happened to the lad who was sat there earlier, but he would’ve enjoyed that”.
I took the wig off and he nearly had a thrombosis!
Q: You had originally been interested in a career in media before an opportunity came calling as a warmup guy for HTV Wales. What were those early experiences like?
A: My old man was chief soccer writer for the Western Mail, and I had been brought up following the fortunes of Cardiff and Swansea City.
I did my work experience covering grassroots football with Inter Cardiff, and non-league teams.
But I had always fancied a career in stand-up, which got a bigger laugh than I expected from the careers advisor at school.
He said I could do that in my spare time as there’s no hard and fast career path for that, so I resigned myself to that was what I’d have to do.
By chance, I got spotted by Arfon Haines Davies.
I was the chairman of a local children’s charity, and I was chairing an event in Cardiff for the Welsh boxer, Steve Robinson.
We were having a celebratory dinner before he fought Prince Naseem Hamed for the world title, and I used that as an opportunity to get up and crack a few gags and get rid of some of my angst as a frustrated stand-up comic.
Arfon was in the audience, and asked if did much stand-up.
So I said I’d done a few open spots and competitions.
He said they were looking for a warm-up man at HTV Wales, and asked if I wanted to come along and try out for that.
I ended up doing several series with them and your perspective changes when you’re a kid with a bit of money in your pocket and you start thinking “This is the way forward for me”.
I took a year out, and never really went back, which is just as well because there wasn’t much to write about for the next 10 years of Welsh football!
Q: Was that the turning point?
It was a baptism by fire because I was turning up and had very limited material to fill 20 minutes.
I was desperately cobbling stuff together.
I didn’t realise that the audience turn up for the entire series – it’s not like The Graham Norton Show where they’ve got a massive turn-out, so the same people were turning up.
I was really thrown into the deep end, and thought “it can’t get any harder than this” and I was right.
Once I had been on TV a bit and got a bit of a name, I started getting bookings and sports dinners, gigs at Jongleurs and student unions.
Once you have two or three good gigs, you get a bit of a reputation and all of a sudden you’re thinking “Wow, I can actually make some money out of this!”
Q: In 2008, you won BBC’s Funny Business. The must’ve been incredible to win a competition like that and receive nationwide recognition?
A: That was about 11 years after I’d started. It’s a very, very gradual process and I don’t think you can ever be too experienced in stand-up.
I think anyone who says they haven’t had a difficult nights, or a bit of a struggle haven’t been doing it long enough. Funny Business came along and was great for me.
You can never have too much exposure of that kind especially with TV stuff. It’s a simple equation – if people have seen you on TV and liked you, there’s always a chance they’ll come out to see you live.
Q: You were recently invited back to perform on the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. How was it?
A: It was an absolute delight. The first time I did it back in 2014 was such
a special experience.
Playing in the Royal Variety Show is kind of like being in a cup final for a comic.
My dad had been diagnosed with a terminal illness at the time, and the specialist said that he wouldn’t be able to come up and watch the show, but he made it his own personal mission to get there and not only that, he was still holding court at the after-show party at 3am!
I remember the first night for so many special reasons and it was always going to be a tough one to top, but the audience the second time were just fantastic.
Harry and Meghan were there, which gave the evening an extra shot in the arm.
My mother and sister who live in Spain flew back for it too, which was lovely. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to do it again and get my hat-trick.
Perhaps I’ll get a floorboard at the Palladium – I don’t know what happens if you do it three times!
Q: You started comedy way back in 1997. Did you ever think you would still be here 22 years later making people laugh?
A: I could never see myself doing a proper job now to be honest. It’s the ultimate drug.
Sometimes it doesn’t go to plan, but when it does that’s what keeps you coming back for more.
Peter Kay’s named his book The Sound of Laughter, and it’s as simple as that – if they’re laughing, you know you’re doing something right.
Ron Woodward is at St David’s Hall in Cardiff on Saturday, March 2 at 7.30pm. Call the box office on 029 2087 8444 or visit www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk