‘Is everything gonna be alright?’
Wokingham Today speaks to Daniel Howell ahead of his latest tour
DANIEL Howell has had a dynamic career, with the medium of his work continuing to evolve. After considerable fame online, now he’s seeking something more tangible.
His UK tour through September and his massive tour of the USA at the end of the year will be the second set of shows he’s performed live.
His latest show, We’re All Doomed, he says, has a completely fresh agenda.
“This is me on my own terms, loose in the world, and I’ve been on a bit of a journey in the last few years.
“I open up about my mental health, about when I came out as gay, and I have some spicy opinions about controversial topics.
“I’ve heard from people that they’re almost slightly scared to imagine what I’m going to talk about, but I think that’s in a nice way.”
When it comes to controversy and ‘cancel’ culture, however, Daniel says that he’s not worried.
“I think that most people that complain about their freedom of speech being attacked are people that are just racist and don’t like that people dislike that.
“If I ever said something and people were like ‘that is offensive to the people of Wokingham’, I’d have to say ‘oh my god, well, I guess I don’t want to do that again.
“I have something to say and if you don’t like it then I’ll feel very bad about it, but I’ll just deal with it – I think that’s how we will have to go through life.”
His new show is called We’re All Doomed, and he says that the title wasn’t necessarily for entirely thematic reasons.
“When they put the letters up for a show on the theatre outside,
I just thought it’d be really funny to see ‘we’re all doomed’, and I started working back from there.”
While he is glib about the title, he says it’s also something that concerns him.
“But also the times we’re living in are stressful and the world is falling apart – and not just the natural stuff, but the people in society that we’re sharing this place with.
“I look around and think ‘is everything going to be alright?’
“I think about this every day, I wake up in these nervous sweats scared to look at my phone, so
I figured I actually I want to do a stand-up comedy show about all of the worst things in the entire world.”
Daniel says that it can be hard to look at the world and think that everything will be okay, and for good reason.
“It’s not an optimistic or pessimistic thing, it’s a realistic thing, where you kind of just have to have the right attitude.
“I think my problem in life right now is I’m a bit of a dreamer.
“I spend a lot of time looking around and going, ‘Wow, I am just obsessed with how terrible everything is’ instead of maybe whether it’s terrible or not.”
Daniel has a considerable YouTube following as a result of his channel, DanIsNotOnFire.
He says that online fame can be a struggle, saying: “social media is weird.
“Because it’s not real people in front of you, none of it seems to stick,
“You’ve just keyboard warriors saying the craziest thing they can get away with on a Facebook group – and you’re just trying to sell a tricycle or something.”
He says that this came to define his experiences online: “I always felt like, is this real, does anything I’m doing matter?
“I see all these likes on a post but what does it mean – for several years I just I really failed to appreciate what was going on.”
“It’s only when I went on tour for the first time and I met a person backstage who said they came to the show and had a good night.
“It made me go wow, my existence is actually doing something.”
Daniel Howell’s show We’re All Doomed will be performed at the London Palladium on Friday, September 23.
■ For tickets or more information, visit: www.ticketmaster.co.uk
dramatic tale of love destroyed is performed by The Watermill Ensemble.
Adapted by Karla Marie Sweet, the production is interwoven with music.
This powerful and bold new adaptation tells the story of ambitious and respected military man, Othello.
Newly married and leading his unit against an invasion, his life is steadily eroded by a plot founded on pain, betrayal and deceit.
Jealousy, hatred and deep-rooted tensions will change everything for the soldier and his new wife, Desdemona.
The play is performed at Newbury’s (Bagnor) Watermill Theatre.
It runs from Friday, September 16 to Saturday, October 15.
Performances are on Monday to Saturday evenings at 7.30pm
Saturday matinées start at 2.30pm Thursday matinées on September 22 and October 1 start at 2.30pm Tuesday matinées on September 27, October 6, and October 11 start at 1pm
Tickets range from £15 to £40, with concessions and group discounts available.
A first week special price of £5 off applies to performances from September 16 to September 19.
■ For tickets and information visit: www.watermill.org.uk/ or call the box office: 01635 46044