Here comes the Fear (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Here comes the Fear

4:46pm Thursday 5th November 2009

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Halloween may be over but there is going to be another fright night at the Watermans arts centre this Sunday as stand-up Jason Cook investigates all the things that terrify both him and us in his one-man show, Fear. He spoke to Will Gore.

Why choose fear as the theme for your new show?

I have always loved one-word titles – I’ve done Confessions and Joy. I thought at this time, with the terrorists coming and the recession, Fear was apt.

In your show you encourage audiences to share their darkest fears. You must have heard some strange stories?

Yes, there have been some weird ones.

One guy was scared of going into swimming pools in case of sharks and there was a girl afraid of triangular-shaped sandwiches.

Her mother always made them for her but, when she went to school, everyone else had square ones and they would bully her for it.

The show was a hit at Edinburgh – did you enjoy the experience?

It was awesome, we were in a big room and pretty much sold it out.

I had a great time though I got swine flu.

It is the fifth year I have done the festival and I love the way it changes as you go along.

It used to be about preparing the show for Edinburgh but now it is as if Edinburgh prepares it for the tour. I comtsantly work different stories into the show and it ends up being about two-and-a-half hours long!

What are you scared of?

In the 70s, they had these little wind-up, clapping monkeys.

Dad got me one but it would get stuck and come on in the middle of the night. It used to terrify me.

You also like to delve into some personal stuff...

I have never had a problem with that – the point of comedy is that you are the jester and you are there for people to laugh at, so you can’t have any pride.

I have told people horrific things about myself and there are some in this show that are pretty disturbing.

I talk about how I was in prison in Libya for three months for international piracy.

I was in the merchant navy, it was all a misunderstanding!

And then there is your alcoholism.

After I came out of prison, I went a bit mad and crawled into the bottom of a bottle for a few years.

So I talk about that, in a light-hearted way.

I have heard people try to talk about alcoholism in a comic way and I think you have to be honest.

You can’t say: “It was because I was lonely and everyone hates me”.

That’s not the funny part, the funny part is when I used to go out with the homeless at 3am on a Wednesday morning as none of my other mates wanted to go out.

Jason Cook – Fear, Watermans, Brentford, Sunday, November 8, 7.45pm, £10 (doors)/£8 (adv), visit watermans.org for further information.

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