Interview: Simon Brodkin on pranks, politicians, P45's & his critically-acclaimed tour ‘Screwed Up’!
Comedy legend and original prankster, Simon Brodkin has been delighting and - in some cases - shocking fans with his host of hilarious pranks, comedic characters and unmissable stand-up shows. After years of performing as Lee Nelson or Liverpudlian footballer Jason Bent, amongst others, Simon has finally taken to the stage as himself…
We caught up with him to hear all about his show ‘Screwed Up’, as he announced a brand-new date at London’s iconic Eventim Apollo.
What have you been up to recently? Where are you?
So I am in my flat in Edinburgh. I'm going to need to clean it up at the end of my stay here, looking at the place, the kitchen might need to be demolished. Basically, I’m at the Fringe Festival - just a few weeks here, without my family, and clearly I’ve immediately regressed into the slob that I naturally am. So yeah, I'm up at the festival - and I am in the middle of my new tour.
The tour kicked off… How many months ago now? And when they're successful, they just snowball. I’ve got these new, additional dates… Like 30 extra dates or something all around the UK, including one at the Apollo, which I'm buzzing about, to be honest - that's gonna be really exciting because I've seen a lot of great comics at the Apollo.
I've obviously been there myself before, but in the past I've been on Live at the Apollo, and who wants to share a stage with three other comedians when you can just come on and do the whole thing yourself?
Tell us more about your new show, Screwed Up?
Well, it’s my biggest, most popular tour to date, which is great! Obviously, I know people know me for Lee Nelson and later for Jason Bent and some of the pranks, but this show is me - as Simon Brodkin - out of character.
It's really bloody funny, and that’s the main thing, it's about… sitting there and laughing? That’s always my aim for the punters. It’s called Screwed Up, and it talks about how I sort of always feel like a little bit of a misfit, a little bit, you know, like I knew I was a bit different to everyone else, and obviously as someone who's previously been arrested six times for various misdemeanors and actually planned on getting arrested - that's quite a funny thing.
As with all the pranks, you know, pretending to be another person as Lee or as Jason for many years, there’s something a little skewed about that too, so the show is a deep dive into me…. Like OK, I think I get why I'm screwed up now.
I also talk about some of my prior stunts in detail, and talk about my past life as a doctor a little bit too. There's a lot of roasting and taking the mick out of people who deserve being taken the mick out of.
I guess it's like my pranks - I always tried to go for someone who sort of deserved it. Throwing golf balls at Donald Trump or approaching Theresa May, who was, you know, ‘strong and stable’ when she was everything but. I'm sort of doing that in my new show, but on stage instead - Matt Hancock gets ripped, the Royal Family, Harry and Meghan, the police, Prince Andrew, Putin - they'll get it.
How have you found it, performing a show that's about you rather than you writing/ playing a character… have you learnt anything about yourself? Has it changed how you write?
Yeah, both. It was really weird at first. It’s not something that I leaned towards, not something I wanted to do. I was very happy doing stuff in character, and then actually this has been really, really cool. It's totally different, and you're suddenly going ‘well, what do I think’? Cause you have to face those things obviously with the characters they encapsulate - it’s not necessarily what you think - like if you take Jason Bent, I think that there's a certain type of footballer that needs to be ripped. You know the money, the daft decision making, the obscene behavior right, and then you go from there, whereas in stand up, that will get you a line or two and then I have to know what I think about things in order to make the stand up make sense in context.
I've massively learned stuff. Yeah. The show covers a lot of bases in terms of, you know, ripping anyone from Hancock to the police to Putin, right? I know I wanna take the mick out of them, but how am I gonna make that really funny? I don't wanna come out and go ‘this is what I think’, that's not what I ever wanna do.
if I'm gonna take the mick out of everyone, I gotta take the mick out myself too and get to know myself and say well… who are you? What are you? What makes you laughable? What makes you flawed? And there's a lot of the show that’s about that.
You recently learnt you have ADHD - has that also contributed to your writing/performance?
I did learn that, finally, but I haven't mentioned it yet because I feel like I'm now joining some sort of bandwagon of ADHD havers. But realizing that there is something genuinely chemically wrong with my brain and that the sort of thirst I have and the adrenaline, the dopamine hit you know. It explains a lot. Jeez, that's maybe why I did a lot of the pranks…making these brilliant political satirical points and then… it turns out I'm just low on dopamine, you know? So it's been a big revelation to me.
A lot of things, other people probably find easy are the things I find hard. It’s taken me a week to empty the dishwasher here… and I basically forced my own hand by running out of actual cutlery. Well, it was actually loading the dishwasher that was the tricky bit to be fair… but then the hard things like, you know, uh, handling people like Theresa May a P45 live at her party conference speech, those things I find easy… and then I look back and think jeez, what's what's wrong with me?
So in my show, I’m poking fun at myself as much as everyone else. It’s a very different style of writing, and a different style of performing. Your head goes somewhere completely different when you're writing for yourself, it’s much more reflective, but you always want people to be belly laughing, you know?
Speaking of the pranks then have you ever been pranked yourself - has anyone ever turned the tables on you?
Someone came on my Edinburgh stage a little while ago and started throwing money in the air while I was on stage. Or maybe the Eventim Apollo show is a big prank and I’ll get there and there’ll be 3000 empty seats with just Theresa May there going ‘Gotcha’. (laughs)
Someone who I work with is often trying to prank me. And he gets me quite a lot. Not with like massive things, posting sh*t through my letterbox or anything like that but he’ll just wind me up.
I actually got him yesterday! Cause there's a TV show that I'm going to be on and it's a great TV show - I'm not gonna say what it is, I can't - but I said to him, I just had the meeting with the channel and they offered me the job but that I turned it down because I just thought it didn’t really fit in with where I see myself… And it's like a massive program, so he went absolutely mad. He was so mad at me. And then I laughed and it was nice to turn around and go ‘Dude, I didn't, I said yes.’ Those are the day-to-day pranks that are going on - little wind ups.
How excited are you to perform your first solo show at the Apollo?
Really excited! First solo show at the Apollo. See, I’ve done a couple of nights at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, done Hackney Empire, done Indigo at The O2, but this will be the biggest London show I’ve ever done alone - just completely my own show. And it's my hometown, which means I can get the tube. Actually, there'll probably be a strike on, so I'll cycle there. It’s going to be a pretty cool show.
Will you do anything different / can we expect any surprises?
Ohh no, definitely not, no no. Like Elton John bringing out someone, be good that wouldn't it? I'm actually gonna hand you over to another comedian in the second half - start doing duetted jokes with other comedians. But no, no, no, no, no.
The last thing you wanna do is change it up when it comes to the show, especially on a really nice, special night. You keep it as it is. You know, this tour has been purring and such a success that I don’t want to change anything. The audience just wanna see a cracking show, so I'll keep the winning formula.
You moved from studying medicine to becoming a comedian. Do you have any regrets about giving up being a doctor?
No regrets. This feels right. This feels spiritually, mentally right and just aligns with me. What was I thinking, being a doctor? What was I doing?
Respect to the doctors, it's hard work and you’ve got to be really committed. Uh, but yeah, I don't think medicine was ever truly, truly my home.
Really, it's probably why I love the training so much ‘cause it’s actually very little being a doctor and more getting drunk and cramming for the odd exam… but then when I actually came to be a doctor, it’s not easy, but I talk about that in the show.
You were once labelled “the world's most famous blagger” - what’s the best thing you’ve ever blagged / gotten for free?
My dad, he's not a blagger, but he is a competition winner. You know those captions like ‘I want to win the car because…’ and then you fill in an answer. He’s great at those.
My brother's a journalist, my uncle's a journalist, so there's a way with words, within the family. Writing runs in the family! He has won the most enormous amount of things, holidays, cars, I think my brother might have been a prize.
For me? I don't think I'll ever beat being on the pyramid stage - being on stage with Kanye (West), I think in front of like 200,000 people, I can't remember the exact figure, but everytime I’m like ‘Wow’... Being able to headline - maybe only for a few seconds or half a minute - on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury with Kanye - that was a good free blag.
Hopefully I’ll speak to you in a few years when I'm headlining at the farm or when I'm doing my own show at Edinburgh Castle, bring it on! Kanye West might be trying to get on that stage to join me instead.
Best band you’ve seen at the Eventim Apollo?
I haven't seen many bands there actually. Ah well, my memory is crappy, so I'm gonna go for someone I saw recently… Louis CK.
He was great and he's great. He’s one of the great modern standups, isn't he? Original, funny, uh, sometimes too naughty, as I believe has been found out recently or not so recently, but he's just got a great connection with fans around the world so it was great.
Ohh, actually that night I did try to blag something as well and got booted out.
There were some empty seats when we arrived at the venue, and we’d paid for the tickets last minute, so it was a bit of a rush, and we sat in them without thinking and about 20 minutes later, the security came over to drag me and my mate out of the whole venue because we accidentally sat in the disabled section.
So I said to the guy ‘Look, dude, I'm a comedian’ and he said ‘yeah I know who you are’, so he knows me as Lee Nelson - like ‘who is this prankster!’ so I'm like, ‘please don't drag me out, I'm here for the Louis show, I didn’t mean to sit here’ but it was a pretty funny one that nearly ended in humiliation, being dragged out of a comedy gig at the Apollo for breaking into the disabled section doesn't sound too good, does it?
Do you have a backstage routine to settle the nerves before a big show?
I'm pretty good with nerves, to be honest. Normally, I’ll hopefully get to the theatre in time to have a wee before the show. That's also why my show has an interval, just in case I don’t make it in time.
I don't have a support act on purpose cause I just love being out there. It's good value - about 2 hours, a 40 minute set and then a 50 minute set, something like that!
What’s on your pre-gig menu?
I'm quite weird and meticulous with my food. Partly, I'm sure it's the ADHD and partly, probably because I'm fussy. So yeah, I eat quite basic stuff - rice, sweet potatoes, porridge, yoghurts, fruit etc. Quite healthy. I turn up to the venue with tons of Tupperware.
What are your rider essentials?
I’m pretty self sufficient. Honestly, some of the places that I'm going to on tour, even these amazing theatres, I do these backstage tours on my insta and people just laugh so much at how you can be playing the most stunning place and then the backstage is like, ohh, bleak.
There’s no money in these theaters as well, a bit like the NHS, to be honest.
So on my riders, it’s usually just ‘can I have a clean toilet and a sink please?’ Maybe some water, a kettle so I can make a cup of tea… that’s all I want really.
Any post-show rituals?
Normally it's a big drive home, I whack on the radio and eat sh*tloads of food out of my tupperware. I listen to sport, if it's on by the time the show is finished, it’s normally coming into the tail end of most events. I like listening to Times Radio too, actually I sound a bit like a middle aged Tory. Maybe I am… but I’m a news junkie first and foremost. I’m always hooked into the news and keeping myself up to date with what’s going on in the world.
So what’s next…
So the show I’ve just done at the Fringe - it’s been going really well. Bloody brilliantly so. I've had 2 or 3 five stars, 2 four stars. Not that it’s just about the critics, it’s about the paying audience too… but the numbers have been great so far, really nice! Then I’m actually doing a few European dates before heading back to the UK which I’m dead excited about.
Either/Or
Dogs or Cats?
Cats 1,000,000%?
Tea or coffee?
Tea… probably Herbal Tea
Travel by plane or by bus?
Car, I’m always in the car driving to and from shows.
Television series or movies?
TV Series
Restaurant or take out?
Restaurant
Early Bird or Night owl?
Night Owl 100%
Flake or Ripple?
Ooh good one. This is probably the hardest. Flake’s are too crumbly so definitely Ripple
Non-fatal coughing fit or heckle?
Ha! No, no, no, that is not.. That’s not an either or! Heckle every day of the week.
Whiskey or Beer?
Beer
Gigs or festivals?
For my own performances - definitely gigs. To go to as a punter - festival every time!
2023 / 2024 Tour Dates
Wed 13 Sep 2023 – Stafford Gatehouse
Thu 14 Sep 2023 – Birmingham Town Hall
Sat 16 Sep 2023 – Swansea Grand Theatre
Thu 21 Sep 2023 – Main Hall, Portsmouth
Fri 22 Sep 2023 – Grove Theatre, Dunstable
Sat 23 Sep 2023 – Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
Thu 28 Sep 2023 – Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead
Fri 29 Sep 2023 – Theatre Royal Brighton
Sun 01 Oct 2023 – The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Fri 06 Oct 2023 – Shanklin Theatre
Sun 08 Oct 2023 – Southport Comedy Festival
Thu 12 Oct 2023 – Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil
Fri 13 Oct 2023 – The Quad Theatre, Plymouth
Sat 14 Oct 2023 – Babbacombe Theatre, Torquay
Tue 17 Oct 2023 – Cardiff Glee Club
Wed 18 Oct 2023 – Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle
Fri 20 Oct 2023 – Leas Cliff Hall, Folkstone
Thu 26 Oct 2023 – Dorking Halls
Fri 27 Oct 2023 – Bedford Corn Exchange
Thu 02 Nov 2023 – Belfast Limelight
Sun 05 Nov 2023 – Cast, Doncaster
Wed 08 Nov 2023 – Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire
Fri 10 Nov 2023 – Chesterfield Winding Wheel
Sat 11 Nov 2023 – Warwick Arts Centre
Thu 16 Nov 2023 – Princes Theatre, Clacton-On-Sea
Sat 18 Nov 2023 – Grand Opera House, York
Sat 23 March 2024 – Eventim Apollo, London
