Towering comedian, Greg Davies, has had an eventful few years. After quitting his job as a secondary school teacher to take up a life in comedy, Davies has appeared on stages and televisions across the country, notably as the infamous Mr Gilbert in “The Inbetweeners”.
Currently touring the UK as part of the “Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog” tour, Davies caught up with The Linc after his recent show at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre.
“I absolutely love it,” said Davies, still beaming after his highly successful Lincoln show. “Every single gig has been lovely, and I’m hugely grateful to everyone that has turned up.”
Many of the dates on the comedian’s tour have been sold out, and Davies intends to ride his wave of success. “The tour has been going so well that we’re going to be adding forty more dates next year,” giving UK fans the opportunity to catch Davies live if they missed his fantastic 2010 tour.
As every Lincoln student knows, it was Davies who made some of the notorious comments about the City and its university on “The Inbetweeners”, a fact Davies was quick to address in his show. “It’s just a joke at the end of the day. I don’t know anything about Lincoln anyway.
“I know the writers very well, and it could have been any town that they chose. It was all done in good humour. Certainly, all the messages I’ve had have been positive, saying thanks for giving us publicity!”
Although he is now famous for his TV performances, Davies still loves performing live stand-up. “You can’t beat the immediacy of live performance. I love the fact that we’re all in it together. When you film something you kind of hope for the best, but when you’re performing live, you don’t need to do that. You have the immediate indication of whether people are enjoying themselves or not, and I think it’s pretty hard to beat that thrill.”
“Silliness in comedy has gone,” observes Davies, as he begins to talk about his manic show, “We are Klang” a short lived but cult comedy hit. “It’s a shame now that it is almost forgotten,” comments Davies on his self-produced programme that started life as a live sketch show.
“We know it was hit and miss. Trying to take our live show and put it on TV was a very difficult thing to do. Dealing with something as mental and anarchic as that was tough. I was very proud of what we did, and I hope the live DVD we filmed last year will see the light of day.”
As mentioned in his act, the character of Mr Gilbert was not a hard one for Davies to relate to after years working as a teacher. However, he decided to turn his back on teaching and pursue his comedic dreams.
“It was just an early midlife crisis really. I’ve wanted to do comedy since I was in primary school, and my dad, who I speak an awful lot about in the show, is hilarious. I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t making everybody in whatever room he was in laugh.
“Your dad is always a huge influence on you. I remember looking at him, thinking, ‘I wish I could do that’. I suppose I’m really doing what he should have done.”
At this moment in time, the world is Greg Davies’ oyster. His comedy career is on the rise and he seems to be enjoying every moment of it. “I’ve had so many highlights. Every time you step up in the world of comedy and do a bigger gig, it’s a thrill. Obviously, ‘The Inbetweeners’ – I’m so delighted to be part of that, and even though it only takes a week to film my parts, it’s so exciting to be a part of.’
As the New Year approaches it seems Davies has plans to keep us laughing. “I’ve got lots of things coming up. I’ve just done ‘Live at the Apollo’, and I’ve got lots of other things that I can’t quite talk about yet. Suffice to say, there are loads of potentially very exciting things that I hope will happen”