Interview with Mark Thomas: “Administer of Karmic Justice” or “Just an Embarrassing Dad”

**’Bravo Figaro’ is a pretty unusual name for a comedy show, what’s it all about?**
The title comes from the name of one of Rossini’s Operas, The Barber of Seville. In particular, the aria of Figaro- which is this big boast of a song, all about how great it is to be him.

I was asked to go on the first ever Inheritance Tracks (Radio 4), and I chose this one as it reminded me of my dad: A Tory voting, self-made builder with no qualifications and a love of opera. I used to work for him, and he used to blast it out from the scaffolding and it used to really embarrass me. As he got older, he developed Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a degenerative disease often mistaken for MS. As we lost him, I cherished the image of him singing on the building site: it was a symbol of his uniqueness and idiosyncrasies. This led to Mike Figgis, director of the Deloitte Ignite Festival that year, (and, coincidentally, an open-air swimmer with my wife!) commissioning me to write an opera. So we did!

The show is all about how we can hold a multitude of contradictory feelings for people we love, and how we say goodbye. And how to put on an opera in a Bungalow in Bournemouth.

**Music, and a passion for music, seems to be at the heart of the show. How has your own music taste changed over time?**
Yeah, it has, but I’m quite glad of that though. I’m of BB King’s opinion that there’s only ‘Two types of music: good and bad’. Rebel Rebel was the first time I felt overcome with emotion listening to something, it was such a great feeling.

Now, I love Hip-hop! I always liked KRS-one, but now I love Jehst and Skinnyman. British Hip-hop is lyrically very clever. It’s sillier, fun and more inventive than American hip-hop. But I also love Charlie Mingus, Jimmy Smith, King Midas- anything from obscure Garage tracks to 60s West Coast.

**Are you starting to like opera now?**
Yes, but not all of it! Wagner? No thanks. But minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass I love. I was lucky to see performances of all of Einstein on the Beach, it was hugely influential. I also really love Rossini. If you put on the Barber of Seville from start to finish, you will love it by the end. Mozart can write a really good tune too: I took my daughter to see The Magic Flute and said “It doesn’t matter if you fall asleep”, but she loved it! I take her to see puppet shows too. We saw Swamp Juice- it was nuts! Jeff Achtem gives his audience mop-heads and 3D glasses, and the whole thing culminates in an underwater submarine and duck chase. We were gasping with delight.

**Would you say this is your most technical show to date?**
Yeah! In terms of things that we need, certainly, as there were interviews with my dad, mum and brother, but we removed his voice. The show is also about how we tell stories and make them true; so they take part in telling their own story. It was technically demanding, but it’s great to do something people aren’t doing. One of the critics described the show as ‘genre-busting’- that sounds good! It’s nice to know I stuck a spanner somewhere in the work.

**As well as being really funny, you’re also well known for being politically active. This show doesn’t seem so political-**
I wouldn’t say so! It’s about a working class man who loved Opera. There’s certainly a political statement in that.

**You’re totally right. But do you think, as a general rule, comedy has got less political in the 21st century?**
There’s an interesting thing that has happened with comedy: a conflict between mainstream and counter-culture. I didn’t want a career in comedy, I wanted to be doing something that was underground, drinking in The Comedy Store with my friends, and that was all part of being an alternative comedian. Now if you say you’re a comedian, all you get is “have you been on that Michael McIntyre”

**Urgh, Michael McIntyre.**
Don’t get me wrong, he’s really good at what he does, but he’s inoffensive. My poor brother-in-law got four of his DVDs for Christmas once, what does that say about him? Comedy has succumbed to economics because it’s lost massive state funding for the arts. In the 1970s, you would see all these different and exciting performers and writers, and then the funding was cut. Comedy became the ultimate Thatcherite business model, and that model took off: You could put on stand up for cheap because the material was already there. In the same way as panel shows, it’s all about economics and the prominence of the mainstream. There is a perceived breakdown of counter culture, but actually it’s still there. Josie Long, Robin Ince, are still doing it, as are Chris Coltraine and Tim Key- it doesn’t matter if they aren’t political, they are still on our side.

**You’ve also been involved with UK Uncut, what was it like to work with them?
**I love UK Uncut. It just burst onto the scene, a grassroots movement promoting direct, non-violent action. There were loads of comics involved too, like Chris Coltraine and Josie Long. We were there on the Southbank with a bicycle powered generator and a mic- that was great! It leads the charge in public shaming of the government and big businesses.

**You’re about to record another series of your Radio 4 Programme, Manifesto. What’s been your favourite suggestion for new policy?**
Invade Jersey- that was a good one. But also the Maximum Wage Policy. It’s a Tory idea that poverty is an absolute: that as long as you have certain things, you can’t be suffering from it. In reality, poverty exists in the gap between rich and poor, and a maximum wage would prevent that gap from widening. I would also introduce St. Mondays: at the end of 18th century, you could declare a Monday a Saints day if you’d been on the piss throughout the weekend.

**Why doesn’t that still happen?!**
I don’t know? I was chatting to an Anglo-Catholic priest who said that we should reintroduce it, as a celebration of the body. It’s a bit much if you start taking St. Tuesdays and Wednesdays though. I mean, “What were you getting up to?”

**My stepdad is a big fan of yours.**
Thank you!

**He wanted me to ask “When the revolution comes, who will be first up against the wall?”**
Well, as your stepdad probably knows, I’m in charge of the list. Michael Gove, Murdoch, Branson, Cameron, Blair. That would be my starting point. But instead of your stepdad’s Robespierrean fantasies, I’d make them be nice to people. Make Michael Gove a toilet cleaner. Murdoch- he can hand out papers. I’d make Branson a rickshaw boy, and Cameron? Cameron can be a chugger. Philip Green’s on the list as well, I’d make him an underwear model.

**What about Theresa May?**
Well, I suppose we have to be thankful for small mercies, and she changed her policies on gay rights. Nevertheless, she’s a human rights abuser. I’d make her a prison visitor. Instead of shooting them all, I’d rather be an Administer of Karmic Justice.

**Finally, if your children were to put on a show about you, what would they call it?**
“Just an embarrassing Dad.”

_Bravo Figaro is at the Arts Centre Wednesday 6th Feb 2013, 7.30pm. Tickets cost £17.50 (£14.50) + booking fee and can be bought here: http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/events/comedy/mark-thomas-bravo-figaro_