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Michael McIntyre.
(Image courtesy of
Michael's website at
base of article) |
Written By: Mark Armstrong
Provided By: ACC Liverpool
The following is a story provided by ACC Liverpool:Have I got Happy & Glorious news for you! After a three-year absence when he was off making hit TV shows, Michael McIntrye is now returning to what he does best: stand-up comedy.
This autumn, he is embarking on a major nationwide arena tour with his new show entitled, er, Happy & Glorious. Travelling the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland, the tour confirms Michael’s position as the most popular comedian on these islands.
His previous tour, Showtime, was the biggest-seller in the world in 2012, playing to over 640,000 people. That included a record-equalling ten-night residency at London’s 02 Arena, matching the figure set by pop superstar Rihanna the previous year. This tour may well prove even more successful.
Michael has also thrived in the DVD market. He has so far released three best-selling DVDs. 2008's Live and Laughing was the biggest selling UK debut stand-up DVD of its time; Hello Wembley, which in 2009 became the fastest-selling UK stand-up DVD of all time, a record it still holds; and 2012's Showtime, which beat its competitors to the Christmas Number One spot.
He has been making a name for himself on the international stage, too. In 2013 he performed to sold-out arenas in South Africa, Dubai, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Michael’s performance to an audience of 9000 in Johannesburg was the largest ever comedy show in Africa, and his run in Dubai won him the Time Out Best Night Out award.
It’s no surprise that his live show is such a hit all over the world. A wonderfully magnetic stage presence, Michael just dazzles audiences with fantastically funny material culled from his own life.
The critics agree. The Daily Telegraph has said that, “The man is quite simply top-to-toe hilarious ... Michael McIntyre is uproariously funny”. The Times called him, “Laugh out loud funny” while The Guardian describedhis routine as a “masterpiece of comic storytelling”.
You’ll be delighted to hear, Michael is equally magnetic in person, throwing off sparks like a Catherine wheel on Bonfire Night. An hour in his company simply flies by. It’s like being treated to a Command Performance – to an audience of one.
As he relaxes at home in North London in the run-up to the tour, Michael begins by telling me how thrilled he is by the prospect of taking Happy & Glorious on the road. “I really, really love stand-up. There is huge excitement about having done the work in lots of warm-up shows and knowing that the jokes are funny.
“I did a Comedy Gala in Brighton recently to 2,000 people, and it was so lovely to be out there again. It’s wonderful to be able to share my new jokes with people.”
The comedian, who has won enough awards to endanger the stability of his mantelpiece, adds that, “I can’t wait to be playing once again to a big room that is really enjoying the show. I’m looking forward to thinking, ‘If you’re loving that, wait till you hear this!’ I’m bringing everything to this show – voices, physical comedy, the works. That way, I can really paint pictures on stage.
“If it’s genuinely working, you hit sections that are very funny and the audience just lap it up. I now know that every time I reach a certain bit, they’ll applaud. My job is to get the whole show to that level. I’m so excited about it!”
What is special about Michael’s show is that he puts such time and effort into it. He lavishes a fabulous amount of TLC on it. But it’s worth all the work because after all the preparation has been done, he loves nothing better than welcoming audiences into the comic realm he has created.
Michael, who is very happily married to Kitty and is the proud father of two young sons, discloses that, “The last thing I want to do is just bang the show out. I want to say to people, ‘Come into my world’. I want to get them in the palm of my hand.”
The comedian goes on to outline some of the themes he will be addressing in Happy & Glorious. “You look at the things in my life, and they’ll be my material. Holidays, hotels, motorway services – that’s my life. Anything is ripe for comedy.”
Michael, who in 2010 published a best-selling autobiography, "Life and Laughing: My Story", carries on that, “I’ll be discussing health stuff and the fact that I’ve lost a lot of weight. And as always, I’ll be talking about my children. They’re in my life, and they’ll always be in my jokes.”
But there is one new element in Michael’s life that has gifted him an entire section of the show. The comic, who hosted the Royal Variety Performance last year, reveals that, “I’ve bought a house in the country that has given me twenty minutes of material.
“I used to flick through Country Life magazine – they tend to be in dentists’ waiting rooms. Over the years I’d look at page after page of gorgeous country cottages. It was a fantasy of mine to have an idyllic place in the rolling hills, so finally I bought one. But sadly I didn’t realise what I was getting into.”
The stand-up, who has fronted his own BBC1 programme Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, continues that, “When I flush the loo in London, I don’t for a moment think about the plumbing. It just happens.
“But it turns out that idyllic houses in the middle of nowhere don’t have plumbing. They have septic tanks that you have to empty once a year. They don’t highlight that in the estate agents’ brochures. People always say, ‘the previous owners left all their crap behind.’ Well, I’m literally in that situation!”
Michael, whose marvellously successful career also includes a stint as a judge on Britain's Got Talent in 2011, closes by reflecting on what he hopes he will achieve with Happy & Glorious. “I want to make the audience laugh till their faces hurt.”
When all’s said and done, Michael concludes, “I simply love making people laugh.”
For which we should be eternally grateful!
Please visit
www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk for booking details.
