‘I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.’ Short. Simple. Award winning.
Tim Vine is one of those comedians you can’t help but like. With observational comedians coming out of our ear holes it’s really refreshing to find someone that actually tells simple jokes.
First and foremost Tim Vine is an entertainer, and a self-confessed silly one at that. Where most stand ups go on stage dressed in a suit, Tim opts for fancy dress and he’ll run about the stage chasing a butterfly to his heart’s content.
In Punslinger he’s a joke-toting cowboy (he’s got seven cowboy jokes – ‘and they’re all magnificent’) and in his latest show Joke-amotive, he dons a Zulu-esque British solider costume.
‘I wear it for the whole thing’ he says, ‘it’s got absolutely nothing to do with trains so why I should wear that as the Joke-amotive, I don’t know. But I saw it in a fancy dress shop and I thought I like that!
‘I thought to myself, what I do is very, very silly so if anyone could go on just dressed looking like an idiot then probably it’s me, so I think lets carry on with that. I like dressing up….that sounds slightly worrying…’
This year Tim was awarded the funniest joke on the Fringe and with 2,453 shows gracing the Scottish capital this year, that’s no mean feat. Tim Vine is a pretty big deal, yet he remains a modest man.
Tim picking up his Funniest Joke award
‘I just don’t feel like I’m this big success’ he says. ‘I feel like I’m fortunate that I’ve got this job and it’s not as though I walk down the street and I suddenly I cause this riot, so if that starts happening then I’ll realise something’s changed. I couldn’t pin point what you would call a break.’
Ok, maybe it’s been a series of small career ‘fractures’ then, but that’s not done him any harm. 2010 has provided him with an accolade at the Fringe, a fourth series of Not Going Out and another nationwide tour. Tim’s a busy guy and obviously in popular demand.
Not that Christmas will afford him any time off – on top of all that Tim’s due to star in panto this Christmas in Sleeping Beauty, ‘It’s going to take over my life for the next six weeks’ he says.
‘I’m playing Sleeping Beauty’s idiot friend Jangles. Last year I was in Snow White and I played Snow White’s idiot friend Muddles.’ A theme emerges…
However, he’s only got three weeks to learn the script before curtain up and it’s a wonder there’s any room left inside his head for any more information.
