Paul Chowdhry reflects on British Asian experience in Englandia at York Barbican

Paul Chowdhry in the poster artwork for Englandia, on tour at York Barbican tomorrow

PAUL Chowdhry, Britain’s  most successful British Indian stand-up comedian, brings his Englandia tour to York Barbican tomorrow night.

Now extended to 41 dates between March 3 and September 25, this tour  is the London-born Punjabi Sikh humorist, actor and podcaster’s biggest ever itinerary in a career stretching back to 1998, with such highlights as hosting Channel 4’s Stand Up For The Week and being the first British act to perform at the Caribbean Comedy Festival in Trinidad in 2003.

Englandia, his follow-up to his 20121-2023’s Family-Friendly Comedian tour, returns him to the road “after more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages”.

Why pick comedy for a living, Paul? “The term ‘certified mad’ would be politically incorrect, but I think people realise that being a comic and being confronted by a room full of strangers, there has to be a chemical reaction in the brain, an imbalance, to make you want to do it!” he says.

Now 50, his stand-up career has taken such experiences as performing to music audiences at festivals such as Glastonbury and Latitude and the “weird environment” of playing in nightclubs where the stage is a sofa or chair at 1am in the morning. “I’ve come through the trenches,” says Paul.

Englandia, a conflation of England and India, addresses his experiences as a British Asian. “In the show, I talk about the cultural clashes I’ve experienced between the two cultures, and what I’ve lived through,” says Paul.

“I’ve come through the trenches,” says Paul Chowdhry of his rise through the comedy world

“I’m British, born in London in 1974 [August 21 to be precise] after my family emigrated to England in the 1960s, when my dad came to Southampton on his own, with his brothers and sisters joining him later,” says Paul.

“He was in his early 30s at the time; a very different time. You look back to what people went through, with Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. It wasn’t unlike that in the Seventies too, growing up against a backdrop of racial tension, though times have changed.”

Englandia looks back to that history and at the impact of social media platforms today. “All that toxicity, all that right-wing outpouring, on what was formerly known as Twitter; if I was young, I’d be influenced by it.

“Language has changed a lot since the Seventies, but if you look at what is happening now, it reminds me of then.”

Paul contrasts the impact of comedians with politicians or social media influencers. “First and foremost I am a comic, so first and foremost what I say should be taken as a joke, but in parliament or a place of power, Nigel Farage and Andrew Tate are not comedians. That’s not a platform for comedy,” he says.

“Comedy is essentially linguistics, the use of language and twists and turns, but when Boris Johnson cracks a joke, it’s not a joke. Those people are politicians, not jokers. They are a person of influence, as I am, but I’m not making political points. I’m a comedian and I definitely shouldn’t be a politician – they say politics is showbusiness for narcissists!”

“Comedy is a more endangered artform now that you barely see on TV,” says Paul Chowdhry, standing up for stand-up comedy

Paul may be playing his biggest tour yet, but he notes: “Though I’m in a fortunate position of selling tickets, [stand-up] comedy is a more endangered artform now that you barely see on TV. Entertainment has changed and the way we consume media has changed, especially how we consume information online.”

Paul has appeared in the international TV series Devils and on Taskmaster; his social media videos have chalked up millions of views, and he hosts The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcast, interviewing celebrities on life’s turning points, but live comedy still tops his bill.

“I can’t believe the number of people who come out to the shows. Comedy is a risk; audiences never know what to expect,” he says.  

True, but Paul draws the crowds home and abroad. “I took the last tour to Canada and the USA. It costs you £10,000 for an AE visa,” he says. “That’s Alien of Extraordinary Ability.

“I’ve still got a little time left on my visa, so I can go back – if he [President Trump] doesn’t change the rules!”

Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, tomorrow (23/5/2025), 7.30pm. Tickets update: still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

No hot dog (or jumping frog) in comedian Ed Gamble’s Hot Diggity Dog show on Off Menu host’s return to Grand Opera House

Ed Gamble in his promotional picture for the Hot Diggity Dog tour. Picture: Matt Crockett

CHART-TOPPING Off Menu podcaster, Great British Menu judge, Taskmaster champion and The Traitors: Uncloaked and Taskmaster podcast host Ed Gamble is back on the road in his extended UK and Irish stand-up comedy tour, Hot Diggity Dog.

Next stop on a second leg running from September 26 to January 20 2025 will be the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow night (9/10/2024), having played there in February 2022 on his Electric travels.

The Hit Diggity Dog tour now adds up to the south-west Londoner’s longest-ever itinerary at 38. Not without irony for a comedy turn who confesses: “A lot of the show is about – and I don’t know how the audience feels about this – how I would rather be at home with my wife [producer Charlie Jamison], after all those years spent becoming a comedian who travels the road.

“I got married in 2021, and there’s a lot of stuff about my honeymoon in 2022 in the show, after all the Covid restrictions got lifted [having forced three postponements of his wedding].

“Look, when I’m on the road, I complain I’m not at home, but then when I’m at home, I complain I’m not on the road. It’s addictive to get a response on stage night after night, when you don’t know how things will go down, or whether it will be different from one part of the country to another, though it’s rare that a joke that goes down well one night is met with silence the next, but it’s always a highwire act.

“On a tour, the main story beats and the big punchlines stay the same, but I can never resist chatting to ther audience, reacting to the vibe each night.”

In a nod to the title of Hot Diggity Dog, the tour publicity proclaims “Ed Gamble has minced a load of meat (thoughts), piped it into a casing (show) and it’s coming to a bun (venue) near you. There will be all your classic Gamble ranting, raving and spluttering but he’s doing fine mentally. Promise.”

“Gamble is my real name,” says Ed Gamble. “I was told by someone that a good comedian’s name has a one-syllable first name and a two-syllable second name.” Picture: Matt Crockett

So much so, he says: “I’m absolutely delighted to do so many dates and that so many people want to see it. I just do as many shows as I can because when you start out, you write a show for the Edinburgh Fringe, then just do Edinburgh and maybe ten more shows after that. But with Hot Diggity Dog, I’m now hoping to do international dates next year.”

Hot Diggity Dog, Ed? Explain yourself. “I’m told it’s a Mickey Mouse thing [The Hot Dog Song, with its lyric “Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggety Dog”], but it’s pretty difficult because you always have to come up with a tour title well before you do the tour, and by the time you do the shows, the title probably should have changed!” he admits.

“I only said ‘Hot Diggity Dog’ once in the show and now I don’t even mention it – but it was good for the promotional picture!” Except in London, where Ed found himself caught up in “Cucumbergate”.

His show poster of a hot dog fell foul of Transport for London’s ban on junk food advertising on the London Underground, whereupon the Off Menu co-presenter replaced the off-menu item with a similarly shaped but healthier cucumber.

Ed has been busier than ever, having brought his Off Menu podcast with co-host James Acaster to the stage, written his first book, the memoir Glutton: The Multi-Course Life Of A Very Greedy Boy (published by Penguin Books last October]; hosted BBC Two’s The Traitors: Uncloaked podcast and been crowned series nine champion of Taskmaster (Dave/Channel 4).

Add to that list featuring on the second Champions of Champions episode of Taskmaster in 2022; hosting the Taskmaster podcast; competing in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer and earlier appearing in more than 30 episodes of the satirical panel show Mock The Week between 2015 to 2021.

The show poster image that fell foul of Transport for London’s ban on junk food advertising on the London Underground

On top of all that, he has been a judge on BBC Two’s Great British Menu, co-hosts a Sunday morning show on Radio X with Matthew Crosby and has served as one of six rotating guest-hosts for Pointless on BBC One.

“It’s good that comedians get picked up to do other stuff, being trusted to do it, because I love to keep a variety of things going on that feed into the live shows,” says Ed.

What’s next? “The Traitors will be back and I’ll be back doing The Traitors: Uncloaked podcast on BBC Two; Off Menu rumbles on and I’ll be recording a Taskmaster podcast every week for the current series that started last month,” he says. “Then there’s filming for Great British Menu series 20, for broadcast next year.”

Any last words on tomorrow’s show in York, Ed? “Just come and see it. We’ve been having a lot of fun on tour. We have a laugh, and the shows have been going great,” he says. “We’d love to have as many people there as possible.”

Ed Gamble: Hot Diggity Dog, Grand Opera House, York, October 9, 7.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Also playing: St George’s Hall, Bradford, October 19, 7.30pm. Box office: bradford-theatres.co.uk. Age guidance: 14 upwards.

Did you know?

ED Gamble began his comedy career performing with the Durham Revue while studying Philosophy at Durham University, where he met fellow comedians Nish Kumar, Nick Mohammed and Tom Neenan. He came to prominence playing Georgie Carlton in two series of Almost Royal (BBC America/E4/Netflix) and co-wrote series three and four of Greg Davies’s sitcom Man Down (Channel 4), as well as appearing in two episodes.

Pent-up Paul Chowdhry pours two years’ gall into ‘Family-Friendly Comedian’ gig at Grand Opera House next Thursday

The poster for Paul Chowdhry’s Family-Friendly Comedian tour, visiting the Grand Opera House, York, next Thursday

AFTER barely surviving the pandemic, British-Asian stand-up Paul Chowdhry tackles the UK’s handling of the Coronavirus crisis and why the rules of six only worked for white people in his November 18 gig at the Grand Opera House, York.

Two years of pent-up frustration go into his Family-Friendly Comedian (No Children) gig, where he  also discusses fame, England football fans and Tom Cruise landing his helicopter in someone’s garden.

Londoner Chowdhry began his stand-up career in 1998 and hosted the comedy show Stand Up For The Week, having been a regular act on earlier series. He was the first British act to perform at the Caribbean Comedy Festival in Trinidad in 2003, and when he sold out the 10,000-seater Wembley Arena in December 2017, he became the first British-Asian comic to do so.

Paul Chowdhry: PudCast podcast

On TV, he has been a guest panellist on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Comedy World Cup and Sorry I Didn’t Know and he finished last when taking part in an episode of the third series of Taskmaster. He hosts the podcast The Paul Chowdhry PudCast, wherein he interviews comedians.

Last on tour with his Live Innit show, Chowdhry, 47, is known for using the signature phrase “what’s happening white people?” at the start of his stand-up routines.

Tickets for next Thursday’s 8pm gig are on sale on 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/york.

What’s on at The Crescent in York tonight? Mark Watson, but his 8pm gig has sold out

Mark Watson: Instructions on How You Can Almost Win at The Crescent. Picture: Matt Crockett

COMEDIAN Mark Watson marks the return of full-capacity gigs at The Crescent community venue, York, with a sold-out 8pm show tonight.

York promoter Al Greaves’ Burning Duck Comedy Club presents Bristol-born Watson, 41, in How You Can Almost Win. Doors open at 7pm.

Watson says: “In 2017, I went on the show The Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls. It involved being abandoned on an island, starved half to death, almost struck by lightning, cut off from all loved ones and turned into a psychological wreck. I was pretty sure it was the most challenging situation I would ever be in. Then, in 2020, the entire planet basically went into survival-show mode.”

As we crawl from the wreckage of the pandemic, tonight Watson dispenses droplets of wisdom brought back from his island misadventure to suggest ways we can adapt. “But still with jokes,” he promises.

Mark Watson, in his pyjamas, sharing the screen with show host Tim FitzHigham at the first Your Place Comedy livestream in April 2020

During the first lockdown last year, Watson was part of the first double bill for Your Place Comedy, the virtual comedy club set up to support independent venues across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

On April 19 2020, a pyjama-clad Watson and Hull humorist Lucy Beaumont performed live online from their homes, in his case, in the living room, in hers, down the pub, The Dog And B**tard, that she and fellow comedian husband Jon Richardson have set up in their Hebden Bridge garden.

Watson, comedian, novelist, sports pundit, Taskmaster survivor and No More Jockeys cult leader, is noted for cramming spiritual enquiries, high-octane observational comedy and pathological overthinking into his evenings of stand-up.