As one of the original voices from the 1980s Comedy Store era, Nick Revell has been round a block or two. Having earned a Perrier nomination in 1987, his stand-up career seemed to be flying, but in 1992 he decided to have a break and concentrate on writing. That break lasted an entire decade. ‘In retrospect I should have kept the motor ticking over but I was always a topical comic who turned over lots of new material. I was getting so much work as a writer and got out of the discipline of having to go to Coventry on a rainy Tuesday, so I just made the decision to stop.’

For Revell, coming back into a stand-up fold that had changed out of all recognition was pretty much like starting over. ‘Any comic will tell you that four days without a gig makes you a bit twitchy. Over the ten years, it had gone more mainstream which I don’t automatically think is a bad thing, but you couldn’t rely on the same frames of reference between you and your audience.’

Now happy enough back in stand-up, Revell’s skills as a political satirist are honed on panel show podcast No Pressure to be Funny. ‘It’s a mixture of comics, journalists and charity workers and we want them to come on without worrying that it’s going to be a comedians pissing contest to see who can do the funniest jokes all the time.’

On his impressive writing CV are jobs working with Rory Bremner, Dave Allen and the Not the Nine O’Clock News team, and ongoing work on a 90s sitcom entitled Going Dutch never came to full fruition when his collaborator and proposed star Dermot ‘Father Ted’ Morgan died suddenly. ‘It was a great working experience and it was extraordinary being in Dublin with him; it was like walking round with the Pope, and being mobbed constantly.’

The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 19–Sat 21 Jan.

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