My Comedy Hero: Mark Thomas
The political comedian picks a comic who challenged audiences, conventions and the limits of alternative cabaret
My favourite comic could be Spike Milligan. I saw him on a school trip to see Treasure Island. Or perhaps Tommy Trinder, the music hall rival to Max Miller, and the first stand-up I saw. Or it could be Alexei Sayle whose album Cak! inspired me to do stand-up.
In truth, my comedy hero is a little-known performer from outside the world of 1980s alternative cabaret, Bob Boyton. The first time I saw Bob was at the Chisenhale Dance Space in the east end of London, a night of alternative cabaret. In a tobacco-hewn growl, he starts: ‘Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bob Boyton and I’m a communist Marxist Leninist. A lot of my comrades tell me football is the proletarian sport but that’s bollocks. The real proletarian sport is motor racing, ladies and gentlemen. A few quid to get in, few beers with your mates on a nice sunny day, if you’re lucky you see some rich fucker burn to death.’ That was his opening gag.
He threw the gauntlet down for the audience, a challenge about where he might go, and demanded they followed. In a world of compromise, Bob was the real McCoy. I loved gigging with him. In the height of the Aids pandemic, when homophobia was unrelenting, Bob mischievously described the vagaries of cottaging as a bisexual man; of accidentally having sex with a policeman and leading strikes on the railway (which he did). I am proud to call him a friend and always delighted in seeing this little recognised trailblazer.
Related articles
Mark Thomas: 40 In Stand-Up Years is touring the UK until Sunday 13 December; picture: Tony Pletts.