Should good comedy challenge the audience?
It can do many things. If anybody says that it “should” be this or that, that’s the first step towards extremism. Some nights, I’m pissed about something political; some nights, I’m pissed about something personal. Some nights, I’m thrilled about something weird.
You’re from Georgia but you’ve worked mostly in Britain. What is it like going back to the US?
Recently, I did a lot of the black comedy clubs in LA and New York and they have a whole different value system to white, middle-class audiences. They feel like, “I don’t have much money and I spent my money coming to see you. The least you could do is wear some nice shoes.” And they mean it.
Do Americans see you as quite anglicised?
No. They think I’m this odd, Jamaican-looking dude who sounds really well-educated. People are comfortable with recognisable types, so I had to give them a few minutes. I had to open by saying, “I’m told I’m weird-sounding but suffice to say I’m a bit of country, a bit of ‘nigga’ and a little bit of Europe.”
And did that relax them?
Stand-up comedy is about breaking that wall of polite company – calling out the elephant in the room. The audience didn’t come to see you be nice; they can do that themselves. They came to see you do something they can’t do.
How do you gauge how far to go with that?
With comedy, you can talk about anything you like. The deftness lies in how you talk about it. If a joke moves you, then work backwards and find a way to say it to uptight people who want to hear it but don’t have the nerve to admit it.
You tour nine months of the year. What is that like?
In the US, I have to pull back on a lot of subject matter. Because of talk-show culture, we’re conditioned to talk a lot but we’re conditioned not to talk about anything. It’s one of the reasons why we haven’t made any headway with race issues. We talk in soundbites. There’s no discourse between races.
What do you think of the Republican Party’s challengers to Barack Obama?
The Republicans are suffering the aftermath of being infiltrated by something that looked like them, sounded like them and had a lot of money but didn’t share their core values. Genuine Republicans love a certain vision of America and, to that extent, they’re patriots. But something came into their churches and screamed, “Praise the Lord! More jails! The Mexicans are coming!” and it scared them. It happens in this country, too. Old people and middle-class people – if you scare the shit out of them, they vote.
So, you’re no fan of politicians.
The political process has become absurd: I can only reach the highest levels of office if I can prove I’ve never done anything wrong, never said anything wrong. There’s an insistence on getting perfect people to represent us, even though we admit we’re not perfect.
What was your first stand-up show like?
It was only as the MC announced me that I realised I didn’t have any jokes. All I had was an attitude and an accent. By the time I got to the microphone, I’d come up with my first joke: “I’m in Britain because I’ve gone against everything my family wanted me to do. They keep trying to control me. So I keep doing the opposite . . . That’s why I joined the Ku Klux Klan.” It got a big enough laugh to carry me through.
Do you have a comedy philosophy?
I see comedy as an art form. If you approach it with head, heart and balls, you’ll be OK.
That must be a problem for female comics.
Oh, I know some female comics with balls! One of the troubles is that women are socialised to want to be seen as nice. Also, women are more insistent on having a life, whereas men are more, “Fuck it, man, I’ll just tell jokes.”
How do you deal with hecklers?
The trick is trusting that you have an innate ability to handle assholes. Some people, you have to drop the hammer on them. For that moment, in the auditorium, you’re their dad.
Was there a plan?
I trained as an actor but I didn’t love it.
Do you love comedy?
Yes. It’s my religion. I feel like I’m part of an order of travelling monks.
Is there anything you’d like to forget?
Every night I’m alone in a hotel room, I’m remembering old gigs, jokes that fucked up.
Are we all doomed?
Systems are crashing all around the world – Islam, Christianity, even weather systems. I don’t think seven billion people are too much for the earth, but it’s too much for our social systems, and people haven’t made the connection with the right to create a human being just because they’re drunk and lonely.
Defining Moments
1969 Born in Albany, Georgia
1988 In court on shoplifting charges. His lawyer gets him acquitted, then hires him
1996 Travels to England to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
2002 Nominated for the Perrier Award
2005 Makes his television debut in Blackout, shown on Channel 4
2006 Wins Writers’ Guild Award for Pride and Prejudice . . . and Niggas. Posters for the show are banned from the Tube
Reginald D Hunter is appearing at the HMV Apollo in Hammersmith, London, on 24 and 25 June. Tickets here.
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