JUICE Chat with Rob Halden

Rob Halden is one-half of JUICE Comedy, a radio presenter and a comedian in his own right. Outside of Stafford he’s performed for the Frog & Bucket as well as The Comedy Store, winning both the Beat The Frog and King Gong competitions. He has a great big beard and is also sort-of our boss, so we’re going to go easy on his with this interview.

JUICE: How would you describe your comedy?

Rob: I guess it’s deadpan and a bit odd. It’s character-based and there are some props in there as well. The Rob on stage thinks he’s better than everyone in the audience, but he’s actually a buffoon.

JUICE: How did you start out in stand-up?

Rob: I tried writing jokes for Neil Reading because he had done some stand-up. But he kept sending the jokes back saying he couldn’t tell them and I should try it. Then he organised the very first JUICE night in the back of a pub and sort of forced me into it. I dicked around with it and never really gigged anywhere, then I had a small breakdown and when I was battling depression comedy became my life-line and I started doing more of it.

JUICE: What’s been your most memorable gig to date?

Rob: Good-memorable would probably be doing the King Gong at The Comedy Store. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. There was a group of ten skin-head squaddies in the crowd just hurling abuse at everyone who got up on stage. Getting them to shut up and laugh and the cheer for me was fantastic. Bad-memorable would be any number of gigs Paul Savage has made me do, including a car trip to London on a hot summer’s day to perform in front of 4 people.

JUICE: Where’s your favourite venue to perform?

Rob: I’ve only played there a couple of times but The Holybush in Cradley Heath is really nice, I like that gig. It’s proper comedy. I like Lions Eat Ice-Cream in Leicester because they really encourage experimental performances. And I just performed at The MET Studio in the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford last month and that’s a fantastic space.

JUICE: Who’s your favourite circuit comedian at the moment?

Rob: It changes all the time. I’m currently high on Jason Cook and Nick Helm, but I think I only like Nick when he’s playing to difficult rooms. I like Nick’s gigs where 75% of the audience don’t get it and 25% are physically dying. I also saw Pete Brush again the other night and he’s sublime.

JUICE: Who’s the best in the world, Louis CK or Daniel Kitson?

Rob: Having never seen either of them live, it’s hard to say. I truly love Louis CK and really admire what he’s doing with the business-model of comedy, producing and releasing his own shows online and cutting out TicketMaster for his shows. But I think Kitson is probably the best right now. As of the last thing of his I saw.

JUICE: Do you have any comedy influences or heroes?

Rob: I’m only funny because of my Dad, I firmly believe that. He’s a very silly man. I watched Tommy Cooper and Russ Abbott and Les Dawson when I was a child. Then, like all teenagers, I was heavily into Eddie Izzard and Monty Python. They must have all had an influence on me, but I can’t dissect it and tell you who did what to my brain.

JUICE: Where can people find out more about you?

Rob: Anything creative that I do goes through JUICE Comedy these days, so they should follow us on Facebook & Twitter and watch our silly videos on our YouTube Channel.

You can listen to Rob Halden hosting JUICE Comedy’s very own radio show Thursday night between 10 & Midnight on Stafford FM!

Cocktails & Radio

We delayed the J-Blog this week so that we can report back on Cocktails & Comedy Part III which took place last night. It was a thoroughly lovely show, yet again, with a really great audience and a host of really interesting comedians. It was another sell-out, but we had did have our doubts as to whether everyone who’d bought a ticket would arrive. Saturday became a big day in the Olympics, and as the Gold Medals rolled in for Britain, there seemed to be more and more people tuning in at home. But despite Olympic Fever, there were only two empty seats in the house (and we know who they are). The only sour note going in was that compere Rob Halden wasn’t very well and struggled through his hosting duties.

In conversation before the show Graham Milton seemed a little intimidated by the size of the room and the audience. But if he still felt this on stage then it was not evident from his performance. Graham was a great opening act for the show, combining high-concept ideas with knob jokes, and delivering them with aplomb. Leanne McKie’s inventive routine of Shirley Bassey impressions and the Rose West Guide To Childcare, brought an element of danger to the room that had the audience reeling. Some didn’t know what to make of it, many more were in hysterics, and that’s the perfect combination.

Fern Brady delivered her first performance for JUICE, and if we have anything to say then it certainly won’t be her last. Fern brought a refreshing level of bile and anger with her to Stafford and it’s easy to see why she was a Finalist in last year’s So You Think You’re Funny? After the show many audience members told us that Fern was their favourite, and we’re not surprised. The final performance of the night came from the unique and brilliant Peter Brush. The audience roared with laughter all the way through Peter’s set, and he held them in the palm of his hand. His impromptu interraction with the front table was sublime.

All-in-all a great night of both Cocktails and indeed Comedy. We’ll be returning to Number 15 for Part IV on November 17th, mark it in your diary.

Elsewhere JUICE is gearing up for our official radio show! The JUICE Comedy Show will air on Stafford FM for the very first time this Thursday night (August 9th) and we’ve got a jam-packed show lined-up. Neil Reading & Rob Halden will be hosting proceedings, and they’ll be joined by all manor of guests as the show go behind the scenes of JUICE and also plays some great clips of stand-up comedy. Rob will be doing promotional overload this week on Stafford FM as he joins the Breakfast Show every morning to hype and advertise The JUICE Comedy Show. You can listen to Stafford FM online via your computer or laptop, but perhaps the easiest way is to listen to it on your smartphone. Click here to find out how to do that, it’s dead easy and you can even make it play through your car speakers when you’re on the move. Listen in to Late Night JUICE on Stafford FM this Thursday evening from 10 pm till Midnight.