'I'm quite gangly and not very cool'

F ood seems to be a running theme to James Acaster's shows. Take his latest offering Amongst Other Things, during which he promises you'll never look at a doughnut in the same light again – and the show he is currently writing has been inspired by bread.

"My shows do read like a shopping list," he laughs. "I seem to get a lot of inspiration from food. Well, I kind of get it from everywhere.

"Over the years you hone your instincts and work out what you want to talk about. It's a bit of a coincidence that a lot of it is about food."

Winning over critics and fans alike, James has earned himself a reputation as one of the most hotly tipped acts of 2012.

Following a smash-hit, critically acclaimed debut at the Edinburgh Festival he brings Amongst Other Things, to Bristol's Oppo Bar later this month.

He says: "The show is about a young man who talks about funny things and looks a bit gangly. It's a silly show and it's quite low key at the same time. It's about the little things that I find exciting and disappointing."

Having hit the comedy circuit in 2008, James has had something of a meteoric rise.

In 2010 he supported Josie Long for the whole of her 2010 UK tour, won Off The Kerb's Laughing Boy New Act in June 2010, and came third in Latitude's New Act Competition, where he performed to more than 4,000 people.

But, he says, his start in comedy almost didn't happen.

He says: "It wasn't an accident as such but I actually started after I was in a band.

"When we stopped playing I decided I didn't want to be one of those people who said 'I used to be in a band', and so I started doing stand-up.

"I didn't enjoy it at first. Well, I'd enjoy it for a month and then I'd have a bad month and I wouldn't know why and it'd be awful.

"I realised that the only way I was ever going to get better was to practice and the only way I could do that was by going on stage.

"It was quite a long drawn- out process for me to actually realise that I could make a career out of it. There didn't seem to be any point in just doing stand-up now and again, it had to be more often.

"I enjoy it now because I've learned a lot and I enjoy the writing."

I ask if he thinks anyone could learn to be a stand-up comedian and he pauses as he tries to weigh up the arguments.

"I think yes you can learn to be funny because there are different types of funny," he finally decides.

"Some people are inherently funny people, some are hilarious on stage but not that funny off stage.

"You can have a desire to be funny and you come across as too try hard. Perhaps a lot of it is good writing.

"I have a theory that anyone could do stand-up but they just need to figure out how they are funny. You have to be quite honest with yourself and work out what makes you funny.

"I'm honest and can say that I'm quite gangly and not very cool. So, yes, everyone can do it but for the sake of my job, I hope they don't!

"I watch a lot of people and it's a lot easier to learn lessons from those who make mistakes because you can often work out what they were trying to do.

"The best comedians are the hardest to learn from because they make it so natural it's hard to work out how they do it."

James' latest claims to fame include appearances on Dave's One Night Stand, Russell Howard's Good News and E4's Show & Tell, while also playing to more than 100,000 people on tour with Milton Jones.

James says: "Sometimes it's easier when it's a big audience because you can say something and if only a quarter of the audience find it funny, it's still a few hundred people.

"The smaller gigs are more intimate and I think those are better for the audience but I enjoy both for different reasons."

And his performances also seem to depend a lot on the mood of his audience, as they are often invited to join in.

"You have to pick wisely," he says. "You need a good instinct for picking someone who is not too nervous and will clam up on stage and equally someone who is not overly confident.

"At the end of the day you've put them in that position so you have to be nice to them.

"I always try to look after them and not make them look stupid or bad. You don't want to spoil someone's night."

James Acaster plays Oppo on Sunday, March 18. Tickets cost £10 available on the door.

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