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Interview With Shanklin Bound Trigger Happy TV Star And Travel Writer Dom Joly

Comedian and travel writer Dom Joly is bringing his 'extreme PowerPoint' show to Shanklin Theatre on Thursday evening (March 31).

The Trigger Happy TV creator and Times columnist spoke to Isle of Wight Radio's own Dom — Kureen — in the lead up to his visit to Island shores.

Dom Joly's Holiday Snaps — Travel and Comedy in the Danger Zone marks his first UK tour since 2011.

Hi Dom, will this be your first time on the Isle of Wight?

I've been to the Island quite a bit — I've sailed in Cowes a lot and spent three blissful weeks in Ventnor when I was 18-years-old.

As far as I remember, I ended up mistakenly driving a Mini through the Botanical Gardens in Ventnor, much to the astonishment of a couple of old ladies that were pottering around!

You're best known for Trigger Happy TV — Do you think it's harder to get into pranks now because there are so many YouTubers giving them a negative stigma?

I don't like the term 'pranks' really because YouTubers do them and a lot of them are obviously faked.

I think what I do is slightly more artistic, Having said that, I haven't really done them since 2003 because I'm probably a little bit too old to run around dressed as a squirrel now.


What do you think made Trigger Happy such a massive hit?

It was funny...

It was a labour of love and I spent every second of three years making the series. 

There wasn't a moment of loose material in it, we kept filming until we had non-stop quality. A great soundtrack (also helped).

Did any of the celebrities you interviewed on Trigger Happy get angry after the camera stopped rolling?

Ken Livingstone was a bit angry when I punched out a (man dressed as a) gorilla and some people sued to stop us showing the interviews — we got a lawyer's cease and desist after interviewing Princess Sarah Ferguson.

Kate Adie tried to confiscate our tapes as well.

But generally when people found out they were in the show they were quite excited because their kids loved it.

One of my favourite obscure things you've ever done was a stand-up performance as a character called Charles Gund — how did that come about?

Charles Gund was the fake name I used whenever I was checking in anywhere or telling a lie!

I'd never done stand-up so I turned up (disguised) for an open mic at the Comedy Store in London, and tried to die on stage.

The audience initially thought it was a really clever build to a punchline, but one never came. 

I stayed on for about 13 minutes and eventually got booed off.

You've moved into travel writing now, how did that evolution come about?

That's what the tour is all about, explaining how someone dressed as a squirrel shouting into a big mobile phone ended up travelling around North Korea and going to Iran.

That's what I always wanted to do, having grown up in Lebanon during a civil war. The people I looked up to were foreign correspondents and travel writers.

Comedy happened by mistake for me really, so I did it and still love it, but if I had to do one thing it would be travel writing — I'm obsessed and have wanderlust, having been to 106 countries so far.

What topics will the tour cover?

It's an explanation of how I went from Trigger Happy and World Shut Your Mouth to travel writing.

It's a kind of extreme PowerPoint which is really funny all the way through.

Finally, will you have time to stay on the Isle of Wight before or after the gig?

I'm definitely staying the night and not hopping on a ferry straight after the gig... I might even have another roar around Ventnor!

Dom Joly's Holiday Snaps — Travel and Comedy in the Danger Zone starts at 7.30pm on Thursday March 31.

Tickets are available to purchase through the Shanklin Theatre website or by calling the Box Office on 868000.

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