Is New Variety the spice of life?

© Idil Sukan / © David Windmill

Each year, 14 rising stars compete to be crowned the winner of the New Variety New Act of the Year. Rather than simply a showcase of stand-ups, the former Hackney Empire competition has long promoted variety acts, many of whom would more likely be found on a cabaret stage than in a comedy club. From magicians to musicians, vaudeville to ventriloquism… if it’s funny, it counts as ‘New Variety’.

2012’s list of finalists features its biggest ever number of artists who began performing in the cabaret world and are moving into comedy. Is this a growing trend? We asked four leading performers who straddle both genres for their opinions.

What does having a cabaret background bring to a comedy act?

Frisky & Mannish - © Idil Sukan

Frisky & Mannish – cabaret and comedy performers; New Act of the Year finalists 2010:‘As a genre, cabaret isn’t about rules. In fact, acts that comply with “preconceived” rules of cabaret usually don’t do half as well as the craziest off-the-wall ones. Taking that sense of lawlessness into a “typical” comedy gig setting can be scintillating. It’s a risk.’

David Mills: ‘It’s an obvious thing to say, but theatricality. So many stand-up acts are “regular Joes” and that’s their strength: the audience can relate to them. Cabaret forces you to be larger than life and when you put that on the stand-up circuit you immediately stand out.’

How do you adapt your act for cabaret clubs and stand-up gigs?

Gareth Joyner as Myra Dubois

Gareth Joyner: ‘I have to be more self-contained at comedy gigs. There’s less of a theatrical set-up and they don’t have stage hands, so when doing my act I have to enter with every prop in a suitcase, putting each one back as it’s used and taking it with me as I exit. At a cabaret gig I’d be throwing everything all over the shop, knowing a stage hand would pick it all up and get it back to me safely while the compere was on.’

David Mills: ‘When I do a stand-up set I lose the piano player and the songs and stick to the jokes. But I still try to create that intimate cabaret feel.  Increasingly I’m doing the same act for both audiences.’

Frisky & Mannish: ‘We adapt our act for every single show – it’s important to play to the audience we have, regardless of what genre of night we’re supposedly in. We always address them directly and they dictate the pace and progress as much as we do. Every show is an exercise in adaptation.’