Elis James The Talented...

This programme contains strong language

'I'm Elis James. I'm a stand-up comedian originally from Carmarthen.'

And that's it.

Up and coming Welsh stand-up comedian Elis James has been getting the kind of attention

that other comics would kill for, and he's being tipped for the top.

The wonderful Elis James!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Please give a big cheer for the fantastic Elis James.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Like all other comedians wanting to make it big,

his main focus is the annual Edinburgh Festival.

But with opportunities to write and perform his own radio shows,

work with some of the biggest names in comedy,

a side project that's drawing in the crowds,

and a full calendar of clubs shows,

will he have enough time to get a new act ready for 2012's Edinburgh Fringe?

You have to write a new hour of material every year for Edinburgh.

I currently have between 10 and 11 seconds.

And what's the cost of living life on the road?

Do I ever feel lonely on these trips?

The answer is, categorically, yes. Really dreadfully so.

This is a year in the life of a budding comedian working towards the Edinburgh Fringe,

a year when Carmarthen's funniest has to keep them rolling in the aisles

from Merthyr Tydfil to the Hammersmith Apollo.

"You're amazing! I'm going to put you in a Hollywood film.

"I'm going to put you in a sitcom." Yeah!

Fresh from 2011's Edinburgh festival,

Elis has been invited to perform his one-hour show at the Harrogate Comedy Festival.

I've wanted to be involved in the process of comedy for a very long time.

I remember watching Blackadder with Dad when I was a teenager,

and I remember thinking, "Oh, I'd quite like to be involved in this."

I liked messing around at school and making my friends laugh,

but also I think I took it too seriously,

so whereas everyone else would think,

"Oh, that was funny when Elis drew a penis on a chalkboard.

"That was really, really great."

But then I would go home and think,

"But why was it funny? Why a penis? Why a chalkboard?"

Being a prima donna, I usually prefer, um,

a mic with a lead.

Is that OK?

Oh, brilliant. Cheers. Yeah, this is nice. I like this.

And also, and I think this is the crucial one,

I was awful at every job I ever had.

So you could argue that I'm a comedian because I couldn't do anything else.

I've always had fun in Harrogate, they're a lovely audience,

erm, but it's the big room. I've always done the small room.

I've never done the main room in the theatre before,

so I feel a little bit under more pressure,

Anyway, I'll see you on the other side.

-COMPERE:

-Mr Elis James!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm strangely drawn to you, sir. I don't know why that is.

-What's your name, my friend?

-Gary.

-Gary. OK, that's a good, proper name.

You're not called Mitsubishi Chicane or any of that sort of nonsense.

And what do you do for a living, Gary.

-I'm a police officer.

-You're a police officer?

LAUGHTER

Now, I'm looking around,

and...I think that the majority of this audience -

slightly too young to feel the sort of withering resentment that I feel towards you,

but it'll come.

'So the way it works in modern comedy

'is that you do lots of open spots where you're not paid,

'and the audience seem to hate you,

'and they're not sure why they're there.'

And then you do this for a very, very long time,

and then you become quite depressed, and you wonder why you're doing it.

But then if you stick at it,

'and you write material that's better,

'eventually you're offered gigs that may be a tenner or twenty quid,

'or they might offer you petrol money.'

Welsh is my first language, right, a really cool language to speak,

Are there any Welsh-speakers in the room?

I mean, it was, it was always a long shot.

'A better comedian than you might put a word in and say,

"You should book Elis."

Then you'll be on a proper bill where people paid to come in,

all the comics are paid, and you might get to do ten minutes.

'You're always chipping away. It's like an apprenticeship, I suppose.'

Thank you very much for having me. I'm Elis James. Cheers, good night.

APPLAUSE

With his calendar full of performances,

and a new Edinburgh show to write,

it's straight back to the hotel for an early night for Elis.

And life on the road isn't always fun.

Do I ever feel lonely on these trips?

The answer is, categorically, yes. Really dreadfully so.

It's nice, though, I've got a cameraman to talk to because

it is the best job in the world.

But it's not the best in terms of, you know, hanging out with people.

Thank you to the people of Harrogate, good night.

Squeezed between the comedy shows are writing sessions

with Gareth Gwyn and Ben Partridge,

for The Pantheon Of Heroes, Elis's first ever radio comedy show.

Pantheon Of Heroes is a radio show that I'm writing with Ben and Gareth.

We realised that the Western Mail and Wales On Sunday,

if there's a slow news day,

they tend to try and work out who the greatest Welshman of all time is,

the 100 best Welsh people ever list.

We thought, "Why don't we finally put this issue to bed?"

So we came up with this idea, thought it was really funny,

gave it to a producer at Radio Wales. He said, "Leave this with me."

I forgot about it and two and a half years later, he called me up,

"We've got a series, El!"

So then we had to spring into action and write it.

What is it they say in films, bring it back to life,

what's one of those ultimatum things?

"Bring Um Bongo back and you'll be a hero.

"We might name the British Empire after you."

I'm really enjoying it,

I've never had a radio show commissioned before,

so it's been it's been hard work, lot of work,

writing six 30-minute episodes,

It's taken longer than I thought it would,

but, yeah, I'm really, really pleased with the finished product,

Well, fingers crossed.

With the ink drying on a new script, it's over to a Bristol comedy club,

where Elis is sharing a bill with friend and mentor Rhod Gilbert,

who's trying out new material for an upcoming TV recording.

Rhod Gilbert doing stretches.

LAUGHTER

This is normal backstage behaviour.

-Ellis mocking me.

-Pacing, me mocking Tom.

It's a sort of real sorcerer and the apprentice relationship between us.

-So, yeah...

-Ellis is the saucer.

I'm the... Yeah, sorcerer, not saucer and the apprentice!

ELIS LAUGHS

He is like a saucer. He's never seen without a cup of tea, as it goes.

-Yeah.

-That is true. Look, there he is.

Just finished it.

Whatever any other contributors on this documentary say,

I think he's quite good.

-You're Graham Gooch and I'm Ian Botham.

-Yeah.

So you'll score more runs than I will,

but I'm here as the entertainer.

Was that the clue?

HE LAUGHS

Start whooping, start hollering...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING DROWNS SPEECH

'I supported Rhod on three of his tours

'so we've done loads of gigs with each other,'

but he had come off the circuit and started touring under his own steam,

by the time I started.

So this sort of thing where he's just doing a normal weekend comedy club is a real rarity.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm very, very pleased to be here mainly cos,

like Rhod, I'm from Wales.

And, as a consequence, my expectation levels are exceptionally low.

For instance, I love football and I love the World Cup.

Wales haven't qualified for the World Cup since 1958.

Thank you. I'll just put that into perspective for the younger people.

1958 - that is prior to the invention of the duvet.

LAUGHTER

'I worked until I was 25,'

when there was an open mic night in Cardiff,

and a friend of mine pushed me forward,

and I was forced into doing five minutes.

All my housemates came at 7.50. They said, "You nervous, El?"

I said, "I'm fine!" Then at 7.58, I said,

"Right, you've got to leave! You've got to go to another pub!

"There's absolutely no way on earth!

"It's totally unfeasible that you watch this!"

So I walk them out of the pub to another pub halfway down the street,

and said, "Sit there and I will come and get you when I'm happy to do so."

So I did the gig and there was about four or five people there.

So the gig, for a first ever gig, went quite well and I'm thinking,

"I'll probably be a millionaire, certainly by Christmas."

I had no idea it would be three and a half years of gigs in pubs in front of five people.

The change came when I was earning almost enough to be a comedian,

but I still worked in a coffee shop.

Then the owner of the coffee shop did me a massive favour by selling it,

which gave me the kick up the backside that I needed,

because if he hadn't sold the coffee shop,

then I would probably still be there!

But my mochaccinos would be immense.

APPLAUSE

-COMPERE:

-The wonderful Elis James.

Elis is supporting Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office and Extras,

on a national tour throughout the winter,

and it's brought him to one of the most iconic venues in comedy -

the Hammersmith Apollo.

Well, I got asked to support Stephen in September.

I was initially really, really pleased,

just because he was a sort hero of mine,

although he'd be really embarrassed, I think, if he hears me say that.

Then I looked at his tour itinerary and realised he was doing all these nights at the Apollo,

and I never thought that I would be playing the Apollo.

But now we're here, I don't know how I feel yet.

It's a bi-word, it's shorthand, I think,

that comedians or even normal people would use,

to imply successful and, uh, massive, and a big deal.

But they are there to see Stephen.

They're not there to see me, so it is slightly harder for me, I think,

cos no-one will know who I am.

But what does the star of the show make of Elis' performances on the tour?

Do you want to give me a quick appraisal?

Well, let me be honest with you,

I always stay for the first few minutes of your show,

because I like to get a sense of sort of what the...

How the crowd are and how you're interacting with them, you know.

I like to see you do an improv with them. That's great.

And then I just, and then I don't watch the rest of the show.

-It makes me jumpy to watch, to watch...

-A hip young gun slinger.

-Yes, a hip young gun slinger doing his act.

-A gun for hire.

-Right.

I think to myself if I, what if I don't get the laughs that are of comparable size to you?

My other fear is subconsciously absorbing

jokes, ideas, mannerisms, stuff like that.

-My idiom.

-I don't watch comedy at home any more because

I'm so fearful of sort of subconsciously taking it in.

That is very interesting, that.

I'm the opposite. I watch only comedy,

because I want to know the ideas that have already happened.

I think the danger with that is that you end up not speaking from the heart.

You end up speaking based on, as you say,

what perceived niches you think you can find,

and I just think in a way,

so what if someone's spoken about a subject before?

It's like people get criticised for another rom-com.

Sorry, when does romance and love and relationships

not become sort of a valid subject for a film or whatever, you know what I mean?

It's like saying we can't have another crime thriller.

So are you taking this opportunity to thank me

for the extraordinary opportunity that you've been given?

I would like to, yeah I would like to say, Stephen Merchant, erm,

I'd like to think that we've become close.

Hmm, yeah I understand what you're saying,

for the purposes of the camera then yeah, definitely.

If you've seen this guy before, you'll know how amazing he is.

If you haven't, you're in for an absolute treat,

Guys, please go wild and crazy for the fantastic Elis James.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, Hello! Hello!

ALL: Hello!

Yes, that's more like it!

Hi, my name's Elis. Are we all ready to rock like it's a Wednesday night?

LAUGHTER

Very, very pleased to be here, mainly because I'm from Wales,

er, as a consequence, yes it means my expectation levels

are exceptionally low.

I love football and I love the World Cup. Wales haven't qualified for the World Cup

since 1958 that is prior to the invention of the duvet.

LAUGHTER

I've got a new bit about an olive and it's my newest bit of material,

and it's one of those that makes people go ha ha ha ha ha,

because it's a sort of laughter of recognition thing.

I don't think there's anything quite as boring as someone you don't know

sat on your table at a wedding takes the time to tell you

about how they used to not like olives.

LAUGHTER

So in a room of 50,

not enough people will recognise it whereas in a room of 3,000,

enough will initially get the joke to be laughing and then

it's thought-provoking to the other hundreds of people and then they think about it,

and then they get it, so you get this brilliant rolling laugh,

which is my favourite type of laugh I think. What am I meant to say to this?

Because you can't switch it round. You're at a wedding. You can't go,

"It's funny actually because I use to love breast milk."

LAUGHTER

Elis was brought up in Carmarthen, and the small market town has

left its stamp on his comedy and his personality.

The town you can see behind me is Carmarthen,

AKA centre of the universe, where I grew up.

One of the reasons why I took you filming up here was

because I was too embarrassed to do it in town in case somebody I

knew from school shouted, "Elis, what you filming, what's wrong with you?

"What you filming for, why've you got a friend? Who do you think you are?"

I think I do have quite a Welsh sense of humour

I think that comes from being brought up here.

Carmarthen is a great place for comedy because it's big enough

so that you're not board,

but it's small enough so you get to know the characters.

The weirdo who'd walk round town with a plastic bags in his plastic bags,

humming the theme to Magnum PI,

everybody knew him and you didn't get on the bus if he was on it.

One of the reasons why I wouldn't do a gig in Carmarthen is

because if I told a true story,

that had changed a little bit in my memory,

one of my biggest nightmares is that I'd say,

I was walking down the street and someone from the audience would go,

"No, you weren't you were on the bus",

and then we'd have this bizarre sort of dialogue

as to whether my story, I don't know,

a cricket ball or urinating in a swimming pool is actually historically accurate or not.

Whilst others are preparing for the biggest party of the year,

it's another night's work for Elis, with a New Year's Eve performance

at Cardiff's Glee Club, a place where he cut his comedy teeth.

The first time I did the Glee I was so nervous I was sick beforehand

and trembling actually, whereas now I feel so at home here.

It feels good to know that I am one of the acts

they would go to for New Year's Eve and I can walk on stage

and feel like I know what I'm doing to an extent.

I would do it every week if I could.

Well, I've got a new bit of material it's my 10 to 11 seconds

on the Welsh love affair with artex,

which seemingly doesn't stretch across the Severn Bridge.

I didn't see a smooth ceiling until I went away to university.

I was at freshers' week, Bristol University and I'm like, "What the hell is that?

"Ceiling is smooth. I don't understand it."

That's a joke I can make a reference in Cardiff but I've only done it

here a couple of times, and people go yeah and I tried it

once in north London and people were like, "Don't know what you're talking about,

"but I've heard of artex, but I would never have it in my house."

With the audience lapping it up,

thoughts turn to 2012's big challenge at the Edinburgh Festival,

and whether there'll be enough time to get the show written.

You have to write a new hour of material for Edinburgh.

I currently have between 10 and 11 seconds.

It's December 31st, so I've got just about eight months.

That's the thing I think about last thing at night just before I go

to sleep is the idea that in the past I've always been able to use material

from other Edinburgh shows I was able to change or

shape in a different way, but this is the first year I've got nothing

so it's starting from scratch is quite daunting, quite a daunting prospect.

RAUCOUS SINGING

Whilst a hit Edinburgh show remains to be written,

Elis ups the ante by agreeing to take a side project to the festival as well.

Elis has been performing in the Committee Meeting with Chris Corcoran and Vern Griffiths

over the past three years at a venue in Pontypridd.

Today, they're trying out the show in Merthyr,

in the hope that it could make the trip north to Edinburgh.

Wow, where's the stage?

Are the punters sat in a pew, like they were going to chapel?

So they're not sat on the floor?

Well, they can be. They can have them, they can stack them from here apparently.

If you put all the punters there, and the choir there, and we were like here.

It's an incredible venue, isn't it?

The Committee Meeting is a show that was devised by Chris,

but he was using characters I'd done on the Rhod Gilbert show with him.

Rex is like a 100-year-old Valleys sort of caretaker.

He's based on my grandfather and people my grandfather knew,

very nice but quite sweet and innocent, naive people.

The audience are committee members and it's a committee meeting

so it follows like a meeting's agenda.

I've never been to this theatre in Merthyr,

so I don't know what to expect, but it's a converted chapel

so it's a fantastic, so I think it will suit the show.

I like this big mirror though it's sort of Pineapple Dance Studios feel to it

or it makes me feel like I'm in Fame.

Doing it in a new venue is weird because it does feel really different,

like Elis is coming in from the other side today,

and he normally comes in from the right and he's coming in from the left.

We've had tonnes of fun now doing it in Wales and you know

we just think that there's a good Edinburgh show in this as well.

What exactly was it?

Cos I've never seen clothes like that before, and it couldn't be anything sensible to wear

cos there was a hole right in the gusset...

'It is flying by the seat of our pants,

It's one o'clock, the show's at eight and I don't know it yet.

I will know it. I'm sure it'll be fine,

It always is fine.

APPLAUSE

-How old are you?

-15.

-15?

Oh.

LAUGHTER

Take off some of these jokes.

Can't do that one, can't do that one.

-Oh, great(!) And are you 15 as well?

-No.

-How old are you?

-14.

LAUGHTER

Well, we're doing The Committee in Edinburgh which is a very Welsh show

and it's set in Wales and we've only ever performed it in Wales.

So our first gig in Edinburgh will be our first gig ever outside of the South Wales area,

so I am concerned that it's too Welsh.

There are definitely things about Welshness that don't cross the border

in terms of comedic references,

but certainly I think that was a problem for some Welsh comedians

in days gone by, that their material was too Welsh-centric

in a way that I don't think Scottish or Irish comedians suffered from.

ALl right? All right. How's it going? Not too bad.

-This is the new members in Merthyr, the committee meeting.

-Look like pricks.

LAUGHTER

Some of them are quite nice and two of them are fifteen.

In fact this could be a really interesting section for you.

Yeah, cos I probably know you from school cos I'm a schoolboy.

'How am I going to find time to perfect this'

when I'm trying to write an Edinburgh show of solo stand-up?

I probably won't find the time,

and I would imagine that one of them will go very badly.

With the Edinburgh Show in development, Elis has commitments

with his previous one hour of stand-up.

Before he goes on stage for his London performance,

he's off to his management offices to see the posters for the upcoming Edinburgh shows.

I'm at the Phil McIntyre Entertainments office.

Phil McIntyre look after lots of different people.

They look after Caroline Aherne, who wrote The Royle Family

and they look after Ben Elton.

John Cleese as well

and lots of people at my sort of level.

You've got my poster, which I've not seen yet.

-It's clear.

-I like it.

-I'd change that to match this so I'd take that to grey rather than yellow.

Do you prefer it to that one? I'm not sure any more.

I prefer that one. It's clearer.

I do, too.

Cos I'm wearing a suit, I'm not writing cheques that I can't cash.

THEY LAUGH

Nobody's going to think... Nobody's going to think,

"I want this guy to be talking about the financial crisis or..."

I think that is in keeping with the title.

That's not true, either, is it?

I've now just got the fear. Whenever I get posters made,

that the day we take the photo, "It's the best idea for a poster anyone's ever had!"

Then it gets made and I think, "Oh, God, I've made a massive mistake!"

-No, it looks brilliant.

-It looks really good.

How many of these will be made for Edinburgh?

There's thousands of flyers.

If you think about it, that's your advert in every single Fringe guide.

-Great.

-Yeah!

Meeting over. It's time to cross to one of London's main comedy venues.

The Soho Theatre stages a pick of shows from the previous year's Edinburgh.

It's THE place where many in the media come to spot talent.

A few London theatres do this but the Soho Theatre in particular, they scout in Edinburgh,

they see shows that they like.

I'm told that they're the gigs that the comedy industry go to.

You're looking very...happy.

Are you all right?

Are you OK?

Yes, I'm fine. I've got a bottle of wine.

You've got a bottle of wine?!

Cool! Where are you from?

-Trinidad and Tobago.

-Trinidad and Tobago?

You are going to love my cultural references.

Have you been to Llanelli?

You talk differently to your teachers at school,

to someone who is giving you a job interview

or to your mates in a pub.

If I was doing a gig in Altringham, I would never go on stage and go

Ammanford, Brynamman, Llandeilo.

Hilarious.

Obviously, I'll tone down references to Llanelli

at tonight's gig in Soho.

That's no disrespect to the people of Llanelli.

I love the Turks.

It's just.. That's the reality of performing all over the country.

Thank you very much for coming. I'm Eli James.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I didn't throw myself into it as much tonight. I don't know why.

I want to do it again. I want to go back out.

Now that I'm warmed up, I want to go out there and...

HE CLICKS HIS FINGERS

..and do the whole thing again and start again

and right some of the wrongs from the start,

which I'm quite annoyed with.

Despite needing to write new material,

Elis is still touring with his previous hour of stand-up.

The demands of touring, developing the next Edinburgh show

and several writing commitments are starting to take their toll.

God, I feel awful.

But there's still enough petrol in the tank to pick up

some new ideas during the sound check.

I would like those lights on. Do they all work?

-Er, no.

-So those ones that don't work, erm, they're not going to start

flashing in a minute, they're just...

No, they're just blown.

ELIS LAUGHS

With an expectant audience to please,

it's time to get energy and inspiration from wherever you can find it.

Look at this for glamour!

LAUGHTER

Look at that! I love that.

My favourite thing about this is that

when we did the sound check earlier on, I said to the er,

I said to the soundman, I said, "So the bulbs that are currently

"off - are they flashers, will they flash periodically

"from time to time?" He went, "Oh, no, no."

LAUGHTER

"We're waiting for less than 50% of them to work and then we'll do something about it.

"But until then it looks like an aesthetic decision."

LAUGHTER

That's probably my favourite gig of the tour, I think,

and I enjoyed it so much that I think yeah, stand-up is brilliant.

There are times when you're tired or a gig isn't good,

or when you have to write new material and that's not going very well,

that becomes a bit of a chore.

But when you have written new material,

and it's better than your old stuff which is always the aim,

and performing for an audience who like it, that is quite a nice feeling that. Yeah.

A gig in Wales means a quick visit home to Carmarthen,

and a chance to catch up with the family.

But for Elis' mother, how does it feel to feature in his routines?

No, I don't mind at all actually. No, it doesn't bother me at all,

if somebody, anybody really, talks about me,

because the stories are true. If they were made-up stories, maybe then you'd think,

"Oh, that's not right," but because they are true, I've got no defence.

-Are you going to talk about me a lot this year?

-Erm, I don't know.

I've not started it yet.

It might be a good idea to have a look through the albums,

because then you can remind yourself of things that happened.

That's a good idea.

-In fact, I'm not very shockable.

-ELIS LAUGHS

-I don't get shocked at things.

-I've got an awful thing to tell you.

No, honestly. I don't get shocked and I don't get embarrassed about things, either.

So it really goes right over my hear, yeah.

The Edinburgh Fringe is the pinnacle of the comedy year.

With over 2,500 different shows in over 200 venues,

the creative energy and competition for audiences can be seen on every corner.

But the reality of Edinburgh is sharing cramped spaces

with other performers and their props in tiny basements,

or in the case of The Committee Meeting, the back of a portakabin.

It is a portakabin and we are sharing facilities with another 12 acts,

so it's not the Hammersmith Apollo but that's fine

because there 2,500 shows on and in comparison with

most of the shows, this is really great, actually.

Your chairman for this evening's meeting is Mr Chairman.

APPLAUSE

I think it's feeling our way a little bit with the committee...

It's going well. They're clapping well! Keep going! And stop.

..because it's so different doing it in Risca to how it is in Edinburgh.

What's your name?

-Magnus.

-Good old Magnus, oh dear dear dear,

I knew your great great grandfather.

-Oh, did you?

-What was he called again, erm, Tony? That's the one.

-That's it Tony, he was a regular at this club.

-Oh, yes?

-He was.

He did, he did.

He's the one who's played along most so far!

Yes, he's played along so much he's actually put me

off a little bit. It's incredible.

LAUGHTER

When a show beds in really quickly

and your pleased with how it goes and you can sort of do

it on autopilot and it's the other one that needs tinkering, and I think

it's The Committee Meeting that will need tinkering, because erm, because

it's not stand-up comedy it's not like anything else I can think of.

The first show of the festival done,

and Elis has to hot-foot it through the crowds to get to his solo show.

The Pleasance Courtyard is one of the main comedy venues of the festival,

but backstage is no less cramped or chaotic.

The show starts in two and a half minutes,

as long as I have this I'll be fine but a little showbiz trick,

check that out so I'm probably not going to be very subtle, Ladies and Gentlemen,

but yeah I'm excited, I'm nervous, I feel sick, but it's going to be fine.

APPLAUSE

-Are you all well? ALL:

-Yeah!

Wednesday night, the funnest of all nights, I think, Good, good.

The important thing to remember is that there is two and a half thousand shows

and that's a great thing about it, you could go

and watch something that's awful but an hour later you could go

and see the most moving thing

that's ever happened to you and you don't know.

The reason, eventually I'm going to have to try some fresh material,

the reasons is that I've moved in with my girlfriend

and as a consequence nothing interesting has happened to me

for two and a half years, literally nothing.

Last night at the festival we had a night in, Izzy cooked salmon and it was really nice.

LAUGHTER

What people don't realise with Edinburgh is that it costs

the majority of the performers thousands of pounds.

I could be earning money doing other clubs in London,

living in my house and not paying rent on another

flat for a month whilst I'm paying rent on my old flat.

In the main, the reason comedians are crying into their beer at night

is that no-one's turned up and they are loosing a fortune.

I've never lived with a girl before and your part of a team right,

for instance we went on a night out and she sent me a,

she's a real tiz, she sent me a text saying, "Hey, El, so sorry not

"going to have a chance to come back to the flat, so going to have to meet

"you straight in the pub so please please can you do me a favour,

"can you bring me a spare panty liner to the pub?" I was like, "No problem.

"Just call me the fourth emergency service. Let me handle this."

LAUGHTER

This is where the comedy industry decamps to for a month

and it's important to let people know that your still coming up with

good stuff, and interesting stuff.

My name's Elis James thanks very much.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That was fun I really enjoyed that, erm, there were probably

too many friends, which meant they were nicer than a normal audience possibly

but I really, I didn't know it very well so I had to keep looking at

my hand but that will come, I forgot a few bits, but erm, that was fun.

That's what it's meant to be, stand-up is meant to be fun.

With the first hurdle overcome,

it's on to the next 90 performances of the festival.

And with some changes to The Committee Meeting

still on the cards, there's some unexpected news on day two.

We have press coming in today and we thought it was tomorrow,

so there are things that aren't ready,

so they're going to review a show that isn't finished, which isn't ideal.

And we found this out at twenty past and the show starts in ten minutes.

I don't know where he is. Mr Chairman, Mr Chairman!

Oh, there he is! The man we all know and love.

-Hello, everybody.

-No, no, not "boo"! Do it again. He's an idiot!

LAUGHTER

Who booed?

Reviews are very important - it tells audiences who are humming and ahing.

This is a good show, you can't explain to them

if it was a good gig or a bad gig they just review what

they see in front of them on the night.

It went as well as it could have done,

we would have been in a position a fortnight ago to tell

reviewers not to come in and say the shows not ready, but you

can't find out at 1.19pm that they're coming in at half one

and tell them not to go, because they'll do 200 shows a month

so they've all got spreadsheets of acts they want to see.

I don't know what they're going to make of it hopefully it's positive

but as far as we went, I don't think we couldn't have done a better job.

With another ten shows waiting to use the venue,

it's on to the Pleasance for stand-up show number two.

With first-night nerves out of the way,

and no reviewers in for several days,

it's a chance to put faith in the new material and to have some fun with the audience.

Has anyone seen any other shows?

Oh, animals. Oh you saw my other show. Oh, hiya.

We had journalist into The Committee Meeting today, and because the shows very brightly lit

I recognised him and he looked like he wanted to kill himself. Watch out for that review tomorrow.

That's going to be a lot of...

ELIS LAUGHS

In no time at all, Elis hits his stride

and is having the time of his life.

Delinquent and sexual? Yeah! What's happened to my Fringe?

Don't say that, don't say that. I think there's football on.

Crushing my dreams. We're going on a journey, Dad.

Is stand-up always this confrontational? I'm going. You're shite. Bye.

One of her front teeth looked like a farmer's skull.

That was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it

and if they're all that good I'm going to have a lovely time I think.

But with the first Committee reviews yet to be posted,

and many more critics and audiences to impress,

there's a month of hard work ahead of Elis.

And with all the time and effort invested,

will Edinburgh lead to bigger and better things?

Probably I'm going to be asked to be on things like the News Quiz

on Radio 4 in the next series,

I'm going to be asked to do the New Zealand comedy festival.

The high point this year is that Victoria Wood came to my show

two days ago and said she really liked it,

she met me after and she said really lovely things.

And the night before that John Bishop came in.

I'm pleased because in July the show was a mess,

and I thought it was going to be a career-ending disaster, this Fringe,

but I don't think that has been the case at all.

Despite one initial bad review,

backstage at the Committee Meeting,

the atmosphere has changed from the early nerves.

More kind of relaxed, you're ready early today, aren't you?

I'm really happy with the way The Committee has turned out.

It really has changed quite a lot and it had to, that's what Fringe is about.

You're meant to learn when you're up here otherwise it's pointless coming up here.

Welcome on stage your chairman for today's meeting, Mr Chairman!

We were so nervous a month ago, you know,

full of adrenalin that now, it's just a gig it should be fun.

Corkey does five or six minutes before I come on

and they all seem up for it so, very pleased with the show,

I think it should be all right, this.

Mr Chairman, Mr Chairman? Oh, hello.

CHEERING All right, very good.

-Are you all good to go for this one?

-I am.

Are you pumped? Your eye's got better.

My eye's improved, isn't it? Not even bloodshot incredible.

I'm like Wolverine.

LAUGHTER

Ha! The sci-fi fans really revel in that.

The stars on the posters outside the venue reflect a successful festival,

and the reviews for the stand-up show have been equally as impressive.

This is from Chortle, which is the biggest comedy website in Britain

and it's the one that the industry reads that the comics read and I got four stars.

An absolute cracker of an hour's stand-up story telling, which is a very nice thing to say.

This is from the Evening Standard, he's never reviewed me before,

but he's a very respected, a man called Bruce Dessau,

and he's also given it four.

As the whole experience begins to draw to a close,

and the last few stars are pinned to the posters,

there's just the matter of a BBC comedy showcase in front of a capacity crowd.

RHOD: The fantastic Elis James!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Yeah! Hello!

'My year's been brilliant.'

This time last year I didn't have a show I didn't have ten seconds

of material, so to write what is probably my best show when I thought

I'd run dry, I'm really, that's the thing I'm most pleased with.

I'm quite an absent-minded person,

I'm a real day-dreamer for instance yesterday I walked into

my kitchen in the morning and I picked up a tea towel and then I walked

to Tesco with that tea towel thinking it was a bag for fucking life.

I think I have proven a point to myself this is the first year

where I have written about how I feel as opposed to just telling stories.

All the greatest comics of all time that's what they were doing.

At which point I get to the till and the girl behind the counter says, "Have you brought

"your own bags with you today sir?" to which point I replied,

"Yes, before just unfurling this tea towel, like a domestic matador."

In previews and things, I was always worried and a bit het up

because the shows weren't going very well.

When it goes well it's really great, and it has gone well.

This has been a lot of fun!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

After 25,000 miles on the road, almost 300 performances,

several radio comedies, interviews, reviews

and countless service station meals,

there's only one thing left to say.

Thank you so much for coming, my name's Elis James, good night.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd