0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains strong language.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Edinburgh, Scotland's ancient capital,
0:00:24 > 0:00:29home to the world's largest arts festival.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32A month-long celebration of high culture, fine art,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36books and general loveliness.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39None of which is found at Late 'n' Live.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48The Festival is a beautiful experience, just that one thing.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55At 1am, when decent, clean living folk are tucked up in bed,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58this late night comedy club is just opening its doors.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04And the cream of stand-up comedy come face to face
0:01:04 > 0:01:08with one of the world's most unpredictable crowds.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12No, I will not go. No, I won't.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15The audience had the power. It wasn't about the performer really.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18You kind of offered yourself up as a sacrificial goat
0:01:18 > 0:01:21and they just did what they wanted with you.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25It was what I can only describe as a "bear pit".
0:01:25 > 0:01:26It was gladiatorial.
0:01:26 > 0:01:27It was them and us.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29And I saw these comics that
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I held in high esteem and luminaries of the comedy world,
0:01:33 > 0:01:38being crushed by a baying audience going, "You're not funny!
0:01:38 > 0:01:39"Make us laugh, you bastard!"
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Every night at the Fringe,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48this unique club offers three acts followed by a rock and comedy band.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50All held together by regular comperes,
0:01:50 > 0:01:56who, like fearless lion tamers, face pretty drunk and scary lions.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01"Welcome to Late 'n' Live!" Hurrah!
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Shit, I would kick the wall.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06I would literally be doing this before I went on,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10kicking the shit out of the wall, and then I'd hear, "Here's your host, Adam Hills."
0:02:10 > 0:02:12You'd go, "Oh, shit!"
0:02:18 > 0:02:22It was the most invigorating, like, thrilling, it was like,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25it was like bungee jumping, it was like, you know, sky diving,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29it was like all of those, it was extreme comedy.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32For 25 years, what happened in Late 'n' Live
0:02:32 > 0:02:33stayed in Late 'n' Live.
0:02:35 > 0:02:36Till now.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Throughout this series, we'll show previously unseen footage.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44Brilliant.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47And for the first time, the comics who performed there
0:02:47 > 0:02:49will get to see themselves too.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Oh, my God, there I am!
0:02:56 > 0:02:58Fuckin' hell.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06Tonight, we uncover the truth behind a performance of legend.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08No-one has actually been killed at Late 'n' Live.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Woo-hoo!
0:03:11 > 0:03:12But people wanted to fight.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16But first, what makes this comedy club like no other?
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Well, for one thing, its, shall we say, unique audience!
0:03:21 > 0:03:23I've no doubt I will.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25The whole culture of heckling
0:03:25 > 0:03:27is really disappearing,
0:03:27 > 0:03:29but not at Late 'n' Live.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32At Late 'n' Live, what you get is an instant rush
0:03:32 > 0:03:35as you walk out on the stage - "Fuck off, you're shit!"
0:03:35 > 0:03:39There was no polite ignoring of the act.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43I mean, it was full-on, "Fuck off!" "Get off!" "Fuck off!" "Get off!"
0:03:43 > 0:03:48Bastards! Bastards!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51How are you supposed to gig with that?
0:03:54 > 0:04:00So, when dying on your arse is merely an occupational hazard,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04the most experienced comics adopt their own style of handling it.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Here, with a lesson in class, Dan Antopolski.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12You can never really be exactly sure
0:04:12 > 0:04:14what's going on inside someone's head, can you?
0:04:14 > 0:04:18You see a young man with headphones on, going...
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Probably, he's just enjoying a tasty rare groove,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23or maybe he's agreeing
0:04:23 > 0:04:26with the garbled rhetoric of a twisted fascist.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'When I did it a lot,'
0:04:28 > 0:04:29I was doing very, er,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34wibbly-wobbly sort of, what I thought of as surreal material,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38which was pretty much calculated to wind up a late night drunk audience.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41So I went to see that new Spanish film "All About My Mother".
0:04:41 > 0:04:44What is that all about?
0:04:44 > 0:04:48And sometimes, I would wrong-foot them and it would go really well,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50I had some amazing gigs that went really well,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and I think I used to have a sort of running score against the gig.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56I used to do three Late 'n' Lives every festival,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58and some years, the gig would win two and I would win one,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00and some years, I would win two.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03And on this occasion,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06he definitely seemed to be winning, and then...
0:05:06 > 0:05:09trouble started brewing.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13The worst thing is, is the moment before the heckling happens
0:05:13 > 0:05:17when there's just a feeling of disquiet amongst the audience
0:05:17 > 0:05:20and you just know in that second, you've lost them.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24It is funny, trust me.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27No, I think you'll find...
0:05:27 > 0:05:28Yeah, with that audience,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31they're not so much up for a gig as they are for an argument.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33I'll teach it to you.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34'The deaths were always great,'
0:05:34 > 0:05:39cos you had to do your time to get your money, like in any stand-up gig, and so...
0:05:39 > 0:05:43if the gig just went off and became unmanageable,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48I used to very much enjoy staying on stage and just present them with the fact
0:05:48 > 0:05:52that I was obliged to stay there and just see what we could do with that fact.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Any questions? I know everything.
0:05:56 > 0:05:57Have long have I got to go?
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Excellent question. One minute, wow!
0:05:59 > 0:06:01All right.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03OK, all right, I will, this is
0:06:03 > 0:06:04going to absolutely kill you.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08I don't like to boast, but...
0:06:08 > 0:06:11No. I think... No.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Surely you know
0:06:13 > 0:06:16how this works by now!
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I'm not going to... No, no!
0:06:19 > 0:06:22No, I will not go!
0:06:22 > 0:06:25No, I won't. No, I won't.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Yep, that's how I remember it, pretty much.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Listen, you're going to be... You're going to thank me, because this joke...
0:06:33 > 0:06:37People get so angry when they don't like a comic,
0:06:37 > 0:06:42it never fails to intrigue me. It's only comedy!
0:06:42 > 0:06:45It's only trying to entertain you.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47No. No way. No...
0:06:47 > 0:06:51It was like a sort of a powerful shower, you know, people just yelling at you.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55It's like being a teenager again and your parents are bollocking you
0:06:55 > 0:06:57and you're saying, "No, not going to."
0:07:02 > 0:07:03Fuck off.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Ah, fair play, Dan Antopolski. And d'you know what?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13As a compere, that's what you want an act to do.
0:07:13 > 0:07:14Have a great month.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'If you're going to go down, leave some energy in the room.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19'The worst thing you can do is just be mediocre,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22'because it means then I have to walk out as compere to a room
0:07:22 > 0:07:25'that's a bit flat, and there's no energy in it.'
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Antopolski!
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Only at Late 'n' Live would someone heckle you with,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35"You've got one minute to set us on fire."
0:07:35 > 0:07:37In terms of dying on stage, the general rule is
0:07:37 > 0:07:39you should acknowledge it.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It's not hard and fast, but if you're dying,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44they know it, you know it and if you're an observational comedian,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46you should observe that you're dying.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50There's always a bit of my mind that I think, you could just pretend to faint,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53just keel over, just keel over. Just go down, hit the deck.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56And I've never quite had the balls to do that.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Sometimes, I have overstayed my welcome
0:07:59 > 0:08:03and that moment when the disquiet comes,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07instead of just finishing off very quickly and getting off,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09I've tried to ride it out and win them back
0:08:09 > 0:08:13and I think they can smell you trying, they can smell your fear,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15especially if you've shat yourself.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Erm, and it can... you can dig yourself deeper and deeper into a heckle hole.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22The worst thing you can do is stick with the act.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25That is probably the worst thing you can do, and you know,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Late 'n' Live was a brutal, was a brutal training on that.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35So when it all looks like it's going pear shaped, don't stick to the act.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41But as Andy Zaltzman shows, some audiences don't even let you start.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the brilliant Andy Zaltzman!
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Always important to get a high energy start.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Hello, hello.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Jesus Christ? Is that your reaction?
0:09:00 > 0:09:03I do get heckled about my appearance a fair amount, that clearly happened
0:09:03 > 0:09:06even before I'd reached the microphone on this occasion.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Sorry?
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Side Show Bob? I guess, to be honest,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12that is closer than Jesus Christ,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15so we're seeing the evolution of the heckle here,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17this is a very exciting
0:09:17 > 0:09:18moment for comedy.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Sorry? Mick Hucknall
0:09:20 > 0:09:21with a perm? Very good.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24I think even the audience felt
0:09:24 > 0:09:27the pressure of expectation for them to misbehave.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30So there was almost a performance from both sides,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32whatever the comic was doing, and the audience going,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35"Right, sorry about this, mate, but it's sort of,
0:09:35 > 0:09:40"it's part of my duty as part of this audience to destroy you."
0:09:40 > 0:09:42What? Art Garfunkel,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44yeah, very good, very good.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46They had professional hecklers.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Basically, pro black belt hecklers that went in and sat in
0:09:50 > 0:09:54and went, "Right, you've only got 20 seconds to win us over,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57"or we're going to start bombarding you with stuff."
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Willy Wonka, very good, OK, very good.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02This is all very good.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Sorry? A rather scary clown?
0:10:04 > 0:10:07You've gone back now to Side Show Bob,
0:10:07 > 0:10:08which was about five heckles ago.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11I'm starting to feel that I might have spent my evening
0:10:11 > 0:10:14in a more productive manner than this gig.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Twat? Right, now we're getting more
0:10:16 > 0:10:18into traditional heckling territory,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22just the outright insults, rather than merely saying who I look like.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Can we get it even more developed than just "twat"?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Curly ginger twat. OK, this is...
0:10:29 > 0:10:31We're starting to move in the right direction now.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35By this stage, the gig is essentially over for me.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38There's absolutely nothing I can do to go from this
0:10:38 > 0:10:40into any material I may have wanted to do.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43I was, I was now just... essentially, I might as well
0:10:43 > 0:10:45have been dressed up like a giant dart board.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Albert Einstein in colour?
0:10:50 > 0:10:51That is good.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54I feel I'm slightly redundant now, but...
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Elizabeth I, excellent.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Mr Weetos?
0:11:01 > 0:11:03'Seven and a half minutes
0:11:03 > 0:11:05'before I could even attempt to begin the gig,'
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and as I recall, the rest of the gig struggled
0:11:08 > 0:11:11to live up to those seven and a half minutes.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14But he rode out the storm
0:11:14 > 0:11:16and he won in the end.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19I did a gig in Liverpool and a guy shouted out, "Is that a wig?"
0:11:19 > 0:11:22I had to point out that were I to choose to wear a wig,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26I would probably choose one without a receding hairline, I think.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29So, without an audience,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32stand-up comedy is just talking weirdly to yourself
0:11:32 > 0:11:35in an empty room. But how much interaction
0:11:35 > 0:11:38do performers really enjoy?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41There is a mistaken perception among the public
0:11:41 > 0:11:44that heckling is in and of itself welcomed by comedians.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Generally, it's not, we quite like to do our job.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52You can articulate a wonderful discourse as a result of heckling,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56but often, I think of it as audible graffiti, just like nuisance.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Because there was no security
0:11:58 > 0:12:00and there was no sort of way of policing it,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04sometimes, there were shows that would have been good,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06that were kind of ruined by drunken arseholes
0:12:06 > 0:12:11who just weren't heckling well, weren't heckling in a funny way,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15just were persistent in their desire to interrupt the show,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and the audience were too polite
0:12:18 > 0:12:21to punch them in their fucking heads, like they deserved.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27OK, say you're a heckler.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31How do you know whether you're creating a wonderful discourse,
0:12:31 > 0:12:32or if the person next to you
0:12:32 > 0:12:35secretly wants to punch you in the head?
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Enter flawed genius Simon Munnery.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41So, is anyone here from anywhere?
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Anyone ever noticed anything ever?
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Life, don't it drag on?
0:12:47 > 0:12:48Here we are in 2007,
0:12:48 > 0:12:53a prospective heckler decided this was going to be his moment.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55What's that? Tick, tick?
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Are you trying to imply I...
0:12:57 > 0:12:59You were going to try and
0:12:59 > 0:13:00explain a joke to me?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Which joke is that?
0:13:05 > 0:13:06Who's got a minute?
0:13:06 > 0:13:08He's got a minute?
0:13:08 > 0:13:09Has he got a minute?
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Is that how the show works? Each heckler gets a minute?
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Good bloody luck, I think you'd have trouble filling 30 seconds, mate.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Go on, then. What were you trying to say, mate?
0:13:21 > 0:13:26That's not a great heckle, "You're a dick." Oh...
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Are you trying to say I'm a dick?
0:13:28 > 0:13:31'Although it is a good technique'
0:13:31 > 0:13:32if someone heckles you,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34to say back what they've said.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36You think I'm a dick?
0:13:38 > 0:13:39Pretty much?
0:13:39 > 0:13:43It gives you time, so if someone shouts, "Fuck off, you wanker!",
0:13:43 > 0:13:46you go, "Did you say fuck off, you wanker?" And we all know he said that, right?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49And it gives you a little beat as time there,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51"Oh, fuck off, you wanker, yourself.
0:13:51 > 0:13:52"Wank the fuck off."
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Em, just combine some swearwords in a new way
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and they'll call you Oscar Wilde.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Technically, I should have...
0:14:00 > 0:14:01What's that?
0:14:01 > 0:14:02Testicle?
0:14:03 > 0:14:06A syphilitic testicle.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09That is a good... You are, sir, a syphilitic testicle.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12APPLAUSE
0:14:12 > 0:14:16There's a lot of stupid people in the world - you're all of them.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19People like you should be bound and gagged
0:14:19 > 0:14:22and thrown back into the sea so you can evolve a little more,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26at least serve as a warning to any fish nurturing ambitions.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27APPLAUSE
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Yeah, he was definitely a punch in the head heckler.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36And just in case he thought about getting up again...
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Is that the same heckler?
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Now, there is a saying in comedy...
0:14:44 > 0:14:46I can so handle this!
0:14:47 > 0:14:51The idea of heckling is to make the person on stage
0:14:51 > 0:14:53- look like a- BLEEP!
0:14:53 > 0:14:56LAUGHTER
0:14:56 > 0:14:57APPLAUSE
0:14:57 > 0:15:01You kind of think that an audience who paid good money would
0:15:01 > 0:15:03want to kind of meet you half way and enjoy themselves.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06But no, not at one in the morning when they're drunk
0:15:06 > 0:15:10and they're angry and the whole purpose for you being there
0:15:10 > 0:15:11is to win them over.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15That doesn't normally work, it's ridiculous!
0:15:15 > 0:15:17There was an outlaw nature to it, as well, which is
0:15:17 > 0:15:21"I'm gun slinging in the toughest room in the world and I'll fire some jokes!"
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Little did they know where the gun slinging thing went,
0:15:24 > 0:15:25cos it is, like, this tough room
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and I go in there and go, "Some observations."
0:15:28 > 0:15:31"Bang, bang, bang, here's some...whimsy!"
0:15:32 > 0:15:35But how can a comic possibly prepare to deal
0:15:35 > 0:15:38with this kind of late night battle?
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Yes! Late 'n' Live!
0:15:41 > 0:15:42How fuckin' brilliant is this?
0:15:42 > 0:15:47It's do or die, you know, so you're foot is fully on the accelerator.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49You up your FPMs, your fucks per minute.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52So strap in, it's going to be fucking brilliant.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54You're chucking a "C" bomb,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57even though you probably don't use the "C" bomb.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58- You- BLEEP!
0:15:58 > 0:16:01It screws with your timing. Your timing's out the window.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04If you've got something that requires a bit of a pause,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06you'd better shorten that pause down
0:16:06 > 0:16:10because even if you're rocking that gig, there'll be some drunk prick
0:16:10 > 0:16:14who'll just hear a bit of silence and their mouth will open
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and everything you've worked on for the last five minutes is destroyed.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Get in to them quick.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22There was no slow build of the, "Hey, how are you doing?",
0:16:22 > 0:16:26and then exploding. You had to come on at 100mph.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29I would more or less break out into a sprint from the wings
0:16:29 > 0:16:35to the microphone because I thought that if I didn't get that microphone
0:16:35 > 0:16:38within 0.3 seconds, they would start.
0:16:38 > 0:16:39If you give them a gap, they can shout.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42But if you keep talking like this all the time...
0:16:42 > 0:16:44- SPEAKS FAST - "..Fucking bastard... Americans..."
0:16:44 > 0:16:47"Irish"... Then you go, "Thank you, goodnight,"
0:16:47 > 0:16:50and they go, "Shit, didn't get it in, you could have got it in."
0:16:50 > 0:16:52You just go, "No gap, no gap, no gap."
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Even if you don't have anything to say, just go, "Oo-oo-oo-oo!"
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Unfortunately, in comedy, one has to breathe now and again,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and, um...that would be when they would start,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05when you made the mistake of breathing.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Can you imagine if you were an actor and you were doing a play
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and all you can hear is the audience going,
0:17:11 > 0:17:17"Shite, bastards, fuck off, you prick paddy Irish shit head"?
0:17:17 > 0:17:20You know, you'd just go, "I don't think that play's working out."
0:17:20 > 0:17:22But we have to go out!
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Some acts, though, seem to really thrive
0:17:28 > 0:17:32when a gig has a threatening or unpredictable atmosphere.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Case in point, Johnny Vegas.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37When Johnny walks on stage,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39it's time for the audience
0:17:39 > 0:17:40to wonder "Oh, crap,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42"what's going to happen now?"
0:17:44 > 0:17:45HE LAUGHS
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Thank you, mate.
0:17:47 > 0:17:48Fuck off! >
0:17:48 > 0:17:50I've no doubt I will.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54At some point, I will fuck off, but the major difference is,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I'll do it when I decide to.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Which means your insult will fall on stony ground.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03As an audience, it was collectively trying
0:18:03 > 0:18:04to get the better of the comic.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08It wasn't ONE person in the room shouting and you handling them,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11it was the whole room going, "Right, we're taking you on."
0:18:11 > 0:18:13I look at women.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15'My strategy was one, try and be drunker than them.'
0:18:15 > 0:18:18I'm a pervert, love.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19'Which was no mean feat.'
0:18:19 > 0:18:22I'm a pervert and I'm a drunk.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24I'm a social misfit.
0:18:25 > 0:18:26I stink of piss.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29I talk too loud...
0:18:30 > 0:18:34..and I alienate any woman who ever tries to love me.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40But unlike you, you fucker, I'm making a living from it.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43LAUGHTER
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And two, yeah, just show no fear.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50If you want to come up and fight us...
0:18:50 > 0:18:51full contact...
0:18:53 > 0:18:56..it'd be a fucking giggle. LAUGHTER
0:18:56 > 0:18:58Late 'n' Live was basically made for Johnny
0:18:58 > 0:19:00because nine times out of ten,
0:19:00 > 0:19:05if you imagine an audience of Johnny Vegas's, that's...
0:19:05 > 0:19:09you know, it was almost like he was trying to out-drink them.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12You can't shit on me.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15No, you can't shit on me.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Because I have no recollection of why I'm already havin' a go at you.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21LAUGHTER
0:19:21 > 0:19:23That's the beauty of being me.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25APPLAUSE
0:19:25 > 0:19:27He was either terrifyingly drunk,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30the sort of drunkenness that you will never emerge from,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33or he'd just reached the stage where he's always like that,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37because he's drunk so much that he can't ever be sober. I couldn't tell which.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Or I couldn't tell if it was a brilliant drunk act.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Even now, if you meet Johnny Vegas, you're not quite sure.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Anyway, he got on stage and got people to chuck coins at him.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49In this gig, where the drunk audience aim to take control,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51the question is, "Who's in control now?"
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Now, you all must have some loose change.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58This is a little song I'd like to sing
0:19:58 > 0:20:01while you try and maim us with coins.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04# All of me
0:20:04 > 0:20:09# Why not take all of me? #
0:20:09 > 0:20:13I was just watching coins pinging off a fat man's exposed torso,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16thinking, "It's not exactly comedy, I don't know what it is really,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19"It's more like a sort of medieval rite, or something."
0:20:19 > 0:20:24We'll be fuckin' rich at this rate, with a sweet, sweet, sweet.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25Missed me, didn't ya?
0:20:25 > 0:20:31I'd been to a working man's club in the North East
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and they got, like, the three biggest alcys up to sing
0:20:34 > 0:20:38and as they sing, the audience would just hurl money at them.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41The whole room. And it'd be bouncing off them,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and the organist put his jacket up, playing like that.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47It was just the most surreal thing.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And then, at the end, they gave them a brush and they got to brush up
0:20:51 > 0:20:56and keep whatever was thrown at them during the performance.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59And I remember just thinking...
0:20:59 > 0:21:05it was the saddest thing, one of the saddest things I'd ever witnessed.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07That'd be great for Johnny.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09# All of me
0:21:09 > 0:21:14# Why not take all of me?
0:21:14 > 0:21:17# With a song in my heart... #
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Under pretty much any other circumstance,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21that's the behaviour of a tramp.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23It's not...it's not funny.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27It's not even, you know, watchable, but in the right circumstance,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29if the environment's been fostered correctly,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32you can be raised to high art.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38You cannot possibly follow that. Well, actually, yes, we can.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41We finish tonight with a performance
0:21:41 > 0:21:42that has gone down
0:21:42 > 0:21:44as Late 'n' Live legend.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Now, like all legends, it involves
0:21:46 > 0:21:48a bit of blood, a bit of gore
0:21:48 > 0:21:49and it happened
0:21:49 > 0:21:51many, many years ago.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52Ladies and gentlemen,
0:21:52 > 0:21:57please let me introduce a brand-new fledgling comic, Russell Brand.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I've never seen this guy, I've heard a lot about him.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03A big round of applause for Russell Brand.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09'I had an inkling it would not be a productive or helpful'
0:22:09 > 0:22:12or spiritually enriching experience,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14but like most of the things I was doing at that time,
0:22:14 > 0:22:15I thought, it will be
0:22:15 > 0:22:18some kind of buzz, it will be a feeling,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23so I did it for that. I thought, "Yes, this'll be, like, visceral."
0:22:23 > 0:22:27To tell you truth, right, I ain't written no jokes or nothing,
0:22:27 > 0:22:31so I thought what I'd do is I'd come on and be sweetly endearing
0:22:31 > 0:22:33like the old Andrex puppy, look.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36No-one can resist the old Andrex puppy,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37"Oh, what will I get up to next?"
0:22:37 > 0:22:41'I was early on my journey as a comedian and probably done'
0:22:41 > 0:22:4420 or 30 gigs or something, but, like, I was up for it.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47The reason that I did this was cos I thought, like,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50"Oh, Late 'n' Live, that's the pit of hostility and hatred."
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Fuck off! >
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Hello! Now we're talking.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01OK, so no material, but surely nobody would really turn up
0:23:01 > 0:23:03at Late 'n' Live completely unprepared?
0:23:05 > 0:23:09What I remember is, I think I'd seen the film Man In The Moon
0:23:09 > 0:23:12and thought, "Situationism, that's what I'm going to do.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14"Yet another way of avoiding writing material
0:23:14 > 0:23:16"is I'll be like a situationist."
0:23:16 > 0:23:18What?
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Situationist comedy, now...
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Isn't that when you deliberately provoke the audience
0:23:23 > 0:23:25with sometimes kind of dangerous stunts?
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Obviously, I haven't done a good impression of a psychopath for you.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Oh, ah-ha, it is.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Let's give you people psychopath, yeah?
0:23:35 > 0:23:37Let's have psychopath.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Had sort of like bags of blood taped around my body
0:23:39 > 0:23:42and I thought, this is going to be like a hostile thing.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46There's nothing you can do. Face it, head on.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!
0:23:50 > 0:23:54OK. You've punctuated the mediocrity.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56I've been Russell Brand. Thank you.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00BOOING
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Yep, that's them provoked, all right.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09What I remember is then going back out
0:24:09 > 0:24:15and in amongst all the boos, one voice just went, "More!"
0:24:15 > 0:24:17AUDIENCE: More!
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Would you like a bit more of Russell Brand?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23And fair play, I remember looking backstage at Russell and going...
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And fair play to him, he went, "Yeah, all right."
0:24:26 > 0:24:27He went along with the joke.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29BOOING
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Oh, man, can that audience even be any more provoked?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Hmm. Looks like they can.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40As a comedian, what do you want? You want people to laugh and to love you.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44To knowingly walk into a situation where that's highly unlikely,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47that was an incredibly self-destructive thing to do.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49- AUDIENCE MEMBER:- Fuck off and die!
0:24:49 > 0:24:53I will eventually. The decades will pass, but when I die,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57it won't be in poverty, and I'll have people eating at my cock.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02I don't think anyone has actually been killed at Late 'n' Live, but people wanted to fight.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05At that point, the stage was here facing the audience.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08On the right hand side, there was a corridor that went back stage
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and I was sitting in that corridor with Fiona O'Loughlin,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14who's from Alice Springs, who was the next comedian on.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16So we could hear all this.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18I mean, I'm nervous anyway before a gig, before any gig,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20but this was beyond nerves.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25This was a like a blind, total...
0:25:25 > 0:25:27catatonic fear.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29BOOING
0:25:29 > 0:25:34As Russell ducked a shower of abuse and various missiles,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38lovely Aussie comic Fiona O'Loughlin waited backstage,
0:25:38 > 0:25:40unaware that Russell's first performance
0:25:40 > 0:25:45was about to make her own debut pretty unforgettable too.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Stop it, Russell! Rewind, rewind!
0:25:52 > 0:25:54And then this glass was thrown.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Yeah, Late 'n' Live! Woo-hoo!
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Oh! That was it.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04But it just happened to cross the stage and go down the corridor
0:26:04 > 0:26:06and smashed into the wall opposite us.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09A friggin' glass smashes
0:26:09 > 0:26:14and somehow, a shard of it finds its way up a stairwell and into my leg.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20I'm quite capable of certainly... "Please, God, that's over."
0:26:20 > 0:26:23..WAS capable of creating that dynamic
0:26:23 > 0:26:26in relatively friendly pub gigs in Kent.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30Where people are just, "Oh, hello, young man, thanks for coming down."
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Some of us have to leave those places with a police escort,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37so, like, for me, it was just making external the chaos
0:26:37 > 0:26:39that I was creating everywhere.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42So whilst I'm not trying to diminish Late 'n' Live
0:26:42 > 0:26:45as this phenomena that's incredibly sort of intense and unique,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48that's what my life was like pretty much every day!
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Adam Hills!
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Woo-hoo! Perrier nominee.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55JEERING
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Do you know what I feel? I feel like someone's mum coming home
0:27:07 > 0:27:09after a party going, "What have you kids been doing?!"
0:27:09 > 0:27:13And as Adam Hills was introducing me,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I was literally pulling a chunk of glass out of my leg.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21I literally did have blood pouring down my leg as I went on.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25- SHE LAUGHS - Thank you. Gees, this is scary.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27'They'd just had a kill.'
0:27:27 > 0:27:28So scary!
0:27:28 > 0:27:31You know, they'd got blood.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33They've had their taste of blood, you know,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37'and I was afforded just a bit of silence.'
0:27:37 > 0:27:41And I'm a poor person and these pants cost me money.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It was only the next day, I was walking down the Royal Mile
0:27:44 > 0:27:46and this guy comes up to me
0:27:46 > 0:27:50and goes, "Were you the girl that was stabbed at Late 'n' Live?"
0:27:50 > 0:27:53- SHE LAUGHS - I say, "Yeah, that's me.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56"I was stabbed at Late 'n' Live."
0:27:56 > 0:27:59But you know what makes the best kind of legends?
0:27:59 > 0:28:02They always have a proper happy ending.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05If anything, it probably expediated my journey
0:28:05 > 0:28:07to not taking drugs any more.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Probably expediated my journey to write material.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Take this a bit more seriously.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Next time, see what happened to stand-up comedy greats
0:28:16 > 0:28:20when they performed at Late 'n' Live for the very first time.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23They're going, "Oh, what's all this?"
0:28:23 > 0:28:27and I went to say "Hello" and they went, "Fuck off!"
0:28:41 > 0:28:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:44 > 0:28:47E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk