Talking with Stephen K. Amos

Stephen K. Amos is one of those guys you could never be angry with – or at least never stay angry with. His impish grin and willingness to make a fool of himself and others “just for a laugh” completely disarms the most finicky of audiences. AussieTheatre.com's Christina Cass caught up with the lovable larrikin....

Stephen, a die-hard Londoner, is in Australia performing in his third Adelaide Fringe before bringing his new show, More of Me, to the Melbourne Comedy Festival, also for the third straight year. I was lucky to catch his sold-out show at the Lithuanian Club during the Melbourne Fringe last September and I leapt at the opportunity to interview one of the funniest, nicest comedians I’ve seen in a long time.

I was struck by how open and observant and personal he was. In such a critical, judgemental era we now live in, I was surprised at how effortlessly he managed to make us, the audience, laugh at ourselves, and that’s exactly why his shows are usually sold out. People love being called on their crap – especially Aussies. When I asked Stephen why he keeps coming back, he talks of the “great audiences and great friends” he’s made here. “The Aussies have really opened their hearts and minds to me – it’s amazing," he said.

Are the audiences here really so different from those in England? “Yes! There are tons of comedians and clubs in Britain and far less in Australia so I’m very pleased to travel all this way for such appreciate audiences.”

So what makes More of Me more special?

“More of Me is my autobiography. Myself. It’s about the reasons we arrive at decisions in life and why we might not understand until later on why. But no matter what, we’re better people for exploring.”

Stephen, himself, was in law school when a friend encouraged him to do some stand-up because “people thought I was hilarious. The first show in South London was great! All my friends were there so I got lots of laughs. They knew me and my sense of humour, but the second show was just awful. No friends in the audience. I learned then you have to have a plan when you go onstage.”

I guess that means just don’t walk up there – even if you’re naturally funny – and start cutting up.

“No. You have to have structure and narrative. It must be there.”

Otherwise you’re ripe fodder for hecklers, right? Have you ever had a heckler you couldn’t handle?

Stephen laughs, “Not in a long time. You can’t let them bother you, you just have to let it go.”

Clearly Stephen’s plan is working. He’s been collaborating with Hugh Sington for three years and his audiences have been steadily growing. He has performed sell-out seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe, shows at the Amsterdam Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival and Glastonbury. Stephen also recently starred in the hit season of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in Edinburgh and London 's West End.

He also has a series of television appearances behind him including a guest appearance in 2006 on Channel 10's Thank God You're Here. Despite all this exposure, he was still taken aback at being recognized on the streets of Adelaide recently. “Just the other day I got mobbed ‘Hey! You’re that guy!’ I can’t believe how popular that show is and that people recognized me from it. I hope to do it again.”

So, a man who became an ‘accidental’ comedian must have influences. He replied that he didn’t necessarily have one influential comedian to look up to, but he admires Richard Pryor’s work as well as Ross Noble, Mavis Higgins and Andrew Stanley. Not familiar with the latter three, he replies jokingly they’re “Irish who wanted to be British.” Pushing for more information on this man to give me insight into what to expect from More of Me, he only revealed his most memorable book and movie, “Anything by Maya Angelou” and “That movie Oprah was in… The Color Purple.”

It looks like we’ll have to the see the show in person to get more personal with Stephen. It seems that he’s very proud of More of Me and if he can get “everyone to think at the end of the show, that’d be great.” Hmm, sounds a bit like Oprah influence….

More of Me
Venue: RMIT Capitol Theatre
Dates: 5th - 29th April (not Mondays), Previews 5th -8th April
Tickets: Sun - Thu Adults $28.00 Conc $24.00, Fri - Sat Adults $32.00 Conc. $28.00, Previews & Tightarse Tues $25.00
Times: 10:00pm (Sundays 9:00pm)
Bookings: Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 136 166