NAME/STAGENAME
Darren Henwwood. That is my stage name.
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS CALL YOU?
Darren. Growing up Henwood got turned into chicken forest by some kids at school. My mom told me when she was pregnant she had a dream she was chasing me across the garden. She was shouting “Darren!!!” after this imaginary child. So the name was dreamt up by my mother.
HOMETOWN
Hamilton. The one in the UKis shittier than the one in Canada. Everyone says “But Hamilton is so shitty!” and I’m like, trust me, our Hamilton is more shitty than your Hamilton. My friend describes Hamiliton as "10, 000 places to live and not one reason to live there." I guess Hamiltons all over the world suck, but there’s one in Bermuda which I imagine is quite nice.
SIGN
Capricorn. As is my wife. And we are like two goats going at at it all the time. (PUN)
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE GAME?
I started comedy in about 2001. I started doing it again last year. I realized that, it’s a lot easier to write material when you’re 28 rather than like 19, because you have the life experience to put into your material. In Glasgow I learned stage craft like how to use a mic stand, how to be onstage, how to not get too nervous before a gig. When I came to Canada I actually started writing my first proper material.
HOW DID YOU START OUT?
It was downstairs at a comedy night that a friend of a friend ran. I was really nervous the first time but the buzz you get after doing it! Even if your nervous and you have a shit gig, you can’t think of anything except getting back up there and trying it again.
WHAT MAKES YOU FUNNY? Morgan, says I’m the best person he’s ever met at insulting people. I can insult people very, very, very well. Then I just figured if I turn insults about other people into insults about myself that’s funnier.
WHAT IS YOUR DAY JOB?
I have worked for the past 10 years in fashion retail, whereby I sell very overpriced Italian jeans to silly little girls who have the money pay for them.
WORST THING ABOUT BEING A COMEDIAN
In the UK there is money to be made quite easily, in Montreal there’s no money. I asked a semi pro comedian, Montreal based comedian, what is the next step and his advice was “Get a car, get some money and get the fuck out of Montreal.”
FAVOURITE CLUB AND WHY?
The coolest comedy night I’ve ever been too has to be Too Much. The thing I loved about Too Much was that at any given week, you’d have maybe 10 acts on, but there be 20 comedians there. Comedians didn’t turn up cause they wanted time, or because they wanted their egos to be stroked, they just turned because they wanted to see people. It was like a members club. You shot the shit with people in the profession. It was a nice, relaxed, non-judgemental atmosphere, which is what I’m trying to do downstairs. (LOWDOWN COMEDY IS AWESOME!)
IF YOU WE'RE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONLY ONE OTHER COMEDIAN WHO WOULD IT BE?
I’m sure that If I took Morgan O’Shea, he'd still be able to find a drug connection, so that’s kind of a winner.
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
I like shock comedy not just as shock comedy but for being a format where you’re able to say anything. It’s honestly the last true bastion of free speech, where you can say almost anything on stage depending on the context. I like the kind of jokes that make people feel uncomfortable but aren’t designed to be aggressive. If you can’t laugh about these things then you don’t deserve to be at acomedy night anyway.
WHAT IS NOT FUNNY?
Ordinary, mundane things. I don’t even remember who it was but he was talking about when you get to the end of a packet of crisps (or a bag of chips), and you cant get the little bits at the end? And the audience were all in stitches thinking of themselves with their big fat fingers trying to get the little tiny bits. In the UK, people would be like ‘Yeah, we know. That was the punch line? To make the audience realize how stupid and fat and pathetic they all are?’ Some people are just not putting enough thought and effort into their jokes.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN BRITISH HUMOUR?
We have a lot cleverer use of the language; Americans like to use visual representations of what they’re doing. In Britain the next step for comedians is to write comedy books. Americans make comedy films. They have a history of SNL, where comedians come up through that sort of sketch forum. We used to do comedy on radio before stand-up comedy even existed in America, and people didn’t have the visual element. It was all based on what they were saying.
WHAT'S WITH THE AWKWARDNESS IN BRITISH HUMOUR?
We’re happy laughing at ourselves in an apologetic manner. British comedians are like “Everyone else is much cleverer than me. I’m really sorry and this is possibly funny…” We were the last superpower. The awkwardness comes out of a sense of British repentance for the history of our country. You'll see it in America. They will have the most self-deprecating humour in the next 20 years, out of what’s happened in the last twenty .
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEW PEOPLE?
If you’re new to the world , keep breathing, eat some food. If you’re new to comedy, keep trying don’t let any one person tell you you’re bad. If it’s a group of people, take that feedback not in a way that makes you stop but in a way that makes you analyze your own material. And yeah, you're funny, but it’s not a case of being funny once or twice in your life. The people who get spots at the clubs have been funny 5 or 600 times. They get to the point where the club owners feel comfortable having them. Some people have to pay their dues. But someone who is 19, and is hilariously funny should have more advantage over someone who has been at it for 20 years and isn’t funny.
WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL SUICIDE?
Panic. Panic onstage. I was at the stand in Glasgow. I looked down in the front row, and there’s Irvine Welsh the guy who wrote trainspotting. This is the early 2000’s and he was a really big pulp icon at the time particularly because he’s Scottish. I saw him in the front row and completely or got my set!
WHAT ARE THE HAZARDS OF THE JOB?
It’s very easy to get caught up in living your life at night, and hanging around after hours and drinking loads. Lots of comedians will say they can’t live their lives normally any more. They can’t approach a normal social situation the same cause you’re always trying to look for a good bit.
IF YOU WERE IN A BAND, WHAT KIND OF BAND WOULD IT BE AND WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT?
It would be a Kayleigh band, traditional Scottish music. What would it be called? Don’t know, uh... (Cranes around desperately searching for an idea,) Uh…Yellow Wire at the Window? If I were in a band I’d be like the drummer in the Rolling Stones, everyone knows Keith and Mick, but little Charlie sits there in the back playing his little drums. He’s been married to the same woman the whole way through, been like the one who’s kind of decent and he’s probably going to die first!
HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH NEW MATERIAL?
I carry a book around and take note of the things I see in the street or the odd conversation. I have a very limited life. All of the starving troubled comedians I know, who lake loads of drugs, and get really drunk and find themselves in situations like ”Man, this one time I woke up in dumpster and I had no idea how I got there. All I knew was that my pants were missing and this girl owed me 5 dollars…”, And I’m like “Yeah, I went home with my wife and we put on Law and Order, and went to bed. I woke up the next morning with no pants, but then my wife said they’re in the wardrobe…”
IF YOU COULD BRING ONE COMEDIAN BACK FROM THE DEAD, WHO WOULD IT BE?
Jerry Lewis! I know he’s still alive. He’s kind of screw ball, and dated but I really like that someone that ridiculous could be friends with the rat pack.
Darren runs the coolest comedy night in the city, THE LOWDOWN COMEDY SHOW. Like his page at Lowdown Comedy on Facebook and learn show dates and details.
