‘The first gig I did was in July 2010 at Drones Comedy Club at Chapter in Cardiff. I’d met Clint (Edwards) on his panel show Panel 9 From Outer Space. I was writing loads of comedy reviews for Buzz Magazine and he got me on as a journalist.
'I said to him that I’d thought about doing stand-up and he just opened his diary and put a date in at Drones about 3 months later. So I had to do it. I met up with Dan Mitchell a few times and he gave me lots of advice ahead of that first gig.
'The gig was good I think. I remember rushing quite a lot. The closing bit from it I still used about 3 years on. Either it was a good bit or I was just very lazy.’
Flash-forward a few years from that first gig and Robin Morgan‘s cultivation of an on-stage persona that is at once warm and witty, but equally intelligent, cheeky ('I’m like a naughty school-boy') and sharp as a tack. Robin’s audience-work is second to none, thanks in no small part to the fact that he hosts the double Chortle award-winning Buffalo Comedy Club in Cardiff every month.
In 2014 Robin was a Laughing Horse New Act Finalist. Having cut his teeth in his home town of Cardiff, almost 2 years ago Robin made a permanent move down the M4 to London. How’s life in the big city treating him?
‘The streets are paved with gold. And chewing gum. In equal measure.’
Was London always part of the masterplan?
‘I always wanted to move to London. I’d go down to do a 5-min spot and then I’d be on the last Megabus back to Cardiff. Then I had a really good gig at Downstairs at the Kings Head in 2013. I thought, well maybe I am just about good enough to do stand-up there but I didn’t really have enough paid gigs in the diary.
Then in 2014 I had enough paid work for about 3 months and my partner was looking for teaching jobs in London.’
Did the move give Robin‘s stand-up trajectory a boost?
‘I’d say that being here does help. You are seen by the right kinds of people. I always thought I could stay in Cardiff and do it full-time but I’m not so sure. I think that moving to London shows that you are taking it seriously in a way. With the number of gigs here you can gig every night, and with that kind of frequency you are only ever going to get better.
'In terms of the industry: the agents, the radio producers, if it isn’t based here then it is based in Edinburgh. You can easily not live in London and have an amazing Edinburgh but I think if you don’t have a reputation in London it would seem strange that people would go to your show in Edinburgh.’
Speaking of which Robin is preparing his debut hour as the Edinburgh Fringe draws closer.
‘Last year I did a half hour on my own. It was a cheat and a practice, and it was invaluable. Just doing elongated sets every day was really useful. When I was previewing it as well I didn’t want to make it like a 30-minute club set, I wanted to give it a story as well so writing for that was very useful. That made me a lot better.
'This year Robin Morgan Freeman is a show based on one true story. I went to New York with my partner and planned to propose to her. All I hoped was that she would say yes. That didn’t happen.
'It is a show about conformity and generational differences - all wrapped up within that one story.’
For all-things Robin Morgan visit www.robinjmorgan.co.uk
