Danielle Krage:

Today I have Aalex Mandel Dallal with me. Aalex is a writer and comedian, and in the world of comedy, it’s Aalex spelt with a double A, which I love. That’s really fun. So, Aalex, let’s start there. When and why did you decide on the double A?

Aalex:

Hi, so the AA came for quite a few reasons. Firstly, it’s how my dad says my name. My dad’s from Iraq, and the way that he says my name is pronounced Aaaaaalex. And growing up it was an ongoing joke with my friends that whenever they called the home phone and he answered he was like Aaaalex, trying to get my attention in the house. Because that’s how old I am. I had a home phone. And then when I was developing everything, when I was writing more and performing, there’s  always a lot of Alexs. So to kind of differentiate myself, I’ve called myself, I’ve given myself two A’s. And then also that puts me higher up in searches as well. And that’s being totally transparent. Yeah.

Danielle Krage:

That’s smart, I love it. And Aalex, I know you through watching your solo comedy show, Let She Be, which is a super interesting show that we’re going to really dig into. But before we dive into that, is there anything else that people should know about you and your connections to creating comedy?

Aalex:

So I think in terms of things that people should know, they should come to see me.

Danielle Krage:

Yes.

Aalex:

I perform a lot. And then most of my material is personal development based, because that’s what I feel like I know a lot about. And then most of my shows are in relation to subjects and things like self reflections that I’ve had. It’s based on that.

Danielle Krage:

I think that’s super interesting. I really took that away from your show, Let She Be, all the themes that are linked to self-development. And I know it’s such a keen interest of yours. And I know that also the self-development started before your interest in comedy. So I’m really curious, how did you get from that exploration into comedy? Because that interest could have gone in many different directions. So why was it comedy that became the route?

Aalex:

So I think if I were to go back, I go into lockdown. In lockdown I did a lot of, well I got put on furlough from the job I was in. I was working in hospitality. I got put on furlough and suddenly I had all of this, I inherited all of this time. And that was my opportunity to just kind of be like, who am I? And what’s going on? Because I think at that point I was a bit lost in my career and what I was doing. Weirdly, it was hard to say, to refer to it as a blessing in disguise, but that’s what, like the inherited time was. It was like a gift. And in that time I looked at myself, my values, things that I cared about, my passions, and everything kind of pointed to comedy. I dabbled before, and then I just kind of assessed everything in my life. And then it just kept on going back to comedy. Anything to do with my values or anything like that, I was able to connect everything to comedy because it can be so reflective and you have to be so self aware. And I realised then that it was a gift that we just keep giving – without sounding incredibly cheesy which I do.

Danielle Krage:

Oh no, I don’t think that’s cheesy at all. And when you say that comedy for you is that space of being able to be self-reflective, what does that look like for you? Because for example, there may be lots of people who are interested in self-development who journal or who keep a diary or who kind of ask themselves different reflective questions, but that doesn’t then get you to comedy. So how did you get to comedy? That’s such an interesting starting point, but what do you think it was for you that meant that then you could get to the place where you’re at now. Where you do live spots of five and 10 minute material, You have this fully developed narrative show that you’ve already taken to Edinburgh. What do you think are some of those steps, craft-wise, that get you from that sort of introspection to something that you can then share? I know that’s a really big question, so you can come at it from any way you want to.

Aalex:

I’ll probably, I’ll 100% go on a tangent as well, because that’s the way my brain works.

Danielle Krage:

Go for it. I love a tangent.

Aalex:

I don’t think that, I mean everyone will come to different conclusions when self-reflecting but you have to be totally honest with yourself, and I think that because I had so much time to think in lockdown I was just, there was a lot of, there were so many ‘who am I’ moments. I kept on going back to me realising that,  I was constantly thinking… like… what is something that I do in every situation?  It was always trying to make people laugh, most of the time. Well at that point I was in a corporate job as well and I was like, what made that job and what made me enjoy the job the most, was when I was in like… I found myself in like a boardroom with people that were all doing serious business things. And just cracking jokes to them. And then I was like… oh there’s something in that and then that is what is kept me going, making me want to go back to comedy.

Danielle Krage:

What are some of the steps that mean that you can go from that sort of quite private introspective process, for example, if it is journaling or being self-reflective… to being able to literally stand up on a stage and share it, which is super scary. What does that process look like? For you to be able to make it something that’s then externalised?

Aalex:

So yeah, the process is… I think everyone’s got their own process and the way that they process moments that happen in their life. But now with comedy what I do is I write notes. Like if something, even if it doesn’t necessarily have to be funny, if something significant happens in my life, I’ll usually keep going back to it. The notes come when I, actually the notes probably mostly come when I notice, observe something that’s quite funny. And I take a note of it and then I’ll go back to it later. Usually when big things happen, I will intend to write about them But I have to process them first. That’s something that I learned when writing Let She Be.

Originally Let She Be was an idea for a show that…in lockdown I just wanted to make a show. I was like that’s gonna be my goal. I want to be a comedian and I want to create a show. I want to take it to Edinburgh. That was the only idea. There was no premise And then the only premise that came to mind was a girl living alone in lockdown, because I did live alone. Girl living alone in lockdown, that slowly loses her mind. And it was just like I went on my own personal journey because I had so much time alone. I don’t think I emphasised before that I lived alone. Most people had time to self-reflect, but with a partner or a flatmate or a family member. But I really did have just a lot of time on my own.

It actually ended up in me having what I call on reflection, a lockdown breakdown, which happened one night when lockdown was easing and a friend came over. And I just had like this outburst of emotions and really like kind of big, I don’t know, I call it a big cry.

It just really does depend on the way that you look at the situation, but that’s what the show is about because the moment happened. I was developing a show. I didn’t know what that show was. Six months later I listened back to… at the time of it happening, what I need to emphasize is that I recorded it and that was very much a personal development thing, because in that moment it felt like my truth.

So I thought that recording was the way to kind of reflect on it and understand it better, at a later stage. And then when I did listen back to it six months later, I realised I had had time to kind of heal and then I realised at that moment that it wasn’t as serious and like really, really like personal. And there wasn’t so much pain in there and so there was a lot of humour in it. And that goes back to I guess what I was saying before, where there’s a kind of humour in everything I’m doing, even when I’m having a little breakdown.

Yeah, so that was the process for that, but it took six months to listen back to it. Then I did a… the mad thing was like, so I had listened back to it in July and then booked in to get a group of people into a room when we could –  in August, I think 2021 – which was what I call the work in progress, which at that point… I didn’t even know what work in progress was. I thought you just performed a show and that was it, which is so naive. But I really did think that and then yeah so the work in progress was chaos and it was me just playing that recording out to an audience full of a combination of strangers who just wanted to be out,  and who are friends of friends, and my friends, and my members at my job because I work front of house at a co-working space. So I invited a lot of my members which was a very bold move considering the nature of the show and what I was doing. So that was my way of making a step in a time that I couldn’t actually, everything was so limited in terms of performing stand-up, I took matters into my own hands and just put on my own show in a, it was actually essentially just an empty room and I made it into, used a light in there as a light for a stage and then we just arranged the chairs so it looked like it was meant to be a venue for comedy, when really it was just an event space that was at that moment hardly used at all because we couldn’t have any events. Long-winded answer but maybe answering your question hopefully.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, totally. And that was a bold move, which I love. And I have so many questions about that event because I still think it’s just an incredible leap, which I love. Like this leap of courage, leap of boldness, leap of faith to go and make that show and share it in that way. What do you, if you’re thinking about the you that liked cracking jokes, when you were in the conference room…I’m curious about where that impulse comes from – whether it’s breaking the tension, or play, or bringing a different energy. What that is? And what the impetus was also to actually share your show and not keep it as something that’s private. What made you really want to do that? And are they the same thing? So it’s kind of a multi-layered question. What do you think it was that was making the Aalex in the conference room want to crack those jokes? And what do you think it was that made the Aalex want to share what could be very private material with strangers and coworkers?

Aalex:

I think that it’s two separate things but it’s also the same. So the jokes in the conference situation, that would usually happen when… I felt maybe socially uncomfortable or just generally uncomfortable like I was in the wrong place because what my default would be to make me feel like I’m in the right place… would be to crack a joke because then I’m suddenly like, oh they’re laughing therefore they’re at ease and I’m at ease because they’re laughing in that situation. I don’t know if that’s clear but yeah I think that’s what I… have always tried to do or always ended up doing in some way, shape or form, even if it’s like being told to create a formal form for something and then putting like a weird pun in it. Or like…a sign, like if you’re like, ‘ oh, can you tell people to wash up their dishes?’ It’s like, oh, let’s put a pun in it. Let’s make it silly. Let’s personify the sink, you know?

So the listening back, so the lockdown breakdown is how I’ve chosen to refer to it. And the decision to play it out to an audience, or several audiences, was when I was just like… that is my truth. There’s no, there is no other, it was like the rawest form of me. Like in the moment when it happened it was me and one friend in the room, and I have edited it – you’re not just going to get, there’s a lot of tears – so it’s not just like the whole thing. But it just felt like the only thing that I could do in that moment.

And I think before that I had told people that it had happened and that I had recorded it and they were like, that’s a mad thing to do. And I was like, yeah, it was, I guess. But then the choice to actually play it out only came… I think I set the goal of getting everyone into a room beforehand. Of getting everyone in for the work in progress. I had it booked in. And then I listened to the recording and I was like, oh my gosh, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to play this out because even if it didn’t become the show, that moment in that room would have been really significant for me because I think I would have pushed my boundaries and I think everything was a fair bit easier after that –  because I did that. And also bear in mind the timescale because it was in lockdown and I really remember that room because everyone just wanted to be entertained. because we’d all been locked up for so long.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah. And this is not an easy question, but what kind of craft do you think you’re bringing to it, or sort of energy or structure do you think you’re bringing to it, to set the context for it being something that is entertaining, as opposed to say something that is intrusive or just painful? What kind of things do you think you’re doing as a comedian? Because I’ve seen your show and I can definitely see that you’re… making it easy for us to laugh in a way that if we didn’t have any context, or we didn’t have you facilitating it, it could just be painful. How do you think you act as a bridge on stage to let us know that it’s okay to laugh and to point us in the direction of the funny?

Aalex:

I can think of a really good way of explaining how I think I’ve done this, or how I try to do that, is from a huge mistake that I made in one of the work in progress that I did. So after the first one… the first work in progress was a success. Even because it was so raw and it just had to be live. It had to be reactive. And then I did another work in progress shortly after that, maybe a month or two after that. And I didn’t give the audience, I don’t know what I did, and I recorded it, but even looking back, it’s just…I didn’t really communicate what was about to happen. Most importantly, I didn’t give the audience permission to laugh. It felt like before I played it out, I just didn’t set it up properly. So what that was, was me playing my breakdown to a room full of people, but not setting it up. So therefore I had a load of people feeling incredibly uncomfortable and in many ways triggered. And people still talk to me who came to that show, about that show. It was just like, wow, that was that was a lot.

And it was, it really was. Giving people permission to laugh is something that I’ll emphasise, but it’s not necessarily being like, hello audience, I give you permission to laugh. It’s saying like… this happened to me, this is my personal experience, I’ve reflected on it and I’ve chosen to play this out for essentially the audience’s comic relief. I think that the advantage that I feel that I’m at is the self-reflection and all that work that I have tried to do and the things that I’ve learnt to hopefully be able to communicate that to an audience so that they can maybe reflect on their…or I think the way that I refer to it when writing the show description was… give audiences a sense of relief for their wobblies, hopefully.

And that’s very ambitious because… especially when talking about mental health, mental health is incredibly important to me. But something that I am able to talk about. So like if I’m processing something or something’s happening to me in that moment, I will be quite honest and talk to people about it. And that’s not something that people can always do. And that’s not to say like, not to the point where it makes people uncomfortable. But I think that I am able to do that. So if I’m able to do that to strangers and to people on stage, hopefully, I hope that that will give them permission. To feel like they can talk about something that maybe felt like they couldn’t talk about before, if that makes sense. Does that answer the question?

Danielle Krage:

Totally.

Danielle Krage:

And for people that haven’t seen your show, I think it might be helpful to give an example of something within the tape that you were able to find funny in hindsight. So is there an example, I don’t mean like having to give an exact line or anything, but is there something that you could share about, at the time it felt… potentially one way, but then looking back and playing the tape, you’re able to frame it a different way for us… that we could be like, oh, it’s quite funny that I did or said this or had this take. What would be an example of that?

Aalex:

Um, like I said, the thing about the tape, or the recording of it… it was super random. Like the things that went through my mind in that moment, there was just, it was very surreal in that I would be talking about one thing one minute and then I’d start talking, like analysing the game of football the next. Because I was not, because I was in a crazy headspace. And there is one point where I was specifically talking about… I think I was specifically talking about one thing and I was leaning into that thing and I was really getting upset about that one thing and just getting very upset and talking about it. And then I hear a dog barking in the background, which really happened. And then I just start, and then because my brain is in like in intense crying, everything is upsetting me mode, I then started talking about how much I want a dog, how sad I was that I didn’t have a dog, how I couldn’t have a dog because I didn’t have a partner, but I really wanted a dog. But I can’t. And then I just kept going and it was just me crying my eyes out about how I really wanted a dog So that was like a specific moment in it. Wait, I think I’ve lost track of the question. I do that a lot. I’m very sorry.

Danielle Krage:

No, it totally makes sense. Because I was asking about what would be an example that would show how you can put your finger on why… like how you reframe something as something that’s funny. And like you say, I think there is something in that randomness, the undercutting… that you were really deep into one thing. and then like how our brains can work sometimes under pressure, it’s almost like, oh, squirrel! There’s a dog! Oh!

Aalex:

Yeah.

Danielle Krage:

Oh! And here’s all the reasons why the dog… and now we’re talking about the dog. Let’s talk about the partner too. And that’s like…that pile on, at the time can be so painful. But when we zoom out, it does seem like quite a funny random pattern. That the brain is capable of being so intensely focused and passionate about something else, and then doing a complete 90 degrees and being somewhere else. So I think maybe in seeing those random patterns as well, there could be some real fun in that.

Aalex:

Yeah, but honestly the most incredible thing, the most powerful thing about the whole experience of doing this, and I’m now taking it to Edinburgh again this year but in a different format, with a different name as well. It’s still talking about this, still working around the specific recording but I’m at a different point in my life now where I’m reflecting on it, which is something I’ll talk about in a second, but what I have found, the most powerful thing was the conversations that I’ve had with audience members afterwards, where they’ve been like… I can just totally relate. Or they’ve said …you’ve really spoken to me. Or that exact thing happened to me in lockdown. I get that all the time. Like I had this moment with this same thing. I feel seen is what a lot of people have said. And I was so glad because in that moment you do feel incredibly alone like when something like that is happening to you. And that’s pretty incredible. And then, so that’s another reason that I’m doing it. Like that comes from sharing it.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, there’s so many things I want to ask you about there. And the first one though is that you mentioned that you’ve already taken it to Edinburgh and you mentioned that the show, you’re still continuing to work on it. And I’m curious about the title change as well. I wanted to ask you about the original title. So let’s start with the title first. What made you pick the original title? And do you know what the new title is going to be? Or are you testing out possibilities?

Aalex:

I’ve got both. So the simple answer to that question is that one made sense and one did not.

Danielle Krage:

Okay.

Aalex:

So the original title is called Let She Be. And Let She Be was an amalgamation of sayings because I tend to get things mixed up in my head. So leave her be, let it happen and let it be. And then, but she isn’t in there. Which is crazy. So it’s just like, it doesn’t quite make sense. But explaining that at the beginning of the show actually became a huge part of the show. I think when I was doing the application. And when I was trying to think about what the title of the show would be… it made you think like what’s… I was thinking about various different things like a combination of….what is the show and how do I sell it? But I don’t think I did either of those things with the original title. But I think that’s funny in itself because that’s life that happens, that you’re not going to do your first show isn’t going to be exactly what you want it to be. But you would hope for a title that makes sense. Hence why the next title is called Break It Down. Yeah so that’s what I’ve called it. Aalex Mandel Dallal – Break it Down. And then there’ll be friends at the show as well so it’s Break it Down with Friends And then that’s also very much what happens in the show as well. So very simple. I tend to over complicate things in my head, hence the title Let She Be so the Break it Down really does what it says on the tin.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, okay, that’s great. Thank you for sharing that with us. And why else do you think you’re so interested in continuing to work on this show? And the context that I ask that in is that sometimes, and from talking to other people who are creating shows, it can seem like once you’ve taken a show to Edinburgh, there’s some kind of weird unspoken thing that that’s supposed to be the one time. Or once you’ve performed a show for this amount of time…. I don’t know, maybe sometimes people actually get bored of performing it and want to leave it. But other times there’s the pressure that it should be a new show. So what is your thinking? Because I think it’s super interesting and really relevant. What’s your thinking behind wanting to continue to develop it and take it back?

Aalex:

So I think there’s always so much advice that’s shared as to what to do, and you have to be very careful in who you speak to and what feels authentic to you. I felt like I was determined to get there last year but that the show wasn’t where I wanted it to be for what it could be based on… based on the subject. And I felt like I wasn’t the comedian that I wanted to be yet. And then I realised that there’s, as I said before, processing what happened.

I’m in a very different stage of my life now, so actually there’ll be a totally different approach to the same subject. But a lot of people… I mean you are told that you shouldn’t take a show back or whatever, that was definitely something that was said to me on several occasions. But I decided to, I was just like I’m not done with this. There’s another, there’s more to this, it’s still like my baby, my truth. But what’s happened now is that I am still continuing to write the show for Edinburgh, but I’m also developing a new show which will likely be my show for Edinburgh next year. But it’s about something that I’m going through right now, and so if I go back to what I was saying before and like how I process things in my life, and things that I’m understanding… in the few years that I’ve been doing comedy, what I’ve learned is. It happens, you process it and you have your own personal moment with it that you don’t need to share with anyone. And then you decide how to communicate that, if you choose to share it.

So for me it’s like if I’m going through something now, I will be ready to share that hopefully next summer, or by the beginning of next year. It took me six months to get to the next point of my life when I felt like I was comfortable to share that recording. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it before that. I mean, I had the lockdown breakdown in January, I would have had to confirm the Edinburgh show, if I were to do it that year, I would have had to confirm the Edinburgh show like February, March. And so can you imagine if I was like just, the idea of going through something and then having to be like, no this is going to be my show, that to me is mental. It’s like you’ve got to have your own process, and for me the process is not complete. 

So I am really looking forward to what the new version will be. And I think a lot of other comedians do it, whether you’re debuting or anything like that. You’ve got good material, but you write better jokes as time goes on. But you’ve also still got the other ones that maybe not a lot of people have heard, because you’re not that well known. So it’s however you choose to do it, there are no official rules and especially with free fringes and everything, that’s your time to play. Like that’s when not everybody’s watching. And the way that I look at it is….people don’t care if I’m doing a show twice.  There’s no one that’s like hey that comedian Alex she’s doing the same show that she did last year. No one cares.  I don’t think that there’s anyone out there that thinks that. And also if there are people that came to it last year they will be getting a new show. So yeah that’s the way I’ve approached it.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, that makes total sense. Do you have any favourite questions that you like to ask people to get the kind of feedback that’s helpful to you, when you’re in this process of developing and redeveloping material? When friends or colleagues come and see it, what kinds of questions do you like to ask them afterwards to get good feedback or good honest answers?

Aalex:

I absolutely love feedback in a really, I don’t know if that’s a normal way. After every work in progress that I did, I gave everyone a feedback form with four questions on it. There were quite simple questions, it wasn’t like, did you like the show? It was like, what did you enjoy most about the show? What did you enjoy least about the show? What didn’t you understand? And what stood out to you? I think those were the four questions. And after nearly every show I edited the questions. But it was always around that. And I said you can leave your name at the bottom or you can be anonymous. So that was the process for all audiences. I don’t know if people do that and I know that people make notes just based on how people laugh in their work in progress, and that’s totally black and white, but my show I think I didn’t want it to just be laugh, laugh, laugh. There’s more, a little bit more to the narrative. So I knew that, and I only recently learned the lulls don’t mean that people aren’t enjoying it. It’s just like that’s the nature of the show. It’s not just a pure stand-up.

And then also every preview I did, or every work in progress I did, I made sure there was one person in the audience that I had said to previously, like do you mind giving me notes at the end? And then they will choose what notes that they give to me. In that particular show I was like… this bit isn’t quite right, and most of the time it was down to…does the narrative make sense because especially after the mistake I made of not giving the audience permission to laugh it took someone saying… the reason that didn’t work is because you were playing us your breakdown, but we didn’t know if it was okay to laugh about the things that we found funny in it. And it was like… oh my god I didn’t even see that. And so you’ve got to have your own process,  but I just love hearing, like, reading through those feedback forms. It helps me see interpretation as well, because everything that you do, like, everything that you say on stage can be interpreted in loads of different ways based on that, the audience member’s perspective on the subject that you’re speaking about, and that’s super interesting in itself.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, that’s brilliant. I love that. And I haven’t actually heard of anyone else doing that, but that’s awesome. What a great process.

Aalex:

I can share the document if it’s needed. If anyone wants it.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, it’s a great idea. Because I was also going to ask you, and I can see how that feedback might help, but I still want to ask anyway…in terms of how you calibrate it, how do you really judge for yourself, whether you’re making a show ‘better’ or just different. And I’m asking that from the point of view of someone who…I’m working on fiction, writing novels, and there’ll be times where I’m trying to incorporate feedback that I’ve had from someone. And before I send it back, I might be doing multiple versions and I’ll have the same scene labelled A, B, C, D, E, F. And that gets to a point where I’m like, I don’t know if this is better or just different at this point, until I send it back. Is there a way that you calibrate for yourself, as you’re developing this show and this material, as to whether it feels like it’s moving in the direction you want, or if it’s just a different version. That’s not an easy question. So I’m selfishly asking it to help myself get better at it.

Aalex:

No, it’s a great question though because I don’t know if you find this, but there’s always a moment in, or I’ve found there were several moments in the process where I’m like… have I totally lost what I was originally doing? Because I, and then you’re just like, oh, wait a minute. Then I always found myself having to go back to referring to one question, like the reason that I’m doing it or what is the character – of me in this case, or like the character in the fiction – what are they setting out to get? What is their… what are they aiming for? Because there always has to be a character. And they’re usually working towards something, otherwise nothing happens. So I’m constantly trying to go back to that question especially because my brain will always go a million different ways and I think there was even one point in my process, in the process of writing the show, where I got totally lost and I ended up asking around, asking friends and like comedy friends and if they knew of anyone that could just look at the show from an outsider’s perspective. Someone who’s never seen it before. Could they look at a recording of it and give notes. Because I just needed someone that didn’t know me and that had worked doing something like that before just to have a look at it, so I wasn’t totally losing my mind. So in that sense, almost like an outsider’s perspective, in this case it was someone that had worked with comedy before but sometimes the outsider’s perspective might even make you say… oh well that’s their perspective on it and I don’t agree with that, but actually that’s made me realise that this is the direction that I wanted it to go in to begin with. That’s definitely what I’ve found my process to be so far.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, that makes total sense. And you use the word character, and I’m curious, because obviously I use that in fiction because it’s really clearly a character, – though is it really, or how much of us is it ourselves in there just dressed up in a different form? But where it’s with you, where you do…you are  literally you on stage, and then you have the literal tape of you… do you think of the you that’s on stage (not the tape) as being a character, a persona version of Alex? Because you’ve also mentioned truth so many times. But does it need to be, because I don’t have that standup experience, do you think about shaping it as a persona or character, or does it just feel like you… the same as it would be if you were in that corporate room or with a friend?

Aalex:

Um… There is me on stage as a version of me, as an exaggerated version of me. And I love that because she usually says what I want to say. And that maybe within certain situations it isn’t okay to say. So there’s way less censorship, which is so much more fun than the normal everyday having to work in an office, Alex. And then… um… oh what was I saying?

Danielle Krage:

You were doing great. So, you were saying it feels like an exaggerated version of you, an uncensored version of you.

Aalex:

Oh yeah, and then the recording. So I think that there’s still like, there is a very thin line with like self preservation. But you have to, as a performer, I think it’s really important that you know that. So if I had played that recording too soon, I would have felt that in my heart. I think I would have just been like, oh no, I’ve made a really bad decision here because it hurts to play this out to an audience full of people that are laughing. And I have learned that through mistakes and definitely things happening in my life. Bringing it onto stage, doing a new material night and being like, this is my joke about the person that broke my heart recently and then no one laughing and you being like, oh I’m just airing my pain on stage and it was not ready. That’s definitely happened so it’s, you’ve just got to know your lines and who the character is. And that was, I’m sorry, my phone just buzzed off because I didn’t put it on airplane mode.

Danielle Krage:

No worries.

Aalex:

There we go.

Danielle Krage:

The last thing I wanted to ask you about before we move on to advice is that I know that you do new material and jokes, in those shorter formats, as well as at those live nights you’ve mentioned when we had a brief chat before… about doing those five minute spots. What is different for you in how you think about what material you take to those occasions? Versus what you take to something where you do have that whole scope of the comedy hour narrative. What’s different for you and your comedy do you think?

Aalex:

So there is like an element of freedom that you have in those five minutes because I guess it’s lower stakes. Like you haven’t worked really hard to get all of those people into a room to listen to you for 45 minutes to an hour. You haven’t got their attention for very long. So in that time you have to decide as a performer. There have been times when I’ve gone on and I’ve just done purely new stuff. But even actually to be fair, even when I’ve done that, I’ve still opened with a line that I almost know is going to get a laugh. So that was the way that I chose to do it at that time. But I also learned from those moments to do stuff that I know that works, mixed with some new stuff.

But what I have always struggled to do, and still to this day have not done, is being able to play out the recording even in a 10 minute set because, and especially with like a room full of people that are all like an audience that I don’t know, or sorry like I don’t always necessarily know my whole audience… but I just don’t know what type of audience I’m going to get that night, and you’ve got to really carefully plan. I had to do that  when I was doing new material specifically for the show. But that’s also a very different way of doing it because I think most comedians, when they’re working on their initial, especially pure stand-up, when you’re working on your first 45 or half hour show, whatever format you’re choosing to do your first Edinburghs or whatever festivals you’re doing, it’s usually a build-up of your five minutes. Five on five on five and then you’ve got your 30 you know.

But from my side it was like most of the show is me talking to  you through a recording that I can’t then play to audiences, because the vibe would be like… just the idea of doing… like there are shows like Gong shows. So the Gong show format is you have five minutes, sometimes two minutes leeway, but within those five minutes,  the audience – five people nominated in the audience that represent the whole of the audience – I always thought, like can you imagine if I was just like hi I’m Alex this is my breakdown… and then just see what happens? So that would have been like the boldest move in the world. And it did go through my mind at one point. And I was like no…there’s the self-preservation thing again because you’ve got to there’s the line there it is!

So it’s like working out when it’s the right…there were some really nice new material nights where I knew I could try certain jokes that were definitely for the show. But then it’s also then the rest of it was like adding stand-up into other sets that were setting me up as a character differently. But then using it in the other show. But then it’s just how you develop the show is up to you in terms of what works best for you. Cause for me, I love trying new stuff all the time. I’m not like trying, you know, that one joke that works. Keep doing that one joke. Cause I get very bored of my material very quickly, which is definitely much to my own detriment. But it really is, everyone’s got their own process. So, yeah.

Danielle Krage:

I know. That’s super helpful. And thank you, you’ve been so generous, giving us such a lovely sense of your process today. And I think it’s so useful to hear those different processes. And we all have such different brains and ways of looking at the world. And it’s great to hear what those are and what’s really working for you. And you being so bold in finding out what’s working for you and making mistakes and failing and then getting back up and trying again, which is absolutely inevitable for. anyone who’s brave enough and wants to do comedy. It’s the only way through. So I love that. But you’ve also got this really personal route through, which is awesome. So thank you for sharing that so generously.

Aalex:

I always think about the…thin line between bold and mad. Like, there’s just a thin line. That’s just, you’ve got to figure out what side you’re on.

Danielle Krage:

Yeah, and claim the bold as much as possible, I reckon. That’s awesome. And so I’ve just got a couple of questions before we wrap up. And one is, I’m super curious what you enjoy comedy-wise, whether there’s any shows that you love to watch or things that you love to read or different stand-ups. What’s to your tastes? What do you enjoy?

Aalex:

I always love a biography. I want to know someone’s story. Like how they got to where they are now. And so with Stand Up, I especially loved it. I mean, there’s usually always a story running through it, but I like the bigger questions, like when someone’s life significantly changed.

A show that, I mean, just to go back to a show that I loved where someone really, not necessarily doing that, but then they really challenged themselves, was Alex Edelman, Just For Us. That was an amazing show. It’s still touring now and it was at Edinburgh in 2019. I almost don’t want to give too much of it away but it’s great. That was a really fantastic show where he pushed his boundaries and then the story of it was the show.

And then I’m trying to think about what I’ve seen recently, shows or books I’ve read. Actually I’m reading at the moment Stephen King’s On Writing, which is I’m sure something that you’ve read. It was actually recommended to me by a performer and it is incredible because it’s his story in relation to his journey and his story and how he got into writing. And then it goes on to the practical side. I think the book is split up in such an amazing way. For me I love to hear people’s personal stories. How they got to where they are now and reached that next level. So I think that’s two recommendations.

Danielle Krage:

That’s awesome. Yeah, I think the first time I read On Writing, I think I came at it really impatiently. I think at the time I was like, just tell me what to do. I just need to know what to do so I can get on and do it. And it’s really not that kind of book. And then it was re-recommended to me and I went back to it, comparatively recently, and listened on audiobook and I loved it. It was so brilliantly read and at that pace and the way, like you say, he established the personal story, and then brought in the craft. I think I was ready for it and I just loved it. So yeah, I think that’s a cool one to bring up and I’ve written down the other one too. I’m definitely gonna have to check out that show.

And I’m really curious to ask you now what your superpower is, because I’ve had so many questions, but I actually wrote that down as you were talking about how your brain works and you saying that you feel that sometimes you overcomplicate things. But that’s also another way of saying that you can see many ways that things could go. So I’m curious what you would think your superpower is.

Aalex:

What is mine? I think my….this is actually something that I’ve assessed a fair bit recently, I think that my superpower is, and I hate it. I don’t like using the terminology, but it is essentially like… I process, I forget things really easily. So I’m constantly…if I’ve seen a show, even if I enjoyed it, I might forget that I’ve seen that show and book in to see that show again two years later. Like a child, and it would be….I’ve just literally totally forgotten that I’d seen it. And so it’s….I guess my superpower is seeing things. I guess seeing things and not remembering that I’ve seen them, but then seeing them with like…. and the reason I say child is it’s almost with a childlike gaze. Like I’d never seen it before.

I don’t know if that makes it good, because I am super forgetful. Like I think I was watching a film the other day and I was like I don’t remember any of this. I think it was Shakespeare in Love, which is so random. And I was like I don’t think I’ve seen this film. And I got to the end… there was one specific bit and I was like huh I watched this in lockdown, and that wasn’t that long ago. And I just couldn’t remember it at all. So I guess it’s like also kind of a, because of that, a basic bitch mentality because I don’t remember half the things that I’ve done. So I’m going in with a kind of naive, simple way of looking at it because I don’t remember half of the things that I’ve done. Weird superpower.

Danielle Krage:

I can see how that would be really fun, for comedy, to have that freshness as well. And I may be wrong, I may be projecting… but then I would also imagine then that the things that really do stick, that you keep coming back to,  must take on like even greater significance. But I think how lovely to have that fresh way of seeing things. Because I think….and something I really enjoyed about your show too, is that it’s not cynical. And I think some, I mean, obviously there’s so many different kinds of comedy, but I loved that it had this kind of…it did have like a fresh, generous energy to it. It didn’t have the sort of jaded cynicism that some comics use as a defence. And like you say, we need to protect, but there’s all different ways of protecting. So that’s lovely. I think that’s a super cool superpower.

Aalex:

I’ll have forgotten in a year.

Danielle Krage

I’ll have to have you back on in a year. And be like, Aalex…. So it’ll be like one of those quiz shows where I’m like, tell me, what was your superpower? What did you say?

Aalex:

I honestly will not remember. Sorry, I won’t remember what happened at the beginning of this call as well.

Danielle Krage:

No problem. That’s the good thing with the podcast is you can listen back. So it’s all good. And the last question for you is just whether there is any advice. that you’ve been given that you found useful, whether it’s from things that you’ve read, like your biographies, or whether it’s from other comics or friends, or that you figured out yourself.

Aalex:

There was like, in On Writing there were so many things…pages that I folded to remember things.

But there was one amazing thing that has always stuck with me, was not even comedy related, I guess…Jill Scott, who is a singer…She was interviewed before going on stage after Erykah Badu. And then I think an interviewer asked, are you scared about going on stage after Erykah Badu? And she said something along the lines of this. I can’t quote the exact quote, but it’s such an amazing quote. It’s… we all have our sense of queendom, our own uniqueness, our own thing. And mine can never be compared to hers and hers can never be compared to mine. Did I say that right? Which is such…I go in with that, especially when I’m watching other comedians and I’m like, oh my god, they’re so good.  It’s like, but you’re gonna be good in your own way and someone else will have a take on the way that you’re doing something. And that is like, that’s kind of like a blinkers on mentality.

That actually relates to another thing that I would… a bit of advice, which is… Sarah Pascoe did this amazing introduction to stand-up Instagram thing which is like an hour long and her thing was to celebrate your uniqueness. And that is just the only thing that you can do. It’s just that otherwise you would just merge into another person. And you have to have your uniqueness, I think she said otherness as well, which I thought was great. Yeah, so those are two amazing pieces of advice that weren’t personally given to me, but that I heard that really stuck with me.

Danielle Krage:

I love those. Yeah, those are great. I think as creatives, that’s just perfect advice. I love it. Thank you, Aalex. I’ll put these in the show notes, but also just for those that might be out and about listening, where should they go to find out more about you and your work?

Aalex:

I think I’ve just discovered… What’s the name? Linktree? Because I put everything into that one place. So that’s like got everything that I’m doing. So if I’ve got any gigs, everything that’s happening, and going on with Edinburgh, my previews for that and any projects that I’m working on…they will all go on there. I think that’s how it works. I’m sure that there’s, I’m doing something wrong with how to promote myself. I don’t know anything about SEO, I’m not going to go into that now. But spelling my name with two A’s is really important to say because no one can ever find me on the internet because they’re like… I can’t find you and it’s like oh! Because it’s both a blessing and a curse spelling your name with two A’s. But yeah, to find me on Instagram or anything like that it’sspelt with two A’s.

Danielle Krage:

Wonderful, and obviously when I post this podcast, you’ll be able to find it at comedymasterclass.com. All Aalex’s links will be there and they will also be filtered through to all the places this podcast shows up, where you can listen and watch. So thank you so much for your time today, Aalex. It’s been so fun talking to you.

Aalex:

Oh my pleasure, thank you for having me. Thank you.