For Daniel Sloss, taking offence to stand up comedy is like hearing a story out of context. Andrew Youngson speaks to the Scottish comedian ahead of his Inverness and Aberdeen gigs this weekend
A gale of laughter issued down the line the moment I picked up the phone to Daniel Sloss.
The Scottish comedian was effing and jeffing with wild abandon about how rubbish his flatmate, and fellow comic, Kai Humphries, was at the latest Xbox game they’d been playing.
“I prefer these kinds of interviews because we’re not on radio so I can swear as much as I like,” the 24-year-old Edinburgh resident told me in between abusive statements he was gleefully lobbing at Kai.
But you realise I can’t print rude words, I replied. Can I replace them with ‘blooming’, and ‘flipping’ instead?
“Absolutely not. You’re not allowed to ‘Flanders’ me. If you take out all the swear words then I basically sound more intelligent than I actually am. And anyway, when I use a swear word, just think of it like a full stop or a comma. It’s like, instead of saying ‘eh’ or ‘um’ I say (full stop),” he laughed.
This, it turns out, is a pretty good barometer of Daniel’s comedy. While the language may be frequently blue, and the subject matter increasingly taboo, no offence is meant. To take offence, he adamantly believes, is to get him – and all stand up comedy for that matter – entirely wrong.
Take his live work, for example. He admits that nobody will leave his gigs to go “hug their dad or adopt a puppy”, but he feels he shouldn’t have to signpost that it can be pretty “dark” – for his want of a better word.
“I don’t like using the term ‘dark’, but I have to because there’s a small portion of the country that ruin everything for everyone else because they take offence,” he said, more matter-of-factly than with a grumble.
“So then I have to say my shows are ‘dark’ so people know what to expect. Even though my audience know my stuff and know when I talk about taboo subjects I don’t do it to be edgy or whatever. And anyway, I don’t think much of my material is actually offensive.”
From paedophilia to homophobia – he wants to be able to openly discuss anything without reproach. Comedy for Daniel seems to be unadulterated social commentary – a privilege of living in a country with freedom of speech
that should be upheld and celebrated. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to stay clear.
“Ninety-nine percent of the audience get it, it’s just that one moron who shouts out. And I do consider them
morons, you can quote me on that. If you’re offended by my comedy, you are a moron.”
It might sound like a militant line to take on his work, but Daniel’s happy to bear the slings and arrows that come with being true to himself. For starters, it means that only 20% of his prodigious volumes of new material is suitable for TV or radio. In the past year he’s been invited to do sets live on The Conan O’Brien show in the US three times.
A huge achievement indeed, but it was won at the cost of being slightly neutered. Most of his newest and most cutting-edge stuff had to be left backstage.
“For example, I’ve got 15 minute routine this year about an incident when I was on stage in Indianapolis and made a joke about atheism, and 40 people out of 100 immediately walked out of the room. It’s one of my favourite jokes but I just can’t do it on television in the US, or even here in the UK really,” he said.
What it does mean is that audience members at his live gigs get the full Daniel Sloss treatment, hilarious warts and all. No Mary Whitehouse-style sanctions weighing him down, no holds barred. And that’s exactly where he wants to be, even if it means never becoming a household name.
“I don’t want to be a family comedian,” he vocally shrugged.
“I understand there are comedians out there who are great pre-watershed, and people don’t get offended. That’s fine but it’s not the kind of comic I am. I’ve always said that I would prefer less people knew me for being good than more people knew me for being bad.”
To reiterate, what he considers crucial to his work above all else is that people don’t take offence. He understands why this can be tricky if a joke hits a nerve with an audience member’s personal life, but to choose to take offence, is to forget what stand up comedy is about.
“You are either offended by everything or offended by nothing. You do not get to choose, that’s not fair,” he said.
As he explained eloquently in a recent TedEx talk on this very matter, the whole problem arises when people remove themselves from the setting of a stand up gig, or read about it the next day in a newspaper.
It’s like hearing a story told out of context.
“There’s so much more to a joke than just the words. It’s the delivery, the atmosphere, the audience and the tone. Of course on paper it looks horrible because you took everything away from it.”
Daniel Sloss will be at Eden Court, Inverness, on Friday, November 21, at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from www.eden-court.co.uk or by calling 01463 234234.
Daniel will then be at the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen on Saturday, November 22, at 8pm. Tickets are available from
www.aberdeenperformingarts.com or by calling 01224 641122.