Sínann Fetherston sits down with comedian Miles Jupp to discuss his life-altering experience with a benign brain tumour, and how he managed to find the funny.
With a long-list of high-profile credits to his name - his most recent appearances include Napoleon, A Very British Scandal, Sex Education and The Great - London-born comedian Jupp has carved an impressive career for himself in the entertainment industry.
As well as his on-screen endeavours, he has hosted Radio 4's The News Quiz for four years running; he has written three book, including his 2021 satirical novel, History; and he has tread the boards of Wyndham's Theatre in the West End with his one-man play, The Life I Lead.
Despite this imposing list of achievements, not to mention his status as a household name thanks to his role on children's television show Balamory, Jupp insists that his first love was always stand-up.
"Stand-up was a thing I wanted to try and then I became.... I've never had a rush like it," he explains, speaking over Zoom ahead of his new tour, On I Bang, kicking off across the UK and Ireland.
The 44-year-old first started performing comedy while studying Divinity at Edinburgh University, and says that he was inspired by the big UK names of the early '90s such as Jack Dee, Jo Brand, and Lee Evans.
"I did a gig at, what is now, the back stage of the Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh, it's about a 70-seater, and I did an open spot. I mean, it's so terrifying, and it's all just charging through you."
"I was a reasonably controlled, calm, softly-spoken comic, but in terms of what was going on within the circus, it was just exhilarating," he explains, adding: "I watched a lot of TV comedy and films, but the thing that drew it to me was that it was part of this one big thing.
"You would see someone on a stage being themselves, but then you might see them in a film being someone else. I loved the whole patchwork quilt of it."
(Pic: Getty Images)
Despite his passion for the art form, though, this new show will herald his first time on the stage in seven years.
"I just really wanted to do it again," says the father of five. "I have a story to tell this time, I suppose."
The story, of course, is that of his terrifying experience with a benign brain tumour - a low-grade meningioma that led to a seizure in August 2021.
Absurdly, the incident took place while he was filming for the ITV series, Trigger Point. It was while playing a radio host who is live on-air when a bomb goes off that he experienced his own "explosion". Thankfully, there were medics on set and the actor was quickly seen to.
"The sheer out-of-the-clear-blue-sky nature of it... it's completely bonkers," he reflects. "It started because I just wanted to get the facts down, I wasn't entirely sure I could work out what order the events had happened in, there's an element of drifting in and out of consciousness."
"It's this seismic... I've had this before and after feeling about it. I wanted to have it in my head, exactly what had happened to change my life in this way."
"This experience kind of lends itself to the self-deprecating lens," he adds, smiling.
So, how exactly does a near death experience effect a comedian?
"It doesn't turn out the way you think," he admits. "It's like COVID, we all thought it would change everything and create a great reset; we would all think about how we live our lives, and start changing how we do things, we'll become more caring, and value community more. And, actually, we're just still on Zoom."
"Immediately, you have a clear set of priorities and the people you worry about most when you're unwell, you realise that they are the people that matter most," he continues. "You already know your loved ones are your loved ones but this underlines it several times over."
"Overall, there's a feeling of gratitude," he says, noting that, since the incident, he has met a number of people who suffered similar situations with more unfortunate outcomes.
"That certainly gives you a degree of perspective. It would be lovely to skip through life now and always be grateful, but that's not realistic. You kind of forget that these things happen, but if you just zoom out a bit, you'd see the bigger world here."
"The 'what ifs' play on your mind for a long time," he adds.
In 2007, Jupp was interviewed for The 5-Minute Interview with comedian Stewart Lee, where he claimed that, in a nutshell, his life's philosophy was as follows:
"Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today. But put some things off, otherwise what will you do tomorrow?"
17 years on, and one near-death experience later, does he feel the same?
"I guess, I do agree in a way," he muses. "It's nice to have things to look forward to, or just to think, 'I'm not still spending a whole day doing admin'. But then I get this mad impatient thing where I don't want to worry about things anymore.
"I suppose I had a slow ponderous period in my 20s," he laughs. "They say the pram in the hallway is the killer of creativity, but it was the opposite for me. I was drifting along a bit, but once we had children, I realised I had to get out and work and provide."
"I moved to London in 2006 and just sat on a sofa watching House M.D. and expecting the phone to ring," he jokes. "Now I check weather apps - well, they didn't exist then - but now I need to check ahead to make sure [the children] bring their coats with them. There's an organisational aspect to it."
"These things sound faffy, but that's part of being with your family. Not all things that you do will be interesting, but they are the things that need to be done, and things that you would notice if they weren't been done."
"It's about making things nicer for other people, I guess, even if they don't notice until later."
Miles Jupp will bring On I Bang to Cork, Belfast and Dublin this June. See milesjupp.co.uk for more details.
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