An Interview with Jacob Hatton

Jacob Hatton wants people at this year’s

Edinburgh Fringe to relax & have a laugh

Hello Jacob – so where are you from & where do you live at the moment?
Catford in SE London, where I’m from and live. It has a nice statue of a cat in it.

When did you first get into comedy?
I’ve always been in to comedy, comedians were very much my rockstars growing up and I loved Sean Lock, Bill Bailey etc as much as any musician.

Which comedians inspire you, both old skool & contemporary, & why?
The late great Sean Lock is my all time hero, and right now I love another Sean, (Sean McLoughlin) who is the best to do it

You were in Edinburgh with Ozymandias a few Coivd years ago – how did you find the experience?
Both loved and was overwhelmed by it. It was a lot of fun to do, but a huge gamble and not one that really paid off. Needless to say, I’m back this year.

How has your comedy evolved during the years of Covid?
I didn’t enjoy doing any comedy during COVID to be honest. I hated online gigs, or making silly TikTok sketches. I like live performance, and I’m just grateful its back.

This year you were a finalist at the Hastings Comedy Festival Newcomer of the Year, how did you find the experience?
The competitions are nice to have, but they are to be honest, pretty meaningless. It’s a gig and it’s fun, but it’s only ever just a gig. Not to get too on my high horse about this, but every audience is as important as each other, and I’m interested in the crowd, not the judges.

You are coming back to Edinburgh with a show this Fringe, can you tell us all about it?
It is a show about how I’ve learned, finally after 30 years, to relax a little bit.

Quite eclectic then – but what are the recurring themes?
It’s a “state of the generation” show about anxiety, the environment, war and creeping existential dread, but I should also say it’s very gag heavy and very funny.

What will you be doing in Edinburgh when not promoting & performing your show?
I do the hard yards in Edinburgh, so basically nothing else. I flyer for 3/4 hours a day minimum, plus I perform on at least 3 or 4 shows a day. I’ll try and fit a few shows in between all of this of course.

You have 20 seconds to sell your show on the streets of Edinburgh, what do you say?
Hey man, Relax! We all need to. This is how I learned.