Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Jonny Cole

- by Ninja Ross, 16 November 2017

Everybody knows what England is: It's the home of James Bond and crumpets! The Queen lives there! But it's more varied than such a tiny country has any right to be. There's people of all sorts scattered around and one of the most interesting areas is a little place in the West Midlands called The Black Country. Jonny Cole is a Black Country comedian and musician who's proving himself to be one of the funniest comedians around right now, with hilarious songs and cheeky jokes galore. And he's only gone and answered some questions for us!

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​TRASH MUTANT: You implement a lot of music into your performance, with songs like “I Found Love in the Black Country” and “No Woman No Sky”. What is your process for writing these songs? How difficult is it to make a song sound good AND make people laugh?

JONNY COLE: Well, music has always been my first love. The melody to any song is very important. In the case of parodies, the hard work has been done for you and you just have to think of something silly to say to the tune… It’s cheating really. The original tracks like “Love in the Black Country” can come from anywhere. I think that track in particular spilled out when I was tuning my sons guitar after I had restrung it. I just have to be in a daft mood.

The Black Country is a hugely important part of the West Midlands, but how has being a native of the Black Country affected your sense of humour and your comedy?

Anyone who has spent any time in the Black Country will tell you that the people are fantastically warm and funny people. It’s in our nature to find the funny side of things, a bit like scousers, I think it’s a working class thing and it’s impossible to escape when you grow up surrounded by so many funny folks. I’ve stolen so much materiel from the characters that I remember from my childhood.

But you're not only a Black Country native, you're also very proud of your roots! What about the Black Country makes you feel that way? What's your favourite thing about being from the Black Country?

I think we have a very proud heritage and togetherness in the Black Country. You only have to look at the rate that the popularity of the flag and festival has grown year on year. We are very proud of our little region and the people that live here really take care of each other.

It seems like every other week a comedian has offended one group or another. Does the amount of controversy that hits comedians affect the jokes you write? Are you mindful about whether anyone might react negatively?

It’s an interesting question. It has not crossed my mind until recently. I suppose if you look hard enough at anyone’s material, you could find something that could offend someone. I think there is more responsibility on agents and promoters to make sure the audiences are a good match with the acts they are promoting. I can only think of one person I have ever really upset. I don’t think I will write any differently. It’s important to me that I find what I’m performing funny. I guess if it upsets that many people then my gigs will soon dry up and I'll have to go back to work.

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You also have a show on Black Country Radio. How did you end up with that gig? How different is it from performing on stage?
 
Yeah, I was a guest on someone else’s show once and it was lots of fun so I just said “giz a show” and they did. They are a very hard working bunch and it’s a pleasure to be on the station. It’s massively different to doing my stand up. I really have to be careful what I say. I am on the afternoon slot on a community driven radio station, so it would be easy to choke a pensioner on a mint humbug with a misplaced remark and I don’t need that on my conscience. I have got to know a lot of the listeners and they sometimes turn up to live shows, which is always lovely. 

I've noticed you're quite a fan of flat caps! What originally drew you to those?
 
I can’t remember why the cap became a permanent feature. I, like many bald blokes, have an array of hats and I am a fan of switching them around but I was well into flat caps when I got into comedy and I think it just kind of stuck. It’s funny when people who come to shows all the time don’t recognize me when I take it off. Also, the Black Country faithful seem to be as fond of them as me, seeing as I get them stolen on a regular basis.

How did you get into the comedy business? Were you influenced by anyone in particular? 

I fell into comedy purely by accident. I wrote a silly song about my home town of Wednesbury that went viral a few years ago and my friends and family convinced me to explore it further. I’m really glad I did.

When not on stage, writing comedy and playing tunes on the radio, what do you get up to? Do you even get much time to relax? 

I'm a pretty standard BC bloke, I suppose. I like to spend time with my family and friends. I walk my dog, go to the gym, go for a pint, catch a football match. At home I watch lots of old British comedy sitcoms on repeat. I’m not really in touch with modern culture.

Since the end of the year is almost here and you've just presented Just for Kicks in Walsall, but what have you got in store for us in 2018? 

I’m really excited about 2018. ‘Just For Kicks’ got off to the best start that we could have hoped for. That’s not to say that we can’t improve and learn from the event to improve the next one that’s scheduled for April. Other than that, I am looking forward to releasing tour dates for 2018. My biggest project for the New Year will be a Black Country comedy musical that I’ve been writing. It’s due to make its debut in a few local theatres. I can’t say much more than that right now, but needless to say I’m buzzing about that.
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Big thanks to Jonny Cole for taking the time to answer our questions! Make sure to keep up with Jonny by following him on Twitter and Facebook.

Tagged: music, TM Interviews.

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