Julian Barratt Performs on Lee Mack's GAS

Julian Barratt - Stand Up on Gas - 1996

I think it is very important to frame comedy in its context like with any piece of literature. Julian Barratt emerged as an alternative comedian in the early ‘90s and joined a group called Cluub Zarathustra, which was a Dadaist response to the more mundane humor of the 80s (sitcoms like Seinfeld that, although brilliant, relied on observational humor and finding ridiculous situations in the ordinary (it’s also interesting to note when these comedic changes happened in a historical context – like in music, during the 80s, during the Thatcher/Reagan era, most alternative comedy died)). The one rule of the Cluub Zarathustra variety live show, headed by alternative comedians Simon Munnery and Stewart Lee, was that no comedy be performed. By that statement, they meant no traditional stand up. Their methods of crowd control were also viciously violent – unfortunately no recordings exist – but they included a metal-clad Brunhilde-esque opera singer being wheeled out on a cart and singing insults at an unresponsive crowd and a machine called the “Self-Knowledge Impregnator” that would burn the word “c***” onto the retina of an audience member by using a camera flash.

Comedians, perhaps more than musicians, rely heavily on their contemporaries, so it is important to look at who works with him. This particular stand-up came right after Barratt’s association with Noel Fielding, who became his main comedy partner in their comedy group, The Mighty Boosh. In his circle of discourse, the conversation on new comedy revolved around a lot of Dada and Surrealist thought that pushed the idea that the comedian on stage was in opposition to the audience. Barratt uses this technique immediately. Unassumingly, he approaches the microphone stand and then begins to launch a barrage of almost nonsensical word attacks on the audience: “Comin’ atcha like a beam, like a ray, like a laser, like a beam of light in the night, I’m like light, beam, I’m...” Immediately, he takes control after this assault and asserts himself onstage. During the preamble to the sing-along-esque bit, he even silences the laughter, something comedians who relish plaudits from their audience, in order to continue talking. Barratt comes into comedy from a place of violence. He wants to accost the audience and control them not only with the absurdity of his ideas but also in how his comedy functions. It is essential to his comedy that he must fight against and then beat the audience.

Julian Barratt (right) with co-star Noel Fielding (left) in The Mighty Boosh

After establishing his dominance on stage by cajoling the audience into creating his “ambient jungle hit,” Barratt launches into his one semi-traditional stand-up. This part is the most overtly violent. The way this bit works is by taking a funny confrontation way too far and then by not giving the audience any redemption. We are left hanging, asking whether Barratt was actually telling the truth and whether the comedy preceding it was just to get the audience under his thumb. His earlier assertions keep the audience questioning and processing his comedy, so in this more narrative bit, the violence and the extreme comes as a shock. The smile he wears and the jovial tone of his voice offset the violence of the act he is describing, and it is that juxtaposition that gets the laughs and the little mutters of “is this guy for real?” coming. What is important about Barratt is that he doesn’t stop his comedy until after he has left the stage, and even after his goodbye, he maintains the uncertainty of his validity in his crouch-walk out.

The laughs in this bit, especially the last, are questioning, unsure laughs, and that arises from Barratt’s mad character. Because he has already accosted the audience and turned them into a mechanism for his comedy instead of playing the comedian performing for the people, they are unsure whether his more traditional narrative is just a bit or something he is going to carry out offstage. In this case, the violence affects the audience because of its directness, but in retrospect, the violent act described is a tool to reinforce Barratt’s character and persona.

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