hat’s right Norwich, you heard, the man we’ve all been waiting for, the man who informs us via Facebook that he has indeed “won all the awards but melted them down for
chains and that”, is finally here. It’s been nine years now since fellow Doncaster lad David Firth (creator of the ever haunting Salad Fingers) posted Darren Devonshire or MC Devvo’s first video onto YouTube. Since then their hilarious videos full of Burberry caps, polo shirts and words you didn’t even know could be abbreviated have toppled over 950,000 views. Ahead of his two nights (one sold out quicker than you can say ‘alreet’) at Norwich’s Owl Sanctuary, we got the chance to talk to him about his career so far. And trust us, this guy is not mezzin...
MC DEVVO
Who or what inspired you to become MC Devvo initially? I wake up every morning and I am me. Tat mirror reflection is my inspiration. I am me, I am what I am; Darren Devonshire. You can’t hide your inner self. Can you describe an average MC Devvo show to me? Stories and songs, the average ones aren’t worth talking about. Norwich wants a top shelf Devvo gig. I’m annoyed that you think I have average shows. You’ve sold out one night at Te Owl Sanctuary and tickets for the second night are selling fast. Have you played in Norwich before? What do you know about our city? Te South seems to have clicked into me doing gigs quite late; I’ve been smashing them out since 2007. I know nothing about
Norwich...mustard and a yellow and green football strip? Delia Smith and a drunken half time rant? Alan Partridge? It’s a bit boring? Radio One came there and did their festival thing? It has roads and houses and you’ve probably got an accent. You rose to infamy in 2007 with your album From Yorkshire to New York. What has fame brought you thus far? Not as much as you would want but more than you should expect. We didn’t hear much from you between 2010-2012; what were you up to? Not being filmed. Got a bit bored and felt like there wasn’t much point in doing stuff online because people just tell you how rubbish it is compared to the stuff you did in the past. You released a book last year, Te Book You Never Did Need, which had its funds raised on Kickstarter within 24 hours and raised 3 times the amount in the end. How did it feel
16 / August 2015/
outlineonline.co.uk
“If I wasn’t MC Devvo, I’d probably be down the mines”
to have such support from your fans? Beautiful. I didn’t think it would happen. Te thing is that the fans keep buying tickets, getting behind me and coming to shows. Te original fans stick around and, every two years or so, a new cycle of fans gets involved. Te level of support I get shouldn’t be there but it is and I am proper buzzing because of it. Tere is no need for me to remember things I’ve said or song lyrics and there is certainly no need for anyone else to. Would you consider writing another book and if so, what would it be about? My book is a picture book; 48 pages of me messing about on Photoshop and being daft. It took me a week to do and I loved it; I could make books like that all day long. I like annuals, like them annuals you had when you were a kid with silly pictures and mad ideas. If you weren’t MC Devvo, what would you be doing? Probably working down the mines. You’ve played at Edinburgh Festival; what sort of response did you have up there? A really good
response! Te fans are always there but comedians have to follow a path; they have to go and do five minute slots to no one. Tey have to work and toil with nothing for years. I think I annoy them that I can come along, pack out a room and not really follow the rules that they’ve been sticking to. It was good. Reviewers mainly hate me but I’m doing this for the fans and I work on whatever level is put in front of me. You’ve had a lot of support from David Firth, who made Salad Fingers. How did you two
hook up? Just a kid from Doncaster. I’m a kid from Doncaster and it’s not big enough that you can hide from people. He’s got skills, I am a bit naughty and a lot funny and those two things collided and we haven’t looked back. You’ve been touring quite a bit recently. Have you had gigs where people just didn’t get it at all, or were offended? No! With Edinburgh, there was always that danger. I do the free fringe there so you get fans but you also get the walk up folk. Tere’s a danger with that because you have to work harder to win peeps over. With a Devvo gig, people are coming because they want to see the thing they’ve watched on the internet. Tey’re not sure what they want from me when I’m there, but everyone enjoys themselves. It’s an honour to come and see all these different types of folks. Who have been your influences as a performer? Who do you enjoy watching? I don’t really like comedy. What are your plans for the future? I don’t really know. I stopped caring around 2010-2012; my documented disappearing days. Now, I just do stuff when I can be bothered, I don’t really push for gigs but people keep emailing me so I keep doing them. When they stop coming in, I’ll stop being slightly internet-famous. I’m doing a music video with a production company who are using some mad new camera techniques and stuff- that’s what happens! People just contact me with ace ideas sometimes and I’m not sure what it is about me that grabs anyone’s attention but it does. Long may it continue. Uncle Devvo is not dead! Laura Moseley
INFORMATION
MC Devvo plays the Owl Sanctuary on the 21st and 28th August. Tickets for the
second date are still currently available from
theowlsanctuary.net
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