Why laughter really is the best medicine

In another life, Dave Spikey was a biomedical scientist called Gordon Bramwell working in the haematology department of Bolton General hospital.

Harry Hill was a doctor and Phil Hammond has made a living as both a GP and a comedian while Jo Brand was a mental health nurse. Why does Dave Spikey think there’s such a strong link between medicine and laughter?

“I’m not sure really. I do know that working in the health service there are many occasions which fall into the ‘You’ve got to laugh or else you’ll cry’ category.

“Dark, sad and upsetting scenarios need defusing for all concerned to move on and a well-placed joke or aside is the usual tool for this and some of us were quicker at recognising these moments and then delivering the telling line or remark.

“Consequently, hospital humour can be very dark but ultimately very human – when you get it right.”

Does he have memories of playing Scarborough?

“Fantastic memories. I started off in a double act called Spikey and Sykey with a good mate Rick Sykes and I entered us into a talent contest in Scarborough.

“But as the day of the heat approached, Rick said he didn’t want to trail all that way across the country for a talent competition. And so it was that I found myself travelling to Scarborough for my first ever solo stand-up gig.

“I met some lovely people on that heat night: wonderful Pat Helme and her lovely daughter Janet, who sort of took me under their wings and with whom I’m still in contact.

“Having their support meant so much at the time and has done ever since.

“For the semi-final, my wife Kay and I decided to take our VW camper van and stay on a campsite. We were keen to explore the fantastic coast around there and take the dogs. We stayed on a campsite near Robin Hood’s Bay, which has to be one of the most beautiful areas of the country.

“I performed in the final on the Sunday to a packed house at the Opera House. It was all an excited blur because I won it. I won £750. In the 1980s that would buy you a small terraced house in Chorley.”

After the success of Phoenix Nights why does he still grind out a living on the stand-up circuit rather than a sitcom?

“Ideally I’d love to do both but getting a sitcom commissioned at present is incredibly difficult and frustrating but I keep plugging on and I’ve got a BBC1 script commission at present.

“If I had to choose, though, I’d always choose stand-up because I love it. I think it’s what I’m best at. It’s all about the intimacy and immediacy of the performance.

What’s the worst gig he’s done? “I turned up at Blackburn Railwayman’s Club to be greeted by the doorman who enquired, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ I said I was the turn and he asked me what I did. I told him I was a comedian and he said, ‘Go on then, change colour,’ which, I have to say, made me laugh. That soon stopped when he said, ‘We don’t get comedians here, this lot don’t like them. “.

He added: I went on at eight o’clock and died. They didn’t heckle, they didn’t smile, they ignored me.

“I worked away for 45 minutes and now and then a few people would turn away from their noisy conversations and look towards the stage with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Is he still here?’”

He fell out with Peter Kay over writing credits for Phoenix Nights. Would he consider working with him again?

“I’ve not seen Peter for a couple of years but that’s only because our paths don’t cross. I’m sure if I bumped into him tomorrow at Granada TV or wherever we’d have a laugh.

“I’d love to work with him again if the right project came along. I am working with Neil Fitzmaurice (the third writing partner on Phoenix Nights) at the moment, which is great.”

He is working a script for BBC1 for a sitcom provisionally called Glitterball set in the world of ballroom dancing in a Blackpool hotel.

But how would he like to be remembered? “As a proper good comedian, a comedian with heart and warmth who had a broad appeal to audiences of all types.”

* Dave Spikey is at The Futurist on October 7.