(Pic: Seymour Mace with Johnny Vegas)
Seymour Mace

Designer Magazine first bumped into Seymour Mace earlier this year at the Manchester Comedy Store and there was immediately something different. We saw him as a kind of nervous twitchy Jarvis Cocker of Comedy as opposed to the usual confident macho facade that comedians normally present themselves as. Alex McCann caught up with Seymour a few hours before he went on to win the Best Breakthrough Award at this years North West Comedy Award. As you can see he's still the down to earth humble comedian we first witnessed.

Q: You're nominated for the Best Breakthough Award at this years North West Comedy Awards. How does it feel?
A: It's good. It's always nice to be noticed, especially when you like to be the centre of attention like most comedians do. Things like this are all a bit tongue in cheek. You get in to comedy to have a laugh and because you enjoy it. If you get too serious about it or too anal about it you just look like an idiot.

It's good that we've got a night of celebration for North West comedy cos I don't really see it as an awards show. It does highlight what we're doing in the North and it's not saying we're better than them or they're better than us. It's just saying we're here as well and there's lots of comedy going on here. There's lots of things kicking off in Manchester like the BBC have just opened up a comedy unit at the end of last year. Things are pretty mad.
 

Q: So is this the most showbiz event you've been to so far in your career?
A: It's the most showbiz event i've been too where I haven't been working. I used to do street theatre type comedy characters at big events like this. I'd be like that character half way up the stairs who's dressed like Charlie Chaplin but he's frozen like a statue. Part of the reason I got into street theatre was to do what I wanna do and jump out at people at events like this.
 

Q: What do you think of your competition in the Best Breakthrough category?
A: Well I know there's four nominations. Me, Dan Nightingale, John Warburton and Dominic Woodward - all mates of mine. It's just a case of the one who wins will get the mickey taken a bit. Me, John and Dom were actually on a plane yesterday together and the other nominee Dan Nightingale is my flatmate. It's all quite incestuous, but when you're doing gigs on the circuit all the time you have no social life and fellow comedians are who you see all the time
 

Q: If you're one of this years Breakthrough acts who's coming up strong behind you?
A: There's a couple of guys from Newcastle, a double act who are kind of a pastiche of Kraftwerk. They're brilliant and really surreal and I think they'll do really well.
 

Q: So finally for people who haven't see you yet, how would you describe your act. We'd go for the Jarvis Cocker of comedy - true?
A: Yeah. It's just an exaggeration of myself. The only thing i'd describe it as is funny and that's the number 1 priority in comedy. As long as it's funny it doesn't matter what else it is.

Words: Alex McCann
Photos: Shirlaine Forrest  www.shirlainephotos.co.uk

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