Tune-Up, No. 3: Paul Revill on the art of compering
Published: Thursday 24th June 2021
Many acts may have lost their mojo at the microphone over the last 18 months. So as regular stand-up returns, we're getting advice from the experts.
It's one of the trickiest and most important roles in comedy, but how do you become a compere without compare? Let's ask Paul Revill, one of the best in the business, as well as an excellent long-form comic in his own right. With over 1000 gigs under the belt, he knows how to wrangle a crowd.
Revill is also revered on the circuit as a runner of well-respected gigs and festivals - Bedfordshire's Castle Comedy - and he's grasped the nettle with a bunch of shows since stages reopened. To see a top compere in the wild, he's at:
Flitwick Rufus Centre (June 26th with Nathan Caton and James Redmond), Leighton Buzzard's Crooked Crow Bar (June 30th with Mike Gunn, Fiona Allen & President Obonjo) and Bedford's Brewpint (July 8th with Angelos Epithemiou, Ian Stone and Ninia Benjamin).
And now, on with the show.
You seem a very natural compere - were you always good, or was there a moment it really started to click?
I always felt very at home in the role of compere but I was far from fully formed in the early years and I'm still learning now. I'll often have the perfect response to an audience member in the car on the way home. Two things stood me in good stead, I like people and I did lots of...
