‘You deserve to die’ begins the blurb of Manchester-born ‘grumpy’ comedian Michael J Dolan’s new live album due to be released on Friday.
Nothing Will Ever Be Alright Again, Ever, is the second album from the 36-year-old comedian and is a recording of his comedy gig of the same name.
Known as Manchester’s grumpy young man, and described by some as a misogynist, Dolan is not afraid to tell people the truth.
“I think it is important to let people know up front what they’re getting themselves into,” Dolan told MM.
“I’ve described the show in various promotional materials as horribly bleak and inaccessible.
“If you don’t think you’re going to like me then please see somebody else, better for everybody that way.”
Having a live comedy album in CD format seems to be an unusual method of recording but Dolan said: “Comedy albums were an integral part of my childhood.
“I couldn’t get to see the comedians I wanted to when I was eleven, twelve years old but I could buy their albums. I’m doing this for the kids.”
He performed his latest gig of the same title at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year where grouchy-man Dolan surprisingly had a ‘great time this year’.
“I didn’t really give a fuck, which was a very fun way to do it,” added Dolan.
“I could change the show every day, experiment; add new stuff which I carried on doing right up until we came to recording it a month later.
“It was a complete turnaround from the previous year where I fucking hated it and myself the entire time.”
The comedian said that he doesn’t like to see ‘comedy as a career’ and thinks ‘it should be left to the nutcases and the people who can’t do anything else’.
People assume that there is an obligation for comedians to be funny in every situation, but this is not the case for this grumpy Mancunian.
He added: “There’s nothing worse than a car full of comedians who can’t stop quipping for five minutes.
“I’d rather walk to a gig. Or make them walk if I’m driving.”
Dolan recorded both of his albums at XS Malarkey, based at Jabez Clegg just off Oxford Road, which he described as being one of his favourite places to do comedy.
“The audience at XS have the finest quality you can ask for in a crowd and that they will happily sit there and let you die,” added Dolan.
“If you’re up there and you’re not funny they won’t shout shit out, they won’t start chatting to each other, they won’t be c***s about it, they’ll just watch you die with respect.”
Writing comedy can be seen as an extremely difficult thing to achieve and to be successful at it.
And spending years at it only to be answered with rejection can have a profound effect on a person’s confidence as Dolan knows all too well.
Dolan said: “Clinical depression is a hard thing to explain to people who’ve never experienced it because everybody thinks they have it.
“I think there’s a fair few well documented depressives throughout comedy history. We’re fucking everywhere.”
However, he uses his depression to spur him on to create great comedy.
“It definitely influences me, I think the more profound the sadness the funnier I eventually find it,” he added.
“The truth is most things are inherently awful, and, well, it’s the old Billy Wilder quote isn’t it? If you want to tell people the truth, you’d better make them laugh or they’ll kill you.”
Pre-order his new album here: http://michaeljdolan.co.uk/
Image courtesy of LeeMartinComedy via Youtube, with thanks.
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