What, you might wonder, is the meaning of rapid-fire comedian Tim Vine’s new show, Breeeep!
“I always think of ‘breeeep’ as being like an unimportant noise that makes people think of something trivial that is just brief and stupid – which kind of sums up the act,” said Tim, laughing.
But what Tim really wants is for the audience coming to his show at Eden Court in Inverness and The Tivoli in Aberdeen next month to be laughing non-stop as the king of the one-liners delivers gag after gag, barely pausing for breath.
“It’s the same sort of nonsense I’ve always done. I come on and do lots of silly one-line jokes along the lines of ‘velcro – what a rip off’ or ‘Black Beauty is a dark horse’,” he said.
“It’s a new hour of stuff and I may even do the odd thing they want to see me do again, like throw a pen behind my ear. And then we all go home none the wiser.”
Tim Vine enjoys having new material in front of audiences
Tim has been touring with Breeeep! and is enjoying getting his new work in front of audiences across the country.
“They’ve been mostly booing if I’m being honest with you,” he joked. “But no, they’ve been fantastic. The great thing about touring – and it’s lovely from my point of view – is that people come along because they like my stuff so you’re coming in to people who already know the sort of thing you are going to do.
“I remember doing clubs and stuff when you walk on stage, and no one knows who you are and you’ve got to win them over in the first 15 seconds or they smell fear and start turning against you. There’s a definite battle element to it.”
While he might make the art of the one-liner look easy, it takes a lot of hard work to hone and fine-tune a show like Breeeep!
Creating a show is full of surprises says comedian Tim Vine
“When you are at the beginning of that process you do think ‘gosh, really, can I write another hour’,” said Tim. “But you gradually accumulate things, you write lots of nonsense, then go to a little comedy club, try stuff out, come back, cross most of it, keep five or six jokes, then go back the next week and do another 10 or 15 minutes reading off a postcard.
“Gradually it builds and builds and you accumulate two hours of stuff then have to go and cross out 45 minutes, so it’s a constant purifying process. But it’s one of the bits I enjoy the most, actually, because it’s full of surprises.
“You never really know with what you’ve written what is the good stuff and what is not. You might think you’re excited about this one, then your optimism is shot down when the audience just stare at you. Then there are other things that you think ‘it might be alright’ then it gets a really big laugh.”
So by the time Breeeep! arrives in Inverness and Aberdeen it will be a well-oiled machine, including Tim’s favourite gag of the moment. “Believe it or not, I used to live hand-to-mouth. I tell you what changed my life. Cutlery.”
That’s just one of 150 to 200 gags – plus silly songs and props – that Tim promises will keep audiences in stitches.
Stupidity, joy and laughter from king of the one-liners
“Strap in for what is going to be a night with a lot of laughs. It’s night of just stupidity and hopefully a lot of joy and laughter and then everyone goes away thinking ‘I can’t remember any of that’. It’s how I get the repeat business.”
Tim Vine’s Breeeep! is at Eden Court in Inverness on September 5, then the Webster Memorial in Arbroath on September 7, Ullapool’s Macphail Centre on September 8, An Lanntair in Stornoway on September 9, Skye’s Las Theatre on September 11 then two nights at The Tivoli in Aberdeen on September 12 and 13. For tickets visit timvine.com