Kevin Shepherd: Comics Die in Hot Cars 2006

2006…

Saw my first visit to the Edinburgh festival, I did a show called Kevin Shepherd: Comics Die in Hot Cars. I filmed many of the countless drives (in my trusty Red Rover) to and from gigs and edited them all together into a light hearted documentary about what it’s like to be a comedian. Below you’ll find the videos from the show with a brief description of what they were about. If you have the time and inclination please feel free to sift through them.

I think I should mention somewhere that all of the video clips here are likely to contain some if not ALL of the graphic swearwords and taboo subjects imaginable. SO IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO CLIPS. Perhaps you would prefer to look at some nice pictures of KITTENS.

Still here? Then lets begin…

The Intro

The Intro from the show, the first 4 mins and 14 seconds were ment as a screen saver. While the audience arrived the fantastic “Chronicles” by Get cape wear cape fly played and then the intro proper starts. However it was only played once as eight people sat transfixed for 4 mins believing it was the start of the show. They exchanged baffled glances and looked at me and growled “This is not art or comedy its shite!” and left (F**king twats). I think it’s worth watching for the music alone.

The Star

I would like to introduce you to the true star of Kevin Shepherd: Comics Die in Hot Cars a luminary without whom none of the show would be possible. I give you the real star of the show.

The Camera

Everyone I have told about the show has had their own idea of what they think the show should be about. The most common criticism is that how can you catch candid moments on the camera when the very presence of a camera means that the comedian will play up for the camera. My response to this is that if you travel with enough comedians you will see that they will play up to anyone, if the camera wasn’t there they would play up anyway. In the next section you will see various reactions to the show and the camera and I will concede that if you look quite closely you may see in one of the clips evidence of someone playing up just a little.

The Job

Once I started driving around the country, word soon spread that I had a car and I wasn’t afraid to use it and before long people started to phone me. For the first time in my comedy career I was popular in the end I was receiving calls every day. Admittedly 98% of the people that called didn’t even ask if I was a frikin comedian. I’d learnt my first valuable lesson. In the comedy world it’s not what you know, but who you drive.

Despite this, this is the only job I’ve ever wanted. When I moved from Bognor Regis to London 12 years ago. I had one goal in mind to become a stand up comedian. Its just a shame it took me so long to discover that the key to comedic success was a diesel car, red bull and the ability to bite your lip and smile politely whilst begin bent over the proverbial barrel. Apart from the joy of driving up and down the country and for the first time in my life doing something I want to do. I have always found it hard to vocalise why I enjoy it so much, but in the first of these clips Mike Manera hits the nail on the head.

The Bitches Part 1

Comedy is a very competitive business and some comic’s progress at Mach 4 while others seam to go at a snails pace, so inevitably people often become jealous and very bitchy. Sometimes people do have the courage to say something nasty to a persons face on one journey I managed to capture it and do you know what it was the dullest tape I’ve got. In the next clip we will meet Jay Sodagar now Jay is a little rotund, so for two hours we called Jay fat and he told us to fuck off. Now I want to show you these clip’s just so you can get a taste of what it’s like, in order to make it palatable though, I have sped it up so we all sound like evil chipmunks.

The Bitches Part 2

Now despite this being very dull and shear purgatory to watch and edit, it was all worth while as we passed a service station, something we do on pretty much every single trip. This particular one was a Moto service station.

The Gigs

I have had many jobs ranging from tomato picker to working in Homebase and at every single one of the interviews I was told. Every day is different every day is a new challenge. Bollocks, it never happened two weeks in same shit different day. With comedy no one promised it and it happened, which is why sometimes it goes wrong. Every single day like Forrest gumps chocolates you never know what you are going to get.

The Risks

As a comic you do plenty of driving at night and it can be very dangerous. I decided to do bit of research on the Internet and managed to find an AA Study of night-time accident and it made deeply depressing reading. What follows the fruits of my research is Martin Davis and Pam Ford demonstrating the right way and wrong way to keep your driver alert and awake at night.

The Star From The Car

Each of the live versions of Kevin Shepherd: Comics Die in Hot Cars had a real 3D comedian performing a set. This is the video used to bring them on.

The Random

Now we hit a problem, my favourite video from the show and the penultimate section of clips where deamed by youtube to be a bit too rude so they took the video down, But fear not thanks to the not quite so prudish Vimeo you can still watch it they are called the random. The reason for this is they are just random bits I thought were quite nice, and despite my best efforts I could not crowbar them into the show any other way.

The Random from Kevin Shepherd on Vimeo.

The Last Drive

After setting out to make this show, at the end I still had plenty of questions, what did the future hold? Am I destined to spend the rest of my life eating Ginster’s pasties? What are the long-term affects of combing red bull and pro plus? In order to answer these questions I needed someone who was performing at the top end of the circuit performing A grade gigs only. And it looked like I wasn’t going to have the opportunity. Until at a preview in Camden I met Jimmy Carr who very kindly agreed to be filmed. I have combined this last trip with the credits for the people whose goodwill and co-operation have made this entire show possible, and meant that for at least 27 and a half minutes you were either interested or entertained.

The Exit Music

Exactly what it says on the tin. Thanks for watching x.