The other thing that made an impression on me was meeting the comedian Daniel Kitson, who was also a contestant in that final. There are many people in Britain who may never have heard of Daniel, as he tries only to play to fairly small rooms, and basically rejects all forms of TV. Some comics refuse to go on things like panel games on the pretence that they see them as artistically bereft, but actually it’s because they know they wouldn’t cut the mustard. But Daniel’s one of the few who would cut the mustard. In fact, he’d not only cut it, he’d spread it all over his baguette, add some cheesy squares and shove it in his big fat face. Daniel is one of the few who have rejected TV purely for artistic reasons, and would more than shine on it if he wanted, because he’s a brilliant comic.

That’s not what I remember about him from that night though, because I didn’t actually get to see his act; we were all locked away backstage awaiting our turns. What I remember about him was meeting him backstage just before the night started. He was about sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, and I felt a bit sorry for the ‘little kid’, who I assumed would surely be a bit rubbish because he was so young. I asked if he was OK, and was he feeling nervous. Now what I didn’t know about Daniel at the time is that he has a stammer. It’s hard to actually write down in words his reply, because the first bit wasn’t actually a sound. It was more like a man trying to answer you with a frog in his mouth and he didn’t want to open his gob in case it jumped out. Then after what seemed like an eternity he swallowed the frog and said very calmly ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ Now, bearing in mind at the time I still felt that stand-up was for the ‘special’ people, the worldly-wise people with the self-assured personas, it’s fair to say that a young kid with a stammer as thick as the lenses in his glasses was not what I called textbook comedian. Far from it. In fact, Daniel was so far from what I considered a stand-up should be that I genuinely assumed he was a character act. The transition between the ‘nervousness’ of the stammer, with his eyes tight shut, desperate to get the words out but unable to, and then the sudden, genuinely calm, ‘Yeah, I’m fine’ was so extreme that I assumed it was an act. Why was he doing this backstage? I assumed he was getting into character and, to be honest, slightly taking the piss out of me. I was literally on the verge of saying ‘All right, mate, cut out the bullshit and talk to me normally.’ Now I have subsequently got to know Daniel a lot better, I would give my right arm to go back in time and actually say it.

If I was running a stand-up comedy course for beginners I would start by showing a video of Bill Hicks next to a video of Daniel Kitson and tell them that proves beyond doubt there isn’t a ‘type’ that does stand-up; you can be any ‘type’ and still end up brilliant.

Lee Mack, Mack the Life, Chapter 15