Brighton date as "the funniest dad on Instagram" explores parenthood

SussexWorld

Comedian George Lewis is finally approaching the end of his ever-expanding tour with a return to Brighton for a date at the Theatre Royal on October 19.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, group art citizen at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this

00:06afternoon to speak to George Lewis. Now, this is the tour that has just grown and grown and grown.

00:11It was only going to be a dozen, 15 dates, yet somehow you struck a chord, didn't you? And the

00:17tour is more than 100 dates so far. One of the last dates coming up is going to be at Brighton

00:22Theatre Royal. And this is George Lewis, the best thing you'll ever do. So what is the best thing

00:28you'll ever do? Well, it takes a whole show to get into how complicated this is. But

00:34that is the thing that other parents always say to you when they want you to have kids

00:40as well. They say, you've got to do it. It's the best thing you'll ever do. And then when

00:43you tell them that you are having kids, they go, haha, we tricked you. But you are in agreement

00:51with that statement. Best thing I've ever done? Three times? Yeah, well, exactly. Yeah, I

00:55keep doing it, don't I? I'm a dad to three. And it is, it definitely is the best thing

01:03I've ever done. But also, it's, that doesn't tell the whole story. It's not what you, it's not what

01:08you imagine in so many ways. But it's, I think that's what every parent goes through, isn't it?

01:14Yeah. You could never imagine it. Well, no, you can't. It's beyond. And I remember when I became a

01:20parent, I think the greatest thing I loved was the fact that I suddenly stopped taking myself so

01:24seriously. It was liberating. Did you find that? Absolutely. Yeah, because you're just not,

01:30you realise you don't matter. You don't matter. That's exactly it. Yeah, you're not allowed to.

01:36It'd be absurd. It'd be absurd to take yourself too seriously, because there's just too much else

01:40that you've got to think about and have on. And you're right, that is such like a liberating

01:47and freeing thing. I do think, yeah, I think I'm a lot, even though I'm probably a lot more

01:52frustrated and grumpy now, my dad, I'm definitely overall happier, because you're right, you realise

01:58that... It's a wider perspective, isn't it? Exactly, yeah. The things you thought were important

02:03before aren't. No, in the show, are you dispensing wisdom, or are you still trying to work it out?

02:10Yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't promise to dispense any wisdom. I think it's, it's me working

02:16it out. It's, it's me talking about, you know, the stuff that I've gone through. And what's

02:23been great, because I've done so many shows, I realise a lot of the things that we're all

02:27going through, which you may, you know, a lot of people think, you think it's just yourself,

02:31but a lot of, that's the thing, I think, with being a parent, it, it can feel quite solitary,

02:37and it can feel like, oh, we're the only ones doing this, we're the only ones feeling this,

02:41are we messing this up? And everyone else is doing it brilliantly. But then, when you speak

02:46to a room full of hundreds of other people who are in the same situation as you, you realise,

02:52we're all going through the same thing. Absolutely. Nothing is unprecedented, is it?

02:56No. Fantastic. And the tour has just, well, it's exploded, hasn't it? And it's coming to the

03:03end now. And how are you going to cope once it's over?

03:07I'm going to sleep. I'm going to...

03:10What, with three children? Are you sure? I'm probably not. I think I'll sleep better on

03:14tour to me. Yeah, you're right, actually. Maybe I'll have to, like, do a sort of fake

03:19dummy tour at the end, where I can just go and stay in hotels without doing the game.

03:24Without the show? Wow.

03:26Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, it's, it's going to be, I'm enjoying this bit so much, because even

03:32though it has been way bigger than I would have ever planned it to be, now I'm on just

03:37the home straight, and it means I'm getting to, the show is the best it's ever been throughout

03:44the whole tour. I'm enjoying it more than ever, but I'm getting to go back to the places which

03:49have been, like, the nicest ones. So Brighton, for instance, I've done it twice already, and

03:54they were such lovely gigs, but they were in smaller venues. So to go back and do one last

04:00gig there. It sounds like the lesson in all this is don't stop, really, doesn't it?

04:05Yeah. So, yeah, I'm, yeah, I just, so I'm just really trying to appreciate these last

04:13few shows, because I know that this really is the end of it now. So, yeah, I'm just trying

04:17to enjoy it.

04:18Fantastic. Well, congratulations on the tour that exclaimed beyond all reckoning. Lovely

04:24to speak to you, and I hope you enjoy those final few shows, including Brighton Theatre

04:29Royal, October the 19th. Thank you. Good to talk to you.

04:34Cheers, man.

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