Posted By: Editor
June 15, 2022
MILTON JONES EXTENDS HIS TOUR OF MILTON: IMPOSSIBLE INTO AUTUMN 2022
The Babbacombe Theatre, Torquay on Friday 25th November, 7.30pm
Tickets are priced from £27.50
Box Office: 01803 328385
Phil McIntyre Live Ltd are delighted to announce that star of Mock The Week (BBC Two), BBC Radio 4, Live at the Apollo (BBC One), household favourite, king of the one-liner and one of the UK’s biggest selling comedians Milton Jones has added an extra 35 tour dates to his ongoing Milton: Impossible tour across Autumn 2022. Tickets are on sale and available via www.miltonjones.com.
One man. One Mission. Is it possible? No, not really.
Complete with his unique style and eccentric shirts, Milton will reveal the truth behind having once been an international spy, and then being given a somewhat disappointing new identity which forced him to appear on Mock The Week (BBC Two), Live at the Apollo (BBC One), Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow (BBC One) and even headline on Dave’s One Night Stand (Dave). This is a love story with a twist, or at least a really bad sprain. Is it all just gloriously daft nonsense, or is there a deeper meaning? Every man has his price. Sainsbury’s, where good food costs less.
Milton Jones said: “We’ve all been through a lot recently, so why not go through a little bit more? Milton Impossible is a show about my career as a spy. Some people say that they really love it, others that can’t believe the sheer number of stupid jokes in it, and one old man in Bolton said, ‘It’s just what we need at the moment’ (None of them said these things to me directly, but I still own a lot of powerful listening equipment). We’re adding a load more shows in the autumn of 22. Obviously, I will know if you pass this on or not…”
Milton’s last sell-out tour, Milton Jones Is Out There, was seen by over one hundred thousand people, with an entire leg of extra shows added to cater to demand, underlining his position as one of the UK and Ireland’s most popular comedians. Milton has co-written and performed in thirteen of his own radio series for BBC Radio 4 and in 2012 Another Case of Milton Jones won the Silver Sony Award for Best Comedy – he is currently writing his fourteenth radio series. Milton won the Perrier Best Newcomer Award, is the winner of two Sony Awards, a Writers Guild Award nominee and his radio show Very World of Milton Jones was nominated for a British Comedy Award. Milton has also released three hugely successful live DVDs – Milton Jones – The Universe Tour. Part One – Earth Milton Jones Live, The Lion Whisperer and On the Road.
Tickets are on sale and are available from www.miltonjones.com
Praise for Milton Jones:
“He’s fast, absurd and very Funny” Radio Times
“No-one can touch Jones when he hits his stride” The Guardian
SEPTEMBER 2022
30/09/2022 TRURO, Hall for Cornwall – www.hallforcornwall.co.uk
OCTOBER 2022
3/10/2022 TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Assembly Theatre – www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk
4/10/2022 BRISTOL, Redgrave Theatre – www.redgravetheatre.com
6/10/2022 LEEDS, City Varieties – www.leedsheritagetheatres.com
7/10/2022 STOCKTON, ARC Theatre – www.arconline.co.uk
8/10/2022 SOUTHPORT, Comedy Festival – www.southportcomedyfestival.com
9/10/2022 BRADFORD, St George’s Hall – www.bradford-theatres.co.uk
12/10/2022 WELLINGBOROUGH, Castle – www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/castle
13/10/2022 BLACKPOOL, Grand Theatre – www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk
14/10/2022 GALASHIELS, Volunteer Hall – www.liveborders.org.uk/book/town
15/10/2022 DUNDEE, Caird Hall – www.leisureandculturedundee.com
16/10/2022 ABERDEEN, Tivoli – www.thetivolitheatre.com
19/10/2022 BIRMINGHAM, Town Hall – www.bmusic.co.uk/your-visit/town-hall
20/10/2022 HUDDERSFIELD, Lawrence Batley Theatre – www.thelbt.org
26/10/2022 NEWBURY, Corn Exchange – www.cornexchangenew.com
27/10/2022 HEREFORD, Courtyard Theatre – www.courtyard.org.uk
29/10/2022 HORSHAM, Capitol Theatre – www.thecapitolhorsham.com
30/10/2022 WINCHESTER, Theatre Royal – www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk
NOVEMBER 2022
1/11/2022 MAIDSTONE, Hazlitt – www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/Hazlitt
2/11/2022 CAMBERLEY, Theatre – www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/ /camberley
3/11/2022 NORTH FINCHLEY, Arts Depot – www.artsdepot.co.uk
4/11/2022 FARNHAM, Maltings – www.farnhammaltings.com
5/11/2022 WORCESTER, The Swan Theatre – www.worcestertheatres.co.uk
8/11/2022 SCARBOROUGH, Spa Theatre – www.scarboroughspa.co.uk
Milton Jones
Milton: Impossible
Forget James Bond, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt – there’s a new spy in town. And he’s not dressed in a neat tuxedo or head-to-toe camouflage. He’s wearing a garish Hawaiian shirt.
That’s right, Milton Jones – ‘Mock the Week’s resident oddball, Radio 4 regular and king of the surreal one-liner – is back on tour, and this time he’s an international man of mystery.
The wild-haired joke-teller might not be the obvious choice for a secret agent, but in ‘Milton: Impossible’ the 55-year-old comic will be taking his audience through an action-packed story via hundreds of his trademark, exquisitely-crafted pieces of wordplay.
I caught up with the ‘Live at the Apollo’ star ahead of his UK tour to check he’s had the proper training.
The new tour is called ‘Milton: Impossible’. What made you decide on the spy theme?
‘Basically, I came up with the title before the show! I thought: “That sounds good!” So I made a rod for my own back by theming it. But sometimes it’s easier to write to a theme than have a completely blank page. The show is based on “Mission: Impossible”, but “Mission: Impossible” has a huge budget and lots of special effects. My show is just me and some hats and about 250 jokes. It’s low-tech instead of high-tech.’
So, like your last two tours – ‘Milton Jones is Out There’ and ‘The Temple of Daft’ – this show has a narrative element to it?
‘If you’re going to do a show for over an hour you can’t just tell bits. That’s what I do on “Mock the Week” and “Live at the Apollo”, which is fine, but you want something with the veneer of satisfaction, otherwise it’s too fragmented. This show’s got an interrogation scene, a car chase with a swivel chair, and I end up escaping on top of a Vince Cable Car. It’s not strictly realistic, but it’s as daft as ever.’
Before touring, you perform work-in-progress shows to test your material. How important are those previews?
‘They’re very important. Even after all these years, I’ll think I’ve written the best joke ever and it turns out to be one of the worst jokes ever – but what I’ve improvised off the back of it stays in the show. So I would have never got to point B without going through the dreadful point A.’
Do you end up with a lot of great jokes that just don’t fit into the theme or narrative of the show?
‘Yeah, I do. There are about 250 jokes in the show, but I reckon I end up writing about 350. A lot of them are then used somewhere else – in the next tour, on radio, on “Mock the Week” – so they’re never wasted. And if they’re particularly brilliant then I might go out of my way to include them in the show!’
Have you ever thought of doing a show of just the off cut jokes that didn’t make it into the final version?
‘Yes, I could even call it “off cuts”, couldn’t I? In fact, some would argue that that’s what I do anyway!’
When do you consider a joke ‘finished’?
‘When I’ve got an idea over in the minimum number of words, then I know it’s done.’
And what makes the perfect joke?
‘If a gag works, it makes a cartoon in someone’s head – a very brief picture where they think they know where it’s going, and then you pull the carpet from under them and it was all about something else all along. It’s reverse engineering from an idea or a phrase.’
Your last tour played to more than 100,000 people, and you’ve appeared on ‘Mock the Week’ over 40 times. What’s more fun to do: a live show or a TV appearance?
‘They’re both good in different ways. Going to small place on a Saturday night where they’re all determined to have a great laugh – I don’t think that can be beaten, in one sense. With radio or television, you’re as good as the edit, and it’s out of your control. That may well work in your favour, or it may not. With “Mock the Week”, when I think I’ve done a bad show, I’ll watch it back and think, “oh, it was all right”, but when I think I’ve done a really good show I’ll watch it back and think, “oh, it was all right”. It all evens out.’
Do you always watch your ‘Mock the Week’ appearances back?
‘Yes, because I need to know what they used and what they didn’t. Doing several episodes, the same subjects may come back, so obviously I don’t want to say the same thing that has already been aired. And then, occasionally, I’ll be channel flicking and I’ll come across myself, as it’s endlessly repeated on Dave. But I watch them from behind a sofa a bit. I’m very grateful to “Mock the Week” for giving me a wider platform, and also a slightly different audience. It’s a younger audience, and those people will come to a tour show, sometimes even bringing their grandparents or parents. My audiences are a motley selection of people, which I quite like, actually.’
How do you cater for those different generations in the same audience?
‘I am aware that if I make a reference to Instagram or something I’m going to lose everyone over 50. But that’s fine because overall my references are quite general, and even if you didn’t get it, the joke’s only going to last 20 seconds, so there’ll be something else along soon enough.’
You have another Radio 4 series in the works, the tour and more ‘Mock the Week’ episodes. What’s next after that?
‘I don’t have anything else planned! But who knows what will turn up. Sometimes the unexpected things that come along are the most interesting – other quiz shows, a corporate event abroad – things you wouldn’t have predicted. Doing “Celebrity Mastermind” or something, you know? You get to meet and talk to people you wouldn’t otherwise.’
What was your specialist subject on ‘Celebrity Mastermind’?
‘Potatoes.’
Potatoes?!
‘I mean, if I’d have taken it seriously I’d have done something like Arsenal. But when he announced it – “your specialist subject is potatoes” – the audience all laughed, and I thought: in a way, I’ve chalked up! I came last, obviously. But I’m employed as a comedian. It’s entertainment. If I get to do it again I’ll choose carrots.’
‘Milton Jones in Milton: Impossible’ is on tour, 26 Sept 2021 – 24 October 2022. www.miltonjones.com.
Interview: Ben Williams
