{"id":400625,"date":"2025-09-05T18:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T18:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/400625\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T18:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T18:22:11","slug":"rhys-james-on-dread-deansgate-and-diving-into-the-comedy-deep-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/400625\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys James on dread, Deansgate, and diving into the comedy deep-end"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since graduating from the University of Manchester in 2012, comedian Rhys James has become a well-established figure on the British comedy scene, known for his appearances on the satirical panel show \u2018Mock the Week\u2019 (may the show rest in peace) and his brilliant stand-up shows, such as \u2018Snitch\u2019 (2019-2021) and \u2018Spilt Milk\u2019 (2023).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having \u201calways wanted to write a book\u201d, Rhys James has recently released his self-proclaimed \u2018dread memoir\u2019, You\u2019ll Like It When You Get There: A Life Lived Reluctantly<\/a>. The book explores the comic\u2019s life through the lens of dread and anxiety, weaving together incredibly well-crafted and laugh-out-loud stories that are surprisingly honest and open.<\/p>\n

Ahead of his book tour show<\/a> in Manchester on September 17, I sat down to talk to Rhys about his writing, career, and time as a student-comedian in Manchester.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whilst it seems to be the trend as of late for comedians to foray into the world of memoir-writing, for Rhys James it has been a long-time coming, with the comic claiming to have wanted to write a book \u201cprobably for longer than [he] wanted to be a comedian\u201d. As his friends were stealing their parents\u2019 cards to buy furniture on Habbo Hotel, James admits that he used to use his mum\u2019s credit card to enter into online short story contests: \u201cI would always lose, so for years I assumed they were a scam, but I was just shit at writing\u201d. His new book confirms this is certainly not the case anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James explains that the idea for the book came through a conversation with an industry colleague. \u201cThe question was like, \u2018what\u2019s the angle through which you sort of see the world?\u2019 And gradually, through just having this coffee with [the colleague], she was just like \u2018everything you\u2019re saying is about dread and everything you\u2019re saying is about avoidance, so it feels like that kind of is who you are\u2019\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James went on to hone the initial idea that became the defining theme of the book by exploring different aspects of his life and seeing if dread was \u2018the connecting thing\u2019. \u201cAs you do that, you can\u2019t help but try and intellectualise and analyse how you got there. And so, you go through every seemingly significant moment in your life or adolescence to be like, oh, \u2018is that the reason that I\u2019m scared of that?\u2019\u2026so there\u2019s loads of that in the book where I point to it and then I zoom out again and go, \u2018nah, probably not\u2019. It\u2019s just easy and convenient to come up with a reason, and often there isn\u2019t a reason; it\u2019s just a sort of chemical thing happening in your own brain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Focusing on dread and anxiety throughout the book in such an introspective way, it\u2019s no surprise that the comic learnt and \u2018overcame\u2019 a lot about himself whilst writing. \u201cWriting it all down and having to look at it in a comedic way kind of othered it as a feeling; it othered my anxiety slightly and it took its power away a little bit. I mean, it\u2019s going to come back because I know myself. Give it a year. But then I\u2019ll just have to write another [book]. Every time I feel a bit sad, I\u2019ll just write a book\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s refreshing to see a more self-reflective side to Rhys James, whose stand-up comedy persona is \u201ca bit high status\u201d, as he puts it. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to be more direct, and I really loved it. I have loved having this separate thing where I can just say the truth and be really vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the enjoyment of writing, navigating new material and a new medium has come with a different learning curve. \u201cThe day [the book] came out, I was just freaking out. In all of the build up, I was like \u2018this is great\u2019, and then when it came out, I was doing lots of interviews and stuff and it was just like \u2018oh god, it\u2019s out there and anyone can just pick it up and it will exist forever and anyone can look at it\u2019. Stand-up exists in such a moment that it\u2019s like you kind of don\u2019t necessarily remember what you\u2019re saying so you can get away with saying something mental. But, when you write it in a book you can just go back and go \u2018hang on\u2019. So, you know, hopefully it won\u2019t sell very well and it can all get pulped and no one will know I ever did it\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Demonstrably, Rhys James\u2019 respones to writing the book that he has always wanted to write is laced with the same dread and anxiety that fills the book\u2019s pages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the book came out, James has been travelling around the UK for conversational shows where he has been speaking to other comedians about the \u2018dread memoir\u2019. \u201cThey\u2019re very casual; we\u2019re not delving too deep. It\u2019s all on the surface and we\u2019re being funny about all the subjects, but it\u2019s interesting to see what different comedians are going to pick out as the funny things they want to talk about\u201d.<\/p>\n

James will be in conversation with Ivo Graham<\/a> when he comes to Manchester for the book tour \u2013 incredibly exciting news for any British comedy fans. Having been asked in interviews about the best ways to overcome dread, James has previously cited having a friend like Graham as a great strategy, describing his fellow comic as \u201ca purveyor of fun\u201d. \u201c[Graham] injects so much more fun into [hosting] than just the professional obligation of being the host\u2026he\u2019s so last minute, so he definitely won\u2019t have read it\u2026he\u2019ll see it as some sort of last minute challenge and he\u2019ll make it like Taskmaster\u201d. If that doesn\u2019t sell the show to comedy fans, I don\u2019t know what will.<\/p>\n

\"BookCredit: Headline Publishing Group<\/p>\n

After studying at the University of Manchester for his undergrad in Politics and International Relations, James still loves coming up and \u201cdoing stuff\u201d, claiming it\u2019s one of the few places where he stays as long as possible to enjoy a bit of the city. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of old sort of areas I want to go to. Although, to be honest, you can\u2019t really go to Fallowfield as a 34 year old man without looking like a creep. You can\u2019t be popping into that Sainsbury\u2019s, or, my god, go down to that McDonalds. Or Friendship \u2013 is that still there? Yeah, you can\u2019t be doing that\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to hear Rhys James, a genuinely successful adult, talk about living in Manchester as a student. \u201cI lived in Withington \u2013 awful place \u2013 directly opposite a school and it was so noisy all the time. And then I lived in Deansgate in my third year. It\u2019s so rogue, I know. Basically most of my mates left and went into placement. So, there were only two of us left and we lived in like an insanely nice flat in the Hacienda building. It was really bougie for a student, I mean it wasn\u2019t student living. But, they opened up some cool things, like Gorilla, which opened the year I moved there, and that was exciting because there was nothing like that in Manchester at that time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, for Rhys James, his flat in Deansgate was opposite the old Comedy Store \u2013 an important spot for the then student-comedian, who was driven to move to Manchester mostly by his pursuit of comedy. James admits that his time as a student was very much overshadowed by his passion for comedy: \u201cMy social life was just like \u2018I\u2019m going off to Oldham to do 10 minutes [of stand-up] for 50 quid\u2019, which was obviously great \u2013 I always had cash. But, instead of like going to the club for someone\u2019s birthday, I\u2019d go and do [a gig] because I wanted to be a professional comedian\u2026I was so useless at being a student\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Manchester proved to be the perfect place to start gigging, because \u201cif you start in London, you have to do loads of open mic gigs and you\u2019re really just performing to other open mic comedians. There\u2019s no genuine audience and [the gigs] are really hard work. In Manchester, it\u2019s a bit of a baptism of fire, because it\u2019s quite quick that you can do an unpaid try-out spot on a professional night. So, everyone else on the bill is like a comedian who\u2019s been going for years and really knows what they\u2019re doing. You kind of just have no choice but to up your game a bit because there\u2019s maybe 200 audience members there and you don\u2019t want to be embarrassed. It\u2019s good, like, you don\u2019t pick up bad habits because you see how people actually do it and it\u2019s great to instantly get in on that\u201d.<\/p>\n

With so much conviction and determination to become a stand-up comedian, James says that \u201cthere was no great moment where I was like \u2018great, now I can do this\u2019. Instead, there was never a moment where I thought I wouldn\u2019t be a comedian. I started so young and I guess I had the arrogance of youth and privilege, I was just like I want to be [a stand-up comedian], so I\u2019ll just do it. In my head, I genuinely just thought \u2018I just won\u2019t stop until I\u2019m successful at this\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since starting his career 17 years ago, Rhys James has seen enormous success, even as the comedy scene has changed and evolved over time. Despite social media now playing a massive part in comedy, James says that it hasn\u2019t changed the way he approaches his work. \u201cIt\u2019s already really hard to write stand-up comedy, so it\u2019s sort of best if you don\u2019t limit yourself further\u2026if you\u2019re going to limit yourself of like \u2018well, I can\u2019t do that idea because it\u2019s not hooky enough\u2019, then you\u2019re basically not a comedian anymore: you\u2019re just working in advertising\u201d.<\/p>\n

For James, the internet and rise of social media has had both positive and negative impacts on the industry: \u201cThe internet\u2019s changed [comedy] in that it\u2019s more democratic in theory because you\u2019re not just trying to impress a commissioner or a booker of a certain panel show so much. You\u2019ve got access to your whole audience. And, in theory, an algorithm should push you out to the right people who\u2019ll like your stuff. Obviously, we are all endlessly frustrated by the lack of that happening until it does. And we\u2019re also seeking this other weird sort of faceless kingmaker, which is a bit gross. Technically, it is a bit better than before, because [before] it was just like, whoever\u2019s in charge at the time needs to like you and needs to come and see you and needs to decide that you fit a certain gap they\u2019ve got at the time, and you can get lucky\u201d.<\/p>\n

The comedian describes himself to have gotten \u201cvery lucky\u201d, particularly with regard to his appearances on \u2018Mock the Week\u2019. \u201cI really suited that and they saw me at the right time, and I got on [the show] when I was quite new. I could easily have not gotten lucky. They could\u2019ve not come to watch me, and I would\u2019ve been buzzing now that the internet just lets you put stuff out there and grow an audience organically\u201d.<\/p>\n

Advising any young comedians looking to kickstart their career now that social media exists, James states that \u201cthe sooner you can start and do a gig, the better\u201d. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about trying to find that perfect gig to do for the first one. You\u2019re actually better off just growing quietly and starting kind of secretly\u2026I know I\u2019ve been banging on about social media being really important, but don\u2019t put anything on social media for a few years. Don\u2019t put your early gigs on social media\u2026it\u2019ll be much more impactful if you do that once you\u2019re actually really good and you\u2019ve honed your craft a little bit\u2026it takes a lot of willpower, but don\u2019t just burn [good material] on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n

Quick-fire Questions
\nIn your book, there is a chapter about living with a particularly troubling towel-less housemate. Do you have any advice for dealing with difficult housemates?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, fuck, I don\u2019t know\u2026I suffered in silence\u2026so I would say you need to deal with it head on: set boundaries early. I think young people are much better at that than my generation. I think Gen Z are fantastic at setting boundaries. So say that it\u2019s just, you know, affecting your mental health, like what are they supposed to say back to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

If you could give yourself a new nickname today, what would you choose?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could just be Penguin, like I wish it would catch on. But, in my real life, people call me Reej, and that started because another comedian in Edinburgh jokingly asked me \u2018what would your nickname be?\u2019. And I said Reej or \u2018The Boy\u2019. That was like 10 years ago\u2026he kept just saying \u2018it\u2019s your boy RJ\u2019 every time I entered a bar or something like that. He was taking the piss out of me but he did it so much that by the end of the month, everyone was just calling me Reej, and they still call me Reej. I kind of like that I sort of started that one myself. But, I\u2019m too old to be \u2018The Boy\u2019 now, so let\u2019s just go with \u2018RJ The Man’\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rhys James will be in conversation with Ivo Graham on 17 September at Fairfield Social Club as part of his book tour for \u2018You\u2019ll Like It When You Get There\u2019. Tickets are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since graduating from the University of Manchester in 2012, comedian Rhys James has become a well-established figure on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-400625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115153086449448919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}