WATCH: Laughing on the inside...

Tuesday 24 November 2020

A Jersey-born comedian's lockdown antics, ranging from crying on the toilet to making 'Russian mayonnaise', have got him noticed on the national scene.

Christian Jegard began performing as a child with his parents' camera and a few unwilling friends he'd roped in.

After being encouraged by his wife to enter a stand-up comedy course, Brighton-based Christian soon found himself on the comic circuit, where he found himself loving the feeling of making others laugh.

Having recently won a British Comedy Guide Award for his music video, 'Stay Inside', as well as his short film 'Delivery' being shown at the Austin Comedy Film Festival in Texas, his scope has certainly widened from his parents' camcorder. 

Express caught up with him to see how he's getting on inside...

Tell us about your time growing up…were you always the performing type?

I suppose so, when I was 9 or 10 I used my parents' camcorder to make little films that were me doing short parodies of telly adverts and things… I would rope my friends in sometimes but would then get frustrated with them because they couldn’t act and they had poor timing. 

Those films were awful, but I had so much fun doing it, I knew from quite a young age that creative things were my thing. I wasn’t very academic - I have Aspergers and didn’t do so well in school. I liked making stuff and wasn’t so concerned about the look-at-me thing of having an audience, but for standup, an audience is integral - I’ve learned to love the process of getting people to laugh. It’s hard but so satisfying when you nail it.

Video: Christian sings us through his lockdown routine. (WARNING - Contains language that may offend)

How did you get into comedy?

I have a wonderful wife, and she pushed me to do it. I was a mess when we met but she sorted my life and teeth out and signed me up for a stand-up comedy course with the fantastic Jill Edwards - whose students include Jimmy Carr, Seann Walsh, Angela Barnes (among others). That got me to focus and helped me on to the comedy circuit with gigs at Comic Boom and the like. My wife also bought me a camera so I could start making sketches again, so I love doing that.

What has been your most memorable show so far?

The Komedia New Comedy Awards Final. I didn't win, but I had such a good time and was just digging on the fact I made it to the final with all these top-notch comics, they were incredible. Being able to hold my own (just about) in that place was thrilling.

What inspired the ‘Stay Inside’ video? Did you really get up to all those things (including making Russian mayo!)?

When lockdown first happened in March, my wife suggested I do a comedy song about the things you can do while staying in. I like ‘list’ comedy, so it’s just silly listing stuff. In terms of doing the things in the video - no, I don't cry on the toilet or kiss myself in the mirror. Although statistically, I'm sure I must have cried on the toilet at some point in early age, and now that I think about it I kiss my reflection most mornings after brushing my teeth (to bring luck throughout the day).

Video: A sketch about home shopping deliveries, which was shown at the Austin Comedy Film Festival in Texas.

Also, I'm quite method, so I insisted on making real ‘Russian mayo’ (vodka-infused mayonnaise) for the video and eating it. Be warned - it’s not as delicious as it sounds.

To what extent has the bizarreness of the covid situation been a source of inspiration for your work?

Well, the COVID situation isn’t itself funny or a good topic for comedy because it’s a serious thing and everyone’s fed up of it. But there’s some funny stuff around the edges which is mainly about the way we handle situations or what we do under weird circumstances we’ve never encountered.

For example, the tier system thing wasn’t about COVID - it was just about me messing about with a cake for cheap laughs.

How much fun was it ruining a cake for the lockdown tier video?

Pretty fun! I just wanted to do a little improvised bit to camera mangling a cake because I saw a news piece trying to explain the tier system using a wedding cake. 

Video: Christian gives a simple explanation of the UK's covid tier systems. (WARNING - contains language that may offend)

Although they were trying to simplify it, they were making it seem way more complicated than it needed to be, which tickled me.

What happened to the cake afterwards? 

I'd LIKE to say I didn't eat the cake, but then again I'd LIKE to say that as an adult I no longer get my head stuck in things. We are who we are.

How did you feel being selected by the BCG as well as the other nominations that Stay Inside has received?

Wonderful! One of the coolest things which I’m super proud of was to have my Delivery sketch played at the Austin Comedy Film Festival in Texas.

For years I made things that nobody saw, so it’s nice to finally show people what I’ve got and for them to collectively say, 'That’s okay I guess.'

When the pandemic (fingers crossed!) finally comes to an end… What are your aspirations for 2021?

Well, 2021 might be too early for me, realistically it probably won’t be until 2022 - but I’m writing a show I want to do at the Brighton Fringe and take to Edinburgh, that’s my plan. A combination of stand-up, sketches and music. Although at the moment ‘writing’ is a generous verb to describe staring out the window. I don’t know if anyone’s stared a Fringe show into existence, but I’m giving it a good go.

You can follow Christian on Facebook or YouTube.