Before the start of the first series of Balls of Steel, Benjie Goodhart caught up with host, Mark Dolan, to talk about the new show. Check out the interview below:
Mark: "I really wanted to be part of Balls of Steel. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a comedy/entertainment show that has a whole range of different styles of humour in it – some very slapstick and base, and some of it a touch more intellectual and cerebral and subtle and layered. It involves twelve new comedy acts all doing different styles of comedy, some of it in the studio, some out and about on the street. But there’s one thing that all the performers have in common: In order to do what they’ve done, they have to have balls of steel. They have to be ludicrously brave, foolhardy, and have to show some contempt for their physical safety."
"Almost everybody has suffered physical retribution for what they’ve been doing. In that way, the sketches themselves always seem to have these little moments of justice in them. Like The Annoying Devil who went to a golf course with a whole bucket of extra balls. There are some men having a really serious tournament, and just getting to the putting at the end, and he just chucks all the extra balls on the putting green. Now, you'd have thought a golf environment was a completely safe environment in which to do outrageous comedy, but in fact no. A Pringle-wearing retired madman started running towards The Annoying Devil and chucked this very heavy golf club at him. It whacked him on the back of the head."
The trick, of making people the butt of jokes and then getting them to find it funny, is a difficult one to pull off, but Dolan has manages it well.
Mark: "I always wanted to perform. I love an audience. My father ran a pub in Kentish Town, North London. As a kid, I used to perform there all the time for the customers, little stand up routines when I was about ten. I did a lot of performing at school, and I think that I learned that I wanted to be a comedian by doing acting. The more I acted, the more I realised I just wanted to make people laugh."
As well as having two TV series to his cname, he does an enormous amount of radio, regular stand up work, and has appeared as a panelist on a number of other TV shows.
Mark: "The idea behind Balls of Steel is to bring people in who are very funny and very talented but who've not had the exposure or the opportunity yet. Balls of Steel empowers them to go out there and do their thing. Whoever had the funniest ideas got to do it, no matter who they were."
Ultimately, according to Dolan, there should be something for everyone in the show, thanks to the presence of so many different styles of humour. "It creates a show which, if you’re not enjoying one bit, you need not worry, because there'll be another completely contrasting thing along in just a moment. That's why I’m hoping the show will be a real success."