Ha Ha Comedy Cumnock

Royal Hotel

Tues 12 June

John Gavin, Susie McCabe & Alan Anderson

Ha Ha Comedy Montrose

Sat 2nd June

Black Abbot, Coronation Way

featuring Scottish Comedian of the year 2011 Jamie Dalgleish & runner up Graham Mackie

Best of Scottish Comedian of the Year

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2-26 August 2012

Underbelly Cowgate. 22.40

Scottish Comedian of the Year 2011 - Jamie Dalgleish

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012

Just The Tonic @ The Caves 22.40

2-26 August 2012

Alan Anderson: Whisky Fir Dummies in Edinburgh Comedy Festival brochure

Berwick Upon Tweed Friday 25th May

Black & Gold Social Club, Berwick Rangers Football Club

Ha Ha Comedy presents

John Gavin, Susie McCabe & Alan Anderson

Berwick Upon Tweed Friday 25th May

Black & Gold Social Club, Berwick Rangers Football Club

Ha Ha Comedy presents

John Gavin, Susie McCabe & Alan Anderson

Whisky Comedian Alan Anderson interviews acapella beatbox singing group The Magnets and gets their ideas on how three very different whiskies taste.

Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt - Glenfiddich, Balvenie & Kinivie

Smokehead - Independantly bottled Islay Malt

Bakery Hill Double Wood from Melbourne Australia

At the Adelaide Fringe, London based comedian Nik Coppin, who is of Caribbean descent, got kicked out of Peter Goers’ ABC Radio studio for being “Racist”.  During an on air discussion about the history of AFL’s Essendon Bombers (a team Nik Coppin passionately supports) Nik stated that due to the black and red colour of their strip, historically their nickname was “the Blood stained Niggers”. Peter Goers subsequently cut the mic accused Nik of being racist and told Nik and his producer to “get the fuck out of my studio”.

Nik Coppin - “A racist”

Peter Goers - A man who can tell the difference between a canadian and a goat

The below is what Nik Coppin had to say about the affair.

———-

For many reasons, I don’t usually blog. Those reasons being among many such as, lack of time, laziness, failing to really see the point and wondering who would really care anyway. Facebook updates and Tweets seem  to suffice. But this week in Adelaide has seen a few things happen that would simply be too long to go into and explain properly by the aforementioned methods.

It has been strange week indeed. One that has certainly made me re-evaluate many things in comedy. From what I say in public, to producing shows, to where should I be based from here on and so on. It’s all certainly got me thinking seriously about where to take things with my comedy career.

But all that is for other blogs. This one concerns itself with what I can only describe as a cunt of a radio presenter. I rarely use that word in my comedy routines and even rarer when writing and certainly not when having done radio or television, as it is apparently the worst word you can use. Or is it?

Not according to Peter Goers on ABC radio here in Adelaide it isn’t. And perhaps he is right. But let me explain.

On Wednesday night, myself and Alex Petty jumped in a cab to go and do a promotional interview with said radio presenter. Upon arriving and listening to the interviewee before me, who was a lovely chap that had written a book about various volunteer work he has done in Pakistan and Afghanistan with his wife over many years in the past, I quickly realised that this could be a very strange interview indeed.

So, myself and Alex go into the studio after Mr Goers has told his listeners that his next guest is a comedian from Canada, a mistake made and corrected in previous emails whilst setting up the interview.

After opening whilst half talking to me and half to himself with, “So, you’re not Canadian and you don’t have a goat?”, Mr Goers proceeded to shuffle through papers barely engaging us and asking inane questions about our shows and waffling on about some theatre nonsense as I tried to give him various background and relevant information about the shows.

He then asks what is my ‘schtick’ and so I tell him my style and how I like to deal with crowds, etc. He then goes on to ask for some material. I kept the jokes and banter light and simple, only to be met with stony silence and semi-lectures about what I said, so decide to go in a different direction and inform Mr Goers that I know a few interesting facts about his country, so when he asks about that, in my mind I shift between sport, history and wildlife, deciding to plump for sports history since we were on the subject of AFL teams anyway.

My Goers is a Port Power fan and so I regale my story as to why I barrack for the Essendon Bombers AFL team. I will point out before I proceed, that I have told this story on Australian radio before and it was ok. The presenters, which were ex-AFL players  found it to be quite amusing as well as shocking, but like many people here, more so because they didn’t know this interesting fact about the history of the game they love.

In addition to this, the following is a review quote, again regarding said story as written in the biggest newspaper in Melbourne from my last years’ Melbourne comedy festival show:

“Coppin delivers inspired moments. Deciding which AFL team to support rather than just being born into one, took a lot of research and his story about why he now follows the Bombers is worth the price of admission alone.”
 

Now, here is roughly how the story goes and a little insight as to where I take the material afterwards.

Some years ago, I was asking a friend who was trying to convince me that I should support Essendon about their history and aside from their Premiership flag success, why they were called the Bombers and why they had the stealth bomber logo that they did, given it’s a recent warplane. Surely the logo must have changed quite recently.

He informed that yes, of course the logo has changed over the years, but when you consider that the team was formed well over 100 years ago, they were not always known by the nick name ‘Bombers’ as there were no aeroplanes back then.

I asked him what they were called before that and he told me that because of the team colours (black with a red sash) they were once known as ‘The Blood-Stained Niggers’. I couldn’t believe that this was true, so looked it up and as it turns out, is an absolutely and unbelievably true fact about Australian sports history!

Now, not wanting to be some ‘fairweather fan’ that likes a team for such shallow reasons as they are rich or successful (as Essendon are, although not quite so great at present), I wanted to make sure I followed a team for a relevant and interesting reason.  With my dad being a black man from the Caribbean island of Barbados that simply had to be my team.

I go on to do material about how the team didn’t revert back to the original name during the centennial season whereas other teams did and also how I told the story at an Essendon Bombers corporate gig for the exclusive members club the ‘Diamond Dons’ and was jokingly told by the boss not to ever use the words “blood” and stained” in their room ever again etc, pointing out that you can begin to have a light-hearted and humourous perspective on certain things if you are an intelligent human being.

In addition to this, I make it clear that the Bombers apparently have more aboriginal players and fans now than any other AFL team, so it shows just how things can and do change, highlighting the fact that racial harmony has a bright future.

This story has been told at many a gig and show during my years in Australia and people love to hear it and I have even had ‘fans’ request it upon attending my shows.

It is a hard-hitting story and the word ‘nigger’ is very a powerful one given its history, but like anyone with half a brain I use it carefully and in context and certainly not to racially abuse. Ultimately, you can’t push boundaries and do and say important things without upsetting some people. The important thing is to be right and say things correctly, honestly and make them relevant.

However, it seems that upon hearing that word, Mr Goers decided to cut me off, tell me I was racist and to “Get the fuck out of my studio”, without a chance for explanation or to delve deeper into interesting subject matter that is perhaps more relevant now that it has ever been. I will give him the fact that I never made my heritage clear before telling the story, but I am quite obviously brown-skinned and if research had been done, he would have known I was half English, half West Indian and not Canadian (with a goat), despite the fact that I even made the correction in a previous email.

Myself and Alex apologised to the producer if we had caused offence and left in a very dignified and slightly confused manner, but the more I thought about the initial shock of being thrown out of a studio, the more I became offended.

I totally accept that maybe I should have checked what was ok to say and not, but given what the SEN radio station and The Herald Sun had deemed acceptable and interesting, along with the fact that we had already discussed on air my ‘Shaggers’ show, I thought an interesting piece about Australian history, even incorporating that word would be fine.

By all means give me a lecture off air if you feel it’s necessary, but to abuse a guest like that then proceed the following day to call my venue and the fringe director and threaten to pull all fringe artists from his radio station unless I apologise personally just goes to show how rude, ignorant and out of touch this ageing stalwart of Adelaide radio really is.

I have since spoken to Mr Goers on the phone and I have to say that I have never heard such shite from someone that is supposed to be a seasoned professional in all my time in the business. According to him, I am not funny and apparently, since he has given me the good grace and opportunity to promote my shows, I should be as funny as I can when on his show. He cited as examples the likes of Joan Rivers and Barry Humphries. They are comedy greats, yes, and I wish I could achieve half of what they have, but hello, future calling Peter Goers! Are you there? It’s 2012, not 1978!

It was also very clear that Mr Goers wanted to exert some kind of power and authority over me and have me back down and curtail to his experience and apparent greatness as a ‘celebrity’ here in Adelaide, almost gloating that he has told other comedians to fuck off in the past too.  Nice, Mr Goers, very nice.

You are apparently a celebrity here in Adelaide. Yes, Adelaide. Now, I love Adelaide, but sorry Mr Goers, the bodies-in-the barrel murderers are more famous and dare I say it, popular, than you on the national and international stage, so why don’t you take your pompous, parochial head out of your arse and listen to what people are saying before jumping down their throats and abusing them.

Therefore, I reiterate that I will absolutely not bow down and apologise to you, Mr Goers, and any comedians that may have their interviews pulled from this ABC show, I won’t apologise to you either, because quite frankly, I have done you all a massive favour.

Mr Goers has no sense of humour or understanding regarding contemporary comedy and/or common decency towards modern and Adelaide Fringe comedians.

I did end our telephone conversation stating that perhaps it would be better to discuss such things in an interview more tailored towards the history and effects of racism rather than comedy and as a mixed race person that has suffered racial abuse from both sides of the black and white coin, I would be more than happy to go back on his show to talk about such things.

But until such a time as Mr Goers can get down off his high horse, where he is busy selling tickets to see himself, I can only say one thing, “Get the fuck out of my studio!”

Oh, wait, I’m not funny or famous enough to have my own studio. I do, however, have a bit more material for next years’ show…

www.nikcoppin.com

At the Adelaide Fringe, London based comedian Nik Coppin, who is of Caribbean descent, got kicked out of Peter Goers’ ABC Radio studio for being “Racist”.  During an on air discussion about the history of AFL’s Essendon Bombers (a team Nik Coppin passionately supports) Nik stated that due to the black and red colour of their strip, historically their nickname was “the Blood stained Niggers”. Peter Goers subsequently cut the mic accused Nik of being racist and told Nik and his producer to “get the fuck out of my studio”.

Nik Coppin - “A racist”

The below is what Nik Coppin had to say about the affair.

———-

For many reasons, I don’t usually blog. Those reasons being among many such as, lack of time, laziness, failing to really see the point and wondering who would really care anyway. Facebook updates and Tweets seem  to suffice. But this week in Adelaide has seen a few things happen that would simply be too long to go into and explain properly by the aforementioned methods.

It has been strange week indeed. One that has certainly made me re-evaluate many things in comedy. From what I say in public, to producing shows, to where should I be based from here on and so on. It’s all certainly got me thinking seriously about where to take things with my comedy career.

But all that is for other blogs. This one concerns itself with what I can only describe as a cunt of a radio presenter. I rarely use that word in my comedy routines and even rarer when writing and certainly not when having done radio or television, as it is apparently the worst word you can use. Or is it?

Not according to Peter Goers on ABC radio here in Adelaide it isn’t. And perhaps he is right. But let me explain.

On Wednesday night, myself and Alex Petty jumped in a cab to go and do a promotional interview with said radio presenter. Upon arriving and listening to the interviewee before me, who was a lovely chap that had written a book about various volunteer work he has done in Pakistan and Afghanistan with his wife over many years in the past, I quickly realised that this could be a very strange interview indeed.

So, myself and Alex go into the studio after Mr Goers has told his listeners that his next guest is a comedian from Canada, a mistake made and corrected in previous emails whilst setting up the interview.

After opening whilst half talking to me and half to himself with, “So, you’re not Canadian and you don’t have a goat?”, Mr Goers proceeded to shuffle through papers barely engaging us and asking inane questions about our shows and waffling on about some theatre nonsense as I tried to give him various background and relevant information about the shows.

He then asks what is my ‘schtick’ and so I tell him my style and how I like to deal with crowds, etc. He then goes on to ask for some material. I kept the jokes and banter light and simple, only to be met with stony silence and semi-lectures about what I said, so decide to go in a different direction and inform Mr Goers that I know a few interesting facts about his country, so when he asks about that, in my mind I shift between sport, history and wildlife, deciding to plump for sports history since we were on the subject of AFL teams anyway.

My Goers is a Port Power fan and so I regale my story as to why I barrack for the Essendon Bombers AFL team. I will point out before I proceed, that I have told this story on Australian radio before and it was ok. The presenters, which were ex-AFL players  found it to be quite amusing as well as shocking, but like many people here, more so because they didn’t know this interesting fact about the history of the game they love.

In addition to this, the following is a review quote, again regarding said story as written in the biggest newspaper in Melbourne from my last years’ Melbourne comedy festival show:

“Coppin delivers inspired moments. Deciding which AFL team to support rather than just being born into one, took a lot of research and his story about why he now follows the Bombers is worth the price of admission alone.”
 

Now, here is roughly how the story goes and a little insight as to where I take the material afterwards.

Some years ago, I was asking a friend who was trying to convince me that I should support Essendon about their history and aside from their Premiership flag success, why they were called the Bombers and why they had the stealth bomber logo that they did, given it’s a recent warplane. Surely the logo must have changed quite recently.

He informed that yes, of course the logo has changed over the years, but when you consider that the team was formed well over 100 years ago, they were not always known by the nick name ‘Bombers’ as there were no aeroplanes back then.

I asked him what they were called before that and he told me that because of the team colours (black with a red sash) they were once known as ‘The Blood-Stained Niggers’. I couldn’t believe that this was true, so looked it up and as it turns out, is an absolutely and unbelievably true fact about Australian sports history!

Now, not wanting to be some ‘fairweather fan’ that likes a team for such shallow reasons as they are rich or successful (as Essendon are, although not quite so great at present), I wanted to make sure I followed a team for a relevant and interesting reason.  With my dad being a black man from the Caribbean island of Barbados that simply had to be my team.

I go on to do material about how the team didn’t revert back to the original name during the centennial season whereas other teams did and also how I told the story at an Essendon Bombers corporate gig for the exclusive members club the ‘Diamond Dons’ and was jokingly told by the boss not to ever use the words “blood” and stained” in their room ever again etc, pointing out that you can begin to have a light-hearted and humourous perspective on certain things if you are an intelligent human being.

In addition to this, I make it clear that the Bombers apparently have more aboriginal players and fans now than any other AFL team, so it shows just how things can and do change, highlighting the fact that racial harmony has a bright future.

This story has been told at many a gig and show during my years in Australia and people love to hear it and I have even had ‘fans’ request it upon attending my shows.

It is a hard-hitting story and the word ‘nigger’ is very a powerful one given its history, but like anyone with half a brain I use it carefully and in context and certainly not to racially abuse. Ultimately, you can’t push boundaries and do and say important things without upsetting some people. The important thing is to be right and say things correctly, honestly and make them relevant.

However, it seems that upon hearing that word, Mr Goers decided to cut me off, tell me I was racist and to “Get the fuck out of my studio”, without a chance for explanation or to delve deeper into interesting subject matter that is perhaps more relevant now that it has ever been. I will give him the fact that I never made my heritage clear before telling the story, but I am quite obviously brown-skinned and if research had been done, he would have known I was half English, half West Indian and not Canadian (with a goat), despite the fact that I even made the correction in a previous email.

Myself and Alex apologised to the producer if we had caused offence and left in a very dignified and slightly confused manner, but the more I thought about the initial shock of being thrown out of a studio, the more I became offended.

I totally accept that maybe I should have checked what was ok to say and not, but given what the SEN radio station and The Herald Sun had deemed acceptable and interesting, along with the fact that we had already discussed on air my ‘Shaggers’ show, I thought an interesting piece about Australian history, even incorporating that word would be fine.

By all means give me a lecture off air if you feel it’s necessary, but to abuse a guest like that then proceed the following day to call my venue and the fringe director and threaten to pull all fringe artists from his radio station unless I apologise personally just goes to show how rude, ignorant and out of touch this ageing stalwart of Adelaide radio really is.

I have since spoken to Mr Goers on the phone and I have to say that I have never heard such shite from someone that is supposed to be a seasoned professional in all my time in the business. According to him, I am not funny and apparently, since he has given me the good grace and opportunity to promote my shows, I should be as funny as I can when on his show. He cited as examples the likes of Joan Rivers and Barry Humphries. They are comedy greats, yes, and I wish I could achieve half of what they have, but hello, future calling Peter Goers! Are you there? It’s 2012, not 1978!

It was also very clear that Mr Goers wanted to exert some kind of power and authority over me and have me back down and curtail to his experience and apparent greatness as a ‘celebrity’ here in Adelaide, almost gloating that he has told other comedians to fuck off in the past too.  Nice, Mr Goers, very nice.

You are apparently a celebrity here in Adelaide. Yes, Adelaide. Now, I love Adelaide, but sorry Mr Goers, the bodies-in-the barrel murderers are more famous and dare I say it, popular, than you on the national and international stage, so why don’t you take your pompous, parochial head out of your arse and listen to what people are saying before jumping down their throats and abusing them.

Therefore, I reiterate that I will absolutely not bow down and apologise to you, Mr Goers, and any comedians that may have their interviews pulled from this ABC show, I won’t apologise to you either, because quite frankly, I have done you all a massive favour.

Mr Goers has no sense of humour or understanding regarding contemporary comedy and/or common decency towards modern and Adelaide Fringe comedians.

I did end our telephone conversation stating that perhaps it would be better to discuss such things in an interview more tailored towards the history and effects of racism rather than comedy and as a mixed race person that has suffered racial abuse from both sides of the black and white coin, I would be more than happy to go back on his show to talk about such things.

But until such a time as Mr Goers can get down off his high horse, where he is busy selling tickets to see himself, I can only say one thing, “Get the fuck out of my studio!”

Oh, wait, I’m not funny or famous enough to have my own studio. I do, however, have a bit more material for next years’ show…

www.nikcoppin.com