David Tsonos

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Friday 2nd May 2025

It was the first of times, it was the worst of times.

This time we welcome David Tsonos, all the way from Canada but now firmly ensconced in the UK, and about to achieve a big new thing, two decades on.

"On the 25th of May I will be doing my first recording of my solo show," he says. "At the Secret Comedy Club as part of the Brighton Fringe."

Which starts today. Stand-up is an artform where playing the long game can pay off - so what will that show involve, new stuff or classic gold? "20 years' worth of my best material, all in one place at one time," says the long-serving stand-up. "It is long overdue."

He's doing it at the Secret Comedy Club partly because they boast a nifty new camera setup, says Tsonos, so he'll probably be "the first of many" filming specials there - it may soon become a lot less secret then. But more importantly it's "the perfect comedy club that suits my style," the comic concludes.

But how did he get to that style? Let's find out.

First gig?

My first gig was hard to get. Back in 1999 I was living in Vancouver and there was not much of a comedy scene. There was only one comedy club, Yuk Yuks, and you had to call in on Monday and leave a message, then they called back the eight acts who'd get to do five minutes on a Wednesday.

It took me three months of calling to finally get a spot. It surprisingly went well with only about 20 audience members. I still remember the acts I was on with that night.

Favourite show, ever?

This is hard to pin down, favourite show, I've had so many good times in comedy. My first Edinburgh had some memorable moments, I was on the same bill as Robin Williams once, but if I had to choose one it would be my first time I headlined a gig.

I had been paid a few times up to that point, but this was the first time I was on the poster as the headliner, it was the first time I was paid a proper fee. The crowd was rowdy for the other comics, getting up and moving around, one person even had their chair facing the other way.

However when the MC announced that the headliner was coming up they all stopped talking and even the guy turned his chair around to watch, it was the power of the word 'headliner.' I had a great set and thought, wow, this is what the big time is like.

Worst gig?

I've also had so many of those. I once completely bombed in front of the British military and then had to take a nine-hour coach home. I had a gig in a small town one time that completely ignored me as I was on stage. But, if we are talking lately, it has to be my cruise ship experience.

I think a Worst Gig should involve one in which you are paid well: that seems to make it all even worse. I was doing a cruise ship a few years ago, the room was not set up for comedy to begin with, each night I had three time slots, each time doing a 30 minute set. The 7:00 was just ok but the 8:30, the room was completely silent, like I was on stage speaking a different language, not a heckle, not a walkout, just nothing.

After my embarrassing set I was walking back to my room and one of the staff told me that the audience was the same from the 7:00 show, so all those people watched me do a mediocre set at 7:00 and then just repeat the same thing at 8:30. I learned a hard lesson that day.

Which one person influenced your comedy life most significantly?

Not one person; this may sound odd but my influences are comedy clubs. A comedian needs an audience, and it's clubs that do all the work for us, they set up chairs, get a sound system and spotlights, hire staff, get a licence to sell food and drinks, advertise, pack the room and then hire the comedians. If it wasn't for someone out there doing that I would not have a job so it's them that influence me.

And who's the most disagreeable person you've come across in the business?

The worst person or rather company I have come across has got to be Jongleurs.

I moved to the UK in 2014 and they still had a lot of clubs. Now not all the clubs were great for comedy, some of them were rough, but they paid ok and took care of the comics. Then they started to not pay the comics, if they did pay it was months behind and also we found out that some comics were paid quicker than others, like they had favourites.

Finally they collapsed owing myself and other comics a lot of money. The thing is, the clubs were busy. Sometimes we do gigs with a poor turn-out and still get paid, but these clubs had 200 people in them and were stiffing the comics. I don't know the whole story but in the end all of us were out of pocket.

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

When you have been doing stand-up for a long time you have so many bits that you tried out but they just never clicked. My favourite is about glue. One day I was at the racetrack, a horse was injured, and someone said, "Well it's the glue factory for him." I thought I was on to a great new bit, I tried so many different angles on it, one time I asked an audience "What part of the horse do you use [for glue]?" the guy answered, "The sticky part."

I mean surely in a society that can put a camera on Mars, yet we still use horse hooves for glue? And who the hell was the first person to think of that? I tried it so many times on stage but it never got a laugh.

What's your best tip for a long career in the stand-up game?

In order to make it in this business you need four big traits: patience, love of travel, financial flexibility, and a thick skin.

Patience: you need to keep doing stand-up no matter what the audience size or venue, you just keep doing it even if you don't see your career advancing, you need to do free sets for big bookers until they book you for the paid ones.

Love of travel: this job brings us everywhere and all over the world it is a privilege of the job, some people hate it, but you need to embrace it, get out there and enjoy the towns, cities and villages you get to go to.

Financial flexibility: comedians' pay is so varied, from £100 for a gig to £2000 for a weekly cruise ship. You cannot live a luxurious lifestyle, you must watch your spending and remember to start your pension plans before it's too late.

A thick skin: even when you are smashing gig after gig, you are going to have a bad one, most comics will wrack their brain as to what went wrong - sometimes it just wasn't your night.

Any reviews, heckles or post-gig reactions stick in the mind?

There is one review that will always stick in my mind. I will never figure it out and I am just going to have to confront the person and find out why.

When I first moved to the UK I did a bunch of trial sets for all the clubs, most clubs make you do this. You go down and do a free 10 minute set, if it goes well they have you back for paid gigs. One chain of clubs, I had a great set, the feedback from the management was this:

"Canadian, clearly an established act, strong set. Not afraid of pauses and silence on stage, used it well, great timing. Brought the room together, really great with the audience. Could easily do weekend main support or even headline."

They never booked me again.

How do you feel about where your career is at, right now?

My career is in an odd place at the moment. In 2019 I had a great career trajectory, I was working every weekend and getting bigger gigs. Lockdown slowed that all down.

The comedy scene has changed since then, lately more and more comedians have relied on an online presence. Some gigs now want comics to have a TV credit which I don't have and with the rising cost of travel some gigs I used to do I cannot anymore, due to it being too expensive.

Now the good thing about that is that comics like myself are now forced to think out of the box and try harder, sometimes comics can get lazy with their career so for me this is a shot in the arm to do more.

So this year I have plans to push my career, I am filming my special in May, I am working on a European tour for October and teaching a workshop for comedians in November on 'How to save money on the Fringe.' I will be pushing myself to get more of an online presence and hopefully 2026 will be a great year for me.

David Tsonos: 20 Years of Comedy is at Artista (The Secret Comedy Club) on May 25 as part of the Brighton Fringe. Tickets