Urooj, you’re currently in Mumbai, Joe in Manchester – but where were you when your Newcomer nominations were announced?
Joe: I was at the pub with some friends, missed the call, so took it outside and got the news. Perfect really. Does that sound bad, that I was in the pub at midday?
Urooj: I was in a cab, and was pretty surprised, so I called my friends. I think the cab driver heard. He just said [gruff geezer accent] ‘Good on ya!’
Does everything then get hectic, that week before the result?
Urooj: So true, everyone’s trying to get a ticket. It’s stressful. They messaged all the newcomer nominees: ‘don’t be alarmed if the audiences seem a little judgmental in the last week.’
Joe: I don’t think I was quite prepared for it. I’d asked not to know when anyone was in, just for my head. Then someone told me that the judges all come back to watch the show that week, which made it doubly intense.
Urooj: I felt the most amount of stress I’ve ever felt in comedy, in that last week. And I do comedy in India, where we have people break down our venues if they don’t like a joke.
You were relatively unknown here beforehand, Urooj, was winning impactful?
Urooj: So much – I was able to tour the UK because I won. I have an audience here in India, but the UK was a whole new country, new people, new marketplace. I think my parents really took it seriously when I was a question on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
You’d already won the BBC New Comedy Award, Joe, would it have been disappointing not to be nominated?
Joe: There was a lot of pressure. Dan Tiernan got nominated the year before off the back of it, so there was that expectation, which kind of sucks really. But touring, the word of mouth when you’ve had a really good Edinburgh, that’s been amazing.
Presumably winning also adds expectation to returning this year?
Urooj: I came back for 15 days last year, a WIP then my 2003 show again, which was nice as I wasn’t being reviewed. I feel like this year I will be a bit stressed again.
Were you always doing a new show this year, Joe?
Joe: It was always part of my thinking. I’m working on some TV ideas but they take ages, and the motivation was touring; if I go to Edinburgh and do another show, I know I’ve got something to do next year.
You left us hanging too. Your character, Frankie Monroe, was dragged to hell last time…
Joe: I hadn’t thought of it as a cliffhanger! The story is continuing in the new one, which has been a funny thing to preview; doing a direct sequel to a live show is quite bold. But I’ve found a nice, weird way to recap the first one.
How does your new show differ, Urooj?
Urooj: It’s me being edgy. The primary accusation from reviews in 2023 was that I am a conservative, non-edgy person; really, conservative is just not a word that one would associate with me in contemporary India. And so this show is me proving that wrong. And it’s also me trying on a persona of a smutty, edgy Bad Girl. Which I’m really enjoying.
How will you both look back at winning Best Newcomer?
Urooj: I’m afraid it’s the peak of my life. It was kind of cute until August 2024, when there was a new Best Newcomer – which is Joe. Now it’s like, ‘I can’t be Best Newcomer 2023 forever,’ I have to do something else with my life.
Joe: On the record, I’ll say sorry! I do feel like it’s given character comedy a nice boost. Perhaps I’ll be a question one day. On The Chase, maybe. That’d be good.
Urooj Ashfaq: How to Be a Baddie, Monkey Barrel Comedy, 30 Jul-24 Aug (not 11), 6.25pm
Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: DEAD!!! (Good Fun Time), Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire), 28 Jul-24 Aug (not 11, 12), 9.30pm