The Chase : Paul "The Sinnerman" Sinha Interview by Si Hawkins
After 17 years on the circuit, Paul Sinha is beginning to enjoy the
nascent benefits of a burgeoning profile, despite (a) never really wanting to
get on TV, and (b) actually making it via a quiz show. If you're holding down a
proper job you may not be aware of The
Chase, Bradley Walsh's teatime general knowledge-fest in which
contestants go up against one of a quartet of experts. Sinha signed on as
chaser number four in 2011, and it's having an interesting impact on his night
job.
TV quiz infamy is the latest curious career move for a chap who
initially took to comedy while working as a GP, and combined the two roles for
several years. Hence he has a fairly unique perspective on the business;
clinical, rather than cynical.
QUESTION: How did your gig on The
Chase come about?
ANSWER: It goes back to 2007, when I found out about the Quiz League of
London - there's a national circuit, a ranking system and we've won a few
tournaments. So I got involved in all that, got to know the various people, to
the point that in January last year when the producers of The Chase decided that they needed a
fourth chaser I received an email from one of the current chasers saying
"there's a vacancy if you're interested." Up until then the comedy
and the quizzes were entirely separate, other than the fact that I talked a lot
about it on stage.
QUESTION: It's an interesting job for a comic, as you're sort of a
villain.
ANSWER: Yes and no. You are for the most part a villain, but by
developing your own personality often the audience will take sides depending on
how the game goes, if the contestant turns out to be too arrogant or you turn
out to be too arrogant. Although we're cast as villains I don't think it always
works out like that.
QUESTION: So are you getting much street hassle?
ANSWER: Occasionally, and it's exactly how I'd like it. I've always sort
of feared any sort of celebrity, but the recognition factor has been so
dramatic and surprising, it's been really nice, not a negative thing at all.
QUESTION: Has it fed into your gigs at all?
ANSWER: I might be wrong but I think there's a status thing that goes
on. People always have preconceptions of a comedian when you walk onstage based
on their own prejudices and beliefs, and if people recognize you from the telly
they expect you to be funny. At the harder end of the spectrum I think my gigs
have become better since I started on The
Chase.
QUESTION: Do they cut you a bit of extra slack?
ANSWER: I think there is an element of that. That's not to say that I
haven't performed to 300 people who clearly had no idea who I was, but at the
worst end of the market - the drunken stags and hens and all that - I think
they will give you more of a chance because they're slightly excited to recognize
your face.
QUESTION: Isn't it a bit odd being vaguely famous now, though, but not
as a comic?
ANSWER: I'm not saying this with false modesty, but I've never really
considered myself a television person, I've always considered that what I do
works best on the radio rather than TV. So the fact that I've not got a Mock the
Week or 8 Out Of 10 Cats, it's never really bothered me
at all; well, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't consider them, but I don't
necessarily think they'd be a good fit. There's a lot of damage to be done in
being bad on telly, people will remember that. So I've never craved television,
it's never been part of the big plan; I've never gone to my agent and said 'why
aren't I on telly?' once in my life.
QUESTION: You've done some nice radio documentaries over the years - any
more on the way?
ANSWER: I did a cricket thing and I'm now doing a follow up, if you
like, about the Olympic games that should be broadcast just before the
Olympics. I think it's going to be called The Sinha Games, basically because everything
has been disqualified on the basis that the IOC won't let you use the word.
They're very protective about intellectual copyright, to an incredible degree.
Luckily it's not my job to get involved with the political side of it.
QUESTION: You're a stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe - are you going this
year?
ANSWER: No! I'm having a year off - after three consecutive years and
five of the last six, cyclically speaking its time for another rest. If I was
doing Edinburgh it would've interfered with writing the Olympics show, and I
just felt that I needed a break this year.
QUESTION: So would The Chase
have been on your poster, or does it not fit with your comedy style?
ANSWER: To be fair I have two comedy personas. I have the Friday and
Saturday nightclub comic, and the Edinburgh comic - the first one is certainly
much cruder, while the Edinburgh comic is more wordy and thoughtful than the
ITV persona. I've certainly seen audience members who recognize me from The Chase look shocked by the words
coming out of my mouth - not necessarily what they'd expect from an ITV teatime
minor celebrity. But the producers have been very supportive. As far as they're
concerned I can do whatever I like as a comic as long as I don't bring the show
into disrepute.
QUESTION: It would've been interesting to see how The Chase business affected an
Edinburgh run: bigger venue maybe?
ANSWER: I am doing a one-hour show for the Sheffield Comedy Festival -
it's the biggest gig I've ever done with a new show. I do the Sheffield Comedy
Festival every year in a 100-seater and always sell out, so they've decided to
take a gamble on me this year and see if the publicity from The Chase will help people through
the door, and it is a massive gamble. 500 people, if it sells out I'll make
more money than I did from a month at the Edinburgh Festival. I think in
Edinburgh I'm seen by people who've seen all my other shows - what I've got to try
to write for Sheffield is a show for a new audience.
QUESTION: Presumably a lot of TV viewers have no idea you do comedy?
ANSWER: I'd say that 99 percent of people watching The Chase have
never heard of me, despite the fact that I've done The News Quiz
and The Now Show,
this, that and the other. Until you're on telly, nobody really knows who you
are.
QUESTION: Do you still do the occasional GP stint?
ANSWER: No, I gave up in 2007. The thing I'd say about the medicine,
rather like The Chase actually, at the end of the day stand-up comedy is
only the third most stressful job I've ever done. Because trying to answer
general knowledge questions at speed when the ITV production budget is at stake
- somebody else is at stake, rather than just yourself. But comedy you only
perform for yourself. If it all goes wrong you haven't harmed anybody else, you
haven't hurt anybody else, you take the blows, you deal with them, no one else
is upset on your behalf.
QUESTION: You're probably one of the only people ever to use stand-up as
a relaxing hobby.
ANSWER: I do think my confidence on stage - and it's weird to think that
after 17 years confidence should be an issue, but I think for even the most
experienced comics it's still an issue - I do think my confidence has gone up
several notches since I started on The Chase. In a couple of weeks
there's an episode where everything went wrong for me, and I felt much worse
after that than I've felt after my worst ever comedy gig. Much worse, the
producer's saying 'well what happened, what went wrong?' and me not knowing the
answer. Whereas my worst ever comedy gig...
... wasn't on TV a month later?
ANSWER: Absolutely. The worst comedy gigs, it's "right, I'm sorry
about that, I'll see you guys, bye." And that's that. I talk about the
show a little bit in the clubs, the degree to which I masochistically read my
Twitter abuse every time I'm on the show. It's always good to embrace the
negative in life and turn it into comedy. If you want to achieve anything in
life you have to accept that there are people out there not only hating you, but
also hating you with a real passion.
