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12 Phonebox Magazine | February 2025Comic Jason Manford is spending most of this year touring the UK and entertaining crowds with his clever brand of observational humour, as Phonebox%u2019s Tom Johnston discovered.THE SEASONED PROScan the room at a Jason Manford show and you%u2019ll see hundreds of happy people nudging each other and exchanging knowing nods. Whether the Salford-born comic is talking about relationships, life on the road, paddle tennis or anything else, being relatable is near the top of his list of priorities. But can he make out those responses from under the bright spotlights when he%u2019s on stage? %u201cYeah, I see that, and I feed off it,%u201d he says. %u201cThat%u2019s how I develop stuff , how I end up fi nding material that on paper might not feel like much, but suddenly you see the audience respond in a certain way, and you think: oh, hang on, I%u2019ve got something here.%u201d%u201cAfter funny, being relatable is the next most important thing for me,%u201d says Jason, a seasoned actor and fi ne singer, who is celebrating 25 years in comedy, and is currently on tour with his new show, A Manford All Seasons. %u201cI love it when people say, %u2018It was like listening to one of my mates down the pub,%u2019%u201d he says. %u201cOr %u2018It%u2019s like you had a camera in our house.%u2019 I love that because it means I%u2019ve put the work in and got it right.This latest tour will have Jason playing at least 175 dates in 2025. As well as Milton Keynes, he%u2019ll be visiting Bedford, Aylesbury, Dunstable and Coventry during the next 12 months. It%u2019s packed full of the winning comedy he%u2019s become known for, much of it refl ecting the fact that he now has six children, three of them teenagers. %u201cI want audiences to forget about the stresses of the day and to leave the show feeling positive,%u201d he adds. %u201cA lot of the show is about where I am in my life, with things changing very quickly. %u201cMy little darling children are turning into young women, so I talk about dealing with that, with stories of my life and my own childhood. Comparing my childhood to my children%u2019s is a rich source of comedy, but it%u2019s all upbeat.%u201d Jason eff ortlessly blends humour with heart, cementing his status as an all-round entertainer. His ability to approach it gently from all angles means he regularly sees people bringing their own teenagers to the show, and he often gets three generations of the same family in.%u201cI love that,%u201d he says. %u201cI%u2019m like a gateway comedian to the harder stuff . I really like that, and I fi nd myself very comfortable in that space of someone you feel you can sort of bring anyone to the show.%u201dIn his memoir %u2018Brung Up Proper%u2019, Jason talks about how being funny can be an important life skill, both in the way it can help children defl ect bullies and make teenagers more appealing to potential dates. He%u2019d love to see comedy on the national curriculum, being taught for a term as part of drama classes as a way of helping kids build up their confi dence.%u201cLike I say in the show when I quote Edgar Degas, art is not what you see, it%u2019s what you make other people see, and that%u2019s what stand-up comedy is,%u201d he says. %u201cI think that would help narrow a bit of the gap between the public and private schools because a lot of kids come out of private school with the absolute confi dence that they belong in any room. State school children don%u2019t often have that.%u201dJason Manford %u2013 A Manford All Seasons is at Milton Keynes Theatre on Wednesday 5th March.%u201cI LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY, %u2018IT WAS LIKE LISTENING TO ONE OF MY MATES DOWN THE PUB,%u2019%u201d