Five minutes with comedian Rob Mulholland - performing for the first time in his home-town of Knaresborough

Knaresborough’s very own Rob Mulholland will be performing his first headline show in his home town when he brings Too Big To Fail to the Frazer Theatre ahead of the Edinburgh festival.
The comedian performs in his home-town of Knaresborough for the first time on August 2The comedian performs in his home-town of Knaresborough for the first time on August 2
The comedian performs in his home-town of Knaresborough for the first time on August 2

Here he takes part in our Five Minutes with column

Please tell me about yourself:

I'm a professional stand up comedian and lifelong Knaresborough lad. I went to King James', played football badly for Knaresborough Celtic and was a barman at the Hart in the market place for years before heading out into the big bad world to tell gags to drunks.

What and who inspired you to be a comedian

I always found myself very funny but when I went to uni in London I lived next door to a comedian who told me I should have a go.

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I gave it a try but didn't really think much more of it till I moved back up north and found a flyer for the new act competition at the Harrogate comedy festival on my doorstep.

I won that heat and got to the final and I've never looked back.

Whose work do you most admire, and why

I'm a big fan of American stand-up. I saw Bill Burr live in Edinburgh two years ago and it was so funny it made me reassess everything I do.

Dave Chappelle is on another planet at the minute, his stuff is so raw and complex and funny; he's an icon.

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I grew up up loving my hero Billy Connolly, the energy and chaos he brought whenever he was on telly made me so excited as a kid and he retains that mischief today.

What have been the highlights of your career so far

I've been flown to different countries to tell jokes, shared stages with my heroes and played to enormous crowds but I honestly think walking out at the Frazer Theatre and seeing all those faces of people I love welcoming me home will take some beating.

What can audiences expect from your new tour

Big, inappropriate belly laughs from start to finish. This show - Too Big To Fail - is the funniest thing I've ever written and I'm dead excited to bring it home before I got the Edinburgh Festival with it.

I'm quite rude so it's not for the easily offended, but if you can handle a joke you won't see a funnier show. My support act Simon Lomas is incredible too, I'll be supporting him one day on his stadium tour.

Where do your ideas for you stand-up come from

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Generally anything that makes me unreasonably angry is good fodder for stand-up. I've recently made a terrible mistake by moving to Brighton for a bit so this show contains a lot of ranting about seagulls, people getting offended over nothing and the fat-shaming debate.

For funHoliday – home or away?

Living in Brighton is like living on holiday but everyone in the resort is offended all the time so I'm gonna say away. Get me to Magaluf asap for a fishbowl full of bad decisions.

What is the song that means the most to you?There's a song by Roger Alan Wade called The Reckless Kind that features the lyric "I'm not looking for trouble but if it's looking for me I ain't hard to find" and that sentence is exactly my life story.How do you switch off?

Let's go with swimming in the sea.How would you like to be remembered?

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People are gonna have to learn who I am before I'm remembered but I guess as a funny lad with a good heart.

Rob Mulholland in Too Big To Fail is at the Frazer Theatre on Friday August 2.

Support will be provided by Simon Lomas.

Tickets are £8 and are available from on line here

Doors open at 8pm and the show will start at 8.30pm.