Big Narstie - What Makes me Laugh

It was chaos at times: we’d be in my grandma’s house on the 14th floor with all my cousins. There’s, like, 16 flipping grandchildren in my Grandma’s room, some on the bed with Grandma, the rest of them all in towels and sheets on the floor. She wakes up in the morning and gets a huge bowl and pours two cans of evaporated milk into it. She lets it bubble for a bit, then adds some water and finally pours a whole box of cornflakes into the bowl. Armed with 16 spoons, we all end up attacking this one bowl. Arguing, pushing, spilling, and laughing. Thinking back about that always makes me laugh. We didn’t even have a television aerial at home. We had a clothes hanger in the back of the set, stuck in a hole, and we would just constantly turn it and sometimes like we’d get Channel Five! You either laughed or cried. I like to think we laughed. What comedy do I enjoy? When I was little, I loved the show, Dinosaurs. Do you remember it? Earl, the big daddy dinosaur in the red shirt, would whack Sinclair, the baby dinosaur, on the head and tell him not to tell his Mum. I love Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor, too. They’re black icons. And Harry Enfield and Chums. Those are bangers. I also love The Peep Show with David Mitchell. He’s cool; he’s been on my show and his wife Victoria, too. She’s a sick poker player. I love Red Dwarf, Black Adder, Only Fools and Horses and Al Murray: The Pub Landlord. And Ace Ventura Pet Detective 1 and 2. They’re brilliant. Oh, and my all-time favourite stand-up comedian is Dave Chappelle. Then there’s Friends. Joey’s the man. At the time we didn’t really notice it, but it’s not really inclusive is it?

Should anything be out of bounds for comedy writers and performers? Well, there’s a fine line between love and hate and then there’s an equally f ine line between humour and being disrespectful. You get what I mean? I think the problem with society now is that everybody is on the edge of how to say things and not to offend everyone because everyone is so easily offended. That’s because the whole world has gone soft. It’s a bit of a whirlwind. It’s more about knowing your surroundings. There are many jokes that I can tell my friends that I’d never say in front of my Mum.

When I was born, Mum and Dad couldn’t agree on my name. They were literally arguing in the registry when an Irish man came up to them and asked if he could hold me. After a few moments, he said I’d be really, really famous and should be called Tyrone and gave me back to my parents. That’s how I was named Tyrone Mark Lindo — Mark Lindo after my father. Now, everyone calls me Narstie — except my Mum and close family. It describes all my innate qualities: Natural Artistic Sexy Talented Independent and Educated. Geddit? Listen man, I’m very fortunate. I just like to muck around. It’s my natural personality. Everyone’s always said that I’m funny and I was gonna make a life out of laughter and here we are.