‘It’s Jack’s name above the door, so if it’s really bad, it’s all his’
Reading Today caught up with the trio from JaackMaate’s Happy Hour ahead of their first live tour.
JAACKMAATE’S Happy Hour is one of those podcasts which is feels incredibly established despite its relative recency.
While it was way ahead of the slew of podcasts which sprouted as a result of comedians having little else to do to keep things ticking over during the pandemic, it is still only four years old.
It came about November 2018 and rose quickly in prominence from there, regularly topping the podcast charts and garnering a wide range of big name guests from diverse fields, from Ricky Gervais to Danny D.
Now it’s going on tour, with the eponymous JaackMaate bringing fellow regulars Stevie White and Robbie Knox to the stage for their first live performances as a group.
Stevie said: “We went to a venue in Norwich to see whether we enjoy it – which we did, and we got a tour set up.”
The tour is called The Round Sheep Tour, a nod to an episode of the podcast discussing idioms, referring to a phrase created by the group to denote something which makes you think.
JaackMaate said: “When they made up the phrase ‘letting the cat out of the bag,’ were they aware that it was gonna be a thing?
“So if we make up our own one, when we’re dead and gone our legacy can be the fact that people say round sheep in a moment that confuses you.
Robbie cut in to say that he wanted to “manage expectations, as the show won’t be about the etymology.
“Go and see Rory Stewart’s podcast for that.”
JaackMaate says: “I just love meeting new people, and though I’ve built my name and my platform through mugging off YouTubers that I’ve never met, I don’t think it’s actually that healthy to judge people before you meet them.
“So the podcast is so eye-opening– for example, you’d have imagined Danny D to be quite a lad, sort of brash and overpowering.
“But he’s a sweetheart, and he’s up there with the comedians for me, a very smart man– I always love being shocked, and the majority of our guests surprise us.”
This translates to the live performance too, Robbie explained: “Often you see listeners messaging or posting online, but it’s just usernames.
“They’ve messaged and said ‘oh I’m gonna be in the front row at Birmingham,’ so it’s nice to see the face of the guy who’s probably gonna kill us or something,” he jokes.
“But it’s gonna be nice to get out and meet as many people and have a little adventure– I mean I’m 45 and I’ve got three kids, so I’ll do anything to get out of the house.”
While it’s the first time the trio has toured a live show together, Robin says that they’ve all had some previous experience.
“We’ve all done bits– I worked on Soccer AM doing scripts, so we’ve all got that down.”
While it will be a similar format show-to-show, JaackMaate says it will still be different each night.
“We’re really off the cuff, and you don’t really know how it’s going until there’s an audience to bounce it off of,
“But what we have really chimes when we’re on, but it’s often the things you think of on the spot that gets the best response, and then you work out pretty quickly what that audience wants.
“Birmingham’s our first show, so by the time we get around to Reading, we’ll know what we’re doing… sorry, Birmingham.”
JaackMaate says that he’s been to Reading Festival a number of times, “and I would love to perform there, as long as it was towards the start.
“I’m usually a bit worse for wear by the end.”
Robbie says: “Lunchtime on the Friday, fine– 11pm Sunday? Not interested, thank you.”
Speaking of the podcast’s audience and how it will translate to a live audience, JaackMaate says: “The TikTok culture we have now, just thousands of small clips– that helps.
He mentions fellow YouTuber MrBeast, who he heard saying on a podcast: “He was talking to someone else who told him there was a TikTok account posting clips of theirs.
“He was saying that he was going to get it with a copyright strike, but MrBeast said he was an idiot– it’s free promotion.
“People see that, want more of it, and then go and find it, and I was very much the same.
“There are Happy Hour accounts, and we’re not monetising that part of it, but as long as they’re sending people to our platform, then we’re kind of fine with it.”
Stevie says that he still struggles with it a little, however: “For me personally, I didn’t really have too much happening online when we started the podcast.
“So it was weird to go into it and seeing people saying mean things– but I suppose these two say mean things to me all the time.”
JaackMaate agrees: “We’ve trained you up– like anyone our age, I’m addicted to it.”
Robbie says however that despite some nerves, the trio is looking forward to the tour.
“I feel that because we’re doing it together, it’ll be alright– or at least good material for the podcast.
“If we get out there and they’re throwing carts full of rotting fruit, it’ll be bad for a few weeks, then make a great episode when we get back.
“Plus,” Stevie adds, “It’s Jack’s name above the door, so if it’s really bad, it’s all his.”
JaackMaate replies: “And there’ll be two open positions for co-hosts, too.”
JaackMate’s Happy Hour: The Round Sheep Tour is coming to Reading’s Hexagon on Thursday, February 2.
For more information, or to book tickets, visit: www.happyhourlive.co.uk
