Hoot Press: Justin Time

You may remember Manchester comic Justin Moorhouse from such shows as Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, in which he played the part of quietly spoken handyman Young Kenny. Kilkenny-bound for the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Festival over the June bank holiday weekend, on a recent visit to Ireland for a comedy festival in Clonmel, Moorhouse found himself trapped in the Tipperary town due to flooding, although he did at least have one Jason Byrne to keep him company.

“Clonmel is nothing like the advert for the cider which is on at the minute,” chuckes Justin. “The commercial for Bulmers – or Magners, whichever it is in the UK – was made in Clonmel, and it says, ‘No apple falls in Clonmel, they’re all caught.’ It’s like a cricket game, they’re all doing these brilliant catches. But when I was there it was flooded, and I was trapped with Jason. It was in the autumn last year, but it worked out alright in the end.
“We did a bumper show on the Monday, ‘cos it was hard for people to get in and out. So we just did a massive show and made the most of it. Like I say, it wasn’t too bad. The people who run the festival are brilliant. To be honest, when you get to my age – I’m 40 in two weeks – and you’ve got kids, any chance to get away and work is a bit like a holiday.”
As it happens, Justin has another interesting little nugget of information about Tipperary.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with ‘It’s A Long Way To Tipperary’,” he says. “I was baptised in the building opposite where that song was written. It was written by people who were in the Stalybridge Brass Band or something, and it was a challenge to see if they could write a song in a day with the word Tipperary in it. They probably chose Tipperary cos there aren’t many words that rhyme with it, although I guess you could have ‘Her name was Mary/She was from Tipperary’.”
As well Cat Laughs, Justin will – like most stand-up comics – be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. Intriguingly, his show at the Scottish festival is to be titled ‘The Boiled Egg On The Beach’.
“It’s about my life as a kid,” explains Justin. “The most exciting thing that ever happened was when our uncle John – who wasn’t our uncle, he just lived in the house opposite – came with us on holiday and he had a boiled egg on the beach. When you’re a kid, your reaction to that is something like wonder. This was in the late ’70s/early ’80s, and having a cold boiled egg on the beach was exotic. My kids now are eating hummus and so on. I mean, I took my daughter to Disneyland last week, and in a way, it was just another holiday to her. It’s hardly even special!”
With regard to his hometown of Manchester, Justin is keenly aware of the city’s music history, and is a particularly big fan of The Smiths and Morrissey.
“The closest I ever got to Morrissey was at a music festival in Manchester called Move, at the Cricket Grounds,” he recalls. “David Bowie was there too and he was great. I was hosting for the radio station I work for, so I was introducing the bands and bringing them on. They went, ’Morrissey doesn’t need any introduction.’ (Laughs) I said, ’Yeah, I know.’ He was just wandering around backstage, wearing a cravat and drinking tea from a china cup and saucer. When he finished it, he just passed it to his assistant, which I thought was brilliant.
“He actually grew up about 400 yards from where the gig took place. He walked on and he said, ’Hello Weatherfield’. Then he goes, ’I am a local boy done bad.’ It was fantastic.”
Justin also got to hang around with another legendary figure in Manchester, footballer-turned-actor Eric Cantona, with whom he starred in Ken Loach’s film Looking For Eric.
“I’m a big Man Utd fan, and Eric was the exception to the rule that you should never meet your heroes,” he says. “He was brilliant, kind of what you’d expect really. He’s enigmatic and quite humble, but he had that thing about him, where he knew what he meant to people. I’d say the best moment of my career was when we were walking down the red carpet in Cannes for the premiere. Eric was leading us out, and it was just like, wow, this is amazing.
“As we started walking out, we were all singing, ‘Ooh Ah Cantona’. I just tapped him on the shoulder and said, ’Are you alright skipper?’ And he went (does Cantona impression), ’Yes, it is a little like that.’ It was great. Then we got onto the red carpet, and there were loads of photographers – I mean thousands, it was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever been involved in. Obviously, there are flashbulbs going off everywhere, and everyone’s shouting, ‘Turn left, turn right.’ At one point, he just gave me a little squeeze, and he went (does Cantona again, this time with added gravitas), ’Remember – none of this is real. Tomorrow, they will be photographing someone else.’”
Which officially counts as the funniest and most oddly affecting anecdote Hoot Press has heard all year. Finally, we have to enquire about Justin’s role in Phoenix Nights. Working in a council job when he got his part in the series, Justin got to enjoy the uniquely pleasurable experience of walking into the office one day and saying, “As I am now going to be starring in a TV show, this will be my last day.”
“It was like a movie,” he reflects. “Everyone said, ‘Yeah right’. And I went, ‘No, I’ve got a part in a TV series – I proper have!’ I never went back. I worked on the show for six weeks, and I didn’t get paid that much, so I thought, ‘Shit, what am I going to do now?’ But luckily one thing led to another and it was really good for me. The best thing about was that, even though I’d never done any TV or acting before, I just got the feeling when we were making Phoenix Nights that it was quality. We were all friends anyway, and we were all laughing so much making it and having such a good time. It’s one of those things where people watch it now and it’s still fresh.
“And Peter of course is now just a phenomenon. He’s doing 35 nights this year at the Manchester Evening News Arena, which has a capacity of 15,000. I sent him an email the other day wishing him luck, and he just wrote back saying, ’Thanks’. It’s fair to say he’s quite busy at the moment!”

Justin Moorhouse plays the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Festival in Kilkenny from June 3-7