Hot Press meets Reginald D. Hunter

When baritone-voiced American stand-up Reginald D. Hunter first toured Ireland some years ago, he used to get asked the same question everywhere he went.

“Everybody used to be constantly asking me, ‘have you seen The Commitments’?” he laughs. “Irish people used to ask me that over and over. Finally somebody shoved an actual copy of the DVD into my hand and I watched it. So, of course, it was that joke about the Irish people being the niggers of Europe that everybody wanted me to see.”
Born in Albany, Georgia, in 1969, Hunter has been based in the UK since age of 27. Much of his material contrasts his life growing up in the Deep South with his experiences as a black American male in Europe. Previous tours have been called Pride & Prejudice …& Niggas and Trophy Nigga (a double headliner with Steve Hughes). In advance of a forthcoming show entitled In The Midst Of Crackers, he’s currently touring Ireland with his warm-up A Work In Progress…& Niggas.
“The Irish tour is slightly different, but there’s bits of Cracker in it,” he explains. “There’s bits of my experiences in Ireland there. So that Commitments joke is kind of the jump-off point for a lot of other stuff about my experiences in Ireland.”
While Irish and UK audiences can’t seem to get enough of Hunter (he’s a regular on just about every TV comedy quiz show going), he’s not such a big cheese on his own home turf. How does his material go down in the States?
“It depends on what part of America you’re in. Especially with the climate there. As long as you can be a bit racial without being racist then it’s cool.”
As a native Georgian, where does he stand on gun control?
“I don’t know if I have an opinion on gun control,” he says, after a pause. “I don’t own a gun and I didn’t own a gun when I was in the States. At the same time, I’m not sure how relevant it all is. I think the issue is contrived. I think it’s contrived and it comes in and out of our consciousness, much like abortion does. I think there’s a reason why these key issues like gun control or abortion or gays in the military or gay marriage keep on coming up. These are circular debates that seem to pop up every now and again when we need to be distracted from something else.”
Suddenly he decides that he does actually have an opinion on gun control. “Hey, you know what? I think the idea of gun control is ludicrous! In a country like America where they’ve already got so many guns… that’s what you need to deal with. America is full of gun lovers and there’s no legislation that you can come up with that’s gonna make Americans – especially those dyed-hard-in-the-wool Americans who love hunting and killing things – give up their rifles and shotguns. So I think it’s pointless.”
Speaking of killing things, has he died often on stage?
“Oh, it’s happened many times,” he chuckles. “The last time I did badly was at a club show. Maybe they were there to see someone else. I often have fun when I have a bad show. It’s usually obvious early that you’re gonna have a bad show. You don’t often have three-quarters of a good show and then it goes bad. It usually goes bad within the first 10 or 15 minutes. But if it’s gone bad on you, you might as well have a good story to tell rather than the worst gig possible. So presuming that it’s not your fault, if you say the worst thing that you could possibly say, it can at least be funny for you.”
As with many stand-ups, Hunter’s comedic routine often centres around the thorny issues of women and relationships. Is it difficult maintaining a stable romantic relationship when you’re constantly touring?
“Well, I’m not in one at the moment and I’m sure that says something. Relationships with comedians either requires that a woman has a strong sense of foundation and can wait until you’re back or else she can afford to travel with you. Afford the time or the money – and most times that’s not the case. Which is why a lot of comics often have a series of fleeting romances.”
Have any ex-girlfriends reacted badly to being used as comedic material?
“More and more I have people reacting in my life to how they think they’re depicted in my shows,” he laughs. “I’m like, ‘but I didn’t even use your name so nobody knows I’m talking about you!’ A lot of times people like being mentioned. Someone once said that a lot of times if you name a song after a woman or put a woman’s name in the foreword of a book or you dedicate a film to her, she’ll love it. If you put her in a joke, she’ll get upset because they’re being laughed at. And being laughed at is too close to being humiliated.
“Of course the thing about getting into a relationship with someone is you wanna spend as much time as you can with them. And as a comic you wind up commenting on those things that you are most around. So it’s hard not to comment on your circumstance or your relationship. But for me, if I’m with someone, it’s important that they can laugh at themselves as much as I laugh at myself.”

Reginald D Hunter plays Dolan's, Limerick (April 3 and 4); Cork Opera House (7) and Vicar Street, Dublin (24) as part of an Irish tour.