Focus: Daniel Nicholas

Who are you and where are you from?
I’m Daniel Nicholas, I’m a comedian, producer and theatre maker from Manchester!

What is it you do?
A lot of things, but what I enjoy is making interactive comedy shows for all ages, and theatre shows that explore using accessibility in a creative way. As an independent producer, I work with small-scale dance and theatre artists, with a focus on using comedy to engage audiences with other art forms, such as Cultural Comedy Tours which has comedians delivering tours in museums and art galleries.

How long have you been doing it?
I’ve been working in the arts and comedy since before London hosted the Olympics and when Example was topping the charts. So a while! It’s been quite the journey, I started out in comedy when In my second year of university in Leicester before youtube had really taken off, it’s amazing to reflect on how everything has changed in this time.

What inspires you?
I love the feeling of live performance and physical comedy. A regular question is ‘who’s your favourite comedian?‘ and I think I would say probably the biggest influences were the Robin Williams and Jim Carrey films of the 90s. How wacky, physical and silly they can be with their body and face I think has certainly influenced my work. 

These days it’s probably my peers and those coming up now, the ambition, drive and hustle that is needed to make a sustained career in comedy and the arts inspires me. Now I’m older and have been doing this for a while I’m feeling more jaded. It’s so inspiring to see newer acts who are determined but also exploring work just for the love of it.

Tell us about your work.
In terms of stand-up/comedy, I make interactive shows that focus on audience games, being split into teams and having fun, whether that’s making odd noises, doing impressions or performing alternative yoga. I want people to come into the room as strangers but come out as mates after going through a fun shared experience. 

As for theatre, my last show Eugene, toured the country last year and focused on a tech billionaire at a product launch, launching a superhuman A.I who is going to solve the world’s problems – but it all goes horribly wrong. I used captioning software called the Difference Engine, which allowed people to see captions on their mobile phones, and through this, there were two different endings.

Currently, I’m thinking about a  murder mystery show that uses audio description and BSL to give exclusive jokes, clues and information to those users.

What have you got coming up in the future?
My latest comedy show is coming to Newcastle Fringe 26th – 28th of July at Alphabetti Theatre. Dan Nicholas’ Birthday Party, which will be fun for the whole family, we’ll play games such as musical statues and pass the parcel, all soundtracked like it’s a  90’s and 00’s school disco. I’m also doing this show at Buxton Fringe, if anyone fancied a travel to the Peak District mid-July!

Where can people find out more about you?
I have an outdated website – www.danielnicholas.co.uk
For my producing work check out www.discerningnights.co.uk
And then I’m rubbish at social media, but most likely to post on Instagram, my handle is @ellisonnicholas.