Want to see Doc Brown bust out his comedy stylings? He's playing a show at Zapata's on March 13, click here for more information
Rapper-turned-comedian-turned-kids TV sensation-turned-Law and Order star-turned… Doc Brown is a hard fellow to pin down. And that’s before we mention he is a regular collaborator of Ricky Gervais. Oh, and brother to author Zadie Smith, she of White Teeth literary superstardom.
Let’s try and start at the beginning. He started out on the UK rap scene.
“It was something I did as a hobby as a kid,” Brown explains. “Then I actually tried to make a living as an underground rapper in my early 20s. I nearly succeeded, getting a few lucrative support slots and a few CDs out. Nothing major.”
He’s being a bit modest there. Brown’s early career saw him cross paths with such names as the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and the Black Eyed Peas. From there he fell in with producer Mark Ronson, and billings alongside Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen – “like comparing Billie Holiday to Billy Bremner,” he has said of the two chanteuses. Let’s ask about Winehouse then…
“To work alongside Amy was incredible – she was like Billie Holiday reincarnated, no exaggeration,” the 36-year-old affirms. “And I got to perform with her in her prime – on the eve of ‘You Know I’m No Good’ and ‘Valerie.’ She hadn’t touched crack or heroin at that stage, and, despite clearly being a troubled soul, she was warm and generous and friendly and a great laugh to be around.”
Brown was still struggling to make a living though. And then by chance he got a call from a friend he knew from BBC Radio who had started writing comedy and had written a vehicle for legendary British comic Lenny Henry.
“He asked if I’d be up for helping out with some of the slang and street language in the script. And boom – suddenly I was working in comedy. I realized I could write gags and just took it from there.”
It was the kick-start he needed, striking comedy gold from the seemingly strange fusion of rap and stand-up. Kind of counter-intutive, given the subject matter of most rappers…
“They’re natural bedfellows,” he insists. “I didn’t realize until I started doing stand-up how similar the two art forms are. Especially battle rap, because you have to be witty and clever with the wordplay, just as you do in stand-up, and the more incongruous the subject matter, the better!”
A certain Ricky Gervais agreed. The creator of The Office and controversial Golden Globes wind-up merchant host first saw Brown’s clips on YouTube.
“He called a guy he knew who knew me, got my phone number and called my phone direct,” Brown explains. “I thought it was a prank until I heard that laugh – then I knew it was really him.”
The pair hit it off, and what started as banter between them led to spoof pop-reggae anthem ‘Equality Street’ – Gervais’ Office antihero David Brent’s 2013 Comic Relief comeback. It shot Brown to stardom, becoming the UK number one download on iTunes and garnering nearly 4 million YouTube views to date.
“Ricky is like me – he had a low key music career but it never really took off,” Brown reflects. “So he also harbored dreams of being a rock star. We both thought that was funny as a premise and just imagined how awkward it would be if Brent hooked up with a rapper, because he’s always so uncomfortable around minorities.
“We figured if we did it for Comic Relief there’d be no pressure on Ricky to bring back The Office or whatever, it could just be a fun one-off. But it was actually a massive hit and I’m very proud of my involvement in that.”
Not one to rest on his laurels, Brown branched out into kids TV with comedy 4 O’Clock Club, which he not only starred in, but wrote himself.
“We’re developing the fourth series now and it has sold to Australia and Canada. Kids go mad for it. It’s a hugely proud achievement for me.”
Becoming a role model for kids, and spurred on by observing his two young daughters exposed to everyday images of female sexual objectification, Brown has even become a kind of accidental feminist, raising awareness through talks at schools and championing the abolishment of British tabloid the Sun’s topless page three. And then there is the famous sister…
“We’ve done a couple of literary events together,” he says on the subject of wildly successful sister Zadie Smith. “Her stuff is really funny so we’re actually a great pairing on stage. Last thing we did together for Penguin; I introduced her, she read a very funny chapter of her new book NW, then I did some stand-up. It’s a good mix!”
And there’s more: Brown’s latest move is into the straight acting front (he has previously played a drug dealer in comedy sitcom The Inbetweeners), in Law and Order. How does he manage to fit it all in?
“Copious mind-altering drugs. KIDDING!” he laughs (much to the relief of children’s’ TV bosses…) “I don’t really know. I think I just love the work so much that I don’t mind doing it during periods which would probably be the average person’s leisure time.”
// March 15, 7.30pm, free entry. Glamour Bar.
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