The Real McCoy was huge for me - Dane Baptiste

I caught up with South London’s newest funny man Dane Baptiste ahead of his huge performance at the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival on July 30 2014, looking to get some insight into the newest face of British Urban comedy.

Dane has been steadily making a name for himself as the voice of urban London, well the funny voice of Urban London. With a real buzz being generated by Dane’s honest, blunt and real approach to stand-up, we wanted to find where his unique brand of comedy stemmed from.

With any artist, whether it is comedian, musician, painter or whatever, the influences run deep and normally arise very early on. What was it that inspired Dane Baptiste to take to the stage and tickle the funny bone?

“I had a lot of American comedy influences growing up. My first stand up idols were Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy”

“One of the main things that made me want to do stand-up was seeing Eddie Murphy ’RAW’ when I was really young.”

Being a true Londoner of course, Dane was also quick to sight some of the greatest impacts on his comedy from this side of the pond.

“I really like Russell Abbot and Harry Enfield”

“Of course, The Real McCoy was huge for me. A lot of shows try and replicate what it did and none come close”

Any urban Londoner over the age of 20 or with family raised in London should remember ‘The Real McCoy’ as a huge deal in British comedy and an incredible representation of Urban London life. The influences of the ‘90’s comedy show are still visible today.

With the recent, tragic news of the passing of comedic hero Felix Dexter, Dane referenced the British comic as one of the most integral influences in modern British comedy and especially his influence on black comedians like himself.

“I loved him growing up, seeing him on shows like ‘The Fast Show’ as well as ‘The Real McCoy’ but I didn’t realize at the time just how important he was to British comedy until I got into stand-up and eventually found out all the things he actually did”

“He was amazing and you can see how many people he has influenced in Black Comedy and even the mainstream circuit.”

Since the British Urban comedy glory days of ‘The Real McCoy” and “Only fools and Horses” there is an argument to be made that the representation of urban London comedy in the mainstream has never really reached the same heights and seems to be damaged by a stigma of danger and hostility. I wanted to know if Dane thought any comedians other than himself still properly represented Urban London.

“I don’t think it does honestly. When you find urban, London comedians, their either playing up the whole dangerous reputation or they’re talking about the gentrification of areas like South London. Considering how big it is, it doesn’t get fair representation. It has it’s own Culture and I try and represent that.”

With Dane on the precipice of a huge performance at the legendary Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s clear that he has not lost touch with his roots. As one of the only UK stand-up’s still willing to translate that urban London comedy to the big stage, we can only hope that Dane will get the push that his heroes of old were given and if his career up to now is anything to go by, we will be seeing a lot more of the South Londoner.