Having emerged from lockdown with his previous outing, Unashamed, comedian, mathematician and World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker is back with a new show, Wonderful.
This latest effort from the German-speaking comic, writer and poet, who studied maths at university, features new poems about, among other things, wellies, postcodes and Harry’s favourite German wheat beer, Schöfferhofer.
Harry, the youngest ever World Poetry Slam champion, was speaking to the Cambridge Independent the day after his 32nd birthday.
“It is coinciding with my third book of poems,” he says of the tour, which arrives in Cambridge at the end of May, “and my last show was basically coming out of Covid and rediscovering the love of being able to perform live having had that taken away.
“And I think alongside that there was, as with a lot of people, processing it and I guess talking about mental health, so initially I thought this could just then be a fun show doing some fun poems.
“But obviously life isn’t always like that… so it is about celebrating how wonderful life can be, but I think part of that is acknowledging that you can’t just ignore the difficult bits, so there are plenty of fun and silly poems about postcodes or my favourite beer, or going interrailing…
“But also I’ve learnt to be more vulnerable, and I think in doing that you’re able to connect with people more, and I think you’re then able to celebrate those dreadful moments in between, when they come.”
Harry spent a year in Germany as part of his maths degree. Since becoming an in-demand poet/comedian, he has performed all over the world, from the Dubai Opera House to becoming a festival favourite at the likes of Glastonbury, Latitude and his spiritual home, Greenbelt.
His work has been shared on TED.com and his poems have reached more than 10 million people on Instagram and TikTok.
He describes Wonderful as a “mix of poetry and stand-up”. “In between the poems, I will tell the stories of how they came about,” he explains, “and the personal journey I’ve been on, but it’s being punctuated with the poems throughout.”
Harry, who cites James Acaster, Josie Long and Sofie Hagen as three of his favourite comics, has become a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought, and has featured on The Russell Howard Hour as part of comedy-rap-jazz duo Harry and Chris.
He was also chosen to perform at the Royal Albert Hall this spring as part of a line-up of successful poets. His new tour coincides with the May release of Harry’s third collection of poetry, which is also called Wonderful.
“The final poem of the book and the show is called Wonderful,” notes Harry, “and it sort of summarises this idea that this world is full of wonderful things, and we all need to remind ourselves to stop and pay attention to them and appreciate them while we can.”
Does Harry see himself more as a comedian who does poetry, or a poet who does comedy?
“I would say in my soul I’m a poet,” he replies, “and I think the idea of trying to find beauty in the world is something that I’ve always stuck with.
“But my experience has then been that people come to a poetry show and they’ve found me surprisingly funny, whereas when I’ve done poet shows labelled as comedy, it’s been surprisingly poetic.
“So I think I sit in the in-between, and I enjoy that, and I think it’s partly then about people’s expectations when they come along – and I quite enjoy that side of it.
“I think if you can make people laugh, if you can get them to drop their guard a bit, then you can share things that feel more poignant and vulnerable too.
“I know people do that in stand-up as well, and some of my favourite comedians are the ones who can make you cry as much as they can make you laugh.
“But I think for me, the poetry side of it and the joy of language that comes through is the main thing.”
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Harry Baker will be bringing his Wonderful tour to the Cambridge Junction (J2) on Friday, 31 May. Tickets, priced £16.50 (£14.50 concession), are available from junction.co.uk. For more on Harry, go to harrybaker.co.
