This piece originally appeared in The Demon newspaper Issue 125.

Bob Slayer has a pretty incredible CV. He was a jockey before he broke his back. He’s managed tours for the Bloodhound Gang, Electric Eel Shock and Snoop Dogg. He was a stunt rider, medieval knight and a jouster in several films. He was the first westerner to be crowned Karaoke Champion of Japan and he’s now guest editor of The Demon. Bob would be well within his rights to retire right now, but he keeps moving like a shark in lager, and doesn’t dwell on past achievements; what I am most proud of is what I am doing right now. Just as I was most proud of what I was doing then. So when I was sat on top of horses, that was the best thing in the world. When I was touring around the world with a crazy Japanese band (Electric Eel Shock) that was all I cared about… But right now Comedy is my passion, both performing and also creating artist friendly pop up venues with a chaotic and creative environment where anything could happen and where people leave having had a unique experience. Or maybe they stay? Let’s have a comedy lock in!’

Bob explains that, having not had a ‘proper job’ for over 15 years, he doesn’t really have a CV anymore, just a series of incidents like the ones listed above. He’s lead such an eclectic life that it’s easy to question whether it’s all true; ‘a lot of people look at how large I am now and don’t believe I was ever a jockey. However it’s totally true. Between the ages of 16 and 21 I had over 300 rides and 3 winners, but then I got too heavy and had to give up… On the other hand no one ever questions the ridiculous claim that I was the first Westener to be Karaoke Champion of Japan.’ Bob thinks that people really struggle with the idea of an Englishman managing a Japanese band and that this lie helps them make sense of it. ‘This is how the lie came about: Metal Hammer Magazine wanted a story as to how I had met the band and having been asked that question many times, the band may have been a little bit flippant. Once Metal Hammer went to print it became fact and other places reprinted it… Which just goes to show that the media is full of lies!’ With the obvious exception of The Demon, of course.

Bob also holds the World record for "Longest Hug" alongside fellow comedian Patrick Monahan. Hugging someone for 25 hours and 25 minutes must have been a very intimate experience, I ask Bob if there’s anyone he’d rather hug for this length of time; ‘There is no one I would like to hug more than Pat Monahan, no one I say!’ Bob’s favourite world record holder is Colin Furze, who he insists I check out on Youtube, his records include the world’s longest moped, biggest bonfire and fastest mobility scooter. ‘He was once going to blow up Electric Eel Shock’s old tour bus for a music video. But while we were planning a date the kids on my estate beat him to it and fire bombed it! Sadly no video exists of that but the kids seemed to have fun.’

One thing which doesn’t appear on Bob’s incident list is ‘manager of Arctic Monkeys’. He was, however, approached for the role; ‘They were the local support band in Sheffield for Electric Eel Shock, who I managed, and after the show Alex of the Arctic Monkeys, probably only 15 at the time, handed me a CDR which I still have and asked me if I would be interested in managing them. I said that I was a bit busy with EES who were about to be massive. I truly believe Electric Eel Shock would have been massive if it hadn’t been for one thing - and that thing was me holding them back. I was a terrible manager. I didn’t even know there were two Frankfurts in Germany until I turned up with the band at the wrong one…’ Bob doesn’t regret missing his opportunity to manage Arctic Monkeys, because if he had done then we would never have heard of them. It is for exactly this reason that he does regret never managing Justin.

Bob’s chaotic ‘happenings’, such as getting naked and scaling the balconies of De Montfort Hall at last year’s festival, his love of alcohol, and anarchic approach to life have drawn comparisons with Johnny Vegas. He can see where this comes from; ‘a long time ago Akihito Morimoto of Electric Eel Shock told me that there are many ways to be a great guitarist. You can be very technical like Santana or you can totally play from feeling like Hendrix. Most people sit somewhere between the two. I think Comedy is similar. There are comics who agonise over every word and nuance of their routine and there are those that live in the moment. Both are perfectly valid and can be hilarious, however I feel more comfortable at the same living in the moment end of the scale as Johnny Vegas who is to my mind the Jimi Hendrix of Comedy.’ When I mention the De Montfort Hall nudity incident, Bob says that I have my facts wrong; ‘How dare you, I had my socks on, it is very important to always keep your socks on!’

I asked Bob how the people of Leicester take to his antics; ‘of course it varies from gig to gig, in the aforementioned gig where I ran around naked, I think they were mostly shocked and quite rightly so but on the whole Leicester is lucky to have the Comedy Festival.’ Because the people of Leicester get to see so much comedy ‘it tends to mean that folks are more open to non-mainstream comedy.’

Perhaps the weirdest story I’ve heard about Bob is the time that a 17 year old girl checked his prostate live on stage. For most comedians, this would easily be the weirdest thing that has ever happened to them at a gig, but Bob says; ‘in the context of the gig this was not that weird… really! Well maybe it was a little? I had pointed out that she should have been shocked by the nonsense I was spouting and she replied: “Oh you won’t shock me…” I saw that as somewhat of a challenge and started suggesting some nonsense expecting her to back down. However it turned out that she was right, it all escalated and I received a medical examination that I could not turn down.’ It appears that Bob was in fact the victim in this situation but fortunately there was a happy ending (not that kind) ‘she gave me the all clear, although I am not sure that she was actually medically trained?’

Bob doesn’t think that a TV audience are quite ready for him. ‘I have had loads of TV folks interested in an idea of mine called “Fat Jockeys” where me and a friend, another now fat ex jockey cannot agree who was in fact the best in the saddle. There is only one way to settle this impasse, we have to lose weight, get fit and have one last race together.’ This sounds like a relatively tame and sane idea for Bob, but he explains that the TV executives ‘baulked at my idea for us to both have lyposuction and then see who could make the biggest candle out of our own body fat and then wanted it presented by Jeremy sodding Kyle! Maybe we should try Kickstarter?’

One place where you’ll be guaranteed to find Bob’s brand of mischief and mayhem, is his venue. ‘Heroes’ is the pop-up comedy venue Bob runs up and down the country. When I ask Bob whether he’d be interested in opening a ‘Heroes of Leicester’ on a more permanent basis, he told me that ‘When looking for a venue for this year’s festival we did look at a place that we’d have to rent all year and we seriously considered it.’ Bob says that he decided against it because the responsibility of running a permanent venue would stop the pop-ups from developing. Perhaps we will one day see a Heroes of Leicester. Once the pop up venues are all well established, Bob says that he will want to run a permanent venue and that Leicester is one of the places he would consider doing this. ‘It must have accommodation, then you can have acts up to stay with you’ he would also have a smaller room ‘when you’ve got a big room like Just the Tonic you’ve kind of got to push out tickets to big groups.’ ‘If you have a small room you can create a vibe and a comedy audience will find it.’ Bob says that there’s now an increasing trend for clubs to just have three comics and a compere on the bill ‘that’s just a part of comedy and there are some acts who are brilliant at it and then there are acts who can do it but it’s not what they’re best at, and then there are acts who are just awful at club comedy but are excellent in other shows.’ Bob’s Christmas show – the Weirdo’s Alternative Panto - featured people at all stages of their careers, from John Kearns ‘who is the current world champion of comedy’ to people on the open mic circuit. In Bob’s eyes, there are a lot of careerist comedians who see club comedy as a stepping stone to TV work and arena tours ‘And that’s fine, but that’s just one part of comedy. There are more creatively interesting paths to follow’ The pantomime also helped to avoid the notoriously horrible Christmas comedy audiences, that and the sign which said ‘No evil bankers.’ This wasn’t a snobby move; a lot of Christmas audience have misconceptions about what they’re going to see. Bob just had a chat with them and anyone and everyone was welcome as long as they knew what they were coming for; ‘I don’t mind hecklers at all, worst than any heckle is people talking amongst themselves’.

I asked Bob who he was most excited to book for Heroes; ‘Oh man that is like asking a parent who is their favourite child, of course I do have favourites but they change all the time and they are different favourites for different reasons. Come see all our shows!’ ‘if you really want to find out my favourites ask me after I have had a few drinks.’

I took Bob up on his offer and went to meet him backstage at the Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival Preview Show, where he was sipping on his first beer of the night. Bob, who is wearing an Electric Eel Shock t-shirt, says that he’s got a lot of different favourites who he likes in different ways. Amongst them is our cover star Tim Renkow. Bob’s been promoting Tim’s shows for several years, and has seen him rise out of obscurity to play in front of huge audiences. You can read an interview with Tim on page (INSERT).

‘He’s just amazing, every time I see him and I see his show, I learn something about comedy, about myself and about everything.’ It feels appropriate that Bob also mentions Tom Binns, who is the man behind the character ‘Ian D. Montfort’. Binns is at the Santana end of the scale but ‘He’s so good at it that it feels effortless’.

At this point, Bobby Mair pokes his head around the door, insisting that he is also one of Bob’s favourites. Bob concedes that Mair is very good ‘for a Canadian’ before realising that he actually really likes a lot of Canadian comedians; ‘maybe that’s because Canadians aren’t as arrogant as Americans. All Americans think that they’re good so they all come here, whereas only the really good Canadians come here.’

Bob doesn’t really have a backstage ritual, but after 100 gigs with Bobby Mair, he tells me that Mair does; ‘slowly he strips off, then he rubs himself in bananas and then the puppies will arrive, they were on his rider, he kills all the puppies and then he’s in the right frame of mind to go onstage.’

The front page of this issue was Bob’s brain child and it was taken backstage at the Comedy Festival Preview Show; ‘When I was first asked to be Guest Editor, I’d been drinking and apparently I said a load of things to Chris from the comedy festival and he wrote them down.’ One of these ideas was to dress Tim as Richard the Third and feature him on our front cover. A few days later, Bob got an email saying ‘I hear you have a load of good ideas’ and Bob said ‘Have I?’
Finally, I ask him ‘As you’re a stand-up, a promoter and guest editor of this edition of The Demon, what do you think comedy journalism is lacking?'

'‘I think more interviews should end with questions about how the interview went, just like this one. I think these were lovely questions and as your guest editor I am going to promote you to Chancellor of the University. Do I have those powers? And if not why not?’