Ahead of his new standup show, the Catastrophe star discusses returning to comedy after tragedy, defending the NHS and becoming a better dadRob Delaney is on a canoe, sailing down the North American waterways with a massive lump of cheese in his mouth. Not literally; that would be a weird place to do an interview. But in his head he´s there now, reminiscing about a pivotal point in his life. `It was 25 years ago. And the friend I was with took out his cheese and a knife, sliced off a piece and gave me some. I remember saying: `Man, this is good,´ and he said: `Yeah, food tastes better when you share it.´` It was in that moment that Delaney believes his core principles were formed. `I don´t even remember his name,` he laughs. `He´s just Canoe Cheese Man to me.`And yet Delaney is reminded of the guy´s impact on a regular basis. When we meet - slightly more boringly for coffee in a bar near his home in north London - the 42-year-old comic is still raw from December´s election results. Delaney had campaigned for Labour with a moving video extolling the brilliance of our NHS. `I have a potentially unique perspective in the sense that as my career was taking off and I was being surrounded by wealthier and wealthier people, my son got sick too,` he says. `Then he got incredibly sick, then disabled, and then he died. I was spending time with people who were disabled, dying, often people who were much less materially fortunate than myself. Having a foot in these two worlds gave me a perspective on just how unequal things are.` Continue reading...
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