“I always appeal to people's selfishness”: Rob Delaney on the secret to enjoying yourself

Rob Delaney may be best known for being the funnyman behind hit show Catastrophe which he co-wrote and produced alongside Sharon Horgan, gaining prominence as one of the first comedians to rise to fame via social media back in the early 2010s.

Now, he's turning his attention to the next generation of creatives and performers, raising awareness (and moolah) for Arts for Impact.

After starring in hits like Dying for Sex, Black Mirror, and Bad Monkey, and wrapping up four seasons of Catastrophe in 2019, Delaney has been residing in London, officially becoming a British Citizen in 2024. Doing good and giving back is nothing new for Delaney who first met his wife volunteering over 20 years ago.

Arts for Impact is a Big Give campaign running for a week from Tuesday 17th March until Tuesday 24th March. Now in its third year, the landmark funding campaign aims to raise thousands for 280 UK arts and culture charities, and matches each donation. All public donations made via Big Give will be doubled thanks to a range of generous match funding partners, with actors and creatives like Rob helping to spread the word.

The charity Rob is championing from the staggering collection Big Give’s Arts for Impact supports is Arts Emergency, a charity that ensures all young people can get a fair start in the arts, by providing mentoring, opportunities, and practical advice, breaking down the barriers for under-represented young people in all creative industries.

Incredibly humble, almost oddly down to earth, and whip-smart funny as you’d want from a comedian-writer, Rob sat down with us upstairs at The Lucky Saint to talk about why he loves the arts, life advice, and why he finds it funny being called an activist.

Can you tell us a little more about why you got involved in the project?

“They approached me – I think probably 'cause I had been doing some campaigns with the NHS when nurses were on strike. It was through that that I met a lot of wonderful people involved in a lot of wonderful things.

“When they told me what it was about, I was 100% on board because one of the best things you could do – especially as you progress and have success and start to get gray hair and things like that, and maybe even get into a position where you can hire people is to help other people get started on the path. What a thrill to get to pass it on, right?”

Definitely – great for everyone, right?

“And frankly, just selfishly, I don't just make art, but I consume it as well. And my diet of art is better when people from all walks of life are making it. I don't want to just read stuff and see stuff that was made by people who went to Oxbridge or had, you know, every opportunity handed to them.

"Sure, people from that realm can make good stuff — they have and do and will continue to. But also, I want to see somebody who, you know, grew up in council flats and maybe had a parent in prison or whatever. What moron doesn't want to hear from people with that background, you know? So you could – and I would – appeal to people' selfishness! Do you want to watch good stuff? When you park yourself in front of your TV tonight, do you want to be truly entertained? Then you want to hear from a diversity of voices."

Hell yes. Always! Is there anyone you’re particularly excited to hear from and want Arts for Impact Emergency Fund to invest in?

“You know, I don't want to hand out pain or anything like that, and I don't wish that more people suffer. But if you do, and your suffering index might be a little higher, or if you come from an economically disadvantaged background, the crucible that you go through is very likely to squeeze some beautiful art out of you. And some people do need that leg up in the beginning or feel that they can have the permission or to be shown the path by somebody who's really doing it.

“I'm doing the least important arts emergency work right now, blathering about it. That's lovely, but way better than that is the mentor who does the hands-on work with a young artist and shows them, 'Hey, this is what I did. This is what I did when I got knocked down. This is how I got back up.'

"These were the things that I was afraid of and that I worked through anyway, and showing younger people that that can be done and how to do it is important. One of the great things about art is the feeling of connection that it fosters and the feeling of identification. So what better example than the artist with some experience helping a younger artist get started on the path? I mean, it's like the best, best, best, – it's exciting. It's exciting to even just talk about.”

With the arts, especially with acting, the amount that you have to deal with rejection, especially at the beginning, can be quite disheartening. What sort of advice would you give to people starting out?

“Well, what I would say that is if you are just only asking questions that have ‘yes/ no’ answers, then you will get into trouble, and it'll be easier to get discouraged.

"It's much better when you're starting out to put on your own show – be it if you get a corner of a wall in a cafe, where you can put up a couple of paintings or get a few friends together and use a space that you're not supposed to, to do a play that you've written. So rather than just going around to established channels – theaters and schools – essentially asking, 'do you like me?' do it differently. I did that early on, and I heard those no's and I didn't enjoy it."

Get attention unconventionally then?

“The only time people really started to pay attention to me was when I was like, 'Oh, you know what, I'm not gonna ask a yes, no question, I'm going to do a thing. I'm going to make a statement.' However small, however imperfect. Because then you're a producer, you know, rather than just a gun for hire artist. So always be writing, always be putting stuff up, always be developing stuff and honing stuff and practicing your skills.

“Your art doesn't have to be for other people necessarily. It's totally valid to do stuff just for yourself. But if you want to work in it, which Arts Emergency is about, getting people work and art, then ultimately your stuff will need to be consumed somehow. So just jam it in people's faces!”

I love it – that’s our pull quote, “just jam it in people’s faces”.

[Laughs] Yeah!

How do you see people getting involved? How important is being part of these communities?

"It’s one of the dirty secrets about any kind of volunteer work, is how fun it is. My wife, for example, volunteers at a food bank once a week, and I go with her sometimes, and our sons go, and we have an amazing time with wonderful people who are doing a good thing. We laugh, we hear stupid jokes, we make friends that we then do stuff with. It's crazy, the immediate benefits that you get from doing it.

"So I always appeal to people's selfishness and say, 'be selfish'. Do yourself a huge solid, and go volunteer. You will have fun. You will laugh, you will meet wonderful people, you know? I met my wife volunteering.”

It’s funny when you Google your name, it will say ‘activist’ – it's this idea that just helping people and using your platform, I guess, to shout out communities and charities like this one and makes you an activist. How you feel about that?

“That's so funny. I feel like, well, I've never used the word activist on myself. I feel like you maybe you can call yourself an activist after you've been arrested twice. Because the first one, you know, that can happen to anybody. I think after you've been arrested twice for activism, then you'd call it. So that doesn't happen to me. I mean, what? I speak at a rally occasionally?”

Emergency Fund is just one of Big Give's Arts for Impact charities which is raising money until Tuesday 24th March, and each donation given will be automatically matched. You can find out more and donate online here.

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