Former councillor Gio Spinella doing his stand-up set

SOME might say it is brave – perhaps even foolish – to be a Conservative councillor in Labour-dominated Camden.

So maybe Gio Spinella is better equipped than most for a new life as a stand-up comedian. The former Tory group leader stepped down from the council in May with the explanation that he was tired after 14 years on the opposition benches.

But he has found new energy by grabbing the mic and telling jokes. His opening gambit for the audience in his first performance recently was to joke that after all those years as a Conservative councillor he was used to being “the most hated man in any room”.

He told the New Journal this week: “I’ve had the experience of public speaking over many years, whether at council meetings or meetings with residents – so I had the confidence to try it out. “Of course, we were talking about important stuff at all those council meetings and I always took it seriously, but I did look across the room some nights and think: come on, someone crack a smile.”

The former leader of the Camden Tories has started a new life doing stand-up comedy after stepping down from the council pic.twitter.com/TExxcn7WzF

— Camden New Journal (@NewJournal) September 12, 2024

Gio Spinella takes to the stage for his first gig

After attending a comedy writing “gym” in Islington and sharing ideas with some established stand-up comedians, he has now played three pub comedy nights and is relishing testing his routines.

He has found a niche in talking about his self-confessed geeky love of superheroes and his large comic book collection, which needs its own room in his Finchley Road flat.

“When you stop being a councillor, you realise you have more time for yourself – and I was looking to do something creative again,” he said.

Former Tory leader starts new life as a stand-up comedian after standing down from councilhttps://t.co/D1wENL2Mor pic.twitter.com/8F2TK6kFrC

— Camden New Journal (@NewJournal) September 12, 2024

A routine about his interest in the comic book, Man Thing

In the past, Mr Spinella had written his own comic books stories, including Love Alien Sex, a work which the New Journal often reminded him about and he described as a “sci-fi carnal comedy”.

Former colleagues in the chamber were not told about his first gig, but have been sharing the footage of him bantering with the audience at The White Hart pub in Southwark, while wearing a wacky Superman-inspired top. They have now been alerted to future gigs, and he was due to play the Zodiac bar in Hampstead Road last night (Wednesday) having performed at a bar in Islington earlier in the week.

On his feet in the council chamber during his time as a Conservative councillor

Mr Spinella cited the late Robin Williams as one of his own comedy favourites, as well as several up-and-coming stand-ups. In recent years he has attended the Edinburgh Festival and talked about wanting to move to the Scottish city.

“I’m not saying nobody has told a joke about comic books before, but there aren’t many people doing it, so it’s something different,” he said. “But I’ve made it so that you don’t have to be a total geek to understand the references. I think most people start off talking about their own experiences. I am half Sicilian and half Welsh, so I think I have more of my own life to mine, if that’s the right word being a Welshman.”

He said his comedy was much more likely to be self-depreciating than being mean to others.

Former Tory leader Gio Spinella livened up the Town Hall with some humorous speeches – but he stood down in May after sitting through 14 years of council meetings, saying he was tired of it

Mr Spinella, although still a member of the Conservatives, had made little secret of his disappointment of the direction the party had gone under former prime minister Boris Johnson – and was critical of him when the local Tories took a pelting in the 2022 council elections. The party was left with a husk of just three seats in Camden. His loyalties were stretched when he found himself voting with members of other parties in a motion opposing Brexit.

“I didn’t change,” he said. “Without moving a muscle, over 10 years, I found myself on the very left of the Conservative Party. There is a lack of wit in speech-giving in politics generally and maybe Boris Johnson was the one people think of as having humour. “But behind the laughter, unfortunately, there was nothing there.”