Jasper Carrtott is well placed to offer advice to those taking part in J2O's Last Laugh nationwide comedy search. He tells Wil Marlow about his own rise to fame in the 1970s and the difficulties of working in the comedy industry now. Viv Hardwick reports.

JASPER Carrott has been in the comedy business for the best part of four decades, so a budding comedian would be hard pressed to find a better person to give them advice.

As the J20 Last Laugh search for new talent reaches Hartlepool's The Studio, in Tower Street, on Sunday night, 58-year-old Carrott, plus Rhona Cameron and Phoenix Nights' Dave Spikey are among those judging the laughter-makers of tomorrow.

''I think it's important to encourage people,'' says Carrott. ''I suppose over the years I've mainly encouraged new comedy writers because that's where I've been able to be most influential.

''But I was responsible for introducing Phil Cool to the nation and I've helped other people. Jo Brand wrote for me in the mid 1980s and went on to do her own thing, so there's a history there of me encouraging people.

''It would be nice to see someone in the very early days, in the embryonic stage, and also it's an ideal opportunity to nick everybody's material.''

Carrott and his comedy colleagues will be judging the London final of budding comedians who need that push into the limelight. Heat winners from North-East and Yorkshire venues, voted for by the audience and the panel of experts, will go though to the regional final at Jongleurs Leeds on April 6. The winner will then perform at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End where they will compete for a contract with Jongleurs comedy clubs, £1,000 in cash and an opportunity to perform on New York's comedy circuit.

So far Dan Willis has qualified from York, but is going to miss the regional final. Josh Daniels and the double act of Mat Reed and Faron Smith went through in Newcastle and as many as two acts may be chosen from Leeds from the 11 contestants at Hartlepool. ''My advice to people taking part is just be yourself,'' says Carrott. ''Sometimes you get what I call attitude comedy, which is no bad thing. Alexei Sayle was an attitude comic and he was very funny.

''But you can't keep on being an angry young man from Liverpool because people get used to you. If people come along and you give them what they expect unfortunately they get bored.

''So if you're yourself and comedy comes naturally to you, even though you write it down it will come from your head. By being yourself you have a chance at mastering comedy, having an attitude has a sell-by date.''

Carrott is probably one of the most successful comedians this country has produced. He rose to fame in the mid 1970s, releasing the massive chart hit Funky Moped/Magic Roundabout before making his first television appearance in 1978 with An Audience With Jasper Carrott. But he didn't set out with the intention of having a career in comedy.

He says: ''Stand-up comedy, when I was coming through, was ten minutes on Cilla Black's show. When myself, Billy Connolly, Max Boyce and Mike Harding started having success, suddenly it hit people between the eyes.

''I was on television 10:30 on a Friday night, which was unheard of. You didn't have comedy shows apart from Phil Silvers at that stage.''

Carrott and his contemporaries began a new style of comedy - that of the raconteur, observational comedy that told stories rather than one-liners. Carrott developed his style from working in folk clubs, beginning his career running an agency for folk artists that ''for three years very successfully lost money,'' he laughs.

As well as running the agency he compered at folk clubs and sang and wrote a couple of funny songs. He says: ''Then I sort of went away. I was married and I didn't know what to do, really. I left the agency in the hands of my business partner, but he came back a few months later and told me the person most in demand was me.

''He wanted to sign me so we sat down and talked about it. I decided to give it a couple of years. I knew how the business worked and had a definite game plan. And it worked, that's how it all started.''

These days things are very different in the world of comedy. Carrott says it's easier to get into because people now accept comedy as an art form, but there's now the problem of having so much competition around, something he never had to contend with.

''I didn't see Billy Connolly or Mike Harding as competition. There were so many people out there who wanted comedy that you could have Billy for a week in Birmingham, then me for a week after. You'd probably bring in the same audience.

''Now it's much more cut-throat. The difficulty is rising above, being the cream at the top. You've got to be so good. What worries me is that comedy clubs spawn comedians who are very good for 20 minutes, but can they do six half-hours? There's a massive difference.''

* The J20 Last Laugh Teesside heat takes place on Sunday at Hartlepool's The Studio. Entry is free. For Leeds Regional Final tickets (£5) ring 0870 787 0707

* For more information visit www.j20.co.uk

Published: ??/??/2003