Sir David Jason, beloved for his role as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, recently shared a story from his early career that couldn’t have been further from his future success.

In his book This Time Next Year, the actor opened up about a disastrous gig in the 1960s that nearly made him quit show business.

After being coaxed into trying stand-up comedy by a friend, the now 84-year-old experienced what he describes as a nightmarish “debut” that also served as his final attempt at stand-up.

The ordeal began when Jason’s friend, Malcolm Taylor, suggested he try comedy during a dry spell in his acting career.

Despite his doubts, Malcolm convinced him, even securing him a gig at a pub in Maida Vale known for its amateur comedy nights.

“This little adventure was all Malcolm Taylor’s fault,” Jason writes, as he recounts the lead-up to what he soon realised was a monumental mistake.

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Jason walked on stage with a few prepared jokes, but he immediately felt the weight of the crowd’s indifference. As the set began to crumble, Jason could feel the room slipping away.

He writes, “Looking back, this was where I truly learned the theatrical meaning of dying a death. Right there in that quarter-full pub, beyond any wince-inducing audition, beyond any limp

piece of business in an under-cooked farce on some pier somewhere... that was where I knew what it felt like to want the floor to swallow you whole and for time to reverse and for everyone

to wake up and not remember anything about what had just happened.”

The humiliation mounted as Jason sped through his material in a panic. Timing, the lifeblood of stand-up comedy, went out the window as he found himself desperately trying to finish.

“Timing—famously the secret of great comedy—went straight out the pub’s front window,” he admits. Rushing to end his set, he “must have rattled off that material in well under five minutes.”

He even joked that he might have “invented rap” that night as he blurted out joke after joke in record speed.

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Jason’s set finally concluded to the sound of a single, lonely clap—likely from Malcolm, his only supporter in the room.

Reflecting on the experience, Jason shares, “I can still recall it—the sensation of standing there with that microphone and losing control of the room, feeling the audience’s attention

wander away from me and realising that I had no hope at all of getting it back again.

It was desperate. I thought I was physically shrinking. I was getting smaller and smaller with every second that passed. And this was especially worrying because I wasn’t that tall to begin

with.”

The trauma of the event lingered with him for years, influencing his choices as he continued in his career. Jason confesses, “This is why, even now, whenever I’m asked if I would be happy to

‘make an appearance’ somewhere, I’m always gripped by the fear that I will be likely to... well, make an absolute appearance of myself.”

Though the experience left him disillusioned with stand-up, Jason would go on to find success as a comic actor, a realm he felt much more comfortable in.

“I already knew that I was only really at ease in front of audiences if I had a character to hide behind,” he admits.

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