Comedian Russell Kane told Soccer AM why he only supports teams he considers underdogs.
Stand-up star anything but a glory hunter
Everyone likes an underdog and none more so than Russell Kane it seems.
The hilarious comedian revealed he spent most of the late '80s and early '90 supporting Chelsea, before turning to board game Dungeons and Dragons when the west Londoners began enjoying success!
The Essex-born funnyman has since returned to the beautiful game and now follows local side Southend, but admits his interest in football stemmed purely from wanting to provoke a reaction from his rugby-loving father.
"I had no interest in sport anyway right, but just to annoy him I started going to football when I was younger - eight, nine, 10 - because I knew it got a reaction from him," he told
Soccer AM.
"I've got this thing where I can only get into a team that's not doing very well, because I've got such self-esteem issues. As soon as a team becomes successful I go 'I'm not interested in them anymore'.
"So when I was very young in primary school and Chelsea were in the lower leagues and won the Zenith Data and stuff like that, that's when I was into it, and I went along just to wind him up.
"I was going from north London and east London into Chelsea just to watch football there because I knew they were in Division Two and it was exciting.
"And then when I moved back to Westcliff recently I thought I'd go down and see the Shrimpers in action and see (Paul) Sturrock's Army knocking it about!"
Proud
Kane has been entertaining audiences since way back in 2004 when he won the 'Laughing Horse New Act of The Year' - his first stand-up award.
In the last year he has collected more accolades, winning both the 'Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award' and the 'Barry Award' at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, so there's no question that this man knows exactly how to tickle the general public's funny bones!
A regular on TV and radio shows, the 31-year-old's debut DVD 'Smokescreens and Castles' is out in November, and he revealed that much like the teams he supports he too is a bit of an underdog and one which him mum couldn't be any prouder of.
"I'm not doing violin or anything, but I've come from a family where no one's ever really done anything before," he said.
"My dad worked himself to death ripping out asbestos with his bare hands, my mum's still a cleaner and then I come along and start doing stuff like this.
"The first time she came to see the Smokescreen show - which finishes with me revealing the death of my father to the audience, because I hardly tell anyone - I couldn't find her anywhere afterwards.
"And then I found her and she said 'I was crying in the toilet with pride for half an hour Russ, sobbing with pride' and that's brilliant isn't it."
