Search Results for: jon richardson

Red Richardson: The Edinburgh Interviews 2018

Leave a Comment

© Theo Lowenstein

Who? Red Richardson
What? Seeing Red
Where? Gilded Balloon Teviot, Wee Room (venue 14)
When? 17:45

Are you prepared for what this year’s Edinburgh Fringe has in store for you?

Depends what it has in store, I am prepared to do my show everyday for a month, but if for some reason, Kim Jong Un decides to nuke Edinburgh then I am not really prepared for that.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

It’s about being called Red, growing up in a drug fuelled hippie town and nearly being cast as Harry Potter aged 10. 

What was the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

Watching stupid and totally unrelated videos on YouTube for hours on end and wasting a lot of time doing so. 

Who would most enjoy your show?

Supermodels and very rich people who own TV companies and have jacuzzis and spare pairs of swim shorts at their house.  

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Eshaan Akbars ‘Prophet Like It’s Hot’, Ed Night’s ‘An Aesthitic’, Garrett Milleriks ’Sunflower’ and Kate Lucas ‘Tetchy’.  

What is your favourite thing about Edinburgh as a city?

I like the architecture, which is why its so important Kim Jong Un doesn’t nuke us. 

What are your plans for after the festival?

Move to America, get cast in a huge sitcom, get really rich, then get hooked on crack and have a very public meltdown, then become President… failing all that I will just stay in England and sign on.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR RED RICHARDSON: ‘SEEING RED’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2018

Seven Questions With… Lloyd Langford

1 Comment
lloyd langford

© Andy Hollingworth

Lloyd Langford is a Welsh stand up comedian and writer who has worked with some of the of the biggest names in the business, as well as being a fantastic talent in his own right. Langford is a regular presenter on The Rhod Gilbert Show on BBC Radio Wales and frequently appears as a panellist on shows including QI and the late Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Lloyd will be performing his latest show  at Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival in February.
To find out more about Lloyd, I asked him these seven questions…

1) Are you a fickle person? 

I don’t know. I do get passionate about things for an intense period, and then move on to a new obsession, but I still enjoy the original thing. I guess it’s a combination of curiosity and also something which seems like a very male trait, and that is collecting. So I’ll buy a bunch of golden age hip-hop albums, rinse them, and then a month later I’m scouring eBay for Hwang Jang Lee Kung Fu DVDs. I need more shelves. (If you don’t know Hwang Jang Lee, he’s known as the “king of the leg fighters”. He’s basically the best at kicking the shit out of people.)

2) What was the last exciting thing you did?

I went cycling in Bruges. I’d never been to Bruges before, I hadn’t been on a bike in years, and those Belgian beers are pretty strong. Triple excitement. I was giddy from the new environment, the ever-present possibility of death and a particularly fruity Lambic.

3) Where do you most enjoy performing?

I enjoy performing to intelligent audiences. I feel like I can take more risks and that ultimately ends up being more fun. I did some gigs in The Classic, in Auckland this year, they were a lot of fun. It was a new club for me, I was a new comic for them, and so I think we were both testing each other’s boundaries a bit. That sounds really wanky. Sorry.

4) How did you choose your degree?

I had very little idea about what I wanted to do. I choose Film with Television Studies at Warwick because film interested me, I wanted to live somewhere new, and I didn’t want to lock myself into something vocational like veterinary school and then realise two years into the course that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life shoving my finger into dogs. Not my professional life, anyway.

5) Who is your favourite comedian to support at gigs?

I’ve been lucky to support some good un’s. Tommy Tiernan, Greg Davies, Alan Carr. I just did a couple of dates in Amsterdam and Brussels with Jon Richardson and that was fun. I think Rhod Gilbert is the big one though. I’ve spent more time with him on the road than anyone else.

6) Are you scared of any animals?

I once went to Marlborough Sounds with a girlfriend in New Zealand, which is incredibly beautiful. We essentially had a bay to ourselves. But one time, just before I dived off the jetty, I noticed a massive stingray, directly beneath where I would have landed. It kind of ruined the rest of my swimming. The placed was riddled with stingrays. I’m not a fan of the stingray. It’s essentially a camouflaged underwater doormat with a poison dart for an arse.

7) Are you afraid of growing old?

No. Young people are dickheads. I know, I was one. Depending on your age, I still am one.

PURCHASE TICKETS FOR LLOYD LANGFORD AT DAVE’S LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL HERE

June: Comedian Of The Month #5, John Robins

2 Comments
Each Comedian of the Month on MoodyComedy is a comic who has never previously featured on the website. Reasons for selection can include various current projects the comedian is involved with, or perhaps recent appearances on television programmes or podcasts. There is no strict criteria however, as Comedian of the Month simply stands as a collection of recommendations, highlighting interesting and original aspects of certain comedians and their work.

John Robins is an English comedian who I believe should already be a household name and it is a travesty that he isn’t as of yet. His 2013 Edinburgh show is downloadable online so I took the opportunity to properly listen to some of his stand up, having only seen him on television shows beforehand.

After listening to John Robins: Where Is My Mind? I was struck by a number of realisations. Firstly, why had I not listened to this before? John’s material was heartwarming, clever and hilarious and I’m annoyed I was missing out previously. Secondly, I was suddenly extremely looking forward to July 10, as I have tickets to see his and Sara Pascoe’s 2014 Edinburgh previews.

This show combined the story-telling genius of Rhod Gilbert with the relatability of maybe Jon Richardson or Josh Widdecombe and there was a heavy theme of self-deprecation, as John talked about his awkward teenage years and criticised his current way of living. I think it’s always good to hear a comedian who’s act doesn’t necessarily revolve around making themselves look good, because while John was busy slating his own personality and life choices, the audience, myself included, were slowly falling in love with him. (The crowd on the track clearly thought he was wonderful as they laughed continuously throughout, even to the point where John had to check if one of them was dying.)

Listening to Robins relay his funny anecdotes, it was impossible not to notice how smooth his transitions were, with perfectly timed call-backs throughout. This element made an hour plus show pass by in seemingly twenty minutes or so, which is a skill that few comedians have, and I could have listened to more afterwards.

It was an absolute pleasure to hear John Robins’ stand up show and I feel refreshed and even enriched having done so. The events of the hour spanned over many years yet fitted together seamlessly and beautifully. Not only did I enjoy the time spent listening to Robins, I also feel like I’ve learned something as a result.

For more information, visit John Robins’ website and follow him on Twitter.

 MAY COMEDIAN OF THE MONTH

Ask The Expert: Robert Popper (Writer and Producer)

Leave a Comment
Robert Popper

Robert Popper

Robert Popper is an award-winning comedy writer and producer. As well as co-writing the popular mock-documentary Look Around You with Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead, The Peter Serafinowicz Show), Popper is the brain behind Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner, which stars Tom Rosenthal and Simon Bird as bickering brothers Jonny and Adam, alongside Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter and Mark Heap. Friday Night Dinner is arguably one of the best sitcoms on television in terms of joke economy and originality, and that is why the show recently returned for a fourth series.
I asked Robert a few questions about his past and current projects in order to learn more about his creative processes…

1) How did you get into the comedy industry?

I didn’t know anyone in TV when I decided I wanted to give it go. I was basically clueless, but I knew that if I just sent off my rather dull CV I would just get rejection after rejection. So I created a new CV for myself, one that looked completely normal and totally bland, but the more you read it, the more you thought, ‘Huh?!’. It said that, aged 3, I was the sole survivor of an air crash in Canada, and that I was rescued and reared by wolves. It also had all these strange job references I’d mocked up on fake letterheads. There was a syrup factory that I worked in, until I fell into a vat of boiling syrup and spent years having skin grafts. There was a reference from the chief surgeon at the hospital I was sent to, and one from a guy who was my boss in a company that bottled urine as a drink. His reference was written on prison notepaper. Anyway, my stupid letters got me lots of interviews, and led me to work with Peter Richardson – who was one of my comedy heroes – at The Comic Strip. I remember when I went to his office for the first time, I heard him calling from upstairs, ‘Bring me the wolfman! Bring me the wolfman!’ I knew I wanted to work there right away.

2) How does your own life inspire Friday Night Dinner?

The characters are very loosely based on my family, but that was very much just the starting point. My dad rarely wore a top in the house when I grew up, and did say quite a few of the things his character says in the show – ‘Shit on it!’ being one of them. My mum does have red hair and was always really excited when my brother and I would come back home for dinner. My brother and I used to – and still do, sadly – playfight and put salt in each other’s drinks – so those things are definitely true. The more I wrote, however, the more the characters became their own people. I guess, what I was trying to do with the series was capture the rhythms and melodies of the way my family, and a lot of my friends spoke, growing up, and also share that central idea – that, no matter what age you are, as soon as you go back to your parent’s house, you become a kid again.

3) What is your aim with the latest series of Friday Night Dinner?

As with every series of FND, I just want to make people laugh out loud. That’s all I want really. It takes a while for viewers to get to know characters, but I feel that by series 4, they’re pretty well bedded down now, which makes my job a little easier in that I know the show is an easier watch now for people. At the same time, trying to come up with new stories, when basically the characters are in a house for 25 minutes each week, becomes harder and harder.

4) What was your first writing project?

Writing on a panel show called The Brain Drain. I was crap.

5) Which writers are your favourites to work with?

I’ve worked with quite a few, and they’re all so different. I’m lucky to have worked with so many great writers, either producing or script editing their shows. I’ve worked particularly closely with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, so I guess I know their style, and way of working the most. They’re ridiculously good, and also have that thing that great writers have – they are totally easy with criticism. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CURRENT PROJECTS, INCLUDING SERIES FOUR OF FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER, VISIT ROBERT POPPER’S WEBSITE

ASK THE EXPERT…