Comedians

Interview: David Ruby, How to Date a Magical Creature

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Comedy writer, director and producer David Ruby’s latest project is a web series about, as the title aptly suggests, how to date a magical creature. From vampires to zombies to the twins from The Shining, host Toby Vanilla interviews all kinds of monsters about their love lives. David spoke to MoodyComedy about the show…

How did the How to Date a Magical Creature series evolve from the original improv show?

Actually the series inspired the improv show. We had so much fun and laughed so much when we were filming the interviews for How To Date A Magical Creature that during the filming I thought this could translate brilliantly onto a live stage as an improv show.

Jonah Fazel, who plays Santa and Death, had the exact same thought and at the end of the filming approached me suggesting we make that vision a reality. The end result was a sold out run at the Vault Festival in 2019.

Who are the cast and characters in How to Date a Magical Creature?

In alphabetical order…

Jonah Fazel (BAFTA-winning History Bombs, Edinburgh Sell-Out Bumper Blyton, award-winning Treasure Champs) plays Santa in How To Date Satan and Santa, as well as Death in How To Date Death and his girlfriend Janet from Accounts Payable.

Susan Harrison (BAFTA-winning Class Dismissed, Olivier Award-winning Showstopper! The Musical) steps into the shoes of Catriona Gunningforit in How To Date A Vampire. She also plays Medusa in How To Date Medusa, as well as ‘Short Twin’ in How To Date The Creepy Twins from The Shining.

John Henry Falle (Edinburgh-Nominated Best Newcomer Story Beast) is a grumpy zombie in How To Date A Zombie.

Alex Holland (Royal Television Society Award-winner, Free Association) dons his best television suit to become Toby Vanilla, the host of How To Date A Magical Creature.

Richard Soames (BBC Quickies, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show) is the significant other to Clive The Zombie as they embark on a couple’s therapy session.

Dan Starkey (Good Omens, Doctor Who) polished his horns to play Satan, Santa’s better-behaved little brother in How To Date Satan and Santa.

As the ‘Tall Twin’ to Susan Harrison’s ‘Short Twin’, Lucy Trodd (Olivier Award-winning Showstopper! The Musical, Channel 4’s Lee and Dean) stars in How To Date The Creepy Twins from The Shining. She also plays Janet, Death’s girlfriend in How To Date Death his girlfriend Janet from Accounts Payable.

You have a really solid premise for the show – what was the inspiration behind it?

Thank you! The inspiration for the show was actually a brainstorming session I had with my then producer from my first film Custom Love. After the success of Custom Love I had written a short film script called My Ex-Girlfriend Is A Mermaid, for which I’d been speaking to Susan Harrison about playing one of the leads.

My producer and I were discussing different ways of raising money for this new project, and she suggested we produce a teaser for a Kickstarter campaign. That’s when it hit me that it could be really fun to release a bunch of episodes giving humans advice on how to date magical creatures. In fact, I loved that idea so much I put the short film on hold and focused on what has now become How To Date A Magical Creature.

How fun is it assigning a voice and a personality to imaginary creatures such as zombies and Santa Claus?

It was absolutely hilarious, and all credit needs to go to the brilliant performers. They all had uniquely fantastic takes on how they wanted their characters to be, and when the camera rolled, I just let them improvise to see where we got.

For instance, the fact that Satan turns out to the ‘good brother’ versus Santa who is the horribly rude brother enslaving thousands of elves in the north pole, all came from Jonah Fazel, Dan Starkey and Alex Holland improvising the dialogue as they went along, finding a great game and just having fun. The hardest part of the shoot was for the crew not to laugh out loud and ruin the takes!

What do your viewers have to look forward to later in the series?

Later in the series you can expect to see Toby Vanilla in the interviewer’s chair trying to find out more about the dating lives of Medusa, The Creepy Twins from The Shining (yes it’s really them!) and Death and his girlfriend Janet from Accounts Payable.

CATCH UP ON ALL EPISODES OF HOW TO DATE A MAGICAL CREATURE HERE

Review: Just the Tonic at Leamington Spa

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Just the Tonic’s comedy night returns for its second instalment at Leamington Spa’s Assembly. The whole affair is a smoother operation this time. There are no winding queues outside in the cold, and the revised seating arrangement provides a far more intimate setting. Despite there being less punters this month, the room feels fuller, with the rows of seats more central and the sides of the room blocked off.

Compere for the evening, London-born comic Tom Toal, is a natural. He works hard to generate an amiable atmosphere, chatting to individual audience members comfortably, without the stuntedness that can often come with crowd work. The snippets of material he scatters through the evening feel appropriate for the type of gig, and his ability to transition between heartwarming family anecdotes and sex gags is surprisingly refined.

Cheerfully self-deprecating, Simon Wozniak is a highlight. Each line of material is perfectly worded, with layers of outrageousness building in gradual increments. This is a comic who is confident with joke structure and can use his skills to present unpredictable punchlines which take the wind out of his audience.

But star of the show, perhaps rather shockingly considering the type of occasion, is absurdist live wire Paul Foot. Tantalisingly obscure, Foot has a kind of weirdness that is timeless. In fact, it’s refreshing to see just how well such a performer can do in front of a weekend club night crowd, as this is certainly not his usual scene.

With consistently unpredictable punchlines, quick gear changes and varied subject matter, it would be hard to find this buzzing housefly liveliness irritating. The opposite, in fact, is true. The predominantly innocent nature of the material makes Foot unexpectedly endearing. The charm comes in his sly looks out to the audience, the way he tosses his spaniel-like hair, the devious grin that follows his dead parakeet joke. Where his energy will take the room is unpredictable, and that’s the joy of this comic.

Just the Tonic returns to Leamington Spa’s Assembly next month, featuring Gary Delaney and Jonny Awsum. Tickets are available here.

Seven Questions With… Stavros Halkias

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© Patrick Arias

Stavros Halkias is a stand up comedian, podcaster and body positivity activist. He answers seven questions about his personal life and his comedy life.

1) What are your feelings as you prepare for your run at the Soho Theatre?

I’m excited, I can’t wait to see if really vulgar jokes about my penis work across the pond.

2) Who, or which group of people, would you most like your comedy to reach?

Anyone that’s struggling or having a tough day, I want them to be able to go to a show or watch one of my clips and just smile, lol psych, my answer is: the people in charge of the entertainment industry. Let me be on TV or in a movie, I wanna buy fur coats and get my mom a big ass house.

3) What brings you joy?

Taking a bunch of edibles and ordering like 40 dollars’ worth of pizza and wings and watching John Wick 2.

4) When did you last feel annoyed?

I forgot I signed up for a Weight Watchers free trial last year and those motherfuckers were charging me like 40 dollars a month for like 8 months. I’m still pissed and I want my revenge.

5) What is your favourite memory?

Getting a GameCube for Christmas in 2001. It was the only thing that could heal the wounds of 9/11.

6) What would you like audiences to take from your shows?

I just want everyone to have a good ass time and if they’re a cute girl, I would like them to develop an intense, sexual attraction to bald, toothless men in addition to having a good ass time.

7) What do you see in your future?

I wanna be the owner/general manager of a small, surf and turf restaurant specialising in rib eye steaks, lamb chops, crab cakes and both fried and grilled calamari.

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR STAVROS HALKIAS AT THE SOHO THEATRE (MARCH 31 – APRIL 4) HERE

Interview: Alex Kealy, Rationale

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© Ed Moore

Alex Kealy is set to tour his latest show across the UK this Spring. In honour of this, Alex fills MoodyComedy in on the rationale behind Rationale.

Hi Alex, how has the first month of the new decade been for you?

I managed to maintain a dry-ish January, went for some runs, gigged a lot, recorded my show for the comedy streaming service NextUp and saw a number of great dogs, so a pretty good month.

What initial thoughts sparked the origin of your show Rationale?

Lofty answer: I’ve always been interested in the non-rational motivators that compel us to think and do certain things. I thought a show focusing on that would be a nice antidote to political shows written explicitly on a Brexit axis. The best book I read in preparation was William Davies’ fantastic Nervous States.

Cynical answer: Topical shows are an absolute ball-ache because a) they can divide audiences and b) you spend six months writing them, lose thousands of pounds going to the Fringe and then they’re immediately redundant come September and impossible to tour (‘What’s the deal with Theresa May, amirite?’ etc.).

So I was keen to write something that would be like a fine/moderate communion wine (ages well, everyone’s happy) and not a banana (ages in 72 hours, reminds people of contentious reasons to leave the European Union).

How did the show develop during last year’s Edinburgh Fringe?

I had a break-up two days before the Fringe so that, er, influenced things a bit. I quite quickly wrote a chunk of material about that and it ended up making a lot of sense to put that in the middle of the show marking a Side A/Side B break in the hour.

How has your writing style developed since writing your first comedy hour?

A bit less wordplay and more jokes that are based on concepts and emotions. I think my use of analogies has gotten really strong but also hopefully I use them slightly less, as once I had a tendency to over-rely on them as my primary comedic tool. I guess what I’m trying to say is that my presence on stage inspires an overpowering mixture of fear and love in all who feast their eyes upon me.

What is your favourite comedy project that you have been involved in?

I’m proud of my comedy night The Comedy Grotto. It’s been going for approaching seven years and we’ve had some of the best comedians in the country trying out new material to fun audiences in a dank basement in North London.

What are you most excited about and what are you most afraid of as you embark on this UK tour?

I’m excited to perform the show another ten times! I’m terrified that nobody will come!

Why should people buy a ticket to see Rationale on tour?

To soothe my fear expressed in the last question should be enough for your wonderful, empathetic readers, but if you need to, I don’t know, make a decision based on more than just assuaging my insecurities, it’s a really good show with a very high gag count. I also got in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph’s Top 10 Jokes of the Fringe so clearly my gag-writing has the capacity to unite this politically fractured nation.

Rationale starts on 15th February at the Vault festival and runs until 1 April – more details here

Interview: Robin Morgan, What A Man, What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man (Say It Again Now)

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© Matt Stronge

MoodyComedy speaks to Robin Morgan about his plans to tour his latest show, What A Man, What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man (Say It Again Now), across the UK.

Hi Robin, how is 2020 treating you so far?

Well, thank you! I’m not doing dry January so having a wonderful time.

How did the arc of your new show, What A Man, emerge?

I wanted to write a show about my Dad and my son, and about masculinity in general. When my wife’s maternity leave finished, I took over looking after my son during the days, and found it hilarious how much praise I got for that fact, compared to how much my wife did. The double standards are mad and a real theme of the show.

How did you find the reception of the show at 2019’s Edinburgh Fringe?

I had lovely shows. I work really hard up there to make sure the room was full, and luckily that happened in 2019. The subject matter seemed to resonate too – my favourite moment was a real group of laddy lads who said they liked it. It’s those kind of people I thought would hate it, so that was a nice moment.

How do you feel about touring the country with this new show?

I’m excited to do the show again but shitting myself that it won’t be busy. I don’t have a huge amount of profile so I’m relying mainly on word-of-mouth and people’s lack of plans that evening. I’m so proud of the show – it’s the best thing I’ve written, and fingers crossed for some full rooms.

What motivates you as a performer?

It used to be just the bug to perform, to have fun on stage. But then a few years ago I really think I found my voice (WHAT A WANKY THING TO SAY) and I started talking about subjects that I care about. And this show is a perfect example of that.

Do you prefer to write before getting on stage, or work stuff through in front of a live audience?

Nowadays I like working stuff through with an audience. I’ll have bullet points and ideas but I wrote a lot of this show whilst on stage in preview form. I’m getting better at writing on stage, and already working up a new show for the one after What A Man.

Why should people buy a ticket to see What A Man, What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man (Say It Again Now) on tour?

It’s got the most jokes I’ve ever put into a show. It’s about a topic that I think is important to talk about. And a lovely emotional ending. I had people crying at the end of the show (happy tears, don’t worry). Plus it’s got one of the muckiest jokes I’ve ever written. What’s not to like?

BOOK TICKETS FOR ROBIN MORGAN’S TOUR HERE

Seven Questions With… Laura Lexx

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© Karla Gowlett

Laura Lexx is a sweet-talking comedian with a surprisingly sharp bite. Lexx has been making waves in recent years since her 2018 show Trying was met with high criticial acclaim. She is soon to embark on a tour of her latest show, Knee Jerk.

1) How did you decide to approach developing Knee Jerk after the huge success of Trying?

Well, this tour is actually an amalgamation of those two shows… they naturally link in to each other really well and while Trying is more personal and Knee Jerk is more socially-focused, they work very well as companion pieces. I’m excited to be able to do some of the material from Trying without the full emotional narrative, and to update some of the social politics of Knee Jerk to make it up to date for 2020. It’s really refreshing to have more than an hour to play with and to be able to play with the audience a lot more because there are no time constraints.

2) What motivates you as a performer?

I am at my happiest on stage… it’s where I feel relaxed, confident, in control and like a professional. It’s the thing in my life I really back myself to do and while I’m doing it my mind is focused and calm. I think other people talk about running or games or something in a way that’s similar to how I feel about being on stage… it’s a time where my extraneous thoughts are all focused on what I’m doing and I can shut out white noise. I just love being on that stage and I love making people laugh. It’s what I was born to do.

3) Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

Oh… lots of places. I would love to go to Japan, I would love to go to Canada. I usually want to go home. I like beautiful places and stuff but I’m a very people-based person. I’ll go where the people are, I don’t much care about places without people.

4) What is the worst thing anyone could say to you right now?

They could tell me I have upset someone. I hate upsetting people. I try and be very careful about what I put out into the world and I’m not good at confrontation. I hate the idea that I’d be responsible for hurting someone.

5) How have you changed as a comic over the past five years?

I’ve got much much faster at finding the funny. I’m more confident in what I’m doing and whether something has potential so now I can get myself to a point where things are working much quicker. I can make my natural way of wanting to do things work rather than trying to adapt everything to make it fit what I’m supposed to be doing.

6) What are you bored of?

Assuming the worst of people. I am so bored of the current climate where everyone wants an easy reason for things being wrong and the easy reason is always to just label a bunch of people as awful. It’s mind-numbingly single minded, crass and unhelpful. I wish we could all assume nobody is out to hurt us until we have to assume that.

7) What character trait do you most envy in others?

The ability to not be jealous and to celebrate other people’s success. I like being enthusiastic about other people but I feel like naturally I run to jealousy first and then have to work my round to being a better person. I’d like to not have that first hurdle and just to go straight to being a cheerleader for other people.

For more information, visit Laura Lexx’s website and follow her on Twitter

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH…

Podcast Picks: Nobody Panic

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Podcasting has taken on a life of its own in recent years, with vast swathes of comedians coming forward with new interview, anecdotal and improv show formats. As this medium has grown, it has become saturated with assorted comedic content. Podcast Picks is a place for MoodyComedy’s comedy podcast recommendations.

© Nobody Panic

Comedians Stevie Martin and Tessa Coates are on the long road to adulthood. Aren’t we all? Regardless of age, the feeling that we are imposters in a world where everyone else seems to know what they are doing is certainly a common phenomenon. Stevie and Tessa get it; they’ve been there, and they’re not out of the fog yet (is anyone, ever?).

Nobody Panic is a podcast that aims to take big, scary, mysterious adult topics and dismantle them into manageable, less heavy chunks to be addressed.

They approach some really difficult topics, from break ups to problems in the work place, with a light-hearted, can-do attitude. And where their advice in these areas is well-researched and reinforced by genuine personal experience, this makes room for their discussion on lighter topics to delve slightly into the realm of madness. The listener is drawn into this pair’s longterm friendship, and hearing the two crack each other up to the point of hysterics is often an episode highlight.

Both comics relish being the idiot in any given situation, and this ability to laugh at themselves is a huge selling point for the podcast. The pair are both motivational and supportive, and yet neither claims to have all, if any, of the answers.

Nobody Panic is the perfect podcast to listen to if you’re in need of a pick-me-up or simply require a dose of motivation to do that thing you said you were going to do. Martin and Coates shine a light of positivity on topics that might usually make you sigh or even shudder, with sharp wit and playful humour.

CATCH UP ON ALL EPISODES OF NOBODY PANIC HERE.

Seven Questions With… Hivemind

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© Tom Garnett

MoodyComedy speaks to Alex O’Bryan-Tear, Josh Hunt, Jesse Locke and Harriet Cartledge about their improv comedy group, Hivemind. Hivemind will be performing two improvised shows (Improvengers: Pretend Game and Lord of the Game of the Ring of Thrones) at the Museum of Comedy in London throughout December and January.

1) Hands for feet or feet for hands?

Alex: Why not both? Why limit ourselves?

Jess: Reach for the stars with your feety, feety hands.

Harriet: But seriously, who wants more feet? I personally have more than enough.

Alex: If anything, you have too many already.

2) Does being part of such a large group of performers make the job easier or harder?

Josh: You’ve clearly never seen the London Philharmonic Orchestra if you think we’re a large group of performers.

Jesse: We’re like an ecosystem where every one of us has a vital part to play. If you take one us away, we go extinct.

Alex: For example, if you take me away as the alpha predator, you end up with five Joshes. It’s only by the regular eating of Josh that harmony can be maintained.

Harriet: I guess what we’re trying to say is that it makes it easier.

3) What’s the best thing about public transport?

Jesse: If you get there first, you get to drive it.

Alex: That’s so true! Wow.

Harriet: I once saw a guy watching a video on how to pick up women, but he didn’t realise his headphones weren’t plugged in. It was basically just me and him on this train. Without public transport, I’d never have got to enjoy that moment.

4) What would you like people to take away from your shows?

Alex: Our corporate business cards.

Jesse: The antidote.

Harriet: Not the keyboard, we have to keep that.

Josh: Unattainably high standards with which to judge all improv groups in the future.

5) What was the last ridiculous thing you saw?

Harriet: There’s so much ridiculous stuff in London that it just washes over you.

Jesse: Like someone was doing falconry with parrots on Primrose Hill. It was fine.

Josh: I saw a guy with feet for hands. I saw a guy with hands for hands. What’s his problem?

Jesse: I was at a party where some people were recreating the trauma of birth. People were covered in goo then wrapped in plastic and squeezed into a pool of water.

6) What is the worst advice you’ve ever been given?

Josh: I think I tend to give bad advice rather than receive it.

Harriet: So you’re the evil one?

Alex: Give up on your dream of becoming a princess, you’ll never make it. Just they wait!

Harriet: When I was twelve, I told my mum I wanted to become an interior designer and she told me I didn’t have the flair.

Alex: Well, now we know you don’t have the flair. But at the time, who knew what was inside of you?

7) Should humans be trying to live longer?

Jesse: No, but other animals should. Keep up, badgers.

Alex: Ever since I was born, I’ve tried to live longer than I currently am. So far it’s been a 100% success.

Josh: Who doesn’t want to live longer? Though I don’t want to get crippling neuroviruses.

Harriet: And only if you don’t turn into like, a raisin.

For more information, visit Hivemind’s website and follow them on Twitter

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH…

Review: Tim Minchin – BACK

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5 out of 5 stars
© Damian Bennett

Tim Minchin is currently heading towards the end of an entirely sold out UK tour, his first since 2011, and he certainly receives a warm welcome from his British fans. Having written the music for the stage shows Matilda the Musical in 2010 and Groundhog Day in 2016, and spent four years working as a director on an animated film in Hollywood that got suddenly scrapped, he has returned to the medium that made his name.

Minchin begins with a new song, If This Plane Goes Down. This new addition to the comic’s musical repertoire serves as a perfect introduction to the show, combining dark, fatalistic humour with beautiful chord successions and heart-felt reflections on life achievements and the importance of family.

Minchin’s musical aptitude is something to be marvelled. Often improvised, he works the piano with his whole body, making the body of the instrument as much a part of the show as his own. He stands high on its stool, dances on its lid, he often hits its keys with his bare feet. The piano becomes an extension of the comic himself, giving every song, every note, an undeniable fluidity. Tim’s performance, as always, is highly physical, and his ability to work the large stage, and the room, comes across as effortless.

The reveal of a seven-piece band is truly a memorable moment, elevating the performance of Rock n Roll Nerd to full-blown musical extravaganza. Minchin’s musicians are enigmatic and enthusiastic, and it is thrilling to see the formation enjoying performing together. What is particularly joyous is the new twist this newly-formed collective gives to Tim’s older classics, from If I Didn’t Have You to the popular favourite, Prejudice.

It would be easy for this kind of comedy to come across a tad pretentious, but Minchin always balances this tricky line. He candidly and matter-of-factly confides in his audience about his mental health and the responsibility he feels as an artist who has kids to feed. He’s also, as ever, not afraid to look the idiot. This is most evident, perhaps, in his latest rendition Cheese.

With a self-confessed fixation on double entendre, paired with a knack for bullet-proof argumentation, Minchin is a master of articulating his anger and frustrations in a heartfelt, often gleeful way. Tim Minchin is, most definitely, BACK.

TV Review: Back To Life

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We first meet Miri Matteson as she frantically hacks at her own fringe in preparation for a job interview. This kind of bumbling impulsivity is a staple of Miri’s approach to life, we soon learn.

Miri (played by Daisy Haggard) has just been released home after spending the last eighteen years in prison for murder. It’s not just that her family have been living their lives without her for nearly twenty years, but Miri has become completely isolated from the world she lives in. The world has moved on and didn’t wait for her, incarcerated, to catch up.

As we piece together what happened eighteen years ago, the true nature of the characters begins to become clear. Everyone is either afraid of Miri or absolutely despises her, or both, and this affects how they react to her now she has re-integrated into the outside world.

© BBC3

Most of the characters are energetic and peculiar, from brutally honest and antagonistic probation officer Janice (Jo Martin), to Miri’s new boss, chip shop owner Nathan (Liam Williams). These ridiculous characters contrast against the sensitivity of neighbour and potential love interest Billy (Adeel Akhtar) and also the uptight and, for some reason, furious former best friend Mandy (Christine Bottomley).

Set against the backdrop of Kent’s murky pebbled beaches, Back To Life develops a similar feeling of tranquil tragedy to that of Ricky Gervais’ After Life, which is, at times, rather breathtaking. Back To Life is a programme that shows us what we are capable of doing to each other, and that’s quite scary. But it also shows how people who love each other deep down under the surface are capable of putting their conflicts aside when it really matters.

Jauntily paced and saturated with sarcastic remarks thrown out between deeply flawed individuals, Back To Life is tense and filled with conflict. Haggard’s performance is stunning, yet utterly heartbreaking.

BACK TO LIFE IS AVAILABLE ON BBC iPLAYER