Interviews

Interview: Elf Lyons

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© Lucy Brown

Elf Lyons is a comedian whose stand up is potentially as much of a performance as comedy can get. She is vibrant, loud and unafraid of exploring territory unknown to herself and her audiences, making for exciting and unique experiences for performer and viewers alike. Her latest solo show Pelican, a show exploring the comic’s relationship with her mother, received great critical acclaim and it seems as though this newest show might just follow suit.
Lyons has also teamed up with comic Ryan Lane to produce a surreal two-man show called Hilda & The Spectrum. Elf is currently performing Work In Progress shows at various venues across the country, so be sure to catch her if you are looking for something a bit different.
MoodyComedy caught up with her to hear more about the new shows…

1) What’s changed in the life of Elf since we last spoke in 2015?

Well, most importantly – I’m still ginger – and I still love sharks- but other than that, everything has changed in some way. I can run 5k in 27 minutes (my best time), I’ve been to L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier for a year and lived in Paris studying acting, clown and bouffon. I had a whirlwind relationship with a French man who looked like a blond Serge Gainsbourg. Met my comedy soul mate Ryan Lane when we moved into the same house in France – like a more neurotic clown version of Will & Grace. Learned to box, started ballet, gigged in lots of very cool places, I do lots of weird stuff with the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. Was a part of the Duckie Homosexualist Summer School at the RVT, created my own monthly LGBTQ comedy night at Her Upstairs. And now I have just finished touring my previous solo show Pelican – and now I am starting to showcase and preview my brand new shows.

2) What is your latest show about?

It’s my attempt to do a one woman production of Swan Lake, the ballet, in under an hour, in French. Using two fire extinguishers to replace the swans. Title to be decided.

I am also doing a crazy Mighty Boosh-y weird character show with Ryan Lane called Hilda & The Spectrum – based on two drag characters we created at Gaulier together.

3) What influenced your creativity while writing this new show?

After Edinburgh I had a huge bout of writers block – which comes to us all at some point – so to get myself out of the zone I did a workshop with Lucy McCormick which heavily inspired me and gave me the jiggle I needed to experiment. She likes the idea of playing with failure on stage – which led me to take the initiative to start playing with my fantasy to do the impossible and do a full scale production of Swan Lake on my own.

There is a lot of clown in the show – lots of improvisation. I’m really inspired by Spy Monkey too and I am currently doing a workshop with them which is pushing my clowning skills.

I love completing ‘challenges’ on stage – hence the desire to see if I can communicate the whole thing in a language that isn’t my first (French) and which is a language that I also can’t actually speak fluently at all.

Re Hilda & The Spectrum – it is every niche 90’s pop culture reference you can imagine in 45 minutes – all set in the world of the East Berlin sporting community. With Ryan our work is based on playing games with each other – and through playing games in our characters we create the scenes. In some ways the narrative doesn’t matter – it is our silliness and relationship that does. And it is SO SO CAMP.

4) What do you want audiences to take from it?

I want them to feel like Agnes in Despicable Me whenever she sees a Unicorn.

5) Is writing or performing more cathartic for you?

Performing. Always. Because I am with people. I write all the time but predominantly on my own, and after a while that is no good for the soul. I am very self aware when I write too, because I am analysing the writing, language/structure for the joke etc, and I can end up getting stuck in my own head. On stage, you’ve taken the plug out, all you think about are the people in front of you – and it is such an orgasmic release. All my neuroses disappear on stage.

6) What, if anything do you think your comedy is missing?

Pyrotechnics.

And a live band.

7) How do you define yourself as a comic?

A long one.

I think my comedy comes from the bits that I don’t write on my own and instead the interactions and odd-spur-of-the-moment realisations that come out on stage in the heat of the moment. (I don’t know. It’s hard to analyse without sounding like a pretentious turd.) I feel so comfortable with my wobbly long gangly body when I am on stage – I forget about the bits that make me insecure when I am off stage – so when I am on stage I become free to use it and play with it to create comedy in all forms. Basically, physical and weird. That’s my comedy. And sexy. Let’s throw that word in there too.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT ELF LYONS’ WEBSITE

Ask The Expert: Robert Popper (Writer and Producer)

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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…

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.

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.

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.

What was your first writing project?

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

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…

Ask The Expert: Joseph Lynn (Director and Photographer)

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N92XRZ1IJoseph Lynn is a photographer and filmmaker, perhaps most widely known for his work on Noel Fielding’s recent tour, An Evening With Noel Fielding, where he created a behind the scenes documentary following Noel, fellow cast members Tom Meeten and Mike Fielding and the rest of the crew as they embarked on their nationwide tour. He also produced a photography series entitled All Work No Play to document the tour and is currently working on a documentary entitled Soho George.
To gain further insight into the work of a photographer and filmmaker who works with comedians, I asked Joe a few questions…

What originally attracted you to photography as a means of creative expression?

It happened slowly and without that much consciousness. I always knew I was interested in film, but photography always seemed really complicated to me; very equipment based and intricate to get a good shot I thought. When touring with Noel I was asked to start taking photos for press release and so I had to teach myself on the road. Luckily I had 40 shows in which to practice and so I got to experiment with every different angle possible. Photos can convey an atmosphere, create a mood or capture a memory. It’s a pretty powerful tool.

What aspect of your work is currently most exciting for you?

The variety of it. I’m not entirely sure what it is I do yet. I’ve only just graduated from University and I’m open to any possibility. I like that I don’t have to commit to one profession yet. I’m working on a film, a documentary, another exhibition, and general photography work. All of those things may or may not come to anything but it’s exciting to see what emerges. The project I’m working on at the moment is a short documentary about a man who has lived in Soho all his life. Hopefully that will come out before the end of the year. 

soho george

Soho George

What was the most difficult aspect of your All Work No Play project?

What not to keep in. I have so many pictures spanning the last few years, so knowing what to inevitably cut or keep was difficult. Also I basically had to start a little business, printing and framing, it was a big task. Was really fun to work physically with your photos though; changes them completely.

What is your role in the production of Brakes? 

I became friends with Mercedes Grower (the writer/director) when I moved to London 4 years ago. Since then I started as an assistant, then a camera operator, an editors assistant, and an associate producer. It’s such a lovely project where everyone has had to pull together to get it done.

What would make your career a success, in your own eyes?

Just being able to earn a living off something I enjoy doing. I don’t really have huge aspirations for big budget feature films or wide success. I essentially want the freedom to work with people I’m interested in, and on projects I’m excited about. If I get to do that and afford to pay my way in life I’ll be a happy man.

FOLLOW JOE LYNN ON TWITTER TO HEAR ABOUT HIS UPCOMING DOCUMENTARY ‘SOHO GEORGE’ FIRST

ASK THE EXPERT…

Ask The Expert: Stefan Golaszewski (Writer and Director)

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Stefan Golaszewski is the writer and Executive Producer behind BBC2’s latest comedy success, Mum, as well as BBC3’s Him & Her, which won the BAFTA for best sitcom in 2014. Stefan is soon to be working on a second series of Mum, which has already been recommissioned by the BBC.
To learn more about the career of a comedy writer, I asked Stefan a few questions about his work…

What is your favourite project to have ever worked on?

It’s probably whatever I happen to be currently working on. Otherwise getting through the long and lonely days would be unbearable.

Golaszewski's Mum

Mum, BBC2

Did you achieve everything that you wanted to achieve with Mum?

There are so many things that can go wrong in making a TV show. You constantly bang up against the limits of your own talent and the schedule. There are always things I’d like to have written differently. There are always things we had to sacrifice in the chaos of shooting. There are always things I did in the edit that I wish I could go back and unpick. But the actors and the team were extraordinary and I wanted to make a show that was truthful, warm, funny and moving, that spoke about what it’s actually like to be a person, and people seemed to appreciate that, so I’m pleased.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

I like the act of writing. I like working with other people to make it better. I like the edit. I hate it when it goes out. The best thing is probably when people tell me my work made them happy. That’s why we all slave our guts out. So it’s lovely to hear it was worth it.

How would you advise young writers to get started?

Write all week. Take weekends off. Read things you didn’t know you were interested in. Learn to take criticism not personally but as a necessary step to improving your work for the good of others. You shouldn’t expect things to take off immediately, nor should you want them to. You need time to learn your craft, what it is you do and why it is you do it like that. Get your writing in front of audiences and learn from them. They’re usually right. Remember your work shouldn’t be a way of making yourself appear cool or clever or interesting. Its root purpose is the entertainment of others. They’re the ones who are paying for you to have a pretty special life. And remember that in writing there is no such thing as finished.

What is your next writing project?

A second series of Mum. More theatre.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PAST AND FUTURE PROJECTS, VISIT STEFAN GOLASZEWSKI’S WEBSITE

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Ask The Expert: Bruce Dessau (Arts Critic)

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Bruce Dessau, the founder of the comedy website Beyond The Joke, is a very popular writer and arts critic. His career has seen him interview most, if not all, of the biggest names in comedy. His novel Beyond A Joke: Inside the Dark World of Stand-up Comedy, explores the hidden side of entertainment that is not necessarily widely known, and considers what it is about a comedian’s mentality that makes them want to take to the stage in seek of audience approval. Dessau has also written various biographies as well as writing a regular column for the Evening Standard
To learn more about Bruce’s work as a writer, I asked him a few questions…

1) Which aspects of your work make you the most proud?

I’m not sure if I would use the word “proud” about what I do, but I guess I’m reasonably proud of the fact that I’ve been going to the Edinburgh Fringe every year for two decades and I’m still relatively sane. It’s three weeks of madness but I’d recommend it to anyone. Comedy really does still excite me, it’s not something I think I’m ever going to grow out of. It amazes me when I meet people who say they have never been to a comedy gig. Yes, there are some. The fools.

I’m a little bit proud of beyondthejoke.co.uk. I was quite intimidated by the idea of setting up a website after years as a print journalist, but actually it has been pretty straightforward. Hard work at times, but not anyway near as scary or stressful as I expected.

2) Is there anyone that you regret never getting to interview?

I’ve been lucky enough to interview a few greats and heroes. Rik Mayall, Billy Connolly, Joan Rivers, Daniel Kitson. I’m not sure if I like interviewing comedians that much because they are rarely as entertaining one-to-one as they are onstage. Maybe they go onstage to avoid talking one-to-one. And they are often unable or unprepared to talk about the mechanics of their work.

I interviewed Bill Hicks when he was at his peak. My big regret is that I recorded over the tape* shortly afterwards.

beyondthejoke

Beyond The Joke

3) What advice would you give to people who run their own websites?

Don’t pay anyone to advise you on search engine optimisation. Use spellcheck. Make sure you post new original content every day, even weekends… hang on, I’m not giving my rivals any tips.

Save all your correspondence. I’ve thrown away personal hand-written pre-fame letters from Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand among others. And don’t record over/wipe interviews.

4) What is the greatest thing to come out of your work so far?

That’s an almost impossible question to answer. I’m a journalist. I’m not saving lives, striving for world peace or even attempting to make people laugh. I’m just lucky enough to have the opportunity to write about something that I really enjoy. I think John Robins might have tweaked a line in his show after he read my review a few years ago.

5) Are you currently working on any writing projects?

I’ve written a number of books about comedy, on Reeves & Mortimer, Billy Connolly, Rowan Atkinson and Red Dwarf and a few others, but I’m never completely satisfied with them. When I look over them I see some things I’m glad I wrote but mostly I wish I could start all over again. Books are a very long haul – so different to the rapidfire reviews I write for beyondthejoke.co.uk or the Evening Standard. They are a different discipline and I’m not sure if I’ll do one again. I’ve written unofficial biogs, semi-official biogs and official biogs and none have worked out as expected.

So at the moment I’m really concentrating on writing for the Evening Standard and running beyondthejoke.co.uk.

*What journalists who couldn’t do shorthand used in the olden days.

READ BRUCE DESSAU’S EVENING STANDARD COLUMN AND VISIT ‘BEYOND THE JOKE’

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Martin Pilgrim: Why I Quit Comedy

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Martin Pilgrim worked as a stand up comedian for six years before deciding to quit the profession in the summer of 2015. Although Pilgrim retired from his job as a stand up, this does not mean that he didn’t enjoy his fair share of success, with the comic performing his debut solo stand up hour Diary Farmer at the Edinburgh Festival in 2014.
So what is it that made him decide that the role of stand up comedian no longer suited him? To gain insight into the thought processes behind Pilgrim’s career change, I asked him a few questions…

1) What drew you to comedy in the first place?

I was in a lot of bands at school and I started to enjoy being on stage. I was never a very good musician but I always liked writing lyrics. I joined a ska band (the curiously named Damn Good Fondling), which allowed more scope for funny lyrics than the punk bands I’d been in before, where all the songs had to be about how much you hated George Bush even though you lived in rural Dorset. Strangely the drummer in the ska band was Jake Baker who is now a brilliant stand-up comedian in London.

I tried to carry on with music in my first year at university but I found myself suddenly surrounded by loads of amazingly talented musicians and I couldn’t keep up.  During the summer after my first year I started to think about other ways that I could get on stage with the minimum amount of hard work. I’d seen a great student comedian towards the end of that year and I was struck by how everyone wanted to talk to him and buy him drinks after his performance. He didn’t have to be funny off-stage because he’d already proved himself.

Martin Pilgrim

Martin Pilgrim

This seemed like a great system to me. I decided to try and emulate him so I wrote some truly terrible one-liners and I read them straight off my phone at an open mic night. All my friends came and it went surprisingly well, mostly because of the home crowd rather than the quality of the material. After that I started performing regularly around Exeter, where I was at university at the time. The city didn’t really have a comedy scene so I was a bit of a novelty at most of the places I performed. This gave me a false impression of how good I was which wore off pretty quickly when I started to perform outside of the city.

2) What was the catalyst for your decision to quit comedy?

I just stopped enjoying it really. I’ve got a fairly tiring day job and I was less and less willing to travel in the evenings. I realised that I’d begun to feel relieved when a gig got cancelled, which is not a good sign. I also realised that I didn’t have anything particularly new or interesting to say. As much as I enjoy listening to bearded young men moaning about being single, I didn’t feel like I had a fresh enough take on it to warrant my place on a bill, particularly at the expense of someone who might be trying to do something brave or different.

3) Were there any comedians that you felt you couldn’t compete with?

Most of them really. I’m a decent enough writer but I’m not a natural performer. I’ve got friends who are born comedians and I started to realise that I wasn’t talented in the same way as them. I could trick an audience into thinking I was comfortable on stage but I never really was.

4) Which element of your comedy career do you look back on most fondly?

The friends I’ve made along the way. I’ve met interesting artistic people in every corner of the country, and the great thing is I don’t need to be performing to maintain those friendships. I live with three people that I met through comedy and I actually go to more live comedy since I’ve quit. It’s great to enjoy stand-up from a civillian perspective without having to see the performer as a rival. I’m also proud that I managed to do an hour at the Edinburgh Fringe. The show wasn’t a massive success but just sticking it out for the whole month felt like quite an achievement.

5) Do you feel like you got what you wanted from comedy?

Pretty much, yeah. Obviously it would have been nice to progress a bit further than I did, but I got to do something I enjoyed for 6 years and then I was able to walk away when I stopped enjoying it. I’d like to move into comedy writing in the future and hopefully my time as a stand-up has equipped me for that. The idea that I can write something from the comfort of my room and then not have to go through the stress of performing it seems a bit too good to be true!

6) Do you see yourself returning to stand up in the future?

Probably not. A few things have happened to me since I quit which, in the past, I would have automatically turned into stand-up material, but now I’ve got a column in a local magazine and so I’m able to tell these stories that way instead. I’d only get back on stage if something absolutely life-changing happened to me and stand-up was the only way to talk about it. However, since I work in a Post Office and spend most of my free time watching Netflix, I think that’s unlikely at the moment.

MARTIN PILGRIM NOW WRITES A REGULAR COLUMN FOR BRISTOL 24/7

Ask The Expert: Idil Sukan (Creative Director and Photographer)

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Idil Sukan is probably one of the most widely recognised photographers working in the world of comedy, which is no doubt down to her amazing work ethic and impressive back catalogue of portraits, having worked with Bridget Christie, Alan Davies and Katherine Ryan, as well as the likes of Terry Gilliam, Michael Gambon and Celia Imrie. Sukan’s latest exhibition project, This Comedian, was shown for the duration of this year’s Edinburgh Festival and she is also the creative mind behind many of the posters covering every surface imaginable at the Fringe each year.
To learn more about Idil’s artistic process, I asked her a few questions…

Why do you do what you do?

To show up how awful most photography and design is and what a detrimental affect that can have on culture and our industry. To show people how important photography is and how significant its influence can be, especially in this crazy, mixed-up Instagram world – how each and every one of us are cultural influencers every time we upload a shitty photo online. To demonstrate how far behind we are in photography and design in the UK comedy & theatre industry, compared to music, sport, film, beauty, fashion etc.

Idil Sukan

We’ve been so stagnant, it’s only finally in the last few years that we’re starting to take proper risks and think about interesting art direction and integrate with other industries like fashion. To show people photography and design with the comedy industry can be an exciting specialisation & to help carve a career path for new photographers entering it. To support, help and advise new photographers when I can – to not be secretive and competitive with other photographers like many were with me when I was first starting out. To show people that collaboration in photography e.g. with make-up artists and stylists is critical, and to show people that photography is at its very essence, multidisciplinary – it is not enough to just know how your camera works. To demonstrate that we have to be socially and culturally responsible with photography. To show people that greater investment in beautiful, strong, feminist photography translates to increased ticket sales, bigger fanbases but also a better fucking world. 

Also to finance my underground bareknuckle fighting habit, expensive vegan protein sources and to get people to actually pay me to hang out with them.

Did you plan your career at all?

No. I wanted to be an astronaut. I have terrible eyesight so that cocked that plan up. Then I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then an ER doctor. Then I realised that my career choices were based on my favourite TV shows: Star Trek, Frasier and Embarrassing Bodies. 

What element of your job is the most stressful?

Diplomatically explaining to the occasional producer how they know nothing of life. 

4) Who have you most enjoyed working with?

My collaborator and stylist Lex Wood. The PR Amanda Emery. Neil Hobbs (Technical Director) & Stephen Greer (associate producer, performance academic) The British Independent Film Award directors Johanna and Theresa. The Royal & Derngate Theatre. Some actors I’ve photographed: Tara Fitzgerald, Peter Capaldi, Michael Gambon, Michael Fassbender. As for the comedians: Elis James. Isy Suttie. Brett Goldstein. David Trent. Bridget Christie. Sara Pascoe. Michael Legge. The Muppets. Katherine Ryan and her stylist and make up artist team. The sketch troupes: The Penny Dreadfuls, Harvey, Garvey & The Kane and Shirley & Shirley. There are many, many more. They’ve all realised how important photography is and they’ve all really appreciated how I work and why – but mostly because they all made me laugh so hard which makes work worthwhile. Laugh during the photoshoots I mean. They all may well be totally useless on stage. 

What are you the most proud of?

My right shoulder muscles and right hand grip strength. I am an animal. You should feel my cross punch. Dolph Lundgren died and was reincarnated as my right fist. This Right Hand of Doom only comes from years of tightly gripping a 10 pound camera at crazy angles day in, day out, plus hauling around at least 50 pounds of camera equipment up and down tube staircases, on and off trains, through rainy forests, up onto rooftops, into basement rehearsal rooms. There’s so much strapped around your body, you look like a Buckaroo. A sexy Buckaroo. 

This is what I have. You see, easily 90% of the work I do is digital – digital raw files, digital delivery, ending up digitally shared online – these days magazines and newspapers put more content online than in print, plus most stuff is shared on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Sure there are some prints, book covers, and I am very proud of my exhibition, but 99% of my work is stored in hard drives. There’s no physicality. So really, my right arm is the most tangible evidence I have to show for the years of work. I don’t swan in, wrapped in a pashmina, click the shutter and laugh alone into a salad afterward. To do it well, you have to give everything to photography, it’s not just about mastering Photoshop shortcut keys. As I’ve said before, photography is a multidisciplinary physical job, you give your body to it. You have to eat a lot and you have to lift a lot. Do you fucking see this incredible deltoid? It shows I did the goddamn work.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT IDIL SUKAN’S WEBSITE AND FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER

Video Interview with Noel Fielding

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91DcyrLnXyL._SY550_Noel Fielding has embarked on the second UK leg of his massive stand up comedy tour, An Evening With Noel Fielding, this week and he is celebrating with the release of his tour DVD, which was recorded live in Melbourne.

MoodyComedy was invited by the British Comedy Guide to send a few questions for Noel to answer, and the following BCG article includes the resultant videos of his answers, where he discusses why he enjoys working so much and what he plans to do in the future.

Noel tries to explain his show…

An Evening With Noel Fielding is hard to describe. It’s a tough ask, but we asked him to try and explain what people can expect:

[Read more…]

Ask The Expert: Matt Crockett (Photographer)

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Morgana Robinson

Morgana Robinson

Matt Crockett is a photographer with an impressive back-catalogue of work, having photographed artists and performers from Daniel Radcliffe to Keith Lemon. Crockett’s recent work has included compiling 50 of his portraits for an innovative photography project; a book containing many of international comedy’s biggest names, entitled ’50 Comics’. This collection features the likes of Stephen Fry, Vic Reeves, Morgana Robinson, Harry Hill and YouTube sensation Miranda Sings. Matt is currently working on a new exhibition of his work for next Spring which will feature 30 new portraits.
To learn more about the life of a photographer working with comedians, I asked Matt a few questions…

What is a typical week’s work for you?

I usually have about four or five shoots planned each week – whether that’s comedy commission, theatre marketing or magazine editorial. The rest of my week is editing, retouching and setting up new work… the business side of things!

How did you begin your career in photography?

Photography was a big part of my degree (Communication Design BA) and my final major project was a short run of a book that shadowed performers backstage at 8 West End shows. My first professional commission was a campaign for a musical called Avenue Q in London. The shoot was so much fun, and I was totally hooked and knew that photography was the right career route for me! Comedy has always been a love of mine, so the minute I owned a camera, it was a no-brainer that I would endeavour to shoot my heroes of comedy.

What is the most challenging part of the whole process?

I’m not sure there are particularly challenging parts of the process – building a strong, trusting relationship with the subject (often in a short amount of time) is the most important and potentially challenging part, because I think portraits are only ever successful when that relationship is in place. I used to hate it when people talked about ‘energy levels’, but now I TOTALLY get it…!

Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith

Do you feel a pressure to do your subjects justice in your work?

A lot of my work is in marketing, so the aim is always to do the subject justice. That has probably translated into my other work too, such as my ’50 Comics’ project. However weird and idiotic the setup of the shot looks, I still like the subject to look and feel their best. Nowadays, social media is the most important tool for exposure and getting your work ‘seen’, so it’s really key that the subject of the portrait is happy and proud to share the work with their fans and peers.

What makes someone fun to photograph?

People willing to take risks and try things on the outer cusps of their comfort zone… My favourite part of the process (particularly with comedians) is the collaborative element – grabbing a coffee beforehand, chatting over ideas, and playing around on the day to see what’s exciting and unexpected. I love editorial magazine shoots that are entirely pre-planned with makeup, stylists, moodboards etc, but equally there’s something refreshing about somebody running off stage (or running into a studio space between gigs) and creating interesting photographs from nothing. My project with comedians is a mix of those 2 things – it’s interesting to ask my mates which shots they think have been pre-planned with a ‘creative team’ and which ones were in a rehearsal room cupboard with 3 minutes from start to finish!

KEEP UPDATED WITH MATT CROCKETT’S WORK AND PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF ’50 COMICS’ BY VISITING HIS WEBSITE AND FOLLOWING HIM ON TWITTER.

Ask The Expert: Carl Chapple (Artist)

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Carl Chapple is an artist based in South Wales, particularly renowned for his portraiture work with subjects including actors, dancers, poets and musicians as well as comedians. He can often be found at events such as the Edinburgh Fringe and Machynlleth Comedy Festival, painting subjects in their own environments.
To learn more about the job of an artist working with comedians, I asked Carl a few questions…

When did comedy and art meet?

I started painting my comedians series in early 2013, though it was only after a few months, when I painted Lloyd Langford, that a joke made it into a picture.

Lloyd sat (horizontally) wearing the banana suit from his recent Edinburgh show, and somehow went straight into a Classical pose associated with the goddess Venus. I’d been about to start a small monochrome painting on panel, but happily had a large canvas to hand, so changed my plans. The combination of the Classical reference, the daft costume and Lloyd’s deadpan expression made me laugh out loud several times as I worked.

david trentSimilarly, David Trent had some suggestions (demands) for his sitting – namely that I provide him with a lawnmower and he pose wearing only Speedos. As it turned out, David wasn’t happy with the mower I’d got for him (a Flymo), but he gallantly went ahead with the session with hardly any complaints. I painted this picture in quite a dark and dramatic style, as befitting a portrait of such a serious fellow.

Have you found painting comedians to be any different to painting people who are not comedians?

Performers in general – or at least those I’ve worked with – may be a bit more physically self-aware and comfortable being looked at than some other portrait sitters (I’ve never had a performer overcome by a fit of the giggles at the start of a sitting, for example), but that’s about it. It’s been a lovely mix – some people arriving with clear ideas about how they’d like to present themselves, and others who work it out on the day, sometimes going for quite traditional, formal poses.

In a lot of cases sitters came to my studio as they were passing through Cardiff on tours. This was great, in that I was able to work with people I might not otherwise have been able to, though a few times it was quite challenging in that they could only spare a couple of hours. This brought an urgency to the work, which was always fun, though the results may have been a little hit and miss.

Where is the strangest place you have had to work?

I recently painted a portrait on bus for the Wales Millennium Centre’s Ar Waith Ar Daith project (commemorating ten years of the WMC), though so far all but five of my comedians paintings were made in my studio in Barry.

Of the others, four were made in a theatre space in Edinburgh (thanks to Sweet Venues) and one in Rhod Gilbert’s front room in London, so nothing particularly strange there – just unfamiliar light and the need to take everything I might need with me, which was harder than I expected (in the case of going to paint Rhod, I forgot to take a palette, which was a bit ridiculous).

Top tip for portrait painting during the Edinburgh Festival: don’t make it the final week. People are tired. Heroic Nat Luurtsema battled exhaustion throughout her sitting, nodding off a couple of times.

lloyd langford-cc

Which comic would you most like to work with?

Too many to list, though Bec Hill and Marcel Lucont both modelled for a portraiture workshop I ran at this year’s Machynlleth Comedy Festival, and were brilliant. I envied everyone else, with their easels and charcoal, and wanted to join in. Also the excellent Jordan Brookes – ‘He has a beautiful face’, as my mum rightly observed recently.

What would you like these paintings to convey?

If I can convey just a little of the warmth, kindness and exquisite good looks of comedians everywhere, then it’s all been worth it.

CARL CHAPPLE’S PAINTINGS ARE AVAILABLE TO VIEW AND PURCHASE FROM HIS WEBSITE