Interview

Quarantine Questions: Jake Lambert

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We’ve hit the 100-day mark of the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown; can you believe it? 100 days in and we still need comedy more than ever. But unsurprisingly, it’s still rather difficult to find something that’s actually damn funny right now. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

My plan was going to be to go to my parents to see them and see how they are, and to get my Easter Eggs but since they lifted the last restrictions I’ve already done that. So now my plan is getting my haircut (I have it booked for the 4th) and then hopefully once they’ve opened every last thing in the country they’ll consider reopening comedy clubs at some point in the next five years, in which case it will be that. And for those wondering: it was a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk egg, and both my parents are well.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

My neighbours (just kidding in case they’re reading this). Succession! It’s been on my list for so long, and it’s absolutely amazing. I am obsessed with it. Which may become evident in the rest of this Q&A.

© Jiksaw

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Oh well funny you should ask! Matthew Macfadyen in Succession. It’s a hilarious performance. He was brilliant in The Quiz, but in Succession he just steals every scene. He would slot straight into Arrested Development.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

I’m staying sane by keeping an eye on my neighbours, not sure what they’re all up to but they’re conspiring against me. I think it has something to do with some of them being aliens and some being secret government agents sent to spy on me. So watching them 24/7 is helping to keep me sane and having no negative impact on me whatsoever.

What thing would you like to draw our attention to right now?

My neighbours! Why do they keep turning lights on in different rooms at different times of the evening? Is it a code? Where do they go when they walk? Are they trying to lure me out of the house so the others can break in and read my diary or install cameras to spy on me? SEND HELP!

That and of course Succession.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Roisin and Chiara

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© Rebecca Nead-Menear

Thirteen weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

Camp in a pub garden with all of our friends.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

Cheer; in your mid 30’s is it too late to get that ripped? How is Lexi so cool? Gabi should be our tour manager.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Ro: Chiara performed Blame it on the Weatherman by B*Witched for my birthday and that made me laugh and cry.

Chi: On my birthday we got tipsy together for the first time in months and Ro recollected some funny escapades in Glastonbury many years ago and we got hysterical giggles.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

Chi: Relying upon thrice weekly therapy.

Ro: Matthew Goode.

What thing would you like to draw our attention to right now?

Now is a great time to listen and educate oneself more. Maybe we’d like to draw people’s attention to the importance of working towards a shift in the global consciousness.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Stevie Martin

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© Tash Pszenicki

Twelve weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

I’m going to Circolo Popolare for a sourdough pizza. You can’t book, but you can queue at set times, so I will wait for 45 years if that’s what it takes. Then I will go to Yorica! in Soho which is a vegan ice cream parlour that does waffles and crepes and order one of everything. Then I will go to the Soho Theatre for the remainder of the day, watch a show, and enjoy two bottles of their red wine that’s the second-one-down on the menu. Then I will lick the floor. 

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

I watched the entirety of Friday Night Lights for the first time – I always thought it was just about American football but IT’S SO MUCH MORE! I cried all the way through the finale just because it was ending. Also, why did nobody tell me how good Ozark is? Or maybe they did and I wasn’t concentrating. It has blown my tits off.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

My tortoise got stuck in the basket where we keep toilet roll so I nearly wiped my arse with her. That was funny. Also there’s a tiny Japanese girl who lives opposite, looks a bit like Boo from Monsters Inc., and won’t stop putting cereal boxes on her head. Her parents keep trying to take them off her but she just puts them back on again. I am laughing at very pure things right now. 

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

I am trying to write on weekdays because, while staring into space got me through the initial months, it sadly wasn’t sustainable. I’ve also been working out every day though, which is so unlike me I can’t even fathom saying those words, but it makes me feel like I’ve achieved something even if I haven’t managed to hit my daily word count. Disappointingly though, three months in, I only have half an ab if you look really closely. 

What thing would you like to draw our attention to right now?

I am putting up fairly regular (not regular) sketches on my Twitter and IGTV but otherwise am not doing very many online shows. The lack of laughing freaks me out. Like, what am I supposed to do after I tell a joke? Wink? Agh. I have two podcasts though, and they’re fun: Nobody Panic is a different ‘how to’ each week for anyone struggling to function and Might Delete Later is where me and my sister Gina Martin (who made upskirting illegal because she is a legend) rummage through guests social media timelines for their first posts and worst posts. It’s good fun.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Lou Conran

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© Aemen Sukkar

Twelve weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

Probably nothing as I won’t be able to afford to do anything! Or just go to the pub with friends. Nothing too extreme or exciting.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

I’m slightly obsessed with watching real life murder programmes, or tragedies, at the moment. The Salisbury Poisonings was great, as was Chernobyl, anything that gives me hope that this situation will be ‘ok’ in the end.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Lots. My mates online. The price of petrol.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

I was never sane, so this is just like normal life for me.

What thing would you like to draw our attention to right now?

I have nothing to promote other than myself on the usual socials, and to be fair even they’re really boring right now, so I think people should pay attention to nature, their friends their family and the decline of their liver.

Quarantine Questions: Mark Thomas

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© Lesley Martin

Eleven weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

I’ll be investing in all the second-hand hair trimmers that will be appearing on eBay. Second-hand hair trimmers and yoga mats. Buy ‘em all up cheap. Sit back. Wait for the second wave and kerching. After the second wave I’m going to be rich and I’m going to open an Escape Room empire!

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

I’d love to say something hip but I am in lockdown with my 84 year old mum. Elderly people like TV for company and noise. So I am passively watching daytime television, picking up secondhand TV, and have accidentally inhaled seasons of Father Brown. My respite is MUBI art house streaming club that did a 3 month free offer so I have done a lot of Fellini and Takashi Miike. Alongside This Country and Schitt’s Creek.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

I have been showing my 84 year old mum YouTube vids of people fishing with Coca Cola and Mentos. The pair of us have been howling at this. Snakes! They catch snakes after the catfish! I promise my mum is the rudest woman in South London and so when the snakes come out of the hole the shock elects a mix of laughter and her screaming ‘Fucking little bastards!’

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

Writing and working, plotting and watching videos of catfish and snakes. The great thing about writing is it gives a wonderful outlet to process and comprehend the madness of this government.

What thing would you like to draw our attention to?

Glad you asked. I am doing a monthly streaming of past shows with Go Faster Stripe (the people who filmed them). Tickets are a fiver and the next one is Tuesday 9th June At 7.30p.m.  There is a live intro from me, then streaming Showtime from the Frontline, then a live Q&A. The show is captioned and the Q&A and intro have a BSL signer.

The show is about trying to set up a comedy club in Palestine in a refugee camp. Two of the people who were part of that effort, Faisal Abu Alhayjaa and Alaa Shehada, came to the UK and wrote the show with me. They are going to join us live from Palestine in the Q&A. I also write a column for the London Economic.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Athena Kugblenu

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Eleven weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

As this government is probably going to lift lockdown too soon, I am going to pretend that we’re still living under restrictions for a week or two. I do not trust their decision making.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

I really liked Giri/Haji and got into Money Heist. Endless Doc McStuffins on Disney Plus cos the child is obsessed.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

I thought The Lovebirds on Netflix was hilarious

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

Continuing to work. I am going to restrict my social media use too as it’s a massive energy drain. Taking walks has been helpful. Naps help too.

What thing would you like to draw our attention to right now?

Hysteria. There is lots of it around at the moment. Sometimes we need calm and reflection too. Everyone is behaving as if they have the answers. If we all had the answers we wouldn’t be in the shitshow of a world we live in now. So calm and reflection is the way to go I think.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Anthony Jeannot

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Seven weeks into the UK’s coronavirus-induced lockdown, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

Anthony Jeannot talks to MoodyComedy about Australian stand-up specials and all sorts of other lockdown distraction techniques…

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

I can wait to be able to sit in a park, in the sunshine with a few mates and just go ‘how weird was that?’ and actually have new content from outside the flat to talk about. Also, very keen on not doing another bloody Zoom quiz. That being said, I’ll probably spend the first month keeping a low profile still while things stabilise.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

Oh god, it’s been hard. I’m so bored and so used to mindlessly tuning out of whatever task I’m doing, that if the show I put on doesn’t grab me instantly, I tune out without realising. I have watched a few specials from amazing Australian comedians on Amazon Prime. Celia Pacquola, Dilruk Jaysinha and Alice Fraser to name a few.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

My wife, constantly. Without wanting to be too sentimental, she’s extremely funny and that’s made lockdown bearable. The above specials all made me laugh out loud a lot.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

In the wise words of the Love Island contestants of summer 2019, ‘it is what it is.’ I think just breaking things down into small chunks. Knowing we’re moving towards things getting better. Also, I made a huge batch of pot brownie before lockdown started and that’s helped.

What past, current or future projects of yours would you like to draw our attention to?

I’ve just released my debut stand-up album. It’s a show I took around the world (remember when you could do that) to critical acclaim and sold out shows all over. I hope you like it. Stay safe, have fun and keep your sense of humour.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Lauren Pattison

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© Andy Hollingworth

Over four weeks into a minimum six week lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic, now is a time where we need comedy more than ever. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a time where it’s perhaps hardest to find something that’s actually damn funny. MoodyComedy is trying to remedy this.

Lauren Pattison chats to MoodyComedy about her love of reality TV, and her efforts to give herself a break…

What is the first thing you plan on doing once the lockdown is fully lifted?

I want to see my niece and nephew – I’m not sure if they’ll give two shits about seeing me but I miss the daft idiots so much. Weirdly I have no interest in going to the pub – I think they’re gonna be rammed and it’s gonna turn feral very quickly, y’know like the weekend before Christmas when there’s both excitement and the potential for violence buzzing in the air? So I want to continue my journey into the fifteen-year-old I’ve regressed into during this lockdown by going to have a drink outside somewhere with some mates. To clarify, these two things are separate events and I won’t be taking my underage niece and nephew to get hammered in a field.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

I’ve been binging Friday Night Dinner from the beginning; it has absolutely been time well spent. I also watched Too Hot To Handle arguably too quickly. Loads of people sneer at reality TV and I’m like, okay Einstein, sorry this is too low brow for you, enjoy reading your encyclopaedia or whatever you’re doing instead.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Mark Nelson’s videos of homeschooling his son have really been cracking me up. He’s also done an amazing job hosting The Stand’s online gigs. Aunty Donna’s Instagram feed has been making me laugh on a daily basis, without fail. Laura Lexx’s Twitter feed is hilarious regardless of whether we’re in a pandemic or not, but she’s been a much needed source of laughter during this. Also Rob Mulholland is putting out lockdown chats with groups of comics and the feeling of just chatting with my mates again was like being back in a greenroom which is what I’ve missed almost as much as the gigs; we had a right laugh and they’re well worth checking out. Oh, and I got sent a great video of my niece eating a lemon, top stuff.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

I guess I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself. There’s this worry that I bet I’m not the only creative person has, that if you’re not putting loads of new stuff out online to entertain, then others will think you’re not adapting and you’ll look like a failure. The truth is – this is a weird as fuck time, everyone’s circumstances are gonna be slightly different and you shouldn’t feel bad if you’re not in a position where you can or want to make anything creative. Absolute fair play to those who are, it’s amazing seeing the kind of things people are coming out with but I’m also trying my best to not feel bad if I’m not doing it on the regular. I’m trying to keep doing some of what I was doing before in the sense of being funny and making people laugh on Twitter, in the hope I can keep building a little audience that way and raise a few smiles. Also not every creative thing you do has to be stuff that goes out straight away, I’ve tried to focus on getting a few bits of writing done, things that have been bubbling for a while but I hadn’t had the time to put on a page. I’m really just trying to do what’s best for me, arguably something I should have been doing for ages. Sorry this wasn’t a very funny answer was it, I should have said wanking or something.

What past, current or future projects of yours would you like to draw our attention to?

I have a podcast called Conversations Against Living Miserably. It’s a mental health podcast where we try and tackle everything with as much laughter as possible. I think it’s such an important time for people to be keeping their mental wellbeing in check, and an even more important time to keep smiling and laughing and finding light in the dark, so hopefully this is literally the ideal podcast. It’s the thing I’m most proud of and hopefully I can make more if it gets loads of lovely listens and feedback, no pressure to you all there. I also have my debut show Lady Muck available on NextUp, there’s so much great stuff on there to keep you occupied and the NextUp team are working their arses off to help comics during this. As for the future – I urge you to support your favourite comics after this, come see them live, spread the word, take chances on people who you may not have heard of. I also think when the dust settles after this, it’s a time more than ever to champion the voices of working class performers.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

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

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