Interview

Interview: Johnny White Really-Really (Lunchwatch

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© Hat Trick Productions

Hi Johnny, how is Lockdown 3.0 treating you?

Hello! It’s treating me in a way that I’ll look back on and think ‘in hindsight that wasn’t too bad.’ It’s like the first one, only without the tyranny of Zoom quizzes, and with more sighing and hopelessness.

Describe your podcast Lunchwatch to people who haven’t listened?

Lunchwatch is sort of a weekly lunch competition, where you can send in one lunch you’ve had between Monday and Wednesday, and one of them will win, based on criteria that are real and known only to me and kept a strict secret from myself. Also every week my better and more noble half Zoe does a coin toss. I pad out the rest of it with some chit chat and stories over the top of some relaxing and/or sad music which I make using a lot of long-reverbed pianos and that kind of carry-on.

How does the weekly Twitter competition work and how can people get involved?

Click on over to @lunchwatch and submit your lunch, with a picture or without. Remember to say what you had to drink. Or else don’t and then I’ll either ask you or else we’ll just presume it was water. You can also email lunchwatch@hattrick.com. Nobody ever seems to do this, mind you. Yet it remains as an option. Like Costa Coffee’s limited edition ‘Colombian Roast’.

What do you think the main attractions of podcasting are in this day and age?

I’ve been pondering this one for a while and just realised that I had been looking at it from a great height, sort of attempting to put myself into my own mind, in order to work out what attracts *me* to podcasting, and therefore what might attract others. But it turns out I’m already *in* my own mind, so I can just answer the question from my own point of view straight-off. I think being able to do it from home has to be the biggest draw.

What would be your perfect lunch?

I tend to just copy whatever Zoe says she wants to eat. Hmm. We have very good luck with tuna sandwiches. I would say a tuna sandwich, served on a plate. With Vimto (just saying that cos I’m currently drinking Vimto and can’t imagine anything else).

CATCH UP ON ALL EPISODES OF LUNCHWATCH HERE

Interview: Zoe Tomalin and Charlie Dinkin (SeanceCast)

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Hi guys, how is Lockdown 3.0 treating you lately?

Zoe: I’d point you to the fact we’ve just made a 10-part horror podcast.

Charlie: In my mind I’m on holiday in Hawaii, but also listening to the podcast we just made.

How did you two become comedy partners and what drew you to each other?

Z: The first time I saw Charlie we were both doing a stand-up gig (remember those?), and I was overwhelmed with this weird feeling that we were related.

C: Right, because we’re both short women with curly hair and glasses. How could we not be related?

Z: Charlie thought I was just being a creep, but then six months later she finds out she’s got a great great grandfather with the surname… Tomalin. So I guess the answer is: nepotism.

C: We’re both professional gag writers, so we got to know each other properly last year after writing on a couple of topical shows together. We both agreed it would be nice to write about some horrible things that weren’t actually happening. And like a creeping sickness that tells you you’ve made a terrible mistake… it grew from there!

Can you describe SeanceCast to readers who haven’t had a chance to listen yet?

C: SeanceCast is an extremely haunted sketch show, which follows two beautiful women (spoiler alert: it’s us) as we hold seances in order to find otherworldly content for our podcast.

Z: Each episode has its own story, as well as four ‘scenes from the beyond’ performed by some of the best comedy talent in the UK… we’re talking Amy Gledhill, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Alison Thea-Skot, Kat Bond, Nimisha Odedra, Toussaint Douglass, Amy Sutton, Jen Ives and Mali Ann Rees.

C: We spent most of the budget getting our incredibly talented cast cursed with bursting pustules so they couldn’t do TV work and had to make our podcast.

SeanceCast features sketches specifically from female and non-binary comic writers, how has this decision affected the content of the podcast?

Z: Firstly, it’s made it fucking great. We were so lucky to work with brilliant writers including Olga Koch, Athena Kugblenu, Catherine Brinkworth, Jen Ives, Shelf (Ruby Clyde and Rachel Watkeys-Dowie), Siân Docksey, Tasha Dhanraj, Heidi Regan, Charlie V Martin, Kate Hinksman, Georgia Wagstaff, Jain Edwards, Atlanta Green and Emerald Paston. Follow them all on Twitter before they’re megastars!

C: From the start we wanted to do something by and for womxn that allowed them to be weird and gross. Too often, shows that are supposed to be ‘for girls’ flatten the female experience into this glittery girlboss thing. So we’ve made a show about ghosts and murder instead – stuff chicks are really into.

You’ve just been nominated for the BBC Audio Drama Award, what does this mean to you?

Z: I got into comedy because I was obsessed with the now defunct Radio 7 when I was a kid so it’s a real honour to be on a list with writers and performers who made you want to do the job in the first place. Basically when we saw the nominations we did a big fangirl.

C: … and then, of course, thanked Satan for delivering on his side of the bargain. 

What one episode of SeanceCast would you recommend people listen to in order to get the full spooky experience?

C: Episode 1, but our other favourites are 4 and 9.

Z: I hear episodes 2,3,5,6,7,8 and 10 are pretty good too.

CATCH UP ON ALL EPISODES OF SEANCECAST HERE

Interview: Kevin James Doyle, The 30 Year Old Virgin

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© Sarah Cobb/Jeremy Stanley

Kevin James Doyle’s debut show The 30 Year Old Virgin is now available as a comedy special to stream into your own home. MoodyComedy chats to Kevin about the origins of the show…

Hi Kevin, how has 2020 been treating you lately?

I live in New York and March, April and May were really, really terrible. I rarely left my apartment and you heard ambulance sirens all day. Now people are taking the virus seriously but there is less heaviness hanging over the city. Also, Autumn is my favourite season and there is outdoor dining at most restaurants which is nice. And it was just my birthday a few days ago. So lately, it’s been ok.

You recently filmed your comedy special The 30 Year Old Virgin; how and when was that recorded?

I recorded it at a beautiful church in NYC called Calvary St. George’s back in January. I knew they were friendly to the arts but I was a little nervous because the content of the show is not what I would call church appropriate. The room had a comedy-club-in-Game-of-Thrones feel which I thought fit the vibe of the show. The first night a reverend with the collar and everything was in the front row and I was just crossing my fingers he didn’t shut the taping down as I was talking about blow jobs.

What is the premise of this show?

I grew up in a Christian home, I was saving sex for marriage, I got engaged, called off the engagement a month before the wedding and found myself living in New York City a 30 year old virgin. A lot of the stories and jokes I had been working on fit within similar themes and then without spoiling anything, once I had sex for the first time it was quite a medical and emotional roller coaster and I thought… there it is… I have the ‘climax’ for my show.

Will your ‘TalkBack’ interview events be covering topics you discuss in your special? What can people expect from these interviews?

I was excited to discuss my show and the work of other people I respect. I wanted some way to bring people together to talk about the themes from the show because I think they are things everyone has experienced… love, guilt, pleasure, break ups. Even though the story is specific to me, I think everyone relates to 90 per cent of the show. Even if most people aren’t virgins at 30, they are fascinated by it and everyone has something unique about their sex life. Hopefully it wet your appetite to go watch the special. The most exciting thing about these interviews is that they are not recorded, they are happening live and we take questions at the end, so you can put me on the spot.

Have you been working on any other comedy projects during lockdown?

I host a podcast with a few friends called The Bradshaw Boys. We are three guys watching Sex and the City for the first time and we are approaching the end of season six now. It has been an amazing journey and a great thing to do in quarantine because it gives us a chance to watch TV and hang out for a few hours each week. We transitioned to Zoom calls for the podcast pretty easily. Since Covid we have had on Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker and a few other cast members. I think moving to recording with Zoom has made the podcast even better because it makes scheduling stars like them much more easy.

THE 30 YEAR OLD VIRGIN IS AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON AMAZON PRIME AND APPLE TV

Quarantine Questions: Joey Page

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As the UK begins to ease out of its coronavirus-induced lockdown, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the notion of a post-Covid world. What will this world look like, and how will comedy manage to sit within it? MoodyComedy continues to chat to comics about their hopes, fears and coping strategies.

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

Honestly? Getting back on a stage and going to work. Not gigging makes me feel like I have been dethanged. Then probably as soon as I have earned a couple of quid i’ll go away for a few days and do nothing, but on a beach rather than in a house.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

So many things. I had never seen Ozark so I have binged watched that and now feel I want to get into some sort of crime. I have also watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix and Married at First Sight Australia but I blame my wife for that one!

Has anything made you laugh recently?

My friend Bilal Zafar has a show on Twitch where he masquerades as a computer game football manager which is really surreal and funny. Also I love This Country. Daisy May Cooper is the funniest human on the planet right now.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

Just trying to have a routine. I spent the first three months using my self-employed money as a writing bursary and wrote a sitcom and a new stand-up set. I also started a chat show which I do every Tuesday on Twitch.tv called Joey Page’s Chatshow Thing and a podcast that I do with my mate Jimi called JJ’s Album Club where we interview famous people about their favourite albums. Then I hit a wall for a few weeks and literally couldn’t find any motivation but I am back at it now!

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

Well my stand-up special just came out on NextUp which I recorded the night that the government announced we should all stay home. 150 people were due to turn up and when the announcement came the camera crew were all set and I was doing a run through. In the end, 22 people showed up and my wife had to convince me to do the gig as I was adamant it was ruined. The show actually went really well and I was amazed at how up for it the crowd was and now I have this absolutely unique artefact of a show. I am pretty certain that nobody else was recording their show that night so it’s got a very special place in my heart now. People can catch it at here.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Steve N Allen and Erich McElroy

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As the UK begins to ease out of its coronavirus-induced lockdown, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the notion of a post-Covid world. What will this world look like, and how will comedy manage to sit within it? MoodyComedy continues to chat to comics about their hopes, fears and coping strategies.

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

It’s been a tough time for both of us, and quite stressful, so once lockdown is all over we both plan on staying in for a bit and catching up on our Netflix. Probably do a bit of shopping online.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

Actually our own show, since we spend hours editing sketches for each live show and getting it ready to go out twice a week. Beyond that we’ve spent most of our time binge watching prior seasons of shows that have had new seasons come out so that we can remember what happened the first time around. Then we forget to watch the new series. We’re kind of hoping for a second lockdown, although by the time it’s confirmed we might have to rewatch the first seasons again.

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

Turning to online comedy has been saving from a lack of gigs. Working together to bring some much needed comic relief to ourselves and an audience. We’d like to think we are doing something unique from the other online shows that have been born from this crisis. No matter what happens to comedy it’s quite likely shows like this could well be the future.

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

Our bi-weekly topical show ‘Comics Solving Problems’. It’s a twice weekly show featuring us – Steve N Allen and Erich McElroy where we present the days news and solve any problems you throw their way. (No guarantee that any actual problems will be solved during, before, or after the show.) It’s on 9pm BST every Tuesday and Thursday for free here.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Quarantine Questions: Joz Norris

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© Ana Pio

As the UK begins to ease out of its coronavirus-induced lockdown, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the notion of a post-Covid world. What will this world look like, and how will comedy manage to sit within it? MoodyComedy continues to chat to comics about their hopes, fears and coping strategies.

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

I’m going to go to Deshaies, a village in Guadeloupe where they film the superb BBC murder mystery programme Death In Paradise, and see all the sights. Wanna see the police station and the shack and the Commissioner’s Office in Government House. I assume they’re all real locations. Really wanted to meet Harry the lizard too, but apparently he’s CGI.

What’s your current lockdown binge watch?

Well I finished Death In Paradise fairly early into lockdown, so now I’m working my way through Queer Eye (for when I feel like crying – those guys never try to change anyone, they just help people to be the best version of the person they already were all along and it’s so beautiful, oh no, now I’m crying while I type) and Twin Peaks (for when I want to feel incredibly on edge, am two episodes in at the moment and think I’m gonna find out who killed Laura Palmer pretty soon).

Has anything made you laugh recently?

Just for fun, I’ve recently started writing a musical called Honk Honk (nothing to do with the musical Honk), which is about an evil boastful King who murders a stick of butter then closes down a gym, and is afraid of points. There’s some great songs – ‘What’s The Point Of Points?’, ‘The King’s House’, ‘We’re Gonna Build A New Gym’, so much great stuff. It’s so unbelievably awful that every time I try to sing a song from it to someone I burst out laughing at how unfunny I have become. It’s shockingly dreadful. I think whoever it is I’m singing it to just assumes I’m having a breakdown, which in a way I am. So, yeah, the thing that makes me laugh most at the moment is the shocking quality of my own creative output. The situation is dire.

How are you trying to keep sane at the moment?

As you can tell from my previous answer, I have just given up on this. I think if ever there was a good time to just allow yourself to slowly drift off the chain and see what happens to you without suffering the social consequences, it’s now.

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

I made a film adaptation of the show I was making for Edinburgh 2020, and we’re streaming it every day next week along with Q&A’s with special guests talking about how we can continue making stuff in a post-Covid world, and how we can change the comedy industry for the better. If anyone wants to book a ticket and come along then that would be lovely! I should point out I wrote it before I started working on Honk Honk, so it hopefully belongs to a time in my life before all my ideas became terrible. You should also check out the Live Comedy Association’s #SaveLiveComedy campaign; it’s a really valuable, important cause for an industry that’s brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people.

THE QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

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.