Seymour Mace

Ask The Expert: Chris Evans (Not That One)

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Chris Evans is the founder of the film production and distribution company, Go Faster Stripe. From Stewart Lee to Seymour Mace, Go Faster Stripe has produced a huge variety of live comedy recordings, and the company continues to grow its catalogue each year.

MoodyComedy chatted to Chris to find out more…

Hello Chris! How did Go Faster Stripe begin?

Hello. Thanks for asking me to do this – but I am hardly an expert. We started as a bit of a ridiculous dream. I read somewhere that Stewart Lee was having trouble getting his show recorded for DVD. I had seen the show, and I thought it was ridiculous that no one wanted to film it. 

At that time I was working in a little arts centre in Cardiff and as I was wandering through the theatre one afternoon I thought that it would make a great venue for a DVD recording. A couple of days later – in the bath – I remembered I had a couple of mates that were cameramen, and I knew a chap who was handy with his sound recording equipment. So – by chance – I had all the components in place to record Stew’s show, and I wrote to him and told him. To my huge surprise and absolute delight he agreed to come down. 

We filmed the show, and then we surprised ourselves again when it came out rather well. So Go Faster Stripe was formed to release it. I had a pint with Stew to celebrate, and he suggested I got in touch with Richard Herring to ask if he had anything he’d like us to record. And then it all went from there. I now have my dream job. I am very lucky.

Where did your love of comedy originate?

I don’t know. I mean we all like a laugh, don’t we? I had a friend from school that shared my love of comedy. We used to record Radio 4 comedy shows and were hungry for any laughs we could get our hands on. We used to go to the bookshop in Cardiff and browse their comedy book section. Now I’m thinking about it, I think I was just after funny things to say to my friends in school. You know, so I could be popular. We all want to be popular, don’t we?

© Chris Evans

Who do you most enjoy watching perform?

I enjoy watching people comfortable in what they are doing. I love the likes of Tony Law and Simon Munnery – you can tell immediately that neither of them are copying anyone else. And that they’ve evolved their own styles.

Why do you continue to do what you do?

This is my perfect job.  I wouldn’t change it for anything. I try and keep things sustainable, and not risk too much on any daft projects, whilst at the same time making sure I get involved in daft projects.

What element of your work are you most proud of?

I’m over the moon that I’ve managed to save some excellent shows for future generations. And I like to think that we’ve done it with a little bit of style. I like that we’ve managed to get our DVDs jam packed with loads of extras and hidden stuff. 

Oh, and I’m really proud of a Robin Ince DVD we made that plays in a different random order every time you put it on. It took ages to get that to work.

VISIT GO FASTER STRIPE HERE

ASK THE EXPERT…

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Seymour Mace

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© Stan Henderson

Seymour Mace is a comedic force that embraces the value of messing around on stage. This extremely physical kind of comedy certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously: Mace is expressive, energetic and yet at times brooding, and he will be performing his latest show at The Stand throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

The intensity, the chance to do the same show in the same venue every day for a month. I spend far too much time alone and pondering so it’s great to be surrounded by others with similar issues, it’s like living in a prisoner style village where all the comedians have been captured and held for the month. Seeing friends, having fun, doing stuff. My life’s fairly dull so pretty much everything about Edinburgh excites me.

2) What was your first Edinburgh show about?

It was called ‘Imaginary Friends Reunited’ and it was about a fresh faced idiot who struggled for numbers in an expensive venue. It was just me messing about really, it had a few characters, stupid gameshow, ninja attack, other stuff. I didn’t enjoy myself, let the circus get to me, forgot how to have fun. I took a year off after that.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

Yeah, sparse, haha! Not really, I think my youngest audience member last year was 13 and my oldest was in his early 90’s. Hopefully it attracts people who like watching me being stupid in the early afternoon. I get described as alternative, surreal, whimsical, out there but really I’m just an idiot doing what I want and trying to be as stupid as I can.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

Most of my accommodation has been great, I normally leave it really late but usually end up somewhere cool, it’s only for a month anyway so I can put up with a lot more shit than I would at home. I guess the only time I remember being really pissed off was the time I was staying in the meadows, sharing with three other comedians and I got up one day to find one of them in the kitchen with a documentary team who were capturing his day on film, they we’re currently filming him making his breakfast. What with it being early and me being a miserable cunt I was outraged at this invasion of my privacy and walked around the flat slamming doors and loudly swearing in the hope that the footage would be rendered useless.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

There are quite a few but one that springs to mind is the time I spent in Japan during the early nineties. I first went over to do street theatre with the Natural Theatre Company. We were based in an amusement park in the centre of Tokyo and it was the most wide eyed experience I’ve ever had since being a kid. While I was there I got to know some Japanese clowns who were in the next dressing room along from us and when my contract was up they invited me back to work as a clown, which is a dream I’d had since being a very small boy. I spent a very happy few months working with the Japanese clowns and a couple of great American clowns, one of whom I took an incredible acid trip with whilst shopping for material for my clown costume through the centre of Tokyo. The material I ended up with was black.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I was introduced to Simon Munnery’s under tent heating system at Machfest this year, it was a Heath Robinson-esque delight. He’s an incredible man and an inspiration. Go and see him.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Fame and fortune, the same as every year. I want people to give me work. I struggle to be happy, I’m happy when I work, please give me work.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about? (If you dare imagine!)

I dare. When I returned to Edinburgh after my unhappy first year there I followed the rules, picked a theme and kind of talked shit about it for an hour, I stuck with this for a couple of years before at some point realising that I didn’t need a theme, I could just be stupid. I later realised that I do have a theme, the theme is me, all my shows are about me and what I think is funny/relevant/sexy/dark/emotional at any given time. Therefore I guess my last show ever will be about a bitter, nasty, bucolic one hundred and seventy five year old man who’s super pissed off that he couldn’t survive long enough to get a new robot body. It will be called ‘Super Pissed Off’.

BOOK TICKETS FOR SEYMOUR MACE’S MAGICAL SHITCAKES FROM HEAVEN AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017