| Pappy's
Fun Club interviewed on Twitter by Angela Hunter
Pappy’s Fun Club, who join the line-up for
online comedy night Twitcom, won Chortle Best Sketch Act 2008 and
starred in their own Radio Four series Pappy’s Fun Club: Happy
Mondays. Their act combines madness, mayhem and mythical creatures.
The club has four members – Matthew Crosby (the one that looks
a bit like Woody Allen), Brendan Dodds (the supergeek who combines
careers in comedy and IT) Ben Clark and Tom Parry (the Wolverhampton
wunderkinds).
Q: When, where
and how did you four get together?
A: We’re
a combination of uni and childhood friends. Ben and Tom grew up
in Wolverhampton. Then Tom met Brendan and Matthew at Kent Uni.
Q: Have any
of you ever had, or considered, a career outside comedy?
A:
Matthew was a teacher, Ben and Tom have both run drama workshops,
Brendan still works part time in IT.
Q. Do you write
material together, what’s the process? How much is scripted
and how much improvised?
A: We
write in pairs, then put the sketch on its feet. At which point
is usually changes entirely. Then once we’re onstage we often
mess about so much the sketch bears no resemblance to the original
script.
Q: What’s
your most memorable gig and the one you would most like to forget?
A: Any
gigs in Nottingham were memorable and, thus, we’d like to
forget them. We just did a bunch of gigs at Jon Reed’s @OtherSideComedy
clubs. Brilliant fun.
Q: One reviewer
said “Matt Crosby looks like a young Woody Allen.” That
sounds like a bit of a back-handed compliment?
A: I’ll
take the comedy genius part and forget the whole ‘marrying
your ex-wife’s daughter’. Basically it means I wear
glasses.
Q: What do you
think are the advantages and disadvantages of comedy in Tweet form?
A:
The advantages are that you can carefully prepare and deliver your
material without having to worry about the room or the audience.
The disadvantage is you have to keep it short and that it’s
hard to tell if it’s going well.
Q. Do you think
Twitcom will be a trend setter? Is it likely to be a one-off or
the first of many?
Knowing
Tiernan Douieb (Twitcom organiser) as we do – he was also
at Kent Uni - I expect it will be the first of many. He is tenacious.
Q: Have you
prepared any material specifically for Twitcom?
A: We’ve
written one joke specifically about Twitter and we’ve come
up with a few cheeky cheats. You’ll have to wait and see. |