Comedy interview: Pappy’s at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Wednesday 20th January 2010

Natalie Hale talks to Matthew Crosby of Pappy’s fame about their unique bid to break a comedy world record

Last year, Pappy’s Fun Club used comedy to head off the eco-apocalypse and save the world. Now, in a similarly ambitious attempt, they’re looking to break a world record.

The trio are aiming to smash the record for most sketches performed in an hour. The target is 200; fail to hit it, and the sketch troupe’s mysterious benefactor, Pappy, won’t be happy. The audience, however, will be happy regardless.

Pappy’s – they dropped the ‘Fun Club’ when fourth member Brendon Dodds left last year – latest show was THE hot ticket of Edinburgh Festival 2009. Now they’re taking it on a nationwide tour, dropping in at the Tobacco Factory tomorrow night.

“The show’s called Pappy’s World Record Attempt – 200 Sketches in an Hour and it does what it says on the tin really,” Matthew tells me. “It’s very different to our last show, Funergy, which had a narrative running right the way through it.

“This is a big show. I think that we have really stepped things up a notch – and have had a really good time doing it.”

For the uninitiated, Pappy’s are Matthew, Tom and Ben, a sketch team who subvert, deconstruct and, to all intents and purposes, tear apart the conventional sketch show. The boys bring a host of outrageous characters, silly costumes, ridiculous sing-songs and more high-energy comedy than any sketch show has delivered before.

They shot from relative obscurity to become the Next Big Thing when their 2007 Edinburgh Fringe performance won them an if.comedy nomination for Best Show. Since then, they have won Chortle Best Sketch Act 2008, performed in Australia and had their own shows on Channel 4 and BBC Radio 4.

I imagine performing a live sketch show is, by definition, pretty nerve-wracking. If a stand-up’s joke goes down like a lead balloon, he can swiftly move on to the next gag. However, with a sketch show you surely have to see it through to the bitter end?

“There is an element of that, but I have to admit that we have occasionally just bailed out of a sketch – especially when we were first starting out.

“There were times when something wasn’t going down very well, I would have my cue to come on stage and I just wouldn’t – I’d just be sat backstage shaking my head thinking ‘please don’t make me do this!’

“But you are right, because our shows are often a big story, if you’re 15 minutes in, dressed as a sheep, and the audience isn’t enjoying it, you’re in trouble. Luckily, that’s rare.”

Last year, Pappy’s also gave themselves the added pressure of booking a much larger venue in Edinburgh. “We took a real gamble,” laughs Matthew, “I laugh now, but I wasn’t laughing then!

“In Edinburgh, there is no halfway house between very small venues, like the 175-seater we performed Funergy in and the large theatres. So we went for it and booked a proper theatre, which had more than 300 seats.

“The whole thing was pretty nerve-wracking. The worry was that we’d book this 300 plus-seater venue and 30 people would show up! Of course, we would be grateful with all of our hearts to those 30 people coming along, but I imagine it would be awkward for them and awkward for us.

“Luckily enough, people did show up and by the end of the run, we had performed to more than 7,000 people, which was phenomenal.”

The witty, charming and anarchic trio are unique for a sketch troupe in that they break down the fourth wall between performer and audience. They feed off the punters, incorporate ad-libs and laugh along, thus ensuring that no two shows feel the same.

“We know what the script is, but we’re not afraid to deviate from it. Also, most sketch shows don’t acknowledge the audience like a stand-up would, but we respond to the audience and make it a real live experience.

“You can’t beat live comedy. Even in this difficult economic time, you still see people going to comedy clubs, theatres and arts centres because there’s no substitute for the live experience. It’s the most exciting thing in the world.”

Unusually for a sketch outfit, Pappy’s cut their teeth playing the raw, unforgiving stand-up circuit and they still perform comedy clubs and rooms above pubs today.

“We do perform in more theatres now, particularly when we’re touring, but we always try to preview our shows in comedy clubs. Audiences in comedy clubs want to laugh – and they want to laugh a lot – so the pressure’s there and that’s a good thing.

“That makes you up your game and improve.

“When you’re previewing, you want the audience to go ‘Right – you haven’t been funny for the past 25 seconds’, so you can then go away and change that bit. Audiences in theatres and arts centres will give you a bit more grace.”

Much of the fun of Pappy’s comes from the individual skills and personalities of the three jokers, all of whom have a different comedy style.

“Tom is like a big kid, Ben is kind of dopey and silly, and I’m incredibly pedantic and fastidious. I’m not at all suited to being in a comedy sketch group really, because I’m being constantly frustrated by people messing around and that’s all we do!

“It’s a lot of fun and I feel lucky to be able to do this as my job. We’ve had a great couple of years and we’re looking forward to getting out on tour and meeting our audiences.”

Pappy’s play the Tobacco Factory tomorrow. Tickets cost £12 – call 0117 902 0344.