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.
