Before he stole the show in The Good Wife, and forged a name for himself as a Broadway babe, Alan Cumming was part member of Victor and Barry. Edinburgh Fringe darlings and all round ponces, Victor and Barry sang about being posh, popular and particularly dapper. Sadly there’s not much footage left of this dashing double act but there song Kelvinside gives you the general jist …
I am a little slow off the mark with this set of videos by SNL writer Mike O’Brian but nevertheless they are just the right amount of awkward and gawky.
Naz Osmanoglu is a busy man this August. Not content with performing as part of the sketch comedy group, and Fringe favourites, WitTank, he has also decided to embark on his first stand-up show, modestly entitled “1000% Awesome”. He quickly explains, “I was bragging in a bar that I could do anything and someone dared me to get 1000% Awesome tattooed on my nipple. I sat down on the chair, freaked out and ran away.” However, a tattoo parlour’s loss is comedy’s gain as this title stuck and became the inspiration for his solo debut.
It seems that, much like charity, comedy also begins at home. Osmanoglu’s show is centred around his Father. However, this is not exactly a normal paternal relationship. “I am a prince of Turkey, it’s an empty title so I am a shit prince, I’m not even figure-head but as far as my Dad is concerned it’s his divine right to behave however he wants.” Despite these eccentricities, Osmanoglu speaks with great poignancy about his Father “I want to impress him because he is a big force in my life. If I am ironically a 1000% awesome he is sincerely a million percent awesome.”
Osmanoglu attended Durham University and was initially oblivious to sketch comedy. However, this all changed after seeing the Durham Revue perform. “I auditioned for Ed Gamble (also playing at this year’s Fringe) but he didn’t let me in the fucking revue”, he jokingly teases. So to Plan B and the birth of WitTank. “Slowly over the years the cast have changed but I think we have finally found our identity with the three of us.” Despite the success of WitTank, Osmanoglu still remained terrified of stand-up, “I just didn’t think I could do it.” Yet it was, once again, the influence of Ed Gamble that shifted his attitude. “He is the inspiration for my life”, he laughs. “I saw him do a solo show and though ‘I want to do that now’ and I really enjoyed it. Seeing my peers doing it inspired me.”
It is a daunting step to make from sketch comedy, where you have the reassurance of other people on stage, to the exposing world of stand-up. Is it too much of an adjustment? “Stand-up is you and your personality. The audience have to buy into you before they can like what you are saying.” He continues, “with sketch comedy the material is a bigger part and when the lights go off you reset and can become a different personality. It’s a lot of fun because I am on stage with my best friends in the world.” This touching camaraderie only last so long though as he cheekily admits that “it’s nice not having to share my applause, I am an egomaniac!”
With the prospect of reviews, critics and the dreaded 1-star review, the Fringe can be a nerve-wracking month for a comedian. “In my world it feels like exams. Its the end of the year and everyone judges you and at Edinburgh things tend to feel a bit more important.” Which is why practice certainly makes perfect. Speaking from experience, Osmanoglu advises all keen, young comedians to “do stand up and do it early, I regret not doing it from my first year. Experience is the only thing that makes you good. You have nothing to lose, it’s really fun and it will probably get you laid.” Sage advice indeed.
Adam Buxton is on a mission. It’s not to rule the radio world or become a professional jingle writer. It’s to find snacks and lots of them. Unfortunately, the search for a KitKat was fruitless so he settles down in the quiet but sparkly BFI green room. Buxton is revered amongst his dedicated fan base for his over-giggly, over-enthusiastic and generally over-the-top style of expression (which most recently has resurrected the bizarre efforts of Pierce Bronson in the epically naff film, Taffin).
So it came as a bit of a surprise that a far more subdued and self-deprecating side of this Saturday morning man was revealed. The confidence and bravado which sparks on air between himself and his showbiz partner Joe Cornish (which first came to fruition at school) had mellowed during our meeting.
Throughout their 20-ish year career they have worked apart and together so how hard is it to maintain the friendship that started it all? “Very, it changes because it really does become a different thing. As soon as you say ‘this is going to be our job’ it changes forever – that’s the end of us being friends for no reason – it’s a big shift. But then other things come out of it. We’re very different people and we have such different lives so if it wasn’t for our work together we probably wouldn’t get to see each other this often which I am really grateful for.”
Buxton has admitted on many occasions that he is an uncontrollably honest person and his discussions about Joe are refreshingly open as he expresses the universal problems of a long-term friendship. “We’re pretty competitive so we have weird squabbles and passive aggressive moments.” However, he laments that recently things have changed as their focuses shift “Because we’re kind of beyond that now. In fact being on the radio dispelled all that because we could find a nice equilibrium in teasing each other on the air that wasn’t going to end up in resentment and hurt feelings in the way it used to.”
Adam and Joe’s career started on late night TV at the height of the mid 90’s alternative comedy scene and even at that early stage, although things were a lot more structured than their radio show, the duo’s awkward and endearing nuances came through from their make-shift puppetry to their satirical vox pops.
However, the leap from friends to colleagues was one they had to keep an eye on “When we were first friends we used to tease everyone else and be quite obnoxious and then when we started working together we’d try and tease each other but we’d bristle a little bit because the stakes felt like they were higher, we were earning money and all this kind of destructive shit.” So they decided to change mediums and in 2003, radio became their new project. “You are less self-conscious on radio and you are not shackled by anxieties of ratings and getting ahead.”
Adam and Joe have just finished their successful 12 week return to 6Music and questions about a more permanent stay were being asked before they even came back, so what are the chances? “Oh gosh I really don’t know but I really hope so. Our understanding is whenever we have the time we certainly want to. But everything is getting more unpredictable. My schedule is so very hectic, Joe has a lot of time to kill, and he is dragging his heels as he is very lazy by nature. But if I can fit it in between trips to the shed, hanging out clothes, wiping up poo stains from my daughter’s poo experiments then yes. I really would miss it.”
The ease and enjoyment which evaporates from the speakers on a Saturday morning has been a slow but steady development. “I think it’s the best thing Joe and I have done together. It’s the closest we got to what I always imagined we’d do with our TV show. We only ever did those things with toys and puppets to distance ourselves from the screen because we knew that, left to our own devices, we weren’t very telegenic.”
For Buxton there was a frustrating disconnect between the mental and actual image of their TV style. “In my fantasies we would be this cool, riffing, easy going couple of guys. We really used to try hard but we were still pretty awkward! I have all of these tapes of us talking about things, the way we do on the radio now 15 or 20 years ago. I remember we had a conversation about Waterworld and what it would be like. And the funniest thing in that TWENTY MINUTE conversation was Joe saying ‘Wat-er-world’. It was a barren landscape of unfunniness. I’m not saying that we now have the perfection of comedy alchemy but it’s more entertaining”
Photo taken by Amy McIntosh Ball
The modesty continues. Their loyal (if not cult) following would no doubt reassure them that perfection was made a long time ago. There isn’t much that a ‘Black Squadron’ member won’t do for them and the list is endless; put bread in their pockets, shout STEPHEN! in public and even protest to save 6Music in their honour. Such chemistry has served them well so why does the dynamic work? ”It’s natural that people latch on to double acts because it mirrors your friendships and it’s nice to see chemistry between people. All my favourites like Vic and Bob and The Boosh, you get enjoyment out of watching them talk to each other.”And it becomes clear that he does not take such a long lasting relationship for granted: “It’s weird to be a part of a double act, but nice in a way. It’s a passport to people’s affections that you feel you don’t really deserve. I always think I haven’t done enough work for people to be as enthusiastic towards me as they are” he shyly admits.
Buxton’s drive and passion for what he does creatively becomes evident in the first few minutes of meeting him. Everything is done with a painful attention to detail. His radio shows are under the same scrutiny as he admits to listening back every week for various reasons but one sticks out more than most.” I really like listening to Joe; I think he’s very funny.”
His recent solo project, Adam Buxton’s Big Mixtape, was a little more disorientating “I didn’t really enjoy listening to them so much (apart from the Ken Korda one because it feels like it’s not me).” As he explains that moving from the comfort of having a partner beside you to being sat with your own thoughts was a strange and new challenge. “It’s very different on your own, it’s not the same. It’s satisfying from the point of view of making something. I like to cram them with too much detail. But I am acutely aware that when Joe is around it brings something else much more enjoyable and lighter to the mix. When I am left to my own devices I tend to disappear up my own arse a bit.”
He remains vague as to whether he will return with this show “as it’s so much more work if you want to do it well and you can’t do much else. When Joe’s here its less work, the pressure’s off because we are so comfortable with each other now” It seems to be a recurring theme that work is not really work when Joe is around. However, his other side project, which is perhaps a little more off the radar BUG, is talked about with more affection. It is a bi-monthly insight into the weird and wonderful world of music videos. It might sound a bit retro but projecting these videos onto a full size cinema screen is a unique indulgence and encourages the audience to recognise more fully the art of videos. “It’s something I can be genuinely enthusiastic about.”
The show also manages to avoid complete ponceyness with the simple use of people’s maniacal YouTube comments which opens up a world of crazy (and a land of innumerable grammatical errors). “The joke for me is filtering these anonymous blasts through my mind. My version of the bollocks I read. No one has come after me so far and I hope they don’t.”
This innocent skip through the internet isn’t as easy as it sounds. “I spend a LONG TIME on the YouTube comments because it becomes obsessional, you sort of think oh they’re might be a good one out there but your heart sinks when you find a video with thousands of comments. And I go through allll of them. If you get to the Rebecca Black stage it gets a tad ridiculous! It would be the like Jorge Luis Borges story [Map of Empire] which explores the idea of mapping the world at one to one scale. You would end up reading Rebecca Black comments on her three minute song which would stretch throughout your whole life. It would be an existential nightmare!” It seems that such a unique twist on the world of art would slot well into a TV format, with Buxton’s DIY approach being an easy presence. “We have had lots of approaches but when it comes down to it we might realise the fun of it is in the live aspect, but who knows! I’m not that excited about trying to do TV again as it’s a fucking pain in the arse most of the time!” We’ll leave it at that for now.
This year Joe has also branched out from the home-grown partnership to fulfill a lifelong dream of directing and writing his own film, Attack the Block. With a generally pleasing response from the critics, the film seems to have set the wheels in motion for a long running career but will this cause rifts with Buxton? If it was me, I would be consumed with an internal bitterness but the way he so affectionately remarks on this new venture assures me that where there once may have been resentment, there is now respect and pride “I really enjoyed it; it’s very weird because I felt like I could hear lots of conversations we had when we were younger. I am so familiar with his intellectual rhythms it was odd seeing them in the context of a big film. It was amazingly slick, I was knocked out. Especially considering it was his first film.”
But these ambitions are shared as he claims “I would certainly love to make my own film. He went to film school and took it seriously from day one where as I was always more of an art school boy so I liked fooling about.” As time has moved on, a more serious drive has appeared, “I guess I have made a lot more short films than he has – if you can call them that – but I have never done something narrative which would be a new challenge and my plan is to try and I am getting there.” We can only hope that a feature length Country Man will be appearing at an Odeon soon.
A film as retro as corduroy flares, soda streams and a prawn cocktail always stands out, and it is this nostaligic edge which supports Potiche, but does it do much else than embrace these familiar icons of an era gone by?
Suzanne Pujol (played by Catherine Deneuve) is lost. Her place is at home as the ‘trophy wife’ but, according to her frighteningly ignorant husband, she is too good to cook and too respected to go out. She is the heiress to an umbrella factory but plays a back seat in its running as the men do the “proper work”. However, when her husband is taken ill, Suzanne is flung into the work-place spotlight and the aspirations she once had to break out of her domestic prison are now put on rejuvenating the business.
The films attention to detail should not go unnoticed, from the orange bubble writing to the swooshing sound of a scene change there appears to be very little which distances it from being an episode of Dallas. The trickery of true sophistication, to make it looks so tacky that we know it’s good. Lacquered with a soap opera finish and polished off with a kitsch infested story of modernisation.
Deneuve is seamless. By portraying Pujol as a woman who has lost control of her confidence rather than a victim of circumstance there is a lot more respect to go around. She perfects the power of her potential by being stylish, elegant and always sarcastic. Yet, even the capabilities of this portrayal cannot redeem the film from its predictability. From the start there is a sense of the characters inevitable success which makes the watching of it almost pointless. The direction from Francois Ozon confidently captures the 1970s in all its coiffured glory but he is unable to prevent it from being a film that has been seen a hundred times before. It finally seems that the genre of the triumphant housewife has been exhausted, at least in its typical sense.
It embraces the 70s as being “of the time” with an exact precision for all its backward glamour but that’s all it seems to do at times. The setting overtakes the plot which neglects any spontaneity or originality in its execution. We want Madam Pujol to succeed, and she does, with a fair amount of ease. Similarly, it is not funny enough to support the garish time it sits in. There are a few chuckles to be had, but any sustained laughter is left outside with the rest of the story. It’s a shame that a film feels it has to rest on its throwback laurels because like Pujol it has potential beyond its aesthetics.
In the run up to Edinburgh Fringe Festival I will be previewing some of my hazardous guesses at good shows to go and see. First on the list is one of my favourite authors, David Sedaris. He is a small, fairly unassuming ex-smoker with a boyfriend he is utterly dependent on and is part of a dysfunctional but ultimately normal family.
OK, he may sound quite banal now but when he is talking about his purchase of a convenience catheter or that time when his mum locked the entire family out in the snow … on purpose, he provides a incomparable comedic knowledge of what is funny . He is witty, sarcastic but rarely sceptical. The art of recognising common ignorances that we all share but illustrating them without cruelty has become somewhat of a niche for Sedaris, a niche which he has mastered but not exhausted. Reading one of his essays is an indulgence so to see him live will be a feast fit for royalty.
President Obama impressed the crowd at last nights Correspondant’s dinner by ripping in to Donald Trump, flaunting his REAL birth certificate and even producing a trailer for his new biopic (see vid-of-the-week). Even though it seems the novelty of Obama-fever has definitely worn off in America, it is impossible to think that Britain will ever fall out of love with this liberal, smart and ambitious behemoth.
