Behind the Scenes Photo Diary - Week of Oct 7th

Its Friday afternoon, and we could get the sketch done if we just had ONE more joke, maybe two. Not just any joke will do though, we have pages of jokes. We need one of a different kind...

We've been using the analogy of an abusive police interrogation all morning - imagining a suspect in a prison cell is being hit with cruel joke after cruel joke, and then the good cop comes in, and gives them a few jokes that are silly, or complimentary and there's a reprieve. (Hog and Foil are acting this out, I am laughing too much to take a photo, sorry).

At the moment our suspect is basically dead, under a barrage of mean-ish jokes that only focus on the negative aspects of our sketch targets, in this case the Russian Federation. The sketch is 'Getting past Russian Immigration', and whilst the Russians that I have met (including my next door neighbour), can very much take a joke, you have to be balanced with these sketches, or it seems targeted, which it isnt', it's just fun. For every joke or two that pokes fun at part of a governments poor policy, or regretful part of history, you need a few 'good cop' jokes - that word play with some culture, or silliness - otherwise you're just a big sketch bully! I'm finding it hard. 

It doesn't help that last night we had our first show in 18 months, and we're exhausted. Can't believe we started performing this material over two years previously. Its really enlightening to have a look over it again and go "hey that was actually funny" or "wow, did we actually keep doing that bit for 9 months with no laughs... why did we do that??" But sometimes sketches just need space and time. I remember a sketch we did in Edinburgh that worked well, but only if everyone said the exact lines at the exact time, in the specific order, every night. Now, the more astute among you may point out "Arms, isn't that what a script is?" , and you'd be right of course. But scripts in live sketch comedy are a guideline, a comforter, the small talk in a conversation. It's the in-between part that makes it come alive. The "lets just have fun in that section" part of the script that makes it a little different every night, and lets the audience know we're enjoying ourselves too. So this sketch, that was tight as a drum, faithful to the script, like a fan who enjoyed the 'Science and Faith' album, and not the rest, but kept buying them just cause. Anyway, the sketch in question, much like an office printer, for no reason whatsoever, stopped working, and got a big black line through it. We binned it. Then two years later at the Brighton Fringe, we tried it again, remembering the lines almost as we went, and then... just improvised... just changed it - and it brought an extra layer to the script, to the fun of it. That sketch grew up to be 'One Man Play'. Anyway, we're hoping the same renaissance will happen with a few of our Swines sketches. Fingers crossed.

So on this Friday afternoon, at the late hour of 5, we are short two, maybe three jokes.  Good cops are nowhere to be seen. The station is closed, and the suspect has not been given a coke. Its not looking good. No doubt, harder to write, good cops almost require more knowledge of a country. This makes sense to me. If you only wrote jokes based on what news stories you read about a country, well... there might not be a lot of positive things to write about ANYONE!

We call it a day, and decide to pick it up on Monday, where things are looking a little rosier. With the script done, we get to work on the set.. primitive as these ones usually are. We just need ... A FLAG

A FLAG

AF LAG

AFL AG

AFLA G

WHY DO WE ALWAYS SCREW UP THE FLAGS

NOT TODAY SKETCH GODS. We have double and TRIPLE checked the correct colours
in the Russian flag, it's precise arrangement, and made sure it's not upside down or back to front. GREAT!

 Then we remembered our printer is out of ink, and so we have to make one like we are 5 years old in a Russian classroom at arts and crafts time. This. is. an. actual. job. We should be fired.