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There’s a new sketch show in town, promising to provide the audience with, at the very least, Some Funny and maybe, if you’re lucky, a little more. The troupe of five actors, made up of Will Hislop, Barney Fishwick, Barney Iley, Phoebe Hames and Kieran Ahern, who go by the name “The Buttless Chaps”, tell me about their comedy and the experience of putting together their first ever show. |
Barnaby Fishwick and Will Hislop multi-task as performers, writers and directors of Some Funny and their collaborative relationship is passionate. They’ve spent many hours together writing and rewriting, laughing and not laughing. “It has strained our relationship,” admits Hislop, “this will be our first and final collaboration”. He is tired of having to drag Fishwick’s sketches up from their “seedy depths”; he says they simply possess “inferior levels of Funny”. Fishwick retorts that he is “hurt and disappointed” by Hislop’s remarks. When I ask about their expectations for the show, Fishwick tells me plainly that “if the audience get more than Some Funny they should be fucking grateful really.”
Despite some creative disagreements at the top, the five-person troupe works well together. Barney Iley, who moonlights as the director of the Oxford Revue, assures me he enjoys the rehearsals saying “Barney and Will constantly encourage us, and we get to put any suggestions in a suggestion box”. I ask if I can see the suggestion box, and he points to the JCR dustbin.
In terms of comedic style, it’s difficult to pigeonhole Some Funny. Hislop’s previous experience with musical stand-up sets him up well to include certain musical numbers in the production – “It has been alleged that there may be maracas involved”, he says. Of the style, Hislop says modestly “We’re creating a whole new brand of comedy. It’s a melting-pot”. “There are five cooks and lots of broth,” adds Fishwick enigmatically. The stylistic diversity seems tactical; Iley explains the aim was to “maximise the frontiers of comedy, in order to maximise the funny.”
“Tarantino Classics” was a first taster of the fresh, creative comedy offered by Some Funny: a series of fast, sharp, hilarious mini-sketches presenting familiar children’s stories in the style of Tarantino. Despite the excessive violence of these sketches Barney and Will assured me that the show is only 12A rated. Their comedy is “mature, but not gratuitous.”
The Chaps are also not afraid of grappling with intellectual content in their work. ‘Freud’, a “subtle exploration of Freudian theory in sketch form”, proves the Chaps are not afraid of challenging their audience. “We’re aware it’s quite high-brow but we aim to push intellectual boundaries first, and to entertain second”, Hislop muses, tongue firmly in cheek.
Other sketches include ‘Downton Abbey in ADHD’ and ‘Snooker Commentator’, social commentaries more accessible to the average Oxford viewer. Elements of the absurd inject some sketches with a Pythonesque feeling, but their sketches also incorporate darker humour, physical comedy and of course musical interludes. A professional jazz pianist will feature. The selection of props is equally eclectic: watch out for an AK-47, a severed arm, and a cosmonaut suit.
When asked about corpsing – laughing while on stage – the Chaps admit this is a danger, particularly given the likelihood that they will be “enjoying the sketches more than the audience”. They quickly add that they’re “self-deprecating because [they’re] just so hugely confident.”
And the Chaps have reason to be. Expect music, expect parodies, expect gender-bending, and definitely expect much more than “Some Funny”.
