Chortle Conference: Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
The final session of the Chortle Conference 2015 featured Steve Bennett in conversation with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. The pair began by discussing their early career in live performance, explaining how they would book shows on a monthly basis at the Canal Cafe Theatre to motivate themselves to write new material. They advised the audience to keep all of their material in case it becomes useful at a later point in time and to try and stick to disciplined office hours. They went on to win the Perrier at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1997, leading Pemberton's father to goad Eddie Izzard about his failure to win the gong.
Their Edinburgh success was followed by a Radio 4 series. The show's concept of a town of peculiar characters was adopted subsequently in League of Gentleman. They suggested that radio proved a great help to define their characters across a number of audiences. For the LoG TV series, the pair initially wanted to record in front of a live audience rather than shoot in the single camera format but were convinced to change tack after seeing the results of their filmed material.
The subsequent movie was a meta narrative, the concept described as "the actors wanting to leave the characters but the characters won't let us". Shearsmith suggested that the film was "a curate's egg", noting that most of the cast surrendered their fees. The conflict was described thus: "Do you want to be paid or have a giraffe?". Pemberton believed that working within budget restrictions forced the pair to become better writers.
The two also discussed working with Jon Plowman on Psychoville and how he would suggest one or two changes, rather than mountains of notes. By and large, Shearsmith and Pemberton have been happy with their working relationship, concurring that "too many cooks spoil the broth" and that they have been grateful to produce interesting work that "is of a strong flavour and not BBC1 fodder".
Their Edinburgh success was followed by a Radio 4 series. The show's concept of a town of peculiar characters was adopted subsequently in League of Gentleman. They suggested that radio proved a great help to define their characters across a number of audiences. For the LoG TV series, the pair initially wanted to record in front of a live audience rather than shoot in the single camera format but were convinced to change tack after seeing the results of their filmed material.
The subsequent movie was a meta narrative, the concept described as "the actors wanting to leave the characters but the characters won't let us". Shearsmith suggested that the film was "a curate's egg", noting that most of the cast surrendered their fees. The conflict was described thus: "Do you want to be paid or have a giraffe?". Pemberton believed that working within budget restrictions forced the pair to become better writers.
The two also discussed working with Jon Plowman on Psychoville and how he would suggest one or two changes, rather than mountains of notes. By and large, Shearsmith and Pemberton have been happy with their working relationship, concurring that "too many cooks spoil the broth" and that they have been grateful to produce interesting work that "is of a strong flavour and not BBC1 fodder".
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