Comedians? Yes. Audience? Yes. So far so good. But what is it about Punchline that adds that extra something? We investigate with the help of Niall McCamley, drummer for The Spook School, comedian and Production Assistant at Punchline, and Matthew from Pappy’s, who headlined Punchline and who are about to be on our screens with their second series of Badults.
The Spook School are doing the music for Badults – how did that come about?
Niall: I met Pappy’s when they did Punchline in Edinburgh. I helped them find a stylophone for a sketch before the show and we got talking. We had a few pints post-show and Tom ended up asking for my number (I admit I did look ravishing that night). They came to see us play a show in London a few weeks later, then one day I got a text asking if we would record some potential theme tunes for Badults. One thing led to another and we ended up in a studio in Glasgow with Pappy’s and the Comedy Unit. We made some noise for them, they bought us lots of carrots and hummus, and then we took them to a local discotheque for jollies and dancing. It was beautiful.
Matthew: We met the Spook School backstage at Punchline in Edinburgh, they were fans of our comedy. Niall (from Spook School) got chatting to Tom (from Badults) and mentioned that he was in a band and invited him to a gig. Fate played the straight man and, when it came to do a second series of the show, we asked if they’d like to rerecord the theme tune.
Phil Pope, who is the composer of our theme-song as well as hundreds of other TV themes (and Spitting Image’s Chicken Song), came along to help produce it. Tom tried to play bongos but was rubbish. Then in the evening we went to see Spook School do a gig. It was a brilliant day. And the new theme song sounds great.
Is there something about Punchline that makes interesting things happen (on and off stage)?
Matthew: Well it certainly seems so for us. As well as meeting Spook School; our friend Louis Decarlo came along to take photos and the evening ended with him taking a shirtless picture of us with David Trent, John Hastings and Charlie Baker (who kept his kit on, sadly).
Niall: At Punchline there is definitely a camaraderie between everyone backstage at the thought of these few people making the show happen and the masses of people waiting expectantly out front. A highlight on-stage was seeing Nick Helm clambering in and out of the crowd. He definitely smashed the fourth wall!
Badults Series 2 is on BBC3 tomorrow night at 10pm. Here’s a sneak preview:
The Spook School are currently touring The United States, but you can follow them on Twitter @spookschool for more news and gigs.
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