That Mitchell And Webb Writer Interview: Simon Kane
Simon Kane has written some of our favourite sketches from That Mitchell And Webb Sound and was responsible for the studio recording highlight of That Mitchell And Webb Look series 2 (at least according to the front row, anyway) so it was imperative that I grill the man like a nice bit of cheese on toast or something. So I did. It’s more of a questionnaire than an interview but that’s not as snappy so…
Dan: Hello Simon Kane From That Mitchell And Webb Sound/Look’s Team Of Writers.
Simon: Hello. Sorry I took so long. Yes, you had some questions. This is probably far too late to be of any interest to you now but here are my answers. I feel a bit like that guy they accidentally got on the news to talk about Apple.
D: When did you realise you were funny?
S: I just assumed. As a baby. What sticks in the memory are those moments from childhood when you realise you’re NOT funny… when a dinner lady tells you that she can’t do two things at once and you say “Why not? You’ve got two hands” which, it turns out, is not funny at all but obnoxious and hurtful… or when your parents are talking about how someone fell from a window and you say “Maybe they jumped.”
D: What was your first professional sketch writing experience?
S: This what you’re asking about. More specifically, That Mitchell and Webb Sound’s second series. Three sketches: “Caricaturist”, “Not a Bookshop” and “Shitly Famous” with Hello Kitty… Is that “an experience”? Learning my craft over pints with David Mitchell in a pub a bit like something out of John Le Carre then.
D: How did you get the Mitchell & Webb job?
S: Mark Evans spotted me working in a second-hand bookshop while on the lookout for an Auburn Consultant for Rob – who you may have noticed likes to play a lot of redheads but is a bit method – and Mark knew that David knew me from a touring production of Hamlet I’d done in Seoul (in a part I’d got instead of Rob) so asked if I’d be interested. I said yes but refused payment electing instead to bring along a number of conversations I had transcribed to learn if this was the same thing as “sketches”. David explained that it wasn’t, I asked James Bachman if I could borrow a pen and some cigarettes, and the rest is history. And I went to Cambridge.
D: What makes you laugh?
S: The same as everyone I think, minus catch-phrases, punch-lines and racism (unless it’s making fun of accents), plus assonance and obscure references to things I thought only I liked. Actually I’ll normally laugh at anything I’m enjoying on any level at all even if it isn’t funny, just out of relief. I’ll laugh at food, me.
D: What is your favourite self-penned Mitchell & Webb sketch?
S: Whatever anyone else’s is. I don’t care. It’s all good. I genuinely don’t know what’s funny, and I’ve written stuff I like that nobody else will get but what’s the point? A lot of people laughed at “Asbo Zappruder” the baby seal sketch, and that took me no time to write at all (two evenings – for me that’s nothing) in fact I almost didn’t send it in, so I found the recording of that immensely satisfying because it went down very well. And I think “Padlockigami” will go down well when/if it’s broadcast. It’s the only thing I’ve written for telly so far, and seeing that much work put in by other people to televise some ridiculous idea you scribbled down in a note-book back in 2004, and to see that WORK… It won’t come much better than that.
D: Where do your ideas come from?
S: Walks. Unbearable predicaments. Sounds I find myself making (Both Padlockigami and Asbo are sketches that owe their existence to words I thought sounded good). That question drove Alan Moore mad and now he gets all his ideas from a pretend snake deity. True.
D: What is your current favourite funny thing and why?
S: Possibly a band four colleagues of mine from the London Dungeon have formed called Davis and Mcquillan. When I go to one of their shows I have no idea what I’m going to see – Actually that’s a really important part of comedy for me. Monty Python, Vic Reeves, The Young Ones, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, the Mighty Boosh, The Armando Ianucci Shows: they all throw curves. Radio 4 at 11.30 on a Wednesday morning is also, oddly, a favourite slot of mine. “Bleak Expectations” has just finished and was brilliant. “Safety Catch” will also be brilliant.
I haven’t answered your question at all have I, sorry. Arrested Development.
D: What would you be doing if you weren’t doing comedy writing?
S: Sitting in front of an application form for a grant from the Arts Council.
D: Radio or television: Any preference and why?
S: I don’t know yet, I’ve worked too little in either. Television is where a lot of the damage is being done so any little flag you can stick that hill is exciting. But there’s a much bigger chance in Radio that an audience will encounter your stuff by accident, which is also exciting, and nice. And will suffice.
D: What’s next for you?
S: Well, since I’ve taken so pathetically long to answer these questions I can tell you. Not the enormous crippling come-down I was fearing, just bits and pieces for the snowballing oeuvre. Some performances on and under bridges. Actually I’m taking some time off work next week to knuckle down to a couple of things, a sitcom about a deeply scarred wedding planner with a monk sidekick, and also a little idea for a variety show called “Allnighter” which can be very accurately pitched as a cross between “Prairie Home Companion”, “Battlestar Galactica” and “Bagpuss”. Hopefully a week will give me enough time to work out if either makes any sense.
What’s next IDEALLY is that I reach the point where I know the stuff that stormed wasn’t a fluke. But I’m nowhere near that point yet, so thank you very much for taking the time to interview me. (Actually it’s more of a questionnaire, isn’t it.) Bye, Dan. Be well.
D: Fankoo velly mush.
Now who shall I stalk next for this exciting new feature? Hmm…
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