Interview: sketch duo O&O

South-west comedy duo and Bath Comedy Festival 2015 Best New Act Finalists O&O, a.k.a. Marina O’Shea and Tessa (O’) Gaukroger, present their debut Edinburgh Fringe show at the Bristol Improv Theatre next Friday.

The Good Stuff zooms in on the little moments, the hilarity hidden in the unnoticed characters we pass each day: a manager losing control of her team, a checkout girl that doesn’t understand how annoy putting change on top of the receipt is, loved ones abducted by Netflix and the impending doom of rising London rents. As if this wasn’t enough for one lightning fast hour led by a duo who almost definitely know each other too well, a vital ‘living‘ prop has gone missing backstage. Everything will almost certainly end in chaos.

Here’s the fast-rising duo to tell us more.

You’ve been described as “a young [Victoria] Wood and [Julie] Walters. How did you feel about that comparison? 
Flattered. It was an incredible compliment, of both our writing and our stage relationship. Wood and Walters were so mesmerizing to watch as a duo: but really what came across with them were their down-to-earth, completely relatable personas, both on and off stage. To have anything mentioned along those lines tells us we must be doing something right.
O’Shea grew up watching acts like Wood and Walters, The Two Ronnies and Dave Allen, and we both try to write comedy that finds the balance between intelligence and silliness. For us that means finding the humour in everyday occurrences, like being at a funeral, booking a concert ticket – or simply a moth! You’ll have to come see our show to understand that last one.

What’s lured you both into sketch comedy rather than straight stand-up?
The thing we love most about creating sketches is exploring relationships between characters. We try to avoid falling into the trap of straight man/funny man in our writing, because if every sketch follows that rule it becomes a tad predictable. Sketch comedy also allows us to play around with the audience in a way that you can’t do in a stand up set – we love a bit of audience interaction and will roll with whatever happens!

Do you ever try the more improv/off-the-cuff end of sketch comedy (a la Noise Next Door, Instant Wit etc) or are you much more at home with pre-written fare?
Our act is a mash-up of many different approaches to comedy: having toured on the stand up circuit for the past few years, we’ve developed elements of stand up as well as improvisational comedy. We’ve put a lot of time into the writing of this show and previewed it at all sorts of comedy nights, making sure it can hold its merit against all types of comedy out there.
We love to improvise around what we’ve written, both in rehearsal and on stage. No two shows we do are ever the same – which is just how we like it.

Do certain themes and/or characters keep cropping up in your sketch comedy?
In the past our shows have followed a certain theme – poor career choices, for example – but we didn’t want to limit ourselves to just one subject matter this time around. The Good Stuff is broadly about the kind of characters and situations you come across every day – but we take a deeper look at them.

And do either of you tend to end up playing certain characters – or, simply, all the men?
We’re lucky that we can switch roles for any sketch, but we know our strengths too. At the moment Tess tends to play the men. And the weirdoes. And the emotionally unstable. Which is absolutely no reflection on her personality WHATSOEVER. But at least she doesn’t take her trousers off in this show… yet. And that’s mainly because Marina finds it funny to write those parts for her! Although in this show, Tess is finally getting her own back and Marina is now playing a decrepit old man. So it’s swings and roundabouts really.

O & O: The Good Stuff Friday, June 17, Bristol Improv Theatre, 8pm, £6. For more info and to book tickets, call 0117 318 1555 or visit www.improvtheatre.net

NB O&O will follow their live date with a special one-off, three-hour comedy workshop at Tobacco Factory Theatres. Making It Funny  (Sat June 18, 1.30-4.30pm, £25) is about creating strong characters in comedy and allowing your imagination to run wild in a supportive and fun environment. For more info and to book tickets, visit https://improvtheatre.co.uk/events/workshop_makingitfunny_18jun16/