Interview: The Death Hilarious (Wardrobe Theatre, Nov 4)

The dark, gothic, somewhat unclassifiable and thoroughly brilliant sketch comedy duo The Death Hilarious present their new work-in-progress at the Wardrobe Theatre this Sunday, November 4, as guests of Bristol’s ace comedy promoters Chuckle Busters. “A genre-defying, confusing 45 mins that retells the Old Testament through stolen footage from David Attenborough’s most recent colonoscopy. It might not work.”

DH duo Darren and Glenn invited us into their dark and very strange little world for a while…

Tell us all about The Death Hilarious: how you came to be…
This is Bethan, Darren and Glenn’s PA, they’ve made me fill in this stupid questionnaire because they’ve eaten a large Indian and turned the heating up. Now they’re falling asleep like one of those snakes that has eaten a deer whole and needs to sleep for 12 months.
From what I know, they met at Cardiff University and started showing off and a few well-intentioned friends told them they were funny so they started writing weird sketches about mums burying their children and couples getting divorced.
Truly awful stuff. Nothing anybody should laugh at. They talk about their early days like they’re Fry and Laurie. Embarrassing.

… how you describe what you do…
Jesus, I wouldn’t know where to start. Darren keeps comparing their writing to the Coen Brothers and Beckett (and he’s just undone his trousers) and Glenn compares himself to Wellington but he’s sweating and having palpitations from too much korma.
From what they’ve made me watch on YouTube, it’s like the League of Gentlemen and Monty Python. Ish. Darren wears a manky market-stall frock. Glenn dresses like an old duffer. They mess around with the audience a lot. I’d be livid if I paid to see it. I can’t believe they got reviews.

… and any major influences, both within comedy and beyond.
They watch old clips of 70’s comedians and just steal their jokes wholesale. But they’re telling me to write that they get inspired by ‘artsy shit that isn’t comedy like Childish Gambino and Banky’. I won’t. They’re idiots. I have a masters in Ancient History. Why am I doing this? The room stinks of farts.

There’s something dark / bleak in your comedy style, isn’t there? What has fed into this – upbringing, favourite books/films, other performers…?
They’re both clearly the products of bad parenting strategies. They get really angry talking about their mothers. Darren storms out. Glenn is looking at me intensely, repeating that his father ‘wasn’t what they said he was’ and getting tears in his eyes like a bad Emmerdale actor. I asked about other performers and Glenn started spitting fury about a ‘chancer’ called Jordan Brookes. Never heard of him.

“… flavoured with the sort of poetic delivery often associated with their native Wales,” said one review. How much has Welsh life and culture fed into your comedy?  
Their comedy is very well fed. Now they’re ordering dessert on Deliveroo. There’ll be nothing poetic about that delivery. They’re animals.
There’s books on Dylan Thomas, Gwyn Thomas and RS Thomas lying around, but they’ve still got the price stickers on them. I think they’re trying to impress me. They say poetry is a ‘bender’s shopping list’.

Is laughter the main emotion you want to provoke in audiences? Or are other things – unease, fascination, rapt attention – key too?
Any attention will do for them. I don’t think it matters. They don’t care. They completely divide the room and almost gloat about it. Numerous walkouts and lots of bad reviews on TripAdvisor. Most of them from me. I created the account too. I was bored.

Do each of you have a certain role within the act? E.g. does one play the ingénu, the other more mischievous …?
Now they’re talking over each other, tiramisu over their gobs, claiming that each of them is the one at the wheel of TDH. Darren has had to Google the word ‘ingénu’. Glenn is comparing himself to Wellington again.
To be honest, I’ve written a lot of the better sketches and they’ve shamelessly taken credit. Darren’s given up Googling and is on Youporn. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck my life. I’m going for a coffee.

Tell us about Alterwise and how, if at all, it departs from the Death Hilarious template so far.
They’re both asleep in their chairs. I feel like killing them as they sleep. But they owe me money. That’s why you need to come to this show, please, I want to fund a Ph.D. These deluded pricks aren’t getting paid from doing 20 minutes at a working men’s club in Nailsea.

What would you both be doing, if not this?
They’re the type of men who would be selling forged scratch cards to kids.

Tell us about the writing and creating process. How does new material come into being? 
Like Frankenstein: with a lot of gone-off meat and a refusal to accept reality. This room smells like a mausoleum, I’m off.

The Death Hilarious Present Alterwise by Owl-Light Sun, Nov 4, Wardrobe Theatre. For more info, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/the-death-hilarious-present-alterwise-by-owl-light-a-night-of-comedy

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