School of Comedy by Rosa
On Sunday the 17th of March, three Schools of Comedy clubbed together at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill to give the annual Comic Relief show. They showed a few things they usually do at the school of comedy as well as performing some well-rehearsed sketches. They were also joined by two of the Horrible Histories cast from CBBC, Matthew Baynton and Ben Willbond. I managed to get a quick interview with two of the members of School of Comedy, who prefer to stay as just Elsa and Casper. Afterwards, I had a few words with Ben and Matt, but first is my interview with Elsa and Casper;
Q: What do you do in a typical class?
Elsa: We normally start off with some games.
Casper: Freeze – which is like it – and improvisation.
Elsa: Then, once we’ve warmed up we go into groups and practiced sketches for ten minutes. They give us different topics
Casper: Yeah, they give you, say; a Disney character and you have to be that.
Q: Do they give you a script?
Elsa: Well, if it's a show they do
Casper: But if it's a class, normally its improvisation and we have to make it up.
Q: Did you have to audition to get into the school?
Casper: No
Elsa: No, you sign up. There’s quite a long waiting list but you get in eventually. There are about 20 people in a group, depending on the age. There are four different age groups.
Casper: I’m in the Wednesday group which I think is the oldest and there are only about 11 in mine.
Elsa: I’m in the Friday group. In my group there are about 20.
Q: Do you have different teachers?
Casper: no – the same. Laura, Tara and Jenny
Elsa: Yeah, and then the Minis, which are 4-7 years old, they have another Jenny
Q: Have either of you done any professional work?
Elsa: I’ve been in one film actually. But it was a bit disappointing. I was there filming for about a week and then my scenes got cut out.
Casper (to Elsa): The comic relief film?
Elsa: Yeah. And I’ve also been in some magazines but that’s not my ambition!
Q: Is this the first show you’ve done?
Elsa: No, every term we do the end of term show
Casper: And then we’ve got comic relief. Anyone who’s in any of the groups can come. We improve and anyone can do that.
Q: Do you have to write the scripts?
Casper: Sometimes we do.
Elsa: Yes. Sometimes we have to. Sometimes they make us work – School of Comedy is good with your confidence and your comedy and also with your acting and also your writing. It’s mostly quick thinking – make up and write scripts.
Q: Do you have a favourite type of comedy?
Elsa: Definitely – I like slapstick.
Casper: I like stand up or scripted. You do so much of a mixture. I just like comedy, long story short.
So, after my interview with the kids from the school, I asked Ben and Matt a few questions:
Q: Why did you get involved in the show?
Ben: Because I was asked and it was for Comic Relief. I wasn't doing anything else for comic relief this year and it's a very worthy charity.
Matt: Everything he said but also because I was looking forward to being made to laugh by all these funny kids.
Q: What was your favourite part of the show?
Ben: My favourite part was the sketch where all the kids were pretending they didn’t know me.
Matt: I enjoyed that too! I also liked the sketch with the really tiny kids where someone was burping and they were accusing the audience.
Q: Were you told what you had to do or was it improvised?
Ben: For the two sketches we were – we met with everybody a week and a half ago to discuss and write the ideas. But for the improvisation, no. That was just improvisation. That was all done on the spot, which is why some of it didn’t work. Mostly the stuff I did....
Matt: Yeah, improvising is scary - it still feels scary for someone who’s been on TV. I’m just as scared now as when I was the same age as the kids involved and doing drama groups on Saturday. You always step into the unknown and trying to make people laugh is nerve wracking.
As for the show, I think it was very good for amateurs and even the few mistakes they made were covered up pretty quickly. It was very risky performing improvisation live on stage as it’s easy to dry up and not say anything and there were some moments where they blocked each other and there was silence, but the sketches they did were sharp and smooth, as was the video they made. Considering how little experience they have had, I would rate it three stars.
I also had a little chat with local girl Laura, and asked her if she would join the School of Comedy…
Q: What do you do in a typical class?
Elsa: We normally start off with some games.
Casper: Freeze – which is like it – and improvisation.
Elsa: Then, once we’ve warmed up we go into groups and practiced sketches for ten minutes. They give us different topics
Casper: Yeah, they give you, say; a Disney character and you have to be that.
Q: Do they give you a script?
Elsa: Well, if it's a show they do
Casper: But if it's a class, normally its improvisation and we have to make it up.
Q: Did you have to audition to get into the school?
Casper: No
Elsa: No, you sign up. There’s quite a long waiting list but you get in eventually. There are about 20 people in a group, depending on the age. There are four different age groups.
Casper: I’m in the Wednesday group which I think is the oldest and there are only about 11 in mine.
Elsa: I’m in the Friday group. In my group there are about 20.
Q: Do you have different teachers?
Casper: no – the same. Laura, Tara and Jenny
Elsa: Yeah, and then the Minis, which are 4-7 years old, they have another Jenny
Q: Have either of you done any professional work?
Elsa: I’ve been in one film actually. But it was a bit disappointing. I was there filming for about a week and then my scenes got cut out.
Casper (to Elsa): The comic relief film?
Elsa: Yeah. And I’ve also been in some magazines but that’s not my ambition!
Q: Is this the first show you’ve done?
Elsa: No, every term we do the end of term show
Casper: And then we’ve got comic relief. Anyone who’s in any of the groups can come. We improve and anyone can do that.
Q: Do you have to write the scripts?
Casper: Sometimes we do.
Elsa: Yes. Sometimes we have to. Sometimes they make us work – School of Comedy is good with your confidence and your comedy and also with your acting and also your writing. It’s mostly quick thinking – make up and write scripts.
Q: Do you have a favourite type of comedy?
Elsa: Definitely – I like slapstick.
Casper: I like stand up or scripted. You do so much of a mixture. I just like comedy, long story short.
So, after my interview with the kids from the school, I asked Ben and Matt a few questions:
Q: Why did you get involved in the show?
Ben: Because I was asked and it was for Comic Relief. I wasn't doing anything else for comic relief this year and it's a very worthy charity.
Matt: Everything he said but also because I was looking forward to being made to laugh by all these funny kids.
Q: What was your favourite part of the show?
Ben: My favourite part was the sketch where all the kids were pretending they didn’t know me.
Matt: I enjoyed that too! I also liked the sketch with the really tiny kids where someone was burping and they were accusing the audience.
Q: Were you told what you had to do or was it improvised?
Ben: For the two sketches we were – we met with everybody a week and a half ago to discuss and write the ideas. But for the improvisation, no. That was just improvisation. That was all done on the spot, which is why some of it didn’t work. Mostly the stuff I did....
Matt: Yeah, improvising is scary - it still feels scary for someone who’s been on TV. I’m just as scared now as when I was the same age as the kids involved and doing drama groups on Saturday. You always step into the unknown and trying to make people laugh is nerve wracking.
As for the show, I think it was very good for amateurs and even the few mistakes they made were covered up pretty quickly. It was very risky performing improvisation live on stage as it’s easy to dry up and not say anything and there were some moments where they blocked each other and there was silence, but the sketches they did were sharp and smooth, as was the video they made. Considering how little experience they have had, I would rate it three stars.
I also had a little chat with local girl Laura, and asked her if she would join the School of Comedy…