Robin and Partridge are hard to pin down – you may know them from music festivals where the pair have a variety of roles including hosting the main stage at Secret Garden Party, and Shangri’la in Glastonbury. Perhaps you’ve seen their comedy sketches on BBC 3 or heard their appearances on Radio 4’s NewsJack. Maybe you’ve seen them at some of the other events they host Rebel Bingo, Tough Mudder or The Moth. It may even be that you’ve just never heard of them, but whatever the case it's high time you either got to know them better, or at least introduce yourself to their charming talent! God damn, yes! Their latest show Let’s Get Weird is on the 24th May at The Arcola Theatre (Dalston) and attempts to finally bring all these experiences in to one cohesive show. We caught up with them to talk about festivals, comedy and creative partnerships.

Run-Riot: Your new comedy show is based on your work at music festivals. Are music festivals very different to working in comedy clubs?

Partridge: At music festivals, and other events we do like Tough Mudder or some corporate parties, people often aren’t expecting you to be funny. You are not going on stage having to prove yourself. Instead people discover you are being funny. It is less adversarial than some comedy club situations, and this gentle start can bring out a lot more playfulness in crowds. We’re more playful too as we have to draw a lot more on the environment – children running round, the arrival of a samba band and some guy having an intense experience in the corner. Also, in comedy clubs, you’re rarely going to be on stage for more than 20 minutes (or an hour with your own show), but at festivals, we’ve been performing sometimes for 4 or 5 hours – it can get pretty giddy.

Robin: I think part of the skill at a festival is bringing order to the chaos, there is usually loads of weird stuff going down, and often people are rather lashed. That's a different audience to one sat expectantly in a chair, although they too are often lashed. In that sense, festival performances respond more to things like stage presence, house music and glitter, rather than subtle comic acting.

Run-Riot: You’ve described your new show as ‘psychedelic comedy’.  Is this a new genre?  Who might be your influences?

Partridge: It is a silly description isn’t it?  It is just supposed to capture an idea of exploration and playfulness that we try and bring to the show. The weirdest stuff usually comes out of the mouths of the audience. In many ways we are quite a traditional double act - a lot of our act is about our status with each other, simple jokes, and the fact we’re both utter idiots. But people can also get excited when there is a sense that the performance is being made up, and they are part of it.  Influences, I loved Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson growing up, and South Park, but a lot of music comes into what we do too.

Robin: I suppose it means that the sitar, some tye dye, definitely some throat singing, maybe a kaleidoscope dream sequence, and a multi-coloured mushroom will all definitely feature. Also Charlie will wear a robe and attempt to massage most of you. I'll be in a kimono.

Run-Riot: Your show is also described as ‘improvised and interactive’. Does improvisation and working with an audience mean your show can vary a lot from night to night?

Partridge: It is funny that people think improvising varies more than scripted work – there are just as many variables with how responsive an audience are, what the venue is like… how well you can be heard?!? (It is frustrating how often this last one is overlooked at some of the events we do!)

Our style of improvising means there are certain tropes we come back to (love for Robin maybe, and stifled emotional break downs for me?), but there is also tremendous variation in the stories that come out. With the interactive stuff, some of the games we play with the audience, we have played before so there are certain reactions we will have seen before, though largely the quality is down to how up for joining in the play the audience are. I think we’re maybe more inclusive than other comedy acts who may be more mocking of their audience.

Robin: There's a lot of good improv out there at the moment, and so much more than a few years ago. And improvisation, just like scripted performances, relies on practice and rehearsals. That can be stimulating because you learn on principles and formats which has wider application than just learning a script.

Run-Riot: How does your written material and your improvised material differ?

Partridge: It is fun to work on the wording of something to get a point just right or to rehearse our physicality to make other jokes shine. Writing has also produced more pratfalls and puns than I expected – types of joke I didn’t know I liked, but as they are popular with audiences we have included more. Both improvised and written work better the more together we are. We have found that certain types of written material are good to punctuate longer sets when things may be getting out of control – like a reset button to bring us back to earth.

Strangely, I have found myself coming up with more puns in conversation recently and I cant work out if I sound like Oscar Wilde or an annoying dad.

Robin: Our written work tends to be more a stream of consciousness and less scene work. We also use improvisation a lot to write - it's rare we'll sit down at the computer screen and go 'hmm what's funny?’. Usually one of us will have an idea and we'll improvise with it, until we have something we like. Our show exists very much in the oral tradition, for the last one that was 'scripted', I am not sure there was even a tangible 'script' outside of our heads!

Run-Riot: What are the themes you enjoy exploring?

Partridge: Our last show had a lot of stuff about how men are not permitted to talk about their emotions with each other. We have some poet characters, Justice Radiator, that are fun to poke fun at hypocrisy with – but are also themselves hypocritical. And bloody puns. It seems we enjoy them too.

Robin: Yes, in the last show we did quite a bit about men and their feelings, and also I suppose I did literally sleep with death (played by Charlie) in the last show, so that was an exploration of all of our desires to make sweet love to the grim reaper. Or each other. Or something. Awkward.

Run-Riot: You both also do solo work. How does working in a double act differ to going it alone?

Partridge: I think the vocabulary for discussing how double acts work is not as developed as it may be for say stand-ups because as a double act you just don’t see 4 other double acts a night in the way a stand-up would. That makes it more mysterious, what you’re doing – working it out is a fun process.

Robin: It's really nice to have someone to share things with when it goes well, and someone to blame it on when it goes badly. I am also a twin, so I find it very hard to do things by myself. So it’s great having someone there going 'that's not totally awful' or 'please god don't put that bit in the show'. Even my solo stuff I tend to write with someone else, so I never ever have to be on my own. I'm like a needy baby.

Run-Riot: What have you learned from each other?

Partridge: Getting to know Robin these last seven years (that long, really?) has definitely made me a better person. He has made me more understanding and definitely shaped my humour too. Plus we have some good political chats, he has definitely pushed and shaped some of those opinions. Also, I think we may have learnt a lot about compromise and the need for space in relationships too. Sometimes we’ve been pushed into some quite extreme and testing situations. Mostly at B&Bs.

Robin: That's very sweet of you Charlie. Charlie is kind, sweet and totally mental. He does kind things like make cakes for you, prepares fun and weird props for the show and occasionally he goes red and screams at technology. He is also I think better at getting on with writing and putting things out there. I tend to sit on things for a while and wait until I'm totally happy with them. He has a healthy drive to do. This is a roundabout way of saying I'm lazy and he's not.

Run-Riot: Would you describe yourself as a political act? Have you any comments on the 2015 UK General Election? How do you feel about Russell Brand?

Partridge: I think most comedy is political, even if it's not about politicians. You are always setting out a position, having an opinion with your work. Even if that opinion is utterly absurd – that still says something. Being a fool is often the ace card in theatre – it can be both high and low – the fool is the lowest and yet the only one who can tell King Lear how it really is, for example.

But even in a less broad and self-indulgent sense, we literally have jokes about politicians, yes. As for Russell Brand, although I don’t agree that voting is useless [since this Q&A he has changed his stance - now pro vote!], I thought it was rather telling that David Cameron called him a joke rather than engage with some of his serious questions, arguing ad hominem. For example, Brand often makes the point that much global power is accountable to share-holders rather than the electorate, and you can understand why this disenfranchises voters. My only cynicism, is I don’t know if Brand is totally genuine. Is he also promoting a book? But does that matter? Robin will probably know better.

Robin: I certainly agree that our perspective is political and it informs what we do, even if it is not actually about politics per se. As for the election, evidently it's going to be close, tense - and I am sure we will have to wait longer than May 8th to know who will form the government. I find it remarkable that this election has been fought in the way it has; that we still seem to be blaming the global financial crisis of 2008 on Labour's apparent 'overspending' seems totally absurd. I really hope that we end up with a government that addresses the big issues; cuts to the public sector, the loss of our NHS and an increasing inequality rather than getting distracted and obsessed by a need to 'balance the books'. Austerity seems to be unnecessary and an excuse for privatisation. But, by the way, I should stress that Tories are welcome at the show. We could do with some of their money and support.



Run-Riot: You have quite eclectic jobs, from MC-ing shows like Rebel Bingo and Tough Mudder to children’s events at the Tate Modern. How did you end up doing such a mix?
 
Partridge: I have no idea really. We just kept saying 'Yes' to things (often out of necessity – jobs in professional idiocy aren’t super easy to find) and then people kept inviting us back… We owe a lot to companies like The House of Fairy Tales, Bearded Kitten and the Rebel Bingo team for their support over the years. It’s been quite a fast ride at times and I haven’t always been paying attention. It’s been fun though, and I’m not ready to stop just yet.

Robin: Through saying ‘Yes' I think we have ended up doing lots of super fun jobs that we never knew existed. It's been a bit of a whirlwind and I think we’re getting to an age now (30, oh my good God!) where it's time to focus a bit more. Our latest show is sort of an attempt at that.

Run-Riot: Finally – have you any favourite stories from the work you’ve done?

Partridge: I love how much oddness there is on this island. We stay in a lot of regional B&Bs for some of our events around the country and even have a booking agent who delights in finding the strangest ones. Sometimes it pays off. We’ve stayed with someone with 100 porcelain dogs, and a host that keeps 'forgetting' to wear trousers or a vet with a three legged dog who keeps eating Robin's underwear (the dog, that is). It’s hard to pick a favourite - but today I will go for the time we were put up in a northern castle at the same time as a Christmas party for psychics. It was exciting with a lot of palm reading and talking about our hopes and dreams, and then it all got very emotional when one psychic pointed out that another had failed to spot her husband's affair. Ouch.

Robin: There have been so many. We once performed by a lectern in the garden of St. James’ Palace whilst being shouted at by Brian Blesssed, and Alan Titchmarsh. It was confusing. Then there was a time we wrestled loads of Britpop stars dressed as robots. Or when we hosted a rave for a naughty, unlikely sportsman. Or the time we performed in a morgue. It goes on.....

Robin and Partridge
robinandpartridge.wordpress.com | @robinpartridge

‘Let’s Get Weird’
8pm, Sunday, 24 May 2015
Arcola Theatre
27 Arcola Street
London E8 2DJ
Tickets and info: arcolatheatre.com