ROGER MELLIE THE MAN ON THE TELLY
BOLLOCKSI
ollocks!
DUSTER GONAD
AND HIS
@i.6AN6. I'VE
COME ON HOLID Y TO THE Hist-(LAND GAMES TODAV
Making swearing seem big and clever for the last 25 years, VIZ magazine remains a relatively unsung comedy legend in its own right. On the eve of their Fringe debut, Mark Robertson asks two of its former editors why.
I \\;1x Ian Dury \yho once .xaid that not to .xyy'ear ix to cut
yourxell‘ ol'l‘ from a whole .xection ol‘ the Iinglixh
languagef recallx Simon Donald. lt‘x tucking true. (‘urxing connoixxeur Donald ix one hall. of a comedy \yriting duo coming l'or their lirxt time to perform at the l5extiy'a], \Vith .-\|e\ ('ollier. Donald ix prexenting Swearing is Big and ('lt'n'r. When you realixe that both men haye been rexident at ,xotne point in the editor‘x chair at \i‘: you‘ll recognixc their pedigree to prexent a .xhoyy \\ ith xuch a title. But their ,xhoyy' ix. by their own cont‘exxion. not xtand-up. Simon Donald e\plaii1x. ‘lt came about \\ hen we were united to a literary l'extiy'al in Dublin to talk about the maga/ine. Dexpite having made it all tip ax \\ e \\ ere going along. it \y'ax a .xuccexx.
26 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE . '*
“eye done it a lieyx timex xince and it'x not exactly become a lecture: it’x tnore a bunch ol xtoriex diyided uP into three partx. The lirxt ix tne talking about the birth (it Hi. Then there'x :\le.\'x xection where he talkx about hix introduction to the mag and the numeroux legal \\ ranglex that he experienced
once he joined. Then the third ix ux together retelling xome ol'
the bext datit xtoriex and xll'lpx l'rom doyy n the yearxf
While it \y'ould be unl‘air to xpoil any ol' the pair'x punchlinex. it‘x lair to xay they got in a bit of hot \yater in their time. One example ix \y ith publixherx ol‘ '/'/u' Baum and 7716 Dandy. D(' Thomxon. \y'ho didn‘t take kindly to their fixatirixing‘ ol‘ the comic'x characterx: Dexperately l'nliunny Dan and Wanker \Vatxon xeemed juxt a xtep too far l‘or xome