list.co.uk/festival Helm & Key | FESTIVAL FEATURES
Tim Key and Nick Helm walk
into a bar. . .
Two of the Fringe’s crowning comedians perform at the Pleasance Grand this week. We got them together for a chat to see how their preparations for Edinburgh were going.
Words: Jo Caird
T im Key and Nick Helm have both had a busy year. Since being nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for the second time in 2013 for One Man Mega Myth, Helm has starred in BBC3 comedy drama Uncle and completed i lming on his own BBC3 show Heavy Entertainment, which comes out in September. Key meanwhile, had a big screen outing opposite Steve Coogan in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, and performed his new show, Single White Slut, to acclaim in London’s West End. This August they will both be bringing individual shows to the Pleasance.
and even the comedy tent at Latitude is 5000. What you’re really concentrating on is the fact that you want everyone that comes to your gig in Edinburgh to enjoy themselves and if you can play 750 then you should do it.
Nick: You’re doing a new show at the moment Tim . . .
Tim: Yeah. But I’ve done it in London. Nick: You previewed it in Edinburgh last year?
The List: You’re both playing the Grand this year – Nick for the i rst time and Tim having performed Masterslut there in 2012 – does it feel like a lot of pressure to play such a big space? Tim: Yeah.
Tim Key: It’s still the same principle. You don’t want to take a show up that you don’t believe in or people will think, ‘well, that’s absolute dog shit’. So there’s all that pressure that’s the same. It’s just in a bigger room. There’s a lot of comedians I know who are much more relaxed playing a big venue but I get quite freaked out by the idea of it. Nick Helm: Jack Whitehall’s doing the O2 Arena and it’s like . . .
Tim: That’s the thing. In a way it’s quite an uncomfortable thing to talk about in an interview because the premise of your question is: ‘You’re really big-time because you’re playing this thing.’ We’re still fairly low down. There’s people playing enormous things . . .
Nick: Whereas I have a six-month working process where I’ll start January or February and then it’s like an exam and in August I go ‘right, stop writing now’ and then you have to do whatever you’ve got. You kind of took your time a bit more. I wish that I could take my time but unless I have deadlines I don’t get anything done. But this year I’m not doing a brand new show. Tim: What’s this show going to be?
Nick: It’s going to be like a death metal concert. We’re doing it like a big spectacular stadium gig where I do all my songs and some poems and some stand-up and stuff. I started doing Edinburgh in 2001 so I’ve got 12 years worth of shows that no one’s ever seen. Even Keep Hold of the Gold [Helm’s 2010 Fringe show] – realistically only 1000 people, maybe a little bit more, saw that.
Nick: There’s a certain type of audience that appreciates what we do, but in reality the Grand is 750 seats and the O2 Arena is 10,000, The List: It’s your greatest hits.
7–14 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 17 ➸