Phil Wang

The comedian Phil Wang is now publishing a book and his live performances are on Netflix.  Life is surely good for Mr Philly Philly Wang Wang!  (The idea behind this shoot was to have Phil in the spot light on stage.  The man of the moment!  We found a small, rundown church in Camden. I brought the spot and the smoke machine and set up so we could see the beam of light on Phil.  That is, just after I had found the 5 smoke alarms, dismounted them and hidden them all outside in the bushes to avoid them going off.

Phil was a nice guy.  Quiet maybe, but I think he’s openly claimed to be quiet and a little introverted. In fact - that is part of what he’s about.  It’s a part of what makes him funny. I find people like me more and find me funnier too - the more quiet I am. Go figure?!  (According to my youngest son, I’m the least funny guy in the world.  It doesn’t stop me from trying and it’s a badge I carry with pride.)

Shot for Observer Magazine

Isy Suttie

I knew Isy best for her part as Dobby in the brilliant sit com show Peep Show.  So before this shoot I thought I’d arm myself with some additional Isy Suttie knowledge.  She’s brilliant at combining music and comedy - one of the hardest things to do well in the world of comedy.  Some of her best live performances is exactly this - Isy with a guitar, armed with comedy gold lyrics.  

Isy was very sweet on the day.  The ideas I had came organically, using what I had to hand at the studio and Isy’s willingness to play ball.  We also lucked out as her Paul Smith top made her totally merge into a screen that was at the studio.  Nothing wrong with a bit of luck!

Shot for Observer New Review

Nish Kumar

The British have always been good at political comedy and political satire.  I remember being in the UK as a teenager and my granddad always watched Have I Got News For You - (a program that hasn’t changed in over 30 years and is still very good).  There have been many other programs finding the humour in the news and politics especially, and one of the current ones is the Mash Report with Nish Kumar.  Nish is known for Mash Report, but also his stand up comedy and other comedy performances often dealing with politics and news.  

So for this shoot with Nish I started thinking about what I could do to include a bit of humour and visually show that Nish deals with current events, news and politics in his humour.  I started thinking down the lines of using newspapers as props.  We all know the classic newspaper hats - but how about newspaper flowers, newspaper wigs, newspaper chairs and a newspaper cape?!  I spent an evening looking into how to make it all.  Emptied cupboards for tape and glue, found a good arts and crafts shop to get other bits and pieces, and lastly emptied my magazine stand for old newspapers.  

I had planned to have a boys drinks and catchup session with my friends from Norway over zoom.  Instead, I sat there, half chatting on zoom, whilst swearing over the newspaper roses for not doing what I wanted them to do.  I got there in the end, but instead of taking 30 minutes which I had at first thought would be the case, it took 5 hours. (Anyway - now I am an expert in case anyone is looking for someone to create newspaper props.)

Armed with my newspaper props I turned up at the south London studio to prepare the final things.  Nish turned up and we were ready to kick off.  Nice guy!  Just as you see him on TV.  We talked about his A-list friends whom I have worked with (James Acaster and Joel Dommet especially), the cricket club incident - (a live show at the cricket club where he was pelted with bread rolls - and they missed,) and his up and coming comedy show.  All to the backdrop of some slow dance country music.  

Shot for Observer Magazine

 
 

Bill Bailey

Some comedians should come with a warning sign and some come with a sign saying “does what is says on the tin”. Bill is the latter. Bill is a man that’s just naturally interested and inquisitive. He is smarter than Einstein on an Omega 3 overdose, funnier than a pie in the face, and has more musical talent than a Mozart with 4 hands. Unfair really that all the talents have gone to one man when so many people have nothing at all.

This shoot was at his office, a home converted into a make shift storage/office space. It's hard to miss the larger than life cardboard cutouts of Bill, books, paintings, a couple of birdcages that are big enough to hold an albatross, plenty of plastic flowers and plastic trees, instruments, staff taking bookings for his upcoming tour, bicycle and many more things. Bill is a true hoarder, but a hoarder of the weird and wonderful. The place was a good representation of what it must be like to be in Bill’s mind; busy, filled with plenty of knowledge about everything unusual and fun…. and birds.

Shot for The Observer Magazine

Eddie Izzard

Whether you like Eddie Izzard or not is not the issue, but how one cannot admire Eddie is beyond my comprehension.  For many, coming out as a cross dresser may be a struggle big enough in itself to call a life struggle, but for Eddie this is just one of many battles he has won.  In fact, I’m not even sure he ever considered it a battle or an issue in the first place.
So where does one start with Eddie?  I suppose I first heard of him as a comedian, and this is where he first made his name. A rambling, stream of consciousness style of comedy that’s won him awards and made him a big success in the UK as well as abroad, especially USA.
Then there is the acting.  Having acted in films such as Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen, The Chronicles of Narnia, Valkyre and more puts him in the company of a-listers.
We could stop there and think that this is a man who has achieved a lot in his life.  A retirement after such achievements would with almost 100% certainty give his house a blue placard “Eddie Izzard lived here” when he eventually leaves us for good, (which will surely be at a world record age of 123 years old knowing his stamina).  No – this just isn’t good enough for Eddie – at the age of 47, with only 5 weeks training and no significant prior history of running, Eddie completes the task of running 43 marathons in 51 days for Sports Relief.  An amazing achievement in anyone’s book. 
This year Eddie started his world tour entitled Force Majeure which will run through to 2014.  Many comedians complete a ‘World Tour’ but Eddie is including foreign speaking countries like France – where he amongst other locations performed in front of a full house (2000 Parisians) in French – and KICKED ASS!!!
Not only is he the first non-native speaker to complete a tour of France in French, but he has done so with no prior knowledge of French apart from what he deliberately set out to learn the last couple of years.  The tour will continue to all continents, 25 different countries, and he now claims that Spanish and German are the next on his list…
 ‘What next’ – I hear you say?  For most people that would be more than two life times worth of achievements – but for Eddie???  No – we can now look forward to him running for London Mayor in 2015.  There may be some that do not agree with some of his political views, some that feel that a cross dresser or a comedian cannot represent London but I think I think I speak for most of us when I say:  A man who can achieve so much for himself can only be good for London.  Imagine where London can be with Eddie behind the steering wheel.  Roll over Ken!  Roll over Boris! Here comes Eddie!!!