We caught up with Friday Night Project stars Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins just after they filmed the fantastic Justin Kyle Show, which was written by 4Laugher Allynlawson. You can watch Alan as Cherie and Justin as Tony Blair and Jeremy Kyle here, but if you want to hear Alan and JLC dish the dirt on Christian Slater read on!
Why did you choose that particular sketch [The Justin Kyle Show], what made it funny?
JLC: It was the best really, it wasn't too involved, it was a very clear very simple idea. We could see the characters, I could see Al as Cherie and Tony and me as Kyle, yeah it was very clear and concise and it works!
AL: You knew the joke was there, it wasn't convoluted, it was set in one place and the script did the talking, we knew we had to let the script breathe and the jokes were there - my vagina smelling like France, that's got BAFTA written all over it!
JLC: There was also room you could see for us to leave our mark on it, which was also good. You look at some scripts and you can hear yourself saying it.
AL: You could definitely hear yourself in this one - 'kick him the knackers!', that was you, that was the kind of thing you'd say.
JLC: Absolutely. That's key as well, so if you're writing a sketch for actors you've got to think in their voice, how they'd talk.
AL: It's also instantly identifiable as well, everyone knows Tony Blair. You don't have to set up any back story or anything, and it's Jeremy Kyle everybody knows Kyle...
JLC: ...he's a liberal man...
AL: ...Exactly!
JLC: It's a really strong, really simple idea; wouldn't it be fun to have the Blairs on the Jeremy Kyle show?
AL: That's the best comedy - strong and simple!
Do you follow a similar process when you write your own sketches?
JLC: Well that process doesn't apply because I don't write anything!
AL: We don't write our sketches, there's a team who write them for us and they have people in mind, if the name of the character has any semblance to Carr I get it - Kanye, JLZ, we had the Carrleks when we had David Tennant, so it basically depends on what my surname sounds like.
JLC: The thing is we've done the show for a while now and we've got such a good relationship, they write the sketches with us in mind - that goes without saying - but I mean they know how to write for us...
AL: They know characters that work. I don't know if you've seen the Big Brother sketches, but Carol's always there eating her big pork pie and at times I think she's better than Nikki - dare I say it? You've got under Carol's skin. I think she's going to be disappointed when she comes out and sees you with your beard...
JLC: What we do is put our twists on it, the Big Brother sketches for example, it was never written that Charley would have an oxygen mask - that was Al's idea because Charley talks so much she gets to the point she's almost hyperventilating, so Al said she should have an oxygen mask. It's that decision that makes it, likewise for some reason I thought Carol should always have a pork pie. Obviously things like that aren't written but being able to put our own twists on it, our own mark on it, that kind of thing always makes a difference. It's the little things you don't write but they're in the moment and you think 'that works', and that's what you look for in a sketch; if there's too much going on you don't have the time or the freedom to put your own mark on it.
Read the second part of the interview here!
