Emma talks to the sketch duo about dancing, Chekhov and post-show Guinness overindulgence.
Where does your name The Grandees come from? Did you ever reject any other names for being too silly?
We always used to call each other 'Grandy' instead of Marny or Tom - Don't ask us where it comes from we have no idea. We tend to make up words which we find funny and some of them stick. We toyed with the name Anal Patel but rejected it. Still makes us laugh now though.
How did you meet and why did you decide to form a sketch group?
We met at Webber Douglas where we both trained for 3 years. We both shared a love for the same films and laughed at the serious moments during rehearsals for whatever Chekhov play we were doing. We'd been thinking about doing sketch many years before we got round to putting on our first show in 2008.
Your shows so far have taken the form of playlets, why did you decide against doing the typical sketch format?
It must be a result of all those plays we did together! We liked the idea of taking the audience on a journey with us. We always found sketch a bit formulaic. With a play the audience get to know your characters and character is the most important thing to us.
Can you each tell me what you think each other’s best comic trait is?
Marny has the ability to think of the most mundane scenario and turn it on its head in a way you can't imagine anyone else on earth thinking of. She also has the most expressive face and eyes you're ever likely to see in performance. Tom has funny legs and skin the texture of a pancake. He has large sparkling blue expressive eyes and a hairy nose. Tom looks great in Lycra and has impeccable timing. He has the magnetism of a large lion but the non aggressive kind. He's bloody funny!
We've had ridiculous dancing and evil plots from you guys in the past, what can we expect from this year's show?
Well we've left the evil plots behind this year but there's still some dance involved. We've gone for a sketch show. But not sketch in it's traditional sense- in this show anything can happen. It's more like a freak show I guess.
What's the hardest thing about performing up at the Fringe?
I guess the hardest part is playing to low numbers. Very difficult with comedy because you need that feedback from the crowd; it always lifts the show to a different level. New things start to happen. You gotta stay fit too! Very easy to booze everyday and get run down so sometimes you need to remind yourself why you're up there.
The Grandees will be at Underbelly in Edinburgh from August 9th-29th.
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