An Interview with Hurt & Anderson | Mumble Comedy

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An Interview with Hurt & Anderson

July 20, 2017July 26, 2017 yodamo
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Hello ladies, so where are ya all from & where ya’ll at, geographically speaking?
G&L : We’re currently based in London, but met at school in Bristol.
When did you first realise you were, well, funny?
Georgia (Hurt) : I remember being in this kind of school drama showcase aged about 7 or 8. It was this sketch were I was a brownie who pulled someone back from jumping off a bridge and all we had to say was “Now we can get our life saving badges”. Thinking back on it now that seems like very dark material for a primary school production! Anyway, we got this big laugh and I just remember this feeling of “ooo making people laugh is awesome”. But I always found it easier to be a bit more of the class clown, it’s easier to make friends and resolve confrontation!
Why comedy, what is it about being funny in front of other people that makes you tick?
Laura (Anderson) : I think I realised very early on in life that it was good to make people laugh because it’s a way of getting praise and people to like you. It’s also a form of escapism; I’ve always been a fairly shy person in real life, but being on stage and making people laugh gives you another persona and you can become someone different for a short amount of time. Some comedians will wax lyrical about how altruistic it is to make other people laugh; but in the majority of cases it’s an ego boost for someone who is deeply insecure. So please do come to the show and laugh with us…just please God never AT us.
How did Hurt & Anderson come about?
Georgia : Laura and I were at school together and we had a lot of science and maths lessons that neither of us were particularly interested in. We started messing around in lessons, coming up with characters and ideas and then that turned into the act which we would force our friends to watch in our lunch break. We actually did our first ever gig at the school talent show. We didn’t win.

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What are the ingredients to a good sketch?
Laura : It’s the usual answer, but timing is crucial. And the relationship between the actors. Georgia and I have known each other and performed together so much that we have really honed that. The quality of the writing is important, but like any type of comedy, you have to sell it – so acting the sketch well and giving your all to it is incredibly important as well.
Upon which life-experiences do you draw your own comedy?
Georgia : It’s a bit of everything really. I think that’s the great thing about doing sketch and musical stuff because you really can cover anything you can think of. We always have some political material but then we can go straight to surreal stuff too like an obnoxious pregnant panda. Mainly it all comes out of us two having a conversation and trying to make each other laugh.

You were finalists in this year’s Musical Comedy Awards 2017. What are the secrets behind writing & performing a funny song?
Georgia : It’s funny you should ask! We have a song in the show this year based around this idea of trying to write a funny song. For us I think the main thing you have freedom with in a song is lyrical word play and structure. You can always play around with rhymes or subverting expectations. And then I think what works well for us is having this sweet sounding melody, which the lyrics then betray with something filthy or unexpected. The songs come much easier than sketches normally.
You are bringing ‘ Come What May,’ to the Fringe. You previewed it to sell out audiences at the Leicester Comedy Festival 2017 and in Bristol and London. How have the audience been responding?
Laura : Leicester and Bristol were two really good shows, both audiences were really lovely. The Bristol preview was mostly made up of friends and relatives so that helped a lot! I’d say that Come What May is the most consistently funny show we’ve ever written and that has showed in the audience reaction.

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This is not your first time at the Fringe, what have you learnt in the interim about your set?
Laura : Looking back now at our very first show at the Fringe in 2011, it was a complete mess. The sketches weren’t that funny and, on a whole, the show was very amateurish. What we’ve really tried to work on is making the show as slick as possible, and to work on our personas as “Hurt and Anderson”, but ironically ‘Come What May’ includes some of the most personal stuff we’ve ever written in order to make our personas as realistic as possible.
Can you describe in one sentence the experience of performing at the Fringe
G&L : An emotional rollercoaster that is over all to quickly – where you can find the highs of inspiration, push yourself hard and then descend into various drunken states of debauchery on a regular basis.

You can catch Hurt & Anderson at the Fringe
Aug 3-27 Aug : Just the Tonic at The Mash House (14.40)
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One thought on “An Interview with Hurt & Anderson”

Hurt & Anderson : Come What May | Mumble Comedy says:

August 9, 2017 at 10:11 am

[…] & actual comedy! Indeed, H&A were finalists in this year’s Musical Comedy Awards, & in a recent interview with The Mumble, when asked he secrets behind writing & performing a funny song?, Georgia Hurt told […]

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