Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Metroland

You’ve experienced enormous success creating sketch videos, what inspired you to bring your live show, The Box, to Edinburgh this year?

Jack R & Caden: The idea of doing a live show started after reading Bob Mortimer’s biography and learning of the rapid success of Vic Reeves big night out in the early 90s. We booked our first live show at a Fringe theatre in Whitley bay called Laurels and from that moment we were hooked on live comedy. There was an excitement in developing the chaotic nature of our filmed sketches into a live show, seeing the characters in a new environment but holding the same tone as the filmed sketches. We realised quite quickly that our live show is a different animal. It’s our bongos bingo. The raw nature of live performance is unmatched. Instant gratification for the jokes too. We knew then we had to make our way to the Edinburgh Fringe and put our hat in the ring. 

The show promises a variety of characters and sketches. What can audiences expect? 

Jack R: You don’t know what’s coming next. We seamlessly drift through characters, scenes, songs and anything in between! The show is like an indoor roller-coaster (similar to the one from the 90s theme park in the north-east named Metroland). We like to think it’s the kind of comedy that you didn’t know you needed in your life or it’s like being reunited with an old friend. We’re not bogged down in politics or wordy, trying to be clever humour. We love building scenes around the everyday with surrealist flicks. Five lads from the north who don’t shy from trying to make each other laugh. It’s laughter therapy start to finish. 

How did the five of you first start writing and performing as Metroland? 

Jack R: In 2019 I had written nine scripts with the intent of shooting a sketch show named Metroland. I was an out-of-work actor with a few bit parts under my belt and a hunger for more. I approached my friend and director Caden Elliott to help shoot the first series of Metroland. We immediately worked very well together. I also approached the massively talented musician and funny man John Dole. Myself and John had great on screen chemistry and all three of us shared in the absurdist and daft humour. Not long after, we came away with a series of sketches that we released through the 2020 lockdown. Some of our sketches quickly went viral and we’d unintentionally provided a solace for people who wanted an escape from the Covid content. Then I reached out to old school friend Jack Fairley (aye there’s two Jacks). Old drama pals from school, Fairley too shared a love for the absurdist humour combined with his training as a performer, 6ft 5 Fairley is a weapon and brings a real class and professionalism to his performances. Later down the line we approached Connor Lawson for Metroland. A successful child actor in his youth (The Dumping Ground) Connor has that northern charm and natural comedic quip on tap, he was the last connect that truly made the group memorable. We’re an odd looking bunch. 

Other comedians I’ve spoken to have said that north-east England is a great place to perform (and also improve) as comedians due to the audience’s humour and high-expectations – has that been your experience? (What makes the north-east a special place for comedy in the UK)? 

Jack R: The north-east is a really special place for comedy. People don’t take themselves too serious up here. Newcastle’s humour was built upon hard times and harder circumstances. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry kind of thing. The history of artists and performers that have came out of Newcastle is mental. There’s a genuinely an impressive and rich history here. Obviously the night life contributes well to the late night comedy scene and a ruckus sketch show like ours fits like a well placed lamp. You gotta be on the ball for hecklers. Everyone is full time comedians in the toon. There’s always a fear of smaller areas like Newcastle engaging in the same exclusivity that it wants to rid of in the first place due to the lack of work that we get up here, so whenever anything does pass through it can get cliquey. Which is daft. Find your people but never shy from collaboration. There can be comedy snobs too but personally I don’t mind that. I think you have to be, if you actually care about comedy. There’s too much saturation out there. No comedy wusses allowed owa here. Splinters still hurt though. Any size is penetrable. 

Were you always interested in comedy and who were your favourite comedians growing up?

Jack R: My grandparents always had Gold on when I was a bairn, Blackadder, Two Ronnies, Only Fools and Horses and Monty Python on tap. From very early on I remember my grandma always making me laugh. I had an obsession with British comedy very early on, the older I got I drifted into Vic and Bob, Big Train, The Office and Spaced to name a few. My dad would always have Morecambe and Wise on at Christmas. Comedy and music were my main vices before my mobile phone started doing too much. The more I got into film I started discovering early Steve Martin and Mel Brooks. I remember watching Blazing Saddles and thinking that comedy is so f***king cool. It’s clearly bigger than one person or one idea or anything singular. It translates on so many levels. Loiter Squad on Adult swim was the final nail in the coffin to start Metroland. It was clearly just a group of mates that had a natural chemistry and the sketches were built around that. 

What shows are you most looking forward to seeing in August, and why? 

Jack F: In 2018, I think it was, I saw Luke Rollason do a one man nature documentary at the Fringe and he’s always so inventive, so can’t wait to see his new show. Eddy Hare’s solo show as well as Men With Coconuts, Will Robbins, Duncan Brothers: Blood Sword. There’s too many to name. But the beauty of a month-long festival is that there’s so much going on, it’s impossible not to discover pieces of work that blow you away. When it happens, it’s a mint surprise, like finding a shiny Pokémon card. 

How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?

John: They can find us online, always, lurking, like wolf spiders, specifically though on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram @metrolandcomedy, you can also see us in the flesh at our local haunt Laurels in the beautiful Whitley Bay, the bay of dreams.