Massive sketch comedy, two normal-sized people. John-Luke Roberts ‘Distracts you from a murder … Brilliant solo debut’ (Independent), E4, BBC3, R4′s ‘News Quiz’ and Nadia Kamil (R4, Channel 4, BBC3) return to the Festival with their cult sketch comedy show (Comedy of the Year, List 2008).

Whatever way you look at it Sketch comedy is not only a British tradition it is also one of the hardest forms of comedy you could think of trying to do. John-Luke and Nadia have, as  you can see from their critical praise, honed their skills to near perfection. The duo will be performing their Edinburgh Fringe preview show on 12th July 2011. All the information about that show can be found HERE.

More information about their Fringe 2011 show can be found at the end of their interview.

Hey guys how’s it going, things all done and dusted and ready for the fringe?

It is going well, thank you. How are you? It is the 8th of July 2011. Things are not all done and dusted and ready for the Fringe. BUT they are closer to being done and dusted and ready for the Fringe than any show we’ve done before was at this stage. We have four good sketches, totaling about fifteen minutes worth, so we can afford to put our feet up for a while, like that ‘Hare’ in the fable ‘the Tortoise and the Hare’ who so wisely stopped for a rest, and then won the race.

What is it like working as part of a comedy duo, are there loads of ideas flying around or are you able to keep things pretty much in order?

Ideas seem to come at a rate just quick enough to have a finished show in time for the Fringe. It doesn’t seem to matter when we start working on it, they will space themselves out accordingly. Because we haven’t done a new show for a few years, there are a couple of ideas we came up with accidentally in the meantime, though. Actually, those ideas have been the ones we dismissed as too absurd and alienating, but in previews have been the most reliable bits.

When did you two first meet and decide a comedy partnership was on the cards?

We met six years ago, and I think we’re both still undecided about the whole comedy partnership thing.

Has there been occasion where one of you have really wanted to do something but the other one has vetoed it?

Yes, it happens quite frequently really. Happily, we both have other avenues to do those things in – solo, or at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. Or try and sell the ideas to unsuspecting media outlets.

This is your fourth time up at the fringe, what would you say is the draw of Edinburgh Fringe?

Grim inevitability?

Tell us a little bit about your new show, what can we expect?

It is absurd, and hopefully constantly surprising. At this point we know there will be a Bee in it, a Critic and probably some scones.

Have there been other comedy duos you have drawn inspiration from?

Yes, plenty. But probably as many other groupings of comedians – stand-ups, sketch troupes. What a double-act really does is make it hard to arrange costume changes properly.

Your shows get a lot of great feedback from the press does that sometimes add a little pressure?

I don’t think it does, really. You want your audience to enjoy it – that’s the only real pressure. The pressure to make the show good is there whether or not people have been told that you’re good.

Finally, what has been your most embarrassing moment on stage?

We do lots of things on stage which should be mortifying – Nadia frequently dresses as a Penis at the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, and John-Luke changed into an unflattering leotard on stage in his solo show ‘Distracts You From a Murder’ last year. But, as long as people laugh, they’re not actually embarrassing. The embarrassing times are when you just play to silence – total silence hasn’t happened for awhile, but there was a preview of our first sketch show in a comedy club in Cambridge which sticks in the mind. Horrible.

As the house filled, I heard two middle-aged women discussing their decision to attend: “well, they said they were good, I’m sure they’ll be good.” Even before the show had begun it was clear that their two previous summers in Scotland …