Rogue Pun: Thursday Night at the Movies, with Chris Thorburn

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Wednesday 27th March 2024

Glasgow's gagfest gets a good-and-bad film twist...

And now to Scotland, where the Glasgow International Comedy Festival is well under way, although local boy Chris Thorburn seems to think it's a film festival; he's determined to turn Thursday evening cinematic, anyway. Thorburn's movie-themed show Cineman is on at the Glasgow Film Theatre at 9.30pm, and immediately before that, under the same roof, he's in the self-explanatory Watch Bad Movies with Great Comedians, more of which below.

Thorburn has seen a lot of films, of varying quality, multiple times. He once worked at a cinema, and the lounge he now shares with a splendid springer spaniel called Jessie is a shrine to the silver screen. We know this due to watching a podcast filmed at his flat, for research, where a huge wall of DVDs loomed behind him - hence our slightly stalkery mention of specific DVDs below, like some post-millennial Hitchcock villain. Which seemed appropriate, as that's one of the box sets.

But first, his origin story.

How did you end up doing film-related comedy, Chris? Was that always the plan?

I love talking about films and I always wound up having bits about films in my sets and shows. With this show I thought, 'wouldn't it be fun to make the whole show like that...?'

Which movies should we rewatch beforehand, for the full experience?

I'd recommend watching Toy Story, There Will Be Blood, and Dekalog. It's very important that you watch all ten hours of Dekalog before my show on Thursday because I'll definitely be bringing it up.

Apparently this show is quite episodic, structurally - do you secretly prefer TV?

Films beat telly any day of the week. How often do you hear someone recommend a show and they tell you it gets good in Season Two? A film will never make you sit through twelve hours of content before it gets to the good part.

Can you tell us about Watch Bad Movies...? Any favourite moments?

Watch Bad Movies With Great Comedians began as a live show from the wonderful Billy Kirkwood. I used to go see the show, then Billy invited me to take part, and then it became a podcast with Chris Scott, Kate Hammer and Rick Molland.

My favourite episode is when we watched 2019's Cats. There are many bad films, but that one altered the chemistry of my brain. It's less a film and more a monument to man's hubris.

Which cinema did you work at, and what are the best/worst/weirdest things about that job?

I worked at the Odeon in Ayr, which is now sadly shut down. That was a wonderful job, the best part was getting to watch movies all day. The worst part was asking grown adults not to ram their unwashed hands into the pic n' mix. I'm sorry but you people are animals.

One time I had to watch The Woman In Black five times in one day and frankly I don't think anyone should watch any film five times in one day.

How are you feeling about DVDs/Blu Rays - still buying/watching them? Will your Hitchcock boxset survive a future cull?

I'm still all-in on physical media. I refuse to get rid of my collection. What if society collapses, there's no internet or streaming services, but I still want to watch that one movie where Ricky Gervais is a dentist who can see ghosts? What then?

That Hitchcock box set is fantastic. It's an incredible collection of films and it's also so substantial it could be the murder weapon in a Hitchcock movie.

Can we talk about Jessie, your springer spaniel? Movie fan too, or movie interrupter?

My dog Jessie has an uncanny ability to detect when we're watching a film and she will immediately spring to life to distract us. She will sleep through hours of Real Housewives and Simpsons repeats, but as soon as we're settling in to pay attention to a film, she'll get up and start walking in circles on our hardwood floor.

Or she'll climb up on the couch and get real close to my face. I'm trying to get invested in May December and I can feel my dog's hot stinky breath an inch from my face like she's the alien [from, er, Alien]. She's a nightmare. Anyway I love her and I would die for her.

To finish, could you give us the three bad movies you love, and why?

1. The Room is called the Citizen Kane of bad movies for a reason. It finds so many fascinating ways to be wrong. One time I met the director Tommy Wiseau and he was so rude to me. It was the best day of my life.

2. I've seen Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls so many times, I've now completely swung round to thinking it's a masterpiece.

3. Glenn Danzig from [US punk band] The Misfits made a horror anthology called Verotika that is borderline unwatchable. He's made some of my favourite music but the film is so terrible. I like to imagine he directed the entire thing shirtless, as Danzig is wont to do.

Images by Andrew Jackson