BriTANicK talk caps locks and creative competition

US comedy duo Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, collectively known as BriTANicK, have been nominated for an Emmy and named Variety's Top 10 Comics to Watch, have written for Saturday Night Live and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and now make their Edinburgh debut. They regularly perform to sold out crowds in New York and Los Angeles and their online videos have amassed over 50 million views, creating a fanbase from all over the world. BriTANicK's two-person sketch show is a hyper-paced, meticulously crafted, manic whirlwind of joy and chaos.

Here they answer our questions about working together, and bringing a live show to Fringe:

Hey, BriTANicK, H... How do you feel about caps lock?

At this point, we have a love-hate relationship with it. On one hand, it's helped us to create a unique looking name for our sketch group. On the other hand, it's unnecessarily confusing to everyone and just brings more chaos into our already destabilised society.

Hey, BriTANicK, How's y... Working with a writing partner, how long does it take for your brains to meld together? Are you still two separate people?

Despite our therapists repeatedly reminding us that we are in fact two separate people, there is not much evidence to suggest it. We've always been super in sync, even for years before we started performing together, which began with us both being obsessed with the exact same type of absurd comedy. But our strength comes from the ways in which we are different, in how we challenge each other to come up with a funnier joke, to find a deeper truth, and to not reference some musical from the 40's that no one's ever heard of, Brian.

Hey, BriTANicK, How's your w... How many sketches can you fit into a single show?

At the time of this writing, we're at 10. Probably going to be 8. With our videos online, we like to be as tight and short as possible. With our stage sketches, we leave room to explore and play jazz a little bit while still hopefully keeping the throughline clear. Come see our show and let us know if we accomplish that or fail miserably.

Hey, BriTANicK, How's your week g... What skills does one have that the other wants? And what skills do you need that the other has?

Brian: I'm pretty sure Nick wants my ability to mime Jerry Lewis' Typewriter Routine at lightning speed no matter how much he has said out loud that he "absolutely has no interest in that". The skill I need from Nick is whatever that thing is where everyone in the room (including me onstage) bursts out laughing whenever he screams about anything.

Nick: I absolutely have no interest in that. Though I would take Brian's ability to suggest a completely-out-of-nowhere joke that makes zero sense but somehow becomes the biggest laugh in the show.
Hey, BriTANicK, How's your week going?... OMG, Why haven't you answered already?

Sorry, we've been backed up answering inane questions for some comedy website.

It's been alright.