The Boy With Tape On His Face: Live .v. Evil
Published: Wednesday 19th December 2012
Sam Wills, better known as The Boy With Tape On his Face - the act that picked up an eye-watering number of five star reviews at the Edinburgh Festival in the summer, has this to say about the topic of television...
When I was a kid growing up in New Zealand, on our TV stations at midnight a Kiwi would climb up a ladder and go to bed, signalling the end of the programming day. These days if I happen to turn on the TV, I soon wish for a similar occurrence. TV has evolved (or some might argue, devolved) into a lazy, fast food concept; you turn on, watch and forget. It's like junk food for the mind, all grease and fat clogging our grey matter and turning us into zombies.
As a comedian I think that TV should work like an advertising tool for comedy, you see a comedian you like on the TV, you go buy a ticket and experience the atmosphere of a live show. The sort of atmosphere that can never be created on Live at the Roadshow for One Night Only! "Ah, but TV is free", I hear you cry. Yes, yes it is (BBC aside)... and I say you get what you pay for!
Shouldn't TV be more than something to keep pets company?, although even that, in my opinion, should be classed as animal cruelty. Does your dachshund really want to watch Dine with Dickheads?
If I could create the perfect TV remote control, I'd have a smart button, for smart people. One push of said button and the junk is cleared leaving only the clever, well written stuff. I mean, that would probably only be one or two shows to begin with, but it would be a start. A point from which we can progress to a new world of intelligent programming. I have heard 'telly-people' say, time and again, "Don't over estimate your audience, people are stupid". I know that there are clever people out there, people who have smarts who are longing for something more than the banality offered up now.
Fundamentally, I guess this comes down to a plea. A plea to the 'desk-medians', those who choose what gets made, and the frustrated creatives... In this day and age of multi-mass-media, who needs the approval of the 'mothership'? Create, make, go out on a limb and put something together that breaks boundaries. Don't be safe, don't make something because 10 other companies are making it too, believe in creativity and eccentricity.
We can change our televisual future, the remote is in our hands!
Thanks to Sam for those words. Talking of getting away from the TV and seeing some live comedy instead, The Boy With Tape On His Face is currently performing his award-winning show in London's West End...
The show is at the Duchess Theatre until the 5th January 2013: Info & Tickets
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