The Noise Next Door interview

Written by: Lucy Anna Gray
Published: Sunday 22nd December 2013

Could you tell us a bit about your act?

Tom H (purple, aka Little Tom): We always describe ourselves on the circuit as something a little bit different. What we do is make things up on the spot, based on what the audience shout out.

What we've done with our improvisation style is focus on the comedy side of things; so gags per minute and working with other comedians on the circuit. We do scenes, musical bits, characters... it's generally a lot of fun.

How long have you all been working together now?

Matt (green): We all collectively met and started doing improv 8 years ago at university. We started doing The Noise Next Door about 3 years after that. So about 5 years, with 3 of them being on the circuit.

Have you ever done any solo work?

Matt: I guess individually everyone's done a little bit of stuff, like Charlie and Sam did Commedia dell'arte, which was a big part of their youth.

Charlie (white): Yeah, part of our uni course was studying this ancient Italian form of improv...

Matt: Ancient, ooh...

Charlie: So we've drawn a lot of our inspirations from that. I say ancient, I mean 1600s.

Tom H: That's pretty ancient...

*boys murmur in agreement*

Tom L (yellow, aka Big Tom): Tom and I did a stand-up master's degree.

Tom H: Our parents were so proud.

Tom L: I think the first few times we put together a group of people to do some improv, we chose people specifically because they had a comedy mind. Originally there were about 13 of us, but we were the core group, both in organisation and in performance. That's how we then sprung out of the original base.

What have been your career highlights and lowlights since then?

Tom L: I guess a career highlight recently for us was headlining The Comedy Store. Growing up, The Comedy Store was something big. It was something my parents went to and I saw it as 'the West End of comedy'. We were told right from the beginning we wouldn't be able to play it because we're improv. About 8 months ago we did a charity night there and we were seen by Don [Ward], the big man at The Comedy Store, so now we've done a few nights there... and we'll actually be doing New Year's Eve!

Tom H: It's such a great gig to be doing.

Lowlight...?

Tom L: I guess it would have to be a series of lowlights which mainly involve all of us being packed into tiny cars. There are 5 of us, so we do fit into your regular size car, but we're all growing boys, well grown - we've finished growing, we're large, we are fully grown. Basically, we've grown to the point where we don't all fit very well in a car, so the constant rubbing of sweaty arms on hot days driving up and down the country is probably the lowlight... but it's fine.

Matt: Although there was that time when our car broke down, and I would've loved to have been in that hot sweaty car then. It was about 3 in the morning and we had to be driven from Birmingham to Brighton in a pick-up vehicle... and then I got stuck in it. It was about 5.30am and the seat belt wouldn't undo and I was thinking, "I just don't want this now!" So I had to dislocate a few limbs and crawl out.

Do you ever find it limiting being Brighton based?

Tom H: We haven't found it that limiting. We just rent cars a lot, or - if it's in London - get the train. We travel all the time.

Charlie: If we were a solo act we'd probably live in London - I'm saying 'we' as if we have a hive mind - because getting around would be easier. But because there's 5 of us, getting cars and driving is always the cheaper way.

Tom L: I think being in Brighton has actually benefited us because we made friends with places like the Komedia, which is one of the best comedy venues in the country, and now we're residents there. If we hadn't built up a base somewhere like the Komedia, where we now perform every month, I don't think we would've been as easily transferable to the circuit.

Sam (red): It also meant that we had a lot of time in front of decent sized audiences really early on, and there's nothing better than that experience and trying to hone your craft.

Matt: Also not just the odd five or ten minutes, we were doing an hour, or hour and half, right from the start.

Have you felt that your act has been sidelined, in terms of mainstream media, due to its improvisational nature?

Sam: It's always been a weird thing... in Edinburgh in particular. The Comedy Awards always come to see us, and we'd always heard rumours that comedy improv wasn't eligible, and we found that out conclusively this year...

We found it to be a little contradictory really. In the world of comedy, it seems such an odd thing to do, to completely abandon one specific area of comedy whereas everything else is absolutely fine. So we spoke directly to the panel, who were all really nice, and the main reason was due to the changeability of the performance every night. Our argument was that it's down to the comedians; if the troop are good enough and consistently do funny shows every single night, it shouldn't matter that the content differs, as long as it is getting laughs per minute.

Tom L: When we have talked and written about these issues, the responses we've got from other comedians and the media has been largely positive. People had no idea that improv wasn't eligible. Everyone's reaction tends to be, 'well why not?' I think that improvising is the most ancient of storytelling...

Matt: You said ancient again...

Tom L: Yes ancient! It's the most ancient form of comedy. Stand-up comedy, which now dominates Edinburgh, has only really existed for... 50 years? It seems odd that the most traditional thing has now become a ghetto of comedy - of the outside, weird and odd.

Tom H: Lots of comics have said that improv is such an important part of their live stand-up; all the comedy shows change every night, depending on heckles, audience participation. If it really is down to writing, why don't people just submit their scripts at the start of Edinburgh and the awards judge that?!

Tom L: It also suggests that improvisers don't think about their show beforehand. Our plot structure for the show, particularly this year in Edinburgh, was written and crafted. Yes the content is improvised, but you have to have structures in place so regardless of what material is thrown at you, it's certain to work.

How many times have you been to Edinburgh?

Tom H: Six times.

Matt: We're ancient veterans.

Charlie: ANCIENT!

Tom H: I'm really enjoying that word.

What's next for you?

Tom L: We have our own show called The Noise Next Door's Comedy Lock In, which we have at the Brighton Komedia and now the Bath Komedia, so we're looking to put that into more venues. It's a really fun format and it seems to work really well.

Tom H: We've got a lot of circuit work; New Year at the Comedy Store, which will be great; and we're starting our second tour early next year. Then we need to figure out what Edinburgh might hold for us next year and perhaps there'll be some other projects in the pipeline...

To keep up with The Noise Next Door's news and live dates, and to check out some of their videos, visit: www.thenoisenextdoor.co.uk