Absolutely the most unexpectable partnership since Beauty met the Beast is that of Finlay Christie and Bobby Mair. But, as it has turned out, it is a mutual comedy fanclub and, frankly, I cannot wait to see the resulting show.
So Finlay – you are 24, you are posh, you already have a comedy special out, Broadway Baby thinks you are 'the future of comedy', 11 million people love you on Tik Tok, 200 million have watched you on YouTube... What on earth is the point of grubbing around at a Fringe venue ?
Finlay: Hahaha! I’m doing the Fringe because I love stand-up! I think the Fringe is a more attractive prospect now that there’s less pressure. I love watching comedy and hanging out with comedians but I hate the competitive aspect. I just want people to be able to see my new stuff, and I wanna get my show and next
special as funny as possible.
So far, so impressed ...
Finlay: Also I’m not selling out arenas yet! I’m still at the very beginning of my career. Yes I have a few videos,but everyone has a few videos now. If I’m gonna distinguish myself, I need to have really good jokes, and the Fringe is a joke gym.
I like this kid !
But how did he get together with Bobby Mair ?
Bobby: Ha ! I guess I am his director now. Here's the backstory. I remember first meeting Finlay, correct me if I'm wrong Finlay, during lockdown. We were out on a Top Secret Comedy Club park meet-up in between lockdowns and he was excited to talk to me, and I had been indoors for a year and forgot what it felt like for anyone to be excited to talk to me so I was basking in the attention of a young man who listened when I spoke. He was telling me he was considering not doing comedy and I told him he should keep doing it, or something. Luckily for him, he's a generational talent and pretty well-adjusted so it seems like he will be just fine.
Is this what the 'generational talent' wanted to be when he grew up ?
Finlay: When I was younger, my favourite comedians were lunatics like Phil Kay, Tony Law and, of course, Bobby Mair. I didn’t think I was mad enough to be a good comedian. I wanted to be an actor or a writer, and whenever I tried to act or write, I'd end up trying to make it funny. If I was ever in a school play I’d try to write in funny scenes for myself, or ad-lib new lines. It was probably because I'd done loads of comedy workshops with the Comedy Club 4 Kids since I was about 7. Looking back, it should have been obvious to me that I wanted to do stand-up.
So how did Bobby end up directing this Edinburgh show ?
Bobby: I was in between projects and kind of restless so I put on Instagram that sometimes I write for other comics, and if anyone is interested get in touch. I had temporarily lost interest in my own life or writing about it so wanted a distraction. Around the same time I was talking to Finlay and he was telling me about his show. I've seen Finlay enough to know he's a child prodigy who always kills very hard but he was telling me about his show and the hook or theme he was going with just didn't grab me and I told him that.
What he had was forty minutes of killer material and to anyone else would be a great show, but I felt like he had something else in him that wasn't onstage yet. And starting to work with someone who already has a great forty minutes is easy because there's not a tonne of pressure. You're taking something that's already
really good, and just trying to help them make it great. We ended up doing a writing session together at a cafe near his house where I drank like cokes while he typed constantly.
This kid works so fucking hard. He writes and rewrites and writes and can do it for 8 hours straight. I've never seen anyone be able to do that with stand up in twenty years. It's so impressive. But in this session I again overstepped the bounds on normal social interaction, and just asked him a bunch of really probing questions and he told me a lot of things about himself that were really funny or sad depending on how you say them - which is my favourite comedy and the kind of comedy I do I think?!?. From there, he surprised me by not telling me to fuck off and actually appreciating what I was encouraging him to talk about.
How was that for you, child prodigy ? Working with the crazy man of comedy ?
Finlay: I remember watching Bobby on Russell Howard’s Good News when I was a kid. I watched his set over and over and had no idea I would ever work with him.
The real Bobby is not the madman you see onstage. That madness is sheer honesty about the darkest parts of himself. I find that reassuring! His voice is a lot darker than mine, so occasionally he’ll take the material to a darker place than I can pull
off with my posh boy face, but it’s always hilarious.
I think I am riskier than I look, but I look like the Milky Bar Kid. It’s not hard.
He is a comedy genius, and can pinpoint exactly why a bit works, or doesn’t. We have exactly the same shared vision of what comedy should be. Tight, punchline-heavy and making an important point. I’m so grateful to be working with him on this show.
Cue the mutual appreciation society ...
Bobby: He surprised me again by wanting to meet up again. And again. Finlay is such a great comic that every time we would meet up there would be so many new jokes, ideas, and angles that it felt like he had done six months of work in a few weeks. Eventually, the show was so good that I asked if I could be his director because I felt like I was having an impact on the direction of the show, which I guess is what a director is, and he is so funny that I thought hell, why not attach my name to this if I can.
If this interview is anything to go by, the show is going to be a massive success ... so ... plans for the future ?
Finlay: I hope one day we write a film, get rich and buy a boat.
Seems fair.
