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Armstrong & Miller talk to us about new series and their LIVE Tour

Posted Thursday 8th October 2009by Editor

After the resounding success of the first series of The Armstrong & Miller Show, the second series will be back on BBC One from 16 October.

After the resounding success of the first series, Ben Miller (Moving Wallpaper) and Alexander Armstrong (Mutual Friends) are back with their crack team of comedy writers and “script guru” Jeremy Dyson (League Of Gentlemen) for a second series on BBC One.

With their usual mix of the beautifully observed and completely barmy, expect returning favourites plus a raft of brand new characters. Among them are The White Devil, a self-important ex-pat in Africa – roaming the back roads, saving lives and fixing his hair in the wing mirror of his 4×4; Jilted Jim, dumped at the altar but still on his honeymoon, turning the lives of other newly-weds into a living hell; Dennis Lincoln-Park, an accident-prone culture buff, searching for the most valuable art works in the history of civilisation; and the Old Clubber, a forty-something, mad-for-it Ibiza veteran/company accountant.

The first series managed to establish a wide fan-base for Armstrong & Miller, as Ben explains to us: “What I loved about the series last year was that people would come up to us and say they had watched the series with their parents and children and they’d all loved it. In fact one of our writers told us it was his 81-year-old father’s favourite thing on TV!”

Following their popular series on Channel 4 between 1997 and 2001, Ben and Xander were regularly approached by broadcasters about making another series.

Xander explains why they waited almost seven years before coming back with their series for BBC One: “We did keep getting asked which was hugely flattering but we genuinely didn’t think that we had enough new material to make it funny and full enough for a new series.”

Ben explains why they suddenly changed their minds: “I think it was when we realised we were slipping into middle age – suddenly we had wives and families and there was a lot more to write about.”

Working well in the slot directly after Have I Got News For You last year, Ben explains how they used HIGNFY to help them gauge a BBC One audience: “Have I Got News For You has a really intelligent audience that loves comedy and who watch it on BBC One. It’s a show that doesn’t pull any punches in terms of its quality and we try to cast ourselves in that mould. The second you start talking down to the audience you’ve lost them – you always need to fight hard to stay ahead.”

Xander agrees: “Have I Got News For You is something of a beacon to both of us: a flagship BBC comedy show that is properly, searingly, funny every single week. That is the standard that’s been set and has to be maintained.”

Ben and Xander are adamant that to make it truly funny and appealing to the audience, comedy needs to be immediately recognisable.

Ben explains: “We try to write about subjects that we all share. Our script editor Jeremy Dyson always says that every sketch must have a kernel of observed truth, something people can connect with.”

Xander agrees and tells us why Jeremy was so integral in the process of making it all work: “Jeremy will always say to make sure there’s absolutely no ambiguity in any of the stage directions so that what you have on paper is interpreted in the correct way. So although there is a broad range of subjects within the show, it’s all cohesive and coming from a similar voice.”

As executive producers for the series, Ben and Xander are involved in all aspects of the series, from pre-production to the editing process.

Xander lets on just how involved they like to be: “We spend an enormous amount of time on the series. Every department has to put up with us on their back until the shows are signed off and delivered. I daresay it’s quite annoying but I think your role as executive producer is above all to care desperately that the show is as good as it can possibly be.”

The producer Caroline Norris who has worked on both series explains why she thinks Ben and Xander work so well together and why she thinks it’s the best sketch show to work on: “Fundamentally both Ben and Xander are naturally very funny and as well as that are both great actors, which makes them a joy to work with and a joy to watch. They are so convincing and immediately transform themselves into the character, so every sketch feels like a mini drama.”

Ben and Xander have been close friends for a long time and the duo began performing together in 1993 when they both left Cambridge and started working together at a Notting Hill comedy club.

Caroline thinks that their close friendship is what makes them such a great comedy double act: “They have a really interesting dynamic and share a very similar sense of humour, but they also think quite differently about certain things. They’re both very interested in the production aspect of the series and Ben especially is very keen on the directing and has actually just directed his first feature film, Huge, he’s a really useful executive producer to have.”

The pre-production on the series is a lengthy process as lots of writers are involved and the boys like to go through everything with them as Xander explains: “Ben and I will meet with all the writers to go through their ideas. We like to go through every detail of it and develop as much of a back story to each character as well, to land people right in the thick of every sketch. The only thing we really honestly set out to do is to keep hold of the things that we found funny.”

Ben raves about the consistently high quality of sketches they receive from their crack team of writers: “We have the most incredible team of writers who do an amazing job – working closely with them is at the heart of what we do. The pilot sketches, for example, are just astonishingly well written and a joy to perform. I say a joy – they are practically impossible to learn and take umpteen takes to get right.”

Once they have their sketches Ben and Xander try them out in front of a live audience at venues such as The Hen and Chickens in North London as Ben explains: “It really is one of the best things that we do. It gets us used to performing in front of an audience, and is the only true way of finding out if something funny on paper is as funny when it’s acted out – you can tell immediately what does and doesn’t work and then can go back to the drawing board again.”

Once the location filming is over Ben and Xander record 80% of their sketches in front of a live audience in studios at the BBC’s Television Centre: “Recording so much in front of a live audience every Friday night means we work our socks off all week in the days leading up to it. It is absolutely terrifying if you’re not fully prepared, there are a lot of people there waiting for you to make them laugh, and you can’t get away with comedy that’s just baffling – ultimately it makes them cross which you definitely don’t want.”

There are some returning characters from series one, and viewers will be pleased to hear that the incredibly popular, street-talking Second World War pilots are back.

Caroline Norris tells us a bit more about them and whey they strike such a chord: “It’s fundamentally about 19-year-olds – those who were risking their lives in the war and the 19-year-olds we have today, the direct comparison is what makes it so funny.

“Simon Blackwell, who was the genius who came up with the characters, said he got his inspiration from two teenagers on the back of the bus and the way they spoke – he’s incredibly clever and picks up all these little sayings and then puts them in a sketch.”

Xander agrees and explains why he thinks they were such a hit with the audience: “The pilots highlight how our generation has evolved into this terrible state of self-regarding compensation culture from the selflessness of the previous generation. The pilots in this series have a whole list of disorders they suffer from, which somehow should excuse them from any responsibility. Notes from their mum, asthma, learning difficulties… it’s a wonderful performance piece but a nightmare to learn.”

There is a plethora of new characters in Series Two. Xander tells us about one of his favourites: “We have this doctor/aid worker whose gone native and moved to Botswana and is intoxicated with Africa and slightly intoxicated by himself. He has a view of Africa that basically seems to be cobbled together from Comic Relief appeal videos and the Lion King. I think my favourite sketch with him is when there is an aid-drop, the plane flies over, drops all the stuff in the scrub and the villagers start meticulously unloading and loading it. He looks off into the distance, squints and says, ‘Chaos’.”

Ben plays a wonderful character of a man who seems to be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis: “The Old Clubber is one of my favourites – I feel a bit like him on the rare occasion I go out actually – he’s that forty-something-year-old who’s dancing away and having a great time even though everyone around him is about 20 years younger. In each sketch he’s raving away before he’s recognised by a junior employee or a friend of one of his children, so he starts trying to give out fatherly advice but has taken a whole lot of drugs and starts gurning uncontrollably!”

The balance of returning and new characters is important to get right: “We are very hopeful that this series gets the balance right between recurring characters that people know and love and doing something new and exciting as well. It’s a bit like a comic type cartoon – when you know the characters in every sketch you know what the punchline’s going to be and you know what the catchphrases are. It’s important to have some of those but there needs to be enough new material in each show to give it a variety of pace.”

Third Series Commissioned & LIVE Tour ‘10

As well as a third series already commissioned for next year, Ben and Xander will be taking the show on a LIVE Tour in Autumn 2010 including such venues as the Grand Theatre, Blackpool (3 Oct ‘10). They did their first live comedy acts together almost 15 years ago now, and to begin with it was incredibly hard work.

Xander explains why: “When Ben and I first went up to Edinburgh in 1994, nobody was doing sketch comedy up there and it just disappeared into the mud. But it did mean that for our second Edinburgh show, in 1996, we had a platform actually to build on.”

Ben laughs as he remembers it: “That year in Edinburgh was really hard. I remember somebody saying to us ‘why are you are doing this, the telly lot are never going to make any sketch shows’. But then suddenly The Fast Show became a huge hit, and the tide began to turn. I think everything that’s happened since has really been because of the success of The Fast Show.”

Their new live tour next year promises to be packed full of everyone’s favourite characters as Xander elaborates: “We want to really explore what we can do on stage and make full use of this. Our goal is to make it a fantastic all-singing, all-dancing – ok some singing, some dancing event.”

Images © BBC. Photographer Adam Lawrence

LIVE Tour Details

Following the resounding success of BBC One’s BAFTA-nominated Armstrong & Miller Show the duo will be touring the UK including Blackpool’s very own Grand Theatre on Sunday 3rd October 2010 for one night only!

With their usual mix of the beautifully observed and the utterly barmy; Ben and Xander will be performing a parade of characters from their extensive dressing-up box and wig-store including the street-talking WWII chav pilots; Brabbins and Fyffe – the filthy alter-egos of Flanders and Swann; Jilted Jim – dumped at the altar but still on his honeymoon; Terry Devlin – the royal correspondent who really KNOWS the royals; Dennis Lincoln-Park – the accident-prone culture buff; the Frank Dad; and so many more… Ben and Xander said of their new live tour: “We are cock-a-hoop to be stepping out on tour in Autumn 2010. Expect all your favourite Armstrong & Miller characters and sketches in a market-fresh, brand spanking new show.”

The Grand Theatre, Blackpool www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk