I’m in County bar, losing myself to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits playing in the background, when the friendly face of a certain Comedy Institute member greets me. It’s LUCI President Dave Duncan.
Hi how are you?
Dave: I’m good thanks!
Let’s start off with the basics, can you briefly describe the LUCI sketch show for me?
Dave: Ok, so the sketch show this term is called A Night of Jokes. It is a little bit less narrative focussed than our sketch shows have been before. There are some connecting sketches, but other than that it’s just a bunch of weird ideas that we thought would be interesting to the audience.
How do you go about creating the sketches?
Dave: What normally happens is we either read something, like a news story, or something happens in our personal lives and then we can try to adapt it, to see if it will work in the sketch format. Other than that, I personally like to just get random words and then try and think of as many things as I can think of with those words. There are certain sketches from this show…Hannah Wesson from this show has written a sketch…basically when she was a kid her teacher asked her, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And she said she wanted to be married to the guy who owned Cadbury’s. Not like an actual job, so it’s just kind of about that. So yeah it’s just sort of a mixture between that real life experience and then just really weird fever dream kind of ideas.
What’s a favourite sketch that you’ve been involved in then?
Dave: Well it’s going to be really arrogant because when I’m proud of a sketch I really enjoy doing it. But I think just anything where I get to be a big sort of weird character because they’re always the most fun to play, and they’re also the most fun to write.
So what can someone who has never been to an LUCI show before expect?
Dave: Well in this show specifically there’s a lot of very weird jokes. Just for like an easier soundbite answer it gets a bit weird, some food might be thrown around and there’s a bit of singing on occasion. As you do.
How can people get involved?
(It is worth noting that what follows was an incredibly well rehearsed spiel obviously brought about by experience. It was rather impressive and I think you should know that. Bravo Dave, Bravo).
Dave: Well that is the one easy question that I always have to prep for. (Cue well-rehearsed spiel) There are a variety of ways that you can get involved in the Lancaster University Comedy Institute, for a start we have weekly meetings in Bowland North Seminar Room 20 at 6pm every Friday. In addition to that we also host County Comedy Club, our fortnightly stand-up meeting, in County bar on Thursdays (every two weeks). As well as that we do various projects on radio but the way I would say if you really want to get involved is to contact either me or the society via our Twitter, Facebook or Email.
That was very impressive.
Dave: I did learn that yes. Although I do have a cold so I’m not sure what I’m saying really!
So have you got any tips for people that want to get involved in performing?
Dave: Don’t be afraid of doing it. First and foremost LUCI is an incredibly supportive environment. Just don’t be afraid to come with ideas and just try to be original I would say. Don’t do things because you think other people will find it funny, just do it because it makes you laugh first and foremost. Then it will almost certainly be good. And if not then I’ll f***ing kill you. (Dave wishes to stress that this is a joke and that no, he will not “f***ing kill you” should your material be sub-par).
When and where is the sketch show taking place then?
Dave: Ok so the sketch show is, and I know this because I booked it not 20 minutes ago, in Fylde Common room on Thursday 10th March at 8pm. The show is called ‘A Night of Jokes’, although we may up changing it. But there you go, that’s me.
Be sure to catch the performance on 10th March and visit the LUCI Facebook and Twitter to find out more information about the the show or the society.
