Comedy news: Saving pigmy elephants, one moon boot at a time

January 11 by Tim,

The hitch-hiker was unexpected. Standing at the side of the road atop a mountain pass between Switzerland and France the female, in her mid-twenties, was about as out of place as you could be at two in the morning.

Whistling past in the car with the stereo playing an African Cafe album at high volume I admit to feeling a more than a little pang of guilt. What was she doing there, who was she with, and how would you fit eight into a strictly speaking six-person car?

Needless to say we ducked the opportunity for adventure (or an Alpine mugging) and carried on since there was no room to fit her in without breaking the law, and it would be difficult to explain to the passport control if anyone happened to be manning the border on the icy cold night.

We were on our way back to Chamonix for a night at our chalet after the gig in Verbier, (or Verbyah as Matt's Gap Yah character would put it) and had just about enough time to take stock of the 24 hours we had spent so far on the road.

I haven't had the chance to be part of many comedy tours, but I have been privy to enough conversations about them to know that the experience can vary from a month dossing in a lackluster version of Premier Inn to a star-studded trip across continents. 

This particular trip through the Alps always would be considered one of the more unique affairs on any touring calendar, and has proved as such. The brief jaunt for an evening into Switzerland was designed to help launch a new comedy in the resort, and the Old Cinema venue is the sort of place which can either be a fantastically brilliant place to see comedy, or a potential disaster.

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Luckily for us, even though the audience was slightly on the small side on the ground, the gig itself was a success (through no doubt a lot of hard work from the promoter) with Tommy Holgate deciding to re-enact Sherlock Holmes II by incorporating previous audience suggestions during the second half going down particularly well.

Apart from me, Tommy, Matt and cameraman Kenny from Com Comedy, we've spent most of the week in the company of Abandoman - the musical comedy duo comprised of Rob Broderick and James Hancox.

I've known both Rob and James for over three years and though I've seen the act easily over a dozen times, the magic which surrounds the improvised musical act never dims. Word of their abilities has spread as far as the Alps themselves, with many of the audience preparing for their arrival by adding numerous strange objects into their pockets. One man had bought a plant, another what looked like an antique fog horn as well as numerous condoms, and other items from the depths of wallets or handbags.

Tommy Holgate warms up for the gig in Verbier's Old Cinema

Comedians have stages in their careers, and Abandoman are about to go through yet another transition. The last time we saw them in the Alps they were on the verge of breaking through into the mainstream comedy circuit and performed in front of the likes of Al Murray and Marcus Brigstocke for the first time at Altitude Festival 2010.

This coming month Abandoman are due to take their careers a step further by supporting Ed Sheeran on a UK-wide tour. They left us on Saturday morning to head back to London for a rehearsal before their trip to Aberdeen for the first gig of their tour.

From spending this brief time on the road however for me the very nature of touring and the audiences you encounter is one of the more intriguing aspects of the world of live entertainment.

Life speeds up. I write this looking back and in the first 24 hours we had visited three countries, skied on the side of Mt Blanc (ok, close to it) and performed two gigs, filmed a whole chalet sequence and jumped in a car to sample the very best of African beats.

Playing chicken with a snow-mower, I lost, but only just

Yet with speed comes a certain transience. You move between people, overhearing conversations which will never involve – or at their very best briefly involve you – and barely stopping to take in the scene. I can say I have been to Verbier, but I can't describe what the place looks like, I arrived after dark and almost carried my food away in a box as we sped across the border and back to our beds.

The life of any touring entertainer, be they musicians, comedians or actors, can be the same. They may play the Sheffield but the stop is – unless your lucky – only long enough to pick up an anecdote to use on stage before you cast it off and move on.

So apart from the fact that apricots are the fruit of choice for Verbier's particular part of the Alps my lasting memory of the resort is a group of incredibly posh women dancing in their pink moon-boots and an anecdote from Rob Broderick about how he'd been asked to headline a gig to help save pigmy elephants.

With thanks to...

The ski tour would not have been possible without help from Three Vallee Transfers who specialise in door-to-door transfers from as little as 40€ per person. Snostation, who offer a large range of good quality, well located, fun accommodation at affordable prices in Chamonix. Slidecandy who offer a unique ski fitting service delivered to your door, with your ski hire equipment delivered free and fitted in your chalet.