To start, we’d love to know how your approach to comedy as a trio has changed since the early days. When coming together to write, is there a comfortable Tripod groove that you fall into naturally, or do you consciously try and nudge each other out of your comfort zones when first hashing out ideas?
Clearly we’re not nimble ebullient idiots like we once were. When we started there wasn’t much going on in the way of self-awareness or practical knowledge – good thing, that, since probably if we were one iota wiser at the time we wouldn’t have done it at all. More is expected of you as an older dude. Esoteric notions like “what are we actually trying to say” start to come into it. Which, you know, is really hard.
We’re curious to know what each member of Tripod brings to the table in the writing/rehearsal phase. What would you say is the signature individual talent or quality of each of you?
Yon’s the alien weirdo, Gatesy’s the Brownian motion and Scod’s the structure guy who has to make sense of the mess. Bear in mind this is Scod talking. Actual non-subjective facts may vary.
Speaking of ideas, by what metrics do the three of you judge a concept worthy of being included in a Tripod set?
Requirement one – have an idea. That’s the hardest part. Requirement two – we all laugh at it. Then we work at it until a week later we find out that we were all laughing at a completely different understanding of the idea, get confused and go and have a pizza whilst questioning our life choices.
We’re not going to assume you’ve kept an overall tally but, by your best estimate, which Tripod member has contributed the most outlandish or conceptually adventurous foundations for a joke, song or project? Can you share any memorable ‘almosts’ that you couldn’t quite pull off?
Yon’s our off-the-beaten-path guy. Sometimes he even means it. Songs that we played once and never again include ‘Hornbags playing tennis’, ‘Compulsory national service’, ‘Fake your own death’ and ‘Christmas at the centre of the Earth’. All solid if you ask me. What’s the polite term? ‘Execution dependent’.
Comedy and music has gone hand-in-hand for Tripod throughout your career. If we were to craft a triple Venn diagram of your overlapping musical tastes right now, what artists or genres would be listed in the shared portion in the middle?
That’s a tricky one, actually. You grow in various directions, one hopes. We certainly all started off with a deep love of Queen – I would say these days we’re all similarly sick of Queen. In other news – and I hope you’re sitting down for this one – Tripod are giant music theatre nerds. Gatesy maybe a bit less so. I’m not certain he could sing all of Sondheim’s Assassins like the other two could.
Tripod has never been scared of a collaboration. What comedy figure or dream musical artist would you most love to perform alongside and what kind of show would you like to produce with them?
Oh, which younger person would we most like to drain the life out of to fuel our eternal shambling undeath? Was that the question? Oh, wait, you didn’t… never mind. Next question …
It’s been 7 years since Tripod has performed at a Brisbane Comedy Festival, so local comedy fans are no doubt excited for your one-night only show on Thursday April 27. Without giving too much away, can you give us any hints as to what audiences can expect from the show?
Okay, spoilers ahead. <leans close, whispers> It’s three dudes standing in a line singing harmonies and bickering comedically in between songs. I KNOW RIGHT!?! But seriously folks, you can expect us to be brutal with each other about our substandard parenting styles.
In addition to live comedy, your career has broadened to include performing with symphony orchestras, podcasting, working on children’s cartoons and video game franchises. Looking back, of all the opportunities comedy has provided Tripod beyond the stage, what jobs are you most surprised (and thrilled) to have been able to add to your resume?
It’s gotta be Assassins Creed. If you walk into a bar in Victorian London (in the Victorian London version of the game, that is) and you hear murder ballads about your extremely stabby exploits, we wrote those. It was a glorious time of exuberant creativity and thinking of synonyms for ‘intestines’.
Tripod will be performing at The Fortitude Musical Hall as part of the Brisbane Comedy Festival on Thursday April 27. Tickets are still available! Get yours from the Brisbane Comedy Festival website.
