Mischief Makers Episode 14: Matt Cavendish
[Upbeat music plays]Host: Welcome to Mischief Makers, your one stop shop for all things Mischief. Join your host Dave Hearn, as he finds out what makes Mischief... well, Mischief!Charlie Russell: Hello and welcome to another episode of Mischief Makers. I am Charlie Russell (I am not Dave Hearn!) And today I have the honour and pleasure of interviewing the freakishly talented Matt Cavendish, otherwise known as "The Dish"! Hello Matt!Matt Cavendish: [Laughs] Good afternoon! I thought you were going to introduce me as "Adele Dazeem" then![CR laughs]MC: "The wickedly talented Adele Dazeem!"[Both laugh]CR: This has already got off to a really bad start! No, Matthew Cavendish, Matt Turner, Dish - you go by many names.MC: Any number of aliases, yeah. I was fun growing up: Turn Table, Turnstiles, The Dish, Dishy, Cavendish. Yeah, all of them! Matty, Matt.CR: All of them. Matty - aww. So for those of the listeners that don't know, this is a podcast for people to get to know the members of Mischief and just generally find out interesting things about some very interesting people. So Matt, the first the section of this interview is called the Getting to Know You section. Dave has already explained recently that after all these many, many episodes of this podcast we've done, we're still yet to figure out how to add jingles. So I will be asking you to improvise a little jingle for us for the Getting to Know You section (it's becoming quite a thing now on the Mischief Makers podcast!) So can you do that?MC: I'll do my very best.CR: Alright.MC: Right now?CR: Yeah. Yeah, go!MC: Are you going to count me in? You going to set the tempo?CR: [Laughs] Alright, okay. [Clicks fingers in time] A one, a two, a one, two, three four!MC: [Sings] I'm a-wearing a shoe, sitting on the loo and you are getting to know... YOU I'm getting to know, getting to know, I'm getting knoooow YOU![CR laughs]MC: What I did there was muddle up "getting to know me" and "getting to know you"! Um... that's extraordinary![CR is still laughing]MC: A professional improviser of songs!CR: That was... [Laughs again] That is like one of your actual jobs that you get paid to do!MC: Please don't let Adam Meggido hear that!CR: [Laughs] I'm sending it to him personally! No that was very good - mine was dreadful when I did it.MC: I did three "ooo" rhymes there which was astonishing when put on the spot.CR: Well there you go! Exactly.MC: Shoe, loo and you.CR: ...indeed!MC: I can't think of any more!CR: Poo.MC: Two. Coup, political coup. That's a tricky one to fit into a jingle though, isn't it?CR: Oh yeah.MC: [Sings] Political coup, I'm getting to know YOU![Both laugh]CR: Okay! Moving on from the jingle, otherwise it's going to take up most of this interview...MC: [Sings] Doing a spew![CR laughs]MC: No it's great, now I'm going! [Sings] Doing a spew!CR: Ha, no shh! [Sings] We're going to Waterloo!MC: [Sings] There's only a few... sorry! Aw - you're away!CR: Right! No, no, no! So I was particuarly excited to interview you Matt, in fact I pretty much begged Dave to let me do it!MC: You were insisting for weeks!CR: [Jokes] Yeah, he was like, "No Charlie, you're rubbish!" And I was like, "Oh please, David!" But we first met, you and I first met in what is it... August 2009? The Open Day before we started.MC: Yes, correct!CR: We started the three year course at LAMDA that September and so I think that means we've known each other for about 11 years.MC: I know. That is mad isn't it?CR: That's crazy.MC: Yeah and you were the very first person with whom I struck up a rapport on that day!CR: Awww - yeah!MC: Yeah, relaxed standing and just sort of commenting on the other people walking around... what was it, E5? The big room where we were all... they put you altogether in a big room and they give you some nibbles and they expect you to get to know each other. And I think we just stood at the side of the room, commenting on other people.CR: [Laughs] That is exactly what we did! I remember it vividly, I've actually written down - I was so excited, I think I clung to you for like the whole day.MC: Oh it was mutual!CR: I was just like, "Oh, look at this guy! He's like normal and a bit like me and he's not as scary as everyone else! So I just want to be his friend!"MC: Quite a broad concept of normality, if you're referring to me as a "normal person"!
CR: Well I obviously... I didn't all that I know about you now![Both laugh]MC: Yeah, quite. It gives people an idea of how abnormal the world of drama school is!CR: Yeah, yeah! You and I are bland!MC: Yeah! Incredibly bland![CR laughs]MC: Well I was certain that I was there as a result of an administrative error.CR: Oh yeah, me too.MC: I didn't think there was any way that I was accepted from an audition.CR: Oh God, no.MC: And I still don't, I still think it was probably an administrative error.CR: [Laughs] I think they do too! But they're just too embarrassed to admit it!MC: [Laughs] It's too late now![Both laugh]CR: But I obviously, therefore, know quite a bit about you - but the listeners probably won't. So tell us a little bit about you: where did you grow up? Where you went to school? How did you find school? That kind of stuff.MC: Um... yeah. I enjoyed school, I was sort of one of those people who just sort of had a bit of a go at everything. I grew up in Suffolk, a little village called Thurston just outside of Bury St Edmunds, where I now find myself again thanks to the pandemic. I'm back with my parents... living the dream!CR: Nice!MC: In their cupboard doing a podcast![CR laughs]MC: So yeah, I was in Suffolk - did lots of sport, lots of performing arts stuff. Had a generally pretty nice time really, can't complain.CR: And at what point did you get into acting? When did you know you wanted to do it?MC: For a long time. I mean my Dad's a drama teacher, he was Head of Drama at my secondary school - can you imagine? Well not actually my secondary school, because in East Anglia we had a three tier school system for a long time.CR: Oh yeah.MC: And it's now just changed - so actually Upper School, from Year 9 to Year 13. And he got me [involved], I sort of jumped out of a basket in some sort of Christmas show that they put on when I was about five. And for whatever reason at that point decided that was the career for me! And really it's been one of the only things in my life that I've ever been like absolutely certain of - that was the job I wanted to know. And it's quite nice when you know that, because it's a big part of your life.CR: Yeah, I mean you're also an excellent dancer and singer. So was it the acting that came first? And then you like brought the other two in to kind of complement it?MC: Yeah, I don't know. I did acting and stuff and then I think... with the dance, my Mum's friend had a son (this was when we were about six), he was going to take up. And she said, "Oh, do you want to do it?" And I went, "Yes and that" - always have been, always will be. And just was like, "Yeah, okay. I'll have a go at that." And once I'd started things, I found it very difficult to quit even if I didn't really enjoy them.[CR laughs]MC: So I carried on dancing extra-curricular and in school until I left school. And because I always knew I wanted to be an actor, the sort of advice was, "Well that would be a handy thing to be good at". And the singing as well, I was very taken by various musical theatre scores as a young kid. So Grease and Oliver were the big kids!CR: Oh yes!MC: I knew all the words!CR: Absolute bangers!MC: And so having singing lessons seemed like the natural next step.CR: So why didn't you do musical theatre? Were you gonna?MC: I was gonna. I'd sort of... I'd had a really busy last year of school and hadn't necessarily decided, hadn't done any particular in-depth research as to where I wanted to go and study. So I only auditioned for three drama schools, I auditioned for LAMDA, Guildhall and the Royal Scottish Academy.CR: Oh!MC: Because they had what looked like a good musical theatre course and it was part of an acting conservatoire. So I sort of knew that I could do straight acting or something affiliated with that, that would be useful. So I got offered them and I was ready to go to do Musical Theatre at the Royal Scottish Academy (which now has a different title, I think). And then got an offer from LAMDA which I thought I couldn't really pass up. So ended up doing that. But yeah, I would have happily gone into musical theatre. I mean as it is, I've ended up doing bits of acting and musical theatre anyway.CR: Yeah, you have a really, really varied career don't you?MC: Jack of all trades! I would say![CR laughs]CR: I'm really personally very glad that you decided to go to LAMDA, because I don't know what I would have done without you. I think I used to describe you as my "oxygen" in the first year! When everything was like so crazy, I'd be like, "Well, I'll just go and talk to Matt".MC: Aww - well we lived together, you see.CR: We did live together for a year. We were often in the same group, in the half and all that stuff.MC: Yeah we were, weren't we?CR: Yeah, always together!MC: Thick as thieves!CR: Thick as thieves! Also - do you remember Calum? "Do you know Calum?!" The man you live with or have lived with for many years!MC: Yeah, I have met him!CR: We worked out we were always in the same group until the final year. Like every single term, every single class, we were in the same group together.MC: So maybe he usurped me as oxygen after first year?CR: [Laughs] You're both my oxygen, boys! Just both oxygen. But you were 18 when you started which is pretty impressive. How did you find LAMDA? Did it work for you? Did you learn something? Did you learn what not to do? Do you think it changed you as a person?MC: Um... I think it can't not really. If you're spending three years from 18 to 21, you're going to change as a person anyway. And I definitely grew in confidence, you know, I've always been someone who sort of tries to take things in their stride. I mean I had no idea what I was letting myself in for really, when we turned up in that first term. I mean I hadn't done much straight acting, not proper acting. And I didn't really consider myself to be an "actor's actor" - you know, I was more a jester really or like just a performer.And so to turn and be doing like method style improvisations where you're meant to scream and shout and cry and throw things across the room was... not my comfort zone! But I wasn't... there were some people in the year who were like, "Ah this is terrible, I'm going to quit!" I didn't reach a low point like that, I sort of just barrelled through because that's what you do. Yeah and then once we'd got into the second year, I think I started to feel more comfortable by that point. And then yeah as an environment, it's no surprise Mischief was started, given that the sort of ethos of the place is to promote sort of ethics of an ensemble and the advantages of being a good team player. And that's all stuff that I enjoy, I love team sports, I love being a part of a team - that is as enjoyable for me as doing the shows. Just being part of a community of people.CR: Yeah. You weren't actually in Mischief then, were you? You were... [Laughs] watching me go off and do it!MC: I was traipsing round London, watching Mischief in various small Fringe venues like the Canal Cafe! [Laughs] Yeah, because it was a nice thing to do and it was a nice way to spend your Sunday evening. There was no pressure on me to do any performing! I'd turn up - sit and watch! Great!CR: I'm always very grateful that you often doubled the amount of people in the audience![Both laugh]CR: So that means that you started with us a couple of years ago and you've worked with us a lot. But it also means that you've done loads of shows that re not Mischief shows. So what would you say is the greatest lesson you've learned from doing a show that isn't a Mischief show?MC: Oof... um... that is a good question. I would say part of it falls into the context of the Mischief stuff, which is like one of the biggest lessons in the last sort of few years of career stuff which is having amazing highs (particularly with Mischief) of doing West End stuff and Broadway stuff. And then coming back and being in smaller scale shows and remembering that they're no less important and the audiences aren't any less important. And it's sometimes it's quite hard I think... [mocks self] "Oh, it's quite hard as an actor!"[CR laughs]MC: I don't mean like, "Woe is me!" But to level the fact that there isn't really a career trajectory, like you can have a year where you're doing really big, commercial shows, and you can have a year where you're struggling to get bits of work and the work you do get is on a smaller scale. And that isn't to do with momentum particularly or trajectory; that's just the career. You're going to have big years and you're going to have small years. And finding as much joy in the jobs that aren't big, commercial jobs is as important as enjoying the big jobs.CR: Yeah, because it's such a crazy job to do anyway - you can't do it if you don't enjoy it.MC: Absolutely.CR: And actually being realistic about what you're going to expect makes the whole thing more enjoyable, doesn't it? But you've also obviously done a lot of shows for us - you've been in Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Play That Goes Wrong, you've done Mischief Movie Night, you were in Bank Robbery, um... have I missed any of them out yet?MC: No! I think you've ticked them!CR: You came to Broadway with us with The Play That Goes Wrong, and you understudied for that and you've understudied for us before. How do you find understudying and do you have any tips for anyone who's taking on an understudy role?MC: Oh, good question! Um... how do I find it? I think I had a really sort of unique... I think understudying for Mischief is a unique job for a number of reasons: the shows are unique, but also because you get a lot of stage time. Because if you're on a long contract, people have holidays - so the parts you're covering, you get on for them. But so it might have changed now, but the contracts I was on - I was covering a lot of parts. And people pick up knocks and stuff. You know, touch wood - no-one gets really seriously injured. But they're physical shows and people tend to, you know. And also vocally, they're really athletic vocally. So there are going to be times when you can't do shows if you're ill - so as an understudy, I was on a lot.CR: Yeah, you were on so much!MC: That's not necessarily the experience of, you know - if you're doing a straight play, you might not get on at all. So I'm aware that that is slightly unique, but I would say it's a brilliant for anyone (if you ever get the opportunity to do it), it will give you sort of a new found respect for the job. And the only sort of tip I would have is to just work really hard, make sure you've done your homework: you know your lines, you know where you're going. And then try not to lose your mind when you have to go on at the drop of a hat, and just sort of surrender to the idea you're in other people's hands and you know what you're doing and don't try to over-analyse it.CR: Or if you're Matt Cavendish, use the opportunity to try and make everybody else laugh on stage!MC: [Laughs] That is not true!CR: That is true!MC: [Laughs] I am very professional!CR: You are the worst person![Both laugh]CR: Because you make me laugh and then you start laughing and then we're both just laughing and nobody understands!MC: Well, yeah! That would be the thing - if I was able to control myself and make other people laugh, you'd sort of go, "Oh, well at least he's professional". But as soon as someone else smirks, it's very difficult for me to keep a straight face!CR: No I'm the worst, yeah.
MC: That was bad! Yeah, I mean - but maybe it's something to do with making myself feel like I'm... relaxed? Maybe I'm just trying to give myself an excuse! But certainly as an understudy going on for the first time, if you're sort of having a bit of Mischief and just messing around with your mates - it suddenly doesn't feel like you're on a Broadway stage in front of 1,000 people who have paid $150 for a ticket...CR: Goodness, yeah.MC: Yeah - without derailing the show. That's never my intention.CR: No... sure, sure...[Both laugh]MC: If we want to work again!CR: Please! Other things about you - you are a very musical man. As we mentioned, you're a singer but you're also a pianist and you play the saxophone, is that right? Are you keeping that up?MC: In a very broad sense! Yeah, I play a bit of piano - I'm not a brilliant sight reader, but I can hammer out some chords. And saxophone I did play at school, but if my old, big band - well now one of my best mates, but then was a 25 year old teacher at my secondary school - used to run the big band. And I'd sort of been playing saxophone for a few years and he knew that I couldn't really do a solo because I wasn't good enough, but if he asked me to, I would just stand up and try and sell it.[CR laughs]MC: And so in any school concert, he'd always get me up to do a solo. And between us we coined the phrase: "One note solo". Because I'd just stand up and blast out one note like, "DA DA DA DA DA DA DA, da da da da da, BU DA". Like if I just found the right key...[CR makes saxophone noises in the background]MC: And he said he found it one of the funniest things![CR laughs]MC: But it's truly, it is a real case of if you really sell it - it's amazing what you can get away with! That should be on my grave stone, that's like my career in a nutshell!CR: Oh yeah, "If you sell it..."MC: "If you give it everything, hopefully people won't notice that you don't know what you're doing!"CR: Well that leads me on to actually talking to you about your improvising careers. So you've improvised with us, but you also are a fully-fledged, frequent cast member of Olivier award-winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Do you think that helps with performing now?MC: As evidenced by my jingle that people heard earlier![Both laugh]CR: Yeah indeed! Like, how have you found working with Showstopper? is it as scary now as it was when you started? It must be incredible.MC: Yeah, it's like... the whole improv thing is an interesting one, because I hadn't ever set out to do it and it was never like an ambition. And it was only really joining Mischief and doing what was then Lights! Camera! Improvise! that I got into it. So I sort of fell into it, but I think that's like another thing career-wise: I think you end up doing what you're sort of meant to be doing. Even if you don't have a particular drive to do it, I think you know that just ends up happening. And so ending up in Showstopper who'd been going for ten years by the time I joined, and done about a thousand shows. And so you turn up at those rehearsals and it's just insane - you get up and you can't really do it and they're amazing! And there were definitely (especially in that first years), I'd find myself going to rehearsals just thinking, "Why am I putting myself through this?" But then again, it's that team thing. Once you've got a few shows under your belt and you're part of that amazing team and you know you're in safe hands - it's such a rewarding show to do and people really love it. And it's the same, you know what it's like with Mischief Movie Night - when one of those shows is really rattling along and the audience are with you, there's nothing quite like it. And it almost makes scripted shows lose a bit of their edge for you as a performer, because you're so used to everything being different every single night.CR: Yeah, yeah. There's nothing quite like an improv show that is actually flying - it's much more rare. The feeling you get, oh my God! You feel like an absolute rock star, don't you? And I know what you mean, it's the team thing - you sort of know each other and know what you're thinking about. And you talked about sport earlier - for a prancing, singing, tap dancing actor, you love sport![MC laughs]CR: You love all sport, don't you? Is that right? You would pretty much watch anything?MC: Yeah, yeah, absolutely!CR: But if you had to pick one?MC: Oh well, it would probably have to be football. That's a boring answer...CR: It's not!MC: But it's very difficult - between cricket and football, they're the better two.CR: Tennis?MC: I would watch tennis - I follow all sports, but the ones I watch the most are cricket and football. But I think an aptitude for sport is one of things that's kept me ring-fenced from major bullying going through school![Both laugh]MC: Because if you're good at sport, you can sort of get away with doing what you want really. And maybe I'm underestimating my peers, that they wouldn't have poked fun at me being purely a musical theatre singer/dancer, if I was bad at football. But there's a part of me that suspects that might not have been the case.CR: I was terrible at football.MC: What, you were? I don't believe that for a second...CR: Ha, ha, HA! Very funny![Both laugh]MC: I don't think you're as bad as you think you are though.CR: Aww, cheers! I just pushed for being funny.MC: It's actually sort of a backhanded compliment!CR: What's your favourite football team?MC: Norwich City, of course!CR: Of course! I mean I knew that, I felt like the audience needed to know!MC: [Laughs] Me and Delia Smith! Yeah, so it's been an odd couple of months, not having any football to follow.CR: Oh no!MC: With Norwich being on the verge of relegation in the Premier League and no we've had a stay of execution, but now it's kicking back off again on the 17th of this month [correct at time of recording]. Watch this space!CR: Oh, very exciting, very exciting!MC: It's incredibly exciting!CR: ...for you! Some of you!MC: I appreciate this may not be material that is appealing to our key demographic!CR: No, I think it is. Because I think it's really important that people know all the sort of different facets of the company members. And actually, there'll be loads of football fans who'll think that Mischief don't love football. But you and Jono [Sayer] and Nancy [Zamit], massively!MC: And Harry [Kershaw]!CR: And Harry, of course. Yes!But we will move on now, so I'm going to need you to improvise another jingle...MC: Oh heavens!CR: For Questions from the Web! Are you ready?MC: [Laughs, starts singing] Questions, questions... oh no, sorry! Are you going to count me in again?CR: [Laughs] That was so good! It felt really like Sondheimy. Okay, go!MC: [Sings] How and why? How and why? Where and who? Wherefore, why? How and why? Where and who? All the Questions of the web![CR laughs]MC: Notice I didn't get a rhyme in there!CR: [Still laughing] Can you tell us if that is akin to any sort of musical theatre genre?MC: No, no. That wasn't. And what is interesting is I've got these in-earphones in, so I can't really hear my own voice! So I've no idea at what pitch any of that was coming out.CR: It was lovely!MC: Yeah, I don't know what that would be... a sort of weird crossover of various styles, none of which would be commercially successful.CR: Well, maybe it's just because nobody's tried it. This is beginning of a wonderful journey... I have some questions for you from Twitter...MC: [Sings] How and why! Where and Who! Can it be? Scooby-Doo![CR laughs]MC: That's a good rhyme!CR: How are you going to get "Web" in, improvising web... I can't think of a way!MC: No, I can't... I don't think "pleb" is acceptable, is it?CR: No, it's not! No, okay - moving on, moving on. I have a question for you from DAISY THOMAS from Twitter.MC: Hi Daisy!CR: Is there anything particularly (Hi Daisy!) Is there anything particularly interesting on your Bucket List?MC: Oh... particularly interesting? That's quite a broad set of parameters.CR: Do you even have a Bucket List?MC: I do not have a Bucket List. I am a man who is, my personality is quite well-suited to this current pandemic. Not because I think I'm in anyway immune, but because I'm such a bad planner. I have really very little idea of what to do with myself going forward. So I really just take everyday as it goes and then hope that things that turn up that are exciting.[CR laughs]MC: I would like at some point to visit more countries. So I really want to go to India, potentially watch cricket in India. That's quite a big one!CR: Oh yeah! Oh that's a really good one.MC: With my friend Jeremy Lloyd, shout out to Jeremy Lloyd.CR: Shout out, Jeremy Lloyd! J Lloyd! Jezza!MC: J Lloyd, big cricket fan and we would love to go and watch cricket in India. So that's a big one.CR: Jeremy Lloyd also another Mischief performer, original cast of The Comedy About a Bank Robbery.
MC: That's correct.CR: Original Officer Shuck.MC: That's right.CR: So I have another question for you, from Bethany @B10...MC: Hi Bethany! See I'm doing this like they do when they do like TV stuff - like as though I've got a really large following of fans!CR: You do! And you'll have even more after this.MC: Hey Beth!CR: Hey Beth! How you doing? She asks: of any play that you've performed in, which made you the most proud to be a part of? And this is a little disclaimed from me: you don't have to say a Mischief show (promise!)MC: [Jokes] Oh, well in that case... No! I think it would have to be The Play That Goes Wrong, I think. It's very rare that you can... the whole experience of that show (particularly on Broadway), I think it's very rare that any... it's a rare opportunity for an actor to be able to stand on a Broadway stage with mates that he's known for 10 years, having just performed in a show. So that is the major highlight so far, I would say.CR: Yeah, that was pretty cool. The picture I used to post on the internet and ask for questions was us on our first day I think of the second term of LAMDA, and then us on your first performance on Broadway.MC: Why did I pull [that face]? I think I pulled that face in the Broadway costume to be like, "Oh look how zany and wired I am for this show!"[CR laughs]MC: But it just looks like I've just wet my pants! It's horrendous, it's a real horrible face I'm pulling.CR: I think it's characterful!MC: Okay, thanks!CR: [Laughs] I've got another question for you, from @HayleyPineapple.MC: Hi Hayley, or hey Hayley! Hey, hey Hayley!CR: Hey Hayley! If you could meet any fictional character, who would that be? Who would you meet?MC: Who would I meet from the world of fiction? It's interesting, I read a lot of non-fiction. I believe like Dave, Dave reads a lot of non-fiction, doesn't he?CR: Yeah, you both do. I'm a very fiction based person.MC: Fiction based person! Who would I want to meet...? Oh... I mean the obvious one is Santa Claus, isn't it? He would give me lots of... HE IS NOT FICTIONAL!CR: WOAH, WOAH, WOAH!MC: He is non-fiction... ahhhh, what have I done?!CR: Ah noo, you've just shattered children's dreams all across the country.MC: You're going to have to edit this, you're going to have to edit this...[Both laugh]MC: I can't believe what I've just done. Ah... Jesus, sorry!CR: I do believe in Santa, I do, I do!MC: I do believe in Santa as well. Um... fictional character, I think probably the Tasmanian devil because what a maverick! You know?CR: I do!MC: A) How do you do so many spins so fast?! You know, so many questions for him really.CR: Yeah, a lot! I used to love the Tasmanian Devil.MC: You didn't see that coming, I didn't see that coming either.CR: No, but he was one of my favourites. He really was, when I was a kid, he was my favourite.MC: He was on Pogs, do you remember Pogs?CR: Yes, loved those! So cool. Okay, so another question from @LeachyBoy.MC: Hey @Leachy!CR: Leachy Leach. What was your first memory of making an audience laugh? Was it the basket?MC: [Laughs] I don't really remember much about the basket! No I think it was a youth theatre production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when I was about eight in which I played Grandpa Joe. (Typecast again!)CR: Ahhh!MC: I'm always playing old men! And still, even in my mid-20's, still playing [them]. Still being professionally cast as old people, which is a weird quirk![CR laughs]MC: But yeah, I remember the first night playing Grandpa Joe: getting some laughs because my reading glasses fell off my nose and then apparently my performance just became outrageously indulgent (according to my parents!) And I'd be like trying to shake my head to get my glasses to fall off my face, I was doing all sorts of horrendously hammy ad-libs...CR: [In mock shock] No!MC: A sign of things to come! And there is a picture of me in that show, pulling a pose which is replicated on almost every professional show I've done, when the pictures come back.CR: [Laughs] We have to find that! We have to find that! Finally, a question from this person on Twitter, um... Lucy Trodd...MC: [Jokes, knowing who she is] Who's Lucy Trodd?CR: [Jokes] Who's Lucy Trodd?MC: One of the best human beings in the world!CR: No I know, she is isn't she? She's incredible - everybody follow Lucy Trodd right now! What age did you learn to do the splits? Do you do the splits in every show? Were you born with flexibility? What was dancing like when you were younger?MC: [Laughs] I've never been able to do the splits, sorry Lucy! I think it's an optical illusion, because I've got such short legs - here's more information about me, I'm 5ft 5in, small man. Because I've got small legs, it looks as though I'm more flexible than I am. And you know, famously trying to do Fame leaps everywhere, which I can sort of do but not with any great deal of flexibility. But they've been a good party trick, especially for Showstopper shows (Lucy is a member of Showstopper, just to fill that in). And I think you know, especially when improvising - you've heard the difficulty I have with improvising lyrics during this podcast! So if you can just end up dancing around instead of having to improvise lyrics, I've found that to be an excellent way of getting through a song that you're improvising. Tips to young improvisers out there: don't improvise, just dance!CR: [Laughs] "Just dance!" Well that moves us on to your final bit of improvising. We have the new section which is the Quickfire section. So I need you to improvise a jingle for that. Are you ready?MC: Okay.CR: Three, two, one, GO!MC: [Sings a drumming beat] QUICK, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, FIRE, dum, dum, dum, dum...[CR laughs, then joins in]Both: QUICK, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, FIRE, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum...MC: [Solo singing] HOLD! Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, HOLD YOUR FIRE! Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, this is quick, quick, quick, quick, dum, dum, dum, FIRE, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum...[CR can't stop laughing]MC: That became quite a military theme, to that oneCR: [Now crying from laughter] Yeah, it really was! It was so much longer!MC: Sorry! Yeah!CR: It was so much longer!MC: It's not really a jingle. Less a jingle, more an entire theme tune.CR: I flipping loved it, dude! Ohh ho oh!MC: Ohh ho oh!CR: Oh, oh, oh OH! Okay, so - gosh, I've got the giggles! Right, well that's nothing new, is it? So the final section of this is Quickfire. Can you give me - or no, you've given me the three second... "three second" Quickfire jingle! That was the best I needed to tell you!MC: Oh that was meant to be three seconds?!CR: [Laughs] So I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions and you've got to try to answer them as quickly as possible?MC: Is it like, "Does Santa Claus exist?"CR: Yes!MC: Don't get me in trouble again!CR: And the answer is yes, obviously! Okay - are you ready?MC: Yes!CR: [Sings jingle again] Dum, dum, dum... Okay! What is your favourite colour?MC: Yellow.CR: Is it?MC: Well, it's Norwich City!CR: Oh, of course, of course. Sorry, I just had you down as a red man! If you were an animal, what would you be?MC: Cat.CR: That's so true. If you were to describe yourself as a dessert, what would that be?MC: Tiramisu.CR: Mmm, spicy! (They're not spicy!)MC: [Laughs] ...that's not spicy!CR: It's just caffeine. Lots of energy, it's not spicy at all!MC: It's alcohol and caffeine!
CR: It's very creamy in fact! Is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit?MC: Cake.CR: Cake!MC: Do you know what the difference is between cake and biscuit?CR: No I don't.MC: This how you can tell: a cake hardens as it goes stale and a biscuit softens.CR: Oh...MC: There you go.CR: But I'm sure a Jaffa Cake hardens.MC: Exactly. So it's a cake - no, yeah!CR: [Gasps] It's a biscuit! Oh...MC: Cake hardens, biscuit softens.CR: Oh!MC: And it's called Cake, that's the big clue.CR: Sure, okay - so cake hardens, biscuit softens - got you! If you were one of the 52 playing cards, which one would you be?MC: Joker!CR: The Joker! Left or right?MC: Left.CR: Right or wrong?MC: Right.CR: What is your favourite film?MC: Catch Me if You Can.CR: Not Notting Hill?MC: Ahhhh! As if I'd miss my favourite one, Notting Hill![Both laugh]MC: At every Lights! Camera! Improvise! show when they asked for a suggestion of a film, I'd always scream, "NOTTING HILL!"CR: I know!MC: I can't believe I didn't say that!CR: You love a rom-com, don't you?MC: Love it - absolutely love it, yeah. What's not to love?CR: What's your favourite video game? Do you play video games?MC: FIFA. I did like Spyro the Dragon growing up, but I haven't played [it since]. I'm not a big gamer.CR: And finally: who would be the best Mischief person to be trapped on a desert island with?MC: Quickfire! Henry Lewis!CR: Henry Lewis - very good.MC: Because he could tell me stories all the time.CR: Oh yeah! See a lot of us go with Bodie, because you're more likely to actually survive.MC: [Laughs] I'm less about survival, more about entertainment.CR: Yeah, if you're only going to be around for a while - you might as well have some good stories to see you off. Henry Lewis would be brilliant, it would be very fun. Okay and exit-edly, before we wrap up - do you have any top recommendations for people stuck indoors? Maybe something they should watch on TV or something they should read?MC: I um... this is non-fiction, I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Talking to Strangers. I find all of his stuff very interesting, he's got a brilliant podcast called Revisionist History - there's three series of that that's well worth a listen. It's really just like very interesting takes on various things that have happened in the past or currently. For fun and japes, you've got all the Mischief stuff haven't you? What more do you need?CR: Aww!MC: And there's also the floor game - How's That Cricket? Which is fun for all the family. So all those cricket lovers out there can play How's That.CR: Oh, How's That... how does it work?MC: Um... I've got a very simplified version of the game which has a dice on it that the batsmen throw, which tells you how many runs are scored. But occasionally on that dice it will say, "How's that?" which is an appeal for out. And then the person bowling has to roll a dice that says how they've got out, or whether the umpire's given them not out.CR: Mmmmm...MC: You can at least try to sound interested![CR laughs]MC: That was a "Mmmm..."CR: Yeah... if I'm honest, my mind had wandered a little bit!MC: It wandered, didn't it? It wandered immediately! As soon as you asked me for the rules, you regretted it.CR: [Laughs] I really did, I really, really did! Something else that I wanted to ask you about though - because I'm clearly moving on from cricket now - is you were recently making a show, weren't you? With another Mischief staple Thomas Platt.MC: Oh yes!CR: Which you were going to take to Edinburgh and then obviously the pandemic affected that. So tell us about the show and also tell us how you've been affected.MC: So the show's a two man show with a small three piece band called Cheap and Cheerful, which is basically just that. Two men (he's much taller than me), harking back to the Vaudeville era - so it's a lot of sketches and puns, stupid puns and silly comedy, intermingled with various songs from the golden age of showbiz, so Sinatra numbers and big, old musical theatre style songs. Also John Mulaney - sorry, I just had a burp - John Mulaney says when you get to near 30, you suddenly can't burp! And you have to sort of speak through burp [then demonstrates].[CR laughs]MC: It's very true. And we had planned to take it to Edinburgh this year and obviously Edinburgh has been cancelled.CR: Cancelled!MC: So we've been busy rewriting it and who knows? Hopefully there'll be a life for it when theatre starts getting back to normal. But if you like big band, swing and jazz, and you like Morecambe and Wise, Forsyth-esque comedy. [Hides a burp again] Oh, gosh another!CR: Who doesn't? What's happening to you?MC: I don't know! I'm absolutely falling apart!CR: Is this the pickled onions?MC: Oh, the pickled onions...CR: Tell us about that.MC: I dropped... do you know this?CR: Yeah, you text me!MC: Oh yeah! I'm a massive fan of pickled onions - all things pickled, vinegary, chutneys, love it! And I made myself my own batch of pickled onions about six weeks ago, they've been pickling for six weeks. And then yesterday I was basically trying to take too many condiments out of the fridge...CR: Excuse me - condiments? Got you!MC: Con-di-ments out of the fridge! And I dropped my jar of pickled onions,they smashed all over the kitchen floor.CR: Oh my gosh!MC: And irredeemable! I haven't dropped a condiment for years![CR laughs]MC: And then the one time I do, it's a jar of my own crop of pickled onions that I slaved over. Genuinely that's the one thing in lockdown that nearly tipped me over the edge. You know, my best friend lost all of his belongings when our removal van got stolen - and I found the pickled onions more damaging to my personal mental health.CR: Well I think sometimes it does require a small thing like that to tip you over. Do you know what I mean? You take on the big thing and you know you can't implode because it's just too big. You can't implode, you've got to deal with it. So when a smaller thing comes along that really isn't the end of the world - it opens the gate a little bit for all of that emotion!MC: It's difficult. But it also shows what a sheltered life I've had, if the most traumatic thing that has happened to me in 29 years is that I dropped a jar of pickled onions.CR: [Laughs] I think it's more symbolic than that.MC: But do you know what the lesson is?CR: What?MC: Always make a second jar and I did...[CR gasps]MC: So happily ever after.CR: Oh, so you've still got some to eat?MC: I've got one more jar - don't you worry. And I've cracked it open already.CR: Oh thank goodness.MC: Which is probably why I'm burping.CR: Well hence the constant burping, yeah![Both laugh]CR: I just can't believe that it's a point of pride for you that you haven't dropped a condiment in years, not anything!MC: Well, it's more just the misfortune of when I do drop it - it's my own jar of pickled onions. Can you remember dropping a condiment that's glass?CR: Yes, yes. But do you know when I always bloody do it, it's in the shop! So I haven't even bought the thing.MC: Ah well, that's alright because someone else has to clean it up then!CR: No, but that's dreadful! I feel dreadful for the person who has to clear it up, but also I'm like, "Do I pay for it? Or do I leave these olives?"MC: No you absolutely leave them.CR: Oh my God.MC: They were covered in olive oil, Charlie! It's the one thing they should've expected![Both laugh]CR: Well there you go, you're more devious than I took you for.MC: [Laughs] And if that's the message that we finish this podcast on, all the better.CR: Indeed!MC: How will people remember Mike Cavendish? Devious! He doesn't pay for his l=olives that he smashed!CR: [Laughs] Classic Dish! Well this has absolutely been wonderful, thank you do much for coming on the podcast Matt - I've really enjoyed it.MC: My pleasure. Am I nearly released from my parents' cupboard?CR: Almost, almost. I'm just going to say goodbye to the listeners.MC: Is there one more jingle?CR: We can have a jingle to see us out, if you want?MC: [Starts singing] Bye, bye, b- oh no, okay!CR: [Laughs] Alright, I'm going to do my little spiel about Mischief and then you can do the jingle. Are you ready?MC: Yeah, yeah.CR: Okay. So thank you all very much for listening. I've been Charlie Russell, talking to Matthew Cavendish. Do keep an eye out for our next episode and you can follow all the latest in the Mischief world on Twitter, @MischiefComedy. Thanks again for listening and keep making Mischief!MC: [Sings upbeat melody] Bye, bye! It's the end! BYE, BYE! IT'S THE END! Bye, bye, final...[CR joins in on harmonies]MC: [Continues singing] BYE, BYE, LAST! Bye, bye! IT'S THE END! IT'S THE END of the podcast! Yeaaaaaaaaaah! PODCAST!CR: [Laughs] That was... incredible.