LATE NIGHT GIMP FIGHT
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LATE NIGHT GIMP FIGHT

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Why do they call themselves Late Night Gimp Fight? “The name came from a drunken conversation,” Moon answers. “It’s the most memorable name we came up with and it does bring in an audience who’s intrigued by it. The name is very difficult to explain to grandparents.” Err, are they actually gimps? “We prefer to leave our masks in the office,” Moon says with a laugh. “We don’t take our work home with us.” Moon continues. “We got together early 2009. Two of us did a kids show in Edinburgh in 2007. At the end of the year nights became available at the Hen and Chickens in London; eight of us put a night together, did some sketches and it worked really well.”

The Gimps put together a new show every few months. Have they tailored anything special for their first trip to Australia? “It’s a big show,” says Moon. “We’re doing some favourites and some pieces we’ve never done previously; with our show for Australia we thought about what would be the best sketches for audiences who’ve never met us. What gets our personalities across? We’re introducing world to us. The show contains a bit of ourselves but we’re very, very different to everything else. Most things will translate. We had to lose one sketch about Red Henry, a hoover who’s got a face – it’s coming of age story, a sad, beautiful sketch but you don’t know Red Henry in Australia.”

Naturally the Gimps are very excited to be coming to Australia, Moon included although he’s not looking forward to the plane trip. “I’m terrible at flying – I will take a lot of valium. There’s nowhere further you can fly than from the UK to Australia.” Hauling their props across the world is the biggest challenge facing the Gimps. “Who gets the crash test dummy in their luggage?” wonders Moon.

What makes Late Night Gimp Fight different from other shows? “We’re not particularly political, not satire, not topical,” Moon answers. “We have lots of visual, multi-media, projections, songs…We are trained actors rather than comedians so it’s theatrical. We have puppetry, dance, physical routines, ‘video stings,’ which are little quick pieces in between. We hate black outs and we don’t allow any moment for audiences to breathe – we keep the laughs going; we don’t want to drop the ball.” How do they create their work? “We try out something in rehearsal, later on we do it in front of an audience – we’re nothing more than lads in banter, five guys in a room together having fun. You can joke about almost anything; it depends on where the joke is coming from. Our humour is close to the bone, but varied; for every dark sketch that produces a gasp, there’s a silly one. We don’t set out to shock; it’s just what we find funny.”

BY LIZA DEZFOULI

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