Out of the mouths of babes

Published on Saturday 26 July 2008 15:44

AT THE School of Comedy in west London, five teenagers are telling me why adults are so very easy to send up. "It's the fact they take themselves so seriously, even when they're doing ridiculous things," says 16-year-old Max Brown. "It's easy to make fun of the adult world," adds Ella Ainsworth, the oldest at 17, and everyone nods sagely. "I think our mums and dads have got used to the sight of us swearing on stage," pipes up 15-year-old Will Poulter, the ru

This band of fresh-faced and foul-mouthed children make up what must be the first comedy show for adults performed by kids. It may sound like a school play with sweary words, but it's actually a sophisticated sketch show written by top comedy writers in collaboration with this energetic bunch. In it they satirise ladies who lunch, Eastern European plumbers, profane receptionists and Oscar Wilde. "Will talks about bumming and everything," explains director Laura Black who, in her thirties, is the only person in the collective who can legally buy a beer after their Edinburgh Fringe run. "That's very high brow. Thanks, Laura," chips in 16-year-old Arthur Sturridge, giving his director a withering look. Not for the first time, it's hard to tell the adult from the child.

This, of course, is what produces the laughs. School Of Comedy, which made its sold-out Fringe debut last year, is already something of a cult phenomenon. For a start, Poulter landed the lead in last year's hit comedy, Son Of Rambow, thanks to its success. "It's all thanks to the magic lady," he says, grinning at Black. "I was in English class and she held a sign up to the window that said 'Audition!'. I had to come out of the lesson, and she said it was that same day. I thought there was no point, but I got through. It was eight weeks of amazing fun, but I have just as much fun, if not more, with these guys. We've become really good mates."

Poulter is very talented and just on the right side of precocious. Black describes him as having "funny bones" and his comic timing is impeccable. "People say don't work with children or animals, but after this lot I wouldn't work with adults," says Black.

She formed the group four years ago, when the youngest was just nine. It's a long gestation period for a show, and in that time they've gone through puberty, grown taller than Black, and become comedians. And this is just one of her projects. A renowned performer in her own right, she is one half of the duo that makes up Silly Billy Bum Breath, a show returning to the Fringe for its third year that has led her and her partner to be described as the French and Saunders of kids' comedy.

But it was when she started an after-school club that the idea of turning kids' comedy on its head came to her. "They made me laugh so much and I used to go home feeling more inspired than I would after a Fringe night in London," she says. "I thought they were absolutely genius; no egos, enthusiastic and incredibly talented. I started taking my camera to lessons and making them do adult stuff." Everyone roars with laughter. "That sounds really dodgy," says Sturridge. "Anyway," says Black, undeterred, "I told my friends in comedy about them and asked if they would write some scripts."

Eighteen months ago she set up an actual School of Comedy, which is where we meet. In this small theatre she is teaching droves of little people to act like big people for laughs. She runs term and summer courses and her youngest pupils are just six years old. "They do the same sketches as this lot but we take out some of the swearing," she says. "Basically, she's training the next lot up to take over from us," jokes Sturridge.

It's a risky business getting children to mock the nuances and quirks of adult behaviour, but it seems to be catching on. Last year the BBC's Culture Show filmed School Of Comedy in Edinburgh, claiming: "If you want something that will have Mary Whitehouse spinning in her grave so quickly she warps space and time, try School Of Comedy." Since then, Channel 4 has filmed a half-hour pilot, which will air in August and may well lead to a series.

They're keen to point out, though, that it's not all about shocking people. "We don't just swear for the sake of it," says Ainsworth, whose younger sister Lilly is also in School Of Comedy. "We're not trying to be outrageous. It's how we think adults would behave in a situation. It's not there to shock, though it does and that's a good thing."

Black explains that their new show is actually less risky than last year's material. "I thought if I was taking them to Edinburgh there was no point in being tame or people would just say it's a kids' show. So we ended up taking it a bit further." As an example, they cite a masturbation scene, which does sound pretty challenging. "We'd like people to accept it as a serious comedy show, not just kids trying to be rude," adds Poulter. So far, apart from their school principal "nearly having a heart attack" when he first saw the show last year, no one has taken offence.

"It does allow them to get away with much more because they're children," Black points out. "If the audience complain, well, the kids got it from them." She adds, though, that their talent frequently gets underestimated because of their age.

Where do they get the ideas for their characters? "We're all middle-class kids and a lot of people try to hide that because it's not very cool," says Sturridge. "But we don't pretend to be anything we're not. So we use the stupid things that middle-class people do for our comedy. Like how they treat their au pairs. It's ridiculous. The au pair is usually cleverer than the people she works for."

Some of them are thinking about comedy and acting as a career. Ainsworth would love to be able to "play" for a living, but Sturridge is veering more towards university. As for Brown, comedy "would be wicked but I don't think I'm good enough". I expect Poulter to be more self-assured, as he has already made the transition from stage to film set before most have moved from school to college, but even he says that he probably won't make it as an actor. "It would be amazing," he acknowledges. "But the chances are low and there is so much competition. If I can, great, but I've had so much fun doing this and that's enough for me."

School Of Comedy, Pleasance Courtyard, August 18-24, 1.40pm. Channel 4 Comedy Lab screens on August 18