It’s the weekend and what better way to start it off then a night of comedy in London, or Bethnal Green to be more precise. 20% Less return to the scene this week with their monthly show, this time being held at the Gallery Cafe this Friday. I caught up with Maddy to find out all about it.

Hello! tell us all about who you all are and a little bit about yourselves

We are:

Mariana: lives in East London; also does improv with C3? and occasional twoprov, Portugaysian, as well as stand-up and has about 8 other real jobs; likes and interests include photography, The Fast & the Furious and going on bad dates to generate stand-up material.

Lucie: lives in West London; also does improv with C3? and no one else due to a demanding and fulfilling real job; likes and interests include video games esp Zelda, The Room and packing super-efficiently when world travelling.

Maddy: lives in South London; also does improv with C3? and Duck Duck Goose; likes and interests include knitting, Murder She Wrote and getting through this entire interview without mentioning her cat.

How did your troupe form?

Way back in October (? I think) 2016 in the final workshop at the Slapdash festival, Lucie & Mariana did a scene together that was so good to watch and so satisfying to be in that they decided to repeat it (except not the same scene because improv) that evening at C3?’s show.

They carried on performing that scene as a twoprov for a few months and then invited Maddy to join in around March 2017 after taking pity on her for some reason in another improv class.

We had a fourth member for a bit who left, and then a different fourth member who also left. This should not be considered a reflection on our improv skills or our personalities, and applications to be the next in a revolving cast of fourth members are always open, especially to residents of North London.

Your troupe hosts their own night as well, tell us about that:

Word of Muff is officially our attempt to steal back stagetime from the straight white cis males who make up most of comedy, and definitely not something we had to do because no one else would let us play at their shows.

It’s an always amazing comedy show with improv, stand-up, sketch and character acts, all performed by women and non-binary people, hosted by 20% Less.

We first ran the show in May 2017 as a C3Sunday Late Show. Between then and January this year we ran the show once a month at various venues including the Miller, a branch of Waterstones (yes the bookshop) and a library in Crystal Palace. We’ve hosted so many amazing acts in that time that it seems unfair to single any of them out by naming them and I’ve had some of my favourite on stage moments at the show.

My personal favourite part of every show is the playlist I put together for before the show and during the interval. At one show 3 separate people admired it but since then no one seems to have noticed. But I do this for personal gratification; I don’t need the love and approval of other people to validate me.

How did the show come about?

Mariana has an insatiable appetite for admin. She may deny this and claim that she only does all the admin that she does because no one else will and then everything would fall apart, but she would be mistaken. Soon after 20% Less got together in our current-ish form, it became clear that the admin involved in wrangling the team would not be enough to satisfy her. So we decided to start our own night to increase the amount of work for Mariana to do two hundred fold. As a bonus this has enabled us to make stage time for ourselves and for some other people we love. But that was not why we did it.

Tell us a little bit about the show happening this week:

The show has been on a brief hiatus for the past few months but now we’re all the way back.

We’re at The Gallery Café in Bethnal Green for the first time. This is fairly close to Mariana’s house. Coincidentally. I am absolutely not insinuating that the person who does all the work in finding venues would deliberately choose one that’s most convenient for her.

The line-up includes improv from A Little Bit of Tender and 20% Less (again??), stand-up/character people Sadia Azmat, Jenan Younis, Cam Spence and Ruby Carr, and an actual musician, Joey McPhail. Plus a brand new awesome playlist if I can fix my ipod in time.

What is the best thing about a night at your show for the audience?

There are many best things: seeing a packed line-up of genius people who for once don’t have to justify their existence in a male dominated space before being permitted to get on with the important business of performing comedy* for an outrageously small cost; Maddy’s ipod playlist; the fact that while hosting one of us – usually me, occasionally Mariana, almost never Lucie – will sometimes accidentally reveal something hilarious and shameful out of a desperate need for validation and the approval of others; one time we brought cake because it was Christmas.

We’re not bringing cake this time but the Gallery Café sells an exciting range of delicious cakes. Also pancakes which I am hoping to eat before the show so that you – the audience – can try to spot the inevitable syrup spillages on my clothes when I’m on stage.

*an approximate amalgamation of what several stand-ups who’ve played our show have said about it.

What improv styles do you want to see more of this year and why?

The unique and indefinable Keith Malda style. Because C3? doesn’t currently have a regular show and I miss getting to enjoy him every week.

It is May – what festivals are you most looking forward to this summer and why?

Music festivals? Or comedy? Either way, none of them because I am far too old and curmudgeonly for festivals.

If a single gig which I’m attending with a big gang of similarly old people constitutes a festival, then Bikini Kill who I’m seeing in Brooklyn at the end of May and Brixton at the beginning of June.

Also I understand that Mariana is quite looking forward to the Edinburgh Fringe.

What advice would you give for people thinking about starting an improv troupe themselves?

Get a coach even if you think you’re too good to need one because having an outside eye is always useful.

No one is entitled to stage time so be respectful to people/nights who offer it to you.

If any member of your team loves improv admin, treasure that person as if they were a beautiful tiny kitten with eyes made of diamonds who shits chocolate.

If people want to find out more about you, where can they follow you on social media?

We’re on facebook (@20PercentLess), twitter (@20Percent_Less) and instagram (20percentless). We’re also on all of those things with C3?.

And/or visit my personal instagram (@lovely_madeleine) for less comedy content but many more pictures of my beautiful, beautiful cat.

And finally – in three words, why should people come and see the show?

Maddy’s ipod playlist.

QUICK FIRE ROUND

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I’m extremely conservative with food so nothing particularly strange… Once I was in Moscow and accidentally ordered a pizza with octopus and squid tentacles because I don’t speak/read Russian and from the picture it looked very plain. I don’t eat meat and I especially don’t eat identifiable tentacles, so it was probably the worst thing I could have pointed at on that menu.

If you could trade lives with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?

Mark Ruffalo because I’d like to know how it feels to be really, really physically beautiful. I would spend the whole day naked in front of a mirror flirting with myself – which is what I do now, obviously, but I think it would be so much more gratifying if I was hot.

If you could paint anything, what would you paint?

A portrait of the Hulk in a sensible cardigan lovingly cradling my cat, covering the entire Trafalgar Square façade of the National Gallery.

What is the most delightful word you can think of?

Audiologist

Favourite song?

OK this is a quickfire round so – umm… Bikini Kill – Strawberry Julius.

Who is your comedy hero and why?

Shem Pennant – because this way I’ll know if he cares enough to read this.

What is your favourite movie quote?

From Team America: World Police – “You can’t blame yourself for what gorillas did”

Who is your favourite cartoon character and why?

Pingu. Just because Pingu. Also Princess Carolyn from Bojack Horseman.