This month I will be talking to different acts that are taking part in the Brighton Fringe Festival. Today I speak to sketch group Seldom Differ about their debut show at Brighton Fringe.

Shows: Seldom Differ: Work in Progress
Location: The Lantern @ ACT
Date:  1st June
Time: 21:00
Ticket Price: £10 Concession £8
Link: https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/seldom-differ-work-in-progress/

Hello! Tell us about your act ? 

We’re Seldom Differ (Ryan, Matt and John) a sketch comedy triple act from Sheffield, and we invented the Crisp Pizza. Which is a pizza but the toppings are crisps. 

We’ve been working together for almost 20 years I’m appalled to say. We started out performing live but got seduced by the grotty world of TV development and spent years trying to get our own show made as well as writing for other brilliant people including Vic & Bob and Ant & Dec (we’re hoping Kim & Aggie get in touch to complete the set). But TV is dying! So we’ve come crawling back on our hands and knees begging for the theatre to give us another chance! 

We’re just a sketch group standing in front of an audience asking them to love us.

How did you come up with the name of your show that you are taking to the Brighton fringe?

The show is just billed as “Work in Progress”, but to be honest we first performed it almost a year ago and it’s feeling a lot closer to being finished now. So we probably should have named it something more intriguing like “Dog walks on the moon”, “Crispy, Crispy, Crispy” or “Spooky Boys Live”. 

Tell us a little bit about your style of show?

We grew up loving the big, bold, silly and sometimes dark character comedy sketch shows of the 90s and our show definitely shares some DNA with Harry Enfield, The Fast Show, The League of Gentleman and Vic and Bob. We had a few exciting years working with Bob Mortimer who was trying to help us get a show made. No luck in the end but just having his endorsement was a dream come true, and should give an idea of our style of comedy.

What can people expect from your Brighton Fringe performance?

Paranormal encounters, 1970s Yorkshire sports commentators, soft-boi indie musos, festival pill-heads, Facebook mums and Dynamo the magician revealing his biggest secrets…

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

I’ll be doing the tech for Lou Taylor: Jeans and a Nice Top, I’ve seen that show a few times now and it still makes me howl laughing. We’re also really looking forward to Willy Robbins, Grubby Little Mitts, Stephen Catling, Katie Norris, Alexandra Haddow and Father John’s Evening Mess. 

How are the rehearsals going?

That’s a good point. We should do some rehearsals.

Have you done the fringe before? What have been some of your favourite shows to date and why? 

No it’s our first time, so we don’t really know what to expect. We did an early version of this show for two nights at last year’s Camden Fringe which we managed to sell out. It was our first full show back after a while away from the live scene, so that was really exhilarating. 

What advice would you give to others who want to perform at Brighton Fringe next year? 

Just do it! What’s the worst that can happen? And it’s cheaper than doing Edinburgh! 

What is the best thing about performing at the Brighton fringe?

Not sure yet, but we’re hoping it’s the amazing, clever and gorgeous audiences who come to our show. I bet they’re all really fast runners as well. 

What are your three favourite things about Brighton?

That tall thing you can go up, Ghost Train, Laser Zone. It’s the perfect day out. 

Leafleting and promotion through the streets of Brighton is a huge part of the festival – what are your tips for flyering?

Offering a free pint if they don’t laugh is something I’ve seen work, but not sure if I’d recommend it… it was a big round.

Tell us about your average day on a festival show run?

Well it’s our first time, but we’re going to be arriving in Brighton early as our tech run is in the morning so we’ll have the whole day to kill. We’ll probably just hit the waltzers for 8 hours.

Performing by the sea as well, that surely makes the fringe all that much more fun?

Yes that is true! We’ve genuinely always wanted to do a seaside gig. There’s something almost nostalgic about it and we love the idea of people having a lovely day out, going up that tall thing you can go up, riding the Ghost Train, blasting around Laser Zone and finishing off the perfect day with our show.

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

There’s an Indian bloke called Sunilkumar S.V. who has the world record for the longest continuous laugh. He’d be good. Either him or Craig Charles. I’ve got questions about the 2002 Robot Wars final. 

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

We’re on all the socials. If you search Seldom Differ you should be able to find us, but the best place is probably our YouTube channel. There’s loads of filmed sketches on there including a full sketch show pilot we made called “Don’t Tape Over’ (which stars musician Self Esteem), so you can see what we’re all about and hopefully be intrigued enough to come and see our live act. 

We also have a weekly podcast, Seldom Differ’s Terrible Features, which is a mix of games, sketches and chat. It’s kind of House of Games meets Athletico Mince if you can imagine that. 

And Finally finish this sentence – ‘you should see our show at Brighton Fringe because… 

it will make everybody fancy you.