The Sunday Defensive Interview
The Sunday Defensive (Phil Gilbert & Jacob Edwards) boys are two of the friendliest people I have met. Dressed casually, but also like they have stepped out of a Top Man advert - a far cry from their fifties-esque show poster. We took up stools in Brooks Bar to discuss the poster, past jobs and the worst thing they have ever done...
Can you tell us about your show?
PG Well, we are called The Sunday Defensive, which is our double act name and the show is called Friend & Foe. It's a simple explanation of how double-acts work: they're buddies but they always have to fall out and that's where the tension and the comedy lies. Put simply, it's an introduction to us and how double acts work.
I forgot to ask...do either of you have middle names?
PG James is my middle name...
JE Aaron (laughs) I'm laughing because I never knew your middle name! I have known you since 2002 and I have never known your middle name.
PG My friend always said it should be Ian, so my initials are P.I.G. (They both laugh)
So you started on Popworld, what did you do before that?
PG Well, I worked in Top Shop. I sold some shoes to Jarvis Cocker once, that was a highlight. It wasn't a bad job, it was actually quite fun, especially as it was the main branch.
JE Well, when I left University (Jacob studied Archaeology and Classical Civilisation) I worked at the establishment where it's always Friday: TGI Fridays!
What happened after Popworld?
PG We went up to Edinburgh. Originally, Jacob was working with a guy called Anthony and there was also a girl who played the: "straight person" role, who I imagined you just made jokes about...(Jacob agrees) then she backed out and they needed someone to go up to Edinburgh with them for a month. So I did and we took up a show to the Gilded Balloon in 2002.
JE It was our first time and we were so naïve...we did two previews to a total of about five people. They were all our friends and they forgot to tell us we needed to put some jokes in it, so it was their fault! I remember one time, there were three people in the audience, a man alone and this couple. We came out to bow at the end and the man in the couple went to clap and his wife just put her hands on his and stopped him clapping! So we did a silent bow.
Then you moved on to Peep Show and The I.T. Crowd...?
PG Well, there was a long period of gestation and then in 2007 we did a residency at the Canal café in London and from there, people began to see us, book us for gigs, then we got signed and agents started putting us up for castings.
JE We have done some bits and bobs which I have found astonishing. We have also turned down some stuff as we were trying to get ready for this show.
Did you mean to look like Alan Carr on your poster Phil?!
PG Well, Jacob and I head up the Alan Carr fan club, so anything we can do to get close to the shadow of our Master! Honestly though, I don't think so...
Did you mean it to look like that?
PG No...I do really like him though, I think he's very funny!
JE We were going for that 50's High School Yearbook thing...
Oh I know, it just reminded me of him! Is there anyone you don't like?
PG There isn't any human being we don't like in terms of their comedy. There are things that we don't like and that comes with our ‘Producer Hats' on. If we see a TV show that's gone wrong or where you see great acts being misused in bad ways. There have been people who are teetering on the edge of their big break and then they get their TV break and it is just ruined by bad writing or formatting.
JE Acts work really hard and then it has to go through a big filtering system, especially within bigger production companies. By the time it gets through, everyone feels that they need to stick their oar in. I hope that as producers, we would not get it wrong but...I don't know. As you get to know comedy more, you look at the little gems and begin to appreciate them more, but then a lot of people just like jokes and mainstream stuff.
What's the worst thing you have ever done?
JE Wow...it's such a specific question and totally open as well...I could come up with some really bad stuff!
PG Do you usually get quick answers from that?
No! It's the first time I have asked it...
PG I did steal those Garbage Pail Stickers, about 50 of them, from my friends pocket in school. He had amazing collection... I took them from his pocket and put them in my bag and they were mine!
JE Wow...that's the worst thing you've ever done?
I'd love to know what's going on in your head Jacob!
JE (Laughing) I went to a party when I was fourteen and had half a bottle of vodka and this Greek Ouzo thing that was disgusting. I was picked up by my friends' parents and taken home. I said that I wasn't drunk, but on the journey home, there was a box of tissues in the back of the car and I took them out and was sick in the box, then I put the tissues back into the box. I left it in the car, hoping they would absorb the vomit...in two lovely peoples' car. But they must have known! I felt really terrible.
What's coming up for the future?
PG In September, we will be taking stock and starting again! I'm quite looking forward to writing new stuff because we have been working on this show for two years.
JE This has been hanging over us for like a year and a half, two years, but in a good way! Then in September...You know when you finish your exams and you're like: We're gunna' go crazy! We'll probably just collapse and get a cold, be in bed for three days and then realise we have nothing on the agenda and just a blank sheet of paper again! We have a few things lined up performance and TV wise but I'm sure they will come flooding in! But as to what those things are? I don't know...
It is at this point that ever so familiar cackle of Simon Amstell fills the air, he has just arrived in Edinburgh for his two week stint at this years Fringe. I chat some more with the Defensive boys and I for one, can't wait to see what they do next. Now that their first official Edinburgh is coming to a close, the future seems like the biggest and most exciting thing that will be coming their way.
