Five-strong improvising comedy group The Noise Next Door are on their way ‘home’. Here Matt Grant talks Canterbury, being the One Direction of comedy and coconuts ahead of their gig.

Did you come up with the idea for your group on a drunken night at Kent uni?

You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. The uni was doing an arts festival and we were in the drama society. It was about two weeks to go and people were running around saying “I can’t learn a script in time”. I said to them “If we do an improv show then we don’t need scripts and we don’t need to learn any lines.” They were sold. We used to do gigs in the uni bar and then by the end of uni the five of us who were the most keen and actually turned up carried on together.

So Canterbury is like coming home to you?

We come back to Canterbury every year. Even though we now live in Brighton I see it as the home gig. I’m from Kent – I was born in Canterbury. The great thing is when people shout out local references in Canterbury we know what they’re talking about. People shout out pretty specific things! We try to know a bit about the town we’re playing in, but we can’t know everything.

Your shows are all improvised. Do you not prepare at all?

We do what’s called short-form improv. It’s kind of like a party game. It can be different every time. We sometimes do something where we might use a bit of a scene we did before but do it in a different style. But if someone suggests we all wear leotards for a sketch then we’d need to go out and buy them – and so next time we need leotards we’ll have them and we’ll be prepared! Whatever we say is fresh and improvised, though.

But what if someone shouts out something that floors you?

To be fair, if one of us is doing something wrong the others are quick to draw everyone’s attention to it. If we don’t know the subject we will play on that - “Ah, Spongebob Squarepants... that famous Italian artist!” for instance. If someone says Gone With The Wind and we haven’t seen it we’ll pretend it’s really windy, for instance. There’s always something we can do.

Do people need to come prepared with something to shout out?

People catch on pretty quick as an audience; they very quickly realise if they just shout out rude stuff it’s going to be a pretty samey show. The hard work is done by us, though. The beauty is they can shout out whatever they want. If you want to see a show about coconuts, shout that out.

You went to your first football match ever last month. Does that mean we shouldn’t shout out football?

I did what you’re supposed to do – I had a pie and a pint. I felt very included. It was my first time at a sporting event, ever. Luckily, two of the others do know about football so we get away with it. Luckily, we all know each others’ strengths; we’ve known each other for 12 or 13 years.

How do you get ready for a show, as you have to be very up for it?

We can’t perform with a hangover, or if we’re tired. We need to be on the ball. But these days we’re gigging six days a week, so it’s not so hard. When we first started out we’d do warm-up games and stuff, now we could be asleep and someone would say “You’re on stage now” and we’ll be like OK – we’re there. We just go for it.

Who comes to see your shows?

We get 20s, 30s and 40s. Last night we had some lovely silver-haired ladies and some people who weren’t old enough to buy a drink. We try to have a broad appeal. We don’t want to go too niche.

At the Edinburgh Fringe you tweeted a picture of your whole audience with a pint in their hand. Is that how it is at all your shows?

Somehow we managed to get ourselves sponsored by Chang Beer. For some reason we had some left on the last night so gave everyone in the audience one. If only we could do that every night! (We’d be broke if we did, though).

Your publicity material describes you as “five young gents delighting audiences (especially the ladies)” and providing “ripples of excitement and delight”.

It’s the 21st century. Hopefully we’re appealing to men, too.

It also says you’re the One Direction of comedy.

We’re just trying to be trendier than we are.

DETAILS
University of Kent graduates The Noise Next Door will be at the Gulbenkian theatre, Canterbury, on Tuesday, October 6, at 7.30pm. Tickets £12.50, call 01227 769075.