Frisky and Mannish
Encyclopedia
Frisky & Mannish is a musical comedy cabaret
double act
based in London
, England
.
Formed in March 2008 by writers and performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, the duo is best known for a style of pop culture parody
that consists of the musical and dramatic rearrangement of well-known pop songs
. They have been called "the mad scientists of pop, mixing unlikely solutions from incompatible artists and distilling entire genres into their separate elements."
In 2009, their début show, Frisky and Mannish's School of Pop, was a breakout hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, establishing them on the live comedy circuit. They have twice returned to the Edinburgh Fringe, with the sophomore show, Frisky and Mannish: The College Years (2010), and the third instalment, Frisky and Mannish: Pop Centre Plus (2011). Each of these shows was a significant critical and commercial success, leading to international touring, with performances at the Sydney Opera House
, the Melbourne Comedy Festival
, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, the Fringe World
, and in Singapore
.
Also known for their annual Christmas shows
at the Lyric Theatre
in London's West End
, and their summer seasons on the South Bank
, Corcoran and Jones have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Award
, the Chortle Award for Best Music and Variety Act
, and the Loaded LAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
.
The Guardian
cites Frisky & Mannish as a rare example of a successful mixed-gender comedy duo: "from Flight of the Conchords
to French and Saunders
, single-sex double acts are everywhere - but Frisky and Mannish show that more should cross the gender divide."
's Don Juan
:
and Kingston-upon-Thames respectively, met as undergraduate students at Oxford University, where Corcoran studied English literature
and Jones read Classics and
English
. They collaborated on theatrical productions, including Guys and Dolls
and Godspell
, and wrote comic songs for the Oxford Revue. They have both cited The Simpsons
, Tenacious D
and Julia Davis
as particular shared inspirations. Corcoran trained on the musical theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music
. Jones has a diploma in piano from Trinity College London
, and is an alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre
. Corcoran's father is musical theatre actor Christopher Corcoran, and her great-grandmother was one of the original Tiller Girls
.
In March 2008, having been asked to perform a short set of music hall numbers
at a fundraiser on the Battersea Barge
, Corcoran and Jones decided instead to "mess around with a few songs." Surprised by the positive reception, they began to develop the concept more fully, and mounted two solo showcases, the first at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in April, and the second at the Canal Café Theatre
in July. During this period, Jones was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
, but deferred the place for a year to pursue his work with Corcoran, eventually turning the offer down.
They established themselves on the cabaret scene with guest performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008 and the Brighton Festival Fringe
2009, appearances in Berlin
and New York
, music festival gigs at Lovebox
and Camp Bestival
, a comedy debate at the Oxford Union
, and guest appearances with the Olivier Award-winning variety show La Clique
at the London Hippodrome.
They reached the final of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
competition in January 2010, and eventually achieved third place.
's 'No Scrubs
' as an example of Tudor
foreign policy
), English literature
(Wuthering Heights
from the perspective of Kate Nash
), and existentialism
in the work of Chesney Hawkes
.
In August 2009, the School of Pop was performed at the Underbelly as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The sell-out show received thirteen five-star reviews, from publications such as Time Out, Chortle, The Herald
, Edinburgh Evening News
and The Mail on Sunday
, and was described as "the undisputed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe." The Guardian
singled Frisky & Mannish out in their round-up of the year's festival, bestowing upon them a 'Bring Me Sunshine' award. They promoted the show with live performances on BBC 6 Music
and BBC Radio Scotland
. One performance was attended by Kate Nash
, who was herself the subject of one of their parodies. Subsequently, the School of Pop transferred to Soho Theatre
in London
for a sell-out limited run in January 2010, and in the following month, Corcoran and Jones began an international tour of the show, performing at the Sydney Opera House
during the Mardi Gras
festival in February, the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington in March, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
in April, and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
in June. Back in the United Kingdom
, the pair embarked upon their first national tour, performing at such venues as the Komedia in Brighton
and the Lowry
in Salford.
As a result of the wide-ranging success of the School of Pop, Corcoran and Jones were nominated for a Chortle Award in the category of 'Best Music or Variety Act', and featured as 'talents to watch' in both The Independent
and The Sun
.
's musical inspirations, and an up-tempo club dance remix of Radiohead
's 'Creep
'. The new show was premiered to a "packed out Cabaret tent" at Latitude Festival
in Suffolk
, followed by official previews at Riverside Studios
in Hammersmith
in July 2010.
At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010, Corcoran and Jones enjoyed further critical and commercial success with The College Years, and received a number of five-star reviews from various publications, including Chortle, The List, Edinburgh Spotlight and Fringe Review. The Edinburgh Festival Guide published a list of 'Top-rated shows' at the end of the 2010 festival, in which Frisky and Mannish: The College Years was placed second out of nearly 2500 productions. Corcoran and Jones performed live on radio (BBC Radio 4
) and television (STV), and were singled out by comedian Shappi Khorsandi in The Telegraph
as one of her favourite acts at the festival. Following the Fringe, Corcoran and Jones toured the United Kingdom
in the autumn of 2010 with The College Years, culminating in a performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre. In February 2011, they were invited to the inaugural Fringe World festival in Perth, Western Australia
, where they performed in The Famous Spiegeltent and garnered rave reviews.
, and was described by the pair as the final instalment in Frisky & Mannish's "pop-parody trilogy." Among other subjects, Pop Centre Plus looked at the entire genre of grime
(with specific focus on the work of N-Dubz
), compared and contrasted Adele
with Cheryl Cole
, and revealed that the Bee Gees
have been writing songs for Rihanna
.
After a season of previews on the South Bank
, Pop Centre Plus was presented at the Udderbelly
during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2011. In interviews, they stated: "We've definitely upped the scale of the production," but also "stayed very true to who we are... [and] gone back to our cabaret roots in some ways." The show was another official sell-out for the duo, and received considerable media coverage, including a cover image and feature in The List’s Edinburgh Festival Guide, an interview in Fest Magazine
, and a mention in The Independent
as Ruby Wax
’s must-see show. The critial response to Pop Centre Plus was mixed, ranging from lukewarm responses in The Scotsman
and The Evening News
, to positive notices in Metro and The Evening Standard. The duo are confirmed to tour the show to the Absolut Fringe Festival Dublin
in September 2011, and across the United Kingdom
during autumn. On December 7th, 2011, Frisky & Mannish will perform Pop Centre Plus at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire.
season in association with the Southbank Centre, continuing their association with the Underbelly. The four cabaret shows, presented under the umbrella title of Frisky and Mannish: Pop Educators, were composed of songs from the School of Pop alongside new material that would be incorporated into The College Years. The Mail on Sunday
called the show "unerringly sharp and upbeat from start to finish... a gold-star masterclass in the mechanics and semantics of pop."
From May to July 2011, Corcoran and Jones returned to the South Bank
for a follow-up season of shows. The theme of the show was "finding gainful employment. The sort of employment everyone wants, to be a lip-synching, tabloid-dominating star of the 21st century." Metro called the show an "eagerly awaited follow-up to School of Pop and The College Years" and praised the duo as "a constantly evolving force of musical nature." The Evening Standard also reviewed the show favourably, asserting that "Simon Cowell
would struggle to fault Frisky and Mannish... Boy, do they do it well."
début with a variety show entitled A Frisky and Mannish Christmas at the Lyric Theatre
on Shaftesbury Avenue
, featuring The Puppini Sisters
and Angelos Epithemiou
as guest acts. Chortle described the show as possessing "the spirit of inventive, spangly, silliness, performed with powerful élan, that epitomises Frisky and Mannish at their best."
They returned to the Lyric in December 2010 with a follow-up show, Frisky and Mannish's Christmas Mess...age, featuring Miles Jupp
and Abandoman
as guest acts. Erotic Review
wrote of the duo: "Despite the widely heralded post-Meow Meow
, post-La Clique
phenomenon of cabaret’s big-time explosion, large venue engagements are still few and far between in London’s perennially underground variety scene. Frisky and Mannish’s brash in-your-face irreverence makes a bold crossover statement, shamelessly seizing the mainstream spotlight with an unmistakable brand of humour both popular and defiant."
), "skilfully layered and musically surprising" (The Guardian
), "one of the most upbeat hours of comedy I've seen this year" (The Observer
), "pure exhilarating brilliance from start to finish" (Chortle), "clever, inventive, polished, prodigiously talented and extremely funny" (Time Out Sydney), "musically adroit, vocally gifted and brilliant mimics" (New Zealand Herald), and "a global phenomenon" (The Times
). They have been particularly acclaimed at the Edinburgh Fringe
, where their act was once described as "the most fun you can have without chemicals." One notable exception was the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
, at which Frisky and Mannish received mixed, contradictory reviews ranging from "hardly groundbreaking stuff," to "different, refreshing and, frankly, border-line genius."
Many reviewers have confessed that they find it difficult to accurately describe Frisky & Mannish. Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph
wrote that "on paper, it’s next to impossible to do justice to what happens during a Frisky and Mannish gig - and gig feels the operative word... the atmosphere is more redolent of a flashy turn by Lady Gaga
than your average comedy club night."
's children's comedy programme, Dick and Dom's Funny Business
, performing a Strictly Come Dancing
skit featuring Vincent Simone
partnered with Lady Gaga
. During the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe, they appeared on BBC Three
's Live at the Fringe programme, and BBC2's The Culture Show
, for which they wrote a new piece looking at the art of the comic song.
In March 2011, a number of Frisky & Mannish songs were featured on The Scott Mills Breakfast Show
on BBC Radio 1
. The songs proved so popular that the duo were invited to appear in person on the show; they were interviewed by Scott Mills
and performed live. The video edit of their live performances on the show made the Most Popular list on the BBC Radio 1
website that week. They have also been featured on BBC Radio 2
's The Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman
, BBC Radio 4
with Ali McGregor
, BBC 6 Music
with Lauren Laverne
, BBC Radio 7, BBC Radio Scotland
, and STV.
of The X Factor
in the United Kingdom, Corcoran and Jones began filming and uploading a series of "VidBlogs" to their YouTube
channel, presenting their humorous thoughts on each live final. After a positive response to the first video, the magazine Heat
started to sponsor and host the duo's weekly blog, which appears every Monday on the Heatworld website.
's cover of 'Run
' on the fifth series
of the television series Britain's Got Talent
, replacing the original lyrics with 'Old McDonald Had a Farm
' and other nursery rhymes. Reid received a standing ovation from the studio audience, unanimous praise from the judging panel, and was soon installed as favourite to win the competition.
Immediately afterwards, Twitter users
began accusing Reid of plagiarising
the Frisky & Mannish song 'Wheels on the Bus', a version of Girls Aloud
's 'Sound of the Underground
' which also features a nursery rhyme medley and begins with 'Old McDonald Had a Farm'. Corcoran and Jones, initially unavailable for comment, then released a statement to The Sun
on 25 April 2011, revealing that they had performed alongside Reid at the Glasgow Cabaret Festival
in 2009, at which time his work was "very different" from theirs, and that he had seen their version of 'Wheels on the Bus'.
Following the statement, Corcoran and Jones were reported to have "played down" the situation on their social networking sites, posting a tongue-in-cheek
claim that they were "now being counter-sued by Old McDonald." On their official website, the duo made the following observation: "We do not believe we are the first people to do pop parodies. Nor is the irony of the event lost on us, considering our repeated pilfering of the back-catalogues of Britney
, Bieber
and Busted. Only certain interpersonal exchanges made this an unusual event."
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
double act
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Formed in March 2008 by writers and performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, the duo is best known for a style of pop culture parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
that consists of the musical and dramatic rearrangement of well-known pop songs
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. They have been called "the mad scientists of pop, mixing unlikely solutions from incompatible artists and distilling entire genres into their separate elements."
In 2009, their début show, Frisky and Mannish's School of Pop, was a breakout hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, establishing them on the live comedy circuit. They have twice returned to the Edinburgh Fringe, with the sophomore show, Frisky and Mannish: The College Years (2010), and the third instalment, Frisky and Mannish: Pop Centre Plus (2011). Each of these shows was a significant critical and commercial success, leading to international touring, with performances at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, the Melbourne Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual cabaret festival held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the largest festival of its type in the world, with more than 48,000 attendees....
, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, the Fringe World
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, and in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Also known for their annual Christmas shows
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, and their summer seasons on the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
, Corcoran and Jones have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Award
Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year was a long-running annual competition that ran at the Hackney Empire theatre in London in order to encourage, discover and promote new stand-up comedy and New Variety talent...
, the Chortle Award for Best Music and Variety Act
Chortle Awards
The Chortle awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK....
, and the Loaded LAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
Loaded (magazine)
Loaded, first published in 1994, is a British magazine for men that is considered to be the "original lads' mag". Its motto is "For men who should know better".-History:...
.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
cites Frisky & Mannish as a rare example of a successful mixed-gender comedy duo: "from Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...
to French and Saunders
French and Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
, single-sex double acts are everywhere - but Frisky and Mannish show that more should cross the gender divide."
Origin of the name
Frisky & Mannish are named after two characters who appear in one line of ByronGeorge Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
's Don Juan
Don Juan (Byron)
Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womanizer but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Byron himself called it an "Epic Satire"...
:
Lady Fitz-Frisky, and Miss Maevia Mannish,
Both longed extremely to be sung in Spanish.
—Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Eleventh, LIII.
Genesis and early career
Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, both born in March 1985 in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Kingston-upon-Thames respectively, met as undergraduate students at Oxford University, where Corcoran studied English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Jones read Classics and
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. They collaborated on theatrical productions, including Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
and Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
, and wrote comic songs for the Oxford Revue. They have both cited The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Tenacious D
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
and Julia Davis
Julia Davis
Julia Davis is an English comedy writer and performer, best known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night.-Background:...
as particular shared inspirations. Corcoran trained on the musical theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. Jones has a diploma in piano from Trinity College London
Trinity College London
Trinity College London is an international examinations board based in London, England. TCL offers qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and arts education and English language learning and teaching...
, and is an alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre
National Youth Music Theatre
The National Youth Music Theatre or NYMT is a UK organisation for young people in the field of musical theatre, based in London. It runs acting auditions, workshops, and musical theatre productions...
. Corcoran's father is musical theatre actor Christopher Corcoran, and her great-grandmother was one of the original Tiller Girls
Tiller Girls
The Tiller Girls were among the most popular dance troupes of the 1900s, first formed by John Tiller in Manchester, England, in 1890. Whilst on visits to the theatre, Tiller had noticed the overall effect of a chorus of dancers was often spoiled by lack of discipline. Tiller found that by linking...
.
In March 2008, having been asked to perform a short set of music hall numbers
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
at a fundraiser on the Battersea Barge
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, Corcoran and Jones decided instead to "mess around with a few songs." Surprised by the positive reception, they began to develop the concept more fully, and mounted two solo showcases, the first at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
in April, and the second at the Canal Café Theatre
Canal Cafe Theatre
The Canal Cafe Theatre is a 60-seat fringe theatre venue in Little Venice, London, specialising in comedy performances.-Location:The theatre is above the Bridge House pub in Little Venice, on the corner of Westbourne Terrace Road and Delamere Terrace, at the meeting point of the Grand Union and...
in July. During this period, Jones was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
, but deferred the place for a year to pursue his work with Corcoran, eventually turning the offer down.
They established themselves on the cabaret scene with guest performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008 and the Brighton Festival Fringe
Brighton Festival Fringe
The Brighton Festival Fringe is an open access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England.- Introduction :...
2009, appearances in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, music festival gigs at Lovebox
Lovebox Festival
Lovebox is a three-day music festival held in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, London. The event has been running since 2002 and was founded by DJs Groove Armada...
and Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival is a British music festival, the "little sister" of Bestival, both organised by BBC Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank. It is held annually, in July, at Lulworth Castle in Dorset and is targeted at families with small children. It has a capacity of 10,000 adults and 5,000 children...
, a comedy debate at the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
, and guest appearances with the Olivier Award-winning variety show La Clique
La Clique
La Clique was an award-winning cabaret/variety show with Australian roots first conceived for the 2004 edition of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
at the London Hippodrome.
They reached the final of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year was a long-running annual competition that ran at the Hackney Empire theatre in London in order to encourage, discover and promote new stand-up comedy and New Variety talent...
competition in January 2010, and eventually achieved third place.
Frisky and Mannish's School of Pop (2009)
From February 2009, Corcoran and Jones began a monthly residency at the Leicester Square Theatre with a full-length show entitled Frisky and Mannish's School of Pop. The school concept emphasized the "educational" aspect of their song parodies, touching upon subjects as varied as British history (TLCTLC (band)
TLC is an American musical trio whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and new jack swing. Originally consisting of singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, rapper-singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singer Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas it found success in the 1990s while also enduring a series of spats...
's 'No Scrubs
No Scrubs
"No Scrubs" is a 1999 song recorded by R&B girl groupTLC for their album FanMail. Released as the album's first single, "No Scrubs" became TLC's third number-one single and eighth top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned them their second Grammy nomination for Record of the Year...
' as an example of Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
), English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
(Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
from the perspective of Kate Nash
Kate Nash
Kate Marie Nash is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. She had a UK no. 2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards....
), and existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
in the work of Chesney Hawkes
Chesney Hawkes
Chesney Lee Hawkes , is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. He is best known for his 1991 single "The One and Only", which topped the charts in the UK and reached the Top 10 in the U.S.-Life and career:...
.
In August 2009, the School of Pop was performed at the Underbelly as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The sell-out show received thirteen five-star reviews, from publications such as Time Out, Chortle, The Herald
The Herald (Glasgow)
The Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, and available throughout Scotland. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 47,226, giving it a lead over Scotland's other 'quality' national daily, The Scotsman, published in Edinburgh.The 1889 to 1906 editions...
, Edinburgh Evening News
Edinburgh Evening News
The Edinburgh Evening News is a local newspaper based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is published daily . It has a circulation of 68,000 and is owned by Johnston Press, which also owns The Scotsman and many regional titles throughout the UK.Much of the copy contained in the Evening News concerns local...
and The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
, and was described as "the undisputed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
singled Frisky & Mannish out in their round-up of the year's festival, bestowing upon them a 'Bring Me Sunshine' award. They promoted the show with live performances on BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
and BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
. One performance was attended by Kate Nash
Kate Nash
Kate Marie Nash is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. She had a UK no. 2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards....
, who was herself the subject of one of their parodies. Subsequently, the School of Pop transferred to Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for a sell-out limited run in January 2010, and in the following month, Corcoran and Jones began an international tour of the show, performing at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
during the Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
festival in February, the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington in March, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
in April, and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual cabaret festival held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the largest festival of its type in the world, with more than 48,000 attendees....
in June. Back in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the pair embarked upon their first national tour, performing at such venues as the Komedia in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and the Lowry
The Lowry
The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex situated on Pier 8 at Salford Quays, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early-20th century painter, L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England...
in Salford.
As a result of the wide-ranging success of the School of Pop, Corcoran and Jones were nominated for a Chortle Award in the category of 'Best Music or Variety Act', and featured as 'talents to watch' in both The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
.
Frisky and Mannish: The College Years (2010)
Corcoran and Jones wrote a second show, entitled Frisky and Mannish: The College Years, as a sequel to the School of Pop. Their new parodies, largely based on a central theme of "collision theory", included an in-depth analysis of the vocal duet, an exposé of Florence and the MachineFlorence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
's musical inspirations, and an up-tempo club dance remix of Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
's 'Creep
Creep
Creep may refer to:* CREEP, the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, associated with the Watergate scandal of U.S. president Nixon's administration....
'. The new show was premiered to a "packed out Cabaret tent" at Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, followed by official previews at Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
in July 2010.
At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010, Corcoran and Jones enjoyed further critical and commercial success with The College Years, and received a number of five-star reviews from various publications, including Chortle, The List, Edinburgh Spotlight and Fringe Review. The Edinburgh Festival Guide published a list of 'Top-rated shows' at the end of the 2010 festival, in which Frisky and Mannish: The College Years was placed second out of nearly 2500 productions. Corcoran and Jones performed live on radio (BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
) and television (STV), and were singled out by comedian Shappi Khorsandi in The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
as one of her favourite acts at the festival. Following the Fringe, Corcoran and Jones toured the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the autumn of 2010 with The College Years, culminating in a performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre. In February 2011, they were invited to the inaugural Fringe World festival in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, where they performed in The Famous Spiegeltent and garnered rave reviews.
Frisky and Mannish: Pop Centre Plus (2011)
Corcoran and Jones's third full-length show, entitled Frisky and Mannish: Pop Centre Plus, was structured as a parody of a careers advisory serviceCareers advisory service
Careers Advisory Services in the UK are typically organisations that offer advice, guidance and counselling on careers. People may use these services for a number of purposes, such as jobhunting, changing careers, getting a promotion, building career skills, returning to work after a career break...
, and was described by the pair as the final instalment in Frisky & Mannish's "pop-parody trilogy." Among other subjects, Pop Centre Plus looked at the entire genre of grime
Grime (music)
Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...
(with specific focus on the work of N-Dubz
N-Dubz
N-Dubz are a British hip hop group from Camden Town, London. The group consists of members Dappy, Tulisa Contostavlos and Fazer.N-Dubz were previously signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the World Records...
), compared and contrasted Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
with Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...
, and revealed that the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
have been writing songs for Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
.
After a season of previews on the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
, Pop Centre Plus was presented at the Udderbelly
UdderBELLY
The udderBELLY is an upside-down giant purple cow tent owned by the event venue and management company Underbelly, and sponsored by E4.The udderBELLY can be used for a variety of different purposes as it can be adapted to contain a stage and all-seater 322 seat venue, or alternatively can be...
during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2011. In interviews, they stated: "We've definitely upped the scale of the production," but also "stayed very true to who we are... [and] gone back to our cabaret roots in some ways." The show was another official sell-out for the duo, and received considerable media coverage, including a cover image and feature in The List’s Edinburgh Festival Guide, an interview in Fest Magazine
Fest Magazine
Fest Magazine is an Edinburgh-based arts magazine that publishes during the Edinburgh Festival each year. It is published in partnership with The Skinny and is a free, bi-weekly, A5 glossy publication.-History:...
, and a mention in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
as Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
’s must-see show. The critial response to Pop Centre Plus was mixed, ranging from lukewarm responses in The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
and The Evening News
Edinburgh Evening News
The Edinburgh Evening News is a local newspaper based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is published daily . It has a circulation of 68,000 and is owned by Johnston Press, which also owns The Scotsman and many regional titles throughout the UK.Much of the copy contained in the Evening News concerns local...
, to positive notices in Metro and The Evening Standard. The duo are confirmed to tour the show to the Absolut Fringe Festival Dublin
Dublin Fringe Festival
The Dublin Fringe Festival allows artists to develop and present their work by submitting their application which is subsequently reviewed by the programme manager. The festival is open to both Irish and international participants....
in September 2011, and across the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during autumn. On December 7th, 2011, Frisky & Mannish will perform Pop Centre Plus at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire.
South Bank shows
In June 2010, Corcoran and Jones were invited to appear as part of the E4 udderBELLYUdderBELLY
The udderBELLY is an upside-down giant purple cow tent owned by the event venue and management company Underbelly, and sponsored by E4.The udderBELLY can be used for a variety of different purposes as it can be adapted to contain a stage and all-seater 322 seat venue, or alternatively can be...
season in association with the Southbank Centre, continuing their association with the Underbelly. The four cabaret shows, presented under the umbrella title of Frisky and Mannish: Pop Educators, were composed of songs from the School of Pop alongside new material that would be incorporated into The College Years. The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
called the show "unerringly sharp and upbeat from start to finish... a gold-star masterclass in the mechanics and semantics of pop."
From May to July 2011, Corcoran and Jones returned to the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
for a follow-up season of shows. The theme of the show was "finding gainful employment. The sort of employment everyone wants, to be a lip-synching, tabloid-dominating star of the 21st century." Metro called the show an "eagerly awaited follow-up to School of Pop and The College Years" and praised the duo as "a constantly evolving force of musical nature." The Evening Standard also reviewed the show favourably, asserting that "Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
would struggle to fault Frisky and Mannish... Boy, do they do it well."
West End Christmas shows
In December 2009, Corcoran and Jones made their West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
début with a variety show entitled A Frisky and Mannish Christmas at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
on Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....
, featuring The Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters are a vocal trio. Arion Berger described them as part of "Retro's futuristic vanguard" and described their sound as "swing-punk". The group has sought to be associated with a burlesque revival....
and Angelos Epithemiou
Renton Skinner
Daniel "Dan" Renton Skinner is a British actor and comedy writer, working in stage, film and television. Renton is a member of the popular British five-man sketch troupe Dutch Elm Conservatoire...
as guest acts. Chortle described the show as possessing "the spirit of inventive, spangly, silliness, performed with powerful élan, that epitomises Frisky and Mannish at their best."
They returned to the Lyric in December 2010 with a follow-up show, Frisky and Mannish's Christmas Mess...age, featuring Miles Jupp
Miles Jupp
Miles Jupp is a British actor and comedian, probably best known as Archie in the children's television series Balamory....
and Abandoman
Robert Broderick
Rob Broderick is an Irish stand-up comedian who was born in Dublin but who now lives and works in London. He improvised his way into the final of the prestigious So You Think You're Funny competition at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe....
as guest acts. Erotic Review
Erotic Review
Erotic Review is a monthly UK-based lifestyle publication. Covering eroticism and sex-related topics, it was first published in 1995 as a print magazine, migrating to an eZine format in June, 2010...
wrote of the duo: "Despite the widely heralded post-Meow Meow
Melissa Madden Gray
Melissa Madden Gray, stage name Meow Meow, is an Australian-born actress, dancer and cabaret performer who tours internationally. Gray has been particularly active in the UK where she appeared in La Clique at the Roundhouse and created the rôle of the Maîtresse in the West End musical adaptation...
, post-La Clique
La Clique
La Clique was an award-winning cabaret/variety show with Australian roots first conceived for the 2004 edition of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
phenomenon of cabaret’s big-time explosion, large venue engagements are still few and far between in London’s perennially underground variety scene. Frisky and Mannish’s brash in-your-face irreverence makes a bold crossover statement, shamelessly seizing the mainstream spotlight with an unmistakable brand of humour both popular and defiant."
Critical reception
Frisky & Mannish have enjoyed significant mainstream attention and near-unanimous praise from the media since their first high-profile appearances in 2009. Among the plaudits, their work has been described as "the most purely entertaining hour to be spent at this year's Fringe" (The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
), "skilfully layered and musically surprising" (The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
), "one of the most upbeat hours of comedy I've seen this year" (The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
), "pure exhilarating brilliance from start to finish" (Chortle), "clever, inventive, polished, prodigiously talented and extremely funny" (Time Out Sydney), "musically adroit, vocally gifted and brilliant mimics" (New Zealand Herald), and "a global phenomenon" (The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
). They have been particularly acclaimed at the Edinburgh Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
, where their act was once described as "the most fun you can have without chemicals." One notable exception was the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
, at which Frisky and Mannish received mixed, contradictory reviews ranging from "hardly groundbreaking stuff," to "different, refreshing and, frankly, border-line genius."
Many reviewers have confessed that they find it difficult to accurately describe Frisky & Mannish. Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote that "on paper, it’s next to impossible to do justice to what happens during a Frisky and Mannish gig - and gig feels the operative word... the atmosphere is more redolent of a flashy turn by Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
than your average comedy club night."
Television and radio
In January 2011, Frisky & Mannish appeared in the third episode of BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's children's comedy programme, Dick and Dom's Funny Business
Dick and Dom's Funny Business
Dick and Dom's Funny Business is a British comedy television series for children, hosted by comic presenting duo Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood...
, performing a Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
skit featuring Vincent Simone
Vincent Simone
Vincent Simone is a professional dancer born in Italy. He moved to Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom when he was 17. His professional dancing partner is Flavia Cacace, and they perform under the brand name VincentandFlavia.-Early life:...
partnered with Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
. During the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe, they appeared on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
's Live at the Fringe programme, and BBC2's The Culture Show
The Culture Show
The Culture Show is a weekly BBC Two Arts magazine programme. It is broadcast in the UK on Thursday nights at 7pm, focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture, music, visual fashion and the performing arts...
, for which they wrote a new piece looking at the art of the comic song.
In March 2011, a number of Frisky & Mannish songs were featured on The Scott Mills Breakfast Show
The Chris Moyles Show
The Chris Moyles Show is the current BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in the UK, and has been since Chris Moyles became the station's breakfast show presenter on 5 January 2004. From 2004 to 2007, the show was broadcast 6:55–10:00 am each weekday, but since 15 October 2007 it has started from...
on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. The songs proved so popular that the duo were invited to appear in person on the show; they were interviewed by Scott Mills
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills is a British radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor, best known for presenting The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1...
and performed live. The video edit of their live performances on the show made the Most Popular list on the BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
website that week. They have also been featured on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
's The Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Anne I. Winkleman is an English television presenter, film critic, radio personality and journalist.- Early life and family :...
, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
with Ali McGregor
Ali McGregor
Ali McGregor is an Australian opera singer, actress and cabaret performer.-Career:McGregor, who was born in Melbourne, studied music at the Australian National University before completing her Bachelor of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK as a Peter Moores Scholar...
, BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
with Lauren Laverne
Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher , known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, television presenter, author and singer...
, BBC Radio 7, BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
, and STV.
X Factor video blogs
In October 2011, to coincide with the eighth seriesThe X Factor (UK series 8)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The eighth series began airing on ITV on 20 August 2011. Louis Walsh is the only judge from the previous series to return, as the other three, Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole, all left to join other...
of The X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
in the United Kingdom, Corcoran and Jones began filming and uploading a series of "VidBlogs" to their YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel, presenting their humorous thoughts on each live final. After a positive response to the first video, the magazine Heat
Heat (magazine)
Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by German company Bauer Media Group. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in...
started to sponsor and host the duo's weekly blog, which appears every Monday on the Heatworld website.
Britain's Got Talent controversy
On Saturday 23 April 2011, Scottish drama teacher Edward Reid performed a version of Leona LewisLeona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
's cover of 'Run
Run (Snow Patrol song)
"Run" is a cover of the Snow Patrol song by Leona Lewis on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on 31 October 2007. She later released the song as a single from Spirit: The Deluxe Edition in November 2008. At the time, "Run" was the UK's fastest-selling digital only release ever, selling 69,244 copies in just...
' on the fifth series
Britain's Got Talent (series 5)
The fifth series of Britain's Got Talent began on 16 April 2011 and ended on 4 June 2011. The winner of the show was Jai McDowall, who received £100,000 and a place at the 2011 Royal Variety Performance. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern presented Britain's Got More...
of the television series Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
, replacing the original lyrics with 'Old McDonald Had a Farm
Old McDonald Had a Farm
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer named MacDonald and the various animals he keeps on his farm. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise. In many versions, the song is cumulative, with the noises from all the...
' and other nursery rhymes. Reid received a standing ovation from the studio audience, unanimous praise from the judging panel, and was soon installed as favourite to win the competition.
"We'd like to make the point that we by no means believe we 'own' the idea of performing twisted versions of pop songs. We were not the first, and won't be the last. But the strong links and similarities in this instance have been slightly disconcerting." |
| Corcoran and Jones's statement in The Sun |
Immediately afterwards, Twitter users
Twitter usage
Ever since the inception of Twitter on July 15, 2006, there has been many notable uses for the service, in a variety of environments.-In Policing:...
began accusing Reid of plagiarising
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
the Frisky & Mannish song 'Wheels on the Bus', a version of Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...
's 'Sound of the Underground
Sound of the Underground (song)
"Sound of the Underground" is the debut single by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, later featured on their debut album of the same name. The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Niara Scarlett, and produced by Higgins and his production team Xenomania...
' which also features a nursery rhyme medley and begins with 'Old McDonald Had a Farm'. Corcoran and Jones, initially unavailable for comment, then released a statement to The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
on 25 April 2011, revealing that they had performed alongside Reid at the Glasgow Cabaret Festival
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 2009, at which time his work was "very different" from theirs, and that he had seen their version of 'Wheels on the Bus'.
Following the statement, Corcoran and Jones were reported to have "played down" the situation on their social networking sites, posting a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
claim that they were "now being counter-sued by Old McDonald." On their official website, the duo made the following observation: "We do not believe we are the first people to do pop parodies. Nor is the irony of the event lost on us, considering our repeated pilfering of the back-catalogues of Britney
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
and Busted. Only certain interpersonal exchanges made this an unusual event."
Awards and nominations
- February 2012, London Cabaret Awards for Best Music-based Act and Best One-off Show (The College Years), longlisted nominees
- November 2011, Loaded LAFTA Award for Best NewcomerLoaded (magazine)Loaded, first published in 1994, is a British magazine for men that is considered to be the "original lads' mag". Its motto is "For men who should know better".-History:...
, nominees - August 2010, Edinburgh Spotlight Best Comedy Award, nominees
- May 2010, FringeGuru Editor's Choice Award, winners
- May 2010, Latest 7 Award for Best Cabaret, runners-up
- March 2010, Chortle Award for Best Music and Variety ActChortle AwardsThe Chortle awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK....
, nominees - February 2010, Leicester Comedy Festival Award for Best ShowLeicester Comedy FestivalThe Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracting 5,000 people...
, nominees - January 2010, Hackney Empire New Act of the YearHackney Empire New Act of the YearThe Hackney Empire New Act of the Year was a long-running annual competition that ran at the Hackney Empire theatre in London in order to encourage, discover and promote new stand-up comedy and New Variety talent...
, second runners-up - August 2009, Edinburgh Festival Insider Comedy Award, nominees
- May 2009, Latest 7 Awards for Best Cabaret and Most Groundbreaking Act, nominees
- April 2009, Tuborg Musical Comedy Award, nominees