Interview - Page Three

A Certain Appeal

Q: I think Snuff Box is going to appeal to certain people because it's a sort of realised world in itself. Some people will say "I don't get it", and others will say "that's brilliant". It's quite different to most sketch shows.

A: Berry: One of the things I can't stand about some shows is the in-jokeness of stuff, which I really hope we haven't done. There's no nods and winks to one another or language that only we understand - everything's out there. We're kind of thrown together in the show. I f**k Richard up the whole way through it really, from the first episode to the end, so it's not this buddy thing. It's more open than that. I would hope. Fulcher: Plus I think we're coming at a good time, because I mean we all know Little Britain and we all know Catherine Tate, and now those are out there, people are looking for a different kind of sketch show. And that's one of the things I think we've provided.

Q: You obviously intentionally didn't go for a catchphrase-based show.

A: Berry: Totally, no. I think it's a really easy laugh, that's why. But that's what most people think of as a sketch show these days. I hope people are slightly fed up with that. Because I do think it is an easy laugh.

Fulcher: Plus it's almost getting into the realm of marketing now. It's like some catchphrases are marketed.

Berry: Well they're ringtones, they're t-shirts...

Fulcher: Or you build the sketch around a phrase, as opposed to just writing something you find funny. I mean, no matter what you put out there, the audience is going to find something they like out of the show and they'll yell across the street, like, "heeeeeeeeeeeey!"

Q: Which surely is a good thing.

A: Fulcher: Yeah. "I've gotta take a piss!" or something like that.

Berry chuckles.

Fulcher: That's the audience that has created it, not us, we don't want anything to do with the catchphrase.

Berry (still laughing): But it would be funny if they did that...

Fulcher: Or, "whis-key!" - Because we were trying to think what audiences would yell at us.

Berry: Imagine you were in front of people, and people were doing that to you...

Fulcher: "I gotta take a piss" - I'm with a date or something...

Berry: You just don't know what people might pick up on. It could be the tiniest thing, which we didn't give any thought to, and it could be the thing that people like.

Fulcher: A lot of times it's just a throwaway thing that you did. During the course of filming we would often throw out little things, and those are some of the things we found the most funny.

Q: Matt, was it hard for you to reveal so many things about yourself using your diary in the show, or did you find the whole experience somehow therapeutic?

A: Berry: Well, you know all those things did actually happen. That's not fictitious or anything. When I first saw the playback, the rough cut of where Rich reads the diary out, I was quite embarrassed - the first time. But after about the fourth time, I actually got quite aroused - again - and went through some of those things again. So it was a good experience I would say. And I'm very pleased we kept all that in.

Fulcher: He's still excited about Scotland.

Berry: I can't look at maps. Scotland's the worst. What you didn't know in the show is that there's other maps, that you know, get me going. But Scotland - namely Dundee - is lethal. And the less said about that, the better.

Fulcher: Aye caramba!

Q: But More seriously, Rich, during filming while reading out Matt's diary, did you throw out things that Matt wasn't expecting, to see what would happen?

A: Fulcher: Oh yeah, that's totally part of it. 'cos sometimes you want the other person to corpse. I was trying to make some stuff up because when you do a bunch of takes you want to freshen it up. Plus there were all the old gents behind me, who are supposed to be laughing, so you get more hearty laughs if it's something you made up. Like, "I think I'm a werewolf", or something like that.

Berry: And from what I remember you went pretty hardcore with some stuff.

Fulcher: Some of it was a little bit hardcore, which shocked the crew. In the first episode there's an 1888 sketch where I'm supposed to divulge to Sir Charles about what Matt and I did the other night, and they go "why don't you do a take where you're just literally speaking the whole story?", so I just thought of the most grotesque story, and at the end of it the crew was like, ghostly silent.

Berry: It was good.