They’ve skewered history, the Bible and the world’s most celebrated playwright, and now the Reduced Shakespeare Company tackles the subject it was born to reduce – comedy. Rosy Moorhead talks to Reducer Gary Fannin ahead of the boys’ gig at the Old Town Hall and asks why does the chicken cross the road?

Is The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged) the usual Reduced Shakespeare Company fare?

Yes, it’s three dumb Americans running around on stage with lots of different costumes, props flying back and forth, silly jokes, silly wigs, fake boobs, all the classics! This one’s very informative, you do actually learn about the history of comedy and some funny people, like Abraham Lincoln. He was like the first stand-up, he was a very, very funny president. He once said: People accuse me of being two-faced. If it were true, would I be wearing this one?

Where does it all start?

We start with probably the oldest joke out there – why did the chicken cross the road? We explore how that joke evolved over time – a caveman comes out and says ’Why chicken cross road?’ and the other one clubs him over the head; then you have Shakespeare discussing ’To cross or not to cross?’; through the Japanese game show which seems to be about animal cruelty; how the British tell it versus the French; and ending with the big Broadway musical version of it – ’There’s no crossing like our crossing’!

What other things do you cover?

We look at stand-ups, double acts – which obviously includes Cameron and Clegg – and the vocabulary of comedy – what actually is a double-take? Of course, we discuss pies – should we have stricter pie laws? And clowns – everybody knows that they’re floppy-shoed servants of evil. And mimes – there’s a whole routine about how mimes just aren’t funny.

The show premiered in the US – have you had to change it for British audiences?

Yes, we cover how different things are funny in different countries. You say ’Morecambe and Wise’ to anybody in the States and they have no idea who you’re talking about, but how could you do a show on the history of comedy and not mention them? And we’ve included TV shows like QI, Little Britain and Yes, Minister. In the original script there was a reference to the line ’That’s what she said’, which is very American, but the British equivalent would be ’... said the actress to the bishop’.

Are you still making each other laugh, two months into the tour?

Yes – but ask me again in May!

  • The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged) is at the Old Town Hall, High Street, Old Town, Hemel Hempstead on Wednesday, March 11 at 8pm. Details: 01442 228091, oldtownhall.co.uk