Q & A with Totally Wired

Interview by: Robin Murray

Best known for their appearances on RTÉ's Republic of Telly (their video 'Gay Best Friend' has over 150,000 views on YouTube), Totally Wired is a musical comedy duo comprising of Lorcan Hughes and Emmet Quinn. Part of Ireland's new wave of comedic musicians, the duo are one to watch as they gear up for their first full-length shows this summer as well as their Edinburgh Fringe debut. I caught up with the amiable Dublin pair shortly before the first ever Irish Musical Comedy Awards (IMCAs).

Me: Hi lads, my first question is when and how did the band form?

Lorcan: Well, we started about three years ago - it'll be three years this August.
Emmet: But we actually started out as a Bee Gee tribute band. We basically got bored of doing the same thing night in, night out and so we started having fun with the songs.

M: Did you start doing parodies of songs?

E: (In mock offense) Parody? That's the lowest form of all humour!
L: Even lower than sarcasm.

E: But yeah, we did do a couple of parodies! We started off taking the mickey out of the songs we were singing and then began performing original songs.
L: That's actually how Billy Connolly started off as well.

M: How would you describe your style of comedy?

L: Well, the lazy thing is to say we're like Flight of the Conchords, but we're not really like them.
E: We're more like Stephen Lynch.

M: Your Republic of Telly video, 'Gay Best Friend' has over 150,000 views on YouTube - how much has appearing on the show helped your careers?

L: Well, we've actually done three videos with them. They showed the first two but never used the third.
E: You've got to remember they've got people sending them in things all the time - it's very competitive.
L: But as far as it helping our careers, I don't think it's made that much of a difference. It definitely helped to get our name out there in the industry, but we don't get recognised on the street... Well, Emmet does. (Emmet pulls a wacky face, grinning widely and moving his eyebrows up and down).

M: This is the first IMCAs; are you surprised at how fast the genre is growing in Ireland?

L: I think that, like a lot of things here, it's following what's happened in the UK. Musical comedy has just exploded over there in the past five years, with the likes of Tim Minchin and Bill Bailey, and now it's made its way over here.

M: Who are you most looking forward to seeing tonight?

L: Trevor Browne. The man's a genius.
E: To be totally honest, there's a lot of acts performing tonight that I haven't heard of, so it's going to be interesting seeing them all.

M: Musical comedy is really taking over at the moment, with Tim Minchin reaching superstar level and The Rubberbandits finding success both here and in the UK. Do you think people have grown tired of traditional stand-up?

E: No, I wouldn't say they're tired of stand-up, just that they're recognising that this is an alternative. But it's true that musical comedy is getting really big; in fact they're talking about having a separate festival dedicated purely to musical comedy as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival.

M: You're performing next month in The Academy - what can we expect from your 'Reunion Farewell Welfare Tour'?

L: (Pause) Let me think, well it's going to be our longest ever show - about an hour and a quarter - and there's going to be some new material as well as some old. Cos we're not that big that everyone's seen the old stuff!
E: We've a few big gigs over the summer where we'll try out material and take what works best to the Edinburgh Fringe, which we're playing for the first time. It's great that we have a few big performances between now and then to focus on cos otherwise we'd go mad thinking about it. Well, madder...

M: And finally, what song would you like played at your funeral?

E: I'd say 'Walk On The Wild Side'. It's funny cos my mother's always saying that that song's about me - 'Oh Emmet, he walks on the wild side' - but she only listens to the chorus; the rest of the song is about being a transexual and a prostitute, it's actually pretty crazy. So yeah, I like the idea of that playing in a little church in Edenderry.

M: And you, Lorcan?

L: 'You Raise Me Up'.

Totally Wired perform 'A Sperm's Tale and Other Stories' at The Academy, Middle Abbey St. Dublin 1 on the 26th of May.

Tickets cost €17.25

Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Thursday 26th April 2012 | Comedy

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