At the age of 14, after fever-watching Groundhog Day, Richard Spalding had a theory of what happens to use after we die. Now, he is debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe with his show Gather Your Skeletons. Here Spalding chats to Pepper&Salt about his debut hour, the mundanity of normalcy and what can happen if you cook Chicken Kiev incorrectly (do not try this at home).
How would you summarise your show?
It’s a stand-up show first and foremost, but it’s also telling a bit of a story. I’ve been saying it’s about death, but it’s not really about death, it’s sort of about what happens after you die and what happens before you die. It’s less about death and more about life and the afterlife. But funny.
Kind of Death at a Funeral vibes?
It’s not necessarily dark humour, it’s about a thought that I had when I was a teenager about what happens after you die, which I used to think about a lot and I forgot about it, and I was reminded of it quite recently in a phone conversation with my mum and that quite childish thought has been something that I now think about quite a lot and it’s kind of changed my outlook on life a little bit. So, it’s explaining that idea, explaining how it’s applied to my life in different stages.
What are some of the big ideas that you tackle in this hour?
I mean, the biggest one is what happens after you die? That’s the throughline. And that’s a pretty big one. I should say, I don’t know. I’m slightly worried that I’m making it sound like I’ve got the answer, but it’s something I think about a lot. So, what happens after you die is a big one. And also, not just afterlife where do you go after you die, but what happens to the people that you leave behind as well, how are you remembered, and doe that matter? That’s one of the things you wrestle with; does it matter how you’re remembered; does it matter the legacy that you leave behind or is it okay to just have a very normal life and enjoy it. That’s sort of the big question. Also, kids, marriage and all of that sort of relationships, that’s all thrown in there as well. There are some big questions.
How much of an existentialist thread is there?
Most of this show is grounded in reality, but the overarching theme of it I guess is quite existential. But it’s sort of applying those existential ideas to normal life, to going to work and having a job and meeting people and breaking up with people, having children or not having children. They’re all things that are grounded in reality but also can be treated quite existentially. If there are people who are big existentialist thinkers and want an hour of existentialist comedy, it might not be quite living up to that, but there’s some bigger thoughts in there from someone who has no idea about philosophy or anything.
If it’s not too much of a spoiler, what was your idea about what happens when we die and what prompted it?
Well, I can say what prompted it, I can’t give away the idea. You’ll have to come and see the show to know that, but it was prompted by having food poisoning when I was 14 and watching Groundhog Day with a slight fever. And that’s all I can say. I was 14, I tried to cook some Chicken Kievs a bit wrong, had food poisoning, watched Groundhog Day for the first time and the theory was born.
“You don’t have to make your job your purpose, you don’t’ have to be defined by that. You can define yourself however you want. It’s nice to see it sort of come together into a solid show that’s about something I didn’t intend to be about.”
What inspired thinking about this incident after however many years on?
It was my mum; I was having a conversation with my mum. And my mum likes to talk about death quite a lot, she’s quite a death-focused person. But that’s always been quite normal in our family, we always talked about death. It’s not one of those hush-hush topics, it was always quite open. And we were having a conversation, and she sort of reminded me of this thought I used to have; I’d written a story about it apparently, which I’ve since dug out and I did think about putting it into the show, but I’ve then re-re-read it and it’s dogshit, so I’m going to hide it. But yeah, it was a conversation with my mum, she reminded me of it and now it’s stuck in my brain.
Did you come to any big revelations whilst writing this show?
Not the ones I thought I’d come to. Originally the show wasn’t even meant to be about this, it was meant to be about work specifically and sort of the benefits of and the problems with the way that we work in our society, the amount of time that we dedicate to work and who we’re working for and whose interests we’re serving just by doing just fairly normal jobs. And then it’s become this bigger question, with work still a part of that. But I think my conclusions were going to be how we should all quit our jobs and start a revolution, but I think as the show’s gone, it’s changed a little and the conclusions are that sometimes you need a purpose, but that doesn’t have to be working in marketing or whatever. You don’t have to make your job your purpose, you don’t’ have to be defined by that. You can define yourself however you want. It’s nice to see it sort of come together into a solid show that’s about something I didn’t intend to be about. At the start, it’s sort of been quite organic in a sense. I’ve just written about what I was thinking about, and it’s taken shape.
What do you hope audiences will take away from this hour?
I hope it’ll be quite life-affirming. I’m hoping that people will come away from it seeing the value of just a normal, ordinary life and just a normal, ordinary day. And I hope that they’ll have laughed quite a lot, is also the aim. That’s the main aim. So come away having laughed a lot but also with sort of a feeling of the appreciation for the normal, boringness of life.
What are you looking forward to about making your debut?
I’m looking forward to all of it, to be honest. It’s the first time I’ve done a full month’s run in Edinburgh, whenever I’ve been up before I’ve always wanted to stay longer and not been able to. I’m excited. I’m living with another comedian – Alexandra Haddow – who I used to live with in London and we’ve got a flat together in Edinburgh for the month. So, I’m looking forward to living with her again, she’s very fun and we’ll have a good time. And our shows are on at similar – I’m at 9:15pm and she’s at 10pm – so it’ll be a nice little routine where I’ll finish, wander over to her venue, she’ll finish and then we can sort of debrief on the good shows and the bad shows. You end up spending a lot of time with people you don’t normally get to spend a lot of time with other comedians and promoters, people from the comedy industry, who are generally great people, so I’m looking forward to hanging out with a bunch of cool guys. It will be really nice, and I think it’s quite important, cause it can be quite a bruising month, Edinburgh. There’s a lot of great ups and downs, so if you’re around other people who understand the downs and stop you getting too caught up in your head and your own ego, it’s a better way to survive the month.
In Shakespeare, the role of the fool and the king are very distinct, with the idea that a fool can’t be a king and a king can’t be a fool. How do you think this applies to the modern context?
I feel like the roles have almost swapped in a way, if you take kings to be the leaders of our countries now, it feels very much like the kings are the fools and the fools are the kings. If you look at Boris Johnson or Donald Trump, the problem that they’ve caused for comedians and satirists is that there’s nothing there to satirise, you can’t heighten the kind of stupidity and madness that they’ve been doing on a daily basis. And so, it feels like the fools are now in charge and then comedians are held to a much higher standard, the things that they say are scrutinised a lot more than leaders are. And so, it feels like basically the roles have swapped, and it would be quite nice to go back to a world where the leaders are the responsible ones, and the comedians can just be fools making stupid jokes all the time.
By Katerina Partolina Schwartz
Photo Credit: Jamie Drew
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