Describe your show ‘Lunch’… It sounds a little odd if you don’t mind me saying?.
“Well I thought I’d write a song cycle about having lunch. I like singing and I like lunch but lunch is such a mundane meal that I thought I would combine the two. I really like Flanders and Swann and I noticed that they always seem to begin with someone having lunch before descending into something a bit surreal involving animals. That’s where I take my inspiration from I suppose.
How do you write your material, do you sit in a small quiet room and scribble away or do you forge it in the white heat of live performance?
“I like to have a song half written which I then put in front of an audience – that means that I can keep tweaking it as I go. It seems to work best that way – I must admit that I quite like the creative pressure that puts on you. I did 24 live performances at the Underbelly Theatre during the Edinburgh Fringe festival over the summer and that was quite an opportunity to do a fair bit of honing. I feel that my songs are never quite done – I am constantly changing things depending on how the audience reacts.”
I hear that most acts lose money when they take a show to the fringe – how did it go for you?
“Well, it wasn’t that bad, I’m feeling a little sore, but we were really happy that we had good turnout of people coming along.
“This means that I will be able to buy people Christmas presents this year you will be pleased to hear.”
I had a look at your biography and it turns out that you’re a proper actor – what on Earth are you doing messing around with comedy?
“I love the idea of taking the silly extremely seriously.
“When I went to acting at RADA, everyone would be incredibly sincere about their acting craft.
“I thought that if you could take that level of sheer dedication and sincerity and apply it to something utterly ridiculous then that could make for something funny.”
What does the future hold – are you going to get a proper job?
“Hopefully in the future, I shall continue to perform and hopefully people will continue to find it funny and come along! I’m writing a play at the moment called Cowboys and Tax Returns, my goal is to keep on writing. There is no better test than putting something before an audience and I enjoy challenging myself in this way.
“The more I write the better I get at doing it – I’ve got a lot of ideas and a lot of energy and I’m really enjoying what I do.
“I can’t wait to perform at the North Wall Arts Centre, I’ve never been, but I’ve got a lot of friends who have performed there and they tell me it’s a great venue.”
Luke Courtier will appear at the North Wall Arts Centre on January 21 at 8pm
Tickets: £10 (Conc) £8. For more information see www.thenorthwall.com or call the box office on 01865 319450,