Frisky & Mannish

Frisky & Mannish is a British musical comedy double act, created and performed by singer Laura Corcoran and pianist-singer Matthew Floyd Jones.[1] Known for their pop music parodies, the duo have toured the fringe festival and comedy festival circuits in the United Kingdom and Australia,[2] and appeared on a number of British television and radio programmes.[3][4][5][6] The act's name derives from two incidental characters mentioned in one couplet of Byron's Don Juan: "Lady Fitz-Frisky, and Miss Maevia Mannish, / Both longed extremely to be sung in Spanish" (Canto XI, LIII.)[7]

Frisky & Mannish
Frisky & Mannish portrait by Rosie Collins
Background information
OriginLondon, England
GenresCabaret, Comedy, Parody music, Pastiche, Pop music, Popular culture
Years active2008–present
Websitefriskyandmannish.co.uk
MembersLaura Corcoran, Frisky
Matthew Floyd Jones, Mannish

Background

Jones was born in south-west London and brought up in Surrey, whilst Corcoran hails from Greater Manchester.[8][9] They first met as undergraduates at Oxford University and began a partnership writing comic songs for the student sketch troupe The Oxford Revue.[10] After graduating, they moved into a shared flat in London.[11]

On 5 March 2008, at a music hall-themed fundraiser on a barge in Battersea, Corcoran and Jones decided to "mess around with a few songs," and performed pastiches of "Papa Don't Preach" (as an operatic aria), "Eye of the Tiger" (in a bluegrass style), "I'd Do Anything for Love" (sung by a young child), and "Come On Eileen" (as a heartfelt ballad.)[9][10] Their performance led to a "firm booking for an hour-long show," after which the pair developed a fuller concept and "reverse-engineered some sort of coherent act into existence."[12]

Career

Stage

Corcoran and Jones have written and produced eight Frisky & Mannish shows to date, all of which have toured internationally, and a Christmas-themed show that has been performed at the West End’s Lyric Theatre and Edinburgh's Hogmanay.[7][10][13] They have played many London venues, including Shepherd's Bush Empire,[14] Noel Coward Theatre,[15] Soho Theatre,[16] Southbank Centre,[17] The Forum,[18] Bloomsbury Theatre,[19] and KOKO.[20] In Australia, they have presented shows at Sydney Opera House and Sydney Cabaret Festival,[7][21] Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Adelaide Fringe,[22][23] Melbourne International Comedy Festival,[24] and Fringe World in Perth.[25] They have also toured to Wellington and Auckland,[26][27] Dublin,[28] Berlin,[16] Singapore,[1] Hong Kong,[29] and New York City's The Slipper Room.[16]

Their first full-length show, School of Pop (2009), a series of "educational" lessons developed during their monthly residency at Leicester Square Theatre,[7] was described as "the undisputed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe,"[30] garnering thirteen five-star reviews from publications such as Chortle, Edinburgh Evening News, The Herald, The Mail on Sunday, and Time Out.[31] Their send-up of Noël Coward and Lily Allen was particularly praised.[8][32][33] Kate Nash, whose song "Foundations" they combined with Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", attended one of their performances.[34] A sequel entitled The College Years (2010), based around a central thesis of "collision theory,"[35] premièred at Latitude Festival,[36] and placed second (out of 2453 productions)[37] on Edinburgh Festival Guide's list of top-rated shows.[38] Pop Centre Plus (2011), the final instalment in their "Pop Education" trilogy, was launched at the udderBELLY Festival on South Bank,[34] structured as a careers advice facility.[28] In 2012 they introduced two new shows, Extra-Curricular Activities,[39] and a black comedy called 27 Club, which delved into the eponymous cultural phenomenon.[40] Just Too Much (2014) continued this darker theme, concerning itself with meltdowns in pop.[41] In 2015, inspired by the reaction to their viral short film protesting comments made by Gary Barlow on The X Factor,"[42][43] they created a variety show, Cabariot, featuring guest acts and original songs tackling a range of social issues.[44] After a short hiatus, the pair returned with a tenth anniversary show, PopLab (2019), comprising a series of scientific experiments.[45]

Radio

In March 2011, Scott Mills featured a number of Frisky & Mannish songs on BBC Radio 1, which led to several live interviews and performances on the programme.[5][46] They also wrote and recorded "Perfect Christmas Single" (with Mills and co-host Chris Stark) for a Radio 1 Stories documentary in December 2012; the track was made available on the channel's website and downloaded over 170,000 times.[47][48] Other radio appearances have included BBC Radio 2 (Jo Whiley),[6] BBC Radio 3 (The Verb),[49] BBC Radio 4 (Sketchorama),[50] BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC 6 Music (Lauren Laverne),[51] and BBC Radio Scotland (MacAulay and Co).[52]

Television

In August 2011, Corcoran and Jones were featured on BBC Two's The Culture Show, performing a comic song about the art of making comic songs.[3] They have also appeared on children's programme Dick and Dom's Funny Business (BBC Two) and variety show Live at the Fringe (BBC3).[4][53]

On the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2011, contestant Edward Reid's performance of nursery rhymes to the tune of Leona Lewis's "Run" was accused of plagiarising Frisky & Mannish's "Wheels on the Bus," a nursery rhyme medley set to Girls Aloud's "Sound of the Underground".[54][55]

Reception

Corcoran and Jones have been positively reviewed in a number of British publications such as The Daily Telegraph,[8] The Evening Standard,[56] The Guardian,[32] The Independent,[57] Metro,[58] The Observer,[33] although several reviewers have confessed to finding Frisky & Mannish difficult to describe.[8][59][60] One publication referred to them as the "King and Queen of the Fringe Festival."[39] They have been acclaimed for the skill with which they perform and the cleverness of their observations,[16][61][62][63] whereas negative criticism of their act has tended to focus upon a perceived lack of depth to their material.[64][65][66] The Guardian identified them as a rare example of a successful mixed-gender comedy duo.[67] Their act has been praised by Ed Byrne,[68] Susan Calman,[69] Shappi Khorsandi,[70] Sarah Millican,[71] Dara Ó Briain,[68] and Ruby Wax.[72]

Awards

Corcoran and Jones won an Editor's Choice Award at Brighton Fringe, a Best Comedy Award at Adelaide Fringe, and an Entertainmentwise Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[73][74][75] They were runners-up in the final of Hackney Empire New Act of the Year,[76] finalists in the Musical Comedy Awards,[77] and nominees for a Chortle Award (Best Music or Variety Act),[78] Loaded LAFTA Award (Best Newcomer),[79] two Fringe World Awards, and four London Cabaret Awards.

References
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  2. "Frisky & Mannish". mcintyre-ents.com. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
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  4. "Three at the Fringe". IMDb. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  5. "Frisky & Mannish perform Girls Aloud and Whigfield... sort of". BBC. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  6. "BBC Radio 2 – Live from the Edinburgh Festivals". BBC. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. Tripney, Natasha (13 July 2011). "Interview: Frisky & Mannish". exeuntmagazine.com.
  8. Cavendish, Dominic (19 August 2010). "Edinburgh Festival 2010: Frisky and Mannish interview". The Telegraph. London.
  9. Rudden, Liam (7 August 2009). "Interview: Laura Corcoran and Matthew Jones". Edinburgh Evening News.
  10. "Frisky and Mannish interview". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  11. "Glam rocks: Meet the stars who are taking cabaret mainstream". The Independent. London. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  12. "Frisky & Mannish: taking the beep out of the Pussycat Dolls". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  13. "Comedy cabaret duo Frisky and Mannish fulfil dream with New Year gig". Edinburgh Evening News. 29 December 2011.
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