EDINBURGH Fringe-bound duo Harry and Chris are convinced they have comedy-rap-jazz superpowers.
On the evidence so far, it seems that they could almost be right.
In their show last year, a song trying to find love for Edinburgh Zoo’s panda nearly resulted in Tian Tian becoming pregnant.
And this summer, the London-based duo’s England World Cup song propelled the Three Lions into the semi-finals.
While football ‘coming home’ would have felt like the end of the world for us north of the border, Harry and Chris’ latest Edinburgh show is setting out to save the world – with the aforementioned superpowers.
“Some people expect superpowers, and some people have superpowers thrust upon them,” explains Chris Read, one half of the duo.
“For us it was the latter, and we’re still dealing with that and what that means. We’ve basically built a show around going out there and using our powers to change the world.”
The apocalypse and fear were two major themes in the songs they wrote and performed as part of Russell Howard’s Sky One show last year.
Their appearance on the show, while also winning them a host of new fans, seems to have shaped their new work.
The duo’s other half, Harry Baker, says: “When we are trying to be so unashamedly uplifting and positive, we didn’t want that to feel like we were undermining or ignoring the bleakness that does exist in the world.This year we’re trying to fit in amongst it.
“We’re keeping the uplifting feel but trying to have some poignancy and thoughtfulness, that was hopefully purveyed in our other shows, and trying to bring that to the forefront as well.
“And writing a song about the end of the world and then it not happening… I think we can take credit for it,” he laughs.
Both halves of this incredibly talented duo also work on their own projects, with Chris an acclaimed jazz musician and Harry a world champion slam poet.
Combine the two, and you have the musical punchline magic that is Harry & Chris – friends since school and a double-act for life.
“We bounce off each other so much that it makes it different every time,” Chris says. “For me personally, coming from a jazz background where there’s so much about improvisation, I definitely get the same vibe when we’re doing gigs.
“It’s different every time, songs will go slightly different routes and different things will happen with the audience interaction which makes it really fresh and keeps us going.
“When you’re doing a run of twenty plus shows at the Fringe or out on the road it’s really nice to keep it fresh. We go out to have fun, and it seems to work!”
Harry adds: “Coming from the solo poetry stuff it’s amazing to have the energy of another person and the music. And also, the expectations of a comedy audience. The people coming are expecting to laugh and it gives you a head start from the off.
“I love the journey the show goes on. At the moment we’re pre-Edinburgh, tightening it up and trying to make it as good as possible.
“And when we’re on tour, once we’re comfortable enough with it, it then comes full circle and we try to throw each other off on stage and that’s where moments of brilliance come out. It’s good that we get on.”
“If we didn’t it might be different!” Chris laughs.
Edinburgh Fringe Review: Musical comedy duo Harry and Chris provide five star punchlines and rhymes
This will be the affable duo’s third Edinburgh Fringe, having received rave reviews – including five stars from The Sunday Post – for their previous outings.
But what have they learned over the years?
“Chris has learned to eat vegetables from the off,” laughs Harry, “and I’ve learned to take the first two weeks of September off as a holiday and together we’ve learned…”
“Hygiene!” interjects Chris.
The more serious – or avant garde – answer, admits Harry, is that the duo have learned that the show’s never finished.
“You’re always developing it and there’ll be things that work in certain places that wouldn’t work in other places,” he says.
“The Fringe is amazing, it’s this incredible repeated test scenario. A different audience but the same sized room in the same place.
“There’s only so many times you can blame the audience for not understanding genius before you have to change it!”
Chris adds: “The first time we were still tweaking the show a week or ten days into our run. The last year, we just about got it ready in time. This year, I think we’re more prepared than ever.”
When asked what’s different about this year’s show, Harry yells with glee: “We’ve got a theme!”
It’s the duo’s first themed show, with a message to tie the whole production together.
“The last two shows have been more like gigs in that it was just a load of our songs,” Chris says, with Harry adding: “The theme was Harry and Chris are doing a show, and then it was Harry and Chris are doing a show… again!”
Both admit it’s hard to describe their unique brand of comedy, with the closest phrase they’ve settled on being comedy-rap-jazz.
Having been in the spoken word listings for their first year, they’re now firmly in the comedy category.
“It’s amazing having had videos out there and a bit of TV stuff that now it feels that people now know a bit more what to expect,” Harry says.
“Last year was our first time in the comedy section, and now we feel more comfortable in ourselves and less apologetic for it.
“This year’s show has more of the same lyricism and music as well as the sort of on-stage rapport between the two of us.
“It’s an uplifting vibe but this year we’ve tried to curate it a bit more into a kind of narrative as well, so as well as being a selection of songs it builds up towards a finale as such.”
Harry and Chris Save The World, Just The Tonic at The Mash House from August 2 – 12 and 14-25 at 2:25pm
Tickets at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/harry-and-chris-save-the-world
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