Lockdown is no obstacle to funny man Friz

Musical comedian Friz Frizzle in action in Whats In The Box with Gail Porter and comedians Sooz Kmepner and Sarah Mills. EMN-201006-153138001

Like most entertainers, award-winning Friz Frizzle has been unable to do live gigs to audiences since the coronavirus restrictions came into place and so has been doing a weekly Facebook livestream show every Friday since lockdown from his home.

He said: “It’s called ‘Songs From the Spare Room’ and is me singing musical parodies, with new material every week.”

Last week was the 12th one, marking three months of Friz doing this new style of comedy.

Friz Frizzle doing Songs From The Spare Room. EMN-201006-153127001

Friz has been on the scene since 2012 and recently won the Leicester Comedy Festival Award for Best Musical Show.

He had 3,500 people tune in for the first week and has a regular audience of 300-500 every Friday. Most of the shows are themed, with the latest one being songs about television.

He added: “I also do a regular panel show called ‘What’s in the Box?’ where I get my friends from the world of comedy and celebrities to play parlour games that I invent on the spot.”

You can see one of those at: https://youtu.be/4Bi0nzbGfHE

He said it has opened lots of doors to him: “A lot of my fans share the live video before I go ‘on stage’ and my page has received a lot more likes from people.

“I chat with the audience if they leave comments and request ideas for the show the following week, which makes them tune in again. Sometimes I enjoy it more than doing the live gigging!

“Online comedy had already existed before lockdown, but now people are paying more attention to it. This is great for comedians like myself who aren’t on the telly. We can make and build our own audiences through good reviews and community sharing.”

Friz added: “I take my inspiration from the likes of Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin, Victoria Wood - all the greats of musical comedy.”

Over the years Friz has released four albums and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe every year since he started, commenting: “The fact the Edinburgh Fringe isn’t happening is disheartening, but it’s made comedians like myself move more online.

“The content produced by comedians in lockdown is some of the funniest material I’ve seen them do!”