The Pink Bear Club

My friend Eli has a bright pink bear suit. It was custom made for him by a friend. The first time I saw Eli in it was a moment to remember. I was on the top deck of the bus home with my kids. The bus had stopped, and I started to become aware that other people upstairs were laughing at something. Then my kids shouted, ‘Dad, look!’ and pointed towards the window of a flat opposite. There was Eli in his bright pink bear outfit, staring at the bus passengers as if he couldn’t understand what they were laughing at. I got massive kudos from my kids when I told them he was a mate of mine.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of donning the pink bear suit myself, as have a handful of other slightly unhinged individuals. So when it came time to name the company behind our comedy sketches, eventual shows, and other insane collective behaviour, The Pink Bear Club was suggested and quickly agreed upon.

What can you expect from The Pink Bear Club? Hopefully lots. While myself and the other members can be slow lumbering creatures, we are fortunate to have plenty of people who like what we do and are herding us with sticks towards a finished product. We have already filmed some sketches which are currently in the editing process – here are some behind-the-scenes photos (‘Who or what is the Gertchin?’, you ask. Patience. He’ll get his own post soon enough).

As you may have fathomed from the photos, we’re trying to do something a bit different with comedy. We have many influences, including Peter Cook, Vic & Bob, and Big Train, but we also love other weird stuff like Hammer films and spaghetti westerns and want to bring some of that epic feel to little short comedy skits. The planned eventual sketch show will be called Bicycle Day, which may give you a further pointer to where we’re coming from.

Anyway, that’s enough big ideas. Comedy is about being ridiculous. As well as the sketch show, we’re also planning a sort-of-but-we-don’t-really-like-calling-it-that cabaret show, with lots of silliness and audience participation and plenty of guest appearances from other Brighton comedians, and pink bears. This will also be called The Pink Bear Club.

The first lot of filmed sketches are near completion and we just need a suitable venue for The Pink Bear Club so 2009 should be quite a busy year. I shall keep you posted.

Must go, or I’ll miss Shooting Stars.

In the Beginning

Hello. If anyone is reading this, thank you for surprising me pleasantly.

I’m Robin Fry. I grew up in Uxbridge and Hillingdon (which might as well be the same place) in Middlesex but have lived in the vastly preferable Brighton for the last twelve and a half years since running away from suburbia with an attractive young lady who, naturally, turned out to have severe mental health issues (she went home after a month and apparently found God soon afterwards). I tend to attract the crazies for some reason.

Anyway, many failed relationships, one failed marriage, and two children later, I find myself a single part-time dad pursuing a vague career as a comedian/actor/writer/all of the above, whilst also somehow holding down an only-slightly-less vague job in web marketing and search engine optimisation (click on it if you want an explanation, it’s better than any I could ever give).  So that’s about where I’m up to (well, there’s loads I skipped over, including doing the ’sorry’ dance with Cate Blanchett and watching the Malaysian royal family while they slept, but that’s all boring).

The reason I just told you the above stuff is so that I never have to again. What I mainly want to talk about in this blog is comedy – my involvement in it (especially doing improv with Off the Cuff and writing and performing sketches and shows with the Pink Bear Club) and stuff I like/dislike. If for some perverse reason you do want to hear about my social faux pas, occasionally dubious parenting skills and infrequent temper tantrums then you should look me up on Twitter.

So I’ll be keeping this blog updated with behind-the-scenes guff on the various comedy projects I’m involved in, occasionally talking about an act or TV show I feel strongly about, and frequently burbling shite about nothing in particular. Hopefully I’ll keep it up. Maybe someone will even read it one day.