Hang Ups: Interview with Karl Theobald who plays Pete

30 July 2018

Can you explain a bit about the concept of Hang Ups?

It’s about a web therapist who has various clients. The show is improvised.

How did you find that process?

I loved it. I like being thrown in the deep end. It’s the kind of creative process that I suppose certain actors don’t really like, but I’ve done stand up so I’ve been in that process before – where you’re on the spot and trying to deal with people saying horrible things to you.

Can you tell us a bit about your character?

I’m Stephen’s next door neighbour and best friend of twenty years. But I think one of those best friends where there’s a sort of co-dependent relationship which I guess is a bit strained. Stephen’s character finds me a bit irritating and difficult but I imagine he relies on the fact that I’m more of a loser than he is. That gives his character a sense of purpose. I think that they’ve managed to stay friends even though I put his life at risk twenty years previous.

You’ve obviously worked with Stephen before. Do you know if he had this part in mind for you?

I don’t know. I have no idea. He asked me to do it, just the pilot. I don’t know whether he’d gone to five other people with a larger profile and they’d all said no way!

Do you find it nice working with him? Is it an enjoyable process?

Mostly, yeah. Sometimes I get annoyed with his hair.

What was it about the character that you were attracted to?

I quite liked that optimistic mania from somebody who’s a complete wreck. I find that sort of troubled low-status but feeling they have importance quite attractive for comedy. I genuinely get those slightly kind of wonky parts.

Do you feel you play a lot of brow beaten, put upon characters?

I suppose I do yeah. That’s as much to do with you do one successful character that’s like that and the way the industry works casting directors just go “Oh he’s good at that. Get him to do that.” So I can’t take the credit for that as a pursuit. But certainly I find those characters appealing. I think most people do. There’s a side in all of us that’s a bit brow beaten.

It’s a very different style than people will have really seen before with the online video call element. What was that like filming it?

It was sometimes a bit of a logistical nightmare. It was like fine tuning stagecraft sometimes, really. A type of technical farce I suppose. A game of Jenga. It’s an odd way of working but enjoyable because of it. You’re always looking for new ways of doing things. That’s another thing it has going for it, the improvisational thing, the fact that it’s kind of filmed either as online video calls or on phones or CCTV or intercom.

 

Did that give you a sense of creative freedom when you were shooting?

I think definitely that, with the improvisation, you felt so free. You didn’t have to worry too much about continuity which always seems to get in the way of creative freedom. Obviously the editing process is probably a nightmare. That’s another creative aspect of it. The editors have done such a good job because they’ve got hours and hours of work, so much material, just people riffing and stuff. Having to find the best bits but the right bits for the plot as well.

Was there lots of corpsing on set?

There was a little bit of corpsing. Not too much. I’m pretty good. I can take it as far as I need to go if the other person isn’t corpsing. But as soon as the other person goes it will set me off.

Were you aware of Web Therapy before you started on the project?

No but funnily enough I have a friend who’s a therapist and she’d seen it. She’d seen the American version and said it was quite good. Weirdly that person is now doing their own web therapy because they’d moved country and kept their clients. They Skype their clients and give them web therapy.

What do you get most recognised for?

That really depends on the demographic. It really changes. If I’m at a petrol station, late at night, it will be Plebs. If I’m in Regents Park it will be 2012. If I’m in a nightclub it’ll be Green Wing. No, I made those last two up, but the petrol station is right. I guess. 2012 is for connoisseurs of comedy writing. Green Wing has an either under or above the radar for general people who like that kind of comedy. So it really depends where I am.