Q&A with Ted Milligan and James Trickey behind A Burger and a Pint

Your chemistry feels very natural onstage. Has your real friendship shaped the comedy from the beginning?

Ted: Well when we first met James hated me. James: Yeah, he was an immature mess. Ted: So we definitely still have a bit of that in our dynamic. James: But that very quickly blossomed into a lovely friendship. Ted: We’ve been performing together in some capacity since 2016, so I feel after that amount of time you get to know each other's strengths as well as the things that will make the other person laugh. James: I feel we have similar interests as well which means we don’t ever have to overthink it. We often want to write stuff in the same world as one another.

Sketch comedy often relies heavily on rhythm and trust. Do you instinctively know each other’s timing now?

Ted: Yes, we’re so much closer now we sometimes finish each other’s… sentences. James: Yes, sometimes we do. Ted: There is definitely an instinctive side when it comes to who is more likely to play certain characters when we’re writing the sketch. James: But we also definitely trust each other during the performance. Ted is much stronger than me when it comes to improvising so I’m often very happy to follow his lead if something goes wrong. Ted: And we’re both often pretty good at steering a sketch back on track if someone drops a line or something. James: I think the main thing is that we both enjoy performing the show so much and I feel that usually comes through to the audience.

You both already have strong individual comedy careers. What does working together allow you to do creatively that solo work doesn’t?

Ted: We get to write nasty jokes about each other’s identities. James: What? Ted: No it’s so simple but two characters interacting is so much fun to write. So much of my last show was just ‘to camera’ monologues. James: And yeah, stand-up is a very different artform which usually is rooted in some kind of reality. Sketch is fulfilling because you can start anywhere you want and the collaboration means you end up coming to conclusions you would never do if you worked on your own. Ted: There’s a sketch in the show that’s based on a solo sketch I had once but James took the idea and just made it so much funnier and added loads more depth. James: You can explore ideas better together I think.

What excites you most about bringing your first full Fringe run to Edinburgh together?

Ted: I think performing with my best mate onstage every day for a month sounds like literally the platonic ideal of what comedy should be as a profession. I love this man and I think our show is a really good reflection of our friendship and it gives me great joy that we’ll be able to do that for a month. James: That and it costs half as much.

When did you realise you worked well as a comedy duo?

Ted: I think it’s as blunt as when we won the Leicester Square sketch off. Up until then it was just a bit of fun then I think when that happened we both had this realisation, “Oh maybe we are actually quite good at this, let’s pursue this a bit further and see where it goes.” James: We definitely liked performing together and did a load of shows at university but there were always a few other people in it. Ted: James always made me corpse more than anyone else at uni so I think for me that was an indication that I’d want to write stuff for us to do together. James: And Ted has always been a creative force of nature with an incredibly silly sense of humour which I think drives us forward.

A Burger and a Pint is coming to Edinburgh Fringe Festival from the 5th – 30th August (from 19th). More information visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/burger-and-a-pint-treats-for-the-soul