Vic and Bob on their new stage show | ‘We can't remember what we're supposed to do.'

Vic and Bob on their new stage show

‘We can't remember what we're supposed to do.'

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer have toyed with the idea of taking House Of Fools on tour.

And they say they would leap at the chance of making their absurd sitcom for another broadcaster, after it was dropped by the BBC.

At a press conference to launch their live tour this morning, Reeves said of the BBC Two show: 'We loved doing that; that was great. We were talking about doing a play, weren't we?'

Mortimer replied: 'We were going to tour House Of Fools, yeah, that was a good idea.'

'That would be fun to do,' Reeves continued. 'Because it's a sitcom - drama if you like – we won't be doing sections of it [during the new shows], but there will be reference to it. We'd love to do that again.'

And when asked if they would consider reviving the show if approached by another broadcaster, both Reeves and Mortimer responded with an enthusiastic: 'Oh, yeah!'

'We miss House of Fools a lot,' Mortimer added. 'We always enjoyed doing that; it felt a bit like a different and fresh show for British TV, so we always feel attached to those sort of things. The same as when Shooting Stars first came out, we felt a little bit like "Where did that come from?" and Big Night Out. We felt that there was an element of that with House Of Fools, that it was a nice new take on a sitcom.

'It was such a talented cast, it all came together. The show had a real, live organic feel, it was great fun to do; very creative but it didn't seem like hard work.

But Mortimer said he wasn't surprised when the show was axed.

'We've always been a slightly specialist interest, and as you get older, for specialist interest programmes I think broadcasters are probably looking for younger talent, really, And it wasn't watched by millions and millions, so the writing was on the wall.'

'It was good to get two series out. I think it might stand the test of time because in the end it might be something that is looked back on very fondly that show.'

House Of Fools Reeves Mortimer

The first series attracted more than 1.25 million viewers for its first episode, according to overnight figures, but that fell to 700,000 at its finish. The figures were around the same for series two.

Although House Of Fools will not be making an appearance in the Poignant Moments tour, which kicks off in Leeds at the end of the month, many Reeves and Mortimer favourites will, including The Stotts, Mulligan and O'Hare, The Man With The Stick, Judge Nutmeg, Novelty Island, and Vic's plastic surgeon character, Dr Shakamoto.

Mortimer said: 'There will be things people won't have seen before, too - but not much. It is a nostalgia tour.'

Reeves replied: 'I suppose it has to be…'

He added that despite using old favourite characters, he wanted a new script. 'We could go and bark out the catchphrases,' he said. 'But our fans are our friends – like when we started off at the Goldsmith Tavern [the South London pub where they began their Big Night Out shows]. And I think our friends are coming to see us.'

Bob agreed that each night would be slightly different, so he and Vic wouldn't get bored and: 'We want to make people think it's unique to them.'

They revealed that the show will open with the song We're A Couple Of Girls from the Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer. Or maybe it won't.

Reeves said: 'This is the problem. We can't remember what we're supposed to do. We keep changing our mind. We're not that professional.'

Bob said of all the old characters, 'we've quite enjoyed doing Man With The Stick because we'd forgotten what size paper we'd used and his head is enormous now'. While Vic joked that their material hadn't aged because: 'We've never done anything relevant.'

Reeves also revealed his philosophy about the comedy business, saying: 'I've never thought of it as a business. We've always shied away from show business. We think about pleasing each other, and then see if anyone else is interested.'

Mortimer added: 'When we first did Big Night Out, there was no chance of someone doing a little show in a pub then being on telly. There was a little Oxbridge route in and an old-fashioned variety route. But now I get the feeling people can almost make a conscious decision to do it as a career, and can see a career path with it. I don't think that existed back then.'

Reeves also said he 'wasn't fond' of the alternative comedy movement he sometimes got lumped in with.

The pair first toured in 1991 with a show called Brown 1591; that was followed by Puce 1694 three years later and Weathercock 1495 in 1995.

The Poignant Moments Tour is their first tour since then, marking 25 years of their TV partnership. Click here for the schedule.

At the press conference, Bob revealed that he married his long-term partner Lisa Matthews just half an hour before undergoing triple bypass surgery – but has made a full recovery now. Read more.

Published: 13 Jan 2016

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