Class clowns prepare for the big time (From Bucks Free Press)

Class clowns prepare for the big time

10:50am Friday 4th May 2012 in Interviews By Lawrence Dunhill

THREE class clowns who repeatedly got thrown out of their school lessons are aiming to forge a career in the comedy business.

Tom Hyland, Patrick Horrocks and James Meyer were naughty schoolboys and best mates at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School in Marlow, but four years on they still can’t drop the act.

The pink-shirted trio, all 22, have launched their own production company, HyHo Productions, and are set to take their pranks and observational gags to Henley, Brighton and Edinburgh fringe festivals this summer.

Tom, who currently lives in Reading and works as a supply teacher at Cookham Dean Primary School, said: "We were class clowns at school and were always getting sent out of lessons, but I suppose being a prat at school was quite good preparation for being a comedian."

"In the last year we did a DVD sketch show lampooning the head boy and girl and some of the teachers, and it got shown in the school hall. It’s snowballed hideously from there and where will it end? Probably in debt or bankruptcy..."

Though becoming business partners has changed the dynamic between the three, Tom says they are all still mates and manage to overcome the ‘creative tension’.

They first started performing six years ago on Marlow FM on a Friday night.

Tom, whose hero is Billy Connolly, said: "We all did drama at school and I was doing a bit of stand-up as well and started getting more interested in it.

"We put it all on the back-burner when we went to University but decided to seriously go for it two years ago."

"We are massively looking forward to going on tour and up to Edinburgh. I went up last year and it was absolutely amazing. We can’t wait to get stuck in."

Patrick lives in Beaconsfield and James in Bourne End, where they will perform their ‘No Poofs No Piano’ show before heading off on tour.

They will be at the Bounty Pub in Bourne End at 7.45pm on Saturday, May 12. Free Entry.

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