Trevor Neal Interviewed by T.E. Hodden Trevor Neal is among the many artists and performers who have been reaching out with creative projects during these trying times. Every day he has been posting a new episode of Awkwords, his stay at home word game.
For those of us of a certain age (those of us who can still sing the phone number to the BBC) he is best known as one half of Trev and Simon, whose sketches were a staple of Saturday morning television. I reached out to Mr Neal to discuss Awkwords, and a few other things…
the early 1980s, for alternative comedy. We joined up with a group of local alternative arts performers and events organisers and put on our own gigs as well. We performed in the street, in night clubs, student venues, local council venues, sixth form colleges and arts venues. Some shows went down well. Others didn’t. We also did a few benefit shows in support of the striking miners in 1984.
Can I begin by asking how you first came to know and perform with Simon Hickson as Trev and Simon? Simon and I met at Manchester University where we were both Drama students, in the early 1980s. We were cast together in a few student productions and became friends.
Your show at the Edinburgh Fringe promised “nonracist, non-sexist” humour. Were those… less savoury acts still rife at the time?
Had you always been interested in the performing arts?
Alternative Comedy as it was then known was a relatively new thing. It was a bit like the Punk Rock of comedy, in which some acts, like us, were attempting to present a fresh style of comedy in which the targets of jokes were different to those of the old school stand-ups and entertainers. The older more traditional comics were still performing and appearing on TV, and some were doing material that would generally now be thought of as very offensive. But even then, there was a feeling that this kind of comedy was dying out and it was time for a new approach to reflect the changes in society.
As a child I wanted to be either a stunt motorcyclist like Evel Knievel or a rock star. As I grew older and those options became less likely, I developed an interest in writing comedy sketches and acting.
What was it like on the Manchester comedy circuit in those early days? Although the traditional clubs and pub venues existed for “old school” cabaret entertainers, there wasn’t really an established circuit in Manchester in -7-
