Nobody talks about that
Published on Jul 22, 2016
Views: 3,266
Jonathan Pie focuses on working out how left "Soft Left" is, which is more left than Tory right but more right than Corbyn & tackles Owen "Pfizer" Smith.
Jonathan Pie, the fictional television reporter who is regularly pushed to the edge of sanity and beyond by British politics, has now made a political stand of his own in preparation for his first national tour and an appearance on the Edinburgh festival fringe.
Pie, the foul-mouthed creation of actor Tom Walker, has become an internet sensation since the success of his short comic films in which his television journalist melts down on screen once he is “off air”. Pie rails against hypocrisy in politics and in television newsrooms and is disillusioned with both his job and the ethics of Westminster.
The difficulty for me is that my character is a journalist, so people ask me about it, even though I don’t see it that way. So it has got to the point that what I hate to call the ‘Pie brand’ can’t move on while I am associated with RT, although it has helped me. The main issue for me was that I could not answer people’s questions about it while I was still on RT. So I resigned. Now I can defend it without being accused of being contractually obliged to be nice.”
Walker, 38, who grew up in Taunton, Somerset, has been taken aback by the fast-growing fan base for his frustrated media creation, Pie. Arriving at the Latitude festival in Suffolk, he was surprised by the size of the crowd gathered to watch the first preview of his Edinburgh show. “I was expecting a smaller gig, but the literature tent turns out to house an audience of 800. It was a real baptism of fire rather than a tryout. I have tried my act out live before, to see how it translated on to the stage, but this is my Edinburgh show, which is selling brilliantly, I am pleased to say.”
When he wears Pie’s customary suit and tie, he is often recognised: “People call out to me all the time and some think I am really a journalist. But no reporter loses it every week.”
No comments:
Post a Comment