TO SAY that Graham Fellows likes his comedy characters to be well-rounded is something of an understatement.
Graham, the man behind Jilted John, John Shuttleworth and Brian Appleton isn't happy to come up with a superficial outline of his characters then get working on the jokes.
Take his latest creation, builder Dave Tordoff. Some comedians would be happy to say 'he's a builder' and leave it at that, but not Graham.
"I had to do research. I wanted him to be a builder and I wanted him to be in a slightly unusual area of building. I remember driving down the A1 and seeing this van which on the side said 'laser screeding' and I thought 'what the hell's that?'" he explains.
"So I went on the Internet to find out all about this new type of concrete screeding. I think it's more of a big thing in America it's not really come over here so I reckon if he had one of those machines it would probably cost quite a lot of money and he'd be raking it in.
"It basically allows you to concrete at a much faster pace with a much finer finish," he concludes, seemingly taking his art very seriously.
David the builder is already proving quite a hit with audiences, so it seems that Graham's research is paying off.
"On paper David's not a very nice person really but he's such a sad loser that he gets people's sympathy," he explains.
"I suppose living where I do in Lincolnshire there are types like him who are usually builders and have great big 4x4s and lots of money and not much sense and short spikey hair and a big gold chain. That was the kind of look we wanted. I just pictured this bloke that lived in a big ranch-style property. So far his act really consists of just telling the audience what he's got, his possessions and people seem to like that, they laugh at it."
And Graham admits that he enjoys the chance to get his own back a bit at members of the building profession.
"I think everyone gets ripped-off by builders. Maybe that's another reason why I wanted to create David, because I despise builders," Graham says, before realising that what he's said may be a little strong. "Well, not despise them, but they annoy me because they do things that I can't," he adds.
Although Graham's research and character creation are extensive, that doesn't mean that he doesn't make the odd mistake.
"I did a major slip-up on my last radio series," he says about his character John Shuttleworth.
"I did an episode called Every Cloud has a Silver Wedding and it was basically about John's silver wedding. A fan wrote to me, only one fan though, and said John celebrated his silver wedding about five years ago in another episode and I'd completely forgotten," he admits.
"That's kind of a major gaffe really but I was forgiven."
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