SCRAM: Comedy Spotlight

Minutes of meeting held on Friday 19 May 2017.

Attendees: 
Stephen Buchanan (SB) ​Stand-Up Comedian ​​​
Christopher Macarthur-Boyd (CMB) Stand-Up Comedian
Marc Jennings (MJ) ​Stand-Up Comedian
Rachel Graham (RG) ​MA Musical Theatre
Holly Callender (HC)​​​ ​​Freelance Journalist

Apologies:
Rosco McClelland (RM)​​​ Scottish Comedian of the Year 2016

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Opening Remarks
SCRAM discuss what animal Arthur is? CMB declares Arthur, the star of a popular children's series, is neither anteater nor bear, but an aardvark. He then joins RG in singing the theme tune. SB and CMB order food. Once the pizzas arrive the meeting commences.

Matters Arising
The inconsistency of the exclamation mark in SCRAM is discussed. It is SCRAM! on the Facebook event, but SCRAM on the poster advertising the next show. SB indicates original usage was a parody of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley 80s pop duo Wham! CMB states SCRAM is a horrific name, and therefore any punctuation disputes meaningless.

Information on SCRAM
HC asks for information on SCRAM, to flesh out her upcoming article for The Skinny. MJ declares SCRAM performances as a night for stand-up comics to do something different with comedy. He emphasises SCRAM sketches reflect the lives of their audience. SB points out many sketch groups come from an acting rather than stand-up comedy background. RG [master of Musical Theatre] counters that each SCRAM member has a distinct approach to sketches and this allows variety in performance. Acting is reacting, she explains.

Ally Houston's recent departure from SCRAM is queried. His PhD commitments and [redacted] are cited as reasons.

Collective Influences
It is agreed that It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the group’s favourite influence. Approximately 10 minutes are spent matching SCRAM members to Always Sunny characters. It is asserted SCRAM is Chewin' The Fat on gear.

Sketch Writing Process
MJ explains one person will have an idea, write a script then discuss and work through it with the group. CMB thinks most sketches originate from daft voices, which then build into characters. CMB offers MJ a sliver of his pizza. It is declined.

Favourite Sketch
RG states 'Theatre in Education' her favourite SCRAM sketch. It depicts a theatre group performing a play to school children on the dangers of drugs. SCRAM have performed this sketch for over a year. RG was recently employed in Theatre in Education, and finds the irony amusing.

MJ’s favourite sketch is the parody of George Bowie's GBX show on Clyde 1. He indicates it is fun to perform, and the audience really enjoy it. MJ continues by stating GBX is a stain on Scottish society.

AOB
It is stated SCRAM is the most fun they all have performing comedy, and warmly invite anyone reading this public record to come along to the next performance.

Meeting adjourned.