The Limmy Interview

This originally appeared in Student newspaper last October, waaay before the Skinny and Herald picked up on Limmy's impending fame.

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"See these people who are on the telly, how the fuck do they get on the telly? They start somewhere...I mean, they're no just born intae fuckin telly aristocracy or that"

According to Brian Limond - more commonly referred to as Limmy - it was this thought that compelled him to start making the videos that earned him a loyal YouTube following, two Edinburgh Fringe shows and now his very own TV programme.

It was in 2000 while working as a web designer that he registered his own website, limmy.com. Boredom led to the creation of numerous Flash toys, including a swearing xylophone that gained cult status as far south as London.

In 2002, the purchase of a camcorder led to the creation of videos like 'What Would You Do?' which sees a sinister moral debate take place between Limmy and a toy snowman. By 2005 his job led him to travel, a period during which he resolved to make it in comedy on his return to Glasgow. Shortly after his arrival back home, an idea to represent the varied characters of his native city was turned into the 'World of Glasgow' podcasts, a series which went to Number 10 in the UK iTunes chart and earned him national press attention as one of the rising stars of new media.

While the English press praise the 32 year old for his innovative use of the Net as a vehicle for comedic success, his popularity in Scotland seems to derive from the fact that his work is markedly different to other successful Glaswegian sketch shows. Programmes such as 'Chewing the Fat' and 'Still Game' offered up painfully unfunny concoctions of tired Scots stereotypes and jokes about schemies. While Limmy undoubtedly draws from this heritage, his work represents the darker underbelly of Scots identity, often depicting pessimism, mental illness, and social alienation.

Additionally, you get the sense that he doesn't confine himself to only writing material relating to Scottishness. Subsequently, this has allowed his Fringe and TV material to become funnier than ever, most memorably in a piece where he concludes a bizarre email correspondence with Dave Gorman by calling him a 'patronising fucking wank'.

As he talks me through each stage of his career, a pattern becomes evident, one in which Limmy alternately courts and then rejects success. This year's Fringe saw a second hit show yet the prevailing gossip on Edinburgh's comedy scene was that Limmy detested live performance and was only coaxed into it with the offer of healthy amounts of cash. "I said 'aye'...well, I mean after I said 'no'. Then I said 'Fuck it, I'll do it'" This is a recurring mantra in our interview and is always mentioned at the point where his career took unprecedented steps up the ladder. It is difficult to distinguish which of two contradictory statements to believe: did he set out with the express intention of becoming famous or was his past aversion to live shows a shying away from unexpected success?

For the most part, it is the latter that's frequently rings true as he expresses surprise at the relative rapidity of his success.

"See Jet, you know the band Jet?" I know them, yes. "The tour manager of Jet is from Scotland and he said 'Jet have seen your stuff, I've showed Jet your videos and that'" At this point he pauses nervously. "You know the band Jet? They've got a few hits, their main one was that 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl'" Once he's assured I've heard of them, he continues with an anecdote that involved clambering on stage at the Carling Academy to introduce the band only to be booed off by hundreds of disgruntled Jet fans following a cringe-inducing air guitar performance.

Curiously, he describes the experience as "exhilarating: it was like a dream where you couldn't get hurt." In a way, you can see what he means; having gone from a small legion of devoted online fans to 2000 people who had no idea who he was came as an inevitable shock to a man who has admitted, both in his live material as well as in past interviews, to harbour a dread of heckling. Surviving the heckle of a lifetime however, turned out to be ideal preparation for a stint at the Glasgow Comedy Festival (a gig where the chances of getting booed were unlikely: the tickets sold out within the first hour of going on sale).

For the sake of long-time Limmy fans, I need to ask him about one of his most popular videos, 'Beatboy', an inexplicably funny piece in which a clip of Limmy dancing is played on an endless loop opposite an image of a man in a suit.

"The [company I used to work for] had an office in St Vincent Street" [in Glasgow] and it backed onto a lane next to a restaurant. I was just watching all the people passing down the lane and I got my video camera out. There was this guy walking - no pure camp but kinda like 'Look at me' and I thought 'Check the state of him, man'"

Has he had any accusations of homophobia in his work (his site also features a Photoshopped image of naked Limmy having sex with multiple other naked Limmys)? "Some of the stuff I dae, it does kinda look like I'm taking the piss out of gay folk but it's cause I like it, I like gay things and I've always liked stuff like that."

He explains this with such sincerity that it would be unfair and somewhat reactionary to say that his work is biased, particularly when so much of it focuses on people who live in the margins of society.

"I've got a certain personality where I kinda come out with stuff in front of other people and I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm no saying I'm all unique and weird and special. I've got a kinda sadistic side."

I ask if he's been at all influenced by Chris Morris' work in 'The Day Today' and 'Brasseye' as his more recent material has displayed the same unusual combination of childish mischief with a razor-sharp intelligence. While he can see the similarities and confesses to watching Brasseye a few nights ago, he also says that "I like Laurel and Hardy. Some people are intae all this intellectual fucking comedy but I just like to see somebody standing on a nail. That's fucking hysterical."

While it's true that many Limmy videos contain elements of slapstick, they almost always have a pervasive sense of melancholy running through them. He admits that "I like things like fights and things going wrong and madness. It just all comes from myself and the fact that I like uneasy situations".

It seems important to point out that the heavy Glaswegian accent you hear in Limmy's material is in no way performative or exaggerated. This comes as something of a surprise and I wonder if he's encountered any difficulties with TV execs during the negotiations over the forthcoming 'Limmy's Show'. "I'd been kinda waiting for something like that to happen. With BBC Scotland I thought whoever gies us a telly thing - if it ever happens - is gonna say 'Well, we like your stuff but obviously we haven't got a clue what you're saying and you're too violent and it's just too horrible'

But the guy at BBC Scotland's pure brand new so I've not came up against any kind of bullshit. There was another production company down in London that were a wee bit shite but not for any pure wanky reason."

Seeing my look of disappointment, he laughs. "I'd like that to happen so I could give you an interesting answer."

Limmy worried that he's no longer entertaining? He needn't be. With his name popping up in various 'coolest people' lists (he is number 37 of '200 coolest things' in this month's edition of Arena magazine) and the move to TV making him a household name, restricting Limmy's success to the margin of 'internet phenomenon' will soon be a thing of the past.

Limmy's Show will be broadcast in January on BBC Scotland