A popular Aberdeen comedy group is returning to His Majesty’s Theatre for four nights this Autumn bringing their Doric comedy back after a two-year break.
The Flying Pigs new show ‘The Fashed and the Furious’ will be performed at Aberdeen’s iconic theatre between the 24th and 27th of September with the group performing a multitude of Doric sketches and songs.
Forming in 1997, the group now meets up to perform once every two years after their lives have gotten “a bit more serious”, according to one of the group’s members Greg Gordon.
Gordon reminisces about the formation of the group.
“It all came out of the student show… I got involved in the student show in about 1991 or 1992, not performing, writing”, said Gordon.
After being involved in the student show until 1996, even while studying for his law diploma at the University of Cambridge, Gordon decided to call it quits, however he still had a desire to create comedy.
“There was a discussion on the last night of the 96’ student show, where I said, I’m really going to miss doing this sort of stuff, just a throw away remark to one of the other writers”, said Gordon.
“He said Well you don’t have to stop; you just have to do it in a different setting” added Gordon.
After their final student show, Gordon along with Andrew Brebner, Charles Sanderson and Ewan McGilvery began meeting up weekly, sharing what they had written and giving notes to one and other.
As more people joined this small group of comedians including John Hardie, son of ‘Scotland the What’s?’ Buff Hardie, they got to the point where they had enough content to potentially put on a show.
Gordon said, “We kind of got to the stage where there was a big block of material”.
He added, “Eventually we got to the point where we thought, we’ve got a lot of great stuff here. And I said, “Let’s involve John (Hardie), let’s see if he’s interested” because, by this point, he was doing some directing”.
And that was the beginning of the Flying Pigs. The group has gone onto perform at iconic Aberdeen venues such as the Lemon Tree and His Majesty’s Theatre, also doing a show at Kings Theatre in Edinburgh.
Their popularity in the North-East caught the attention of national media outlets with the group doing a show for BBC Radio Scotland and a TV pilot for the television equivalent. The pilot was not picked up with Gordon claiming it “was not unfortunately our absolutely best work” but also the fact that audiences in Glasgow “absolutely hated it”.
The unpopularity in Scotland’s biggest city was potentially due to the fact the show was predominantly in Doric and had a lot of North-East humour, something which the BBC seems to avoid most of the time.
Despite this, The Flying Pigs are beloved in the North-East and Gordon believes there is something “magic” about being able to perform in his mother tongue.
‘The Caledonia Bank’ by the Flying Pigs. Video from The Flying Pigs Youtube.
“Finding a forum to entertain people using, essentially the language of my grandparents, the language of my parents…the language of home, and to have the opportunity to write in that, and to then stick it on in the main theatre in Aberdeen to over a thousand people. You can feel it’s important.” said Gordon.
The comedian from Hazelhead also believes that their show, and the fact it is in Doric, gives the average Doric speaker an opportunity to attend the theatre.
Gordon explained, “There are people who only go to the theatre to see pantomime, us and the student show. I really like that because I think they are every bit as welcome in the theatre as the cognizant that turn up to Chekhov and what have you”.
The Flying Pigs are providing the people of the area with the opportunity to see comedy in their own language, but Gordon does not believe what they are doing is “keeping Doric alive”.
“I’m not sure it increases the body of Doric speakers, but it does give them some sort of sense of validation and satisfaction,” said Gordon.
He added, “The fact that it’s happening in their language, does it keep the language alive? Not necessarily but it helps to celebrate it, and it helps to almost legitimize it, and I think it’s important for people”.
Although Gordon may not think that himself and the rest of The Flying Pigs are helping to keep Doric alive, they are certainly playing their part in keeping it relevant and offering the chance for Aberdonians to laugh at jokes in their mother tongue.
The Flying Pigs are performing at His Majesty’s Theatre from the 24th to 27th of September this year as part of the Aberdeen Comedy Festival.
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