Viz Creator to Tour with Comedy Researcher

In the UK, Viz comic co-founder Simon Donald has relaunched his comedy career with a sketch show featuring a series of new characters, including a market research interviewer.

Donald left Viz in 2003 to care for his terminally-ill brother Steve. Following his brother's death last year, Donald began planning a national stand-up tour in which he will play comedy characters drawn from people he has met in real life.

Inspiration for the interviewer, named Barry S**thouse, came directly from his brother: 'It was the first job Steve had to do when he was starting out in the film industry, and we had long conversations on its absolute worthlessness,' explained Donald.

'Barry is a market researcher, the kind who says, 'I'm just going to take five minutes of your time' and then launches into a long mission statement about how he has been interviewing young children to find out what's important to them. He then reads out various questions which have been put together completely illogically'.

Other characters included in the act are 'drunken lout' Bingo from Benton, and student Domonic Farquar. Donald has already played several UK dates at which he says Barry S**thouse went down 'an absolute storm.'

Following completion of the tour, he plans to put the show on at the Edinburgh Fringe.

For details of the current tour, join Facebook group, Bingo from Benton and Friends.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.