Glasgow comic Brian Limond has gone from internet sensation to fully fledged television star, with the second series of Limmy’s Show starting on BBC2 this week. He tells Jack McKeown about comedy, fatherhood, and staying on the wagon.
Brought up in a rough district of Glasgow, Limmy gained a degree in multimedia. After a year lost to unemployment, he started working for a new media company before starting a website design company with three of his friends. Around 10 years ago he set up his own website where he could post late-night rants on topics that enraged him and post the comedy sketches he liked to make.
Encouraged by his popularity, he branched out into comedy, doing near sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Glasgow Comedy Festival. He’s since retired from live performance temporarily at least although he continues to do regular live webcam shows.
“I gave up stand-up after the Glasgow Comedy Festival in 2008,” he says. “I’d done the Edinburgh Fringe and I’d been asked to do the comedy festival. When I’m up on stage with my material I’m usually all right a wee bit of nerves, but that’s healthy. It was writing stand-up material that was getting me down. It was getting too stressful. I might go back to it at some point but for now I’m done.
“I’ve got loads of ambition to make great, brilliant television, but no ambition to be the best stand-up out there.”
Six months ago, Limmy and his partner of 10 years Lynn had their first child, Danny.Normal”He’s growing fast, getting big and clever,” Limmy smiles. “I’ve been doing the show for the last little while so haven’t been able to spend that much time with him and have just left Lynne to it. I guess it’s a bit like what having a normal job must be like if you’re a dad.
“I’ve been changing nappies and all that sort of thing though quite proud of myself for being able to do it.”
When he’s not making comedy or looking after his infant son, Limmy’s needs are simple.
“I’m a bit of a hermit,” he says. “I like nothing better than just watching a bit of telly or playing the Xbox. Because I don’t drink any more, I don’t go out that often. I’m never in a nightclub unless I’m dragged there by pals.
“I’m on Facebook and Twitter all the time. Too much probably I’m addicted to it. I tried going without it for a while, but it’s kind of who I am, so I’ve just given into it.”
Life wasn’t always as rosy though, and at one point Limmy’s future looked very bleak indeed. A hard drinker and partier throughout university, Limmy continued this pattern to an unhealthy degree. He’s loath to describe his former condition as alcoholism, but admits things were getting out of hand. Limmy gave up alcohol in June 2004 after becoming almost suicidally depressed.Negative”I’ve always been a bit negative and unstable anyway. I’ve got a tendency to look on the downside of everything and alcohol would make that worse. I was at the stage where I’d be drinking on the way home from work or having a bottle of wine every night. If I hadn’t given up drink I would never have left my job at the web development company, I’d never have gone away travelling round the world, and I’d never have had the ambition to get my own TV show.
“I’m full of energy and quite positive most of the time. It’s a clich but I feel like I’ve been in It’s A Wonderful Life.”
This summer will mark seven dry years for Limmy. His only slip-up during that time has come from the most unlikely of places.
“I haven’t touched a drop since 2004, apart from one wee problem. I was out having food in a pub and I ordered a knickerbocker glory. I had a bite of it and it burned my throat. Turns out it had Jack Daniels in it.”Limmy’s Show starts on Thursday, February 17, at 10pm on BBC2.Photo BBC Pictures.
Brian Limond is a busy, happy man. The 36-year-old became a father six months ago and has just put the finishing touches to the second series of his popular BBC Scotland comedy show.
A technology wizard with a wild imagination, Limmy’s unusual brand of comedy saw him become an internet sensation, with his World Of Glasgow podcast and homemade video sketches on his website limmy.com attracting thousands of followers.
Eventually, he was spotted by BBC Scotland’s comedy unit and given his own television programme. The first series of Limmy’s Show was broadcast in January and February last year.
As well as observational humour, it featured new characters and also some first heard in the podcasts, including ex-junkie and middle class wannabe Jacqueline McCafferty and primary school entrepreneur Wee Gary.
The show drew in his horde of online followers, as well as viewers new to the Limmy experience, and a second series was commissioned last July.
“It’s all been going great,” Limmy says. “With the first series I was still learning. I am still learning I think you should always feel like you’re learning but it’s been a bit easier this time.
“Last time I started out quite confident but from time to time I’d discover a huge gap in my knowledge. This time round when I’m confronted by a problem I can think back and remember how I did it last time. If I had four or five people in a shot, it used to take me ages to work out how to film it and where to put the cameras, but now that sort of thing’s a bit easier.”MaterialNor did Limmy suffer from ‘second novel syndrome.’
“Coming up with new material wasn’t hard,” he continues. “I had more time to do it this time six months instead of three so I could do things like go for walks in the park, watch the TV, and just wait for a bit of inspiration to strike.
“Last time round I had a lot of material from podcasts, the website and my stand-up show that I could use, but with this series most of it is from scratch.”
Limmy has ditched some of his old characters and brought in some new ones, as well as new cast members.
“One of the things I think worked about the first series was it was different from everything else on telly. People would email me and say they hadn’t seen anything like it before.
“I want even people who saw the first series to have that feeling again with the second series. So I’ve got a few new characters in there. One of them is a psychic who, instead of delivering good news like psychics usually do, tells people that the worst things possible are gonna happen to them.”
Continued…