I have to admit I was quite excited when I was asked to interview Andy Day, co-creator and performer of the very popular children’s stage show Andy and Mike’s Big Box of Bananas which is coming to the Lincoln Theatre Royal on 25th October.

Andy is a legend in our house as he is part of the national institution that is CBeebies. This wonderful television channel has been the sole reason that for the past three years I have been able to take a shower by myself, do a bit of housework, even paint my nails on the odd occasion!

As my contented and happy toddler sits and watches his favourite characters and programmes for an hour or so it leaves me free to get on with a few things safe in the knowledge that my DS (darling son) is being entertained and educated for a while.

Andy and his old school friend Mike James came up with the idea for Andy and Mike’s Big Box of Bananas a few years back when they were kicking ideas around for a project that they could work on together. They had wanted to produce a stage production together for ages, something which incorporated all the things which they loved as children, with the idea of taking the show to the Edinburgh Fringe.

“We sat down and thought about what stuff we liked when we were kids,” explains Andy. “Superheroes, silliness, songs and randomness were all on the list so we came up with the idea of these two characters that lived in a flat together. This was the start of Big Bananas.

“The idea behind the box actually derived from a poignant moment in my childhood. When my late grandmother passed, she left me and each of my siblings a box with instructions not to open until we were 16.

“It was full of personal gifts and memories of her. When we came to write the play I thought of that special box and decided to incorporate it in the show, although it’s not directly related.

“The result is a fast-paced ‘pantoesque’ show, full of audience participation. It’s not just for the kids however – we get the parents involved too.”

The two friends did take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe as planned and as the reception was so great they agreed to do a tour.

Without giving too much away the show features pirates, air stewards, even an underwater world entitled The Sunken Wreck which is a take on Ant and Dec apparently!

Andy and Mike managed to persuade legendary Scottish actor and playwright Iain Lauchlan (who later went on to create the incredibly popular Tweenies) to direct the play and the result is a fun-packed, fast-paced stage show which is clearly proving very popular with audiences.

“It was originally written with four to eight-year-olds in mind, but we are finding that the actual audience is more like two to eight,” explains Andy.

It is clear from the background banter I can hear from Andy’s comedy partner Mike James that the two friends love working with each other.

“We have a close knit team: there’s me and Mike, plus Ashley our stage manager and Katy who all work together on the show. It’s a great laugh working with your mates.”
With this in mind I ask Andy what’s been his funniest moment on stage.

“There have been lots of incidents. Mike’s trousers have split he nearly knocked himself out by walking into the set, the moments when you just can’t stop giggling.

“The kids themselves come out with some great lines. We recently were putting on the show in a quite affluent town and we invited this little girl up on stage as we usually do. We suggested to her that she asked each member of the audience to give her £5 to which she duly replied,
‘But that’s wrong, I don’t need £5 from everyone as I already have lots of money,’ which really made us laugh!”

As if the stage show and the tour weren’t enough, along with his CBeebies work Andy tells me that the pair are already working on a second stage show – a similar format to Bananas but this time involving a time machine.

I couldn’t finish the interview of course without asking him about CBeebies! I somewhat gushingly tell Andy that in our household we think CBeebies is a national institution, to which he laughs but also agrees.

“When I first joined CBeebies just over three years ago I had no idea about the world I was entering. What I mean by that is I had not appreciated just how big and popular this channel is with children and parents.

“I think the success behind the channel is not just because the programmes are colourful and fun, but that they are also educational. Parents feel safe and happy letting their kids watch CBeebies as they know they are learning things as well as being entertained.”

I agree wholeheartedly and tell him that I particularly love the way the channel subtly but constantly promotes healthy eating throughout the day.

“Stuff like that helps you guys (parents) out. With programmes such as Lazytown referring to fruit as sports candy it helps get a positive message across. Shows like Something Special with Justin are also fantastic. In this programme Justin uses Makaton signs and symbols which are really easy for very young children to understand and it also introduces them to signing which is just great.”

Andy clearly loves his work and is justifiably proud of working on CBeebies.I ask him if he has a favourite character and at first he is reluctant to answer but reveals a fondness for Gigglebiz, which is created by fellow CBeebies presenter Justin Fletcher, and also Lazytown.

When I ask him if he gets bothered by attention from kids and parents he tells me that it doesn’t really happen that much and adds that it’s actually nice when children come up to him as he doesn’t really get to spend time with them when he’s in the studio.

“I think a child’s view of someone famous is very different to an adult’s. They don’t see you as famous, they just see you as Andy, one of their mates off the telly.”

He adds that he never tires of meeting the kids and if he ever does that’s when he should call it a day.

Moving on I cheekily ask him if he gets much female attention from the mums who watch the show. Giggling, he admits he does get some mischievous emails and letters from time to time, which he laughs about. I get the feeling he is not the kind of guy who would let this type of attention go to his head.

Finally I ask him if he wasn’t working in showbiz what would he be doing. Surprisingly he reveals that he is in fact a trained masseuse and used to do this as a side line when he was in between acting jobs.

“I am actually quite fascinated by the body so I think I would probably do something along these lines, more from a holistic view rather than a medical.”

So that’s that. My half an hour chat with Cbeebie’s Andy has come to an end and I leave him and Mike to continue their journey to their next destination.

I immediately pop on Facebook and tell my mum mates what a lovely guy he was. “Awww I love
him!” posts one. That just about sums it up!

1. Where do you get the inspiration for your material from?

My material is inspired by all the pain that dogs my faltering stumble through life. Unemployment, skintness, my ex-wife finding happiness with another man and Kirstie Allsopp still having a career. My muse is an empty space beside me in my single bed. It’s the misguided smile on a child’s face who doesn’t yet know what life has in store. It’s the supercilious confidence of all above me on the social ladder. Plus, like, just stuff that happens and that, yeah?

2. When did you know you loved comedy and wanted to be a comedian?

It’s hard to pin it down precisely, although I know it was a Thursday. Only kidding. I’m a comedy character so I always used to make the lads laugh at the fictional shipyard where I didn’t work. I guess that was the genesis of my Thalian oeuvre.

3. What do you enjoy about performing in comedy festivals alongside other comedians?

The musky stank of competitive ambition.

4. What’s the key – as a comedian – to staying funny and keeping audiences laughing?

Well my comedy is derived from major personal hardships, so as long as fate keeps emptying its chamber pot on my head, I’ll be fine. So far it has. Lucky me.

5. How do you deal with hecklers?

Depends what they say. It’s considered axiomatic by some comedians that you should brutally slam any heckler, publicly humiliate the inferior swine to maintain your high status and keep the rest of the room on your side. Thing is, most hecklers turn out merely to be incoherent drunks.

If an audience is at all tempted to take the side of an incoherent drunk, I’m not sure I want them with me anyway. So to answer your question, I try not to deal with hecklers, because we live in a democracy. Besides, I know that I too could easily be that incoherent drunk, if I could afford the necessary beer.

6. What’s been the best gig you’ve done?

Definitely when I won the title of Hull Comedian of the Year. I’m not from Hull, but in 2007 I did have the honour of being their annual comedian. That’s not something every man can say. I hoped it would come with some sort of bling jacket so I could show off when I was in Londis, but it didn’t. I have to try and bring it up in conversations, and it’s hard to steer most conversations round to Hull.

7. How do you prepare before you go on stage?

Going on stage is like going into battle. I try to adopt the mindset of a warrior. I get myself physically pumped with some press ups, and some pull ups too if I think the door frame can take my weight. Then I ask someone to take my head in a Muay Thai clinch and bray seven bells out of my torso with knee strikes. Then a quick toilet visit and its showtime!

8. Who are your favourite comedians?

You won’t know him, but Ged “The Shed” Hudspeth was always a popular turn in the Tyneside clubs. He was called The Shed because as well as telling gags he would also do woodwork live on stage. It wasn’t just sheds. One time at Wallsend Labour club I saw him make a bench.

9. How did you become involved with the Lincoln Comedy Festival?

Fairly dull answer, but I was asked to do it. I said yes. So here we are. I quite like Lincoln, though. The old prison chapel at Lincoln Castle is fascinating, how it shows the way prisoners were kept isolated at all times. I feel isolated. I used to imagine Donna would come back, that somehow we’d get things back on track, and she could help me back on my feet again. It wasn’t to be though. Not after Arthur arrived on the scene.

10. What’s next for you after the Lincoln Comedy Festival?

An empty silence as I slide unnoticed to another town. You know that song from The Littlest Hobo? The one that goes:
“There’s a voice that keeps on calling me/Down the road is where I’ll always be/Every stop I make, I’ll make a new friend/Can’t stay for long, just turn around and I’m gone again/Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want settle down/Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on”
And then it goes:

“Down this road, that never seems to end/Where new adventure, lies just around the bend/So if you want to join me for a while/Just grab your hat, come travel light, that’s hobo style/Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want settle down/Until tomorrow, the whole world is my home/So if you want to join me for a while/Just grab your hat, come travel light/That’s hobo style/Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want settle down/Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on.”

And then there’s an instrumental break. Then it’s the rest of the song.

Well, the Littlest Hobo was an agreeable dog. I’m a middle-aged, unemployed ex-shipyard worker. Strangers don’t want to have adventures with me.

Oh, have we finished? Well, thanks for taking the time to interview me. I really appreciate it.

1. Where do you get the inspiration for your material from?

Zoos, pubs, daytime TV and long train rides listening to other people’s conversations.

2. When did you know you loved comedy and wanted to be a comedian?

When it became clear we weren’t going to make it as serious actors.

3. What do you enjoy about performing in comedy festivals alongside other comedians?

Getting to see their shows for free ‘cos we’re skint, sharing those amazing highs that only a comedy audience (or getting through the first round of the X Factor) can give you, and having an excuse to mess around and call it work.

4. What’s the key – as a comedian – to staying funny and keeping audiences laughing?

Work work work. We spend 12 months putting the show together, testing out material, working out what’s funny, constantly tweaking sketches to get them perfect and searching for the big punchlines (the mark of all Ginge Geordie Geek sketches) that will floor the audience.

We’re not the type of sketch show that tries to impress with just being clever and letting sketches peter out, so sometimes it can take a while to find that perfect ending which can be exhausting. However the end result – we hope- is a show that has been tested to within an inch of its life for the laugh factor and once we have that we can really enjoy performing it and making people laugh which is such an amazing feeling.

5. How do you deal with hecklers?

As we’re a fourth wall kind of sketch group, there isn’t really any audience interaction. It’s kind of like watching a sketch show on TV where you buy into the world and watch the characters do silly/strange things. We’ve never really had bad heckles and on the occasions when someone does say something we usually just acknowledge them with a wink or a quick comment, but stay in whatever character we’re doing – so it’s the character that says something.

6. What’s been the best gig you’ve done?

Our first show at Edinburgh’s SPANK! in 2009 (its a midnight comedy night with half a dozen comedians doing short sets and it holds 300 – usually very drunk – people). It can sometimes be a bit of a bear pit if a comedian dies, the audience really let you know. We were warned that sketch acts usually found it tough and to not to be put off if they shouted at us or heckled. But instead they erupted in laughter from the first joke; they also sang along to one of our sketches and we got a standing ovation at the end of our set. We’re now regulars at Spank! and we love every second of it.

7. How do you prepare before you go on stage?

Because there are three of us its different. The Ginge battles with his ginger afro to make it presentable for stage, the Geordie likes to go over every word pacing up and down like a mad man and the Geek gets nervous and quite frequently has to have a wee into a bottle just before we go on stage.

Both the Ginge and the Geordie have narrowly escaped drinking such bottles in those rushed moments between sketches when they search for a quick drink of water. Now they never ever drink from Lucozade or Oasis berry bottles!

8. Who are your favourite comedians?

There are so many great comedians out there. Billy Connolly is the Geek’s favourite. The Geordie loves quite a few, but has a huge man crush on Andrew Maxwell and the Ginge really likes Carl Donnelly. Also if you like slightly quirky comedy then watch out for Tom Meetin – his song about his home town of Northampton is genius and we always sing it when we see signs for Northampton en route to a gig.

9. How did you become involved with the Lincoln Comedy Festival?

The Geordie was repeatedly caught on CCTV stealing Shaun Almey’s (the Lincoln comedy festival’s producer) pick and mix from his office at our venue at the Edinburgh Festival. Sean and the Geordie share a pick and mix addiction and Shaun was very unhappy, so as penance for the unspeakable crime Shaun said we had to come. (He also thought the show was very funny and we really liked the idea of performing with so many great acts)

10. What’s next for you after the Lincoln Comedy Festival?

We’re hopefully filming a teaser pilot of the show with a production company soon. We’re also starting to write next year’s show, arguing with each other, making each other laugh, having to put up with the foul smells from the Geek and his high-protein diet and desperately searching the country for three new pairs of pants that are the same as the ones we wear in our promotional material (as the ones we wear now have started to get little holes in them, which is quite worrying when we have to stand on stage in just them) .