Tape 160: The Happiness Chain Cast
First up, a huge thank you to everyone who’s donated to the crowdfunder for The Happiness Chain, the sitcom pilot I’m making with Ben Kent at the end of the year. I was also really happy to read how many of you connected with the things I talked about in my last newsletter, namely the idea of taking ownership of our own creative work and finding the joy in just making stuff rather than giving in to the negativity which seems to be swirling around a lot of the creative industries at the moment. Here’s to all the amazing stuff we can make when we give ourselves permission!
On that note, an update to the crowdfunder this week – I’ve never run a crowdfunder before and had no idea what to expect, and have been a bit bowled over by people’s generosity. We made over a third of our target in just our first few days. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little terrified in the week since then to see the donations slow down, but like I said, I’ve never done one of these before and I’m told the shape of them usually amounts to a big spike at the start, then a slow trickle and then a big spike in the last week or two as it gets close to the deadline. Following this model, we’re well and truly galumphing through the trough for the next week or two, but I’m not one to let that dim my enthusiasm. So today I’m going to inject a bit more pep and vim into the project by announcing our cast!
THE HAPPINESS CHAIN – ANNOUNCING THE CAST!
They’re so good and I’m so excited to work with them on this. Look at them all, the absolute heroes:
JOZ NORRIS as ALEX – The less said about this guy, the better. He is the member of the cast I am least excited about, as he is cruel and cowardly. He will be playing Alex, a moron who is so obsessed with what everyone else is doing that he’s forgotten to make any sensible decisions about what he wants to do with his own life. I can’t remember who he was based on, probably someone I met or something.
ROISIN O’MAHONY as HANNAH – Roisin, on the other hand, is a legend. She’s one half of the acclaimed cult sketch comedy duo Roisin & Chiara, in which guise she’s taken the Edinburgh Fringe by storm multiple times and co-starred as one of the lead roles in the CBBC sketch show/sitcom Class Dismissed. She’s also guest starred in Liam Williams’ Ladhood and Mitchell & Webb’s Back, while eagle-eared longtime Joz Norris fans might know her as the voice of Weird Meg in The Dream Factory and of the HSBC customer service person in Blink. Long story short, I love working with Ro and can’t wait to work with her again on this. She’ll be playing Hannah, whose story is at the heart of The Happiness Chain as she begins to rethink exactly what it is she wants out of life.
HUGE DAVIES as BOBBY – I’ve been a big fan of Huge ever since he first made waves on the scene but somehow have never really worked with him on a project before, I guess because I quickly became too intimidated by his outrageous success. Not content with smashing the stand-up scene with appearances on Roast Battle, Cats Does Countdown, Guessable and The Stand Up Sketch Show, Huge has also been bossing it as a writer and actor, making his own Channel 4 sitcom The Artists and guest starring in Romesh Ranganathan’s Avoidance and Tom Basden’s Here We Go. I can’t wait to finally make something with him. He’ll be playing Bobby, Hannah’s fiancee who is sitting on a secret which could end up turning everyone’s lives upside-down.
ROSALIE MINNITT as SARA – Rosalie is one of the most exciting new comedians on the circuit right now, who took the comedy world by storm with her smash hit character comedy show Clementine last year. That show played multiple sold-out runs at Soho Theatre after conquering the Fringe, and Rosalie is now guest starring in all sorts of exciting TV shows which I think haven’t been announced yet (one of which I am very jealous of because it’s one of the shows that got me into comedy). Rosalie will be playing Sara, a friend of Bobby’s who ends up being the catalyst for Alex and Hannah’s lives radically changing direction.
PHIL ELLIS as KEITH – Phil is one of my all-time favourite comedians, just as he is for an awful lot of people all over the country. After winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize for his anarchic kids’ gameshow Funz n Gamez, he’s gone on to write and star in his own Radio 4 sitcom, Phil Ellis Is Trying, and to be nominated for major awards including the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show and the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality. He’ll be playing Keith, an obstreperous git who co-runs the podcast studio where Alex is trying to record The Happiness Chain.
DONNA PRESTON as MARGARET – From Brassic to Good Omens to Inside No. 9, Donna has starred in a huge number of iconic TV shows and films, and is one of the best comic actors in the country. She’s worked with Ben a lot on The Stand Up Sketch Show, but I’ve never had the pleasure of working with her before, and am so excited and humbled she’s agreed to come on board with this project. She’ll be playing Margaret, who co-runs the podcast studio with Keith and is, like him, an absolute nightmare.
What a cast! What an unholy union of unique talents! I’m so proud that these amazing actors and comedians have come together to make this thing happen, and my mind boggles at the thought of how good the end results will be with these legends on board for it.
If you like the sound of what we’re making with The Happiness Chain, or are a fan of any of those actors and are excited to see what we’ll make with them, then we still need all the help we can get to make our target over the next month! Your donations have been so generous so far, and if you did want to support or spread the word, we’d be so grateful.
Thanks so much, and hope that things are really good with all of you!
A Cool New Thing In Comedy – Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie Of Witches In The Countie Of Himself, the show I’ve been working on as director for the last year-and-a-bit which explores witchcraft, neurodivegence and the Vengaboys, opens tonight at the Lowry! It’s spooktacular and heartfelt and very silly, and you should get a ticket and come on down if you’re in the Manchester/Salford area!
What’s Made Me Laugh The Most – Miranda and I finally finished Colin From Accounts series 2, which I absolutely loved, and the scene of Gordon going “Where’s your Piggy?” to try and get Colin to cock his head will live rent-free in my brain for many years.
Book Of The Week – I’m coming to the end of Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s modern day retelling of David Copperfield where everyone’s addicted to oxytocin. It’s great, although the decision to rename Uriah Heep as Ryan Pyles is ridiculous. Most of the other renamings are quite clever, but that one’s crazy.
Album Of The Week – Thousand Knives Of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Oh my God, this is great. I’ve been meaning to get into Sakamoto for years, and always thought he was gonna be a sort of Max Richter/Nils Frahm-esque sad piano man because of his theme for “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence.” Nobody told me he did mad electro stuff! This album is so good, it’s my favourite thing I’ve discovered in months. Can’t wait to delve into more of his stuff.
Film Of The Week – The Apprentice. Admittedly, this is not the time in history where you want to spend two more hours than you have to thinking about Donald Trump, but this film was really good. I was expecting a fairly by-the-numbers biopic, but I think it says some really interesting things about this moment in history, and how we got here, and how much of the 20th century was built out of fragile bullshit machismo. Also Jeremy Strong is incredible in this.
That’s all for this week! As ever, let me know what you thought, and if you’d like to send this newsletter to a friend, or encourage others to subscribe, then that would be hugely appreciated! Take care until next time,
Joz xx
PS Here’s a little sneak peek at Edy’s witches show, which is looking incredible. Huge shoutout to the amazing team who have made it look so wonderfull:
