Talking To: Lachlan Werner
Lachlan Werner is an incredibly versatile artist; dabbling with ventriloquism, clowning, stand-up comedy and has recently just released a four episode podcast in collaboration with other queer creatives including Bendy Wendy from Bristol duo Try Me!
After going to clown school in France, moving to Bristol a few months later and then lockdown following two months after that, Lachlan and I have a lot to discuss. I caught up with home, a few weeks after the release of the first episode of his podcast, to discuss his creative talents and why he finds performing live less daunting than performing online.
· How did you get into the comedy and ventriloquist industry?
When I was a kid, I was really, really shy so I started doing ventriloquism when I was 7, then I started doing it on stage when I was 10. I used it as this tool to say what I wanted to but couldn’t because I was way too shy. It was a great way of being as naughty as I wanted to be – it takes all the responsibility from me!
When I was a teenager, I did some fringe festivals which lead me to get into clowning and when I was 18, I decided not to go to university and go to Clown School instead.
· What was that like?
It was crazy! It was the most ridiculous choice that a person can make with their life, to not get a degree and instead spend a couple of years in a small French town, learning how to be vulnerable and trying to find your idiot inside!
I continued developing solo shows alongside studying with ventriloquism as well as clowning. It was also around that time that I started talking about queerness on stage as well, I kind of found my voice as a performer and playing with my queerness as a clown and with my puppets.
In January last year, I moved to Bristol, straight off the back of finishing clown school. I was here for a couple of months before lockdown… I managed to start working for a few months and meeting people before going back home to the Midlands when lockdown was enforced. I’ve been back in Bristol now since August and now I’m just riding out this pandemic!
· Have you been able to perform a lot since moving to Bristol?
I have quite a bit – I’ve been very lucky! In between lockdowns, people have been asking me to do stuff which has been great because I’m not great, especially during COVID, to go asking for work so whenever someone asks if I’d like to do a gig, I’m like thank you so much for asking!
During lockdown, I’ve tried every possible virtual avenue for making comedy work but I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve realised what I do doesn’t really work online and I’m okay with that. It’s been months of doing Zoom gigs and making content for Instagram but the reason that’s been so rubbish is because with clown stuff I did like two years of learning that your idea is never funny; you can never sit and write something that’s going to be funny, you have to find it while on stage and it has to be about your connection with the audience and letting them inform you of what is working.
· Do you find it to be quite a lot of pressure when you’re up on stage?
I always get scared before a gig which I do quite like – I like the adrenaline beforehand and I do like to put myself in a position where I am scared, to give myself a challenge.
There is always an opportunity, when I go out on stage, for this to flop and that’s kind of what’s fun about it. If it were to flop, you can then find something else with the audience.
It’s the stuff going wrong that I love!
I do find more pressure with creating videos and gigs for online because then it lasts and I have to make something that people will think is ‘clever’ or ‘good’.
· Who/what influences you’re creative side?
I like the idea of escapism, I like knowing that I’m taking everyone away. I know other comedians like to talk about stuff that is real and I like coming on stage and saying we’re going to go really far away now – I’m going to be screaming at myself with a witch puppet!
I also like how human it is to be having a collective experience with everyone laughing at the same time.
· You also have a new podcast! It came out at the beginning of March, Stories From The Queer In Your Ear – what made you decide to venture into the podcast world?
I had tried all these ways of ventriloquism online and it just doesn’t work, especially ventriloquism as people may think I’m dubbing it!
I met Ola from PHAT Bristol at a few gigs between lockdowns and we were trying to create a completely different podcast which was going to involve dating with people which couldn’t happen because of lockdown! So then Ola asked me to write some stuff and so I did.
It was really nice as well because I didn’t want to do it alone anymore, it was quite crap sitting in my room writing solo comedy during the pandemic. Usually there’d be an audience there but at that moment it was so lonely!
So I wrote several pieces that were really absurdist and surreal and then Ola spoke to Bendy Wendy from Try Me about doing some music for them which we made happen!
I think one of the driving forces for this was that I wouldn’t be doing it by myself, I wouldn’t be totally alone in this. We were sending things back and forth and working out what’s funny and what’s not.
· So would you say Bendy Wendy is your collaborator with this project?
Yeah, absolutely! The way she’s bringing the characters to life is so crazy – I definitely couldn’t do this alone.
She, also, called them audio cartoons which I had never thought about and I think that’s why it works so well is because she’s envisioning them like that and then being able to bring them to life.
On the first episode the music she did for it really surprised me! It made me listen back to it in a completely different way.
· Where did your inspiration come from for the 4 episode podcast and the cartoonish characters?
The ideas came from different places for each episode. For the first one, Haberdash, it’s a stupid voice that I kept doing to make people laugh and I was wondering what this character is and I had recently found out that haberdashery is the word for a fabric shop which I thought was great! So from that, came this stupid horror story about this anxious character that works at a haberdashery.
Then the next one that’s coming out is called Yoga with Benji which is an inner monologue of the dog from the Yoga with Adriene videos! I was doing so much yoga during lockdown and the dog was always there and so there came another character.
· This podcast series is only 4 episodes long, do you think you’ll be doing more podcasts after this?
I guess we’ll see! This podcast has been such an experiment and so far the reaction has been really nice and if it continues and people like them then I think it will be likely that there will be more.
It would be really cool to develop it more!
· With lockdown (hopefully) being lifted, do you have any plans coming up for live gigs?
I have some live gigs in the pipeline which is nice, knowing that they could happen is really positive.
I have a few ideas for longer shows because I do like to build on my comedy by doing do shows in front of an audience. I think that’s where my mind will be when lockdown is eased – how can I start to piece together something longer that hopefully then I can take to festivals.
· Will those shows be Bristol based or around the country?
I think there are a couple in Bristol and also a few in London which will be really cool.
I mainly perform at stand-up nights around town [in Bristol]. There’s ones at the Smoke and Mirrors bar, the White Bear, the Downs and, before lockdown, we had started doing open mics at Cloak and Dagger with PHAT which I had weaselled my way into hosting! It was a cool real blend of poetry, stand-up, alternative comedy and live music… all of the things PHAT specialise in. It’s a clever mix of artists with a crossover of worlds so it’s nice to try to bring it together in some way and have a plethora of arts.
I’m really hoping I can continue doing that and we can see how it works - it means I can try some really stupid ideas!
I’m really hoping I can continue doing that and we can see how it works as it means I can try some really stupid ideas!
The first episode of Stories From The Queer In Your Ear is out now and can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/bt/podcast/stories-from-the-queer-in-your-ear/id1556513212
Check out Lachlan on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lachywerner/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/LachlanWerner/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LachyWerner