Luke and Elliott are an award-winning double act from Hampshire, United Kingdom. The lifelong friends and comedy duo write and perform their own shows, mainly comedy, and tour them locally as well as nationally. They have been a best friend and a comic duo since they were 5 years old. Their current 2-man production 'Kitty Rats' sold out its London run before transferring to Mayflower, Southampton and The Pleasance Theatre, Islington.

We chat to Luke & Elliott about live performances, writing comedy and friendships.

How would you say your friendship has grown over the years? 

Luke: We first met at primary school, hanging up our soggy anoraks in the school cloakroom, and the rest is history! In all honesty, the friendship is fairly similar now to what it was when we were five. We still watch football and films together, still take our packed lunches on days out, and still giggle hysterically at the most inappropriate times.

Elliott: It’s really bad the amount of times we giggle when we shouldn’t, but if one goes, the other does! We’re both incredibly cheeky, especially when it comes to presenting. It’s really awesome to get to muck about with your best mate every day.

Who were your comedic inspirations growing up?

L:  We’ve got loads really. We still find all the old-school guys fascinating (Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy), we’ve also always drawn inspiration from the double acts of the 80s and 90s (Rik & Ade, French & Saunders, The Two Ronnies).

E: These days we think duos like The Coopers, Ellie & Natasia, The Pin, Lazy Susan, and Cardinal Burns are really cool. We’ve been lucky enough to spend some time with Ellie White recently and it was everything we’d hoped, she’s just as supportive with us as we are her!

When did you realise you both had a love for comedy and decided to make a go of this for your career? 

E: It’s always been there, it’s our first love, and if we can continue working in it, going higher and higher with it, coming up with fresh new creative ways to create the comedy we love, then that’d be great. We knew when we 5 years old we wanted to make this happen.

L: It’s never been a question in my mind to be honest. It’s just always been there. It’s like singers saying they couldn’t imagine life without music or not being able to express themselves through song - we’re the same with comedy.

Would you say your comedic value is different or roughly the same?

L: In reality, I’m perhaps a little drier and sarcastic and Elliott’s obviously much more outgoing and funny. You’d book him for a best man’s speech or karaoke before me, put it that way! But we both have exactly the same sense of humour when it comes to joke-writing, people-watching, viewing comedy, etc.

E: Luke’s absolutely right, I’m much funnier.

What would you say your favourite comedy show you have done was?

E: Any opportunity to have an audience in the palm of your hands, getting them belly laughing non-stop is when I’m at my happiest. I really like physical comedy and making a visual spectacle of it all.

L: We’ve got a few under our belts now, so hard to say. They tend to be farces with absurd plots. I would say I really enjoyed the 2-man show we produced in 2021 (Kitty Rats). It was brash, physical, sweary, sweaty, and mad. It was hard work writing it, being in it, sorting everything out technically, but we played to sold-out houses (Pleasance Islington, Mayflower Southampton) and had some great reviews so it turned out well.

What is the process of writing?

L: A grind! Any writer will tell you there’s no magic formula other than perseverance. Google Docs (a nice plug for them!) is a life saver and allows us to both type into the same document, so we’d recommend that. We try to take walks for inspiration when we’re bored or stuck, but we mainly sit opposite each other and chat.

E: When we first have an idea I get verbal diarrhoea and don’t stop spouting ways we can adapt it and make it happen. Luke’s the typist as he’s much calmer than me. It’s a system that works. My attention span is really bad, so Luke takes me on the walks like a good dog. Big up Google Docs (we’re happy to team up for a Sponsorship deal).

What is next? 

E: We’re really enjoying our presenting at the moment. We started off watching Kids TV and the madness that brings, so we’d love to try that. We’re also headlining gigs as pirate characters on the London Comedy Circuit at the moment which is great fun!

L: I don’t know if you’re familiar with the world-famous double act Philippe & Philoppe from ‘Beauty and the Beast’, but we’re going to be playing them in panto at The Billingham Forum Theatre this Xmas. So if anyone’s knocking about the North East during December and wants some festive cheer, pop along!

At this point Elliott gets the giggles and Luke ends up chuckling next to him. 

Series 2 of 'You Have Been Watching... with Luke & Elliott' streaming exclusively on Amazon Music & Apple Podcasts.