‘Four teens in their 30s!’ Simple Town bring New York sketch to London

When a “New York cult favourite sketch group” lands in the UK, you might expect the next big thing. Simple Town are more candid: Sam Lanier says UK producers sometimes see them as a bridge to the American market, but “all the people who work in development in American comedy already know about us, and they’ve all said ‘no’.” He adds: “We don’t make a living doing Simple Town at all.” Sketch comedy, he warns, isn’t a golden ticket in the US.

The quartet began as a rotating roster of theatre and comedy people making plays, improv and short films. It narrowed to whoever “cared about it or thought there was life left in this thing,” Lanier says — now the core are Lanier, Felipe Di Poi, Will Niedmann and Caroline Yost, working with director Ian Faria.

United Kingdom, New York

simple town, sketch comedy, sketch group, new york, london, sam lanier, di poi, will niedmann, caroline yost, ian faria