TALKING TO MARKUS BIRDMAN & MALINDA MAKUMA – ALGORITHM & BLUES
The Guildford Comedy Festival returns to The Back Room of The Star Inn this July. We’ve been chatting to not one, but two stand-up comedians as Markus Birdman and Malinda Makuma join forces and arrive on stage to bring their funny brand of algorithm and blues.
YOU’RE HEADING FOR THE GUILDFORD COMEDY FESTIVAL THIS JULY WITH YOUR SHOW ‘ALGORITHM & BLUES’ – PRAY TELL, WHAT CAN ONE EXPECT FROM THE SHOW?
Markus: It’s a stand-up show essentially; we do some bits separately and do some bits together. You sing a few songs which I take the mickey out of
Malinda: Joining in is optional
Markus: There’s a little bit about relationships and love in middle age, I suppose, for want of a better word. Some stuff about each other because we’re a couple, so there are elements of that. I do a bit about social media and phones and stuff; hence, the algorithm
Malinda: I do a bit about getting older and a bit about menopause.
Markus: If all of that sounds heavy, it’s not. It’s very much playing for laughs, I think more so than ever, and this is something we both reflect on, but the world’s a sh*t show at the moment, both internationally and domestically; comedy’s a good place to come and have a laugh. Whilst I don’t think we ignore that, we acknowledge everything’s awful, and let’s come and have a laugh and poke fun at that.
Malinda: It should be life-affirming – hopefully people will come out feeling “yeah!”
YOU GUYS ARE ACTUALLY A REAL LIFE ROMANTIC COUPLE – HOW’S THE WORK LIFE BALANCE FOR THE BOTH OF YOU AND WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF WORKING TOGETHER?
Malinda: For me, I know I don’t speak for you, but it probably has more pros. When you’re doing stand-up, you’re travelling all over the place, so if your partner can’t come with you, you don’t see your partner very much. For some couples that’s a benefit, I guess. But it’s nice; we get to hang out.
Markus: The only thing I would say is that her driving is sh!te and I have to suffer it.
Malinda: How dare you!?
Markus: I’ll pay for that later… actually the only time we fall out slightly is when you’re parking and when we try and film content. That’s when I start being a bit more dictatorial, and you start to get a bit more impatient.
Malinda: I think if you just open your mouth at any point when I’m parking, I get really annoyed.
Markus: I’m trying very much to keep my mouth shut. I don’t normally. Other than that we have a right laugh. The crucial element is that this can be a very lonely business and this is brilliant. Both of us love being stand-ups and it’s a wonderful job. Our kids are grown up and we’re able to piss off until it’s done and then come back.
Malinda: We sometimes take the dog.
LOCAL AUDIENCES ARE USUALLY TREATED TO SOLO STAND-UP COMICS, BUT YOUR SHOW IS LIKE A TWO FOR ONE – HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU MEET?
Markus: We met in lockdown; we texted a little bit. it wasn’t dating.
Malinda: The conversation started because Markus is also a very talented visual artist and he had done a mural.
Markus: Mark Watson does these 24 charity gigs and I was doing one for comic relief during Lockdown.
Malinda: You put it on your Story – we followed each other before, but our paths had never really crossed. I saw this amazing mural, so I commented, “oh amazing”, checked out his artist page and we just started chatting from there. When lockdown was easing and there was tier two, where you could meet in a park and be three metres away from each other so we did that.
Markus: I brought the dog. He’s a real charmer.
Malinda: It was the dog that did it for me.
ARE THERE ANY ITEMS IN YOUR ONLINE ALGORITHMS THAT PARTICULARLY GRIND YOUR GEARS, BOGGLE YOUR MIND OR TITILLATE YOUR TICKLE?
Malinda: I’ve got a lot of complaints. My algorithm is purely anti-ageing. Anything to do with getting older, the message I’m getting is, “oh, you’re over 50?! You’re horrible; go and die. “I’m fuming about that and I’m so fed up I don’t want to hear it. I’m trying to age with fun and grace. Particularly, as a woman you get to your most powerful, and you feel like you don’t really give a fuck and then suddenly it’s like, “oh no lady, get out of here!’ ”.
Markus: Mine’s mostly denim products and tennis. Actually I don’t mind mine. But I think the disinformation in the news I find frightening – not to get overly serious about it. It’s one thing to have certain opinions, but when those things are lies because there’s some really spurious website and people just make stuff up and then it’s online. I think the disinformation is the really toxic bit of online.
Malinda: We need more cat videos.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY ADVICE / TOP TIPS / TRICKS FOR FOLKS LOOKING TO ESCAPE THEIR ALGORITHM AND BLUES?
Markus: Watch our clothes-swap videos.
Malinda: They’re fun.
Markus: It depends? The Strait of Hormuz or me in a dress – which is more frightening?
DISCOVER MORE STAND-UP COMEDY AND FIND OUT WHAT’S ON AND WHEN BY HEADING TO guildfordcomedyfestival.com
