Profiles

The Adam And Joe Show, the late-night home-made TV series filmed on portable equipment, spawned a massive cult following during the late 1990s and early part of the millennium, with its original, quirky and surreal humour.

Adam Buxton and his best friend from school Joe Cornish had no idea what unprecedented success the show would receive, although Adam explains their own creation would nearly go on to implode the pair.

They eventually took a bold leap across to the world of radio and their audience appeal and friendship has never been greater. Their own radio show on BBC 6 Music received a Broadcasting Press Guild Award in 2008 for best radio programme.

The latest career move that Adam made was moving his family to Norwich, after the birth of his third child at the latter end of 2008. His latest video adventure BUG comes straight out of London and back home to the Norwich Playhouse.

Playing around with cameras

Adam Buxton, the comedian, writer, actor and director became friends with Joe Cornish at Westminster School when he was around 11 to 12 years old.

"Joe and I got on very well from an early age. We bonded over quite bad American teen movies - we were big John Hughes fans," said Adam.

Their shared interest of watching hours of bad television and their bizarre humour spurred them on to start playing around with some of Adam's dad's video cameras.

"In our spare time, we used to make videos a lot and that kept going right the way through our teens. My dad (Nigel) was a writer and he would road test video cameras. We would fool around on them and recreate Monty Python sketches," said Adam.

"We became video literate from an early age and eventually we ended up sending in some of the stuff that we had done to television channels for a bit of a laugh.

"Channel Four picked up on it and showed some of our stuff on their show Takeover TV, which was one of the first public access type shows. I presented that for a while and then asked Joe to help me out."

Adam and Joe then received the opportunity to form their immature, but hilarious creations into their own TV show.

"After Takeover TV had finished, Channel Four said, 'Do you want to do anything else?' We said, 'Yeah!' and the rest is history," said Adam.

Adam Buxton and BaaadDad

With Adam and Joe as the hosts and with help from Adam's 'BaaadDad' Nigel who made regular guest appearances, The Adam And Joe Show started in 1996.

The dreams of the pair had come true.

"It made us incredibly happy, because we had always both been massive 'videoheads'," said Adam.

"We had watched a huge amount of TV in our lives and we couldn't believe we now had our own TV show. We didn't realise how good we had it.

"We were tucked away in our own little corner, no one ever bothered us and it was wonderful. If only we got some money out of it, it would have been nice, but I'm certainly not complaining."

Changing medium

Come the birth of the new millennium, the stresses of keeping the show fresh was taking its toll on the pair.

"We never fell out doing The Adam And Joe Show, but once we started working in TV and getting paid for it, it turned into work and it was really tough," said Adam.

The Adam And Joe Show

"We used to work really hard to get the show finished and we'd get quite ratty with each other and act very competitive," he added.

It was time for a change and their leap across to the medium of radio opened up a whole new audience for the duo.

They eventually landed on their feet in October of 2007 by grabbing a prestigious Saturday morning slot on digital station BBC 6 Music.

"This is going to sound a bit cheesy, but I swear that it's true – working at 6 Music is the most fun I've ever had working with Joe. After the death of our TV series, it's almost like we've become friends again," said Adam.

"Being on the radio is nice - it's like hanging out again, fooling about and talking rubbish. I really enjoy it and look forward to it every week," he added.

Taking the Norfolk career path

After the birth of Adam's third child, a move out of the big city to Norwich made perfect sense.

"My wife's family comes from around this part of the world and I'd always liked coming over here to visit. When we had our newest daughter, we thought it would be the ideal opportunity to get out of London," said Adam.

"The more children you have, the less reason there is to be in London. You're not exactly going out clubbing every night any more! We thought we'd take advantage of the more attractive pace of life in the countryside," he added.

Adam has no intention of moving either.

"There's lots I enjoy about Norfolk, but people here are nice to each other, which is something I've really noticed," he said.

"Living here is just much less stressful. You can go to the cinema and people are quiet.

Adam enjoys living in Norfolk

"There's lovely clean air. I sound like a real old man, but you really notice these kind of things coming out of London.

"Maybe it's a cliché, but as soon as I come back into the city towards the weekend, I'm always shocked by how busy and aggressive some people are.

"I really just love being in Norfolk. Some people find it a little bit bleak, but it's just beautiful."

With the move to Norfolk, Adam has also decided to bring much of his work with him.

His latest homecoming is appearing at the Norwich Playhouse on Thursday, 5 February, 2009, where he will showcase his latest offering straight out of London titled BUG.

Adam is happy getting back to his home-made video roots.

"BUG is a collection I helped collate of my own and other people's music videos. I wanted to be a part of it, because there's quite a lot of stuff you have never seen anywhere else before," said Adam.

"I show the odd thing of mine every now and again, but it's mainly an opportunity to showcase other people's work, as there are some really talented directors and unusual material out there.

"I'm helping them live a part of their dream, which Joe and I have already had the opportunity to undertake," he added.

Adam likes to keep life spontaneous

Thoughts for the future

Future planning is not something that Adam relies on, preferring to keep his life path spontaneous.

"I just make it up as I go along - I don't really have a career path. I tend to keep wandering off it and getting lost," he said.

"What I do know is that I'm doing a sitcom for BBC Two that is filming over the summer of 2009 and I'm going to play a fairly prominent part in that.

"However, I think in the distant future, I'll get myself a jet pack, attach some polystyrene under the house so it'll float when the floods come and I'll start work on my teleportation device."

Adam Buxton appears in BUG at the Norwich Playhouse on Thursday, 5 February, 2009, at 8pm.