The last few years have been a whirlwind for Christopher Hall. Covid lockdowns brought his career as a musical theatre performer to a halt, so he decided it was as good a time as any to try his hand at another interest – comedy. Christopher began posting sketches online and quickly found an audience.
Three years on and he is now making a full-time living as a stand-up and finds himself in Edinburgh this year for his first full hour at the Fringe. “I had always wanted to post content online, but I was too busy or too nervous,” he said. “When I didn’t have much on during lockdown, I thought maybe it was time to try.
If no-one found it funny, I knew I wouldn’t need to see them face-to-face for months. But it took off almost instantaneously – it’s been mad.” You’re Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s backing singers 🎤 😂🧡 Listen to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco on BBC Sounds! 🎧 Mad doesn’t do justice to the Background Singers sketches that he does with his sister, Elizabeth.
The skits, where the pair lip sync and do a dance routine to well-known pop songs, got an immediate reaction and over the past 14 months they have collaborated with huge stars like Shania Twain, Pixie Lott, The Jonas Brothers and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who have all appeared in videos with the siblings. “Never in a thousand years could we have predicted what the last 14 months have brought us,” Christopher smiled. “It’s been bananas.
“We’ve had the best time, meeting some of our musical heroes and being on telly. We’re so glad people like the silly joke and it brings smiles to their faces. “The first one we did at 1am.
My sister was moving in with me and we were painting her room when I had the idea. It did quite well, so we did a second one, which did amazingly well. They’re ridiculous and the most fun to do, especially with Elizabeth.
” The first act to get in on the joke and take part in a sketch was The Jonas Brothers. Chris has reached out to a couple of artists but he says it’s usually the acts’ representatives who approach him about working on a collaboration. “Sometimes they are doing a big press day and only have 10 minutes with us, other times we end up being with them for an hour or an hour and a half, like with Danni Minogue, who was lovely.
We felt like we had taken up lots of her time, but she told us to stick around. “Sophie (Ellis-Bextor) was a lot of fun. Delta Goodrem was another amazing one we spent an hour with.
JoJo was a personal highlight, and Shania was huge – she was just our second or third one.” Christopher has been at the Fringe for the past three years – the first year he did a split bill and last year he did a 45-minute set with a different guest each night, but this is his debut hour. He says it has been important to him to put in the effort and learn the workings of being a stand-up, as opposed to posting online content.
“I’m used to being on stage, so I felt I took to it quite naturally,” he said. “It was definitely a challenge to make sure my content onstage was funny, not just for my audience but for a general audience. “I’ve got my steps in – I’ve made sure to gig four or five times a week over the last few years, because it’s such a different art form to the theatre.
” Christopher’s show, Girl For All Seasons, will go out on tour after the Fringe. “I speak about growing up as a queer child and teenager and what I liked about that and what I struggled with, on reflection,” he added. “By the end, it’s a celebration of being who I am, and celebrating and supporting queer children who grow up into queer adults.
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