Sketch Comedy Duo, Toby

Toby are a sketch comedy duo made up of two sisters, Sarah and Lizzie Daykin. Their brand of humour is darkly funny and their shows have won cult status at the Edinburgh Festival. Their mission is to "perform inappropriate sketches in a bid to win their mother's attention", and they are absolutely hilarious. Check out some of their sketches on YouTube, including the one made for Channel 4 about a young woman addicted to Big Brother. If, like me, you think that when you and your siblings get together you are the funniest people ever and also think that people would pay to see your mutterings, think for a moment would you actually go ahead and make a live show? Be honest now. These girls have balls of steel and even if their mum isn't proud yet, I am, and wish there more awesome sister-acts out there, as the natural comic chemistry of siblings is a recipe for hilarity. 

I suppose the most obvious question is... Why the name Toby?

Toby: We were really struggling to find a name that didn't sound too cliched. It was actually with the help of a game we like to call "What would your name be if you were a boy?" that we finally found it. This basically involved assigning the name Toby to Lizzie, a choice that she was not particularly fond of, but merciless teasing made it stick.

How would you describe your style of comedy? 

T: Silly, dark and close to the bone. We grew up on Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, then became obsessed with The League of Gentlemen and The Office. We also love anything involving Armando Iannucci and Julia Davis.

How did you carve a name for youself in London's sketch comedy scene? 

T: We gigged a lot in our first year, and luckily there weren't many sister double acts around at the time, so we were something of a novelty. There was also that feeling that when we walked on stage people were expecting something completely different and were surprised that two well-spoken girls were prepared to go to such depths of depravity.

Where do you get ideas for your sketches? What's the process you go through to create them? 

T: A lot of our ideas come from real life experiences and overheard conversations, and a lot of it just comes from pissing around. The process of writing is often a difficult one, as we are somewhat perfectionists and have been known to spend hours on one word. The most important thing is that we find it funny, which usually means the more wrong it is, the better.

The whole sibling-comedy group thing worked so well for the Marx Brothers, why aren't more sketch comedy groups made up of siblings? 

T: I think a lot of siblings would consider us a rarity in that they love their siblings, but they would never consider working with them. Comedy was very important to us growing up, and as a result we have a very similar sense of humour. 

 The fact that you are actual sisters can make the fights you have in sketches uncomfortable viewing at times, and even more hilarious at others. What effect did you want to have on your audience? And are there times during writing or rehearsing that the fights get out of hand? 

T: We find that more truth we put into our shows, and the more uncomfortable we make them, the more rewarding the laugh will be when the audience finally get to release all of that tension. We deliberately push the sister relationship as far as we can, as it's often those moments of conflict that really resonate with the audience.

I read an interview where your stepmum said that you were re-enacting your childhoods on stage, and that this wasn't a particularly positive thing. Are your gigs like therapy for you? 

T: The act is based on a heightened view of our childhood selves, and we definitely use our work to laugh at those moments that might have once been difficult. We've always used humour to lift us our of harder times and laugh at how ridiculous life can be.

Another article said that your comedy is innovative and brilliant, but audiences are't ready for it and that's why both of you still work in a call centre. Is this a fair comment? 

T: We try to be as true to ourselves as possible and found that by doing this we have found a faithful and appreciative audience. We understand that our comedy is not for everyone, and we've always been aware of that. However, we are still learning, and hope that we will be able to make our style of comedy more inviting to a wider audience. We both escaped the call centre. Sarah is now working five jobs instead.

Sarah, what was it like working without Lizzie in the Sitcom, Chickens, starring the Inbetweeners cast? 

T: Filming Chickens was amazing! Joe Thomas, Simon Bird and Jonny Sweet are incredibly talented, funny guys, and I hope I get to work with them more. It's always nice to be involved in other projects, and what you learn inevitably feeds back in to your own work.

What's your favourite comedy sketch of all time? 

T: We repeatedly watched the League of Gentlemen, particularly the sketch with Pauline and Ross from the job centre when she hits him with the clipboard and shouts "egregious".

I loved your Big Brother addict mock-documentary sketch for Channel 4! Your comedy works so well for TV, why aren't you on it more? 

T: We'd love to be on TV more. The benefit of performing live is being able to have complete creative control and basically do whatever you want. If only it paid as well.

If money were no object, what project would you do next? 

T: We'd set up our own TV channel so we could commission they comedy that we love and give shows to all the people in the live circuit that aren't getting the recognition that they deserve.  

Quick Fire Q's

Favourite London venue you have performed in: Soho Theatre

Sketch comedy group you recommend we see: Sheeps

Favourite free thing to do in London: Seeing understudy runs of West End shows

Best place in London for food: Busaba Eathai for the peppercorn squid

Favourite museum of gallery: V&A

Best play you've seen recently: The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas at the Royal Court

Favourite London shop: Marks and Spencer

Best night out in London: A good comedy gig  Follow the girls on Twitter, and check out their blog for upcoming gigs.