The Topp Twins - Funny As Interview

Funny As Interviews – 2019

Guitar-playing yodellers The Topp Twins have been bringing audiences together for decades. As this extended Funny As interview demonstrates, Jools and Lynda Topp make for a formidable team. Among other topics, they talk about:

Six decades of making each other laugh, starting from when they had to share a bath as children
Falling in love with the art of yodeling, and making yodeling funny (16 minutes into the interview)
Winning over an audience of London punks and performing overseas (29 minutes in)
How an empty petrol tank and a prison cell launched their career (33 and 40 minutes); how busking taught them showmanship (47 minutes)
The moment when the twins realised comedy was a vital element in putting on a show (50 minutes)
Protest, politics, loose elastic bands, and the value of "beautiful mistakes" (56 minutes)
Growing up as twins in small town New Zealand (63 minutes)
Their take on being gay performers, and how Lynda got married before gay marriage became legal (76 minutes)
Memories of Kiwi entertainment legends John Clarke (112 minutes), Billy T James (116 minutes) and Dalvanius Prime (118 minutes)
Being spontanous and cheeky while making reality show Do Not Adjust Your Twin-Set (120 minutes in)
Changes in stand-up comedy in New Zealand, and other comedy duos (123 minutes)

This interview was recorded for 2019 TV series Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy. All audiovisual content is copyright to Augusto, and may not be reproduced. Publication of Funny As extended interviews made possible with funding from the NZ Lotteries Grants Board.

...the music is the driving force of the Topp Twins . . . it's the vehicle. The comedy is sort of the side roads, and the characters and all that kind of stuff is like the roundabout. So it's like a big journey; and I think we’re the only act in the world, possibly, that is a yodeling-comedic character lesbian duo.
– Lynda Topp, 19 minutes into this interview