MC Hammersmith on Straight Outta Brompton

BWW caught up with MC Hammersmith to chat about taking Straight Outta Brompton on tour.

Tell us a bit about Straight Outta Brompton.

The show is an entirely improvised evening of hip hop comedy based on audience suggestions. People shout out random words, hold up random objects, tell me stories, and I string them all together into freestyle rap songs. Every word and rhyme 100% improvised based on what the audience shout out. A completely different show every time. All performed by me, MC Hammersmith, a.k.a. The Significantly Slimmer Shady. Think Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets 8 Mile meets a private school boy who wore his blazer to school every day.

How has OCD influenced your style?

Turns out the best tool to memorise rhymes is a neurotic obsessive personality. I credit my vast internal rhyming dictionary to questionable mental health. Sometimes setting rules for yourself can be a good thing! Do you have a sink? My hands need washing again.

Are there any cities/venues you're particularly excited to visit?

I’m most excited to visit Blackpool. Being a town frozen in the 1950s, it hasn’t discovered hip hop yet. This is reflected in my ticket sales. I’m excited to be the first person to ever rap in Blackpool, thus dragging the region kicking and screaming into 1973.

How has audience response been so far?

My parents came to a preview. My mum said there was too much swearing, and my dad is a 70 year-old middle eastern man who doesn’t know what rap is. So I’d say universally positive.

Where might we have seen you before?

Comedy clubs, online, and the Leon in Hammersmith tube station. They know me in there. “Aoili chicken box and waffle fries” they scream upon seeing me. My fame in the Hammersmith tube station Leon significantly eclipses my fame in the other two places I just mentioned.

What sets it apart from other shows?

Very few other comedy shows involve ninety minutes of improvised raps. Some say this is to their betterment. I say any comedian who doesn’t freestyle for an hour and a half is lazy, cowardly and, actually, bad.

Who would you recommend comes to see it?

I’d recommend it particularly to my main three demographics: hip hop heads, posh people, and teenage boys who bully me on the internet.

Photo credit: Empirical Photography David Wilkinson

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