Author Q&A: Limmy

Brian Limond, or Limmy, has earned a cult following with his anarchic web and podcasts, and his sketch show for BBC Scotland, which became a nationwide hit on iPlayer. His first book, Daft Wee Stories (Century, £14.99), is a collection of short stories, some funny, some sad.

Did you sit down with a view to writing Daft Wee Stories or were they written over a long period of time and pulled together from notebooks?
They started as me just typing up these wee stories and sticking them on my site. I’d only done about 10 of them, but then a publisher got in touch and asked if I wanted to write a whole book’s worth of them, which I was delighted about because I have some laughs writing them.
 
Did you have any of them earmarked for sketches or stand-up?
Not really, but I’m sure one or two came from this big spreadsheet I’ve got where I stick any ideas I’ve got. Some of those ideas became sketches in Limmy’s Show, but some are better in a book. There’s also a lot of stories in the book that I think would work really well as sketches or filmed in some other way, I’d love to do that.
 
How did the writing process differ from writing performance comedy? 
I think the biggest difference is that with telly stuff you have to think about budgets and how the thing will be filmed. With a book, though, you can do anything you want. I can type any idea I want, and the person reading it does all the filming in their head.
 
Are your stories more informed by personal experience or current events? 
They mostly come from personal experience – me sitting and thinking about fairly normal situations, then wondering “Aye, but what if this then happened?” Like, what if you were bleeding your radiators one day and some of the water went into your mouth, and it was the tastiest thing you’ve ever tasted in your life? Find out in my story The Radiator.
 
You’ve spoken openly about mental health. Do you agree there is a link between comedy and depression and have you explored that in the stories?
I haven’t done any stories about that, but I can imagine there’s a link between comedians and their mental disorders, but I don’t know which causes which. Depression aside, I’ve definitely been helped in my comedy career by the fact there’s something not quite right with me, like my habit for going off on tangents or not totally understanding what’s going on. It can help your imagination being like that.
 
Do you think you’ll ever be arsed to write a real book? 
One day, but Daft Wee Stories will have to tide you over till then.

Antonia Charlesworth