Rugger Buggers BoomTownTwats
Even though the Rugby World Cup is reaching its climax without England (or any dwarves) involved, I’m still resigned to losing the TV and my local pub to a group of lads with their collars up and trousers down, celebrating anything and everything by downing a pint of bitter and dry humping their companions.
We all know and love a ‘rugby boy’; a very privileged young chap you no doubt met during sixth form wearing his rugby shirt on and off the pitch, and bench-pressing giggling girls in the school canteen. He then appeared as a double-barrelled son of a duke from university who once gave you a rundown of his all-time favourite trys in history EVER.
Yet despite this comedy potential, no one has ever dedicated a film to poking a little bit of harmless fun at rugger buggers. Until the BoomTownTwats (BTT) that is, a group featuring filmmakers Tom Magnus and Dan Jones (pictured left and right) and stand-up comedian Orry Gibbens (pictured centre).
A group of public school boys themselves, they like rugby but they don’t like drinking their mate’s piss for a dare on a skiing holiday. They like a night out, but they never go home and spoon each other (except for that one time).
Laughing at themselves as much as the stereotype, they’ve produced a light-hearted mockumentary that will make even the biggest rugby boy-hater a secret fan. Don’t Drop the Egg follows the highs and lows of three best friends, trader and ladies’ man Archibald Curzen, long-suffering antiques-dealer Freddie Shephard and loveable broker Oliver Blazeby who is the very thick glue that holds them together.
The London Word was invited behind the scenes to take a peek at their dedication to the game, dedication to the lifestyle, and ultimately their dedication to each other.
After attending the packed out preview at The Hurlingham Pub in Fulham, I caught up with the boys to ask them a few questions about lash, banter and how on earth they managed to get two professional rugby players and Simon Lazenby to cameo in their film…
First things first, what does ‘Don’t drop the egg’ actually mean?
BTT: ‘Egg-Chasers’ is a term football fans use against rugby players, so our group was using the term “egg” to describe the ball when writing and talking about this project. Then Tom sent me a drunken text with a poem about the project. The final lines read:
For you two I’d break an arm an’ leg,
Never ever drop the egg
It came from that really. We felt some of our characters would say a line like that as if it was a commandment or national law.’
Where did the original concept come from, are you all public school boy ‘rugger buggers’ yourselves?
BTT: ‘We are all from public school and did enjoy rugby, however, we all realised “rugger buggers” are quite a rarity at school. It was at university where people from public school seem to think they have to prove they went to such schools by playing caricatures of earls and dukes that we realised these people are laughable. There is a level where we are poking fun at ourselves, but we are writing what we know, and seeing these people operate at university angered us enough to have a bigger poke at them!
‘We would like to think we are very far away from the people we are depicting. We wanted to pry into their world and see the small things. We felt it would be funnier to see what they do before they set off for work rather than what they would do when they had to babysit the boss’s kids in central park for instance. The format is also very quick and raw, a style that helps if you work all day and have no money in the project!’
Why did you decide the characters should be ‘city boys’ living and working in London? Do you feel there’s a particular releveance between public school boys, rugby and The City?
BTT: ‘Other than taxis beeping their horns and overground trains, the most annoying sound in London is two young professionals talking about their jobs in a pub a bit too loudly. The cliched public school boy loves his rugby, his cash and has a need to be successful… in both spheres. So a hard working city slicker by day and focused gym-bunny back-row forward by night isn’t too rare a sight these days. Particularly in south London. Basically we were fascinated by the minority of public school boys who talk like their dads about their jobs. You find them all over London.’
How did you come up with the three main characters? Was it an individual process or a group decision?
BTT: ‘We have hours of footage of just us on a sofa watching rugby matches in character that we filmed at home. We switch characters and do bits as all of them. Everything was group-based work on this project. We wanted a jock, we wanted an idiot, and we wanted someone that sees all this and probably cries at night. We didn’t want to just show posh boys, we wanted them to be real rugby nerds – so having Ollie as a sort of weird disciple to rugby meant we could explore that world. We hope it was a nice mix between posh pretty boy and devout gym bunny.’
Why did you select Clapham as your characters’ favourite London borough and why are they so devoted to Infernos?
BTT: ‘Clapham is THE place for graduates to go, it also has a large community from the southern hemisphere. So the borough is soaked through with a love for rugby and getting lashed. Being a graduate or someone from down south means you are most likely looking for a job, and the unique work-play-lash balance that Clapham offers was a brilliant starting point for these boys, us as writers and the film. These characters can only get away with some of the behavior becasue they are at a turning point in their lives-part student, part adult. part reckless, part responsible. It’s also the home of Infernos.’
How did you manage to get not one, but three famous cameos? Was there ever a worry they would take offence to you poking fun at the stereotypical rugby lifestyle?
BTT: ‘Orry is very good friends with some of the guys in our film, and in turn they helped us bring others on board. They were fantastic in helping, and their performances are pain-stackingly real-brilliant stuff! They weren’t annoyed at all because people in rugby are very rarely the types we are portraying, they are professional sportsman, they actually suggested a load of ideas. The scene outside Sainsbury’s between Ollie and Noah is actually based out of things that have happened to various players.’
How did you decide on the team name ‘The Clapham Falcons’?
BTT: ‘The words went well together I suppose. We wanted to name all the sides we mentioned as if they were really crap American Football teams. Our rival were the Parsons Green Rangers and the King’s Road Chiefs for instance. However the Falcons sounded a little better than crap, so it stuck.’
Will we see any more comedy genius from the three of you in the future or will you be retiring from the public eye?
BTT: ‘We are meeting soon to talk about a new project. But we all want to go the whole way in this industry – Orry is on the ladder to becoming a really successful stand up comedian, Tom has a really exciting sports documentary in post-production and Dan wants to get to the top writing sitcoms. Hopefully being part of the BoomTownTwats can only help.’
The BoonTownTwats would like to thank the Hurlingham Pub, Simon Lazenby, Noah Cato and Nick Abendanon.
Don’t drop the Egg is a very clever and witty production available on YouTube. See for yourself what all the fuss is about.
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