Life is a pretty familiar story
Stath Lets Flats creator Jamie Demetriou talks to GEMMA DUNN about his new comedy sketch show
JAMIE DEMETRIOU can do no wrong – not when it comes to comedy, at least.
The Stath Lets Flats creator’s latest genius comes in the form of a Netflix special titled A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou, which, through the medium of catchy songs and oddball characters, takes audiences on a hilarious – and insightful – journey through life’s pivotal stages.
The idea came to the 35-year-old as he pondered which subject would “sustain an audience’s attention for an hour with sketches” – especially given that consumption is often now short-form or whilst scrolling through your phone, he notes.
“I was [thinking], what is an arc that is familiar enough that people can settle in and get comfy, and they know where the end goal is?” asks the quadruple Bafta winner, who wrote, stars in and served as executive producer on the show.
“Well, life is a pretty familiar story, and it lent itself to a variety of characters and an opportunity for me to express some comedic ideas and observations that I have,” he reasons.
The one-off sketch show takes viewers through from the womb to awkward adulthood, and the not-so-golden years, unpacking the most embarrassing, heartening and, ultimately, futile phases of a life lived in the anxious modern day.
Each stage is articulated through a different character played by Jamie, who is in turn joined by comedy guests, including his Stath Lets Flats co-stars Ellie White, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Katy Wix.
“My dream is to be able to work with everyone from that cast in one way or another for as long as I have breath in my lungs,” he explains.
“It’s an honour that they would be up for coming back and doing more stuff, but at the same time, in Stath, I struggled to get everyone that I love into it.
“So, this was a good opportunity to get people like Sian Clifford, Jon Pointing and Johnny Sweet [involved].
“Tash was in Toronto shooting What We Do in The Shadows,” he says, referencing his comedy star sister, Natasia. “There would have been some fun parts for her, but it didn’t work out!”
So, what can he tell us about the characters he explores?
“Everyone’s a kind of amalgamation of a person who represents a fear, a stance or a feeling I’ve had before,” begins London-born Jamie, whose credits include Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s phenomenon Fleabag and Apple TV+’s murder-mystery series The Afterparty.
“Like, for example, the strangler character, the dad, that’s about an apathy that I witness in a lot of parents – actually it’s not even specific to parents – which is a feeling I think everyone has deep down, which is, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could just shut anyone up who’s pointing out my flaws? And I could just go on thinking that I might actually be the most incredible person in the world?’
“And then there’s a teenager...” he follows. “I read an article about teenager apathy in the current generation, and how different it is from when I was a teenager, that sex isn’t at the forefront of their interests, and so I thought there was something interesting about that.
“A lot of the [characters] are just about people feeling like they need to behave in a way that they don’t, yet they persist because fitting in is really hard.”
Everyone’s a kind of amalgamation of a person who represents a fear, a stance or a feeling I’ve had
Jamie Demetriou on his characters
■ A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou is on Netflix on Tuesday