- November 6, 2024
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MC Hammersmith is Scotland’s leading free-style comedy rapper and improviser. (For all we know, he’s Scotland’s only free-style comedy rapper and improviser, but let’s skip that for now.) The man is a multitalented performer on the level of Robin Williams. He thinks on his feet, pulls hip-hop songs out of thin air, launches into a dazzling stream of consciousness, then switches gears to song parody — and makes it look easy the whole time.
Whatever MC Hammersmith does, it’s funny. He’s the headliner of this year’s Sarasota Improv Festival. We emailed him a few questions. Funny thing. He answered.
I’ve been doing improv since I was 14. Then at Edinburgh University, I started performing an improvised musical show. We would always want to slam the rap break in the bridge of songs between choruses, but none of us were any good. I wanted to get better, but nobody else wanted to practice. So I decided to practice by myself — I’ve always loved hip-hop as well, so the chance to do both was a natural meeting point.
I have a routine in my solo show in which I take an audience suggestion of a mildly embarrassing incident that happened to them. I’ll then take the backing track of Blackstreet’s R&B classic “No Diggity,” and change the chorus to “No Dignity.” There’s plenty of scope for comedy with an auto-tuned, soulful chorus.
Kind of a bit of both. My shorter comedy club sets are all improvised, but in a very structured way. Because you have to do your time very strictly in a club, the tracks have to be timed. In the longer solo shows I get to use looping beats, so I can rap for as long as I want and get carried away by fun ideas. Those are much more fun.
Getting to freestyle rap onstage with my favorite rapper (RA The Rugged Man). It was my first time free-styling at a hip-hop night instead of a comedy night, so the reaction from the crowd was just electric by comparison.
About 20 years ago, rapping for a group of 80-year-olds in a hotel function room in rural Scotland — they just stared blankly at me in utter disgust. I take solace in the fact that most of them are now probably dead.
Bit personal.
Actually, it’s not. I was born in Hammersmith in west London (hence the name), and I had literally never heard of that song. (No joking or word of a lie, completely sincerely, I had to Google it now.) I’m immensely surprised that no one ever pointed that out to me before you did! Well, this white boy has learned something.
Troubled youth, follow your dreams. Troubled old people, if you do come to my gigs, at least pretend to enjoy it.