Rogues’
Handbook: Bumper Book of Sketches
It’s August, 2008 and the comedy troupe known as Rogues’ Handbook is about to perform
it’s first ever sketch show... and it’s not going well! There is trouble brewing
between the group members and that backstage angst is about to spill into the show.
Graeme
Casey and Paul Gannon have reluctantly had to hire a third member, Eli Silverman, to join
Rogues’ Handbook. Eli is a trained, skilled actor but is about to find out that the
only reason he’s been hired, is because Graeme and Paul refuse to put on a wig or act
like a grizzly bear in a sketch. All this sets the scene for a comedy battle to end all
comedy battles where, as each sketch passes, all the backchat, sly asides and childish
bickering will explode into a finale that not everyone can survive!
With
sketches that mix wordplay, slapstick, improvisation and casual violence, Rogues’ Handbook will take you on a journey
where you’ll meet crippled poltergeists, dodgy circus freaks, funeral wakes from
hell, talking birds, torture chambers, confused spies, competing news reporters and plenty
of other surprises.
Bumper Book of Sketches is written by and
starring Paul Gannon, Graeme Casey and Eli Silverman with additional material and music by
Ashley Frieze.
Directed
By James Parker. Produced by Rogues’ Handbook
Download an exclusive Edinburgh preview from the Rogues
Handbook:
Download
MP3, 16:12min, 15 MB
 Paul Gannon
Paul
is a writer/performer who has no shame in doing what it takes to get a laugh, apart from
cross dressing as he doesn’t have the legs for it. Paul started writing back in 2000
and has since written for a number of BBC Radio comedy sketch shows such as Dead Ringers, The
Day the Music Died, Half Sketch and the
4Radio show The Weekly Show. He’s also been
known to dabble in a bit of writing for some stand up comics such as Brandi Borr (Hackney
Empire Finalist) and Patrick Monahan. As a performer he’s mixed sketch comedy with
improvisation since moving to London in 2001 and has been a regular performer as one of The Laughing Cavaliers (One of London’s
longest running improvisation groups) and has toured the UK performing in a variety of
sketch shows. Shows include The Quite Good Show
(Brighton Fringe 2005), Mixed Nuts (Edinburgh
Fringe 2006), MySketch (Edinburgh Fringe 2007)
and has a regular sketch night in Camden that promotes and encourages new sketch acts
called Night of the Living Sketch. Rogue’s Handbook also has a few comedy
podcasts available online through GCap Media. If nothing else, you can just about see
Paul’s hand ripping off Dylan Moran’s head in  Shaun of the Dead... which he is very proud of. He
plays a mean Ukulele and also a nice one, when occasions allow.
Graeme Casey
Graeme has been
performing stand up for over 10 years but has succeeded in remaining beneath the radar. He
hasn’t made this easy for himself by doing daft things like being a finalist in The Hackney Empire awards 2002, semi finalist in
the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award in 1997 & 2002. He made a fundamental
error in being a semi finalist on ‘Stand up Britain’
(ITV) and finalist in ‘Take the Mic’
(ITV). Other mistakes include being a long time member of The Laughing Cavaliers and a founder member of Dangermouth (you may never have heard of them but
they were big at the time). He also sabotaged his anonymity further by writing for the
weekly show and insisting on performing at Edinburgh in both solo shows and as part of
various groups. Graeme is survived by his cat Maddox and his Nintendo DS.
 Eli Silverman
Eli is an actor and stand up comic, but there is so much more to him than
that(Well, just about). He’s also starred in an award winning independent film called
‘Deadpan Valentine’ in 2005 and has
appeared as a dirty pervert in the spoof horror short film ‘Tranibal’ (“Half Man, Half Women... all
Cannibal” – no really!) which has been shown at ‘Frightfest’ this year. He is currently trying to write a sitcom which is
nothing at all like ‘Spaced’... Well,
not too much anyway! Along with Paul and Graeme, Eli has also been known to dabble with The Laughing Cavaliers but this is because he knows
no better! |
